How Hippies Saved the Lord of the Rings

Once upon a time, the Lord of the Rings was a little known book written by a stodgy British professor. We have hippies, Beatle fans, and slimy publishers to thank for the cultural phenomenon it is today.
*Correction*: I misrepresented the anecdote about TheOneRing.net founder sneaking onto the LotR set. She already lived in NZ, and only wrote a joking article about sneaking onto set. She was issued a restraining order by overly zealous studio execs, something later corrected by Peter Jackson and his team, when they welcomed her to set. Sorry about the confusion!
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Sources:
Liptak, Andrew. “Looking Back on What Made the Lord of the Rings Trilogy Special, 15 Years Later.” The Verge, 23 Dec. 2016,
Resnik, Henry. “The Hobbit-Forming World of J.R.R. Tolkien.” Saturday Evening Post, 2 July 1966.
Ripp, Joseph. “Middle America Meets Middle-Earth: American Discussion and Readership of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, 1965-1969.” Book History, vol. 8, no. 1, 2005, pp. 245-286.

[@Jess_of_the_Shire]

Correction: I misrepresented the anecdote about TheOneRing.net founder sneaking onto the LotR set. She already lived in NZ, and only wrote a joking article about sneaking onto set. She was issued a restraining order by overly zealous studio execs, something later corrected by Peter Jackson and his team, when they welcomed her to set. Sorry about the confusion!

[@TrueBlue475]

Yes of course the success of the Lord of the rings books is due to American Hippies loving it and sharing it with the world, that has to be the most arrogant and retarded opinion I've ever heard, what an idiotic thing to think let alone say . I suggest you change your KZbin name to Fulltime Retard, The Lord of the rings is massively successful all across the globe , most of which has never experienced a hippie cultural movement because the themes in the story are recognised by all nationalities and cultures, not just a bunch of tripped out, high as a kite american hippies

[@thomasbaader6629]

Funny. A catholic, conservative, monarchist author (and a very likeable one) wrote a book loved by hippies.

[@ZrodyApo]

@@TrueBlue475 yes, not to forget a certain german ideology around the 40s that tried to appropriate the themes of the books to further their own "superior" ideology of which Tolkien was firmly against and opposed publicly. What's funny is that the same "superior" ideology still wants to appropriate Tolkien writings to this day 😇

[@marykayryan7891]

@@thomasbaader6629 Very good point. Just goes to show you that art is bigger than the artist necessarily intends.

[@simontmn]

@@ZrodyApo I think you have the timeline mixed up. LOTR published 29 July 1954.

[@l.e.b.3541]

I'm not a very sentimental man. But the first thing in my live - that I really remember - is my father sitting on a big desk in my room reading Lord of the Rings to me. I know it was not the first book he read to me, but it was the first one where I vividly remember everything. I never read Lotr myself (since I can recollect it almost from memory) When someday I'll have kids myself, I'll do the same for them. I'm also too young for the original Tolkien-craze but heard alot from Paps about it. In Austria, Tolkiens works were almost nonexistent, so most of my friends where baffled when the movies came out that I already knew all and anything about it :) Well anyway: Have a nice day & greetings from Austria!

[@Jess_of_the_Shire]

This is so sweet! Thanks for sharing!

[@Serai3]

_don't say it, don't say it, don't say it..._ 😆 Seriously, though, that is so cool. Being read to is one of the great joys of childhood; it must have been amazing to have this book be the first you remember.

[@rikk319]

@@Serai3 I read it to my brothers when I was a teen, to my wife when we were dating, and to my son when he was 9. Sharing Tolkien is definitely one of life's pleasures.

[@judithgockel1001]

I was born early in America’s entry into WWII, and by the time Tolkien came to my attention, the parallels to the world’s experience of battling good versus evil were in our bones. To me, it was originally a ‘war story’. These perceptions extended and grew into appreciation of the simple and potentially joyous lives of un-powerful folk, and the burdens of those tasked with greater fates. Re-reading today, none of the richness and the power has been lost. Long may it flourish.

[@globalist1990]

It also served both sides of ww2, depending which side would be the victor. It could be read differently on both outcomes. Imo.

[@derekatkins4800]

When asked whether World War I and World War II influenced his books Tolkien denied this being the case, but when one looks at the stories themselves, I think it’s pretty obvious that those two wars very much influenced Tolkien’s work. I believe Tolkien was sincere in his denial, but it is hard to believe that the two World Wars didn’t have some kind of influence on Tolkien’s thinking and outlook on the world, much less on his stories.

[@toweypat]

I firmly believe LOTR is the definitive novelization of World War Two.

[@threeofeight197]

@@globalist1990 To me it was also general. The “everyday” person versus the “military industrial complex”. Sauroman pumps out his new improved soldiers and clears the forests for war, no matter the cost because Sauron told him to. All for one man, one entity, to gain power at the cost of everyone and everything.

[@ChetJang]

I remember people thought Sauron was actually representing Hitler which Tolkien denied but it was an odd coincidence that the evil villains were in so many ways similar. Just replace the Nazgul with the SS or the Gestapo.

[@bobnolin9155]

I spent a summer in the early 70's putting a roof on with an older kid, a hippie, and he told me the story of LOTR little by little, until I had to read it myself. Nobody had heard of it, back then.

[@Jess_of_the_Shire]

That sounds like a great summer!

[@goldenageofdinosaurs7192]

Yeah, when I 1st read LotR, it was around 77-78 & I was in junior high. All through Junior high & high school, LotR, Elric, Conan, Shannara & Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser stories weren’t the kind of books you wanted to get caught with, as most people, even the stoner kids, would make fun of you for reading a book about elves & dwarves. Don’t even get me started on D&D, lol..

[@The_Gallowglass]

Bob Nolin what did you think of the book after you read it?

[@RoelvanDeventer]

I'm still stunned dnd is somewhat mainstream now.

[@Historian212]

Nobody had heard of it in the early 70s? Absurd statement. I was in high school in 1970. LOTR was very popular. What’s now called “the sixties” actually encompassed the early 70s, and my nerdy, sci-fi loving, sword-and-sorcery friends and family were all into it. A few years on, we started something called fantasy roll-playing games, which was popularized by the makers of D&D-which games continued to be popular in the 80s. Which were the precursors to fantasy-themed video games and all that’s come since. If your “hippie” friend (real hippies didn’t use that term until they adopted it from establishment journalists who first coined it) told you that, he was mistaken.

[@NickBR57]

Well, every Tolkien fan should read all the books really. Tree and Leaf, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, Farmer Giles of Ham etc. Most of all, The Silmarillion. When I first read The Silmarillion I found it hard to get into but it has given me much insight. Now, I read The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings at least every 18 months. The History of Middle Earth is essential reading too. I am so glad your channel came up in my feed yesterday.

[@mikearchibald744]

The Children of Hurin was on the NY bestseller list for half a year.

[@mizzlchieizzl]

The Silmarillion is challenging but reigns as my top favorite fantasy work by far now, for sure.

[@NickBR57]

@Matt Chiesi I would not disagree. Yes it takes some effort first . boy is it worth it!

[@Serai3]

One cannot say one is a Tolkien fan without reading the books. They are what his work is about, and he turned down movie offers himself. The story in the movies is a wonderful _version_ of The Lord of the Rings, but it is not Tolkien's story. So the books are necessary, and the ancillary ones, like the biography and _Letters_ add a lot to one's understanding as well.

[@mikearchibald744]

@@mizzlchieizzl Someday there will be a cataclysm and in the future they will find it and think it was one of our main religions. I'm sure one reason he wrote it is that even though a christian he kind of figured "Six days and the world is just made.....thats the whole thing?" They'll start a whole new space race to find that silmaril up in the sky!

[@pendragon2012]

I remember when you had to go to the back of the bookstore to Fantasy and Sci-Fi and look under Tolkien to find the books. There were no Tolkien Tables up front or movie tie ins, lol. I'm glad the work got its recognition--I actually read it in 6th grade because I'd heard it was 9th grade required reading and needed to prove I could do it! Another great video, Jess!

[@JeanZGerman]

I was around for the Peter Jackson Trilogy. I believe what made the hype at that time so different was that everyone said that a proper adaptation of LOTR could never be filmed. Everyone thought that it would be too expensive and not feasible. So essentially, this was the book that everyone had in their head, finally brought to life. Even for me, I had never heard of LOTR until the movies, but when I saw them, they looked like the world of the fantasy video games (that I grew up playing) brought to the big screen. I was blown away.

[@richardjohnston-bell476]

I first read LOTR as an 11 year old in the early 80's. I agree that the prevailing thought at the time was that it could never be put into a proper film. I was so excited when it was finally done. Although I had to admit it was hard to watch at first because the missing parts were distracting - no Old Forest, Old Man Willow, Goldberry, Tom Bombadillo or barrow wights, like WTF, it took me half the film to come to grips with that. It also didnt quite match what had been in my head for 18 years. I also played a lot of D&D as a kid, which was like living in LOTR and I was probably influenced by that art imagery of what the LOTR world looked like.

[@korganrocks3995]

Yeah, I first read it in the early 90s and didn't expect to live long enough to see a proper film adaptation, so to get one within the decade was mind-blowing, especially since it actually delivered! There are things about the movies that bother me now, after many years and many viewings, but at the time they exceeded even my wildest hopes.

[@dsvet]

​@@richardjohnston-bell476AD&D kid here as well!!

[@Zhohan-]

I was late to Tolkien. I only watched the extended trilogy films with my brother at 14 after years of putting it off. We were both completely blown away. Frodo's farewell at Mithlond had me crying as hard as Sam. I knew that Tolkien had put considerable work into making the languages of Middle-earth come to life, and this kindled my immense love for history and later archeology and anthropology. Tolkien took so much inspiration from what we call the Dark Ages. There is a ton of Saxon and Frisian influence in the style of speech of Men and their cultures. Fantasy after all is an inspiration of our past. The LOTR trilogy will forever remind me of the countless human stories that have since been forgotten. We're really not so different from our ancestors. I am sure his work will be analyzed a thousand years from now like Chaucer and epics like Beowulf. It's the most beautiful world anyone has ever dreamed of.

