SECOND WORLDS D4

One of Tolkien’s most distinctive contributions to fantasy, lies in the example he set as a builder of worlds. Tolkien refines the practice of building ‘Secondary Worlds.’

Fantasy and science-fiction novelists, game designers, and roleplay enthusiasts all cite Tolkien as a master.

Fantasy Requirements

Tolkien describes the literary sub-creation of Secondary Worlds, as fictional worlds or settings, more recently also called ‘conworlds’ as well as fictional universes, in contrast to reality, the Primary World. Since Tolkien’s exposition on Secondary Worlds in 1938, they are now common place in literary works and in other media. We now have mounds of TV series, movies, comics and games featuring a wide range of Secondary Worlds.

Alternate Universes

Secondary Worlds met initial criticism, but today they seem to be key to media success. Star Wars, Game of Thrones Marvel have universes that are as rich as any good literary world. Today there are some game based Second Worlds that out-do the complexity of literary, film or TV creations.

The Secondary Worlds of the popular Role Playing Game, Dungeons & Dragons, draws richly from Tolkien's. It began with one world and now has a dozen distinct worlds. Or like the Traveller RPG,which built not one, but an entire galaxy of worlds.

Interactive Immersion

Board games like Star Fleet Battles and the Trading Card Games like Pokemon, all have extensive worlds. War Games such as Warhammer, feature complex Second Worlds with derivative literary works, films and series. Once, computer games borrowed from other game formats, but they now create their own Secondary Worlds, like World of Warcraft, Halo, and Final Fantasy, each of which has with their own literary and film spin offs and a massive fanbase.

Educational Hotspots

Secondary Worlds potentially could help us understand our Primary World. Learning about and within a Secondary World provides a simple application of skills and knowledge that can be potentially transferred to the Primary World. These range from ‘soft skills’ such as perseverance, resilience, etc. through problem solving, teamwork, creative thinking, etc. to ‘hard skills’ in studies of Geography, Mathematics, Physics, English etc.

The important take-away is that within the Second Worlds, skill and mental development can be achieved and applied to the Primary World.

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The inscription was a riddle: speak friend and enter." The answer was a password in an Elvish language Responding with the word for friend causes the Doors to swing open.

NON-FICTION FRIENDS

Engaging with escapism, coupled with the social power of the internet, means that it can provide a rich community for people to bond over their favourite forms of escapism.

Relentless commercialization of Tolkiens work has provided its fans with opportunities to create communities that form meaningful connections for life. The Tolkien fandom lives of all things; on a Web site: TheOneRing.net. Arguably the most well-known fan site that dedicated to J.R.R. Tolkien’s works and founded in 1999.

A -List Members

A group of Tolkien fans eager for the upcoming The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, and they were gathering information online about the adaptation. Since then it has grown into an active global community. Relationships with the films' directors, producers, cast and crew forming. After its release 1,500 plus members from all around the world came to the TheOneRing.net Oscar party in February 2004. The event was attended by big screen stars and the director, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Elijah Wood and many more of the cast and crew of The Lord of the Rings, several skipping the official New Line party that evening.

G roup Outings

The fansite teamed up with Creation Entertainment and so they hosted, The One Ring Celebration. The Eastern Fan Gathering, met in eastern U.S. in 2005 and 2006.

These conventions included panels of members from the cast like Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, John-Rhys Davies and Billy Boyd. In 2011 TheOneRing. net collaborated with the Red Carpet Tours staged a cruise for 14 nights from Auckland, New Zealand to Sydney, and included several short trips to visit locations used in the film of The Lord of the Rings.

Penpals

Tolkien discussion took place in many newsgroups from the earliest days of Usenet. The Tolklang mailing list began in 1990. The alt.fan.tolkien and rec.arts.books.tolkien news groups have been active since 1992 and 1993, respectively. They discuss origins, culture and the meaning of made up languages. Later collating the information into a mailed out weekly digest.

Re-enactments

Hyper-dedicated fans of The Lord of the Rings series get together to stage a versions of the climactic battles in the Lord of the Rings.