Happy birthday to one of Middle-earth News’ finest! Our own Amanda Capley celebrates her 23rd birthday today! Amanda writes all kinds of articles–from movie news, art and literature news, and gaming news–and keeps our Twitter feed filled with the latest headlines and geeky finds. Middle-earth News would truly not be the same without her, and we are honored to call her one of our own.
Middle-earth News: How were you introduced to Tolkien?
Amanda: I was introduced to Tolkien in a bit of an unconventional way. I’ve been an Aidan Turner fan for many years, and when I heard that he had been cast in a movie called The Hobbit, naturally I wanted to learn more. However, it was about the exact same time that they started filming when I became extremely sick. The timing of these two events was critical in ways I could have never imagined at the time. I became completely immersed in the realm of Middle-earth in order to keep my mind off of everything that was happening. Every new piece of filming news, or the release of a new production vlog from Peter Jackson, or even just the cast’s entertaining Twitter activity–all of these things became so important to me. Each little bit took me away from the nightmare that was going on in “real life” so to speak. In 2012, alone I spent over 90 days inpatient hospitalized, and since July 2012, I’ve had a total of nine surgeries. I cannot begin to express my level of gratitude to this fandom and everyone involved (the cast, the crew, the fans, everyone)! By providing a sort of mental place to escape to, Middle-earth has truly saved me in so many ways. 🙂
ME News: How did you become involved with Middle-earth News?
Amanda: I want to begin by saying I am completely humbled to be part of such an incredible team. We all share the same passion for the Tolkien/Middle-earth fandom, yet each person brings such different opinions and contributions to our site.
I began as a huge fan of Middle-earth News. One day, on a complete whim, I decided to pour my heart out on their Facebook wall. My story about why I had become such a huge fan of The Hobbit and Middle-earth caught their attention and soon after that, the lovely Lily Milos contacted me for an interview! My interview was published in conjunction with my experience of attending Boston Comic Con in August 2013. It was insanely humbling and uplifting to receive so many encouraging messages from around the world after it was published!
Needless to say, I became pretty good friends with many of the staff members after this! That December, Lily asked me if I would like to officially join the team. After an enthusiastic YES, I became a Staff Reporter! It’s been a mind-blowing experience working with all of the lovely and talented ladies here. In July, I took on another role and became the second voice behind the Middle-earth News Twitter feed (the other being the amazing Evie Bowman). Interacting with the almost 45,000 Tolkien fans that follow us has been so much fun! I think it may be my favorite part of the job. 😀
ME News: If you could hang out with any Middle-earth character (or characters if you can’t choose just one!) for a day, who would it be and why? What adventures would you get up to?
Amanda: Oh now that is a tough question! I feel like I might have to split this into “Middle-earth movie character” and “Middle-earth book character” (since there are so many differences between the two).
As for a character from the book, I would definitely go with Bilbo Baggins! More specifically, post-Lonely Mountain adventure Bilbo. He’s such an interesting “hero character” because he’s not your stereotypical hero (i.e. super strong, athletic, outgoing, great with weapons, etc.). He’s more or less your everyday guy, or Hobbit I should say, who gets thrown into some incredible situations. I can kind of identify with him in that respect. You never truly know how brave or courageous or strong you really are until you are faced with these insane situations. I’d love to chat with him and hang out in the Shire and Bag End.
As for a character from the movies, I’m fairly certain I’m biased when I say Kili and Fili (because come on, you can’t have one without the other). Apart from some obvious reasoning here, I imagine they would be pretty fun to hang out with. Being a huge fan of the Dwarves, it would be cool to see their home in the Blue Mountains and maybe check out some awesome Dwarven weapons. And according to Dean O’Gorman, Fili and Kili are the ones in charge of carrying the pipeweed, lol. Good times all around! 😉
ME News: You are also a gamer who hangs out in Middle-earth in both LOTRO and Kingdoms of Middle-earth (KOM)! How many toons do you have in LOTRO and which one is your favorite?
Amanda: While I love both games and have made some awesome friends in both, I’d definitely have to go with LOTRO as my favorite. LOTRO is probably the closest I will ever come to actually living in Middle-earth. Turbine has created such a wonderfully vast and complex environment for the game and often times when I should be “questing” and attempting to level up, I find myself just wandering around Middle-earth! My main toon is a female Dwarf Hunter on the Landroval server named Rumki. Rumki is definitely my baby and I love RPing with her. Other players are always so fascinated by encountering a female Dwarf, so this makes for some hilarious interactions! You can even follow Rumki on Twitter now @RumkiDwarf, lol. I have several other toons as well in Landroval including a Hobbit Minstrel named Rummi, an Elf Champion named Rummiel, and a Hobbit Burglar named Haamburglar.
