Annoying Amateurs

[Snowdog]

Just throw out enough Silm and UT references (or even *gasp* truly basic LotR book references) and they get confused beyond all get out

Yeah. I have to clarify that I refer only to the 'movie-only' amateurs. Anyone who are willing to gain knowledge by reading the LotR are worthy indeed.

on the other note... the whole 'Annoying Expert' thing is worthy of its own thread.

[Lathriel]

Talking about Annoying Ammateurs how about Dummies who need to read LOTR for dummies.

There is a girl who claims she is a Ringwraith incarnate!! She is at my school and my other friend was telling me about her. Of course I almost blew up it is the most ridiculuos thing I ever heard!

There was also another girl who walked up to my gym teacher (who is a drill seargent and an american football coach) and showed him a map of ME and pointed to Mordor and told him it was Mordor, Well everybody knows where Mordor is and you don't go up to a Gym teacher to tell him the obvious!!!

[Sapphire_Flame]

"I hate reading the book-versions of movies. The people they hire to turn the movies into the books never get it right."

Now that's just horrible.

I do confess, I am guilty of falling under the "Annoying Experts" catagory (according to just about everyone I know, anyway...)

Abedithon le,

~*~Aranel~*~

[Gil-Galad]

don't be hasty, not everybody should know everthing about lotr, don't expect that everyone in your school knows where mordor is! heck only like 75% the people in my school (500+ peeps) have seen all the movies! don't judge a book by its cover, even though they act like newbs, don't think that people around them aren't

[Lathriel]

It is true I guess not everyone knows where Mordor is but the last person you go to tell where Mordor is is your Gym teacher.

[Saraphim]

Alright, I have to say this. (Here's a fine example of my being an Annoying Expert)

Why, why, oh, why, would they go and make new books?!?!?

Alright, so we have a book. A fine book. So fine, in fact, that we're going to make it an epic movie.

So now we have a fine movie. Not as good as the book, but fairly good nonetheless.


But WAIT! I've got a wonderful idea! We make books from the movies! We just follow the script that was a corruption of the original (read: real) book, which cut out dozens of characters and plots and scenes.

So now we have a book that was made from a movie that was made from a book.

Will someone explain to me the logic in this?

[mark12_30]

I do confess, I am guilty of falling under the "Annoying Experts" catagory (according to just about everyone I know, anyway...)

I received LotR Trivial Pursuit as a Christmas gift. I didn't (dare) open it until a few weeks ago when a casual friend saw it and said, "Oh, I love that movie! Let's play the game!" Another friend who has read the books (and knows me) agreed with a smile. So we played it.

I tried to just let everyone have fun. After I had won with Frodo, they kept playing and gave me Galadriel to start over with, and I was on the verge of winning then (they were still filling their first gamepeice) when it was time to go.

I tried not to be annoying. (Really, I did, because I wanted them to come back and play again.) But I felt pretty bad all the same.

It drives people crazy when I say "We wants it, precious."

I really haven't found that many annoying amateurs around. Most of the time I'm just happy when somebody speaks of the movie in a positive way. It's tempting to raise a mug and shout, "AN ALLY! WE WILL FORM A LEAGUE OF FRIENDSHIP THAT WILL LAST DOWN THROUGH THE AGES, AND OUR PEOPLE WILL AID ONE ANOTHER AT NEED! HAIL TOLKIENDOM! "

[Sapphire_Flame]

It's tempting to raise a mug and shout, "AN ALLY! WE WILL FORM A LEAGUE OF FRIENDSHIP THAT WILL LAST DOWN THROUGH THE AGES, AND OUR PEOPLE WILL AID ONE ANOTHER AT NEED! HAIL TOLKIENDOM! "

Huzzah! Most lofty, mark!

