#and it's fascinating

[figureofdismay]

just thinking about some ✨moments✨ again bc i'm not ready to let go of this era even tho it's been however long

#jieran #whatever unhinged energy this #i need it in so many more couples #and also if they'd actually let j and k bring that to the show that would've been great #but at least *they* had and have /handwaves/ outside of succland #and it's fascinating

[arafinweanappreciation]

Literally no one asked for this, but also I was inspired to finally write this all out because I've seen a couple of other posts about this cross my dash. So. I said that one day I would write a post about the parallels between Finrod and Turgon and their stories.

That day has come.

First off, they were born in the same year. If you look at the (sparse and rather unreliable) data we have on timelines for when other elves who are considered of the same generation are born, this is VERY uncommon. The only time it happens again is Aredhel and Galadriel, iirc, and I haven't had the time or energy to unpack any narrative parallels they might have as of yet.

Then, of course, we have very little information about their time in Valinor except that they were besties. Which makes sense. We DO know, however, that they both fell in love with Vanyarin women, Elenwe and Amarie, and lost them during the Flight of the Noldor. Elenwe dying during the crossing of the Helcaraxe, and Finrod leaving Amarie behind. Finrod and Amarie were seperated because she didn't follow him, and Turgon and Elenwe were seperated because she did.

After arriving in Beleriand, Finrod builds Minas Tirith and Turgon builds Vinyamar. It's been a while since I've reread the silm, so I actually don't remember a whole lot of details about Vinyamar. But my big point here is that Minas Tirith is on Tol Sirion on the river Sirion, and Vinyamar faced the sea. Both cities were strongly associated with bodies of water. There's also an interesting contrast in their fates. While Vinyamar was never touched by Morgoth or his servants, Minas Tirith eventually become Tol-in-Gaurhoth, the fortress of Sauron. Vinyamar was also an important location for Tuor, and Tol-in-Gaurhoth became an important location for Beren, both of whom ended up marrying elvish princesses of hidden realms.

Of course, there's the most obvious connection, with them both being given a dream by Ulmo instructing them to build hidden strongholds, after which they leave their original cities to build new ones. They also both have a tendency to take in and befriend mortal men. Húrin and Huor for Turgon and Beor, Barahir, and Andreth for Finrod. They were also both rescued from almost certain death in battle by said mortal men

And then we've got the stories of their deaths and the ruin of their cities. While these don't match up chronologically, they do have a LOT of parallels.

They both took in a nephew after one of their siblings died. Orodreth and Maeglin. Orodreth is trying desperately to fill Finrod's role, while Maeglin wants to undermine Turgon. Both stories heavily involve the influence of a mortal man who was close to the king. Also, Maeglin's and Turin's influence over Turgon and Orodreth, respectively, cause the kings to ignore the advice of even their most trusted advisors against their better judgement. Ultimately, both are destroyed.

Their deaths are also, like, not quite mirror images of each other. Finrod, who spent his time in Beleriand making friends, died with only one other person by his side, in a dungeon deep underground, because he was trying to help along what becomes one of the greatest love stories in Middle Earth. Turgon, who spent all his time in Beleriand hiding away, died surrounded by people who refused to leave him, in a high tower, because of Maeglin's love turned to darkness. They were both betrayed by family members they had taken in (Celegorm, Curufin, and Maeglin), and died in the towers they built.

Turgon's legacy is deeply entwined in the fate of Middle Earth through Idril and her descendants, while Finrod ultimately leaves very little behind. However, they both have massive lasting impacts on the Edain of Numenor. Especially the royal family, with the Kings of Numenor, Arnor, and Gondor being descended from Turgon, and the Ring of Barahir being passed down as an heirloom and symbol of the kingship (at least when they want to be associated with the eldar).

I don't know if there's more narrative significance to this than I'm seeing at the moment, I just noticed this after rereading one time and couldn't stop thinking about it. It's one of the reasons I love their relationship so much.

