TOLKIEN FANDOM

'Tolkien fandom' is an international, informal community of fans of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially of the Middle-earth legendarium which includes ''The Hobbit'', ''The Lord of the Rings'', and ''The Silmarillion''.
There are heavily contrasted internal divisions within the current "movement", which have racked the fandom up to the present day and show no signs of reconciliation at any point in the future. Written preference for any one of a pair of two diametrically opposed internal factions can be met with swift reprisal, although the differences are not necessarily or in all cases divisive.

Terminology

There are many different terms used to describe the various kinds of Tolkien fans. Whereas nearly every ''Star Trek'' fan is willing to be called a ''Trekker'' (though they might find the older ''Trekkie'' offensive), not all Tolkien fans agree on the designations of the groups.
The term 'Ringer' refers to a fan of ''The Lord of the Rings'' in general, and of Peter Jackson's live-action film trilogy ^[1] in particular; it was coined because of the latter. It is somewhat in the same line as fanboy, fangirl, ''otaku'', and Trekkie/Trekker.
The term is sometimes extended to mean all Tolkien fans, but there are some "Ringers" who consider themselves fans of ''The Lord of the Rings'' but do not find the posthumously published works of Tolkien like ''The Silmarillion'' or ''The History of Middle-earth'' interesting. In contrast, many Tolkien fans do not necessarily call or consider themselves "Ringers"; in part due to the "Jackson film-specific" connotations the term brings, ignoring all the other adaptations of Tolkien's work to date, and as the term itself ignores the existence of other Tolkien writings, such as the above.
A 'Tolkienist' is someone who studies the work of J. R. R. Tolkien: this usually refers to students of the Elvish languages (see Tolkien research). A Tolkienist can also be described as a hard-core fan of Tolkien's work, one who studies the work with the same amount of interest (or more) that others study non-fictional subjects. Many fans prefer this term, as it is not limited to ''The Lord of the Rings''. As with the term "Ringer", there is no group consensus on this designation.
There are also other, less widely used terms describing Tolkien fans, such as 'Tolkienite', 'Tolkienophile' or 'Tolkiendil' (an Anglo-Quenya compound, meaning "Tolkien-lover"). Long-time readers of Tolkien's works have also described themselves as 'Tolkienians' or simply, Tolkien readers and aficionados. A ''very'' early term which was never widely adopted was 'LotRían'. Another less well known title, "RingNut", stems from the production company involved with the Peter Jackson films, Wingnut Films.
There are also Tolkien fans who reject complicated designations, and simply appreciate his writings and its adaptations.

History

Mainstream and Media Fans

The major divisions can best be explained in a chronological context.
Tolkien's ''The Hobbit'', a children's book, was first published in 1937,and it proved popular. However ''The Lord of the Rings'', first published in 1954 through 1955, would give rise to the fandom as a cultural phenomenon.
Bootleg paperbacks published by Ace Books eventually found their way into colleges in the U.S.A. in the 1960s. In response, a revised, authorised edition was published by Ballantine Books. The "hippie" following latched onto the book, but a great many did so for possibly misguided reasons; some openly stated that they felt the Dark Lord Sauron represented the United States military draft during the Vietnam War; an impossibility given the fact that the work was written by a British World War I veteran during World War II and published over a decade before escalations in Vietnam. This led to "mainstream" groups to label ''The Lord of the Rings'' as some sort of "hippie book", which was simply not the case: even Tolkien called them ''The Deplorable Cultus'', stating that "Many American fans enjoy the books in a way which I do not".
Still, many people throughout the world simply fell in love with the book (as it has been translated into numerous languages), and although not everyone agrees that ''The Lord of the Rings'' actually ''created'' the entire fantasy genre of novels, it was certainly and undeniably a profound influence. It formed almost a "Myth of Er", in that it created a new genre where there was none before. Many subsequent fantasy series were created by fans of ''The Lord of the Rings'', two examples being the ''Shannara'' books by Terry Brooks and the ''Mithgar'' books by Dennis L. McKiernan. Many fan fiction stories were written, and some of them even published.
Interest in the book led to several attempts to adapt it for the film medium, most of which were largely unsuccessful. Filmmaker Ralph Bakshi succeeded in securing the rights to produce an animated feature film version, part one of what was originally planned as a two-part adaptation of the story. Bakshi produced the film using, among other animation techniques, rotoscoping, shooting a majority of the film in live-action first before transferring the live footage to animation. While the film had, and continues to have, a mixed critical reaction, it was a financial success, costing $8 million to produce, and grossing over $30 million at the box office. Despite this fact, United Artists, the film's original distributor, refused to fund a sequel, leaving Bakshi's vision forever incomplete. However, the film did help introduce many more fans to the book, including a young Peter Jackson, who would eventually direct his own adaptations of ''The Lord of the Rings''.
Translated into dozens of languages and spread across the globe, ''The Lord of the Rings'' has never been out of print since its publication. The existing fanbase in the mid-1990s consisted of devoted fans, completely unused to having truly ''new'' material or any sort of mass-media acknowledgement, who paid strict attention to detail and continuity within the legendarium.
However, ''The Lord of the Rings'' gained a much broader audience with the release of Peter Jackson's live-action movie adaptations. These were released serially in three successive years, from December 2001 to December 2003. Since then, a large number of fans have also arisen who have not read any of the books, and have been only exposed to Tolkien through the films and its merchandise.

