Many thanks bcbdrums and Galadriel55! :)

Welcome!
 

Welcome to the Downs, Jabbawocky Took!

Welcome Jabbawocky, from another Took! :)

We like our Tooks here. :D Welcome, Jabbawocky.

Thanks Faramir, my fellow Took Pervinca, and Bethberry for making me feel at home! :)

Well, I'm not a newcomer, but I've been away. Goodness me, I haven't been on since July! Nonetheless, I'm back, and hopefully won't start neglecting all of my lovelies again. (I got sucked into the wonderful world of tumblr.)

Hello Downers,

Like you probably will expect, I'm a bit of a Tolkien fanatic. For many years now, I've read Tolkien's works over and over again (this should be taken very literally when I was a middle-school kid). Tolkien actually had a huge impact on my life too: it's because of his works my prime interest shifted from the exact sciences to the humanities – and now I’m a history student. If course, my interest in the former remains.

For my other interests, I have many. Of course, like many of you probably do, I like to read a lot. Music is also one of my main interests, and I while I have some preferences, I like many forms of music – ranging from medieval polyphonies to Chinese classical music and metal. Oh yeah, as a good Belgian, I like food and beer(not to get wasted but to taste it). I’ve got many other interests and hobbies, but I think these are enough for now :p

I hope we get along!

Welcome, Erestor! You've certainly come to the right place for Tolkien-talk.

I'm not aware of any other Belgians who are members here, and it's always good to increase our international representation. :)

thrilled!
 

Hi everyone, I've just joined the forum and have got to say I'm absolutely thrilled to be here! I first began reading posts on this forum in August but due to some technical glitch in the registration process was unable to register (and I tried in so many ways as I was pretty desperate to join the conversation here!). I tried to find other Tolkien forums that I might join but none of them have the depth and scope of Tolkien knowledge that is exhibited in many of the posts here - not to mention the level of skepticism regarding the film adaptations, with which I wholly agree.

I kept coming back to read more, thoroughly enjoying your posts but unable to post myself and every once in a while I would try to register. Well today it worked! I'm so excited (I guess that's pretty obvious :-).

A little bit about me: I've been a fan of Tolkien's work since I first began to read the Fellowship of the Ring at 16, at the time still in my native Dutch. While I have always loved the Lord of the Rings though I am ashamed to admit it took me another 16 years before I finally read the Silmarillion. For too long I believe those that told me it was not a nice book to read (too difficult, too much in the style of the bible and so on), but oh how wrong they were of course! I was amazed to find I liked the Silmarillion even better than the Lord of the Rings. I've since read Unfinished Tales and have just begun reading the History of Middle Earth. I really look forward to being able to talk about all this stuff with everyone here on the forum as the Tolkien fans I know in real life have yet to move beyond the Lord of the Rings in their reading. Can't wait to join in the discussion at last!

Welcome, aurelien! You're right about the Simarillion being a rather difficult work when compared with LOTR, but it's so rewarding when one perseveres.

Enjoy yourself!

Hiya!

So I have been a big Tolkien fan since I was ten and have read much of his work (though I'll confess I haven't had the chance to read The Silmarillion).
I've seen the posts that are on this forum for a couple of years and I decided to join for the chance to have some serious discussions concerning things Tolkien-related, books and movies alike. :)

So nice to have you here. Mr. Jackson! Or so I assume from your handle. :D

Kidding, of course. Welcome to the Downs!

Blast! How did you see through my disguise?!
Well, that's not going to stop me converting 300-paged books into multiple poorly-paced films, or to insert unnecessary romantic subplots and overlong action scenes!
Tolkien is mine! My own! My precious!
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

...

But in all seriousness, thanks for having me. :D

Intro
 

**Mistakenly created a new thread originally. Here's my message.**

Hi all,

I'm a member who joined the forum long ago (circa 2009) to ask a question about making a character in LotRO. The community response was very helpful and gracious at the time, especially for someone who was so obviously a Tolkien novice. I then disappeared for awhile. I was reminded of the forum when I quite unexpectedly received a birthday email message this year.

I'm 33 years old, currently in my 3rd professional year of pharmacy school. I am married with 3 children. I'm one of the folks who may be a target of some largely unexpressed but quite appropriate irritation among the more well-read and knowledgeable in the Tolkien community because my interest in Middle Earth was mostly borne from experiencing the famed movie Trilogy by Peter Jackson. That said, I've always had an interest in fantasy, swords, and sorcery which dates back to getting a copy of the original MERP game in the early 1990s, though I could never find anyone interested enough to do a proper play-through. I'm currently working on my second time through the Hobbit. I've never completed the Trilogy, though I hope to do this when I have more time for reading that doesn't involve pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, and drug therapeutics. I have a copy of the Silmarillion but I have a lot of trouble following the stories, though I'm sure they are fascinating!

With a short intro out of the way, I just want to say that I really appreciate the Barrow Downs community and hope to participate in some interesting discussions. Thanks for reading!

Welcome! Ehh, don't worry about where your interest came from, we are generally cool. I finally just got through the Silmirillion myself. I found it good coming at it as an Elven history book. And good luck on your studies!

Welcome back, rmjones!

Hello everyone! :)

I am pleased to be a part of barrow-downs now. Seems like a brilliant place.

