>>Well, they could, oh, I don't know, read the book?<<

:) I'm still not allowed to criticise people for not reading it, since I still haven't. Although I did end up reading the appendices to sort out who was who at one point.

Personally, I tend to hate romantic bits too, but I think it was well-handled in LOTR, and sensibly kept towards the background. Which is probably why I get annoyed by all the Arwen hating, because for crying out loud, she's only in it for about a grand total of half an hour.