#GEOGRAPHY BS

[waterspoutskies]

I know the tornado post about the dead man walking tornadoes is 5 months old but I was halfway through pulling resources for myself to counter-argue it when I scrolled down and saw you already did. thank you 🙏

Oh of course haha!

Yeah, there were good and bad parts to the post, and honestly I really can't blame OP for not knowing the information themselves regarding the "legend" details- That stupid documentary is well over 20 years old and the lack of quick verification back then + the fact that the company has long since pretended that no, they never made such a documentary and it certainly wasn't them peddling complete nonsense to sound dramatic has really made for a hard to filter set of information.

But hopefully, now people know! It's still a very cool tornado, and there are also plenty of Native American stories that *do* have actual relevance to tornadoes, so maybe this will help a bit!

Man, this particular commentary is suddenly getting a LOT of traction in the past couple of days...

[waterspoutskies]

TRICK OR TREAT 🎃

Mina! Happy Halloween!

Tails again, Alright let's see here... ooh ok I got it let me get this one set up

Also a Grand Canyon trip find, a limestone with some vaguely oolitic (small rounded grains) features going on which is honestly really unusual for the area, as in almost nonexistent unusual, which makes me suspect that those bits are much newer than the actual limestone itself.

Nonetheless! There's probably some fossil markings on this sample but I can't tell them apart from river smoothing, and my best guess on this one is the Muav Limestone (it's certainly not Redwall Limestone, though it could be something in the Supai Group perhaps) which would make it somewhere in the range of 495-500 million years old.

Cool, right? :D

[alwaysbewoke]

spittin facts. y'all need to shut the fuck up with the geography thing.

[sparrownnax]

people on the internet: bandcamp is a great way to find new music from your city :) :) :)

the fact that the closest tag it has for where i am is 4 hours away:

(this is a cry for help im desperate and not allowed to go to bars for about 7 months yet i need local music AAAAAAAAAA)

[idkwhatimdoingbutimgonnacontinue]

My mom: Where's Peru?

Me: I think South America.

Me: But I could be wrong. I did fail Geography.

[goddess-of-bubblegum]

y'all!

y'all! To forget all the bs that is happening with the whole circe situation, let's start a good vibes chain! Name 5 - 10 things that made you happy in the last week!

I'll start:

1 my brother listened to me rant about the gods, and didn't make any jokes about it!

2 I got a good grade in geography!

3 i talked to my bestie irl about joining an ancient Greece extracurricular!

4 I've actually been getting good hours of sleep in!

5 I got to dance in the rain again!

6 I found out that me and my family will vacation in Greece, rom and Egypt (eventually!)

Yayyyyy! And to my moots that I'll tag here, ilsm, you make my day better, and spread the good vibes! 💓💓💓💓

@sillypuppetmeister @braydons-world @thefallenwaxwinged @another-telemachus-wont-hurt @bast-the-best26 @reyna4ever @unhinged-waterlilly @penelope-is-waiting

(I'm probably forgetting ppl)

[yuri-is-online]

Yuu et Yutu idea(s)

1. Yuu's finally really excited to have someone else from their world around so someone can finally get their pop culture references and jokes and uh...bless them, Yutu tries to BS their way into getting Yuu's jokes but Yuu's pop-culture is a good 10 or so years before Yutu was even conceived, there's only so much he can get whe you make a "a x? (Puts a hat on it) PERRY THE X!?" Jokes, you know? But Seven love him, he tries so hard to get your sill little jokes and references because you're so homesick (he can't believe you miss your world, when he remembers how it treated you both) and you look so stupid and happy with the dorky shit eating grin when you expect him to get it, he misses that smile so damn bad he acts his damn pants off to make you happy and pretends he knows the TV show Friends.