I'm going to have to get LotR Trivial Pursuit (I can't believe I don't have it yet! *sob*) but it will be tricky to get anyone to play it with me. Everyone knows me too well. ^ ^;;;

Here's something rather sad to contemplate: I finally talked my 28-year-old cousin into reading LotR (he'd read The Hobbit, but not LotR, though he has seen the movies). But--and this is really quite sad--he gave up before he even got to Chapter 5 of Book 1! He's gone to college; he's had to read all those horrible medical textbooks! How can he not handle LotR? So sad...

Abedithon le,

~*~Aranel~*~

[Hama Of The Riddermark]

I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to LotR, but I'm always willing to learn from people who genuinely know more than me...

I've read LotR once thouroughly, the hobbit twice, I've started the Silm and I have a book of maps of Middle Earth...I think I also have a book of illustrations from various Tolkein books, but that doesnt really count...

There is this one guy at my school who is really annoying...he thinks he knows everything about everything, not just LotR...He once told me that he liked how Tolkein portrayed Sauron as the dark master of Isengard..."Uh...No, Chris...that would either be Saruman, or Mordor...", to which he replied, "What do you mean, Sauron's the master of Isengard"..."Uh, no. Saruman is the master of Isengard, Sauron is the lord of Mordor.", he then shot back, before walking off in a huff "You know I meant Saruman, stop being so bloody pedantic."...

This is one of many occasions i've wanted to smack him in the jaw with a lead pipe...

[Enorëiel]

I hate people who think they know all there is to know! Drives me nuts! I think I'm the only one among my friends who has read the books - some have tried but have never gotten that far. I wish they would but am kinda glad they haven't...it's fun to trick them .

One positive thing to this, before the thrid movie came out, i tricked like 5 girls that Legolas dies!

Ha! I saw it at a midnight showing and they handed out buttons that said 'If you haven't read the books know this one thing, the elf dies.' I wore it to school the next day and (since hardly anyone had seen the movie yet ( it'd only been out for 7 hours)) I had TONS of people fooled. "He dies!!! But he can't die! He's the main character! Isn't he supposed to become the king?" Yeah, it was fun but highly annoying

[Mad Baggins]

Ugh.

I was watching Return of the King with my mom and she was arguing with me for a full fifteen minutes that "Merry and Pippin go with Frodo on the ship! They do! Don't argue with me, I know they do!"

I said, "Mom...I've read the books. They don't go on the ship."

"Yes they do!"

So we had to make a bet of $20. Needless to say, I won.

[Theron Bugtussle]

When I was growing up, I had a Monopoly game. I played it with my family (parents and one brother, younger by two years). I always won. By the time I was in High School, they would not play with me. They absolutely despised the game.

After a while, I couldn't hustle a game from anyone...at all.

So leave it to my own children to get old enough to kick my butt at my own best game.... Well, they should be smart, they are my kids, after all!

[VanimaEdhel]

But you know, at the same time, you have to give them a bit of room. I mean some of them are actually pretty young - if not physically, emotionally - and they're still at a stage where reading "The Lord of the Rings" may be a daunting task. People mature at different ages and some people can't help it if they have short to no attention span. My old best friend (we don't speak anymore, but not for this reason) couldn't even get through the first half of The Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring.

When I first came on here about two and a half years ago through...well, through until recently, really, I was also one of those people that practically got morally offended if someone saw the movies without reading the books, not to mention came into the Chat and started speaking Grelvish. But you know, recently I've decided that I really shouldn't get upset with them. It may take them time to read it. It may not even really be a maturity issue, they may just be happy with their own knowledge. As much as I hate the fact that this is true, as I like trying to learn as much as I can about everything, ignorance is really bliss for some people. And it's really no reason to waste time getting upset if they get a bit of trivia wrong.

So yes, the people who come up to you and say "Tom Bombadil isn't a Lord of the Rings character" are annoying, but is it really worth getting upset about it? I have a friend that actually thinks that it's a serious moral flaw if someone sees the movies without the books, but I don't agree. We can each appreciate things in our own way. Even their not appreciating Tolkien as we think he should be appreciated, at least they're keeping the memory of Tolkien alive, right?

