#Varda is the best

[varda-delle-stelle]

A Elbereth Gilthoniel

silivren penna míriel

O menel aglar elenath!

Na-chaered palan-díriel

o galadhremmin ennorath,

Fanuilos, le linnathon

nef aear, sí nef aearon!

A Elbereth Gilthoniel

o menel palan-diriel,

le nallon sí di'nguruthos!

A tiro nin, Fanuilos!

This is the Mother Mountain behind my Home and when I got out this afternoon I felt amazed watching the light and the mist around me and I truly felt like I had stepped into the mythical word (or maybe all of our planet looked like this) and I really wanted to take a picture, so here it it is alongside Varda's hymn because she is the best and I love her so much 💙

[randomrichards]

VAGABOND:

Drifter found frozen

Locals recall meeting her

She won’t stay in place

[velvet4510]

I just want to say to my fellow female Tolkien fans that we should not feel ashamed for loving these books that are admittedly male-centric.

It’s tempting to call Tolkien a sexist for including so few female characters in his legendarium - and I admit that yes he was not entirely free of sexism - but we must remember that the women he did include are the epitome of girl power and some of the best role models we could ask for: strong and willful and noble and brave, without sacrificing their femininity to prove themselves.

It’s glorious to me how you can flip through the books and see page after page of men doing everything … and then suddenly:

There’s Varda creating the Stars, Sun, and Moon!!

There’s Yavanna saving her trees by inspiring the creation of the Ents!!

There’s Melian making an Elf king forget his own people and then shielding an entire kingdom!!

There’s Lúthien defeating Sauron himself AND Morgoth himself!!!

There’s Idril preventing the complete annihilation of her people by creating the secret path out of Gondolin!!

There’s Galadriel resisting the One Ring!!

There’s Éowyn killing the lord of the Nazgûl!!

There’s Ioreth saving the victims of the Black Breath through her knowledge that the king will be the healer!!

There’s Arwen bridging the gap between Elves and Men as Queen of Gondor!!

There’s 100-year-old Lobelia beating Ruffians with her umbrella and leaving money in her will to help homeless hobbits!!

There’s Rosie raising 13 kids while simultaneously serving the whole Shire as Mistress of Bag End!!

There’s Elanor guarding and preserving the Red Book so that we can read it now!!!

That’s why I just can’t hold too big of a grudge about this. Yes, Tolkien didn’t write female characters too often, and it would’ve been fantastic if there were more. But when he did write them, they were amazing.

And on top of that, his male characters display literally our dream level of healthy masculinity in a man. Frodo, Sam, Aragorn, Faramir, etc. are our wish fulfillment. We have every right to enjoy that.

[thesummerestsolstice]

I like the idea that the Valar can grant boons to men or elves they favor. Sometimes visible– glowing markings, feathers, claws– and sometimes not. Attitudes of these blessings ranged from fear to reverence to jealousy, often reflecting opinions of the Valar more generally.

Galadriel's special treelight hair came from Finarfin. Finarfin got it as a result of Manwe's favor. Given how rare it was for Manwe to bestow such gifts, this caused quite a stir. Later, Morgoth would spread rumors that Manwe was trying to set Finarfin up as the new Noldor crown prince, bypassing Finwe's older children.

Namo gave Fingolfin a blessing, and no one was particularly sure why, Fingolfin included. The truth was that Namo had already foreseen Fingolfin's death, and wanted to give him the strength to let him wound Morgoth before falling to him. Namo has always felt a sense of responsibility for those who choose to come to his halls, even if he's powerless to change their fates.

Celegorm was blessed by Orome, given the kind of teeth and claws that a few of his best disciples had been granted over the years. Orome couldn't take those gifts back, so Celegorm kept them for all his life. You wouldn't know that looking at paintings of him, though, because none of them show him with the marks of Orome's hunt. Whether this was a choice made by him or by later revisionists trying to minimize his connection with the Valar is unknown.

Varda gave blessings to both Earendil and Gil-Galad in the final years of the First Age. Both of them are said to have shone like stars afterwards, and there were some darker rumors that like the hallowed Silmarils, they would burn any unholy flesh that touched them. Some speculated that the blessings were Varda's way of apologizing for leaving the elves to face Morgoth alone for so long.