2. Another one where Yuu is happy to have someone from their world in class again, because now it's not just them struggling with "basic" things anymore, right? Like, this is a college, Yuu's missed YEARS of education like basic history or geography needed to have any context for what Trien's telling them and they look at Yutu in commiseration as Trien hands out test scores, only to see Yutu's scored pretty high!? He really has a solid grasp for these classes (almost like he's taken them before...) and it's just kinda...disheartening for Yuu to see. Are they really so dumb that their struggling this much? Like, they have the handicap of Grim sharing their grades but for Yutu to be sailing through these classes, maybe there is something wrong with Yuu...

Yutu's in a tizzy, trying to comfort Yuu about their grades without explaining that actually they already learned all this beforehand and either offers to tutor their parent themselves, or plays wingman for his parents and sets Yuu up to be tutored by his dad. Or something 💦

3. Sometimes the road to love isn't smooth, or a straight line, and imagine if Yuu dated someone else before getting together with Yutu's dad. With Yuu's amnesia (and college/high-school romances being such a non-issue in hindsight, Crewell or anyone else never really thought to bring up this other guy), Yutu is 100% blindsided when they see Yuu in some guys arms that isn't his dad. Excuse you sir, do you not realise you're ruining the timeline??? (And Yutu's life??) Yutu contemplates how bad would it be if he broke Yuu and the other guy up (if Yutu's friends/siblings are around, they are teasing him for being one of those kids who get funny when their parents start dating and "you guys don't get it its different I could be Marty McDly'd here") Yutu's stressing about it so much, and Yuu's so worried about him that their boyfriend ends up breaking up with them anyways. OR SOMETHING 💦💦💦

Ahhh I love these types of ideas, don't think I have written enough Yuu with Yutu angst

Yutu is old enough that he could probably play off certain things, yeah Yuu! He knows that meme! Oh it comes from a show huh... what would really screw him would be when Yuu starts asking about the sorts of things that he was interested in because wow. How does he explain he really loved this sequel to something you liked? There's no way it would have been something you slept on... but yeah that smile and seeing you happy is worth the stressful acting. Would you have been this happy if you had stayed in Twisted Wonderland? Would he have grown up with a parent who was significantly less stressed? Or would you have been homesick forever and even more lonely with a child who didn't understand your world... would he have made you feel even more isolated? How would his father have dealt with this... is he currently dealing with it at all or does he just. Not see it as a problem?

Oh Yutu... he didn't think this part thought when he agreed to stay at NRC. I feel like Yutu sort of just assumed that Yuu would have been great at their NRC classes because hello? They beat 7 overblots? What's Crewel's tests compared to that?!? A completely different beast apparently... he feels terrible. He tries to play it off as him just getting these things on instinct because he's a mage and that just sort of makes things worse. Now Yuu is wondering why they didn't have any magic when they came here... did they do something wrong? Nonononononono this is really bad. Depending on who his dad is I could see him trying to set Yuu up with some tutoring. Or if you want to get spicy:

You guys really like the idea of Yuu getting together with someone else first huh? This isn't the first time someone has brought it up... so lets say, just to be funny, the dad of one of his friends is also at NRC. Scarabia Resident B is my go to sacrificial lamb, but hey. It could be anybody, but it is someone Yutu knows for damn sure is not his dad and he's spiraling because he thought he was doing something nice by setting Yuu up with a tutor he could trust but now his friend's dad is hitting on his parent!!! And they're reciprocating it!!! "Oh what's wrong he's kind of cute." You know who's cuter? His actual father please Yuu ;-; He 100% gets clowned on by Yuu's other friends about being like a child who hates their parent's new partner but oooh. This could repair the rift between Yutu and whoever his dad is if they've been avoiding each other. Ace and his son suddenly stop beefing and are clowning on Yuu's new man, Azul is screaming into his pillow every single night because no... the sexy tutor you have a crush on in HIS trope damn it!!! (to say nothing of Jade's outright murderous intent and Yutu looking at him and then into the mirror and wondering if yandere tendencies run in the family.) The relationship doesn't really last that long, whether because Yuu's worry over Yutu gets in the way or Mob-kun and Yuu realize they're better off friends is up for debate. What isn't though, is that Yutu's father expects his total alliance in him getting together with Yuu now. This isn't up for discussion, doesn't he remember signing the waiver?

