I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone go from 0 to Superfan as quickly as DC did with Lord of the Rings. As I blogged about a while ago, I decided this Christmas would be a fun time to watch all six Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies back to back, and I wanted to include Tomas and DC in the activity.
Now, less than two months later, DC just celebrated her eleventh birthday. For presents, she got a scarf with a map of Middle Earth on it, an Arwen necklace, elf ears, and Denisa and she will be working on making an elven tiara together. For dinner, DC requested “lembas waffles,” which turned out to be these vegan waffles Denisa had made before. DC liked them and thought they looked like lembas bread.
After we were done with the festivities, we went upstairs and watched the last bit of the special features of Return of the King, and then started in on the special features of An Unexpected Journey. That means we’ve watched all the special features of the original trilogy now, in addition to the extended editions of all the movies. That’s over 40 hours of film. The special features on the Hobbit extended editions are even longer. I’d say we have around 27 hours to go.
And through it all, DC is still front and center. She’s memorized how to say things in Quenya. She’s writing her name in Tengwar. She was excited to find out I have the original Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit game (though she was sad when I beat her. Mwa ha ha!) She’s teaching herself to play all the songs on cello. She’s started quoting the movies, and when she’s not watching the special features with me, she’s watching the movies by herself.
I’m not sure if I’ve ever reached that level of fandom personally. (Well, if you don’t count Groundhog Day, I suppose . . .) I read the Hobbit in second grade, and I read the Lord of the Rings soon after that. I thought they were great, and I read the multiple times, but that’s where things ended for me. Then again, I also didn’t have the spectacular adaptation of Peter Jackson to inspire me. (Watching those making of documentaries brings an even greater appreciation for just what they pulled off. It also makes me like the Hobbit trilogy even more. I know it’s stylish to say the Hobbit is bad, but I continue to love it, so there.)
Anyway, if you see DC around, ask her something about Lord of the Rings. She’d be more than happy to talk to you about it. Happy birthday, DC!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve been posting my book ICHABOD in installments, as well as chapters from UTOPIA. Check it out.
If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.