This timeline covers the major events that I am aware of regarding each of the usernames and pseudonyms that Andy has used over the years. I’m leaving out a couple of brief relationships and a lot of sexuality/gender-related wank because this is not about gender or sexuality, for fuck’s sake. I will use the preferred pronouns that pertain to whichever of Andy’s aliases I am discussing at the time.
I should also note that I’m excluding nearly everything that happened on Bit of Earth’s Prancing Pony message board, which went down with Tentmoot, because I was never a member and thus do not have any of that material.
Finally, I’ve only briefly mentioned events like Hall of Fire and Lost Palantir because most of the information currently available on them is in Turimel’s book and I don’t feel like going through it all over again. While the book contains a lot of useful documentary evidence (canceled checks, letters and e-mails, et al.) and info on who specifically ran around and did what to prepare for BoE events, it also contains a great deal of venomous editorializing. Plus all the transfail, which I can sometimes handle wading through, but not today.
(Part I)
Part II of the timeline covers 2002 - March 2007.
2002 January 4 Victoria Bitter, still using the e-mail address voyagerbabe@hotmail.com and the AIM (and now Yahoo!) username VBabe47, starts the Bit of Earth Yahoo! group (henceforth known as BoE). That same day, she e-mails the webmaster of Sean Astin’s official website to let them know about the group and encourage Sean to get involved.
This version of Victoria Bitter says that she is a twenty-one-year-old college student born in Sheffield, England who is engaged to the previously mentioned Ozzie Bloke.
January 8-9 “Chris”, the Marine that VB supposedly met at a showing of The Fellowship of the Ring, posts twice to BoE. Chris uses the Yahoo! handle Rennie Gade and the e-mail address vivazebool@hotmail.com. I’ve already discussed why I think this is actually Victoria Bitter.
February 12 “Some Ozzie Bloke” allegedly posts to BoE under Victoria Bitter’s name because she has an eye infection and can’t see well enough to type. He says that he is reading her e-mail and posting fic and art for her, in addition to recording all of her lectures for school. When she has to go to the hospital, he brings her laptop along so that he can continue reading aloud to her (fanfiction, email, and messages on BoE) and communicating on her behalf. All of this leads up to someone getting one of VB’s sketches signed for her by Sean Astin. This is probably VB herself looking for attention. Mysterious medical ailments, friends and SOs who read messages/e-mails/fic and liveblog the illness, and extremely odd behavior in hospitals are by now well-known hallmarks of Münchausen by Internet.
February 17 Victoria Bitter starts a LiveJournal account. Her profile lists the AIM username VBabe47. In a meme, she acknowledges that her legal name is Amy Player. This establishes the first definitive link between Amy Player and Voyagerbabe/VB, but no one realizes the significance at the time.
Sometime between February and April, VB reveals her Amazing Channeling Powers to Abbey over chat. She mentions wanting to “reach out” to LotR cast members, specifically Orlando Bloom and Elijah Wood.
April 5-7 VB attends Connexions, where she meets many fellow fans and LJ friends and begins a brief romantic relationship with Versaphile. VB speaks with a fake British accent. The less said about Connexions, the better, probably.
April 19 The Great Hobbit Brain-Dump, in which VB claims to receive Merry’s soul and his lifetime of memories. “Merry” chronicles his experiences in the brandagamba LiveJournal and teaches people pseudo-Westron via chat.
May 8 VB writes that she has officially ended her relationship with Versaphile.
June 2 Victoria Bitter flies to Oregon for a week-long visit with Abbey, during which she channels LotR characters in person.
Late August or early September Abbey flies to Virginia to visit VB.
September 7 In response to the drama surrounding MsAllegro’s Domlijah tinhattery (just Google it if you’re curious), VB has Abbey post a stern message to BoE on her behalf, due to “computer problems”.
September 11 Victoria Bitter approaches Sean Astin at a 9/11 memorial event in NYC and asks him to participate in a community service project. Later that day, she announces Project Elanor on BoE. She is now using the e-mail address victoriabitter@bitofearth.net
October VB moves in with Abbey. Diamond, Shopping Cart Bob, and Little Sam eventually join them. (The group will henceforth be referred to as The BagEnders because that’s what they called themselves.) VB starts building the cult in earnest.
November 3 Victoria Bitter makes her final post to BoE and to her LiveJournal and withdraws from online fandom.
This is about the point at which the “Jordan Wood” alias first comes to light. He tells Abbey that he has taken on the “duplicate soul” of Elijah Wood. Sometimes he claims that Elijah’s split soul didn’t want to go back to his body; at other times, he says that it simply couldn’t. He tells some other people (eventually to include Turimel) that he is Elijah Wood’s cousin. Both stories are kept secret for a while. Abbey and Jordan start telling people that Victoria Bitter is dead.
