reylohno

[reylohno]

[reylohno]

I just NEED everyone to agree with me that Rey's parents are nobody. We should all agree about that. We should collectively, as an audience, say, "clearly the best idea was to have Kylo Ren be a dynastic heir to the major legends of the Force who wants to throw off his family's shadow, while his rival is nobody from nowhere who wants to belong--so we're going to stick with that."

And then, what should have happened is, Rey can finish her story by being able to say, "My parents might have abandoned me, but that doesn't mean I'm worthless." And eventually Kylo Ren can say, "My family might have been powerful, but I don't have to be," and all those other things that they can bounce off of each other as great foils.

It can keep being a good story about accepting past failures and choosing to grow beyond them.

Let's just all collectively ignore Rey Skypatine because of how silly that was. I mean. If they can just ignore the setups in the previous movie, we can ignore their choices in the conclusion. Right?? Right? Tell me I'm right

[reylohno]

I love it when I'm reading a Reylo fanfic and a scene echoes something from TLJ or TROS, but then I look at the date and it was written when only TFA was out.

What's really funny is how frequently that happens. Reylo fandom had it figured out.

[reylohno]

Forcebond,

[reylohno]

oh. my god I was just writing a fic and I was about to say "he grimaced as if he'd bitten into a lemon" when it occurred to me, hang on, are there lemons in Star Wars? Or are they called something else? Despite the fact that it literally does not matter sksjs I went to google it and I typed in "Star Wars lemons" FORGETTING, in my brief naivety WHAT LEMONS USED TO MEAN

so you can imagine what came up

[reylohno]

bad decisions

[reylohno]

- What girl? 🚬

One of my favorite personal Kylo Ren drawings.

[reylohno]

Fandom: The Rings of Power Ship: Haladriel/Saurondriel Rating: E Word count: 9540

Summary: The Man in her memories had never been a Man. He had always been Sauron; the evil entity whose servants murdered her brother in cold blood. She knew this, but the false name haunted her nonetheless. Whenever she thought about the raft they had shared on the Sundering Seas, the secret smiles they had traded in Númenor, and the raw confessions they had exchanged after the Battle of Tirharad, her mind did not refer to him as Sauron. In those memories, he was still Halbrand.

Galadriel realizes that she alone would never be able to defeat a being like Sauron, so she comes up with a different plan. She’s a Noldor, the niece of Fëanor himself. She knows what happens when you swear a certain oath.

(Some introspection, some character study, some worldbuilding inspired by The Silmarillion, and, of course, a lot of smut.)

Sneak peek:

“I will make you a crown,” he said, his lips tracing her jawline. “I will build you a throne. I will rework that ring of yours until it makes your beauty justice. I will make you anything you ask of me. Anything.” He lowered his head, leaving a trail of harsh kisses down her neck. The stubble on his unshaven face rasped against her skin. With a combination of nimble fingers and brute force, he began to remove her armor, occasionally ripping the leather apart instead of seeking out the right clasp.

“Not a throne,” she said, breathing heavily, her head still spinning from the power rush. “I will not be stowed away behind the thick walls of a fortress. I am a Commander, and if there is a battle to be fought, you will always find me on the front line.”

“I expected nothing less.”

“And you will not touch Nenya.”

Though his focus remained on the removal of her armor, tossing each freed piece away as if he found it offensive, he sent her a quick grin. “A crown it is, then.” 

[reylohno]

So… some of my old reylo fanfics definitely have saurondriel quotes in them. 

She doesn’t know what to call him anymore, so she decides not to call him anything at all.

*

What they shared was a cursed bond built on naivety and false pretenses, but no matter how much she tries to deny it, she still misses the man who comforted her when she needed it the most—the man who truly understood what it was like to be lonely.

 *

Sometimes, he exhales her name as if it were a prayer. Other times, he spits it out as if it were a curse. She answers his calls with silence.

*

A part of him wants nothing more than to drown in her light, while another part—a more rational part—knows that doing so would destroy him.

When it comes to ships, I clearly have a type. 

[reylohno]

Okay. I give in. For more Saurondriel, TROP, and general Tolkien ramblings, please head over to @nenyabusiness. 