[Sapphire_Flame]

I think I'm the only one among my friends who has read the books

AHEM!!! *points emphatically at self* Hello! Do I not count anymore? You're so mean, Enny. *pouts* (J/K. )

"Mom...I've read the books. They don't go on the ship."

"Yes they do!"

So we had to make a bet of $20.

Whew! Easy 20! That's lofty, Mad Baggins! ^ ^ Sadly, my parents know too much about LotR (and they know better than to bet with me about it) for me to get away with that. I always catch them on Silm and UT stuff though.

Okay, A.A.'s who have only seen the movies are bad. But what about those who have only seen ONE of the movies? Say, their friends dragged them to RotK, but they haven't seen the others, and they still assume they are all-knowing about Middle-earth. Anyone here had to deal with newbies such as this?

Abedithon le,

~*~Aranel~*~

[VanimaEdhel]

As I said before, you have to give them time. It's not really something to get personally offended over. There are a lot more serious things you should probably have your mind on - perhaps not even Tolkien-related. I mean yes, having someone claim to know more than you about Middle-Earth when they know about as much as an earthworm does is annoying, but it's really easy to either just ignore them or kindly correct their knowledge with proof. I typically do the latter, pointing to textual support for whatever comment I have made that they refute based on one bit in the movie. It's impossible to contradict that. And if you do find their lack of knowledge as annoying as you seem to, just don't talk Tolkien with them.

And also, if a person's only seen one of the movies, they obviously didn't care for it, or they probably would have seen the others. Usually their comments will probably be derogatory anyway, even if you tied them down and forced them to actually read the books. Not everyone (even if they understand it) likes Tolkien. There are perfectly intelligent individuals - certainly more intelligent than I am - that will admit that Tolkien's style just isn't their cup of tea, so to speak. Whenever someone doesn't like something, it's much easier to find fault in it. Even if it is a good piece of literature (and regardless of content, the movies were well-made), if one doesn't like it, it's difficult to compliment it, even if the good points are staring you right in the face and calling your name.

[Duncariel]

"Mom...I've read the books. They don't go on the ship."

Ugh. No, Merry and Pippin don't get on the ship, BUT NEITHER DOES CELEBORN! Can nobody see this! Gaaaahhhh!!!!

Ahhh, the depth and depravity that fills the minds of the, erm..... Well, there isn't really a word in the world that would let me describe how I feel about these people. Not one that I can use, anyway. When TTT came out (I skipped school the day after to see it, naughty me), one of my friends and I went to see it with someone who had never read the books. I spent the whole movie telling her that "No, Frodo doesn't die. If he did, they wouldn't have another movie, then they wouldn't make anymore money off of people like us, would they?" And half of the other people in the theatre were so busy being dumb that I missed half of it listening to them make out and stuff. Frustration, indeed.

Then, during our long wait for RotK the third day after it came out, my other friend and I (my, but I have a lot of weird friends) spent the whole time running up and down the line asking people if they'd read the books or not. As it was, only about four answered with a positive "yes". The rest were hopeless....

[Gil-Galad]

well for drama, we were doing greek tragedy's, and my partners wanted to do return of the king....well only the pathes of the dead part

(i was undead king and Elrond)

it go as well as i have planned it, ony i and another one showed effort into it

(one didn't show up till we were finished and other one was too stoned too do anything but just read teh script really bad)

I have to agree. People just want to make themselves look good, and not just when you're talking about LOTR. I know a girl who is constantly talking about LOTR but she's never read the books. My friend and I were talking about Legolas and Haldir and she just butted in and stated that Legolas couldn't have talked to Haldir because they were different races. They're both Sindarin right? If she had read the books she would have known that Haldir recognized Legolas's tounge. It's in the chapter titled "Lothlorien"!

[Iaurhirwen]

I'm at a summer program for 5 weeks this summer and have already professed my love of LOTR. I'm simply waiting to see if any A-As show up and what will happen. Of course I'll be kind to them when i see them and graciously correct them if need be - - - - and then i'll come on here and rant.

