#is it just me or do i just write what is essentially the same sauron essay over and over again?

[saurons-pr-department]

I've been thinking a bit about how I would like to see a depiction of Sauron's time following the War of Wrath, in particular his potential for having, for a short while anyway, 'redeemed' himself before falling back into evil.

Now, I love a true (attempted?) redemption arc as much as the next pr department, but I'm not convinced that's quite what we'd be looking at here. As far as he was concerned, prior to the War of Wrath, he was serving the True King of Arda. (We're told he genuinely wanted Melkor to win the war and there are some elements that make me view him as a somewhat fanatical follower of his lord). He then witnesses their enemies brutally defeat Him, distroy the land that should have been His and then leave the mess behind them. I'm not sure he'd really go straight to "are we the baddies?" here*. If he belived in Melkor's cause, then I don't see why he wouldn't have thought of themselves as the good guys. And with the state that Middle Earth was left in after the Valar attacked, as well as their treatment of his lord, I don't think there's anything in front of him to tell him otherwise. In other words, there is nothing to be redeemed from. At least in his thoughts initially. And I think this is where we see the flaw that allows for him to slip back into evil. What we view as evil and what he views as evil aren't the same thing. His actions are a means to an end, and the end he has planned is so perfect that it'll justify any means. He genuinely wants to fix Middle Earth. Unfortunately for everyone involved though, his moral compas has never really had a good idea of where north actually is...

That isn't to say that I don't think he would learn nothing. That would be too static. I just think it means that there may not be any need for him to actively attempt to be a better person or to be actively trying to turn over a new leaf. I don't see that as something that should be focused on in a failed redemption story for him at this point in time. (I think that would suit post canon better, and perhaps even give it more weight because he can see his failure here and how close he could have been). I think he would eventually question at least some of his past actions. He would find things in his new life that he enjoys. Perhaps he's reminded of how much he loves creating instead of destroying? But I don't think he's setting out to do that. He's setting out to get involved and help restore Middle Earth because as far as he's concerned he's already one of the good guys. For me, this story would need way more layers to it than him simply saying "I'm good now. Actually, never mind, I'm evil again". I think it's far too black and white for how he sees himself. I don't think at any point does he truly think of himself as evil. He thinks of himself as right. He just has a very warped sense of right and wrong. His fall back into evil is inevitable, but he doesn't realise he's doing it because he never considered himself evil in the first place. This is why he fails.

[*I know he presents himself to Eonwe for pardon, but since he nopes out the second the Valar and Valinor are mentioned (and he suspects that he'll end up losing the status that he enjoys in Middle Earth), I don't really know how much of that came from a realisation that he had done wrong. It seems too quick for a realisation like that. So I'm taking it a bit more like either covering his ass or a moment of doubt in the face of utter defeat that then passes once he gets a little slap of reality.]

#mairon #sauron #silmarillion #is it just me or do i just write what is essentially the same sauron essay over and over again? #anyway as usual i thought this was incredibly stupid as soon as i wrote it but we'll post it anyway since i spent time on it #my new thought #mairon didn't know he nearly had a redemption arc #which is why it's a 'some think it was genuine some think it wasn't' kind of deal #he really is his own biggest problem

[the-elusive-soleil]

Been thinking (as a thing to maybe write in the far future) of an AU where Fingon essentially Dernhelms his way back to Beleriand during the War of Wrath, and comes and finds Maedhros et al at Amon Ereb or wherever.

Context: since his death in the Nirnaeth, Fingon has been watching the tapestries in Mandos for news of how everyone is doing. So he knows how disastrous things are generally, and he also is aware of how Maedhros specifically is Not Doing Great after Fingon's death. In a battle that Maedhros organized. If Fingon were able, he'd tell Maedhros that it's fine and he doesn't blame him, but he just has to watch.

He watches through the Second and Third Kinslayings, grieving for what his cousin/best friend/person is going through and becoming, and then he finds out about Earendil and Elwing making it to Aman with the Silmaril and pleading for aid. Against all odds, it seems like they might actually get what they're asking for.

If he can get out, maybe he can find a way to tag along with whoever/whatever is going to Middle-earth. If he can get to Middle-earth, maybe he can track down Maedhros and...something. Not kill him, he's almost certain, not if there's anything of the person he knew still in there. Honestly, he doesn't have a detailed plan beyond "get back to Maedhros and hope that this helps somehow".

In a stunning display of dissembling, Fingon manages to convince Namo that he's fully healed and ready to return to life and definitely not going to do anything reckless once that happens. This works somehow, and Fingon finds himself back in Aman. His still-living and reembodied family members are delighted to see him, and also very clear that he is not going to join the Host of the Valar and jump back into a war.

And Fingon completely agrees! He's not joining the Host so much as hitching a ride with them, after all, and he has other priorities than getting tangled up in the war.

So he basically sneaks out and disguises himself as an ordinary Amanyar soldier, and is able to keep from being discovered until they complete the crossing and start marching through Beleriand. And then once he reckons they're as close to Amon Ereb as they're going to get, he grabs a horse and slips away and rides as hard as he can.

(It's been maybe a few months since he was last able to check the tapestries for news, and he's fairly sure that nothing more can have gone wrong in such short time, but then again...)

As luck would have it, as he's approaching, he runs into Maedhros, who's out on a patrol ride and doesn't have anyone with him (because there just isn't enough manpower left to send multiple people on a patrol when one of the people in question is him).

This might also be a bad thing, though, because it means that there's nobody else around to assure Maedhros that yes, they're all seeing the same thing he is. Which means Maedhros' first response is to ignore Fingon, thinking he's an illusion/hallucination.

Fingon loses his patience with this pretty quickly and reaches out and grabs Maedhros' arm to prove he's real and. Maedhros' eyes get very scary very fast.

Because.

Namo said that Noldor who died in Beleriand would receive little pity when it came to reembodiment, and everyone has pretty much interpreted that to mean that none of them will ever be reembodied. So Maedhros' first instinct is to assume that this isn't really Fingon come back.

And he spent time in Angband. He knows how orcs are made. He knows exactly what kind of twisted makings Sauron and Morgoth are capable of.

And they never got what was left of Fingon's body back, did they?

He wrenches his arm away, hissing, and goes for his sword. "You cannot fool me. I see you for what you are--I should have known such a torment would be devised eventually. Does your master truly value my pain above the havoc you could wreak in these lands? Or does he simply believe I am maddened and desperate enough to accept the deception that others would see through?"

Fingon has no clue what is going on.

He tries to get out some kind of explanation, but Maedhros raises his sword to his throat.

"Perhaps he thought I would not be able to kill something that looked like him," he muses. "A foolish assumption. I have killed him before, if not with my own hand; I can strike down an abominable copy, when I know that his fea at least is safe in Mandos, beyond all harm."

But for all that, Maedhros can't bring himself to do it right that second, because this thing, this shell, is looking at him with Finno's eyes and speaking with Finno's voice, and once he moves, there will be a bleeding body on the ground looking like Finno's to haunt his nightmares.

And that ends up giving Fingon time to talk Maedhros down, and convince him that it's really him and that he talked his way into reembodiment and came across the sea with the Host of the Valar so that he could find Maedhros, because he saw everything via the tapestries and knew he needed to.

Maedhros makes a small, broken noise,

drops his sword,

and stumbles forward, and Fingon just barely catches him in a tight hug before he falls.

...

And I have no idea yet where to go from there besides the obvious plot points of Fingon meeting his great-great-nephews and of a less murdery and fiery solution to the Silmaril Problem at the end of the war, because my plan is also basically "get Fingon back to Maedhros and hope that this makes things better somehow".

#silmarillion #fingon #maedhros #potential AU #ramblings that turned into a scene snippet #standard maedhros mental health warnings apply #angst #assumed hallucination #also maedhros temporarily believes this is #body horror #because i couldn't not go there once i'd thought of it

[imakemywings]

What do you think Sauron’s opinion of Elrond was?

OKAY I know this has taken me a few days and I just have to say: it's the fault of my Sims laptop which I booted up again. I don't know how that game continues to suck me in for hours at a time.

Anyway.

I mean tl;dr incredibly negative, but let's break it down.

First, I think Sauron was contemptuous of Elrond. Elrond is someone who values peace and patience and kindness. If the Second Age timeline on Tolkien Gateway is correct, he establishes Rivendell as a haven for refugees the same year that Sauron tortures Celebrimbor to death for the location of the rings of power. Sauron, as we know, is someone who values power and is willing to go through any lengths to achieve it, as well as someone who desires to impose his will on others, believing he knows best. The Nazgul are an excellent example of this--Men he tempted to corruption, bound to himself essentially as slaves, and continues to support in their tortured existence well beyond when they should have been released by death. I think he would look at anyone as gentle as Elrond and think them weak and cowardly.

In Sauron's view, Elrond either has the ability to exercise more power and chooses not to, or Elrond lacks the ability entirely and either way Sauron finds him pathetic.

However, Elrond is also a direct descendant of Luthien Tinuviel, which makes Sauron reluctant to write him off entirely. He has not forgotten that whole clusterfuck. He never had to go toe-to-toe with Dior or Elwing because the Elves were busy destroying themselves, but I think for this reason he is also wary of writing Elrond off entirely. Furthermore, although at more of a distance, Elrond is also directly related to Fingolfin "challenged Melkor to a 1v1 and actually got several hits in wtf" Finwion and Turgon "can't find me or my city can you loser" Fingolfinion. He's unwilling to out of hand assume that Elrond entirely lacks the power to cause problems for him, because his family history suggests the possibility exists.

By the time of LotR, I think Sauron knows or suspects that Elrond has one of the Three Rings of course one of Luthien's brat descendants has one which also contributes to his ability to be difficult.

He would obviously prefer for Elrond to just be dead and out of the way, and I think he looks forward to destroying Rivendell simply to spoil one of the last Elven refuges that exist in Middle-earth, but there's a reason he didn't bring the hammer down there immediately. He's had enough experience with Elrond's family to want to handle him carefully.

#elrond #lotr #sauron #meta #tolkien tag #Anon are you the same anon who asked the earlier Tolkien meta questions #I'm flattered by your interest #always happy to think more about Arda XD #mine

[liminal-zone]

Fanfic roundup 2022

(2021 round up)

LIST OF FANWORKS

Posted:

dependence (The Matrix | Neo/Trinity | codependency | rated NR)

See your enemy (The Matrix | Neo/Trinity, Trinity+Smith | the one that got away | rated M)

But mine is as hungry as the sea (LOTR | Galadriel/Sauron | a millennia of dreams | rated E)

i’d like to hold her head underwater (LOTR | Galadriel/Sauron | kissin’ and makin’ oaths| rated M)

That’s the whole ice cream cone (LOTR RPF | Charlie/Morfydd | scholarship is sexy | rated M) (ao3 locked)

Crave (LOTR | Galadriel/Sauron | tentacles | rated E) (wip to update v soon)

WIPs:

LOTR: an earnest take on the celeborn custody battle crack (posting soon)

LOTR: Dark Galadriel and the dyad rings - teases here

LOTR: healing generational trauma with fourth age Arwen and her peepaw

The Matrix: Trinity and Smith as mirrors - tease here

MCU: the final conclusion of my winterbaron sugar daddy fic

MCU: a full horror Time Variance Authority Trash Party with stucky rising

Total number of completed works/fandoms written in: six completed works in 2022 for a total of just over 15k words; two for The Matrix, three for LOTR, and one RPF. 

