May 20, 2003

Response to Lilly
G

Lilly, I'm not sure where I heard it (possibly a commentry on the extended Fellowship) but I've been under the impression for a while now that we will get a brief glimpse of Smeagol (played by Andy Serkis without any CG) taking the Ring from Deagol in RotK as opposed to the extended TT. And are you serious when you say you only have to wait a month for that? I don't know about you guys in the USA but I'm Scottish and I don't think the extended DVD will be over here till November.

I'm afraid I don't really have an amusing story regarding how I became interested in LotR but I'm probably in the minority here in that I'd never read any Tolkien (or even heard of him to be honest, although I had heard of a really long book called The Lord of the Rings) until I saw the Fellowship movie and was utterly blown away. I then went on to read The Lord of the Rings, closely followed by The Hobbit and bought The Simarillion but found the Ainulindale and Valaquenta sections really hard going and gave up for a couple of months.

Reading the Fellowship I actually found myself liking the film version less every time I read anything that had been skipped or changed (not that I don't still love the two films so far, because I do). Also, I was amazed at the fact that even though I knew much of what was going to happen and was desperate to get on to the Two Towers which at the time was new to me, I still loved reading the Fellowship and I had an enormous respect for Tolkien after the first few pages.

I am, also happy to report that I gave the Silmarillion another go and quickly became hooked on that (I now think I prefer it to LotR) and having finished it am now reading LotR for a second time (Sam's just noticed a log with eyes following them down the Anduin...) and then plan to get started on the Unfinished Tales.

As per usual I've gone on a little longer than was perhaps wise but I've just wondered something about Gollum. He picks up the traiul of the Fellowship in Moria, right? And he FOLLOWS them out of Moria, correct? But to leave Moria the Fellowship had to cross the bridge of Khazad-Dum and we all know what happened to that so how was it possible for Gollum to follow them. I know he can climb a bit but surely even he can't follow the Company across the bridge if the bridge is accompanying Gandalf and the Balrog on a trip to the depths of the earth, can he?

And was I the ONLY one who thought Cirith Ungol rather than Barad-Duir was one of the Two Towers?

Anyway, keep up the good work and thanks for the answers to my other questions,
G.

P.S. If anyone is shocked by my previous Tolkien ignorance, I am only 20 and I've asked everyone I know and only one other person has read LotR (although a few have started and given up and one or two have managed The Hobbit) so please forgive me.