#tl;dr: finrod and turgon's lives share the same framework with mirror image details woven through it #and it's fascinating #correct me if i'm wrong on any of these points #or feel free to add more #parallels!!!! #silm #silmarillion #finrod #finrod felagund #turgon #next in this series of overly long and probably overanalyzing posts by me: #an examination of the noldor's relationship with fire and water #but that's way more disjointed and mostly just me with thumbtacks and string right now

[moonbeamnights]

Some more of my headcanon of Belle’s shoulder injury

Rumple had been In A Mood

And then he went somewhere and left her with a big list of chores to have done by the time he got back and it’s more than she thinks she might have time for

So naturally Belle is Stressed and she overexerts herself

Because she’s scared about what he’ll do if she doesn’t do everything he asked

Rumple isn’t there when it happens so he doesn’t see the worst of the agony and she gets good at hiding it pretty quickly

So he doesn’t find out until Storybrooke

Sometime around early season 2 when they’ve moved in together and the town is kinda settling down from the curse breaking, one morning Belle’s just like “oh by the way I’m going to see Dr. Whale about my shoulder”

And Rumple’s like ??? and he’s like “what’s wrong with your shoulder?”

And his first thought is that Regina tortured her and he gets all angry and it feels kinda good that he’s being so protective

But then she has to explain what actually happened and he just flips and now he’s angry in a different way and nothing feels good anymore

He’s like “oh so you think it was my fault”

And maybe Belle does think it’s his fault and maybe she’s angry that he’d been so terrifying and maybe she’s bitter that if only he’d been kinder this might never have happened

But she can’t say any of that, not now that he’s doing the whole guilt trippy fake apology thing like “how can you be with me when I’m such a monster that you’d think I’d hurt you”

So now she’s gotta placate him and be like “no, it wasn’t your fault I don’t think you’re a monster”

And maybe she even says it was her fault oh no

She doesn’t really want to tell anyone what happened. Like, Whale probably gets the how but not the why because that’s relevant but otherwise she just leaves it at “an injury from the Enchanted Forest”

Because she’s trying to convince everyone that Rumple’s good now and she trusts him and they should too and this would kinda undermine that

It’s kinda weird between her and Rumple about the injury 

He kinda gets what she's going through because of his own injury so it's the one thing he's actually sympathetic about (as opposed to her emotions where he's just dismissive) and he'll even comfort her

But she also has to kinda watch what she says about it because he still gets angry if he thinks she's suggesting it was his fault (even if she's not) so it's a lot of finding the right thing to say and trying to predict how he'll interpret it

And it's not that she necessarily needs to talk about it all that much but like he'll think small comments are passive aggressive and she never gets a real apology or any closure and sometimes she almost feels like he's pretending that it happened some other way

And I think Will would be the first person to hear the full true story

It’s not really on purpose. It's just that they met so recently he hasn't heard the partial story and then he notices she's in pain and asks if she's ok and suddenly she just finds herself telling him everything

But she’s glad she talked to Will because he’s just so nice about it

#once upon a time #belle french #anti rumple #my writing #and saying it's her own fault to get out of a fight is bad enough #but even worse what if she believes it a little bit #cause she would think she should have known he wouldn't hurt her #like bc he never did she thinks it was unreasonable to be scared of #and I could write so much about that #bc it's such A Theme for them #the way the bad things he doesn't do shape the way she thinks about the bad things he does do #and it's fascinating

[bookwyrminspiration]

Alden’s character was like mainly a plot device I think. Which is the main reason he does so much questionable shit in the books lol.

Yeah, exactly!! Alden's purpose in the story was to find Sophie and to introduce her to the new world and what it was supposed to be like. He was an almost perfect example, the top of the top, able to show her the wonders of the Lost Cities and tell her about how different things are, how much nicer.

At the same time, he serves as an example of how everything he says isn't true because the top of the top is looking into illegal things, things that shouldn't exist in their world, etc.

(I'll put the rest under a cut to save space!)

Alden's not sending Fitz into the Forbidden Cities because he doesn't care about him, Fitz went to the Forbidden Cities because Shannon needed someone close to Sophie's age for her to latch on to and be guided by, and Fitz needed a reason to be there--boom, his dad was looking into it and involved him!! Alden's existence moves the plot forward and allows everything to actually take place.

Shannon needed Alden to exist so Fitz could find Sophie, so then the next question is why does Alden need/want to find Sophie? What's his stake in all of this? From there we get backstory about Prentice and the memory break, which further contributes to Sophie's story outside of Alden's existence.