I have been a fan of Tolkien relatively recently. 7 years ago to be exact. :P
And unlike most here, I haven't really read all of JRRT's wonderful works. I read LotR and then picked up The Hobbit and loved them both. But my true love is and will always be The Silmarillion.

I like the films by Peter Jackson though there are so many changes that do bug me to no ends. But by the end, I can separate them from Tolkien-verse, and so I do love them.

I look forward to this place and I look forward to getting to know some of you here. :)



Theoden

Welcome, Theoden! You've said it perfectly in that this is indeed a "brilliant place", and has been for well over a decade.

Nice to have you!

Welcome back!
 

Welcome back, rmjones0411!:D I look forward to hearing more from you, and hope pharmacy school goes well.:)

Hi there!

I'm fifteen years old and have loved the Lord of the Rings for a year now, after watching the first Hobbit movie. I've since all read the books and some other of Tolkien's brilliant works, such as the Children of Húrin and the Silmarillion.

I love the movies and the books equally, and I suffer from Social Anxiety Disorder and panic attacks. The characters and the story always make things easier when I'm having a particularly hard day.

I'm excited to be here, as I have a few questions that I can't find answers to, and to just enjoy to site. :)

Welcome to the Downs, Brego! It's always a good thing when people join who really love LOTR&other books. :)

Hiya!
I guess I'm little late.. ;)
Still- Hello to ALL. :)
I saw FOTR in 2011 and LOVED it. And when I saw the last movie, I cried like hell (though I do not cry much feeling this is all fictional). I haven't seen the last scene again. Then I read the books and Loved them, too, last year. I'd never expected to read them. But I did. Actually, I'm celebrating my anniversery of reading the books these days. ;)

Welcome to you three!
 

Welcome to the Downs, Theoden, Brego and Lotrelf! :)

I'm impressed, Brego, that you've already read so much! :D

Hi Lotrelf! We've spoken before, but let's make it official. Welcome to the Downs! :D

Hello, and Thank You! :)

I would like to welcome Smaug's voice here, once his membership has been activated. Heck, even before!

I hope you enjoy being dead, Smaug's voice. :D

Grrr. Did someone dare to wake me up? :D

'ello there denny-zens.
Bethberry, convinced me to come out of lurkdome and join as a member. So thanks Bethberry.

I have been a lurker here for a while and have always enjoyed the level and variety of discussions here, and while I may not be the busiest of posters I look forward to my time here.
I am an ardent lover of Tolkien's works - not only Middle-earth but his use of language, the lyrical flow of his words and it is also an amazement to me, that despite being one of the greatest Philologists ever, his language in the books have been so lucid and easy to understand. Simplicity and royalty both co-exist in his texts. Something that is extremely rare in literature.
I have read The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, the Sil, Unfinished Tales and am currently going through Children of Hurin. I love The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings on equal levels, both for their own reasons - one being an old-fashioned romanticize good vs evil myth, the other being simple children's story with adult themes and surprising depths despite it's apparent simplicity.
But my actual love has always been The Silmarillion. Definitely not the way Tolkien would have wanted it published, but even the little bite CT gives us from his father's vast compendium of drafts is just extremely satisfying. It works in so many different ways. And I firmly believe, Tolkien outdid Shakespeare in the Children of Hurin. I am still an amature compared to all the rest of you, having yet to read JRRT's letters as well as the invaluable HoME and the various Tolkien-scholastic publishings.

I am also quite fond of the films by Peter Jackson. I love the LotR films - as films, they are outstanding, while as adaptations they are quite good, better than most of the attempts could ever hope for.
As for The Hobbit films, I like them as an extension of Tolkien's works but let's face it, adaptation-wise they aren't even trying. Non the less, my overall response is quite positive towards both the series.
In my opinion of course, and I know I am in the vast minority here. No shame in that. :D

Anyway, good to be here.
So, how much is a pint?

SV

Welcome, SV!

I share your love of the language of Tolkien's books. There's nothing else quite like it.

Enjoy yourself!

Hello And Welcome, Smaug's Voice! So glad to see someone from India. ;) Hope you enjoy! :)

Welcome to the Downs, Smaug's voice! I share your opinion of The Sil and COH. I also love them both above the other works of JRRT that I've read. (And I haven't read much of the additional material either)

We may disagree on that, but I would respect a good friendly opposition :) (not "Figwit OMG!!!<3" style ;)).

So once again, welcome to the Downs!

Welcome aboard, Smaug's Voice. :)

Thanks for the welcome, peeps! :)

I didn't notice. Good to see someone from my country as well, especially since I think India is a minority in Tolkien-fandom...relatively.

Heh! True. People don't read in India much, and it is sad. Tolkien IS a master. My life changer. :)

Actually, the region I come from - East - people are literally bookworms. But most either seem to be unaware of Tolkien or view his tales simply as kiddie-stories.

Among my friends, no one reads books. There are only two people I know who read the books of any author. Most think reading books is a time waste. I tried to make them understand the importance of Tolkien but they wouldn't believe me.

Hi everyone.im tom the eldest.im new to this forum

Welcome tom! Make yourself at home.

Im happy to finally able to join this forum.im a lotr fan since i was a kid,and i recently read the hobbit.i havent read the silmarillion though because here tolkien other book,beside lotr are VERY difficult to find.but yeah im happy

Welcome, tom the eldest. Have a great time here! :)

Welcome aboard, Tom! :)