saentorine

[saentorine]

this is what its like being autistic on tumblr

#every time I check the denethor tags lol #tumblr

[saentorine]

I’ve said before that I find Denethor and Ecthelion’s relationship strange. Denethor is clearly very competent, very dutiful and very Númenorian. You’d think he’d be seen as the perfect heir to the Stewardship, and yet his relationship with Ecthelion seems abysmal. Ecthelion prefers Thorongil over him, despite them giving him basically the same counsel.

I think I’ve managed to wrangle a set of headcanons that make sense to me. Most of this is speculation, but hopefully in character.

Denethor saw himself as being destined to lead Gondor during a time of great need, and Sauron’s return to Mordor happens when he is in his early 20s. Turgon still lived, with Ecthelion as his heir. Denethor’s power and cunning were presumably obvious from a young age. Perhaps by this point he was already better thought of than Ecthelion by some.

Ecthelion seems to have been a competent leader, and certainly no fool. The appendices call him “a man of wisdom”, but this seems a far cry from Denethor’s description:

“a proud man, tall, valiant, and more kingly than any man that arisen in Gondor for many lives of men; and he was wise also, and far-sighted, and learned in lore.”

“A masterful lord, holding the rule of all things in his own hand.”

In this context, Ecthelion almost seems to be being damned with faint praise. Denethor was dutiful and did not take that which he did not see as his right. He made no claim on the throne. His use of the Palantir however shows great self-confidence, which along with his belief of being destined to lead Gondor and the old Húrinionath tradition of being led not by the most senior but most competent man of their family may have led to strife with Ecthelion.

I think shortly after Turgon’s death Denethor made Ecthelion an offer, to make Denethor joint or sole regent to rid himself of the troubles of ruling, similar to Romendacil II with his father and uncle. Ecthelion took this (understandably but wrongly) as Denethor threatening him and plotting a coup. This shatters their relationship and leads to Ecthelion’s close relationship with ‘Thorongil’. He’s the perfect answer to Denethor, removes any need for dependence on his son and is undoubtedly loyal (while also serving as a surrogate son). Thorongil is a perfect shield for Ecthelion, and Denethor’s rivalry with him keeps Ecthelion’s position safe.

This holds until Ecthelion begins to show his age. Unable to rule anymore, he’s forced to concede more power to Denethor, who now starts to take up the regency. Aragorn is backed into a corner in this potential powder keg and decides to take his victory at Umbar and quit while he’s ahead.

This also neatly parallels Denethor's own relationship with Faramir. Ecthelion believes Denethor is disloyal because his duty to Gondor outweighs his duty to his father. Denethor in turn sees Faramir as disloyal because his duty to his own moral code outweighs his duty both to his father and his country.

#denethor #ecthelion #gondor #lotr meta #lord of the rings #tolkienverse #character study

[saentorine]

Detoxing from an upbringing that enforced passivity and low communication is wild, and feeling like you're being "aggressive" when you're just assertive and forthright is so valid. I'll really be like "YOU KNOW WHAT? Next time, I'm going to hit her with a direct expression of my feelings and a clear and concrete expression of my needs, THAT'LL SHOW HER!!" and be evil-laughing to myself like I'm some kind of supervillain.

#assertiveness #communication

[saentorine]

Happy 32nd birthday to my sibling @awesomepaste who requested Boromir and Faramir being happy for their birthday present. And why shouldn't they get to be happy?

#boromir #faramir #lotr art #lord of the rings #tolkienverse

[saentorine]

Why would you ever??

This year's eclipse has me thinking about the eclipse I missed seeing as a child in 1992. To see it at school a parent had to come do the pinhole activity with you and mine didn't-- but my 1st grade teacher was so paranoid about us trying to sneak a peek at recess she had me convinced that lifting my eyes from the ground at any point that day would kill me. I wrote a journal entry about it with an illustration of my best friend and me with bent necks staring down at the ground, swearing we would not look at the sun.

Honestly . . . I genuinely don't think I understood the eclipse was something you'd want to look at. The eclipse was like some eldritch monster in the sky that would strike you dead on sight. Why would you ever??

And now I'm thinking about how that's also the same message I got growing up about sex. All I ever heard about was how IMMORAL and IRRESPONSIBLE and DANGEROUS sex is, and how it will RUIN YOUR LIFE (with pregnancy and STDs).

Never, ever was it mentioned that sex was something enjoyable, pleasurable, affirming-- something you would want to experience. I suppose if I wasn't so asexual maybe some kind of drive would have eventually trumped all that, but FFS . . . until my 20s my sole impression of sex was why would you ever??

#in both cases the solution is simple: protection #but nah let's just traumatize the fuck out of kids so they have a complex for life instead #aspec #eclipse #solar eclipse #sex #sex education #usa sex education #asexuality #sex repulsed

[saentorine]

“Lolita isn’t a perverse young girl. She’s a poor child who has been debauched and whose senses never stir under the caresses of the foul Humbert Humbert, whom she asks once, ‘how long did [he] think we were going to live in stuffy cabins, doing filthy things together…?’ But to reply to your question: no, its success doesn’t annoy me, I am not like Conan Doyle, who out of snobbery or simple stupidity preferred to be known as the author of “The Great Boer War,” which he thought superior to his Sherlock Holmes. It is equally interesting to dwell, as journalists say, on the problem of the inept degradation that the character of the nymphet Lolita, whom I invented in 1955, has undergone in the mind of the broad public. Not only has the perversity of this poor child been grotesquely exaggerated, but her physical appearance, her age, everything has been transformed by the illustrations in foreign publications. Girls of eighteen or more, sidewalk kittens, cheap models, or simple long-legged criminals, are baptized “nymphets” or “Lolitas” in news stories in magazines in Italy, France, Germany, etc; and the covers of translations, Turkish or Arab, reach the height of ineptitude when they feature a young woman with opulent contours and a blonde mane imagined by boobies who have never read my book. In reality Lolita is a little girl of twelve, whereas Humbert Humbert is a mature man, and it’s the abyss between his age and that of the little girl that produces the vacuum, the vertigo, the seduction of mortal danger. Secondly, it’s the imagination of the sad satyr that makes a magic creature of this little American schoolgirl, as banal and normal in her way as the poet manqué Humbert is in his. Outside the maniacal gaze of Humbert there is no nymphet. Lolita the nymphet exists only through the obsession that destroys Humbert. Herein an essential aspect of a unique book that has been betrayed by a factitious popularity.”

— Vladimir Nabokov (tr. Brian Boyd), Apostrophes (1975)

#reading #books #lolita #vladimir nabokov #flashback to the time my dad saw me reading Lolita and said he never finished it because ~it wasn't as sexy as he thought it was going to b #my dear dude the point hit you in the face and you ignored it #tw: sex abuse #tw: child abuse

[saentorine]

Imagine going on a cross country trip to share the (mildly embarrassing) news with an adjacent king that your guards lost a prisoner, but when you get there- there’s actually a huge crowd of people who all get called into a massive Super Important Meeting. And the prisoner (who you thought wasn’t like That Big of a deal) gets brought up, and everyone’s talking about how great your kingdoms security is, and how important it is that he’s locked up, and you’re just sitting there sweating buckets. And you have to stand up in front of Everybody and tell them ‘actually he escaped and had been gone for months’. While everyone looks at you with the most disappointed faces you’ve ever seen. What a loser.

And Then you have to go on an even Longer trip with all of these people who’s first impression of you was some cringefail sweaty loser who can’t even keep track of one (1) guy.

No wonder Legolas was showing off every chance he got, he was trying to bring his reputation up from like -100

#lol #legolas #fellowship of the ring #council of elrond #lord of the rings #tolkienverse

[saentorine]

it's hilarious how if you do any amount of research into life or death melee combat the prevailing themes that emerge are that

you're gonna get tired very quickly

tired leads to injured, injured leads to tired, tired leads to—

you're not gonna be as composed as you expect

humans are more fragile than you think and also more durable than you think. both are true and neither stop them from dying of an infection later (DO NOT GET BITTEN)

DO NOT GET STABBED (generally good life advice)

DO GET A SPEAR

knights are faster than you think

#battles #combat #war #violence

[saentorine]

If you’re LGBT reblog and tag with your opinion on beer.

#literally can't drink it #and gluten-free beer ain't shit #beer #alcohol #lgbt #but is it gluten-free?

[saentorine]

being so fr when I say that transmisogyny has put feminism back like 50 years

#feminism #misogyny #transmisogyny

[saentorine]

#writing #movies #lightning #history #lamps

[saentorine]

so many people are failing so hard at the most basic fundamental question of democracy that faces as voters in 2024:

fascism or nah?

democracy or nah?

authoritarianism or nah?

but the way some of you talk about Joe Biden it makes me think you wish that he was more authoritarian. I choose to believe people simply don't understand the legal separation of powers, I choose to believe it's a civics failure

but more and more I think there's just an appetite for authoritarianism. I think that's what draws people to Trump, actually. I think that's where you get dummy leftists saying "Why didn't Biden just sign an executive order to [insert thing that the courts would CERTAINLY immediately overturn here, like student loan cancellation, which is exactly what happened]?" and you're like "well, the courts" and they're "why didn't Biden just stack the courts" and you're like "well, the Senate" and they're like WHY DOESN'T HE STEAMROLL THE SENATE and it's like BECAUSE HE FUCKING CAN'T IT'S AGAINST THE LAW. And why isn't the senate better? because stupid fucks don't vote

people just want a benevolent dictatorship without realizing that such a thing has always been a fucking fantasy. a dictator is a dictator is a dictator.

#us politics #politics #democracy #executive branch #presidency

[saentorine]

the way aragorn runs is so chaotic

#aragorn #strider #lord of the rings #lotr films #tolkienverse

[saentorine]

Saruman

commissions open!

#saruman #lord of the rings #lotr art #wine #tolkienverse #lol

[saentorine]

Hot take: If you don't/won't/can't accommodate the known dietary needs of people you're cooking for, you're not actually that good of a cook.

Seriously, if you can only make a limited selection of by-rote recipes that you're too insecure to tweak to accommodate your guests with restrictions or allergies, you really do lose the right to boast about what a great cook you are. Being unable to deviate from a recipe is not a flex.

#especially when there are so many ready-made substitutions out there now for gluten-free flour or dairy-free cheese etc #it doesn't even take all that much effort #but some folks be acting like asking to tweak a recipe is an offense to their cooking prowess #when it's literally the opposite: you SHOW your cooking prowess by coming through with a meal that pleases everyone #cooking #dietary restrictions #food allergies #food intolerance #celiac disease #food #but is it gluten-free?

[saentorine]

Reblog if you are okay with people giving you lots of boops!

#boop

[saentorine]

Rb for larger data set yadda yadda