#isengard band

[asgardian--angels]

for the music ask game— 2, 12, 64 (blue)?

Thanks for sending!

2 - Do you still buy CDs (or other physical media)?

Absolutely, it's the primary way by which I get new music still! The feeling of holding something physical in your hands, appreciating the artistic work put into designing album covers and liner notes, and being able to listen to an album all the way through in the order the artist intended, with no breaks or ads, is something that cannot be replaced. It's a tangible tether between artist and listener.

12. Who’s the most obscure artist you listen to?

haha, that's a great question because most of the music I listen to already is way off the mainstream, given that it's metal. Hmm... I would say Criss Angel, honestly. He's a well-known persona but how many people are aware he made electronic-industrial metal (? I honestly don't know how to categorize it) in the 90s that formed a concept album trilogy about the mythology of his off-Broadway show?? It was a fairly difficult set of albums to buy back like 15 years ago when I got them but now, I can imagine it's a Herculean effort to track them down - they're called the System Trilogy. They were highly influential albums for me in middle school, and I honestly still enjoy them to this day. He's very talented as a musician in my opinion.

64. [Send me a color and I’ll post an album cover art of that color.]

Blue:

#thanks!! #'but molly' you say. 'that picture is indigo' #fine then go look up nordland II by bathory there's your true blue #birbs-in-space #i wasn't on here during my legit criss angel phase but his early work still holds a special place in my heart #back when his hair was like 3 feet long lmao i miss those days #obscure is relative tho like i could name almost any band i listen to and most people would have no idea #but they're well known *within* metal circles #like i could have chosen Isengard which is Fenriz's side project that I love even though it's terrible #and I had to go to Finland just to find a copy of it in a corner record shop #but any black metal fan knows that lmao

[sillylotrpolls]

(Relevant reading below poll.)

This poll is one of my favorites, because I love every possible option. When it previously ran, voters determined Legolas had dyscalculia. I'm eager to see if that result holds up in this "extended edition," or if tumblr will find itself swayed in a new direction.

Excerpted from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Chapter 7: Helm's Deep and Chapter 8: The Road to Isengard

'Two!' said Gimli, patting his axe. He had returned to his place on the wall. 'Two?' said Legolas. 'I have done better, though now I must grope for spent arrows; all mine are gone. Yet I make my tale twenty at the least. But that is only a few leaves in a forest.'

(Rest of the relevant text below the cut.)

...

'Twenty-one!' cried Gimli. He hewed a two-handed stroke and laid the last Orc before his feet. 'Now my count passes Master Legolas again.' 'We must stop this rat-hole,' said Gamling. 'Dwarves are said to be cunning folk with stone. Lend us your aid, master!' 'We do not shape stone with battle-axes, nor with our finger-nails,' said Gimli. 'But I will help as I may.' They gathered such small boulders and broken stones as they could find to hand, and under Gimli's direction the Westfold-men blocked up the inner end of the culvert, until only a narrow outlet remained. Then the Deeping-stream, swollen by the rain, churned and fretted in its choked path, and spread slowly in cold pools from cliff to cliff. 'It will be drier above,' said Gimli. 'Come, Gamling, let us see how things go on the wall!' He climbed up and found Legolas beside Aragorn and Éomer. The elf was whetting his long knife. There was for a while a lull in the assault, since the attempt to break in through the culvert had been foiled. 'Twenty-one!' said Gimli. 'Good!' said Legolas. 'But my count is now two dozen. It has been knife-work up here.'

...

'Things go ill, my friends,' he said, wiping the sweat from his brow with his arm. 'Ill enough,' said Legolas, 'but not yet hopeless, while we have you with us. Where is Gimli?' 'I do not know.' said Aragorn. 'I last saw him fighting on the ground behind the wall, but the enemy swept us apart.' 'Alas! That is evil news,' said Legolas. 'He is stout and strong,' said Aragorn. 'Let us hope that he will escape back to the caves. There he would be safe for a while. Safer than we. Such a refuge would be to the liking of a dwarf.' 'That must be my hope'' said Legolas. 'But I wish that he had come this way. I desired to tell Master Gimli that my tale is now thirty-nine.' 'If he wins back to the caves, he will pass your count again,' laughed Aragorn. 'Never did I see an axe so wielded.' 'I must go and seek some arrows,' said Legolas. 'Would that this night would end, and I could have better light for shooting.'

...

Suddenly there was a great shout, and down from the Dike came those who had been driven back into the Deep. There came Gamling the Old, and Éomer son of Éomund, and beside them walked Gimli the dwarf. He had no helm, and about his head was a linen band stained with blood; but his voice was loud and strong. 'Forty-two, Master Legolas!' he cried. 'Alas! My axe is notched: the forty-second had an iron collar on his neck. How is it with you?' 'You have passed my score by one,' answered Legolas. 'But I do not grudge you the game, so glad am I to see you on your legs!'

#lotr #lord of the rings #poll #polls #extended edition poll #gigolas #gimleaf

[maccreadysbaby]

Writing 101: Characters with Medical Issues

Part One - Mobility Aids and/or Prosthetics

Aka, me doing research for you!

TW: talks about what leads to a prosthetic… obviously

Ah, yes, I get it. Having more diverse characters, more things that can go wrong, more hurdles — it’s all a nice addition to a story. But slow down! Don’t just shove an issue at a character because you like the idea! You need to research and decide if you actually want them to have that or if you just got a little excited. I’m here to provide you a bit of base research on a commonly used issue. Today: Prosthetics and Mobility Aids.