Organized Tolkien fandom

Although there were active Tolkien enthusiasts within science fiction fandom from the mid-1950s, true organized Tolkien fandom only took off with the publication of the second hardcover edition and the paperbacks in the 1960s. Although there are numerous Tolkien societies in different countries today, it should be noted that they are not endorsed or even authorized by the Tolkien Estate.
Articles on ''The Lord of the Rings'' appeared regularly in the 1960s fanzine ''Niekas'', edited by Ed Meskys. The first organized Tolkien fan group was "The Fellowship of the Ring", founded by Ted Johnstone at Pittcon, the 1960 Worldcon. They published four issues of the fanzine ''i-Palantír'' before the organization disbanded.
The Tolkien Society of America first met "in February, 1965, beside the statue of Alma Mater on the Columbia University campus," according to a 1967 ''New York Times'' interview with Richard Plotz, the Society's founder and first Thain. By 1967, Meskys had become Thain and the society boasted over 1,000 members, organized into local groups or ''smials'', a pattern that would be followed by other Tolkien fan organizations. The society published a newsletter, ''Green Dragon'', and ''The Tolkien Journal'' (edited by Plotz). In 1969, the society sponsored the first Tolkien Conference at Belknap College. The Tolkien Conference was not a "science fiction convention" but rather a scholarly event.
The University of Wisconsin Tolkien and Fantasy Society was founded in 1966, and is best known for its journal ''Orcrist'' (1966-1977), edited by Richard C. West.
Across the continent, Glen GoodKnight founded the Mythopoeic Society in California in 1967 for the study, discussion, and enjoyment of fantastic and mythic literature, especially the works of Tolkien and fellow-Inklings C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams. The society held its first Mythcon conference in 1970, which featured readings, a costume competition, an art show, and other events typical of science fiction conventions of the day. The society's three current periodicals are ''Mythprint'', a monthly bulletin; ''Mythlore'', originally a fanzine and now a peer-reviewed journal that publishes scholarly articles on mythic and fantastic literature; and ''Mythic Circle'', a literary annual of original poetry and short stories (which replaced the Society's earlier publications ''Mythril'' and ''Mythellany'').
''Orcrist'' and ''The Tolkien Journal'' published three joint issues (1969-1971). ''The Tolkien Journal'' and ''Mythlore'' published several joint issues in the later 1970s and eventually merged.
The Tolkien Society (U.K.) was founded in the U.K. in 1969, and remains active as a registered charity. The society has two regular publications, a bi-monthly bulletin of news and information, ''Amon Hen'', and an annual journal, ''Mallorn'', featuring critical articles and essays on Tolkien's work. They host several annual events, including a conference held at Oxford, Oxonmoot.
Both the UK Tolkien Society and the Mythopoeic Society were and remain organized into "Special Interest Groups", focusing on one area such as languages, and into local or regional groups who continue to meet on a regular basis. The journal ''Parma Eldalamberon'', founded in 1971, is a publication of one such special interest group of the Mythopoeic Society.
There is also a long tradition of organized Tolkien fandoms in Scandinavia. The Tolkien Society of Sweden was founded in Gothenburg in 1968 ("of Sweden" was added in 1969 to avoid confusion with the UK society) and The Tolkien Society Forodrim was founded in Sweden in 1972, and has an especially active group interested in Tolkien's languages, ''Mellonath Daeron.'' Arthedain, the Tolkien Society of Norway, founded in 1981, issues the journal ''Angerthas.''

