#Gandalf quote save me....

[timeturner-jay]

That's my secret 💪 I'm always disassociating

[warrioreowynofrohan]

I have been seeing this quote all over my feed in the past weeks, for good reason.

“Always after a defeat and a respite, the Shadow takes another shape and grows again.”

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.

“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

It’s important to me, it’s something I need to hold on to, and yet to me there are also ways it feels different from the current situation. Frodo and the Shire are in terrible danger, and something terribly hard is being asked of him; but the Shire is no danger to anyone else.

What we’re in feels more like late-stage Númenor to me: seeing your society twisted and corrupted to the destruction of people both outside it and within it. Bearing responsibility for what it does with minimal ability to change it. Knowing that many people around you either support it or don’t care much.

Culpability without power.

I’m not in the US – I’m next to it, and our next election is very likely to bring in someone aligned with Trump – but this isn’t just about the US. Austria and Hungary are already far-right. France is on the edge. Russia and China are their own versions of the same thing: authoritarian, nationalist, expansionist, and targeting ethnic minorities.

This is on both sides of the Atlantic now. This isn’t WWII. No one is coming to save us. All of us are going to need to fight this in our own ways. I hope that I’m wrong, that maybe it won’t be as bad as I fear, but I can’t count on that.

I saw a post saying “don’t doomscroll”. It’s right. Don’t exhaust yourself doing things that won’t help. Take a breath. Pet your cat. Do something that comforts you.

And then, organize. Because as bad as 2016 was, I don’t think this is 2016. There’s no waiting this one out. There’s no “in four years”. It ends when we all say it does, and only then.

It doesn’t matter how powerless we feel. It doesn’t matter how futile anything seems. We have to all do what we can. We have to work together. We have to protect and aid the people who will be targeted, in whatever ways we can, and that means organization and networks and knowing each of us is not alone.

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage.

For the facing of these days.

For the facing of these days.

[apoloadonisandnarcissus]

Of Sin and Sinners

It’s very confusing to me how some refuse to accept that Mairon/Sauron can feel “human-like” emotions like love or lust, while projecting human-like traits like “narcissism” or “sociopathy” onto his character.

Sauron is a immortal deity, who was created by Eru himself. He’s one of the Ainur; he helped shape the world during the Ainulindalë, the “music of the Ainur”. He looks at Middle-earth in ruins and thinks the Valar have forsaken it. He steps in because, in his mindset, he’s the only deity willing to do something about it. Of course he’s “arrogant”, and thinks he owns the place. He helped creating it, in the first place.

You all also conveniently forget just how alike Sauron and Galadriel actually are, and why they are each others foils to begin with. Many of you are falling into the same trap as the “lorebros” by ignoring that character arcs exist and that “Rings of Power” Galadriel is thousands of years away from her Third Age persona. She’s not the “Lady of Light” yet, and even Sauron himself has just begun his “Dark Lord” arc.

Not only Sauron and Galadriel are both arrogant, but self-righteous, too. They both love to be on power-trips. They lie left and right, and manipulate others to get their way. We saw Galadriel do this in both Season 1 and 2, already. They both use others for their own ends. They don’t care about rules, they are their own authority. They are used to get their way, and get pissed when they don’t. They both turned their backs on the Valar (returning to Valinor/refusing their judgement) for the same reason: pride. They know each others minds because they are alike.

Of course Sauron wants her as his queen; she’s the perfect pair for him. And together they would, indeed, wreck havoc. This would be a power couple of nightmares, for everyone around them. There would be no escaping them, they would enslave everyone to their will. They are both beautiful, and Sauron is seductive. He already brought this side of Galadriel to the surface in Season 1, when we saw her flirting with him (and this is probably the explanation for Tolkien approval of Boorman’s script).

I read a lot of people saying that Sauron would destroy Galadriel’s light if she joined him. Actually, she would be far worse than Sauron. Tolkien did say that Gandalf would be worse than Sauron if he had the One Ring, and this is true for Galadriel as well. Which explains these quotes from her:

She recognizes this, she’s not that self-deluded. She’s talking about herself on a power-trip, not about how Sauron would “destroy” her.

This headcanon (and I’ve seen this in the Galadriel x Sauron fandom, too) that Galadriel is some “pure of heart she-elf, holy and divine-like character” is extremely bizarre, because this is not what we are being shown in “Rings of Power”. Nor is it what Tolkien himself wrote. For starters, Tolkien, being extremely religious, would never copy-paste his faith into magical elves. The characters that are granted with that imprint are the Valar themselves because they are meant to be of divine nature (the actual Gods of his lore). And Tolkien himself went back and forward with this idea, too. Maybe he felt it was too blasphemous, I don’t know.

This will be my wildest take yet, but Halbrand turning out to be Sauron is a aphrodisiac for Galadriel, actually. She wanted the king, yes, because the smith wasn’t good enough. But at the end of the day, Halbrand was a Southlander, a “low man”: Galadriel tells him this once they arrived at Númenor in 1x03 (“these men are not like you”). But he turned out to be the most powerful being around, and he wants her at his side. And you can bet that only makes her want him even more. And Sauron is probably aware of this, too.

This is why he’s grinning here: you thought I was a mere “low man”, did you? Even with him on his repentant era, we saw Mairon’s self-control in Season 1. He allowed Galadriel to say all kinds of arrogant stuff to him, and saved this grin for last. His pride was the reason why he couldn’t bring himself to face the Valar’s judgment, after all.

Besides: was she truly deceived by Sauron, or did she deceived herself, in Season 1? Because she’s the one who kept pushing the king of the Southlands onto him, and even acted behind his back with Queen Míriel. This is why Elrond calls her out on her bullsh*t on Season 2: “it was entirely of your choosing”. She wanted the lost king who could ride her to victory, and Sauron delivered.

There’s a lot of misunderstanding of the kind of villain Sauron actually is. He’s a cautionary tale of “be careful of what you wish for”. That’s why he’s the seductive power that makes every dream come true. Listen to Adar, he’s the one who spills the tea in “Rings of Power”. Sauron is a sharer of gifts, a wish granter, but it comes with a cost. And he’s not “chaotic evil”, he’s pure “lawful evil”; he’s methodic, a control freak and highly organized. And that’s why he’s able to gain an insane amount of power for a mere Maia.

Indeed it was; Galadriel went to Eregion, is standing there, and has the Nine, because it’s by Sauron’s design. Everything he did was to culminate in this scene. He’s a mastermind, he planned everything. And you all actually believe it was Elrond on that tent, as if Sauron, the control freak, would let anything to chance. As he so cynically says, himself:

Sauron was able to perceive Finrod, Beren & co infiltrated his fortress masquerading as Orcs, because the Orcs were acting weird. This is how calculating he truly is. Morgoth was the brute force, Sauron was the mind. And you can bet Morgoth’s overworked secretary Sauron had everything catalogued, curated and organized by size, shape and color, back at Angband fortress. He had that thing running like clockwork. He was created as a Maia of order, after all.

For my Zodiac enthusiastics out there: this villain is peak Virgo energy. Everyone associates Sauron with fire, but nah, his whole personality is Earth element-coded (and Aulë himself is very connected with Earth element, not only by creating mountains and gems/minerals, but he’s also married to “Queen of the Earth”, Yavanna).