OVERALL THOUGHTS: What a strange year! The Matrix fics were essentially remixes and the LOTR fics were essentially a fever dream zeitgeist high. I wish that I could have a more steady creative process???? But I’m very proud of the creative work this year and the madness I felt in writing these fics.

PERSONAL FAVORITE: The moment in “I’d like to hold her head underwater” where Galadriel has a fantasy of fucking Halbrand into a dying Sauron’s armored body. “And wonderfully, exquisitely, she feels that weak dark spirit shamed at the ignominy of this dark choice.” FUCKING A, LIZZEN.

MOST UNDERAPPRECIATED: I actually feel quite happy with the appreciation I received for all of my fics this year. The kudos may be low on The Matrix ones but my matrix fam had wonderful things to say about them. Britomart keeps tagging me in a discord server as she introduces folk to “See your enemy”, the best. Crave could use more love but LET’S BE REAL. CRAVE COULD DESERVE A FUCKING NEXT CHAPTER, YA COCK TEASE.

MOST POPULAR: “But mine is as hungry as the sea” by every metric. It’s incredible, do NOT get me wrong, I love the shit out of this fic, it truly was a demon I had to exorcize into gorgeous words and tragic romantic angst – BUT it’s popular bcs I gamed the zeitgeist timing LETTUCE BE QUITE REAL. In my old age, I’m very wise to the methodologies of fic popularity. XX

STORY WITH THE SEXIEST MOMENT: So, what I love the best about  “But mine is as hungry as the sea” is that I couldn’t have Gal and Hal talk to each other if at the VERY least he was finger banging her. AT THE VERY LEAST. Like. My parody version of that fic is them having benign boring conversations as he’s three fingers in and she’s lost count of how much she’s come. Second place is the same fic where I talk about her being sticky and him shaking BECAUSE I AM TRASH (affectionate). 

MOST FUN STORY TO WRITE: The posted chapter of Crave was such a fun time. The bulk of it just flowed out of me in like an HOUR. I just love monsterfucking and a woman who is AS HUNGRY AS THE SEA. It just had so much delicious promise. UGHHH, so much fun.

HARDEST: Hahahahahaha the unposted finish to Crave. What have I done. Writing a kink with specific tropes for a pairing where I am resistant to those tropes being used with them? HAHAHAHAH. WHAT AM I DOING. (I’ll make it work and people will like it or they won’t!). 

BIGGEST SURPRISE: Having the exact same fever dream zeitgeist high while writing like I did after TLJ in December 2017. I thought that was like a cocaine high and I’d never feel it again. I THOUGHT I WAS DEAD INSIDE. (I’m back to being a little dead inside so…. that’s…….. fun for me and my therapist.) (WORKING ON IT.)

DID YOU TAKE ANY RISKS IN WRITING THIS YEAR? Writing the first RPF fic for The Rings of Power. NEW LOTRPS JUST DROPPED, BAYBEEEE. It was initially locked, but then I opened it back up because I was like, “this fandom can behave with rpf, right?” Hahaha, nah bro, so it’s locked up again and I’m unlikely to write another (until there’s new irl canon i guess?). 

MOST UNINTENTIONALLY TELLING STORY: Y’all here know how I feel about Charlie’s Sauron scholarship, so you can’t be surprised that I have Morfydd jump him immediately after she learns about it. SHRUG!

FAVORITE LINES/SCENES: Honestly, the entire tease for the Trinity + Groff!Smith. Fucking brilliant work. “I accept your terms,” she says. “I didn’t make any,” he says, weak. “Exactly,” she replies.

2023 WRITING AMBITIONS: Write more steadily and consistently. Get back into the drabble mode. Make time, take time, just do it. It doesn’t have to be groundbreaking, it just has to be creating something. The joy of creation is like nothing else. Chase that high.

#lizzen fic #text post #about fic

[dailyadventureprompts]

Monsters Reimagined:  The Big Bad Evil Guy/The Archvillain

Enough people have written in to me asking for advice about the main “BBEG” villain of their campaigns that I’ve come to realize there is something deeply wrong about how this trope has proliferated through the fantasy and RPG hobbies.  I’m not sure whether to blame the panoply of Tolkien knockoffs for flooding the market with bargainbin dark lords, or tvtropes for codifying a wide spectrum of villains down into one catchall baddie, but it seems like most apprentice DMs are under the assumption that most d&d campaigns are focused on disrupting the schemes of one central, likely undead bastard.

TLDR: The way you’ve been taught to use the BBEG trope is wrong, and trying to build stories around it is going to result in bad campaigns. The whole point of having a BBEG is not to have them act as a direct antagonist to your players, but to provide a looming threat/motivation for people and other factions in the world to react to. Putting your players on an immediate collision course with this arch-villian is going too big, too soon, in no small part because they’ve yet to become heroes WORTHY of challenging such a villain.

Below the cut, I’m going to discuss how some popular media franchises used the BBEG trope and the lessons that most imitators failed to pick up on. Then we’re going to discuss how to use these lessons to build better campaigns, and better villians to threaten them.

Why is the BBEG such a strong trope in tabletop RPGs?:  To be completely upfront, I think it’s Sauron, the OG dark lord, against which all others are invariably measured. Because Sauron was so very essential to the seminal work of fantasy, everything that’s come after has felt the need to create an equally omnipresent baddie that has skeletal fingers in every pie despite how worn out and cliche it’s ended up being.

It’s also an easy stopgap from a writing perspective, no reason for an apprentice Dm to learn about threat escalation or how different antagonists can narratively reflect heroes at different parts of their journeys when you can just grab a comically overpowered Saturday morning cartoon villain and make them the source of all your party’s woes from level 1 onward.

To demonstrate my point, I’d like to highlight something that seems to have gotten lost in the 70 some years of broken inspiration telephone since LOTR was published: that Sauron wasn’t a GUY, he was an theme, a force that drove others into action and threatened to remake the world into his own image. Sure, once upon a time there’d been a Satan analog dude conspiring to rule the world, looking to ensnare people with magic rings, but by the time of the book trilogy that dude was long gone and what was left behind was the power and evil he’d embodied looking for a new vessel. That’s why every character who knows what they’re doing is terrified of the ring, because they ( or anyone who claimed the ring for themselves) could become the NEW Sauron and plunge the world into darkness, cruelty, and war in an attempt to make the world fit their goals. People move to conflict with Saruon ( battling his orcs, or fleeing from war) while at the same time being drawn to the ring, facilitating the drama of the series.

If I wanted to make a hot take, I’d go so far as to say that you CAN’T decide on the main villain of your campaign in advance because you have no idea what exactly your campaign is going to become in the log run, what choices party is going to make and what they’re going to decide to make their story ABOUT. 

As another misattributed “big bad evil guy” example, lets look at Starwars.  I’ve seen so many people model their archvillian after Darth Vader, featuring a fall from grace to a personal connection with the heroes, completely missing the fact that Darth Vader isn’t the BBEG, the Emperor is. Note especially that the emperor isn’t even a character in the first movie, because the stakes of Luke’s initial journey are solely about finding Leia/completing her mission of destroying the Deathstar.  Darth Vader is just a heavy working for the empire, assigned the job of tracking down whoever it was that stole the deathstar plans, but largely insignificant in the greater scheme of galactic politics. The heroes can have interactions with and feelings about Darth Vader, even beating him in a fight, where as The Emperor, as a face for the empire itself only presents himself in the narrative once the heroes have established themselves.  It’s only retroactively that the emperor becomes the one who’s been pulling the strings, ascending from a bit of background dialog thanks to a raising of stakes and to facilitate Vader’s redemption in the 3rd movie.

So how can you do the BBEG right?:  When you’re planning your campaign, you should be putting the majority of your attention into the first arc, rather than trying to set up the ending before you even begin, perhaps thinking about the second arc of your game if you’ve got something really fun planned. Only once the campaign is true and fully underway do you start thinking about real a real archvillian, who’s defeat will signal the end of your campaign. Consider multiple options, then seed the best ones as background lore into the game’s ongoing story, the way you got the emperor mentioned as part of the worldbuilding, or Denethor introduced as part of Boromir’s backstory. Defining these arch-villians is best done once you’ve established some themes for your campaign, that way they can stand in direct threat/opposition to the sort of heroes your party have become.

Here’s some heroic archetypes and some final boss style badguys for them to face off against:

Kingdom builders would doubtlessly have faced numerous threats to the stability of their realm, but what happens when their hard work risks putting an authoritarian in charge?

A band of scrappy outlaws and tricksters have finally outwitted the law and gotten away with their grand prize: A destiny they never would have wanted and a pending doom they can’t evade.

The party finally reforged the artifact and used it to beat the civilization devouring monster, only to realize that the use of their ultimate weapon has damaged the world itself and started a slide towards collapse.

After innumerable trials our heroes finally got revenge against the villain that so deeply wronged them, now they must stand on trial in the celestial courts to prove that their ends justified their means.

As the explorers finally pencil in the last corner of their maps, they come to realize they’ve become responsible for all this territory they once only visited as tourists, facing an enemy that will sweep over the land and leave them nowhere to escape.

#drafting an adventure #DM advice #dm tips #writing advice #villain #dnd #dungeons and dragons #adventure #5e homebrew #homebrew adventure #bbeg #high level #monsters reimagined

[marybeatriceofmodena]

You know, I’ve been thinking today about how Alina doesn’t even really work as a Reluctant Hero, compared her to Frodo to see the key differences (since Frodo is pretty much the Poster Child for the Reluctant Hero), and then I realized... 

You know, I think L/eigh B/ardugo wrote TGT as a very black-and-white fairytale, where Alina is the princess, Mal’s the knight in the shining armor, and the Darkling is basically the dragon, except it doesn’t really work because the worldbuilding requires an approach that’s... a lot more grey? 

The thing is, though, I realized... Alina and Mal are basically meant to be Frodo and Sam. Except that, again... it doesn’t really work. 

Frodo works as a Reluctant Hero, because he makes it clear multiple times that he doesn’t want to carry the Ring. He asks Gandalf to do it for him, he asks Galadriel, he asks Aragorn, and they all refuse, because they are (or are called to be) in a position of power, and while them being in a position of power is presented as good, the One Ring essentially represents the fast, easy way to get to it, which will ultimately corrupt them rather than have them fight their way towards their goal. 

