#hot take

[system-hottakes]

Not a serious hot take, but the endoskeletons from 2014 indie horror franchise Five Nights At Freddy's are the only endos I support

-- Umbrella

lmao, same. the only endos I support are Fnaf endos, because at least they're honest when they try kill me

#Endos from Fnaf are the only good endos #anti endo #did system #system #actually did #alters #did #endos dni #hot takes #hot take #did osdd #Tw mentions of killing #Very brief #/ #Tw mentions of death #Not sure if I have to TW this #But I am just in case

[tsubomisno1fan]

I don’t trust Minori haters. I get not liking her for the fact that that’s how she would treat Mob if they met before but acting like she now isn’t making a conscious effort to change is insane. She’s a 14 year old girl. 14. I’m solely convinced you missed the whole point of Mob Psycho 100 if you think she’s still a horrible person, cause the point is to go against tropes in shounen, and that would obviously mean making the villains remain villains.

Minori completely had a change of heart and now she’s trying to better herself and acting like she’s still a heartless monster with no remorse is just so stupid. Also it feels like misogyny cause if she was a guy, people would forgive her way more quickly and easily.

I don’t have any proper wording but this is just my two cents so far.

#soup’s rants #mob psycho 100 #mp100 #minori asagiri #asagiri minori #hot take

[dailytwsttweets]

Another hot take but everyone hates Neige for absolutely no reason. “Oh Neige is the reason Vil has issues” no??? It was the people villainizing him as a whole child who are the reason he has issues. Neige was literally so nice to Vil during SDC. Where the hell do people get that he would be rude or toxic?? There wasn’t anything that implied that, he’s literally just some guy who did a silly little dance and song. I don’t trust anyone who says that he’s “annoying” or whatnot. I’m not saying he’s an innocent baby or some shit cause he’s 17 and no 17 year old is innocent, but I’m saying that the hate is literally way over the top. I get being upset Vil lost btw, I understand that but acting like Neige is at fault is insane.

#🪐 #twisted wonderland #twst #neige leblanche #twst neige #hot take

[thel0sersystem]

Am i the only one that think Karen Jackson from shameless doesn’t deserve some of that hate she gets I feel bad for her a little bit don’t get me wrong she fucked up and do horrible things but she’s still so young she deserves love

#shameless #karen jackson #hot take #shameless opinion

[zenmasterlover]

Hot take time!

I genuinely wish Brooke and Betsy became main characters so we can see Kelso’s character development more. Betsy totally made Kelso turn a 180° in the best way possible and we have Brooke to thank

#that 70s show #hot take #kelso and brooke #Brooke and Betsy #michael kelso

[not-an-anagram]

Hot take but I DONT think that the Hunger Games movies overemphasized the love triangle in the original story. I think the movies portrayed exactly as much romance as there was in the books and the fandom overemphasized the love triangle because the movies were marketed towards teenage girls and that’s just what teenage girls did back then. Rewatching the movies makes me wonder what people are talking about when they criticize them for being “too focused on the romance” like seriously are you mad at the movies or are you mad because when they came out all anyone could talk about was Peeta vs Gale.

#the hunger games #the hunger games movie #hunger games mockingjay #the hunger games catching fire #suzanne collins #movies #fandom #sometimes the problem is with us #controversial take #hot take #just my opinion

[npd-hottakes]

People with npd are just objectively better than everyone else.

#Npd #narcissistic personality disorder #Npd positivity #Npd safe #unpopular opinion #Hot take #npd hot take

[corgiteatime]

I have to hand it to Astarion's creators because ever since Baldur's Gate 3 came out only 2 months ago, artists are speed running art history from the Renaissance to current times by recreating every famous oil painting but with the stupid vampire as the subject and I'm like "Yeah, that's right" every time. I don't know exactly what Larian Studio put in that guy but it is certainly working.

#hot take #baldur's gate 3 #astarion #the art of him is insane

[alyssoid]

#I disagree with 2 of these #but I won’t specify which ones #polls #hyperspecific poll #hot take #star wars #peanut butter #tattoos #email #pineapple on pizza

[whimsymazzy]

why don't you

#girlblogging #girlblogs #femcel #coquette #gaslight gatekeep girlblog #this is a girlblog #just a girl #coquette community #girlblog #hot take

[pdlcomics]

your hottest take

#comics #poorly drawn lines #bird #mouse #hot take

[system-hottakes]

In-system ages are extremely subjective to each system

In some, they are completely accurate and very important

In others, they're virtually useless

That does not mean any one system can be a dick to another abput how they handle those things.

