Q: As I started looking for the posts you occupy here at the CoE, I was amazed that there were so many. How do you manage to do all these jobs next to a real life one?
A: Because these are things I enjoy doing. I’ve been a part of CoE for a long time now and it’s the first place I head for when I get online. I spend a lot of time here and on The Unspeakables. I love every minute of it. Of course some things at home don’t get done, like dusting, but who cares. If you come into my house, just make sure when you run your finger through the dust on the bookshelves, you make it something I can read.
Q: Since you joined Ulmo, I suppose that you are interested in music and writing, like most of us. Which are your personal favorites?
A: Right now I am addicted to listening to the soundtracks from ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and ‘Dragonheart’. I love soundtracks and I will listen to whichever one is my favorite at the moment constantly. I have all three of the LOTR soundtracks at work too and listen to them all the time. That’s my working music. People I work with have learned to like it as well. They have too…LOL! It’s my cd player.
I read all the time. Rarely is there a time I don’t have a book close by. At the moment I’m reading ‘Final Scream’ by Lisa Jackson, ‘Dark Sky’ by Carla Neggers and ‘Black Rose’ by Nora Roberts. Yes, I do read more than one book at a time. It’s a habit I have had since I was a kid. I also love to write. I’ve been part of a rpg in my realm for several years now. It’s been a roller coaster ride for several of us and the end is nowhere in sight. I’ve also written some Harry Potterish stuff with a very good friend who is also a CoE member.
Q: When reading The Lord of the Rings, were you one of those who were immediately hooked? Or did it take you a while to get into the story?
A: I read the books when I was a kid and loved them. I was hooked! Kings and Queens and Elves and swords were just magical to me. I wanted to be a Hobbit and live in a Hobbit hole with lots of books just like Frodo, but I wanted a cool sword too and a bow and arrow.
Q: What place on earth do you think looks most like a part of Tolkien’s Middle-earth?
A: In Colorado there is a place called Kenosha Pass which is part of the Continental Divide. As you come over the Rocky mountains through the pass you see this wide open valley called South Park that is so green it almost hurts your eyes looking at it. The mountains and the blue sky are beautiful and when I saw it the first time I promptly told those with me that it should be renamed Rohan.
Q: And last but not least: Eomer, what makes him your favorite character?
A: I’ve loved Eomer since I ran across him in the books. He appeals to me because of his strength and his loyalty. He was a fierce warrior and he remained loyal to Théoden. He’s the type of person you would want in your corner in a time of need. One of my favorite parts of the book:
“Out of doubt, out of dark to the day’s rising
I came singing in the sun, sword unsheathing.
To hope’s end I rode and to heart’s breaking:
Now for wrath, now for ruin and a red nightfall!”
(The Return of the King: “The Battle of the Pelennor Fields,” p. 122)
Of course Karl Urban brilliantly portrays Eomer in my eyes as well.
by Elenluin, with many thanks to LadyCeleborn for the interview