He did had some bumps along the way: killing Celebrimbor in a rage fit, and Galadriel getting captured by Adar, but it all worked out for him in the end (except Galadriel throwing herself off a cliff, he wasn’t counting on that one, either):

We saw him lose control in “Rings of Power” and acting chaotic because it was meant to symbolize his return to “his old ways”, his fall into evil again, into Morgoth’s servitude. Morgoth was “chaotic evil”, he was the nihilistic God who wanted to destroy and corrupt everything Eru created. This is not Sauron’s character at its core.

And this is not “gaslighting” either. This is Sauron actually talking facts. It was Celebrimbor’s arrogance and vanity that allowed him to “fall prey” to Sauron. And he, indeed, chose it. Because Celebrimbor wanted to surpass Fëanor, he wanted to craft legendary objects, he wanted to create a mythos like his grandfather’s Silmarils. And Sauron gave him just that. Celebrimbor’s sins are pride (vanity), greed and envy.

Celebrimbor couldn’t care less about Halbrand (the “low man”); he used his knowledge and then forgot about him, not because Galadriel told him to, but because Halbrand was no longer useful to him. He had already forged the Three Elven rings of power (to help the Elves cheat death). And is with this that Sauron tempts him, again. And he becomes the emissary of the Valar because that’s what Celebrimbor wanted, that’s the validation he was seeking (like Galadriel wanted the king of the Southlands).

This goes back to Adar in 2x06:

Adar: But sooner or later, he sees you. Not just who you are, but who you wish to be. His eye bores a hole and the rest of him slithers in. For a while, he even makes you believe that his power has become yours. Irresistible power... that makes every desire's fulfillment seem inevitable. An ocean of color against which everything else feels forever thereafter... Galadriel: A dull gray. Adar: What did he promise you? [...] Do you want to know what he offered me? [...] Children. Galadriel: Then it would seem he gave us both what we desired. Adar: You see, it is not his lies which must be extinguished. It is him.

And this is perfectly aligned with Tolkien religious message: sin, and the price to pay for being a sinner.

These characters are not “hopeless victims” of Sauron. They are active participants on their own torment by choosing to sin, and this is symbolically represented by them aligning themselves with evil (Sauron). This is pure Christian doctrine. The showrunners have to spin it into “modern takes” of “domestic abuse” or whatever for the audience to understand, but that’s not the core message here. This is Tolkien preaching, folks. This is Tolkien saying “you all need Jesus”.

Adar and Galadriel parallel each other in a lot of ways, too. In Tolkien lore, Galadriel is described as “repentant sinner”. And Adar is a repentant sinner, too, making amends.

In the legendarium, Galadriel’s sins are pride and greed (power hungry). And “Rings of Power” built upon this and added a new one: lust. She turned her back on the Valar, and that’s why she’s banished from Valinor (heaven) in the first place.

I’ve read some speculating that she’s not actually banished and only remains on Middle-earth because she wants to. But no, that doesn’t fit Tolkien lore; the legendarium is fluid, and allows for multiple interpretations, but the core message needs to be there, all the same. Galadriel’s punishment for sinning is to be banished from heaven and she needs to repent to be allowed to return. This make complete sense with Tolkien’s work and his religious views.

But in “Rings of Power”, Galadriel’s greed is also connected with her love for Halbrand/Sauron (and I already talked about this here). So far, we haven’t see Galadriel expressing her desire to have a kingdom of her own; it’s Sauron that introduces this point, and he’s the reason why she refuses the Valar’s pardon and stays on Middle-earth, to begin with (to hunt him down).

Meaning: the reason for Galadriel’s banishment will have to be connected with Sauron in “Rings of Power”, because that’s the angle the show is exploring and working on, and they can’t ignore her banishment because that’s a huge deal in her overall character’s arc, and why she becomes “Lady of Light” and fights Sauron. When she rejects Frodo’s offer of the One Ring in the Third Age it’s her last temptation, and she humbles herself and proves to the Valar that she’s worthy of returning to Valinor, at last.

And this leads me to another notion: catholic guilt. I was raised catholic in a extremely catholic country (it’s cultural), so I recognize many of Tolkien’s religious background on his work without trying (he, too, was a catholic), and the Tolkien experts of “Rings of Power” seem to be heading in this direction, too, and that explains why Galadriel and Sauron have romantic and sexual chemistry, and there’s so much sexual innuendo in their interactions.

A crown (clitorical symbol = vagina) penetrating a sword (phallic symbol = penis)? “Rings of Power” can’t get any more obvious than this with the Freudian symbolism.

“Catholic guilt” is the deep feeling of shame after having sinned. This is often associated with sex, and having a high sex drive (usually females). And this makes perfect sense with the Eldar customs (sex = marriage; sex = children; and other puritan views of sexual acts), and why any Elf would feel deeply ashamed, guilty and in need of repenting for thousands of years (“catholic guilt”) after going against these rules.

What does this mean? Galadriel will get a taste of that D, sooner or later. And it makes more sense for it to happen when he’s fully Sauron (and not Halbrand), indeed. Because then, she can’t racionalize it as “having been deceived”. And for that sense of deep shame and guilt to kick in, she’ll have to want it, too; it has to be consensual, on her part.

And for this she’ll be punished (banished from Valinor) and will have to repent for thousands of years into the future. Even if they don’t explicitly say this on the show (which they won’t, not only they won’t go there but this religious message doesn’t really fit nowadays standards). I highly doubt any this will be explicit, at all, but there will be innuendo, symbolism, and clues of this happening in future seasons. It might even happen in Season 3, actually (in connection with Galadriel spiraling down into darkness as a consequence of Morgoth’s crown wound).

[3months2mordor]

On Hobbits and Existential Dread

or Why “The Scouring of the Shire” is the True Climax of The Lord of the Rings

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Or more accurately, there lived a human who had been in hard COVID quarantine for six months and certainly felt like a hobbit, what with all the staying inside and eating second breakfast and trying her best to ignore the world, which seemed in the summer of 2020 to be spiraling towards something unknown. And she, well I, was packing for college. On an impulse that I cannot explain except to say that I had previously binge watched all the movies in my seemingly infinite quaran-time, I packed a large red volume of JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings with the intention to read it over the course of the semester.

What began as a simple personal challenge to read a chapter a night instead of doom scrolling on Twitter became a profound experience not only in terms of discovering that my parents were right in saying the book was actually really good, but also in realizing that the Hobbits, in their edenic Shire perched on the edge of a world about to enter catastrophe, were more like me, more like a lot of us, than Aragorn or the Elves or Dwarves or Men who people Middle Earth. And here is why the chapter at the very end of the last book where the Shire is nearly destroyed is so very, very important.

Tolkien takes careful time in his books to establish the attitudes and habits of his hobbits who live in pastoral harmony in near complete isolation from the rest of the world. They are content with what they have and don’t have the greed that drives Dwarves to dig, or the ambition that drives Men to war, or even the worship of nature that drives Elves deep into their forests to protect them. They build their hobbit holes, smoke what is definitely pot, and eat and drink heartily. They care little for news of the outside world and tend their fields instead. That’s it.

But the world does not cease to exist just because they want it to. It never does.

As Gandalf warns in Rivendale, “We are sitting in a fortress. Outside it is growing dark.” (Part 1 Book 2 Chapter 1).

