#háma

[from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras]

Y’all, I am being forced back onto my LOTR Háma soapbox because people have now tagged me in several posts that I consider to be Háma slander!

Forget the movies for a minute and look at the books. Háma is NOT a dummy. He knows who Gandalf is, and he knows what a wizard can do with a staff. That’s why he flags that the staff should be considered a violation of Meduseld’s weapon ban in the first place. But the fact that he subsequently allows Gandalf to bring the staff in does NOT mean that he suddenly and inexplicably changed his mind about the status of the staff or was tricked into doing so. Look at what he says:

“The staff in the hand of a wizard may be more than a prop for age,” said Háma. He looked hard at the ash-staff on which Gandalf leaned. “Yet in doubt a man of worth will trust to his own wisdom. I believe you are friends and folk worthy of honour, who have no evil purpose. You may go in.”

He says very clearly that 1) he knows the staff can be dangerous; 2) in this situation, he’s going to use his own judgment rather than worrying about what the rules say; and 3) his judgment tells him that Gandalf is a good person who won’t do anything evil. Nowhere in there does he say that he’s decided the staff itself isn’t a potential danger. He’s decided that Gandalf with the staff isn’t a danger. He trusts Gandalf not to use the staff to hurt anyone or harm anyone’s interests. And he was right!!!

So this is just a reminder that literally every single thing Háma says or does in the books is right and righteous:

✅ (Politely) calling Aragorn on his BS about refusing to leave his sword outside because Háma is no pushover

✅ Trusting Gandalf to bring the staff in because he’s an excellent judge of character and knows that good will come of that choice

✅ Giving Éomer his sword back even though he hasn’t been ordered to do so because, again, he knows who is good and who is bad and always wants to help those who are on the side of good

✅ Nominating Éowyn to be leader of the Eorlingas because he isn’t afraid to challenge antiquated ideas about gender roles

✅ Telling other skeptical Rohirrim to trust in Gandalf’s leadership because Háma is wise enough to see past the elements of Gandalf’s behavior that others find unsettling

✅ Giving his life in the effort to protect and defend others

In summary: Háma, Captain of the Guard and Doorward of Meduseld, 10/10 no notes. He is perfect.

#lord of the rings #lotr #tolkien #hama #háma #rohan #justice for háma #a truly flawless individual #who deserves more respect

[anghraine]

Because of how the stewards were ruling Gondor independently, do you think the word became synonymous with a king? For how long they were going I’m surprised they still call it such. Like it might as well be a kingship.

I think probably not in Gondor itself, given Denethor's own explanation that they might be kings by now in another country, but Gondor, in his view, is of such royalty that "ten thousand years would not suffice" (or something to that effect—I don't have the book on me at the moment).

I think it's more likely in other countries, though. For instance, Háma says that he wouldn't give Aragorn's commands precedence over Théoden's even if Aragorn was King of Gondor in Denethor's chair. Teeeechnically, though, Denethor's chair is not the throne and Aragorn as king wouldn't actually sit in it (Faramir would!). But the chair/throne technicalities are just not important to Háma—the Stewards' chair is functionally the throne of Gondor. I can see that line of thinking being pretty customary among people who aren't invested in Gondorian hair-splitting.

#anon replies #respuestas #legendarium blogging #ondonórë blogging #háma #húrinionath

[nymph-of-books]

they are so soft in everything they do <3

#d&d #d&d art #dungeons and dragons #dungeons and dragons art #sapphic #sapphic art #wlw #wlw art #ranger #ranger art #gloomstalker #gloomstalker art #ivive melal #ivive melal art #háma glyn #háma glyn art #art #rana art #rana’s art #wbtw #wbtw art #vílderfern #vílderfern art

[random-jot]

Legolas x Gimli this, Frodo x Sam that, how about some love for the realist ship in LOTR:

Gamling x Háma FTW, the real ones know ❤️

#the two towers #the lord of the rings #lord of the rings #lotr #the Lord of the rings: the two towers #hama #Gamling #Bruce hopkins #John Leigh #háma x gamling #gamling x háma #Rohan #edoras #meduseld

[bagheerita]

'The staff in the hand of a wizard may be more than a prop for age,' said Háma. He looked hard at the ash-staff on which Gandalf leaned. 'Yet in doubt a man of worth will trust to his own wisdom. I believe you are friends and folk worthy of honour, who have no evil purpose. You may go in.'

