Playing Pretend...us, that is

[elfwishes999]

well today i was out riding my horse on a trail and we started to canter and run. well then i was pretending to be a rider of rohan and gallop home or to battle. then i pretended i was a nazgul hunting for the ring...

*Have you ever pretended you were in middle earth? what did you pretend?

[Elennar Starfire]

I played "The quest for the Ice Cream of Doom" with two friends and a dog once... We were walking to the ice cream place, and my friend suddenly yells "look out it's a Nazgul!" So we all start shooting imaginary arrows up into the air, while running to hide in the bushes. Later we were attacked by orcs...and this was while walking along a rather busy street...people probably thought we were crazy.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Well, on several occasions when I have been alone in a field or a wood, I have taken a branch or whatever, pretended it was a sword, and proceeded to reenact battle scenes from Middle-earth.

It's fun. Honest.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Do I ever pretend? Who doesn't? I swear... PJ stole Gandalf's pokey stick of doom and destruction from ME! My little cousin and I... we used to find saplings, about an inch thick, scrape all the bark off with really sharp knives (I don't think my mom knows that part of it), and sand the staffs down to silky smoothness. And then... yes... then we'd beat the tar out of each other with them. Amazing how fast your reflexes get when you've got an oaken staff coming full speed at your head. I still have a staff (freshly carved too, as of last week)... just nobody to beat on with it.

Also, my brothers and I used to have sword fights in the front yard with mom's brooms while she was at work. That got ended when she came home early one day and caught us.

Now I'm down to laying on a hammock in the woods, and imagining that a bunch of Elves are just around the corner. I swear they are... if you saw these woods, you'd think so too.

And there was that time... once my parents and I were driving somewhere, and there was this weird little wisp of cloud moving the wrong way, and I yelled from the back seat "AHHHH!!!!! Crebain from Dunland!!!" and ducked out of sight. I got some wacked out looks from that one.

Fea

[Elennar Starfire]

Once I was standing around waiting for the school bus, and a huge flock of crows flew over. I (of course) yelled "Crebain from Dunland!" and dove into the bushes. The bus driver probably wondered why I had leaves in my hair...

[HerenIstarion]

Last week-end, rafting down the Aragvi river. Three grey boats thing, you know

[Nirvana II]

i imagined i was aragorn fighting the nazgul on amon sul

[One of the Nine]

Once, my cousin and I acted out, like a whole half an hour of the book that was also in the movie, great fun I tell you.

[symestreem]

I still have the stage bow I made in the corner of my room. Along with the arrows. I was a half-elven archer for Halloween once.

[The Perky Ent]

Well...this may sound corny, but, at a party, when they placed a really funky 80s song, I pretended I was at Tom Bombadil's. It wasn't a very good party, but that was a fun experience pretending to party with Tom and Goldberry.

[elfwishes999]

i was running around with my sister in a field the other day and i pretended we were on pelenor fields and were charging at dozens of orcs..quite fun!

[ninlaith]

All my friends have told me that i have Gollum legs, you know skinny, boney, to put it plainly chicken legs. Also that I have really big Hobbit feet, minus the hair. So I used to turn all the lights out in the house and the windows were usually open so it would be pretty cold already and i would run around the house on all fours chanting my precious, my precious, they stole it from us! pretending I was Gollum running deep through the Misty Mountains. I have yet to be caught by my father so it has been pretty fun for me gollum.......

[Vanwatholiel]

All right, you got me. I was over my friends house and he has all these Martial Arts weapons. One of them is a sword, and it is black with a silver edge. I pretended that it was Gurthang, the Black Sword (or something like that. I forgot the name. Haven't read the book in a while). I would take the sword, and of course, pretend that I was battling Orcs at the Battle of Unnumbered Tears.

Or I would pretend that I was Eowyn in the Halls of Meduseld and swing the sword around. You remember, that part where they were all getting ready to leave Edoras, and Eowyn was looking in her trunk and found her sword. The sword I had had a scabbard and everything. I pretended that it was encrusted with jewels. Yes I'm weird, I know. You would have had to read The Silmarillion or the Book of Lost Tales 1&2 or The Lays of Beleriand to get the first sword thing. Long live Gurthang!

