#Sauron is a lying liar who lies

[self-destructinganimal]

"Sauron was the only one who offered Galadriel any agency"

Apparently there is an ongoing conversation on twitter about how Sauron was the only one who ever offered Galadriel any agency and both Gil-galad and Elrond were "worse to her than Sauron". Usually I stay away from these kinds of conversations but I couldn't this time. Ya caught me at the wrong (or right) time.

All the elves in the show have had misunderstandings through S1&2. Some of them pretty ugly.

In S1:

Gil-galad is not truthful with both Galadriel and Elrond.

Elrond is not truthful to Galadriel, to the point of sending her away.

Galadriel flaunts the king's orders and her obsession has come at the cost of lives and friendships.

S2:

Gil-galad gets better

Elrond is harsh on Galadriel. He recognizes this and asks for her forgiveness when in Adar's camp. He heals her when otherwise she would have died, and they reconcile.

Galadriel failed to tell the truth end of S1 about Halbrand and the ramifications continue into S2 leading to Elrond feeling betrayed and Celebrimbor dying. She realizes it is not strength but light that defeats darkness and through that experience she overcomes her own darkness and ends up being able to lend guidance to the other elves (reconciling with them) and peace to Celebrimbor before his death.

They're messy. But they love each other and are all firmly in each other's camps.

Sauron never offered her any agency. He wanted to manipulate and control her power. He would have used her skills as a leader and commander as he used Celebrimbor's skills as a smith. It was never about her agency in any capacity, it was all about him.

[kassylin]

Sauron:

Lmao lol

He's such a bad bad boy.

[incorrectringsofpower]

Season 2 First 3 episodes thoughts (spoilers below the cut, DO NOT click the cut if you do not want to be spoiled!)

Episode 1

The dimples are a bit disarming ngl.

The chorals Bear added are interesting. Someone translate them please and thank you.

Ewwwww bug!Sauron nope nope nope.

Why hallo there handsome asshole :D

What's in the pouuuuch? (I don't think we're ever gonna find out tbh)

O shit are these the raft redshirts? Oh nooo.

I support horse girl rights and wrongs.

Mooom, Galadriel is a lying liar who lies.

Gil-galad looks so done lmfao. "Great-auntie whyyyy."

Elrond about to pull an Elwing.

I want to see my little boy (Isildur). (Where is heeeee?)

Hello Glüg, you SDCC photo gem.

Ah Waldreg you fucker. Guess you figured out between seasons that he ain't Sauron.

Lmao not Sauron pulling a Moses on Adar. Wtf are you doing buddy?

Nori my beloved

Wow The Stranger has so much vocabulary now. I still think he swallowed a Harfoot dictionary.

Ok additional Harfoot food note: Beetles (scarab beetles?)

Oh yeah some fic writers are reaaaaally gonna enjoy the scenes of Halron chained and collared. Here comes another fic deluge!

Sauron, don't you remember what happened with Huan in the FA?

BEN DANIELS TIME LET'S GOOOOO.

RIP to this random elf messenger bc I don't think he's gonna make it.

Ben Daniels has the raaaaange.

Eärendil mentionnnn. And Beleriand mention! I wonder why the Mariana Trench option wasn't considered in the TA. Update: Ok nvm Círdan will answer that for us.

Poppy! Hopefully the others can still travel without the maps she took.

The music is so prettyyyy.

"Your people have been set free." #doubt (show me the proof! also why did Sauron want that? He needed slaves to work the fields in Mordor, right?)

Ah Waldreg did die in the exact episode we predicted.

More elf nuns!

Elf costumes! I need an analysis post!

Lmao Elrond's face. "Grunkle Círdan, you betrayed meeee!"

Galadriel: How 'bout I do anyway?

Elrond: Thanks I hate it.

Galadriel: Please don't jump off waterfalls again.

Mirdania! Aw shit Halron got there before the nameless doomed Lindon elf.

Ominous ending music, Bear.

Episode 2

DWARVES MY BELOVED

I love the terrace farming so much.

Dwarf food note: Mole-tail stew, Large mushroom (chanterelle-like) that is very valuable, smaller mushrooms, gourds!

ilu Disa

This scene was exactly what I needed for dwarves and dwarvish food reasons.

Oh shit not my dwarves :(((

Alfirin seeds!

Ooh creepy!

New elf characters! Do they have names? Please give them names!