[Araréiel]

If you can't find a book and it's still published, go to Barnes & Noble and they will order it you you free of charge and you still don't even have to buy it when it arrives if you want a different edition (like if you wanted one not paperback or something).

I'm one of those people who has been into Toklien a relatively short period of time. The day the first DVD came out to be exact. I preordred it, picked it up, and watched it, not expecting much. But I was swept away and wondered how I went to song without it. And I though that Gandalf was dead and it upset me at the time. Ah, ignorance. Now people who know me will tell you it's part of who I am. So much that I feel wrong in myself if I don't have something on me that I'm wearing, be it the Evenstar, Nenya, the Ring itself.... And I'm antsy without a book, or at least the books on DVD if I'm driving, as I did today to go rescue my boyfriend when his car brokw down south of San Francisco.

Still, there are Newbies and then there are Dummies. The Newbies are the ones who are new and trying. They don't know a whole lot in any sense and they know that and are find learning. The Dummies are the ones who like to think they know it all, yet think Elves lived in the Shire. No, the insist Elves live in the Shire because Hobbits live in Mordor. And you can show them proof and they insist that the book is wrong. One of my idiot cousins actually did that-insisted the book was wrong and that Elves do, in fact, live in the Shire. *sigh* And she claims to be an expert. And, sadder still, she knows more about the books than any of her friends. When asked who wrote them, she guessed wrong. Then one of my aunts and her brother came to her defense saying that she read the books before me (sadly true, but she obviously didn't retain any information) and, therefore, knows more than I do. Uh-huh, right. Whatever. Who's Shelob? Who's Tom Bombadil? Apparently I made them up, according to them. Yet they claim the idiot is right and that I must have paid to have an altered copy made. Yeah. The one I was using is quarter-bound in leather and expensive as it was, and there's no way I could afford, or want to, have a wrong copy.

When I went to the midnight opening of RotK, a girl came dressed in a starlingly beautiful replica of Eowyn's green gown. Someone asked her who she was dressed as and she mentioned, "That blonde Elf chick." I broke in and asked if she meant Galadriel since she didn't wear green, though Eowyn wore a gown nearly identical to what she was wearing. And she said no, the Elf that the main guy liked. Um, Arwen wasn't blonde.... I tried telling her that, and she argued with me because she thought she knew all there was to know about LotR (so much she didn't know the names of Arwen or Aragorn). And probably felt dumb when the movie started and she was proven wrong. How much attention did she pay to the movies before it? Or did she only watch Orli? (I'll admit he's hot as hell, but I paid attention to more than just him!)

Yeah, Dummies who don't now character names, even main ones, and who don't know their butts from their elbows and try to act like know-it-alls are just downright irritating.

[Araréiel]

Vanima, I agree that people who've just seen the movies are fine. I started out seeing just one movie, and didn't even know who Frodo was when I did. But those people who've only seen the movies and claim to be experts on all things Tolkien are another story....

I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to LotR, but I'm always willing to learn from people who genuinely know more than me...

I've read LotR once thouroughly, the hobbit twice, I've started the Silm and I have a book of maps of Middle Earth...I think I also have a book of illustrations from various Tolkein books, but that doesnt really count...

This is me! When I read LotR I cross reference everything. And I love to learn more from peope. Like the book calls Frodo Biblo's cousin, Bilbo called him his nephew. According to the family tree, Frodo is Biblo's second cousin twice removed (Biblo's father, Bungo is the cousin of Frodo's grandfather, Fosco). Biblo is Frodo's third cousin once removed (same thing). Funny how they are related the same way, but called different relations, but it's because the cousin-line starts with Biblo's father, but Frodo's [bold]great[/bold]grandfather. Still, is it a type that Frodo was called both Bilbo's cousin AND nephew? Now this is a semi-intelligent newbie question, better that the "Who is that short fat guy again? Gibblet?"