First of all, mobility aids are exactly what they sound like — things that aid someones mobility. These include wheelchairs, crutches, braces, walkers, canes, forearm crutches, etc.

Prosthetics are artificial devices designed to replace a missing body part. Most commonly, legs and arms.

How Someone Gets Prosthetics or Mobility Aids

The most common way for someone to get a Prosthetic is, obviously, for them to lose or severely damage a limb in an accident. For example, a soldier stepping on a mine, a car crash that completely crushed an arm, heavy machinery full-on chopping off a hand. See: Proctor Ingram, Fallout Four (2015) You can also lose extremities from diseases like bone cancer, where surgeons must remove it to remove the cancer. See: Leo Roth, Red Band Society (2014)

It is more common for people to have mobility aids for temporary amounts of time, for example, a broken leg or twisted ankle resulting in having crutches. For long lasting or life long mobility aids, you’ll need to look into physical disabilities, different types of muscle trauma and nerve damage, or an injury that wasn’t able to heal properly. See: Freddy Freeman, Shazam (2019)

Choosing When to Add Prosthetics or Mobility Aids

First things first — you should design your character with the mobility aid or prosthetic already in mind. They can affect the entire personality of a person, so I wouldn’t recommend creating a character and then deciding their mobility aid. For example, a child with forearm crutches due to a physical disability probably won’t like doing all the same things the other kids do on the playground, or the same sports their friends at school like. There’s also the unavoidable issue of them feeling out of place or “weird” no matter the age. So, obviously, there are some aids more suited for different genres of writing. For example, a long journey like Lord of the Rings would be tough for someone with a wheelchair or walker, but it’d be okay for a romance. That’s why it’s so important you don’t spring something like this on a character in a spur of the moment thing. Here are a few things I’d recommend deciding beforehand: 1 - What type of mobility aid or prosthetic is best for your type of story? You can choose any you like, but it’s good to consider if you want to write everything that comes with pushing a wheelchair to Isengard. 2 - Would your character have access to these aids or prosthetics, or would they have to settle with something else? If your story is post apocalyptic, they probably wouldn’t have access to the same things, or if your story is set in the past, you’d have to research aids and prosthetics from that time period. Even consider characters making their own — which is also a good way to mold it to your needs.

What Comes Along with Prosthetics and Mobility Aids

Okay, so you’ve decided you want your character to have a prosthetic or mobility aid. You’ve weaved it into their personality and your story. Now comes making it realistic… what do people with these things experience? Think about? People with prosthetics have challenges and additional baggage that comes along with having a prosthetic. First of all, if your character just got this prosthetic, it’s gonna be hard to walk on and even harder to wrap their head around. Sometimes, prosthetics hurt. There’s several different kinds and different activities each one can do. They change size as the person changes size. There are many different ways they attach to the body that suit different needs. Mobility aids have their own set of challenges as well. For example, fitting a wheelchair, walker, or crutches through a tight space. Fitting braces under or over clothes. Stairs. You have to think about enclosed spaces like cars, public transport, planes, elevators, bathrooms. These challenges will change with your story. For example, on a long outdoor journey, how will each different aid or prosthetic react to the temperature, humidity? How will the one in the wheelchair or with crutches get up that mountain? While the aids and prosthetics come with their own challenges, new ones are gained based on the genre of your WIP. This includes what your character thinks about. In a post-apocalyptic work, they might not worry about being different or out of place, but they might spend every day hoping and praying their homemade leg brace doesn’t break.

Reminder!

⚠️ DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH IF YOU INTEND TO ADD A CHARACTER WITH THIS INTO A WORK OF YOURS. STUDY HOW THESE THINGS EFFECT THE COMMON LIFE OF A PERSON. IF YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO HAS ONE OF THESE THINGS, ASK THEM. MURDER YOUR EYEBALLS BY RESEARCHING ON YOUR COMPUTER. WATCH A SHOW WITH A CHARACTER WHO HAS ONE. KNOW YOUR STUFF BEFORE YOU MAKE YOUR CHARACTER, I BEG.

#writing angst #original writing #creative writing #writers #writing #writing tips #writeblr

[hobbitwrangler]

At the Death of a Friend

Prompt: 'friendship' for lotrweek day 4

Summary: Saruman has not heard Galadriel's voice in years. But in the aftermath of Gandalf's death, they speak one last time.

Character(s): Saruman & Galadriel

Rating: G

Words: 3.4k

Note: I struggled with whether to post this on day 4 or day 5 since, due to revolving around Gandalf’s death, this could fall into the ‘loss’ category. However, I decided to post it on day 4 because for me the emphasis is more on the ‘friendship’ aspect, which the loss brings out.

Saruman did not know what drew him to the pinnacle of Orthanc. That should probably have warned him. At such height the air was cold, the spires of the tower honing the winter wind until it was knife-sharp and shrieking. Snowflakes danced on the wind, melting in the swirling black heat which rose up from below.

Wondering why he had not thought to don a cloak, Saruman pulled his robes more tightly about him, his gaze tracing the peak of Methedras, scanning the tree-clad slopes reaching toward Isengard. Not for the first time that day (or that hour), he wondered what had befallen Gandalf and his band of fools. Did they walk the dark pathways beneath the mountains or were their bodies frozen in the snows of some mountain pass after another failed attempt to cross? His spies watching the Gap of Rohan had reported nothing, meaning that those two paths were surely all that was left to them.

