21st Century Tolkien

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Tolkien himself used the theme of "change" in his works, so it shouldn't surprise us that his fandom is subject to that. I've been pondering this question and have divided several aspects of development, both general and personal, into Ages. These are not definitive and certainly subject to additions and revisions.

General Tolkien Fandom

First Age - (1950s to early 60s) The books are published and read, mostly in England at first. There are readers, but perhaps not to be called fans as yet.

Second Age - (late 1960s to early 70s) The books are published in paperback in the US, thereby reaching a great number of young people who become enthused fans. Societies are founded, fanzines written, artwork published as calendars, some merchandise is available, though not much. I would set the end of this age in 1973, with Tolkien's death.

Third Age - (70s to 90s) Some of Tolkien's works are published posthumously; especially the Silmarillion excites fans as new material about Middle-earth is now available. The animated movies attract some attention and keep interest in the books alive. HoME is published to satisfy the growing group of Tolkien scholars and experts.

Fourth Age - (2000 to ?) Peter Jackson's movies get a huge amount of publicity and attract new and old fans alike. The internet provides the medium for communication and communities, with discussions, fan fiction and amateur art (and parodies!) being made available to a huge public audience. Tons of merchandise accompany this and are bought by millions of fans. Secondary literature, which has been on the sideline with relatively few readers, booms as well. LotR wins readers' polls in numerous countries.

That last Age is fading now, in my opinion, and I'm sure the Fifth Age of fandom will carry on, but I would not venture to predict what it will be like. Serious scholarship will certainly be a part of it, and Society members will continue to share their ideas. What other new elements might enliven fandom, I have no idea...


Barrow-Downs Fandom

Though the main site, with its various features and games, began earlier, the discussion forum started in 2000. It too has passed through several ages:

First Age - (2000 - 2001) Pre-movie hype, speculation and news; book discussions; close-knit community spirit with relatively few members

Second Age - (2002 - 2004) Movie discussions; continued book discussions, with more details, additional works besides LotR, and secondary literature as topics; fan creativity in role-playing games, fan fiction and art; highest number of members

Third Age - (2005 - ?) Post-movies: CbC and SbS discussions; continued RPing (though less volume and participation); more fun and games, especially the Werewolf craze; continued community feeling with some long-time and some new members


My Personal Fandom

First Age - Introduction to LotR and Hobbit in 1973 by a boyfriend (Wouldn't I like to know if he's still a fan as well?!); loved the book at first read, sighted the first calendar but didn't like it because it didn't jive with my images.

Second Age - Exile: I moved to Germany a few months later, so had no one to whom I could talk about LotR and became a closet fan, rereading it occasionally. Never could warm up to the German translation(s), so neglected reading them to my own children.

Third Age - Movie hype and discovery of the internet fandom. Downs membership, spending hours of time discussing on the forum and in the chat room, leading to involvement as moderator and more creative writing than I'd ever done in my whole life (RPGs and fan fiction). Lots of reading of additional literature, from Sil and UT to biography, Letters, "minor works", HoME and supplementary books. Real life meetings with other members, trip to Oxford and Tolkien's grave, participation in the big international conference in Birmingham (my personal highlight so far!), seeing the movie exhibition, deciding to join the German Tolkien Society and attending some of their functions.

Fourth Age - Coming up, as I see it. My intensive internet involvement is gradually fading; though I'm spending more time in other activities, my personal interest will continue, I will retain my membership in the Tolkien Society and perhaps be involved there to a certain degree; I will most certainly reread the books as time allows, and probably rewatch the movies ditto. I hope that some of the friendships that began online will survive into future years...


I think the interesting thing will be to be surprised by developments we can't foresee now - after all, who would have thought 10 years ago that a blockbuster movie LotR would be so hugely successful?! I think the most important thing we fans can do to keep Middle-earth alive is to fill in the corners of the world that Tolkien created, to be sub-creators ourselves. Then history will become legend, and legend will become myth...