[One of the Nine]

I was just recently at camp, and I was in a very LotR frame of mind, and, during one camp game, I imagined that I was Frodo, searching for Mt. Doom, trying to stay away from all of the orcs trying to hunt me down. Then I tripped and like, killed my knee. Lots of cuts, bruises, and scrapes.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Shop-workers will know what I'm talking about. After finishing a roll of the long sack-bags you are left with a long cardboard tube. It makes an excellent pretend sword. It never gets boring playing with them!

[Lady Gamgee]

Yes, I have pretended. We live in a highly wooded area, lots of farmland too. Big trees & beautiful landscapes. A few days ago we had a slow, steady rain, so I took my shoes off and was walking down the little road pretending I was in Hobbiton. I was imagining all the little hobbit holes and beautiful gardens. I was really enjoying my little adventure ... admiring the rain drops on the flowers & grass, thinking about how peaceful Hobbiton was ... then as I was walking through the grass, a bee decided to plunge its stinger into my toe, lol and that was the end of that ... darn bee ... But, my days of pretending are not over, as I'm sure I'll find the need to do it again soon

[Meneltarmacil]

Well, on several occasions when I have been alone in a field or a wood, I have taken a branch or whatever, pretended it was a sword, and proceeded to reenact battle scenes from Middle-earth.

Me too. I've done it so many times that I know which sticks are swords, axes, spears, etc. (found one that would make a great Last Alliance-ish elven sword)

I was just recently at camp, and I was in a very LotR frame of mind, and, during one camp game, I imagined that I was Frodo, searching for Mt. Doom, trying to stay away from all of the orcs trying to hunt me down. Then I tripped and like, killed my knee. Lots of cuts, bruises, and scrapes.

Interesting... I was just at camp last week. Where exactly did you go, One of the Nine? It's quite possible we may have been at the same place and missed each other completely...

I imagined myself in M-E a lot at camp:

On this big obstacle course through the woods on a very dark night I imagined I was Aragorn in the Paths of the Dead.

During one relay race (held in a dusty area like the Black Gate) I whispered "For Frodo" under my breath right before I started running.

After said relay race, we headed up to a mountainside for a cookout dinner, and I both imagined myself as and felt like Frodo crossing Mordor.

On what has to be the toughest rock climbing wall I've ever tried, I kept hearing the music from the scene of Frodo climbing Mount Doom in my head for obvious reasons, and as before, I felt a lot like Frodo in that scene. (I tried that particular wall right after climbing another one, which was right after mountain biking, so I was already low on energy much like Frodo.)

[Kitanna]

Ohh wow this is great.
Not so much anymore, but every now and again me and my friend will have little Middle Earth battles in the hallways at school. He'll act like a dwarf and try to take my head off with an axe and I'll whack him with an invisible staff. I also love to pretend my bike is Shadowfax or any of the steeds from Rohan.

[Lathriel]

When I pretend I am usually alone, I can't pretend with anyone since none of my friends are real LOTR freaks.

If I do something LOTR related with my family around they usually start complaining about me being crazy about LOTR. ( Although I personally think I keep my craze to myself and Barrow Downs is the only place where I really talk about LOTR)

So all my pretending is going on in my head, for example I have a tiny forest nearby, it isn't much since I live in an area where big trees are rare,anyway I call it the Old Forrest.

[Morsul the Dark]

At work when I go out for carriages I sing Road goes ever on and on and pretend I'm With Sam and Frodo And when people who park next to the carols leaves carts two feet away from them I pretend I'm gollum "Nasty Tricksy custemors Lazy fat custemors don't return their carriages theyre ours and we wants them."

Or sometimes I pace back and forth and pretend to be in ME as an ent

[Elennar Starfire]

Stick whacking is fun, but mothers get quite annoyed when you dent the metal broom handle...I recommend wooden broom handles, they're harder to break.