As if sensing his thoughts, a surge of wind cut down from the mountains, howling discontentedly as it broke against the black stone of Orthanc. Cursing whatever impulse had led him up here, Saruman ducked his head and decided to return indoors.

“My kind are well aware that trees can be angered, but we think much less of mountains. Yet it seems that Middle Earth in all of its parts is unsettled this winter.”

AO3 link - lovely dividers by @saradika

#lotrweek #lotr fanfic #lord of the rings fanfic #lotr #saruman #galadriel #i promise i'm capable of writing light fluffy fics #my fics

[weatherman667]

#babylon bee

[brasideios]

Five Songs I Actually Listen To

I was tagged by the lovely @mini-uzzy Thank you! 😊

Hmm… lemme think.

1. The Lady Don’t Mind by Talking Heads. I love this song, and it’s working hard as some character inspiration right now.

2. Born to Be Alive by Patrick Hernandez. Seriously, this song just lives rent free in my brain at all times, permanently (along with Seagulls, the bad lip sync song. It’s a mess in there 😆).

3. Gimme Some Slack by the Cars. Having a real time with the album Panorama. I grew up with this band (one of my Dad’s faves, and my older sister deliberately set out to brain wash me into liking them as a kid) but this album wasn’t big in our house - and yet, it’s the only one I really like these days.

4. Any of the concertos of the composer Spohr. I love his work - and I listen to it when writing a lot.

5. In the Caverns of Isengard from the LOTR soundtrack. I have been listening to these soundtracks while working in the last couple weeks, and this particular track is an all time fave. It makes me tear up - that sweet chorus in the middle of all that banging - perfect.

Tagging @aeide @findusinaweek @sleeplessincarcosa and anyone else who wants to jump in. My memory for names is so bad today

#music #tag game

[freakingoutthesquares]

Tigger Pissed On Me. Or: The skeletons in Pulp's Closet Words: Nick Griffiths Taken from Deadline, July 1992

Welcome to widescreen, stereophonic anecdote-drama, with extra special guests, Pulp. Meeting them is a privilege.

The scene

Bunjies Coffee House, London, aka "The Folk Cellar", where the strains (literally) of celebrated folk guru, Gary Numan, are piping through cappuccino stained speakers. Enter three members of Pulp, Sheffield's answer to strangeness in pop - proof that Sheffield at least has an answer to something. Someone once wrote that Pulp took the stage "looking like the escape party from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", which was unfair. Drummer Nick's uncle is (the) Gordon Banks. Guitarist/violinist Russell maintains (misguidedly, even though he does stare a lot) that he is "the guy from Sparks". I suggest that singer/guitarist/object-of-impressionable-girls-desires Jarvis Cocker looks ever so slightly like Jimmy White. He does not take this as a compliment.

Skeleton One

RUSSELL: It was a snowy day and I was going to see a film. I arrived at the cinema, and there was a queue outside of about 20 people. I was behind this girl that I vaguely knew and l just started making conversation: "It's cold isn't it?: Yes it's cold: Very, very cold: Yes it is, very cold. Feel my cheeks." And I felt her cheeks and there's me thinking - cold, like a fridge - and I said, "Oh yeah, can I put my meat in your mouth?" People in the queue started turning round, and I'm holding her cheeks, and at that point the connotation of what I'd said dawned on me, so I tried to rectify it. The whole queue's watching me and I'm going - cause it's cold, like a fridge - I still had to stand there in that queue, cause to have gone off would have been admitting that was like, y'know... She never spoke to me again.

Skeleton Two

JARVIS: I once wore pink tights and a blonde wig for a school play, Twelfth Night. It was good though, because I got to feel the English teacher's breasts. We were doing a dress rehearsal and there was this bit where I had to make a gesture and land my hand on this girl's breasts. Which was a good part for me, cause I wore specs at school and had bad teeth, so I never used to get girls. But then she was ill this day and the English teacher, who everybody fancied, stood in for her. Halfway through the scene I realised I was going to have to grab hold of her tits. So I did, and everyone was going "What were it like? What were it like?"

ALL: What was it like?

JARVIS (Enviably nonchalant): It was alright.

Skeleton Three

JARVIS: Russell used to be a rocker. He used to be into Hawkwind (To Russell). Did you ever wear a lab coat?

RUSSELL: Ahem. No, I didn't actually, no.

JARVIS: And he used to have a very thin pencil moustache.

RUSSELL: I was in a heavy rock band called Isengard.

JARVIS: Isengard?

RUSSELL: It's a valley in Lord of the Rings.

Skeleton Four

JARVIS: Nick's got Nina Hagen written on his drum bag.

NICK: That was my friend's.

JARVIS: These are the excuses he comes out with.

NICK: I did go and see some very dodgy punk bands. I went to see Angelic Upstarts in Rotherham. Me and a couple of mates were right up for it. We got the tickets and on the day thought "Fookin 'ell, there'll be loads of skinheads there; we might get beaten up." I put on this punk T shirt to go down there and we decided to go in the back way in case there were loads of skinheads round the front. We got close to the entrance and still thought there may be loads of skinheads there, so we decided to go round to a friend's house and come back later. In the end we never actually got to the concert cos we were so scared of getting beaten up by skinheads.

Skeleton Five

RUSSELL: I got pissed on by a tiger on a school trip.

DEADLINE: What were you doing lying underneath a tiger?