[Azaelia of Willowbottom]

I feel like fandom is already changing. I came on the boat in '01, just before the movies came out.

The arc of my personal fandom goes something like this.

In January of '00, I was fascinated by the covers of the books that a couple of my classmates were reading, and decided to find a copy for myself. At that time I was primarily a Star Wars geek, and mainly into the sort of fast-paced books and movies that sort of fit into that particular genre. The books were, in short, a little too slow for me. I made it all the way through FOTR, but quit at that point. There was a sense of something great there, tantalizing, just out of my reach, but I just wasn't ready for it. I put the copies of the book back on the shelf, feeling vaguely disappointed in myself for not being mature enough to read them.

I then went on and forgot about them. Almost a year passed. I became sick of Star Wars. And then, in November of '01, I saw the trailer for FOTR. I was entranced. (Honestly, in retrospect, Frodo probably had a big part in this. What can I say? I was a 13 year old.) I thought, "Now is the time". So I got my mom's books back out again, and fell into Middle-earth. Every page was exhilerating. I was caught, hook, line, and sinker. I was wandering in Middle-earth, and loving every beautiful second.
Shortly after finishing the books, I hit the internet. I'd been familiar with the Star Wars online community, and it only took a few seconds of thinking to realize that there had to be something out there for LOTR fans. And so I hit google. And found the Barrow-Downs...the first Tolkien forum I joined. Honestly, at first, it was a little much for me. I was a book fan, but I wasn't ready for such complex literary discussion, and everyone seemed so much older than me. I faded into the background, watched and listened, and learned.

The next phase has no determined beginning. Gradually, I got back into the Barrow-Downs, and found that I generally understood everything people were saying, and that I could contribute to discussions. My fandom now is different than it was before. I participate in discussion more. I feel like I know more about Tolkien than I did before. I learned how to write in tengwar, and I've finished the Sil (Except for the last few pages--they're the last new Tolkien thing I'll ever read, so I'm saving them for a special occasion. I'm a little too attached, and I want to save the exhileration of reading new Middle-earth material.) I was never a leggybopper (gasp! no!), but I still appreciate the movies. I am, however, swinging more toward the books at the moment. I go back and forth. Either way, I'm enjoying every minute of the experience.

As for fandom itself, I think we're mostly back the way things were before the movies, numbers-wise. During the movies and the time immediately after, fandom got a huge influx of fans from the movies, many of whom hadn't read the books, and probably never would. There were, however, a handful of them who would read the books, stay on, and become just as knowledgeable on Tolkien as anyone else. People drift in and drift out, but I think that for the most part, the number has stabilized again.

I haven't had time this year for my yearly re-reading of LOTR, but I am planning on starting it again on Wednesday, when I have a half day of school. I haven't seen ROTK or TTT since ROTK went out of the theaters. I am going through Tolkien withdrawal.

Over all, I can't say if all that has happened was good for fandom or not, but fandom is an ever-evolving, changing entity, and it just took it all in stride. Things will never be the way they were before the movies again, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I'm proud that I stayed on in fandom after November 2001. I'm very glad I chose to give Tolkien a second chance. And I am so happy to have walked in Middle-earth with all of you. I feel like you've all watched me grow up. When I came, I was an eighth grader. I am now about to graduate from high school and hit the road for college, to persue a career in acting (which was inspired by the movies). So excuse any oversentiment that may be present. I love the Downs. I love fandom. And I love Middle-earth. No matter what may change in the personality of Tolkien fans as a whole, that will always be true.

[davem]

I suppose the greatest change will be that interpretations & back story will both become more & more defined. There will be less & less for a reader to add. Now, that may seem odd coming from me, but I'm not talking about bringing in stuff from the primary world in terms of interpretation, just about the way the story/meaning will become increasingly 'fixed'. There will be less & less room for speculation - about the nature of Orcs, what happens to Frodo, what all those odd references scattered throughout LotR & TH to an older history actually refer to. In a sense we've been told too much by CT.