[@Draconisrex1]

Yes, it was quite the hippie favored book. So was Heinlien's 'Stranger in a Strange Land.' As for LotR, I had two hippie high school teachers that turned me on the books '76. I had read the Hobbit back in 5th grade but had never heard of the LotR. I also read Farmer Giles of Ham and Smith of Wooten Major. Did not read the Tom Bombadil book as I'd never heard of it until a week ago when I ran into you channel.

[@alansalmi]

A friend of mine actually found a religion based on Stranger, in a strange land. Look up “the church of all worlds “!

[@tomenrico6199]

I was born in 1952, just a couple of years before the original publication of “The Fellowship of the Ring.” Thirteen years later, I was in 9th grade when the paperback editions of the trilogy were released in America. I was already a science fiction fan by then, especially of authors like Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Heinlein. I don't remember exactly how I was first introduced to Tolkien's work, but I became a huge fan. I essentially reread the entire trilogy every year for seven straight years, throughout high school and college. LOTR was the subject of two term papers I wrote, one when I was a senior in high school, and the second in a college composition and literature class. I have remained a fan into adulthood, parenthood and now old age. Certainly, it's one of my favorite literary works. (Though not #1. My favorite book and my favorite movie of all time are both “To Kill a Mockingbird.”)

[@michaelfisher7170]

Too young to be a hippy...but was introduced to Tolkien when my fifth grad teacher read The Hobbit to the class. I loved the story and bought my own copy. Then in junior high my best friend let me know he was reading another Tolkien story. Went to the same small town used book store and purchased the Fellowship of the Ring. Those old paperback copies were my constant companions and I read them over and over till they fell apart. Personally, middle earth became my vibe and Tolkien a hero for showing it to me. Now I'm pushing sixty. Tolkien channels fill my KZbin subscription list, my daughter is a confirmed Tolkien nerd like dad, and it still ranks as my favorite work of literature...although I do nod toward Frank Herbert for his Dune world building genius. And too this day I still envy youth who are just discovering Tolkiens works and experiencing them for the first time. Huh...nostalgia!

[@Mr.RobotHead]

This isn't the first time I've heard about hippies "saving" Lord of the Rings, but it is possibly the best overviews of how it happened that I've read/watched. Also, since I only stumbled across your channel a couple of weeks ago, and since you mentioned my all-time favorite Tolkien work, I'm gonna go watch your video on Farmer Giles of Ham now.

[@stevenhill2204]

Your knowledge of, and appreciation for Tolkien's works is nothing short of inspiring and hopeful. I was first introduced to Tolkien and the Hobbit in AP English in 8th grade in 1973. (Seems weird to write that. I was an otherwise pretty poor student) The following year brought The LOTR, and it was literally life-altering. Our teacher truly understood the magnificence and brilliance of the works, and the deep humanity of them, which not only gave us full appreciation of Tolkien; but also taught us how to comprehend and relate to other great pieces of literature. I've read The Hobbit and The LOTR at least 14 times, The Silmarillion probably 6, and some of Tolkien's lesser known works a few times each as well. Every reading continues to unveil greater texture and depth of the worlds, peoples, cultures and histories he birthed. It's simply astounding what he accomplished. It's been over 10 years since I last delved into those worlds. Like Bilbo in the films who stated as he boarded the Elven ship to the West: I think I am "quite ready" for the adventure of immersing myself in these books yet again.

[@edwardmeade]

So I was in high school during the late-1960's and read the Ballantine-published trilogy. One thing you left out was that it's popularity was crowned with the publication of its parody, "Bored of the Rings" by Harvard Lampoon. The hobbits, Frito, Moxie, Pepsi following GoodGulf (a gasoline brand) the Wizard and lines like ""Fordor was a bleak and airless place: not unlike Hackensack NJ."

[@1pcfred]

Pity stayed his hand. It was a pity he'd run out of bullets.

[@robertgerrity878]

Thanks! After an Ace copy, 2nd LOTR was the parody 1st pb edition already a bit worn. Silly fun. I'd forgotten!!!!

[@graemesandstrom5654]

What a wonderful and truly informative lecture. BTW you look incredible. When the first movie “FellowshipOf The Ring” came out my 7yo first born got wind of the fact that his parents were going to see this movie WITHOUT HIM! The next day he was outraged but wanted to know all about the movie. We had previously read the Hobbit to him. As time went on he became very well acquainted with the movies and the novels and the soundtracks - presents were easy to choose - directors cut, extended cuts, all three soundtracks. He even ended up with a girl (and her parents) who was also massively into it. It’s certainly added depth to all of our lives - even holidays in New Zealand seeking out film sites….. and it goes on. I love your Chanel - you are amazing!

[@pamelawelch5955]

I got chills watching this video. Good chills. Remembrance of some of the most important parts of my childhood. I have those ACE paperback books when they first came out. My father ( English Literature professor) got them for me and I was immediately hooked. I remember having the second book open and ready to continue the next part and then being horrified that I had to wait. And then being so immersed in that part that when the narrative moved to the next part I was mad to leave the previous part. AMAZING writing!!! Kept me on the edge of my seat and loving every moment. This video reminds me of that joy...that love....that total immersion. Such a good feeling. Thank you!

[@Jess_of_the_Shire]

I'm so glad I could remind you of some of that joy!

[@mistere.9534]

I first read the Hobbit and LotR in 3rd grade in 1978... I read them again later on in Middle School... and again in High School... then in 1988, I started a tradition of every year, between Thanksgiving and Xmas I re-read The Hobbit and LotR ... and if I have time left I will throw in some of the other books or stories. I note in the inside cover the start and end of each yearly read. I mostly did this to avoid my family during the holidays. With my nose in a book, they mostly left me alone. In the mid-2000s I learned that Christopher Lee (who later played Saruman) re-read Tolkien yearly as well. So, that's a thing.

[@jsnsk101]

i dont know why youtube told me to watch last weeks video either, but its been fun going through the back catalogue of videos

[@michaelwildfyre6349]

Being born in late 1958, I'm not quite old enough to have been a hippy, but I first read The Hobbit in the late 60s when an older acquaintance gave it to me before moving off to join a commune (never did hear from him again, but I like to think he got what he was after). So you could say, I owe a certified hippy for my lifelong love of Tolkien. A couple years later, I found The Lord of the Rings in my school library and devoured them. A couple years later, I found a used set of The Lord of the Rings paperbacks at a used bookstore called The Swap Shop and re-read all three books. I did have lots of pins, including "Frodo Lives" but sadly they were all discarded by my mother when I went off to college. She didn't manage to toss my, by then, extensive collection of fantasy and scifi paperbacks, including my original copies of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. or my Jim Cauty "Lord of the Rings" poster. I still have the poster, now safely framed, and those copies to this day, though they are tattered and worn from nearly 5 decades of use. Today, they occupy a place of honor on my bookshelf and have been replaced as "reading copies" by newer (pre PJ's LoTR movies) editions. I do have to admit that I avoid new print editions which seem to stress the PJ movies (cover art) because I am more than a little afraid that the text of the books have been revised to match the movies (sort of like 2010 was written by A.C. Clarke to align with the Obelisk, being found orbiting Jupiter (in alignment with the 2001 movie), vs Saturn, where it was located in his 2001 novel).

[@swenbos7760]

Would you be willing to also explore another world, just as magical, but flat, and carried by 4 elephants situated on top of a giant turtle? I think you'd do great!

[@Jess_of_the_Shire]

If you're talking about discworld, absolutely! I'm hoping to start talking about some other fantasy universes in a few months

[@superfly2449]

I don’t recall if TP ever parodied or referenced LOTR in his books. It’s possible, though.

[@swenbos7760]

Indeed 😊. Tolkien grounded me in morality as an early teen, while later, Pratchett provided a mirror for humanity, giving us something to ponder, and have a good laugh at.

[@gaebren9021]

@@swenbos7760 I love that you mention morality. I think that this is part of the appeal of Tolkien.

[@evermoremystic17]

Yay Discworld! 😁

[@johnnym2503]

I got your Tom Bombadil video recommended, so I'm one of the people your channel blew up to, and I'm so grateful for that. I've loved Lord of The Rings all my life, re-reading the books every now and again, although like you, I first fell in love with the movie adaptation. Now I'm binge-watching your videos, your analysis, thoughts, and commentary has brought me back to revisit Tolkien's work, and marvel at how after reading it so many times, I can still discover new themes, details, and keep enjoying one of my favorite works of art with a peek through someone else's eyes. I hope your channel keeps growing, and you have the most happy, hobbity time making these videos!

[@extrakryspy6309]

I whole heartedly echo this sentiment. I'm am also a new subscriber and love love love this channel!

[@ElrohirGuitar]

You do a wonderful job of understanding the phenomenon of Lord of the Rings. One of the things you missed was that we Hippies were actually Hobbits. We realized this through reading the books and seeing the world we were made to live in. Another oversight was the love of pipeweed, which allowed us to see the world as it really is instead of our more industrialized surroundings. We had our muses like Donovan, Uriah Heep, and Led Zeppelin who sung to us the music of the Ainur. I took a Tolkien course in college. When D&D came out, we started playing it before the rule books had come out. We made our own world of adventures that were not covered in Lord of the Rings. I played CCG games of Lord of the Rings, played Middle Earth miniature games and painted them to bring them to life. I've played Lord of the Rings Online for sixteen years. Most of all, I have tried to live my life with an appreciation for what life can be and brought a daughter up to see that world as well. Of course, you know all this since you were one of us that was sent forward in time to enlighten your generation. Keep the Hobbit spirit alive.

[@victordonavon292]

More like bastardization of what Tolkien described as hobbits.

[@rudista10]

You do realise that Tolkien made hobbits to resemble ordinary English folk and Shire was countryside he grew up in?? They weren't hippies, pipeweed wasn't weed, just stop.

