Check this out~ Tolkien’s Birthday Toast!

[Periantari Andruil]

WotR had it on the main page before but it's very relevant that we put this here so remember Jan 3rd is a special day~ =)

http://www.warofthering.net/articles/article_2932.php

entdraught

also an announcment of wha'ts going on in January =) I wish i could go to the ONe Ring Celebration...but out in CA.... :( (and i'm in the East coast of US)

[Periantari Andruil]

Today is JRR Tolkien's 113th birthday! :birthday: :grin:

THe Professor was born Jan. 3 1892 to parents Mabel Suffield and Arthur Tolkien. =) He lived till he was a good 81 years old.

Because of this special day, share a story of how you first came to know of Tolkien's works. :thumbs: (idea taken from the livejournal community of wee_tolkien ;) )

[Charmander]

Let me think - I know the birthday was yesterday, but I'll share nonetheless :thumbs:

The first time I became familiar with Tolkien was when one of my teachers began reading us 'The Hobbit' when I was ten or so - notworthy being the child that I was I didn't pay any attention and didn't think anything of it until almost ten years later when one of my friends knew I was really depressed about a multitude of things and had me watch FotR EE and then TTT - and that is really the beginning of the end ;) I'm always afraid to share that story because there are so many purists who like to judge, I'm hoping that won't be the case here. Anyone else?

[LothlorienKiki]

Happy Birthday Tolkien. Words escape me...

I'm not quite sure of my beginnings on the path of Tolkien. I suppose it was when I was around 8-10. I read the Hobbit, and then read Lord of the Rings...almost as simple as that it would seem...but how did I get my hands on the books I don't know. I just remember seeing them one day, and I read them. Ooh, mysterious! I do believe this is a sign that I'm supposed to be a Tolkien-ite!

[Ithildiel Noldoran]

:birthday: Professor!!We all thank you for the world you gave to us! :)

I first got LotR in 1999...quite by chance! I read in a magazine about the upcoming movies-not much known then, just some rumours of them being in the making! It said a couple of things about the plot of the book; I remember wondering what a hobbit was :blush: !Then, curious about it and already intrigued(the plot summary was talking about a hobbit going to destroy a ring lol)I went to the local bookshop! We spent 30 minutes looking with the owner there, until we found a copy of the books-in 3 volumes- all dusty in some bottom shelf...I started reading...that was it!:rose:

[hurin]

hail ni rout (my band) of brothers and sisters loyal to to what mr. tolkien started and are cont. his memorey first it is truly wonderful to meet and talk to those who are just as crazy and truly love this mans works. i wrote a rather lenghthy response on the forum "what about the proffesor" and id like to share it with you. to understand the enchantment behind the the story you must know the man. these stories began in about 1914 and roghly ended about the late 1960's it was believed that during his time in ww1 he had stopped writting on the stories when in fact he was working on them while in the tranches. he did stop for a brief time after comeing out of the service when he took a job with leeds univ.he was able to start again only this time he was also teaching at oxford univ. his love for his wife was matched by one other famouse british celeb.(hitchcock)he son tells a story of his mother and father in a gymnasium in oxford him quoting her writting. first publication silmarilion 1930. fact: he was origianaly wanting to put the hobbit series out the same timew as the silmarilion (thank goodness he didnt) i recently began readiung the history of middle-earth vols. and was amazed at the changes from the lost tales to the sil. he hated upper-enghlish society as well as m odern tech. you find out that he bases his whole stories off of simple things example: the hobbits off of enghlish country side living.fact: tolkien got the names for the 13 dwarves from an old scandinavian manuscript those are in fact reaql names. fact gandalf was origianaly going to be the leader of the dwarves but decided instead to make him a wizzard.(thank goodness again

his son tells us that his mind was ever thinking and changing his stories that would greatly tell us why the experts say that is no way to truly learn the sindarian lang. completly because he never finished. christopher said nthat when he went to revise the stories it became diffecult if not at times impposible to figure out what his father was trying to say.my nin rout (my band) i started reading thesen bbooks when i was a junior in highschool(1985 ouchy!! lol) and here 16 some years later im still reading them and im still like a kid in a candy store if i had fancy myself after one of his characters it would be elrond (odd that i chose the name hurin as server name lol) why him ?his wisdom, his kindhearteness, his slow to anger but woe to those who anger him. maybe im showing my age just a little but im going to put these things to andf know what i say is wisdome to understand eveything ive said and most important to understand Mr.tolkien you have to be a number of things a poet,a lover, you have to have smoked at one time in your life(you know what i mean) or not just depends. a geek, a lover of life, but most important more than anything else and i myou who is in charge of this site and all ather portions of this site NEVER FORGET YOUR CHILD AT HEART!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you see folks when we forget those things we forget Mr. tolkien and his leagacy but above all things we let those fairies and dwarves and all things else fade away.

ther is no one word that can sum his works for me personally he gave a private and whole new world to a lost teen as a grown man i find peace so this is mushy so its tear jerking im glad that ive been able to find a place to share my feeling and knolowgy about these books, the man and life thats cool to me elen sila lummena omentilmo "a star shines on the hour of are meeting" thank you for your time.

[hurin]

p.s. i meesed up i was a junior in 1984 grad. 1985 sorry lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ImDaMom]

My dear Hurin-

It's always wonderful to have a 'newbie' aboard, and we're pleased to have someone with so much enthusiasm! But, and this is the teacher in me talking, take a deep breath. Whew. Reading your rather lengthy post (which is really only one or two sentences) gave me a headache. But no matter. ;)You made some interesting observations, some of which I knew, some of which I think you may need to re-read some Tolkein history. The Silmarillion was published for the first time, in it's entirety, in 1977, after JRR's death. Christopher Tolkein finalized the editing on this magnificent book. (And I'm lucky enough to have received one for a gift the day it was released). The Hobbit, and some of the Sil were indeed written in the trenches of WWI, with some amazing images coming from that horrific war. LOTR was not even planned until the Hobbit came out, and was so warmly received, that many many people asked for a sequel. At that time, JRR had no idea how to extend the tale, and decided the Ring that Bilbo had found could bridge the stories.
The only part of your thoughts that I will argue is that you should have "smoked" at one point in your life. While I was a child of the late 60's, I fell in love with the tales, like you, in my junior year of high school. I was probably the ONLY person in my own little band who did not ever indulge in that counter culture staple, pipeweed (of any sort). Yet, I love and cherish these stories far beyond many of my friends. (Oh, and if you were a junior in 1984, that was 22 years ago, not 15)
Keep on posting, Hurin....I"m sure you'll find lots of friends here at the Green Screen, just waiting to discuss the love of the Professor and all his elf, dwarf and (especially :naughty: ) ranger characters! :)

[Gwaihir]

Thanks for pointing out the dates Mom! :)

Yes Hurin, it never ceases to amaze me how Tolkien kept writing and revising his writings all his life... there is no other author I know of who has worked so hard in creating his very own world. I love comparing the earlier versions of stories like "Beren & Luthien" to the later edition in the Silmarillion! I cannot help but wonder how different the stories would be now if he was still alive.

And don't worry about your age... we have people of all ages here! ;)