* How I entered that fandom So actually there were two phases (and how I discovered Tolkien is a third, even earlier one, though it was years before I realized the story I read at 7 and really liked was actually Smith of Wooton Major and by the same author as my One True Canon). When I was nine or ten, The Hobbit appeared in the USSR in Ukrainian translation. My parents got their hands on a copy, and my mother "read" it to me as a betime story. The quotation marks are because my Ukrainian wasn't actually up to consuming a book in that language, so my mother translated it into Russian for me as she went (the two languages are quite close, so this is relatively easy to do). I was immediately swept up by the world, especially by these Dwarves that were the size of a small human (in Russian the word for (the mythological) "dwarf" and "gnome" is the same, but the standard image is that of, you know, David the Gnome-like creatures living in mushrooms, so Tolkien's Edda-esque Dwarves were a brand new concept for me. I spent a couple of years as a fan of The Hobbit, an then, when I was 13, a friend of the family and one of my favorite people sent us a package of books, two of which were Russian translatins of FotR and The Two Towers. It actually took me a while to get through the first part of FotR, but as soon as I got past the Council of Elrond, I couldn't stop reading. I blasted through The Two Towers in one day, and the next day went to the library and got a copy of RotK for myself. Now by this point I was already living in the US, so the copy of RotK was in English. I was in 8th grade, and had been speaking English for 2.5 years or so, and starting to read in it for pleasure, but I was definitely not prepared for Tolkien's archaic vocabulary and general high fantasy pace. So RotK was definitely slower going, but I persevered. And never looked back -- it's been the fandom of my heart ever since. (To the point that when B and I were first transitioning our relationship from friends to more, he stole his brother's copy of LotR to read, realizing correctly that this was the way to my heart :P)
* Favorite character Boromir (who was my favorite in the book; I actually am less fond of the movie version of him, and my movie favorite is either Gandalf or might even be Aragorn -- which is weird, because I don't much like book Aragorn at all -- especially the way he comes across in the Russian translation). My other big (book) favorites are Gandalf, Pippin, Galadriel, and I have a real soft spot for Saruman, actually. And if we include The Silmarillion in this, then also Feanor -- I have this thing for brilliant assholes whose brilliance is equaled by their pride :P
* Least favorite character Unpopular opinion time: Eowyn. In part this started because my best friend, whom I got to read LotR, had a crush on Faramir an Eowyn was comeptition, but even as a grown-up who is beyond such things I'm not a big fan of Eowyn's choices or her arc (which is a bit odd, actually, because I love the Polly Oliver trope in general). Also, I started out hating Celeborn for the way he acts when the Fellowship comes to Lorien, but after coming up with a bunch of cracky fanfic which will fortunately never see the light of day, I've grown kind of fond of him, actually -- he was the butt monkey of all those adventures, and it's hard to resent the butt monkey :P
* First character I fell in love with Gandalf, since I met him in the Hobbit, an weirdly enough, Thrain, who appears in, like, two flashback sentences.
* The character who is the most like me Boringly enough, Merry.
* OTP(s) I am extremely non-shippy about this fandom, not counting 13-year-old-me's ship of Boromir/my self-insert Mary-Sue character (who was a wizard an a healer with plant-communicating powers). I dislike most of the canonical ships, with the exception of Sam/Rosie, and don't feel the need to ship any characters non-canonically.
* Favorite friendship/family relationship Legolas and Gimli BFFS 4EVA
* Favorite quote *points to icon* This was actually my senior quote, ~25 years ago, and I still love it just as much.
One of the things I love about the LotR books is that you can say to any fan, "The first time I tried to read I got stuck--" and they'll finish the sentence, "at the Council of Elrond, yeah."
Is the movie version of Boromir really less popular? I'm not sure I have a preference (can't help loving Sean Bean), but I usually expect Tolkien readers to be purists about everything, there may as well not be a movie version, etc. And on that note, of course no one could blame you for wishing for another adaptation. :)
you can say to any fan, "The first time I tried to read I got stuck--" and they'll finish the sentence, "at the Council of Elrond, yeah."
Yeah XD I actually, in retrospect, quite like some parts of the Council now. It's just... there's a lot of other parts of it. XD (I did also find a lot of the early section really slow -- the Hobbits' adventures before they met Strider (I don't just mean Tom Bombadil, but I also don't NOT mean Tom Bombadil :P)
Is the movie version of Boromir really less popular?
I'm not sure what I actually said, but I meant the reverse: I think the movie version of Boromir is quite popular, but book!Boromir is not as much. I do understand why -- Sean Bean is a big part of it, but also I do think the movie softened him somewhat -- focused more on his relationship with Merry & Pippin, less on his pride. I like prickly, proud Boromir, though, wrestling with his conscience, and don't actually want him softened.
I think I remember that the second time I read the books, I was super interested in the Council, but even that's been a long time, now. Agreed that the first half of Fellowship meanders a lot, although these days I love hobbits and the Shire so much that I'm probably going to savor every word of it.
