Another Nerd-Inspired Blog

Can we talk about The Lord of the Rings for a bit?

I'm going to do it anyways. I thought it would be nicer if I asked though.

I first read The Lord of the Rings in 7th grade. The first of the movies was coming out and mom had a rule....if a movie was based on a book, you read the book first. So I did. And to be completely honest, I didn't really love it at first. I read it because the movie looked so interesting and so good. But the book had so much information I didn't know what to do.

After seeing the first movie, I quickly read through the rest of the trilogy and enjoyed it...but not enough to rave about it.

For Christmas that year my dad bought me the extended edition of the first movie.

And that's when I got it. I had missed so much in my first viewing in trying to take everything in at once. But my problem was that is NOT how The Lord of the Rings is meant to be enjoyed. It isn't a story that you read once and are then done with. It's not a story where you will pick up everyone on a first reading or a first viewing. Subsequent viewings and readings made me see more things that I hadn't caught before. As each extended DVD set was released, I got them, devouring every bit of knowledge I could about the series, the world, the actors, the making of the movies, and Tolkien himself.

I remember listening to the soundtracks on the bus on the way to and from school. I knew every line of each movie...and yet I still came back for more. I began re-reading the book once a year to see what else I could learn about it.

In college I convinced some of my friends to marathon all three extended edition movies in our sorority suite with me. I was the only one to actually make it through all three movies. Dedication? Maybe.

But thus is the life of a fangirl.

This week while I've been in my office I've been listening to the soundtracks to the movies on Spotify (except what is up with not having the soundtrack for The Two Towers, Spotify. Really?) and I have been remembering exactly how much I love these movies. The music brings back all of the emotions each movie brought in the first place. And no matter which song...there is beauty to it.

So as I sit here and listen to "The Breaking of the Fellowship" and know exactly where they are in the movie and know exactly what each inflection of each note means in terms of the story.

I have a lot of feelings about this series.

And I imagine I will probably blog about it again in the future as I delve back into the world that turned me into a fangirl in the first place.