[Feared Half-Elf]

You caught me out! I taught myself staff-fighting and swordfighting with stcks, then proceeded to teach my brother so I could re-enact battles. Lol, I don't think he's twigged yet as to the real reason for me teaching him...

[Esgallhugwen]

When I pretend I am usually alone, I can't pretend with anyone since none of my friends are real LOTR freaks. If I do something LOTR related with my family around they usually start complaining about me being crazy about LOTR. ( Although I personally think I keep my craze to myself and Barrow Downs is the only place where I really talk about LOTR)

That is true for me also Lathriel, unfortunately I have no forestation anywhere near me *sigh*. And believe me if I had a horse and a very large acreage I would go gallavanting around waving a stick, seeing as I don't have a sword (yet), pretending to be a Rider of Rohan or an Elf or whomever I felt like at the time.

When me and my brother were little we'd also used to whack eachother with sticks but I think that was more medieval than LOR based. However I knew much about the Hobbit not the actual novel mind you, but a sort of comic book version, a graphic novel if you will that I used to pour through or have read to me before bed. *Ahem* anyway it was quite fun when me and my little brother would act out some scenes especially with me being the infamous Smaug (I had a red robe, not to mention I have red hair) and him being Bilbo trying to steal my treasure. Oh what memories!

But besides what I did in my youth, I've had to normally refer to conjuring up scenarios in my head to play out whilst listening to the LOR soundtracks or some Celtic music. Yes its sad but if I have more privacy, lets say or forest or and acreage I would act my imagination more openly, and besides in my head I can do cool flips and decapitate orcs how is that not fun?

Eternally the slightly crazed,
Esgallhugwen

[Elennar Starfire]

I play with my Hobbit sword a lot...actually it's a Scottish dirk, but it's just the right size to be a Hobbit sword, plus it has a bitty knife and fork in the sheath, for eating with!

[ninlaith]

That's pretty cool Elennar. The Weta-Workshop crafted a little knife onto Aragorn's sword for eating with. You probably already knew that. You just reminded me of it. That's pretty neat.

[Esgallhugwen]

Have any of you ever seen a sword called the Highlander, this thing is freaking huge! It's probably 7 or more feet long (maybe, I forgot how long it actually was but it was incredibly long) I could just imagine someone holding that thing.

"Hey Eswen"
"What?" *turns around*, *whoosh*
"Whoops, boy is that messy"

[Elennar Starfire]

Actually, Ninlaith, I didn't know that. But thanks for the bit of trivia!

[Morsul the Dark]

when playing lotr risk I don't just play the game I become Sauron and I eliminate the weak humans and then the elves then all the hobbits will fall to myh power ME will be mine

[Esgallhugwen]

That's great Morsul! I'm usually not the Enemy, I'm the green Elves and Men. I always like to play the soundtracks whenever I'm playing. But even though I'm the green guys I'm actually very very evil not to mention bloodthirsty!

[yavanna II]

It's probably corny, but
I bought a siver chain & placed my gold ring, then pretended to be Frodo once.... a teacher saw me, and i've been called Frodo ever since....[they don't probably notice I"M A GIRL!!!]

[Sirithheruwen]

I went to my friend's house once and on the way I passed a very large pile of dirt (they were building the foundations for a house). A plan started to form...
When I got there, we started making little beaded jewlery from her sister's set. And there, sitting out on the table was a pile of silver keychain rings. Perfect! We grabbed one, put on our sandels, and walked over to the pile, trying to decide what race we were. When we got there we climbed up and cast the ring over the side. And we never found that poor little key chain ring again. *sighs happily*

Oh, wait, there's more!

I also take a yardstick (the exact length of Eowyn's sword) and beat my cardboard Aragorn cutout with it to the LOTR soundtrack. The poor guy has a couple of dents now! *sheepish grin*

There is also many more, but they've slipped my mind. Drat!

[Morsul the Dark]

at work when we're doing putbacks(stuff people move around the store instead of putting it where it belongs ) sometimes we have these flag poles and I pretend I'm Gandalf and I use it then someoe will tell me to put it away and I say "You would not part an old man from his walking stick?" despite the fact I'm 16 there are only a few people that get the reference fewer still that find it funny.

