#TALES FROM THE SHIRE

[talesfromtheshire]

Post 02

*Disclaimer: The following is personal headcanons treated as hobbit history for this blog.

The Mullcans

At the birth of the dwarves, Mahal, their creator, dropped the seven fathers into the world. Durin, father of the Longbeards, was dropped in the Misty Mountains at Gundabad. The fathers of the Firebeards and the Broadbeams were dropped in Ered Luin, and the other four fathers were dropped in the Sea of Rhun. The Ironfists and the Stiffbeards left to go east from there to the Red Mountains. The Blacklocks and Stonefoots traveled south to Ered Lithui. 

The Blacklocks and Stonefoots lived in harmony, but some of the Stonefoots found the environment of Ered Lithui to be barren and rough. A caravan, led by King Thrambek, traveled south seeking warmer climates and greener mountains. Little is known about their travels during this time period, but somewhere in their travels, they befriended a small tribe of Men. For a couple of centuries, they traveled together. As interracial pairings became more common between the two, a new breed began to emerge. A strange cross breed of dwarven sized beings with large mannish feet. They were given the name “Mullcan” which was (as best as could be determined) a butchered Mannish interpretation of the khuzdul word “malkân” or Halfling.

Eventually the Mullcans were all that were left of the group, and once they reached Sutherland, they were left with a choice. Sail west along the coast to the Blue Mountains, or head north to the Misty Mountains. Unable to come to a general consensus, the group split in half. The first group made it all the way to the blue mountain range of Ered Luin. They took to the wilderness, eventually stumbling upon a group of dwarves in exile for various crimes. While initially weary of each other, they eventually settled down together, and the first “petty dwarves” were born. 

The second group made slow progress, their numbers growing and splitting as they did (creating three clans of Mullcan). Some settled just south of the city-state of Rohan. Some made it all the way to the Greenwoods, but the majority eventually found a home at the base of the Misty Mountains. However, no matter where they went, they were given a new name based on the burrow-like homes they built in the ground: holbytas (hole-dwellers).

[bywaterway]

Welcome to Bywater Way, a place where I toss in my line, lean back and relax by playing Tales from the Shire on the Nintendo Switch. Screen caps, amusings, and Twitch Streams found here.

coming soon...

[capesandshapes]

Two things are important to me in video games:

Can I date anything in this hellscape

Can I be a girl and will I be cute

[shadow-schemer]

I hope Weta would feature lovingly rendered 3D fantasy food to show to the player every time they finish and share their cooking with friends. Final Fantasy XV, Monster Hunter World, and Harvestella are my standards. That's all I ask, honestly.

[reallyhardy]

so behind the moon and beyond the sun,

step by step, where the road may run

happy trails to the lord of the rings: a musical tale at the watermill theatre, july - october, 2023.

[matchesandmetaphors]

So. I am lucky enough to be kindasorta friends with a very cool Nashville musician I admire, Amanda Shires. I am also lucky enough to work doing after-school programs at a school that is known as a bit of a chaos gremlin den, but with some very cool and fun children. I’m having a great time. The kids are awesome.

So. There is this kid. I’ll call her G. And y’all.

She is literally the 5th grade version of Amanda Shires. Like. I don’t know how to describe it except they are the adult and child version of each other. And it is DELIGHTFUL.

So, to get everyone up to speed, this is Amanda Shires.

Amanda Shires:

- Plays violin

- Art projects for days (paints in her spare time and is excellent at it)

- delightful chaotic ADHD energy (this is not me armchair diagnosing she literally mentioned it in an interview)

- amazing fashion sense

- funky shoes

- cool glasses

- kinda hilarious at nearly all times

- specific animal obsession (birds)

- Pisces

Now. This kid, G:

- ALSO PLAYS VIOLIN

- Art projects for days (I usually end up doing crafts with the kids on Fridays when they split up between kids who want to play gym games, make crafts, or do legos. She always comes up with the coolest most creative stuff.)

- delightful chaotic ADHD energy (luckily diagnosed, supported, all that, but neurodivergent af and I’m here for it)

- amazing fashion sense especially for a 5th grader (literally wears a purple cowboy hat randomly some days)

- funky shoes (was wearing white platform tennis shoes with little rainbow accents the other week)

- cool glasses (wears red cat-eye glasses with silver spikes on them)

- hilarious (commits to every bit, makes random funny noises, sometimes decides to be a hognose snake for the rest of the day)

- specific animal obsession (in her case, mostly bearded dragons, but also axolotls and snakes)

- but also randomly made this black feathered bird/plague doctor mask thing and randomly ran around the playground yelling “I’M A CROW”

- ALSO A PISCES APPARENTLY

Like I said. Seriously. Adult and child versions of each other.