Frodo, meanwhile, is the right person to carry the Ring, because he comes from a humble place and he doesn’t really have any aspirations to become powerful. And while he’s clearly burdened by having to carry the One Ring, and that he makes it clear that he wishes the Ring had never come to him, he still goes on anyway, despite all the hardships he faces, because his ultimate goal is to save the Shire and his friends, and that desire is stronger than any fear or greed he may have. 

Now, J.R.R. Tolkien himself said that he didn’t really see Frodo as THE Hero, and that Sam is the real Hero of the story to him. Which makes sense, given how Sam was based off young men from rural England he met while fighting in World War I. But also, the story makes it very clear that without Sam, who’s arguably the most pure-hearted person in all of Middle-Earth, Frodo would have definitely failed in his task. The reason why he resists the temptation to carry the One Ring is LITERALLY because him protecting and helping Frodo is more important to him. Sam doesn’t give two shits about power. Helping Frodo save the Shire and coming back to everything he’s ever loved is more important to him. 

Both Alina and Frodo are pure-hearted orphans who are given tremendous power: Alina is the Sun Summoner, and Frodo carries the One Ring. In both cases, power is represented as a corruptive force, that makes people go mad with greed. It works in the context of The Lord of the Rings, given how the rings were given to leaders of Elves, Dwarves and Men, and that Sauron created the One Ring to rule over and control all of them. The Grisha, on the other hand, unlike the Ring-bearers, are not in a position of power, given they are essentially victims of Fantastic Racism in pretty much every country. While Ravka treats them slightly better than in Fjerda or Shu Han, it’s still not ideal and it’s something that could be taken away from them at any moment. It would be an entirely different matter if the Grisha were the ones rulling over Ravka and viewing otkazat’sya as lesser, and in that context, Alina being the Sun Summoner would be a very obvious road to her becoming corrupted. 

Frodo refusing to carry the One Ring and asking other people to take that burden from him comes from a place of genuine fear of what the Ring might do to him. In his place, we’d probably all do the same thing. That’s what makes his acceptance of his task all the more admirable. Alina, on the other hand, refuses to be the Sun Summoner and to help her fellow Grisha because that stands in the way of her ending up with Mal. She never gives any sign that she’s truly empathizing with the Grisha’s plight, she tries to run away not once, but twice, and most importantly, she never sees herself as one of them. They are othered, but it matters little to her, because she doesn’t want to be othered herself, because that stands in the way of her running off with a boy. It’s basically the equivalent of Frodo being overcome by fear after seeing the fate of the Shire in Galadriel’s mirror, and just demanding to be sent to the Grey Havens straight away to save his own ass from it all and just leaving the One Ring to whoever wants to deal with it. At that point, it’s not being a Reluctant Hero: it’s being a coward at best, a selfish bastard at worst. 

(And that’s why I don’t really buy her when she tells Aleksander that they could have had it all if he had told her all the truth from the start, because... again, she didn’t seem to care about the Grisha that much and Aleks telling her everything would have actually been a sure way of having her run as fast as possible the other way. I know the story is trying to tell me otherwise and that the plot point I’m supposed to see here is that Alina was willing to do something until she felt betrayed by Aleks, which is... not what was shown here, and it’s especially annoying considering how Alina is a deserter in every sense of the word, and that any army would have court-martialed her for running away.) 

So if Alina is meant to be a pure, selfless heroine, who loses her powers because she also refuses to be greedy... that just falls completely flat, because if anything, she’s as selfish as Frodo is selfless, because all of this really just boils down to her wanting to run off with Mal. 

Now, onto Sam and Mal. Both of them are basically Everymen who are there to help the Hero and keep their feet on the ground. As mentioned earlier, Sam is the one who helps Frodo finish his mission to Mordor, and the story makes it clear Frodo would have failed without him. TGT meanwhile presents Mal as Alina’s “True North”... which could work on paper as Alina’s reminder to temper Aleksander’s efforts and to remind him that in order for Grisha to be viewed as people, it is important for them to also remember that balance and peace between Grisha and otkazat’sya will be essential, so resentment and hatred can be healed between both groups. 

The key difference here is that Sam is completely supportive of Frodo at all times. Even when Frodo sends him away in the film, Sam goes back after him the minute he realizes he’s been tricked by Gollum. He never shames Frodo whenever he falls prey to temptation, he simply reminds him of who he is and what he must fight for, and even when he’s climbing Mount Doom, he still carries Frodo on his back despite being probably completely exhausted, because Frodo’s more exhausted than he is. He completely accepts Frodo as both his friend, the Hobbit from the Shire, and the Ring-bearer he needs to help, even if he might die in the process. 

Mal (in the books, that is) makes it very clear that he does not accept Alina as both the girl he knew and the Sun Summoner. He only wants the girl, and whenever Alina makes steps towards being the Sun Summoner, he basically sulks and yells at her for not paying attention to him. Despite Alina becoming othered in the eyes of the world, he refuses to see her as othered, mostly because it is inconvenient to him rather than because he loves her for who she is. That’s why in the end, people feel like Alina lost her powers in order to be with Mal, because Mal would never accept her in her entirety. Sam, on the other hand, accepts Frodo as both Ring-bearer and Hobbit, because if he didn’t, Frodo would have failed. 

And while they made Mal in the show a lot nicer than his book counterpart, he still doesn’t work as Alina’s “True North”, because he cossets her in her selfishness. He may say he doesn’t care about how Alina is a Grisha in this one, but he also doesn’t consider the implications of it all - which is especially glaring given he’s a soldier himself. Like, look, if you’re going to slap in a racism plotline to make Mal/ina work, you’d think that being half-Shu would give Mal a little awareness that people are going to treat Alina badly for being half-Shu AND a Grisha, and given Alina is the MOTHERFUCKING SUN SUMMONER AND A SAINT, maybe, just maybe he’d tell her: “Heh, it’s kinda lame we’ll just run off and let everyone else in the dust, you know, especially since we could make our lives as well as everyone else’s better?” Seriously, if you’re going to make Mal Alina’s “True North”, have him face her duties and her calling whether she likes it or not, don’t coddle her when she wants to run the other way because she wants to hide under a rock for the rest of her life. 

With all that being said, that leaves us with the Darkling, who... I mean, given his whole schtick is that power corrupts and makes you evil and crazy, I guess that makes him Gollum, but sexy. 

Gollum, but sexy. 

That single expression has been haunting me ever since I started writing the above novel and I fucking hate it. You’re welcome. No one wanted Sexy Gollum. Absolutely no one. Fuck this shyte. See, this is why I want Darkling Redemption. I do not want to live in a world where Gollum is sexy. I need brain bleach. 

Even here it doesn’t even fucking work because Gollum hid in a cave with the Ring with a strategically placed cloth because no one wants to see his crusty ass family jewels anyway, while Aleks worked his ass off to give the Grisha a safe place to live and to at the very least ensure they’re useful enough to not be killed like animals. Like, if you’re going to give the world something that’s gonna definitely not make me sleep tonight like Sexy Gollum, at least do it right. 

#now i have thoroughly traumatized myself :) #anti grishaverse #anti leigh bardugo #anti mal #anti malina #darklina #alarkling #rants and reviews

[absynthe--minded]

Beren, the Nauglamír, and Editorial Oversight

this is gonna be a long one, guys.

so one of the things that makes Christopher Tolkien’s contributions to the greater legacy of the Tolkien Legendarium so complex is that he, as the posthumous editor of his father’s works, essentially was able to declare what is or isn’t “canon” in a way that no amount of scholarship (fannish or professional) will be able to truly successfully challenge. it’s his vision of Arda that was published as the Silmarillion, and his interpretations of the Professor’s works that have come to act as the standard and the baseline. after all, the Silm’s been traditionally published and translated into many languages; it’s far more accessible than out-of-print/print-on-demand copies of the History, and reading it doesn’t require you to slog through pages and pages of commentary or to have a good solid understanding of what the story is so you can follow along with lists of bullet points outlining events timeline-style.

of course, Chris also made mistakes, and those mistakes became enshrined in canon just as surely as anything else. I and many others have discussed the Gil-galad problem (namely, that Gil-galad’s parentage is oblique and strange at best and downright contradictory at worst, and Christopher’s choice to make him Fingon’s son was an admitted error) but it’s not the only case of a decision later proving to be the wrong one.

with that background, let’s talk about Beren.

Beren and Lúthien are in an unusual position in the Legendarium as a whole. Not only are they the sole author-insert characters, they’re also uniquely positioned as moral compasses - every other person in the Silm is morally ambiguous to some degree, or does bad or questionable things; not so with these two. If Beren or Lúthien does something, it’s explicitly the right thing to do, and this is confirmed by the narrative. If someone else opposes them, that is the wrong course of action. They’re not merely protagonists who make a lot of good choices, they’re good people, and the things they do are right because of their moral fiber and nobility. Of the active agents who are developed to any great degree, they’re the least complex and the most clear-cut, and the narrative itself treats them differently from other characters, validating them and framing them as the sort of spotless heroes that are in short supply in this Age.

This characterization runs headlong into the actions Beren takes in early drafts of the story and in the published Silm, where after dwarves kill Thingol and sack Menegroth, Beren (with the help of some allies, usually either Green-elves or Ents) ambushes them and duels the Lord of Nogrod for possession of the Nauglamír, a necklace originally owned by Finrod in Nargothrond that Húrin brought to Doriath after his release from Angband. Thingol commissioned dwarven artisans to alter the piece and create a setting in it for the Silmaril that Beren and Lúthien had won for him from Morgoth, and there was a dispute about payment that escalated to violence and ended in his death at dwarvish hands. The battle, later called the Battle of the Thousand Caves, was more or less a victory for dwarvish forces, as they escaped both with the Nauglamír and several other treasures from Menegroth and they defeated Sindarin forces that set out to stop them.

In most versions of the story, Melian sends Mablung to Ossiriand to warn Beren and Lúthien of what’s happened, and essentially asks them to do something to stop the retreating dwarvish forces from reaching Nogrod, where they came from. Beren does this, killing the Lord of Nogrod himself and taking the Nauglamír and the Silmaril home to Lúthien, who then gives it to Dior, who takes it back to Doriath when he takes the throne there. This is the version of the tale that’s in the published Silmarillion, and the one that’s consistent throughout the earlier drafts that Tolkien himself wrote.

But it’s not the only version that exists.

In The War of the Jewels, which compiles versions of the story written late in Tolkien’s life, we find The Tale of Years. This is not a cohesive narrative, instead functioning (like many of the writings that make up the bulk of the History of Middle-Earth) rather like a series of bullet points mentioning and summarizing key events. It progresses chronologically, giving a sense of passing time and organization to the First Age, and it has this to say about the Nauglamír and the battle at Sarn Athrad:

“The Dwarves of Belegost and Nogrod invade Doriath. King Elu Thingol is slain and his realm ended. Melian escapes and carries away the Nauglamír and the Silmaril, and brings them to Beren and Lúthien. She then forsook Middle-earth and returned to Valinor.