Ulmo is probably the Vala who's given out the most blessings– Cirdan, Turgon, Finrod, and Tuor all recieved boons from him, among others. But everyone who's gotten blessings from Ulmo is weirdly secretive about it. There's lots of gossip floating around– Ulmo is the reason Cirdan has a beard, Ulmo is the reason Turgon is taller than Maedhros, Ulmo is the reason that everyone likes Finrod so much, actually everyone blessed by Ulmo gets gills and he has secret underwater meetings with them– you get the idea. Well, probably no reason to consider that last one. I can't imagine any of the Valar using their power for something that foolish.

There is fierce scholarly debate on whether Thingol received a blessing from Melian, and whether her descendants could, theoretically, do the same. Elrond would like everyone to please stop asking him about it. Elrond would also like everyone to please stop talking about Gil-Galad's hair turning silver after the two of them took a very normal hunting trip together.

(Multiple Valar have tried to take credit for just how amazingly luscious and wonderful Finwe's hair is. But no, that wasn't a blessing. He's just like that.)

[sotwk]

Ahhh what beautiful character design! Thank you for the tag, @ladyweaslette! <3

So, I thought about Varda again

[dfwbwfbbwfbwf]

I refuse to believe the Valar wouldn't have fought Morgoth without the Silmaril.

(There's a TLDR at the end.)

.... Not really Valar friendly, but not anti Valar either. Valar critical, but still more on their side than not.

I have many, MANY issues with how the Valar handled a lot of things - Finwë's remarriage, stepping over Finwë's authority as king, basically letting Morgoth go after his false repentance was revealed, basically letting Morgoth go because he crossed the Helcaraxë, the Silmarils, refusing to go after Morgoth when F��anáro made it clear he would never give them his Silmarils, etc. - but I don't think they're malicious enough to hold back their help by the time Eärendil arrived.

When the Darkening happened, the Valar were ... naive is probably the best word I can use to describe it. And petty - they are absolutely petty, especially Yavanna and Tulkas. "Oh, the Noldor don't want anything to do with us? Well, we WON'T help! How about that? And don't call back because we won't even answer the phone!" Then Manwë sat by the metaphorical phone wondering sadly why they wouldn't call. :(

.... I have honestly no idea why they didn't go fight Morgoth to begin with - they could've evacuated everyone out of the area like they did in the War of the Powers - but I digress. I still don't think it was malicious or because they wanted anyone to die. (Well, maybe Yavanna - I've never really gotten vibes from her that she likes ANY of Eru's children because they use her precious plants to survive, though maybe she'd like the Hobbits.) I think it was more of a childish thought on the Valar's part. "Fëanáro will see one day, and he'll be sorry!" That sort of thing.

And I think the Valar didn't really see anything wrong with what they did until the Dagor Bragollach. They made the Sun and Moon, and Men came to be, so clearly everything was going fine. See, Fëanáro, the Valar didn't need to do anything so drastic like return to Endórë.

Of course, then everything else happened......

.... I find it very difficult to believe that the Valar wouldn't know about this. Námo and Vairë would, 100%. Varda, too - she sees everything. And Manwë hears everything, and he's clearly been listening to the goings-on in Endórë before. Ulmo also actively participates in what goes on in Beleriand. These five at least would know how bad it's gotten in Middle Earth.

It was around this time Turgon sent sailors to beg help from the Valar, mind you. All drowned to Ossë, save Voronwë, and Ulmo did nothing. And it can easily be argued that the only reason Ulmo didn't let Voronwë die was so that someone could take his pet Man to his pet Elf's city. Which I guess is better than nothing, at least.

I justify this with the Valar being petty but not malicious. I genuinely think that Manwë thought the Noldor would pray if they needed help. (Yes, he said to never call him again, and the Noldor probably DID pray in the beginning - especially Turgon's people - but Manwë ... doesn't exactly logic very well.)

Anyway, Eärendil would eventually show up, and let's say he didn't have the Silmaril?