[yavanna II]

It's way more annoying when done by those damn teachers who haven't even read the book.

[Araréiel]

Oh, that's bad. If a teacher talks about the book and doesn't know what's what, is it any wonder why school kids tend to be so stupid these days? Not to offend the ones here who are among the exceptions! It takes brains to read and understand all the intricacies of Tolkien!

Please tell me you aren't talking about a literature teacher though! That would be inexcusable.

[Enorëiel]

AHEM!!! *points emphatically at self* Hello! Do I not count anymore? You're so mean, Enny. *pouts* (J/K. )

Sapphy, Sapphy, Sapphy *shakes head* can't you read? I said I THINK hence meaning I didn't think. Honestly, I thought you'd learned that by now...


Have you guys ever had problems with little children trying to show you up? Some kids know their stuff but some... I was telling someone who Frodo was and explained that he was the ringbearer. This little 10 year old girl goes 'No, Biblo had the ring.' I asked her if she'd read the books or seen the movie and she said no. Needless to say after that... I wasn't too worried. But come on! What are we teaching children nowadays?

[Araréiel]

I do have to defend a 10-year-old here. LotR is so involved it is above many 10-year-olds. Not all, but most. The Hobbit is much more in line with with what a child that age could easily read. So she was right as well in a way. While Frodo was the ring BEARER, Biblo did have the ring-for a while anyway. I believe in cutting slack on kids with this.

[VanimaEdhel]

I do have to defend a 10-year-old here. LotR is so involved it is above many 10-year-olds. Not all, but most. The Hobbit is much more in line with with what a child that age could easily read. So she was right as well in a way. While Frodo was the ring BEARER, Biblo did have the ring-for a while anyway. I believe in cutting slack on kids with this.

Well, you know I first read The Lord of the Rings when I was nine, so I think that if you are going to get upset at thirteen-year olds, ten-year olds should not necessarily escape your wrath as well. I read The Hobbit when I was eight and loved the books, so my dad gave me The Lord of the Rings. I did not have any problems understanding the books at that time.

Vanima, I agree that people who've just seen the movies are fine. I started out seeing just one movie, and didn't even know who Frodo was when I did. But those people who've only seen the movies and claim to be experts on all things Tolkien are another story....

But then it goes back to the maturity issue. Usually people who claim to be experts are either rather immature or have littler self-worth. When it comes to the maturity thing, they just are not in a phase in their life when they can understand what they are reading. It can happen to eight-year olds and it can happen to fourteen-year olds. Often they feel as though this makes them inferior, so they claim to know a lot about a subject they do not. They think that by seeming to know everything about something like Tolkien's world, they will seem to be more mature than they actually are. The vast majority of the people that feel that way now will grow out of it by the time they grow up. Even if they are about fifteen now, when they are twenty-five, they may finally grow up. Everyone becomes able to understand different things at different times. I usually just prefer ignoring the people, or correcting them gently at the very least. If they don't believe me because they genuinely think they know what they are talking about, oh well. I'm not going to lose sleep over someone else's ignorance.

[yavanna II]

Originally Posted by Araréiel

Oh, that's bad. If a teacher talks about the book and doesn't know what's what, is it any wonder why school kids tend to be so stupid these days? Not to offend the ones here who are among the exceptions! It takes brains to read and understand all the intricacies of Tolkien!

Please tell me you aren't talking about a literature teacher though! That would be inexcusable.

Hey. IT HAS BEEN MY LITERATURE TEACHER who doesn't read the book, and the one who has the guts to tell me that I JUST DIDN'T UNDERSTAND THE MOVIE! It's an outrage!

but my Trigonometry teacher understands me... he is an LOTR geek... he's gay, and loves legolas[ew ew ew ew]

[Sapphire_Flame]

Originally Posted by VanimaEdhel

Usually people who claim to be experts are either rather immature or have little self-worth. When it comes to the maturity thing, they just are not in a phase in their life when they can understand what they are reading. It can happen to eight-year olds and it can happen to fourteen-year olds. Often they feel as though this makes them inferior, so they claim to know a lot about a subject they do not. They think that by seeming to know everything about something like Tolkien's world, they will seem to be more mature than they actually are.

