shire-bee

[shire-bee]

i wasn’t expecting anyone to see my art but i’m glad there’s still people here on tumblr!,, and please ignore fin she weasels her way into everything i draw

[shire-bee]

One of my favorite parts of Lord of the Rings is how the history of the environments always echoes what’s happening in the story.

Most sequences in Lotr are like: “the heroes enter a location that is ruined/fading/dead. Then the heroes do something that makes the location’s lost history come to life again, if only for a moment.”

Like the most obvious example of this is Moria. The heroes walk into Balin’s tomb and read the story of what happened there– the dwarves hearing drums in the deep, barricading the door, and being attacked by goblins.

Then immediately after the heroes hear drums in the deep, barricade the door, and have to survive an onslaught of goblins, just as the dwarves did.

The other really obvious example is Mount Doom: Sam tries to get Frodo to let go of the Ring, and Frodo refuses– echoing how Elrond tried to get Isildur to let go of the Ring, and Isildur refused.

But there are more subtle versions of this too-- like I’ve already talked a lot about how much I love this part of Weathertop. Weathertop was once a magnificent old watch-tower that was used by ancient kings, and long ago the ancient kings even used to battle over who owned it. Then the Northern Kingdom fell, and the watchtower fell into ruins and was forgotten.

But then Aragorn (a king in exile) and the Nazgul (who were “great kings of men”) return to Weathertop– and it’s like an echo of the battles that used to happen there.  This watchtower fell into ruin and lost its royal identity, the Nazgul fell into ruin and lost their identities, and Aragorn turned from kingship and chose a life of anonymity– so it’s like!!!!!!!! The kings are as faded as weathertop itself!! It drives me wild

(also: unrelated but I love this shot where Aragorn is a dark silhouette and the Ringwraiths are bright white silhouettes, it’s just nice)

Another example is Amon Hen and the Argonath. This land used to belong to Gondor,– but it’s broken, overgrown, in ruins, and gradually fading away.

And this is the place where Boromir dies– the place that symbolizes his country’s death.

But it’s also the place where film!Aragorn finally decides to accept his responsibliity to Gondor–when he realizes that Gondor/mankind has worth, even if it’s  faded and in ruins and ultimately doomed.

Or there’s Helm’s Deep in the Two Towers, where the history of Helm’s Deep as a fortress that can’t be taken is repeatedly tied to the hero’s efforts to save it. The heroes find courage by reminding themselves of the fortress’s history. (“The horn of Helm Hammerhand shall sound in the deep– one last time!”)

Or the way Frodo making the choice to take the Ring to Mordor, leaving his home behind, ties into the history of Rivendell– to the way elves are preparing to leave their home behind. Or the way the elves’ grief at how Lothlorien is doomed to fade away ties to the heroes’ grief at the death of Gandalf. 

Idk! It’s like every scene! And sometimes the characters themselves are aware they might relive the past– and it it fills them with hope (Helm’s Deep) or dread (Moria, Mount Doom.)  But sometimes it’s subtle, to the point where the characters themselves might not realize it’s happening. And i just think that’s neat

[shire-bee]

iconic parts of lord of the rings that sadly didn’t make it into the films:

Frodo and Sam getting into a fight about rope

Gandalf and Aragorn tag-team sassing a convalescent Merry about the location of his pack

the massive intra-Fellowship fight about how fair or unfair it is for people to be blindfolded

“DO AS YOU PLEASE IN YOUR MADNESS! I WISH TO SEE NO EYES!”