My one caveat to this is uh... Leona knows Yutu is his child. I am thinking about the dynamic of Yutu freaking out and Leona rolling his eyes and getting to work. You chose him, not that other herbivore, so maybe he can remind you just why you did, huh? Even though you technically haven't chose him yet

[aroacewxs]

i'm suffering from the Plague of the Dark Forest (the common cold) so here: wxs and how they deal with being sick

rui

rui does not get sick very often but when he does, it hits him like a TRUCK. not only that, but it takes him ages to even realize that he's feeling BAD in the first place. tsukasa, emu, or nene have to literally point out that he looks terrible for him to realize that oh, he feels like shit. as soon as he realizes that he is, well, SICK, he is chained to his bed/sofa/whatever he sleeps on for days and has to be spoonfed because he physically cannot lift his arms. wxs doesn't buy any of his "i'm feeling better than ever. tip top shape, in fact" bs, by the way.

emu

literally does not get sick. she is an immoveable force of nature, a brick wall. germs fear her. bacteria quake at the mention of her name. rhinovirus who? HOWEVER. on the rare occasions where she does get sick, i think she'd be the clingy type. HATES that she has to stay home and in her room alone and desperately needs some kind of company or external stimulation, whether it be talking with the virtual singers through her phone or texting wxs. she would assure them that she's fine, but really just wants to see her friends in person again :')

tsukasa

if tsukasa got sick, the world would end. his sneezes would shake the earth's core and change our geography completely. my online friends would end up being my neighbours.

firstly, he'd panic internally just a bit once he realizes that his nose feels a bit too stuffy and the tickle at the back of his throat is bothering him more than it should. he'd be completely confuzzled, after all, he spends a good chunk of his time just SANITIZING. he'd be all "ho ho ho what the fuck! there's no way! i, future star tenma tsukasa, caught the common cold?!?" he'd tear his room down, cleaning every single nook and cranny and dumping all his clothes into the laundry machine and downing pills and hoarding up on vitamin c so that he could possibly evade his fate (doesn't work). similarly to rui, he'd deny that he's feeling bad in order to keep working on shows but it eventually catches up to him and he has no choice but to rest.

nene

catches colds as the seasons change and the temperature shifts. she has like two assigned weeks a year for her sickness and deals with it normally: rotting in her bed and curling up into a shivering ball while trying to focus on a video game on her phone and failing miserably. her biggest worry each time is how her cold will affect her voice, deeming her unable to sing properly, but wxs is very understanding and reassure nene of her guilt. tsukasa ends up recommending different herbal remedies and teas that soothe the throat, and albeit nene is hesitant to try something tsukasa suggests, she begrudgingly admits later that they WORK.

[lemedstudent2021]

Where should Jews live? Where do they belong? Where do you consider their native land to be? Honest question.

an honest question deserves an honest answer so here ya go:

Anywhere and everywhere. Jews- the followers of the Abrahamic religion Judaism- along with Muslims, Christians, Atheists, Sikhs, Vegans, and literally any human being under the sun have the right to live wherever they please (given certain criteria are met like visas and that it isnt a military station/ off limits area etc).

Yes my dear reader(s) you read that right; ones faith or lack thereof shouldnt be an obstacle in any aspect of ones life, be it medical services, education, job opportunities, so on and so forth. How novel.

That answers where they 'should' live (although I dont by any means impose anything on anyone; y'all do whatever as long as its legal and harms no one including yourself. God bless). Could is more accurate.

