#luthien thinks she is but isn’t really

[kitcat22]

The steps to her father’s chamber are steep and winding and by the time Luthien reaches the top she thinks she must have been climbing for hours. She doesn’t really mind though, she is in no particular hurry to see her father anyway and she is grateful for the time to think.

The door at the top the landing is made of hard thick wood painted the colour of nightshade. She raises her hand to knock and drops it again. Seeing her father is always an uncomfortable, unhappy experience and she wishes that her mother had just sent one of their servants to speak to him instead. But no Luthien was told to and Luthien is an obedient daughter. She knocks, lightly and first and then two harder knocks but no answer comes. Annoyance stirs inside her but she maintains her smile and knocks harder again until a quiet, melodic voice calls out

‘enter’

Luthien does as instructed and pushes the heavy door open and stepping into the large room. He has been re decorating again she thinks. Candles line the walls casting the room in a faint, golden glow. In the centre of the floor stands a large circular bed with pale curtains surrounding it. There to the right sits her father at his desk. He does not bother to look towards her. She can see his pale hand moving around and realises he is sketching again. He is very talented at it she admits. Many pieces of his artwork hang gracefully from the stone walls. Some depict beautiful places Luthien has never seen before, wide open grasslands and shimmering lakes. Others depict faces with long pointed ears and with hair of molten gold, coal black and white-silver not unlike her father’s own long locks. She wonders if they were people he knew once but doesn’t bother to ask. She doesn’t think he would respond anyway.

‘Father’ she greets him and then feeling gracious,

‘i like the new layout’

There is no response at first and she stands uncomfortable and annoyed until the quiet voice responds.

‘It has been like this for quite some time. I find it dull to stay in one room that never changes. Perhaps it is time i do it again’

Luthien holds herself back from responding ‘maybe you should just leave your room more often’. It would be unkind and unmannerly to speak to her father like that and mother would be displeased.

Her mother is too kind to him, Luthien thinks, too gracious for her own good.

‘ you must not blame him, my beauty’ she would cry ‘your father loves you dearly but ever does his heart bemoan the loss of his kinsmen.’ Luthien thinks Melian gives him too much credit. It has been millennia since the Dark Valar wiped out the Eldar children of Eru and no matter how tragic that may have been, he cannot mourn for them forever.

At least not at the expense of his current family, she thinks darkly.

Grief has left her father a cold and bitter man. Rarely does he smile and rarer yet at Luthien or her siblings.

‘His kinsmen’ she remembers with a startle. That is why she came.

‘Father’ she says ‘there is news. Eol is to be wed’

There was a pause before he spoke back.

‘Eol’ he repeated sounding no more interested than before. ‘Is that so’

‘That is your son’ she thought ‘at least pretend to care’

‘Indeed’ she replied instead with a fake smile ‘but that is not the only news. The maiden he weds is of the eldar’

Now that got his attention.

Her father puts his charcoal down suddenly with a clacking noise and makes no effort to stop it as it rolls onto the floor. he turns to face her for the first time since she entered his room.

‘An elleth?’ He said ‘are you certain?’

‘I have seen her with my own eyes. A fair lady dressed in white clothing, structured and complicated in a way i have not seen before. Dark is her skin and darker her hair. Eol found her lost and confused and injured, when he realised what she was, he lead her further in the forest where it is safer’ The story slides of her tongue quickly, it is not often she has this much of his attention ‘My brother has found himself quite enamoured with her and mother has given them permission to wed. She couldn’t very well say no considering she herself married an ellon’

He did not respond immediately. His silver grey eyes were unblinking and searched Luthien’s face eagerly as if searching for a hint of lies or mockery. His pale hands smudged from his sketching were clutched tightly around the frame of his chair.

‘An elleth’ he repeated ‘your mother said i was the last of my kind, are you telling me that my lady wife is a liar?’

Any strange spark of joy she felt at his attention vanished and she bristled. How dare he imply her mother was a liar. Only he would twist her words in such a way. She spoke again in a more curt, biting tone.

‘Not at all. Mother believes that the girl must have been kept prisoner by the dark lords in Mordor. Poor thing. Otherwise mother would have seen her and told you of her’

‘Of course’ said her father, blank faced again as he pushed back his chair and stood ‘take me to this girl. I should very much like to meet her’

‘The maiden still rests from her weariness, you will meet her at the ceremony. Your presence there is required, I shall send the servants up with appropriate garments for the occasion, until then you may remain here if you so wish’

And with that Luthien turned from him and made her way out of the chambers leaving her father standing alone behind her.

#elwe is not having a good time #luthien thinks she is but isn’t really #to be clear the elves arent all extinct or imprisoned thats just a lie told by melian to keep elwe trapped #elwe has had a few thousand years for enchantments to fade and suspicions and resentment to grow #this is part of my Melian never lets elwe return to his kin au #silmarillion #the silm #silm #elwe #elwe singollo #elu thingol #thingol #luthien #luthien tinuviel #melian #dark melian au #they’re in Nan Elmoth btw

[annoyinglandmagazine]

I love the idea of Finweans being transported into Years of the Trees Valinor as much as the next person but you know what I think could be just hilarious for a crack concept? A Sinda being transported into Years of The Trees Valinor. Think Beleg, Mablung, Daeron or maybe even Thingol himself (preferably with no one knowing who they are) getting out of Mandos and into Valinor but they don’t realise immediately that this isn’t current Valinor.

Thingol sees Maglor Feanorian in the marketplace which is a shock already because why would he get out before him but he doesn’t even have the decency to offer apologies when he sees them, how dare he in fact wait a minute he’s waving at him? What’s going on here why is he being friendly, he shouldn’t be able to be that friendly after killing so many people? Does he feel no guilt?

Mostly though for Thingol’s world to get absolutely shattered at meeting Maitimo Nelyafinwe, who yes technically is Maedhros Feanorian but how?! He doesn’t recognise Thingol of course so when he notices he seems a bit shaken by something he’s all polite and considerate and guides him to a bench before clapping him on the shoulder reassuringly and fetching him some tea. With the two hands he now has somehow.

And he sits with him and tries to find out if he’s alright but Thingol’s too confused to run like his life depends on it (and since this is the infamous Lord of Himring it might) because what is he even wearing? That’s practically a gown, not one he’d want to see Luthien in either, he’s not even wearing armour or carrying a blade? And he’s still smiling and it doesn’t look even slightly forced and his hair is actually long, not normal long either it’s down to his thighs for goodness sake.

All hope of sanity disappears when someone who looks no older than 20, comes up to them and starts tugging on Maedhros’ sleeve impatiently, ‘Nelyo, Nelyo, I can’t reach the tools I need for a project.’ Why in all of Arda would a child be approaching Maedhros Feanorian for anything? Why would they not be running in terror and avoiding him at all costs?

Maedhros shot him a conspiratorial glance as if he’d enjoy being in on some joke with a kinslayer ‘That’s most likely a sign you shouldn’t be using them Curufinwë,’ Curufinwë as in Curufin, possibly worse than even Maedhros himself. Of course it was.

‘But Nelyo.’

He smiled apologetically and asked him if he was feeling well enough now. He assured him he was mostly to get him out of his sight long enough to process the interaction and Maedhros Feanorian beamed at him, ‘Alright then, just feel free to come to me if you need anything, I’m always happy to help and Uncle Ara is very good at giving advice if something’s bothering you if you’d prefer.’

Then he stood, making Thingol concerned enough about the loose swathes of material to look away as a precautionary measure (was this a seduction attempt? He’d never heard of the Lord of Himring employing such dishonourable tactics but did he really know anything anymore?) and swept the child who could not be Curufin into his arms spinning him around above his head until he was in fits of giggles, ‘Now how about we ask Ammë about your project and if she says no I can take you somewhere instead? There’s an exhibition on in the city you might like? Sound good to you?’

The person who has to have just stolen the face of the eldest son of Feanor walked off with the elfling balanced easily against his hip and chatting away. This must be a weird fever dream.

#silmarillion #tolkien #maedhros #thingol #valinor #time travel #curufin #maglor #mablung #beleg

[jaimexbrienne-fic-finder]

Wedding

May is Wedding month, so here are stories about weddings! Some are only about a wedding, some just have a bigger part about a wedding. There are lots more I can't remember right now, if I think of many more there will be a part 2!