Even better, I have now made them aware of each other’s existence. I was like “G, you have some very unofficial Spotify homework over spring break. Look up Amanda Shires. She is basically adult Nashville musician you.” I started describing her, and G was stoked. Also, when I mentioned the “very into specific animals” thing, she immediately asked “DOES SHE LIKE BEARDED DRAGONS?!?!” Asking the important questions here.

And I mentioned G to Amanda, like yo, just so you know there is a kid I work with who is basically baby you. (She seemed tickled by this as well.)

And now I’m telling the general public because this is just too delightful to keep to myself.

G came up in conversation with someone I work with, too. And I was like “okay so I have this friend halfway across the country who is her absolute twin, just 30ish years older. I feel like I have peered into the future and seen adult G, and it is amazing.”

Also this is gonna make me giggle to myself now every time one of my more uptight coworkers (not the person mentioned above) says something like “well, these kids are gonna have to learn to sit still/comply/be quiet/conform”, implying if I don’t make them sit “criss cross applesauce”, they will not become functioning adults.

Because y’all. I truly feel like I have seen this kid 30 years in the future. Without having to suppress her “weirdness”. And the result is great, actually.

[anacat195]

COZY SHIRE GAME!!!!! BY WETA WORKSHOP!!!! COMING IN 2024!!!

[ohwolfling]

Tales of the Shire is for sure a game that is happening in the neverending mining of the Lord of the Rings slash Tolkien IP but a 2024 release and what we've seen so far doesn't make me feel great. I was surprised to see so many exclusively positive responses to this! especially with Weta involved I'd hoped very rich design, even if in a simplified style. I'm just not seeing it. I think Tolkien lends himself to very rich, tactile worlds in any adaptational form, & this feels real phoned in to me. A simple life sim set in the Shire is THE PERFECT concept. it'll be eternally shameful to not put your all into it.

tiktok / youtube / twitch

[eglerieth]

Some of y’all are not appreciating Bilbo Baggins enough. I am here to remedy that. This guy has:

• somehow managed to establish himself as a respectable, staid hobbit by the time he was fifty, despite being both a grandson of Bullroarer Took and the Shire champion of pretty much every aiming-game known to hobbitkind

• had an in-depth debate on pleasantries with a random guy passing by in the street, who turned out to be GANDALF

• collapsed in front of his own fire shaking and muttering “struck by lightning” over and over again in response to hearing about dragons and danger

• mind you, this was after he screamed loud enough to startle a roomful of Dwarves

• signed up for a dangerous quest completely outside of his league out of spite

• when told to scout out a mysterious light, saw some trolls, and instead of reporting back with the information, decided to PICK THE TROLLS POCKET

• arrived in Rivendell for the first time and said it “smelled like elves”

• upon meeting a strange creature that visibly wanted to eat him, he decided to play a riddle game with him- and guessed pretty much every one, and made up his own riddles, afraid and alone, that not only were good and full of linguistic puns, but actually stumped the other guy- AND THEN CHEATED AND WON WITH A QUESTION

• showed mercy to said strange creature who wanted to kill him, and was now standing between him and freedom

• eavesdropped on the dwarves arguing over whether to try to save him, then popped up casually smack in the middle of them just as they were debating

• somehow managed to sleep like a log at the really really high eyrie full of wild predators

• found himself in a bad situation, said eff it, and turned around and antagonized and fought off an insane amount of man eating spiders, like enough of them that fifty was a small portion, by singing at them with incredibly complex and punny insulting songs composed on the spot, while simultaneously slaying them in multitudes despite having zero combat training. Seriously, we don’t discuss enough how epic the spider scene is.

• broke a company of dwarves out of the very secure prison of the Elvenking by inventing white water rafting with barrels

• charmed his way out of being eaten by a dragon

• stole the frickin Arkenstone from the guys who employed him, one of whom was a king

• took part in an epic battle, only to be knocked out in the first ten minutes and miss the entire thing

• was named elf-friend by the guy who’s prisoners he sprung

• wrote his own autobiography, complete with all the narrative recognition of his own heroics

• spent 60 years writing said autobiography

• taught his lower class neighbor’s kid how to read

• taught his nephew Elvish- not only Sindarin, but Quenya too

• spent decades telling his cousins his own story as fairy tales, complete with character impressions accurate enough that one of them was able to fool a servant of the Enemy with a second hand impression

• used the One Ring of Power to hide from his neighbors

• planned an elaborate feast with multiple social faux pas to mess with his neighbors, complete with a purposefully bewildering speech and culminating in him vanishing into thin air in front of everyone

• left his cousins and neighbors very unsubtle passive aggressive gifts in his will

• settled into Rivendell, randomly befriended the heir to the throne of like half of Middle Earth, and apparently spent his time writing very personal poems about his hosts and reciting them to crowds of elves

• after being invited to a Council of basically every major kingdom in the continent, spent a quarter of the time reciting vague poems about his friends, a quarter of the time telling anyone who would listen about his heroic past, and half the time interrupting to ask when lunch would be

• volunteered to bring the ring to Mordor

• became one of only four or five mortals in history to live in Valinor

Seriously, Bilbo Baggins may well be the most chaotic, insane person in the entire legendarium, and that includes the likes of people like Finrod “bit a werewolf to death to save the life of guy who he just met and gave up his kingdom for” Felagund.