"Crush two spiders with one boot." Ooh I hate the foreshadowing of that metaphor. Hates it, hates it.

More foreshadowiiiing.

Mirror of Galadriel foreshadowing specifically!

Eregion is so beautiful and majestic (thanks, Season 2 budget!). Sure do hope nothing bad happens to it! (sobbing)

Yup, RIP Lindon messenger elves.

I looove this music.

Skeletor! (By the power of Grayskull!)

Ooh cultists.

The Dweller is back!

"curse upon our flesh" wut

I have a bad feeling about this. (Wait, wrong fandom)

Where is Narviiii.

Do Disa's friends have naaames? Wait x-ray actually was helpful for once. Rachel Payne as Brenna and Laura Jane Matthewson as Revna! I'm so happy she has named friends who even gossip!

Hi Narvi!

King Durin: But do I still have grandparent's rights?

"Stubborn as a root-bound parsnip!" Hah.

Oh my god he's working on ships. I love that so much.

Ooh shit a flashback to the woods scene from Udûn.

Why are you shaving, sir? Sir.

Ahhhh poetry mentions from the FA! How nerdy.

The bell seems bad.

Eye of Sauron?

Uh-oh. Is this how he learns how squishy hobbits are on adventures?

Ooh he's developing door ideas. Fun!

I get the feeling Mirdania ain't gonna last the season, either.

Fuuuck tower foreshadowing.

Ooh elf umbrella!

Oh you little weasel!

"I'm going to open a First Age bottle." Love that detail.

"Are you my friend?" Hoo boi.

Ominous thunderclap. Ooooh.

Is he gonna larp as an Istar? Lmao.

"Soon every realm will fall." Because of you, asshole!

Title drop!

Wow. Okay. Playing on his insecurities and also calling him the "Lord of the Rings". Overdoing it a bit much there, Ronnie?

"I am your partner." screech

Pope-galad says you need babysitter, Gal. I'm sure this will go splendidly!

Episode 3

Bronwyn ;_;

Berek best boi my beloved

Sad Elendil and Valandil :(((

YESSS OH MY GOD IT'S HAPPENING. EVERYONE STAY CALM. IT'S HAPPENING!

ISILDUR SAVE YOUR HORSE FOR THE LOVE OF ERU.

Pls don't kill Berek. I couldn't stand it 😭

ISILDUR BEST HORSE GIRL

THEY'D BOTH BETTER LIVE OR SO HELP ME

FUCKING RUN ISILDUR FFS

(GOD I HATE LARGE FANTASY SPIDERS AND THIS IS WHY)

Ooh the shells funerary detail!

Eärien girrrrl your evil phase alarms me.

This ship is so saddd :(

More ominous tower shit.

Pharazôn, you weasel 2.0.

Fucking foreshadowiiiing.

Valandil my beloved! Oooh tension with Kemen.

A baby orc! Fascinating!

Damrod has arrived!

More title dropping!

"--a friend." The emphasis was so funny.

Durin is suspicious. Love it.

Celebrimbor: Well if I start a Catholic schism then so be it.

It is your moment, Holly-boy, but also your doom. You're being Anakined into Vader by Palpannatar.

Isildur has discovered the DnD means of equipment acquisition.

Noooo more dead horsies :(

Estrid :D (please don't be evil)

Lmao at least he knows proper wound procedures lol.

DO NOT HURT BEREK

Potato food spotted!

ARONDIR YASSS

THEY STOLE BEREK NOOOOO

Arondir sir you are low on arrows.

Arondir ;_;

Bronwyn :(((( fuck I'm so sad about this

I will never recover from the Aronwyn ship, I fear :(

Theo, buddy, need someone to talk to?

Sad version of Aronwyn theme nooooo :(

Really not liking how much King Durin's crown sorta resembles Sauron's this season.

Theo taking over his mother's skills :(

Yup, poisoned orc arrow theory confirmed.

Stepparenting with foreshadowing for Numenor, delightfulll.

Please don't be foreshadowing.

Who is his dad? Oh no hurtful, Theo. Buddy :(

My Garden Fam is broken and I'm deeply unwell about it.

Theo-Isildur friendship time?

BEREK HEIST BEREK HEIST

Isildur really is so relieved to be alive and not eaten by spiders that he's gone friend mode. How very like his Grunkle Elrond!