Found Wanting by dreadwulf

Brienne is still convinced that the entire affair is a joke on her. Surely there is a real bride somewhere in the castle, who will be brought out once the crowd has had a good laugh at the cow in a satin gown. When she said as much to her intended, he said it was surely a joke on them both. Let them laugh, he said. What’s funnier is that Queen Daenerys made the match in the first place – she must have thought them intolerable to one another. The Beauty and the Kingslayer. Surely Brienne could see the humor in it?

Something Drastic by bearsofair

Brienne ducks out of a wedding reception early. Her "date" comes looking for her.

the battlefield between us (isn't here tonight) by robotsdance

“I missed you, ” Brienne says like she’s admitting something else, and Jaime wants to say it back to her in exactly the same way: loaded with all of the things they’re not saying. Let that truth settle between them, unsaid but at least somewhat spoken. That could be enough. To share that quiet understanding with Brienne, here, alone together in the middle of the woods, in the middle of a war, in which one of them will be on the losing side. That could be enough. I missed you too.

Brienne would understand.

What Jaime says instead is “Marry me.”

The Lion, the Wench, and the Wardrobe Trailer by GilShalos1

Jaime Lannister’s entire acting career has been built on playing reckless cads and heartless villains – ever since a scandalous death on his first film, Kingslayer, was quickly hushed up at his father’s behest. Nearly fifteen years later, acclaimed director Olenna Tyrell has announced her retirement: after one last film, Oathkeeper, inspired by the mythic story of the Long Night. She wants Jaime to do what he does so well, play into his on-screen persona and off-screen reputation, and be a villain for the ages in her final film. But to make sure his infamous ways don’t interfere with production, she requires his personal assistant to keep him on the straight, narrow and sober. Brienne Tarth, in her first job on a film set, finds herself tasked with keeping the impossible Jaime Lannister under control …

Something Blue by Aviss

Jaime Lannister was a wedding planner, though he sometimes missed his old job where he was actually allowed to kill people. Ten minutes with his latest clients and he was already convinced they should not get married. He wasn't a marriage counsellor though, he wasn't invested in this Hunt and Tarth wedding beyond the planning of the ceremony.

Never A Bride by CourtingDisaster

(Modern AU) Wedding bells are ringing in Westeros. After an unpleasant first meeting, Brienne and Jaime find themselves being thrown together over and over as their friends and family marry off. After all, as Tyrion likes to point out, there really aren't any other groomsmen tall enough to escort everyone's favorite bridesmaid...

Over the course of several weddings and receptions, Brienne and Jaime form a sort of truce, perhaps they even become friends. But Brienne isn't going to let the atmosphere of romance carry her away, no matter how handsome Jaime is...is she?

Vows by theworldunseen

Jaime Lannister profiles the most interesting and romantic weddings in the country for his super popular blog, The only problem? His own heart has been stomped on, and it might have ruined weddings for him forever. When he finds out about a woman who’s going to be in her twenty-seventh wedding party, he thinks writing about her might be his way back to loving weddings. But Brienne Tarth isn’t anything he ever expected.

What happens in Sunspear (doesn't) stay in Sunspear Series by Luthien

Brienne wakes up the morning after a night on the town in Vegas Sunspear, with unexpected company in her bed - and that's just the first surprising discovery she makes.

My Best Friend's Wedding by wildlingoftarth

A desperate Brienne hires a “professional party date” to accompany her to Renly’s wedding on Tarth. It’s just a weekend – what could go wrong?

so keep me close. by SeeThemFlying

Brienne pines for her husband, Jaime, who she is convinced is not madly in love with her.

#jaime x brienne #braime

[silvantransthranduiltrash]

Do ya have any more headcannons about the whole Thingol and Melian you sometimes write about over here? I really like the concept of Thingol being Melian's thrall basically

Yes yes yes! It’s pretty much canon in my mind

So Thingol isn’t being mind controlled by Melian 24/7, it’s mostly during important events /decisions.

When it’s just an average day, Melian loosens her control over him (bc she’s a sadist) so that she can say she doesn’t control him all the time. Unfortunatly for him, when he isn’t being mind controlled, Melian is verbally and occasionally physically abusing him, so it’s a toss up on which he prefers: mind control, where he doesn’t have to think to much and isn’t constantly being hurt, or no mind controll, but he is constantly being hurt and gaslit.

By the time the noldo came to the eastern shores, Thingol has pretty much given up, which is why his personality switches between mind control and no mind control aren’t noticeable.

Furthermore, Melian likes to make herself out as the good guy, so she has Thingol act and decide things that actually she wants, but she herself will play as the disapproving, compassionate wife. This means that most elves, espescially the noldo who haven’t been around to witness the breaking down of thingol’s will, believe that Melian is the one to talk to in order to get Thingol to work with them, and it gives the impression that, if anything, Thingol is the abusive one in the relationship, essentially trapping Thingol, and preventing him from escaping due to social pressure.

Luthien knows exactly what’s going on, but other elves either 1. Don’t believe her (like her Noldorin cousins) or are not in a position to help her and Thingol completely. They might be able to keep melian down momentarily, but they can’t put a permanent stop to it unless they are willing to risk the eradication of all the sindar.

As mentioned in previous posts, this really leads to a “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” mentality in the sindar, and even all the way to the third age the concept is pushed that Melian was merciful and Thingol was not.

Luthien, whenever she needs to get away from Melian’s abuse (with her it’s more verbal/gaslighting and watching her father get hurt), runs to Oropher, the head of house Edireth, bc he’s one of the only elves who has enough power to stop Melian in her tracks unless she’s willing to risk it all. She has a permanent room in his household, where she keeps all her diaries listing the abuse Melian has put her and Thingol through, bc she knows that if she keeps those diaries where Melian can access them, they’ll end up destroyed. This is her way of documenting proof of melian’s abuse bc she knows no one will believe her if she accusses he mother without proof.

Luthien is also pen palls with Lasgen, her cousin, god mother (Thingol was able to gain controll for enough time to make Lasgen Luthien’s god mother, bc he didn’t trust melian for one bit) and Oropher’s grand daughter, who lives (at this time) in the Arctic Empire (an Avari nation), and Lasgen has hundreds of letters where Luthien is venting about exactly what is happening in her home.

Also as mentioned in previous posts, Luthien didn’t only choose to marry, live and die with Beren bc she loved him, she also did it to escape her mother’s grasp.

However, Luthien’s departure from his life ultimately broke Thingol, and she’ll forever regret that.

Now, the ainur aren’t really good in this au, especially the valar, so when Thingol comes out of the halls, Melian gets control of him once again and the valar do nothing about it, and no one really helps him, bc everyone has been so gaslit into believing that Thingol is the bad guy and melian is the good guy, that no one even knows smth is going on.

Except Olwe, Ingwe, and Finwe that is.

And as much as they want to tear him away from Melian, they have to play the long game and little by little break Elwe away from that bitch.

It isn’t untill into the 5th age that they, with the help of other Avari and cuivienen elves (bc they are some of the only ones not blinded by the ainur’s powers), manage to fully destroy the marraige and chase Melian away from Elwe. Of course, this causes further chaos amongst the elves as a whole bc if Melian could succesfully make most of the elven population believe that she is the good guy, even though she’s just as bad as Sauron, what else are the ainur doing? Especially considering they didn’t intervene now that they were in valinor.

#Melian #elu thingol #elu thingol is melian’s thrall #not melian friendly #luthien #abusive melian #house of edireth #anon ask #answered asks #lord of the rings #lotr #lotr elves #silmarillion

[tolkien-feels]

Do you think Aegnor and Andreth would have ever worked out? I mean Beren and Luthien made the whole mortal-elf marriage thing work for them. Or do you think they were really doomed like Finrod predicted?

This post might be controversial but: my entire reading of Finrod as a character is based on how profoundly wrong I think he was - Finrod is good but flawed, and his protective nature isn’t always necessarily a good thing.

You see, I’m deeply suspicious of anyone who claims that something is guaranteed to end in sorrow and pain and is therefore not worthwhile. I’m not by any means implying Finrod was being malicious or even unwise; he was acting based on what he knew, but he doesn’t know everything. Any plan which requires people abandon each other to endless sorrow because they’re scared of what the future holds is probably not the right course of action, even if it’s the wisest. I’m not saying I can prove Aegnor and Andreth should’ve gotten together, I’m saying Finrod seems to have been moved by fear rather than by hope, which disqualifies him to predict the world as it exists in Tolkien.

