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Feanor5691
Registered User
Oct 9 2014, 3:39pm
Post #1 of 8
(772 views)
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Tolkien and and your lives
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Hello everyone...
I'm new here, but I already want to talk about a very heavy subject in the Tolkien world.
I want to ask you all a question. How much has Tolkien influenced you in your personal life?
I am writing my senior thesis based upon this question
So, it would be amazingly awesome if you would answer
Thank you
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Annael
Immortal
Oct 9 2014, 4:14pm
Post #2 of 8
(480 views)
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I could say "a lot" but would that help you?
We've had others come here & ask us to be their research guinea pigs, but usually they develop a questionnaire and ask interested people to send them a PM so they can e-mail them the questionnaire.
To be sane we must recognize our beliefs as fictions.
- James Hillman, Healing Fiction
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
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Feanor5691
Registered User
Oct 9 2014, 4:29pm
Post #3 of 8
(481 views)
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Before I ask in a more concise manner, I want to make something clear...
You are not guinea pigs.
I am observing something that I am very involved in. The point of my thesis is also a personal journey of how Tolkien has affected my life in 3 ways: Academic, religious and personal.
I want to compare my own experience with all of you..
Yes, vagueness is an issue because the topic is sorta vague.
Let me try to re-form the question.
In what ways has your life changed because of this author?
Why would you consider this author to be so important? What was it that this author did that drew you in and made you a "fan"?
Is that better?
If you want to send me a private message, feel free to do so...
All of this will be anonymous
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Darkstone
Immortal
Oct 9 2014, 4:55pm
Post #4 of 8
(477 views)
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...there was Mardi back in college. She was carrying a copy of FOTR so I struck up a conversation with her.
After a few weeks things were on the verge of getting serious when she had to take her twin sons and leave town because her ex was getting really threatening.
She never contacted me afterward, so I figure there were just too many things going on in her life. Hope things worked out for her.
Still, we'll always have Tolkien.
******************************************
"My friend,” said Gandalf, “you had horses, and deeds of arms, and the free fields; but she, born in the body of a maid, had a spirit and courage at least the match of yours. Yet she was doomed to wait upon an old man, whom she loved as a father, and watch him falling into a mean dishonoured dotage; and her part seemed to her more ignoble than that of the staff he leaned on.
“Think you that Wormtongue had poison only for Théoden's ears? ‘Dotard! What is the house of Eorl but a thatched barn where brigands drink in the reek, and their brats roll on the floor among their dogs?’ Have you not heard those words before? Saruman spoke them, the teacher of Wormtongue. Though I do not doubt that Wormtongue at home wrapped their meaning in terms more cunning. My lord, if your sister's love for you, and her will still bent to her duty, had not restrained her lips; you might have heard even such things as these escape them. But who knows what she spoke to the darkness, alone, in the bitter watches of the night, when all her life seemed shrinking, and the walls of her bower closing in about her, a hutch to trammel some wild thing in?”
“I'm gonna wash Rohan right outa my hair,
I'm gonna wash Rohan right outa my hair,
I'm gonna wash Rohan right outa my hair,
And I’ll be on my way!
“If a land don't understand you,
No matter how many regimes,
Saddle up, do not wait,
Don’t waste time at the weapontake.
Muster out of that roll call.
Ride Windfola out to your dreams!
“If the house of Eorl is nothing more,
Than a barn where brigands drink,
Their brats and dogs roll on the floor,
Then you know what the door is for,
Muster out of that roll call,
Wash Rohan into the sink!
“I'm gonna wash Rohan right outa my hair,
I'm gonna wash Rohan right outa my hair,
I'm gonna wash Rohan right outa my hair,
And I’ll be on my way!"
-Rodgers and Hammerstein, The Lord of the Rings
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dijomaja
Lorien
Oct 11 2014, 12:18pm
Post #5 of 8
(419 views)
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open-ended questions are fine with me
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I think you may get more of a range of ideas if you leave something to interpretation.
One thing I've noticed during my 40 yrs. (and counting) with LotR is the way the story applies to different life stages. Young people tend to relate to the Hobbits first. They leave their safe, protected homes only to find out that the world is bigger, more amazing and a lot more dangerous than they had imagined. This is pretty much the experience of every young person everywhere. Other characters in that story have to make difficult choices that will affect the lives of those around them, possibly forever. Adults know what this is like. Likewise, the older, wiser characters learn that even age and wisdom can’t supply all the answers.
I don't believe we need to ask ourselves, "What would Frodo (or Spiderman, et al.) do?" to get through our lives but I've found that a great story can give us a lot of insight into our own lives as well as those of the characters.
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dreamflower
Lorien
Oct 15 2014, 4:30pm
Post #7 of 8
(383 views)
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I first read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings in 1967 at the age of 15. Because of Tolkien, I became a believing Christian (rather than merely a social one) and I met my husband of 38 years. In addition, nearly all my hobbies revolve around my interest in Middle-earth, such as fanfiction, fanart and crafts. And the majority of my friends are fellow Tolkien geeks. I'm in my sixth decade of life, and love Tolkien's work more than ever.
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QuackingTroll
Valinor
Oct 17 2014, 9:00pm
Post #8 of 8
(430 views)
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I thought books and reading was boring...
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Never read a book (except those you're forced to read in school) and found it hard to concentrate on reading, I'd get bored and zone-out and have to re-read sentences many times.
Saw FotR in the cinema with friends when I was 13 and loved it, rewatched it many times on DVD and became intrigued by Bilbo's ring finding, so picked up The Hobbit around the time TTT was released.
I struggled with concentration but got my way through it. I then re-read it and absorbed every word and then moved on to Lord of the Rings.
Now 25 I read regularly and go back to LotR about once a year. I really don't think I'd be reading if it wasn't for Tolkien, so I'm very grateful for his works. I find it interesting that my favourite book to read also happens to be the first book I ever read.
(This post was edited by QuackingTroll on Oct 17 2014, 9:03pm)
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