#LotR operates like this too I believe

[tenebrius-excellium]

The stupid crossover dream I had (with the younger and older Astrids) reminded me just how much I looooooove that Httyd's character color scheme doesn't have pink in it...ever. Astrid is just NEVER reduced to pink. Neither is Ruffnut. Nor Valka.

Httyd doesn't do the standard Marvel red = brazen, reckless character x blue = calm, level-headed character design either.

Httyd mostly contrasts green with light blue, dirty yellow, browns and everything in between. Red with black. Black with green. Brown with white. Turquoise with orange. So many naturally occuring colors being used to their maximum efficiency.

Sometimes I think all it takes to make a female character relatable is to give her a non-pink color scheme. Astrid is so normal. Being a badass warrior doesn't prevent her from choosing to wear a skirt - and yet it's never pink! The same goes even for other characters. Like, Hiccup is just a dude! He wears objectively "boring" clothes - as the main character AND the Chief's son!

It's fun because on a scale of who has the most impressive outfit, you'd never pick Stoick yet here we are. The man wears chainmail and a knee-long robe with striped pantaloons. Fashion icon.

Yeah Idk I just wanted to get this out there.

You know what's pink in Httyd? You know what's actually pink?????

THE SKY.

[silversiren1101]

Not-not tagged by various mutuals for this so I tried my own hand! Most of my OCs appear fully formed like Athena bursting from Zeus' head so instead I tried to dissect the subconscious inspirations that Mino could have been born from.

Aragorn: Look LOTR is the most formative piece of media in my entire life. You see a Rohirrim cavalry charge when you're like 8 and it imprints on you forever and ever, okay? Anyway, Aragorn as the natural born destined leader that spends the majority of his life denying and running from it, but has such a strong sense of duty and morality that he cannot in good conscience abandon those that need him? He steps up anyway despite how much he does not want it nor thinks he deserve it because he just can't let his companions/his love/the world fall? Mino is very Aragorn coded, lol. The destined Leader/Deity|King that embodies everything they avoid being and Do Not Want, and accepts in the end that heavy crown with duty and grace.

Jheraal: From Liane Merciel's, Hellknight! Mino already existed when I started reading this novel but a lot of Jheraal's characterization and Hellknights in general refined Mino more and more. Mino was an HK investigator only because this novel showed me that was a thing they could be, and same for the concept of Hellknight Foundlings! A lot of Jheraal's struggles being accepted and respected as a tiefling also play into Mino's own struggles as a ganzi.

Satine Kryze (-> Bo-Katan Kryze): Mino is both the Kryzes in a sense, starting off as idealist Satine that firmly and so stubbornly believes in doing things in the way she deems is right, no matter how much people fight and push against that and how difficult it is. She's clever and exceptionally diplomatic, ready to risk her own life and body to do what she thinks is right and bound by her duty to the people. Then, of course, Satine... I see a lot of what happened to Satine as Mino's own fate at the hands of House Thrune, but rather than death she instead takes on a lot more aspects of Bo-Katan.

Brigitte: Brigitte is way too cute and cool a character to be left in the cesspit that is Overwatch. Much of Brigitte's visual design has inspired Mino's, and so has the bright and peppy jock personality.

Shepard: Jaded military veteran leading a crew of people she cares so intensely about, becoming a special type of operative both bound by and outside of the law, having to deal with the mire of bureaucracy and resorting to a gun (hammer) when things must be done? Willing to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to get the mission done and save everyone? Lots of Shep in Mino.

Koby: I'm surprised I only found one anime inspiration! But Koby is my baby boy and as a long term One Piece fan, his story of wanting to be a Marine (which from the onset in OP the audience is pointed to see as 'the antagonists') and actually do real good and be a champion for justice in the people even in spite of seeing nothing but corruption from them thus far speaks a lot of how I view fantasy law enforcement and characters like that. Mino wanting to be a Hellknight and seeing it as her calling mirrors a lot of Koby's own ideals with the Marines, and both spend their years in each respective organizing emerging powerful, confident, successful in their dreams, and with a huge glow-up (lol).

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Random Silm/LOTR fanfic snippet for my lil’ gremlin OC:

***

King Eldarion did not use the palantír frequently; it showed present events only as from a great distance, and most things within Gondor and Arnor could be learned more effectively, if more slowly, from messengers on horseback. The glimpses it showed of the future were perilous and easily misinterpreted. But it was useful, by times, for watching the borders of his realm, and learning of any great changes or new threats before they reached his people.

It could no longer be used to communicate with others; the stones of Arnor had been lost, those of Osgiliath and Minas Ithil destroyed, and that of Minas Tirith was kept locked in the vaults of the tower, with only the former Orthanc-stone remaining for the King’s use.

Which was why he was startled, when using the Stone one afternoon, to find his visions interrupted by a dark-haired, grinning, unmistakably Elven face.

“Hi! How are you? I knew we could talk, even though everyone insisted we couldn’t! We ought to, we’re family, and I’ve never met a human before and I want to know everything about Gondor - ”

“Who,” said Eldarion sternly, “are you?” He focused his mind on the stranger with all the authority of the rightful owner of the Stone. “Identify yourself.” The being’s demeanour was far from threatening, and she looked youthful - though it was difficult to tell, with elves - but appearance could be deceptive or counterfeited, and a stranger breaking into use of the palantír and immediately seeking information on his realm could not be treated as other than a potential threat.

“There’s no need to be rude. We’re practically cousins, a bunch of times removed, and I just wanted to talk, because Middle-earth is fascinating and everything’s so boring here, and I haven’t done anything so I don’t se why you’d be mean and you’re giving me a headache - ” The stream of words was suddenly cut off by a look of abrupt realization. “Oh, right, because of Uncle Cel, but you don’t need to worry - ”

The face abruptly disappeared from the palantír as suddenly as it had appeared.

Eldarion scanned the palantír for hours more, but found no sign or trace of the intruder’s origin.

*****

Eldarion continued to consider the event for days afterwards. A being that was trying to learn of his realm and councils for ill might counterfeit a fair form, but would almost certainly try to display more gravitas, and would be unlikely to specifically bring up Celebrimbor, as he was increasingly certain she had. The juxtaposition of ‘Middle-earth’ and ‘here’ suggested that she was from Valinor, which was - unless someone reached through time from Númenor - also the most likely place where another palantír could exist.

And she certainly acted like a child. Though that in itself was strange; the Orthanc-stone, and the other stones in earlier years, were safeguarded as powerful and perilous objects, not left where anyone might run across them.

Nearly a week later, as he was again scanning the atone, a face appeared, but a different one. Still Elvish, but blond, male, older, and far more formal in address.

“I ask your pardon for the earlier interruption, King Eldarion. My daughter is eager and heedless, and frequently does not think through the repercussions of her actions. She meant no harm, and I hope she has not alarmed you unduly. She should never have had access to the Eressëa stone, but she is, unfortunately - ” he laughed ruefully - “rather cleverer than most of us. ”

The elf looked tired, reminding Eldarion of how himself had looked when his children were aged one and three. Eldarion felt inclined to believe him, but he could not operate solely on trust.

“Will you, then, identify yourself? And her?” He merely asked, and did not attempt compulsion this time; he had an inkling that it would not have succeeded.

The elf’s expression became awkward. “I suppose I must, though I would prefer you not to pay too much heed to it, and to think of me only as a father with an errant daughter. You would know me as Finrod Felagund.”

Eldarion’s mind went almost blank with shock. He looked instinctively down at his hands, at the ring on his finger -

Finrod Felagund. He was speaking with a legend. He was being apologized to over, apparently, a childhood prank by a legend.

“My daughter is called Mischief - an epessë of course, but you can easily see how she acquired it! She is still young, in your terms about fifteen, and has a great interest in everything, both within and outside our borders. We in Valinor had no intent to contact you or to interfere in your affairs, but after her actions an explanation seemed like the least harmful of choices.”

[sauroff]

https://middle-earth-mythopoeia.tumblr.com/post/675644726371860480/please-do-not-support-amazons-lotr-tv-show-the (not mine btw it just has the right links)

Pls check this post out it's about amazon ROP and it's not just "I don't like the way Bezos makes it" it's actually useful (you can always find a way to pirate such a big series)

Hello Anon! I'm gonna give you a kinda long answer here, but I want to be very clear about this because I know lots of you won't be watching the series/don't like them. And that's totally ok, I respect that. I encourage people to read that link, even if you, as me, are planning to watch the series, because it's always good to know more about what you consume.

All that being said: I'm gonna watch it anyway. And I might produce fanart or post about if I feel like it. My reasons, besides "I just want to" can be found under the cut. But I think that the short answer should suffice to those of you who are boycotting or actively not supporting the series. I'll tag all the content about it as ROP, and you are free to black list it. Or unfollow me if any of this goes against your values or put you in a bad place. Take care of yourself however you need.

First of all: I just went to the premier and watched the first two episodes for free, with free popcorn and soda. So, If it makes you feel better, I kinda took money away from Amazon just now.

Second of all: I already have Amazon Prime, and it came for free as part of my internet pack. So I'm not paying for watching the series either.

And I will be watching it from Amazon because, as far as I have seen at least, I want to watch more of it.

"But Amazon is bad Bezos is the actual devil, you are being selfish". Probably. Amazon and Bezos are definitely disgusting. But I'm old, and I pick my fights. And this is not one of those. Firstly, because I don't believe that getting ROP canceled will make Amazon suddenly realize how bad they are and changing their politics. And I know that all the diversity in the show is just a way for them to distract people from their very real systematic racism. But I still wouldn't like to see the show fail and it's failure being pinned on its "wokeness". If I believed that the show getting canceled might somehow change how Amazon operates, then yes, let it go woke broke, I don't care. But I don't think it would change anything at all. Amazon will still be awful, will only loose some dollars (and guess how they would try to get those back? A hint: It won't be from the pockets of those in the higher spheres), and we won't have anymore ROP. That's all.

And my second reason is a lot more unpopular, but I need to get it out of my system: Amazon is, mostly, a first world problem. Yes, I know how this sounds. I know they predate on inmigrants too. But hear me out: we don't have Amazon where I live. We don't consume it or use its services besides Amazon Prime, and it isn't very popular either (ergo, the giving it for free for like a year when you get your internet plan and things like that). Amazon USA doesn't even ship here. I had friends that traveled to Europe, with no plan other than getting some low paid jobs to get some money to live there for a while. Amazon was the first place that gave one of them a job, and he quitted the very next day. One of the wonders of living in a mostly socialist country is that we might be poor, but we sure as hell aren't allowing our employers to explote us. So yeah, Amazon sucks. But I have other fights to pick, and I will pick the local ones. Mostly because I think that, in this case, the whole boycott won't change a thing. But also because me watching the show won't make me a big part of the problem either, really. Is not us who are constaly using the services this hell of a corporation provides by exploiting their employees. I know this will angry a lot of you, but I needed to say it.

I feel like I need to say this again, but thank you Anon for the info. I'm sharing it here for other people to read it and make an informed decision. I'm pretty sure there is plenty more info and resources out there about all the crimes Amazon commits too. I won't lie and pretend that I think that not watching the series can help at all. But I support you doing what you think it's the right thing. That's perfect. And I hope this helps giving at least a little extra visibility to your cause.