#lotr newsletter #háma my beloved #welcome to tolkien where the true heros are gardeners and doorwardens

[remusjohnslupin]

‘Lord, hear me!’ he said. ​‘Now we feel the per­il that we were warned of. Have we rid­den forth to vic­to­ry, only to stand at last amazed by an old liar with hon­ey on his forked tongue? So would the trapped wolf speak to the hounds, if he could. What aid can he give to you, for­sooth? All he desires is to escape from his plight. But will you par­ley with this deal­er in treach­ery and mur­der? Remem­ber Théo­dred at the Fords, and the grave of Háma in Helm’s Deep!’

(dedicated to @eomer // 'a whole decade!' celebration!)

#lotredit #tolkienedit #tlotrgifs #eomer #tolkienmine #wow a whole decade! #ok I know this was a low-hanging fruit #with your username and all #but you also made him your icon soooo... #I'm guessing you like eomer? :P #I hope you like this anyway

[overthinkinglotr]

“The dwarf breathes so loud we could’ve shot him in the dark 😤” — Haldir

“You’ll go faster with just two.” “But papa says Eothain cannot ride Garulf! He is too big for him!” — Morwen and Freda

“You are our king, sire.”— Gamling when the king asks him “who am I, Gamling”

“AHHHHH”- Háma being eaten by a warg

“The men say we will not live out the night…they say that it is hopeless :(“— Haleth

“You know the laws of this country, the laws of your father! If you let them go your life will be forfeit.” - Madril

*horse sounds* — Brego

“We have some nice cozy hobbit sized rooms available! Always proud to cater to little folk…” — Butterbur

“Get out of my field!” — Farmer Maggot

#lotr #overthinkinglotr #polls #Morwen and Freda almost pass the bechdel test but don’t #bc Morwen s name is never revealed in the film itself #so sad #I have a cold so I’m making polls

[katajainen]

'We will have peace,' said Théoden at last thickly and with an effort. Several of the Riders cried out gladly. Théoden held up his hand. 'Yes, we will have peace,' he said, now in a clear voice, 'we will have peace, when you and all your works have perished – and the works of your dark master to whom you would deliver us. You are a liar, Saruman, and a corrupter of men's hearts. You hold out your hand to me, and I perceive only a finger of the claw of Mordor. Cruel and cold! Even if your war on me was just – as it was not, for were you ten times as wise you would have no right to rule me and mine for your own profit as you desired – even so, what will you say of your torches in Westfold and the children that lie dead there? And they hewed Háma's body before the gates of the Hornburg, after he was dead. When you hang from a gibbet at your window for the sport of your own crows, I will have peace with you and Orthanc. So much for the House of Eorl. A lesser son of great sires am I, but I do not need to lick your fingers. Turn elsewhither. But I fear your voice has lost its charm.'

KING.

#lotr #lotr newsletter #théoden

[autistook]

A very random set of characters but I am intrigued

#lotr #lord of the rings #pippin #merry #pippin took #peregrin took #frodo #samwise #merry brandybuck #faramir #boromir #legolas #gimli #bilbo #gandlaf #eowyn #arwen #denethor #sauron #elrond #gamling #hama

[glitteringaglarond]

'Is there none whom you would name? In whom do my people trust?' 'In the House of Eorl,' answered Háma.