Note that I’m not saying Aegnor and Andreth would’ve been happy forever and ever and never regret anything if only they had tried to stay together. I think it’s pretty clear that Arwen should marry Aragorn, but she still finds the pain almost unbearable at least twice that I can think of (her farewell to Elrond and Aragorn’s death). It could be either Aegnor or Andreth or both would face this kind of pain. But I believe like Arwen, they would have thought their love was still worth it. I don’t know that the two of them could have made it work, but I do think the two of them should have gotten a chance to try.

I think it’s Complicated and I do think they were doomed to some level of unhappiness from the beginning (as are, incidentally, Beren and Luthien! It’s repeatedly emphasized they have a lot of pain in their lives together), but I can’t imagine that they would have regretted being unhappy together more than they regretted being unhappy apart.

#but i'm also not sure what would happen in the story if they got together #so i'm not sure about the specifics

[daisyachain]

there’s one version of an f/m/m triangle that crops up so often I’m surprised there isn’t at least a tvtropes/vernacular name for it. Miyokichi/Kiku/Shin. Molly/Fitz/Fool. Asuka/Shinji/Kaworu. Futaba/Taichi/Touma. not-really-but-you-could-shove-it-in-here Luthien/Beren/Finrod. Utena/Touga/Saionji is a twisted spun-on-its-head version of it. Specifically comprising:

masculine male character A: either is the protagonist or a character on to which male viewers can project.

female character B: a secondary character and A’s official love interest, often kept apart from A by story/circumstance/gender roles. Shows some resentment of the trials she’s put through by the story in being A’s lover such as being shoved to the side, cut out of his life, or put in danger.

less masculine male character C: another major character, A’s devoted sidekick, feminine and/or conspicuously cold toward women or sexuality, somewhat ill-used by A but not resentful about it, as a contrast to B.

The dynamic is used pretty equally by female and male creators, though probably with different purposes. Outside the story, there’s a clear explanation for how the roles are divided: men are main, women are peripheral. Obviously the female love interest has to be on the margins of the story. Obviously the male main character has to have an ally in-story who can bounce dialogue back. Any human person has to have a best friend (for men, has to be male) and a lover (for men, has to be female). The major character male bestie and the minor character female gf is the minimum character dynamic you need to sustain the main character as a believable construction.

Except within the story, the dynamic begs far too many questions. On B’s part: her other half and love interest uses her for sex once every few chapters and dumps her to go off on another plot-relevant adventure. She’s kept in the dark, talked down to, pushed away, and distrusted. Her place at her sweetie’s side is occupied by Some Dude and no matter how much she puts into their relationship, she’s always going to be a prize for after the mission. Why does she stay with him? What could possibly attract her about this bestubbled grunt machine whose passion for the sword outmatches anything she’s given him?

On C’s part: he gets used as an emotional support crutch, designed to service his best friend’s every need at the expense of his own goals or story. He’s a housewife, he’s a domestic, he does every thankless story task with a smile because he has to provide the exposition/set up the plot/set the plan in action that carries the main male character to victory. He doesn’t have a love interest of his own, meanwhile the most important person in his life is obsessed with a woman he barely speaks to. Why should he care so much about someone who only takes? Why is he committed to this one-way friendship? What does he think of taking the backseat, providing support, submerging his own will for the sake of a person instead of an ideology?

On A’s part: if he’s a red-blooded heterosexual male character who pursues a woman as is acceptable, why does he dig himself so deep in with his designated ally? Through dialogue and because he has to in order to show the audience, he exposes his heart and soul to C and keeps him in his pocket for as long as we are watching, so why then does he cast him aside so easily? He invests the most time and energy into his relationship with C, cultivating love and loyalty there, but he draws the line so firmly in the sand that the audience is sure he’ll never, ever step aside for one minute to follow the friend. Why does he choose a man for his emotional battery? Why doesn’t he communicate with his supposed partner? Why does he choose to use B and C for sex and solace respectively, and why don’t they ever mix?

The gender dynamics wrap around to simple: women aren’t up to being equal partners to a cool guy, so you need a male wife to do everything for you and appreciate the protagonist’s sick abilities. romance with a man is perverse and impossible, so you need a female love interest to prove that the protagonist isn’t gay and fulfil the audience’s needs. But in-between all of that you could ask some interesting questions of the spoke character, A, the male protagonist whose actions are taken as normal. the question being: bro. what’s wrong with you

#kelsey rambles #aaaaaand the only thing that satisfactorily calls the A-character on his mistreatment is the podcast CARAVAN. which is not good #actually i'd go as far as to say it's bad #rgu goes into it a little but it's nowhere near the main focus of the series #using asuka-shinji-kaworu as the example that just sucks so bad #shinji's treatment of asuka is so horrible and misogynistic and despite her screentime. in shinji's mind she's never more than peripheral #and gets dumped at the last second and turned into a corpse. she's an object of desire and he refuses to recognize the ways they're the same #on the other hand shinji loves and idolizes kaworu.....only in as far as kaworu is his own dream guy who gives him everything he wants #and never makes even the slightest hint of a glimmer of expectation of anything from shinji in return #the moment kaworu's desires become explicit--he's not only killed but erased from the story altogether #eva rebuild 4.0 does this in the most insulting way possible by farming him off with....rei? #not to try and take eva rebuild seriously but the way it expands on kaworu and sidelines asuka is somehow insulting to both of them #even moreso than the original series was. which is saying something #someday i have to read the eva manga because i hear it takes kaworu in a more problematic direction that is still a direction and so better #or as for SGRS--shin is far more loving and devoted to kiku than he is to any woman and takes a killing blow for him #he watches him in life and guides him through the underworld. he gives more to kiku than he gives to anyone. #yet as a character any possibility of like-liking kiku is denied. what's the damage there? #how does it make story sense? why does kiku have a more serious relationship with a woman than the ostensibly straight shin? #the answer is The Misogyny but even then it's jarring to have shin's plain love be obfuscated with the constant references to being straight #as opposed to kiku. who actually has girlfriends and not one-night stands #it's nonsensical to read shin as a straight man and yet any possibility of him returning kiku's feelings is barred off blacked out redacted #leaving us with a dog's breakfast of a dynamic that IS fun. because in this case it's intentionally bad. and the author is winking at us

[doodle-pops]

(Little storytime. Imagine being Luthien’s younger sister and doing this)

You: Hmm, those two dared to kidnap my sister and hold her a prisoner. Let’s see how they like it when their older sibling gets kidnapped. 

*At Himring* 

Celegorm and Curufin: *Returning after getting beaten by Luthien and Beren* 

Celegorm: *sighs* Man, that did not go according to plan. 

Maglor: *stomping toward them* What did you do?!

Celegorm: Wow, ease there, brother! We didn’t do anything!

Maglor: Oh really? Can you then explain why I got a letter telling me you two kidnapped the princess of Doriath and even attempted to kill her?

Celegorm: I – alright, listen. We have a good explanation for this. How about we take this to Nelyo and let us explain ourselves? 

Maglor: I’m afraid we can’t do that because someone kidnapped Nelyo! 

Curufun: Kidnapped! Was it Morgoth?

Maglor: No! It was the second princess of Doriath. She was the one who took him and left this message which says “ Haha, how you like kidnapping now, suckers,”

Celegorm and Curufin: *looking at each other, knowing there was no fixing this* 

Celegorm: *hissing* Do you think Fingon would help us save our brother again? 

*At Doriath* 

You: And that is why I kidnapped him. 

Thingol: I get the idea, my child. But – Why?

You: *Pointing the ellon behind you* Why not?! They kidnapped Luthien, so don’t you think it would be fair if we kidnapped their eldest son? 

Maedhros: *standing wrapped up in ropes behind you* 

Thingol: You know what – never mind. I’m still sad about your sister running away with that man. Do whatever you want with the feanorian.

You:*turning toward Maedhros with a smirk* Gladly. Ready to have some fun? Carrot top? 

Maedhros: *sighs* If you want to torture me, just get on with it. 

You: What? What are you talking about? What torture? 

Maedhros: Well – whatever you do with prisoners. Don’t you have methods to cause pain to extract information or punish evildoers? 

You: You say it like you have been a prisoner before. 

Maedhros: Well, I was once a prisoner, so this isn’t the first time. 