A very valid point. One that I fully support, because when I tried to read LotR when I was eight I failed miserably (I think I got to Shortcut To Mushrooms... o.O). I was fifteen before I finally got around to reading LotR all the way through; possibly, I could have done it before then, but I was in the midst of a HP obsession. But I do understand how some people can't understand certain things at different points in their life. And some people never understand things as long as they live. I, for example, know for a fact that I will never understand any math beyond beginning algebra. I don't really care that I won't. But, fortunately, I am secure enough with myself and my intellectual level that it doesn't bother me, and I don't try to sound like a trig expert when I'm not. I merely revel in the fact that I can catch typos that others can't. *e-vile grin* j/k

Abedithon le,

~*~Aranel~*~

[Encaitare]

Ugh. No, Merry and Pippin don't get on the ship, BUT NEITHER DOES CELEBORN! Can nobody see this! Gaaaahhhh!!!!

Yup, and Cirdan didn't have a beard in the movie, either. I was *looking* for a beard, and was disappointed, because Cirdan is one of the coolest characters ever. But I suppose people would have been all, "Wha? How come he has a beard and none of the other elf-people do?" and "Wait... if Galadriel and Seleborn are married then where's he? Why isn't he going with her?" The only thing worse than people saying "Celeborn" like there's an S instead of a C is when people say "Izzle-door." *pukes*

But the worst annoying amateur was a Mary-Sue writer on ff.net. She was terrible. She kept saying that she had read the books "like 100 timez" and memorized all of Legolas' lines so she should be entitled to write a fanfiction. She misspelled the name of every canon character (except Sam), and her MS's name was Jyessicah. This is still a running joke among my friends. Just say it... Jyesssssicaaaahhhh.... Someone emailed her a bunch of questions to test and see if she really did read the book, and here's the Q&A:

Hey, this is Lady Lanet, who just read your review. I thank you for
reviewing and telling this girl that her story is awful. Actually, I
sent her some questions about the book. Boy did she screw up!!!!

Here are the questions:


Hey, this is Lady Lanet, the girl who reviewed your story today, and
I'd like to say, TAKE IT OFF!!!!!

This is a disgrace to Tolkien. The poor man put his heart and soul into
the books and now your butchering it!!!! Hey, and you've read the
books, right (Sure.) Lemme ask you some questions.

Before Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin reach Bree and The Inn of the
Prancing Pony, who do they meet? *Not Farmer maggot.*

Who saves Frodo at the river, and is NOT Arwen (Proper spelling.)

Who solves the Moria Puzzle at the door?

How does the Fellowship meet Galadriel? (The really pretty Elf lady in
the white robes. She has the mirror.)

Who goes with Frodo to the Mirror of Galadriel?

In which book does Boromir die? Fellowship or Two Towers?

Thank you. Please email me back
as soon as possible. I'm just trying to help!


And here are the answers:

I have read the books! Lemme answer these ?s....their really easy!!!
Youll see how good @ lotr cannon I am.................

ok.....


They meet Marry and Pippin! In the field.

Nice try!!! But Arwen DID save Frodo!!! She sent the water-horses @ the
Ringraiths!

Jyessicah will solve teh Moria Puzzle!!!!! lol

She sends peeps (Haldeer!) to fing them and talks too Frodo in his
head!!!

Duh! Frodo goes with no one but Galadreil!

Boramir dies at the end of fotr!!!! (i cryed did u? even tho he was BAD)

See! I've read teh books!

And here are my answers:

Hey! You answered every thing MOVIE VERSE!!! HE-LOH!!! Okay, lemme give
you the answers to the questions from the book.

