Hey Anaarkhal! :cool:

Nearly similar situation for me as well.
The Hobbit movies got my Tolkien internet interest back up enough to start posting again as well.

I had forgotten about this site until doing a Tolkien discussion board search and found few results other than theonering and I'm not interested in posting there--too many spoilers. Then I saw Barrow-downs and thought... I remember that site. Kind of. When I got here a little more came back to memory.

Yeah, 10 years ago there was a plethora of sites.
I posted to a lot of them too.
Now, just a few remain.
As I recall, this site was one of the better ones even then.

So welcome. Belated (re)intro for myself as well at the same time.

Oh, well it seems like there are a few regulars, anyway. And that is something considering the site was created around a decade old event. I like it.


FlimFlamSam, same to you!

Welcome back!
 

Nice to have you back, Anaarkhal! :)

Hello everyone!

Having archive-binged nearly the whole of the books section on this forum, I have decided to join this site. I think it's arguably the best of Tolkien forums, dead or alive (or undead) and it seems from all you lot say that there are precious few of those on the net anymore! I wish I could have experienced and engaged in this fandom at its apex - browsing all the old stuff does bring a certain measure of regret - but I am definitely too young to have done any of that.

I am in secondary school, only going into Year 9 in September. I live in bright, sunny England, in the gorgeous little city of Oxford. I first read The Hobbit and LOTR nearly three years ago when I was eleven. Since then the Appendices have fallen out of my copy of Return of the King (my sister has now bound them separately :D), I have read The Silm and UT, and would have liked to have devoured HoMe too, if I could afford them, what with their eye-watering £120 price tag. I've recently bagged The Book of Lost Tales Part 1, though.

My interests and hobbies include writing and drawing/painting (not that I'm all that good at either :)), quizzing, films, languages, spending time with my friends and, of course, analysis and discussion of Tolkien's work (though I'm definitely not keen on anything too scholarly, rigid and absolute.) I love to fill in the gaps as well as see others' interpretation of things. After all, I think its the applicability (and often even ambiguity) of JRRT's work that makes it what is.

That's enough from me now. :)

Yay! I'm finally not the youngest one around! :D (I'm going into Grade 10, or, as you people across the pond say it, Year 10) Well, at least, if you stay here...

Erm, um, uhhh... right.


Welcome, Narnangol! This is definitely the best Tolkien-related (and non-Tolkien-related too) forum that I've seen on the web. I think you'll find many things here that will interest you on top of the Books discussions.

Well, Galadriel55, the year-grade thing translates differently, as Year 1 here begins with the kids a little younger than Grade 1 does. If you were across the pond, then you'd now be going into Year 11, not 10. So even better for you. :D

Oh...my mistake... I didn't know that. But that means I'd have one year less of school! :D Unless you have 13 Years. :confused: But if I was in Russia, I'd only need 9 years/grades for colledge and 11 for Uni.

Why am I even saying all that? :p

We do have 13 years- effectively 14 since although it isn't compulsory most children go into a "Reception" class at 4. And the not quite compulsory last two year are often still referred to as "Sixth form" at least by relative oldies like me...

Anyway lovely to have another Brit especially from Oxford - heart of Tolkiendom on earth?

Mithalwen, everyone I know refers to Years 12 and 13 as Sixth Form still. :)

As for Oxford, I should definitely like to think it's the heart of Tolkiendom on earth! It's lovely to come across places I know Tolkien has been, and even lived: whenever my dad drives me into town, he drops me off on Merton Street! Acknowledging all this makes me giddy. :D

I must admit I lived in Oxford for a year and did nothing Tolkieny - I had ground to a halt with HoME before the more approachable History of LOTR volumes emerged and I did a lit degree which meant that I had plenty of other things to read. I am not overly fond of the films but they did get me into Tolkien again. But I have been to the grave and his favourite tree and I did go and have a look at his house in Bournemouth (now demolished).

hello
 

Hi,

Thanks for this forum. I'm a brazilian tolkien fan and a collector of tolkien-based music! If you have some good sugestions, tell me! :D

Hey Zickerr, welcome!

The music... well there is a lot of it made by some famous composers, some theatre-companies, musically (at)tuned Tolkien lovers and the basic Barrow-Downers (not to talk of people on other web-sites - even if they can't beat us... :rolleyes:).

I think you have some pretty intresting threads here to the music of the Arda / music of the Middle Earth as we have a few professionals abroad and quite a many afficionados as well to make it interesting and educating at the same time.

So just delve into the threads and when you don't find what you seek, open a new one for your specific questions / ideas.

Welcome, Zickerr!

The Downs truly has people from everywhere around the globe!

And, like Nog said, there are many different music-related threads hereabouts. I remember an old thread with link to Downers' compositions in honour of ME, I'll try to search for it, if it interrests you...

Welcome Zickerr, Narnangol, Anaarkhal, FlimFlamSam and Willow! Enjoy being dead. :smokin:

Hey, thanks a lot for your help
 

You're all right, there are many composers and albums inspired by Tolkien, and I've bought some of them. Many are very good and many others are not. :p

At this moment, I'm interested (but not only) in that music made before the movies. Not because I think that only pre-movie music are good, but it's just a way to made some selection, and because I think that the movie inspired a lot of opportunist composers and bands (not all of them, of course – the Tolkien Ensemble work is really amazing, and the soundtrack of LotR too).

These days, I'm enjoying with Donald Swann, Hobbitons and Bo Hansson and I'm looking for "songs of middle earth" by James Satark, that I can't find even after months of search (can we talk about .mp3 files here?). If you had a clue, tell me.