As for where they 'belong', this in my opinion is one of the beauties of religion: people from all walks of life can belong to a religion. Diversity lies at the heart of our existence as human beings and denying it is like denying the existence of the sun. Tolerance is a must if we are ever going to get along with each other. And this belonging isn't irrevocabley tied to geography. But I digress :)

Quick aside just so we're all on the same page: converting to a religion renders you just as valid and equal as someone born into a religion. Most if not all religions preach equality between their followers regardless of background, so i wont hear anything of 'oh theyre not real xyz' or 'they dont count' or any of that bs.

By this logic (religious demographics are, generally speaking, very diverse), there is no 'this set of people belong here, and those over there' ...and proof of that in a sense would be atheists/ agnostics; where would they 'belong'? Antarctica? Outer space? alright ill stop XD

If that were the case, most of the planet would be crammed in the Middle East lol [Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon alone are home to 34M (as of 2023), and the followers of the 3 main Abrahamic religions are an estimated 3.4B (as of 2020) globally. We wouldnt fit even if we used one of these]. Yeah nationality/ race/ ethnicity/ background influence and maybe even dictate one's religious identity, but it isn't the all or nothing we may think it to be.

Which brings us nicely to the next point, and here if you'll allow me i'd like to correct it to native land of Judaism (where it originated/ flourished/ spread whatever) as opposed to native land of Jews because as i mentioned above, a religion doesnt (or shouldnt) differentiate nor discriminate between its followers. By restricting them to one geographical location (and for some using it as an indicator of their authenticity) we do them great disservice as well as contradict the teachings themselves. A demonstration:

Im Jordanian right, (dad's maternal side are from bilad al sham; Syria) and im a born Muslim alhamdulillah. My dads Malaysian roommates from his uni days are also born Muslims (and have the best food lol, my all time favourite is lemak cili padi) and seperating us on the basis of them not being Arab or Middle Eastern is unislamic, intolerant, xenophobic, and wrong on every level. Alternatively, im just as Muslim as someone from Mecca or Medina. We're all Muslim. we are the world...

Circling back, Judaism the religion is native to the Holy land (I guess you can say it started in Egypt till it moved there but idk. Regardless), and Jews (adherants of the faith) can't in my humble opinion be fairly categorised as one monolithic unit... just like any and every other faith out there.

Another quick aside; this is merely a tumblr post that cant do the history and culture and intricacies and so much more of this matter a portion of the justice it deserves. I am but a tired medical student answering to the best of my abilities a question I was asked with my limited knowledge in theology and perspective in general, so do me a favour and keep that in mind. And to anyone reading this if you have questions or corrections or resources or anything you want to mention be my guest :)

If you're still here, I'm both grateful and amused. Here's what you probably came for, the piece de resistance if you will: 🍉israel🍉

Disclaimer: thanks for reading this far, but if you disagree in any way shape or form with any of the 30 human rights articles, you may as well stop reading and put your device through the shredder. Bigots, racists, fascists, anti vaxxers etc. dni

So far ive seen this idea, call it what you will, two times (which isnt a lot but its weird that it happened to me twice consecutively), that claims the freedom of Palestine equals a genocide of the Jews.

Er, no? No ma'am. One does not solve a genocide by comitting another genocide. What part of 'never again' are we missing here?

Before we get into politcal nominations and factions and other territories i dont plan on invading (pun intended) but might accidentally cross anyway (I forgot where i was going with this) i want to remind everyone that Judaism is not synonymous with Israel nor zionism (if u disagree with this go ahead and shred ur device too).

A refresher: Judaism is a religion, Israel is an illegal-occupying-apartheid-state, and Zionism is a movement/ ideology

So 'genocide of the Jews' is both wrong (diction) and more wrong (factually incorrect) in that the liberation of Palestine means freedom from oppression, discrimination, settler colonialism... the whole nine yards. Enough bloodshed already its been nearly 76 years.

When Netenyahu is eventually drop kicked out of office (and hopefully hung, drawn, and quartered for his plentiful warcrimes) what happens to the (illegal) citizens of Israel? Well first off, return the stolen homes and land to their rightful owners who have the keys (and documents if they werent tampered with or erased) to prove it.