Internal categories

Books

Before the Peter Jackson movies, one could classify Tolkien fans based upon the writings they actually had read:
#Fans who have read only ''The Lord of the Rings'' (and probably also ''The Hobbit'')
#Fans who have also read ''The Silmarillion'', in addition to the above
#Fans who have also read some or all of Tolkien's published uncompleted writings starting with ''Unfinished Tales'' and culminating in ''The History of Middle-earth'' series, in addition to the above
This last two groups can be further divided:
#Those who accept ''The Silmarillion'' as canon, and quantify or ignore the rest
#Those who see ''The Silmarillion'' as faulty in many parts, and who see stories from ''Unfinished Tales'' or ''The History of Middle-earth'' series as canon.
#Those who accept that the mind of Tolkien was never fixed on a particular version for some stories, and who are happy to do without any "canon".
While the above is still applicable, the release of the New Line films has resulted in Tolkien fans who have not read any of his writings.

Jackson movies

In general, Tolkien fans may be classified based on the Jackson trilogy. In no particular order, they are:

★ Fans who read ''The Lord of the Rings'' before the Jackson movies were released.

★ Fans who read ''The Lord of the Rings'' after watching the movies. Some of these may then prefer the book over the films, or vice versa.

★ Fans of the movies who have never read ''The Lord of the Rings''. Some have just never had the time to read it, but nonetheless understand that the movies are only adaptations of it. Many are (and are treated as) quite respectable fans. There are, however, exceptions.

Views

One may also classify Tolkien fans into into several categories, based on their views on the movies; some degree of overlapping may occur between these "types":
#The ''Purists'' (sometimes called ''The Old Guard'') are fans of ''The Lord of the Rings'' who felt the movies strayed too far from the book, and dislike them for it (some of these fans may prefer the 1978 animated film, which is sometimes considered to be more faithful to the book).
#There are also fans of the book who also like the Jackson movies, and may prefer some of its changes (in which case they are called ''Revisionists'').
#Others may like the book more, and dislike changes made in the movies, but on the whole justify them for the medium of cinema and are willing to accept them on condition.
There are also those who are fans of the movies because they find the characters, or rather the actors and actresses portraying them, to be physically attractive (such as fangirls of Legolas/Orlando Bloom); there are also those who typically appreciate the films for their battle scenes or special effects. While the average Tolkien fan may harbour such views, the nature of these aspects of fandom is, in principle, quite different from that of the reader.

Languages

There is also a subcategory, called 'Tolkienian linguists', which are people who are interested in Tolkien's fictional languages, mainly Elvish. These people study seriously the languages as if they were real ones (much as how Tolkien himself made them, with a virtual yet realistic etymology, evolution, grammar, vocabulary and alphabets).
A notable division occurs in that field among the

★ scholars and the

★ reconstructionists.

Purism

The scholarly view (also called 'purist' by the other faction) is that Tolkien's languages, however sophisticated and well-made, are not intended to be regularised for practical use, but only scholarly study can be done on them. To the scholars, expansions or elaborations of Tolkien's languages beyond Tolkien's explicit statements are sometimes frowned down upon since they are confused with Tolkien's own inventions, and they consider such attempts of systematisation and posthumous elimination of inconsistencies futile. Scholars accuse reconstructionists of trying to systematise everything according to (a custom-made) logic and fit everything in their theories, and thereby coming to hasty and biased assumptions that often contradict Tolkien's writings. The purists also prefer to regard all the forms of Tolkien's languages as conceptual evolution of a single creation - all of which are of equal scholarly value - and are against the 'distillation' of Reconstructionists who prefer forms of the languages after a certain time period and reject the earlier ones that aren't compatible with the ''LotR'' canon (see below). Notable purists include Carl F. Hostetter, the editor of Vinyar Tengwar.