You: Could you please explain? 

Maedhros: *takenback* Well –

*After explaining some details from his imprisonment in Angband* 

You: *Staring at him in horror* Holy motherof – Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it over some tea and biscuits? We have tea options that help with the stress and internal pain you might be feeling. 

Maedhros: Weren’t you going to have fun with me moments ago? 

You: I was going to annoy your ears off like how I annoy my father, but – Nah, we’re having this talk and getting you some free time to relax your mind and body because you obviously need it, and don’t try to talk back at me with this you’re still my prisoner.

Maedhros: Wow – I did not see this coming. 

*After some time* 

You: Oh, that’s how it's done. You know, thank you for explaining this to me. My father keeps nagging me about these politics even though I have zero interest, but now that my sister is out of the picture. I’m afraid I need to know these because I’m next in line for the throne. 

Maedhros: It might sound stressful, but when you get the hang of it. You know how to navigate court like navigating through the forest. 

You: Right. Oh, we’re out of biscuits. Wait here. I will be right back. 

You: *Stand up and leave* 

Fingon: *appears out of nowhere* Cousin! I’m glad to see you all right! When I heard you got kidnapped again, I came quickly as possible! 

Maedhros: Oh, Fingon. 

Fingon: You don’t — look like you’re being held captive. 

Maedhros: Well, not really. (Name) has been good to me, and my stay has been rather pleasant. The only thing I got forced into was a therapeutic session with some tea that helps with my nerves and chronic pain. 

Fingon: I’m – glad to hear that, but your brothers asked me to take you back, so why don’t we leave while we can? 

Maedhros: *sighs, shoulders dropping a little* Can you please make up an excuse so I can stay a bit longer? I grew to like the silence and peace, and I have not felt this relaxed in a long time. I can always deal with them later, so can you please do this for me, cousin? 

Fingon: Uhmm. 

*At Himring* 

Maglor: Fingon, why is Nelyo not with you?

Fingon: *trying to think of that excuse* You know – Nelyo and the princess seemed to get along really well, so I don’t think we have to worry about him. Who knows – maybe they end up falling in love and marrying each other, so — I don’t think we need to interfere.

Maglor: What?

Curufin: I can’t believe it. 

Celegorm: Did Nelyo succeed where we failed? He was the prisoner here! How is that possible?!

When everyone else fails Mae always successes🤣🤣 not Fingon being the family rescuer😂. I would kidnap my little giant smol ginger baby and give him a therapy session because HE NEEDS IT and help him with the pain and trauma.....and then we get married. Everyone is happy and everyone wins

Lemme just cuddle him and hold him gently and put in him in my pocket

#storytelling🌙 #🐧{anime.pen} #y/n imagines #feanorians shenanigans #doodlepops responds

[heyclickadee]

Fandom Ask:

The Lord of the Rings OR Pokémon

Thank you so much for the ask! I’m sorry it took me forever to answer it, though. And between The Lord of the Rings and Pokémon, I think I’ll go with The Lord of the Rings. (I love Pokémon, but I’ve been really out of the loop with it for a long time.) So!

The first character I first fell in love with: In the books? Gandalf. He’s so cantankerous, I love it. In the films? Probably also Gandalf, if I’m honest.

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: In the books? Frodo. Little eleven-year-old me didn’t really get Frodo when I read the books for the first time. I didn’t dislike him, exactly, but I didn’t get him. In fact, the first time I got through the chapter where Frodo claims the Ring, I was so upset that I put the book down and didn’t pick it up again for a couple weeks. And back then? That was weird for me. But I did eventually finish the book, and when I re-read the LOTR about a year later, Frodo’s whole thing started to click, and I started to really like him. And now, reading it as an adult, I get it, I really do.

In the films? Boromir. Again, I never disliked him, but a lot of the fanon on this website has created a special place in my heart for movie Boromir.

The character everyone else loves that I don’t: In the books? I don’t know if I have one. I don’t really hate any of the characters as characters. In the films? Legolas.

The character I love that everyone else hates: In the books? Okay, so, if we’re using “character I love” here to mean “character I love as a CHARACTER because they’re interesting and play a vital role in the story,” and not, “character I love as a person,” then it’s Denethor. Because, mean—Book Denethor is awful. He’s not exactly the same as in the films, but he’s awful in an equally bad way (and still the winner of the worst father of the year middle earth award). But he’s also pitiable, and really, really interesting.

In the films: Soooo…okay, this isn’t the PJ films, it’s in Rings of Power; and it’s not even the Lord of the Rings, strictly speaking, and there are elements of the Harfoot plot line I think are a little uneven, but I love Nori Brandyfoot. And Poppy Proudfellow. I’m sorry, I’ve adopted them.

The character I used to love but don’t any longer: In the books? I don’t think I have one. In the films? I do have one (Pippin) but it’s honestly not fair to the character in the film, because the film is doing a different thing, and that’s okay.

The character I would totally smooch: In the books? I’m undecided on the merits of smooching, but I would definitely platonically kiss Frodo on the forehead. And. Like. Straight up marry about half of the rest of the cast. In the films? Pretty much the same.

The character I’d want to be like: In the books? Faramir. Also maybe Ioreth. Being a gossipy old lady seems fun. In the films? Definitely not Faramir.

The character I’d slap: In the books? There are so many, but Lotho Sackville-Baggins most of all. In the films? Denethor.

A pairing that I love: In the books? I’ll admit I’m partial to Faramir and Eowyn. In the films? I don’t really actively ship it, but the fanart/fanon/kinda canon around Legolas and Gimli is all fantastic.

A pairing that I despise: In the books? I don’t have one. This is one property where I really don’t ship any of the fan ships, but I still think they’re fun, even if I don’t ship them. I’m sure there’s one that I’d really dislike, but I’m not involved enough in the LOTR fan community to know about it. In the films? Soooo…okay, I know that Peter Jackson was between a rock and a hard place here, because Arwen has near-terminal “not appearing in this picture” disease in the books (she was created fairly late in the game was far as writing went; there’s a chance that if she was created earlier, she would’ve been a lot more active and involved in a Luthien-kind-of-way, buuuut we’ll never know) and he still had to figure out a way to communicate that she and Aragorn have a relationship so it doesn’t come out of nowhere when they get married at the end, and he didn’t exactly have the benefit of an appendix at the end of the film, but. Man. I. Don’t love the execution here with Arwen and Aragorn. Pretty much at all.

#ask game #thank you so much for the ask! #sorry it took a while again #lord of the rings

[leohtttbriar]

Choose violence 8, 10, 24 for Tolkien? :)

<3 when i saw you had sent me an ask, i blushed so hard i'm pretty sure i gave myself a mild fever. omg hi <3

also, so sorry but i def employed some tolkien-esque verbose-ness in answering these lol. especially the last one, whew. like, im embarrassed.

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

what’s funny with the tolkien fandom is that the movie fans and the book fans have whole different spheres of bugaboos and Annoying Habits so it’s easy to vacillate between either camp when you keep encountering the Nonsense.

that being said, i one hundred percent consider myself a “book fan” and think movie fans are more annoying than all of us literates. like, they can’t help it—the movies are the source of most their ills— but as a rule movie fans are wrong about like all of the characters. as in, legolas isn’t mister stoic badass, sam isn’t More Heroic, aragorn isn’t pathetically reluctant, elrond is much prettier than hugo weaving, and denethor is not nutso (to name a few).

i would say, though, that book fans are generally really bad at figuring out what parts of the movies to pick on. like for years i’ve been so baffled by people still being angry over glorfindel’s exclusion in the fellowship movie and no offense to people who have read the silmarillion and the fellowship…but that was not only the best adaptational change but it also improves on the book. in that, sending arwen to guide them to rivendell and to physically hold frodo to her as she defended the last homely house with water horses, is an genuine story improvement—not just because lotr is a sausage fest and that Sucks but because it foreshadows arwen giving frodo her passage west, via a flight east, it lets arwen actually parallel luthien riding across middle earth on huan, which in turn gives arwen an equal sort of challenge in living up to a legacy, something that can thematically help aragorn live up to his, doing that thing tolkien does best and telling the same story over and over until the song finally scans and the rhyme resolves and the Big Story ends.

of course, the movies left out the arwen-giving-frodo-the-evenstar-gem thing so in terms of Sexism both media are equivalent.

i think book fans in general are wayyyyy too like faithful monk readers of the bible. and not even like medieval monk readers, where there’s a clear delineation between various interpretive approaches, going from the literal to the poetic in degree. no, tolkien fans i think have mistaken a rich creative world for something near perfection, to the point where they don’t really know how to explain why the amazon series is bad beyond “amazon is bad” and what makes tolkien’s fantasy unique. tolkien fans, in terms of pedantry, are worse than dune fans.

but yeah. everyone is wrong about glorfindel in fellowship. he is Not as interesting as arwen as a character and does Not really fit in the story.