As for the illegal-under-international-law settlements and new also illegal establishments; I have no idea what international laws will decree (not that I have that much faith in the judiciary system), but I assume they will be seized and evicted of the illegal tenants (how you like me now?) and given to those who have been displaced or homes ruined etc. because its theirs and theirs alone and it was unlawfully and cruelly taken away from them and not because the (remaining lol) former Israeli citizens can't or shouldn't live in palestine. they can go live somewhere where its legal. the priority is Palestinians tho.

What about the indigenous everyone else? As long as their houses aren't stolen or illegal they can should stay because its legal and its theirs and thats that. you cannot kick someone out of their home to give it to another (which was the basis of the creation of Israel.) because its ✨i l l e g a l✨

And the people who dont belong so to speak? I think this one's case by case; like I said at the very, very beginning; people have the right to live wherever as long as its legal and ok to do so regardless of faith or background, and no one should be denied their right to live in Palestine as a country like any other, but they certainly must be denied living in homes stolen and given to them because thats, say it with me now, illegal <3

[undergoingcalibrations]

FF7: Ever Crisis New Lore Summary (For those who rightfully don't want to put up with gacha BS)

General Worldbuilding:

SOLDIERs, (as of The First Soldier campaign, which takes place 15 years before the start original game), are divided into two grades: Passive and Active. Passive grade SOLDIERs are only distinguished from common forces by their elite training and superior equipment. Active grade SOLDIERs have only appeared on the scene extremely recently as of FS, and have received 'enhancements' to improve their physical resilience and affinity for materia. Passive grade SOLDIERs, and the public for that matter, have no idea what those enhancements actually are, with one of the Passive grades, Glenn, assuming that they are cyborgs.

Passive grades are also called P0s, short for Project Zero, the VR fighting program used to filter out those eligible for SOLDIER training from other Shinra troopers. This is the source of rivalry between some passives and actives, as being selected for active grade is seen as more of a question of genetics than talent.

A new nation, Rhadore, appears in Ever Crisis. It's abundance of ruins, it's geography (a southern nation composed of several islands), and the presence of a vent where the Lifestream flows out into the ocean, suggest that this may be the name of the southern archipelago where Mideel and the Temple of the Ancients are located.

Rhadore's population was decimated by SOLDIER operations after it broke a treaty with Shinra a decade before the events of The First Soldier campaign (25 years before FF7), with one of the P0s, Matt, giving the current estimated survivors as between 500-1,000.

Based on the naming conventions of regions in Rhadore, and conversations with the one named Rhadoran character, Rosen, it appears to be based on Hawai'i (for instance, Rosen uses the Hawai'ian word for spiritual energy, mana, to refer to mako and the Lifestream).

Rosen refers to the deceased as 'being with the Planet', suggesting that Planetology may have been a common faith there before the Shinra genocide.

A respected occupation in Rhadore was to serve as an 'Eye of Rhadore', responsible for monitoring the flow of the Lifestream into Rhadore's seas and notifying settlements in case of danger, as surges of Lifestream not only cause tidal waves but render seawater temporarily toxic. Rosen states that only a rare few are eligible to become Eyes, as they "need to be able to hear the Planet, even when they're asleep", suggesting that Cetra outside of Aerith and Ifalna may have survived there in one form or another.

Cloud

In Ever Crisis's telling of the events of FF7, Jessie gives Cloud a copy of the Project Zero training program she found while hacking Shinra databases. Nothing's really come of it yet.

When Tifa asks Cloud what his go-to drink was in SOLDIER, Cloud mentions a cocktail called a Winter Salt, though cannot remember how to make it, besides, well...there's salt. One assumes it was a favourite of Zack's.

Cloud says that after Nibelheim, he found himself at the Sector 7 trainyard "as if I was guided there". Presumably, Sephiroth was doing the guiding, but to what end is unclear.