Regardless of how much the hobbits might ignore the coming of the Dark Lord Sauron and the existential threat that is his attempt to control the world, it will not go away. They will not be safe from the darkness just because they want to be and they have a supply of candles in the cupboard. And so, at the start of the story, evil comes to the Shire in the form of the Black Riders and Frodo, our hero, must leave to keep the Shire safe from the forces of darkness. Still Frodo is just a hobbit, albeit a brave one. So he laments to Gandalf, “I wish it need not have happened in my time” and Gandalf replies “So do I, and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” (Part 1 Book 1 Chapter 2).

I feel this quote more deeply every year. A deep childish wish for things to exist as we expected them to be, but a solemn and more mature knowledge that Gandalf is right. That our time has already been given to us. All that we have left is what we do to make that time matter.

But back to Frodo, who takes a good seventeen years to heed this advice, but eventually sets off on an adventure to save the Shire which, spoiler alert, ultimately saves the world. Along the way people despair and seem to lose hope. Theoden, recovering from a spell that robbed him of agency and clearsightedness, cries “Alas! That these evil days should be mine, and should come in my old age instead of that peace which I have earned” (Part 2 Book 3 Chapter 6). Even Sam, in his darkest hour thinking he has lost Frodo for good, groans “I wish I wasn’t the last. I wish old Gandalf was here, or somebody. What am I left all alone to make up my mind? I’m sure to go wrong” (Part 2 Book 4 Chapter 10).

Yet despite it all the One Ring is destroyed and the King returns and good wins. Everything is set right and our heroes get a chance to rebuild the world rather than watch it crumble. They get to go home.

Now this is a fine story and one I desperately needed amongst all of the *everything* going on in 2020. However it is not the ending that stuck with me. For you see once Frodo and his companions return home, the Shire is not the same place they left it.

The Shire, in their year long absence, has descended into a despotic police state run by a wealthy, privileged hobbit who stays in his hole rather than try to help his people as Men, who tower over the hobbits, and are specifically and on multiple occasions called bullies, abuse their power. They use their strength to take food and (let’s face it) weed from the hobbits, desecrate their land with deforestation and pollution, and create a state of fear and paranoia that anyone could be taken at any moment to prison without trial after only a mere whiff of seditious behavior. The world has come to the hobbits and they are so paralyzed with fear that they are unable to do anything other than sit in their hobbit holes and keep their heads down, hoping that they and their families will make it through.

Now, Frodo and his companions, having seen the change that can be wrought from people who stand up to bullies and fight to make a difference, see the state of their home and immediately understand the despair their friends and neighbors have fallen into because they too have felt it. These are the hobbits who faced thousands of orcs and rode in battle and walked to Mount Doom with only each other to lean on and they know how deeply despair of impossible odds can affect someone. But they have also learned that that despair is not inevitable. They saw the Ents on their last march when Treebeard said it was “likely enough that we are going to our doom… But if we stayed at home and did nothing the doom would find us anyway, sooner or later. That thought has been long growing in our hearts; and that is why we are marching now” (Part 2 Book 3 Chapter 4). They saw the Rohirrim ride to battle against impossible odds because it was the right thing to do. They saw even the most pitiful Gollum play his part in saving the world. And they saw the Eagles fly in to help carry the day.

There’s always hope if there’s something worth fighting for.

And so, back in the Shire which was not the Shire they knew but still the one they love, the four heroic hobbits do what had once seemed impossible: they get the hobbits, in their apathy and terror and existential despair, to stand up and fight. And it’s hard, and people die, and it gets worse before it gets better, but in the end the bullies are run off and the hobbits are victorious and they begin to rebuild, not just their homes but their forests and their relationships with each other too.

The hobbits, and me really, wanted to curl up in their holes and hope the world would go away. And sometimes, God, that seems like it’s the only thing you can do when darkness is spreading far on the horizon and it keeps creeping closer but isn’t here yet. But Sauron is not the scariest thing in this book. Tolkien’s real villain was the fear and despair that can paralyze you to stay in your hole until the Shire is burning around you. Yet even the most comfortable and secure hobbits have to stand up and face the world because if we don't, no one else will.

There is a reason Frodo is able to see the mission to the end. And it’s not that he’s exceptional in the way other heroes are. No. In fact it is because he is unexceptional and unambitious and also uncompromising that the deed is able to be done. He, like the hobbits he helps at the end of the series, has to get up and work to fight the evil that hurts people every day. And Frodo doesn’t save the hobbits of the Shire; they save themselves. Then they rebuild. They grow things again, not better, not the same, but they have to go on living. And, I don’t know, I needed to realize that.

We aren’t Aragorn with a throne and a legendary sword and a destiny to be king, we aren’t the Elves with their centuries of knowledge and skills, we aren’t the Dwarves with their mountain holds to hide in. Heck, we’re not even Frodo, or at least I’m not. There’s no way I could handle a walk that long. We’re the hobbits. We see the existential wave of dread and terror that is coming and our instinct to hide from it, to hold it off as long as we can and then silently accept it when it comes. Because what can one little halfling do against a thing like that?

But even the hobbits of the Shire stand up eventually. Even hobbits can take that dread for a bleak future and turn around and create new life. There’s a reason why the symbol of the Shire returning to peace and throwing off the yolk of oppression is a tree. The bullies cut down Bilbo’s old one and it can’t come back. But Sam plants a new one anyway and hopes it will grow.

I’m reading the Lord of the Rings again before this election as I did last time. But this time I’m not alone. I’m reading it with friends. I marked passages like the ones above that made me think but also ones that made me laugh because there is joy in amongst the shadows and if we cannot find those moments it’s hard to keep looking for the light. In rewatching The Two Towers film the other day I was struck, as I usually am, by Sam’s speech at the end of the movie, based on one he gives in “The Stairs of Cirith Ungol.” I think it bears quoting in full.

Sam: It’s all wrong By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy. How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened. But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something.

Frodo: What are we holding on to, Sam?

Sam : That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.

Hobbits are remarkable people, Tolkien says, and I hope we are too. I hope we can get through this by raising up our own Shires full of hobbit warriors to face the world and not lie down and give up. Because if everyone did that there would still be a One Ring and Sauron would rule forever.

But we have to save the Shire. It’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. We have to believe that. I have to. I will do my part to make sure it does, but first I have to believe it’s possible. We have to take that existential terror and turn it into righteous fury because we have seen what a shadow can do and we cannot let it spread again. We have been there. But we will not go back again.

[lazywitchling]

“So much death. What can men do against such reckless hate?”

(Yes I did just order a pot pie from the chicken fast food place. I’m watching 12 hours of movies, I ain’t cooking a whole pot pie!)

Okay. Look.

When I was younger, my cousin bitched about elves at Helm’s Deep not being in the book, but I didn’t think it mattered because it’s cool and I liked elves and it made me the fun kind of sad when Haldir died.

But now I get why. (I mean, ultimately it’s a fictional story so it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of life, blah blah, you get the drill. I will complain about this, but I don’t care if you like it, ya dig?)

So here’s the thing. Theoden’s whole storyline throughout this movie and into the next is that he does not believe anyone will help him. Gondor could have come to save his people, but they didn’t. Rohan was left on its own, and people died, and that sucks. So Theoden has succumbed to the depressive thoughts of “We’re all gonna die anyway, why bother fighting?” (Hey that’s a major— actually THE major point of this whole story!!) He has hidden his people away to hide because he knows fighting is futile because they will be alone.