[@catherineleslie-faye4302]

I read The Hobbit in 1974 when I was 13, by 1976 I had Middle Earth maps plastered all over my bedroom walls. I now have a parchment paper map of Middle Earth in my bedroom along with a second rate set of Legolas's daggers well worn from use... with a new plastic set of elven daggers for use at cons & fairs because steel elven daggers are too sharp and dangerous for con security even when they are peace-tied. Once a Tolkien Fan, Always a Tolkien Fan.

[@Thelaretus]

Fun fact, Tolkien was very fed up with the hippy idiots who seemed to follow him everywhere.

[@alang.bandala8863]

It's funny cause the same happend to Robert Heinlein

[@quantumvideoscz2052]

I mean, if American fans called you in the middle of the night (due to timezone difference) just to talk to you about your book, you'd be annoyed too.

[@terryhickman7929]

I read it first in 1968 as a college freshman. Since then I've re-read it between 50 - 60 times, pretty much at least once a year. Obviously, I adore it. I have also read all the other Tolkien books they published, but LotR is first in my heart. Has it affected my life? Well, I don't know, aside from thousands of hours of delightful reading. I wasn't actually a hippie, as I got married very young and had a baby to raise, and later a living for the two of us to earn. But I sympathized very much with the anti-war and racial justice movements and voted accordingly. The themes of friendship and never giving up in the face of evil are very much part of my values. It is by far the favorite read of my life. I love the movies, and I can set aside the changes they made (except for Faramir. They shouldn't have done that to Faramir.) and enjoy the movies for themselves. Very nice essay you've done!

[@sabrekai8706]

I first read LOTR in college, 1974. Your vids have just got me to see about getting a copy and read it again. Great stuff for a cold winter night.

[@brendanmooney7607]

Thanks for telling the ironic tale of how a loophole in US-copyright law that cost LOTR's author & publisher a lot of money actually ended up contributing to LOTR's author & publisher making a LOOOOTTT of money - but what I really want to know is... *Who is Tom Bombadil?* 😁 Congrats on all the views & new subscribers!

[@Jess_of_the_Shire]

You know, I actually have a video answering that very question! You might have missed it, it really underperformed haha. Thanks for always watching my content, I appreciate you!

[@TheRealWoTcher]

The "hook" for me was reading the Silmarillion after reading The Hobbit and the Lord of The Rings. The foundational knowledge that the Silmarillion provided grounded those stories in a world with histories, mythologies, and legends, that are hinted at and alluded to. This of course inspired re-readings which in turn, over the years as I matured, led to new understanding and insights. And undeniably a love of the world that Tolkien created. Thank you for the time you spend creating content that resonates with me and provides a place to reminisce.

[@sandihj]

In 1963, my middle school librarian recommended The Hobbit to me. I loved it, and read it multiple times. Then, in 1965 a paperback bookstore opened up (literally in an alley) in my town. Of course I checked it out, and was elated to discover LOTR (Ballentine version). I snapped it up and read it, and read it, and read it til the books literally fell apart. One copy or another of it has come with me on every move since then, over 50 years. When I went away to college in 1967, a few of my new friends were aware of it, but after a year or two, every student with any inclination toward hippiedom was obsessed. People did dramatic readings of pivotal speeches and declared themselves elves and hobbits. I was living out in the sticks, and wasn’t sufficiently affluent to travel to conventions,so I only observed that scene from afar, but I still re-read the books at least annually. I loved the movies, and understood why certain of my favorite parts were omitted or changed, but I made sure my grandchildren are at least are aware of the Scouring of the Shire, arguably the most important chapter in the entire trilogy, even if it deprives us of the magical happy ending we all wanted and expected. I’m thinking it’s about time to read it again now. Thanks for your thoughtful presentation.

[@5400bowen]

My brother brought the series back from deployment on the USS Enterprise about 1966, well before it was discovered by the hippies. I read it 2 1/2 times (my mother went into a fit the second time through about 1968 and tore “The Two Towers” in two right at the very middle of the book (within 5 pages exactly in the middle) where I was at. Which was also the very middle of the trilogy. My brother said he and his Navy buddies were looking for long books to pass away the incredibly boring time spent at sea. We began writing notes at the end of our letters in Elvish runes found in the appendix. By the time he did his last deployment I was rarely looking at the key for the runes, and almost my whole letters were in them. Then in 1968 at age 14, I recorded the entire book “The Hobbit” onto audio tape. 8 hours. Big part of my life. I literally cried when I saw Arwen in the movie, as she was a symbol of a kind and caring mother, completely unlike my own.

[@Daniel-uu9td]

Another great video… congrats on your recent well deserved popularity surge… The teacher that got me hooked on Tolkien’s work had a number of beautiful art work on calendars by the brothers Hildebrandt.. my favourite was Galadriel and her mirror (1975 calendar I believe ). I would love to see a video exploring the various artist interpretations of Tolkien’s characters. Just an idea… congrats again!

[@gaebren9021]

Daniel. I love this idea about the artwork. I am on pinterest and I get to see a lot of artists put their artwork up of Tolkien's characters. Many of these characters look like the characters out of the films. I often wonder how the actors feel about their images and faces in fandom artworks depicting characters that they played. That is one interview I would love to see. 🙂

[@gaebren9021]

Daniel. Another thing I thought of was that Tolkien was an Artist himself. I loved a lot of his illustrations of the Hobbit. There was also an Artist from the 50's Pauline Baynes. She also illustrated C.S.Lewis. She brought to life the stories of Tolkien and Lewis. She had a medieval influence on her illustrations.

[@Jess_of_the_Shire]

This is a super fun idea!

[@1pcfred]

I went to an art gallery once that was doing a sale of Hildebrandt work and got to see the original calendar art in person. The paintings were going for about 5 grand each. Which I didn't have on me at the time so I just bought a lithograph. Still, I thought the prices were very accessible considering they're commercial works of some fame.

[@TheArthoron]

I was born in 1965. My brother gave me his First Edition paperback copies of the Ballantine version in 1975. I read it in the back of my parent's stationwagon on a cross-country road trip. It has been a part of my life, ever since!

[@dongray9852]

Really liking your content... enough to want to help if I may? The Hough in Houghton rhymes with through, not rough... "English is a difficult language, it can be understood through tough thorough thought though!"

[@Jess_of_the_Shire]

Yeah, my mom called me out for that as soon as she watched the video...That's on me for not looking it up beforehand haha. Thanks for the correction, friend

[@BC-ui9yt]

I have a very vague memory of my oldest sister reading The Hobbit to me back in The Old Days. I don't think we got far, but when I found her copy and started to read it, I recognized the name Bilbo... which I still can hear in her voice over the decades. Later, I moved onto her copy of LoTR.... though the first book was missing. Eventually I read it some 15-20 times, including the appendices. It's breathtaking, and over the years I've moved through most of the characters as "heroes"- Aragorn, Gimli, even Merry and Pippin have taken root in my imagination. But as the years went on, Frodo and Sam became the ones I respected the most. There's more to being "Great" than waving a sword of fighting in a major battle. I came to love Tolkien's works, and have long said that I would have given a limb to have had the opportunity to study under the good Professor. He helped ignite my love of Anglo-Saxon culture, language, and history. I love your channel. Keep up the amazing work.

[@laurelcarney6044]

Born in 1955, I was introduced to Tolkien in Junior High. I became obsessed! If you remember Fahrenheit 451 (?), members of the underground would memorize books so they wouldn't be lost. I was determined to memorize The Fellowship of the Ring so it would not be lost. Every time an attempt was made to make a film I hurried to see it only to be vastly disappointed in the outcome. Finally Peter Jackson was able to use technology to satisfy my longings. This is my first time seeing your channel and I will follow it gratefully. Being only 4" 10' I truly believe I am a Hobbit. Continue your great work.

[@EricAbroad]

I was born in '92, I remember vividly when these movies came to theatres. I saw them each 4 times (except Return of the King only twice because of the long endings haha). The first film's jump scares freaked me out so much that when The Two Towers came out I distinctly remember bracing myself and gripping the arm rests with full intensity to prevent being caught off guard. Turns out the second film didnt scare me likely just because I was a little bit older than when I saw the first. Im not even a reader of the books I simply enjoy binging the triogy films extended and bonus features any time of the year. (Your videos have gotten me more interested in the books/deeper lore). These films are simply timeless, as I imagine the books are, as well

[@CamoGreg]

First read the Hobbit and the trilogy in 1968. I was 10 years old and fascinated with the adventures. It shaped much of my own wandering in life. With the other Tolkien need friends of those years, we discussed the characters. Coincidentally, we were all top spelling bee contenders. I try to read the trilogy again every few years. Peter Jackson did a fantastic job bringing middle earth visually to life. I've seen to it my own children and grandchildren have had the opportunity to read these timeless treasurers. Kudos to your dedication to the researching all things Tolkien. It makes me smile to see someone close to my grandchildren age so involved it these wonderful stories.

[@piovertwoo]

I’m just here for that Tiffany lamp. Plus also y’know, the well written and well spoken historical cultural and literary analysis I suppose.

[@Jess_of_the_Shire]

The lamp belongs to my parents and I'm trying to figure out if there's a way I can smuggle it out with me.

[@jakubotevrel5058]

Hello, Jess. As a life-long, hardcore Tolkien fan (and a hippie at heart, just to be not entirely off-topic), let me just say, that yours is the most awesome, entertaining and informative Tolkien channel I have come across (and I have watched quite a few). You are incredibly well-researched (I thought I knew A LOT about Tolkien´s books, philosophy and life, but your knowledge puts me to shame), funny and most importantly, your love for the subject just shines throgh like a sun. I accidently saw one of your videos a week ago and have since then watched like ten more (I just loved the one about Valars, with the costumes!). Please continue doing your thing (following your bliss, as Joseph Campbell put it), the world is so much better with people like you in it. And (if it´s not clear from above mentioned ode), let me close by saying you have made yourself just yet another massive fan and subscriber. Greetings from Czech Republic, Jakub.

