History of this Forum

[Inziladun]

Thanks for that, Mith!

I too stumbled upon the Downs among a fairly large number of Tolkien-based EZ Board forums. Why I was looking for Tolkien web forums to begin with is now lost to me, as I am by nature not an outgoing person, and was in fact more than a little nervous of actually posting on a public forum.

What attracted me here were: 1. I think, the theme; the Barrow-Downs always had a distinct "feel" in the book. 2. The color scheme was striking; 3. The cerebral nature of the discussions.

Unlike Mithadan, my first post, responding to a question about the "Variags of Khand", was politely acknowledged by a long-gone member named Gwaihir the Windlord.

Originally Posted by Mithadan

While I miss many members that have drifted off over the years, I cannot blame them. After spending a year or three indulging one’s Tolkien interests, it is not surprising that people are figuratively dragged away by their schools, their jobs and professions, and their families. For whatever reason, even if I disappeared for a day, a month, or a season, I always returned to peek in and, almost invariably, I would end up posting.

Indeed. I have taken "sabbaticals" over the years, not posting much or at all for a while, and since 2019 or so I have found it more and more difficult to find the time for idle web browsing I once had. I still check in here at least once a day, though.

Originally Posted by Mithadan

So this is where we were during the first couple of years, until December 2001. And then the first movie came out…

Now that was fun!

When I learned Peter Jackson (of whom I'd never heard) was making blockbuster films of LOTR, I was rather nonplussed from the start.

I have always held Tolkien's work differently in my heart, from other works of art and fiction. There are reasons for this, which are not relevant to this thread. Suffice it to say, I did not want to see LOTR "modernized" for cinema, stripped of its soul. I was highly skeptical that any of the feel of the beloved books could be captured in a high budget production.
News of casting choices and "additions" like Arwen's enhanced role made me feel vindicated. I made a point of haunting the Movies section, arguing against not merely the way the films were being made, but of their very existence. I just didn't see the need for them.

My opinion was shared by a few others, but we were quite definitely in the minority. That's almost certainly even more so now. I still like reading those threads even today.