It’s a big deal when he agrees to go out and fight alongside Aragorn as the Uruks are about to overwhelm the keep. I said last year, Tolkien’s brand of hope is the difference between “I only have one hit point left :(“ and “I still have one hit point left >:)” Theoden STILL has no reason to believe help is coming, but he chooses to act like it is anyway, because the alternative is just curling up and dying right there. And he is rewarded, because Gandalf shows up with reinforcements!! Eomer, who has every reason to hate Theoden, brought all the riders to help! Everyone is saved! Hooray!!

But the damn elves show up in the middle of Theoden’s “Aw nobody will help us :(“ thing. And then elf help arrives. And he goes “Yay, help is here!!” And then nobody really mentions the elves again except for Haldir’s brief dying scene, and Theoden is right back in his “Aw nobody will help us :(“ thing. It just slaughters the pacing of the story, and Theoden’s arc along with it.

Furthermore, the elves say they were sent by Elrond, who has chosen to have the elves fight alongside mortals once again to honor old alliances! Except that Elrond isn’t really participating in this portion of his own character arc, and in fact doesn’t reach that “idk maybe mortals aren’t so bad after all” point until RotK. So it’s somehow fully out of character for him at this point even though he’s not even there.

ADDITIONALLY, it fucks up ARWEN’S story, because the whole thing with her is that she has to choose between sailing to the undying lands and being with her people forever but losing Aragorn, or staying with Aragorn who will eventually die and then she has no one left and no way to get to the undying lands and will never see her family again and will just live until the heat death of the universe. See, I’m pretty sure (don’t quote me on this) that there’s like… a respawn thing that happens with Tolkiens elves. They’re not only ageless, they’re unkillable. They CANT die. That’s why Arwen’s choice is so difficult. She couldn’t even live out life with him and then jump off a bridge after he dies so she doesn’t have to see the heat death of the universe. She’s literally stuck.

But friggin Haldir takes a sword to the head and has a sad death moment, and then I’m left wondering why everyone is pestering Arwen so much. If elves can die, then she has no problem.

I’m pretty sure it messes up other storylines too, but my pot pie is getting cold.

[suzannahnatters]

So as I've been re-reading LOTR, I got to the "Many Meetings" chapter where Arwen takes a good long look at Frodo; and I started thinking this character over.

I have always interpreted this as her summing him up for the task she knows lies ahead for him; if he can't save the known world then she doesn't get to marry the man she loves. But is Arwen's desire to marry Aragorn the only thing that is driving her? This is someone, after all, who was raised and taught by Galadriel herself, the wielder of Nenya, ruler of Lorien, and enemy of Sauron.

Arwen is very much wisdom-coded in this book, as opposed to, say, Eowyn, who is firmly warrior-coded. In the rabid days of my teen Tolkien era I used to have a lot of arguments about Arwen and about how little she appears in the book: and I always used to argue that it was a valid storytelling choice to give us only brief glimpses of her, because LOTR is simply not her story. In Letter 181 Tolkien himself confirms this, saying that the main reason Arwen isn't more prominent in the plot is that it's written from a hobbitish perspective. The tale of Aragorn and Arwen, he says:

"is part of the essential story, and is only placed so [in the Appendices], because it could not be worked into the main narrative without destroying its structure: which is planned to be 'hobbito-centric', that is, primarily a study of the ennoblement (or sanctification) of the humble."

I also used to argue that the fact that Arwen doesn't appear to have agency doesn't mean she wasn't actually involved. Tolkien says at one point in the book that she "watched over" Aragorn in thought, and fresh off my re-read of the Silmarillion, in which the Elves are said to have some kind of telepathic power, I think that this is what she's been doing this whole time. While I'm sorry her contributions aren't highlighted a bit more, she's not limited to embroidering banners for Aragorn; she has an agency that we simply cannot see because we are so firmly in the hobbitish perspective.

Bear in mind, too, that Arwen is supposed to be a kind of second Luthien. Unlike Luthien, she has far more family support from her father and brothers who do everything they can to help with the Quest, thus removing the motivation Luthien had to run away and have adventures. Presumably Arwen could have made a magic cloak and snuck into Mordor with the Ring, except that Frodo was chosen for that task. Plus, maybe she's just too powerful for Sauron to miss - Tolkien hints as much in that passage I quoted above, from Letter 181.

Still, the question remains, and it's a valid one: WHY does Tolkien choose not to bring Arwen more strongly into the story? WHY doesn't he give her a role closer to Luthien's? Why didn't he have her, and not Glorfindel, ride out to bring help during the Flight to the Ford?

You know me - I don't think it's because Tolkien didn't think a woman couldn't make this kind of contribution. He pretty demonstrably did. Rather, I think it's because he made the valid and indeed deeply thematic choice to code Arwen as a woman of peace rather than a woman of war.

Remember that at the end of LOTR, the entire world undergoes a process of renewal and healing. Those who have been warriors - Faramir, Eowyn, Samwise, Gandalf, and so on - put their swords away and become gardeners and healers. Even before the war ends, Aragorn confirms his claim to the kingship of Gondor, not by helping to win the battle of the Pelennor Fields, but by healing those who are lying at the brink of death in the Houses of Healing, under the Nazgul's influence. For Tolkien, who lived through not one but two world wars, peace was not something lesser to be assigned to women. War was not an end in itself ("I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness...") but a means to a just peace, the ultimate goal for men and women alike.

Just as, say, Fatty Bolger, or Galadriel, choose not to go on the Quest of the Ring and aren't shamed for it by the narrative, so too does Arwen choose not to go on the Quest. Yet, just like everyone else who chooses not to join, Arwen DOES make a pivotal contribution to the story. And it's one the fandom is not super aware of. Tolkien explained it like this in Letter 246, after mentioning that Frodo expected to die very soon after completing the Quest.

"But he did not, and one can observe the disquiet growing in him. Arwen was the first to observe the signs, and gave him her jewel for comfort, and thought of a way of healing him."

The footnote to this sentence reads:

"It is not made explicit how she could arrange this. She could not of course just transfer her ticket on the boat like that! For any except those of Elvish race 'sailing West' was not permitted, and any exception required 'authority,' and she was not in direct communication with the Valar, especially not since her choice to become 'mortal'. What is meant is that it was Arwen who first thought of sending Frodo into the West, and put in a plea for him to Gandalf (direct or through Galadriel, or both), and she used her own renunciation of the right to go West as an argument. Her renunciation and suffering were related to and enmeshed with Frodo's: both were parts of a plan for the regeneration of the state of Men. Her prayer might therefore be specially effective, and her plan have a certain equity of exchange. No doubt it was Gandalf who was the authority that accepted her plea."

All through my re-read I've been pointing out how very important it is to the story that Frodo gets a hope of healing at the end - far more important than the horrors that intervene. Arwen is the one who is able to get him that healing. Not only that, but in choosing mortality, she doesn't just marry Aragorn and start a new line of kings in Gondor - anyone could have done that. There's something special about Arwen, specifically - the pupil of Galadriel the pupil of Melian the Maia - that brings about a regeneration of the entire race of Men. Perhaps she helps to transmit to all of humanity the wisdom and lore of the Elves and the Maiar. Perhaps this includes much in the way of healing and craftsmanship.

Speculating on this, I'm also led to think about Arwen's relationship with Galadriel. In "The Council of Elrond", Elrond mentions that opinion is divided on what will happen with the Three elven Rings once the One Ring is destroyed. Some hope the Three will continue to be effective, healing Middle Earth and undoing the works of the Enemy. But when we get to Lorien, we find that Galadriel is not among them. Everything she says demonstrates that she expects the Ringbearer to destroy not only the One Ring, but also the works of the Three. So, Galadriel has always known that SHE will never be able to do the work of healing Middle Earth from Sauron's shadow. Was this a mission that she saw herself entrusting to Arwen?