Frodo, Merry, and Sam meet Gildor, an elf of Rivendell (But he also
might be of Loien origin). You can look this up on page 88 of
Fellowship. Then they meet Merry in Farmer Maggots field. Then the four
of them meet Tom Bombadil, and Goldberry, daughter of the river.

Umm.... Jyessicah.... nice try, but an ELF MAN saved Frodo. His name is
Glorfindel, advisor of Elrond. And to keep the weight down, he sent
Frodo ALONE to Rivendell. At the Fords of Buerian (SP), Frodo's horse
is terrified and won't run anymore to escape the Ringwraiths. Elrond
and Gandalf summon the water and water horses. You can find this
information on pages 236-242 of Fellowship.

Gandalf himself solves the Moria Door puzzle, not Frodo, not Jyessicah,
but GANDALF!!! Merry helps a little too.....

Yes, you answered half way right. But only half. Haldir (Correct
spelling.) and his brothers, Rumil and Orophin are border guards.
Making sure that no orc nor uruk gets through to their home and the
Lady of the Wood. At that time, only Aragorn and Legolas know who the
Lady really is (Gimli has a big mistrust of elves, so he does not know
the fair ladies name.). Haldir and company lead them into Caras
Galadhon, where they meet Lord Celeborn of Doraith (If you've read the
Silmarillion *Curse my horrible spelling!* you know what that is.) and
Lady Galadriel. You can find this information on pages 384-399.

Sam goes with Frodo to the Mirror. Sam looked in first, then Frodo.
Afterwards (And Galadriel yelling 'DON'T TOUCH THE WATER!!' ),
Galadriel shows them her own ring, Nenya, the ring of water. You can
find this on pages 400-411.

Boromir dies at the end of Fellowship of the Ring ThE MOVIE!!! he dies
in the beginning of Two Towers. That is followed by the longest chapter
in Tolkien history, THE RIDERS OF ROHAN!!! And Boromir wasn't bad. He
just in believed in his country, like most Gondorians do. The only
reason that he tried to take the ring was that he wanted to SAVE IT
FROM DESTRUCTION!!! Hey, Aragorn almost took the ring, just like
Boromir. Boromir wasn't bad at all! he cared deeply for his little
brother Faramir, even tried to protect his from his father. I must say,
why do you think Boromir was bad?

Thank you.

Lady Lanet,

Lore Master of Middle Earth,
Advisor of Elrond,
Keeper of Agelos, Narsil, and Hadhafang.

But thank you again. Reply if you wish

Oh, how delightful. And *that* my friends is the most annoying amateur I have ever had the pleasure of flaming. And I never ever flame; I think it's mean. But this I made an exception for because she was so ignorant, and refused to believe that maybe the people reviewing and trying to correct her nicely were right. Blugh.

[Morsul the Dark]

I can gladly say I knew most of those answers I did however forget that they met the elves but merry wasn't there so that threw me off and I always forget glorfindels name despite a rather decent chunk of lotr I am definetely an amateur especially compared to most people on thhis site and I am willing to admit it

I hope i may now having admitted my problem go from annoying amateur to irritating amateur and eventually annoying expert

[Gil-Galad]

funny how this thread sparked two other threads...

[Isowen]

I totally agree, I know quite a bit about lotr and nobody I know really likes it as much as I do. If I talk about lotr and somebody gets something wrong, I tend to scream at them at the top of my voice. Also, none of my friends have even heard of Old man willow or Bill Ferny! some dont even know what Gollum's name was once! I just have to say that even though i dont have many posts (because im a newbie ) I am apalled at the lack of Tolkien knowledge where I live and what's worse is that some of them pretend they know everything and really, they don't. Somebody once asked me "since when was Iluvatar in lotr?"

