How were you introduced to Tolkien? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Alcidas · 11-11-2013, 06:44 AM

Picked it up in my school library when I was 12. Wanted to go on to read the Lord of the Rings, but they did not have a copy, and I only got to read it when I went to secondary school.

blantyr · 11-11-2013, 04:10 PM

I was around 12 years old. It was Christmas. I was looking forward to toys. My aunt gave me books, instead. Books! A series of three of them. Stupid aunt. My mother insisted I give them a shot.

It only took 30 years for me to wear them out, and have to buy a new set.

Faramir Jones · 11-13-2013, 09:48 AM

When I was 10, I saw a dramatised version of The Hobbit on a UK children's TV series called Jackanory, transmitted over 2 weeks and 10 episodes. I was impressed; as it was a nice mix of very well and less well-known actors of the time, Bernard Cribbins playing Bilbo Baggins.

While the effect of the dramatisation on me was significant, it was delayed; because it was two years later before I began to read the book. The occasion was my family moving house, me coming across a forgotten copy of The Hobbit, and eventually reading it to pieces. The rest, for me, is history...

Ring Bearer · 07-20-2021, 03:00 PM

It was the "Riddles in the Dark" scene for me in the first Hobbit movie.

Read "The Hobbit" in the summer of either 2013 or 2014.
I still haven't read The Lord of the Rings--I intend to read them some day.

I do know about a lot of things from the book because of the Internet(and my brother).
I do not intend to read The Silm because it is just too long(and I have spent hours on the Fandom wikia reading about the characters and thus know that it is too time consuming and meaningless for me).

***Mithadan*** · 07-24-2021, 07:49 PM

I have already posted to say how I was first introduced to Tolkien. And perhaps this should be a new thread, but I am curious.

For those of you who were first introduced to Tolkien via the movies, how did this affect your first reading of the books? Do you regret not reading the books first? And did reading the books affect your view of the movies?

Bêthberry · 07-27-2021, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mithadan

I have already posted to say how I was first introduced to Tolkien. And perhaps this should be a new thread, but I am curious.

For those of you who were first introduced to Tolkien via the movies, how did this affect your first reading of the books? Do you regret not reading the books first? And did reading the books affect your view of the movies?

Excellent questions, Mithadan!

Inziladun · 07-27-2021, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mithadan

I have already posted to say how I was first introduced to Tolkien. And perhaps this should be a new thread, but I am curious.

For those of you who were first introduced to Tolkien via the movies, how did this affect your first reading of the books? Do you regret not reading the books first? And did reading the books affect your view of the movies?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Excellent questions, Mithadan!

I'm interested in that myself!

I've searched inwardly at times, trying to see if I always prefer print to visual treatment, as I do with Tolkien. It seems it's often the case, but not always.

If others feel similarly, what sets the Professor's works apart?

MCRmyGirl4eva · 12-12-2013, 12:02 PM

I had the 1st and 3rd movies at home, and I had watched part of Fellowship, but I usually watched Disney or read Harry Potter instead. However, when the Return of the King video game came out, my neighbor bought it for her son and I would play it with him. (By which I mean get killed by the elephants). I liked the game, even though I was terrible, so I watched Fellowship and Return of the King all the way through. Since we didn't have The Two Towers, I read in in my freshman year of High School when I saw that my school library had it. Then I read Fellowship and ROTK, and I found TTT movie at a flea market, so I bought it and watched it.

Eowyn-of-Rohan · 11-24-2015, 10:41 AM

I got introduced to LotR when my parents watched the movies. I had nothing better to do so I decided to watch FotR with them. I was hooked from that point on. I immediately started reading the books and finished those within a few weeks. Then I decided to read The Hobbit and finished that in a day. I have been obsessed with Tolkien and Middle Earth since.

TilloW · 12-12-2015, 06:30 PM

My parents had read the Hobbit so I thought that I would try it. It's a great book so I thought read the sequels. They were great books so I read the Silmarillion. That was a great book so I read Unfinished Tales. Oh, and I've seen the movies in between.

Inziladun · 06-03-2019, 03:59 PM

My father first read The Hobbit to me when I was probably around 5 years old, and I've been enthralled with Middle-earth ever since.

Today is his birthday, and the first since he passed this last March. I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge that particular debt of gratitude.

Formendacil · 06-03-2019, 05:44 PM

I am surprised to discover I never replied to this thread (that surely means I replied to some similar once)--but, a decade or more on, it's certainly not too late.

I came to Tolkien by way of Narnia: my dad had both the Narnia books and The Hobbit and LotR on his shelf--he'd been into both authors in his college years. I was about 9 when, having exhausted Narnia and tired temporarily of rereading it, I decided to sample the thicker, darker volume with a dragon on front (a Methuen softcover featuring Tolkien's famous Smaug on the hoard illustration). I had read enough--I was a voracious reader then, as I can sadly no longer claim--to know that Tolkien and Lewis were friends, and I hoped it would satisfy the itch.

