[Glirdan]

Ahh, the movies. I was first introduced to Tolkien through the books, so, you might say that it did quite a lot for me.

I was about ( I think) twelve years old, my great grandmother passed away and my aunt, uncle and cousins were up for the wake from Toronto. I don't remember why or how they were doing it, but, when we went to visit them at their hotel when they first arrived, my cousins were watching FotR and it was close to the end (when Frodo had the flash-back of the conversation with Gandalf in Moria) and I was suddenly deeply immersed in the moive. I watched with fascination at all that unfolded (even though it wasn't a lot) and I loved it. So, I have the movies to thank for my obsession of LotR and Tolkien.

As for the movies themselves, considering I watched LotR and TTT first, it didn't really do anything for me. After I read the books, however, it really made me think about everything that was added and taken out and what they changed. The Elves at Helm's Deep for instance. I must say that it was a good battle scene, but after I read the books, I was all "That didn't happen!! What the heck did they do that for!?"

So, I guess for the first two, you could say that it was purely for entertainment, until I read the books which was shortly before RotK came out. After I read RotK, I really wanted to watch the movie to see the difference. So, I guess the last movie was purely to see the content and difference of betweent the book and the movie.

Wow, I never knew that my interest started that bizzarely!! Oh well. Anyway, I guess you could say that the movies did a variety of things for me.