Tifa

Tifa worked at a steam bun shop in Sector 8 for at least three years before her gig at Seventh Heaven. Her steam buns were so good that Wedge would often force Avalanche to go out of their way to eat there, which is how she ended up becoming friends with the group in the first place.

Tifa regards Jessie as a big sister and mentor, even though they're almost the same age.

Apart from out of loyalty to her friends, Tifa joined Avalanche because the religious aspects of Planetology appeal to her- namely, the idea that her father and the rest of Nibelheim are with the Planet, so by caring for the Planet, she will always be connected to them in turn.

Aerith

Aerith loves picnics because as a child in the labs, she naturally wasn't allowed to eat outside.

Elmyra had hired a bodyguard to look after Aerith when she was little (Shinra's got great life insurance payouts, apparently), but Tseng...dealt with them.

On a related note, one of Aerith's lifelong ambitions, ever since she can remember, is to one day be stronger than Tseng. Not that she wants to hurt him, necessarily, just that she never wants to be afraid of him pushing her and her family around again.

Ifalna was able to visit Aerith in spirit at least once after her death, comforting her when she was afraid, and reassuring her that she was strong because her family was with the Planet, and the Planet was with her.

Sephiroth

Based on the timeline, Sephiroth is anywhere between 12-15 during The First Soldier campaign. I'm tempted to say he's on the older end of that spectrum, as the P0s are surprised but not appalled by his age, and Cloud applied for SOLDIER at 15, if that's anything to go by.

Sephiroth uses a katana in Ever Crisis, rather than an odachi like in his other appearances. He's not tall enough to pull that off yet.

At some point between The First Soldier and Crisis Core, Sephiroth's eyes changed from blue to green. Mako will do that, I guess.

Despite Shinra propaganda stating that Sephiroth was already a decorated SOLDIER by this point, the mission to secure a site for a new mako reactor in Rhadore that The First Soldier covers was his first field operation- Shinra was simply trying to boost support for active grade SOLDIERs by attributing the accolades of others to their prototype. Sephiroth is upfront and untroubled about this with the P0s that have been assigned to him.

Sephiroth appears to be a true patriot, having no remorse for the Rhadorans that would stand in the way of Shinra's mission. He has no compunction when it comes to killing even a group of young and elderly Rhadorans attempting to evacuate, a thoroughness that he attributes to Shinra's training- the young could be receiving military training, and the old could be seasoned veterans, so all must considered a threat and eliminated. The P0's, on the other hand, seem to be mostly in this for the money and find Sephiroth's actions disturbing, though hold that against whoever taught him he had to be this way, not Sephiroth himself.

...despite this, Sephiroth states multiple times that he did not ask to be what he is and doesn't want to be the false hero Shinra's propped him up as. When asked what he wants to be when he grows up, he thinks to himself that "I just want to live a normal life", but refuses to say it aloud.

Sephiroth keeps a picture of Lucrecia on him at all times, though Hojo told him it was a picture of Jenova. He asks everyone he meets if they've seen her or know anything about her, and appears to believe she's still alive.

[waterspoutskies]

Trick or treat!

Happy Halloween!

I've already forgotten my prior adjudication so let us flip the coin shall we

Tails is your result!

As decided by my friends, tails shall be rocks, and thus, let's have one (two, technically) of the newest pieces in my collection, which is a bit ironic as they're almost certainly the oldest rocks I've collected!

Ok well. Tumblr disagrees with my overhead shot. That's fine.

Swapped directions since the overhead didn't work

Anyway, these are pieces of the Vishnu Basement Rocks, specifically the Granite Gorge Metamorphic Suite- these are both examples of schist! I believe the larger piece is Vishnu Schist, given the high quantity of mica (I may have broken a similar, larger piece on accident down at Bright Angel when I had dunked it in the stream) and is approximately 1.75 billion years old. The smaller one is likely Brahma Schist, also about 1.75 billion years old, has a really nice fracture intrusion of quartz or quartzite.

