My Love Affair With The Lord of the Rings

When I was eleven years old my dad and sister dragged me to the theater to see The Lord of the Rings. And like all good love affairs that is how mine began.

I was a wayward child. I had many interests and few hobbies. I was a townie who rode her bike through main street. I played basketball with my brother at the local park. I hated reading books. I liked music but wasn’t a junky. I liked movies but didn’t have a passion.

Then, one fateful December day my dad and sister asked if I would like to join then in going to see The Lord of the Rings. I declined thinking that the movie looked weird and was not my thing. They insisted that I join them and seeing no way out of it I tagged along. We got our tickets, our popcorn and pop, and found our seats. And for the next two hours and fifty eight minutes I was glued to my seat sitting as still as a statue. I was enthralled by the picture before me. I was taken in by the world. I was awed by the characters. I was in love.

When Frodo and Sam reached that high rock and Frodo told Sam he was glad Sam was with him I truly didn’t want it to end. So when the credits rolled I was stymied. I was heartbroken. I felt sucked away from something that had claimed my soul. How could the movie be over when the fellowship had been disbanded? How could it end when Merry and Pippin were captured by the orcs? How could we be left hanging when Frodo had not delivered the ring to its demise in Mt. Doom?

But end it did. My dad, my sister, and I exited the theater and retreated to our vehicle. I was in an emotional state and I didn’t know what to do with myself. My feelings were rising in my chest and choking me. But I held myself together. There was no way I was walking through the mall with tears in my eyes. However, once we got to the vehicle was a whole other situation. Try as I might, I could no longer hold back the tears that were attacking me. So I sat in the front seat of our pickup truck and I began to cry. I tried so hard to cry silently. I did not want my sister or my dad to know that I was crying. But alas, I was discovered. My sister turned to me and asked why I was crying. I only had one response for her.

“It ended.”

Those words sealed my fate to The Lord of the Rings.

I think my dad and sister were so stunned they just stared at me. Until my dad chuckled and said, “There will be two more movies.” From then on I was a sucker for all things LotR. I bought the books and devoured them. I bought books about the movies. I bought action figures and toys and games and you name it if it pertained to LotR I bought it. I knew everything about everything. I knew the actors. I knew the characters inside and out. I’m not kidding you when I say I became a monster. I was addicted. Daily I searched the websites dedicated to LotR. I asked for anything and everything LotR for my birthday and Christmas. The VHS for the first movie came out right before my birthday and you best believe that is what I wanted. Now, my birthday falls August 5th, and school started approximately August 17th. I am not even lying a little when I tell you I watched that VHS tape three times a day every day until school started. My family was so sick of that movie by then. But I was in love. I still am to this day.

When each of the second and third films came out in theaters I saw each no less than three times. I had the third movie memorized the first time I watched it. In the likely hood I got my mom to join me in the theater I got so upset every time she tried to lean over and ask me a question. There was no way I was missing even a second of those movies, even if I had already seen it twice.

I can’t tell you exactly what it is or was about The Lord of the Rings that pulled me in. I can’t explain to you why I was so immediately and lastingly in love with this story. It may be the world. It may be the characters. It may be a sprinkling of everything to do with LotR. I can tell you that I have never been so utterly taken by something since then. I can tell you that I do love LotR above all else. I can tell you I’ve never seen a movie since that has so absolutely bewitched me. And I can tell you that I am so thankful to have been so moved by something like The Lord of the Rings because not everyone is lucky enough to be so deeply in love with something. But I am.