[Meela]

Since I have a minor obsession with Gondor, my life has to revolve entirely around Gondor, naturally. So every morning I wake up and look out the window, and what do I see? A host of soldiers returning from Ithilien, ready to report to Denethor about Orcs, Harad threats, the lack of bagels at the canteen... or a battle. Depends on my mood, what I'm wearing (floaty dresses means everyday business, hair up and in a tunic means battle on all sides), or the music that's playing.

I'm a big fan of make-believe. I've always played pretend in whatever situation I'm in. Just a quick trip to the market can incorporate a minor battle, receiving a life-threatening mission request, and a courtship from a travelling scribe.

My friends and I have a treehouse and a forest, which make adequate substitutes for Lothlorien, Helm's Deep, and Osgiliath, for whenever we feel like re-enacting parts of the books in home-made dramatisations.

A friend and I once re-enacted the whole of The Two Towers on a wall in the middle of a street. We picked up sticks and engaged in combat in full view of some old ladies who were walking by. Yes, we got some strange looks.

i pretend im Eowyn or Eomer, lopping off orc heads when I ride my horse alot, all the while im humming the Rohan theme song, and me and my bestest friends(who are as sickeningly obsessed as i am) pretend the school bell is the horn of Gondor.hmmm....Me and my brother pretend we're Sam and Frodo alot, because I have a cheesy monopoly onering and a big blue glowing flash light.

[Elennar Starfire]

i've been called Frodo ever since....[they don't probably notice I"M A GIRL!!!]

I was called Spock for three months just for wearing a Star Fleet uniform to school on Halloween. It was a TNG uniform too...

I pretend all the time...not always Tolkien related, but most often some book related...

I have a tendency to pretend to be a Middle-Earthling when walking around in stores, staring confusedly at the strange costumes people are wearing and wondering why I'm dressed like that too, and WHAT THE HECK ARE THOSE SHINY FAST MOVING THINGS oh my gosh I'M SITTING IN ONE WHERE AM I GOING?!!

[Lathriel]

This summer I went to the Shuswap in B.C Canada with my friend. Her dad had a boat. So when we were going back to the marina because the weather turned bad. We were aproaching dark clouds and I said to my friend look we are entering Mordor. Then later when mist engulfed the surrounding mountains we said look the misty mountains. Then we went on about Gollum and Goblins and Orcs and Moria. etc. It was fun and my other friend rolled her eyes at us.

[Hookbill the Goomba]

I have often pretended that the ring I ware about my neck on its chain is getting heavier.

[Encaitare]

I bought a siver chain & placed my gold ring, then pretended to be Frodo once....

Like you're alone on that one! My also-LotR-obsessed friend Anna and I once acted out the movie scene where Boromir picks the Ring up off the snow, you know, "It is a strange fate..." etc. I was Boromir, and she was Aragorn, and we made this poor confused completely normal girl in our class be Frodo. I think she thought we were insane.

And whenever it snows and we go out for lunch (our high school has open campus lunch periods! yay!) we play its Caradhras. We sing the Caradhras music too, and yell "Nai yarvaxea rasselya toltuva notto carinnar!" (Saruman's spell) in the hopes of causing an avalanche. And when it's foggy, naturally we play Fanrogn Forest.

I guess you never really stop playing "let's pretend"...

[Hookbill the Goomba]

And when it's foggy, naturally we play Fanrogn Forest.

Really? I would have thought the Barrow Downs would be a much saner choice.

[Maeggaladiel]

Oh, sure!

I've recently taken up archery, so sometimes I pretend that my cardboard targets are mean nasty orcses that are sneaking up on me. Then if I miss I can pretend that they dodged the arrow, and that I'm not a horrible shot.

Oh yeah, my bow is green so I named it Galencu. When I'm using it, I'm Galencuiel. Not really creative, but my knowledge of Elvish is limited.

~Maeggaladiel
Cardboard boxes fear my name.