Curufin and Celegorm, hearing of the sack of Menegroth, ambushed the Dwarves at the Fords of Ascar as they sought to carry off the Dragon-gold to the mountains. The Dwarves were defeated with great loss, but they cast the gold into the river, which was therefore after named Rathlóriel. Great was the anger of the sons of Fëanor to discover that the Silmaril was not with the Dwarves; but they dared not to assail Lúthien. Dior goes to Doriath and endeavours to recover the realm of Thingol.”

(This quote is taken from the latest and typed version of the Tale of Years, an earlier handwritten version exists that is shorter but includes the same relevant details.)

Christopher Tolkien elected not to use this version of events, instead choosing to maintain the earlier tale where Beren had an active role; he was never truly satisfied with this, or with the Ruin of Doriath as a whole. In the commentary to the Tale of Years he wrote that “It seemed at that time that there were elements inherent in the story of the Ruin of Doriath as it stood that were radically incompatible with ‘The Silmarillion’ as projected, and that there was here an inescapable choice: either to abandon that conception, or else to alter the story. I think now that this was a mistaken view, and that the undoubted difficulties could have been, and should have been, surmounted without so far overstepping the bounds of the editorial function.” We have, for a second time, an admission of error, though unlike the Gil-galad question there is not a specific choice singled out as a flaw.

Why am I talking about this? Well, simply, I think that the version of the story where Celegorm and Curufin attack the Dwarvish host is the one that makes the most sense, and I’m here to make my case for its adoption as fanon. I’m not trying to take a purely scholarly view - I can’t prove that Tolkien’s true vision was for this version of the text, and of course it’s only in the one draft - but as a fandom we’ve reached the consensus before that specific versions of the story are preferred, even when they only appear in a single draft (Amrod’s death at Losgar stands out as the best example).

So here’s my argument. 

1. Beren is not a violent man, and having him act as a murderer is out of character.

This one is pretty simple - Beren is an outlaw fighting against Sauron, a defender of his family’s land, a nobleman in his own right, and a vegetarian who is keenly aware of what it is to be hunted and pursued. The man we’re introduced to in the other versions of the story is not someone who would answer violence with violence unless there was no other choice, and in fact he becomes less violent as the story goes on. Putting him in a position where he’s acting militarily against the Dwarves introduces elements to his character that simply don’t exist before this story. It’s inconsistent, and it also ends his life on a strange, sour note - he’s not an uncomplicated hero anymore, he’s also got blood on his hands.

2. Beren is one of the moral compasses of the Silmarillion, and having him be the one to spearhead the ambush of the Dwarves frames that act of violence in a very troubling light.

Like I said above, Beren and Lúthien are good people who do good things, and those things are good because of who’s doing them. If Beren kills the Dwarves and the Lord of Nogrod, that act becomes justifiable, and perhaps even the right thing to do, simply due to the fact that one of the two true heroes of the First Age is doing it. The narrative never frames this as a downfall or a moral event horizon for Beren, either - he made the correct decision and the consequences that come afterward aren’t things that can be blamed on him. But wholesale slaughter, even slaughter of people who do bad things, is not something Tolkien ever condones or paints in a truly positive light, so it makes more sense for it to come at the hands of people who aren’t solely positive forces. It’s thematically in line with what Tolkien does through the rest of the text, and it feels more like Arda, at least to me. I think an argument could be made that Tolkien realized that making Celegorm and Curufin the responsible party would achieve this end, and that’s why this version exists in the first place, but there’s no proof of it.

3. The Laiquendi are nonviolent, and it makes no sense for them to be involved in this fight. The Ents being involved at all is somewhat nonsensical based on what we know of them in The Lord of the Rings.

Another simple one - we don’t know much about the Laiquendi, but we know they’re not really keen on warfare or on any undue violence, so having them be Beren’s backup is a weird divergence from their presentation in the rest of the Legendarium. And the Ents are pretty universally depicted as uninvested in the wars of the incarnates, only taking action against Saruman when it becomes apparent they have no other choice - why should they care about Thingol’s death, or care enough to murder dwarves?

4. Melian’s actions make far more sense in a version of the story where she doesn’t merely abandon Doriath once she realizes Thingol is dead.

If Menegroth is already sacked, and she cannot hold the realm together on her own as its Queen without really fucking shit up with reality-warping shadow magic, her choice to abandon it after delivering the Silmaril safely to her daughter and warning her that Dior will be needed soon is far less irresponsible.

5. Celegorm and Curufin ambushing the dwarves makes more sense than any other alternative.

Of course Celegorm and Curufin were actively watching Doriath for any sign of weakness. Of course they noticed the dwarves leaving with stolen treasures, and heard rumors that Thingol was dead and his killers had the Silmaril. Given the choice of following Melian (if they even were aware of Melian’s departure) and following dwarves, of course they picked the dwarves. Their ambush and attack and slaughter is consistent with their past behavior, as is their refusal to attack Lúthien because they were scared as fuck of her.

What’s more, this also explains the Fëanorians’ refusal to attack Doriath immediately after the dwarves do - they were unsure of whether or not Lúthien was in Menegroth and ruling as its queen or acting in some capacity as Dior’s defender. Celegorm in particular isn’t the type to hesitate - he’s impulsive, and rash, and rushes into bad decisions without considering their consequences, it’s even in his name. But they waited for years, giving Dior time to marry and have children of his own, and then even sent letters rather than attack directly - and yes, some of this might have been Maedhros’s influence, or an attempt by all of them to stave off the Oath, but it’s also plausible that they were trying to figure out whether or not they’d have to take on the same woman who made fools of them before.

I, at least, think this version of the story makes the most sense, and I’ll be adopting it into my personal canon. I obviously think it’s worth advocating for on a larger scale, and I hope I’ve made a good argument for its widespread adoption.

#silmarillion meta #silmarillion #tolkien #absynthe's meta #beren and luthien

[lesbiansforboromir]

Impossible LotR Quiz Answer sheet with explanations!

As an addendum, since people have been doing the quiz I’ve seen a few mistypes and awkwardnesses that are my own fault so I’ve corrected them. This means some people got a higher score than was shown, know that when I looked over your answers I saw your actually right answers and fully appreciated them! It’s good to not that the ‘fill in the blanks’ questions will not take two words in one space, so I’ve had to get creative with how I apply two named folk like Mardil Voronwe, or people who have numbers like Hurin I.

I would also like to say, to everyone talking about how they’ve never read the Silmarillion, this quiz is very purposefully almost entirely based outside of the Silmarillion. This is Appendices stuff! Indeed there is only 1 question even tangentally related to elves in here, this is by design. 

@magaramach, @brynnmclean and @apojiiislands asked to be tagged in this! Answers under the cut. 

Q2. Who was Dora Baggins in relation to Bilbo Baggins? - Second cousin on his father's side Dora Baggins is a very elderly woman who was the daughter of Bilbo’s father’s brother. She likes writing people a lot of unsolicited advice! THIS WAS WRONG AND SAID FIRST COUSIN FOR SO LONG AND I AM DEEPLY SORRY FOR IT.

Q3. How many pairs of biological twins are mentioned in the whole of Arda's timeline and what races do they belong too? - 2 for men, 1 for elves and 3 for half-elves Fastred and Folcred, Haleth and Haldar (men) Amrod and Amras (elves) Elured and Elurin, Elrond and Elros, Elladan and Elrohir (half-elves) Now, admittedly Elladan and Elrohir are never actually described as twins. However they appear completely identical and have the same birth date, so it is assumed.

Q4. Baldor is who the skeleton scratching at the door used to be. When Aragorn and co pass through the paths of the dead they find a skeleton clawing at a door to the mountain. It is finely dressed and described as mighty and was later essentially confirmed to be Baldor, the eldest son of King Brego of Rohan, also called Baldor the hapless, who foolishly wandered into the paths of the dead on, apparently, a dare. (the answer to this was originally Brego because of a foolish typo from me, many apologies!)

Q5. When was the Ondonóre Nómesseron Minaþurie written? - During Meneldil's reign. “Enquiry into the Place-names of Gondor” was a text written by settled numenoreans about their new kingdom during Meneldil’s reign, who was the first sole King of Gondor after both Anarion (his father) and Isildur had perished.   

Q6. Farmer Maggot's particular friend was Tom Bombadil  It is stated that Farmer Maggot sometimes peacefully passes through the Old Forest to go and meet Tom Bombadil, who very much enjoys his company. However! Those who answered Merry or Pippin still deserve excellent recognition, Farmer Maggot was indeed fond of Pippin and respected Merry greatly.

Q7. What was the office of the Steward originally created to do? - Keep the Tradition of Isildur When Romendacil I went to war in the east, he realised that if he died then the secret of the Tradition of Isildur would die with him. Hence he wrote it down in a sealed scoll and gave it to a trusted confidante, to be given to his heir if he should perish. This tradition was maintained by further kings and those trusted confidantes became the Stewards of Gondor. This, admittedly, is a more suggested progression than explicit, but it’s a Impossible evil quiz so :) Q8. What was the 'Tradition of Isildur'? - Remember where Elendil was buried. Elendil had been secretly entombed in Calenardhon, supposedly the midpoint between Gondor and Arnor. This was a hallowed space for only Kings at first, but in later years when the Stewards came to rule Gondor they also were permitted the secret. Cirion had the remains moved when Calenardhon was gifted to the Eotheod to eventually become a part of the Kingdom of Rohan. 

Q9. At the time of Pelargir's founding, is the world flat or round? - Flat. Pelargir was founded as a ‘Faithful Numenorean’ haven on the river Anduin. Therefore it was built before Numenor’s destruction in the Akallabeth, the reason for which being that Eru turned the world from flat to round. 

Q10. Which of these monarchs were indolent and had no interest in ruling? - King Atanatar I - King Narmacil I - Tar-Vanimelde King Atanatar I ruled during Gondor’s richest generation and seemed to believe that meant he didn’t need to put any work in. Narmacil I, his son, didn’t want to put any work in, but he at least assigned his nephew, Minalcar, as ‘Karma-Kundo’ or regent during his reign. So he at least did something to keep the country going. Tar-Vanimelde had no interest in ruling and allowed her husband to do most of the governence. This backfired when she died and he organised a coup against his son to hold power.

Q11. When looking back on the Ship-Kings of Gondor, King Tarannon Falastur began the invasion of Harad and expanded Gondor's borders, King Earnil-I finally took Umbar but died at sea shortly afterwards, King Ciryandil spent most of his reign trying to defend Umbar and died in it's seige and King Hyarmendacil defended Umbar against seiges for 35 years before making war upon all Harad and claiming Harondor as a province of Gondor, ending the line of the Ship Kings.