[talesfromtheshire]

Post 01

*Disclaimer: The following is personal headcanons treated as hobbit history for this blog.

Magnolia “Maggie” Scriber

Born as Magnolia Lightfoot, Maggie was described by her teacher as always being a curious sort. She went through books faster than most hobbits could go through a meal, and still she wanted to know more. After hearing the great adventures of very important hobbits like Samwise Gardner, Frodo Baggins, Meriadoc Brandybuck, and Peregrin Took, even Bilbo Baggins, she wanted to write down and preserve a history of the hobbits. The only problem was no such history existed. 

Hobbits were the sort to share their histories by word of mouth. It was how they came to be gossipy sorts. While direct interviews were perfect for her current family histories, it did little to satisfy her question of where hobbits came from. She knew there had been three clans: the Harfoots, the Fallohides, and the Stoors, but any information on where they came from before existing in the Shire was lost to time. Or so she thought.

An acquaintance of hers in Ered Luin had found something curious when digging through their history books. Something to do with the petty dwarves, an extinct species of dwarf-kin from the First Age. It seemed they had been born from another species of smaller folk. The kind of which the First Age clans had never seen before. It seemed like a promising start, so steeling her courage and packing a bag, Maggie Lightfoot did something only a handful of hobbits had before her: she decided to adventure.

Her travels ended up taking her further than Ered Luin. By the time she returned to the Shire, she had been to Tharbad, Erebor, Moria, Rohan, Lothlorien, even as far south as Gondor. The hypothesis was momentous and would change the understanding of hobbits forever. She immediately began writing and publishing her histories, changing her name to Maggie Scriber in the process. The following pages are from her findings. 

[novacorpsrecruit]

I’m just thinking about Steve, who carried Eddie out of the upside down, begging for him to stay awake, to stay with him. Who carried Eddie into the ER, transferring him to a gurney and watched him get wheeled away.

And who, ones the dust settles, collapses in the middle of the ER.

Steve who never got the proper care for his bites from days ago. Never cleaned out, never properly stopped the bleeding.

Steve who developed an infection of his own and ended up in a hospital bed. Right next to Eddie.

Steve who watched Eddie lay still. Never seen him so still before. So quiet.

Steve who fought off delirium from his infections the first few days, talking to Eddie while Eddie was still unconscious.

Steve who became more sober after a couple of days, still talking to Eddie as if he could hear him.

Steve begging in the middle of the nights for Eddie to wake up.

Steve, who pulled his stitches out when he lunged for the call button when Eddie’s eyes were wide open, scared and confused at the machine shoved down his throat, breathing for him.

Steve who’s had to be ushered back to his own bed by nurses every hour since Eddie woke up.

Steve who frustrated the nurses so bad that they finally moved his bed closer to Eddie.

Steve who read lord of the rings and the hobbit to a tired Eddie. Steve who talked sports to Eddie’s uncle when Eddie was asleep.

Steve who coaxes Eddie’s first words since he woke up.

Steve who still has nightmares about the Upside Down, Eddie dying, the bats. Steve who can only be calmed down in the middle of the night by a hoarse voice, speaking for the first time in weeks. “It’s ok-ay, sw-sweet-h-heart. We-we’re ok-ay.”

Steve who’s finally okay.

Eddie, who survived.

Eddie who wished he didn’t remember anything. Who wishes he didn’t remember how the bats tore into his skin or how the blood tasted in his mouth or how Dustin looked down at him.

Eddie who wished he didn’t hear how broken Steve sounded as he begged him to stay awake.

Eddie who remembers the pain jolting through his body as Steve jostled him, carrying him out of the Upside Down. Eddie who remembers Steve brushing his hair back, who remembers his voice getting muddier and muddier.

Eddie who remembers Steve disappearing all together.

Eddie who doesn’t remember much past then. Who felt alone and empty until that voice comforted him. Until he heard tales of the Shire and Mordor. Until he heard pleading for someone to wake up, cries in the overwhelming darkness, whispers holding power like secrets.

He heard over voices too. Younger and older. Soft and loud. Talking to him or around him. Laughers and cries. It felt too much, but not enough. Eddie who felt not enough.

