On Fandom

[The Good Hunter]

Initially, I was going to write up an essay about the nature of fandom and how it is both the poison and the lifeblood of anything pop culture, but in lieu of that (something I don't really know if I even have time for), I thought I'd just bring it up for more an open discussion rather than a lecture.

So with that in mind, let's talk about the LOTR fandom. We can be the best fandom, and we can be the absolute worst fandom. There have been multiple examples of both extremes on all the social media sites and even on this out of the way hinterland site. I've loved it, I've hated it, I've laughed with joy, I've wished I never read Tolkien.

The most recent bit of fandom that makes me laugh and scratch my head though was brought about by an image search for Bilbo. I was curious what Google might be able to show me that wasn't inspired by the films (live action and cartoon) and lo and behold, it gave me a suggestion I never expected: Female!Bilbo. I was aware of a lot of BagginShield (Bilbo and Thorin) ships, but I've always seen them with both characters being male. Now I'm down a rabbit hole (or a cliff, maybe) finding art and fanfics about this very new, to me, niche.

What's the weirdest parts of the fandom you've come across (nixing, of course, appropriation of LotR and Tolkien themes for extremist agendas)

[Rivvy Elf]

A Shelob-who-can-turn-into-an-attractive-female that one will inevitably come across in the second Shadow of Mordor video game.

A fanfiction shoot (not pre-determined, real) professional wrestling match between Eowyn and Arwen with Faramir and Aragorn in the audience.

In Battle for Middle Earth 2 you can summon a giant Tom Bombadil that will punch opponents while singing, trample enemies in his dancing animation, and err blow at them for splash damage. More cool than weird now that I think about it.

Foo, as I don't know its origin story.

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Fan adaptions are nice including myself, but they can never beat the origins of the universe as how Tolkien wrote it down in his imagination. Over the years I came across all sorts of websites where this was encouraged to read, sometimes even approved. In others it was scrutinised, and even forbidden to read for all sorts of reasons. Most of the time I just drew up my eyebrows and left the place. And deleted the cookies when going offline.

When I got the tale pressed into my hands it was just a thirtyfive years old story. And way before the internet age set in. Fandom is something to me that how you enjoy the tales you come across and that is personal. You may like it or love it. And you decide how it influences your personal life. Sometimes I come across pictures that speak volumes, but have no traceable origins. Like this one:



For me it is a beautiful setting, where some tale could be attached to. But in what capacity this image sets, is a complete mystery. The creator is also unknown to me. I stumbled across it while googling. It is quite easy, in the spirit of fandom, to create a tale around this image.

[Boromir88]

@The Elf Imperishable Battle for Middle Earth 2 you can summon a giant Tom Bombadil that will punch opponents while singing, trample enemies in his dancing animation, and err blow at them for splash damage. More cool than weird now that I think about it.

BfME II was probably my favorite Lord of the Rings video game. I loved summoning the giant, jump-punching Bombadil

In general, I just appreciate the creativity and depth of the fandom. I don't have really any idea about other fandoms (I suppose aside from sports), but the depth of the fandom is truly astonishing. It spans generations and cultures, each of us with different experiences and what enchanted us with the story. I love the lore and history, others get inspiration from creating art and RP, others get really into the languages Tolkien created. That's the neat part for me, we are so different, but have this one particular thing in common.

As a person, who always loved the lore, it's the "twisted" lore the fandom's created that's the most fun to me. Like, Gandalf's plan all along was to have Gwaihir fly the Ring to Mount Doom. But realizing he hasn't told anyone what the plan was past Lothlorien, before falling from the bridge, he tells the Fellowship to "Fly, you fools."

[Fuin Elda]

So a convention I run has a panel submitted by one of our attendees called Bad Fanfic Reading I am safe from that particular fandom here so I can say I am adding to the chaos of mixing in 2026 (a perk of being the chair of the board I do have a lot of sway on theming ideas and my board is mostly comprised of NERDS) and creating the Fur-lowship of the Ring as a theme You are welcome to guess the fandom.

I have sent several LOTR/Hobbit based fanfics to them as potential stories the amount of Male pregancy involving Legolas or Haldir is TRUELY STARTLING. And I swear every 'birth style' is different depending on the author it's something I've always had a fantastic laugh about.

I have absolutely been loving the gender bending of various characters as well.

[Rivvy Elf]

@Boromir88 it always made me sad when I had to defeat Tom in one of those epic tower defense maps :(

my twisted theory (that I made just now) on why Tolkien was trying to make the world round in the end was that he foresaw the balrog wing debate and tried to justify why balrogs didn’t have wings, and thus hid in the core of the earth until they heard Morgoth and through volcanism, popped up from the ground instead of running the length of utumno to the lammoth.

@Fuin Elda did any of those pregnancies last the whole nine years to make it NoME compliant?

[Fuin Elda]

@Rivvy Elf I don't believe any of the ones that I read did but I was only on FF.net so I"m sure AO3 does have some somehwere however I am not entirely sure what NoME compliant means but it is 4 am

[Silky Gooseness]

My favourite quirky fandom pieces are: The Tolkien Crackpot Theories on FlyingMoose, and the Very Secret Diaries by Cassandra Clare (nsfw).

The most meta fandom part of the Crackpot Theories is a satire written “if the Council of Elrond were run like RABT”, but for RABT you could substitute any dysfunctional fandom online group…

Crackpot Theory

[Rivvy Elf]

@Silky Gooseness I loved those from FlyingMoose! I remember reading them when I was 13, so funny.

@Fuin Elda Nature of Middle Earth. They have a treasure trove on information regarding elves, including non-verbal gesture communication as well.

[Fuin Elda]

Ahh yes. I've been holding out for the soft cover as my set is all soft cover so I've not gotten or read it yet