Reconstructionism

Main articles: Neo-Eldarin

The viewpoint labelled "reconstructionism" is actually a spectrum of views, and represents a fusing of at least two distinct trends. The first trend, which might be called 'practical reconstructionism', results from attempts to use Tolkien's languages (particularly Quenya and sometimes Sindarin) to write letters, poetry, and songs. As Tolkien's languages do not have very large vocabularies, people attempting to use the languages in this way soon discovered that they would have to create new vocabulary in order to express themselves; the result was the creation of as many new dialects of Quenya and Sindarin as there were corresponding communities -- or even authors.
The second trend, which might be called 'theoretical reconstructionism', arises from the observation -- not necessarily apparent at first sight -- that Tolkien's languages exhibit a high degree of consistency, and that a thorough understanding of the principles by which the languages were constructed would enable one to fill in gaps in grammar and vocabulary, and even discover errors in published texts, and suggest corrections. To the theoretical reconstructionist, Tolkien's editorial comments on his own languages represent only one source of knowledge; the words and texts of the languages themselves constitute another source, and it is the task of the theoretical reconstructionist to come up with linguistic theories and rules that will adequately explain the observed data, and that these theories and rules can be valid even if Tolkien never explicitly states them. A theoretical reconstructionist would, for instance, not have a problem with using linguistic techniques and models developed since Tolkien's death to describe the syntax or phonology of an elvish language.
The two trends overlap in the attempt to create a consistent grammar for any stage of any one of Tolkien's languages. Such a grammar is, of course, impossible from a purist point of view; the best that could be done would be an indexed listing of all of Tolkien's specific statements about his languages, perhaps with illustrations, but with no attempt to prioritize or validate those statements. A reconstructionist grammar, on the other hand, must grapple with changes in both the realization and the underlying conception of Tolkien's languages. To form a consistent grammar out of conflicting data and statements requires some level of prioritization. Different students of the languages may have different criteria, but two common rules of thumb are that ''the later has priority over the earlier'' and ''the more consistent has priority over the less consistent''. That is, when two forms or rules come into conflict, the one that was set down later is generally to be preferred; and that form or rule is to be preferred which is most well attested (even if it conflicts with later attestations) with all the other known data about the language.
One consequence of this approach is that the earliest forms of Tolkien's languages, Qenya and Goldogrin, must be treated as languages different from Quenya and Sindarin, because the number of inconsistencies between the languages is too great to be reconciled -- though Qenya and Goldogrin are certainly suitable for study in their own right. On the other hand, Noldorin and Sindarin, despite considerable divergences, can be considered as variant forms of a single language, and information about one can, with some caution, be applied to the other. It must be noted that some words from Qenya are 'borrowed' or 'updated' in order to fill some gaps in known Quenya vocabulary. See Neo-Eldarin for a fuller discussion of post-Tolkien attempts to cultivate his languages.
Notable reconstructionists include David Salo, the linguist who oversaw the reconstruction of Quenya, Sindarin and other Tolkien languages in the movies.

Effects of the Jackson films

The number of fans (and the number of people who will admit in public to being fans) has increased enormously due to the benefits of mass media and advertising, as has the number of people who have read of or at least heard of the books.
However, since these "new Tolkien fans" who have not (yet) read the books owe their first impressions to these movies, which in parts are at odds with Tolkien's actual writings, they may believe things that contradict the written canon. For example, movie fans might think Arwen is a warrior, while Arwen's strength in the book is emotional and possibly spiritual (though female Elves fighting is not out of the question in Middle-earth). Also, these fans may think that Elves have blue eyes,^[2] while in the books ''grey'' eyes are mostly mentioned.
Tolkien-related fan fiction and fan art, especially by new fans, is widespread on the Internet, and both have increased due to the films. Tolkien-related slash fiction, fiction about homosexual pairings, has risen in popularity; however Tolkien would probably have disapproved of this since he was a devout Roman Catholic, and the religion considers homosexual acts (though not orientation or tendencies) sinful.
Tolkien-related games, especially computer and video games have also increased in number and in popularity. Popular culture references to Middle-earth have also increased, as well as satires and parodies of it.

Highly debatable issues

Then there are the divisions inherent to the story; the "Do Balrogs have wings?" debate had reached legendary (and to outsiders often comical) proportions. The books are ambiguous on the matter, but the movies follow the interpretation that they did have "wings of shadow". Could they fly? Did they even need wings to fly? The bad blood (and bad jokes) caused by this debate persists to this day.
Other popular debates include "Do Elves have pointed ears?", "Who or what is Tom Bombadil?", and anything to do with any change or adaptation made for the movies.
Smaller internal divisions (some would say "spirited discussions") of this nature have fueled the online community for as long as there have ''been'' online communities. Tolkien discussion took place in many newsgroups from the earliest days of Usenet and an alt.fan.tolkien group was created in 1992, followed by rec.arts.books.tolkien early in 1993.