[smorgasbordofobsessions]

liveblog: kingsglaive final fantasy xv

some absolute king put the movie to the internet archive - thank you. of course, i hope i'm watching the right thing haha.

regis honestly just so -chefs kiss-

it's crazy how long the wall around Insomnia was up

love when the niffs fuck up a royal gathering

young ravus! love it

ravus yelling for regis to help them :(

wow this flashback is different than the one in the anime

luna's clothes are different

but the acitons are te same

so not that different

getting some lotr the two towers vibes from this battle scene and i'm here fo it

and i LOVE this dude's invisible power nice

nyx's voice sounds so familiar!

nyx: i'm worth the wait

loving him already

but i'm liking seeing the way all these warriors are interacting with each other. can definitely tell they've spent plenty of time in each other's pockets

oh the cerberus!! i really liked that entrance

oh wait, no, what fun daemon is this?????

in love with the way nyx is using the warp

now i can ask the question: where the fuck are they? clearly not in insomnia, unless this is set during noctis' rest? but it can't be since this is 12 yrs after lunafreya became a prisoner...

hm, it'll get explained to me

nyx is nothing without the king. please remember that nyx

hm, yes, we love king regis

an envoy from niflheim????

oh it's ardyn!!!!!

god, yes, yes, yes, we love ardyn

oh he's delicious i loe his grandstanding

oh he mentioned noctis, that's a no-no

oh??? ardyn proposed noctis and lunafreya to get married??

oh this is so fucking great wow thank you ardyn

hm so this one insomnia soldier doesn't like nyx, how nice

oh shit night life in insomnia??

whatever the music is is banging

i missed his name but the dude makes sense

but where did these kingsglaive soldiers come from if they're outsiders?

i love a strategic meeting

especially because of how you can see regis actually tremble from weakness

also, gotta say, it's amazing that regis has the strength to support the wall and the kingsglaive

hm regis accepted the truce

hm

who the hell is clarus?? i know who he is, but more like where is he, so who is he in regis' little posse

commencing operation: infiltrate tenebrae

lunafreya looks GREAT

oh hello ravus

"whatt you believe does not concern me"

god, knowing what i know about ravus, it must've hurt him hearing his own sister call him a lap dog to the empire

they have cartoons????

going back a bit, wonder what was up with the van that crow saw. bit suspicious

mm what a sexy car

i fucking KNEW it was an audi

"what good will you be without the king's magic?"

oh that IS clarus okay

yo they really just came in and said "we'll take lunafreya thanks"

hm.. i have suspicious feelings about lunafreya

like maybe she's ardyn??

"my duty is my destiny, your majesty. i'm prepared to accept whatever my come to pass"

goddamn

oh so crow's defintiely dead

i keep missing his name, but this dude is so torn up over crow's death he ripped off the kingsglaive insignia

hm, so the dude is going rougue, and wow, that was overheard by three other glaives

eve of the signing ceremony...

doesn't that mean that noctis and co have left already, actually?

yes, it must, because regis wanted freya to meet noctis

so, yes, the freya in insomnia is absolutely... not ardyn

hm

crutch dude has now joined a rebel group - i just hope he did some vetting and isn't about to talk to niffs

who is that general in the armor?? hm, interesting

oof nyx with that round bubble butt

lunafreya is missing, how nice and convenient when the treaty signing is about the happen

regis ordered the kingsglaive to go save lunafreya, nice

god, one of regis's last acts as king :(

"for hearth" "and home"

that's actually a nice call and response

god, i'd love to be a legilimens so i could read regis' thoughts. he must know what this is probably gonna be his last day on eos

the hoods are very asassin's creed and i like that inspiration

hm what fun whisper was that to the niff ambassador

oh wait that dude is the niff emperor my bad

hm, yes, we love double talk

mm sexy kills yes

god, yes, the game's afoot!

octopus in teh airship? kinky

we love traitors

oh wow the crystal has been deactivated :(

honestly though, humungous props to niflheim for diong this. like this is a BRILLIANT politcal move, it really is

yes we fucking love regis and clarus fighting together!!

"then let us once more into the fray, old friend"

WE ARE HERE FOR THAT!!!

so sad the outcome though :(

ouch, clarus!!

"we have broken the wall. all that remains is the break the city"

100% correct emperor

nyx is so exasperated by lunafreya

yeah this dude in the vest - like he thought he was gonna somehow be great under niff rule??

oh hello there ravus

ravus put on the ring and, hm, he wasn't found worhty

nyx is fighting the super souped up general

and it JUST occured to me that the reason why nyx sparks when he uses magic is because it's not his

so this is how luna got the ring okay

we love parallels

regis's last stand :(

:'(

oh so the crutch dude didn't do any vetting at all because he only found out that the other refugees were working with niflheim

slacking bro

but, now yo can do what you want and bring refugees into the city

idk why any one would that that niff would keep its word, but that's besides the point

hm, no airbags?

"true power is not something that is found by those who seek it. it is something that is found by those who deserve it."

crutch dude being called 'hero' = irony

haha this traitor put the ring on, idiot.

though lunafreya baited him a bit but i support that

wow this ring got passed around like a hot potato

I WANT TO KNOW THE CONVERSATINO IGNIS HAD WITH THE LUCII KINGS!!!!!!!

nyx has been found wothy - until dawn

crutch dude's name is libertus

libertus threw away the pills, good job!

oh ehll yea the statues are moving!! i iked seeing that in thhe game

caught way caught up in watching the movvie

i absolutely loved the fighting. all the moving parts were done amazingly well and the effects and graphics were stunning

honestly a great fight. truly enjoyed that.

though, both libertus and luna know what nys is definitely come with morning's light, it's nice of them to be optimistic

luna doesn't fit in with the other people but separate paths yes

okay nyx was aaron paul, regis was sean bean

i knew nyx's voice was familiar

what a good movie! i really enjoyed that

love that it helps flesh out what happened prior to signing day, and also showed us how good the kingsglaives are in combat

i liked that everything was so tense and there weren't too many motivations for why people turned traitor or fighting - everything came down to fighting for home (minus niff as a whole but that's an empire so given)

also, liked seeing how the ring got passed around,and seeing ravus try it on, though it was told to us in game he had

overall, good! the backstory provided was great and really does help develop the game more

[katsidhe]

could you share the descriptions of the answers? I'm bad at answering these quizzes cause I always get like 3 answers that fit but in different circumstances so I like seeing all of the descriptions

Yeah sure! I too wish uquiz gave an option to see all the result descriptions... alas. 

anyway here’s a wall of text, go nuts. 

DEAN-CODED DEAN GIRL

You might just be the hero of a YA fantasy novel or an action movie, because you have Big Protag Energy. You’re self-centered and extremely giving at the same time: you expect and demand absolute loyalty, just as you provide the same. Your love can move mountains, but if you’re not careful that same love can be suffocating or controlling. You’re volatile: you’ll cut a bitch and you don’t care who knows it. You’ll kick their ass. You’ll kick their dog’s ass. You’ll kick your own ass. You have a one-liner for every occasion. Your friends like you but would describe you as “a lot.” You’re magnetic: your charisma and sheer bull-headedness mean you stand out in every room. You’re polarizing, and you know it, but that doesn’t bother you: you know you’re right, and even when you’re wrong, you’re at least entertaining. You’re very “do as I say, not as I do:” you’re a bit of a hypocrite, but, like, in a fun way.  

Holotypes include: Dean Winchester (Supernatural), Thomas Jefferson (Hamilton), Sirius Black (Harry Potter), Kathryn Janeway (Star Trek: Voyager), Katara (ATLA), Vriska Serket (Homestuck)

DEAN-CODED SAM GIRL

You are a charmer and a people-pleaser. You’re charismatic to a fault, when you want to be: whether consciously or not, you have a razor-keen sense of how others see you, and you mold yourself to expectations. You can either talk circles around most people, or you come across as so fundamentally honest that you gain everyone’s trust without trying. Your affable persona is built on a rock-solid sense of purpose. You have a steadfast, deadset fixation on your goals, which you know in your heart to be worth any cost and any sacrifice. Armed with iron conviction, you’re a rebel with a cause. Is it paranoia if they really are all out to get you? When you inevitably win, the whole world will know your name. Your strong sense of self will carry you through any hardship. Your friends look up to you, but they don’t always “get” you. 

Holotypes include: Lucifer (Supernatural), Eponine (Les Mis), Count Olaf (A Series of Unfortunate Events), Prince Zuko (ATLA), Samwise Gamgee (LOTR), Karkat Vantas (Homestuck)

DEAN-CODED CAS GIRL 

Like all Dean-coded people, you are charming and affable, and you talk a big game. You might be the class clown or a popular athlete, or otherwise one of them cool kids, but underlying that public persona is a certain quiet idealism. You keep your strong convictions close to your heart, even when far from home or beset by strife. You’re fiercely loyal and you crave being around people, but you can see when your friends need space, and you can get along okay on your own. You’re not afraid to change your opinions if new information comes to light. Strangers find you easy to get along with: you tend to go along with the group, and you’re a team player no matter what needs to get done. Your chill-to-pull ratio is sky-high.

Holotypes include: Ahsoka (Star Wars), Meg (Supernatural), Percy Jackson (Percy Jackson), Ginny Weasley (Harry Potter), Boromir (LOTR), Jon Snow (Game of Thrones)

SAM-CODED DEAN GIRL

You come across as level headed, but you’re never more than an inch from going off the rails. Your highest values are love and personal loyalty, but you’re pragmatic about it, and you try very hard not to put unfair expectations on other people, with varying degrees of success. You spend a lot of time dealing with expectations; it’s something you either grapple with, or lean into to use to your own ends. You value your own sense of identity, but that identity can get subsumed by your loyalties. You can easily get pulled in or suborned by strong personalities. You keep secrets, both from yourself and from others. Who you want to be is at odds with how you see yourself. People meeting you for the first time might say you’re aloof. You have lots of strong opinions, but you usually keep them to yourself… unless provoked. Careful; you bite. 

Holotypes include: Mary Winchester (Supernatural), Harry Potter (Harry Potter), Aragorn (LOTR), Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars), Julian Bashir (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Katniss Everdeen (Hunger Games) 

SAM-CODED SAM GIRL

Gifted kid (diagnosis). You were and maybe still are an outsider, and because of that you’ve had to learn to be self-sufficient and confident in your own abilities. You’re a fiercely independent overachiever, and you’ve fought hard for every inch. Somewhere inside you is a hot, long simmering rage born from the injustice of the world, but it’s buried very deep. You’d be more than content to be alone for long periods of time. You have sometimes crippling perfectionism: if you aren’t succeeding, it’s your fault for not trying hard enough. You’ll pick every kind of intellectual fight and throw yourself into playing devil’s advocate just to improve your understanding: you see the gray areas in everything. You’re aggressively big-picture. You want to, no, you MUST change the universe, but you don’t need to take credit for it. Your few friends might describe you as callous, but you know you’re just being realistic: you’ve got a harsh, clear-eyed sense of the world. No pain, no gain, and really, if you do the math, no single individual is all that important in the grand scheme of things.  