Sure - as far as I'm aware, Tolkien never got around to writing this down in detail. It's a very subtle part of the story and maybe we would have preferred him to make his point more overtly...but it very much is there. Arwen didn't just give up her mortality; she also gave it away of her own free will, in order to help heal and regenerate the world from the Shadow, and not only did she do this for the man she loved, but for as many others as she could, notably Frodo.

The reason Arwen doesn't get a lot of agency in LOTR is because her hour hasn't yet come. As Tolkien writes in "Many Meetings," few mortals had YET seen her.

But they would.

[talesfrommedinastation]

My redneck neighbor Doug's predictions for The Bad Batch: Season 3

Well, the poll's in, kids: looks like we're getting a whole bunch of Doug-isms for the next while!

I did take a request from @amalthiaph, because heck, it made me wonder, too!

I texted Doug while I was waiting at the airport. Sure enough, Winter Storm Doug arrived with a whole bunch of texts on the finale season of Daddy Warcrimes 'n Friends.

Here's what Doug thinks will happen in Season 3 of The Bad Batch:

Daddy Warcrimes will learn what happened to Ryan-from-Accounting and spend a whole episode sobbing about it.

Ryan-from-Accounting comes back as Space Gandalf. Don’t know what Space Gandalf will be, but it’ll be him.

Stepsister Beth and Little Orphan Blondie will team up and save everyone in Jimmy-the-Scientist's lava lamps.

We will find out what’s in the lava lamps.

Toaster Strudel, Daddy Rambo, and Julio will find Damn-It-Jared* and take turns beating him with a tire iron they found in the trunk of the HMS Search Warrant. 

Houma-BBQ-Bitch will be killed by either Daddy Rambo or The Sons of Robocop**. Maybe Little Orphan Blondie, who knows.  

The freaky aliens running the mall on the ocean will attempt to rise up. They’ll get shot. 

Jimmy-the-Scientist will accidentally quote that robot cowboy show on HBO. 

Church Lady will use voodoo magic to resurrect her boyfriend, Sassy Park Ranger.

Nevermind. Church Lady will run into Ryan-from-Accounting-Who-Is-Now-Space-Gandalf and it’ll be written as sweet but it’ll come across as awkward. 

There will be mech suits. Maybe not, but I want mech suits, damn it! 

Princess Leia’s dad will show up with the Sonic Special.

Sonic Special will get zapped by the Emperor. 

The Emperor will show up and giggle. Why, hell if I know. 

Darth Vader shows up and mopes around before killing a bunch of people. 

The Sons of Robocop will start to be evil, but then be good, but then do evil things for good reasons. Daddy Warcrimes will follow suit.

*= Damn-It-Jared is Saw Guerrera. “We had this shitty new engineer that cost us half a million in bungled supplies and kept grabbing the CEO's executive assistant even when she told him to eff off. He was such a pain in the ass and this dope looks and talks just like him. Every time we saw his face we’d all say ‘DAMN IT, JARED!’ and that’s his name."

**= Scorch and the gang.

[readinginithilien]

Gandalf the unreliable narrator

I am re-reading the story Gandalf tells Frodo about Gollum's origins and it is hilarious. Gandalf clearly makes most of it up. After all, there are basically no eye-witnesses or records to any of this save Gollum who spent a thousand years alone under a mountain and only told that story to Gandalf under torture, as we later learn. So here is what Gandalf tells:

people akin to Hobbits lived at the shores of the Anduin - that is an educated guess. He knows that Hobbits, allthough their own history goes only to the beginning of the Shire, have moved their relatively recently and must have come from the east, some of them even lived in the north of Rohan for a while. He also knows that Gollum had more in common with hobbits than any other species, including a love for riddles and memories of a life that could be hobbit-like.

Gollum came from the wealthiest family there, which was led by a matriarch - nope, Gandalf us making that up. Even if Gollum still remembered both his family and their wealth, despite living a lonely, independent and completely posession-less (except for the ring) existence, what exactly is he supposed to have told Gandalf about that?

Gollums real name is Smeagol - I mean, could be. Only he would know, maybe he told Gandalf that. Maybe he made the name up, maybe it was someone else's, maybe it was actually his. No way to tell.

He had a friend like Deagol - honestly, that sounds to me like Gandalf wanted another character in the story and looked at Hobbit naming conventions (Frodo son if Drogo). Other people where probably involved in the story, might as well call one of them Deagol.

Smeagol liked roots and beginnings, caves and deep pools - Gandalf is obviously extrapolating from Gollum living in a cave. Why Gollum would tell something like that, even if it true, is beyond my imagination. And I cannot imagine that as the only explanation.

Gollum's people swam a lot and build reed boats - well, Gollum swims well and has a boat, and if he hasn't developed boat building on his own, he probably was already proficient in it. And we assume his people lived at the river at least. But might as well have been a fisher man or shipwright by profession.

One day, Deagol and Smeagol made a trip to where there were nice flowers by the river, where Deagol went fishing and Smeagol looked at roots - well, that sounds like setting the scene. And I still am convinced that the whole Deagol-found-the-ring-first story was Gandalf's way of impressing onto Frodo that the ring can lead you to murder.

Deagol fished and found the ring when being dragged into the water by a fish - not even Gollum would necessarily have seen that part. It's as likely an explanation as any. And we know the ring was last seen on Isildur swimming through the Anduin.

Seagol looked at Deagol looking at the ring from behind a tree - Gandalf is not a bad storyteller

Gandalf quotes the direct words Smeagol and Deagol exchange, something I doubt Gollum would remember

Smeagol kills Deagol and hides the body so noone ever found it - again, this sounds to me like a warning message to Frodo more than based on what Gollum told Gandalf

When Gollum found the ring made him invisible, he liked to go around and sneak up on people, but they kicked him and he liked to bite their feet - bite their feet? Really?

In the end, Gollum was kicked out - well, I can see the resentment of that lingering, Gollum might have told that

He traveled up the Anduin and ended under the misty mountains after the sun became to strong to him - he must have somehow gotten from the Anduin to his cave, and he does not seem to have missed the sun. The rest I'd call speculation

While all of this is a very good story, we know Gandalf has very few sources:

his limited knowledge of Hobbit history

what Bilbo told him

what he found in the archives of Gondor

what Gollum told him under torture

I see very little of the story coming from any of these sources. So in conclusion, Gandalf made most of that up, partly to have a nice story, and partly to teach Frodo some lessons.

[rey-jake-therapist]

hi i'm sending you an ask because apparently it's impossible to comment down there? i hope to not offend anyone because i think that's possible to have a conversation

what i've been trying to say, is that i don't understand why people think that Celeborn is too boring and useless to get screentime? i'm not saying that he's the most complex character of the story, but like, in a show that has Tom Bombadil in it, and gave him the role of Gandalf's teacher for some reason, i can't understand the complaint about him stealing screentime from other characters. hell isildur got a directionless plot where he found spiders and ents for some reason and yet none had anything to say about it.... the show is full of OCs, and they can write scenes for Adar but not for Celeborn because 'he's useless'? idk it seems a pick and choose

now it's not that everyone has to like celeborn or him and galadriel together it just seems a bizzarre complaint that he would 'take away' something from the plot. like, the gandalf plot is saved only by the fact that gandalf is gandalf, but there was no reason to have a reference to saruman's betrayal already in the second age, that was extremely redundant. really there was no way to introduce celeborn here but it was extremely important to have gandalf getting scenes with tom bombadil /in the second age/?

now i do get that people are worried about celeborn because a) haladriel, people would take it as a sort of 'end of the ship' and b) dudebros want him to be an alpha man who tames galadriel but it... doesn't really happen? in the canon? they seem to have a perfectly fine relationship (and no i don't think that Gal was mocking him) and he calls her 'my treasure'. about haladriel well, i thought that people liked it because they knew who sauron and galadriel are. like even in watching only the movies everyone knows how it ends?