Oh no Isildur mom backstory :(

Don't cry Isildur and Theo bc then I'm gonna cry ;;_;;

Also now this is a narrative parallel!

Ah good gift discussion next to the word "precious" is throwing my brain. Oh lordy.

Please don't be evil, Estrid! I'm already suffering without Bronwyn and both Disa and Míriel are doomed af.

Theo wtf are you doing?

ENTS.

No don't lose the sword Galadriel gave you!

Míriel in white, Elendil in blue and gold, Pharazôn in red. Totally Kate Hawley doing some fascinating storytelling here.

Oh no my quote about Elendil and his daughter in a courtroom is suddenly very apt. Oh dear.

What did Elendil see?

Huh the unrest happened sooner than I thought.

EAGLE TIME LET'S GOOOO!

Eagle: Y'all are gonna die!

Elendil: Top 10 anime betrayals and by my own daughter. Wtf.

Annatar gets his own cute lil forging outfit :D

More symbolism!

Oh god what a way to end the first 3 episodes. Send help.

[demonscantgothere]

Do you think any feelings Galadriel might have developed for Halbrand survived after he made her think she’s drowning… just out of spite, or something? Maybe I lack imagination, but I assume if she were friendly with Sauron again in some context, she’d constantly ask herself, ‘when will he deceive me again, has he already, will he soon, will he never, what will be the little perceived insubordination that will plop the vein in his eyeball again and make him lash out and put me in my place?’ I’m sure shipping them but the more time passes, I can’t get over the fucked-upness of this guy and how he put her brain through the wringer. And I salute her integrity to hold on to her values after confronting him. I would assume this is so traumatic, it could bring about the change of her personality and a depression. Her longing for the West in later years? She’s tired of bearing the burden. Not to forget he constantly “gropes to see her”. Maybe Nenya is the only thing that keeps her from breaking. And her family. I can’t imagine any sweet feelings remaining for Sauron after this. Rather a melange of rage, horror, shame and regret which she must somehow overcome to not waste away.

Yes, I think any feelings she developed are still there, still survived. Feelings don't just disappear overnight just because someone did something mean or horrible to you. I don't believe your stance is a lack of imagination either. Why shouldn't she constantly question him? Why shouldn't she be wary of him? Why shouldn't she look over her shoulder at him? She most definitely should, in my humble opinion. While it can be argued Sauron didn't tell an outright lie, he still lied by omission, which still counts as a form of lying. Lying by omission, from a psych standpoint, allows the liar to manipulate the situation to their advantage by not revealing the truth because they weren't asked a question directly pertaining to the truth. Sauron still manipulated Galadriel, even though he never told a direct lie. He led her on to believe the falsehoods she generated herself.

Maybe it was to use her. Maybe he was genuinely scared of losing her by telling her the truth, and he simply didn't want to lose her. Maybe he was terrified of finally finding a friend and alienating that friend if she discovered the truth. There are so many ways to read this.

The problem is Galadriel grew to trust him, to see him as a friend and potentially more than that, and they developed a strong bond. This is painful for her, yes, and that doesn't just go away. Sauron dropping Galadriel into her memory of drowning, if you think about this—Sauron was the one who saved her from that. Sauron saved her from drowning, and he dropped her into that memory after she tried to stab him. Not once, but twice. Galadriel tried to kill him twice.

Now, let's rewind. Sauron saved her life. Rescued her from drowning when he didn't have to. He followed her to Middle-earth. To help her find peace. To help her save the people of the Southlands. He fought alongside her in battle. And when Galadriel finds out who he is, who he really is . . . she tries to kill him—despite all the good he has just done with her, alongside her.

Was it fucked up that he dropped her into her memory of drowning? Yes. But my reading of that scene is after everything Sauron did for Galadriel, it still wasn't enough for her to see him as a good guy. As a friend. As an ally. She wouldn't be alive to murder him if he hadn't saved her life. He saved her! That's why I don't believe everything he did was a lie. That's why I don't believe it was all manipulation. He just could have let her die, but he saved her.

Sauron dropped Galadriel back into her memory of drowning without him around to save her because without him . . . that's exactly what would have happened to her out in that ocean.

You would have died without me, it said, and yet you want me dead?

It was a reminder.

