Who is the "Tolkien Master" in your house?

[Elentari_Elbereth]

Hello everyone!

This may seem like a dumb topic, but..

My siblings (3 of them) like LotR, but I'm the only Nerd in it... A thought came to me: Who in your family/ household is the biggest LotR fan/Tolkienite? I read a post some time ago where someone stated they came from a line of tolkienites, with family members named after characters and such (very neat, I'm sorry I don't recall who it was..) and then there are families with only one or 2 big time Tolkien geeks.

I'm the "Tolkien Master" of my house (when compared to other members. There still is so much I have to read!)
What about you?

[Formendacil]

Myself.

My two younger brothers, younger sister, and parents have all read the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. The older brother has read the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales. The rest of the kids liked the movies....

I am the Tolkien expert in the house, acknowledged by others as well as myself. Someone who reads HoME for fun (and third/fourth/fifth readings at that) cannot be taken as anything else.

Except, quite possibly, crazy.

[Kitanna]

My dad is defiantly the Tolkien Master in my house, though I'm slowly catching up to him.

[Encaitare]

I am, of course.

My younger sister has seen and loved the movies, but didn't finish the book. She thinks I'm crazy for spending so much time on the Downs. My mom read the book back in college and has seen all three movies. I think she liked them. My dad simply can't sit through long movies, and I don't know if he read the book. Yet he thinks the Downs are a cool idea, since he loves talking on forums as well.

[Thinlómien]

I am.
My little sister and my dad keep calling me the finnish-Tolkien-finnish -dictionary...
My little sister loves LotR, but she's nothing compared to me... And my dad likes LotR too, but doesn't bother with reading it so much... And my mom thinks that it's just a good book, but not wonderful. And my tortoise doesn't probably even know what it is.

[dancing spawn of ungoliant]

I am.

My big sister, well, she started reading LotR about five years ago. She got stuck somewhere near the mines of Moria and she hasn't touched the book since. My sister thinks I'm absolutely nuts and she used to make fun of me. Not anymore, though, after I took up fencing (Just kidding!)

My mom then. I'd say she has still hope. She has watched all the movies with me and she glanced at her watch only a few times during the films. She said once that she might read LotR but it was over a year ago. She still confuses Aragorn for Boromir.

My dad laughs at my enthusiasm but he has had so good a taste that he read the Hobbit to me when I was five. I don't remember much of it anymore, only that I was really disappointed when "the innocent dragon" got killed. My dad has tried to watch the movies but he can't sit still for a half an hour. Besides, he comments on the characters looks and the fight scenes non-stop. Usually I get frustrated and kick him out. He hasn't read LotR and the only character he knows is Frodo.

[Lalaith]

I'm quite intrigued by all these attention-deficit fathers...

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Perhaps it's a shared quality that we all have, Lalaith... we've all got dad's who can't sit still long enough to watch the movies or read the books. Mine is that way... I told him I'd read Dune when he read the LotR.

Of my family... I quite honestly think it's a toss up between myself and my brother. Keeper's got it down for the Letters and HoME, but I've got it for the Silm and for the LotR. We help each other fine tune our ideas and then come here and argue with you wonderful people. It's quite fun. My eldest brother read the books, but thinks we're insane. My mom thinks that my time could be better put to use doing laundry. My dad... like I said... not interested. Although he did watch the movies. He refers to the Witch King as the "Headless Horseman".

[Elentari_Elbereth]

Originally Posted by Lalaith

I'm quite intrigued by all these attention-deficit fathers...

My dad is like that. he'll read the books and ask: Who is Saruman?

My family watches the movies and my sister comes second in line of tolkien-ness but no where near where I am.

My LotR books have been read by me so many times that they're falling apart and the pages are yellow. And I understood the Silmarillion the first time.

[Lalwendë]

I daren't answer that question because to do so would be considered fighting talk in our house.

That game of LotR Trivial Pursuit was amusing though. To prevent one combatant going right the way round the board in one go, extremely pedantic rules had to be applied...

[AbercrombieOfRohan]

Same with me Lalwende, the first time I played LotR trivial Pursuit, I won in record time. My family now refuses to play with me, and I'm forced to play with myself *cries* or unsuspecting victims... muahaha...

