Annoying Amateurs

[Sapphire_Flame]

It's tempting to raise a mug and shout, "AN ALLY! WE WILL FORM A LEAGUE OF FRIENDSHIP THAT WILL LAST DOWN THROUGH THE AGES, AND OUR PEOPLE WILL AID ONE ANOTHER AT NEED! HAIL TOLKIENDOM! "

Huzzah! Most lofty, mark!

I'm going to have to get LotR Trivial Pursuit (I can't believe I don't have it yet! *sob*) but it will be tricky to get anyone to play it with me. Everyone knows me too well. ^ ^;;;

Here's something rather sad to contemplate: I finally talked my 28-year-old cousin into reading LotR (he'd read The Hobbit, but not LotR, though he has seen the movies). But--and this is really quite sad--he gave up before he even got to Chapter 5 of Book 1! He's gone to college; he's had to read all those horrible medical textbooks! How can he not handle LotR? So sad...

Abedithon le,

~*~Aranel~*~

[Hama Of The Riddermark]

I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to LotR, but I'm always willing to learn from people who genuinely know more than me...

I've read LotR once thouroughly, the hobbit twice, I've started the Silm and I have a book of maps of Middle Earth...I think I also have a book of illustrations from various Tolkein books, but that doesnt really count...

There is this one guy at my school who is really annoying...he thinks he knows everything about everything, not just LotR...He once told me that he liked how Tolkein portrayed Sauron as the dark master of Isengard..."Uh...No, Chris...that would either be Saruman, or Mordor...", to which he replied, "What do you mean, Sauron's the master of Isengard"..."Uh, no. Saruman is the master of Isengard, Sauron is the lord of Mordor.", he then shot back, before walking off in a huff "You know I meant Saruman, stop being so bloody pedantic."...

This is one of many occasions i've wanted to smack him in the jaw with a lead pipe...

[Enorëiel]

I hate people who think they know all there is to know! Drives me nuts! I think I'm the only one among my friends who has read the books - some have tried but have never gotten that far. I wish they would but am kinda glad they haven't...it's fun to trick them .

One positive thing to this, before the thrid movie came out, i tricked like 5 girls that Legolas dies!

Ha! I saw it at a midnight showing and they handed out buttons that said 'If you haven't read the books know this one thing, the elf dies.' I wore it to school the next day and (since hardly anyone had seen the movie yet ( it'd only been out for 7 hours)) I had TONS of people fooled. "He dies!!! But he can't die! He's the main character! Isn't he supposed to become the king?" Yeah, it was fun but highly annoying

[Mad Baggins]

Ugh.

I was watching Return of the King with my mom and she was arguing with me for a full fifteen minutes that "Merry and Pippin go with Frodo on the ship! They do! Don't argue with me, I know they do!"

I said, "Mom...I've read the books. They don't go on the ship."

"Yes they do!"

So we had to make a bet of $20. Needless to say, I won.

[Theron Bugtussle]

When I was growing up, I had a Monopoly game. I played it with my family (parents and one brother, younger by two years). I always won. By the time I was in High School, they would not play with me. They absolutely despised the game.

After a while, I couldn't hustle a game from anyone...at all.

So leave it to my own children to get old enough to kick my butt at my own best game.... Well, they should be smart, they are my kids, after all!

[VanimaEdhel]

But you know, at the same time, you have to give them a bit of room. I mean some of them are actually pretty young - if not physically, emotionally - and they're still at a stage where reading "The Lord of the Rings" may be a daunting task. People mature at different ages and some people can't help it if they have short to no attention span. My old best friend (we don't speak anymore, but not for this reason) couldn't even get through the first half of The Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring.

When I first came on here about two and a half years ago through...well, through until recently, really, I was also one of those people that practically got morally offended if someone saw the movies without reading the books, not to mention came into the Chat and started speaking Grelvish. But you know, recently I've decided that I really shouldn't get upset with them. It may take them time to read it. It may not even really be a maturity issue, they may just be happy with their own knowledge. As much as I hate the fact that this is true, as I like trying to learn as much as I can about everything, ignorance is really bliss for some people. And it's really no reason to waste time getting upset if they get a bit of trivia wrong.

So yes, the people who come up to you and say "Tom Bombadil isn't a Lord of the Rings character" are annoying, but is it really worth getting upset about it? I have a friend that actually thinks that it's a serious moral flaw if someone sees the movies without the books, but I don't agree. We can each appreciate things in our own way. Even their not appreciating Tolkien as we think he should be appreciated, at least they're keeping the memory of Tolkien alive, right?

[Sapphire_Flame]

I think I'm the only one among my friends who has read the books

AHEM!!! *points emphatically at self* Hello! Do I not count anymore? You're so mean, Enny. *pouts* (J/K. )

"Mom...I've read the books. They don't go on the ship."

"Yes they do!"

So we had to make a bet of $20.

Whew! Easy 20! That's lofty, Mad Baggins! ^ ^ Sadly, my parents know too much about LotR (and they know better than to bet with me about it) for me to get away with that. I always catch them on Silm and UT stuff though.

Okay, A.A.'s who have only seen the movies are bad. But what about those who have only seen ONE of the movies? Say, their friends dragged them to RotK, but they haven't seen the others, and they still assume they are all-knowing about Middle-earth. Anyone here had to deal with newbies such as this?

Abedithon le,

~*~Aranel~*~