Her sorrow and pain is rooted in not being able to trust or forgive a former enemy who fought on the opposite side of a war that killed her brother, Finrod. Not only that, but it was Sauron who sent his wolves on Finrod. Finrod died because of him. I understand why this would delve her into depression. You're not wrong about that. This is a heavy burden on her, but what if she forgave him and released all that pain to the wind?

That is the pull of this ship for me. The potential of it. The 'what if' hanging in the air like a whisper on the wind. What if Galadriel forgave him? What if they had stayed friends? What if Sauron strove to be a better person? Not because of a woman, but because he had a true friend. A real companion. Someone he could actually trust. What if they had aligned together as king and queen?

What if they accepted him as one of their own instead of chasing him to the ends of the earth with their blood-soaked daggers and Elvish cries of war? What if? What if?

[otp-shipping-industry]

Look, I'll keep beating this dead horse. I so strongly believe that Sauron does not lie. He is called the great deceiver and Melkor was called a liar. Sauron lets others deceive themselves with half truths and wishful thinking.

Oh no, no, no, this horse should not be dead. In fact, we should resurrect it every chance we have (like The Necromancer). Which is to say I very much agree with this take and it is one of my favorite things in the first season of trop.

And it is canon! This is what he does with Gorlim the Unhappy in The Silmarillion:

"And Gorlim answered that he should find Eilinel again, and with her be set free; for he thought that Eilinel also had been made captive. Then Sauron smiled, saying: 'That is a small price for so great a treachery. So shall it surely be. Say on!' Now Gorlim would have drawn back, but daunted by the eyes of Sauron he told at last all that he would know. Then Sauron laughed; and he mocked Gorlim, and revealed to him that he had seen only a phantom devised by wizardry to entrap him; for Eilinel was dead. 'Nonetheless I will grant thy prayer,' said Sauron; 'and thou shalt go to Eilinel, and be set free of my service.' Then he put him cruelly to death." - The Silmarillion: Of Beren and Lúthien

This is Sauron is being clever with his wording. He does exactly what was bargained for: the man is set free to be with his wife. In death. Like with Fae, the deceit lies not in him lying outright but in the wordplay. There is power in words and one's words bind them. This is made clear in both The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings. A lighter take on this is the "speak, friend, and enter" riddle from the Fellowship of the Ring, where another translation of the words is "say 'friend' and enter". What someone means and what someone else reads into it can be two different things.

And as for Sauron admitting to being the king that was promised?

I very much agree with you there as well. After all, promised to whom? Promised to those who would swear allegiance to Sauron, like Waldreg? The king who was promised that Bronwyn pictures is very different from the kind of king that a person like Waldreg thinks of. And Sauron can say he is the king who was promised without lying if he ever told anyone that he would be their king. He's not stating which promise he is fulfilling or what kind of king he would be.

Or it can be something simpler, the king that was promised to Galadriel? Not verbally perhaps, but his meaning could have been "Yes, I will be the king that Galadriel wants me to be, the one she needs me to be" And by agreeing that he is the king, he is also holding himself bound by his words to be that. And that could also be why he takes a moment to evaluate and see what Galadriel's reaction is.

I'm shamelessly going to link my old post where I wrote about Halbrand!Sauron believing that he could do good with Galadriel, because of Galadriel. There is a point where he thinks that he could heal things and where he says to Galadriel: “Together we can save this Middle-earth.” What if this is what he's thinking about when he says yes?

And coming back to the moment where he says that he's the king that was promised - if at that point he intends to save Middle-earth? Couldn't Sauron argue that if he were to save Middle-Earth, he would heal the Southlands in the process as well? And therefore fill that role and make his words true.

So, in my opinion, Sauron doesn't think he's lying. He's not claiming he's the son of this, who is the son of that, the heir of this, like Legolas listing Aragorn's pedigree. He's just saying "Yes, I will be the king that someone was promised." Which like his promise to Gorlim, might not be fulfilled the way other people expect or want it to be accomplished. But that doesn't make it a complete falsehood.

And yes, he might also be trying to decide if it would be better to continue with the kingship ruse or to admit that he's not their king. Continuing would mean that he'd also need to continue his pretense of being mortal and be bound by mortal limits instead of using his full might in plain sight. But he also knows that Galadriel would far more readily accept Halbrand, a mortal king (in whatever role he thinks of, ally, friend, something more?) whereas her accepting Sauron, her worst enemy? That is far more difficult to achieve.