Then Eddie who felt everything all at once.

The room was too bright and too dark and too loud and too quiet all at the same time. He tried to move, too weak to do anything. There was a scratch in his throat that was too overwhelming then he heard that voice.

“Eddie, I’m here, I’m here, stay with me, okay?”

Echoes of Steve, repeating the words he last heard. Eddie who thought he died in the upside down. Eddie who thought he died on the operating table. Eddie who thought he was dead as he heard his cries. “They’re coming, Eddie, they’re coming.”

Eddie who found out he wasn’t dead. Eddie who was incubated after his surgeries. Multiple. Eddie who lost an incredible amount of blood and was still alive.

Eddie who is tired all the damn time.

Eddie who was never alone.

Eddie who’s now only an arms length away from Steve, after the bed was moved. Eddie who falls asleep as Steve carefully read his favorite books. Eddie who listens to Steve and Wayne talk about sports.

Eddie who can’t speak.

Eddie whose throat is too raw and sore and he can’t form the words.

Eddie who tries his best, but the best he could do was whine or sob or grunt. Eddie who somehow is able to carry a conversation with Steve without speaking.

Eddie, who tries his best to comfort Steve when he felt alone or afraid or scared.

Eddie who carefully pulled Steve across the divot of the two beds. Eddie who ran his hand through Steve’s hair soothingly as he cried.

Eddie who speaks for the first time, the words harsh out of his mouth but somehow soothing to the boy in his arms.

Eddie who leaves the hospital with a new love.

[sesamenom]

I wonder what part of Rivendell's protection is Turgon/Gondolin-inspired, on top of the Bruinen basically acting as a proto-Girdle?

looking at the map, the actual valley is mostly enclosed by the Bruinen, with the Trollshaws on one side and the Misty Mountains on the other.

the Map of Wilderland gives a bit more detail in the region, particularly around Mirkwood/Beorn's house. from here, it looks like the Eyries were somewhere around the Misty Mountains a bit north of Rivendell:

for comparison, here's Gondolin and Doriath:

the FA-era eyries seem to mostly have been around the Crissaegrim/Cristhorn area enclosing Gondolin, while the Girdle followed the approximate shape of the rivers around Neldoreth and Region, and Lorien's Girdle seems to kick in at around the Nimrodel:

so it makes sense for a potential Girdle of Rivendell to lie around the Bruinen, especially given Elrond's apparent control over the river (despite having Vilya and not Nenya - maybe it's an Ulmo/Earendil's Star derived thing?)

I don't think we've explicitly seen anybody trying to get into Rivendell and just getting lost at the Ford, so it's probably more of a manual Girdle: it doesn't actually stop people from finding the river itself, but Elrond gets a mental notification or something and can flood the river to wash intruders away.

Beyond the Ford, it does definitely sound like the travel time to Rivendell varies. This (plus the varying road length/road time) can probably be attributed to the time warping effect of the Three, like a weaker but much larger version of Lorien's time related stuff.

so basically it seems like there's a combination of the Bruinen acting as both a manual Girdle, plus the time distortion between the Ford and Rivendell, as well as possibly hiding Imladris in a similar way to Ulmo hiding Gondolin?

A bit of a theory that I’ve struck on while rereading the start of FOTR. I think there’s something guarding Rivendell besides the Bruinen. I think Elrond has taken a leaf out of Melian’s book.

There are some hints that the distance to Rivendell varies depending on who you are. Frodo starts approaching the Ford in late afternoon; he is in desperate need of healing, and is brought to Rivendell midway into that same night.

In The Hobbit, in contrast, the dwarves and Bilbo cross the Ford of Bruinen in the morning, and the sun is down by the time they reach Rivendell. There’s lot of references to the journey being longer than Bilbo would expect:

They came on unexpected valleys, narrow with steep sides, that opened suddenly at their feet, and then looked down surprised to see trees below them and running water at the bottom. There were gullies that they could almost leap over, but very deep with waterfalls in them. There were dark ravines that one could neither jump over or climb into. There were bogs, some of them green pleasant places to look at, with flowers growing bright and tall; but a pony that walked there with a pack on its back would never have come out again. It was indeed a mich wider land from the ford to the mountains than you would ever have guessed. Bilbo was astonished.

Then there’s Aragorn’s line when Merry asks him how far it is to Rivendell:

“I don’t know if the Road has ever been measured in miles beyond The Forsaken Inn, a day’s journey east of Bree. Some say it is far, and others say otherwise. It is a strange road, and folk are glad to meet their journey’s end, whether the time is long or short. But I know how long it would take me on my own feet, with fair weather and no ill fortune: twelve days from here to the Ford of Bruinen.”