Holotypes include: Kevin Tran (Supernatural), Jean Valjean (Les Miserables), Emperor Palpatine (Star Wars), Neville Longbottom (Harry Potter), Frodo Baggins (LOTR), Dirk Strider (Homestuck), Luke Castellan (Percy Jackson)

SAM-CODED CAS GIRL

You have a strong sense of how the world ought to be, but you have no overriding vision or big master plan: you take life day by day to fix the little things you can. You have very few close relationships, but those you have you treasure dearly. You support your few friends unconditionally, but you tend to be emotionally distant with acquaintances. You may be a bit of a pushover. You often find yourself put in the position of mediator. You loathe conflict, so you avoid it unless absolutely necessary--but once you’re truly angry, you’ll stop at nothing to see justice done. You’re a diplomat and an advocate: you are deeply idealistic, but you’re nevertheless strongly grounded in a pragmatic sense of achieving what you can. Philosophy is action, action is philosophy; you like meditation and self-improvement and have probably done at least one juice cleanse. Both friends and strangers describe you as quietly dependable. If you can’t see the trauma, the trauma can’t see you! That’s just science!

Holotypes include: Sam Winchester (Supernatural), BJ Hunnicut (M*A*S*H), Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Aang (ATLA), Luke Skywalker (Star Wars), Nico di Angelo (Percy Jackson)

CAS-CODED DEAN GIRL

Much of your identity is tied up in a set of core beliefs - to the point where those beliefs might be strong enough to override your identity. You’re not beholden to any outside system. If you’re comfortable serving a larger common goal, it’s because you believe in it wholeheartedly. You’re action-oriented: you act first, and think later, or possibly never. You judge your friends solely based on what they do, and you tend to hold people accountable for any unforeseen consequences of their choices. You have strong personal loyalties. You’re not at the center of your social circle, but your friends trust you implicitly and the leader of your group tends to confide in you. You don’t seek power, but you’re also not afraid of taking charge, and you may find power thrust upon you. If you do find yourself in a position of leadership, you struggle with going too far or taking your friends in an unexpected direction. Whether you’re fighting in a war or making yourself a sandwich, you go hard in the motherfuckin’ paint.

Holotypes include: Castiel (Supernatural), Javert (Les Miserables), Captain Rex (Star Wars), Kanaya Maryam (Homestuck), Worf (Star Trek), Albus Dumbledore (Harry Potter)

CAS-CODED SAM GIRL

I mean this in the nicest possible way, but you’re a bit weird. You are spacey or odd or otherwise out of step with how people think you should act, but that’s fine. It doesn’t matter what they think, because if you’re sure of one thing, it’s that you should never mold your unique identity to other people’s expectations. You live internally: you’re all about grand, world-changing concepts, whether they be philosophical, artistic, or mathematical. You are grounded in the reality that you are one person and one viewpoint among many others, but that doesn’t stop you from writing your nine-hundred page thesis on the topic you’re passionate about. You can justify just about anything by the virtue of your personal convictions arising almost entirely from within yourself. Your identity can get swept up in your big ideas. You’re easier to sway with logic than with emotion, but you don’t feel the need to confine yourself with such terms: you operate on both vibes and flowcharts. You move through the world with the assurance that you are the master of your own fate, and you are unburdened by worrying about the opinions of others. You won’t let yourself feel pinned down by one social group; you float in and out comfortably, depending on how you’re feeling. Friends and strangers describe you as “spooky.”

Holotypes include: Azazel (Supernatural), Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter), Aaron Burr (Hamilton), Princess Azula (ATLA), Yoda (Star Wars), Jadzia Dax (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Terezi Pyrope (Homestuck)

CAS-CODED CAS GIRL

You are chaotic and excitable. You’re swayed by the drive to explore: the greatest good is to understand the universe and your place in it. You’ve got big ideas, and you’re drawn to new experiences, but you don’t necessarily understand what’s going on. You might be a part of a bigger social machine, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be defined on its terms: you’ll self-actualize if it kills you. You identify new objects by licking them. You can see the strings of the world; what will you choose? You’ll take the reins and see where they take you. You say you’re following your own path. Your friends say you don’t know what you’re doing. Pragmatism? Never heard of her. A dream is a vision is a reality; ideas are the world writ large. You might be a prophet or a visionary. With your head in the clouds, you’re sometimes divorced from both reality and consequences. You’re usually on the outside looking in, and you don’t want to be. People think they understand you, but they definitely don’t. Your friends and enemies describe you as impulsive and mysterious. 

Holotypes include: Raphael (Supernatural), Uncle Iroh (ATLA), Draco Malfoy (Harry Potter), Data (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars), Gandalf (LOTR)

[kob131]

RWBY V8 E7 Thoughts

-Getting LOTR flashbacks -Um....Ironwood...James. You uh....do remember Mt. Glenn right? -Elm, dude. Why would they lie to you about this? -Fuck, Penny is going in that thing to blow it up, ain’t she? -Salem, for once...STOP BEING CREEPY! -Yeah I’d be pseudo shitting myself too Emerald. -She’s scared of the Seer Grimm huh? -... Huh, we’ve...never actually seen what Salem told her underlings...have we? -Gotta say, seeing a woman you kill over and over again keep coming back no matter what you do...it would break a person. -I really don’t like how things get told to the audience. But personal experience has taught me that even this isn’t enough to get through people’s thick skulls. -Still love ya, Ozpin. -Oh Nora... -I’d worry about them too, Blake. -Guys you better not be wussing out now of all times. -I dunno, Silver Eyes and good ol’ fashion suicide bomb? -Mary...fucking hell, you have no tact. - Mary...you’re doing the same fucking shit Ironwood did. You REALLY think that your principles can just...change to suite yourself? -I fucking know Blake! She’s being a hypocritical bitch! - No...no Ruby, there are sides. I understand your point but when you drew that philosophical line, you say ‘I cannot co-operate’ and make your own side. -Hi, Whitely! -Oh ho ho, Great job you brilliant farm boy! You knew Hazel wouldn’t listen to Ozpin or his methods so you just give the info and let Hazel come to his own conclusion! -...Yeah, why would Mercury give a shit about all that? Nothing about him hints at anything beyond self preservation and it makes sense since he grew up in such a terrible situation. Why try making a move against someone who can’t be beat and might not even change anything? -God damn fucking Tyrian. His scenes give me the chills. -Ordinary joes ruling this episode I see! - It actually makes sense that Ren would speak up to that. After all, his dad taught him to act and help others even if it seems hopeless and that’s how he got Nora, a lifelong companion. -Also Harriet makes sense. After all, soldiers would lose each other on the front lines all the time, they can’t get hung up on loss or else they’d never accomplish anything. - .... ‘No one can be replaced’. That...had to hurt, Neath. -...*sigh* Conflicted is the epitome of my feelings about Ren’s part here. For reasons beyond even the show. I’ll talk about THAT latter. -Mary stop being another Ironwood- I do NOT sympathize with you AT ALL so i will call out your ass. -Klein....you sweet sweet man... -Whitely...you are not your father. -...You just had to end there huh, CRWBY? -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So about the Ren thing.

In the episode, we see from Ren’s point of view that he can spot what people are feeling. This kind of comes out of nowhere and wasn’t foreshadowed properly (my guess for the reasoning is that since Ren’s Semblance involves emotions, the writers think that it makes sense he can spot them too).

I have a noted dislike for when RWBY does this kind of stuff. I hate it when the show spells out what is going on, treating the audience like idiots as if we can’t pick up on the rather UNSUBTLE clues they leave.

...During this time, I did look up some of the negative reactions to the episode. I do this because I want to question what I think and try and see if I can find a flaw I normally wouldn’t see. That’s a big part of criticism for me. Instead I watched someone call Ren’s moment a ‘Deus Ex Machina’ (his moment here solves NOTHING), claim that Weiss only hugged her brother because ‘he proved his usefulness’ and act like this one moment was the only hint that Marrow and the other Ace Ops wouldn’t be complete bad guys (I don’t even need to SAY the number of hints the writers gave BEFORE this).

Believe it or not (I do not care), I don’t just dismiss any and all negative criticism. I’m actually far more dismissive of positive feedback (hence why I never feel the need to speak up). I only get dismissive when I see no attempt at understanding what the intention of the creator is. Because that intention defines the quality and standards of the media. As it should, since it means it helps the creator and allows any kind of story to be made. Thus dismissing it is tantamount to saying that things should only follow what YOU like, instead of what is best for the creator. 

It’d love to say that I don’t understand this scene or that it’s wrong to do this moment. But time after time after time after time after time again I repeatedly see criticism that is so ignorant of what the creators’ likely intend that it’d be insanity to assume stupidity and thus I assume malice. So what I see here is not bad writing, treating your audience like idiots: what i see is treating your audience EXACTLY as they present themselves, being as blatant as possible to ensure there is NO room for faking ignorance. And I can’t even blame them because I’ve seen it happen COUNTLESS times.

So I hate this moment...but I can’t condemn it because the people who call themselves critics set this with the creators: ‘We’re either idiots and need everything spoonfed to us like babies or assholes misinterpreting you for own desires.’ And this is a perfectly reasonable response to that.

[nothingbutimagines]

The Sound (Peter Parker)

Part One: Somebody Else

Pairing: Ex!Peter Parker x Reader

Warning: Cursing, heartbreak, some ffh spoilers (lots tbh)

Summary: Y/n and Peter broke up right before the blip and while both blipped out, Y/n was worried about Peter and realized that the break up was a mistake. But, when they go on the school trip to Europe, Ned breaks the news to Y/n that Peter has moved on and Y/n is determined to get back with Peter before it’s too late.

Author: Dizzy

A/N: This part two of Somebody Else! I decided to keep going with the 1975 as inspiration. y’all really wanted a part two, so I had to deliver! A bit of a plot twist in this one, but it’s alright.

Tagged: @s-ecret--garden @sunnytkm23 @my-current-fandom-is @lotr-th-hp @jackiehollanderr

Masterlist Request Any Of These Peter Parker/Tom Holland Masterlist

____________________

“Come on, Y/n, cheer up!” Betty gleamed as she put a hand on yours. “We’re in a ferris wheel at the carnival! This is fun!”

You gave her a small smile and flipped your hand so you could hold hers. You couldn’t help but still feel the lingering remnants of Peter’s lips on yours, the feeling of how he gripped your hips. You had screwed up, again, and who knew if Peter was going to forgive you. 

“Betty’s right, Y/n.” Ned smiled, giving you a playful nudge. “Things between you and Peter will get better. Maybe you guys can be friends again another time.”

But you didn’t want to be friends with Peter later, you wanted to be in a relationship with him now. You loved him, he loved you, at this point, what did it matter if he had lied to you? It didn’t.

“Thanks, guys. I think I’m going to get off when the wheel hits the bottom, I need to take a walk to clear my head.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” Betty smiled and gave you an encouraging nod.

You sighed. “I royally screwed up, guys. I just need to talk to him about it.” 

You all sat in comfortable silence for the rest of the ride until you reached the bottom and you flagged down the operator to help you off. You told your friends goodbye and thanked them before deciding to take a walk through the carnival.

You shoved your hands in your pockets and kept your head down, the lights around you blinded you. The music rang in your ears as you walked. 

You couldn’t help but continue to think about Peter. You missed him and you had so many chances to make things right between you both, but you never did. And now, here you were, walking through a carnival in some place you didn’t know, worrying about all that you had done wrong to mess things up between you two. 

You were so lost in your thoughts, you hadn’t noticed when you bumped into someone. 

“Oh shit, I’m sorry.” You mumbled, not looking up at the person you bumped into.