RUSSELL: No, we were at the zoo and it was time to go, and I'm looking at this tiger and it's looking at me. It turned it's back on me and cocked its tail - and have you ever seen Tomcats spray? Tigers do it, like, big stylee. There was no escape from it: It was just like "Ppsssscchwooosshh". And I'm saturated in this tiger piss and it's like "time to go now". What do you do? I'm sat on this coach seat on me own and all the way back they were going "What's that horrible smell?". It's like "Oh, Miss, a tiger pissed on me". What can you say?

Skeleton Six

RUSSELL: I tried to fly. I used to have a cacky conservatory with a red and white striped awning made of plastic. And I decided to make it into a hang-glider - although hang-gliders weren't really invented at this stage; It was just a big kite. I made this massive thing about 15 foot long and I'm running up and down our road. like, jumping. And I took it on our school field and there's all these people watching me, and I'm running down it and I did start to take off, and it nosedived and landed on top of me. So I'm trapped underneath and I couldn't crawl out, and everybody's lying around laughing. Then I had to drag it back home and nobody would help me. I was really pissed off. Dragging this thing back like it was a bloody cross or something.

Skeleton Seven

JARVIS: I used to have loads of rubbish hobbies. I had collecting badges - nice big ones.

DEADLINE: What sort?

JARVIS: Oh, anything - double glazing... Even me Mother was always trying to get me to write to Swap Shop to be on it. She even knitted me a jumper and said, "You can put all your badges on that", Which I thought was sad. She asks me if I've still got it.

Skeleton Eight

JARVIS: We did our first ever concert at school. We decided we wanted to have dry ice, so we had a word with the chemistry teacher about it and he said, "Oh yeah, yeah, I'll sort you something out". We played this concert on the school stage and there was the chemistry teacher with two swotty kids, and he had a bunsen burner. And he kept getting a bit of magnesium ribbon and it'd just go 'pff'. And that was supposed to be pyrotechnics. It was like a little chemistry lesson at the side of the stage. A bit of green smoke that only went a couple of inches. Very tragic.

Actually Pulp are very cool

  Alvin Stardust (During his Shane Fenton period) slept on Jarvis' parents' floor.

  It's rumoured that Joe Cocker fitted Jarvis' parents' gas fire.

  One of Mike Harding's guitar strings hangs around a statue at Jarvis' parents house.

  Nick has met Ken Goodwin (All: Who?)

  Tony Christie used to live around the corner from Jarvis.

  Emlyn Hughes (allegedly) used to shag a woman who lived at the bottom of Jarvis' road. "It got to be known that he was doing it, so the kids used to gather around on a Sunday Morning and shout up at the bedroom window."

  Pulp are "deep personal friends" of Paul King.

  Jarvis has "done a fart next to Mike Edwards" of Jesus Jones. "It was this party in a pub. There were only two urinals; he went to use one, I went to use the other one. And you know when you do an involuntary fart when you're having a pee? There was nobody else to blame it on, and I wasn't finished, so I had to stand there looking embarrassed."

  Nick has drunk from the League Cup.

  Jarvis has Dixon of Dock Green's and Brian Clough's autographs.

  Nick: "Tommy Cooper once brushed past me"

  It's all getting a bit tenuous now, isn't it?

The Plug

Pulp have a sense of humour. Lots of other bands don't. The only reason they might gaze at their shoes onstage is to check that they've put their shoes on. Pulp could easily be the hippest band of this year, if only they could sort out their contractual wrangles and if only people would have heard of them. To say Pulp are refreshing live is like saying that Martin Amis is quite pretentious. They are a Bounty Ice Cream on a very hot day. Buy their new-ish "O.U." EP this instant, otherwise people will point at you and laugh.

Transcription: Acrylic Afternoons

#russell senior #jarvis cocker #steve mackey #nick banks #candida doyle #pulp #90s #almost britpop #printed interview #interview

[rastronomicals]

March 28:

On the 28th of March, 1973, Led Zeppelin issued Houses Of The Holy, their fifth album.

Zeppelin's perhaps-proggiest album contains some of the band's best material, and some of its worst.

On this date in 1987, The Screaming Trees released their second album, but first on SST, Even If And Especially When.

Today is the 30th anniversary of the release of Vinterskugge, Fenriz side project Isengard's album.

And,

On the 28th of March, 2005, Robert Fripp & Brian Eno sprung upon us The Equatorial Stars, their reunion album.

#March 28 #Led Zeppelin #Houses Of The Holy #The Screaming Trees #Even If And Especially When #Isengard #Vinterskugge #Robert Fripp & Brian Eno #The Equatorial Stars

[betabites]

Semi-Orktober: Most of these were completed just before the move, but not photographed.

First, we have the pseudo-Istari, because they're just Reaper minis, but there's certainly a resemblance, even ignoring my paintjob. Mostly, I used these as color-tests for the actual miniatures. White remains difficult to paint, but I think actual Saruman was much improved by my suffering and learning on this one. Pseudogandalf was my first attempt at object-sourced lighting; definitely going to have to make further attempts. I don't have an actual Radagast mini, so this one was just for fun.

The start of my Dead of Dunharrow: the king, three riders and dismounts, and two can either be heralds or bannermen, depending on the needs of the list. The official minis are fine, but I saw these from Fireforge Games, and wanted these distinctly Celtic ones, if only because I see a lot of parallels between the locals of the Westlands (Dunharrow, Dunland) and the early Britons. The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes did not fill a empty land, and neither did the Numenoreans. I went with blue to tie into the usual woad-wearing (as paint and dyes), and also to echo the blue-and-white of the Fiefdoms, and the dark-blue/black and white of Minas Tirith.