(By the way, it always amazes me, now I’ve noticed it, that the hobbits manage this journey - which Aragorn says would take him 12 days on the Road, with “fair weather and no ill fortune,” in only 14 days with Frodo severely injured, travelling mainly off the Road, and with some bad weather and wrong directions. Some of that’s due to the extremely fast pace Glorfindel sets for the last twoand a half days, but it’s incredibly impressive.)

If anyone should know the distance from Bree to Rivendell, it should be Aragorn, a Ranger of the North fostered in Rivendell, who has probably covered that journey dozens to hundreds of times. And the Road is fairly straight; it shouldn’t be hard for travellers to keep track of the general distance. And also, Aragorn only gives the distance to the Ford, not to Rivendell itself. What if the distance and difficulty of the Road from the Ford to Rivendell varies, based on how well a guest is known. Frodo is the Ring-bearer, in desperate need; he makes it there fast. Thorin & Company are vouched for by Gandalf, but are largely an unknown quantity; it takes them the better part of a day. Someone with hostile intentions might never find Rivendell at all, even after days of wanderings.

[wynnyfryd]

Steddie comfort read rec list <3

i asked y'all to tell me your most re-read fics and once again got tupperware avalanche.gif-ed, so. for your viewing pleasure, please find below the cut in alphabetical order because i will apparently not being doing any actual work at work today the full rec list thus far:

a special privilege for the resurrected by theopteryx E | 56k | recced by @pennyplainknits

Among the Wildflowers by ParadimeShifts (@paradimeshifts7) E | 28k | recced by @thefreakandthehair

baby what's your blood type? (is it mine?) by cheatghost T | 5k | recced by @steddie-island

bear hugs by steddieas_shegoes (@steddieas-shegoes) E | 41k WIP | recced by @thefreakandthehair

butter, sugar, and northern mockingbirds. by througheden (@thefreakandthehair) E | 17k | recced by @just-my-latest-hyperfixation

call me sunshine, send me to space by steddieas_shegoes (@steddieas-shegoes) E | 90k | recced by @mugloversonly

carve your name into my chest by hexiewrites (@hexiewrites) E | 43k | recced by @thefreakandthehair

Critical Hit by AidaRonan (@aidaronan) E | 7k | recced by @steddie-island

Cut and Changed and Rearranged by AidaRonan (@aidaronan) T | 11k | recced by @pennyplainknits

Date me instead by Zhuletta E | 44k | recced by @thefreakandthehair

Dustin Henderson and the Lovebirds by pukner (@pukner) G | 10k | recced by @steddie-island

i come back to the place you are by pizzabones E | 212k | recced by @mugloversonly

i don't know, you figure it out by wynnyfryd E | 61k WIP | recced by @steddie-island

i've been having a horrible time pulling myself together by deadratz (@munsonkitten) E | 75k | recced by @thefreakandthehair

Keep it Steady, Eddie by outofmygourd E | 105k | recced by @mugloversonly

laughing at the broken glass by mustlovesteve (@mustlovesteve) M | 151k | recced by @bumblebeecuttlefishes

No Fairy Tale Ever Started This Way by ElliottRook E | 7k | recced by @steddie-island

Pas de Deux by Malikat22 (@malikat24601) E | 90k | recced by @br0ck-eddie

relax (lay it back) by wynnyfryd and Gorgeousgreymatter (@gorgeousgreymatter-x) and podfic by flintandfuss (@flintandfuss) E | 12k | recced by @just-my-latest-hyperfixation

Saltwater Prayer by Asgardian_Pirate E | 54k | recced by @thefreakandthehair

Sanctuary by SpicedSage E | 47k | recced by @pennyplainknits and @messessentialist

Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours) by steddieasitgoes (@steddieasitgoes) M | 61k | recced by @thefreakandthehair

so let's sneak in from the cheap seats, honey by pricklywhicket (@messessentialist) E | 14k | recced by @steddie-island

Someone who cares by Just_my_latest_hyperfixation (@just-my-latest-hyperfixation) E | 84k | recced by @mugloversonly

start by pulling him out of the fire by pricklywhicket (@messessentialist) E | 85k | recced by @steddieas-shegoes

The Shire is NOT on Fire by kissesforcas (@kissesforcas) E | 54k | recced by @frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe

Tuesday's Gone With the Wind by thisapplepielife (@thisapplepielife) E | 184k | recced by @wormdebut

wouldn't it be nice (if we could wake up) by kissesforcas (@kissesforcas) E | 130k | recced by @pennyplainknits

Your Biggest Fan by LexiRoseWrites (@lexirosewrites) E | 47k | recced by @mugloversonly

[justsomerandomfanfic]

Tales from Middle-Earth: Preferences - First Kiss Moments

Chapter 3: First Kiss Moments

Characters In Order: Aragorn, Arwen, Boromir, Elrond, Eowyn, Eomer, Faramir, Frodo, Gimli, Haldir, Legolas, Merry, Pippin, and Sam

Warnings: Suggestive only slightly (mentions of passionate kissing), and fluff

~~~

Aragorn;

Rain clung to both of you like a second skin as you stumbled into shelter, dripping and breathless. His hands cradled your face as water slid down your cheeks, his own hair plastered to his forehead. There was no hesitation, only the ache of relief and raw affection as his lips met yours, warm despite the cold, wet from the rain and the sheer urgency between you.