[Anguirel]

Undoubtedly me. My parents both read the Hobbit but failed to get further (my mother, now a novelist, couldn't endure the word "eleventy-one"), my brother's favoured reading matter is "Which Car" magazine, and my sister has only seen the films, partly in order to declare how paltry they are, partly, of course, because she likes to watch them.

I got my mother to watch the films. She was impressed by the architecture and landscapes, enamoured of Viggo, but scared of the Orcs and the violence...

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

There's a steady regress in my family:

- I am the enthusiast.

- My younger brother likes the books and is very critical of the films.

- My mother read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and liked them but thinks that it's all just good entertainment and nothing worth being remotely serious over.

- My father criticises everything about Tolkien in a crude and highly ridiculous manner, despite not having read any of the books.

So we're very well-balanced!

[Elentari_Elbereth]

If we ever talk about LotR or Tolkien in class I'm asked to explain things, and I do so in a very informative way last week I was asked to explain the Ents- that was fun!

My youngest sister won't read the books ( I read them when I was 9 and unerstood them) but loves the movies and likes the liv-tyler-arwen (yuck)

Almost everything i've written this year for english class had been about Tolkien or LotR, and I received excellent grades

speaking of which, who REALLY wished Glorfindel was in the movie? I was outraged for a very long time...

[Firefoot]

Me. 'Nuff said.

Seriously, though, the next closest thing is my brother, who I think has yet to read RotK. He really liked the Hobbit, and has enjoyed the movies, however I think he is not yet mature enough to appreciate LotR. He routinely refers to Sam as a "fat idiot" ( ); he doesn't like Frodo either *tsk tsk*. He tends to miss the finer points of the book.

Then there's my mom, who at least has gleaned some knowledge in the years since I first read LotR, and was able to appreciate a joke my aunt made concerning my cousin's friend, Gollum, and "precious." However, once while watching LotR, she was nearby and I guess was listening a bit and asked about Gandalf: "So is he the bad guy?"

And my dad, well, has made no effort.

So. Me. 'Nuff said.

[Thinlómien]

That game of LotR Trivial Pursuit was amusing though.

You should appreciate that someone agrees to play it with you... I asked it for a Christmas present (after I had lost the geography-Trivial Pursuit to both my mom and my little sister several times) and my mom said: "You can probably have it if you want, but no one promises to play it with you. I won't play it with you." And my sister said "Neither I" and so I didn't ask it because there's no sense in playing it alone...

Originally Posted by Thinlómien

You should appreciate that someone agrees to play it with you... I asked it for a Christmas present (after I had lost the geography-Trivial Pursuit to both my mom and my little sister several times) and my mom said: "You can probably have it if you want, but no one promises to play it with you. I won't play it with you." And my sister said "Neither I" and so I didn't ask it because there's no sense in playing it alone...

Last time I played it, they let me be two characters in a row. Sort of a handicap.

I still filled Frodo and Galadriel both (one after the other) before they filled their characters. But they did have fun.

[Glirdan]

Me, myself and I.

My sis is only five and can't read, my mom read the books and has seen the movies. I'm pretty sure she liked them, but she's not a big fan like me. My dad watched the movies but never read the books ( what's with all the dad's?). My mom is probably the only person in my family who is close to me in the LOtR fan club, and she doesnt even know about the other books Tolkien wrote and can't remember a single thing when I ask her a question about LOtR. Shows how much ahead I am of her, hey?

[Evisse the Blue]

My younger sister is truly the expert of the family. Whenever there's something I want to know, like 'hey, sis, quick, who was the twelfth king of Numenor?" I ask her. She's the most obsessed one in the house. With me ranking second, and mom still waiting for the right mood to begin reading Silmarillion. She loves LOTR though.
I've been persuading my sister to register here since forever, but she's not that fond of computers, so she prefers to watch what I show her from time to time.

I am the expert as I am pretty much only Tolkien lover in the house anyway. My sister managed two books, my brother three, my father liked it as a child and my mum can happily do without it.

So I am alone in my musings which is why I'm here!

~Dommy

[Elentari_Elbereth]

My youngest sister tried to read the hobbit and quit (??how??)
Odd thing is, my brother introduced me to Tolkien and he dislikes it now. Thinks I'm nuts for reading it so much..