Jordan starts writing as “Elijah” on LiveJournal as PadawanS (short for Padawan Sidious). Despite several posts that Strwriter and Voyagerbabe made between 1998-2001 regarding “their” distaste for homosexuality and slash, and despite VB’s aggressive response to MsAllegro’s Domlijah tinhatting, Jordan/“Elijah” engages in quite a bit of the same behavior on LJ, TheOneRing.net, and message boards on other sites. He uses claims of insider knowledge regarding the LotR cast and the film industry to make it all sound more plausible.
Jordan also alleges that Elijah’s “abusive” family is involved with the IRA and wants to drag him into it as well. This represents just a fraction of the lies that Jordan tells about himself, Elijah Wood, and other LotR cast members. Over the next thirteen months, he will do a great deal of damage that changes the way that New Line Cinema and many of the actors involved in LotR deal with fans and fandom.
November 30 Mr. Frodo makes his first post to BoE, announcing the Line Party at Lloyd Cinema in Portland, OR for the release of The Two Towers. He identifies himself as Bit of Earth’s Public Relations Director and uses the e-mail address mrfrodo@bitofearth.net. He also had a misterfrodo LiveJournal, but like padawans, it has long since been purged.
December 18 The Line Party takes place. Jordan Wood/Mr. Frodo runs the event with Abbey. They dress as Sam and Frodo, with Jordan’s hair glued to their feet–they tell people that it’s from their friend who recently died. The event goes very well and everyone is excited to plan another event.
2003 January 13 Mr. Frodo posts to BoE to warn members that someone is posing online as Victoria Bitter. He now calls himself BoE’s Assistant Director.
January 31 Mr. Frodo makes his last post to the BoE Yahoo! group, congratulating Sean Astin on his appointment to a Presidential Council.
February 20 BoE’s website message board, The Prancing Pony, is redirected to one of Versaphile’s LJ entries, which presents photographic evidence that Jordan Wood and Victoria Bitter are the same person. Jordan is able to sweep it under the rug pretty quickly by blaming a “bitter ex”.
April 6 Project Elanor takes place with Sean Astin and his family in attendance. Again, Jordan and Abbey run the event together. Project Elanor does not go entirely according to plan and the money that people thought would go to RIF goes to pay for supplies…but the group does create a lovely reading garden that still exists today.
July 25-27 BoE’s Hall of Fire Summer Music Festival is pretty much a failure. This seems to be mostly Jordan’s fault due to poor planning, procrastination on a grand scale, and delegating tasks without giving anyone adequate resources or the power to make real decisions.
August The BagEnders move from Milwaukie to Salem, OR with help from Turimel.
September 20 BoE’s Lost Palantir Film Festival goes on, featuring a video appearance by Sean Astin, although the festival is not very much like it was supposed to be.
October 1 Jordan tries to obtain an Oregon driver’s license and a Social Security card under the name “Jordan Gabriel Wood”, using an obviously fake “Certificate of Naming” from a nonexistent pagan commune in Estacada. It doesn’t work. Later, he will try this again with a falsified birth certificate based on Abbey’s real one. That doesn’t work, either.
October 3 Jordan sends the Amy Player pseuicide letter to his parents on the same day that the BagEnders move to San Dimas, CA. Turimel assists again by cosigning a loan with Diamond.
October 10 A detective knocks on Turimel’s door looking for Amy Player, who he insists is the same person as Jordan Wood. Everything goes rapidly downhill from here.
October 21 Abbey sends an e-mail (presumably dictated by Jordan) to Amy’s parents and CC’d to Turimel, stating that Jordan Wood (BoE’s Director of Celebrity Relations) is not their daughter and that Amy has attempted to steal his identity. The e-mail also accuses Shopping Cart Bob of attempting to blackmail Jordan and other members of BoE.
Jordan spends the next month and a half being evasive about TentMoot preparations and his identity with Turimel, the police, and everyone. I am really sorry, but I am not going to keep digging through that book to get more solid dates on this. I’ve already had to reread more of it than I wanted to do. Just know that a lot of actors, artists, consultants, and crew from LotR, not to mention their agents and PR people, are put through the wringer over this, as are the BoE volunteers who are trying to help. During and after the whole fiasco, Jordan also says a lot of terribly insulting, disgusting, sometimes libellous things about these same people via e-mail and on message boards.