“Y/n?” Michelle’s voice made you look up at her. “Do you know where Peter is?”

“I don’t know, Michelle. I gotta go.” You said quickly, pushing past her as she grabbed your arm.

“Y/n, are you okay? You’ve seemed upset this whole trip.”

“I don’t expect you to understand, Michelle. I really need to go th-”

As you were about to finish your sentence, you were cut off by a loud crash as people began to run past you. Michelle had let go of your arm, and you were struggling to run against the current as a large monster appeared high above the crowd. 

You stopped in place as you saw him, Peter, swinging on webs and in a suit you didn’t recognize. You wanted to call out to him, but you were in awe and you also couldn’t give away his identity. You watched as he swung around the monster and that hero, Mysterio, all your friends were talking about, came into view. 

“This is for my family!” You heard the other hero yell. 

You began to panic. You recognized that voice. It couldn’t be real. 

“Mysterio!” You yelled, your hands cupping over your mouth, causing Peter to look at you, but not the other hero. “Dad! Dad! DAD!” 

Mysterio turned around and you knew he was looking at you. 

Your parents had divorced when you were six, your dad moved out and decided to work for Stark, the same man Peter had later begun to work for. Your mom said that your dad became unwell after the divorce and obsessed over off things, which was why, she said, he never came to visit much outside of birthdays and holidays.. 

“Young lady, get out of here.” Mysterio said to you as Peter swooped down by your side. 

“Y/n, get out of here. It isn’t safe. Go.” 

“No! Not until daddy dearest cuts the shit!” You exclaimed. “My dad isn’t a hero, Peter. He doesn’t do things like this.”

“We’ll talk about this later, Y/n. Now get the fuck out of here.” His voice was stern and deep and you couldn’t help but follow his directions and run as far away as you could. 

As you ran down the long alleyways, you ran into Michelle once more. She wasn’t your first choice in friends to run into. In fact, you two weren’t even friends, but now you needed to be. 

“Michelle! Wait up!” You called after her as she turned to look at you and allowed you to catch up to her. “I need your help.”

“What’s going on?”

“I can’t tell you here, we need to get further away from here. I’m worried he might hear us.” 

You and Michelle turned the corner and continued walking toward your hotel. You struggled to collect your thoughts as you walked alongside her, stopping once you got a considerable distance away from the scene that was unfolding nearby.

“Okay, Michelle, when I tell you this, you cannot- absolutely cannot- think I am crazy.” 

Michelle stared blankly at you for a second before nodding her head. 

“Okay, yeah, sure. You’re not crazy.”

“Okay,” You started, grabbing her shoulders tightly, “I think I know who Mysterio really is. I think he’s my dad.”

Michelle began to laugh, causing you to look at her wildly. 

“Oh my god, Y/n, you can’t be serious.” She laughed before looking at you and dropping her smile. “Oh wait, you’re very serious.”

“I am!” 

“But Mysterio is some sort of alien hero. He’s not from here.”

“Trust me, Michelle, I would recognize my dad’s own voice.”

“But you haven’t seen your dad in two years.” 

You gave her a puzzled look. “How’d you know that?”

“I overheard you and Peter talking about it at the decathlon that one time.” Michelle said. “In my opinion, you’re not very good at staying quiet and neither is Peter. And your dad seems like a dick.”

“He is.” You agreed. “I just need to talk to Peter, though.”

“Why do you need to talk to him?” 

“No reason.” You said a little too quickly. “I mean, he works for Stark and I think maybe he can help me get this information to someone who can actually do something with it.”

“Well, in that case,” Michelle paused as she pulled something out of her pocket, “tell Peter to give this to somebody. I found it on the ground. Thought it might be a clue.”

“What is it?” You asked as she pushed the object into your hands.

“I have no idea. Maybe Peter or someone else might.” 

“Thanks, Michelle.”

“You know my friends call me MJ, Y/n.”

You smiled, though you felt bad for disliking the girl only moments ago for being the subject of Peter’s interest.

“Thanks, MJ.”

____________________

“Hey, MJ, would you wanna hang out, go on a walk?” You heard Peter say as you and Michelle walked towards your rooms. 

“Thanks, Peter, but I’m really tired. Maybe Y/n would want to go with you?” Michelle asked, pushing you towards Peter.

“But, MJ-” You looked at her.

“You guys have fun. Don’t forget to show him the thing.” Michelle smiled before closing her hotel room door.

“What thing?” Peter asked.

“Why don’t we take a walk and I’ll explain everything?” You replied, taking Peter’s arm in yours and guiding him down the stairs and out of the hotel. “Let’s start with who Mysterio really is.”

“Y/n, Mysterio isn’t your dad, if that’s what you are trying to say. He’s just a guy from another dimension!”

“A guy from another dimension? Peter, what makes you believe that?”

“Well he has some really cool powers and high tech gear. And his people sound pretty interesting!”

“And what makes you think I wouldn’t recognize my own dad’s voice?”

Peter stopped you as you both walked down the middle of a bridge. You stood across from him as he gave you a look you weren’t sure how to read.

“Y/n, you’ve been acting so weird and you’ve been lying to me and doing things to get my attention, how can I believe that your dad is somehow miraculously a hero?”

“I’m not crying wolf, Peter!” You exclaimed, throwing your arms up. “Sure, I did a few tricky things to talk to you, but I still love you, okay? And fuck you, I know my dad! I may not have seen him in a few years, but he does call ever once in a while. I haven’t seen the guy, but I know his voice.”

“You still love me?”

“Stay on topic, Peter!” You groaned. “My dad is not a hero. He is conceited and obsessed with superheroes, I wouldn’t put it past him to do something as crazy as try to be one. And I don’t know if you noticed, but he only looked at me when I called him ‘Dad’.”

“He was fighting an Elemental, that’s why he didn’t respond the first time.”

“But so were you, and you looked at me.”

“That’s because I know when you’re around, cause I can just sense you! And I know what your voice sounds like.”

“That just proves my point! That I know my dad’s voice!”

Peter rolled his eyes. “Fine, let’s say your dad is Mysterio. How’d he develop wicked powers and that costume?”

“I don’t know, but,” You paused to pull out the object Michelle gave you and handed it to Peter. “Michelle found this and gave it to me. I think it’s some sort of projector. I thought you could give it to Nick Fury or someone to figure out what it really is.”

Peter smiled and took it from you before shoving it in his pocket. “Thanks.”

“Hey, have you seen Mysterio out of costume?” You asked, now pulling out your phone.

“Yeah, of course. Why?”

You pulled up a recent picture of you and your dad and held your phone screen out to face Peter. “Is this him?”

Peter’s face went pale as he studied the photo of you and your dad smiling at your 14th birthday party. 

“Uh, yea-yeah. That’s him.” He mumbled as you shoved your phone in your pocket.

“I fucking knew it, that asshole. Always having to ruin things for me.” You groaned. “Fuck! We need to go, Peter.”

You grabbed Peter by the arm and began to drag him back towards the hotel. 

“Are we going to talk about the fact that you said you still love me?” Peter asked as he took your hand off of him.

“Not unless you love me too, no.”

____________________

“Who did you tell?” Nick Fury asked as Peter stumbled backwards. “Who did you tell about this? I know you must’ve told someone.”

“Just Ned and Y/n! I swear!” Peter replied shakily.

Fury began to disappear to reveal Mysterio, aka Quentin and his drones. 

“Y/n?” He asked.

“Yeah-yes. Y/n L/n.” Peter winced as Quentin grabbed him by the collar.

“You involved my daughter?!” Quentin hollered. “You got Y/n involved in this mess?!” 

“Yes, I did! I did! I didn’t think she’d be in any danger. You are her dad and she’s the one who said you were here, that you were Mysterio.”

Quentin let go of the young boy, allowing him to fall to the ground. He gave Peter an angry and pointed look, his finger like a gun barrel staring Peter in the face. 

“You are going to regret this, Parker. EDITH, set up a drone strike for Mr. Parker’s friends.”

“You can’t do that!” Peter cried, moving towards Quentin.

“And what makes you say that?” Quentin challenged.

“Because Y/n could get hurt or worse. And you don’t want that, do you?”

“No, I don’t. But you shouldn’t have involved her.”

“I didn’t mean to! I love her!” Peter exclaimed, realizing the words that came out of his mouth after he has said them. 

He still loved you. And now your dad was willing to put you in harms way because of him.

“Get out of my face, kid. I can’t bear to even look at you.” 

Peter couldn’t look at himself, either, but as the train hit him, he thought he’d never have to. 

There you were, smiling at Peter from across the field. Your cheer uniform seemed as though it was waving at him happily as it swung along to your jumps and various movements. 

“Peter!” You cried, turning to the girls you were with, seemingly giving them a quick goodbye before you rushed to the other side of the field and into Peter’s arms. “I’ve missed you!”

“Careful, Y/n.” Peter groaned. “I’m still a bit sore from my Germany trip with Mr. Stark.”

“Worked out too hard in the hotel gym, huh?” You joked, giving Peter a peck on the lips. “I missed you. I can’t wait to hear all about your trip.”

“I love you, bug.”

“I love you too, Petey. Always will.”

“Hello? Peter? Peter, you there? Hello?” Your voice pulled Peter away from his daydream. 

“Y/n, Y/n, you were right. Your dad is Mysterio and he’s crazy and mad at me because he knows you know. And that I told you.”

“You told him I knew?!” You cried. “Peter, where are you?”

“I’m-I’m waiting for Happy to come get me. Y/n, you need to listen to me, okay? If anything happens to one of us, I want you to know I love you.”

“What?”

“I love you, Y/n. I still love you. Just know that. Who cares if I lied about me being Spiderman because I was trying to protect you and keep you safe because I love you and now I am such a fuck up because I’ve put you in harm’s way.”

“I love you too, Peter. I don’t care that you lied anymore. I just need to know that you’re okay right now.”

“I’m in a random town, but I’m okay. I just needed you to know I want you back. I want to get back together when this all blows over.”

“I’d like that, Peter. We’ll figure it out. I promise.”

____________________

You could feel Peter fall apart in your arms, his breathing heavy and his voice cracking as he told you what had happened to your father, how he did what he had to do. 

“It’s okay, Peter, it’s okay.” You cooed. “I love you.”

Peter, battered and beaten, pulled away from you. Without hesitation, he cupped your face in his hands and kissed you. 

[beautifulterriblequeen]

I dont know how long ago you posted the thing about elven life spans, but what if Aaravos is just. a weird case as far as how long he's been around for? I keep wondering, what if he just used some magic bs to extend his lifespan? With how talented in magic he is, I wouldn't be particularly *surprised*, it's just a question of How The Hell Did You Do That Aara

I just posted that yesterday, I think. And yeah, I also have questions about Star Touch lifespans, anon. If they’re calling him “godlike” then he’s got to have a sort of eternal aspect to him, so I’m sure Star Touches in general outlive other elves on the regular. 

And you’re probably right that he can use his magic to stretch out his lifespan unnaturally, like the One Ring did for BIlbo Baggins (ooh, what if Aaravos has something like the One Ring on him, is it his star). Or perhaps he uses it to constantly heal and refresh himself so he stays as healthy and fit as possible and lives a very comfortable existence way past when other Star Touches would have perished.

Alternately–and this literally just occurred to me–maybe there’s another element to his long life: the mirror has a biostasis field and/or regenerative powers and simply will not let Aaravos die. Like the Pandorica from Doctor Who. 