And, please, Galadriel55, send me link to Downers' compositions, I'm very interested. Thanks again, and sorry about my english. :D

Whoops, forgot to post here before I made my first thread. Almiel here, and a very very long time ago, I was a Barrow-Downs lurker. When looking for some translation help, I found it again. I did not become a fan until after FotR came out (I was very nearly dragged there by my dad), but as soon as I saw it, I devoured the books and have read them several times since. I've been working on purchasing more Middle-Earth books - reading them is another story. I'm currently working my way through The Silmarillion (I have started it about a thousand times, but this time I'm actually going to finish it).

Hi, zickerr, and welcome! I'm one of the Downers who's very interested in Tolkien-related music and has done some research on the use of music in the books as well as listening to compositions inspired by JRRT's works.

I just recently started a thread introducing the LotR Symphony by Johan de Meij, which was composed in the 80s, well before the movies were made. It's wonderful music! More information and a link here.

Several Downers have written on the topic, and we have a sub-forum dedicated to the book Music in Middle-earth here.

I'll post more for you when I have time to look deeper into the forum...

Welcome! It's good to finish The Sil - very rewarding :D

Greetings all,

Just thought I would post here and introduce myself. Well, to be truthful I have been a barrow downs member for years, and though like many I didn't stop liking Tolkien, other things just took priority. Now, that I'm older and enjoying Tolkien maybe a bit more mature manner I'm looking to reconnect with the Tolkien fan community and see how everyone else has been doing since the "glory days".

Hope everyone is well, and look forward to discussing all things Middle Earth.

- Glofin

Welcome back, Glofin!

Welcome back, Glofin! And Elfchick! :)

Welcome back, and hope to see your posts more often :)

Welcome back!
 

Welcome back, Glofin!

Nice to have you join us!
 

It's nice to have you join us, almiel! Like you, I was a lurker for a long time before I took the big step. :)

I encourage you to finish The Silmarillion. Reading it through will make sense of a lot of things in Tolkien's world.

Hey folks. Great forum here. I'm a film-maker from Birmingham, UK. I'm interested in finding out more about what inspired Tolkien to get his ideas for his books. I know there are a lot of places he visited throughout the world, but I hear tell 'spirits' visited him and left a few whispers in his ear. If anyone has any info on this subject, links etc. Feel free to post them.

Looking forward to delving into some of these threads.

Have fun & be happy!

Love & peace.

Darren:)

Welcome, Darren!
 

Nice to have you with us, Darren! I'll be looking forward to your contributions. :)

Vedui' il'er!

Greetings Everyone!

Now for more than 10 years have I been a Tolkien fan. It is good to find fellows here ;)

Welcome, Eledhwen!

We in turn are always glad to see new members with a passion for Tolkien. :)

hi, i'm blue!
 

blue as in "wizard," a homage to the lost (or unmentioned) two.

I'm a long time Tolkien fan (but that's sort of non specific, isn't it?) and have been looking to "reconnect" with fellow Tolkienites via various boards.

Hi!

I'm particularly interested in a variety of things, the proto-origins of Tolkien's writings - his academic work, the Eddas, Sagas, Ring Cycle and other source work - and language and names.

I like the name generator on the site and would love to hear more about how it got started and was created!

Welcome, blue! You're definitely in the right place for Tolkien-talk.

All I can say regarding the Name Generators is that they were added by the site and forum founder, The Barrow Wight, many years ago. Perhaps he or one of the other admins could shed some light if they wished.

Seconded! Welcome, blue!

Thanks, Galadriel55 and Inziladun!

Welcome to the Downs! :)

Welcome!
 

Welcome to the Downs, Eledhwen and blue!:D

Hello, ladies and gentlemen!

My first decade with Tolkien is almost over. That is, however, not my reason of joining here. I've got way more selfish reasons, which I'm not going to share with you yet, though some of you (krhm, Greenie) might already know something about them.

Throughout my life I've been lucky enough to have someone with whom to talk about Tolkien's work so I haven't needed an online community for that. Not enough to search for one anyway. But I'm glad I'm here now. And hence this is an introduction topic - hello everyone, I'm Pom (or Nate, whichever you prefer), I live in Edinburgh, Scotland at the moment, study language sciences along with other stuff, sing and dance and play and read and act merrily. Lovely to meet all of you.

Hello there! I wonder if there would be an objection to a revival of some of the old threads? I posted here briefly two or three years ago, although at the time I was slightly "Tolkiened out," having been very active in Tolkien discussion online during the anticipatory period leading up to the films. (On other sites, admittedly, but that's because, as has been noted before, there were so many). But I have been reading some truly excellent discussions on this site, many of which began ten years ago.


Whoops - think I've just found the answer:

http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthr...923#post206923

Welcome back, Pervinca!

Personally I enjoy seeing old threads brought to life once again.

Many times in those cases there will be posters not around when the thread was first begun who get involved, and they end up bringing a lot of fresh insights.

Seconded! Welcome back!

Old threads are always good to revive.

Welcome back :)

Hi guys! I wonder if anyone could tell me why my signature won't work? The box is ticked, and I edited it so that it was under 3 lines long. Is it a privilege granted by the mods only after a certain time, or is it just not working due to a glitch? Couldn't find a forum about technical board matters, so posting it here. :)

EDIT: Ah! It's in this post, so appears to be working. It isn't in my old posts, though. Do signatures only show in posts made from the day one sets them, then?