A friend of Formendacil is a foe of mine!

Nah I am just jesting. . .

I hope you will find our humble barrows to your liking and if you have any questions, then just ask.

Sorry, OelteA - members cannot change their nicknames here. That's a decision that was made by The Barrow-Wight when the forum was founded over eight years ago. As a moderator, I can't do it for you either; only the administrators can, and they do it only in extremely rare cases.

I welcome both you and Stewie to the Downs; enjoy yourself here!

Ahhh! Here I go again, seems like I keep introducing myself again and again every few years! Ha! I just watched the movies again and have dusted off my books. It seems, if I am lucky, that I may be around the BDs again. I still have my tee-shirt.

*waves*

Gday.
 

Hey guys I am Termius. I believe I am the newest member of our forum and would like to start off with a question: Why doesn't the encyclopedia at barrowdowns work any more?

Welcome, Terminus! I can't answer your question, but I will pass it on to the administrators. I hope they can solve the problem soon.

Mae govannen everybody!
I've been a Tolkien fan for something close to 30 years now (God, I feel really old writing this...), starting when I was sixteen or seventeen; discovered the Downs a few years ago and finally got tired of being a dumb viewer when there's so much fascinating discussion going on here (especially over in the Books forum).
Also, I've always wanted to find out how it feels to be dead, and this may well be my only chance to do so while still alive...;)

Welcome to the 'downs, Pitchwife! It's always good to see newcomers who give the impression they will stay for more than a day. :) I'll be glad to see new blood in Books and Quiz Room (and other places too).

But most importantly, enjoy being dead! :D;)

Welcome Pitchwife - you hae an intriguing screen name! Especially nice to have a few more err longstanding fans around. I have been into Tolkien about the same time though started younger (and am effectively beginning to claim I discovered Tolkien ante-natally as I get vaguer about my age :Merisu:) . I comfort myself with still being a teenager in Elf years ...

Enjoy your time dead.

Well, I'm confident some people here may recognize it...
By the way, I have an even more intriguing profession: repairing ships made of stone that shouldn't be able to float in the first place;)!

Welcome Pitchwife! I've seen several of your posts and you look like a learned person who is passionate about Tolkien, it's nice to see newcomers like that. Enjoy your stay in the Downs, be sure to make it a long one!;)

So even though I have sort of introduced myself, hi I just joined because Fea said I should/I really wanted to play werewolf.

You can call me Lariren, which is a name I admit I got off of some Tolkien name generator that has since died/I can't find anymore. I've been a fan since, well, ok since the movies came out but I did read most of the books before seeing the movies and truly like them better. I also like that my insane knowledge of Tolkien/knowledge that was needed to write some fanfiction once upon a time has come in so much handy in college. Clearly memorizing Anglo-Saxon wedding rituals was a good use of my time as the current book I'm reading for a class now is mentioning them.

Welcome to the Downs, Lariren! Always nice to see a fan of the books. Make yourself welcome among the rest of us wights. :)

Thought I would drop a note here and thank those who created this forum. It satisfied a want for a forum fitting the niche this appears to fill.

My father and especially my late mother were Tolkien fans. Indeed the copy of The Letters I am reading through now was originally hers. My only exposure to Tolkien until ten years ago was my childhood 45 album and book of the animated Hobbit.

Knowing the story, but not having read the books, I first worked through The Hobbit and LOTR cycle just before the movies came out. I've since worked through The Sil and CoH, with a mind towards determining the best release of THoME to read.

A little over two years ago I became part of closed beta testing of The Lord of the Rings Online, and it is from that which I draw my screen name here. I play on the Landroval server and founded a role playing Kinship called the Sons of Numenor.

I won't fancy myself expert on Tolkien, but having earned a degree in history with a minor in political science, I have a keen appreciation for what he has created. I greatly enjoy reading and learning more as time permits.

Hello there! It was about time for my LotR obsession to spring back up as it has a tendency of doing when Fea and Lariren got me hooked on werewolf and I started poking around the site while waiting for people to post there. 'Tis what happens when you spend too much time being bored at work. :p

Like Lari, I wasn't really a fan until the movies came out, but I did read the books before watching them and spent the majority of the three hours pointing out the differences. Nonetheless, I must admit that I do prefer the movies *hides in shame* The videogames aren't that shabby either...I feel like there was something else I was going to say but alas, my brain has apparently shut down for the night. x.x

Oh well , after a long whle maybe 2 yrs Im back at last .
Was too busy studying abroad , so cud'nt find much time , but now I am back .
Hello all !!