At this point in time, the Valar would have no excuse. They would know exactly how bad it is in Middle Earth. And the fact that Eärendil is pleading for mercy for everyone - including the SoF - should have an impact. If they still refused to go against Morgoth because he didn't have a Silmaril, the Valar would not be good and moral. Maybe not quite as bad as Morgoth, but they wouldn't be far off.

.....

I wonder if Eärendil is one of those scenarios where you are so focused on an outcome - either to make it happen or to avoid it entirely - that it comes to pass through your own actions.

The Valar - or at least Námo, because we know at least he can see the future - saw Eärendil as the only way to save everything from Morgoth, and became so fixated on him that they inevitably created that future. "We have to bend the rules Ilúvatar made about marriage, or Eärendil won't come." "We can't get involved, or Eärendil won't come." "We need the Sons of Fëanáro to do these horrible things, or Eärendil won't come."

(I absolutely DESPISE this logic, but it's better than the "all is well in Valinórë; yea, Valinórë prospereth - all is well" logic the Valar show. At least it would mean one of the Valar was taking steps to fix things rather than ignore the problem in the hope of it going away.)

-----

There's also the fact that Melian herself told Thingollo to give up the Silmaril. She can see the future, and she'd know the hearts of the Valar. If she had even an inkling that they would reject Eärendil without the Silmaril, I don't think she'd suggest returning it to the SoF.

-----

I guess you can say "the Valar needed to see the Noldor had gotten over their prideful ways", but I still don't see how EÄRENDIL giving them a SILMARIL would do that. It wasn't his to give. It wasn't ELWING'S to give. Or Dior's. Or Thingollo's. Or Lúthien's. Or Beren's.

-----

TLDR

I think the argument that Beren, Lúthien, Thingollo, Dior, and Elwing needed to keep the Silmaril away from the SoF to save the world is complete and utter bs, and I'm not afraid to say it. There's no way the Valar are so cruel and heartless as to let all of Endórë die to Morgoth because they didn't get a Silmaril - that goes against everything that Tolkien believed of them. They're flawed, but they aren't (supposed to be) selfish enough to watch the world burn to prove their point.

I think the compassion Eärendil showed had more of an effect in changing the hearts of the Valar than the Silmaril.

[lamemaster]

Eonwe with a Gen Z S/O

I have absolutely no idea why this exists. But here we go-

Self-depreciating dry sense of humor...not flying with this Ainu (pun very much intended). Do tell him that "I am literally dead" is not literal. Does not catch sarcasm. Do not test him, please. bby will cry.

Revels in all the cute nicknames for him. Call him Pookie and he's butter. But only in private kitten whiskers.

He is the epitome of - "Not here kitten whiskers, Daddy will discuss it later."

Will not hesitate to pull a "In our days," on you, despite being an immortal (RIP).

He is amazed by your ability to do nothing and exist in the realm of absolute nothingness. Not to forget all the naps, which he reluctantly joins to cuddle with you.

But he will not hesitate to pick you up and take you outside to touch grass if the situation calls for it.

Not the best with slang. He is quite envious of how fast Varda seems to catch on to it compared to him. Even Mairon (in fix-it).

Gets an aneurysm every time you bring up pro-Feanor arguments to spite him.

Somehow exceptionally good at taking blurry photos of you. Can be your personal drone if bribed accordingly.

As your supportive partner, Eonwe is here for moments of nostalgia when Chemical Romance resurfaces. He's confused but he's got the spirit.

Perfectly capable of keeping up with your fleeting attention span.

Got a new baking hobby? He's here with Kementari's trusted recipe.

Is a LinkedIn bro without LinkedIn. It's giving small town, everyone knows everyone with this Ainu.

He's constantly amused by your chicken scratch of handwriting.

Did laugh for an hour when he saw you trying to scroll a book.

An unlikely but wholesome pairing. He needs someone who is capable of telling him, "It's not that deep."

He is Barbie and you are Kenough of this pairing.

It's just vibes around here. And yes, he does allow you to dye his wings pink in the middle of an emotional breakdown.

Overall, bro is a green flag. 10/10 would recommend (I am sober).