I'm not sure it would be true to say that I loved Tolkien's work more when I only knew LotR & TH, but I certainly loved it differently. It was kind of like the background history was like seeing a city on the horizon, & only being able to make out bits of it clearly. It was full of possibilities. But then you go to the place & get to know it - the mystery is gone. I half wish I could forget the Sil, UT, HoM-e, all the stuff by Flieger & Shippey et al, & just go back to that 'innocent' time. I'm sure our debates here would be livelier if we didn't all know so much. Too often someone asks a question & an 'expert' comes along & answers it with quotes & references. We can no longer believe that 'Frodo Lives', or that there may still be Elves & Hobbits just over the next hill, because we now 'know' that mortals do not become immortal when they enter the Undying Lands, & that if Elves remain in M-e they 'fade'. Knowledge takes away so much. Yet, there is no real going back, I suppose.

When all the experts have done, all the questions have been answered, what will we do?

There are more reasons, other than just the story becoming too dark & upsetting, for saying 'Shut the book now, dad, we don't want to read any more.' Me, I often wish I was still back in the pre-Sil days, with just my original paperbacks of LotR & TH on the shelf (Oh, & Smith, of course).

[Boromir88]

Well I wouldn't say that Tolkien wasn't "popular" before the movies came out. I mean since the movies it has certainly grown rapidly, and the "enterprise" has expanded, but the books were still rather popular before the movies.

New Line cinema's showing of FOTR on the internet some months before released in theatres attracted over 80 Million viewers. And their second showing a week before release in Theatres over 220 million.

Credit to Jackson and his team for expanding Tolkien's books to a wider audience and bringing readers back to Tolkien (which was my experience. As I read the books and laid them aside for 20 years).

I guess atleast one downside to Jackson's movies is it may not be the best to bring fans into the world of Tolkien, but Jackson's "interpretation" of it, and in many cases Jackson's "interpretation" is way off base. As I see threads of "What parts do you skip?" This is probably the big downside to the movie, because though I do selective reading, sometimes I feel like just reading certain chapters, but I still appreciate the book as a whole. Perhaps, it's just me, but I feel like those who have seen the movies first (the majority, for I know it's not always the case), but I think a lot of them go to the parts they like. And don't appreciate the book as a whole, and find important chapters like The Council of Elrond, Treebeard, The Window on the West, as dull and uneventful, therefor no bother in reading it.

I honestly don't think the "fandom" will die down. When I took my niece to go see the movies (and she hadn't read the books before), she was dissapointed in the ending of ROTK. Not because of "it was too long" but she felt like it wasn't long enough. What happens to the rest of the Fellowship? What happens after? (Which case I introduced her to the books ). So, I think Jackson did a great job of bringing out this story and it left in the case of at least one person of "I wnat to find out more." And for those purists who were dissappointed in Jackson's movies they will always and forever adore Tolkien's books.

I suppose the greatest change will be that interpretations & back story will both become more & more defined. There will be less & less for a reader to add. Now, that may seem odd coming from me, but I'm not talking about bringing in stuff from the primary world in terms of interpretation, just about the way the story/meaning will become increasingly 'fixed'. There will be less & less room for speculation - about the nature of Orcs, what happens to Frodo, what all those odd references scattered throughout LotR & TH to an older history actually refer to. In a sense we've been told too much by CT~davem

I disagree. Certainly I think we have all come to learn more and gain more knowledge from the books. Because sites like this bring together some of the most adored fans and "greatest minds" where we share thoughts and ideas, countless threads of those very questions you ask. But I think the fact remains that Tolkien left his stories unfinished. And as Christina Skull points out (one in which I agree with):

Practically speaking of course, none of the Matter of Middle-earth was ';finished'; but continued to evolve, and was open to second thoughts while Tolkien lived.~The Development of Tolkien's Legendarium- in Tolkien's Legendarium edt, Flieger and Hostetter