What you said was right, what I said was meant to be the reverse, oops. Anyway, I'll be keeping my eye on book!Boromir to see what I think.
So actually there were two phases (and how I discovered Tolkien is a third, even earlier one, though it was years before I realized the story I read at 7 and really liked was actually Smith of Wooton Major and by the same author as my One True Canon). When I was nine or ten, The Hobbit appeared in the USSR in Ukrainian translation. My parents got their hands on a copy, and my mother "read" it to me as a betime story. The quotation marks are because my Ukrainian wasn't actually up to consuming a book in that language, so my mother translated it into Russian for me as she went (the two languages are quite close, so this is relatively easy to do). I was immediately swept up by the world, especially by these Dwarves that were the size of a small human (in Russian the word for (the mythological) "dwarf" and "gnome" is the same, but the standard image is that of, you know, David the Gnome-like creatures living in mushrooms, so Tolkien's Edda-esque Dwarves were a brand new concept for me. I spent a couple of years as a fan of The Hobbit, an then, when I was 13, a friend of the family and one of my favorite people sent us a package of books, two of which were Russian translatins of FotR and The Two Towers. It actually took me a while to get through the first part of FotR, but as soon as I got past the Council of Elrond, I couldn't stop reading. I blasted through The Two Towers in one day, and the next day went to the library and got a copy of RotK for myself. Now by this point I was already living in the US, so the copy of RotK was in English. I was in 8th grade, and had been speaking English for 2.5 years or so, and starting to read in it for pleasure, but I was definitely not prepared for Tolkien's archaic vocabulary and general high fantasy pace. So RotK was definitely slower going, but I persevered. And never looked back -- it's been the fandom of my heart ever since. (To the point that when B and I were first transitioning our relationship from friends to more, he stole his brother's copy of LotR to read, realizing correctly that this was the way to my heart :P)
* Favorite character
Boromir (who was my favorite in the book; I actually am less fond of the movie version of him, and my movie favorite is either Gandalf or might even be Aragorn -- which is weird, because I don't much like book Aragorn at all -- especially the way he comes across in the Russian translation). My other big (book) favorites are Gandalf, Pippin, Galadriel, and I have a real soft spot for Saruman, actually. And if we include The Silmarillion in this, then also Feanor -- I have this thing for brilliant assholes whose brilliance is equaled by their pride :P
* Least favorite character
Unpopular opinion time: Eowyn. In part this started because my best friend, whom I got to read LotR, had a crush on Faramir an Eowyn was comeptition, but even as a grown-up who is beyond such things I'm not a big fan of Eowyn's choices or her arc (which is a bit odd, actually, because I love the Polly Oliver trope in general). Also, I started out hating Celeborn for the way he acts when the Fellowship comes to Lorien, but after coming up with a bunch of cracky fanfic which will fortunately never see the light of day, I've grown kind of fond of him, actually -- he was the butt monkey of all those adventures, and it's hard to resent the butt monkey :P
* First character I fell in love with
Gandalf, since I met him in the Hobbit, an weirdly enough, Thrain, who appears in, like, two flashback sentences.
* The character who is the most like me
Boringly enough, Merry.
* OTP(s)
I am extremely non-shippy about this fandom, not counting 13-year-old-me's ship of Boromir/my self-insert Mary-Sue character (who was a wizard an a healer with plant-communicating powers). I dislike most of the canonical ships, with the exception of Sam/Rosie, and don't feel the need to ship any characters non-canonically.
* Favorite friendship/family relationship
Legolas and Gimli BFFS 4EVA
* Favorite quote
*points to icon* This was actually my senior quote, ~25 years ago, and I still love it just as much.
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Is the movie version of Boromir really less popular? I'm not sure I have a preference (can't help loving Sean Bean), but I usually expect Tolkien readers to be purists about everything, there may as well not be a movie version, etc. And on that note, of course no one could blame you for wishing for another adaptation. :)
Your random thought is excellent.
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Yeah XD I actually, in retrospect, quite like some parts of the Council now. It's just... there's a lot of other parts of it. XD (I did also find a lot of the early section really slow -- the Hobbits' adventures before they met Strider (I don't just mean Tom Bombadil, but I also don't NOT mean Tom Bombadil :P)
Is the movie version of Boromir really less popular?
I'm not sure what I actually said, but I meant the reverse: I think the movie version of Boromir is quite popular, but book!Boromir is not as much. I do understand why -- Sean Bean is a big part of it, but also I do think the movie softened him somewhat -- focused more on his relationship with Merry & Pippin, less on his pride. I like prickly, proud Boromir, though, wrestling with his conscience, and don't actually want him softened.
Reply
What you said was right, what I said was meant to be the reverse, oops. Anyway, I'll be keeping my eye on book!Boromir to see what I think.
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