[@Jess_of_the_Shire]

This is so kind! I really really appreciate you taking the time to watch my videos. Welcome to the channel!

[@combatdoc]

I have been a D&D geek since 1979. (I'm 56) LotR was required reading for any fantasy geek at that time. Just like Dune and Asimov were like our secret handshake. The LotR hippies all worked in the stores where we'd buy our books in. It's funny how you being born 20 after I stated showing interest in something that was already old when I got into it. Great vid!

[@Nifuruc]

In the 90s I've listened to the album "Nightfall in Middle-Earth" by Blind Guardian and fell in love with all these characters and stories even before I knew the books. But since the internet wasn't a thing then I didn't know they were singing about the Silmarillion. A couple of years later I watched the movie "Herr der Ringe: Die Gefährten" (which is the German title for Lord of the Rings) in cinema and still didn't make the connections to the music album. But one word gave me the wildest goosebumps ever: "Noldor". I don't remember if it was in the second movie or during my researches for the first one, but it kinda changed my life! I bought all the books and devoured them. After that I looked up Terry Pratchett and I had my second eye-opener when I found out that he wrote the story for the point & click adventure "Discworld". Funny that you mention him in this video :) I guess he's even more dear to me than Tolkien himself. I'm writing my own stories now, but I probably won't publish them since I'm not dedicated and talented enough... But I love thinking about fantasy worlds and, since I'm a linguist myself, languages in fantasy settings.

[@murphcallahan5892]

MY FIRST CONTACT with Tolkien came in a university classroom in the early 1970s. I didn't read him, I heard him. For whatever reason (it wasn't a lit class), professor Tonso wanted his students to hear this! He opened “The Hobbit,” and read to us Tolkien's introduction to Gollum which is full of immersive description. The effect was immediate. When he finished, no one spoke for a long minute. Then someone said, "Wow," in a weak voice. It wasn’t until the winter of 1976-77, however, that I read “The Lord of the Rings.” While the blizzards howled outside and shook my house, I was absorbed in the adventures in Middle Earth. I read the novels again decades later, watched the movie trilogy when it came out, and, at 70 years old, I am feeling the call to visit the books once more.

[@Doug-j3u]

When I was in High School, class of '72, I had a friend who read the Loard of the Rings on the school buss. I didn't read the LotR till several years latter.

[@gowanmetal]

I was a child of hippies in NorCal who grew up with the Hobbit read chapter by chapter as a bedtime story. I read LoTR in middle school and loved it and dived into lore and the Silmarillion, etc. I was in my early teens when the movie trilogy came out- so kind of the perfect age to grow with them and be in the midst of the phenomenon, as an already fully fledged fan. They were EVERYWHERE. Playing at every party, the subject of all day hang outs, and not just the films but the hours and hours of behind the scenes and commentaries. I grew up in the country and actually ended up raising the obscure Nordic sheep breed whose wool the elven cloaks were made out of! I remember spending a late night as two of the only people awake talking to a girl on a couch about the changes, what they added or left out vs the books, and her hanging on my words- my nerdery was suddenly cool. (I will say that this gave baby-gay me the WRONG impression about how much girls in general love nerd lore) but what can I say- they were a huge part of my adolescence and I STILL raise those sheep. I personally love seeing the variation and riffs on the themes coming out recently. The Magic the Gathering card that shows a Black Aragorn is totally awesome- love the art, tho I don’t play the card game so I’m not up on all the politics around the series. I love seeing new fans put their own spin on it. We have reams of cannon literature to go back to for the purists, but Tolkien belongs to everyone now and I embrace the idea that variations of his mythos will live forever. The Amazon show DOES seem like a callow cash grab, but it doesn’t harm the core texts in my opinion, and I look forward to more fan made and accessible content in the future.

[@jamieparry6420]

Cymru am byth!

[@chuckgordon3581]

I was introduced to sci-fi and fantasy by my best friend, Phil, who loaned me his copy of LoTR when we were 13 or 14, just around the time Tolkien died. I nerdily devoured it during a family vacation, sitting on the beach and forgoing the sand, ocean, and invitations to play volleyball with the cool kids. As it would happen, Phil's older sister was in university and heard that this Tolkien guy's personal assistant or secretary would be giving a lecture - did we want to go? Uh, definitely!!! with three exclamation points. To the best of my recollection, it was a nasty storm that night in Halifax and only a few dozen people were there, so afterward we had the opportunity to go up to the stage and ask some questions. He pulled out some books to show us some of Tolkien's notes and original sketches. I remember how cool this was and how unusual his handwriting was, but I have lost all recollection of any other details. But whoa, what a great experience.

[@jannertfol]

I first read the LOTR trilogy in spring of 1967, just before I graduated from high school-in fact I was just finishing The Return of the King on the day of my graduation ceremony. (It was a race, I can tell you!) For many many years afterward I treated myself to reading the trilogy again, twice a year ...once in the summer and again during the Christmas break. While I don't do that any more, I still do re-read it now and again. It's that kind of story, isn't it? I remember giving it to my best friend, whom I had just met (she's still my best friend!) to take home with her during the Christmas break during our freshman year at college. I waited with a great deal of eagerness, to see her after the break was over and find out how she'd got on with it. The first day back, she handed me back all the books with the saddest look on her face. And she said ...."B-but ...there AREN'T any hobbits!" And I knew she'd got it, and that, like me, she'd be a fan for life. We plastered our dorm room with day-glow Middle Earth posters and other related stuff. It was a win. I liked the movies, but I'm sorry for people who saw the movies and never read the books. And I also suspect that people who saw the movies and THEN read the books probably had a different experience from me. That series of books was groundbreaking, and of course I had no idea how it would 'turn out' as I started reading it. But I was totally drawn in, and when the trilogy was done, the only way I could recapture my feeling for it was to read it again. Nothing else, including all the other stuff, including (and especially) the Silmarillion, even came close to recreating that magic. It was a one-off for me.

[@JulieAiken]

My high school boyfriend -- my first "real" boyfriend -- got me the trilogy for my birthday. This was an extraordinary gesture, as he was not interested in it AT ALL, and thought it was kind of silly for someone as smart as me. But he knew I would love it. We didn't last past high school and really haven't seen each other in the intervening 40-some years, but he will always have a huge part in my life story. Because everything changed when I discovered Middle Earth, and there is a direct line between that birthday present (another auspicious birthday present!) and my waiting in line at Borders at midnight for each Harry Potter book. Thanks for all your great videos!

[@rumi9005]

I was born in 1949 so I was at University in the UK in the late 1960s. Truly the 'hippie' era. And true to the times, I had (temporarily) abandoned University and was living in a commune just outside Manchester when I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy. While listening to the likes of Jefferson Airplane, Bob Dylan and my favorite, Leonard Cohen. I didn't actually read 'The Hobbit' until several years later. Later on my father (a Royal Air Force officer) admitted that his favorite books were 'The Catcher In The Rye' and 'the Lord of the Rings'. And my Mum's favorite books were the 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' series by Douglas Adams.

[@jarlbregadan914]

I was 11, the Fellowship movie was about to come out and my mom gave me The Silmarillion for Children's Day (it's in August here in Argentina). She had gone the to bookstore and told the store's employee that I loved Harry Potter, fantasy and mythology, and THE ABSOLUTE MAD LAD sold her The Silmarillion, for a kid. I picked it up, skipped Christopher's introduction and understood nothing of the Ainulindalë. I went back and read the introduction, got The Lord of The Rings ending spoiled and understood this was not just fantasy, this was a man CREATING mythology. I knew that Frodo had succeeded, that Gandalf came back as The White, that Sauron Fell and did not care one bit for all these spoilers because before me was the fact that just one man had created and entire world, with its own history, races, languages and geography almost ab nihilo. Then it all started to unfold for me, chapter after chapeter, I was addicted (despite the fact that I had to do multiple re-reads to understand the prose). I was in love with Arda, and now 23 years later, I am still.

[@BrucePGrether]

Your discussion here is great! I'm old enough to remember those Ballantine Books paperbacks of THE HOBBIT and the trilogy when they were quite new and selling at Moe's Books in Berkeley, California. But that was on a furlough from living in Thailand with my missionary parents, where I remember picking up a paperback of THE HOBBIT at a seaside cabin where we went for vacation. I had no idea of what I was getting into, but that Hobbit Hole I entered turned out to be a kind of rabbit hole too! That was during the Vietnam War and I think those times reflected the range of qualities Las found in Tolkien. Playful sweetness, courageous persistence, and awareness that maybe the world needed saving!? Unlike many, once I read the trilogy, by then aged 11 or 12, I did not re-read them until Jackson's great films appeared. Then, for the first time I tackled THE SILMARILLION, which is challenging at first, by is the Professor's masterpiece IMO! Unlike those trendy trolls and haters, I love THE RINGS OF POWER, which is also made by people who adore and venerate Tolkien's works. Yers, they've made some major canonical changes and invented quite a lot. But it is an adaptation, and what they have the rights to is sketchy in terms of Second Age information. Anyway, Ms. Part Time, looks like I'll have to make a Hobbit of enjoying your vids, as I've "liked" this one and subscribed to your channel. Again, my thanks! More Flower Power to you!