Whether Tolkien left his story purposefully unfinished or not, he didn't have it finished when the books were first introduced. (He didn't even intend on writing as much as he did). But, the story is left unfinished in many circumstances and even while Tolkien was alive he watched it grow and adapt. Which was I think part of his purpose, and why he didn't like allegories. Because allegories strictly set meaning to the text, and Tolkien wanted his readers to experience freedom when interpretting. So, I still think that no matter how much we debate or find out, or analyze the books, the story is left unfinished and there will always be "more debate." Who knows perhaps long after we're dead, and society has evolved, it will have a whole different view about what Tolkien's books "means." And when interpretting it, the meaning will be much different than what is thought of today.

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by davem

There are more reasons, other than just the story becoming too dark & upsetting, for saying 'Shut the book now, dad, we don't want to read any more.' Me, I often wish I was still back in the pre-Sil days, with just my original paperbacks of LotR & TH on the shelf (Oh, & Smith, of course).

Not me.

Shippey, Flieger, edhc... well, I can take them or leave them- and generally I leave them.

But not have the Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, or the HoME? I'd rather lose the Lord of the Rings than the Silmarillion at this stage in my fandom. That bittersweet feeling of the Fall of Noldor, the endless progression of defeat after defeat until the final and sudden eucatastrope of Eärendil... it comes to mean more to mean than the success of Frodo.

Mind you, I dearly love the Tale of the Ring- but I love it far more in the context of the Silmarillion. Having read the Akallabêth, I am far more in love with mystique of fading Gondor and the Dúnedain of the North than otherwise. Knowing the Lay of Leithien, I am far more enamoured of Arwen than I would be if all I knew were what lay covers of the RotK.

I have no use for critics or experts... but the whole of Middle-Earth, from the Book of Lost Tales to Tal-Elmar, and all the tales of Hobbits, Elves, and Men that lie between are a part of my fannishness.

[davem]

Originally Posted by Formendacil

But not have the Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, or the HoME? I'd rather lose the Lord of the Rings than the Silmarillion at this stage in my fandom. That bittersweet feeling of the Fall of Noldor, the endless progression of defeat after defeat until the final and sudden eucatastrope of Eärendil... it comes to mean more to mean than the success of Frodo.

I can see what you mean. However, much as I love The Sil, it has never touched my heart in the way TH & LotR always have. Its very big & impressive (& I mean that), but just as, with age, Frodo & Sam's story have come to mean more to me than the Three Hunters, Helm's Deep & Pelennor Fields, so, the epic tales of the First & Second Age mean less to me as I grow older. LotR is Tolkien's great work, because of the smallness, the intimacy & humanity, of Frodo & Sam's struggle through Mordor, & of Frodo's last days & departure. If the tales of The Sil have any real meaning & relevance, it is because of the simple humanity given them by the Hobbits. If it wasn't for the existence of Frodo, Sam, Bilbo & all the 'charming, absurd Boffins, Bolgers & Bagginses' I wouldn't care at all for Beren & Luthien, Feanor, Earendel, Turin & the rest. Mr Baggins (as far as I'm concerned) didn't 'stray into their world', they 'strayed into his'.

Now, I can see & accept that LotR is properly part of the Legendarium, & that the events of The Sil are what 'explain' LotR, but LotR is what gives The Sil meaning. As far as I am concerned, there are 'two' works here - The Sil/LotR (excluding TH for reasons of style, depth, characterisation of the Elves & Trolls, etc) - & TH/LotR (only including The Sil peripherally if at all, due to its absence of Hobbits & what they symbolise in the main). Originally I read the 'first', & that was the story I came to love. Later I came to favour the 'second'. Now, for whatever reason (or none at all) I find myself increasingly moving back to my first love. Maybe its a phase I'm going through.

