I´m sitting here tonight with tears in my eye and remembering the first time I saw Lord of The rings. The first movie were released when I was 9 years old and I can still remember the feeling when the movie ended. All the different emotions I never had before with a movie. The music, the atmosphere, the beautiful screen play and the lovely nature displayed. I left the cinema crying my lungs out. Both from joy and sadness knowing that the movie had ended and I still had to wait a a full year for the next one.
I started reading the Lord of The Rings series at a quite early age starting out with The Hobbit. My sister recommended me reading it and I couldn´t stop until I had gone through it. Before I´d never really paid any attention to books but this book opened my eyes for a whole new adventure.
As soon as I completed The Hobbit I continued with the Lord Of The Rings series. I kept such a pase when I read them that my mom and dad really had to put the book away from me to get some sleep.
Returning to the Movie series. The thing I waited for the whole year were the next Lord Of The Rings movie. My life together with my friends evolved around the movies and the lore since we also thanks to my childhood friends played the Trading Card Game.
My neighbour back then were the national Swedish champion in LOTRTCG and he was a bit like a idol of mine. Since we lived on the country side we were a couple of really close families that most often hang out together and enjoyed each others company. Playing LOTRTCG was a big part of our daily lives and we loved to compete with each other and build as good decks as we could with the limited amount of cards that we had.
We kept living in the Lords Of The Rings world in our tight community and it was just so amazing. I guess I have to thank the cicumstances to live on the country side as well. Such amazing possibilitys to expand your fantasy in a clean nature.
The next two movies came and again after every visit at the cinema I left deeply touched by all the new emotions swirling inside of me. Before my visit at the last movie I started crying when entering the movie saloon since I knew this would be the last thing I´d see of Lord Of The Rings. Afterwards I fell empty but also happy to finally have seen the last part of such a amazing series.
We kept playing the card game for quite some time afterwards but slowly it died due to no more movies and no new cards. We all started to "grow" up and forgetting about that amazing feeling Lord Of The Rings gave us.
Once in a while we returned to the living room. Grabbing our old decks and played our hearts out for several hours and then watched one or two of the movies we loved so much.
My point in all this nonsense?
I think that the LOTR series really shaped me as a person. As soon as I listen to the soundtracks I think about my life and what I have accomplished. I know that I never will experience any adventure like Frodo and the rest of the fellowship. Not only in the lore but in the making of the movies. Being a part of that series and follow the progress day by day and really seeing all work forming that wonderful piece of art.
Today I´m 21 years old and I feel constantly unsettled. I want my adventure, my journey to start and make me feel really alive. I must say that I have almost always been a dreamer and almost always tried my best but never reached all the way. When I listen to the soundtracks like I do now it feels me up with a feeling that´s so hard to describe.
The 9 year old Petter in me awakes and I remember me and my friends having our own quest in the home of our childhood. I´ve always been sensitive to change and I really deeply miss those days. When we lived for the day. Making the most of it and really did the things we enjoyed.
Maybe I don´t have a point now when I read through what I have written. It´s just a huge amount of text and I wouldnt been able to get through if I were a regular TL blog visitor. I just wanna say that I´m so incredible thankful to the makers of LOTR. I will never stop watching the movies, listen to the soundtracks or reading the books. I would not have been the same if LOTR would not have been there.
Thanks a lot Peter Jackson and the rest of the amazing crew who created a truly unique feeling and memories for the rest of my life.
The final day of shooting the LOTR movie series: