#I’m so curious about how the hobbits interacted with Frodo during these days | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

gffa · 4 years

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I was talking with @himboskywalker about Tolkien and fandom and fic, because I’m always curious where people’s “area” of the wider Legendarium are at, whether they’re a fan of the Dwarves or the Humans or the Elves or the Valar or what! (As a surprise to absolutely no one, the Elves are where my heart is at, where I very much love the Noldor, but if you give me a choice I’m going to run over to that Sindar-centric fic every time.) Which got us onto the topic of fic recs, where, yes, I’ve done a LOT of Tolkien fic recs but I tend to read something of a wide variety and this is a list specifically aimed at those who are familiar with the wider Tolkien world, but haven’t really read much fic and want to know where to start! Other Recs First: - If you haven’t gotten further into Tolkien’s work (like say beyond the movies), I’ve done something of a primer here, which includes fic recs and brief explanations and links to videos that help explain some things. It’s not as hard as it seems to get involved, honest! - Some other fic recs here, as an addition to the above. - My Tolkien blog (which I haven’t been on in awhile, though, I haven’t let it go in my heart yet) has, I’m not kidding, A LOT of fic recs, I did recs regularly for about three years, so it’s almost as massive as my collection of SW recs. If I Could Only Pick Three To Start You With: ✦ And What Happened After by thearrogantemu - This is the fic that took me from enjoying the Silm characters to diving face-first into really loving them, because it wove such an engaging story about the characters sailing to Aman at the end of LOTR, where various characters you wouldn’t think interacting would be as meaningful as they are, but the fic absolutely sells them on it. Frodo and Feanor having a conversation about language? Sam and Maglor sharing a boat to the West? These things are amazing, as this is a fic about healing and what it means to sail into the Undying Lands. Also, it has a Feanor and Fingolfin reunion that literally put tears in my eyes. ✦ Interrupted Journeys by ellisk - I’m generally not someone who does a lot of rereading of fic just because I have so many new ones to get to, but I’ve read my favorites in this series (parts 3 to 5 are my sweet spot especially) probably four times through now because “Elfling Legolas growing up in Greenwod with a whole cast of characters around him, as the Shadow so very, very slowly creeps towards them” may sound somewhat simple, but the worldbuilding here is off the scale. The weaving in of how much the First Age and various Elven politics influenced Thranduil’s ruling of a Silvan people is a major theme, but it’s also good parents raising that precious Elfling right and he and his cousins+friends getting into all sorts of mischief, so it’s balanced between humor and drama in the exact amounts I want. You can skip the first two fics and jump into the third if you like, which is when Legolas is introduced, but I enjoy the whole thing. ✦ Return to Aman OR Quenta Narquelion by bunn - I can’t pick between these two, they’re both incredible. Return to Aman is basically “Elrond grabs Maglor and drags him to Aman with them” and it breaths such incredible lift into all the characters of Aman, it doesn’t negate the terrible things the Feanorians did, but neither does it negate Elrond’s love for them and his biological family, too. It’s another fic that’s about healing and forgiveness and it made me glow to read it. Quenta Narquelion is basically “Feanor refused the call of Mandos after he died and everything started to snowball from there” and it’s an absolutely heartbreaking look at all our Problematic Fave Feanorians and how they were once good people trying to do the best they could, but bit by bit they slipped into the dark. It’s especially amazing for capturing the complexities of Feanor, as he hovers over his children as a spirit and it really brought me around on his character. The Silmarillion and other First Age Batshit Faves: ✦ The Starlit Sky by Cirth is the fic that really made me get the potential of reading about Maedhros and Maglor raising Elrond and Elros, where it does such a fantastic job of showing that there was genuine affection there, even the midst of all the angst and trauma and pain. You really get why Elrond could never give up on them, after reading this fic. ✦ In Courts of Living Stone by ncfan - “What if Maeglin never left Nan Elmoth and instead, several decades later, found himself on an errand to Menegroth and developed a relationship with Finduilas instead?” isn’t a fic I expected to capture my heart, but boy did it ever. Beautiful characterization and beautiful writing, it really captured my imagination, but also gave me ALLLLLL the Maeglin feelings, as well as made me pine that this Finduilas couldn’t have been more common in fandom. ✦ naught but the shores and the sea by ncfan is more of Elrond and Maglor, where it’s an AU that has Elrond finding Maglor after the disastrous attempt to recover the Silmarils and I loved it a lot. ✦ The Crane Wife by Trebia is one that takes an underused character from Tolkien (Lalwen, in this case) and breathes this incredible life into her, gives her personality and joy and sorrow and meaning and, look, any fic that can convince me that Thranduil would marry a Noldo and utterly believe it, you know it’s well-written! The Second Age Is Kind of Quiet in Fandom But I Love It Regardless: ✦ The Art of Long-Distance Grandparenting by Kazaera is a lovely and bittersweet (but mostly lighter in tone) fic about the separation of the Sea between family members and does a wonderful job with Idril’s character, as she tries to stay connected to her grandchildren while being so distant from them and unable to see them, unless they choose to come to Aman. There’s joy to be found here and it’s a lovely read. ✦ Relativity by French Pony is a lovely look at the final meeting between Elrond and Elros and strikes the right amount of bittersweetness, where it’s awkward and difficult and heartbreaking, but also feels natural and like this was how it was meant to be. I had many, many Elven Twin feelings during the whole thing. (I like all their fic, they’re worth checking out their other stuff for, too!) ✦ A Thing or Two About Elrond by Crookneck is a series of fics about Elrond and the various relationships he has--with Celebrian, with his children, with Gil-Galad, etc.--and I remember being really charmed by all of them and how much shit Elrond has seen over the course of his life. The Third Age, Lord of the Rings Version: ✦ Boromir's Return by Osheen Nevoy - This one is sort hard to summarize, but it’s basically “Boromir lives, makes a friend, and slowly changes everything about the LOTR plot”, but it’s so much more than that, where the worldbuilding is phenomenal, the pacing is incredible, it made me fall in love with Boromir as a character all over again, it contains probably the best portrayal of Denethor I’ve ever read in fandom, and I really loved the OC and so on. It’s utterly engrossing and honestly I cannot recommend it highly enough, even if you’re not usually into this sort of thing. ✦ The River by Indigo Bunting is a fic where Legolas and Sam get separated from the others for a brief time and I love fics that take two characters who don’t interact much, throw them into an intense situation, and sees what happens. It’s not precisely a light-hearted fic, it’s very intense, but it’ll make you fall in love with the sheer good in both characters and the friendship they develop. It’s brilliantly written and I cannot recommend it enough. ✦ A Bit of Rope by Aiwendiel is a fic where Gandalf doesn’t fall at Moria and it changes everything--not necessarily for the better. The slow, creeping sense of things changing, things going just a little bit worse here and there, until you realize how much darker the Fellowship’s journey could have been, was brilliantly done, and one I thought did justice to the idea, it’s not grimdark, there’s still light and hope here, but it makes you feel like, oh, maybe things happened as they did for a reason, even as hard as that seemed sometimes. Gorgeously plotted and utterly engrossing. The Third Age, Mirkwood Version: ✦ daw the minstrel has an entire series of fics about Legolas growing up in Mirkwood and there’s absolutely a reason why she was one of the most well-known authors in that corner of fandom. Her ability to create new characters (including two brothers for Legolas) was incredible, I cared so much about the family dynamics and got swept up in the drama (which was in a very loving family, but Legolas was definitely a mischief-seeker) and they’re fantastic. If you find yourself in something of a stretch with too many OCs and your attention wavers, you can always skip around, they don’t have to be read in order and a lot of the non-canon characters can be skimmed over, imo. ✦ In a Field of Blood and Stone by ScribeofArda is so much better than what The Hobbit movies gave us of the Battle of Five Armies, it does such beautiful justice to the complicated character of Thranduil and Legolas, not sacrificing the warmth there for how difficult these times are and the war they find themselves in the middle of. This Bard is also really engaging and fun to read--I read pretty much the entire novel’s worth in, like, a day or two because I could not put this one down. ✦ Swordplay and Swimming by cliodna_bright has an incredible meeting where Thranduil comes to visit Rivendell, runs into Elladan and Elrohir, who are young enough that they speak without thinking, and it’s not precisely a humor fic, but I was screaming the entire time because it’s so sharply written and so absolutely delightful, I LOVE IT. ✦ Deep and Crisp and Even by rivlee made me fall in love with how Elves and humans may look very similar, but there’s this sense of otherworldliness to the Elves, as shown through Bard’s eyes when he has a meeting with Thranduil. Beautifully written and just the right amount of atmospheric. The Fourth Age Where Everything Actually Does Mostly Work Out: ✦ Far Horizons by Bodkin is the Fourth Age fic of my heart, where the various Elves that we came to know in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit are all in Aman and decide to build their own realm there. Which is difficult because Elven Politics even just amongst themselves, much less clashing with all the established politics of the other Elven realms in Aman! But it’s a light-hearted fic (for the most part) that’s about healing and moving forward, balancing their ties to their history versus that Middle-Earth changed them, and I love it for soothing my soul. (Thranduil sailed, you can’t tell me otherwise!!!)(Bonus moments of Glorfindel being pretty hilarious.) I like all of bodkin’s work, but this one has a special place with me. ✦ Age of Healing by trollmela is one where Maedhros and Legolas have a conversation in Aman and it’s about the bittersweetness of healing and how difficult it is, taking two characters who would never have met in canon and weaving something entirely engaging and poignant out of it. Collections That Span The Ages: ✦ This Taste of Shadow by Mira_Jade - This is a collection of dozens of various shorter stories (or sometimes 10k “ficlets”) that you can largely skip around in if you have specific characters you like or you can just start at the beginning and read through. It contains looks at pretty much everyone, from Maedhros to Galadriel to Thranduil to Elrond to Caranthir to Glorfindel to the Valar, etc. I’ve enjoyed pretty much everything I’ve read in this collection! ✦ Fiondil's Tapestry and Tales from Vairë's Loom by Fiondil are in the same vein and I have really enjoyed everything I’ve read from both of them! I especially remember that there was one chapter that had a scene between Thranduil and Cirdan and thinking, ahhhh, why has no one ever written that before!? as an example of the neat things it does. But also lots about Elrond and Glorfindel and the Valar and so on! This probably doesn’t feel like a super extensive list, but those collection series will give you an excellent spanning of Elves, Humans, Dwarves, Hobbits, etc., not just the same central characters, but giving time to a lot of lesser focused ones as well. Like, I feel I’ve read a fair chunk of Elwing fic, but I couldn’t point you to a specific one in my list of recs, which means I’m pretty sure it was in the collections ones or else she got some good scenes in one of the Aman-based fics, so I swear the above is at least a solid place to start for dipping one’s toe into Tolkien fic. AS ALWAYS, OTHER PEOPLE’S RECS ARE WELCOME, god knows I haven’t read anything in the last two years (and will have missed a lot even before that) and so I always need more recs, too!

#tolkien stuff #the silmarillion #fic recs #tolkien fic recs

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esonetwork · 5 years

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There and back again: Revisiting Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy

New Post has been published on https://esonetwork.com/there-and-back-again-revisiting-peter-jacksons-lord-of-the-rings-trilogy/

There and back again: Revisiting Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy

This year, the first Lord of the Rings movie, “The Fellowship of the Ring,” turns 18 — if you can believe that. It doesn’t seem like it’s been nearly 20 years since Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy first arrived in theaters, making an impact on film and pop culture that continues to be felt today.

The trilogy is now so well-regarded by critics and fans that it’s weird to think back and remember what a gamble these films initially were. Three films (all 3 or more hours long) filmed simultaneously by a relatively unknown director, drawing from beloved but complicated (and lengthy!) source material? Many studios might have feared a potentially catastrophic flop, but Jackson stuck to his creative vision, and fans were rewarded with one of the best film trilogies ever made.

It’s been a number of years since I last sat down to watch the Lord of the Rings movies, and I was curious to see how well the films held up over time, especially since special effects technology has continued to evolve since the early 2000s.

My husband and I recently re-watched these movies, and I was happy to find that, yes, the LOTR trilogy is still awesome. The few special effects that did feel dated by no means lessened our enjoyment of the film.

I’d forgotten just how good these movies were, and re-watching them made me fall in love with them all over again. Here are some of the reasons why I think this trilogy has aged so well.

The journey begins…

It doesn’t matter how good a film’s special effects are — or even how cool the plot is — if the audience doesn’t connect with the characters. While Jackson already had plenty of great characters to work with, thanks to J.R.R. Tolkien’s original text, the casting for this film was spot-on, and remains one of the best ensemble casts I’ve ever seen.

It’s a shame that some of the actors who appeared in this movie have fallen off Hollywood’s radar over the years, but I’m glad new generations of fans will be able to discover their performances here. The acting, costumes, and makeup truly bring these characters to life, and I feel like if I tried to start listing out my favorite performances, I’d end up just listing the entire cast.

Another feature that really helps this film is the fact that Jackson chose to shoot so many scenes on location. These films came out around the same time as “Star Wars: Attack of the Clones,” but Episode II feels more dated because of its over-reliance on special effects. Jackson took the time to build lots of props and sets, and he showed off the breathtaking beauty of his native New Zealand, which truly is a real-life Middle Earth. Even after another 20 years, the cinematography is still going to look amazing.

Now, there are a few scenes where you go, “yeah, I can tell that’s some early-2000s CGI,” but this doesn’t happen a lot. I’m so glad they decided to use makeup and costumes for the Orcs, and took time to build all those props, armor, and models. They add so much texture and realism to the film.

Speaking of CGI, Gollum still looks great, and it just amazes me that they were able to make him appear so lifelike. A lot of that has to do with Andy Serkis’ performance; Hollywood owes him a lot for his pioneering motion-capture work. Gollum is also a wonderfully complex character, the kind you love to hate but also, in certain moments, catch yourself feeling just a little bit sorry for.

And I’d also be remiss if I failed to mention the music in this movie. Howard Shore’s score for this film not only fits with the story perfectly, it’s a beautiful musical work all on its own. The epic, sweeping pieces match the grand scale of the story being told.

The road goes ever on and on…

Although Star Wars is my all-time favorite franchise (and the one I find myself returning to most often), the Lord of the Rings has a special place in my heart because it was the franchise that first got me into geek culture. It sparked my interest in film and cosplay, and it introduced me to the concept that there were a number of fans across the world who were also super passionate about fictional worlds. Even though we didn’t know each other, I could connect with another fan just by saying, “Hey, do you love the Lord of the Rings as much as I do?”

My favorite characters when I was a teenager were Sam and Éowyn, and re-watching the film reminded me of how much they meant to me. Sam might not be a badass warrior, but to me he’s possibly the biggest hero in the whole story. His selfless dedication to helping Frodo takes him to horrifying places, but he doesn’t give up and is willing to sacrifice his life to help his friend. We need more people in the world like Sam, and I still look up to him and try to follow his example.

Éowyn is also a character who was a positive role model for me as a teenager. Despite the restrictions her world tries to place upon her, she rides into battle and ends up accomplishing the impossible — defeating the Witch-King. Watching the movies now, I do wish there were more female characters overall, and that these female characters actually got a chance to interact with each other. But that doesn’t take away from how amazing Éowyn is, and I love that she’s eventually able to find healing and peace after the war.

It’s impossible to sum up the impact of the Lord of the Rings in just one article, but I think one of the main reasons these books and movies have experienced such enduring popularity is their message of hope and light.

Humanity has lived through some very dark times, some of which Tolkien experienced firsthand as a soldier during World War I. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and lost, and it’s tempting to look around at all the pain and suffering and simply give in to despair.

Yet there’s a scene in “The Two Towers” that I find myself returning to, where Sam encourages Frodo not to give up, despite the impossible odds. “Even darkness must pass. A new day will come,” he says. “And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. … There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.”

That’s the sort of message our world so desperately needs — and always will need. There’s still good in the world, and it’s up to us to not let the light of hope die. We don’t have to be powerful warriors; we can be like the ordinary hobbits, whose kindness, compassion, and courage have the power to save the world.

#fantasy #Hobbit #lord of the rings #middle earth #Movie #Peter Jackson #trilogy

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