New Members - Introduce Yourself Here

What a great idea! The perfect excuse for a newbi to compose their first post :)

Well hi there..... I'm Smaug reborn, you can call me Smaug as I assume the user of this handle is unlikely to be too active (I'm open to correction on that!). The reason I'm using the name of the great dragon himself? Well I've had a fixation with dragons for as long as I can remember, it may well have sprung from my first reading of The Hobbit, or Lord of the Rings.... frankly I don't remember! But I do know that it was such a fixation I had a bl**dy big one tattooed on my back, and another on my chest whilst going through my rebellious teen phase :)
I've ever since I had it done felt it was a representation of my secret personality, drawing more on the reputed wiseness and experience of the dragon folk, rather than the somewhat nastier evil elements, though it doesn't hurt to have a bit of fire in your belly once in a while either I'd say! :) So it felt appropriate.

I'm a huge Tolkien fan, though not as knowledgeable about the books as no doubt some are on here.... I blame them for my absolutely voracious devouring of Science fiction and fantasy literature since about the age of 7.... My library is ever growing and long may it remain so (I'll be most interested to talk to some "hard" Sci fi fans, think William Gibson, Peter Hamilton, Iain M Banks sorta thing) If they're on here.... especially if you have recommendations ;)
I'm currently working my way through the trilogy again though, having just purchased it for about the 10th time in my life (has anyone else noticed that this appears to be the book that most often goes awol from their collection? Or is it just me!)

I also just purchased the lovely box set of the extended films..... bloody great, and I got it cheep too :) So my interest in Tolkien is peaking again at the moment.

Outside of reading... I'm playing with the idea of writing my own book (pages of notes on idea's, characters, themes, general ramblings about life at the moment but not a lot more..... I will though!) I'm a keen artist (currently creating stuff in a very graphic novel style, but bigger and based on a portrait sorta philosophy) I play trumpet (I so wish I was good enough to play jazz..... oh I can dream!)and.... well I suppose run my business providing quality beverages to the masses :D

There you go, a potted introduction to me.... I look forward to speaking to you all!

[Glirdan]

Well Smaug, that was definetly an intoduction!! Because of you're writing, I suggest checking out the RPG forums and the WW games that happen (they're kind of on hiatus right now, but I'm still leaving my thread open for any newcomers! ). If you like testing your knowledges, check out the Quiz or Quotes Forums or if you just want to check talk about the books or movies, check out those threads. Welcome to the dead Smaug!!

Possibly over the top?

Ah well.... I kinda came on here to talk, might as well start as I meen to go on eh!

Hello Glirdan anyway... nice to meet you I suspect I'll be showing my ignorance if I ask what particular character/influence your names derived from?

Cheers for the welcome!

[Glirdan]

Not at all. It is purely and wholy the Sindarin (I believe) translation of my real name.

Oh and your intro wasn't over the top. It shows me (at least) that you have a lot of enthusiasm and would be perfect for an RPG. So try it out and do try to join a Werewolf game.

I kinda found this forum after doing a search for "the continuing story of middle earth" or some such on Google, so you might be right about the RPG thing... once I've settled in anyway!

I've always found it curious that so many people have written in "The style of Tolkien" or "In remembrance of" or "Inspired by"..... etc....
And yet as far as I know, no-one has ever attempted to continue the stories of characters beyond the ring stories. This might be ignorance on my part? As in its happened and I haven’t noticed, or it could be that someone’s protecting the rights like nothing you've ever seen? Or perhaps that no-one dares coss Tolkien was so damn good they just don't think it'd be right?
I'd be interested to hear peoples thought on that one..... though I'm guessing its been discussed before if I trawl the forum for long enough....

I've no intention of trying it myself until much more comfortable I'd have to say I'd feel a fraud!

[Glirdan]

I suggest, if you want to find out more about that, to create a thread yourself or do a search and see if you can find a thread that has been previously started on that subject. However, if you start a thread, some of the older members might include a link to a topic that has disappeared for quite some time.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Originally Posted by Smaug reborn

And yet as far as I know, no-one has ever attempted to continue the stories of characters beyond the ring stories. This might be ignorance on my part? As in its happened and I haven’t noticed, or it could be that someone’s protecting the rights like nothing you've ever seen?

The Tolkien Estate, basically his family, does hold the copyrights to his works, so the only permissable continuation of Tolkien stories is in fan fictions that are non-commercial. There are some good stories on our own Barrow-Downs Fan Fiction Site and on other Tolkien sites - the quality of fan fictions is varied, but you'll find some that are well worth reading.

If you don't feel ready to write in an RP story, you might enjoy reading some of them first. Whatever you choose, I hope you'll enjoy yourself here on the Downs!

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

The Tolkien Estate, basically his family, does hold the copyrights to his works, so the only permissable continuation of Tolkien stories is in fan fictions that are non-commercial.

Ahhh, thought it might be something like that, after all, it's just about the only truly great trilogy I can think of that hasn't had several inferior attempts at sequels written.... I knew it couldn't be entirely out of respect!

I don't think I'll ever attempt it myself, though I will most definitely pop over and read some of the contributions on here! I think the most I'm ever likely to do is the required "Inspired by....." type quote when my book goes global...


Though I'd mucho love to read further stories of middle earth in print, I don't think I'd like the idea of inferior quality, and since the man himself is dead.... well

Thanks once again for the welcome... there's some GREAT stuff on this forum!