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by davem

I can see what you mean. However, much as I love The Sil, it has never touched my heart in the way TH & LotR always have. Its very big & impressive (& I mean that), but just as, with age, Frodo & Sam's story have come to mean more to me than the Three Hunters, Helm's Deep & Pelennor Fields, so, the epic tales of the First & Second Age mean less to me as I grow older. LotR is Tolkien's great work, because of the smallness, the intimacy & humanity, of Frodo & Sam's struggle through Mordor, & of Frodo's last days & departure. If the tales of The Sil have any real meaning & relevance, it is because of the simple humanity given them by the Hobbits. If it wasn't for the existence of Frodo, Sam, Bilbo & all the 'charming, absurd Boffins, Bolgers & Bagginses' I wouldn't care at all for Beren & Luthien, Feanor, Earendel, Turin & the rest. Mr Baggins (as far as I'm concerned) didn't 'stray into their world', they 'strayed into his'.

'tis the opposite for me- and perhaps therein one may see some light cast upon our rather different looks at many matter in the Legendarium- the Hobbits were my first love, above and beyond the High and Mighty, with my interest gradually shifting to fading and forgotten Númenor, and now resting at last with the tragedy of the Elves and Valar. I cannot say that my interests shall not shift back to Hobbits at some distant date... but I shall never likely see my interest in the Elves fade. The painful bittersweet has more tug on my heart than the charming and absurd- for which reason Frodo is my favourite hobbit, and his end the most satisfying.

Now, I can see & accept that LotR is properly part of the Legendarium, & that the events of The Sil are what 'explain' LotR, but LotR is what gives The Sil meaning. As far as I am concerned, there are 'two' works here - The Sil/LotR (excluding TH for reasons of style, depth, characterisation of the Elves & Trolls, etc) - & TH/LotR (only including The Sil peripherally if at all, due to its absence of Hobbits & what they symbolise in the main). Originally I read the 'first', & that was the story I came to love. Later I came to favour the 'second'. Now, for whatever reason (or none at all) I find myself increasingly moving back to my first love. Maybe its a phase I'm going through.

I agree that, as presented, there is a bit of a "lack" to the Silmarillion- that it does, in fact, require some "meaning", as you put it- or as a "grounding" in our world. However, where you find this meaning in the Lord of the Rings, as do most readers, I suspect, I'm increasingly come to find it in the so sadly neglected tale of Ælfwine/Eriol... And here the Book of Lost Tales plays a major part- but not the only one. Although there was really no way Christopher Tolkien COULD have written the Silmarillion into a publishable form, while keeping Ælfwine and remaining as close as possible to his Father's works, I wish indeed that it HAD been completed by Tolkien as such...

[davem]

I think it was with LotR that Tolkien found his voice as a writer & was where he gave us his Art in its purest form. Like Rivendell itself, in LotR there's something for everyone - TH & The Sil, Smith & Niggle, the High & the Mundane. On its own The Sil is too High & tragic, 'For God's sake let us sit upon the ground & tell sad stories of the death of kings' about sums up The Sil. Its one of those books that I'm glad to have read, but not one that I actually enjoy reading very much anymore. Oh, there re moments of grandeur I wouldn't be without, clever things, interesting things, but I'm not sure its a book (especially not in CT's redaction) that one could 'love' in the way so many of us love LotR & TH. There's no-one in there that I can truly relate to. Its rather like Morris's fantasies which inspired Tolkien.

I think Carpenter's (??) analogy between The Sil & the Old Testament & LotR & the New is valid. I'm sure our medieval ancestors would have favoured The Sil over LotR, because TS is a High Epic of Gods & Heroes, whereas LotR (&TH) are stories of ordinary blokes doing extraordinary things. So, for me, Sam is Tolkien's greatest hero. He's who we are at our best - or what we'd like our best to be. Sam 'earths' the whole Legendarium & gives it meaning. The world of TS is too 'distant', the world of the Hobbits still feels as if its 'just round the corner'. They are what provide the link to the world of TS, & what give it whatever attraction it has for me.