[Encaitare]

What was extremely interesting, though, is that LotR fans pop up in odd places: ie, my Music Theory teacher/Marching band conductor, Mr. Giannotti, or fondly, simply G. The band was playing at the graduation ceremony this past June and they were reading an uber-long list of names and we were all insanely bored, G included. Suddenly they read out this one kid's name, and his last name sounded like Smeagol! Suddenly our (meaning me, three of my friends, and G) ears all perked up and G went, "What? Smeagol?" It was exciting... okay, not really. I guess you had to be there

[Sapphire_Flame]

Encaitare, where in the name of high school football did you find that Sue writer?! I feel so pointedly annoyed all of a sudden. *gr*

Happily, I knew the answers to the questions you presented, although I almost spaced on Gildor (the fact that you said Frodo, Sam, Pippin, *and* Merry may have thrown me off...). I can't believe how badly she did! She must have read the books with her eyes closed...

I may have to borrow that list as my "Offical Amateur Test", just to see if people have actually read the books, or have even the slightest clue as to what they're talking about.

Oh, before they got to Bree, the hobbits also ran into the Barrow-wights. ^ ^

Abedithon le,

~ Saphy ~

[Encaitare]

Please do use it as an Official Amateur Test, and thus we may determine within moments who knows "lotr cannon" and who doesn't. I found her while browsing fanfiction.net, and was immediately so enraged by her lack of skill at anything that I felt compelled to send it to all my friends to bash. A lot of people reported her because of her blatant errors and general lousiness and the admins took it down and I believe suspended her account as well ::cackles with no remorse whatsoever::

I'm sure there are more bad bad bad writers like her but I haven't checked out ff.net recently.

And they most certainly did meet the Barrow-wight, although if the creator of the list had presented the fool writer (whose name was, incidentally, iloveleggy -- gee, what does that tell you?) with FOUR non-movie characters (Tom, Golderry, Gildor, and the Wight), I think her brain would have exploded from all the canon.

[Morsul the Dark]

First off I feel utterly stupid I must have forgotten the entire book between Farmer Maggot and Bree because somehow I placed those events after (Uh-Duh) "smacs self" don't worry such idiocy i try to keep at a minimum I do however have a question what is canon? is it just another word for trivia?

[Encaitare]

Canon is a term used among fanfiction writers which basically means what really happened in the original story. A fanfiction which follows the original plot line without making big changes is canon; one that deviates from the original is non-canon, or Alternate Universe.

[Morsul the Dark]

I see thank you very much for that explanation.

I sadly prefer non-canon for bad guys

but for good guys i have good canon

[Encaitare]

Non-canon has its place too... it's what keeps the fanfiction world interesting!

[Estel'sAngel]

I know earlier that someone mentioned the Trival Pursuit game. I'm trying so hard to get that game. My friends and mother have agreed to play with me if I ever get it. Key word being...IF. I have yet to see it giftwrapped on my birthday or Christmas.

But yeah...my mom knows enough about LOTR to know not bet with me. All my friends do the same. They treat me like an expert, while I'm running around looking up answers to their questions on boards like these! SHH!!! But I do tell them where I get the info from. I won't even pretend to be an expert on LOTR. There's too much to know about it and my poor little human mind can't contain all that glorious information. Not with school going on.

My sister (older by 17 months) would be at the level of seeing on movie and NOT liking it. She didn't hate it, she just didn't understand what was going on. So Mom and I had to explain it to her. Then she seemed to get frustrated that I knew more than she did about LOTR. So I pointed out what she did better than me and that made her feel better. But after that, Mom and I didn't drag her to see any more LOTR movies. It was always just us, then family, then I saw it with friends.

So for sure there are different levels of understanding out there for people about the books and movies. My friends are "experts" on the movie (somehow they count me in there as well.) They view me and my mom as the "book experts". And then they figure everybody else knows a little bit. They've tried to read the books but didn't like it or just didn't finish, while I've been reading them once a year since the 6th grade (sophomore in college now for a time frame). So it does vary for each person. If it didn't, then this would be a very boring world with no room for discussions and debates about Tolkien's world, cause we'd all understand it. And that would be boring, indeed.