“Kingdoms of Middle-earth”, or KOM, is a mobile game, so I tend to play this one much more often. You can find me on the Oin56 server/world as PhoenixOfDurin. I’m an Officer in a top-ranked alliance called “Wrath of Aragorn” and we have some of the best players on our server. I’ve made some really good friends from all over the world through this game. We talk on a daily basis about anything from game strategy to everyday life events.
Amanda with Valdis, Billy Boyd (Pippin), and Jed Brophy (Nori) on her many DragonCon adventures.
ME News: What are you most looking forward to seeing in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies?
Amanda: Ahhh, what I’m looking forward to the most is actually a huge spoiler so I’ll hold back. I’ll give my two more “spoiler-free” answers instead. One, I’m excited to see more of the Great Eagles. They are definitely my favorite Middle-earth creatures! Two, I’m looking forward to seeing Thorin’s descent into madness and almost going from protagonist to antagonist. I adore Richard Armitage and I know he will give a fantastic and heartbreaking performance.
ME News: When not involved with events related to the realms of Middle-earth, what can we find you doing?
Amanda: Well to begin with, I am a full-time university student, so that takes up quite a bit of my time! I’m a HUGE nerd and absolutely love school, particularly science and math. Apart from that, I really enjoy traveling and encountering new things and experiences. I also love music and have been an avid concert-goer for quite some time (Melissa Etheridge and the Indigo Girls are two of my favorites). I’ve been known to get deeply involved in various television series, good books, and spend lots of time with my two cats, Ozzy and Alfred.
ME News: Now it’s time for a “favorites” round! Favorite Middle-earth film?
Amanda: Oh why must you ask me this?? I think that I am incredibly biased towards The Hobbit films because of what they have done for me. I think that I love An Unexpected Journey for the story and the introduction of all the characters. We also get to see some awesome locations such as the Shire, Bag End, and Rivendell. That being said I do also love The Desolation of Smaug. That one has the cool action sequences, the Woodland Realm (Mirkwood), and the dragon himself, Smaug!
ME News: Favorite Tolkien book?
Amanda: I’d have to go with The Hobbit. That’s the one that introduced me to Middle-earth and Professor Tolkien. Even though it’s easily the most simplistic of Tolkien’s works, there’s something about it that so charming and always makes for a great reread.
ME News: Favorite character from the films versus favorite character from the books?
Right off the top of my head, I’d have to say Bilbo. And to me at least, Martin Freeman IS Bilbo! Very rarely does a movie so accurately capture my own vision of how a character should look and act (the only other time this has happened was with Professor Snape and Alan Rickman in the Harry Potter series).
I feel like this would also be a good time to point out that while I’m not the biggest fan of Thorin Oakenshield in the book, I am a pretty big fan of his when it comes to the movies. This is a perfect case of a “good change” in my opinion that they have made from the book to the movie. In the book, he is basically just the leader of a giant “treasure hunt” in which the Dwarves are primarily interested in getting their huge pile of gold back. In the movie, they have expanded upon this and made it more so about the Dwarves reclaiming their homeland. This seemingly makes Thorin a much more likable character and it will be that much harder to watch him slip away in The Battle of the Five Armies.
ME News: Favorite Middle-earth race/culture?
Amanda: Without a doubt, the Dwarves. I absolutely love their sharp, angular designs and architecture (I could study the Dwarf-related sections of the Weta Chronicles books all day long)! I also love how they don’t see themselves as the world sees them. They view themselves as quite large, and their halls/architecture styles reflect that. They are proud, strong, built to endure, and always stick together. However, they are also arrogant, stubborn, borderline on rude sometimes, and are untrusting of many people. I’ve never been a huge fan of the Elves because they are a bit too perfect nor the race of Men because they aren’t as interesting to me. Hobbits are fascinating but their lifestyle is way too boring for me. I like a bit of adventure and excitement in my life! The Dwarves have always fascinated me and will forever remain my favorite Middle-earth race.
ME News: Favorite Middle-earth location?