He's also a great resource for her in the first few books while she's establishing herself in the world and figuring out her place. She goes to him with questions and concerns, and through that we learn about how things work (or how they don't). He gives her advice, serves as a father figure, looks into things for her, etc. He's her anchor for the beginning before she finds strength from other sources, and then he's mostly exhausted his purpose. I mean we really haven't seen him in a while. Yes, there's the whole situation with meddling in the love triangle I'll get to later, but aside from that? He's very much a background character now. He brought Sophie to the Lost Cities and introduced her to the world, and then his mind broke prompting Sophie to look into her power and into her past, and once she had those leads and solid footing she didn't need him anymore.

And because it's talked about so much I'm giving the advice to Keefe to leave Sophie alone it's own section. I think that it was entirely for drama. The love triangle has obsessed readers for so long and is one of the driving points of the series, especially for young sokeefe shippers. Creating a situation where sokeefe is being actively discouraged by the characters in the story and the "rival" ship is being encouraged gets a reaction, and it creates drama. So out of the people who could do that, Alden was the best option. Grady would discourage Keefe from getting with Sophie flat out, no sophitz mention, and Keefe doesn't have a history with him that can be employed. Sandor would discourage all people from dating Sophie, and Keefe has a history of joking around with Sandor and laughing off his threats, so it wouldn't land. Alden has a history of being like a father figure to Keefe, of caring about both Keefe and Fitz, and doesn't object to Sophie dating. He happened to be the best person to create the drama, but I think that's all it was. It was drama. It's not going to change the course of the ships in the story, just temporarily create a conflict to be dealt with that will have invested readers in agony and emotionally distraught.

There's nothing wrong with having characters that exist to make other things happen in the story, it instead creates this kind of situation looking at these characters where you have to evaluate whether the reason for this characters actions are because the author needed it to happen or because the character needed it to happen. And from there decide if you're going to base your understanding of this character off a need that wasn't their own or if it's something you can separate from them. Sometimes authors are pulled along by the characters, and something the characters are pulled along by the author. In Alden's case, he was useful for Shannon and while a lot of the things he did were questionable, I don't associate that as a desire of his but instead as a desire that was funneled through him, if that makes sense.

Alden makes things happen! He served a purpose and now he's done, but because of the importance he had in the beginning he does still exist in the story and pop up from time to time, just not nearly as often. Alden character vs Shannon's desire is so interesting to me so thank you for bringing it up!!

#kotlc #keeper of the lost cities #kotlc character analysis #alden vacker #quil's queries #nonsie #I have another ask about alden in my inbox rn where I'll likely go more in depth on the shannon vs alden's desires thing #because it's so interesting to me #like we can fully immerse ourselves in these characters and try to understand them that way #but also. the story does not exist on its own. it was created. which means there's a whole other realm of needs and desires!! shannon's!! #in my posts I frequently mention things like canon reasons and shannon reasons #because sometimes things happen in a story not because of the character but because of shannon #and I think alden's whole character is that #and it's fascinating

[autistic-beshelar]

also fcg being an assassin that’s only pretending to be a therapist makes me feel SO FUCKING VALIDATED because holy shit, fcg is a fucking horrendous therapist. 

a lot of people talk about fcg being sweet and lovely (both fandom and party) but fcg has always felt fake nice to me, and his therapy has verged from selfishness (demanding that he be the one to give people therapy to make himself feel better) to straight up amoral (forcing people to have ‘therapy sessions’ they didn’t consent to). 

so i for one am a very happy camper about this reveal.

#fcg is not a good person!!!! #he is so obsessed with Being A Good Therapist All The Time for his OWN sake and not actually anyone else's!!! #and it's FASCINATING #like of course aeorians didn't bother to program him with like. dbt skills. or like. the basics of ethical practices. #they only needed enough fake therapy bullshit to pass for long enough to kill! #fcg #critical role #critical role spoilers

[lautakwah]

EDIT: CHECK MY LATEST ADDITION BEFORE YOU START SHIT IN THE NOTES, THANKS.

warning for discord users

If you're on the app, immediately go to your dms and then "add friends". After the latest update they allow your contacts to find you and have that option turned on by default, so make sure it's unchecked!

This is very obviously not great for a multitude of reasons, but especially for people in vulnerable positions who do not want people in their contacts to see who they are on discord and/or know they have discord in the first place. I've also tried finding out if this is a thing on desktop but haven't been able to find any mention of it, so either it's not a "feature" (yet) or they've hidden it. Either way, stay safe, and turn off finding friends via contacts!

