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IxnaY AintsaY · 01-13-2016, 12:43 AM

If you are interested in Hobbits you learn a lot more about them in The Lord of the Rings:

1. THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
2. THE TWO TOWERS
3. THE RETURN OF THE KING

Little did I know! That was the postscript at the end of the incredible story I'd just read, when I was nine or ten. Not much of a hint, really, let alone a spoiler, but enough to make me race back to the library as soon as I could to seize these additional three--three!--books the author had promised me. The problem was, they had #1 and #3, but #2 was on sabbatical. When was it coming back? It didn't matter, it wasn't there then...and by 'then' I mean 'now' or rather, 'NOW'. I took what I could, and told myself that by the time I was done with the first book, the second would certainly be available.

But I read Fellowship in about a day, and I don't think I really considered for more than a moment waiting to start Return. I finished that the same weekend, untangling the knotted plot strings as best I could, knowing where the ends were, but very unclear about the middles. By the time the missing book finally came into my hands, a long time (by my standards) had passed, and I'd read the other books at least once more.

I've read The Two Towers many times now, but there's still a little bit of a strangeness to it that I don't get from the other books. I don't truly know if or how much of that is due to me jumping ahead back at the beginning, but it does feel like maybe a little spark of unfamiliarity is still smoldering there.

Anyway, that's the story of how I spoiled the entire middle portion of LoTR for myself, back in the depths of time.

(I'm glad this topic has come up. Among other things it has made me ponder a bit on how ridiculously tempting spoilers are for me in general, and how much my pleasure in rooting about in HOME might be coming from a neighborhood in my heart just a few blocks over from that.)

01-13-2016, 12:43 AM	#8
IxnaY AintsaY Haunting Spirit Join Date: Mar 2014 Posts: 80	If you are interested in Hobbits you learn a lot more about them in The Lord of the Rings: 1. THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING 2. THE TWO TOWERS 3. THE RETURN OF THE KING Little did I know! That was the postscript at the end of the incredible story I'd just read, when I was nine or ten. Not much of a hint, really, let alone a spoiler, but enough to make me race back to the library as soon as I could to seize these additional three--three!--books the author had promised me. The problem was, they had #1 and #3, but #2 was on sabbatical. When was it coming back? It didn't matter, it wasn't there then...and by 'then' I mean 'now' or rather, 'NOW'. I took what I could, and told myself that by the time I was done with the first book, the second would certainly be available. But I read Fellowship in about a day, and I don't think I really considered for more than a moment waiting to start Return. I finished that the same weekend, untangling the knotted plot strings as best I could, knowing where the ends were, but very unclear about the middles. By the time the missing book finally came into my hands, a long time (by my standards) had passed, and I'd read the other books at least once more. I've read The Two Towers many times now, but there's still a little bit of a strangeness to it that I don't get from the other books. I don't truly know if or how much of that is due to me jumping ahead back at the beginning, but it does feel like maybe a little spark of unfamiliarity is still smoldering there. Anyway, that's the story of how I spoiled the entire middle portion of LoTR for myself, back in the depths of time. (I'm glad this topic has come up. Among other things it has made me ponder a bit on how ridiculously tempting spoilers are for me in general, and how much my pleasure in rooting about in HOME might be coming from a neighborhood in my heart just a few blocks over from that.) __________________ From without the World, though all things may be forethought in music or foreshown in vision from afar, to those who enter verily into Eä each in its time shall be met at unawares as something new and unforetold.