Q12. What happened during the reign of King Romendacil II? - I don't know! Nothing? Yes I know this is particularly evil of me but Romendacil II was originally called Minalcar, yes the same Minalcar who became REGENT of Gondor due to Narmacil’s indolent nature. Minalcar indeed did everything else listed as answers to this question, but none of them happened during his reign as king. Indeed, his reign was said to be peaceful and we have no real information on it, so technically saying we don’t know, and suggesting nothing happened, is actually the most correct answer :)

Q13. Who succeeded Tar-Telperien of Numenor? - Her nephew, Minastir Tar-Telperien was a lesbian Queen of Numenor who never married and never wanted too and did an excellent job and I love her. Her nephew built a tower to mope in about how much he wanted to be an elf. They are not the same. Absolutely terrified about what Amazon could do to her. 

Q14. Whilst his brethren, the nazgul, were attacking the Prancing Pony, The Witch-King was waiting in the Barrow Downs and probably had a really nice time. Not much to this! Witch King was chilling with the Barrow Wights. 

Q15. Which of these characters are described as 'beautiful' at least once in the Lord of the Rings? - Galadriel, Denethor, Eowyn, Frodo, Elanor, Celeborn, Boromir Yes, Arwen is never described as beautiful, but Denethor is :)

Q16. We all love Boromir II, select the similarities he and Boromir I did NOT share. - Renowned relationship with the Rohirrim. - Destroyed the Bridge of Osgiliath - Feared by the Witch King - Retook Ithilien. - Had a brother. In case you’re wondering, yes, I love both Boromirs. But this question is a fun highlight of how many similarities Boromir II has with his namesake. These are the only things they didn’t both do. Although! Boromir I’s son was Cirion who allied with the Eotheod and created Rohan in the first place, the Uruk-Hai destroyed the Bridge of Osgiliath in Boromir I’s lifetime, Boromir II was PROBABLY feared by the witch-king we just don’t know, Boromir II held Ithilien and Boromir I had two elder sisters like Denethor II did.

Q17. Hey, did you know that, from Boromir I's war with the Uruk-Hai of the Morgul Vale, Gondor didn't know peace until Sauron's death on the 25th of March, 3019? Hah hah! How gut wrenching is that? About how long do you think it has been since Gondor knew peace then? Hey wait does that mean Boromir I's valiant victory that came at a personal sacrifice was the beginning of Gondor's wars and then Boromir II's valiant sacrifice was the end- oh god... oh fuck - 550 years To everyone who answered the crossed out answer,,, you’re correct in my heart. You get bonus points. Also hey! What the fuck :) 

Q18. Who was Borondir? - The rider sent to find Eorl who made it to him after starving himself for two days but who then rode to the Celebrant with Eorl anyway and died in that battle. Literally couldn’t love this fellow more. Big Hirgon energy. A hero of Gondor for time immemorial. 

Q19. The Ruling Stewards, from first to last (with their numbers typed as so Turin-I Hurin-II etc), were as follows; Mardil ; Eradan ; Herion ; Belegorn ; Hurin-I ; Turin-I ; Hador ; Barahir ; Dior ; Denethor-I ; Boromir-I ; Cirion ; Hallas ; Hurin-II ; Belecthor-I ; Orodreth ; Ecthelion-I ; Egalmoth ; Beren ; Beregond ; Belecthor-II ; Thorondir ; Turin-II ; Turgon ; Ecthelion-II ; Denethor-II ; and for like two seconds ; Faramir ; Alrighty, we had a bit of a fight in my discord about this but eventually I did relent in agreement that Faramir IS... very briefly... legally considered a RULING Steward. Ruling Stewards being Stewards that ruled a Kingless Gondor. But! With Aragorn RIGHT THERE is just seemed very redundant. Still! I’ll allow the pedant to win out, ten minutes is still a Ruling Steward. ALSO! I decided that having an extra box for the ‘voronwe’ part of mardil voronwe was just mean as it set everyone’s answers off kilter, so I removed that. ALSO for all of those calling me a bastard for adding this question, @illegalstargender was the one who requested it! I wasn’t going too! 

Q20. The Stewards, despite ruling through very tumultuous and violent periods, were often known for boring things (because they simply ruled better than the Kings did, I said what I said) But what boring thing was Steward Turin I remembered for? - Being the only monarch of Gondor that married twice This skeezy bastard really did marry a second time during his OLD age just to father a son. I can only imagine what a dreadful cultural and social effect this had on this prude country. It’s so unnecessary! He had daughters, many of them! One of them certainly had a son before he did. He was just being a controlling arse, down with Turin I!!!!

#my quiz

[crestfallercanyon]

You Don't Always Have to Kill Your Darlings

I feel like a lot of writers have heard the old adage: "kill your darlings". Referring to aspects of your work that you adore, but you can tell is slowing down the narrative/not conducive to the plot/a distractor/whatever flaw it is putting there. It's where that scene/aspect you love is actually more detriment than a positive (and the only reason it might still be in that manuscript is because the author is the one who wants it there) and it really should be removed in order to improve the quality of the story.

(it's probably also been overused or taken out of context, or something, but lots of people have heard this regardless of where it comes from and a lot of people adhere to it)

So, people tell you to kill it. Recognize it's for the good of the writing and nix 'em right out of there.

For some people, this might truly be the best method. But, something that I've come to learn, is that this attitude really started screwing things up for me -- and I've heard from others that it screws them up, too. Especially, funnily enough, when it comes to when I write fanfiction.

Now, the cool thing about fanfiction is that it is entirely for people's own desires of writing. So, you don't ever really have to do anything because you don't need to have the best plot/narrative/characters etc. Fanfiction is, in itself, self-indulgent, so therefore your darlings are essentially what you're making. Some people aren't writing fanfiction to write good stories. They're doing it because they have a plot bunny and want to put it out there and they're good knowing they wrote something. For some people, this adage will not and should never apply. In which, this post really doesn't pertain to you, go about your merry way, enjoy your writing and have a ball! I'm glad you're writing at all!

However, I actually started writing fanfiction to help me with my pacing in stories. It's a practice tool for me on writing anything, and I know I'm not alone in this. Lots of people write fanfiction also with the goal of getting better at writing in general. We work for the fics to be solid stories in and of themselves, and sometimes, that means adhering to some commonly said phrases for writing. Like: kill your darlings.

Except, I find that if I just outright kill them, sometimes I freeze on the entire fic.

Which is why, I, personally, think kill your darlings might be a bit too harsh a statement. Because there's probably a reason your author brain is clinging to the darling. Maybe it's self-fulfillment, but maybe it's also 'cause there's phrases/development/action beats in there that you find you did really well and want to include. To completely obliterate that from your sight is a disservice.

So, I make something that I call a darlings dump. I use scrivener, so it's just a little folder underneath the fic that I'm writing, but it can be anywhere. A file on your computer. A notepad, whatever. It's where you place the darling scene/character/moment/chapter and take it out of your fic so that it's no longer clogging up the works, but it's not completely dead. You can still go back to reference it. You can even reincorporate it or parts of it somewhere else. I find that this, usually, gives me great relief.

Sometimes, though, even doing that really screws me up.

Like, right now, I'm writing a fic that has one major theme/plot in it, and then two subplots. And about halfway through, I started adding this other subplot. It just kind of came to me, made sense, and I liked the way it highlighted a character's inner turmoil outwardly. It's a subplot that could probably be its own fic for this particular character if I gave it effort (and one day, I still might -- even though the idea of "reusing" ideas gives me hives, I'm trying to get over that). Either way, I noticed that it might be too much to have all of these things at the same time. A reader might get overwhelmed, or it might be detracting too much focus from the fic's main idea, or honestly, the fic might just get too damn long because this wasn't meant to be that long of a fic anyway.

Anyway, the realization that it might not belong in this fic made me think "man, I should really just remove it." So I did.

My writing brain acted like I was Indiana fricking Jones or Brendan Frasier from the Mummy and that I had taken out this ancient artifact and now I am damned. Suddenly everything was on the verge of collapse. All the traps were up and firing. Things started shooting from corners I could not see. If I moved forward, I would die. I could not write anymore. I had no idea where to go. It's not even like structurally the fic relied upon this stupid subplot and suddenly there were a lot of holes in the story. It didn't take me long to remove it at all. But somewhere along the way, my inner writer got really f@#!ing attached I guess, and for some reason I could not continue without having it there.

So I put it back. All the traps stopped firing, all the alarms stopped ringing. For some reason, this silly little subplot must remain or else this thing will never get finished.

So, I guess all this post was meant to say is, sometimes, screw kill your darlings. Or even removing your darlings. At least for the moment. Even if you notice that it's probably a darling and might eventually need to be removed, finish out what you're writing with all of it's little flaws in it.

That's probably why you're really not supposed to edit until the end, anyway (but I cannot help myself). Because sometimes, even though there's an aspect that's flawed and the fic might improve upon its removal, sometimes it's the thing that's keeping your writing drive even if your reader's eye is on it like Sauron looking for the ring. You're not going to forget that it probably needs to be taken out. But if it keeps you writing, for god's sakes, leave the flaws in, because if it's remove the flaws and never finish or finish it with all the flaws, finish it with all the flaws.

Right now, you are the only reader. You actually have no real clue what the eventual readers will think of your fic, and you will never know if you never finish it. So don't let everything you think the reader is going to be upset with stop you from finishing it out. Finish it out.

And maybe everybody already knew this, but I thought I'd post about my stupid mid-writing revelation. Because I imagine, other people have had to go through this, too. And it is a bizarre experience, but it was also a worthwhile revelation for me.

TLDR: a completed fic with a darling in it is better than a never-to-be-finished fic with all of its darlings taken out. If what's keeping you from finishing your fic is because all of your little editor-bots in your brain are screaming at you that certain things are too "much" for your fic, or for your scene, or for your character, shut the fricking bots down and write blindly into them anyway. If you're worried that it will be too much for the readers, right now you are the only reader, so write what you want to write anyway.

Killing your darlings can be a truly useful thing to do in order to improve the story, yes, but if it stops you from writing the story that's the most counterproductive it could be. In the end, if you want to write and finish the fic? Do what you need to do. Even if it's a darling-filled-travesty, hey, you finished it, and that's worth all the darlings in the world. (originally posted this on Reddit r/fanfiction)

#ficwriting #writing #writing tips #writing advice #writer problems #kill your darlings #or don't

[morwensteelsheen]

I just have to tell you how much I ADORE “Finger Back.” I keep retreading it! I’ll be starting my masters in the autumn and reading this AU put a huge smile on my face and a warmth in my heart. (If only lecturers looked like Faramir or Aragorn, though. *sighs*) I do have a question that I’m not sure you addressed already: I read your endnotes that say you’re protective of Denethor, and I’m curious as to what your reasons are. Could you flesh that out for us? Cheers!

Thank you so much!!! I’m so glad to hear you dig it — and good luck with your masters!! 

So, yeah, The Denethor Problem. My answer to this is gonna go under a cut because this is gonna be such a long answer lol. 