10. worst part of fanon

definitely the freaks who treat genuine baddies as misunderstood kittens. like, i don’t feel very sorry for maedhros? also, why is the elrond-considers-maedhros-and-maglor-as-dads caucus in the tolkien fandom so loud??? look, there’s no arguing these are tragic and pathetic blorbos, and i personally love stories in which they seek atonement, but elrond had a dad. if i were elrond or elros, i wouldn’t even be considering letting someone else slot into that position. especially not with my dad constantly being in the sky, like a particularly unfair reminder. maedhros can be complicated and alluring, but i hate the fanon of him or maglor genuinely adopting the baby half-elves out of untainted goodwill. it softens them in a way that makes me like them less.

also, the fanon of people being like “tolkien wasn’t sexist. look at melian.” does that count as fanon? if so, i hate that too.

24. topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

i feel like this goes for all fandoms, but by far any sort of accusation of racism in the work or in fan works is the most grenade-like kind of accusation one can lob.

with tolkien, i see a lot of people often focused on tolkien’s own opinions on “allegory,” and to be quite honest, anyone who uses that to say tolkien isn’t as racist as you might assume, is dumb as a rock.

tolkien’s frustration with "allegory" is the concept of 1 to 1 relationships. he didn't like when people were like "rohan is anglo saxon england" or "aragorn is [insert historical figure]" or any sort of reductive comparisons of lotr to real life figures and struggles in world war ii. (interestingly, however, he has said that dwarves were very inspired by jewish people. like, to the point that saying tolkien's dwarves are jewish is as accurate as saying shylock in merchant of venice is jewish--in that, they are characters in a story written by a christian who didn't really understand a whole heckuva lot about judaism. but that's a whole other topic.) and while that might tempt you to think that he therefore was not trying to represent any person or civilization from the real world in his books, unfortunately the core tenet of analytical reading is to assume deliberation over every single detail. you do in fact have to choose an idea before you write it down. and tolkien wrote the word "swarthy" one too many times for any of us to assume good-faith.

of course, there's also the claim of lotr not being as racist as the man (tolkien) likely was because art and the artist are not the same thing. and yeah. but again. "swarthy."

there is no easy answer to the whole death-of-the-author debate and questions over how much biography should be allowed in critical readings--at least no easy answer that doesn't just boil down to the simple demand to "think critically" (which isn't all that simple, in the end)--so i'm definitely not going to try to arrive at one now. but when it comes to tolkien's little made-up world, there are certain tropes in the fan interaction with it that make me somewhat queasy? like tolkien was so demonstrably inspired by real-world mythos and folklore that it is so easy to fit some of his characters and stories into real-world folk art and aesthetic. and to me there's a sliding scale of acceptable inspiration to maybe-we-shouldn't(?) inspiration. like when i see fan art that is labeled "indigenous tolkien," with no tribe or even geographic region specified, i find that weird.

and the reason i find that weird is the fundamental reason that i think discourse in fan circles over racial biases can get so rancid (unlike the discourse in non fan circles! just kidding, fandom discourse has nothing on a medievalist conference with a panel on white supremacy in the field, lol), and that reason is: tolkien's made-up world is not as made-up as the immersiveness of his world suggests. it is very rooted, and deliberately so, in the histories and folklore of western-european people (in particular) and thus the stories, the characters, the aesthetics, the ethics, and the themes are all off-shoots of these traditions. there is a missing element of material recognition in the interpretations of tolkien as really one thing or the other. material culture plays a much bigger role in the whole of all his arda-tales than is immediately obvious.

people want to give fantasy a pass when it comes to certain biases and they use that annoying allegory quote to do it with tolkien's work. because they are enlightened and do not project white supremacy and other legacies of colonialism onto a "made-up world." but tolkien would probably be the first to say that his work was built off fairy-stories, as a contribution to the genre.

he even goes on this relevant tangent at the beginning of "on fairy stories":

It is perhaps not unnatural that in England, the land where the love of the delicate and fine has often reappeared in art, fancy should in this matter turn towards the dainty and diminutive, as in France it went to court and put on powder and diamonds.

whether or not he's right about this distinction between english fairies and french fairies, this still shows that he considers the fantastical an expression of real and observable culture. therefore, despite the fact that it is bad-faith to read anything in tolkien as 1 to 1, he was trying to represent our world with his because he doesn't see the fairy/monstrous/supernatural as entirely separate from the physical/metaphysical or the human imagination. he was just trying to tell the same story that has always been told, from creation and onward.

so yeah. it is entirely valid to call aragorn's Specialness as a Special Sort of Human kind of fascist.

(and just as the rooted-ness of tolkien's fantasy world means that his work cannot escape accusations of bias, the rooted-ness also opens the way for a specific kind of progressive reading that is less about plugging one's ears to the bias but leaning into it. the real-world is more complex than one man can imagine it and when that one man is trying his hardest to represent the world, as any good writer would do regardless of genre, things will slip in to the story that the man chose but may not have understood. eowyn's speech about staying in the burning house is feminist thought even if tolkien would probably never have claimed it as such. the love between legolas and gimli is canonically transgressive and metaphysically-challenging--aspects of a love that tolkien probably would have assumed of gay love, in his time. if that makes sense. his biases don't define the art, even if they are present. especially since he was a very good writer and reader.)

#tolkien

[frodo-with-glasses]

Another friendship ask! A bit of an odd pair this time: Frodo and Arwen 3, 5, and 8. -Princess of Words

Hi fanfic friend!! :-D Sorry I’ve been sitting on this one for so long! I swear I’ve been trying to come up with answers for the past couple days I’ve been recuperating, but it’s just like…nothing is happening??

Arwen feels so distant and ethereal in the books (which is a nice way to say “no personality” *cough*) that it’s hard to come up with answers that don’t just feel like I’m making crap up and slapping it onto an established character. But with that said…

3. “A random headcanon I have of them”

Things I can’t prove but just KnowTM:

Bilbo was the one who broke the ice between the two of them. See, Frodo is actually smart, which means he treats Arwen with awe and respect befitting the near-literal reincarnation of Luthien. Bilbo, on the other hand, is no respecter of persons, and he can and will barge into your house; eat your food; sing about your absent grandfather in front of God, your dad, and everybody; and go on to needle your boyfriend—a future king!—about his crush on you with not a single crap in the world given. A week or two into the Rivendell stay, Bilbo looked up like “haven’t you spoken to Lady Arwen yet?” and Frodo, having some semblance of DecencyTM, stammered “n-no, Uncle, of course I haven’t, I couldn’t possibly—” and Bilbo was like “oh pish-posh, she’ll love you, let’s go!” and grabbed his hand and dragged him halfway across the Homely House before he could stutter out a protest. Frodo nearly melted right on the spot trying to greet her properly in Elvish. Arwen just smiled.

They bonded over sharing stories about Aragorn. Arwen had already heard Aragorn’s own account of everything he’d been doing while he was away, but she was very intrigued—and endlessly entertained—to hear from Frodo’s perspective the story of the terrifying Man in the corner of the tavern in Bree. The first time Frodo heard her laugh was when he related his terror at the whole “I could have it—NOW” incident, and Arwen laughed like the glittering of jewels and the music of clear water spilling over a rocky waterfall, and Frodo’s soul about left his body for a second.

Arwen is the closest that Frodo has ever come to being attracted to a woman (and yet he still isn’t). I personally headcanon that Frodo has no sexual or romantic attraction whatsoever, but of course that doesn’t stop him from having a sort of artist’s appreciation for beauty when he sees it. However, everything he’s tried to write about Arwen comes off more like descriptions of a vibrant sunset or a majestic tree or an ethereal reflection on the surface of the ocean, and Sam once pointed this out. “It’s true well enough, Mr. Frodo, but it doesn’t much sound like you’re talking about a lass, if you don’t mind me saying it.” “Well,” he asked, “if you wrote a poem about Rosie, what’s the first thing you’d mention?” And then Sam went beet red and muttered something about “a couple of things” and then ran out of the room very quickly and left Frodo more confused than when he’d started.