I'm not sure it, but the new itch reading The Hobbit opened up has never been satisfied. Naturally, reading The Hobbit led to reading The Lord of the Rings. I was definitely just a little too young to QUITE enjoy it, but I enjoyed more than enough that I came back to it again and again. I've guesstimated for the sake of putting numbers into Goodreads that I read The Lord of the Rings twice a year from then until the mid-2000s, but that number is probably low. When I finished it, I went back and restarted it. I devoured the Appendices.

Naturally, it was only a matter of time before I read The Silmarillion. It was difficult and required even more attention, but it clicked somewhere around the second or third reading (roughly when I sorted out all the Fin-s). That barrier broken, Unfinished Tales was smooth sailing. That exhausted my dad's collection, and I was now working the library system to get ahold of the HoME in the year or two immediately prior to the movies being released. I was not emotionally ready for those, which turned my private passion into something that just about everybody had an opinion about and seemed to think they knew (but really, said 14-year-old me, how dare they even say "Haldir is hot" if they haven't read The Lays of Beleriand or "The Sea-Bell"?)

Slowly the teenaged years passed and I found the 'Downs at the end of them, and I'd mostly leeched the need to "possess" Middle-earth as mine and mine alone out of my system. Just as well, since this website and the shared nature of the fandom has become, well, rather important to my life's story. (cf. the wife I met through the 'Downs and our nearly-year-old baby...)

Urwen · 06-04-2019, 12:09 PM

I watched the movies, and I took a shine to Frodo. Then I got LoTR and Silmarillion books, and I started liking Eowyn, Maedhros and Lomion, and the rest is history.

***Mithadan*** · 06-15-2019, 02:51 PM

I was a young science fiction fan and wanted to try fantasy. By reputation, The Hobbit was among the best. The other fourth grade class was reading it and I borrowed a copy. When I finished, I learned about the sequel and read that. The rest is history (and well-documented elsewhere).

11-11-2013, 06:44 AM	#1
Alcidas Animated Skeleton Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: DerbySHIRE Posts: 32	Picked it up in my school library when I was 12. Wanted to go on to read the Lord of the Rings, but they did not have a copy, and I only got to read it when I went to secondary school. __________________ Free Miniature Printables for 28-32mm Scale

11-11-2013, 04:10 PM	#2
blantyr Wight Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Settling down in Bree for the winter. Posts: 208	Good thing I made it through the party scene... I was around 12 years old. It was Christmas. I was looking forward to toys. My aunt gave me books, instead. Books! A series of three of them. Stupid aunt. My mother insisted I give them a shot. It only took 30 years for me to wear them out, and have to buy a new set.

11-13-2013, 09:48 AM	#3
Faramir Jones Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Lonely Isle Posts: 706	I was 10 When I was 10, I saw a dramatised version of The Hobbit on a UK children's TV series called Jackanory, transmitted over 2 weeks and 10 episodes. I was impressed; as it was a nice mix of very well and less well-known actors of the time, Bernard Cribbins playing Bilbo Baggins. While the effect of the dramatisation on me was significant, it was delayed; because it was two years later before I began to read the book. The occasion was my family moving house, me coming across a forgotten copy of The Hobbit, and eventually reading it to pieces. The rest, for me, is history...

07-20-2021, 03:00 PM	#4
Ring Bearer Animated Skeleton Join Date: Apr 2021 Location: Bag End, The Shire Posts: 26	It was the "Riddles in the Dark" scene for me in the first Hobbit movie. Read "The Hobbit" in the summer of either 2013 or 2014. I still haven't read The Lord of the Rings--I intend to read them some day. I do know about a lot of things from the book because of the Internet(and my brother). I do not intend to read The Silm because it is just too long(and I have spent hours on the Fandom wikia reading about the characters and thus know that it is too time consuming and meaningless for me). __________________ "I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened." "So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."

07-24-2021, 07:49 PM	#5
*Mithadan* Spirit of Mist Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Tol Eressea Posts: 3,397	I have already posted to say how I was first introduced to Tolkien. And perhaps this should be a new thread, but I am curious. For those of you who were first introduced to Tolkien via the movies, how did this affect your first reading of the books? Do you regret not reading the books first? And did reading the books affect your view of the movies? __________________ Beleriand, Beleriand, the borders of the Elven-land.