Hi !

Of course there's nothing offending in your question, it's a legitimate concern !

Honestly, I can speak only for myself of course, but from what I see it's a shared feeling. It's not so much Celeborn that's the problem, but rather the ridiculous importance that anti Haladriel have suddenly dedicated to give him, while, sorry but in the book he's a side character who doesn't have much influence on the overall plot. I think that if there wasn't this insistence that "once Celeborn shows up, he'll sink the Haladriel ship because everyone will ship him with Galadriel instead" (I already can say it won't happen, as far as I'm concerned), or that the entirety of Galadriel's arc should be dedicated to this guy from now. I saw several posts, on Tumblr, Twitter and Reddit that claim things like that, and it's just annoying.

You quote Tom Bombadil : I actually thought he had a very good reason to be in the show. Gandalf needed a mentor, as he was clearly lost; Nori and Poppy were lovely companions, but they could have never helped him find his way. So, why wouldn't it be Tom ? I thought it was lovely. And it wasn't Gandal who served Tom's arc, but Tom who served Gandalf's. We will probably not see Tom again after that.

Celeborn's "fans" now want Galadriel to stop fighting, to stop pursuing Sauron, to stop everything related to Sauron so she can dedicate her life to marital life and motherhood, even though it's never been how her character was writen. That's what irks me, and most of the "anti Celeborn" (for lack of a better word) crowd as well, imho.

I don't think that many people seriously DON'T want Celeborn to be in the show. I think that the Haladriel fandom is very much aware that Celedriel will be the canon romance of the show, and also "endgame". But personally I think he needs to remain the discreet side character he is in the book. If he serves Galadriel's arc just like Tom does for Gandalf's, it's all good ! I'll be very much ok with him using screen time, as long as he isn't an excuse to sideline Galadriel. She will need Celeborn, I think, to help her heal, just like Gandalf needed Tom to find his way. But he should be the one who gets sidelined after a while, not Galadriel : we'll know he'll be still there in the background, kept busy in Lothlorien etc., while Galadriel will be doing her own things. In the books, they're often separated. There's no need of more Celeborn than there is in the books, really.

Adar was an OC yes, but he took importance in the show, he had his own story. So did Arondir (even though he was wasted in season 2, as they clearly didn't know what to make of him). It's a bit difficult to include a character who in the books, is hardly more than a major character's husband and who does nothing much beside that, imho. Also, they gave romantic undertones to Haladriel, so the presence of Celeborn would have made it really weird.

I don't understand what you mean regarding "Saruman's betrayal". Saruman's not in TROP... The showrunners have confirmed that the Dark Wizard was not Saruman after episode 8 aired. It just can't be him. It's believed that he may be one of the Blue Wizards.

There, I hope I didn't sound offending either ! :)

[cpd623]

Dystopian Quotes

I've always gravitated to dystopian novels. I hate to think of them as preparation for the future but maybe they are. Saving these quotes for future posts on my Facebook feed.

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain” ― Frank Herbert, Dune

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

“The moment of betrayal is the worst, the moment when you know beyond any doubt that you've been betrayed: that some other human being has wished you that much evil” ― Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale

"But you can’t make people listen. They have to come round in their own time, wondering what happened and why the world blew up under them.'” ― Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury

“A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude.” ― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

“A country that tolerates evil means-evil manners, standards of ethics-for a generation, will be so poisoned that it never will have any good end.” ― Sinclair Lewis, It Can't Happen Here

[glassgulls]

Red Red Rose

Fandom: The Hobbit

Warning: None

Summary: An evening around the campfire with entertainment to bring home the truth that no matter who or where we are thoughts of home carry us onwards.

Word Count: 1,129

Comments: It's Burns Night so a shameless attempt to quote one if my favourite poems.

Despite the cold darkness creeping around you, your heart was warm and content.

The campfire you sitting by toasted your cold flesh gently while the stew you had finished filled you with sated glee. The company around you seemed in an equally cheerful mood despite the long trek today.

You sat crossed legged in rapt attention as the group of dwarves sat around you singing softly. Despite not understanding the words the melancholic lull of their voices wrapped around you causing you to shiver.

They must be singing of their home, the aching homesickness was something you could understand and relate to. After all, you were also far from home, a freak accident causing you to one moment be in the familiarity of your life in a modern technological world to the alien land of Middle Earth.

Though waking up here you were not going to curse your luck completely. The Shire had been strange but so welcoming you couldn't fault the kindness and generosity of your equally bewildered hosts. And now you had the continued friendship of your friend Bilbo, Gandalf and a new company of dwarves to keep your spirits up and hope alive that you would return home.

Pulling your knees up to your chest you rested your chin on them and smiled wanly as they finished. Giving a soft couple of claps to show your appreciation and enjoyment at their song.

Kili immediately preened at your attention causing Fili to nudge his shoulder to grin at him. Even Thorin looked more peaceful this evening with the accompaniment of song and companions. He sat on a log next to Dwalin watching the firelight flicker.

"That was really wonderful." You say beaming at them.

"Yes," agreed Bilbo, smiling as he blew smoke from his pipe. "A rare treat indeed." The Hobbit finished.

"Who should continue the entertainment next?" Bofur asked, glancing between you and Bilbo. A knot of anxiety sat in your stomach.

"Not me!" You reply quickly raising your hands in defence. "I can't sing to save my life." You laugh nervously.

"You don't have to sing." Kili teased leaning forward smirking.

"Yes, a story?" Fili agreed tugging on one of his moustache braids.

You bit your bottom lip and drew your knees closer to your chest. The warmth of the fire now seems to match the embarrassed heat in your cheeks.

"I'm not much of a storyteller either." You explain slowly. The familiar feeling of dread of being made to perform in front of an audience.

Unconsciously you start to fiddle with the sleeve of your tunic. Eyes flicking up you see the expectant look and kindly smiles aimed at you.

Racking your mind you think of standing up in front of your class and having to read aloud.

"You have such a lovely voice." Your teacher had coaxed, an older woman with warm eyes and knitted cardigans that always looked homemade.

You blink as a long forgotten memory of her class is suddenly in your mind's eye and a fond smile hits you. As Dwalin speaks up to the others to not pressure you, you glance up at them.

"How about a short poem?" You venture and the rest of the company halts their conversation. All eyes swivel back to you and even Gandalf looks up with a raised brow.

"A short poem would very much hit the spot I dare say." The wizard with a warm smile after a heartbeat of stillness.

You nod at him and then wait a moment for the others to settle around you again. The heat in your cheeks reaches your ears and you can't even make eye contact with the group around you.

"Well when I was younger we recited poems to celebrate our national bard's birthday," your voice quavers slightly. "It's been a few years so I apologise if I stumble over his words." you try to preface it in with your insecurities.