Welcome Benjimir and welcome back rutslegolas! :) And welcome Lariren and Mirandir! Although, I'm afraid Fea will soon beat my recruting score... :eek:;)

It's not my fault!

Okay, so I did actively recruit Lari. I cornered her and all but told her that if she didn't join and play werewolf, I'd make sure she got stranded at the airport.

But I didn't learn that Mirandir is a LotR buff until last night, and I didn't know she'd been living vicariously through the current werewolf game until the day before yesterday. I was quite surprised to learn that she was joining us for dinner and that she was starting to exhibit twitchy withdrawal symptoms every time there was a long pause between posts. :p

In summary: this is only partially my fault. :Merisu:

Which is funny because when I joined the plan was you were going to work for me and not get me. But then again, I wouldn't have put it past you to then let the air out of everyone's tires I called to make sure I was stranded and make me join.

..I mean..:D

Oh Fea, it is TOTALLY your fault and you know it. You were the one who started it all. Stop denying the truth, my dear. :p

Popping in after a fair while away! Hello to all, new and old.

Hello :)
 

Hello all.

I've been a fan of Tolkien for a long time, and thought I knew a lot about Middle Earth until I started reading posts on here!

Welcome, Elanor Gardener, and well met. Enjoy your stay at the Downs!

Welcome, Elanor, and enjoy your stay. :) And don't be intimidated by the several human Tolkien Encyclopedias, they tend to be quite nice. ;) And you can surely have worthy things to say even if you don't match their level of knowledge - there are people here living (err... being dead? :p) happily among us even though they haven't even read LotR...

Greetings Tolkien fans!

I stumbled upon this site a while back & was well-pleased with the intelligent conversation & number of active threads (in comparison to multitudes of other decrepit LOTR forums). Of course I promptly lost the link & the name, thankfully to find it again later.

I must admit I am new to Tolkien (& largely to fantasy in general - I am more sci-fi inclined), even though I am well past my teenage years. When the movies were released I told myself I would read the books 1st, but alas, college is a difficult time for pleasure reading. So I watched The Fellowship of the Ring, thoroughly enjoying it. Somehow I managed to miss the subsequent films in the theater but caught them both together at home on DVD later. I vowed that I would read the books. Time passed, again, (though I found paperback copies of the Trilogy + Hobbit for $.25 each at a used bookstore) & I finally found myself ready to experience The War of The Ring as it was intended.

Woe, thee Ring!
How beautiful and terrible is thy orbit!
The all-consuming fire scorches;
Though I darenot relinquish the flame!

I feel as though I was finally let in to a world for which I was destined, some 15 years late (my youth spent reading Grisham & Crichton seems wasted in comparison). Especially as our technology obsessed world wears very thin on me, Middle Earth resonated in my desire for a simpler world (but certainly no less dangerous). Having thought I knew the story from the film version, the books provided some delightful surprises. After falling unknowingly under the spell of a power far greater than I have encountered before, providence shined on me, allowing me to procure a beautiful 2nd edition hardcover of the works (my preciousss), as well as an illustrated Silmarillion (which I have yet to read as other books of immediate importance are occupying me). So, my hope is that this site will illuminate some of the shadows for me until Tolkien can do so himself.

Welcome Tillion and hope you enjoy it here!

I very much envy you, not having read the Silmarillion yet, nor Unfinished Tales or The Children Of Hurin I supose. They are a marvel to discover, and will very much enrich your Middle Earth enjoyment.

Welcome, Tilion! Seems that you have a rather "healthy" stance towards Tolkien's works, and let's hope indeed that this site will illuminate lots of the shadows for you - I personally believe it will, or at least give you sharper contures of them.

(And as for Crichton, well, it's not that wasted... ;) )

Well, may your death here be fruitful for both you and us...

(Oh, just one thing, I only hope you are not our well-known, already existing 'Downer davem posting under a different username. Because, you see, this usage of "&"s was something I have always considered his signature move [although he is doing it in a much larger scale... sorry, davem :p ].)

Welcome, Tilion! :) Enjoy being dead and rotten. ;)

Granted, not all Crichton is waste(particularly Travels), but the ending of Sphere...what utter trash. I think it was Timeline where I finally got tired of his formulaic prose.

As far as your concern of my possible posing, I suppose only time will tell, although I don't know how much posting I will be doing since I have much to absorb before I can add much value to the community. Perhaps Davem is/was posing as me.