~~~

Arwen;

She moved closer with a serenity that felt otherworldly, brushing your cheeks with featherlight kisses, one after another like scattered petals. Her smile grew softer as she peppered your forehead, nose, and jaw with affection, every touch stealing your breath a little more. Then, with a stillness like moonlight, she found your lips with hers - soft and certain - as if she'd been waiting lifetimes for that moment.

~~~

Boromir;

It had been so long since you had last seen Boromir. But after a month of letters back and forth, you saw him across the misty field. Before you could even stop yourself, you threw your arms around his neck with abandon, catching him mid-step. His breath hitched before he crushed you against him, one strong hand at your back as your lips met in a kiss so fierce, so desperate, it left you both stunned, clinging tighter than ever.

~~~

Elrond:

There was silence in the library. You were admiring the world outside the window as Elrond joined you, abandoning his book. He stepped close enough for your breaths to mingle, his gaze never leaving yours. The air between you crackled as you closed the distance, your hands drawn to his robes like ivy to stone. Though no words left your lips, the thought rang through you like a bell - kiss me. You didn’t even need to ask. He leaned in, brushing his mouth over yours with purpose, before fully pressing his lips against yours.

~~~

Éowyn;

The moment crackled like firelight, full of longing. Her fingers tangled in your hair, desperate and unafraid, pulling you down to her. When your lips met, it was less a kiss and more a declaration of survival, of want, of a love that refused to be soft or silent.

~~~

Éomer;

It started shy - a hesitant brush of lips that could’ve been mistaken for an accident if not for the fire in his eyes. But then, as if the dam had broken, he caught your face in his hands and kissed you again, this time deeper, rougher, as if he realized he couldn’t bear another second without the taste of you. The softness was gone, replaced with something far more consuming.

~~~

Faramir;

You had been tracing the curve of his mouth absentmindedly, fingertips featherlight and slow. He barely breathed under your touch, watching you like a man spellbound. When his hand came up to cup your chin, the hesitation vanished. He tilted your face toward him and kissed you softly and reverently.

~~~

Frodo;

It started as a slow build, your hands intertwined and your foreheads resting together after a slow dance in the Shire. But when your lips finally met, it stole the breath from your lungs. There was nothing tentative in it - only the depth of emotion, the weight of everything unspoken. Even when the kiss ended, neither of you could open your eyes, as if you were trying to hold onto the feeling just a second longer.

~~~

Gimli;

You leaned against the cold stone of the stairwell, one step higher than him, the height difference making him scowl in that endearing way. He grumbled something about “even footing,” but it didn’t matter - his hands found your waist, making you take a few steps down as he took a few steps up, the artificial height difference almost equal as your fingers carded through his beard, and his lips met yours in a kiss that was earthy, solid, and utterly unforgettable.

~~~

Haldir;

There was no sound but the wind through the leaves as you both stared, unmoving. His gaze flicked to your lips and back again, and it was like gravity shifted. You leaned in without thinking, barely aware that he was doing the same. When your mouths finally met, it felt inevitable.

~~~

Legolas;

He kissed you like poetry, slow and rich with meaning, each movement filled with care. And when he finally pulled back, his lips hovered near yours, still sharing the same breath. He whispered something soft in Elvish you couldn't understand, but the way he looked at you said everything: that he was yours, utterly and forever, and that this was only the beginning.

~~~

Merry;

It started as a dare between laughs, something silly and impulsive - but it didn’t stop. One kiss melted into another, and before long you were still locked together, still breathing each other in. His hands gripped your waist as your lips moved slowly, endlessly, until you both forgot where you ended and the other began.

~~~

Pippin;

He threw his arms around you in a hug so tight it almost knocked you off balance. The kiss came as part of the whirlwind - sloppy, sweet, and honest. It took your breath away, not because of perfection, but because it was so utterly him: impulsive, golden-hearted, and full of joy you didn’t know you needed until that very moment.