December 9 TentMoot fails epically. Jordan commits pseuicide in front of Abbey, Diamond, and Little Sam. Two days later, Jed Brophy, Paul Randall, and Brian Sergent arrive at LAX for TentMoot. Lawrence Makoare never gets out of New Zealand. Andy sabotages the BagEnders’ apartment and blames Turimel and Shopping Cart Bob for everything. Little Sam’s parents take her home soon after.
December 15 Jordan is arrested in Portland and detained for questioning by the Marion County, OR Sheriff’s Department re: identity theft. He is released the same day. No criminal charges are ever filed. Abbey and Jordan end up paying a fine and being forbidden to solicit money for charity in the state of Oregon.
January 2004 - January 2007 A lot happens offline over the course of three years. Abbey and Diamond have both written about it. To sum up: Jordan/“Elijah Wood” has “died” and the “new core” says that he’s Orlando Bloom because of course he fucking is. Recall that VB had told Abbey in 2002, during the same chat in which they discussed psychically “reaching” Elijah Wood, that Orlando Bloom would be another good channeling candidate. “Orlando” goes by Andy.
Turimel publishes her book. Abbey and Andy begin working as costumed characters in Hollywood. Diamond eventually gets out of the cult. Abbey continues to live under Andy’s thumb as he goes on channeling more and more “Others”. He moves on from LotR to The Chronicles of Narnia (starting with Peter Pevensie/Blakewell) and ends up “bringing through” a large cast of teenage WWII-era soldiers with abusive backgrounds. He legally changes his name to Andrew Michael Blake. And then…
2007 Early February Having concocted a “plan” to move to Toronto under false pretenses, Andy and Abbey fly from LA to Buffalo via Atlanta with their bird, Boo (AKA “his son, a sparrow”). They try to walk across the border to Canada. It doesn’t work. Andy throws an incredible tantrum and the border guards let them sleep in their office. Abbey’s mother comes to the rescue the next day.
February - March Operation Catch and Release. Abbey’s mother is beyond amazing.
March 4 Andy posts the first of many fauxpologies on the amy_player LiveJournal. No one is buying it. He explicitly admits to being both Strwriter and Voyagerbabe, but makes no mention of the name Andrew Blake.
Not long after this, Abbey and her mother fly back to Virginia. Abbey breaks things off with Andy. She takes Boo and leaves. Andy throws another gigantic tantrum and continues to harass her with letters for about a year afterward.
Teablogger's timeline, part 2
This timeline covers the major events that I am aware of regarding each of the usernames and pseudonyms that Andy has used over the years. I’m leaving out a couple of brief relationships and a lot of sexuality/gender-related wank because this is not about gender or sexuality, for fuck’s sake. I will use the preferred pronouns that pertain to whichever of Andy’s aliases I am discussing at the time.
I should also note that I’m excluding nearly everything that happened on Bit of Earth’s Prancing Pony message board, which went down with Tentmoot, because I was never a member and thus do not have any of that material.
Finally, I’ve only briefly mentioned events like Hall of Fire and Lost Palantir because most of the information currently available on them is in Turimel’s book and I don’t feel like going through it all over again. While the book contains a lot of useful documentary evidence (canceled checks, letters and e-mails, et al.) and info on who specifically ran around and did what to prepare for BoE events, it also contains a great deal of venomous editorializing. Plus all the transfail, which I can sometimes handle wading through, but not today.
(Part I)
Part II of the timeline covers 2002 - March 2007.
2002
January 4
Victoria Bitter, still using the e-mail address voyagerbabe@hotmail.com and the AIM (and now Yahoo!) username VBabe47, starts the Bit of Earth Yahoo! group (henceforth known as BoE). That same day, she e-mails the webmaster of Sean Astin’s official website to let them know about the group and encourage Sean to get involved.
This version of Victoria Bitter says that she is a twenty-one-year-old college student born in Sheffield, England who is engaged to the previously mentioned Ozzie Bloke.
January 8-9
“Chris”, the Marine that VB supposedly met at a showing of The Fellowship of the Ring, posts twice to BoE. Chris uses the Yahoo! handle Rennie Gade and the e-mail address vivazebool@hotmail.com. I’ve already discussed why I think this is actually Victoria Bitter.
February 12
“Some Ozzie Bloke” allegedly posts to BoE under Victoria Bitter’s name because she has an eye infection and can’t see well enough to type. He says that he is reading her e-mail and posting fic and art for her, in addition to recording all of her lectures for school. When she has to go to the hospital, he brings her laptop along so that he can continue reading aloud to her (fanfiction, email, and messages on BoE) and communicating on her behalf. All of this leads up to someone getting one of VB’s sketches signed for her by Sean Astin. This is probably VB herself looking for attention. Mysterious medical ailments, friends and SOs who read messages/e-mails/fic and liveblog the illness, and extremely odd behavior in hospitals are by now well-known hallmarks of Münchausen by Internet.