[reylohno]

“Sometimes, he exhales her name as if it were a prayer. Other times, he spits it out as if it were a curse. She answers his calls with silence.”

— Reylo WIP

[reylohno]

There Was Only One Raft a Galadriel x Halbrand/Sauron playlist

Lies – The Pierces You've gotten dirty, angel Aren't you ready to come clean? I am looking down with sorrow You say that I'm being mean?

Who Are You, Really? – Mikky Ekko I have nothing left to prove ‘Cause I have nothing left to lose See me bare my teeth for you Who, who are you?

Mastermind – Taylor Swift What if I told you None of it was accidental And the first night that you saw me Nothing was gonna stop me

Church – Fall Out Boy If you were a church, I’d get on my knees Confess my love, I’d know where to be My sanctuary, you’re holy to me If you were a church, I’d get on my knees

The Killing Kind – Marianas Trench Oh, stay We could be together here Forever we’re together bound in madness

ANTI-HERO – SEKAI NO OWARI I'm gonna be the anti-hero Feared and hated by everybody I'm gonna be the anti-hero So I can save you when the time comes

I Come With Knives – IAMX I never promised you an open heart or charity I never wanted to abuse your imagination I come with knives And agony

Burn Butcher Burn – Joey Batey (The Witcher: Season 2) All those lonely miles that you ride Now you'll walk with no one by your side Did you ever even care With your swords and your stupid hair?

The Wolf – PHILDEL I know, my way through the night to your door You know, the blood that I'm owed is all yours […] And if I see you 'round like a ghost in my town, you liar I'll leave with your head oh I'll leave you for dead, sire.

Super Psycho Love – Simon Curtis Aim, pull the trigger Feel the pain getting bigger Go insane from the bitter feeling Trippin' super psycho love

Kiss With A Fist – Florence + The Machine Love sticks, sweat drips Break the lock if it don't fit A kick to the teeth is good for some A kiss with a fist is better than none

Power & Control – MARINA Power and control I'm gonna make you fall […] We give and take a little more Eternal game of tug and war

Hatef—k – The Bravery I will show no mercy for you You had no mercy for me The only thing that I ask Love me mercilessly

Bloodstream – Transviolet Lucid reverence, floating in your sacred sin Need your fire against my skin Cosmic violence, chill's drippin' like acid rain Keep coming back 'cause it's you I crave

Feral Love – Wakey!Wakey! Arm your guards, un-break your horses Ours is feral love Call your dogs and special forces All will come undone

Kill! Kill! Kill! – The Pierces I asked you please to leave my heart but you refused to go I can't take this pain much longer You insist on teaching me what I already know Absence made this heart grow fonder

War of Hearts – Ruelle I can't help but be wrong in the dark 'Cause I'm overcome in this war of hearts I can't help but want oceans to part 'Cause I'm overcome in this war of hearts

Pomegranate Seeds – Julian Moon Devil, he dragged me down Devil, he dragged me down Pomegranate seeds and a flower crown Devil, he dragged me down

You’ll Be Mine – The Pierces A drop of blood and now you’re taken For all time With a kiss you will awaken And you’ll be mine

Cosmic Love – Florence + The Machine I took the stars from my eyes, and then I made a map And knew that somehow I could find my way back Then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness too So I stayed in the darkness with you

[reylohno]

THE CELEBORN PROBLEM (solved...?)

Some things in The Rings of Power (TROP) are harder to fit into canon Tolkien lore than others. Celeborn being presumed dead is one of them. Galadriel spending centuries on chasing Sauron to avenge her brother Finrod instead of searching for her lost husband is another. I think I may have found a way to bypass these issues with a canon divergence, though. Maybe. Possibly. I don’t know, just hear me out.