[@jamiebockmuehl9888]

I was born in 1994, so just old enough to remember the hype surrounding the Jackson trilogy. I remember seeing the adverts for the first movie back in 2001, and being reminded of Harry Potter but thinking this seemed different and way cooler. When I asked my parents if we could see it, my dad (who's always been a huge Tolkien fan), felt that it probably would have been too much for me. So we watched Fellowship of the Ring and Two Towers when they each came out on home video, and I managed to convince my dad to take me to Return of the King on opening day. That lengthy trip to the movie theatre on the first day of Christmas break 2003 is possibly my favourite movie-going experience. Reading prose has never been my strong suit. I've got hella ADHD, and can only sit down with a book for so long. I started to read The Hobbit and LOTR in high school. The Hobbit was relatively breezy, but LOTR proved to be a challenge. I was both enchanted and intimidated by the sheer depth and detail of Tolkien's writing. I'm glad I saw the book through to the end, though. It is such a rewarding read. When I started to get really into heavy metal music, I was also thrilled to find how much of the music is LOTR-inspired. I'm currently rereading the series, and few books keep me sucked in like these ones do. Lord of the Rings has to be my number one favourite piece of media/franchise ever. It's influenced my worldview in God knows how many ways. The books keep me focused and still in a way few others can. The movies remain high-ranking favourites even as my taste in cinema continues to grow, with Fellowship in particular being among my top five out of the literal thousands I've seen. Much of my favourite music is directly or indirectly My dad and I are very different people, but we still have plenty in common; LOTR is one of the things we can talk about for hours on end. This world has been a light to me in dark places when all other lights had gone out. Needless to say, my life would be boring and empty without it.

[@commander515]

I don't remember which film I was sitting in a theater with my family to see back in 2000, but I do remember seeing the very first trailer for Fellowship of the Ring and just being unreasonably excited that hobbits, wizards, elves, orcs and Nazgul were on a big screen. We had heard rumblings about LoTR being adapted into a film, but the days of instant movie news updates and KZbin trailer drops were still far away back then, so nobody had any idea that such a thing was about to happen. I was 18 & had probably just graduated from high school at that point, but my siblings and I were all 2nd-generation Tolkien fans thanks to my dad, who had read Tolkien himself in high school. Being a nerd with kids, he proceeded to feed our young brains the books, the Rankin-Bass animated Hobbit, and the Ralph Bakshi animated Lord of the Rings film as soon as we were old enough to understand it (though perhaps not 100% if we're being honest). (One of my prized possessions is a legit 'Frodo Lives' button from 1978, still in the original packaging, that my dad gave to me). I've re-read The Hobbit and all of LoTR (as well as the Silmarillion as an adult) several times over the years and it still never gets old...as an older person now, it's easier to wrap my brain around the density of the text and truly appreciate Tolkien's brilliant style and use of language (much more so than when I first read it as a short attention-span, impatient kid).

[@Historian212]

The term “hippie” wasn’t used by members of the counterculture until long after popular media (aka print and broadcast) made it a household word. Like the earlier term “beatnik,” “hippie” was used by journalists, mostly, and not by those to whom it was originally applied. Taking off from the word “hip” (which was originally used in jazz culture of the early 1900s by African Americans, later adopted by others), “hippie” was a way of minimizing the movement and the people who supported it, by those who didn’t. (Again, much as the Beats were mocked in the term “beatnik.”). Kids who were slightly too young to actually participate in Beat culture (mid- to late-Boomers like myself) started to use it because we picked it up from the media, as did our “square” parents. Our older siblings gradually accepted it , grudgingly, although some never did. The so-called neo-hippies of recent years seem largely unaware of this history, adopting a lot of the styles of the older era, but not always with a real understanding of the origin of the term. Once advertisers co-opt a term, and politicians use it as a buzzword to target a group, as happened in the 60s and 70s, it’s no longer relevant to the struggle for a better way of life. It becomes a brand. The Beatles became superstars in ‘64, which is “by 1965,” but that phrase bypasses arguably the most seminal year for popular music of that time. The Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in early ‘64, which was *after* the Beatles broke through on American radio in late 1963, with their earliest hits. If you listen to interviews by rock and pop musicians who became famous in the later 60s and into the 80s, virtually all will say their lives changed forever when they saw the Beatles on TV that night. This includes influential stars like Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, and many more. In the UK, members of groups like the Who and guys like Eric Clapton inevitably cite the Beatles’ earlier influence, even as they built on the Beatles’ success in new ways. The Beatles’ movie “A Hard Day’s Night” was released in ‘64 - made because they were already the biggest band in the world. So really, their fame hit by 1964. Modern hipsters wear Doc Martens. Hipsters back then wore construction boots, army boots, and such, but Doc Martens weren’t a thing until the late-70s/early-80s punks. Speaking of the 80s: why do you pass that decade by, as though that New Age-infused era didn’t happen? The first post-60s revival of fantasy stuff happened in the 80s, with books like the LOTR trilogy - which I first read in the early 80s, when fantasy roll-playing games arose - surging in popularity, followed by books like Marion Zimmer Bradley’s “Mists of Avalon,” (which took off from the great Merlin trilogy written by Mary Stewart in the 70s, starting with “The Crystal Cave”), among many others. The neo-pagan resurgence of the 80s popularized astrology, tarot, and all the associated media - which, like the similar Romantic revival you talk about in your video, was rooted in the British Romantic interest in idealized (not real) medieval culture and imagery, that was picked up in the early 1900s by people like Crowley, Yeats, and their circles, some of whom started amongst the Theosophists. This was a big deal in the 80s, with crystal shops and healing centers popping up all across the country. And terms like “manifestation” and “creative visualization” all around. It was, in many ways, a reaction to Reaganism and to the AIDS crisis - interestingly paralleled by the surge in political conservatism and widespread fear of a pandemic we see currently. Yes, these things cycle around, usually connected to larger societal events. The most accurate, yet brief, history of the term “hippie” I’ve seen so far: www.britannica.com/story/where-did-the-word-hippie-come-from

[@lmc108]

I could add hours worth of LOTR stories. These have taken up a significant piece of my adult life since first reading in 1972. I just wanted to say I was thoroughly delighted watching this video. You are utterly charming and summarized this amazing phenomenon beautifully. BRAVO!

[@JH-pe3ro]

Born in the mid-80's, I grew up aware of LoTR through all the other fantasy media I had - if it wasn't mentioned in a preface, it definitely appeared in advertising in the back of a book, a video game review or in tabletop roleplaying magazines, which my Dad had some quite old 70's examples of, covering games long forgotten like Steve Jackson's "The Fantasy Trip". The modern gaming hobby, both tabletop and video, really burst onto the scene in the 70's, as the themes of gaming shifted from immensely detailed "grognard" wargames towards sci-fi and fantasy. That stuff was generally a mix of Tolkien, Conan the Barbarian, and space opera, with occasional "grindhouse" or "midnight movie" flair(cars, nukes, kung fu, horror). More of it focused on bold themes and aesthetics than the specifics of the lore or world-building that Tolkien had established, and that actually turned me off of LoTR for a minute. My older brother got the Hobbit and the trilogy sometime in the 90's. I tried to read the Hobbit and gave up - I was bored to tears by all the description. But when the movies came out I saw every one, and enjoyed it. Lately I've become more interested in fairy storytelling as a practice, and in some sense, I feel like Tolkien's shadow is much easier to escape now than in the past. 1965-2020 is the era where Boomer tastes dominated culture, thus the popular mythologies stayed in a similar place, hovering around those early influences, sometimes critically or deconstructively, or with the experience of age, but still in conversation with it - still talking about all those old rock stars, old comedy acts, and all the rest. The generational shift is upon us now and that opens up room for other kinds of stories, but LoTR is unlikely to ever go away, reminiscent of other old popular figures like Sherlock Holmes, Tom Sawyer, etc.

[@mitakeet]

My introduction to Tolkien was a babysitter reading parts of The Hobbit to me. This would've been the early '70's (I'm the last boomer, according to some measures), if you want to try and plug that into a cultural timeline. I created vivid imagery surrounding the battle with the spiders in Mirkwood that live on to this day. But at that age I didn't read (not that I couldn't, I didn't) so when she finished or stopped being our sitter that was the end of that. Until 6th grade, where I spend most of that year reading (but not finishing) Journey to the Center of the Earth (I really should reread - and finish it - some day). That lit a fire, though, and for decades thereafter I read fiction (generally science and fantasy, but some spy and espionage) I read continuously, often several a month. I don't recall when I first read LotR, but it was probably during high school, as I recall extensive discussions on the topic whilst playing DnD (so many hours of DnD). I estimate I've read The Hobbit and LotR at least a dozen times, likely close to 20. Those books rank with Dune (original!), Sherlock Holmes, Foundation series, and one of my personal single-book favorites I'll go ahead and pump: The Shockwave Rider, by John Brunner - so topical and with so few anachronisms it could've been written this year. I loved Jackson's LotR. His Hobbit, not so much, and haven't watched anything else, because why tarnish my memories. I recall watching some animated LotR growing up, but don't recall any of it being impactful at all. I bought The Silmarillion, but never managed to plow through it. I believe I purchased copies of Tolkien's other stories, but none stick in my mind. I don't read much any more (health reasons), so may not be rereading LotR (or Dune, Holmes, Foundation, etc.) again, but the impact has been deep and enjoyable. BTW, really enjoyed your vid on Tom Bombadil, which is why I'm a subscriber now.

[@mitakeet]

@@eb9720 I doubt I still have it, given the number of times circumstances have forced me to purge my library, but I do recall going into it assuming they were stories that could stand alone, but started feeling it was more like an encyclopedia. Which, to an extent, I guess is exactly what it was, for Tolkien.

[@CMS63]

I saw the Ballantine paperbacks on my parents shelves and the weird covers scared me; so when I first read them in 5th grade (circa 1973) they were already charged emotionally. I was hooked, and enthusiastically joined 10 or so others to form the Cleveland Tolkien Society, meeting at a local park. I made a crossword puzzle and a Gondor flag for the event. Since then I have read the entire series perhaps once a year. They were foundational to me as I learned what it meant to be a young man (although tragically little was about women!); and to this day find a sense of peace in the narrative. The nostalgia for a Medieval, agrarian world is spot on; though in time I shifted to the sciences professionally. But my aesthetic is still heavily influenced by the trees, stones, and sky of Middle Earth. Happy to have found your channel. The one on Bombadil was especially insightful.

[@CMS63]

It was the 1965 versions of Ballantine paperbacks that were scary. The ones with artwork by Barbara Remington. I also owned her poster which you show in your video.

