What's your TTF Story?

[Mithrandir]

Welcome back, Mithrandir! I actually do remember you (at least the username, even if no particular post or thread rings a bell), and your story sounds like much mine, from the high school obsession (and our nearly same ages) to the recent re-emergence here at TTF. Like you, I've been trying to be active again but am sporadic at best, what with real life getting in the way and all.

Anyway, I clipped this part of your quote so I could nerd out about your daughter's middle name, which I love. I have a colleague who recently joined my department and her daughter's first name is Eowyn - so be proud and reassured that you are not alone in your awesomeness of naming children after this story that made so many of us come to love literature in our youth!

As for the other posts in this thread that have mentioned YayGollum, I do indeed remember that one well. Quite a character! I'll just leave it at that.

Thanks for the warm welcome back @Maeglin . I would have totally given her first name as Eowyn but the wife had other ideas lol.

 

[Halasían]

I just discovered this thread and read through it all. What a walk down memory lane. I know it has been a while since a lot of people posted here, so it may go on deaf ears, but I figured I would respond.

I am one of the "old timers" - joined in October 2001. I was actually in High School when I found TTF - obsessed with Tolkien and LoTR and the movies were about to come out. I honestly can't remember how I found TTF but I remember falling in love with the community almost instantly. I became, how shall we say, very active in the role playing component of this site which was extremely active at the time. I was on good terms with my English teachers in HS and they would let me use their class computers on my lunch break so I would spend every lunch break reading and posting here. Then I would go home and participate as late as I could get away with - talking on AIM with some of the members who were active. I have such fond memories of that time.

I will admit - reading through my old posts I feel a lot of embarrassment. Since I was in High School at the time, and am 37 now - I think that is inevitable. I like to think I am a much better writer these days.

I stopped being active on the forum when I went to college - but I have checked in throughout the years - tried to become active again a few years ago but did not succeed. I am a software engineer these days working in the aerospace industry, I am married and have a daughter, and it is just so wild to me to think I have been a "part" of this community for over 20 years. My daughter's middle name is Éowyn - have to mention that.

I love TTF so much even though I haven't always been active - I have seen others describe it as a "safe place" and I really resonate with that feeling. I am getting the urge to become active again, but I won't make any promises because last time I was not successful in doing so.

Thanks to the mods and the team that have kept this site going - it means so much to a lot of people - even those of us who disappear and resurface randomly.

Wow, another of the 'old guard' dropping in! I remember you from back in the day. I believe I went by 'Snowdog' until sometime in 2003 when I had my username changed to an RP character's name I created in 2000. Having been the working middle-aged married guy with young kids back when you were in high school, I'm now the retired old curmudgeon grandpa pontificating about the conundrums of life while writing my tales.

And YayGollum! They cracked me up back in the day!

 

[Mithrandir]

Wow, another of the 'old guard' dropping in! I remember you from back in the day. I believe I went by 'Snowdog' until sometime in 2003 when I had my username changed to an RP character's name I created in 2000. Having been the working middle-aged married guy with young kids back when you were in high school, I'm now the retired old curmudgeon grandpa pontificating about the conundrums of life while writing my tales.

And YayGollum! They cracked me up back in the day!

Time sure is weird and mesmerizing.

 

[WatcherWraith]

Having been introduced to Middle Earth through my parents since I can remember, I was more or less obsessed with it all my life. Fandom interests came and went, troubles in life did the same, but my interest in Lord of the Rings never faded. Eventually The Hobbit movies came out, and personally I loved them, despite their differences to the lore. That experience got me back a little deeper into the books again, and when Rings of Power came out, which I also loved, I began to seriously delve into whatever lore I could find again.

I had read the books of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit since ever so long ago, and when I got the chance to read The Silmarillion, I took it. The first attempt was not easy, but deeply intriguing, and I managed to find my way through the unfamiliar names and the family trees I was constantly confusing with each other alright in the end. The second attempt went far better, and I have since read it without much difficulty, though I still have trouble remembering who was a child of Fingolfin and who was actually Fingon's child....