[aureentuluva70]

One last thing(I hope), I was reminded of this hilarious little comic made by @strelkovski, because YES Ulmo absolutely did the same thing with Uinen and Osse as well. Tuor and Idril is not the first couple he's set up together, and trust me it will not be the last.

Ulmo, in his elaborate matchmaking effort to make sure Earendil was born, looked at Tuor and Idril and said "THIS SHIP WILL SAIL AND NEVER SINK" and then personally made sure of that, sending Earrame straight to Valinor and getting Tuor immortality so he and Idril could stay together forever.

Ulmo, despite being single, and besides from being the Lord of Waters, is also the Lord of Ships, in more ways than one.

[sotwk]

who is an underappreciated/little talked about oc of yours that you would like to get more attention? (And feel free to talk about them!)

What a lovely question, thank you Anon! <3

I am lucky enough to have such supportive friends that my OCs are reasonably well-supported. If some of them don't get enough attention, it's because I'm the one who doesn't talk/write about them enough!

I would say that it is my version of Thranduil's wife and mother to Legolas and his brothers, Elvenqueen Maereth, whom I hope more of my readers come to know and love as I do. She is to me what Lúthien, Varda Elentári, or Galadriel were to Professor Tolkien: my vision of a perfect woman. But more than "perfect", someone wholly good and kind, full of love, and worthy of admiration. For that reason, I think a part of me will always worry that readers would criticize her as a "Mary Sue" (ugh that word), which holds me back from singing her praises as much as I would wish to.

Furthermore, every Thranduil or Legolas fic writer has their own version or ideas of the Elvenqueen, so I can understand why some readers would rather keep to their preferred visions. Therefore Maereth remains my extra-personal, special blorbo OC. I am deeply appreciative of anyone who shows interest in her.

I collected headcanons specific to her here: Maereth Headcanons.

If I could recommend one fic that (so far) best demonstrates her best qualities, it would be "The Broken Shield", which is surprisingly a Thorin-centric fic! But this story highlights key aspects of her character that I love best:

How she was a lifelong ally and friend to the Dwarven race, particularly the Line of Durin.

How she continued to work and fight against evil till the end, even after centuries of loss and suffering and heartbreak (sons dying, kingdom collapsing, etc.).

How she took an active role in ruling the kingdom alongside her husband, even in making critical decisions.

How deeply Thranduil loved her, so much that he could never replace her with another.

Thank you again for the Ask, Anon! I almost never talk about Maereth unless encouraged, so I appreciate this chance. :)

SotWK Fancast: Jennifer Connelly as Elvenqueen Maereth

[ramoth13]

Interesting Trends and Voices in the Silmarillion Fandom

~

Although I have been a lover of Tolkien since the earliest days of my youth and have been a Tolkien Scholar for over a decade, I have not made too many forays into the Silm fandom other than when I was younger and more recently a few years ago. Thus, I was rather surprised by the trends that seem to be mainstays of the Fandom and which ones I've seen big shifts in. I'll mention them briefly, but please note, although I may share differences of opinion regarding these characters or themes, we all share a deep love of the source material and that makes us fellow Enthusiasts. Whatever our differences, we have more in common with what we love than that which we do not.

With that said,

A "newer" trend I've noticed is the number of Fëanorian apologists, which is rather surprising, especially given their vocality. Some of the more common trends in this vein:

~A general indifference towards Fingolfin apart from a "if he had been through what Fëanor had, he would have been that way too" kind of approach, etc.

~All of Fëanor's sons (but especially Maedhros) are often given the best possible excuse for every action and bad decision. Others like Thingol or Elwing, less so.

~Finarfin and his children are generally regarded as boring, except for Galadriel who is either, loved as being awesome, wild, and wise or slightly disliked for having ill-opinions of Fëanor or some combination of the two.

~Fingolfin's line is seen as either goody-two-shoes or full of themselves, with the exception of Fingon who is close friends with Maedhros.

~The Valar are often illustrated to be antagonists, especially when in opposition to the Fëanorians.