5. “A scene I wish we had of them”

See above :-3 Any one of those would be nice, really.

8. “Who I think is the ‘crazier’ one”

Oh, dude, this is a tricky one. “Crazy” isn’t really a word I’d use to describe Frodo or Arwen; and if they are crazy, it’s the premeditated kind, the one where they look at a course of action, honestly weigh the pros and cons, and decide that the benefits outweigh the pain and they’ll go ahead with it anyway.

Both Frodo and Arwen sacrificed almost everything for love; Arwen gave up immortality and spending the afterlife with her people in order to stay with Aragorn, and Frodo gave up…well, himself, and everything…for the love of all the peoples of Middle Earth, to destroy the Ring no matter what it cost him. If that’s “crazy”, then I think they’re about equal, honestly. Depends how much weight you put on romantic love. But I’m not sure “crazy” is exactly the word to describe it.

…But that’s a bit too heavy for this ask game, so. Let’s go with Frodo. Frodo’s mortal. Mortals tend to do stupid stuff. Most likely to dance on a table and bust his tailbone just to offer a distraction from his mouth-running cousin? Pre-Quest Frodo. Yeah.

FRIENDSHIP ASK GAME!

#ask game #frodo baggins #arwen #lord of the rings #lotr #my writing #man this was hard to write #arwen’s entire personality is ‘perfect girlfriend’ and that’s one of my Worst Character Types Ever .^. #it’s not her fault that she’s written that way but it doesn’t make it any less annoying #hashtag personality for arwen 2022

[sweetearthandnorthernsky]

u reblogged a post about how all you need is one ask to make u go off about your beloved OCs sooooo... tell me about them :3

*vibrating at the speed of light from excitement*

 i've been thinking about Them recently a lot too, esp with artfight going on! this is going under a cut because it WILL be super long and that is a THREAT

surprisingly these all ended up being pre-canon hcs which were NICE because everything kinda just clicked into place

she + her siblings  are all named after Famous* Edain from the first age, and she feels a special sense of kinship to her sister andreth since they were both technically named after the same woman!

*famous is relative of course, since none of them are straight up named turin or beren etc., but all of them are named after edain that existed! and did things!

as a kid sae LOVES swans, and this earns her the nickname cygnet [i think the sindarin translation would be 'alpheg' but i'm not 100% on it]

she also loves swimming and being on her grandparent’s boat the Aduninzil [they’re shipbuilders, and the aduninzil is really more a sloop than anything, it’s p. small]

she isn’t happy about moving to minas tirith at the age of six, even if there are frequent visits to dol amroth anyway. but she adjusts to city life well enough. 

one day at the age of 8, she is involved in a pretty intense game of hide & seek on the fifth circle, and she ends up wandering into the complex that housed the halls of lore, bar vorn & bar menel -- an infinite array of hiding spaces!

she is mild mannered & quiet enough [for a newly turned 8 year old at least] that the scholars don’t necessarily mind her wandering around, as long as she doesn’t touch things without asking or break anything

she ends up spending most of the day there, enchanted by the knowledge that lay at her fingertips. 

when she leaves the houses, she’s greeted by upset-and-distraught-in-equal measure siblings (andreth, adanel & enerdhil) and is returned home to even more upset-and-distraught parents who were looking for her in the lower circles, tho they’re mostly just glad that she’s ok.

anyway! this mild detour to say; she definitely becomes a regular fixture at the houses of lore while she's still going through her own education, to the point where she's nicknamed 'golodheg' [thank you again isi!!] which means 'little sage/scholar'

[i don't think this will end up being canon for her but i think it would be freaking HILARIOUS if she ran into faramir returning books or smthn a handful of times [like no more than 4] and she's just *star-struck noises* and faramir is internally like "why tf is there a Child in here"]

during this time [from age 7-12], her father teaches her & her siblings how to use a sword, and she takes to it well enough upon realizing the footwork is almost like dancing

one day [at age 9], she finds a copy of the narn e-dinuviel [tale of the nightingale aka beren and luthien]. she's allowed to read it, and she spends a solid week working through the archaic wording with patience she'd never particularly had for anything else.

[luthien reminds her of her mom -- always dancing, warm and kind, with hidden strength -- and beren reminds her of her dad -- brave, undaunted and gentle -- though she never puts the pieces together until WELL after the fact]

when it comes time for her to make her first copy, there is no hesitation and she chooses b&l.

(in my own hc one of the major projects/milestones in a child's school life is copying a book of their own choice, which is a very long, structured process. and the finished product is referred to as a 'first copy'

by the time she is eleven, she has finished the first copy and chooses to move on to her second copy, which is the fall of gondolin & rise of the star [or ‘Narn e-Dant Gondolin ar Orthad en El’, according to tolkien gateway] in its more archaic [in human terms at least] sindarin instead of westron like b&l was

by the time she finishes the fall of gondolin, sauron’s shadow is getting really heavy, and her parents make the decision to send her + adanel to bree on the grounds that maeril [caladil’s [sae’s mom] sister] is expecting a Baby soon and will Need Help

and while that is technically true, the real reason is to keep sae & adanel safe

sae... in bree doesn’t outright do extremely poorly but she’s very concious of the fact that while the breefolk are nice & friendly, she & adanel & other gondorians are Outsiders to them

[i have a lil hc that w/ all the refugees coming up from the south, there ends up being a ‘little gondor’ section somewhere in bree]

and so sae copes with this by creating this Image of what a Perfect Gondorian should look like, and is constantly striving to meet this insanely lofty goal. and uh spoiler; she never quite does

she enlists in the breeland jrotc  junior militia as soon as she is able, along with working in the scholar’s stair to help archive things

eventually at 18, she ranks up to be a captain, and maeril’s oldest & her husband  are expecting a baby themselves now but sae REALLY wants to go home and the sooner the better

so she and adanel + her aunt & uncle compromise: sae knows enough to take care of herself so she could go ahead and get started down the greenway, and adanel would be behind her as quickly as possible

and then sae meets up with some brigands and uh :) we all know how things go from there

#sae stuff #i put this in a word counter and uh #1027 words oops #but idc i get to talk about OCs >:) #maybe later i'll rb this and add more things but for now it's pretty late lmao #the only way the faramir thing gets funnier is if that was like a Core Memory for sae #and then faramir's like: this is the 94th child i've spoken to this week i have ceased trying to tell them apart #because i physically cannot #she ends up turning 19 in march because i screwed up the timeline before and i'm already sold on her being born on march 1st #so she can troll/be trolled by aragorn & the grey company about it #in march 3019*

[longsightmyth]

Thank you for your thoughtful response to my rings of power ask! I hadn’t considered how they’d be limited on showing Galadriel’s hair and magic due to lack of rights to the slim. So thank you for pointing that out! I guess when I think of the biggest case of elven magic in the slim, I’m thinking of Luthien and how she used her magic (and magical hair? I think she used it like a cloak? Sorry it’s been a hot minute since I read it) to first escape her father, and then save Beren from Sauron and then help steal back a Silmaril from Morgoth. I loved her story and her magic left a pretty big impression on younger me, so maybe that biased me towards elven magic.

I thought the entire confrontation of Galadriel and Sauron was amazing. How they started with him impersonating her brother, and then as she rejected each step of manipulation you could see him escalate and try a new tactic. I also had major respect for the symbolism of harkening back to their first meeting, then how he tried to use her previous words against her, and then finally resorted to trying to seduce her with power. And then when that failed, he tried to use her shame like you mentioned. It was very captivating! And I’m glad the writers chose to first show him trying to gaslight her by wearing her brothers skin before the seduction, so it showed viewers he isn’t the guy they should root for. Obviously shipping them is fun, but as far as the integrity of the narrative I think that was a really good choice. And in the *real world* of rings of power, they should only ever be enemies who may sometimes long for what might have been if they were each intrinsically different than what they actually are.

Oh man you should have seen me when I first learned we weren't going to get ANY kinslaying mentions before I realized they weren't allowed. I was MAD during that first episode.

And then @wizardheart83 was like, uh Myth. They literally are not allowed. Tolkien Estate said No.