A small unit of Rohirrim fyrdmen - they can be fielded as Rohan Warriors with throwing spears, but they're meant to be part of the Westmark fyrd: ten regulars and two men from Erkenbrand's household (with banner and horn, and swords and armour). My partner expressed an interest in maybe playing Rohan, so this was partially to use up some extra troopers from my Dunland forces, and partially to have a small infantry force to support the endless cavalry.

So, fun note! There's a line in the Silmarillion about the clash of the Last Alliance and Sauron (from 'Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age'): "All living things were divided in that day, and some of every kind, even of beasts and birds, were found in either host, save the Elves only." Which means that the Last Alliance had orcs fighting against Sauron. Thus, Yarrow and his band, deserters from the power of Isengard, under a sign of a golden-boughed tree.

I've finished the first member of the Fellowship: Samwise the Brave. Also, the priority token that comes with the Fellowship box (and the Ring), and a pack of corgis to serve as Farmer Maggot's hounds (corgis from Bad Squiddo Games).

Lastly, the Dark Lord unveiled:

#painting miniatures #MESBG #Tolkien #The Dead of Dunharrow #Rohan #Isengard #Sauron

[tarisilmarwen]

Hi Tari, I remember there was once upon a time a video that brought the whole “Why couldn’t the Fellowship just have the Eagles carry then to Mount Doom so Frodo can drop the One Ring into it” argument.

One argument it brought up goes something like and paraphrase here “Is really the whole ‘Frodo and Sam split off from main Fellowship and go to Mordor in a sneaky fashion plan the best one they can come up with, because you can’t count the amount of times the two got spotted, captured, injured or all of the above. For everyday it takes to get there on foot, thousands of lives are probably being lost. It was only by dumb luck that plan worked at all”

Do you have any rebuttals to that argument?

As I already pointed out in multiple posts re. the eagles, they simply do not fly far when carrying passengers and you would still have to get within feasible range of Mordor (by walking) to utilize them. Or use them in short burst all down the Misty Mountains which would get them spotted by Saruman's crebain spies and then probably ambushed while they camped to let the eagles rest.

More to the actual point of the complaint though, I wonder if this person actually read the books or watched the films because, ah, sending Frodo and Sam off alone to find the rest of the way to Mordor? Was most certainly NOT in the actual plans.

The Fellowship had intended to travel all the way to Gondor together. If they had even planned that far ahead. They were constantly having to readjust their plans and routes to avoid Saruman's Uruk-Hai forces and other bands of orcs. They tried the north mountain pass of Caradhras to avoid Isengard and wound up stymied by the weather, so they took a gamble through Moria to avoid having to go through Rohan which was way too close to Isengard.

That brought them out by Lothlorian so they took to the Anduin River to try to get some speed on the orcs and debated all the way down there which road to take once they reached the Falls of Rauros. Boromir wanted to go to Gondor, to Minas Tirith, to get reinforcements, Aragon obviously had some doubts and suspicions with that plan. The attack by the Uruk-Hai and Boromir making a play for the Ring decided things. Frodo decided it was safer for him to break off from the rest of the group, seeing as how the Ring was going to be seriously starting to corrupt them one by one. Sam stubbornly went with him out of sheer loyalty.

That left Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli on their own, unable to catch up to the hobbits, with Boromir dead and Merry and Pippin captured, on their way to Isengard where Saruman would learn pretty quickly they didn't have the Ring. Frodo and Sam were already out of reach. But any delay or distraction the three could afford them could only help.

So they go after the Uruk-Hai. Hope to stop them on the plains and keep the enemy confused about the actual possible location of the Ring. Hope to keep Sauron and Saruman's attentions in Rohan. Hope with a fervent foolish hope that Frodo and Sam can make it through to the end.

The whole point of Frodo and Sam breaking off from the Fellowship was that it was a massive unplanned Indy Ploy driven by unforeseen circumstances that they had no choice BUT to adopt, since the two were already too far ahead of them to catch up with. And Frodo had a very good reason for refusing additional aid along his path, having seen the Ring quickly corrupt Boromir's heart. He would not run the risk of that happening to more people along the way. He would have been very acutely aware of the Ring growing in power the closer they got to Mordor.

Tl:dr- No one planned on the whole, "Send two hobbits alone into the heart of enemy territory and pray it works." thing, shit just hit the fan and it wound up happening that way.

#askbox #lord of the rings #boromir #aragorn #frodo baggins #merry brandybuck #pippin took #sam gamgee #gimli #legolas #saruman

[horrid-phantasm]

BATEMAN: Do you like Quorthon and The News? ALLEN: Um, they're okay. BATEMAN: Their early work was a little too raw thrash for my taste. But when Blood Fire and Death came out in '88, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Isengard, but I think Quorthon has a far more bitter, cynical sense of humor. ALLEN: Hey, Halberstram? BATEMAN: Yes, Allen? ALLEN: Why are there copies of the Style section all over the place? Do you... Do you have a dog? A little chow or something? BATEMAN: No, Allen. ALLEN: Is that a raincoat? BATEMAN: Yes, it is. In '84, Quorthon released this; Bathory, their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpiece is "Sacrifice". A song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it's not just about the pleasures of rituals and the importance of trends. It's also a personal statement about the band itself. Hey, Paul! Bateman murders Allen with an axe BATEMAN: Try getting a reservation at Elm Street pub now, you fuckin' stupid bastard!