~In the same light, I've seen a few posts that portray Luthien as being somehow problematic, seemingly to balance out the negative Fëanorian interactions she endures.

~One of the more sad effects of this apologist line of thinking is the Denegration of Elrond and Elros' parents. In order for Maedhros and Maglor to be considered "good" their actual parents are seen as "bad" despite little evidence of that being the case.

~ It seems Fëanor and sons have become the golden child of the Silm fandom, a spot once reserved for Sauron and Morgoth, if memory serves.

NOTES:

These are all fairly intriguing lines of discourse and I understand that they are tied up in and often heavily influenced by the fan-fictions and fannons. Still, it does make me wonder, with how vocal the Fëanorians are (especially on tumblr), how many Nolofinweans are in the Fandom? How many fans of Finarfin's cohort (or as one Tumblr user once called them), the blondes?

Some older trends that continue:

~Thingol still sucks (at least by common thought). It is interesting that despite all of the love of the Noldorin lines given their proclivity towards violence and bad decisions, the fandom still has not been able to lend some compassion towards the reigning Sindarin Monarch.

~Celeborn somehow ending up with Galadriel is still a big mystery (I do love this one).

~Sauron is still seen as Morgoth's boyfriend/lover/etc.

~The Valar are antagonists (before this was due to the Sauron/Morgoth apologists, and now it seems to stem more from a Fëanorian view)

~Turin and Beleg are still a ship (I am pleased).

~Halls of Mandos Reunions (always a classic).

~Gimli/Legolas ship.

Some older trends I don't see as much:

~Fingolfin/Fëanor ship (I'm not upset that this one is scarce. Even in Fantasy, incest isn't my thing).

~Fingon/Maedhros ship (see above note)

~Celebrimbor is the greatest elf of all time.

~Melkor/Manwe/Varda and/or Sauron love triangles.

I'm curious to see what others think of these trends. I'll be the first to admit, I have always had a fondness for the Nolofinweans, but it is interesting to see the growth of the Fëanorian fans and how quickly their voice has grown into one of the primary topics of fandom discourse (which is good, I love the discussions!).

~ Ramoth13

[evidenceof]

how do you do the coloring in your gifs? it's so pretty 🥰

this is such a huge compliment. thank you!! i'm glad you think so, considering this is my first whack at ~seriously doing it. coloring is my favorite step! i’ll be as helpful as i can, but if you find any of the tips too vague, feel free to dm me!

we’ll be using this webgott gif set you indicated as the guide! here are the before and after samples of the gifs so you see what we'll be tryna achieve from base to final frames:

for the steps, ill go over several things: a. Why I do this step: a.k.a. what i’m trying to achieve with each adjustment layer b. How I do this step: how i personally adjust the settings c. Before and after samples of the colors so you can see the progress after each of my steps

onward

this is my first time typing down a tutorial so please be kind. i am (very) new to all of this and most of what i learned, i’ve learned from reading a bunch of tutorials on here (that i’ll credit down below), and watching too many youtube videos on color adjusting digital images, and coloring old wwii photographs.

this answer will be focused on just how i personally color, but i’ve linked some guides for creating base gifs that i also studied.

! before anything else !

i use photoshop to create and color my gifs and mpv to capture my screencaps from my files. also this ISN’T the ONLY WAY and the BEST WAY to color. this is just how i personally go mad on photoshop. <3 

Coloring tutorials that have been super helpful in getting me on track:

dicom gifs - not technically a coloring tutorial, but this is how i import my scripts on to photoshop.the process feels smoother for me (no need to reverse the frames etc. and the resolution always looks and feels better when i'm done with them)

general coloring + hi res gifs - great place to start with tips on what files to use for maximum crispness

masking layers -  for when you only want to apply an adjustment layer to a specific part of your gif, great for skin tones!