Me: okay time to reassess.

(Also if you want thoughtful lotr stuff and some cool poetry (she's presented at tolkien conferences!) and fanfic, she is definitely somebody to check out)

I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree, re: Finrod. Pancake speculated that maybe they specifically cast Finrod for this particular scene more than any other, because he managed to be CREEPY AS HELL. Also it was funny to be like. Sauron. My dude. Did you FORGET you were wearing her brother's face when you hit on her or what.

Luthien! Luthien who sings Morgoth into submission! And tells Feanor's sons to go fuck themselves! And is... part angel. Half to be precise. Maybe that's why my brain sort of classifies her magic as not totally Elf Magic? Could be, idk. Loving elf magic is absolutely valid, I think I just focus on Elf Politics and Stabbing by default.

[rivalsforlife]

FOUR DAYS AGO I watched the desolation of smaug half wishing I was still feverish so that I had an excuse for being bored. and then I was so bored I got tired halfway through making this post. but I finished it at last! 

Instead of doing the things I liked/things I didn’t like I’ll split my thoughts and complaints into a few broad categories:

1 - These Sindar Are Getting Soooo Far Ahead Of Themselves (the legolas stuff)

2 - Peter Jackson Sees A Thirty Second Sequence And Says “Is Anyone Gonna Turn This Into Twenty Minutes Of Action” And Does Not Wait For An Answer (the other things added in. so like 90% of the movie)

3 - Creepy Pale Creatures In Caves Trying To Kill Us Can Live But Creepy Pale Creatures In Forests Trying To Kill Us Cannot (the stuff actually related to the actual plot of the actual book. which this title is not. but I couldn’t think of anything better.)

so here we go.

CATEGORY 1: SINDAR NONSENSE

I’m a fan of Elves in general so they come first. But I am more a fan of the Noldor so I get to make fun of the Sindar. (Except Luthien. love you queen. you’d beat all these guys up any day.)

Also relevant is that for some reason the subtitles were broken so if I had regular English subtitles on they wouldn’t subtitle the black speech the orcs are speaking or the elvish. I had to switch to the non-subtitle tracks to get that. And it took me like... a third of the way into the movie to figure that out. Which was extremely annoying! I was trying to read French before that (it wasn’t working).

These elves are described as “less wise and more dangerous” which really does not roll off the tongue like “more dangerous and less wise” does. really saw no reason why they had to change that around because it actually caught me off guard.

But this isn’t about them. This is about Legolas. Shield-Surfing Legolas is soooo eighty years from now, and because everyone loved that so much they decided to introduce him by Spider-Surfing. And then he treats us all to greatest hits of The Sindar Are Doing What Now moments:

- Legolas takes Orcrist and makes a comment about “this is an elvish blade. forged by my kin” THEY’RE NOT YOUR KIN THOUGH? Like Elrond saying “this was forged by my kin” was because his literal great-grandpa wielded Glamdring. Legolas has absolutely no relation to these guys. they’re completely different groups of elves which the movie highlights. get over yourself man.

- They called one of the guards (possibly the keeper of the keys) Elros. You can’t just use a name like Elros Tar-Minyatur First King Of Numenor Son Of Earendil And Elwing to name your useless drunk guard. again. get over yourselves. 

- They deprived us of the perfect “because we’re starving” scene to instead give us Thranduil demanding white gems. ok sindar king trying to get gems from the dwarves. [polishing kinslaying swords] you guys never learn do you.

- Thranduil just had a lot of Thingol Moments in this one. Both with the “other lands are not our concern” and the whole thing whatever with him not wanting Legolas to marry Tauriel because she’s a Silvan elf???

- SILVAN ELVES ARE LIKE YOUR COUSINS WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT again these guys need to get over themselves. you’re not calaquendi. you’ve never been to valinor. THE SILVAN ELVES WERE IN MIRKWOOD BEFORE YOU. It just seems like a weirdly unnecessary little detail here. Act high and mighty if you are in Doriath with Queen Melian but when you’re hiding in your spider infested woods where most of the people there are Silvan elves maybe get over yourself thingol. I mean thranduil. that was a genuine mistake and I made it several more times whenever thranduil came up.

- I mean I’d get the conflict if she was one of the stray Noldor or something and her red hair is giving Kinslaying Vibes but really now. It’s not like she’s a human. Or a dwarf. (Would be funny if you subscribe to Gimli/Legolas if Thranduil’s just like hey son have you talked to Tauriel lately. she’s seeming more and more appealing as a daughter-in-law every day.)

- Athelas. This is another pedantic thing. Obviously they’re having this whole Athelas healing thing as a callback to Arwen, as if Tauriel and Kili can match up to Aragorn and Arwen at all. anyways if this is a morgul thing (see next point) I think this should be beyond Tauriel’s skill at healing because she’s no Elrond. She’s a warrior. How would she even know... whatever.

- SO KILI GETS HIT BY A MORGUL-TIPPED ARROW? Like these things can just be carried around by these useless grunt orcs? It’s a Nazgul thing! god. why can’t it just be poisoned like a normal thing.

Overall the thing is I think you could include Legolas and co in this in a somewhat appealing way. Tauriel’s speech to Legolas about “why are we letting evil continue, aren’t we part of this world, shouldn’t we help them” would be perfectly fine for motivation without the 30 second dwarf romance that they felt the need to shove in there. and then the love triangle which is even worse. Like come on and show Legolas partying with his friends and getting wine-drunk that would be infinitely more fun than him lurking around danganronpa-posing while tauriel is talking to kili for no reason.

CATEGORY 2: JACKSON NONSENSE

I do feel a little bad ascribing all of this to peter jackson because I’m sure it’s not entirely his fault but I feel like enough of it is. The main thing is every time I see those fucking orcs hunting the dwarves I want to smack my head against a wall because they’re always here to derail the plot.

- Beorn’s whole thing gets cut down dramatically (I’m guessing it’s longer in the extended edition but I’m not watching those, this felt long enough) and they start the whole thing with Beorn in bear form chasing after them. and then skip to morning when human Beorn is making them breakfast. like he didn’t try to kill them as a bear? or doesn’t preserve memories? it just all made very little sense and was clearly there to start with an action sequence. and there’s very little explanation on why he’s chill with the dwarves being in his house after he tried to kill them as a bear for some reason.

- also he gets random backstory where he’s the last of his kind which is absolutely not true. I fail to see what it serves to say “all the other Beornings are dead” when I don’t think they get any payoff.

I have the same complaint all the time which is “You Did Not Need To Turn This Into An Action Scene” so just copy+paste that in your mind and apply that to:

- wandering around mirkwood and losing the path in about five seconds and then everyone just hallucinating the whole time. path is not hard to find guys.

- Barrels Out Of Bond (this one was ESPECIALLY protracted and annoying)

- getting into laketown

- we’ve gotta split the party up for kili’s mandated romantic plotline. I genuinely can’t remember when and how they get back. “do you think she could have loved me :(” you knew her for like thirty seconds WHEN YOU WERE BEING HELD PRISONER. like tolkien romance requires you guys to be staring at each other in the woods for at least a few hours before I’d buy it.

- not an action scene necessarily but the weird conflict with the door where it seemed like only bilbo cared about getting back in and they all left after fifteen seconds when the sun set.

- Bilbo outrunning Smaug in what otherwise was a decent enough scene

- The dwarves?? Confronting?? Smaug????? This one was really annoying for the reason of somehow they’re all completely heat resistant and did not suffer at all from the dragon literally breathing fire on them. I was actually taken out of it when Smaug finally turned to Bilbo like “oh I should pay laketown a visit” like OH WE’RE BACK TO THE BOOK. WE’RE BACK TO THE BOOK. OKAY and then it got derailed again by thorin melting a massive golden statue of thror over smaug for some reason

- “hey I heard you guys really liked it when gandalf’s staff broke against the witch-king. why don’t I do it again”

you know what even typing that list exhausted me.

anyways that’s where I left off so let’s hope I remember enough about this movie four days later.

CATEGORY 3: THIS STUFF IS ACTUALLY TANGENTIALLY RELATED TO THE BOOK BUT STILL MOSTLY NONSENSE

- first let’s have a compliment it IS pretty interesting to see the chance-meeting between gandalf and thorin even if thorin ruins it by saying “this was no chance meeting” implying it was gandalf’s machinations rather than the will of Iluvatar or at least fate. but it is an important scene! “We might now hope to return from the victory here only to ruin and ash. But that has been averted - because I met Thorin Oakenshield one evening on the edge of spring in Bree. A chance-meeting, as we say in Middle-earth.” so that’s an important significant thing that happened and it’s cool to see.