[@MasterMind-ew5cs]

First time I heard of Lord of the rings was when I went to my local cinema to see them. I was 16 when the first movie came out. The movies got me to read the books.

[@susannekalejaiye4351]

My first read of Tolkien was the Ace paperbacks, read on loan from a highschool senior when I was a freshman. I had to wait my turn, because two other classmates had first and second dibs. We never discussed it because that would have given too much away. My second and third reads were my own Ballintine editions, purchases I made ASAP. Then in the '80's my daughter devoured that much loved second set. That same set went on to my eldest granddaughter in about 2010, and she can discuss anything Tolkien has written (could already do that before she turned 12). That much loved second set has been relegated to the shelf and hard copy editions are now in use. Of course we have seen the films, and have differing opinions as they aren't "the books"! Really enjoyed your take on this.

[@bionicRod]

I just found you but must say you are now my favorite Tolkein related youtube channel. Your topics are interestint and your scripts are incredibly well written and thoughtful. Kudos.

[@webbtrekker534]

I was introduced to The "Rings" in the early 1970's after 6 years in the Navy where I was out of contact with most of the world a lot of the time by being at sea. I enjoyed the read. (a woman at my job loaned me her copies). I pretty much have reread the books every few years. I still pick up on things I had skimmed over or not caught in previous readings. Now retired and 77 years old I have lots of time and summer days sitting in the shade outside makes for nice reading weather. I may just reread them again!

[@LicheLordofUndead]

I fell in love with The Hobbit in the late 70s, when I was in the service and introduced to D&D, I read the Lord of the Rings in the late 80s and loved the Peter Jackson movies. I just found your channel, and love the stories that I have seen. Please keep it up.

[@ThermZero]

The first time I read The Lord of the Rings I was 14 years old and in a psychiatric hospital being treated for major depression. The books stuck with me since then. I am 50 years old today and I still read them from time to time. They still speak to me. They still transport hope where there seems to be none. I learned English through the books because I wanted to know how good the translation to German was. (Not very good for the translation that I first read, there came better ones later.) I remember being on a "Tolkien Ting" in Cologne as the first mentions of the Peter Jackson films surfaced in the News. I remember discussing how we hoped it would be made and how we feared it wouldn't. We drank and watched the Bakshi movie and had a really good and long laugh about it. Then came the movies and (hat off to you Peter Jackson) they were really really good. Not everything in it was exactly like in the books and some things were in the films that were never even mentioned in the books but still... very good. Peter Jackson managed to get the essence right. The feeling of the books was perfectly captured. And to choose New Zealand as backdrop was a stroke of genius. I just wished they had stopped there. Let us not talk about "The Hobbit". Just thought I share. Realy like your channel and love to see that Tolkiens Lord of the Rings still means something to people today. Good luck with your channel and great success. :)

[@johnwalters1341]

My first exposure to LOTR was via the notorious Ace Books version, which as a college freshman I borrowed from a friend in the fall of 1964. I quickly bought the Authorized Version when it came out a few months later. (My 1st edition copy would probably be worth some money today, if it hadn't fallen apart years ago.) I've since read LOTR at least once a year since. It's a wonderful book to read aloud; one of the first things I noticed about Tolkien's writing is that the words and names just roll off the tongue. I came to LOTR as an enthusiastic reader of science fiction, and as you noted, the science fiction community was an important element in the book's initial popularity. While Tolkien can rightly be considered the fountainhead of the fantasy genre as it exists today, both in print and in cinema, there was a considerable body of fantasy stories being written in the period 1930-1960 or so. The genre of the time was labeled Sword and Sorcery; this would include writers like Robert E. Howard with his Conan the Barbarian stories, or Fritz Leiber and his Fafhrd & Grey Mouser stories. One of my favorites, which I haven't seen in years, was Poul Anderson's "Three Hearts and Three Lions." Anderson was primarily a hard-science-fiction author, and his protagonist is an engineer dropped into a fantasy world, where he uses his engineering skills, for example to defeat a water sprite called a nixie by knowing that magnesium will burn under water. My point is that the science fiction of the 1960s, when Tolkien was first becoming popular in America, was sort of joined at the hip with Sword and Sorcery fantasy.

[@riverlynnxo]

Now I am feeling nostalgic... I think was roleplaying on some of those forums 20+ years ago... My goodness you are so young haha. Thanks for your video though makes me think about my past and being so into lord of the rings...

[@ItsJayCross319]

Wow! I am so glad I stumbled upon your channel today. Your presentation of information is so refreshing, and the thought you put behind each point is insightful and inspiring to those who want to dig deeper. I am very much in your same boat where I was born just a bit too late to enjoy all the megahype. Of course, the films and books were a cornerstone of my childhood, but now that I'm an adult rekindling my passion for the gargantuan impact that Tolkien generated for the fantasy genre, I'm learning a much deeper appreciation for what the Lord of the Rings means to me as an individual and the global cultural zeitgeist as a whole. I am an active member of my local SCA group, a medieval fantasy fanatic, an RPG enthusiast, an avid reader, a linguistics degree holder, a history nerd, and more; and my life wouldn't be enriched every single day by these things if it weren't for the influence that Tolkien's works have had on my life. Becoming a sort of hobbyist Tolkien scholar recently, I've come to find an appreciation and understanding amongst Tolkien fans that I believe will last through many ages. Your research and commentary accurately represent the undying enthusiasm, passion, and hunger for knowledge that makes being a Tolkien fan so special. It is truly amazing what one man's perspective on life and his fairy tales have done to represent so many people for so long, and I hope it continues to be that way. "May the blessing of Elves and Men and all Free Folk go with you. May the stars shine upon your faces!”

[@davesafish]

This is only the second video of yours that I've watched. So this may seem odd to say, but you just might be my new favorite KZbinr.

[@stefanlaskowski6660]

My dad had that Ballantine paperback set, and gave me all four (The Hobbit plus the LotR trilogy) books in the summer of 1972, when I was thirteen. I read all four in less than three days, stopping only to sleep, and have been a fan ever since. I've read and reread them all at least thirty-five times. I was already into science fiction, but Tolkein got me hooked on fantasy as well, as I read Andre Norton, Roger Zelazny, and others.

[@patrickkihn]

I played Frodo in a school play in 1969, when I was ten years old. I didn’t do it anything like as well as Elijah Wood, of course. I also read the books at about that time, and memorized the poem about the rings, which I can still recite. I remember fondly the heady psychedelic atmosphere of the counterculture of the 1960s and early 70s, which embraced fantasy literature despite the scorn of the mainstream cultural establishment. It astounds me that when discussing Tolkien’s predecessors, no one mentions great fantasy authors like George Macdonald or William Morris, whom Tolkien is sure to have known about. Dickens and Shakespeare are not the whole gamut! One of the features of the counterculture was its craft movement, characterized by a rejection of dependence on industrial mass produced items. You can still see its remnants on offer at any Renaissance Faire. But this was really a revival of the earlier arts and crafts movement of the late nineteenth century, in which the aforementioned William Morris was a major figure. In Tolkien’s world the craft productions of elves, hobbits and other peoples of Middle Earth strongly remind me of that spirit.

[@rkgaustin9043]

When I finally finished reading the books the first time it was like saying goodbye to dear friends.

[@pot-8-o564]

After a long and tiresome day this video really helped me to unwind, such a nice and cozy tone. Ready to go to sleep soon.. Thank you

[@Scottie_S]

Hi Jessica! I'm one of those "new' subbies to your channel and yes, because of your last video. In 1970, I was 12 years old and picked up 'The Lord of the Rings' for the first time and was so hooked that, when I finished it, I went back to the beginning and started all over again. Funnily enough, I read 'The Hobbit' AFTER TLOTR and was slightly underwhelmed initially, as it was written more with a younger audience in mind I think. However, it would take me no time at all to get into 'The Silmarillion' when it was released in 1977 and, consequently, all other publications from Tolkien after that. Now, I'm 65 and have just finished 'The Fall of Gondolin'. Now I'm loving this journey with you and have gone back to watch your other videos and will continue to do so! You're a wonderful content creator. Keep up the great work!

[@michaelcullen6375]

The Harvard Lampoon's satire Bored of the Rings was hilarious . I don't know if it's still in print but it was good.

[@grossepointemichigan]

Legolam! Goodgulf! Frito! Moxie and Pepsi!

[@1pcfred]

I convinced a friend of mine that was a huge Tolkien fan to read Bored of the Rings. Initially he was very reluctant. But he did in fact love it. I think any true fan would.

[@michaelcullen6375]

@@1pcfred I like to think if JRR read it he'd have a laugh.

[@Weaver1812]

I started playing dungeons and dragons when I was about 8. It was fun and challenging. At 9 I started reading LOTR and The Hobbit. It challenged me a great deal at that age- as you can imagine. My reading, writing, and creative skills grew. I am now a professional engineer and am told a great orator. Thank you JRR.

[@cobynonamegiven842]

I am 52 and Dutch. As a child I was into fairytales and folkstories in a big way. So the transition to Fantasy was very fluid to me. I added SF to it later on. I always was a big reader. The bigger the books, the better. When I found out I could read a huge book for school and get 2 points in stead of 1, and it was actual fantasy?! Lots of joy. It was a bit strange to read because our society was not a hierarchy. Very against it actually. So It made me interested in history, like middle ages and before to see how this would work out. This fascinated me, and made sure I was more against anything feodal. No master-servant for me, thank you. But in later years it gave me pause and understanding that people can actually like that dynamic. I read it several times and it helped me see that there are very different ways to have a society. Because there are so many peoples in it who each have their own style. This made me search in SF for books where this also was the basic theme. Different worlds, different ways of doing things. And that each way is flawed and each way has worth and a story why it is like it is. That change and strive are always there. But also joy and wonder. That lightness and joy are important and help, just like being yourself and being stubborn and deternment for whatever reason can help as much as being brave and skilled. That everybody is vulnerable in different ways. And so much more. Every time there was something else to find in the stories. Sometimes things I did not like, sometimes things I did like. The 2 points I got for reading a book were just the beginning. It never ended. i did not dive into the details and languages. I liked that it was there, but it was not my thing. Other things about it were my thing.

