As none of us were born knowing about Middle Earth and everything, what brought you to it and what was your first reaction to it. My story was one of my friends noticed my obsession with mythology (especially Greek, actually only Greek) and tried to introduce me to Lord of th Rings. But after reading the first five sentences in Fellowship of the Ring, I chucked the book away. Then after seeing a trailer for it, I rented the Fellowship of the Ring and watched it. I was basically in awe and after searching in my room for the Fellowship of the Ring book, began to read it. Of course, I had no idea what was going in that movie but I thought it was good so therefore the book must have been good. Well....it didn't take me long to realize the book wouldn't be as good as the movie but there was the possiblity it might. After trudging through the book, I had finished and thought it was ok. But then I heard there was a sequel for the book that coming out in film. So I thought why not just finish the series. And suffice it to say, after reading the books three times and bothering another friend of mine with LOTR related questions, I got the story of Lord of the Rings. I'm actuallly quite to hear your stories..

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I was cured all right.

that's kind of similar to wut happened w/ me. My Dad had read the books & seen the movies. So, about 3 or 4 years ago, he finally got me to read The Hobbit. I loved it. Then, I started The Fellowship of the Ring I read about the 1st chapter, & told my Dad i was bored, but I stil wanted 2 see the movies. But actually, I was just mad b/c it was about Frodo, & not Bilbo, & I really liked Bilbo!! lol So, I watched the movies, fell in love w/ them, watched them again, got my sister hooked on them, eventually went back & read the books, & as they say, the rest is history.

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"Great art is as irrational as great music. It is mad with its own loveliness."

I tried to read the trilogy when I was eight, but as you can imagine, I got hopelessly bogged down and quit. I might have actually been younger than that. Anyway, then my cousin (to whom I owe the fact that I am obsessed) saw FotR and absolutely loved it, and got me to beg my mom to let me see it. I was probably...eleven. So anyway, I saw FotR, and loved it, and saw TTT in theatres the same weekend. Then I discovered that RotK wouldn't come out for another year, and I absolutley had to discover who the SHE was that Gollum refers to at the end of TTT. So I read the books. And ever since then I've been a fanatic. (I'm fourteen now, almost fifteen.)

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My first step into LotR was watching the FotR movie in theatre by the end of 2001. It just blew me off. I bought the DVD on the day it came out and watched all the other movies in theatre and bought the DVDs as soon as I could. I read the books after watching TTT in theatre and soon after that I bought the Sil, the Hobbit, the appendices, the Atlas, the EEs, the UT and the HoME index.. Shortly before the RotK movie came out I couldn't accept it all being over ( I didn't have all the book stuff except the trilogy by that time) and so I decided not to like LotR anymore. But I got free enter into the movie and so I watched it and again it blew me off.. after that I bought all the books and since then I'm totally obsessed

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I am actually not obsessed with LOTR so much. I mean I can go on my life without seeing the movies. However, when I hear the movies are going to be shown on Tv. I am watching it till it ends. Sitting in front of Tv breathless like my life stops for 3 hours. When I first saw the movie, I was freaked out Nazguls and the creatures. But my brother insisted on going to the movies so we went. And be happy at the end that we were able to see. About a year ago, I did not know anything about LoTR. Now since I join, I have felt like I am a fan of LOTR. So The end

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Will be going to London on March of the 30th

I've always been into fantasy and other stuff like that, but I didn't find out about LotR till my dad found his old copy of The Hobbit in the attic. I thought it'd be a good read and it was, I absolutely fell in love with it. Afterward I asked my dad if there were more books in the series, and he told me about the trilogy. Actually, he also found those up in the attic too. It was all uphill from there.

Very good topic!

No, I wasn't born into it, and yet I was.
My mom was already a fan of the Sil. when I was a little girl. So I saw her, from time to time, reading it.
Later, when I was about 10 or so, some friends told Mom I was the perfect age to enjoy the Hobbit. She got a copy, and began reading it to me in the evenings. My sister, Arsarniel, was a very little girl at the time and would slip behind the sofa when we reached the goblins.
I loved it, of course. Around my 11th birthday I picked up a copy of FotR from the library--the adult section. It was so exciting!
I still remember that copy. It was old, hardback, and green, with gold letters on the spine.
As my tradition by that time, I started reading it in bed with a flashlight. Since it was nighttime and I had (and have!) a vivid imagination, it all came alive. Tell y'all what, in the dark with a flashlight at night, those Nazgul and Barrow Wights are the most frightning creatures possible. I put the book away.
Yes. I did. It was too frightning.

At twelve I picked it up again and this time got past those terrible visions of nazgul and wights! It was wonderful! I've read it off and on ever since.

