My Tolkien Blog Party Tag Answers

We’ve been talking about Tolkien a lot lately on Taking Up Room and Taking Up More Room, which I’m completely good with, even though the latest buzz centers around the abhorrent new Rings of Power series (read my Substack review here). Groan.

Anyway, since I don’t want to repeat myself, I thought I would jump into the Blog Party with the tag questions this year. Here we go…

1. Who first introduced you to Middle Earth? I first saw the animated movies on TV in the San Francisco Bay Area in the eighties, but I didn’t like them very much because unfortunately I came in at the part when Frodo explains why one of his fingers is gone. It felt weird. After I saw the first Peter Jackson film, though, it was a different story. Totally hooked. I had to read all the books.
2. Has your love of Middle-earth affected your life? Yes–it’s a great place to escape to.
3. Have you ever dressed up like a Tolkien character? Yes! In 2001 I was Galadriel for a New Year’s costume party. My dress was green but the look was right.
4. What people in your real life would you want in your company if you had to take the ring to Mordor? My family, my husband, my son, my friends Robynn and Jen, and my pastors. Yeah, we’d be a big group, but it would never be dull, ever.
5. What Middle-earth location would you most like to visit? Rivendell, but I have a feeling the food in Hobbiton would be a bit more familiar. I like mushrooms and tea, although not together.
6. Are there any secondary characters you think deserve more attention? Not really, because each character seems to have their own moment to shine and then we’re on to the next thing. It works.
7. Would you rather attend Faramir’s wedding or Samwise’s wedding? Probably Samwise, but I’d be good either way.
8. How many books by J.R.R. Tolkien have you read? Just four, I’m afraid.
9. Are there any books about Middle-earth or Professor Tolkien (but not written by him) that you recommend? It might be a cliche, but Humphrey Carpenter’s Tolkien biography is fantastic.
10. List up to ten of your favorite lines/quotations from the Middle-earth books and/or movies.

• Not all who wander are lost.
• It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.
• So are all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you were also meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought.
• I think I’m quite ready for another adventure.

Anyone who’s in the mood for more Tolkien can find all of this year’s great entries here. Thanks, Rachel, for hosting this Tolkien Blog Party, and congrats on ten years! Thanks for reading, all, and see you tomorrow for Paul’s Classic Literature On Film Blogathon…

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