STEP ZERO: know what you like

This sounds very “ok captain obvious” but i do think it’s such a vital part of the process. the technical stuff gets very tedious, very quickly. and if you don’t know what colors draw you in, what colors you’re trying to lift and see in your gifs, you’re going to be tinkering around with the settings for longer than you’d like. so have references ready, if that’s your jam.

and with that, i'd like to show you some examples of colors that i gravitate towards that greatly influence how i color my gifs. i'm a huge 40s technicolor girl, 35mm 60s film girl (see ernst lubitsch, powell and pressberger, jacques rivette, agnes varda). and because i’m coloring a piece of media set in WWII, 1940s, i like studying the colored photographs (think winnix chair photo in color).

so am always looking to punch up my reds and greens, deepen and add browns, saturate skin tones so there's warmth there, while grays/shadows tend to veer towards a cooler tone. 

sorry for the thick paragraphs under this but i think it’s very crucial! once you’ve got that down pat, or at least have some handy references with you, it’ll be less of a pain to go through the next steps.

My process/sequence of adjustment layers

Base DICOM Script → Curves → Levels (optional for me) → Color Balance →  Color Fill Layer → Hue and Saturation → Selective Color

What that looks like on Photoshop:

STEP 1: DICOM BASE SCRIPT

Why I do this step: These are your frames! This is also the part where you adjust the sharpness of the gif so you don’t get a blurry image after cropping it down to tumblr dimensions.

How I do this step: I use actions for my DICOM script. I used to do it manually but now I use this Good Good Action Scripts by Redbelles. Cuts down the time, arranges them in the timeline for me. And as I’ve mentioned, it just feels better for me.

If you’re using pngs/screencaps as your base script, you can follow the instructions here instead.

This is also the part where you can adjust you can play back the gif and see if you’re happy with the positioning of your crop. Your timeline will look something like this.

STEP 2: CURVES LAYER 

Why I do this step: i’m concerned with getting what i just label as "true color." you'll notice that with band of brothers especially, the more you look at the scenes, the more you'll just how a) yellow the daylight scenes are, b) how blue gray and nothing else the darker scenes are, c) the lighting can get muddy. 

personally, when I adjust curves, my goal is to try to get the image as neutral as possible, which then allows me to inject as much color as you see fit. So think of it as eliminating as much of the coloring the editors of the show placed into the scene, so that you end up what is essentially a blank canvas.

How I adjust my Curves Layer: I pick the high, mid, and low lights of the scene. This video goes into that in depth. But you can also just choose the auto options if you’re just, like me, concerned with getting the image as neutral as possible. For a while I did in manually to understand what it was meant to do. But if you want to do it easily do the following steps.

> Auto adjust - by clicking the hamburger icon/ the three lines on top.

> You can choose between “Enhance per Channel Contrast” or “Find Dark or Light Colors”. Make you you tick on the “Snap Channel Midtones” to get the most neutral image. The tool bar should look like this:

Let’s compare the frames with and without the Curve adjustment layer:

Great! We’ve gotten rid of some of the darker overlays on both their faces, see more contrast between the foreground and the background. This gives us a better base image to color in for the next steps.

STEP 3: COLOR BALANCE LAYER

Why I do this step: To me this is like underpainting but not really? It feels like that though.What it helps me do is to adjust the hue/dominant colors of the highlights, midpoints, and shadows. so let's say even at it's most "neutral" state, I still find the image too yellow or too red. At this point of the process, I’ll add more cyan. if i want the yellow to adjust into an orange/brown area, I add in a bit more magenta and adjust the greens. it's here where i decide if i want the shadows to lean more towards a cooler tone or a warmer tone. It helps you make these crucial adjustments before you go in with the Hue and Saturation layer. (This is where you knowing what colors you like, comes in immediately!)

How I do this Step:

> Add a Color Balance Layer

> Adjust the three points: I’ll exaggerate the Color Balance adjustment so you can see what points are being targeted by each hue adjustment and where you can add those colors under this step. The tones do bleed into each other, so adjust sparingly if you’re not going for a complete wash of color.

Midtones: Let’s you adjust the “middle” areas, i.e. some of the biggest chunks of the frame. See Web’s entire face, the gray wall in the back ground, his ODs

Shadows: Let’s you adjust the darkest parts of the frame. See his hair, the barrel of the M1, the darkest parts of his glove. 

Highlights: Let’s you adjust the colors of the the brightest parts of the photo. For this frame it’s Web’s forehead, and the very tips of his fingers.