Some of it is in response to how he’s portrayed in the films, which is I think wholly unfair, but a lot of it is because I think I recognise the real life cultural/social archetype (I think) Denethor fits, very much unintentionally on behalf of JRRT. For context, I’m a historian of modern British history by training, and gendered/political history specifically, so I spend a lot of time dealing with the social implications of WWI/II, if not the actual wars themselves. 

Denethor to me fits the mould of a very specific member of the Lost Generation (yes, I realise this is a largely-American generational identifier, but I think the cultural stereotypes fit well enough for the WWI generation in Britain), which is the sort of man who was, in effect, completely and utterly destroyed by the meat grinder that was WWI. Whatever he may have been had the war not existed doesn’t really matter, because the war was ultimately the end of life for him. A lot of British men of that generation faced what was essentially a systematic unmanning (not in the gendered sense, as in, total depersonalisation/dehumanisation), and were never given the care or community necessary to recover from it. They then went on to live through WW2, the slow and miserable recovery from that, and the repeated crises of the 1970s, which is typically when they died — see JRRT himself. 

These were men for whom the abject violence of war never really went away. Lots of them had severe PTSD, though it was never diagnosed and certainly wasn’t treated adequately, and almost all of them had some form of war-based trauma. They were men who were so scarred by the violence of WWI that things like love and joy and other positive human emotions ultimately ended up requiring too much energy and too much heartache to express, and so they retreated in on themselves. It’s not to say those emotions weren’t there for them, but what they experienced during the war was so traumatising it became hard to ever fully become “human” again. They were weapons of war discarded at the armistice. 

So, socially, I see a lot of Denethor in that, this man who has, effectively become the war. 

But also I think when you read the text there’s a lot to actually recommend Denethor. For starters (and I do intend on elaborating on this more later), we tend to only see Denethor when he’s in direct conflict with Gandalf, and Gandalf is obviously given the privilege of controlling the narrative. It’s this huge elephant in the room with most of the Gondorrim: we never really get more than fleeting glimpses at how unbelievably shitty and miserable life has been for them at the frontline of this war to end all wars. 

Actually I think I’ll run with this Gandalf comparison for a second. 

Gandalf is portrayed as this political and military mastermind, who rides from kingdom to kingdom fixing the problems of the free men of ME. We rarely ever see the aftermath of Gandalf’s time in these kingdoms, which means we never actually see what sort of political effort has to go into enacting Gandalf’s provisos, or covering up for the strange politicking that goes on. What this really comes down to is: Gandalf is a consultant, not a ruler, and in his status as consultant enjoys this moral distance from the practicalities of keeping a country/state afloat. 

Denethor, however, does not. Unlike Gandalf, he doesn’t get to go gallivanting about Middle Earth searching for Elendil’s heir or Isildur’s bane or whatever, because he’s got a kingdom to run. If there’s a plague in Lossarnach, it’s ultimately Denethor who has to take responsibility for that (even if there are multiple layers of vassals below him, the buck ultimately stops with him). When there’s an entire looming cataclysm at Gondor’s (and, in effect, Middle Earth’s) eastern border, Denethor’s the guy who has to coordinate that response. And in that it’s not just Gondor he’s responsible for. If Gondor falls, everywhere else will fall too, but as far as we’re told, Gondor’s running this defence almost entirely by themselves. 

And, importantly, Denethor’s a mortal. He’s a Man. I know that mostly is associated with death in LOTR, and, in the movies, the folly of Men’s pride, but what it really means, I think, is the tangibility of life. Life and time means something to Men, they have to feel and live in each second in a way the others don’t. They are tethered to the world in beautiful but also terrible ways.

The big gripe about Denethor is that he sends his son to hold Osgiliath. Okay, fine, but think about that this way, Denethor sends his son to Osgiliath. For us, the readers, and for Gandalf, the consultant, that could be anyone. But for Denethor, that is his son, flesh and blood, someone he loves dearly, one of the last living connections he has to his dead wife. The war is real and intimate for Denethor in a way it isn’t for other (yes, including Aragorn), and he bears this unbelievably difficult burden of being the ruler of a kingdom without having any of the real political legitimacy to be that leader. 

Which is to say: Denethor is the Ruling Steward, but he is no king. That’s a hugely important distinction, I think, and limits a lot of what I think Denethor has the right to do. He’s essentially managing the decline of a kingdom because he doesn’t have the right to play offence for it. Everything about his life and title is about making him subservient to something else — in his case, something that literally doesn’t exist (as far as he knows). Imagine how soul destroying that is. You have to bear all the horrible psychological and emotional burdens of ruling a kingdom with none of the benefits of getting to shape it in your own image. Horrible. 

We tend to give Théoden a pass for his weakness and (to be frank, even though I do love him) shittiness because he’s brought back to his senses. Denethor has suffered essentially the same problem as Théoden, except worse because he’s getting it direct from Sauron, and he never gets the chance for healing. And why doesn’t he get the chance for healing? Because he’s literally holding back the apocalypse. By the time anybody thinks to come help Denethor out, the world is already ending, and — so far as we’re told — nobody’s actually bothered to help Gondor out until the very end.

A lot of this is, tbh, wrapped up in how angry I get about how Gondor is treated by literally every other kingdom in ME, but I think Denethor-as-Gondor is a salient and important point so I’ll keep it in. 

Oh also, sorry for jumpiness (my ADHD meds are wearing off) but my other gripe with the Osgiliath thing is — okay so Denethor sent his son. But he had to send someone, didn’t he? If they hadn’t held back the army at Osgiliath Minas Tirith would’ve been overrun before anybody had the chance to get there to save them. So they have to do it, somebody has to go, so who does he send? Not his son because we, the readers, have a total crush on sadboi Fara? Okay fine, so then he sends someone else’s son. But that’s still someone else’s son! We just hate Denethor because he has to make the decisions none of us would ever want to make lol

Anyways. Yes. That’s why I’m super defensive of him, I just don’t think he gets a fair shake all things considered and wish he would. He’s not a villain, he’s a man at the edge of the world, and I think we all oughta have a little empathy for that.

Like, I do think he makes the wrong call on a lot of things, and, to put it lightly, I think trying to kill your own son is Not Great, but I think as a character Denethor deserves a more nuanced interpretation than what he gets. I actually spent today writing like a three thousand word Denethor POV on the idea of hope and his kiddos which I might post at some point. But yeah. Yeah. God, sorry, that was such an info dump lol 

#asks

[dmsden]

Memorably Villainous – How to develop the “BBEG” of your campaign

Hullo, Gentle Readers. You just wouldn’t believe how many questions this Anonymous person asks! This week, they ask, “How does one come up with a bbeg for their campaign? I've only been a DM for 2 one shots and now I want to write my own. Only problem is that I can't think of a cool villain. I want there to be build up and multiple encounters and eventually they finally get to fight the bbeg. It's hard to come up with an unpredictable story.”

Thanks, Anonymous. Never stop asking stuff! Oh, and, just to be sure everyone’s on the same playing field, the term BBEG means “Big Bad Evil Guy”. Essentially, Anonymous wants to know how to come up with the main villain of their campaign.

Sometimes I start a campaign with that idea – what’s a super high-level monster or character I want to make the villain of my campaign? Once I think to myself, “Oh, I want to make an elder brain lich my villain” or “I want to make an evil anti-paladin who rules the north with an iron fist”, then I plan elements of my campaign around that idea.

I might also go in another way. I might think, “I want to run a campaign using the Keep on the Borderlands as a set piece”. From that concept, I will start thinking of themes like “Ruins of Empire” and “The Fragility of Civilization”. This will eventually assist me in deciding what my villain will be. I might decide that an evil cleric with ties to a nearby dungeon is my main villain, and I might make him more insidious by putting him in the Keep on the Borderlands itself as the main chaplain. I can imagine him offering the heroes potions and healing services, never letting them know that those coins were going to hire more mercenaries that the heroes themselves would battle later on.

Some things to consider when creating your BBEG is how early on the players will know who they are or will feel their presence. I’ve run campaigns where the first level characters have met with the powerful villain right at the beginning of the campaign, only to have him wipe the floor with them but not kill them, sneering at their weakness. I’ve had campaigns where events that happened in the first session of the game alluded to the villain, even though the players wouldn’t meet them until years of game play later. And I’ve run campaigns where the villain has seemed to be a friend or patron early on, only to reveal their true nature much later.

Anonymous talks about trying to avoid predictability. I think this is difficult to do and is, in and of itself, a trap. A truly original story is difficult to come by, and many great villains follow pretty predictable patterns. How great is Darth Vader as a villain? And yet he’s about as stereotypical a villain as one can easily find out there. I think embracing some predictability for the sake of a good and evocative story is perfectly acceptable.

Lord of the Rings is interesting because the villain is, in many ways, the Ring itself. Sauron might be the Dark Lord, but the “PCs” never cross paths with him directly. Instead, they battle his vast armies and his power made concrete in the form of The One Ring. Even Gollum is as much a victim of the Ring as any of the other characters.

I think keeping the players guessing about the main villain is effective, too. In my current campaign, one of the PCs’ family has appeared several times now as a figure called The White Lady, who appears to be both powerful and villainous. Maybe my players thought she was the main evil of the campaign. Over time, however, they’ve learned about another figure called The Grey Lord. Is this the true villain? Time will tell.

I don’t know if I’ve given you the advice you need, Anonymous, but I hope this has at least gotten you thinking. A good villain can be the lynch pin of a memorable campaign. I hope you come up with a fantastic one!

#d&d #D&D #d&d 5e #d&d 5th edition #D&D 5e homebrew #dnd #DnD stuff #DnD 5e #dnd 5th edition #dnd 5e homebrew #dungeons & dragons #Dungeons and Dragons #dungeon master #dungeonmaster #DM advice #GM Advice

[bodhvild]

Angbang moonboard- Black Metal au part.II

-“Together in music, together in life” - Morgoth

-“He’s afraid of what I might say” - Sauron

[under the cut the full interview]

You remember Sauron. He’s that skinny, long-haired dude playing and singing in the scariest band in Arda. Intrigued by his charm during Morgoth’s interview, we called him and asked for a meeting to talk about music and life for a short session, but we weren’t at all sure how interesting it might be to him.

We meet him at the same small cafe in the center. He is reserved, bordering on refined, a true natural eye-catcher. He sips expensive red wine, and stares affectionately at his 15-years-older-than-him boyfriend, Melkor ‘Morgoth’ Bauglir, sitting on his side

‘Two-for-one’, we greet them both and shake hands as if we were old childhood friends, ‘We were worried we might annoy you, Morgoth’, we explain why we chose to take contact with Sauron and him only.

-“Together in music, together in life”, Morgoth says, “but I won’t get in the way”, he reassures us.

-“He’s afraid of what I might say”, Sauron jokes and laughs.

We laugh too and then envy the casual glance they just share. Over three bottles of very fine red wine we have our conversation.

