Lord of the Rings Fandom

Tolkien fandom is an international community of fans who admire the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and The Silmarillion. Organized Tolkien fandom was established in the 1960s with the publication of the second hardcover edition. The Tolkien Society (U.K.) is one of the most notable social groups. The society has two regular publications, and hosts several annual events, including Tolkien conferences. The Mythopoeic Society is the most prominent in the United States. A Ringer is a term used to refer to a fan of The Lord of the Rings in general, and of Peter Jackson's trilogy in particular. A Tolkienist is someone who studies the work of J. R. R. Tolkien with an intense scholarly and academic interest. A subcategory of fans called Tolkienian Linguists use Tolkien's languages, mainly Elvish, to write letters, poetry, and songs. These fans study the evolution, grammar, vocabulary and alphabets of the created languages. Tolkien's languages have limited vocabularies, so people attempting to use the languages for practical uses have created a new vocabulary in order to express themselves; the result was the creation of many new dialects which all stem from Tolkien’s original work as a philologist. Fan art is widespread on the internet. Both fan art and fan fiction have increased due to the films. Tolkien-related games, especially computer and video games have also increased in number and in popularity among fans. There are numerous pop culture references to Middle-earth, as well as satires and parodies of it. One of the most prominent fansites is TheOneRing.net, This site is the most well-known and partly responsible for popularizing the term Ringers.