It’s hard to tell when, exactly, TROP takes place since there are several incompatible plotlines are taking place all at once, but we know that it’s in the Second Age (SA). Okay. So, to narrow it down a little: SA 500 is when Sauron, who’s been lying low since the defeat of his former master Morgoth, comes out of hiding and begins to rekindle alliances in the East and the South. He doesn’t properly establish himself in Mordor until around SA 1000, though, and it takes him two more centuries before he disguises himself and befriends Cerebrimbor in Eregion. Creating the rings of power takes him an additional 300 years, so let’s say that’s our scope. The show takes place somewhere between SA 500 and SA 1500. Okay? Okay.

(Side note: We’re going to completely ignore the fuckery that’s going on with the Númenórian timeline because otherwise we’ll go insane.)

In Tolkien’s lore, Galadriel should most likely be in Eregion with Celeborn and their daughter Celebrían (born ca SA 300) during this period. In TROP, that clearly isn’t the case. Instead, we have a childless, spouseless, revenge-driven Galadriel who somehow ends up on a raft with Sauron himself (sure, let’s call it a cosmic connection, I’m sure that sexual tension was totally unintentional.) There’s seriously no way in hell to make this work while staying true to Tolkien lore, so here it comes, my little canon divergence theory:

In canon Tolkien lore, Galadriel and Celeborn fled before the War of Wrath. In TROP, however, I think Celeborn joined it but never returned.

The War of Wrath, the battle where Valar, Elves, and Men joined forces to defeat Morgoth once and for all, took place at the very end of the First Age (FA 545 – 587). When characters in TROP talk about “the war,” this is the one they’re referring to. After over 40 years of vicious fighting, Morgoth was defeated, but the wreckage of the war was so great that a big chunk of Middle-earth sank into the sea.

(Side note: The War of Wrath is not the reason why the Noldorin Elves left Valinor, though. The real reason can be summed up as “three fancy stones cause a very disproportionate amount of murder”. TROP didn’t have access to The Silmarillion so they had to work around that.)

Alright. Anyway. This little canon divergence could explain why TROP!Galadriel never looked for her lost husband. How do you even search for a fallen soldier when the battlefield no longer exists? And if Celeborn really did die in this war (which I personally doubt because it would cause the show runners an avalanche of problems down the line), it would have been because of Morgoth. It’s hard to take revenge on a being that’s already been banished from existence. Sauron, however, is still in hiding in Middle-earth. He’s the evil that got away. Galadriel can’t avenge her husband, but she can still avenge her brother.

(Side note: I think it’s also worth mentioning that Finrod actually died about a century before the War of Wrath. He plays a major role in Beren and Lúthiel, where he heroically sacrifices himself to protect a mortal man from one of Sauron’s werewolves. I repeat: Finrod did not fight in the War of Wrath, and he most certainly didn’t die in it. But let’s not dwell on that. The show would fall apart. Squint with your brain and carry on.)

[reylohno]

To quote my bf, when I explained Sauron’s clusterfuck of an arc in season 1 and how unlikely it is that he planned it all just to trick Galadriel: 

“So he Jack Sparrow’d the whole thing, didn’t he?” 

Edit: Okay, I’ve just got to elaborate on this so hear me out. 

Here we have Halbrand, the low Man manifestation of Sauron that he probably took on after being killed by Adar. Whenever Sauron loses a physical form in canon, it takes him a while to gain power again. It would make sense that Halbrand would like to lay low and bide his time, hiding from both his former underlings and the Valar, who still wants him to come to Valinor and repent for the crimes he committed while serving under Morgoth. All he has now is pretty much just the clothes on his back and that pouch he once stole from a dead king, because throwing clout can definitely save a life in a pinch. So here he is, on a raft, in the form of a Man, probably regretting choosing a vessel that’s vulnerable to things like worms and drowning. 

And then Galadriel shows up. Just like that. He’s on a raft in the middle of nowhere, and the High Elf who’s been chasing his tracks for centuries just shows up. 

So, he goes with the Jack Sparrow approach. Whenever he’s hit with a new turn of events, he just rolls with it. 

-> Galadriel doesn’t recognize him but sees the emblem on his pouch, which is a bit of a oops, but hey, she knows he’s important now. His chances of surviving while regaining his powers just increased exponentially. 