I’ve hc’d that Viren’s coins operate on that premise and that’s how Viren smuggled the egg of the Dragon Prince out of Xadia while everyone else believed it was destroyed. Viren wanted the egg alive and whole so he could hatch himself a Storm dragon. If the coins’ inner dimension is preservative in nature to protect the egg *coughandRunaancough*, then perhaps the show is using mirroring yet again, and the mirror dimension works the same way, forcing Aaravos to remain alive and aware of his punishment.

Or maybe that mirror was designed by Aaravos–there is a star on the floor of his library inside, and the mirror only activates “when all other lights go out” (a starry reference to LotR)–and he’s keeping himself alive until he can get free and get back on track with his master plan.

Either way, dark magic has a habit of copying the effects of primal magic, so if Viren’s coins are preservative, maybe the mirror is, too.

Overall, though, anon, I think it’s pretty safe to say that the word “unnatural” applies to Aaravos in several ways, including his incredibly long lifespan. He’s an elf of many secrets. Maybe one day we’ll get to learn this one!

[raelis1]

20 for 2020

I was tagged by @notasapleasure  - thank you!

1. Do you make your bed? I did until very recently. Ever since I started helping out at a local pet shelter, I’m too tired to do any extra work, no matter how minor.

2. What’s your favorite number? don’t have one.

3. What’s your job? computer operator at a bank

4. If you could, would you go back to school? yes, provided I had the time and someone to pay off all the expenses. I don’t relish the thought of passing exams again, but I’m way more interested in learning now than I was when I was a kid.

5. Can you parallel park? I can’t drive. :)

6. A job you had which would surprise people? I used to work as a teacher at a place that was cover-up for some sort of weird cult. I was very young and sheltered in many respects, and knew nothing about red flags. Everyone there was excessively creepy, eavesdropping on each other, lying, withholding essential information, and violating boundaries. This was where I first experienced sexual harrassment. I lasted two weeks there, then ran like hell. I didn’t even wait to get paid.

7. Do you think aliens are real? I like to believe intelligent life exists somewhere out there, but I don’t think we’ll ever know for sure. The universe is just too vast.

8. Can you drive a manual car? nope!

9. What’s your guilty pleasure? I love a lot of objectively bad pop music and movies from my childhood and I find it hard to be open about such things for fear of being judged. I dislike the concept of ‘guilty pleasures’ and am trying to rid myself of any guilt regarding harmless stuff that I enjoy... but it’s not easy.

10. Tattoos? none.

11. Favorite color? dark blue.

12. Things people do that drive you crazy? Many, many things, but talking with their mouth full comes to mind first. 

13. Any Phobias? Too many to count. I’m irrationally afraid of everything. The ‘silliest’ one is probably the coulrophobia I’ve had since age 12 due to the 90s miniseries IT (though it got a little better in the last few years. I even managed to read the book and watch the new movies and NOT have nightmares after!).

14. Favorite childhood sport? none, I was really bad at sports.

15. Do you talk to yourself? yes.

16. What movie do you adore? The LotR trilogy, Terminator 2, Princess Bride, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Dirty Dancing, While You Were Sleeping, Romancing the Stone, a lot of old Soviet movies... okay, we’re nearing the ‘guilty pleasures’ territory here, so I’ll stop. :)

17. Do you like doing puzzles? no, not really

18. Favorite kind of music? don’t have a favorite genre, I like a little bit of everything. (Wait. Are anime soundtracks a genre?)

19. Tea or coffee? coffee and green tea.

20. The first thing you remember you wanted to be when you grew up? Gadget from Chip and Dale’s Rescue Rangers.

[volantedesign]

Join us on Discord

Dear People who follow Volante Design,

I think it's time you had a name. David and I have been joking for years that instead of a child we've got a business. There are some funny parallels. Hear me out. At the beginning you have no idea what you're doing and it keeps you up at night. When something goes wrong it's the worst thing that has ever happened because there is no precedent. You make mistakes, you later see that there were higher roads, or more diplomatic answers. Now our business is about 6- it does basically  let us sleep through the night. There are a few nightmares but not so many. It goes out on adventures without us. Is this metaphor getting weird yet?

The point is, Volante Design has been both intensely personal for David, me and our team and also very, very public, because obviously (to us at least) without you, the audience, our people, folks who think what we're doing is worth while, there would be no Volante Design. At the risk of sounding hopelessly momish- you're our village. We may not be the biggest village in the nerdy cultural bubble but you're here and we notice it every single day.

Some seasons are slow- this is normal for any business- but it can be hard to believe that it'll pick up again. When it's June 5th or 6th and we haven't sold more than a pin in a few days it always feels like we'll probably close on June 7th. While I know that June is slow and I prepare by having at least a few months of operating costs in the bank, it still seems like the end is nigh. It hasn't ever been the end. Knock on wood.

This is the season (August to October) when we take the show on the road. I usually get to see you people, I think of you as my people, our community, in all the various cities that we hit up. This year I'm at home packing for a show and taking care of things in the office. I'm both intensely grateful to have the amazing team that I have who go on the road and allow me to stay home (it's so easy to get burnt out on the road and I don't travel that well). And also, I'm a little sad. I miss seeing you. I miss hearing what you think of the newest design or what you want us to design. I miss seeing your costumes and the amazing colors of your hair and make-up. I miss the couple who visit every show they're at with their therapy dog. I miss those funny stoic guys who say very little and then when they try on a jacket they start to giggle and jump around.

I know that I need to be able to travel less, to work on the big picture strategy, to design a LOTR collection(sqweee), to file taxes and royalty reports (uggg). I know that I don't travel well- I don't time change well, I don't food change well, I am basically a fussy pants in every way you can imagine. But maybe we can have a conversation here? Maybe you can send me your photos of your dope outfit? I can tell you what pants to wear on your date, or not to wear. We could talk about sustainably made clothes and what a superhero means in today's language.  We could discuss how interesting that the villain of Spider-man: Far From Home is basically a master of CGI.

No artist can thrive without their supporters. Da Vinici was supported by his few but very powerful patrons, the Medici. Amanda Palmer has a Patreon with many people who give her a few bucks. There are a lot of models out there.  You can support us by buying a jacket, or by helping to share our work, or by inviting us to a panel at your local con, or to have coffee in your local town if we happen to be going by. You support us by telling us what we're doing well and what you love, as well as what we can get better at. SO what do we call you? How can we connect and say thank you?

So, I'd like to invite you to join our discord server.  Let's have a conversation. What's your name Volante People?

We have only come up with silly things like "the Volantini" which ensues a chorus of "Utinni!" or "the brotherhood", which is too franchise specific and a bit dudeish.

TLDR: Volante Design and I are on Discord and I like you. I'm testing out what it might be like to talk to you as me... and not as Volante Design. Also, I think we need a club/gang/initiates name.

Stay Badass,

Willow

Our Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/cvD64V9

[abigailht]

😈😈😈 you know what i want. coz bitch, if I’m about to answer all of these fucking questions you can be damn sure I’m gunna try and make you answer them all too! Operation Ultimate Nosey commence!!! XXXX

Oh God, no you didn’t xD But I shall not refuse since I gave you the same monstrous ask, wahhaah (you better do it!)

of course here will also be the answers to your asks @desushoard and @scramblingminds and that anon xD cause apparently, I’m answering them all! xD

keep reading if you want xD this is gunna be very personal (and probably boring, lol)

Autumnal Asks

lantern - how did you meet your best friend? What were your first impressions of each other?

I had so many “best friends” in my life, cause I’m not 12 anymore, lol. One was a childhood friend. One I met at 7th grade, she saved me from having to sit alone in a new class when she asked me if I want to sit with her while I was standing around, unsure of what to do, cause I had no friends. Another I met online, we hated each other from the beginning so much, we would fight all the time in the forum and everyonen would hold their breath xD then we turned into bffs when we found out we had so much in common. classic teenagers, lol. now we don’t talk anymore really. Then I turned 20 and… I don’t think I have thought about friends in “best friend” terms anymore. As you can see, I sadly don’t have one friend that stayed in my life permanently, as they romantisize it in tv shows and movies… well :D

frost - if you could give some advice to your younger self, what would you say?

STOP BEING SILENT. STAND UP FOR YOURSELF. DO WHATEVER YOU WANT. What I regret the most is that I didn’t pursue things because of anxiety and insecurities… ugh. 

maple - is there a hobby / skill that you’ve always wanted to try but never did?

SEWING! and design. I mean… I did sew little things, so I can’t say I have never tried… but I didn’t pursue it. It would be so cool to design and sew your own clothes! 

harvest - what fictional character do you most identify with? Why?

Daryl Dixon. Lol. Because we are both insecure, anxious, emo potatoes who go through long periods of times hating themselves for no real reason… sighhh *hugs daryl* Also I headcanon him as gray-ace, which I identify myself as… soooo, if you write him emo AND gray-ace, chances are that I’ll be all over your characterization lmao. 

fireside - if you had your dream wardrobe, what would it look like?

The Instagram of a Hipster XD 

cider - a food that you disliked as a child but now enjoy?

Pumpkin! Hated it until I turned 20. Now I LUV it. 

amber - share an unpopular opinion that you may have.

That people under the Asexual umbrella belong to the LGBT community XD 

fog - how well do you think you’d do in a zombie apocalypse scenario?

I’m a doctor, so I’d be valuable and expect others to protect me! XD altho if you go by tv-shows and movies, doctors die first for dramatic value. so… y’all better protect my ass! But I’m not very athletic, so I’d die trying to run away because I’d have an asthma attack after 1 min of trying to run away and give up. (so you better PROTECT ME! XD)

jack-o-lantern - if you could look like any celebrity, who would you choose?

Emily Didonato!

spice - have you ever encountered a house that you believed to be haunted?

Nah.

orchard - share one thing that you’d like to happen this autumn.

Me being able to draw again. Me being able to sleep again. Getting healthy…

crow - which school subject do you wish you had an aptitude for?

P.E. XD I was good with all the other stuff, I was an A student lol ~ except for P.E. xD

bonfire - describe your dream house.

Like the ones I built in Sims 2 + 3. Big, spacious, has a pool, has a fireplace, has room for hobbies and a gym and a little cinema and a huge garden.

cinnamon - if you had to live in a time period different than the present, which would you choose and where?

A time in which there is no racism anymore and women and LGBT have equal rights and people are paid what they deserve and wealth is spread more equally among the folks and not just owned by the 0,0000001% of humankind (who are white and most probably male).

Find that time, beam me there, Scotty. Thank.

cobweb - (if you’ve graduated) do you miss high school?

YES. It was easy, easy, easyyyyy. I hated the social aspect of it cause I mostly didn’t have many friends… I was the nerd outcast and people were racist partly, so mostly I pretended to be reading LOTR or something in the breaks so I didn’t have to feel bad for no one talking to me xD BUT so much free time!!!!!! and so EASY. So definitely: YES.

cranberry - what’s one physical feature that you get complimented on?