#Shitpost #Bathory #Bathory band #True Metal #Real Metal

[confield]

EVERY ALBUM I REMEMBER LISTENING TO FOR THE FIRST TIME IN JANUARY AND MY OPINIONS ON THEM IN 5 WORDS OR LESS

Celtic Frost - Danse Macabre (Thrash metal?): I LIKED IT!

Farben - Stuck (Microhouse): I LIKED IT!

Beherit - Drawing Down the Moon (Raw black metal?): I LIKED IT!

Lesser - Welcome to the American Experience (Sound collage/IDM?): IT WAS FUNNY! KINDA BAD!

Darkthrone - F.O.A.D.: (Crust punk?): IT WAS FUNNY!

Pan-Amerikan Native Front - Little Turtle's War (Indigenous American black metal?): I LIKED IT!

Morbid - Year of the Goat (Death metal demos): I LIKED IT!

Thorns - Grymyrk (Instrumental black metal demos): I LIKED IT!

Fatima Al Qadiri - Genre-Specific Xperience (Left-field club): I LIKED IT!

Frankie Knuckles - Beyond the Mix (Chicago House): I LIKED IT!

Hellhammer - Apocalyptic Raids (Lofi thrash metal?): I LIKED IT!

Yasunao Tone - ATAK016 MUSICA SIMULACRA (Glitch/Sound art): COOL AND FUNNY!

Silver Jews - The Natural Bridge (Singer/songwriter): I LIKED IT!

Zeni Geva - Desire for Agony (Noise rock): I LIKED IT!

Paysage D'Hiver - Winterkalte (Atmospheric black metal): I LIKED IT!

TODAY IS THE DAY - Sadness Will Prevail (Experimental metal wankery): I LIKED IT!

Darkthrone - Goatlord (Death metal instrumentals overdubbed a few years late with black metal vocals): I LIKED IT! IT'S FUNNY!

Darkthrone - Hate Them (Crust punk???): IT'S FUNNY!

Klein - Star in the Hood (Experimental): I LIKED IT!

Darkthrone - Sardonic Wrath (3-minute-long black metal): I LIKED IT! IT'S FUNNY!

Mika Vainio - Onko (Minimal electronic noise something something: I LIKED IT!

Isengard - Vinterskugge (Black/Folk metal): I LIKED IT! IT'S FUNNY!

Frank Bretschneider, Giorgio Li Calzi: Zero Mambo (Glitch/Clicks n cuts): I LIKED IT!

Blasphemy - Fallen Angel of Doom (Black metal): I LIKED IT!

Chino Amobi - PARADISO (Experimental/sound collage): I LIKED IT!

Darkthrone - The Cult is Alive (Darkthrone music): I LIKED IT!

Eyehategod - Take As Needed for Pain (Sludge metal): I LIKED IT!

Tim Hecker - Radio Amor (Ambient): I LIKED IT!

Sigh - Scorn Defeat (Baroque black metal): I LIKED IT!

Batushka - Litourgiya (Orthodox church music + black metal): I LIKED IT!

James Ferraro - Skid Row (Eclectic/experimental/sound collage): I LIKED IT! IT'S FUNNY!

Neurosis - Through Silver in Blood (Experimental metal): I LIKED IT!

Darkthrone - Arctic Thunder (Darkthrone music): IT'S FUNNY!

Gorgoroth - Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam (Black metal): I LIKED IT!

Luke Vibert - GRIT. (Acid something-or-other): IT'S FUNNY!

Drive Like Jehu - Self Titled (Post-hardcore): I LIKED IT!

Fudge Tunnel - Hate Songs in E Minor (Sludge metal): I LIKED IT!

The Jesus Lizard - Pure (Noise rock): I LIKED IT!

Magrudergrind - Self Titled (Grindcore): I LIKED IT!

Holly Herndon - PROTO (Experimental electronic): I LIKED IT!

Acid Bath - When the Kite String Pops (90s metal that the internet tells me to listen to): I LIKED IT!

Buzzoven - Sore (Sludge metal): I LIKED IT!

Patty Waters - Sings (Free/avant-garde jazz): I LIKED IT!!!!!!!

Ulver - Kveldssanger (Folk whatever): THIS SUCKED!!!!!

Ulver - Nattens Madrigal (Black metal): I LIKED IT!

Melvins - Gluey Porch Treatments (Sludge metal): I LIKED IT!

DJ Stingray 313 - Aqua Team (Detroit techno/electro): I LIKED IT!

James Ferraro - Far Side Virtual (FUCK YOU): THIS SUCKED BUT IT'S FUNNY!

Trelldom - Til Evighet... (GAAHL'S FIRST BAND): I LIKED IT!

Urban Tribe - The Collapse of Modern Civilization (Detroit techno/house/something): I LIKED IT!

Kekht Arakh - Pale Swordsman (BLACK METAL FOR GAY PEOPLE): I LIKED IT!

Minor Threat - Out of Step (DC Hardcore): I LIKED IT!

Discordance Axis - The Inalienable Dreamless (Grindcore About Neon Genesis Evangelion): I LIKED IT!

Kekht Arakh - Night & Love (STILL BLACK METAL FOR GAY PEOPLE): I LIKED IT!

Uboa - The Origin of My Depression (Power electronics/ambient): I LIKED IT!!!!!!!!!!

The Abyssinians - Arise (Roots reggae): I LIKED IT!

Chokebore - A Taste for Bitters (Post-hardcore): WEIRD VOX BUT I LIKE!