[@uamsnof]

I was 10 years old when my best buddy and I went to see the first movie on a dark December evening in our local German movie theater. It was packed, and I was never so excited to see a movie before. I hadn’t read the books and wouldn’t for 10 more years to come. But LOTR has been an integral part of my childhood experience and one of the only ones that I was able to carry into adulthood. Pokémon and even Harry Potter simply have not aged as well nor do they have the depth to engage an adult who seeks more than just escapism. I actually relisten to the audiobook of Tolkien’s biography by Humphrey Carpenter a lot. I’m also interested in old languages, and his life really is just so fascinating.

[@flamencoprof]

I will confess that early on I was what nowadays would be called a gatekeeper when I learned of the USA popularity of LOTR, and the cheap paperbacks etc. I had the impression the new fans had no appreciation of the depth of the work, what with no appendices etc. I am over 70yo. A teacher read us The Hobbit when I was 10. When I was 13, starting at what in NZ is called Secondary School, my friend excitedly told me he had found *a whole set of three volumes by The Hobbit's author!!* in the school's library. I devoured them in days. My first job enabled me to buy my own 1968 Third Impression of the 1966 Second Edition of LOTR. I have all the other Tolkien books you mentioned, and also, as gifts from my 1972 Best Man, a 1977 Silmarillion and a 1976 Tolkien Companion given to me in 1979. When in 1998 or so I learned Peter Jackson was going to film it here I immediately signed up to a modelling agency, as I had long hair, and told my employer if I was cast they wouldn't see me for dust. Sadly, I wasn't cast. I remain immensely proud of Jackson's dedication to being as faithful to the book as possible.

[@jothecrusher904]

In Junior High me and my LOTR obsessed best friend would sing along to "Where there's a Whip---there's a way!" from the animated movie The Return of the King. We would also ravenously REread the entire series every year. A few years after High School the FIRST movie, The Fellowship of the Ring, came out. It was strange because YEARS ago I had cast a very young Elijah Wood as Frodo for my "dream cast" after seeing him as Huck Finn. The movies were great but I selfishly wish the entire world didn't know the series unless they knew it FIRST from those magical books. It's certainly losing it specialness by being filmed ad nauseum. I don't even want to talk about those atrocious Hobbit movies. The books are truly special and ground breaking. Thank you for your amazing videos.

[@jonrolfson1686]

Discovered Lord of the Rings (LOTR), in the form of the proper hardbound version, in my Junior High School Library in 1965. LOTR immediately became my premier literary yardstick, the first among a select few novels against which all other fiction was measured. After rereading LOTR several more times, there came the disappointing search for more of the same in something that might be like (but wasn’t). Translations of Zoe Oldenburg’s ‘The World is Not Enough’ and ‘The Cornerstone’ scratched the mediaeval itch in my later teens, and there were also a few other, somewhat more mainline modern era novels (Herman Wouk’s Caine Mutiny, the Ann Dunnigan Translation of Tolstoi’s War & Peace) which have provided grist for more than half a century’s ongoing mental milling. Through it all, LOTR is the work that I have re-read almost every year for more than half a century.

[@margaretssandor]

In 1966, (I was born in 1944,) the LOTR became the only time I tried to read a book at the same time as someone else. Literally at the same time, opening the paperbacks at two different places and tilting our heads so we could each read the part we were on.

[@gregroot198519]

Not nearly old enough ('85 baby) to have been alive for the hippie era of Tolkien fandom, but my mom was. It was her boxed set of the 4 main books (Hobbit and LOTR trilogy) that was printed in the '70s that got me into it, probably in the early '90s. Have read those books dozens of times since then, and near 30 years after Mom gave me them, they look it, but those books are one of my most prized possessions. Even more so since she passed last year.

[@renaissancesage]

I thoroughly enjoy your videos. it’s good to see enthusiasm in a KZbinr. You are the most articulate person I have ever heard and I’m an old college teacher. Your diction is precise. It is a pleasure listening to you. Be well.

[@StuJee1]

The lord of the rings has been in my life since my childhood in the 1980s: my older cousins read the books, though they looked intimidating to a small boy; my mother tried to read the hobbit to me and my brother every evening, although we never finished it - then one day I found an old board game with a giant map of middle earth and hundreds of small cardboard squares with all the armies, races and characters. I was obsessed although I could not find the rule book so I never played it. One day the old 1980s semi-unfinished adaptation (which was really very weird) appeared on tv and my dad recorded it on vhs. It was fantastic, although I always wondered what happened after the battle of helms deep… when I went to university the Peter Jackson films came out and I decided to read the original books finally. This series literally got me through my undergraduate degree, which felt like a trek to throw the ring into the fires of mount doom / finish my dissertation. This story has always been with me and always will.

[@rwolff56]

Very well done and you have put my own experience into a context the helped me understand better what I am a part of. I did a interview about a couple of years ago with Marquette University regarding how I became a fan of Tolkien’s writings and what it meant to me in my life then and now. While this is too much to include here I will just say as a preteen in the late ‘60 I was extremely curious about the phases I would see spay painted on road way overpasses in NYC saying “ Frodo Lives” . Also being a huge Led Zeppelin fan the references to LOTR in the songs prompted me to start reading the Hobbit and the Trilogy in the mid seventies. I have sine read everything under the sun by JRR Tolkien and his son Christopher. I continue to engage in reading Tolkien and I think it will be a life long pursuit. Over the past year or so I spend time watching channels such as yours so I think you found a new subscriber.

[@Sindrijo]

I'm Icelandic, my earlier years I grew up in Norway. I remember getting the Hobbit as a Christmas present from my sister who still lived back in Norway and the book was in Norwegian. It was in a large hardback format with beautiful illustrations. This particular edition was published in 1997, I probably got it that year. As a child I had been told and learning about the sagas from my father and it was also a subject at school. Reading the hobbit felt strangely familiar, I read it probably in only two sittings. I was hooked. The next summer I was gifted with the first volume of the Lord of the Rings in Icelandic, and eventually I had the full set and eventually The Silmarillion too. Simply magical, I became much more aware of how much of my own cultural heritage inspired Tolkien. I started making my own 'elvish alphabet' and drawing fantastical scenes. Then I was shocked to learn about the upcoming movies it was like a dream come true. I cannot describe the feelings I felt when I saw the first film, I was in awe. The following two years, my Christmas experience would be as follows: Go with my family to see the latest Lord of The Rings movie in theatre, then I would open a present and it would contain the extended edition of the previous year and I would immediately watch it that same evening, staying up late into the night with the cold black winter outside, winter storm howling. Snuggling under a wool blanket in a Chesterfield leather sofa. These memories are so strong, I can still recall the smell of the leather from the sofa! This epic story and this imagined world mean so much to me.

[@Requiemslove]

Interesting video. My take on it, I remember first reading LOTR in 1996 or 1997. I can't remember if I was in my second year of high school or my 3rd. It was not the first book I ever read, that was a book about Wearwolves and Vampires and some mystical world, but I can't remember it's name. It was however, the first truly "big" book I ever read. I remember rushing to the school library at every given opportunity, hurrying to the dinner hall to scarf anything convenient and most easily reached down, or skipping the hour long lunch-time break altogether, to read this truly massive book that seemed to go on forever, and took me away from school, and more importantly, away from my own troubles. I became addicted to that world after I finished LOTR for the first time, and longed desperately to have easier access to it. Which would come a year or two later, after I moved into foster care, and eventually brought with my pocket money [saved up for a couple of weeks] this paperback version that was less bulky than the book the school library had. I was fairly sceptical of the Peter Jackson movies when they were first announced. But over time that scepticism gave way to growing excitement. I have no shame in admitting that I skived off something at some point to see each one of the trilogy, and if I could go back in time, I probably would again. My memory is a bit hazy on whether I was still in high school when the first movie came out. I "might" have been or I may have been at my first year of college, but if it was the former, there goes the near perfect attendance record. [Whelp] It's a sticky subject, the book VS the movies. I understand why Jackson made his choices. But not all of them were the right choices, and some of them didn't even need to be made. I think for me, the book will always outweigh the movies. I want to stress that I do love the Peter Jackson films. They are among my favourite movies. But the level of detail in the book/s. The description of all the little details, to intricate descriptions of plants, to the inner most workings and motivations of the characters, captivated me. The movie trilogy by contrast is big and bold, ambitious, and while they do tell the over-arching tale the book/s tell, a movie format, whether each movie is 3 hours long, or not, is just not adequate in delivering on the detail that Tolkien delivered on. Needing instead extended scenes and cut content and dozens of hours of extras, to flesh out much of what the primary movies miss. Beside that. Much as I like the movies, they are a copy of a narrative story that IMHO is too "big" to copy.

[@jamescline4354]

I discovered Lord of the Rings in '73 in Mill Valley, CA. Just out of the Navy, I went exploring life in the San Francisco Bay area. I made friends with hippies, artists, and musicians in a cultural mix between Bree and Imladris. I found battered paperbacks of the last two books in the used section. I started The Two Towers anyway, and soon immersed completely into the story. Later, I found The Fellowship and read all three books again. Many years later, I found the audio version, narrated by Robert Inglis, and began the first of many repetitions of his charming interpretation of the characters. Finally, I bought Peter Jackson's masterpiece (expanded), and equally enjoyed the extra features featuring virtuoso creativeness in all the elements of production. I currently enjoy my favorite KZbinrs' reactions to the story I grew to love all those years ago. Lord of the Rings continues to be a voyage of discovery in potentials un anticipated. Plus, I love your presentation of it historically, culturally, and personally. Thank you, Part Time Hobbit. I think you must be an Elf Friend.