I guess it’s my eyes. They are fanfic-green. Lmao.

maize - share the weirdest encounter you’ve had with a stranger on the street.

uhhhh only a negative encounter comes to my mind, and I don’t wanna talk about it. 

quilt - how do you take your tea (or coffee)?

with my mouth? like what kind of question is this XD I don’t put anything in it. no sugar or milk or anything. black coffee or just plain tea. 

pumpkin - do you think that humans are inherently good or bad?

uhm. I think they are both. I think the more powerful, the more the bad side of them comes to the surface… I think humans are both and have to work for being good. they have to make active choices. nice people are admirable because they CHOOSE to be nice. that’s tough work, and not many appreciate it, and you still end up being blocked on tumblr, lol. being a dick is easy. and chances are, that bad people will make it farther in life because they have less scruples…

moonlit - are you a neat or messy person? Is your room / house orderly?

Messy xD I try to be neat… buuuttt…

flannel - have you ever gone on a bad date?

I have never gone on a date in the first place. No one wants to date me, lol. So… no xD

cocoa - if you could have any type of hair, what colour and cut would you have?

CURLY BIG AND VOLUMONOUS. I don’t care about the cut or colour. I have alopecia… so… I just want BIG HAIR T_T (okay, NORMAL hair would do it too. I’d be perfectly fine with just normal hair T_T)

ghost - is there someone that you miss having in your life?

Friends who drifted apart from me over time.

THERE, scraming lady @neekanoo, I DID IT!! Now it’s your turn!!! :P

Let’s turn this from Ask meme into a Tag meme, shall we??? XD WAHAHAHAHA I KNOW ITS A LOT AND I DO NOT CARE! Don’t do it if you don’t wanna

I am tagging: @desushoard @toorational @canoncannon @bisexualstarbucky @scramblingminds @vbabe14 @d-j-marlowe @greyhoundsgirl @tpayne-legendary @captainameriqueer @syrabylene @its-me-theicequeen @iiloulouii @maren-believesinsherlock @youremyfanart @lasvegasfabulous @desus-trash @anxiety-instinct @oneofthegoodthings @merrymerricat @sergeant-barnes @just-whelmed @fuzzydaddygrimes @fullm3tal-bucky @remuslupinsmiled @citofonaremeedes @jendavisjendavis @drcloyd @desus-shipper idk who else, if you see this and want then do it and tag me back ok! XD 

[entiish]

what do you think about deceased fcs (if you don't mind me asking)? especially the actors/actresses that have died more than a decade ago, i think it's a shame that we can't use them in threads or create resources in case it upsets someone. not that i'm looking to do as much and i understand if in your rules it states you won't rp against a deceased fc, then that's fine but there has to be a line drawn somewhere else i should think?

hi, it's skye. (related/inspired by these posts x x ig!) not at all, ask away!! so i'm someone who originally felt it very hard to used deceased actors or to be okay with it particularly when i was younger, because there were and are younger actors who passed unexpectedly and seeing their faces often brought up a lot of sadness and grief as they were gone far before their time. however, i've developed a more thorough opinion on this topic.

as with my post about underage fcs where i explained the npc deal/masterlist/graphics pov (i wont restate here but if u need a refresh go have a peek; main point: most of my opinions are formed on my experience navigating these issues as an admin), i feel the same way with deceased actors but with a more finessed personal code. i don't use anyone who has passed recently, they deserve time and peace and the acknowledgement that they are a human being outside of their career. regardless of how integral they are to a universe, such as robbie as hagrid, we and they and everyone deserves time and respect. in the past, as npcs within a world, i have used sir christopher lee, who passed in 2015, and john hurt, who passed in 2017. so im clearly operating on a 'actors who passed of old age' point of view. i feel like in some cases, it is more disrespectful to recast them rather than honour their body of work as that character. some actors are a certain character, as sir christopher lee is saruman in LOTR. and if i decided to portray him as a canon indie character, or perhaps in a canon LOTR roleplay, i would (with permission of admins) use lee as a first and foremost preference.

this is where i have a few clear rules when it comes to honouring a deceased fc but incorporating them in your world via. graphics, family fc casting, npc roles in the world of ocs (or even as a canon character):

if you are not an admin, ask permission first. admins have the right to have final say in the world they create.

if you are an admin and you decide to incorporate them, i highly suggest positing the idea to your muns and seeing their opinions as i did. if you have used them from the outset, make sure that you've made that clear in your rules page, or somewhere.

if you are an indie, just tag appropriately.

do not use people who have passed in tragic circumstances, which includes passing from health conditions also. there are so many beloved actors that we have lost to these circumstances and, while it is sad to not use them, it's sadder still that their life was stolen and i don't think it's very fair to use their faces. that's just my preference though.

do not use people who have passed recently!!

i absolutely agree that it is a shame, but i feel it's more of a shame that they are no longer here. i know many actors who were young and in their prime who passed, i would adore using them, but i think that it comes down to moral comfortability overall. for example, i remember a lot of back and forth around chadwick boseman, and i've always been of the firm opinion that someone who lost their life to a disease so suddenly... it's just awful. it's sad for him, for his family, friends, community, for everyone. i don't believe we should use people, especially young people, who have passed unexpectedly and sadly. the loss of their life is SO much bigger than our need and desire to create and write, and i personally find it very had to look at some faces because their passing reminds me of person trauma and experience. i'm sure a lot of people find that too. honestly, sometimes i just hurt looking at certain people's faces bc it sucks so much they are gone.

in conclusion, there is a middle ground and there is a way to use and honour actors who are gone, but it shouldn't be focussed on those who were taken in their prime. most people, from what i have seen, have wanted to use people who have died from cancer, ODs, s--cide, m-rder, and other tragically horrid experiences... please don't, let their souls rest and let them be. i believe that it's bigger than us in those cases.

[elenatria]

so the valhalla/hel /dead's army theory is not up anymore ? that's sad

This is not what I heard, darling. ;-) Those “leaks” you probably mention were proven to be some guy’s speculation later on.

These are the new spoilers/leaks I read (thanks to Oystersinthepits).

First of all let me just say about this…

WHAT HORRIBLE MANIPULATIVE BULLSHIT IS THIS.

Also…

@oystersinthepits​ are they copy/pasting your words now?

I read on. “I was told the movie focuses heavily on the relationship between Steve and Tony and that they for sure were amongst the members who go back in time. “ “The movie revolves around the relationship between Captain America and Iron Man.”

OH MAN, AN AVENGERS MOVIE THAT FOCUSES ON CAP AND TONY, HOW DID THAT HAPPEN.

Also.

OH WAIT DOES THAT MEAN THEY’RE COPY/PASTING MY WORDS AS WELL?

I continue  reading. “Given the changes in timeline, this is most definitely not BARF like Marvel wants us to believe, but rather, time-travel.”  -  And here I’m reminded of people telling me to “beware” and “speculate away–but it’s highly unlikely to be time travel”. Dude, do not tell me what to do in my own posts whether I’m right or wrong, this is pure speculation after all. “Beware”, what the hell, as if I’m supposed to be afraid of being proven wrong… some time in the distant future. As if I’m getting paid to be right.

 And guess what, I might be right after all. Just like many other people speculating about the time travel, which is now almost confirmed.

“Scott can shrink himself while Tony tries to blend in as a SHIELD operative to get close enough to grab the Space and Mind Stones” - Well, to be honest with you, I prefer that scenario than “Tony dressing up as a SHIELD operative to rescue Loki”. He has no business rescuing Loki, and maybe Loki doesn’t need rescuing at this point, who needs Avengers!Loki to come back. And anyway it’s Thor’s job to “rescue Loki” and no one else’s. 

BUT I truly like that part: “I’ve seen worlds you’ve never known about. I have grown, Odin’s son, in my exile. I have seen the true power of the Tesseract.“ What did Thanos show him? What if the BARF boxes seen on set are going to be used to explore Loki’s memories?” “(b) Scott and Tony persuade Loki to help and team up with them and they fight the past Avengers. © The stunt double is for an illusion clone with which Loki uses to distract the Avengers while Tony and Scott make off with the stones.”

“Tony and co. contact Jane Foster, who tells them when and where she came into contact with the reality stone during the Convergence. We might finally see some closure for her and Thor instead of just “It was a mutual dumping lmao”” - Dude. This is NOT the closure I’m here for although I can see it happening. I hope Thor gets to wrap up his goodbyes quickly before he rushes to save Loki. 

“Mark Ruffalo has mentioned filming with Tilda Swinton (The Ancient One) for A4. Banner has a connection to Doctor Strange, landing in the Sanctum Sanctorum” - Aaaaaaaaand there goes the Banner-is-Loki theory. Good riddance,  that theory holds no water whatsoever, it’s just wishful thinking. And even if it was true and Banner was Loki in disguise, that leaves us with one question only: WHERE THE HELL IS THE REAL BANNER?

“NOVEMBER 22nd, 2017: Chris Evans (Steve) filmed along Metropolitan Avenue in Atlanta. The set had been done up like the 1940's” – Ok I take back everything I said about the Avengers being a Tony/Cap movie. I’m not interested in their dynamic, we’ve seen it so many times before, but I AM interested in any kind of time travel/vision involving Cap in the ‘40s. So haunted and intriguing.

“In the comics, Soul Stone traps the souls of those who were snapped, but Strange has the skill to move around his spectral form. He could be manipulating events outside using his spectral form, or another magical method” - I loooooove that.

Aaaaaand here’s your Hel/Valhalla theory, still intact.

“A4 draws inspiration from LOTR: Return of the King and is very thematically similar to it. And it features a Sam-Frodoesque team up between two heroes and THOR plays the role of Aragorn. Thor’s subplot centers on him assembling an army to challenge Thanos. There was a casting call for Viking extras. At one point, male warriors of all ethnicities (20s-50s) with beards and long hair encouraged (could have been the same call as above) (…) So apparently a plot to kill Loki in one movie, only to have Thor bring him back in the next, had already been considered by Marvel; they just changed which movies they would be. And why not bring back an army of Viking warriors while they’re at it? In RotK, Aragorn goes off to the Path of the Dead to recruit a dead army. Perhaps Thor, like Aragorn, goes off to Valhalla/Hel for his army. I know any references these movies make to Norse mythology are loose at best, but I think it’s worth mentioning that in the myths, during Ragnarok, the army of the slain warriors who die and go to Valhalla will rise to fight for Odin. Loki was originally supposed to appear in Thor’s vision as well, but  they deleted his scene. Seeing that Tony’s AoU vision came true, why not Thor’s? It is said that in Valhalla are the Valkyries in white clothes, meaning those maidens could be Valkyries." 

DID YOU GET YOUR HOPES UP YET?

I know I did.

“There may be a chance that Valkyrie will briefly be able to reunite with her love” - I LIVE FOR THIS MOMENT. I LIVE FOR IT. Valkyrie as Orpheus omg, and we finally get to see her in the arms of her one true love. 

“Also, since Frigga might be there, we could have a family union between the All-mother and her sons” - Ok but as much as I want to see this, I still can’t see how Frigga and Loki had similar deaths so as to end up in the same place. They didn’t… did they?

“Hundreds of snake ornaments is interesting, given that Loki is the one who is associated with snakes. In the MCU, he can turn inanimate objects (Thor 1 “prank”) and himself into a snake. In the Norse myths, he is chained to a rock with the entrails of his murdered son while a snake drips poison into his eyes” - Ok you know I’d LOVE to see that…

“Hela disappeared in a flash of green light at the end of Ragnarok; can you really kill the Goddess of Death? She’d probably go back to her realm if you did, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she were there. The driftwood throne mentioned earlier might be for the Queen of Hel” - HELL YEAH.