"I'm sure it will be wonderful." Bilbo nods encouragingly at you.

"O my Luve is like a red, red rose

Closing your eyes you see your teachers smile again. The scrap of paper in your hands that shook as you trembled in front of your class.

Opening your mouth you can see the words in your mind's eye, muscle memory of reciting it over and over in your childhood bedroom to perfect it.

That’s newly sprung in June;"

"O my Luve is like the melody

You start, the shake in your voice steadying as you take deep breaths.

That’s sweetly played in tune."

"So fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

The words burn in your chest as you continue to keep your eyes closed.

So deep in luve am I;

And I will luve thee still, my dear,

Till a’ the seas gang dry."

"Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,

A sad smile tugs at your lips as your voice rises and falls in a simple melody along with the words. The yearning cry of a poet's words tugging at you even from another world.

And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;

I will love thee still, my dear,

While the sands o’ life shall run."

"And fare thee weel, my only luve!

Opening your eyes you watch the fire light flicker and crackle with your words. The night air drinking your voice as you sing, you're sure completely off key, but not caring in your bubble of bittersweet lost love.

And fare thee weel awhile!

And I will come again, my luve,

Though it were ten thousand mile."

There's a heartbeat of silence and the wave of nervous anxiety hits you in the stomach again. Chewing you lip you open your mouth to apologise for your poor performance but Thorin has already returned from his contemplative reverie and is giving you a rare smile full of warmth and wistfulness that reaches his eyes.

As you let the last words roll off your tongue you let them hang in the air. Finally glancing up you see the others group you on rapt fascination. There's a mixture of sad smiles and far off stares as they seem lost in memories.

He gives a quiet huff of a sigh and nods his head.

"I think I speak for us all that you have done his words proud." Thorin states with nods and quiet hums of acknowledgement from the others. Relieved tears threaten to spill from your eyes as you duck your head down and nod a thanks in return.

Perhaps your home world was not so different after all. Thanks to the words of a poet you don't feel such an alien here after all.

For a moment you don't feel so far from home anymore and you wipe the hot tears burning your eyes.

[cantsayidont]

In Christopher Tolkien's THE HISTORY OF MIDDLE-EARTH, VOLUME 8, THE WAR OF THE RINGS, the third of four volumes on the writing of LORD OF THE RINGS, there's an early draft of the chapter "The Last Debate," where Gandalf and the captains of the West discuss their remaining options against the forces of Mordor. In the draft, there's a lengthier discussion of the Ring, including an explanation of what would happen if one of them succeeded in wielding it against Sauron:

‘But if we should find the Ring and wield it, how would it give us victory?’ asked Imrahil. ‘It would not do so all in a day,’ answered Gandalf. ‘But were it to come to the hand of some one of power [?or] royalty, as say the Lord Aragorn, or the Steward of this City, or Elrond of Imladrist, or even to me, then he being the Ringlord would wax ever in power and the desire of power; and all minds he would cow or dominate so that they would blindly do his will. And he could not be slain. More: the deepest secrets of the mind and heart of Sauron would become plain to him, so that the Dark Lord could do nothing unforeseen. The Ringlord would suck the very power and thought from him, so that all would forsake his allegiance and follow the Ringlord, and they would serve him and worship him as a God. And so Sauron would be overthrown utterly and fade into oblivion; but behold, there would be Sauron still ….. but upon the other side, [a tyrant brooking no freedom, shrinking from no deed of evil to hold his sway and to widen it].’ ‘And worse,’ said Aragorn. ‘For all that is left of the ancient power and wisdom of the West he would also have broken and corrupted.’

[Footnote references omitted.]

I assume Tolkien deleted this passage from the final version of this chapter in RETURN OF THE KING because the fact that Gandalf and Aragorn no longer have access to the Ring made this all something of a moot point, but it helps to clarify the nature of the trap they're seeking to set by riding to the Black Gate: Sauron already fears that Aragorn has the Ring and is waiting for an opportune moment to seize and claim it; Sauron knows that hasn't happened yet (judging by what happens when Frodo claims the Ring in "Mount Doom," Sauron would know immediately), but if someone of real power does claim the Ring, there will be only a finite window of time in which Sauron can still hope to wrest the Ring back from them before losing too much of his own strength.

Tolkien appears to have vacillated somewhat on this point: In a 1963 letter (LETTERS OF J.R.R. TOLKIEN, Letter 246), in which he discusses what would have happened if the Ring-wraiths had reached Frodo at the Crack of Doom, Tolkien asserts that no one other than Gandalf or the Eldar — even Aragorn — could have withheld the Ring from Sauron in a face-to-face confrontation. However, if that were so, I'm not sure Sauron would feel the sense of urgency Gandalf and Aragorn sought to provoke. If Sauron could be confident of simply taking the Ring from Aragorn by confronting him directly, why not refuse to take the bait and just keep wearing down the already-crumbling defenses of Minas Tirith? Also, if the only one who could have really hoped to wield the Ring effectively against Sauron was Gandalf, I presume Sauron's fears would have been focused more on him than on Aragorn. Sauron probably knows that Gandalf is in Minas Tirith (the Witch-King obviously recognizes him, although it's not entirely clear if the Witch-King is able to report back before being destroyed), but Sauron very definitely knows about Aragorn and obviously regards him as a potentially grave threat. In this area, I have to think the villain's actions in the actual text speak louder than the author's commentary after the fact.

The assertion in the above-quoted passage that the one claiming the Ring "could not be slain" is curious (certainly the Ring didn't save Isildur, although I suppose he hadn't attempted to wield it in the way Gandalf describes), but the passage does make clear why Gandalf, Elrond, and Galadriel are so convinced that using the Ring against Sauron would cause the wielder to become a new Dark Lord: It's not simply an abstract truism about power corrupting, but rather the mechanical function of the Ring causing the new Ring-Lord to absorb Sauron's knowledge and power (and with it his malice), even though Sauron as an entity would eventually be destroyed in the process and his minions would desert him.

[fenharel-enaste]

LOTR themed tag game!

Thank you so much for tagging me @thesolarangel I saved it in my drafts and then I forgot to do it ashdhsaf

How old were you when you read/watched LOTR for the first time: My dad got the trilogy when it fully came out in DVD, but didn't introduced me to it until 2006 when I was a bit older (11) and could understand the plot. I fell in love immediately despite not truly understanding most themes 😂

Favourite LOTR character: Gandalf!

Books or movies: Movies. I'm only reading the books just now and haven't read ROTK yet, but I've seen the movies countless times and while I love the books they don't really make me feel the things the movies do.

Favourite movie: The Return of the King.

Favourite book: The Fellowship of the Ring so far, since I haven't read The Return of the King yet.

Which location in Middle Earth would you want to visit most: Rivendell and the Shire.

Favourite scene: Oh god don't do this to me??? 😭😭 I think the whole Helm's Deep battle but that's just one of many dgajfh

Favourite quote: All of Gandalf's quotes but specially the whole "all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us" dialogue with Frodo.

What Middle Earth race would you want to be: Elf! I want to be a graceful being with time to learn everything I want ✨

Favourite LOTR ship if you have one: I don't really think I have a lotr ship 🤔 But Faramir/Éowyn are the cutest to me 🩷

No pressure tagging: @frodomyprecious @coraleethroughthelookingglass @nihilizzzm @ass-deep-in-demons ✨

[frodo-with-glasses]

Family, fire, and Gandalf

Well, here we have two words, one character, so I guess today we’re gonna have a two-for-one!