February 17
Victoria Bitter starts a LiveJournal account. Her profile lists the AIM username VBabe47. In a meme, she acknowledges that her legal name is Amy Player. This establishes the first definitive link between Amy Player and Voyagerbabe/VB, but no one realizes the significance at the time.
Sometime between February and April, VB reveals her Amazing Channeling Powers to Abbey over chat. She mentions wanting to “reach out” to LotR cast members, specifically Orlando Bloom and Elijah Wood.
April 5-7
VB attends Connexions, where she meets many fellow fans and LJ friends and begins a brief romantic relationship with Versaphile. VB speaks with a fake British accent. The less said about Connexions, the better, probably.
April 19
The Great Hobbit Brain-Dump, in which VB claims to receive Merry’s soul and his lifetime of memories. “Merry” chronicles his experiences in the brandagamba LiveJournal and teaches people pseudo-Westron via chat.
May 8
VB writes that she has officially ended her relationship with Versaphile.
June 2
Victoria Bitter flies to Oregon for a week-long visit with Abbey, during which she channels LotR characters in person.
Late August or early September
Abbey flies to Virginia to visit VB.
September 7
In response to the drama surrounding MsAllegro’s Domlijah tinhattery (just Google it if you’re curious), VB has Abbey post a stern message to BoE on her behalf, due to “computer problems”.
September 11
Victoria Bitter approaches Sean Astin at a 9/11 memorial event in NYC and asks him to participate in a community service project. Later that day, she announces Project Elanor on BoE. She is now using the e-mail address victoriabitter@bitofearth.net
October
VB moves in with Abbey. Diamond, Shopping Cart Bob, and Little Sam eventually join them. (The group will henceforth be referred to as The BagEnders because that’s what they called themselves.) VB starts building the cult in earnest.
November 3
Victoria Bitter makes her final post to BoE and to her LiveJournal and withdraws from online fandom.
This is about the point at which the “Jordan Wood” alias first comes to light. He tells Abbey that he has taken on the “duplicate soul” of Elijah Wood. Sometimes he claims that Elijah’s split soul didn’t want to go back to his body; at other times, he says that it simply couldn’t. He tells some other people (eventually to include Turimel) that he is Elijah Wood’s cousin. Both stories are kept secret for a while. Abbey and Jordan start telling people that Victoria Bitter is dead.
Jordan starts writing as “Elijah” on LiveJournal as PadawanS (short for Padawan Sidious). Despite several posts that Strwriter and Voyagerbabe made between 1998-2001 regarding “their” distaste for homosexuality and slash, and despite VB’s aggressive response to MsAllegro’s Domlijah tinhatting, Jordan/“Elijah” engages in quite a bit of the same behavior on LJ, TheOneRing.net, and message boards on other sites. He uses claims of insider knowledge regarding the LotR cast and the film industry to make it all sound more plausible.
Jordan also alleges that Elijah’s “abusive” family is involved with the IRA and wants to drag him into it as well. This represents just a fraction of the lies that Jordan tells about himself, Elijah Wood, and other LotR cast members. Over the next thirteen months, he will do a great deal of damage that changes the way that New Line Cinema and many of the actors involved in LotR deal with fans and fandom.
November 30
Mr. Frodo makes his first post to BoE, announcing the Line Party at Lloyd Cinema in Portland, OR for the release of The Two Towers. He identifies himself as Bit of Earth’s Public Relations Director and uses the e-mail address mrfrodo@bitofearth.net. He also had a misterfrodo LiveJournal, but like padawans, it has long since been purged.
December 18
The Line Party takes place. Jordan Wood/Mr. Frodo runs the event with Abbey. They dress as Sam and Frodo, with Jordan’s hair glued to their feet–they tell people that it’s from their friend who recently died. The event goes very well and everyone is excited to plan another event.
2003
January 13
Mr. Frodo posts to BoE to warn members that someone is posing online as Victoria Bitter. He now calls himself BoE’s Assistant Director.
January 31
Mr. Frodo makes his last post to the BoE Yahoo! group, congratulating Sean Astin on his appointment to a Presidential Council.
February 20
BoE’s website message board, The Prancing Pony, is redirected to one of Versaphile’s LJ entries, which presents photographic evidence that Jordan Wood and Victoria Bitter are the same person. Jordan is able to sweep it under the rug pretty quickly by blaming a “bitter ex”.
