#I am the goddess of this world

[mask131]

I am re-reading the Silmarillion, and something strikes me. The women of Tolkien's world have been talked about TO DEATH especially with all the recurring debates surrounding the Rings of Power series.

As we all know, Tolkien was not a "feminist" in the modern sense of the word. He had a very male-centric point of view and appreciation of the world, he had male-driven and male-centered stories, and actual women characters were sparse and rare. There are only five really big female characters in "The Lord of the Rings" - the quintet of Galadriel, Eowyn, Goldberry, Lobelia and Shelob. [No, don't talk to me about Arwen, she only really was a character in the movies, in the book she's just there in the appendix and she was literaly an afterthought of Tolkien to act as Eowyn's romantic double...]

Consider this. Galadriel, Eowyn, Goldberry, Lobelia and Shelob. This tells you everything you need to know about Tolkien's women, in good and bad.

The Silmarillion has the same motif of having a lot of female characters, only for most of them to be just footnotes, secondary characters with no lines, under-developped one-liners... with in a contrast a handful of super-cool, super-badass, complex and developed heroines at the center of the plot.

Aka, on the bad side, when listing the Valar, while Tolkien gives an interesting personality, great domains and cool attributes to all the male ones, half of the female ones are just... there. And do one stuff. And never appear again. I mean come on... Vana and Nessa? Estë and Vairë were done dirty... That's the actual type of "non-feminism" Tolkien has. It isn't about him hating women or trying to be offensive in his depictions - it is about him just, not putting as much thought, effort and care into his female characters as his male ones, a bit the same way he creates the vast expanses of the East and South of Middle-Earth and then never bothers actually developing more of it or seeking to tell tales of it - but that's for another discussion about Tolkien's "racism". Here we talk about women.

But here's the thing, aka the good side... When Tolkien does find the time and care to develop and flesh out a female character, by Iluvatar he goes all out! Again, we are back on what I said earlier: the women of Lord of the Rings can be counted on one hand... but these fingers are Galadriel, Eowyn and Shelob, so you can't claim he isnt writing powerful, important or uninterestng female characters. Which leads me to my original remark - as usual I get driven away in digressions of all sorts and kinds.

Have you ever noticed that Melkor's greatest enemies, the ones he fears the most, and his most effective foes... are women? Tolkien might not like to put them front and center of his tales, and he might have been a man of the early 20th century England in culture and mind, but boy does he has something to say about how women are actually the first enemies of the literal embodiment of evil and destruction! I mean think about it. Varda of the Stars, and Yavanna of the trees. Nienna has her ambiguous relationship to him - her tears work against him, and yet without her plea for him he likely would not have been released from the dungeons of Mandos. You have Melian with her Girdle, and Luthien with her Hound. And of course most of all Arien, guardian of the Sun, not only one of the rare fire spirits that Melkor couldn't corrupt (despite him basically ruling over all fire), but that frightens him so much he keeps hiding away and doesn't even dare to attack her... [I also reblogged some times ago a post praising the brilliance of Tolkien keeping the old European sun-moon motifs but switching the genders. The weaker, inconsistant, lustful, whimsical, disorderly, untrustworthy Moon is now a male principle, while the steady, dangerous, strong, powerful and beautiful Sun is a woman.]

It is actually REALLY easy to do a feminist retelling of Tolkien's work. Melkor doesn't fear Manwë as much as Varda. Aulë's works and servants get corrupted by Melkor, while Yavanna's do not. Melian and Luthien actively works against him. He friggin' pisses himself when the Woman of the Sun shows up. Sure, there are some evil female characters that serve him down the line and are relegated to the "obscure footnotes and undescribed secondary characters" zone - Thuringwethil the vampire or queen Beruthiel. I coul also dropped deleted characters from early drafts, like the ogress Fluithuin. But among them stands Ungoliant... THE only true female big bad on the dark side of Arda. THE badass, nightmarish, creepy eldritch abomination. And who ends up double-crossing Melkor, almost KILLING him, and again making him basically shit in his pants - as Varda and Arien do.

The first enemies of Morgoth are not the Valar, or the Maiar, or the Elves... It's women.

[bogslob]

WOTTG SPOILERS

(Not trying to attack anyone, I really enjoy reading everyone opinions so I’m just sharing mine)

Okay so I’ve just finished it and honestly I don’t see what everyone is complaining about. Ive seen people saying Annabeth thinks Percy is dumb but all she said was she doesn’t give him enough credit, you can think someone is smart and still be surprised by their solutions. I think we need to acknowledge that Percy is an unreliable narrator, he is an insecure teenaged boy and his inner dialogue does not accurately represent the thoughts and feelings of the people around him.

I also see people saying that Percy doesnt like being called seaweed brain, and have been saying that it shows their relationship in a negative light. But Percy only complains about being called seaweed brain when its by the eels, we already know from his reaction to Thalia calling him this nickname in ttc that he is only okay with Annabeth using it. The only thing that could imply that He doesn’t like it from Annabeth is when he says “seaweed brain is bad enough” which 100% reads as sarcasm.

I don’t know I feel like, some people have gotten so used to seeing them in fanon that they have forgotten what cannons like, some people are just looking for things to complain about because it no longer feels the same as it did when reading the original series, and some people are simply seeing things differently than when we read these books as kids.

That having been said there were definitely a lot of issues with this book I just feel like people are obsessing over the ship when for me at least it was a highlight.