This Heat - Deceit (Experimental/post-punk): I LIKED IT!

Husker Du - Metal Circus (Technically an EP but whatever, post-hardcore): I LIKED IT!

The Jesus Lizard - Head (Noise rock): I LIKED IT!

Isaac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul (Progressive 70s soul): I LIKED IT!!

Curtis Mayfield - Curtis (Progressive 70s soul): I LIKED IT!

Polvo - Cor-Crane Secret (Post-hardcore): I LIKED IT!

Otis Redding - The Dock of the Bay (60s soul/R&B): I LIKED IT!

The Impressions - Keep on Pushing (60s soul/R&B): I LIKED IT!

Guru - Jazzmatazz Volume One (Acid jazz/jazz hip hop): I LIKED IT!

Clikatat Ikatowi - Orchestrated and Conducted by (Post-hardcore): I LIKED IT!

#as you can tell in the first half of this month i was listening to as much namechecked black metal and black metal adjacent albums #as i could #music #long post #the only one that i thought 100% sucked were the ulver folk one

[nosuntoday]

"- What’s the current status on your other two bands Valhall and Red Planet?

-Not really my band, Valhall, it’s the band I started with some other metalheads that had cabins where I lived in ‘88. I had to quit when I got the record deal with Darkthrone in early ‘90 cuz I had to concentrate on Darkthrone. I started in Valhall again in 1993 when Darkthrone had been sleeping since summer of ‘92. Red Planet was something I did in that DT break and I donated one or two Red Planet songs to Valhall when I started there In ‘93 again. Red Planet was supposed to be an album for Peaceville or the underlabel, Dreamtime. No, my other band was ISENGARD , first demo in mid ‘89, as I wanted to do something separate for Darkthrone. Then there were so many other projects in early 90s, Neptune Towers, Regress FF and then mid ‘90s Dødheimsgard, Storm. I made around 10-12 albums in ‘93-96 so I got burnt out and decided not to pour out so much of the music inside me anymore. Worked great." (Fenriz for The Heavy Blog is Heavy)

#fenriz #darkthrone #gylve fenriz nagell #gylve nagell #interview #isengard #red planet #valhall #norwegian black metal #black metal #music

[strixessabre]

Super rare Isengard release. Mega kvlt status if you know what album this is. Only 2 tapes were ever released. Cool band. Wowie Fenriz. 

( Strixes’ Sabre )

#isengard #black metal #fenriz #darkthrone #norwegian black metal #Vinterskugge #kutte #button #pin #badge #Spectres over Gorgoroth #battle jacket #rare release #so kvlt #gr1m

[thetolkientroubles]

Script and Sources Below

Orcs (And Uruk-hai) are such an integral part of Middle-Earth, and as a byproduct of the influence of Tolkein on the fantasy genre as a whole, part of colloquial understanding of fantasy.

Almost every fantasy story has Orcs and goblins, or goes to great length to distance themselves from these creatures, embracing the concept and thus the concepts of high fantasy that are to be assumed with the orcs, or entirely avoiding orcs, letting the consumer know that this is different fantasy, and to expect the unexpected. But how can one look at (Or read) about something and know it’s an Orc? Well, Tolkein didn’t often describe the orcs in detail, as they more represent the evil, but he did sometimes tell the reader what they looked like, at least vaguely, saying “his broad flat face was swart, his eyes were like coals, and his tongue was red” (Fellowship Of The Ring, p. 325) The word swart in there means Swarthy, which is an old timey way of saying Dark-Skinned. 

Contrast to one of our heroes, Aragorn, the big good king returning from exile to save Middle-Earth, while the series offers very few details on Aragorn's physical appearance, we know he is tall and lean with "a shaggy head of dark hair flecked with grey, and in a pale stern face a pair of keen grey eyes." or perhaps, another of the Fellowship, “Legolas was fair of face beyond the measure of Men " (The Last Debate, RotK) and it becomes a slight concerning that our band of heroes are all fair of face and pale, and our sometimes mindless/sometimes corrupted mortals enemies, the orcs, are described as dark-skinned. Adding in, that in the past of middle earth, “in the First Age, there were the Easterlings and Swarthy Men who were evil” (Human Image…, 2014) draws an uncomfortable picture of the ideology and uncomfortable ideals around race, and problematic ethnographic details. And while Tolkein famously didn’t believe his writings were representative, “his role as a mythmaker is not complete in merely conjuring a world that he thinks should be real; it is also about universal truths and fundamental Christian values.” (Human Image…, 2014) And the issues mount throughout the main Lord of the Rings stories, where the ‘goblin-soldiers’ of Isengard are described as being ‘of greater stature, swart, slant-eyed, with thick legs and large hands’ and elsewhere as ‘large, swart, slant-eyed’ (Two Towers, pp. 415, 451). Additionally, a glimpse of the appearance of the Orcs is also given through the description of Saruman’s half-goblin or half-Orcish Men, the result of his having ‘blended the races of Orcs and Men’ (Two Towers, p. 473). Already in Bree we met a ‘squint-eyed southerner’, the companion of Bill Ferny, who is also described elsewhere as ‘swarthy’ and with ‘a sallow face with sly, slanting eyes’ (Fellowship Of The Ring, pp. 160, 165, 180) Which depicts a commonality of descriptors seen not only for the Orc, but the Uruk-Hai, the Goblins, and the mixed versions of the “evil races.”