[ID: three screenshots from the discord app with circles around the buttons to press to get to this "feature". 1: the messages/DM button, 2: the "add friends button", 3: in the add friends page, the "allow contacts to add me" checkbox. /END ID]

#ling.txt #discord #fascinated by people seeing the edited post and then not even bothering to click on the bolded underlined capslocked link #in huge letters at the start of the post #tumblr is full of idiots god bless <3

[lostonmyroad]

jessica really said “god forbid women do anything” and doomed an entire people to war by installing her twink son as a false prophet by stealing her cult’s 10,000 year old breeding program propaganda

#dune #dune part two #dune 2 #jessica atreides #chani kynes #paul atreides #oh jessica u are so strange and yet i find u endlessly fascinating

[menderash]

i have no words. worlds first terf monk returns from a thirty year hibernation on top of a mountain i guess.

#put this reply under a microscope its fascinating

[aspiringwarriorlibrarian]

You know, it's kinda funny how much of high fantasy centers around kings and nobility and courtly intrigue considering that the archetypal high fantasy, Lord of the Rings, had the rather explicit moral of "saving the world is up to this backwater hick and his gardener because no politician, least of all inherited nobility, would have the ability to see past their own ambition and throw away a weapon". Oh sure, Aragorn is a great king and all, but there's a reason he's over there running a distraction ring while the hobbits do the real work. Sauron loses because he gets distracted by kings and armies and great battles (i.e. typical high fantasy stuff) letting Frodo and Sam sneak through his back door and blow it all to hell.

Just saying, maybe old Jirt knew what he was saying when he said that the small folk doing their best and holding to each other was more powerful than a dozen alliances and superweapons and we should respect him for it.

#high fantasy #tolkien #lotr #lord of the rings #to be clear i don't mind courtly intrigue high fantasy #it's fascinating and it's fun and it is absolutely still high fantasy cause JRRT doesn't have a monopoly on how high fantasy should be writ #what i object to is the idea that it is the only or the best way to write high fantasy when we have such a stunning counter example

[annacaffeina]

I'm stealing this from Twitter

Here's the link

I am a high-definition gateway drug body double!

#A LOT of fascinating stuff on my list

[goldensunset]

did you know? if you do your laundry you can get your clothes back

#fascinating stuff. let’s see if i (person with the worst executive dysfunction when it comes to doing laundry) remember it #i literally have this issue where i’ll let dirty clothes pile up in the laundry basket for an entire month #like it takes me that long to get around to it #and then- who would’ve thought- i find that i don’t have anything good to wear. strange! #finally did it last night and i’m like ohhh that was so difficult but the payoff finally #augh #peach rambles #hall of fame i guess #shut up about socks. idc. #this was a fun positivity post of sorts it’s about overcoming executive dysfunction #derailing into jokes about losing socks is. it’s not horrible but just boring and annoying #it was supposed to be celebration!! and encouragement!!!

[prideprejudce]

this whole oceangate submarine fiasco has actually led to a lot of interesting talks and debates about the grey area of human empathy vs the inclination to recoil at the bizarre behaviors of the ultra wealthy and how people struggle with both ideas and is actually very interesting to watch play out in different types of people

#like some people are on polar opposite sides where they have no empathy for the passengers and have moved on #while others are in tears over the likely death of these people #well everyone else in the middle is struggling compartmentalizing both at once in their minds #yes for this wondering I do have submarine fever this is the most fascinating thing that’s happened in a long time #oceangate #titanic

[astraskylark]

this man's moral compass is probably a roulette wheel

#dungeon meshi #dungeon meshi spoilers #kabru #hes so fascinating

[fodsley]

#fascinating things going on in youtube reccs today

[notherpuppet]

How the old timey prick got his pet

#FREE HUSK #i need to see the psychopathic freak go down for trapping husk #their dynamic is soooo fascinating to me #hazbin hotel #alastor #hazbin hotel spoilers #hazbin hotel fanart #husk is singing when you’re smiling the whole world smiles with you #headcanon that his voice saved his life but locked his fate #husk #husker #husker hazbin hotel #radiohusk #hc; alastor was hunting overlords and husk was next but then alastor saw his show #my doods #alastor…when i catch you alastor 👊🏽💥

[steampunkforever]

Fascinated by this one Instagram account run by a girl who got divorced young and decided to make a career as a cottagecore divorce influencer out of it apparently

#not mean spirited it’s just fascinating to watch #idmbm