... Oh hey! I've got another question for all of you: How old were you when you first read the books? (including the hobbit)

I read the hobbit as one of the first books I read. I must have 7 or 8. at 9 I read the Fellowship of the ring and it took me 2 days to read through TTT the first time, and RotK followed. by the time the movies came out, I was 11 and had read the trilogy I read them every year or more since, and have gotten through most of the Silmarillion just recently (I can't BELIEVE I never read it earlier!!!! )

[Bêthberry]

There is no "Tolkien Master" in my household as that would be both a burden and a domination that we avoid.

Instead, we have readers who are responsible for their own reading and appreciation of Tolkien.

[Larien Telemnar]

If I had to say (Not boasting, of course), it is I, sayeth the Hobbit. My father calls me obsessed, my mother tells me not to randomly qoute the books and movies, and my sister thinks it's amusing when I suddenly start dancing around singing the pub song. I think I'm fine the way I am.

Oohooh! I made up a tune to sing to the song they sang for Boromir when he died! It's kinda cool, if I do say so myself.

[Legolas]

Myself, easily. My brother, a year younger, read the Lord of the Rings before I did, but read the Hobbit after I did and hasn't read anything further.

Parents and sister have seen the movies and love them, but don't really read a lot. My sister is started to read more though, and I have faith that she will in due time.

[Arwen Imladris]

I am, naturally, the designated 'Tolkien Master' in my house. Nobody in my house doesn't like the Lord of the Rings (would they dare say so if they did?) but I remain the only person to have read the Silmarillion, UT, or any of the HOME series.

My parents started on us all when we were young, reading LOTR and the Hobbit to us. Plus we've all read the books ourselves as well as watching the Peter Jackson movie. But I'm the only one who has watched all of the commentaries and everything.

[Lhunardawen]

I would have said my brother Nilp, but I'm not about to give up yet. After all, I was the one who introduced Tolkien to him. But then again, he has read some HoME books while I can't even start BoLT 1...

[Elianna]

Undoubtly, me.

My brother introduced me to at least the "Riddles in the Dark" chapter of Hobbit when I was 10-ish, and read The Hobbit to us as a family when I was 13. (I was going to start reading LotR right after that, but failed. Note to newbies: DO NOT read the Prologue first time though LotR.) He has LotR, Silm and BoLT 1 on his bookshelf, but I don't know how often he looks at them; he used to have Lays of Beleriand, but gave his own copy to me for Christmas. He thinks it's scary and overwhelming how much I know about Tolkien. (His soon-to-be-infinacee thinks it's cool though, score eleventy-one for her!)

My other brother has seen the movies, makes fun of the cartoons, and thought Glorfindel was a girl when he understandingly got me lots of LotR wallpaper for my computer.

My sister, let's say, understands my addiction.

My mom has seen the movies and liked Orli (but evidently, that was only a fleeting crush). Just yesterday, she shook her head like I was crazy to love this stuff when she read the Introduction to Silm, learning that Tolkien makes footnotes in his letters.

And to add to the list of Dad's: Mine gets Gandalf and Gollum's names confused.

[Elentari_Elbereth]

Originally Posted by Elianna

And to add to the list of Dad's: Mine gets Gandalf and Gollum's names confused.

Wow. that's a new one! I wonder what it is with dads and LotR... My dad didn't even know Tolkien wrote other books for a while. he was like "what IS that?" when I was reading the Silmarillion...

Mine watched the films multiple times and still can't remember who Faramir is..

So very strange indeed.

Also, this past week at a summer camp, I met another Tolkien fan. we had an argument over who knew more- I won. heh heh. but she was still a bit younger than I was...

[Cailín]

My dad, definitely. He's the only one in the family who read other books than LotR and the Hobbit. The Lord of the Rings movies are the only ones he actually gets (strangely, my dad also seems to have quite a short attention span).

My mother does not bother with fantasy and my brother thinks the movies are cool, but the books are a total drag. Ah well.

[Elwe Singollo]

I'm the Tolkien Master in my famliy. I have all the extended DVD's of the films and i have Hobbit. the Silmarillion, and LOTR all on audio tape and unabridged. LOTR is 52 hours long if you listened to the whole thing in one go. I have all those audio books as actauly books as well and i have a special edition copy of the Hobbit and I have Unfinished Tales as well though I haven't read that. My friends all think im a bit of a boffin.