There are so many different takes on this. It would certainly be very interesting if season 2 of trop sheds any light on what Halbrand!Sauron was thinking of here.

Look it's beyond hilarious how Halbrand looks back at Galadriel before he answers to Bronwyn if he's the king the Southlands has been waiting for. Absolutely peak malewife behaviour.

"Yes I am definitely your new human king, very much a mortal descendant of your last human king. Galadriel said so."

I'm absolutely not the Dark Lord Sauron in disguise

Also definitely not madly into my to-be queen Galadriel who has yet to agree to marry me (but only because I haven't actually proposed to her yet)

[gffa]

Tumblr seems to have eaten my first version of this, so let me redo it, because this is a really interesting question!  So, the One Ring is a pretty unique thing in the world because nobody had ever created anything like it before and it’s not entirely clear what it is or what it can do, especially re: Sauron’s own will, but a few things are definitely true: - Sauron poured most of his power into the One Ring because he desired control over others and the other nineteen Rings of Power especially, as he wasn’t interested in just destroying things, he wanted to control them, to force his will onto them and giving them to key figures in Middle-earth would allow him to control those people, too - The One Ring cannot have an independent will/sentience/etc. of its own because only Eru Illuvatar can create life with a true will of its own (even Aule couldn’t give the Dwarves true free will, they were just extensions of himself, it had to be Illuvatar that gave them true life), so it cannot make decisions on its own (interesting to note that Sauron was originally a servant of Aule btw) Tolkien’s letter #246 says this about Sauron and the One Ring:      “Of the others only Gandalf might be expected to master him – being an emissary of the Powers and a creature of the same order, an immortal spirit taking a visible physical form. In the 'Mirror of Galadriel', 1381, it appears that Galadriel conceived of herself as capable of wielding the Ring and supplanting the Dark Lord. If so, so also were the other guardians of the Three, especially Elrond. But this is another matter. It was part of the essential deceit of the Ring to fill minds with imaginations of supreme power. But this the Great had well considered and had rejected, as is seen in Elrond's words at the Council. Galadriel's rejection of the temptation was founded upon previous thought and resolve. In any case Elrond or Galadriel would have proceeded in the policy now adopted by Sauron: they would have built up an empire with great and absolutely subservient generals and armies and engines of war, until they could challenge Sauron and destroy him by force. Confrontation of Sauron alone, unaided, self to self was not contemplated. One can imagine the scene in which Gandalf, say, was placed in such a position. It would be a delicate balance. On one side the true allegiance of the Ring to Sauron; on the other superior strength because Sauron was not actually in possession, and perhaps also because he was weakened by long corruption and expenditure of will in dominating inferiors. If Gandalf proved the victor, the result would have been for Sauron the same as the destruction of the Ring; for him it would have been destroyed, taken from him for ever. But the Ring and all its works would have endured. It would have been the master in the end.” --J R R Tolkien Much of what the One Ring was about comes down to the strength of one’s spirit and that the Ring was a lying liar who lies, that no creature of the physical world could ever hope to truly force their own will onto it, because they would be going up against the strength of a Maia (Sauron).  (Maiar being basically the Lesser Angels, the Valar being the Archangels, and Eru Illuvatar being the One True God, if we’re drawing metaphors.) That’s why only Gandalf would have a chance--and probably not even a good one--because he wasn’t really a physical creature, he was a Maia like Sauron was, a timeless divine being.  The Ring would make Galadriel or Elrond or anyone else, even as powerful as they were, think that they could force their own desires onto it, but it’s still a lying liar who lies, which would fill her head with ideas about how she needed to build up armies and confront Sauron before they could truly keep the ring. (This is why it’s still important that Galadriel rejects the Ring, because it makes her think she absolutely could wield it for her own desires, even if it would corrupt her into a dark queen, and her rejection of that desire to rule for its own sake, is what allows the Valar to extend their forgiveness and that she would be welcome back in Valinor again.  It’s also why it’s so important that Frodo be the one to carry the Ring because he had so little desire to rule others that he could resist the pull longer than even the compassionate, loving Elf Lords.) But that desire (to confront Sauron) would just be the Ring being something like a force of nature that wanted to return to Sauron, because it’s true allegiance was to Sauron and always would be until he was destroyed or until a stronger force of will could separate the Ring from him.  (In theory, could Gandalf have sat on a mountaintop and meditated until he had the strength of will to dominate the Ring and sever the connection with Sauron?  Possibly, it’s just that Gandalf probably wasn’t actually that strong, it was far, far less likely than the plan they had to destroy the Ring, and instead that Gandalf would have succumbed to the Ring, rather than winning over it.  It’s just not totally impossible that he might have achieved it.) So, I would say that, while the Ring isn’t capable of having a will of its own, nor could Sauron use it like a Palantiri to see exactly what was going on where the Ring was (so it wasn’t a literal extension of himself), the force of the Ring was always weighted towards returning to Sauron, that it would convince any wearer that Sauron had to be confronted, so that it could find its way back to him, and the only way to sever that connection was to either destroy it or have one of the divine beings do it.  (And it sounds like most of the other Maiar weren’t strong enough to have a solid chance at it and the Valar probably weren’t going to step in directly again--other than that the Valar were the ones who sent the five wizards/Maiar to Middle-earth--after they literally broke the world the last time they stepped in to help this fight.) Which means I think, yeah, the One Ring would try to convince them to go up against Sauron in his flaming eye form to defeat him, but the real truth is that almost no one could break that connection (while keeping the Ring intact) and so it was actually sneaking its way back to its creator.

