LOTR Blog Party Tag Questions

So, yes, I am participating in two blog parties at once. Good thing school is mostly over! But how could I resist one for The Lord of the Rings? I mean, come on, I've lived the last twelve years salivating to participate in one of these!

Nine tag questions to rule them all....


What was your first introduction to Lord of the Rings?
I watched the animated Return of the King when I was around ten or so and loved it (yes, I loved it and didn't know how horrible it was at the time). I didn't ever think about reading the books or anything until I saw the trailer for FotR for the first time in the theater, watching a Christian movie called Carman: The Champion. It was all downhill from that point. Saw the movie with my dad between Christmas and New Years, and spent the next four or five years reading the books, watching the movies, and being totally obsessed.

Have you ever read the book?
Yes, I've read the series twice. And The Hobbit more times than I can count since I actually started reading that in the late 90s. I've got a friend in her 70s who reads the trilogy every year! Oh, for the time to be that dedicated.

Which version of the movies do you prefer – the extended version or the theatrical release?
I know nothing of theatrical releases! Seriously, though, I haven't watched the TR in at least 8 years. I admit, the TR for RotK has fewer orcs in it, a major plus, but I can't even separate anymore what is from the TR and what is extended. So, I would miss the deleted scenes if I watched the TR. Celeborn has lines, actual lines, to speak in the extended FotR!

Who is your favorite character and why?
It's fluctuated. As a teenager, I loved Frodo, in my early twenties it was Aragorn, and now I'm gone for Gandalf. You have to throw Sam in there someplace too, but for the purpose of the question, I'll just choose Gandalf. He's the leader, and he's the hero, and he's the Christ figure who dies and is resurrected. There are so many reasons to love Gandalf, not the least of which being I already knew who he was when I saw FotR for the first time because I'd read The Hobbit multiple times.

Which of the other books concerning Middle-Earth have you read?
I've read The Hobbit (obviously) and The Unfinished Tales. I don't have the patience to sit down and read the histories, nor am I interested in the apparently depressing Children of Hurin or The Silmarillion. Who knows, maybe when I graduate I'll feel a rush of inspiration to delve into other Middle Earth stories. Hmm, reading The Adventures of Tom Bombadil could be fun!   

If there was one thing about the movies you would change, what would it be?
Faramir. Oh my GOSH, how he hurts me! My sister and I call him Filmamir, at least for The Two Towers. In the book it takes him 10 seconds to get over the Ring's power. He's different from his brother, and the book made that perfectly clear. He never takes the hobbits to Osgiliath. He's NOT that crazy! So, yeah, definitely Faramir. Although having Frodo man up a little bit would be awesome too! How many times can you drop that sword!?

What is your favorite scene in either the books or the movies?
The conversation between Frodo and Sam when Frodo asks him, "What are we holding onto, Sam?" and Sam replies, "That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for!" Oh my gosh, I just quoted that from memory. It still gives me shivers!  

How would you rate your addiction to Lord of the Rings – Aragorn being the lowest and Gollum/Smeagol being the highest?
Errr, we're probably talking a Frodo level, around an eight. It would have been Gollum about 5 years ago, and it's still pretty high up there. I spent time learning elvish as a teenager. That oughta tell you something, but I'm not as crazy as Ned in Seventeen Again who can actually hold on conversations in elvish. Plus, I don't write fanfiction for LotR anymore! Which, yeah, I did, lots of it. And looking back at it is really, really frightening so if I post any here, it will be heavily revised.  

If you could be any Lord of the Rings character, who would it be?
I may have Sam's personality type (which I do as an ISFJ), but I wouldn't want to be him. So, let's go with Gandalf. Nothing really shakes him, nothing at all. He's logical, opinionated, yet equally kind-hearted beneath the gruffness. Besides, having that type of power would be kinda awesome. And smacking Denethor upside the head. Who wouldn't love doing that!?