Legolas coming all the way from Mirkwood to deliver bad news and get bitched at by Glóin

Bilbo’s passive-aggressive notes to his annoying relatives

Aragorn and Éomer leaning on their swords to take a break and chat in the middle of a fight (twice)

Saruman appearing out of nowhere and harassing the Three Hunters like a DND random encounter

the disco ball/oil slick/sequin robes

basically every time Ioreth or the Master of the Houses of Healing says anything

Pippin jumping into his bath and soaking literally everyone

Bilbo’s song about Eärendil and Aragorn trying to gently point out that some topics of conversation are Sensitive

Frodo deciding that the best way to be inconspicuous is with a loud obnoxious song about when the Moon got drunk

feel free to add your own

[shire-bee]

[shire-bee]

that scene in the first book where glóin talks about how sauron’s messenger/evil door to door salesman keeps trying to canvas at erebor except it’s old man dwalin who answers the door

[shire-bee]

the white hand of Saruman except stamped on both my ass cheeks

[shire-bee]

[shire-bee]

van days

[shire-bee]

something that really gets me about Lord of the Rings post-breaking-of-the-fellowship is that at some point, every group of characters is under the impression that they are, ostensibly, the last people alive. And they still manage to go on despite the sadness and hopelessness of this.

When Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli go off to find Merry and Pippin in The Two Towers, there’s a lot of moments in which they consider that their search might be in vain. They’ve lost Gandalf, they’ve lost Boromir, they have no idea if Frodo and Sam are still alive, and logically, Merry and Pippin don’t have a great chance of survival in their current situation.

The reverse is true for Merry and Pippin. They know that there’s a very real chance that everyone else has been killed and that they were only spared because the orcs think they have the ring.

Even when most of the fellowship reunites at Isengard, they still have no idea what happened to Frodo and Sam and they’re left wondering about them until the end of Return of the King 

When Faramir tells Frodo and Sam that Boromir is dead, there’s a moment where the two of them consider that everyone else probably is as well, that they only survived because they abandoned the fellowship. Faramir does tell them that Boromir wouldn’t have had a funeral if no one else was alive, but that leaves them with very little hope, because that could still mean that most of their friends are dead. And they have to continue the rest of their journey with this knowledge. They never get relief until the very end, and that’s one of the reasons why the two of them (in many ways) bear the heaviest burden. 

I just think that’s a huge part of the haunting atmosphere that the darker parts of LOTR really emulate. The idea that everyone you care about is gone, but that you have to keep going anyway, because it’s really the only thing left to do.

[shire-bee]

The homoerotic subtext of lotr/the hobbit is all very well and good, but I would also like to point out, since this isn’t talked about very often, that these books are, in fact, canonically very queer, considering that asexuality/aromanticism run rampant in them

[shire-bee]

Aragorn on some kingly meeting: My policy is, if you see something, say something

Pippin, who somehow managed to make his way into the meeting without getting kicked out: I saw a squirrel in a tree today!

Aragorn, chill af: Outstanding

Aragorn: This is what I'm talking about people

[shire-bee]

🌻

[shire-bee]

Back on my Bullshit

#2 in the LOTR x Studio Ghibli crossovers im drawing because i have no self control

[shire-bee]

i can’t believe i spent actual time of my actual life drawing this

[shire-bee]

If I ever became very exceedingly rich I would scout some superb animators and hire them for what I would call ‘the most canonically accurate possible films of the lord of the rings’ where every single scene of it would turn out exactly the same as the book. I would perhaps add pieces of dialogue but I would take away NONE of it. YES that includes the entire council. I would make this the longest, most beautiful, most agonising three films to watch imaginable. I would hire voice actors with incredibly specific accents, Forlong would sound subtly different to Boromir but not as different as Hirluin and all of Gondor would sound completely different to anyone in the north. Glorfindel and Elrond would sound italian. I would even include Tom Bombadil. You would know and care about every single one of these minor side characters that were cut from the originals. Erkenbrand will be so dear to you when I’m done… when I’m done Farmer Maggot will be a household name. I have scene changes and shift structures and visualisations planned for this I’m not joking. I think about this all the time. You would all love and hate me and despair. As you turned on my 56 hour nightmare of a visual feast and weep at hour 5 when you still haven’t even left the shire yet. 

[shire-bee]

jesus fucking christ look at all these fragile pieces of shit who can’t watch a movie with women and poc in them I'm💀💀💀

[shire-bee]

my take on saruman from the lord of the ring :)