Is it true that ‘Mairon’ means ‘perfection’? -“It means ‘the excellent one’ but it can’t be properly translated into today’s language. In ancient language, admirability and perfection denotes the same concept as they are both linked to the Light”.

Does that make sense to you? -“Perfection gives one full joy, so that, yes, completely”.

Light and still you sing and write about darkness. - The one who sits in the Darkness is the bringer of Light.

What is the relationship between your music and perfection? - “I can honestly say that previously we had a lot of chaotic ideas. It all depended on what was practically doable at that moment. During the latest years we were able to do much more of what we wanted. I’m talking about the last concert, for example, when we were able to outline a consistent use of symbols. Most of them we’d used earlier, on a smaller scale, like fire and different types of singing, but we hadn’t gotten around to assemble a more factual spectacle. The last one was beautiful— aesthetically brilliant and very addictive, like an ancient ceremony in a desecrated church. Brilliant, so that perfect”.

How aesthetics are important to you? -“Essential”, he answers with no hesitation.

I take it you have a preference for simplicity. -“By stripping things down to the bare essentials, the expression gets stronger, more vivid. Simplicity makes everything intrinsically cleaner and more beautiful. Almost cruel”.

We got many questions by your fans: they literally adore you. -“Go forth, I always answer any question”

What kind of being are you? -“That’s a question that really occupies me. If I had to dig to the very core of my person, then I would say that I see myself as a creature of perpetual unrest. Antistatism, that’s me in one word”.

How about music? What are you listening to? -“A lot of throat-singing with headphones: it is invasive in a good way. And also because of Melkor, who wants silence most of the day”.

[Morgoth nods with the head]

Are you as sexy as they say? -“I’m not sure if sexy is the first word that springs to mind when I think about myself, but some people might think so”.

Now comes the most asked question of all: Why a 15-years-older-than-you boyfriend? [laughs and tries to ignore the fact that his boyfriend sits just next to him and he is pouring us all more wine] -“The way he gazes at me, as if I’m a living wonder”, he sips slowly. “Also, there’s something about his will. The will to discover my individuality, to become something unique in me, that I think is very strongly present in him. I can’t explain why, but I know that this is something I’m deeply captivated by. I love it: the unlimited will to be with me”.

This sounds more like vanity than perfection. -“A nice blend of both”.

Did you suddenly fall in love with your boyfriend? -“It was coincidental, really, that I met him. I just broke up with my ex and…half-jokingly told my friend, that I had come to a point where I had to either find a fetish or fall in love. And then I met Melkor who somehow gave me both. I’m really a pretty grounded person, you know, I can be merciless, but I remember that the ground became a very strange place to stand without him”.

Does that feel like freedom to you? [and we know we are giving him a hard time…as the one-minute staring contest ensues consequently]. -“I am terribly comfortable with myself, and still now there is no way back. Yeah, it is. Perhaps a different kind of freedom and perfection”

Let’s drink to that. To perfection.

#moodboard #moonboard #angbang #melkor #mairon #sauron #morgoth #modern au #angbang black metal #angband black metal #fic #is it a fic #Makeup kink #dark aesthetic #dark aesthetics

[jaimetheexplorer]

The Long Denial

I can’t help but feel that there is a lot of denial doing the rounds at the moment about the fact that the living won against the AotD and the Long Night is over. 

Partly, I understand why. I was, maybe not sure, but seriously contemplating the possibility that this season would cover time jumps spanning a long time, possibly years, given the fact that the first Long Night lasted allegedly a generation. I was expecting the motivation and underlying mythology behind the NK and the WWs to be more sophisticated and complex than “they are evil ice zombies who want to destroy humanity” (although, granted, I think there might still be something afoot there in terms of them having been created as weapons of mass destruction by the CotF in the first place - could there be a parallel with dragons here, where dragons are the “fire” equivalent of the CotF’s WWs to the Targaryens?). So it can be hard to discard years or even decades of theories, when they all seemed to make perfect sense, and maybe, some of them even more sense than what we got. I had some of my own too. 

Maybe the books will do it in a more extensive and satisfying way than concentrating it all into the NK, but it’s entirely possible that even in the books the WWs are essentially just (a more sophisticated version of ) Death coming for the living. And if the main role of the NK and the WWs *was* to be mainly just a symbol of Death coming to get the living that forced warring factions to unite against a common threat, and all those theories were really overthinking, I don’t see how this episode was so terrible in wrapping that storyline up. 

1) While in this particular season the threat was confronted and defeated in one episode, people seem to forget that this isn’t the first time we see Jon and company face the NK and his army. We had several encounters that begun way back in season 1 and 2 with the Night’s Watch plot and became increasingly bigger with Hardhome and Beyond the Wall. This was the biggest, final showdown between the living and the dead. It took literally eight seasons of preparation to manage to get someone close enough to the Night King to kill him in the right spot. It wasn’t exactly an easy feat. Maybe they could have had the battle stretch across several episodes, instead of one, but the outcome would have hardly been *that* different in the end. The buildup had been done already across the seasons.

2) Logistically speaking, it makes sense for it to end here: this was the strongest and most prepared the living were ever going to be. They were lacking Cersei’s armies, but they had everybody else and two dragons. If the Night King had won here, the survivors scrambled for a retreat south, with more and more holds falling and the AotD gaining more and more soldiers as a consequence, yes, it would have been cool to see King’s Landing and Cersei being affected as well, but the plausibility of the living winning would have been even lower and the sense of a Deus Ex Machina cop-out to defeat the Night King even bigger than people currently feel about Arya.  So I’m sure that, eventually, some (maybe different) people would have been disappointed just the same.

3) Saying “the story was always about X” doesn’t really mean anything, because that’s a personal opinion. For some people it’s about the WWs, for some people it’s about the throne, for some people it’s about power more generally, for some people it’s about legends and prophecies, for some people it’s about Jon and Daenerys... Nobody gets to decide what it is truly, ultimately about, other than the writers themselves. And my feeling is that, to them, it’s about all of these things, not one single thing being more important than the other. Which leads me to...

4) GRRM has complained in the past about not liking the fact that Tolkien glossed over the nitty gritty issues of how exactly Arargorn was going to rule after they defeated Sauron. There’s a good chance that at least part, if not all, of “A Dream of Spring” (if it ever sees the light of day), will be GRRM’s “fix it LotR fanfic” dealing with that aspect of the story. That’s why it wouldn’t surprise me if the second half of the season is indeed about human politics and what do people choose to do after surviving such a threat, just as the question before was about what they choose to do when facing it. I feel like there was an expectation that the War for the Dawn was going to last for most of the season, leaving only the final episode to wrap up the human side of things in a very classic fantasy style, with all the surviving heroes having learned the value of cooperation when facing this apocalyptic threat and therefore able to settle the issues they warred over for years fairly easily, because all the problematic characters were killed off (Cersei, Euron, the Night King). GRRM’s has always been about subverting the style and tropes of classic fantasy, so I would be more shocked had this gone down the classic path of “all the good guys put aside their issues after surviving” than what we seem to be getting. 

5) The story itself has warned us about prophecy since the very beginning. That they’re not straightforward, that they’re not reliable, that they can come bite people in the ass, that they can drive people to terrible actions. I think the biggest point of the prophecies in the story is to provide motive and motivation for characters more than actual predictions of where things are going to go. Azor Ahai motivated Melisandre, Stannis and Rhaegar. Maggy’s motivated Cersei. And maybe there is a certain degree of truth to them, and maybe some of their interpretations will still pan out (one interpretation of Azor Ahai and Lightbringer was that it referred to Jon and the Night’s Watch, for example - which can still fit with what went down, since Jon was single-handedly responsible for bringing together all the people, armies and force necessary to create the situation that allowed Arya to strike that final blow). But given the warnings, it is kind of naive to expect them to play out to a T, and deliver the most predictable outcome.

Now, could there be a twist where in episode 5 suddenly we find out that, actually, that was a false victory and the WWs, or a new Night King or Queen are still a threat to contend with? Maybe. I’m not ruling anything out. But I would also find it kind of implausible at this point and, frankly, rather clunky writing. You don’t spend millions and months to film the biggest battle in cinema history only to go “haha, kidding! this actually didn’t count and now they have to do it all over again!”. You don’t build an entire episode around the big, unforeseen twist that it’s actually Arya that delivers the final blow that saves humanity, only to take it back later and have predictable hero Jon be the one that ultimately, truly saves it from that same enemy. You don’t build up the Night King as the main antagonist north of the wall only to then go “actually, you know what? there’s another Night King*** now that you never heard of before!”. If that’s the route they’d be going down, they’d better have a REALLY good explanation and some pretty powerful reveals, or it will come across just as a story that didn’t have the courage to stand by its decisions and eventually knew it had to gave into delivering what the audience at large expected. It would have been a better look NOT to pull out this “Arya kills the NK and the Long Night is over in episode 3″ in the first place than it would be to cop-out of it later. 

***I do have a half baked suspicion about that scene where the Night King throws an ice dagger/spear at Daenerys when she’s trying to fly away on Drogon after she attempted to dracarys the shit out of the NK. Was that a throwaway scene where he was just trying to kill her and failed, or was that spear capable of potentially turning Dany into his Night Queen? I suspect the former is the most likely explanation, but who knows. 

#got s8e2 #the long night #meta #my meta #got meta

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

If you got to write a Meta for the Blue Wizards/Istari what would it be like? More like Saruman, or more like Radagast? And a side question: did Radagast fail?

If I got to write a meta? You mean, not actually write a proper meta but just give you the bullet points or something? I don’t think I can actually do that. :)

Tolkien originally said:

I really do not know anything clearly about the other two [wizards] – since they do not concern the history of the N[orth].W[est]. I think they went as emissaries to distant regions, East and South, far out of Númenórean range: missionaries to ‘enemy-occupied’ lands, as it were. What success they had I do not know; but I fear that they failed, as Saruman did, though doubtless in different ways; and I suspect they were founders or beginners of secret cults and ‘magic’ traditions that outlasted the fall of Sauron.

–The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 211, 1958

So yeah, Tolkien first thought the Blue Wizards were more like Saruman than Radagast. However, near the end of his life, around 1972, he changed his mind:

The ‘other two’ came much earlier, at the same time probably as Glorfindel, when matters became very dangerous in the Second Age. [c. S.A 1600] Glorfindel was sent to aid Elrond and was (though not yet said) pre-eminent in the war in Eriador. But the other two Istari were sent for a different purpose. Morinehtar and Rómestámo. Darkness-slayer and East-helper. Their task was to circumvent Sauron: to bring help to the few tribes of Men that had rebelled from Melkor-worship, to stir up rebellion … and after his first fall to search out his hiding (in which they failed) and to cause [?dissension and disarray] among the dark East … They must have had very great influence on the history of the Second Age and Third Age in weakening and disarraying the forces of East … who would both in the Second Age and Third Age otherwise have … outnumbered the West.