Fans today

One of the most prominent fansites is TheOneRing.net, which was very popular even with the cast and crew of the film. TORn, as it is called, was originally a small movie-news site that gained in prestige as movie-rumors became reality. The filmmakers put special effort into winning over the fans, not simply tolerating but actually actively ''supporting'' fansites. Of these, TheOneRing.net is the most well-known and is probably responsible for popularizing the term ''Ringers''. Fans who have avoided the hype surrounding the movie therefore may not use the term, so it is probably preferable to say "Tolkien fans" or "''Lord of the Rings'' fans" when in doubt.
Another prominent fansite is The One Ring - The Home of Tolkien Online (different from TheOneRing.net). For 5 years, this site was known simply as "Tolkien Online", and indeed was located at the URL www.tolkienonline.com. However, the Tolkien Estate demanded they relinquish the URL, thus forcing Tolkien Online to revert to its original URL at TheOneRing.com. The One Ring was known for being the "purist" haven for fans while the Peter Jackson films were being made, and is still considered the most active literary-influenced Tolkien fansite online.
There are also many conventional literary societies with an interest in Tolkien. Most prominent are The Mythopoeic Society in the USA and The Tolkien Society, UK-based but with a worldwide membership. The Forodrim in Sweden are also notable for the amount of work they put into their gatherings.
Many fans (though not all) have welcomed Peter Jackson's trilogy. Currently some fans are pushing for another adaptation of ''The Hobbit'' prelude as a live-action feature film, although this may not start for another five years at least. After that, there is a strong drive to have ''The Silmarillion'' adapted, although the Tolkien Estate has not sold the film rights. ''The Silmarillion'' could provide enough material to easily create more films, but is especially troublesome as it is not a single story.
In 2001, Kazakhstani police continually harassed "Tolkienisti" - fans who dressed like Hobbits and carried rubber axes and wooden swords.^[3]

References

1. Strictly speaking, ''The Lord of the Rings'' is not a trilogy but rather a single book that, for purposes of publication, is divided into three ''volumes''. This is another issue of frequent debate. It can also be seen as six books since there are two "books" in each volume.
2. One of the items in a test purportedly measuring "Tolkien fanhood" is "You buy blue contacts to look more Elvish". Retrieved on 16 September 2006.
3. http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/998909177

External links

★ 'History'

★
★ Interview with Richard Plotz, New York Times, 1967

★
★ Ed Mesky's Reminiscenses of the early days of Tolkien fandom

★
★ University of Wisconsin Tolkien and Fantasy Society website with bibliography of ''Orcrist''

★
★ History of Fandom, Chapter 6: Where No Fan Has Gone Before...

★ 'Online fandom, pre-Jackson films'

★
★ rec.arts.books.tolkien

★
★ The Tolkien Sarcasm Page - A Tolkien humor site

★
★ The Tolkien Society site

★
★ The Mythpoeic Society site

★
★ Forodrim.org (in English) - Roleplaying

★ 'Online fandom, post-Jackson films'

★
★ TheOneRing.net

★
★ TheOneRing.com

★
★ Minas Tirith.com

★
★ Tolkien News.net

★
★ Lord of the Rings Fanatics Plaza

★
★ Tolkien Gateway - Currently the largest Tolkien wiki encyclopedia with over 4,000 articles.

★ 'Linguistic'

★
★ Elvish.org FAQ — Article by Carl F. Hostetter. Presents a succinct counterpoint citing Tolkien's own views of the purpose, completeness and usability of his languages.

★
★ "Elvish as She Is Spoke" — Article by Carl F. Hostetter. A thorough examination of Tolkien's purposes in inventing his Elvish languages and his practices in describing them, their consequent nature, and the inherent pitfalls in any attempt to "speak Elvish". Republished with permission from ''The Lord of the Rings 1954–2004: Scholarship in Honor of Richard E. Blackwelder'' (Marquette, 2006), ed. Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull.

★ 'Tolkien Fan Studies'

★
★ Lord of the Rings International Audience Research Project

★
★ How We Became Middle-earth

★
★ Surveying Middle-earth

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