^^ exactly

#anti endo #did system #system #actually did #alters #did #endos dni #hot takes #hot take #did osdd

[hs-is-loml]

hot take that shouldn’t really be a hot take:

you are meant to fall for young coriolanus in TBOSAS because that is what makes him gain power is his ability to be charismatic and manipulative. he’s devious and conniving but his attractiveness and charm is what makes you over look how cunning and calculated he truly is. everything he does is wily and to benefit himself more than anyone else. so yes, by all means don’t fall for the man for what he later does to finnick and peeta and literally hundreds of other. just maybe realize that’s the whole point of coriolanus snow, and how he rose to power.

not to mention that tom blyth absolutely ate this role up for how well he portrayed the manic transition of coryo to snow

#coriolanus snow #coriolanus x reader #snow #president snow #finnick odair #peeta mellark #the hunger games #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #tbosas #coriolanus snow x reader #thg #tom blyth #hot take #blurb #coriolanus x you

[aroace-menace]

Hot take: the majority of queer coding relies on the assumption that platonic relationships cannot be as deep or caring as romantic ones. I recognize that queer coding is important to many people, but I think it can and should be done in a less amatonormative way. We as a society need to get better at facing the hard truth that many things that bring comfort, joy, and belonging also perpetuate truly harmful ideals.

#aro #ace #aromantic #asexual #aromanticism #asexuality #arospec #acespec #aspec #aroace #queer #lgbtqia #amatonormativity #queer coding #hot take #the menace is yapping

[wordsoup420]

Hot take: it's fucking idiotic to call someone who is just calmly trying to explain their actions or emotions 'rude'. It's ESPECIALLY idiotic to say that to a small child. You'll end up turning them into a fucking doormat unable to speak up for themselves (me)

Kids can't properly control tone yet. I ESPECIALLY couldn't due to autism. So to hold a kids tone to the importance of the tone of an actor on set to get the correct feel is completely idiotic. And some teen girls literally *just sound like that*. They aren't "being rude" that's just what her voice sounds like. They aren't "making excuses" they are genuinely trying to fucking communicate their reasons so that an understanding can be reached. This shit is why EVERYONE SUCKS AT COMMUNICATING AND WE NEED TO FUCKING STOP DISCOURAGING HONEST AND OPEN COMMUNICATION

Most kids are innately honest until they are taught to lie by society or their parents. By making them FEAR honesty. By punishing them for communicating you are teaching them to lie. You are making lieing feel like the safest option even when you punish for lies. Because at least with the lie there's a chance of no punishment, but with the truth you'll 100% get punished.

#hot take #kids #psycology #communication #not a shitpost #autism #adhd #lies #large truth #language #honesty #rude #tone

[aragornsrockcollection]

Hello I’m here to talk about an opinion that isn’t so much unpopular because people don’t like it, but because it is splitting hairs and basically an argument based in semantics that sane people reasonably do not waste their time caring about it.

I am neither sane nor reasonable and therefore think about this a lot, and get ready to pull out a soapbox and type the Text Wall of China any time I hear people offhandedly contradict this opinion, and so I have come here today to die on this molehill, and write the over-long post of my dreams, because fuck it, it’s my blog.

Drumroll please:

Sauron is not The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings is the main antagonist though, so furthermore,

Sauron is not the main antagonist of The Lord of the Rings

I internally go insane every time someone says “Sauron, the eponymous Lord of the Rings” or “The antagonist never actually appears in Lord of the Rings” or uses Lord of the Rings as an penultimate example of having a flat ‘evil for evil’s sake’ villain. This is mostly in YouTube videos so I’m not calling out anyone here.

So who is the Lord of the Rings? Where do I get this shit? Why should anyone care?

I will tell you in far too much detail under this cut, because I told you I was gonna be extra about it and this is already long enough to inflict on my followers without their consent.