[Dimturiel]

All my family loves Tolkien and we have a lot of intresting discussions about LOTR and we have watched the movies together many times. We have also read "Lothlorien" and "Helm's Deep" aloud on New Year's eve. But I have to say that I am the greatest Tolkien fan, or at least this is what my family says. I am the one that knows most about LOTR, although I am shortly followed by my sister. Also, I write a lot of poems that are either inspired from Tolkien's works, either are from the point of view of his characters. I read them to my family to ask their opinion, and they have liked them so far. Or at least that is what they tell me. Since I have a lot of pictures with Aragorn holding his sword on my walls, I cannot tell if they really like my poems or are just afraid I might get mad and ask dear old Anduril for some help.

[Alcarillo]

I am the Tolkien expert in my house. My mother comes in second quite a way behind me. She's read The Two Towers and The Return of the King after seeing the first movie, but that's it. My sister's read The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, and my dad hasn't read any Tolkien. I've tried to get my mother to read the Akallabêth, but she quit after a few pages, and whenever I try to start a long Tolkien-related conversation they groan and take cover.

[Turgon Philip Noldor]

Myself of course! Since I have read the all Three Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and the Silmarillion (sp?). Though there is a lot more I can know about Middle Earth, I am the "Master" of my house.

[Morsul the Dark]

It would be me...And compared to most on this site i know nothing...novie-wise i am nearly untouchable however in the trivial pursuit game I have gone through the entire game in one turn

[Joy]

Me, I am the only one who has read the books. Several of my cousins started to read them, but they gave up. 1 has read The Hobbit and LotR, but that is as far as they have gotten.

My parents have only seen the movie. My dad absolutely refuses to read anything but the Reader Digest (and that is only while waiting in the drs office!)

[Glirdan]

I read The Hobbit first when I was about 13 ( ) I saw the FotR and TTT before i read ANY of the books. And it took me about 1 week to read all the books. But now I read the books more than I watch the movie and I wish that I read the books before I saw the movies because the books always have more information in them.

[Elrowen Tinúviel]

I am definately the Tolkien/LOTR freak in my house.

My dad (who doesn't count anymore since the mutiny ) might have read the books one time, and has seen the movies... but hasn't "gotten it"... like, when we're talking about it, he'll be like "the dead men of what? "
My mom hasn't read any of the books, she saw the movies though... but doesn't take it seriously ('cept for Faramir.... she likes him...). Pretty much what she knows aside from casually watching the movies has been drilled into her brain by my incessant talking on the matter.
My older brother and one of my younger sisters have read the books, and seen the movies. They don't really get into it though. My sister does more so than my brother... fortunately (though when I start talking of the Elves, she starts walking away... I wonder why....) *looks innocent*
The others in my family have seen the movies, but that's about as far as it goes.

I haven't yet been able to convince anyone to read the Silmarillion... unfortunately. And as far as learning Elvish? Everyone thinks I'm crazy to even want to learn.

-Elrowen Tinúviel

[brim]

Looks around and shrugs. No one else in the household has read the books sure they've seen the movie a couple times... but who forced them to go. there is so much more in the books that movies can't show. (Peter Jackson did do a fantastic job hands down) Although I don't really understand ,and probibly never will fully, some of the great aspects of tolkein's writing. I still am the tolkein freak in the house.

apologies to grammar and spelling my computer doesn't have word perfect.

[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

I share a house with a two postgraduates, neither of whom knows or particularly wants to know a lot about Tolkien. In my family I am the undisputed authority, although they're all becoming conversant with him thanks to my incessant recommendations. My sister has read LotR, and my mother has been reading it on and off for about a year (busy people have little time for reading); my brother and my father are tougher nuts to crack, since neither tends to do much recreational reading. They have seen the films, though.

This is quite ironic, since it was my parents who first got me interested in Tolkien by buying me a copy of The Hobbit for Christmas when I was eight. Apparently it was chosen on the basis of the synopsis on its dust jacket because it sounded like the sort of story I might enjoy. More than twenty years on, I'm studying for an M.A. in Tolkien's field, largely thanks to that one gift. If I'm any kind of an expert, I think that they deserve at least some of the credit.

I'm not sure who knows the most about Tolkien on the course. I do know an up-and-coming runologist who has learned the Tengwar, which I still haven't mastered; and as one would expect my supervisor knows a lot more than I do about Tolkien's sources and professional work. When I really want to be humbled, though, I come to the dear old Barrow Downs and read the arguments in The Books; or I open up the HoME and consider the scholarship that went into Tolkien's recreational writing. There's always a better authority somewhere.