 In arguing one of the treatments for a possible adaptation of his work, Tolkien fought against an interpretation of the Orcs, where in the adaptation they had beaks and feathers and thus made more monstrous, Tokien responded in one of his letters that “The Orcs are definitely stated to be corruptions of the ‘human’ form seen in Elves and Men. They are (or were) squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes: in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types.” (The Letters of J.R.R.Tolkien, From a letter to Forrest J. Ackerman [Not dated; June 1958]) Which is not good. In fact, it’s so not good that it matches the description used to very racistly describe what is now an outdated and known racist term of Mongoloid, “Flat face with a low nasal root, accentuated zygomatic arches, flat-lying eyelids (which are often slanting), thick, tight, dark hair, dark eyes, yellow-brownish skin, usually short, stocky build” (Taken from Wikipedia) So it’s easy to see this and realise why so many within the scholarly community around fantasy literature and fiction are in recent years decrying the depiction of the Orc. 

But one can argue that regardless of what Tolkein thought, whether he was racist and thought that Dark Skinned and Asian people were monstrous or not, he’s dead and we don’t have to engage with or support his writing anymore, and we’ve moved past racist depictions of Orcs. But in the fact that Tolkein essentially made the modern orc, and it really hasn’t changed from his depiction of it, there are still tonnes of baggage attached to the orcs and the idea of the monstrosity of it. The origin of the Orcs as being inspired by or extrapolated from a racist description of real life people continues its ramification in fantasy media. Despite the fact that Orcs in popular culture now often have what is called a Cockney accent, while English is also famously working class, and traditionally seen as a sign of lower intelligence by classist people. Additionally, Dungeon and Dragons Fifth Edition, the world's most famous roleplaying game, which has players build a character from fantasy species with lore nearly directly ripped from lord of the rings (Halflings or hobbits are sneaky and clever but want to enjoy a good life, elves are long lived, wise, and beautiful, dwarves live underground and have a great deal of greed, etc) gives players statistical bonuses to various attributes based on their character’s species. Dwarves are hardier and have more stamina, elves are more wise and graceful, etcetera. Then, in November, 2016, a new book allowed players to officially play as Orcs. They had a bonus to strength, but infamously, had a negative to intelligence. The smartest Orc player character, as set out by these rules, could never be as intelligent as the smartest elf or human. Thus, the continued implications of Orcs being less-than, as started with Tolkein, continues well into the contemporary fantasy media landscape. Unless authors actively work to undo this era of allowed racism, the problem will not go away, and while Tolkein offered a lot to Fantasy, it’s intolerable to allow these types of things to be perpetuated because of its status as a staple of the Genre. 

-D.D

Sources:

Tneh, David. “The Human Image and the Interrelationship of the Orcs, Elves and Men.” Https://Journals.tolkiensociety.org/Mallorn/Article/View/51, 1 Dec. 2014, https://www.jstor.org/stable/48614822. 

J. R. R. (John Ronald Reuel), 1892-1973. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien : a Selection.    Boston :Houghton Mifflin Co., 2000.

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings. HarperCollins, 1991.

Volo's Guide to Monsters Wizards of the Coast, 2016.

#Youtube #the lord of the rings #the hobbit #tolkein #fantasy #orcs #goblin #evil #elves

[nightcoremoon]

rewatched lord of the rings or should I say I watched a reaction to it (yes reaction content is garbage, yes oreos are garbage, but fuck you I’m still gonna eat oreos sometimes), and through them I realized just how different it is to most modern fantasy.

the main central driving force of the plot was love and friendship. that’s an element completely missing from most modern fantasy nowadays: human connection.

you can have epic battles and sieges and war and espionage and betrayal and plot twists galore but it doesn’t make a lick of difference if all your characters fucking hate each other and have zero redeeming qualities. your bad show still is boring and sucks.

the battle between Gandalf and the Balrog is legendary not because of what he says (ok maybe that helps a bit) but because of what his sacrifice means for the rest of the fellowship. Boromir protecting the hobbits from the uruks to his last breath is legendary not because he kills a bunch of orcs, but because he dies protecting the ones he loves knowing full well the cost. helm’s deep is one of if not the best fight scenes in cinema history not for the architecture or the individual sword slashes or Legolas riding down a flight of stairs on a surfbort, but because a few hundred men (and elves) laid down their (immortal) lives to protect the people of Rohan from Isengard, ten thousand strong, to preserve the innocence and purity of the children who remained hopeful even when war tore everything away from them, when the wild men of Dunland burned the Westfold to the ground. we love the battle of pelennor fields not because eowyn stabbed a guy in the face, but because she stabbed a guy in the face to allow her father to die honorably and full without getting his flesh chomped by the nazgul. we love the final stand at the black gate because even when all seems lost and there is the threat that everything they did so far was completely in vain, even when all signs pointed to Frodo having been tortured and murdered and the ring falling back into the hand of Sauron, they still elected to stay together, a band of brothers, just stalling for enough time to give Frodo and Sam safe passage through Mordor on their way to Mount Doom, giving a weight to the battle of the Black Gate that’s more personal than “the evil demons will destroy the universe oh noez!!1”.

idiots will do a surface level analysis and think all they need to tell a compelling story is violence, blood, gore, and titties galore. that’s how we get so much empty uninspired garbage with minimal redeeming value or worth watching on a repeat.

the thing that makes high fantasy good is how it still connects to our world. like how the thing that makes a comedy good is how good the serious moment is (inigo saying “I want my father back, you son of a bitch”, for example). it has to relate to our world somehow for it to have meaning to our world.