You're a bad fan!

[Galadriel55]

...if such a thing as the title suggests can exist at all. But what I am asking has nothing to do with being good or bad or a fan, though it's all related.

Recently I came across the name "Erestor" and had to think for a couple minutes before I recalled who he is. And I thought some. And I discovered that if once I could tell you the names of any person, place, thing, and etc that appear in those books that I have read more than once (LOTR, TH, The Sil, COH. The two HOMEs that I read don't count, since I only skimmed them), now I have to look them up. And once I knew all the genealogies in The Silm by heart, and could give about half a dozen ways a person is related to another person off the top of my head (since cousins and second cousins and cousins x times removed married each other they were all interrelated in multiple ways). Now I can't even trace Hurin's ancestors from memory. I have to look them up.

And I thought some more. When I read Harry Potter I could name you the most minor character. But that was when I was just finished rereading the books and it was fresh in my mind, and I knew I'll forget most of it since that read was a passing fancy. Now I can barely remember the names of the Hogwarts teachers.

When I received the first four books of A Song of Ice and Fire as a gift and read them all in one gulp, I remembered who each character is and where/when s/he is. Then I had to wait a couple months before reading the fifth book. I had to strain my memory to recall who on earth Martin is talking about - and it did not help that the number of characters trippled by that time. But I wasn't bothered really, since ASOIAF is also a passing fancy.

But I thought Tolkien was different! I thought it's not just a passing fancy!

Part of this is because I have not read the books for a couple years. If I reread them I will refresh my memory. But I don't anymore have an urge to read them right now all the time only them. I consult them for information, and once in a blue moon I reread my favourite bits, but rarely and only a few pages at a time.

I think it is because of the Downs that I did not completely forget everything. But I don't go over every single name here that's mentioned in the legendarium that frequently, if at all.

And I feel like I'm a bad fan and should do better.

And then I look at the humungous pile of books that I want to read, and I think I'll leave Tolkien rereads for later.

Does something like that happen to you? Do you ever feel like a bad Tolkien fan?


PS: I wasn't sure which forum to put this under, so apologies if it does not belong here.

[Nerwen]

That's not being a bad fan, that's just being less-obsessed fan.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Nerwen

That's not being a bad fan, that's just being less-obsessed fan.

That's true. But it's different if from the start you were not so obsessed. I can read a book and like it very much and not remember the names of every character. And I would not feel guilty about forgetting something. But if I once could literally (and I really mean it) quote the books in two languages from memory, and now can't even remember who Erestor is... It's just not the same. I'm supposed to know it!

[Morsul the Dark]

There was a time I could go through LOTR Trivial Pursuit in one turn, in its entirety. My friends would have me do it two or three times in a row....Not because it was cool (quite the contrary). Certainly can't recall as much now.

[alatar]

I thought for sure that this thread was about the Denny's restaurant-linked Hobbit trivia game. Wish I could learn which question I got wrong (this wizard doesn't go in much for Dwarven-lore: an obscure branch of knowledge, but full of grooming tips).

[Bêthberry]

I never could recite the genealogies from memory--and had no interest ever in doing so-- but I have to say that I spent a hilarious evening with Mithalwen and Poison Ivey last summer playing LoTR Trivial Pursuit. It might have had something to do with the elven food feast Poison Ivy served us, or the full life cardboard figure of Aragorn watching us, or possibly the wine. . . .

But no, really, it was the fun we had running with some of the questions and making absurd comparisons. It wasn't about being exact, but about playing with Middle-earth ideas, characters and events with others who shared the interest.

Perhaps we were more naughty fans, purists on a night off?

[Mithalwen]

I think a lot of that was to do with the ludicrous nature of the LOTR Triv... which took the film as canon.. for myself I embraced the surreal nature of the thing after getting asked something on the lines of who played the third elf on the left at Helm's Deep.. all toooooooo silly....