Let’s compare the frames: With the Curve adjustment vs. Adding the Color Balance

You’ll notice that I’ve only nudged the tones a little bit here. The accompanying gif (Liebgott’s) has greener overtones, and I wanted to balance some of that hue in this set. 

Highlights: Wanted more brown tones. Nudged the arrows to add more red, green and justtt a small bit of blue.

Midtones: Nudged the arrows to have a touch more red and a touch more yellow to make the skin tone lean to a warmer hue.

Shadows: Needed this to be cooler so I nudged the arrows to give it a bit more Cyan, while still adding just a hint of yellow. Together they make the image a tinge more green.

Once I’m happy with this, I move on to the next step. You can go back to this step, of course! If you want to make adjustments after you’ve applied the next layers. <3 

STEP 4: LEVELS LAYER

Why I do this step: I use this in place of a Brightness and Contrast layer or Exposure Layer. This is where I reintroduce shadows and points of light. Here I can choose to add a bit more depth, or to reveal more of the shadowed points of the image. I don’t always move this around, and this is an optional step for me, but I did it for this gif set.

How I do this Step:

> Add Levels layer

> Adjust midpoint arrow to the right or left - this can lift any shadows if you move it towards the left, and deepen any shadows if you move it towards the right.

> Adjust the highlights arrow to the right - Optional as well. If you want to introduce/emphasize the brightness in the image, make the high points even whiter, you can slide this more to the left.

> ****I don’t adjust the bottom slider. This adds a “fade” into your image. If you want lesser contrast, and more of that flat quality, you can move this around but I barely touch this.

Let’s compare the frames: With previous adjustments vs. Adding the Levels Layer

Here, I deepened the contrast and shadows, I wanted more black in Web’s hair, and to give more depth to his ODs and gloves. The shadows also help define their features more prominently, better outline for both their eyes and nose. For Lieb, I lifted the shadows a bit to show more of his face, and see more of the redness of his lips that I love.

STEP 4: HUE AND SATURATION LAYER

Why I do this step: You’ve prepped your canvas! This is where everything’s sort of breathed into life. Spoiler alert, if you’re coloring Band of Brothers specifically, you’ll be moving the red and yellow a LOT, and rarely any of the other color layers since they are… non-existent in most frames. Here is where I give the skin more color, differentiate the shades of olive and green that’s prominent given that they’re soldiers. This is also where you’ll see the blue/green eyes pop out if the frame permits (Web, Winters, Bull, and Randleman’s eyes tend to reveal some blues and greens every now and then!)

Hue Area: Mixes your chosen color and adds more magenta or yellow.

Saturation Area: Dulls or Saturates said hues. 

If you move your arrow towards the extreme left, you get a dull green, if you move it to the right, you get highlighter green.

How I do this Step:

> Add Hue and Saturation Layer

> Open the drop down - I try not to move the ‘Master’ area because it washes the entire gif with hue and color. I’m only targeting specific areas and colors.

> Adjust Reds - I tend to make my reds lean more towards magenta. To do this I drag the arrow towards the left and inject some more magenta into the mix, not too much that they look sunburnt (though sometimes that’s inevitable. I’ll show you how to fix it later on!). I saturate the red a lot. As I’ve said, I love red lmfao. So I want that to be lifted in the image.

> Adjust Yellows - I also want my yellows to be a bit more orange in darker scenes where they’re seen mostly on skin. So I move the arrow again to the left.

> Adjust Greens - There’s green here huzzah! I wanted to lift the color a bit more from his uniform, make it more olive than a dark gray/brown, so I added more yellow by moving the arrow to the right and upping the saturation.

*Tip: If you’re unsure about which color you’re adjusting, you can take the dropper tool on the screenshot, click on the area of the frame you want to fix up, and it will register the prominent color.

Let’s compare the frames: With previous adjustments vs. Adding the Hue and Saturation Layer:

You’ll notice there’s a lot more pink on their faces, some reds on Web's fingertips, and a brighter, more prominent red on Lieb's lips. The color of their ODs is a bit more true to its name of olive drab now! The contrast of the added color to Web's skin also makes his eye color pop out more. Their skin looks alive! Yay!