And the use of the ampersand, tis merely a habit (nice attention to detail, however). Will it bother you or others here, since there are bound to be grammatists & lovers of fluid & properly written prose here? (not that there's anything wrong w/that)

Oh, & thank you & Skip for the kind welcome.

Since I have just become deceased, where is the store of treasure & weapons I can plunder? Currently my sword is broken & in need of reforging...

Well, for me it's one book from him once in a while... but I haven't read any from him for quite some time... anyway, you may safely leave him behind. This is a Tolkien forum! :)

Oh, it's fine. I think people get used to it, if nothing else. (Although, yes, to be honest, I don't like it ;) What a disgrace to the written language! - But hey, really :D As long as the text remains readable... We are here to discuss, the form is not that horribly important.)

I would consider smileys much worse. :Merisu: :eek: ;)

Hello my dear Barrowdowners!

I'm not a newcomer or a novice but I figured this would be the best place to announce my return! It's been about 2.5 years since I've been on here, I've been crazy busy with life and such. I'm now 18 years old and in University and somehow that's managed to give me more free time :cool:. I was clearing out my old computer the other day and found some pictures and posts I had saved from here and decided to hop on and take a look at what's been going on, and found myself being pulled right back and reminded of why I was a member here for so long. Glad to see werewolf games are still going on, though they've changed alot, might consider signing up for one sometime! And also most of the people who I used to enjoy talking with are still around, which is great to see!!!

So anyway, I've got alot of free time over the next few months and so I've decided to come back! Surprise!!! :D You'll probably see me pop up here and there randomly trying to get a feel for everything again. Hopefully I have just as much fun with everyone now as I did 2 and a half years ago! :)

~ Wilwa

Welcome back Wilwarin, it's nice to see that people like being dead!:D

Also, a belated welcome to Tillion the Wayward; you look like you will bring some substance with you.;) Have fun in the land of the dead!:D

Please say that I am one of those people. . .:(

Hi
 

Hello my name is Feanor411, I am 37 and came to Tolkien thru the movies! I was convinced for most of my life that "I don't like that wizards and warriors crap," and only went to "Fellowship" because a friend paid. I bought the books the next day, and devoured them in about 3 weeks. Shortly after I bought "The Silmarillion," and that was all she wrote.

I also am into Harry Potter, Narnia, and King Arthur (to a lesser degree). I love dance music, John Waters and David Lynch (among others), and Italian food. I live in rural Minnesota with my partner Jerry and my cat Sloppy Joe.

Hi!

Welcome to The Barrow-Downs Feanor411, I hope you will find these dark barrows pleasant.

We have it all, book and movie talks, roleplaying, quizes and good old mirth. The wights of these downs are quite helpful, so just ask if you have any questions.

Unfortunately we already have a Feanor of the Peredhil aka Fea, so what are we going to call you. . . 411? Fea4 ?

Of course you are Rune!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D:D:D

Hi Feanor411, and greetings from another David Lynch fan!

[QUOTE=Feanor411;585269] I bought the books the next day, and devoured them in about 3 weeks. Shortly after I bought "The Silmarillion," and that was all she wrote.
QUOTE]

Hi Feanor and welcome!

From what you have written, it seems you haven't come across Unfinished Tales and The History of Middle Earth which are volumes of Tolkien's work (early versions, drafts and fragments) that have been edited for publication by his son Christopher? Unfinished tales is the most accessible of these and gives fascination information on the Istari, Palantiri, Numenor, the death of Isildur...

[QUOTE=Mithalwen;585311]Yes, actually have read both the Unfinished Tales, and both volumes of The Book Of Lost Tales. In fact, the chapter on Galadriel and Celeborn is a personal favorite. I must say, I really enjoy LT--it's fascinating to see where Tolkien started out from.

Have you read "Morgoth's Ring?" Another favorite--opens up the First Age tales in a wonderful way. I am so sad that he didn't get to finish his revisions before he passed away.

I haven't looked at the lost tales for a long time - I bought the first 4 volumes of HoME when first issued in paperback and struggled a bit with them (I was quite young) but completed the set when reissued and found a lot of the later volumes more approachable. Morgoths Ring is a favourite since it contains such gems as the Laws and Customs of the Eldar. I also enjoyed the History of LOTR volumes. I keep meaning to read them all systematically but I haven't settled down to it yet. :cool: Far too tempting to dip in and see where the road takes me...

I can't help thinking that Tolkien was too much of a Niggle to ever finish to his satisfaction or indeed to that of all of his fans.... he would truly have needed the life of the Eldar:D