[nerdyydragon]

I’m gonna get absolutely ripped into by the Tumblr purity police for this, and I’ve been around the internet long enough (too damned long) to know that this isn’t a new thing at all whatsoever but… fandom does know that people can enjoy a good villain, right? They can enjoy the character and don’t have to make excuses for liking them and remind everyone that they, the fan and poster of this content, do not in any way condone their behaviour and actually wrestle with the morality of enjoying them with every other breath, as though it is some Herculean undertaking to enjoy a character written explicitly to be enticing?

I’m going to talk specifically about RoP here for a minute because it’s the most recent show I’ve seen (and thus most recent subfandom I’ve dived into), but going into the tags there is an absolutely overwhelming amount of fic that tries to take the moral high ground about liking a character that’s written to be… evil. Like that’s it. Halbrand’s the bad guy!! Technically he doesn’t even exist! Sauron made up the alias because he couldn’t just go around giving people any number of names associated with a guy who supposedly died over a thousand years ago and has committed multiple fantasy war crimes, probably. The reveal scene where the ruse drops (Halbrand you’re scaring the hoes) is gorgeous, and Charlie does an absolutely delicious job of portraying a human smith-king struggling with a murky past only to drop it the moment it’s no longer useful. You are allowed to enjoy that. You are allowed to find it alluring and, dare I say it, attractive. That’s the point. That’s Tolkien’s whole argument in the Silmarillion.

Nobody was immune to sexy Sauron propaganda because he was considered too hot to actually do anything other than watch his hair glitter in the sun. Everyone around him considered that man “no thoughts, head empty, just vibes”.

Halbrand | Sauron is, by definition, a lying liar who lies, and fans have known that from the get that Mairon was originally so beautiful that pretty much nobody noticed that he was getting into shady side-hustles, at least in the beginning. But this trend of reducing antagonistic or villainous characters to single traits and negating the other elements of their “identity”—I’m putting that in quotes because it’s fiction even though that tends to unfortunately also happen to real people—that indicate they have other thoughts besides corruption and murder and brooding in a tower they built to plot their world domination ignores the deliberate complexity of fiction. Good characters imitate life; they’re not like real people, but they’re a representation of qualities and archetypes rolled into a ball for narrative purpose that reflect ideologies, politics, social conventions, and cultural norms.

There was a millennia between when Sauron disappeared and when Halbrand showed up (allegedly), and a millennia in which he became someone who on the surface appeared totally content with working in a smithy in Númenor and living as a common man. Do I think that would have worked for him long-term? No, he absolutely would have tired of it eventually, and canonically at some point he has to go back to the Southlands in order for the forging of the rings and the story to proceed. He presents himself both as Halbrand and in his mind-manipulations as someone who wants to save Middle Earth. In his mind he’s the hero; he’s under the assumption that he’s the best person for the task of freeing the lands of men from themselves and healing the nation after Morgoth’s rule (he’s wrong, obviously, because he’s both traumatized himself and too ambitious for his own good). Yet every fic I see of him sounds so incredibly terrified of embracing any sort of darkness other than “he’s evil and murderous and wants to corrupt everyone”. I have no problem with dark themes in fiction; maybe it’s because I myself am an author working with darker themes right now, but the majority of, at the very least more vocal fic authors, wrestle with their attraction to it in a way that falls very far short of “he’s evil and I alone can fix it” because it’s too undercut with “he’s evil and I need to everyone to know I don’t excuse it” which doesn’t make for good character. It just means your fic is a mouthpiece for purity grandstanding and avoiding people coming at you for liking a problematic character.