-> Númenor? They’re going to Númenor? Perfect. He was going to have to deal with them sooner or later anyway. Now, he can stay there, bide his time, work in a smithy as a low Man, whisper the right things in the right ears, and then lean back and watch as the Men bring themselves to their own doom. No problem. Excellent turn of events. 

-> ... leaving Númenor? Going to the Southlands? To war? Ooookay, then. Not ideal, but he can do that. He can become the King of the Southlands and work his way up from there. You’ve got to start somewhere, right? 

-> Eregion? She seriously brought him to Eregion? Time to fast-forward the plan. Thanks to the Elfs, his weakened physical form has regained significant strength. Their smith is on board with the ring plan. Perfect. 

-> Galadriel is still by his side, so he might as well include her in his plan.  Considering everything they’ve gone through, they must have been brought together for a reason. He feels something for her, and that feeling seems to be mutual. She also happens to be one of the oldest and most powerful beings in Middle-earth, so... two rings it is. One for him, and one for his queen. He couldn’t have planned it better himself.  

(and then he maaay have fucked up a little on the finish line) 

[reylohno]

You can still technically do Smol/Tol even with 6’4 Galadriel because Sauron (in his armored form at least) is 9’2 lol

That is an excellent contribution. Thank you.

I'd probably go Amazon Canon on that one because eh, Mofydd is cute, her Galadriel still scares the shit out of everyone so why not. Creating Second Age saurondiel without neglecting a big chunk of Tolkien Canon would be near impossible anyway.

[reylohno]

Canon Galadriel is 6′4. 193 cm. 

I don’t know what to do with that info so I’m just going to share it. 

[reylohno]

Call me Halbrand

Halbrand. The name is plain, and so is his mortal form, but he decides to keep them both as he returns to the Southlands. His days of aimless wandering are over, and it is time for him to finish what he started when he served under his former Master. He will bring order to Arda, and thanks to the Elf, he now knows where to start. He may have lost Galadriel’s trust, but the Men of the Southlands welcome their king with open arms.

*

Despite the protests of his new subjects, he spends as much time as he can in the smithy. Though mending tools and sharpening weapons is hardly a suitable task for a king, he needs the distraction to keep his sanity intact.

He cannot afford to reveal his identity yet, and ruling over humans without the using his powers is near torture. His yearn for order and perfection is a part of his very being, etched into his core by Ilúvatar himself. Men need a firm hand to guide them, because if left to their own devices, they choose whims and desires over common sense. Since Halbrand cannot be that hand yet, he hides away in the smithy, distracting himself with things that can be broken, remade, and brought to perfection with the steady beat of a hammer.  

*

In Mordor, under the heavy clouds created by the eruption of Orodruin, the Orcs prosper under the leadership of the traitorous Adar. Halbrand protects his people from the Orcs’ occasional attempts at expanding their territory, but he does nothing to prevent their steadily growing numbers. He’s going to need that army one day. When the time is right, he will deal with the traitor, and the Orcs will rally to his side once more.

*

He knows that Galadriel will come for him. When he ripped her mind open, he saw the raging darkness within her; a merciless, insatiable tempest, stronger and more destructive than he could ever have imagined. She will come for him, and her desperate need to see him dead will be her undoing. Her wisdom is clouded by pride and arrogance, and despite her formidable age, she is still naïve. Once she realizes that she alone cannot defeat a being like him, she will reach out for the power he once offered her, believing herself strong enough to resist him. The fall of Galadriel will be a sight to behold. Patience has never been one of his virtues, but for this, he is willing to wait.

He does not need a queen to accomplish his goals, but the vision of the Elf standing by his side still haunts him. Sharing his power was never a part of his plan, yet he still convinced the Elven smith to create two rings instead of one. He figures that this might be the price a being like him has to pay for choosing to take the form of a low Man. There is a longing inside him that he does not recognize, something irrational and unexplainable that burns almost as hot as his yearn for order and control. He does not need Galadriel, but he wants her.

She will come for him, and when she does, he will be waiting.

*

Halbrand’s days of aimless wandering are over. His plan has been set in motion. He will rid Arda of chaos and disorder, and he will rule Middle-earth with a queen by his side; a Dark Lord and his Lady of Light.