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Starting October 13th: globe trotting from my kitchen. Follow along on Cook In Fifty-Two

I had heard little things about this "Lord of the Rings" stuff before the movies came out, but really had no idea what it was. When FotR came to theatres, it looked too intense for me. My best friend, though, fell in love with it (and Elijah ) and watched it 7 times in the theatre! Yet despite her insistance, I refused to watch it (I was 13).

I didn't watch any of the movies until RotK finally came out, so I missed seeing them on the big screen. My French teacher made us watch Fellowship en Francais, but I really liked it, and within a month, I had rented all three (in English )

My next step was to buy the Hobbit and the Trilogy in book form, which I devoured in order. And after buying the EEs and watching every appendices extra, I found LotR fandom on the Internet, and that is where you find me now!

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Thanks Haldir and Gil!
"You said: I know that this will hurt, but if I don't break your heart then things will just get worse..."

My family brought LOTR to me.
When I was 10 or 11.

The book was always circling my house, with my parents and older borhters reading it.
I'll admit, I also saw the movies before reading the books. After FOTR came out in theaters, my whole family went to see it, after watching The Fellowship, I read the book, and The Hobbit twice.
Then after TTT, and especially ROTK, i read the books, read The Sil, t was scary how obssessed I became with it.
=)

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I friend became obsessed in 6th grade when RotK came out. She told me about it, and I usually didn't listen to her rants (she often quickly became obsessed with random movies) but this time something was different. My dear mother wouldn't let me see it in theaters, but my dad rented TTT and we watched that. (He was a bit of a Ringer himself; he had loved the books growing up and suggested them to me before.) Unable to see the other movies, I began reading the books. Then my dad surprised me: he was taking me to see RotK in theaters! After that we bought all extended editions, and I became majorly obsessed. My friend's interest in LotR goes up and down these days, but my fandom continues to steadily increase.
Indeed, I owe this friend for A-U as well. She discovered the humor section and passed the website along to me. After looking through humor, quizzes, etc., I saw all of the other things the site had to offer. Eventually I joined the forum as well.

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<center> all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us


Thank you for five-plus wonderful years of obsession, friendship and fun

oh so many of you are so lucky.. I got into LotR soo late and many of your parents were fans.. *is jealous*

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I've said this before but my mom read me the books when I was a kid but I slept through parts of them and couldn't remember or understand half of what my mom read to me. Then one day my mom came to me and said their making a LOTR movie and she was so excited. And then the FOTR came out into theatres and I must have subconciously remembered something from the books because I understood exactly what was going on. It just automatically clicked with me and I was like this is the most awesome movie I've ever seen. Then the others came out and I had similar reactions to them and I've pretty much been in love with the movies and books ever since.

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"There's an ocean between.....where I am and where I want to be"

I didn't get into the books until the movies came out. My brother liked them, but I didn't really care too much, and didn't go see the movies. Then my friend got obsessed (Orlando Bloom, why else?) and hounded me to see them. By that time, we'd gotten FotR:EE (yes, I waited a long time) so I watched it. And fell in love.
I am compeletly obsessed now. It's almost scary.

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going on a journey through my old claims

I read the Hobbit when I was about 7 years old, but then totally forgot about this story. Then, FotR came into the cinemas and I thougt 'The Lord of the Rings? What is this? I'm certainly not going to watch this movie!!!' Half a year later my mom bought the DVD and about Halloween I watched the movie... and there I went. My fortune was now sure, I became a ringer!
Then I reread the Hobbit and the LotR trilogy before watching TTT, and before Rotk came out I read the Silmarillion and the History of ME.

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I began reading the Fellowship a few years ago and didn't like it much. then I saw the movies and thought, the movies are awesome, so why not have another go at it?.

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When fotr was released I was too young to watch it, even with my parents accompanying me. My friend was 2 yrs older and e went to watch all th movies and then he told always stories about how the orcs attacked (he's a boy) and all the you know, 'action' scenes. But I wasn't that interested in his talks. Then, when I was 10, my sister borrowed fotr video from her friend, and we watched it with my sister and my mother. I liked it very much instantly. Then we rented ttt, and, as my mother had liked fotr, we watched it with her. (my sister saw it sometime too, but she's not into lotr, you know). Then we waited for rotk, and rented that too, and watched it with my mother. I liked lotr, but I wasn't obsessed with it (as I'm now). Then my sister (the one who's not into lotr really) got all the three parts (in english) from my uncle as a present. She put them on her bookshelf and has never touched them since. But I decided to read them. My mother tongue isn't english, and I wondered that it could be quite hard to get through such long and hard books, but when I started fotr, I couldn't put it down. I wish i could've/would've read the book before the movies were released... but anyway, I enjoy the book really mucho!

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I revisited AU on Jan 14th after an almost 10-year break! The nostalgia..!