As I mentioned, I loved Rings of Power. Trying to find clips of it online, however, led to bitter disappointment as so many were just people announcing their varying degrees of dislike for the show, and I got genuinely afraid the show would get cancelled. Which of course embedded me further into Middle Earth lore. I just kept sinking, voluntarily, into as much of that world as I could. While all this was going on, I was dealing with lots and lots of irl issues which were awfully painful, and Middle Earth was my way of handling it all. One day, someone suggested that, as I loved writing and literally could not get along in life without doing some of any sort, I should write about some of the lore pieces which Tolkien left hanging.

Research took me first to The Tolkien Gateway, which I found very helpful, then to a page in this forum. I don't honestly remember what the page was about. What I was actually focused on at the time was this was THE TOLKIEN FORUM, in beautiful letters, and there were people here actively talking about all things Tolkien. I joined up not long later, deciding this would be my online Tolkien home since it was so big and filled with more people than I'd ever expected. Since then, I've felt a little less lonely, and I have you guys to thank, specifically a certain few such as Maedhros, Vorondil and Ent.

Finally, my apologies for the long post, but I believed it was important to have some knowledge of what Middle Earth means to me as well as how I got here, since it is an integral part of who I am on this forum. Alright, all done.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

We're so glad you're here! 😊

 

[WatcherWraith]

Thank you! I'm very, very happy to be here. 🥰

 

[Glorfindel Goldtress]

Once upon a time, I lurked, I spied, it moved me Bob. *Coughs.*

Anyway, I found this forum looking for answers to some lore questions, just going down a rabbit hole. Along the way, I noticed a certain thread called "Hair Dye, Cloning, and General Epic Chaoticness", and I watched it unfold. I especially observed this particular group of people across the forum, naturally gravitating towards their hilarious, main-character energy. (It was inevitable, really.) Not to mention the amazing roleplays I looked through, especially with the skills of @Maedhros_Nelyafinwë, who I saw as the ringleader of the cool club. (And still is! 😉)

Then one day as I enjoyed viewing the forum, a certain @Fingon_Findekáno and @Tyelkormo the Fair were in the throes of an intense guessing game regarding characters in the legendarium. The clue was Fingon's: "He takes an interest in others". I watched Tyelko slowly whittle it down and realized it could only be one thing. So I quickly created an account and joined the forum. My first message was guessing the fox 🦊, and the rest is history. (Easter egg: If you check my about me, there is a little fox emblem, which is resemblant of this moment.)

The chaotic group I love has become some of my closest online friends I've ever made. More than just the silliness and the antics among us, we are bonded in a way which transcends the screen, and I am ever grateful. (for everyone I have interacted with, really!)

 

[Tyelkormo the Fair]

Awww I love you too!🦊🔪

 

[Maedhros_Nelyafinwë]

I lurked, I spied, it moved me Bob.

@Maedhros_Nelyafinwë, who I saw as the ringleader of the cool club. (And still is! 😉)

Aww! 🥺 Honored to be the ringleader of such a delightfully chaotic bunch!

 

[Halasían]

.... my apologies for the long post, but I believed it was important to have some knowledge of what Middle Earth means to me as well as how I got here, since it is an integral part of who I am on this forum. Alright, all done.

We like long posts. Love to hear the individual stories!

 

[Alqualisse]

I bumped into Tolkien as a child, perhaps 9 years old, living on a farm outside a small country town in rural Australia. There was no internet. There was no public transport. There were 2 TV stations and 2 radio stations and I was, perhaps understandably, an unrepentant bibliophile. I devoured books because they offered a way to go somewhere else and look at life through someone else's eyes (fictional or otherwise).

I had access to 2 very small libraries. I had completely tapped out our public library to the point that the librarians would spot me as I came in and tell me that they had no new titles in the collection (they'd then give me odd jobs to do which I loved because libraries and librarians are cool). That left me with my even smaller school library. It got new titles faster than our public library (funding - go figure) and by that age, I was looking for anything that was thiiiicccckkkkkkk (I could then and still do now polish off your average sized novel in about 3 hours).

To my delight, I found a new resident on my school library shelves. It was all 3 of the LotR books in one title. I couldn't believe my luck at finding such a big title. Of course, being the seasoned bibliophile, I scanned the listing of other titles by the same author. Gold! I knew I was set for at least 2 weeks, possibly longer, with fresh content. I had no idea who Tolkien was. Much of the hoopla around the original publication was distinctly Northern Hemisphere. I tucked my chunky new reading material into my bag and the rest, as they say, is history.