–The History of Middle Earth, vol. 12, “Last Writings: The Five Wizards”

So, neither like Saruman nor Radagast, but instead the Blue Wizards were essential to the war against Sauron. They encouraged the Men who refused to worship Morgoth (as was standard in the East), to get them to rebel against the others. They tried to hunt down Sauron after he lost his body in the downfall of Numenor and his spirit fled east (though they failed in that task). But still, the Blue Wizards continued to help the good men of the East, and made enough difference that they greatly weakened the Eastern armies… which is why the Easterlings don’t show up in great numbers during the War of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men or during the War of the Ring, leading to Sauron’s defeat both times.

This is news to me, btw, before researching for this ask I was only aware of the “mystery cults” thing from the Letters (which was also in Unfinished Tales), which always made me sad to think of two more Maia who failed in their mission. I’m much more happy to hear of the great work of “Darkness-slayer” and “East-helper”. :)

As for Radagast… while he pretty much went native, while he cared far more about animals than people, I certainly wouldn’t say he failed. He was friends with Beorn, which led to Beorn trusting Gandalf, which led to Beorn helping the Dwarves and then later being of great help in the Battle of the Five Armies, killing Bolg and rescuing the deathly wounded Thorin. Radagast helped search for the lost Ring with his birds and beasts, which though it didn’t actually find anything, at least showed where the Ring wasn’t. He warned Gandalf that the Nazgul were abroad, Black Riders, and searching for the Shire. And though Radagast unwittingly led Gandalf into Saruman’s trap… he also had his friends the Great Eagles gather news of all the evil creatures on the march, and when their leader Gwaihir brought this news to Gandalf at Isengard, Gandalf was able to escape. So I think, in the end, Yavanna was right to beg Saruman to bring Radagast to Middle Earth, proving her wise as always. (See also the Ents.)

I hope that helps!

#cle-guy #lotr #lotr meta #jrr tolkien #the blue wizards #alatar #pallando #istari #the easterlings #radagast #saruman #gandalf #the eagles #wizards #the history of middle earth #beorn #yavanna #is the best

[daywillcomeagain]

⭐?

aaaaaaaaaaugh i had this whole post WRITTEN and then tumblr DELETED IT and now i have to WRITE IT AGAIN. (quiet pouting)

here goes again: i want to talk about its own reward. it was born pretty heavily from my recent thoughts and discussions about redemption, both on tumblr and discord. specifically of note is @undercat-overdog​‘s incredible post:

But… feeling guilty, feeling sorry isn’t redemption. It’s not even repentance....But what is necessary, if perhaps not sufficient? Well, first and foremost, not continuing to hurt people. Part of it is coming to an understanding of morality, if they don’t already have one (*coughSauron*), coming to a moral place where if they were put in the same position again, they would not make those same choices: that is, if they could go back in time and relive their lives, Sauron wouldn’t make the Ring or attack the Elves, Gollum wouldn’t betray Frodo to Shelob, Maedhros wouldn’t attack Sirion.

i think that this is both (a) really fundamentally correct and (b) means that, with my interpretation of how the Oath works, the eight Oathbound can never be redeemed.

which... Ouch.

(this is mostly because i disagree with undercat’s parenthetical: i don’t, actually, think that they had a choice at that point. this isn’t because i don’t think they have agency--or, maybe it is, but only in the sense that the Oath was them using their agency to give up their future agency? people do this irl, though, too, in ways such as “checking themselves into rehab and telling everyone to make them stay no matter how much they beg to be allowed out to have drugs”, or “putting their money in a trust where they can’t have it even if they change their mind”--precommitting yourself to future action, even if you’ll regret it, is absolutely a thing that people can do without being any less of people. so under my interpretation, the Oathbound don’t actually have a choice about a lot of their actions, once they’ve taken the Oath--they have some, yes, but not enough to avoid the Second and Third Kinslayings--and so they can never fully repent of Doriath or Sirion except as “I repent of taking the Oath and of all the evil actions that came as a result of that”.)

this passage is probably the most obvious callout of this:

“Redemption can be given to many who have done terrible things; it would be useless if it could not. People who have done terrible things is exactly what redemption is for! No. You, dear brother, are incapable of redemption because you do not regret any of the things you’ve done. Not really, not in any way thatmatters. You can toss and turn with misery at night and tell yourself you love your hostages as your own children, but if tomorrow they were to withhold a silmaril from us, what would you do? You would kill them with the same sword you have already used to kill their kin. And then, I am sure, you would cry about it, as though tears were enough to buy forgiveness for what you have done.”

...

We have sworn for ever! And being a good person will always, always come second to that Oath. You know this as well as I, but I daresay we have all learned it well. Certainly it looks unlikely that it will come into play again; yet neither did any expect the success of Beren and Lúthien. So long as we are destroying cities, I see no point in combing through the rubble for absolution. We can do penance all we please, but we will never be able to redeem ourselves as good people so long as we are bound.”

“So you just gave up?”

“Indeed. What is the point in playing a game you have already sworn to lose?”

Maedhros, at this point, knows that he will never be redeemed. he is, of course, incredibly sorry, intensely guilty, intensely self-flagellating, but he also has recognized that this doesn’t actually matter so long as he would do it again tomorrow. he’s also pretty no-good-deed, after all he’s been through: all of his actions, including the ones intended for good, have either failed or backfired, from Losgar to the Nirnaeth to the search for Eluréd and Elurín. as a result, he’s completely given up on ever being a good person, or ever doing good things. 

Maglor, on the other hand, doesn’t. he is trying desperately to do good, but more than that, he wants to be a good person; this underlies his decision to take the kids and raise them instead of, say, sending them to be raised by someone else who did not traumatize them and destroy their city. and he does believe, to some extent, that things such as “doing good” and “being sorry” can make you a better person, even if you are... still the kind of person who would kill a city to get a silmaril.

they’re both right about some things and wrong about some things; they’re also both being deliberately as vicious as they possibly can. maedhros hates himself and maglor both a whole fuck of a lot; maglor is trying so desperately not to hate himself that he’s kind of putting everything else aside, and also he’s bitter and angry at his older brother for letting him down and leading him into evil, and... wow they are just extremely unhealthy all the time huh.

essentially: rescuing children doesn’t absolve you of murder, but it’s still a good thing to do anyway. maedhros and maglor are both able to recognize exactly one half of that sentence.

but. i really, really didn’t want to end it at that, because wow is “end-of-first-age-mae is right, actually, and the oathbound can never ever be redeemed” a hopeless message! not to mention, this whole debate is really remarkably self-centered: until the end, when Maglor goes to give Elrond some singing lessons, the people they’ve hurt never come up; it’s only discussing the terrible deeds and whether they can come back from them, with no discussion of the actual people they’ve hurt or what they want. so. elwing happened. 

it’s really important to me that forgiveness is a different thing from redemption: someone can be absolved but unforgiven, someone can be forgiven while still being just as unrepentantly evil. forgiveness is a thing given freely by the victim and is never owed one way or another to the person who hurt them. in a lot of ways, the ending is really unfocused on the question that’s been debated the whole time; in fact, it leaves it entirely up in the air. instead of saying whether or not anyone’s a good person, or what they deserve, or whether their sins still stain their souls, it says: look. i don’t have the power or knowledge of that kind of thing. things are complicated. this is what i do know: the consequences of your actions, both good and bad. here they are. they matter, too. (also: rescuing children doesn’t absolve you of murder, but it’s still a good thing to do anyway.)

fanfic director’s cut ask meme (ask here) (stories here)

#deserve has nothing to do with it #worst foster dads #shut up þornwë #wolffyluna

[fedonciadale]

I’m so meh with the white walkers I keep forgetting about them! I just can’t imagine the rest og the episodes will be about them. What can you see happening with them in s8 and do you think there’s a chance they can ‘win’ ?

Dear nonny,

I don't really see a chance of them 'winning'. We might see that the existence of the WW is more complicated than meets the eye. Showwise they are an experiment of the CotF gone awry and this means they have to be stopped and probably will.

But as you I'm not that invested in the defeat of the WW. I'm curious as to how they will be defeated and what kind of sacrifice will be necessary, but I'm quite sure that GRRM intended for the other side of fire to be problematic as well (eternal winter against eternal summer, both are no good news). Showwise I think they gave us a hint that the elimination of the Night King might solve the problem. To me it would make sense if they try to remove the dragonglass dagger from his heart and release him to death - which he might even want. I don't think killing him will be as easy as beheading him with a Valyrian sword. Valyrian swords can hurt WW but I doubt the same holds true for the NK. So, they will have to undo whatever it was the CotF did to the Night King. I really hope that Bran will get the most important role in that plot. He is the one with magical abilities. He should be the one to finish the NK. I suppose the weirwood or some other holy place might be important as well for this.

Bookwise I think balance has to be restored. Which might mean that all the magic of the CotF has to be destroyed and then also the magic from the fire side, because I picture it like some kind of scales : everytime the scales tip too far in one direction the other side grows stronger as well. There was a Long Night before and there was the fire and blood magic of the Valyrians. My hunch is (and I have talked about this with @lady-in-a-song) that Bloodraven vanished beyond the wall on the search for immortality (because villains always want immortality) and began to orchestrate the revival of magic possibly by tricking the CotF about his real intentions. I strongly suspect that the tragedy of Summerhall where Aegon V died in the attempt to hatch dragons is somehow connected to Bloodraven. At that time the scales were not so far out of balance that dragons could be burn. We see the WW back and strong in the prologue of AGOT and the first episode. So, the scales have been triggered. At the end of the book - framing the events between ice and fire btw - the dragons are born. By then the scales are off.

So, my idea would be that they will have to eliminate all magic. So my idea is the following - and please note that this is just a hunch, based on my belief that ice and fire are both bad news and that one aspect of bittersweet will be that magic will be gone. In LotR the Elves know that the defeat of Sauron will mean that their magic will vanish as well, although it even is in essential good magic. I think it is a bit more complicated with ASOIAF : ice and fire magic are both bad, or rather very dangerous but it is possible to do good with them - like Jon's resurrection.

So, I think the solution might be to try to eliminate the magic of both sides simultaneously. For example : Use the dragons to destroy the weirwood as it is there that the magic of the CotF linger, undo the making of the NK to get rid of the wights and then kill the dragons - for example with weirwood arrows and spears collected before the destruction of course.

I only fear a bit for Jon in that case, because it is quite possible that the end of magic means his death.

Losing magic even though it has been depicted as dangerous time and again would be somewhat sad, as it is in LotR and might count as 'bittersweet'.

I doubt we'll get an open end like a stalemate or even the WW winning. What would be the point? GRRM does not write pointless nor is his apparent grit a sign of nihilism. It is all about choices, and the choice to destroy magic to save the world might come down to be very hard indeed.

Thanks for the ask!

#anon ask #white walkers #how to defeat them ? #bran Stark #magic in ASOIAF #bittersweet #what does bittersweet mean? #balance of ice and fire #fire is as bad as ice