First and foremost, Frodo is not the Lord of the Rings either. Let’s get that out of the way. Gandalf explicitly tells us that in Many Meetings (the first chapter in Rivendell in Fellowship), when Pippin greets a newly awakened Frodo with quintessential Fool of a Took™️ swagger.

‘Hurray!’ cried Pippin, springing up. ‘Here is our noble cousin! Make way for Frodo, Lord of the Ring!’

‘Hush!’ Said Gandalf from the shadows at the back of the porch. ‘Evil things do not come into this valley; but all the same we should not name them. The Lord of the Ring is not Frodo, but the master of the Dark Tower of Mordor, whose power is again stretching out over the world! We are sitting in a fortress. Outside it is getting dark.’

So that’s my theory busted right off the bat! Gandalf straight up tells us the Lord of the Ring is Sauron (‘the master of the Dark Tower of Mordor’ which is Sauron).

But I already told you, this is a hair-splitting semantics-based theory! He said Sauron was the Lord of the Ring. Not the Lord of the RingS. Yes, this whole theory revolves around a single letter difference between the title of the series and Gandalf’s statement, WHAT OF IT?

But in all seriousness. Tolkien was a linguist. There was no way this choice was not deliberate, not on something so important to the narrative. And there is a very important difference between what he is referring to when he uses ‘The Ring” singular, and “The Rings” plural. The Ring that Frodo carried to Mordor has it’s singular nature highly emphasized by the language that surrounds it. THE definite article Ring, the ONE Ring. Just the One. Singular Singular Singular.

The Rings (plural) refers to the rings of power which Celebrimbor wrought, with Sauron’s help, but Sauron is objectively not the Lord of those rings. Not the three Elven ones at least, which he never touched and only suspects the location of. Without his One Ring he has no power over the Three, and a big problem with him regaining his Ring is that he would gain power over those rings, the ringbearers, and the safe realms that had been wrought with them, basically crippling those with the power to resist him.

Him NOT having the Ring, and therefore NOT having lordship over all the rings, is a pretty major plot point. Like, it’s not a reach to say Sauron not having the Ring is what drives the entire story. And he is NOT the Lord of the Rings without it.

And he never gains it, so is the whole series named after Sauron’s aspirations, that the main characters are trying to prevent? I mean, from an angle yes. But also no.

Because while Pippin and Gandalf’s exchange is the closest we come in the text to seeing the title, let me show you the only place within the covers that “The Lord of the Rings” is presented, at least in my beat up third hand 70’s edition. It may not be formatted like this in other editions, but I still think it says something about how we are supposed to read the title:

[Image ID: Masking tape can clearly be seen holding together my poor abused copy of Fellowship, open to the title page. THE LORD OF THE RINGS is written across the top of the page in all caps, directly below it is the Ring Poem, as if The Lord of the Rings is a the title not only of the series but of the poem. /.End ID]

The One Ring is the Lord of the Rings, not Sauron, who is the Lord of the Ring.

“What?” Say imaginary naysayers in my head, “How can a Ring be a Lord? And why does this matter, if Sauron is the Lord of the Ring, doesn’t that make him the Lord of the Rings by proxy? Why are you wasting your and my time making an argument about this?”

I’m glad you asked imaginary naysayer, let me speak to your first point. How can a ring be a Lord? Well, like any good first time speechwriter, I’ve turned to Miriam Webster, and asked it to define a word we already know, in this case ‘lord.’

[Image ID: Screenshot of the Miriam Webster definition of ‘lord.’ The ones that are relevant are 1: One having power and authority over others. 1a: A ruler by hereditary right or preeminence to whom service and obedience are due. And 1f: One that has achieved mastery or that exercises leadership or great power in some area /.End ID]

In the poem, it is the Ring that is spoken of as ruling, not Sauron. Sauron is actually listed in the same position as all the others who receive rings, “The Dark Lord on his Dark Throne” occupying the same place in the sentence structure as the “the Elven-kings under the sky” and “the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone” and “Mortal Men doomed to die.” It is the One Ring, not Sauron, who rules them all, fulfilling our first definition “A ruler by hereditary right or preeminence.” In this case it would be by right of preeminence, or superiority. The One Ring outclasses the other rings and thus dominates them, binding them to obedience and service. Gandalf calls it “the Master-Ring” when it is first revealed for what it is in Bag-End with the words appearing from the flame.