12-12-2013, 12:02 PM	#8
MCRmyGirl4eva Shade of Carn Dûm Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: The Elvenking's Halls Posts: 425	I had the 1st and 3rd movies at home, and I had watched part of Fellowship, but I usually watched Disney or read Harry Potter instead. However, when the Return of the King video game came out, my neighbor bought it for her son and I would play it with him. (By which I mean get killed by the elephants). I liked the game, even though I was terrible, so I watched Fellowship and Return of the King all the way through. Since we didn't have The Two Towers, I read in in my freshman year of High School when I saw that my school library had it. Then I read Fellowship and ROTK, and I found TTT movie at a flea market, so I bought it and watched it. __________________ "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit..." "'Well, I'm back.' said Sam."

11-24-2015, 10:41 AM	#9
Eowyn-of-Rohan Newly Deceased Join Date: Nov 2015 Posts: 3	I got introduced to LotR when my parents watched the movies. I had nothing better to do so I decided to watch FotR with them. I was hooked from that point on. I immediately started reading the books and finished those within a few weeks. Then I decided to read The Hobbit and finished that in a day. I have been obsessed with Tolkien and Middle Earth since.

12-12-2015, 06:30 PM	#10
TilloW Newly Deceased Join Date: Oct 2015 Posts: 3	My parents had read the Hobbit so I thought that I would try it. It's a great book so I thought read the sequels. They were great books so I read the Silmarillion. That was a great book so I read Unfinished Tales. Oh, and I've seen the movies in between.

06-03-2019, 03:59 PM	#11
Inziladun Gruesome Spectre Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Heaven's doorstep Posts: 8,039	My father first read The Hobbit to me when I was probably around 5 years old, and I've been enthralled with Middle-earth ever since. Today is his birthday, and the first since he passed this last March. I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge that particular debt of gratitude. __________________ Music alone proves the existence of God.

06-03-2019, 05:44 PM	#12
Formendacil Dead Serious Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Perched on Thangorodrim's towers. Posts: 3,328	I am surprised to discover I never replied to this thread (that surely means I replied to some similar once)--but, a decade or more on, it's certainly not too late. I came to Tolkien by way of Narnia: my dad had both the Narnia books and The Hobbit and LotR on his shelf--he'd been into both authors in his college years. I was about 9 when, having exhausted Narnia and tired temporarily of rereading it, I decided to sample the thicker, darker volume with a dragon on front (a Methuen softcover featuring Tolkien's famous Smaug on the hoard illustration). I had read enough--I was a voracious reader then, as I can sadly no longer claim--to know that Tolkien and Lewis were friends, and I hoped it would satisfy the itch. I'm not sure it, but the new itch reading The Hobbit opened up has never been satisfied. Naturally, reading The Hobbit led to reading The Lord of the Rings. I was definitely just a little too young to QUITE enjoy it, but I enjoyed more than enough that I came back to it again and again. I've guesstimated for the sake of putting numbers into Goodreads that I read The Lord of the Rings twice a year from then until the mid-2000s, but that number is probably low. When I finished it, I went back and restarted it. I devoured the Appendices. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before I read The Silmarillion. It was difficult and required even more attention, but it clicked somewhere around the second or third reading (roughly when I sorted out all the Fin-s). That barrier broken, Unfinished Tales was smooth sailing. That exhausted my dad's collection, and I was now working the library system to get ahold of the HoME in the year or two immediately prior to the movies being released. I was not emotionally ready for those, which turned my private passion into something that just about everybody had an opinion about and seemed to think they knew (but really, said 14-year-old me, how dare they even say "Haldir is hot" if they haven't read The Lays of Beleriand or "The Sea-Bell"?) Slowly the teenaged years passed and I found the 'Downs at the end of them, and I'd mostly leeched the need to "possess" Middle-earth as mine and mine alone out of my system. Just as well, since this website and the shared nature of the fandom has become, well, rather important to my life's story. (cf. the wife I met through the 'Downs and our nearly-year-old baby...) __________________ I prefer history, true or feigned.

06-04-2019, 12:09 PM	#13
Urwen Spirit of Nen Lalaith Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Meneltarma Posts: 5,408	I watched the movies, and I took a shine to Frodo. Then I got LoTR and Silmarillion books, and I started liking Eowyn, Maedhros and Lomion, and the rest is history. __________________ Tuor: Yeah, it was me who broke [Morleg's] arm. With a wrench. Specifically, this wrench. I am suffering from Maeglinomaniacal Maeglinophilia.

06-15-2019, 02:51 PM	#14
*Mithadan* Spirit of Mist Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Tol Eressea Posts: 3,397	I was a young science fiction fan and wanted to try fantasy. By reputation, The Hobbit was among the best. The other fourth grade class was reading it and I borrowed a copy. When I finished, I learned about the sequel and read that. The rest is history (and well-documented elsewhere). __________________ Beleriand, Beleriand, the borders of the Elven-land.