Hullo All!

I just wanted to share with you my experience with LOTR, and how I got where I am today. Yes I do wonder what has happened to me. I'm going to web sites with names like TheOneRing.net, buying LOTR posters, reading my book over and over again thinking it might somehow change. Not to mention getting goose bumps in the theater when the trailer appears. Then I wonder how did I get here? What has become of the person I was months ago?

How did it begin, let me see. Ah yes it began with a question. "What is LOTR?" I asked in a chat room only 8 months ago. A friend told me it was the continuation of The Hobbit. "Oh" I replied and that was that. Until the movie Spy Kids came out in March, and as usual the trailers showed before the movie began. One caught my eye as a golden ring fluttered across the screen and followed by a series of scenes from the three movies. Then the words Lord of The Rings sprang to my mind, which I muttered to my brother at the time. I was fascinated with the trailer and the actor who would be Frodo. That is when I started to search for the books. I couldn't find any at my college library, except the last two. Then I went to a bookstore which had none. Finally I went to a library near my house, which not only had all of them, but two of the hardback 1965 versions.

I started the first chapter and thought to myself, 'how on earth will I get through this book?' I was afraid that it wouldn't keep my interest long enough let alone that I would come to love it. Gandalf's arrival and his tale of the ring began the snowball of interest. Then it was too late for going back, I was hooked. Halfway through I remember thinking 'Oh my gosh Bilbo the only character I was most familiar with is gone and I'm left with Frodo.' It felt as if I had pushed away from the side of the pool and went into deeper waters, but I continued. Soon I got to know the Hobbit well and came to love him. Not too long after I had finished the book which ended with a cliffhanger. So you know I had to get the second one as soon as possible. Get it I did, though I remember being frustrated at first because Tolkien had not began where he left off. Which reminds me this friend had later asked if I felt sad when Gandalf died in the first book, to which I replied "I kind of thought he would return, in fact I would have been very disappointed if he hadn't." Of course he did in The Two Towers, and I think a few tears fell in relief. The first of many, does that sound strange?

As soon as I finished I went back to the library for the last book, Return of the King. I had only began reading some of it when I saw the movie cover version, and later bought it. Finally I had reached the end of what had started as a simple 'I want to know what the movie will be about' to the ultimate reading experience of a lifetime. Then I started searching the net for LOTR sites and researching J.R.R. Tolkien. I was now going to the movies to catch a sneak peak at the trailer again. Not to mention downloading the second trailer(which I have yet to see in the theaters). And well here I am...a new Tolkien fan waiting for FOTR to hit theaters. Isn't it strange how things go sometimes?

– Queen Of Rohan

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