The Ring has it’s own will too. It’s repeatedly stated to be in control of Gollum when Gandalf is first telling us about it. I’m literally so spoiled for quotes about this that I was paralyzed with indecisiveness over what to use but let’s keep it simple with this one. It’s from Gandalf explaining why Gollum didn’t have the Ring allowing Bilbo to come upon it in the chapter “Shadows of the Past” from Fellowship:

‘It was not Gollum, Frodo, but the Ring itself that decided things. The Ring left him.’

So if Sauron is the Lord of the Ring, and the Ring is the Lord of the Rings, isn’t he Lord of the Rings by proxy? Yes, when he has the Ring. But also being the ruler of a lord doesn’t make the title of that lord your title, if that makes sense. People don’t call Aragorn the Prince of Ithilien, that’s Faramir’s title, Aragorn is King of the Reunited Kingdoms, he rules Ithilien, sure, but by proxy. Ithilien reports to Faramir who reports to Aragorn (I should be calling him Elessar since I’m talking about him as king, but whatever). If Aragorn lost the ability to contact Faramir or Ithilian, he would still theoretically be king there but he would have no practical control, just like Sauron with the Rings of Power.

Why does this matter? It mostly doesn’t. It does not change anything practically in the story at all.

But it matters to me, because it might help change perspective on the antagonist of LotR. It’s the Ring. Sauron is a force in the world, one the Ring is closely allied with, and from whom many of the obstacles come, but the entity that our protagonist is really fighting on every page is the Ring.

If Gandalf were the main character, or Aragorn, or almost anyone else on Middle Earth, Sauron would be the Primary Antagonist. But they are not. Frodo is the Primary Protagonist, and his struggle is NOT against Sauron, it is against the Ring.

If destroying the Ring had not destroyed Sauron, would Frodo have kept fighting in this war? NO! He had his task, and once it was done he was done, even if the world ended afterwards. Everything is driven by the Ring. The threat to the Shire comes from the presence of the Ring, so Frodo takes the Ring to Rivendell. The danger of the Ring is not neutralized by it being brought to Rivendell, so he continues his journey to destroy it once and for all. He doesn’t fight Sauron, he fights the Ring. He fights with himself to keep going in spite of the despair it levels on him, the poisonous words it whispers in his ear, the physical toll it takes on his body. He fights Boromir and Sam (not to the extent he does in the movie, but still a bit) and Gollum over the Ring. He negotiates with Faramir over the Ring.

And the Ring is SUCH a more interesting and nuanced villain to struggle with than Sauron. Sauron is representative of a force in the world. He controls events but never appears, because he acts as the source of all evil, it’s representation on earth (at least now Melkor is in the Void), but it is far more interesting to watch the effect he has on others than deal directly with a character that is so obviously in the wrong in every way. Making Sauron a physical character in LotR is like making the Devil a present character in basically any piece of media that deals with evil.

Evil at its purest isn’t that interesting, because it contains no conflict. Leaving Sauron as an offscreen player leaves us to see characters that are not pure evil struggle with that conflict.

The fascinating thing about the Ring is that it has no power outside of what you give it. But given enough time even the best people, like Frodo, will end up losing themselves to it, as it whispers in your ear with your own voice.

I want to go ballistic when people point to LotR and say it has a one dimensional villain. EVERYONE’S OWN VIOLENCE, DESPAIR AND THIRST FOR POWER IS THE VILLAIN OF LORD OF THE RINGS! Brought to the fore by a small unassuming golden trinket which just happens to also be the titular Lord of the Rings.

Honestly “The Ring is the Villain of LotR change my mind” should be its own big long post with lots of quotes and shit, the fact that the Ring is The Lord of the Rings just being a small point in it.

But unless you are a specific type of interested in story structure and stuff none of this is at all meaningful and it really, really doesn’t matter, so I’m gonna go.

Thanks for coming with me on this dumb journey.

#tolkien #jirt #lotr #lord of the rings #the one ring #Sauron #jrr tolkien #Frodo #story structure #long post… even for me! #hot take #Gandalf #look #I’m sorry ok #this is so inconsequential and I say this as someone who likes meta