Fire

“I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass! The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn.”

Let’s start with this one. Gandalf is very closely associated with fire, as demonstrated by the famous quote above. Ever since Gandalf received the Ring of Fire from Cirdan, he’s been lighting fires, fighting fires, fighting beings of fire, saving people from being set on fire, and making fireworks. But I think the very last of those is his favorite; because while the others might reactively help beat back the encroaching darkness, the last one is a actively creative, and what it creates is joy for the people around him.

Which leads me nicely to the second word:

Family

If I’m understanding the lore correctly here, Gandalf doesn’t have a family. He’s a demigod of sorts that was sent down to Middle Earth for a specific purpose; he was not born, he has no brothers or sisters, and he does not marry or have children or do anything like that. He just does his job and leaves. I suppose the other Maiar are sort of his family…kinda…but they come across less like brothers and more like distant colleagues on the same centuries-spanning group project (and not ones with very good cooperation at that).

But, paradoxically, that’s what connects Gandalf to everyone else—because no one is his family, suddenly, everyone is. The hobbits are family. Aragorn is family. All of Middle Earth is under his concern and his care. Because Gandalf belongs to no one in particular, he belongs to everyone equally; and they to him.

WORD ASK GAME!

[mushiver]

I haven't been a movie nerd even ONCE on this account. Here's my top 10 movies in 2023

1. The Lord of the Rings (trilogy)

IT STILL COUNTS AS ONE

Can't go wrong here. There's fantasy, action scenes, friendship, romance, badass dialogue, comedy. There's refreshing masculinity where men are close friends, fight for each other, die for each other, kiss each other on the forehead, sing, etc. The Aragorn Arwen romance is sweet and isn't overblown, and the main theme is to fight for good. If you're tired of anti-heroes and want a clean good vs. evil, this is it. The downside is not having poc representation and only 3 important women, but they are extremely awesome and play pivotal roles. If you've heard about LOTR for forever but never actually seen it, here's your sign.

2. The Lego Movie

This movie sells itself, but I have seen it maybe. 40 times. And I could quote it from start to end as a kid. It's funny, has crossover characters along with the main ones (like Batman, Superman, Gandalf, Abraham Lincoln, Han Solo), lots of references, and the main message is that you're special in your own way. It's very autism coded, I think

3. Jaws

Classic man vs. monster, and it's great if you don't watch thrillers and need something "dip your toes in." While the majority of the town goes all rambo trying to kill the shark, the main characters are the opposite. The chief of police is ultimately empathetic and wants to stop more people from being hurt, Matt Hooper is a shark expert "city boy" coming along, and Quint has a boat that needs to be bigger

4. My Cousin Vinny

Vinny is a lawyer taking a case to prove his cousin didn't murder a clerk, but he's the worst lawyer in existence. He forgot everything he learned in law school, can't stop wearing a leather jacket to court, and his fiancée saves him most times. It has some of the most quotable lines and 10/10 I recommend to Alabamans for the southern jokes

5. Knives Out

A modern "whodunit" mystery that shines the most because it's a comedy. The main character Marta is the only one who thinks she knows what happened, but she pukes every time she tells a lie. Benoit Blanc is also the most iconic detective to me and one of my favorite characters ever

6. Tommy Boy

This has a very similar tone to My Cousin Vinny, but it's a road trip movie. After Tommy's dad dies, he and Richard (a jerk coworker) try to sell autoparts to save his company. They're the worst salesmen in existence, but ultimately are creative and pull some shenanigans (Tommy and Richard go from rivals to buddies). It's from the 90s and not very chill with the r-slur and some fat jokes, but it's ultimately a feel-good movie if that isn't a dealbreaker for you

7. Jurassic Park

Like Jaws, another classic pop culture movie. The score is so good, and they make a world full of dinosaurs have the same magic feel as the wizarding world. It's an adventure movie with great action scenes and characters. (This is a trope I love personally but) Alan Grant is a grump who doesn't like kids, but later he looks after them. Ellie Sattler is one of my favorite characters ever, and Jeff Goldblum lays on a table. Survival movies are fun 10/10

8. Joker (2019)

DROOLING OVER THE CINEMATOGRAPHY. It's such a well-made movie, and you never know entirely what's real with unreliable narrating. It makes you feel for Arthur and understand his actions while knowing he made the wrong decisions in the end. Some think it's negative for mental health representation, but it can be used as a cautionary tale for the ways mentally ill people are mistreated and how the events that led to the start of the film weren't his fault. Ultimately, I think it inspires more empathy, and it's a piece of art

9. Signs

I'm a sucker for the "everything makes sense in the end" trope. A lot of people didn't like the combo of two supernaturals (the existence of God and aliens), but I don't think it ruins the movie. It centers around a family struggling with the death of their mother (or sister or wife, depending on the character), and the ex-priest dad had lost connection with his faith. He happens to find it again because of an alien invasion. Normal Tuesday

10. Arsenic and Old Lace

From 1944, it's a weird movie and the acting is iconic. Mortimer is trying to get to his honeymoon, but when he visits his aunts, he finds a dead body in the house. It's a comedy involving shenanigans, avoiding the police, and an uncle who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt. (It's a bit outdated as far as mental illness goes, but Mortimer's goal is to put his family in the care of a mental institution rather than shipping them off or telling the police.) As a drama queen, I also appreciate Cary Grant being a drama queen

10 honorable mentions: Lego Batman, Napoleon Dynamite, The Goofy Movie, Clue, Psycho, Marriage Story, Into the Spiderverse, Avengers Endgame, Dead Poets Society, Muder on the Orient Express. Swag thanks for reading

[mightnotfeelrealbutitsok]

Ok but how do I explain why I love the endings of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit so much. Often endings are the worst part of a story and I think they're extremely hard to execute. I'm starting to think that having an impressive ending, not anticlimactic or jarring or overly sweet or with too much housekeeping, is what makes or breaks whether a book (or film/show I suppose) is really going to become one of my favourites. Tolkien’s endings are some of the most moving parts of the books and there is no sense that you’re already past the real termination of the storyline or that the aftermath is overly plateaued (happily ever afters are so terribly static). The protagonist’s story arcs end on the final pages so there is no extraneous material after the story - Frodo leaves for Valinor right at the end of the Return of the King, Bilbo returns to Bag End in the last chapter of The Hobbit (I think). Also, the endings pack a thematic punch; they are all about sacrifices for the greater good, and grief being the inevitable counterpart of love, and the relief and affliction that come after toil, and the bittersweetness of loss of innocence. For me the combination of positive and negative emotion makes for the ultimate soul-wringing experience. Like. Gandalf’s quote:

I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.

The shire was saved, but not for Frodo. There’s great achievement but for the sake of it Frodo lost his own chance of happiness in Bag End and going into the West is a relief from his trauma but it also brings grief to Sam who must live on without him and Sam will live the life Frodo was denied because his heroism was a self-sacrifice… In The Hobbit it’s the fact that Bilbo comes back changed; he becomes aloof and thoughtful and an odd ‘elf-friend’ and he starts composing poetry which takes Gandalf by surprise. He returns with a newfound worldliness which has some tinge of sorrow to it, having experienced violence and loss e.g. Thorin’s death, and widened his perspective to understand more than just the comfort of the Shire. It’s enlightening and it’s a sever from who he used to be and the good things are made more dear but that’s due to the knowledge of discomfort and sadness.