For the month of April, I’m breaking out of my usual “format” and showcasing one of my favorite fandoms a day, so I will have shiny things to make me smile every day of my birthday month. When I sat down to write the list of my top 30 fandoms, I found the task terribly hard. How do I choose just 30? My apologies to all my beloved fandoms left off the list. I’m using random.org to determine what fandom gets what day.
The Lord of the Rings
Favorite Quote: “That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo… and it’s worth fighting for.” ~Samwise Gamgee
Favorite Moment: The three hunters setting off together at the end of the first movie.
How I Got Into It: My parents had full cast audio recordings that I used to listen to when I was 3 or 4. I watched some of the animated movies in my childhood and several freaked me the hell out. I didn’t know what to expect from the first movie, so I saw it on DVD and quickly fell in love in enough time to see the second one in theaters several times over.
Fangirl Intensity (scale of 1 to 10 with 10=full-out obsessed): 7 (I’d call myself a 9 in my heart, but objectively I can’t speak Sindarin and have never made it all the way through the Silmarilion)
How I Fangirl: I mostly write fanfiction. But I’ve done crafts and am in a Middle Earth swap-bot group. I fangirl Alan Lee’s art bigtime. I’ve seen all the movies at least once with the score performed live by an orchestra & chorus at Wolf Trap. I went to an all-day marathon of the movies and even saw all the extended editions in the special release in theaters. I was a member of the DC Ringers: The Fellowship of the Beltway local meetup group (possibly the best meetup group name ever). Watching the movies gave me a reason to finally read and re-read the books all the way through, though I honestly like the movies more.
Awesomest Merch I Own: I’m partial to the Middle Earth map puzzle my parents have, but it’s technically not mine. My partner in a swap made me a cloak and broach I love to death as well as a hand drawn map from the Hobbit. But my favorite is probably my Thorin key necklace.
Favorite Fandom Creation: This comes with a serious adult warning, but The Theban Band’s slashy art
Why I’m Glad I Fangirl It: Middle Earth is such a magical place to me. It’s a place where the Hufflepuffy gardener actually gets to step up and save the entire world from destruction and then gets to live happily ever after with his love and their adorable children. It’s a world where an elf can sail into the west to the undying lands with his special dwarf companion. It’s a world where the line between good and evil is so shockingly clear. There’s drama and wisdom and so many themes and backstories and a real world built behind it all. Every time I venture into Middle Earth it feels so real to me, like we’re just opening a window and looking in on it for some time.
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