I remember distinctly where I was when I first read the scene where Gandalf faces off with that Balrog. It was a sunny, warm day and I was reading on the trampoline in our back yard (neither my younger brothers nor our dog could get onto the trampoline so I was left in peace). My young heart broke and as I ran inside in tears, I wondered what the hell was going on. It was just a book but I was into it. My mother patiently explained that these characters were fictional, which I knew, and suggested that perhaps I should put the book away if it upset me that much. Hell would sooner freeze over, of course.

Being in a very small rural town, pre-internet, no book clubs and certainly no geek culture to speak of, my Tolkien fandom was very personal. It was just me, digging about for other titles. After LotR, I read The Hobbit. That was certainly the wrong way about and it wasn't until years later, when I understood the nature and structure of novels, per se, that I grasped just how remarkable that novel is. Not to be discouraged, though, I hunted down a copy of the Silmarillion and fell head over heels.

Of course, I grew up, went to university, got married, left town. Always kept my personal Tolkien library close though. Didn't venture into online Tolkien worlds until we were approaching the release of the first PJ movie. That, of course, is how my path crossed with Halasían and a good many others. We'd never have met, much less married, without online Tolkien forums. It Halasían who suggested I might want to take a look at TTF, but I don't spend a great deal of time on online forums. The online debates are amusing, but not for long. I find them tiresome and have cast many Tolkien sites aside. I don't miss them and they don't miss me (if indeed they are still functioning).

The fact that I'm still here on TTF, and not on other Tolkien sites, speaks volumes. As does the fact that over 40 years later, I am still reading Tolkien and loving it. Tolkien is, in fact, the only author I re-read other than Shakespeare.

 

[Vardarianna]

My TTF story is a short one having just registered in January. I found the link in the catalog of Tolkien websites in the Library of Annúminas on RP Repository. It's been a fun time here so far!

My Tolkien story started back in 2001. Ever since I saw the Fellowship of the Ring movie when I was 7 years old, I became fascinated by Middle-earth. I was gifted the Lord of the Rings books that Christmas a week after seeing the movie and I ate it up. By the time the 2nd movie came out a year later, I had read the books three times and combed over the appendices. It wasn't until 2007 when I went to middle school that I started writing Middle-earth fanficlets to fill in holes in the background summary. The lack of women mentioned in the line of Elendil had me write up some original women characters, for where there was a male heir, there was an unmentioned/unnamed woman who bore him. I came up with several characters and storylines that fit within the canonical framework. I had joined The One Ring . com and Arwen Undomiel sites in 2007 in my effort to talk and interact with middle-earth fans. I think I was on a Ringbearer site as well. Somehow I missed this place at the time.

Having let things rest after high school because life got busy, I came across an old notebook and some saved stories on CD-ROMs when I packed up to move. Looking back at my (mostly bad) fanfics, it led me to dream up a new fanfic in a 'future' setting in Middle-earth. I will be sharing it in the Red Book, but there has been a lot of revisions to be able to present continuity.

 

[ZehnWaters]

My TTF story is a short one having just registered in January. I found the link in the catalog of Tolkien websites in the Library of Annúminas on RP Repository. It's been a fun time here so far!

My Tolkien story started back in 2001. Ever since I saw the Fellowship of the Ring movie when I was 7 years old, I became fascinated by Middle-earth. I was gifted the Lord of the Rings books that Christmas a week after seeing the movie and I ate it up. By the time the 2nd movie came out a year later, I had read the books three times and combed over the appendices. It wasn't until 2007 when I went to middle school that I started writing Middle-earth fanficlets to fill in holes in the background summary. The lack of women mentioned in the line of Elendil had me write up some original women characters, for where there was a male heir, there was an unmentioned/unnamed woman who bore him. I came up with several characters and storylines that fit within the canonical framework. I had joined The One Ring . com and Arwen Undomiel sites in 2007 in my effort to talk and interact with middle-earth fans. I think I was on a Ringbearer site as well. Somehow I missed this place at the time.

Having let things rest after high school because life got busy, I came across an old notebook and some saved stories on CD-ROMs when I packed up to move. Looking back at my (mostly bad) fanfics, it led me to dream up a new fanfic in a 'future' setting in Middle-earth. I will be sharing it in the Red Book, but there has been a lot of revisions to be able to present continuity.

I'm a pretty big fic writer myself. Questions that arise while writing them is what always draws me back here.