[red-moon-at-night]

The impeccable drama of a Judgment of Paris interpretation that chooses to have Aphrodite disguised in the appearance of Helen and say "Grant me your apple cast from gold ... Take me as your reward" is so SO incredibly good what a galaxy-brained idea

AND THEN all of the tension and conflict created between Paris and Helen through him constantly referring to her as "Sweet Aphrodite" and "goddess"... Like it starts off very endearing for Helen in Perfect Stranger ("He called out a name meant for me") but quickly turns sour in Paris In Court and Any Fool Could See - Paris has precisely 0 brain cells and is quite possibly the densest lead role I've ever come across. His naivete and optimism is actually quite scary (especially at the beginning of Any Fool Could See) and the constant kneeling and devotion towards Helen is just *chefs kiss*

Helen becomes less of a person and more of a symbol of love (to Paris) and war (to everyone else). The line delivery of "I become the object / Of such bitterness / And fear" in Hell Or High Water tugs at my heartstrings. Sheila Parker's performance throughout the musical absolutely elevates Helen's character, her vocals are AMAZING honestly.

There's layers to it I'm not going to be able to put into words or do justice right now but that's okay. TL;DR: "One goddess / One human counterpart". It's such a fun twist on that myth!!

[nerdyqueerr]

This is Porter's energy to me

[usedtobekrampus]

I want to make an ilustration of Ratri, the Hindu goddess of the night, but I don't know anything about this subject myself, and I want it to be as authentic as possible, their are aparently no primary source depictions of her. can anyone give me some advice for how i can make it more acurate?

most basicaly, id like to know what all these outfits and symbolism mean and what would be most fitting...

...but litteraly anything would be a great help

please reblog, i don't have enough followers to reach the intended audience

[myblacknightworld]

Watching Blood of Zeus and literally Hermes best character even if he has so little scenes - deserves so much better than what he's got in this cartoon. Also would love to see more of him and for the love of god, let his hair free!!!!!!

[quietwingsinthesky]

i'm imagining immortal altaïr circa the 9 years desmond was hiding from the assassins, kept being randomly approached by the assassins thinking he's desmond because he's like. physically identical to desmond and has updated his clothing to match modern-blending in, aka desmond style clothing. "desmond what the hell are you doing in france" "who the fuck is desmond. go away."

he’s been kidnapped multiple times by various sects of the brotherhood under william miles’s leadership (allowed this to happen. to be clear. they’re good assassins! but he’s better.) and they kept calling him desmond, or if they’re more familiar with desmond’s whole deal, referring to him as “the mentor’s runaway kid”. altaïr is nine hundred years old and is Thee mentor and should not have to put up with this. he doesn’t even know any desmonds! go bother ezio about it!

he’s going to run into desmond for real one day and be just a little more petty than he should about all of this akshkfjgks

(altaïr picks up the white hoodie look for familiarity reasons and if u ask him he’s going to say desmond copied him. actually. (<- they both adopted this look independently of each other))

[living-in-a-fantasia]

Constance

[the-valiant-valkyrie]

need her

[chopper-witch]

Need everyone to know that Gale and my tav Ashla (who I am also playing in a tomb of annihilation campaign) um, actually each other until they’ve out info dumped each other so much all that’s left is making out.

[thekeatoncadet]

Drew some background/minor characters to purge the brainworms. Unclear if it worked or not.

[sapientiiae]

Ocarina of Time Zelda - Favorite Flower

Teeny tiny headcanon - Ocarina of Time Zelda’s favorite flower is a tulip. The more I lookup artwork for OoT Zelda, the more I randomly stumble upon pieces that show her with tulips. There are occasionally other flowers, but tulips are the most prominent, which is what inspired this headcanon. 

Tulips are seen in the Castle Courtyard when Link first meets Zelda while she is peering through the window into the castle. Seeing them so often (at least while she was growing up) would likely lead to her becoming fond of the flower, and I imagine she would have more re-planted once she returns to Hyrule Castle after Ganondorf is defeated. 

To add a bit more sentiment to the flowers (besides the fact that every flower has meaning, which is something Zelda has studied in depth), I like to imagine that Zelda’s mother also loved tulips, and she was the one that first requested they be planted around the courtyard/in the gardens. Zelda learned this, likely from the gardeners and/or Impa, so tulips also allow her to feel more connected to the mother she never had a chance to know.

First - yaori (yamoooon21) Second - LiLium Third - oim8n Fourth - neet Fifth - BellaChiiii Sixth - Could not be found. If you are familiar with the art, please let me know. Seventh - Halki (nm cco) Eight - Karasu

[lazaruspiss]

wanting your mom to like you is a self imposed hell

[hail-our-lady-underground]

Random Persephone devotee things:

Having the poem “because I could not Stop for Death” taped to the wall next to your bed

Eating oreos while complimenting your coworker on how nice they prepared the body for the viewing

Having personal beef with local flower shops for not printing the cards on the flower pieces properly (it’s not that hard to center text, local-florist-I-dislike)

[maryse127]

I am not saying going to a videogame concert like Distant Worlds again would fix me but it sure would help and be very awesome

[myblacknightworld]

every female character in recent history (not animated) tries to be Marguerite Krux (multidimentional, allowed to be a real person with real feelings and reactions and, most importantly, flawed, imperfect, and allowed to make mistakes and learn) so hard and yet they miss the target by half the distance between here and the sun, when everyone in studios should just understand that perfect doesn't mean better, quite the contrary