The oldest rocks I've ever seen, that's for sure!

(Note: One of these fell in my boot while hiking, the other was collected outside NPS boundaries.)

[gojuo]

Finally decided to drop the show lol I just can't with what the show runners are doing.

honestly if I get to choose how hotd was adapted I would have preferred it taken to an animation studio that knows to respect the source material, like the teams that worked with 86 and The Apothecary Diaries which are both light novels? You would feel the love, care, and respect the teams for those shows. esp 86, there were scenes and anime OG scenes that made the story even better than the LN, ofc they are not perfect adaptations, but if the same love and care was given to hotd and not this bs bias and etc, I won't even consider dropping it.

(also not me thinking that Yuichi Nakamura/Gojo's VA would be the perfect Aegon? 😂)

the latest leaks are sssooooooooo baddd omg i can't believe how bad it is 😭😭 why do producers/writers of adaptations think i want to see their made up shit storylines like i read this thing for GRRM not for YOU. why tf do they feel the need to change the canon? changing the source material is the fastest way for me to lose interest and ngl i feel the same on dropping the show bc i already don't watch tb scenes and i've pretty much stopped caring about show team green as well except aegon so what's the point? imma just be watching the 3 minutes of tgc screentime and that's about it.

ugh yes, animated asoiaf has always been my dream :( it's the best visual adaptation medium for these books in my opinion. very sad to think GRRM probably believes tv is the ultimate tool for it :( the colors, the geography, the castles, the outfits, the dragons, the fantastical elements like white hair and purple eyes etc. would all be better adapted in animation than live action. aggghhhhhhhh what a missed opportunity man 😞

[morgulscribe]

Rings of Power Season 2, Episode 1 Thoughts

Random thoughts while watching, not a review.

Spoilers ahead.

The opening scenario feels like the writers read the section of Nature of Middle-earth about the rebellious eastern orcs who didn't want to follow Sauron after the fall of Morgoth. And then those writers thought, "WHAT IF….."

The scene in which Sauron is killed by Adar reminds me A LOT how angels and demons get killed in Supernatural.

I think Sauron's death would have caused the area to be incinerated by fire, not frozen by ice.

Not sure I like Sauron's shadow form. It looks disturbingly like licorice Twizzlers….

Sauron getting run over by a wagon… HAHAHAHA

So Sauron has to vampirize/cannibalize living beings to take a form after his form is destroyed. I can see going that route, but I suspect Tolkien may have had a different idea. I always wondered if Sauron's spirit possessed beings - either living ones or corpses - until he gained enough strength to assume a physical form. This might be why Tolkien wrote so much about houseless spirits and possession, including hints that Sauron and his followers knew about things like this, and encorporated it in their dark rituals.

I'm a little confused about geography and timing in the opening scenes. Where does Adar gank Sauron? The encounter with the old man seems to imply that this is somewhere in Mordor/RoP Southlands. Maybe it is the ice and snow that are throwing me off. Also, why isn't anyone talking about how unseasonably cold it is?

Galadriel trying to snatch the Three Rings from Elrond is rather weird. At first, I thought they were playing some sort of game on horseback. Galadriel and Elrond's relationship in this show is weird. They act like peers of the same age, rather than a younger elf and his elder/mother-in-law.

Galadriel: He is Sauron. Gil-Galad: [in Sindarin] Oh, fu……

Gil-Galad is SO through with Elrond and Galadriel's BS.

In Mordor, ya bow or ya bleed! WHERE THERE'S A WHIP, THERE'S A WAY!!!!! The beatings will continue until morale improves.

Sauron using the threat of Sauron in an attempt to win people over to his side….

I thought it was implied in Season 1 that Adar realized that Halbrand was Sauron? Or maybe that was just a fan theory and not reality?

Nori and the Wizard remind me of a LOTRO questing duo. Poppy is the player who signed on later than the rest of the fellowship.