April 6
Project Elanor takes place with Sean Astin and his family in attendance. Again, Jordan and Abbey run the event together. Project Elanor does not go entirely according to plan and the money that people thought would go to RIF goes to pay for supplies…but the group does create a lovely reading garden that still exists today.
July 25-27
BoE’s Hall of Fire Summer Music Festival is pretty much a failure. This seems to be mostly Jordan’s fault due to poor planning, procrastination on a grand scale, and delegating tasks without giving anyone adequate resources or the power to make real decisions.
August
The BagEnders move from Milwaukie to Salem, OR with help from Turimel.
September 20
BoE’s Lost Palantir Film Festival goes on, featuring a video appearance by Sean Astin, although the festival is not very much like it was supposed to be.
October 1
Jordan tries to obtain an Oregon driver’s license and a Social Security card under the name “Jordan Gabriel Wood”, using an obviously fake “Certificate of Naming” from a nonexistent pagan commune in Estacada. It doesn’t work. Later, he will try this again with a falsified birth certificate based on Abbey’s real one. That doesn’t work, either.
October 3
Jordan sends the Amy Player pseuicide letter to his parents on the same day that the BagEnders move to San Dimas, CA. Turimel assists again by cosigning a loan with Diamond.
October 10
A detective knocks on Turimel’s door looking for Amy Player, who he insists is the same person as Jordan Wood. Everything goes rapidly downhill from here.
October 21
Abbey sends an e-mail (presumably dictated by Jordan) to Amy’s parents and CC’d to Turimel, stating that Jordan Wood (BoE’s Director of Celebrity Relations) is not their daughter and that Amy has attempted to steal his identity. The e-mail also accuses Shopping Cart Bob of attempting to blackmail Jordan and other members of BoE.
Jordan spends the next month and a half being evasive about TentMoot preparations and his identity with Turimel, the police, and everyone. I am really sorry, but I am not going to keep digging through that book to get more solid dates on this. I’ve already had to reread more of it than I wanted to do. Just know that a lot of actors, artists, consultants, and crew from LotR, not to mention their agents and PR people, are put through the wringer over this, as are the BoE volunteers who are trying to help. During and after the whole fiasco, Jordan also says a lot of terribly insulting, disgusting, sometimes libellous things about these same people via e-mail and on message boards.
December 9
TentMoot fails epically. Jordan commits pseuicide in front of Abbey, Diamond, and Little Sam. Two days later, Jed Brophy, Paul Randall, and Brian Sergent arrive at LAX for TentMoot. Lawrence Makoare never gets out of New Zealand. Andy sabotages the BagEnders’ apartment and blames Turimel and Shopping Cart Bob for everything. Little Sam’s parents take her home soon after.
December 15
Jordan is arrested in Portland and detained for questioning by the Marion County, OR Sheriff’s Department re: identity theft. He is released the same day. No criminal charges are ever filed. Abbey and Jordan end up paying a fine and being forbidden to solicit money for charity in the state of Oregon.
January 2004 - January 2007
A lot happens offline over the course of three years. Abbey and Diamond have both written about it. To sum up: Jordan/“Elijah Wood” has “died” and the “new core” says that he’s Orlando Bloom because of course he fucking is. Recall that VB had told Abbey in 2002, during the same chat in which they discussed psychically “reaching” Elijah Wood, that Orlando Bloom would be another good channeling candidate. “Orlando” goes by Andy.
Turimel publishes her book. Abbey and Andy begin working as costumed characters in Hollywood. Diamond eventually gets out of the cult. Abbey continues to live under Andy’s thumb as he goes on channeling more and more “Others”. He moves on from LotR to The Chronicles of Narnia (starting with Peter Pevensie/Blakewell) and ends up “bringing through” a large cast of teenage WWII-era soldiers with abusive backgrounds. He legally changes his name to Andrew Michael Blake. And then…
2007
Early February
Having concocted a “plan” to move to Toronto under false pretenses, Andy and Abbey fly from LA to Buffalo via Atlanta with their bird, Boo (AKA “his son, a sparrow”). They try to walk across the border to Canada. It doesn’t work. Andy throws an incredible tantrum and the border guards let them sleep in their office. Abbey’s mother comes to the rescue the next day.
February - March
Operation Catch and Release. Abbey’s mother is beyond amazing.
March 4
Andy posts the first of many fauxpologies on the amy_player LiveJournal. No one is buying it. He explicitly admits to being both Strwriter and Voyagerbabe, but makes no mention of the name Andrew Blake.
Not long after this, Abbey and her mother fly back to Virginia. Abbey breaks things off with Andy. She takes Boo and leaves. Andy throws another gigantic tantrum and continues to harass her with letters for about a year afterward.