Some final memories and thoughts about "The Gathering of The Fellowship".



I dedicate this final Gathering entry to my friends at Tolkien OnLine (TORC), the ones I met last week and the ones I am still to meet. Without the TORC community I wouldn't have learned about this convention, I wouldn't have helped stitch a quilt, I wouldn't have walked to Rivendell. The first thing I did when I got my nametag at "The Gathering" was to write my TORC handle "Shaal" in large letters so my fellow TORCers could find me. And it was great all week long to have people shout out "Shaal!" and give me a hug and it was great to feel part of a circle of Tolkien friends I was finally being given a chance to meet. I'm so happy for those I met, sorry for those I missed. Next time.

I learned through looking at a set of Tarina's photos on TORC yesterday that the TORC quilt was won by a woman named Alex. I also learned yesterday that the quilt organizers will have permission to duplicate some of the cross-stitch patterns for those of us who want them (me! me!), so that's cool.

I saw very little of the programming at the con due to lack of time, but I heard great things from those people who did attend academic, costuming and actor panels. I did get down to see about twenty minutes of Bruce Hopkins (Gamling) speaking and he was highly entertaining. I also got to see Craig Parker (Haldir) and Mark Ferguson (Gil-galad) do their reading of "Riddles In The Dark" from "The Hobbit" and they really were brilliant. They brought all the children up-front and kept the adults equally entertained with their asides. It really was fun.

The Medieval Times show and banquet on Tuesday night was a blast. The typical show was re-written to a tale of Knights fighting in Middle-earth and it was fun that they had the audience divided into six geographical regions of Middle-earth. Deb, Jodi, John and I were cheering on our black and white knight of Minas Tirith with many calls of "For Gondor! For Gondor!". Our knight won until he was betrayed by the King's guard (boo!) who was then brought to justice by the green knight of Rohan (yay!). Congrats to Ginger(Elbren) for coming up with such a fun script, Donna(Calaquendii) for designing and making such wonderful costumes and banners and everyone else involved in the show.

I was very pleased to meet one group of special TORCers, those folks who shared the road to Rivendell with me. There were six of us (four being Rivendell walkers) who got together for lunch on Monday- Emerlute, Kat, Carnimiriel, Alkarion, Jodi and me. We traded hiking stories and I remember spiders coming up a lot, which was probably appropriate two days before the debut of Shelob :). I learned that Myrtle, another walker, was also at the con, but unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to meet up.

Got some nice souvenirs of "The Gathering". The concom gave all the guests nice black polo shirts with the Gathering logo on one side and our names embroidered on the other. The quilt booth also gave their volunteers a $10 gift voucher as thanks, so I bought a Gathering mug and two pint glasses and five more LOTR bookmarks to add to the other twenty I've bought over the last three years (yes, I'm a bookmark freak).

It was beyond fun to see the last of the LOTR movies for the first time with a group of Tolkien fans who had come from around the world to see "Return of The King" at the con. We counted down the minutes together and compared Kleenex supplies, cried and cheered, sat to the very end of the credits and "Into The West" (can anyone tell me who drew those lovely drawings in ROTK's closing credits?). The atmosphere was electric.

And I got to spend Saturday catching up with my Alaskan pen pal of twenty years ago, Robin Russell, and her friend, Glynda. We talked for an hour in the Sheridan lobby and then for two more hours in a nearby restaurant and then the three of us, plus John, ended up going to see "Return of The King" again. It was great to hear about their lives, their con experience and their views of the movie. We had a lot of fun.

Many thank yous are in order and I'd like to highlight a few. Thank you to the Gathering concom for bringing this memorable event about. Thank you to Ginger(Elbren) for involving Urban Tapestry in Gathering programming. Thank you to Ed(Speaker-to-animals), Donna(Calaquendii), Parador-J and Trish for their help before and during the con. Special thanks to Donna for my gorgeous Masquerade Ball dress. Deb, Jodi and I had so much fun and we are grateful for the experience.

If anyone reading this report would like to see more Gathering photos, more reports or more info about the second Gathering tentatively being planned for the summer of 2005 (the 50th anniversary of the publishing of LOTR) please check out this link to TORC's "Gathering of The Fellowship" forum": http://www.tolkienonline.com/thewhitecouncil/categories.cfm?catid=61 .

I've been down to the Sheridan twice now since the con ended, once to see Robin and once to pick up a camera charger John accidentally left in our hotel room. I've found myself wistful each time to see the hotel so normal- no Elves wafting through the lobby, no Rangers, no hobbits. I mentioned my feeling to John and he commented, "Yeah, we are firmly in the Fourth Age again.". At least, in the end, I can take comfort that after this three year odyssey, Peter Jackson has left me with a husband who hadn't read LOTR three years ago and is now enough of a Tolkien fan to make comments like that :).