“I don’t think Hela would be too happy to see her annoying brother, but I do have a couple theories: (a) Thor and co. have to either fight or persuade Hela. (b) Hela has done some serious character reflection and has changed her mind. © Loki was spending his time as a dead man trying to persuade Hela” - OH WAIT, WHY DOES THAT REMIND ME OF WHAT I SAID IN “ODINSON” ABOUT LOKI’S “SILVER TONGUE”. Gaaaah I do hope they do that. Although I can’t see how Loki could persuade Hela while chained to a rock with snake poison dripping in his eyes. o__O

“Loki’s death scene was super suspicious. He disappears off-screen for a long while, and then comes back confident only to practically commit suicide; Thanos looked like he was going to ignore him, until he popped up again.”

“I remember reading a Reddit post that the Russos have said to pay attention to his words in particular, because they might be important later on.” - WHAT??? Why hasn’t anyone mentioned this before? People have spent so much time shitting on them on tumblr for the “Happy sad confused” podcast and insinuating “Tom is too old to play Loki” but no one EVER mentioned what they said about Loki’s words. What the hell. Do people prefer to hate on artists and creators instead of hanging on to hope? What kind of lust for desperation is that?

“Why is Loki so sure that he has to die? What happened in the time he was off-screen? (…) Spectral Strange meets him as part of the 7D backgammon gambit and tells him he has to die for the good ending.” - As I said before (and as many other people speculated), read “Odinson” plz. ^^

“Could Banner being replaced by Hulk also count as “dying?” If not, then if the rumors about only two OG6 survivng are true, I’m predicting the ones who survive are Thor and Hulk.” - Well that’s good to know. Not that I ever doubted the possibility of Thor 4.

[vardasvapors]

@berrysphase replied to your post:                   berrysphase replied to your post:                ...                

   So, perhaps oddly, I agree with your statement about the wholesale stuff as concerns the greater legendarium, but not LOTR?  In LOTR, considered within its own boundaries, I come away with the deeply uncomfortable sense that the restoration of Gondor’s kingship, the mystic strength in the true line of Elendil, the high and fading virtues of Numenor (transmitted in the germline), are all unquestioned good.  

   but in the greater legendarium all these things are complicated and much more nuanced, especially the colonialism issue re Numenor.  

   eventually there are topics I just can’t think too hard about (especially in-world Valar-related morality questions and the infernal question of Numenor and how far its colonialism is ‘justified’) or it all falls apart and I have to go lie down – I mean, there’s a lot of quicksand    

   I guess what I am saying is *hands* it would be very illuminating and interesting to hear about one of your lines! because to me they are either not clear, or only clear if I carefully avoid looking at them    

OH YEAH THAT IS A REALLY GOOD EXAMPLE. I think that would definitely qualify as a line -- in my opinion, LOTR is undermined as a story if Aragorn’s reign is Actually A Bad Thing, because the alternative-subplot that springs into existence under that reading is....uh....I guess “boring pointlessness tacked onto to a story that’s actually about Frodo etc” is a good way of putting it. But otoh the, like, Actual Lines of Dialogue The Characters Say in support of said Aragorn subplot are also.....what’s a better way of saying ‘irredeemably racist’? So it’s not like just “ignore it! it’s fantasy!” or some shit, but it IS one of those things that for me (though other people might feel totally differently) is much more satisfying to reconcile, rather than wholesale resist or overturn.

Anyway this might be making a mountain out of a molehill-sized solution, but I’m too tired to edit myself down in length so:

(uh.....before the cut....heads up i wrote this at top speed without testing for argumentative rigorousness/accuracy so.....fair warning)

Actually I think this is a much more easily fanwankable problem than some? Mostly because, imo, Aragorn’s character arc and the moral worth of his arc already HAS two alternative justifications right in canon! One is prophetic, and essentially is a 90%-blind prediction of the sequence of events that makes up the plot of LOTR. “either you will become greater than any of your ancestors since Elendil or fall into darkness with all your kin,” says Ivorwen and Elrond and Gandalf. The other is the whole Heir of Isildur renewal of the ~pure bloodline of kings bullshit, which doesn’t lend a single whit to the legitimacy of Aragorn as a person or to the readers opinion of him -- but it matters a lot to the in-universe Dunedain characters of Arnor and Gondor, including Aragorn himself. It’s the whole justification for them ushering him through the loophole and onto the throne. So I’d say, if you want to read Aragorn’s reign and arc as worthwhile - which I do too, because otherwise that subplot of LOTR is a vastly inferior and duller story at best, if not a complete and utter waste of time at worst - one could always go for the idea that the reason it has worth doesn’t need to be the same reason - the True Numenorean King stuff - that the characters of LOTR think it has worth.

Like, the first step is, LOTR’s timespan is so short. REALLY short. Substantively, one could just..pick another 6 month timespan in the legendarium, any 6 month timespan that overlaps a major political shift. or a 120 year timespan too, if you’re thinking Aragorn’s whole reign, in the Silmarillion. in the Akallabeth. in the unfinished tales. LOTR is a blip, time-wise -- it’s a personal story that intersects with the Silm-tier stuff for a brief, if pivotal, skip of time, and incorporates the brief, hindsight-less impressions of the people alive at that moment of time right into the reader’s POV, in a way that the Silm doesn’t do.

So when taking into account how limited the timeline and POV of LOTR characters are, comparatively speaking, I think of Aragorn’s crowning and the restoration of the line as not “inherently good,” but good because it happened to be the right thing at that one period of time.

I definitely think that...even the text, not just my headcanon, very strongly implies that the reason Aragorn’s king bid turned out successfully is because he lived most of his adult life with that prophecy over his head, and therefore practiced all his life to become an actually genuinely good king -- the whole bloodline/heirship stuff is just kind of...justification, in terms of personal/family/numenorean honor, and political plausible deniability -- Aragorn’s sincerely-felt path and reasoning to get there that isn’t just “either you’ll become king or everyone is doomed, because the future says so!” + “here’s a legal loophole to become king!”

And, I think, the in-universe reason the people of Gondor supported Aragorn becoming king is partly because coincidentally Denethor and Boromir were dead and Faramir didn’t reject him; partly because he had the bloodline loophole excuse; and partly (mostly) because everyone was so impressed with how he helped save the world.

But the reason Aragorn managed to wind up in a position to help save the world, and make the right choices to help save the world, is mostly that he was the type of brave and selfless and sincere person who would sacrifice his dream in order to rescue Merry and Pippin, or sacrifice his life to get Sauron to attack him and disregard Frodo and Sam. The sort of person who understands how much worth his people have, who knows what is deckchair-rearranging and what is a beam of true hope be it ever so slender, who accepts the sheer smallness and simplicity of what he needs to do for the greater good, and who respects and can influence his people enough to insist that they accept and understand all of this as well. Which are, like, actually good qualities in a king!

And the whole reason he became such a good person is....because he strove to be so, and because the people around him believed in him and helped him become so, and because of his and their own personal desire to restore the kingship and glory of his people. Uh. sorry. I already just said that.

It’s a circular thing. The myopic tribal hereditary reasons the characters/narrative assigns bloodline-related worth and authority to Aragorn have jack shit to do with the actual reasons he has real moral worth and earned authority, but his own priorities and desires that led to him developing that worth and authority are myopic and tribal and hereditary too.

So I think this specifically isn’t a case of “either Aragorn’s kingship is good because it is a restoration of the line of Elendil, or it isn’t good because the restoration of the line of Elendil is a morally vacuous cause.” It’s a case of causal connections that are really important but are far more circumstantial than the characters (or the narrative) acknowledges -- people interpret the restoration of the kingship as something Racially And Normatively Appropriate and Special And Right, which...is a) lmao plz, but also b) the Numenoreans and the line of Isildur specifically DO have evidence-based racially-based advantages. It’s just that those advantages don’t confer any inherent worth of any kind --- Aragorn’s bloodline just happened, in this case, to be SUPER USEFUL, because it’s ancient fairy-tale magic that lets him do SUPER USEFUL things in the context of weaponizing Middle Earth’s lingering scraps of fairy tale magic against Middle Earth’s lingering scrap of fairy tale horror. It lets him troll Sauron with a palantir that he could properly use -- due the fact that the Palantir DOES operate on ridiculous ancient morally vacuous bloodline-magic. Or lets him make the oathbreaker ghosts help him out with the corsairs, because the oathbreaker ghosts too, are ancient lingering equally morally vacuous Soulbinding Promise Magic. The whole concept of the Restoration of the Line of Elendil IS, of course, a morally vacuous cause on its own, as anything other than an in-universe stamp of political legitimacy -- but it appears to also have been an essential in-universe motivation and tool for getting the characters into the places they needed to be, in order for the intricately-woven web of events that make up LOTR to come out in the wash the way it did.

For the in-universe characters, saying that there’s something Inherently Good about the renewal of the line of kings and stuff is actually just....it’s only important to them. It’s this stopgap period, post-Ring-Destruction: re-righting the boat and kind of having this adjustment period of fairy-tale magic to kind of ease people from the pre-ring destruction world where there are dark lords and elves, to the post-ring-destruction world. Everyone in-universe goes “rah rah this isn’t just good because circumstances lined up in such a way so that it was good, as prophesied, it’s Totally Also Inherently Good independent of circumstances.” And it isn’t. At all. But it makes sense why they think that, and want to think that, and why the real explanation would not be sufficient for them. The idea that Aragorn’s one and only world-saving action was distracting Sauron from his destroyers, and that the only reason Sauron was destroyed was because of three hobbits and a mixed handful of coincidence and grace swirling together in an Augustinian whirlpool, is not a super crowdpleasing national myth.

And then, the period after he becomes king DOES imo involve like, a bunch of colonial-reminiscent shit that kind of plays into the people’s expectations and view of themselves -- the racial superiority and suggestions of imperialism-flavored actions regarding all the vague mentions throughout the early 4th age timeline of quelling rebellions in various corners of the world (though imo these are not as conclusive or devoid of wiggle-room as some people interpret them). And I REALLY DISLIKE THIS PART because I’m perennially like...yo, what a massive wasted opportunity there Tolkien...because the irony of Aragorn the hereditary king in exile being restored in such a roundabout way that has so little to do with his heirship is a plotline that would be SO MUCH BETTER to acknowledge and focus on than the bald OMG Heir Of Isildur The True King With Pure Ancestry Has Come!!! thing that happens in canon with only a tiny bit of wink-winking about how much dumb luck it actually was. It would have made a really wonderful story!

In fact, I occasionally do wonder -- from the Appendices and the Prologue of LOTR, the supposed “real” “historical” book which the in-universe character of “JRR Tolkien: Not An Author, Only A Translator” translated, is purported to be a copy of a copy of the Red Book of Westmarch that was edited and translated by the scribe Findegil of Gondor, as copied from Pippin’s copy, of Bilbo, Frodo, and Sam’s copy. And one can imagine it’s not too big a stretch that Frodo and Sam might have been more on-the-money regarding Aragorn and the whole kingship restoration plotline in their original story, but Findegil obscured their insights a bit -- even just from good-faith well-intended biased interpretation due to his understanding of Gondor’s renewal histories.

