Much like the One Ring itself, J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy has a power over some people. While the power may just be a healthy interest in fantasy, when fans, like the author, stroke copies of the extended edition DVD murmuring, “We love it, my precious,” there may be a problem.
The original obsession started with the books.
Senior Jessica Bailey began her love affair with the “Lord of the Rings” as a sophomore in high school, when she and her then-boyfriend would read it to each other in the park.
“We never finished,” she said. “But I finished them the next year and never looked back.”
Now, Bailey never sleeps without one of the books beside her bed.
“It’s so easy to read in your spare time,” she said. “I just turn to a page and start reading.”
She owns four complete copies of the trilogy, each of which she has read. She reread the entire series before each film release and will have another under her belt before “The Return of the King” opens in December.
Bailey said she also has the story on CD so she can listen to it in her car — which came in handy when driving to Portland to see the midnight release of “The Two Towers” and then returning to Eugene the same night to work in the morning.
Others take their love of Middle-earth and expand the story with their own fictions. Rebecca Brauning writes fan fictions and has posted a few on www.tolkienonline.com. Brauning also created a list of 127 telltale signs of a “Lord of the Rings” obsession.
For Brauning, who lives in the Dominican Republic, Web sites are a way to connect with other fans worldwide.
“I am a constant poster on Tolkien Online, where I have about 1,150 posts,” she said. “Since I don’t know many fans near where I live, that is usually where I discuss.”
Other fans attend gatherings like RingCon, held last weekend in Gig Harbor, Wash. The “con” (for convention) boasted an appearance by Brad Dourif, who plays Wormtongue in “The Two Towers.”
Former University student Justin Speyer performed at the con with the Seattle Knights, a weapons demonstration group. He was a “generic orc/goblin thing” taking punishment from the good guys.
“While I’m not a con junky — I don’t travel the country dressing like an elf — I do belong to an organization that hires itself out to do live steel combat at (renaissance) fairs,” Speyer said. “. . .As far as some people are concerned, that does border on the crazy-and-or-nuts category.”
From the academic perspective, Saint Louis University Professor John Walter said it is too much when reality is abandoned for fiction.
“We’re not meant to stay in Middle-earth, but to enjoy it, find within it what we want … and bring that back with us,” Walter said.
Walter has taught three courses with Tolkien’s works, his first at Portland State University with professor Marjorie Burns. Both Walter and Burns referred to Tolkien’s essay “On Fairy-Stories” when discussing fantasy as a vice.
“Tolkien himself was greatly drawn to other worlds,” Burns said. “He knew the dangers.”
Walter said his 2001 class, the first Tolkien course offered at SLU, had a huge waiting list.
“I had students whom I’d never met chasing me across campus begging to be let in.”
He said there is some resistance to serious study of Tolkien’s work.
“Various members of the British literary elite freaked out when the reading public chose the ‘Lord of the Rings’ as their favorite literary work of the past century,” he said.
Walter said the public chose Tolkien’s trilogy over works like “Ulysses,” because it speaks to everyone on the same level and “there’s an anti-snobishness about it.”
Fans like Bailey agree.
“I don’t think I’m cooler than anybody,” she said. “I’m a missionary, and I want to convert every person I meet.”