[@lilykatmoon4508]

I was thinking of mentioning Kaz Rowe’s video on medieval revivalism, but I see you’ve seen it too. Their stuff is so fantastically researched!

[@Javaman92]

OH the pain!!! It's a wound that I have tried to forget. I had the Ballantine boxed set, yes, the one you show here, for years. Then one sad day I had a flood that ruined many of my collection of first editions and most treasured books, including that boxed set. I believe my Ivanhoe book did survive that, speaking of the influence of books set in the medieval time. As someone who lived during the time you speak of here, I got to say that you are spot on in most of what you say here. The flowers in your hair, far out man. lol ;-) I wondered for a bit until I got a better look to see if that was a peace sign you were wearing. I believe it is the One Tree.... fitting.

[@mina_en_suiza]

I read the Lord of the Rings 12 times since I discovered it 1980, when I was 12. I remember reading an article about the 1960s a couple of years later, and there was a reference to "the Tolkien fans doing their psychedelic drugs". Until then, I had no idea, the book was such a hippies' icon. For me, it had been a part of the SF&F subculture, to which I had hardly any personal connection (internet was still far in the future, and it wasn't that easy to find like minded people), apart from the existence of books and occasional films.

[@markvetter4711]

My cool aunt gave me the Ballentine editions when I was 13, in the cigarette smoke infused year of 1985. I didn’t read them right away, I was more in to SciFi, but when my parents started an endless divorce proceeding the next year, and I needed an escape. I read and reread LOTR and every Tolkien thing I could find in January to August of 1986. When the new school year started I discovered Dungeons & Dragons. And was in love. I took a bigger interest in the RPGs then my studies, and got grades that basically made military service my only option. As high school, and my parents divorce dragged on, I was blissfully slaying goblins, trolls, and sometimes Dragons. I loved everything hippie, wore paisley, and grew my hair long. I bought every Led Zeppelin, Beatles, and Rolling Stones album on cassette. I married my Dungeon Master / High School sweetheart, and joined the Coast Guard, a few weeks after the last of my brother and I saw the last penny of our college funds pissed away in my folks eternal divorce. Looking back I understand just how foundational LOTR was to my formative young adult years. I still love and read SciFi and fantasy. I was thrilled to see the epic movies, and never felt anything but joy seeing so many new people fall in love with something I also loved. I’m enjoying the new Amazon show so far. I’m excited for the Stephen Colbert produced Amber series. It has some fun Tolkien references, but is a completely different story. You obviously love Tolkien stories, you would probably enjoy Rodger Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber. I’m happy people are still reading the Tolkien books. My DM, High School sweetheart and I divorced before you were born, but are still close friends. Before I read LOTR I was a space nerd, and wanted to work for NASA, then I took a detour in to high fantasy, and my grades plunged. It all ends well. I have a beautiful wife, a good job, and I’m mostly happy. I’m still excited to read or watch anything Tolkien. ✌️&❤ I enjoyed your video.

[@TheEvertw]

Some of my fondest childhood memories are the whole family lying on our parents' bed and my dad reading the Lord of the Rings to us, in Dutch. That must have been in the mid seventies, before I was 10. It has since been part of me my life. I would read the books at least once a year, each time taking about 1 week to read it all. I knew the Dutch words of the books so well that I learned English by reading an English copy of it before I was 14. One of my most prized gifts was an English hardcopy of the book given to me by my dad. I am sure the book has shaped me, though it is hard to put the finger on specifics as I was so young when I first went through it. But reading it has certainly been a formative experience for me.

[@scottreynolds7014]

Thank you - you have a wondefull channel and just a collection of terrific passionate and best of all engaging and accessible content on a very life-changing world for me. Really well done!

[@gusolives9777]

Your knowledge is deffinitely not second hand. It's a pleasure to hear you talk about Tolkien's work. (Though I've just really watched two videos...) Hello! I'm Gus, from Brazil. I'm 47. I read the books in the early 1990s, from age 13 or 14. I went into linguistics because of Tolkien. I'm not an academic, not so much, or not in that I couldn't remain in the academy, I don't fit there. So I've been working with books to live, and studying languages, and writing. Linguistics is Tolkien in my life, of course. At university I studied Latin, because I was fascinated by the way Latin and Portuguese were related as Quenya and Sindarin. It was just recently that I came to begin trying to write fantasy. (I've been envolved with historic fiction, particularly ancient Roman, of course, for one who's studied Latin.) I felt I needed a space to write about dragons. It is tricky to not see yourself copying Tolkien. Although you do find your own ways, I can't deny that my fantastic peoples are a wish to do dwarves and elves, even though they aren't exactly the same... Tolkien has such a peculiar mythos or, as he called, his Legendarium. Anyway, I babble. One more thing I should write here though is about Rings of Power, of Amazon. It's not for me, because I am expecting more faithful adaptation, so I watched three episodes, and let it be. I don't think it was a waste of existence though. I agree that it isn't bad that more people get to hear about Tolkien, in some form. But it was tough to let go the frustration of not having what I wanted, and respecting the fact that there are things and there will be things out there that will be like that, more and more, I guess. I read and read the books again, since the early 2000s. The Peter Jackson movies were responsible for that, I think, and I cannot deny. Nowadays, I think I don't like them so much anymore as I did when I saw them back them, but there is a lot of value in them (one of them being some sort of effort for faithfulness, to me). I'm glad to have found your channel, I think I'll enjoy it dearly. I hope you do well, and manage to cope with your recent success. Cheers, Gus

[@faeembrugh]

Way back in 1954, my father and his university room-mate clubbed together to buy a first edition of The Fellowship of the Ring which they took turns reading, analysing and discussing. They then bought the 2 other parts of the trilogy as they were published. Later when he was an academic in the 1960/70s he was somewhat surprised that most of his students were not only familiar with the books but had a whole different view of the the story influenced by the hippy movement.

[@cadettim01]

I just recently discovered your charming KZbin channel. You've obviously grown up with LOTR a long-embedded part of popular culture But as you pointed out, it was not on overnight phenomenon and I imagine you have a hard time picturing an era when few people in America had even heard of it. You invited the 'old timers' out here to share their LOTR stories with you... be careful what you wish for, LOL... In the summer of 1968 I was 16 years old and getting ready to enter my Junior year of high school in a small Ohio town. Since 6th Grade I had been reading science fiction and horror paperback books but at the time there really was nothing commonly available that could be called “adult fantasy” and I had never heard of LOTR. A local department store had a small paperback book section. One day I was idly gazing over the limited selection looking for something different when my eye was caught by an odd book called “The Hobbit”, with a decidedly strange but oddly beautiful and whimsical cover. It was the now (in)famous Barbara Remington cover that Tolkien despised. Knowing full well it was really a children's book I bought it anyway. Lounging on our front porch on a warm summer afternoon I read it in a day and was hooked... and had to have more. But while LOTR was becoming known on college campuses, in small towns it was quite a rarity. I returned to the department store and picked “The Fellowship” but that was the only volume of the trilogy they had stocked. I was soon totally absorbed in Middle Earth and for the first time in my life asked the store to custom order books for me, the other two volumes, all with the bright and bizarre Remington covers. Later, the walls of my room were adorned with the Remington posters, including the huge(and now quite valuable) Remington 'Wilderness' poster of the trilogy covers combined. Throughout my Junior and into my Senior year I believe I was the ONLY person in my entire small school of 400 or so students who had read it, nor was I ever able to really interest anyone else in it - even though I 'preached' it to the point of near obnoxiousness... I even wrote a couple of class essays about it, only to be told I should stop wasting my time reading pointless drivel and should learn to read more serious stuff. By the time I entered college in the early 70s LOTR was reasonably well known among the students I met and many had read and enjoyed it, but over the years that followed interest faded - along with my posters which I eventually tossed out(groan). But my interest revived again somewhat in the late '70s when first the Rankin Bass and then the Ralph Bakshi animated versions of LOTR came out. To me, all were likable in their way but ultimately disappointing, although I will always have a soft spot for the music and songs of the Rankin Bass films, particularly “The Road Goes Ever On” and “Leave Tomorrow 'til it Comes”. Then of course at long last the Jackson films. Twenty years later and I still think “Wow... just wow...”. And now the “Rings of Power” series has begun. I'm less critical of it than many even though it deviates substantially from it's scanty source material. Still, for me it works and I look forward to more seasons. And that's my story... and a couple of quick questions for you - I imagine I'm around your grandparents' age - were they 'into' LOTR when young? What was your introduction to LOTR?

[@tiredman4540]

I’m so pleased to come across this charming little channel. I first heard about The Hobbit in the 70’s via a friend, whose much older half brother was one of those hippies you mentioned. After this Tolkien became the architect of my childhood. We lobbied our primary school teacher to make this our story time book (not a universally popular decision). After a few years I did get a bit tired of people who only read this fantasy book (and sometimes only this book!) However, when I was teaching in a school in the Czech Republic, one of my students pointed out some of the underlying themes in the books, of friendship, loyalty and struggle against the odds. The books are still here because there is so much in them.

[@BrentGodwin]

Absolutely loved this video. Very well done. I first started reading Fellowship in the fall of 2001, when I was in 7th grade. I wanted to finish it before the movie came out...but then I accidentally left it in my desk at school when the holiday break started! My friend and I went to go see the Fellowship movie, having NO idea how that part of the story ended. When Gandalf falls in Moria, we spent the next several minutes just saying "Oh my god oh my god oh my god" over and over again. It's a moment I will never forget! I did obviously eventually finish reading the trilogy and the movie trilogy is still one my favorites to this day.

[@kevinmcgrane4279]

Very much enjoyed your video here. I learned of LOTR from a middle school English teacher when the Ballantine edition was published. I was captivated by it. This was in the mid 1960’s. I’ve re-read the trilogy multiple times since, along with many of Tolkien’s other works. I ended up majoring in literature at university and graduated with a BA in English/American lit with a minor in linguistics. It was LOTR that laid the foundation for my education and personal outlook on life. Just subscribed to your channel. Well done!