- they did the mirkwood spiders thing but instead of, again, bilbo being clever and taunting the spiders and calling them names he throws a SINGLE stone which almost all the spiders run after. for more ~action~ I guess. “attercop” gets namedropped once but just barely and like a spider says it? when spiders do not like being called attercop. it was weird.

- I will say though that there is some interesting stuff in the hobbit added in by virtue of “this story is around when we already know about lotr” unlike the actual book. one of those is bilbo killing that baby spider creature over the ring. I think it’s an interesting addition even though it kind of. feels strange. when he spared gollum out of pity which is important but then is like “BUT THIS BABY SPIDER CREATURE HAS TO GO.”

- I think these movies become infinitely funnier if you assume that Someone Doing A Massive Heroic Leap is middle-earth’s most powerful aphrodisiac and following the Leap of Bilbo thorin is now madly in love with bilbo but is very bad at handling it. he just flings himself at the bars of his cell when bilbo comes by. “I will not risk this quest for the life of one.............. burglar” dude. like I first got really into tolkien right around when movie 3 came out and a lot of tolkien-adjacent tumblr was big on bagginshield so I’m still wired to pick this stuff up. you have keen eyes master baggins ;)

- thorin directly promises gold to laketown which I do not recall him doing and I guess is to have him look worse next movie.

- snow is very obviously cgi’d. like if I’m noticing it, it’s bad.

- bilbo knocks down piles of gold as he’s wandering around in an extremely clumsy move not really befitting the idea of hobbits being able to move very quietly and mostly unseen. but whatever

- ALSO on top of the “things that are interesting to include with the context of lotr being in the future” is the part where smaug says “precious” and it echoes around and makes bilbo take off the ring. extra fun if you subscribe also to the “precious is really just a translation of mairon” line of thinking.

- unfortunately they could not find a way to include the line “His rage passes description - the sort of rage that is only seen when rich folk that have more than they can enjoy suddenly lose something that they have long had but have never before used or wanted.” which is one of my favorite lines from the book.

- oh the arkenstone. it’s very glowy-from-within. no wonder people are suspecting it’s maedhros’s silmaril. BUT WE ALL KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT NOW. IT’S IN A TREE I GUESS. anyways the arkenstone definitely has inflated importance here. 

OVERALL: we’re on the downhill slope and the battle of five armies, a three hour movie based off of like max 60 little pages of text, is next. I’m dreading it every hour that we get closer to galadriel magic blasting orcs in the face while wandering around in a white dress barefoot like she’s idril celebrindal or something. and other stuff happens I can barely remember but I do recall laughing at it because the special effects got so bad at one point.

but anyways see you then eventually for that :/

#tolkien adaptation rankings #long post

[crimson-tulip]

20 Questions For Fic Writers

tagged by @luthien-under-bough

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Only two. I’m a baby writer.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

Around 13k. Proof that I’m still a baby writer but I’m growing.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

House of the Dragon only. I’m considering Fringe, Harry Potter and Star Wars but not before a few months.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

what I risk to be close to you, a modern AU Daemyra (WIP)

if I killed someone for you, another modern AU Daemyra (WIP)

5. Do you respond to comments?

To every comment. I feel bad if I don’t ’cause I’m afraid people will think I don’t care about them!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

All my fic are WIP for now but I’m planning a fic that is named stages of grief in my notes. The current title tells everything.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

what I risk to be close to you will have a happy ending.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No, I’ve never received any hate. Let’s pray it doesn’t happen in the future.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do. Depends on my mood and the needs of the story. I often use sex as a way for characters to physically express feelings they can’t say out loud.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Not in fic. But I do crossover in rp and the craziest thing I did was a meeting between an Marvel OC working for HYDRA and a turned-human Berlioz from the Aristocats. He was teaching her french, she was teaching him russian. It was pretty fun to write.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Never.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I tried but it was never posted online and will never be. I’d love to try again.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Daemyra has been my obsession for two years now and I loved them before but HotD really got me obsessed. Before, I was mostly obsessed with Alt!Lincoln Lee/Fauxlivia Dunham (Fringe), Padmé/Anakin (Star Wars) and Ricardo Diaz/Laurel Lance (Arrow).

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

A Daemyra fic called where our duty lies. I wrote chapter 1 a year ago and never worked on it again. But it’s still on my mind.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think my ideas are pretty great! And I try to stay focus on one or two WIPs at the time.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

English isn’t my native language and turns me in a very slow writer. And I feel like my writing style is better in french than it is in English.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Italics is fine for that. But I could put High Valyrian in a Daemyra fic someday.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Vampire Diaries.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

what I risk to be close to you for now. It may change in the future.

#daemyra #my fic #ao3 #ao3 fanfic #hotd #ao3 writer

[starspray]

For the fandom asks, 13, and 17 and 24 for Elwing! <3

Thanks for the ask!

13. What's a character or ship you haven't written/drawn yet but would like to some day?

Answered this earlier with Girion of Dale and his textual ghost wife, but I would also like to write about Mirabella and Donamira Took—I’ve written them as side characters but never the focus of a fic. Belladonna gets all the attention, lol

17. What's a book, movie, or show you think [character] would like?

Elwing would like…hmm. Cozy stories with low stakes. I can’t really think of any titles off the top of my head though…? Maybe something like The Wind in the Willows.

24. What's your favourite thing about [character]?

How she builds a new life for herself in Valinor. She has her tower and she has her wings and her kin in Alqualonde. It isn’t a fully happy ending because it’s the Silm, but it’s as close as it gets for just about anyone outside of Beren and Luthien. ❤️

#meme response

[aragornsrockcollection]

Fic idea:

There is a hall of waiting for men in Mandos too, right? For them to wait for their loved ones before they go on together? (If I made that up it’s just the fic premise now, but isn’t this where Beren was chilling when Luthien came for him?)

Anyways Elros figures out while he’s waiting for his kids that he can use his Descendant of Luthien powers to pop over to the Elvish side and meet all the dead elvish relatives he wouldn’t get a chance to know until the breaking of the world otherwise.

He realizes most of them are either gonna be there forever cause they demonstrably Can’t Get Over Their Shit, or Valinor will end up a burning pile of rubble as they are released and forced to face their shit whilst alive.

This is a problem because Elros knows his brother craves family, and while they both accept he and his twin cannot be together forever in life or death, he expects these layabout relatives to get off their dead asses and start making up with each other, so when his brother ends up in Valinor, whenever that may be, he has a loving supportive family that isn’t dragging him in a hundred different directions.

Cue dead Elros playing life (death?) coach to a bunch of dead elves. Some of them are conscious enough it’s like having a normal conversation. Some of them are in soothing or disturbing dreamscapes, with various degrees of awareness of where they are, what they’ve done, and what has happened since they died.

Helpful sidekicks include:

- Soon to be released Glorfindel!

- Finwe, cause he’s sick of his family being idiots and sad his BFF Elwe isn’t talking to him.

- Elros’s extremely argumentative wife, who’s a little confused, but she got the spirit.

- Namo very deliberately Not Helping, because they are Breaking Rules, but who keeps giving them hints like “It would be a shame if you dragged this person’s soul by it’s metaphorical ear to talk to that person’s soul, which of course is interfering which is Bad, I hear.”

- A maia representative sent by Nienna (who thinks this is brilliant). It’s a Maia who really loves elves, and is really interested in how to get them to stop self sabotaging with their own stupidity, and yeah. It’s Gandalf.

Pervading questions:

What happened to Dior and the first set of Peredhel twins?

Where are the Feanorians? Did they really get sent to the void?

Why would anyone want to live forever dealing with this nonsense, is Elrond a martyr or just an idiot. It’s just Finwean family drama? forever?!?!Elros is very confident he made the right choice.

I’ll definitely write this outside my head >>

#fic ideas #elros #elrond #tolkien #lotr #gandalf #olorin #glorfindel #finwe #elu thingol #the silmarillion #therapy #elves need it #silm #luthien #namo #mandos #peredhel #i wish i had spoons #if you want to steal any part of this go for it btw