But still....even with all the undertones and overtones of the restoration of old colonial stuff -- does that mean restoration of old colonial shit in perpetuity? I don’t think THAT’S a necessary extrapolation. For one, imo there’s no testament of proportionality. Elements of recurrences of old colonial shit seem to have been present! -- but for how long, how impactful or destructive, compared to how much tables-turning revolutionary awesome genuine improvement stuff, given everything Sauron had been doing? I mean could be shittier than anything like is often is IRL, but this is as outsode of RL as you get. So. A drop amid a flood? Could be. Who knows? Not much is specified, but not much is precluded either. You can fill in that 120 year gap with almost anything. If someone wanted to fill it with some fantasy of a historical-fiction Realpolitik aesthetic, instead of actually making up something new from the unlimited amount of creative potential conferred by an ahistorical post-dark-lord fantasy setting, that’s legit, but it’s still just conjecture.

Going back up 5 paragraphs to when I thought this was going to be a short answer (LOL) -- 120 years is both very long AND very short -- i.e., 120 years is a nose-to-the-ground view vis-a-vis Silmarillion times, but otoh vis-a-vis RL timelines, there’s just so much TIME and room for....i mean 120 years ago today was 1897? Before World War I? How vastly has world and domestic policy has changed since then? Or like...pick from your choice of other 120 year periods in pre-modern history too, if that’s not a good comparison. Even if there isn’t much concrete reliable evidence, there’s still a lot of room, even before Aragorn’s death - but even more room after it! - for the people of the Reunited Kingdom to potentially, if you so choose, have their day in the sun comforting themselves about how great they are and how their ancestral royal line is restored, and then just slowly move on, change, grow, progress, decide some of their earlier ideas were dumb, reverse themselves in various political and foreign policy arenas (like they had already started to do in some cases during the LOTR timeline), quietly purge themselves of their racist bullshit  -- over the course of a few generations, as is the way of mortal realms. And most importantly, to finally let go of the past, because they’ve been able to taste the satisfaction of a fairy tale, and have come through it, and their children’s children have now lived to see a time where they don’t need it.

(This assumes that The New Shadow is non-canon. Which. HELL YES. It is  fucking non-canon, because it’s stupid and even Tolkien thought it was depressing and mean-spirited, which is seriously saying something.)

[lionwithouthonour-blog]

Meta prompt -- what exactly was going through Jaime's mind during the Loot Train Battle?

Okay, I have to admit I almost had to look up which was the Loot Train Battle because I’ve got so used to everyone just calling it the Field of Fire 2.0...

That aside, this is going to get really long (like really long; I can write an essay on this), and there’s almost definitely gonna be some stuff that could potentially be seen as ‘anti-Dany’ so...I’m just warning you so you can’t get mad and say I didn’t.

I think one thing that’s important to remember about this particular battle (and ironically one thing practically everyone tends to forget) is that it’s one that Jaime never saw coming. As far as he was concerned - hell, as far as any of them were concerned - all the fighting was done once they’d taken Highgarden. Just before the battle seems set to begin, he’s told that the gold has safely entered King’s Landing, which if anyone was going to attack them, surely the gold would be the target and not a few wagons of food. All Jaime’s got to worry about now is getting said wagons of food and the last of the Lannister/Tarly forces back into the city and they’re home and dry. And also it’s probably important to note his attitude towards the soldiers as demonstrated early in the scene: Lord Tarly says that flogging them will make them move into the city faster, Jaime tells him not to. Why is this detail important? Because it shows that on some level, Jaime cares about these men. Lord Tarly demonstrates the attitude of caring about them as a commander to an army, Jaime demonstrates the attitude of caring about them as people. People who have probably already spent a long amount of time marching at a forced pace and who probably haven’t had much time for resting or eating or anything else - again, they want to just get everything back to the city. And that’s another important detail to remember.

Now, when the Dothraki appear, they’re forced to fight a battle that nobody was expecting to come, on a terrain that’s the worst possible kind for facing that particular enemy, and against an enemy that probably none of them have ever faced the likes of before. And that’s even before the dragon shows up. Generally speaking, the tail end of a train of soldiers would not be so heavily armed or defensible - all the best soldiers would have been with the gold up ahead and now safely in King’s Landing. Realistically speaking, at least one of the main four (Jaime, Bronn, Lord Tarly and Dickon), probably two at minimum, would have been somewhere up at the front of the train, but dramatic license blahdeblah moving on. Now, they find themselves essentially cornered on an open field (and just FYI, I’m getting tired of people using Robert’s line of “only a fool would face the Dothraki on an open field” to mock Jaime in this moment; like what the fuck else was he supposed to do..?), and about to do battle when they’re clearly outnumbered and probably quite sapped for strength anyway. Still, Jaime refuses to leave them even when Bronn practically orders him to. His “we can hold them off” is, in my opinion at least, a direct response to what Bronn is saying which basically amounts to “everyone here is gonna die in a sec and if you stay then you’ll die too”. They’re both right by the line of Lannister soldiers when Bronn says that and in battle, that kind of attitude is one of the worst that you can have. It’s like in LotR at Helm’s Deep when Legolas starts going off on one about how hopeless the odds are (though granted he does it in Elvish, at least) - it’s just something you shouldn’t say even if you totally believe it and especially not where others can probably hear you. Even if Drogon wasn’t the master of Ironic Dramatic Timing, the argument would probably have ended there. It was less about the words being said than just trying to get Bronn to shut up.

And then the dragon appears...and this is where the potential anti-Dany stuff is gonna start showing so...heads up. First, I would just like to casually remind everyone that no one on the Lannister side has ever seen a dragon before. Oh sure, Jaime’s seen the skulls and maybe even Bronn has too, but this is something totally different. It would be the same as if you suddenly came face-to-face with a living breathing and intent on killing you T-Rex. And while they’re somewhat prepared for it with the Scorpion, again, huge difference between dead skull and living dragon. And that gets shown in all its logic-bomb glory. Second, this isn’t like when Tyrion first saw them, or Jon first saw them. Jaime is facing Drogon knowing full well that he’s going to be used as a weapon against them. This isn’t just a probability like it was for the other two, this is a certainty. And using a dragon in a swords-and-arrows battle like this would pretty much be the equivalent of using modern-day bombing techniques in a swords-and-arrows battle. While they stood little chance of success against the Dothraki, against Drogon alone they stand no chance and against Drogon and the Dothraki, Jaime knows they are going to be obliterated.

Now, from a technical side of things, I would like to point out that the battle is filmed almost utterly entirely from the Lannister army’s point of view, particularly  focusing on Jaime and Bronn. This is the first time we’ve seen a full-scale dragon attack from anyone else’s point of view other than Daenerys’. You know how a lot of people felt more uncomfortable watching this battle in particular than they normally did during dragon attacks? This is the reason why. Instead of the destruction being shown as a wonderful thing and utterly 100% deserved, this showed the destruction as the destruction it really is: men screaming and turning to ash, throwing themselves in the water to drown to try and put out the flames (seriously, the original final shot of the episode was meant to be Jaime seeing his men drowning), sheer and utter terror and chaos everywhere. Also, that scene with the Lannister soldiers and Arya in the woods that everyone just dismissed as a cameo for Ed Sheeren? Well, I’m not gonna argue about that, but I would argue that that scene was a direct prelude to this one. Whether you realised it or not at the time, it humanised the Lannister army, it made it clear that these were not necessarily men who agreed with Cersei or even completely wanted to be there. These were men like any other, who had lives and families and for whom being a soldier was just a job. To everyone who argues that the soldiers were fine to be killed simply by virtue of being a soldier, I repeat: these people had no knowledge on how to fight a fucking dragon! They didn’t sign up to fight a fucking dragon! Most of them probably didn’t even sign up, they were likely conscripted. The logic of that would basically be the same as saying “Oh, you took martial arts courses? You must know how to defuse a bomb!” Also, again I repeat, the best soldiers would have been with the gold up at the front of the train. Jaime, Bronn and (to a lesser extent) Tyrion are the POV characters in this battle and none of them feel good about what’s happening. We as an audience are not meant to be feeling good about what’s happening. Of course, purely choosing a POV won’t control how every single person watching feels because obviously if you like Dany more than you like any of the three POV characters, you’re gonna think this is the best thing since sliced bread no matter how it’s presented. But from a meta side of things, from the set-up, to the acting, to the directing, to just how the thing is filmed, there is a very deliberate attempt to make the audience uncomfortable at the very least with this whole situation.

Going specifically back to Jaime, the next key moment I wanna talk about is the moment he sends Bronn off to the Scorpion rather than going himself. Now, I’ve made jokes about this too, that Jaime is just using his hand as an excuse to get Bronn to do something for him (see pretty much the entire journey to find Myrcella in Dorne). Do I actually think this is his intention in this moment? No. He’s being 100% serious. By this point, chaos has taken over the battle. Drogon is burning stuff left right and centre, the Dothraki have broken through the Lannister lines, their men are being absolutely slaughtered. Jaime’s always demonstrated the desire for ending battles and wars quickly and with minimum damage. Drogon needs to be brought down and fast if they’re going to stand even the slightest chance of getting through this. Jaime is stating an absolute fact that he can’t operate the Scorpion with one hand and certainly not with the degree of skill needed to bring Drogon down. Bronn is literally the only realistic option in that moment.

Finally, because I know this is getting ridiculously long (and I want to congratulate you if you’ve read this far), I’m gonna talk about that last little bit. When Jaime’s looking around at all the men dead and dying and on fire and screaming, I am 100% certain that he’s connecting what he’s seeing in that moment to all the times he had to watch people burning with wildfire in the Mad King’s court. There’s a gifset on here that I’ve reblogged that has this scene with his confession to Brienne (’”Burn them all” he kept saying. “Burn them all”’). I personally have a headcanon (that may or may not be confirmed, honestly I haven’t done enough bts research to know) that Jaime suffers from some sort of repressed trauma from everything he saw and experienced in his time as a Kingsguard to Aerys, and if he does then the sight/sound of people being burned alive would almost certainly be a trigger to it (in the true sense of the term). And it really does look like he’s having some kind of traumatic episode in that moment. Then he sees Dany with the now-downed Drogon, and I honestly think he means what he says to Bronn in the next episode - when he sees her and sees that spear, he thinks he’s found a way to stop the war and more importantly, stop more instances of this. He would have been told the stories of the original Field of Fire, and he has his own experience with the Mad King to draw on. In that moment, Daenerys isn’t the “breaker of chains” or anything good, at least not to Jaime; she’s just exactly what Cersei’s always described her to be - a foreign conqueror who is willing to destroy Westeros if it only means she can rule it (which is one of the reasons pretty much everyone advised her against this action in the first place). And more importantly, she is the Mad King’s daughter, with all the implications of that. He killed Aerys to stop thousands of people burning - and for over 20 years his life has been defined by that act whether for good or not; why would he do anything different here if he has the chance? Jaime literally has nothing else to draw on to decide what kind of person she is besides what he’s seen in this battle, and he sees her at her absolute worst. And it’s a well-established part of his character that he tends to act before he thinks and this is a highly stressful situation where thinking isn’t really much of an option anyway. Of course he’s going to take the chance to try and kill her and, by proxy, stop all the damage that he’s seeing in that moment she’s capable of causing.

So I have a lot of feelings on this scene (and the aftermath in the next episode as well). To everyone/anyone that actually read this whole thing, feel free to agree or disagree as you wish and well done for actually reading the whole thing in the first place (told you I could write an essay on this).