'But Éomer I cannot spare, nor would he stay,' said the king; 'and he is the last of that House.' 'I said not Éomer,' answered Háma. 'And he is not the last. There is Éowyn, daughter of Éomund, his sister. She is fearless and high-hearted. All love her. Let her be as lord to the Eorlingas, while we are gone.' 'It shall be so,' said Théoden. 'Let the heralds announce to the folk that the Lady Éowyn will lead them!'

i seriously love this so much. Eowyn is so well beloved that every single person there would follow her in a heartbeat.

it's also interesting because it's made clear from the start, the story of Eowyn and her arc is not about being kept back because she's a woman. Because that is clearly not the case here. But rather, it's a case of her heart and her duty not being as one, and the complexities that caused her to follow the one instead of the other.

#lotr newsletter #eowyn #my op #newsletter march 2

[from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras]

I’ve never bought an action figure/collectible figurine before and I don’t intend to start now, but it does please me greatly just to know that this exists in the world:

The outfit, the pose, the expression—all wonderful. My only quibble is that he is CAPTAIN of the king’s guard, thank you very much.

#lotr #lord of the rings #tolkien #háma #rohan #middle earth’s perfect boy #lived and died in honor and goodness #with far too little recognition

[carlandrea]

Aragorn stood a while hesitating. 'It is not my will,' he said, 'to put aside my sword or to deliver Andúril to the hand of any other man.'   'It is the will of Théoden,' said Háma.   'It is not clear to me that the will of Théoden son of Thengel, even though he be lord of the Mark, should prevail over the will of Aragorn son of Arathorn, Elendil's heir of Gondor.'

Oh my god Aragorn just put the fucking sword down

'Truly,' said Aragorn. 'And I would do as the master of the house bade me, were this only a woodman's cot, if I bore now any sword but Andúril.'

'Whatever its name may be,' said Háma, 'here you shall lay it, if you would not fight alone against all the men in Edoras.'

ARAGORN

#lotr newsletter

[nymph-of-books]

happy valentine’s day!! inspired by & referenced from @maddiedrawz ‘s supercorp art <3

these two so much… ivive would definitely use háma as a weighted blanket shsjsjjsjsjs

the fact that wood elves don’t even sleep so she’s just laying in ivive’s arms <33333

#d&d #d&d art #wlw #wlw art #dungeons and dragons #dungeons and dragons art #ivive melal #ivive melal art #háma glyn #háma glyn art #melyn #melyn art #art #rana’s art #vílderfern #vílderfern art

[anghraine]

I was re-reading an old LOTR post that quoted Aragorn's line from the book:

"Little do I resemble the figures of Elendil and Isildur as they stand carven in their majesty in the halls of Denethor. I am but the heir of Isildur, not Isildur himself."

Some things that immediately jumped to mind:

1) It turns out that Aragorn actually does look quite a lot like Elendil and Isildur, but it's only noticeable when a) he cleans up or b) he's coming into his own on a more ... spiritual yet practical level, I guess.

Significantly, when Pippin is later struck by Denethor's very Númenórean appearance in ROTK, he specifically associates it with how much Denethor's specific features resemble Aragorn's. The Appendix reiterates this; as Thorongil, Aragorn looked like Denethor's "nearest kin."

I don't think this response is completely false humility, though, because Aragorn doesn't really look like that in the specific scene where he disclaims the resemblance, and probably hasn't for a long time (and he's talking to Boromir, who does seem to be considered remarkably beautiful even by Tolkien standards). But I also doubt it's coincidence that Aragorn specifically mentions Denethor and their common ancestor, Elendil, in his response.

(It's possible that Elendil and Isildur themselves didn't look quite as majestic as their statues, but eh, it's actually a big deal that Aragorn and Denethor are so similar to each other and them, so I'm inclined to think the statues are accurate.)

2) The specific way he ties Denethor in is by referring to the throne room/hall, complete with majestic statues of the kings, as "the halls of Denethor" rather than one of the various other names it goes by. This could be strategic, since he's trying to dial down the tension in that moment; he goes out of his way to acknowledge the authority of Boromir's father and family to his face, when pretty much everyone else has acted like he's just some guy. It might also be a concession that right now, they are Denethor's halls.

It's also interesting because, when Aragorn later tries to exclude himself from Rohan's laws based on his royal stature, Háma sharply responds, "This is the house of Théoden, not of Aragorn, even were he King of Gondor in the seat of Denethor.”