~~~

Sam;

The kiss was soft but growing - your hands in his hair, his trembling fingers tracing your waist. The moment held promise, deep and hungry with something more, until the rustling of branches and a familiar voice startled you both. You pulled apart, breathless and flushed, hearts still tangled as your eyes darted to see Frodo, wishing for just one more second.

~~~

Taglist Is Open;

@verynormalsstuff

~~~

Tales From Middle-Earth Masterlist

Preference: What To Know Post

[acornfromtheshire]

Bagginshield Fic Recommendations!

The list is pretty long and separated by rating. All fics are finished.

General

a tale of ivory table cloth and ruined weddings by Imagined, rottingflower, Scarlet_Ribbons (2/2) (Post BOFA, everyone lives, and Bilbo remains in Erebor) - The company was planning Thorin's wedding, and Bilbo was tired of being left in the dark about who Thorin was betrothed too. He was also confused on why it bothered him so much that Thorin was marrying someone else. Turns out he was betrothed to Thorin without knowing. Not Quite First Sight by Ias (1/1) (Post BOFA) - After a heavy dose of medicine from Oin, Thorin falls for his intended all over again. I Got Married In Erebor And All I Received Was This Mithril Shirt and I Got Married In Erebor And All I Received Was Disrespect From My Entire Company by thisislegit (Cannon divergence) - Super funny fic pair where Thorin accidently proposes to Bilbo, and than Bilbo takes charge of rebuilding Erebor and stopping the war.

Teen

Recovery, Redemption, and Romance by luvsbitica (40/40) (Everyone lives, post BOFA) - Bilbo surprises everyone with his healing abilities after Thorin was injured in the BOFA. As they rebuild Erebor Bilbo also surprises everyone once again with his skills. A dwarf king and a hobbit being obvious of each others courting attempts. Alone this Yuletide by Emisecat (18/18) (Au, pretend relationship) - Bilbo became tired of suitors, and family not leaving him he hires Thorin a working blacksmith to pretend to be in a courtship with him. Oak and Mistletoe by HildyJ (9/9) (Erebor never falls) - After his life being dominated by a strange sickness. Thorin his sent to the Shire to seek a cure only Bilbo can offer. Marriage of Necessity by Agent_Snark (30/30) (Bilbo remains in Erebor, post BOFA) Thorin wanting Erebor to be in good hands when he and his heirs surely pass from their wounds, he and Bilbo get married on his death bed. When the Durins, others are not to thrilled with Bilbo and Thorin's marriage. Something to Start With by MulaSaWala, and storyforsomeone (4/4) (Post BOFA, everyone lives) - Bilbo helps treat Thorin's wound after the BOFA, and things get lost in translation, and courting mishaps.

Muture

Something Blue by Lupin (5/5) (Post BOFA, marriage of connivence) - Thorin and Bilbo get married after the BOFA, it was strictly a marriage of convenience not love. They got to make the best of it which they do. The Intricacies and Intimacies of Braiding by minedwitcher (35/35) (Everyone lives) After Bilbo saves Thorin's life, Thorin grows a soft spot for his the company's burglar which leads to a discussion of hair and culture. As the pair grows inseparable, the company starts their bets.

Explicit

The Burden Of Choice by fantasyinallforms (12/12) (Arranged marriage au) - Thorin and Bilbo are forced into an arranged marriage by King Thror and the Thain for a political alliance. Both Bilbo and Thorin run away from Erebor and end up bumping into each other as they both try to escape the arranged marriage. Without knowing who the other is they begin their travels together slowly gaining each others trust, and fall in in love with the person they where running from.

[conundrumoftime]

One of the fun things about shipping Haladriel and about Galadriel's story in Rings of Power, for me, is that we know exactly where this is going to end up. And I wanted to babble for a bit about where that place is because I have seen so many people view it as "she is retired to some woods to be a passive wife-and-mother who can do magic but in a mystical New Age-y way", and: no! No.

So a quick overview of where she will end up by LOTR:

Very much not removed from the war against Sauron.

She is constantly mind-battling against Sauron: One of the lines that inspired McKay and Payne's whole show was her talking about this: "I say to you, Frodo, that even as I speak to you, I perceive the Dark Lord and know his mind, or all of his mind that concerns the Elves. And he gropes ever to see me and my thought." In one of the versions of the Annatar story in Unfinished Tales, Sauron immediately realises she will be his 'chief adversary', and has apparently not changed that assessment 3500 years later.

She co-ordinates joint efforts against Sauron: The White Council that Elrond talks about in LOTR, the combined force of Ring-bearers, wizards and elf-lords that first drives Sauron out of Dol Guldur - she's not just on that, she founded it.

She gets Gandalf back after Moria and the Balrog: Galadriel learns what's happened to Gandalf from the Fellowship when they arrive in Lothlórien. The the Fellowship are sad; the elves of Lothlórien mourn; Celeborn loses it a bit and says Gandalf 'fell into folly'; but Galadriel sends Gwaihir the eagle to get him, returns him to health, updates him on the situation with Boromir, gives him some messages to take to the others, and sends him back on his way.