I'm wondering if this show is filled with intentional references to other LOTR-themed properties. Gil-Galad threatens to send Galadriel to the Ettemoors - the infamous PvP area of LOTRO. Galadriel says "Elrond Lives" - a reference, perhaps, to the phrase "Frodo Lives."

[polutrope]

Prompt from the List! 2.0

Curufin (of course)

Himring, post Nargathrond BS

12. enduring grief and anger in silence

Thank you 🥺

So, um, this didn't really go the angsty direction you may have been expecting with the prompt, but I was highly influenced by my recent recollection of this Shibboleth passage.

Curufin and Maedhros and alliances. 480 words. On AO3.

It had not taken long for Curufin to map out the geography of his grief and anger; to flatten it into something he could observe, plot battles upon, or roll up and shut away in a drawer. In this, at least, he would not be his father. He would not be overcome by ugly, consumptive passions.

Unlike Celegorm, who raged and railed and put himself in the way, Curufin patiently endured the distrust of his lord and brother. Maedhros could not drink forever from the font of Maglor’s hope. That font, Curufin observed with the benefit of the distance that Maglor’s simmering resentment set between them, was running dry. 

While Curufin waited, he directed his mind to other things. In these, he was like his father. To the improvement of their weaponscraft, the tools that they would need to launch their great assault upon the Enemy. But to finer things, also; to adornments that Maedhros would say they do not need—yet is not the strength of the Noldor held and guarded in their gems? 

Yet it is none of these pursuits that Maedhros at last takes note of. It is a misplaced page of runes; a draft of a treatise on the Dwarvish tongue. 

“This is yours,” his brother says, not a question. He sets the paper down, then seats himself, one leg crossed over the other. Curufin cannot recall the last time the Lord of Himring sat in his presence. “How did I not know you were familiar with the Dwarvish language?”

Because you never cared to know, Curufin does not say. He replies coolly: “The Khazad do not lightly share the secrets of their tongue with those of alien race.”

“And yet they shared it with you.” It is not said with cruelty or skepticism, merely curiosity. 

“They did.”

Maedhros rises and draws in a long breath, working his jaw around his next words. After they are spoken, Curufin knows that the words he had considered, the ones he could not yet speak were, ‘I forgive you.’

What Maedhros does say is: “Do you know the paths to Belegost?”

~

The Dwarves keep their cities in the mountains well hidden, especially in these dangerous days, but Curufin remembers the way. The rising sun slants through a splinter in the rock, its sharp beam illuminating the figure on the great stone-hewn throne of Gabilgathol. 

Curufin bows and greets the king in the manner and tongue of the Khazad. 

A twinkle of recognition alights on Azaghâl’s brow, and he addresses Curufin by the secret name he was given here, long ago. “And what,” he says next, “brings an old friend through danger to our halls?”

“I come,” says Curufin, “on behalf of my brother the Lord of Himring, whom you also knew of old, to renew that friendship and make alliance against our common foe.”

[kaesaaurelia]

I stood in my boss' office today and helped him pack up/harassed him until he left (half an hour late) and went home to host a Seder and I'm feeling kind of weird and lonely that I've got no real Jewish community in my life and am thus not doing anything for Seder except calling my grandmother.

(I also had to buy a bunch of home goods and forgot to bring my reusable bags so I'm not doing very well at Earth Day either.)

There ARE Jewish communities to be found here, I just don't really vibe with the ones I've encountered so far, and right now I'm not really up for navigating delicate intracommunity BS (including politics and also my own feelings of inadequate Jewishness) because I'm still dealing with new job stress and recovering from the self-care backlog my long-term unemployment depression left me with.

Did briefly consider trying to keep kosher for passover but unfortunately I like bread too much. Maybe I'll write that silly fic where my GO OC is sent to tutor Moses in geography and never quite gets around to it.

[alvaeris]

i don’t proofread things i write and pray (getting history and geography back tomorrow hopefully they excuse my ‘random bs go’ approach on writing the essays)