Of course, the literal seat of Denethor, the chair of the Stewards, is pointedly not the royal throne, but lbr that's Númenórean sophistry that the Rohirrim don't care about. But I do think there's something interesting in the way that specific physical objects of the hall—the chair, the throne, the statues—are linked to Denethor and Aragorn and their own interrelationship.

3) Aragorn is extremely careful here and often elsewhere to not link himself to Anárion, though he is also descended from him and the tie to Anárion formed a critical part of the original formal claim made by Arvedui (though IMO Arvedui did pretty significantly misrepresent its significance under Númenórean law and tradition).

Aragorn's choice may be because of the failure of the original claim and to avoid getting caught up in legal minutia when both he and Denethor are descendants of Anárion outside the direct male line. And his ultimate presentation to Gondor as claimant makes zero mention of Anárion or Fíriel. So here's one of the first instances of that careful downplaying of the tie to Anárion.

4) Not to make literally everything about my gripes with the Jackson movies, but this is a very clear example of something the movies do a lot, which apparently was one of Christopher Tolkien's main causes of frustration—taking lines (esp dialogue) from the original novel and moving them to different characters or contexts to serve some different purpose that changes their meaning, sometimes radically.

That is very definitely the case here. Even though the full quote above, in its original context, would make zero sense for movie Aragorn, the bolded part does make it into the movies, but in a context which completely reverses its meaning.

In the book, the point of "I am but the heir of Isildur, not Isildur himself" is that Aragorn is freely acknowledging that he knows he doesn't have the spectacular majesty that Isildur did and he is only Isildur's heir. In the films, the line shifts to Arwen IIRC, and is re-contextualized as comfort for Aragorn that he isn't doomed to being a morally weak fuck-up like movie Isildur just because he's descended from him.

And honestly, while re-purposing Tolkien's lines doesn't always bother me, re-purposing them to mean exactly the opposite from the original does rub me the wrong way, ngl, esp given how difficult it's been to even talk about Isildur for the last ... uhh 20 years without everything being reduced to some movie!Isildur meme that makes zero sense for Tolkien's characters.

#anghraine babbles #legendarium blogging #pj critical #aragorn #isildur #denethor #lord of the rings #legendarium fanwank #etc #long post #anghraine's meta #anghraine's rants

[eomerofrohan]

Thinking some thoughts about Haleth of the Haladin and Haleth of Rohan

Haleth of the Haladin is a badass warrior and leader and woman all in one, and as such she embodies a lot of values that are also present in Rohan (especially in Eowyn 💕💖)

And Haleth of Rohan is a young boy who barely knows how to fight but he’s still gonna try. He exhibits bravery too, although he probably doesn’t feel very brave. And I have to wonder, does he know who his namesake is? Do the Rohirrim learn of Haleth?

Also, Haleth of Rohan is the son of Háma (our best boy Háma!) and Háma strikes me as more educated than some. It seems possible that he knows.

I have no idea where I’m going with this, I just love the parallel

#Haleth #Rohan #lord of the rings #silmarillion #my posts

[bagheerita]

I love the way that Háma doesn't get the last word here.

Obviously, Wormtongue would have found a way to "explain" what was happening, but that doesn't mean he was someone worth listening to. Sometimes, you're just not going to know what something means and that's okay. But Jrrt doesn't give Háma a quippy oneliner to end the conversation. His observation gets pushback.

I think this is one of the more obvious examples as far as who we're supposed to be agreeing with, but this has happened in a lot of conversations in this book: characters exchange opposing views on a topic, one of them seems to have the correct opinion, but their conversation partner still comes back with another point or comment so that there isn't a neat wrap up.

It feels strange to my modern eyes to not give the person who's right the opportunity to end the conversation. Heroes always get quippy oneliners right?

But I like that things aren't neat. The guard doesn't just agree with Háma. People maybe miss having Wormtongue around to explain shit to them. And I love also that Háma isn't bothered by this guy not agreeing with him.

#lotr newsletter