Amanda: Okay, I’m really split on this one. Since my favorite race is definitely the Dwarves, I want to name a really cool Dwarven location like Erebor (which I cannot wait to see more of in The Battle of the Five Armies!). I am completely in love with the sharp, angular architecture and designs that the Dwarves use. I imagine that the Dwarves would have some really awesome jewels/gems on display as well! However, the Shire is just so beautiful. Who wouldn’t want to live in a cozy Hobbit hole? I think I’m going to cheat here and name both Erebor and the Shire, haha.
ME News: Favorite piece of Middle-earth memorabilia (books not included)?
Amanda: I really adore the LEGO Hobbit sets. As you build them you begin to realize just how much detail goes into each set and minifigure. Originally I was going to stop after acquiring just a few of my favorite Dwarves. Before I knew it, I had collected all of Thorin’s company and even multiple Bilbo’s! To date I own every set from The Hobbit and several from The Lord of the Rings. I am probably a little too excited about the four upcoming new releases from The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. I mean come on, who wouldn’t want an 18” long LEGO Smaug? 😉
You can follow Amanda on Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Tumblr
The Middle-earth News staff each had something to say about our beloved reporter in honor of her birthday!
Alice
Amanda has been the first self-proclaimed she-Dwarf I ever met and I’m lucky to have her as friend. I love geeking out with her over Harry Potter (we would rock Hogwarts!) and The Hobbit, or meeting her during our LOTRO adventures. Amanda is strong like a Dwarf, but owns a Hobbit heart. I admire her respect for nature and how much she loves her pets. Also, I’m pretty jealous about her LEGO collection…but this is another story. Happy Birthday, Amanda! Let’s toast with the finest dwarven ale!
Evie
Amanda is amazing. Sure she’s a keen and enthusiastic reporter for Middle-earth News but there’s a lot more to her than that. You see it seems that, whatever life throws at her, Amanda just copes with it and doesn’t let it get her down. She’s always bright and cheerful and looking forward to the good times. Here’s wishing her a fabulous day today. Happy Birthday, Amanda!
Lily
I’m so happy to have met Amanda! She got off to a great start as a Middle-earth News reporter, with one of her first articles retaining its title as our most popular of all time (The Mystery of Kili’s Runestone – really, you should check it out). She is also incredibly goofy, and luckily, she shares her sense of humor with the team, sending us all into giggling fits over walnuts. Wishing you the happiest of birthdays, Amanda!
Maria
Amanda is one amazing person that I’m happy to call a friend. She is not only a fan of Dwarves, she even possess many traits that would make Durin’s folk proud! No matter how hard the times, Amanda remains to be enthusiastic and determined. But most importantly, she is a loyal friend and a great reporter. It is impossible to imagine Middle-earth News without her. Happy Birthday my dear Amanda! May the hair on your toes never fall out!
Myla
“It’s all about you girl! On your 23rd birthday! Pay attention to you girl, everyone has to do just what you say! You get your very own spotlight tonight cuz it’s all about you! Yeah it’s all about Amanda! You’re the birthday girl!” Okay now that I have my Spongebob reference out of the way, I can continue. Amanda is such an amazing person, and honestly it feels like I’ve known her for years. I know I can always text her if I need someone to laugh with over an extremely corny joke or when I just need to talk to someone. Amanda is one of the most loyal friends you could have and I’m so thankful that she’s in my life. Amanda, I hope you have an AMAZING birthday and party hard like a dwarf!! Okay well maybe not that hard, haha.
Oloriel
From the time Amanda joined the news team she has been so. darn. dedicated. She takes everything we do as a team really seriously and has the utmost respect for all the fans out there, but of course – and I know I say this about all of our team on their birthdays but it’s TRUE – she’s hilarious. And of course she is one of the strongest people I know! I am so honored to know you, Amanda, and I’m glad you’re a part of our team! Happy birthday!
Valdis
My friend Amanda is brilliant, passionate, kind, beautiful, courageous, my Dwarf sister, and my hero. When I joined Middle-earth News, I quickly found that Amanda is a great member of the team, always ready to offer ideas and take on tasks. My admiration for Amanda only grew as I came to know her better. She is wonderfully fun to talk to (the geeky conversations are the best!), and has a terrific sense of humor. I was so happy to be able to have Amanda as my Dragon Con 2014 companion. She not only helped prevent me from getting lost – my motto at the Con was “Where are we going?” – she was the perfect person to share that unforgettable experience with. But most of all, I admire her tenacity, optimism, and determination in the face of truly challenging life circumstances. If I were giving her a nickname, it would be “Amanda the Indomitable,” because nothing will conquer her. Amanda, I wish you the happiest of birthdays! It is my honor to have you as my friend, and I am always at your service.
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