She is possibly in Lothlórien because of its position of strategic importance: from Unfinished Tales here, she 'saw that Lórien would be a stronghold and point of power to prevent the Shadow from crossing the Anduin in the war that must inevitably come' and that's why she and Celeborn go there. (There are other versions as with almost everything else in Tolkien, but this is one of them.) She's not there to hide away from Events.

2. Calmer than in TROP, but not all-wise and all-sweet and still pretty scary.

She is still tempted by power and world domination: "I do not deny that my heart has greatly desired to ask what you offer [...] In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the morning and the night!"

And, she doesn't just turn down the One Ring because it's abstractly eeeevil. She turns it down because she knows what she, specifically, would do with it. Sam sees a vision of the Shire, and tells her "I wish you'd take his Ring. You'd put things to rights. You'd stop them digging up the Gaffer and turning him adrift. You'd make some folk pay for their dirty work," to which she says that yes, she would: "That is how it would begin. But it would not stop with that, alas! We will not speak more of it."

And saying she wants to rule the world here is not me joking about! This is Tolkien describing that moment in LOTR:

It was not until two long ages more had passed, when at last all that she had desired in her youth came to her hand, the Ring of Power and the dominion of Middle-earth of which she had dreamed, that her wisdom was full-grown and she rejected it

People are scared of her: The only scary moment we directly see is the Ring temptation, but she does other unsettling things. When she meets the Fellowship she tests them by reading their minds and offering something they really want to see if it would make them "turn aside from the road and leave the Quest and the war against Sauron to others." (She offers Sam a garden; the One Ring later on tempts him with the same thing.) Even the hobbits are a bit disturbed by this and Boromir, who's already said he doesn't want to go into Lothlórien because people who do that never leave again, absolutely does not trust her.

Éomer, a few chapters later:

'Then there is a Lady in the Golden Wood, as old tales tell!' he said. 'Few escape her nets, they say. These are strange days! But if you have her favour, then you are also net-weavers and sorcerers, maybe.'

She's scary! She's ancient and powerful and people are scared of her.

3. Married, but not in the character-limiting way the nerdbros want it to be and would have you believe it is.

I am not telling anyone they should ship Galadriel/Celeborn or even find it interesting just because I do, but, the angry nerdbros fancasting Celeborn as Henry Cavill and talking about how he'll come back to tame her and tidy her neatly out of the narrative are writing their own little AU headcanons because that is not what's in the text.

She's the more powerful one. Partly because she's one of the 'High Elves' - she's Noldor and has lived in Valinor seen the light of the Trees - which for various reasons about the way Tolkien's elves work just makes her more powerful, partly because she has a Ring of Power and Celeborn doesn't. It's her Mirror; she's the one reading people's minds; she's the one locked in endless mental battles with Sauron; she's the one the Rohirrim (whose lands border Lothlorien's) tell each other scary stories about. Celeborn at no point ever seems to have an issue with this, and calls her his 'treasure'.

They work together. Even in a big-action-sequences sense: after Sauron's defeat, Celeborn 'led the host of Lorien over Anduin in many boats' to Dol Guldur, where Galadriel 'threw down its walls and laid bare its pits'. But the rest of the time, too: she says of him that 'together through ages of the world we have fought the long defeat'.

You really get the sense that they have been married for a loooooong time. An actual sequence of events in LOTR, somewhat condensed:

The Fellowship reveal there's a Balrog in Moria;

Celeborn goes "!!!!", complains about dwarves waking it up and says he'd never have let Gimli into Lothlorien if he'd known that;

Galadriel smacks Celeborn down for being rude to their guest;

Celeborn apologises to Gimli;

Galadriel tells the Fellowship that Celeborn is accounted the wisest of elves;

Boromir says something about "old wives' tales";

Celeborn, whose wife is one of the oldest beings in Middle-earth, tells Boromir not to be so dismissive because "old wives keep in memory word of things that once were needful for the wise to know";

Galadriel hands Celeborn a drink.

Whatever is going on here is clearly something that works for them, is what I'm saying! And you don't have to find their marriage interesting just because I do, of course; but what it's not is some trad fantasy of domestic subservient-wife anything.

So where her TROP story ends up is ultimately with LOTR Galadriel: powerful, important, tempted to rule the world, a bit calmer than in TROP, a bit happier than in TROP, co-ordinating big strategic efforts in the war, married to someone who's got her back and adores her and they fall out a bit sometimes but generally work pretty well together, and still having Sauron constantly trying to get into her head. I am fine with this! I am more than fine with this.