There are obviously a plethora of other examples, not even getting into shipping and this apparent need to justify a ship—if you don’t agree with or like something, just… don’t read it—but my point is that you don’t have to excuse a character’s actions to enjoy the character. It’s fiction. Obviously you don’t condone mass murder and tyrannical dictatorships unless the guy doing it is hot. Obviously you don’t condone abusive relationships. But my god, if you’re going to write fic for the literal villain of a series that people have been arguing about for literal fucking decades, don’t try to excuse your enjoyment of it by saying in the writing that you don’t agree (unless it’s for wider characterization purposes). Saying what amounts to “[character A] is obviously so attractive but they’re evil so [character B] can’t love them even though they did up until this pivotal moment, but A is So Evil Nobody Could Love Them although lust is fine because I, the writer, am clearly not excusing their actions and am obviously morally in the clear and Better Than You” is disingenuous.

Anyway this sort of got off the rails but this is all to say that you can enjoy the bad guy. That’s… the whole point of a well-written villain. You can’t have one without the other; you can’t say “I like the bad guy but only when…” because then you don’t like the character. You like the idea of them. Good villains, even if they’re doing explicitly shitty things, often believe they’re justified. They possess “logic” that informs the decisions they made—decisions written by an author deliberately to add complexity. So liking the villain but only when they’re not doing villainous things means you don’t actually like the villain, and you need to stop pretending you do, because for some fans the general disdain is very obviously at war with some secret attraction they believe is itself morally bankrupt and frankly it’s gross.

[ao3feed-angbang]

The Sonata of Flames

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2zOSrpr

by most_curiously_blue_eyes

It's a very well kept secret that Mairon Aulendil, known to some as a dilligent student at the medical department of the University of United Beleriand and a successful paid escort is, in fact, neither. In other news, Eönwë is confused and Mildly Disturbed, Melkor is oblivious and Very Attractive, there's a Noldorin crime syndicate involved in it somehow and Mairon is going to have his hands full. (Sequel to "The quality of dissonance", makes no sense as a standalone.)

Words: 7511, Chapters: 1/4, Language: English

Series: Part 4 of Sinful notes of decadence

Fandoms: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: M/M

Characters: Morgoth Bauglir | Melkor, Sauron | Mairon, Eönwë (Tolkien), Manwë Súlimo, Saruman | Curunír, Ilmarë (Tolkien), Aulë | Mahal, Gandalf | Mithrandir, Elbereth Gilthoniel | Varda Elentári

Relationships: Morgoth Bauglir | Melkor/Sauron | Mairon, Eönwë/Morgoth Bauglir | Melkor, Fëanor | Curufinwë/Morgoth Bauglir | Melkor, Aulë | Mahal/Manwë Súlimo, Elbereth Gilthoniel | Varda Elentári/Manwë Súlimo, Eönwë/Morgoth Bauglir | Melkor/Sauron | Mairon

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Polyamory, Open Relationships, Incest, Uncle/Nephew Incest, Psychologists & Psychiatrists, Mental Health Issues, mairon is a lying liar who lies, Trust Nobody, glorious references to canon

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2zOSrpr

[toothlessloveshiccup]

1. What if God had a foot fetish?

2. What if God was a lying liar who lies about not having favorites and not interfering?

3. His arch nemesis is Sauron, if Sauron was Pewdiepie

I just think it's kind of funny that when people try to describe how weird the Animorphs series is they go with things like "the time they killed Hitler in an alternate timeline" like that gag doesn't have it's own tvtropes page, and not "a giant butterfly who is a loser gamer bro becomes the sole surviving member of his species, absorbs the memories of half a galaxy and becomes a godlike megacyborg, then gets sucked into a black hole where he becomes even more godlike and can see the fabric of reality itself, and he's just a minor recurring character."

(I am slowly finishing the series after setting it aside for 20 years and I just got to the Ellimist Chronicles)