STEP 5: SELECTIVE COLOR LAYER

Why I do this step: I think of this as finishing touches. Sometimes I find that I want to adjust the reds, yellows, etc. more specifically and I can mix in more color to get it to the exact tone I want. This is where I can do that. Selective color lets you add or remove more cyan, magenta, and yellow tones from your hues.

How I do this Step:

> Add Selective Color Layer

> Open the drop down and choose which hue you’ll be adjusting

> Adjust the colors accordingly- I don’t use it in this specific gif, so here’s a different one of Harry in Carentan. I adjusted the reds and yellows to have more cyan (moving arrow to on the Cyan scale to the left), making the red more purple, and the yellow more green. It’s VERRRY subtle, but it matters greatly to me lmfao. 

STEP 6: COLOR FILL LAYER

Why I do this step:  I really... love browns and warmer skin tones, even if they're right smack in the middle of Bastogne (lawl sorry!!!!!). band of brother's footage in particular, if i only adjust the skin tone at the hue and saturation level, there will be parts of the skin that register as white or gray (i.e. technically not hues) and not "red" or "yellow", what that means is, even if you adjust the saturation and hue and amp it up to the highest level those patches of white and gray will remain white and gray and you'll be left with patchy soldier skin. sure, it's realistic but i want warm skin! 

How I do this step:

> Add Color Fill Layer: Click the Circle symbol that's half white, half black. Select "Solid Color"

> Choose a color: I gravitate towards a light brown or a light orange. Click okay and don’t panic when your entire image is covered by a solid block of color.

> Play with Blend Mode and Opacity: I usually use Linear/Color Burn which allows me to see warmer colors overall but especially, and most importantly for me, their skin. The end result is giving them the TINIEST bit of a tan but also introducing more natural color against the grays and whites that register. Less patchy skin on you WWII vet!

You can tinker with the opacity and blend modes to see which looks best for you.

Let’s go back to Web and compare the frames: With previous adjustments vs. Adding the Color Fill Layer:

Tada!

Now all that's left is to transform them back into frames on the Timeline (see linked tutorials above!) and save.

And that’s more or less how I color my gifs! I tinker a lot with the layers after. Sometimes you need to see it all together and then make the adjustments after. I do more of some steps, and less of some depending on the frames and the scenes.

Having a good grasp of color language helps a lot and it’s something you do end up learning while making gifs or just looking at images/media whose colors call to you.

Sort of as an end note/exercise, you can see what it is about the color and lighting of The Pacific that draws you in, and amplify that in your gifs. Perhaps you’re drawn to the orange of the sun, or the bright almost jewel green of the tropical foliage. Maybe you’re really into the browns and the dusty scenes. It all helps you pick out what you want to ramp up and tone down in the colors.

I hope this was… even a tiny bit helpful. Again, feel free to DM me or hit me up on Discord if you want some clarifications/if you need help WHILE you’re making the gifs. Happy to help! <3 

[valar-did-me-wrong]

Rings of Power S2|E4 reactions

💍

Artanis alert!!

Them bickering shouldn't matter this much to me ಥ _ ಥ

The LOTR Jogging Routine™

Hi personification of our hopes & dreams for Celeborn in S2 :3

boy did you break some hearts!

The absolute beauty of Robert Aramayo in curls ❤️‍🔥

Angy Elrond is a VERY sexy Elrond ngl

Sauron hearing his Engagement Ring being called a "Trinket"

So that's the infamous goat!

TOM BOMBADIL has freaking arrived!!!

may the dude bros die mad 🙏🏽

fuck that must hurt!

awwwwwww....

Hobbit Love!

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Nobody knows how to count ¬‿¬

Fucking GANDALF!!

GRAND-ELF FUCKFUCKFUCK FUCK FUCK

Clean Girl Esthetic Middle Earth edition

Manwë unable to do anything about the Varda slander:

They need stronger soaps in Rhûn, that man is still dirty af

Avengers Assemble

etc etc

Elrond saving Galadriel's ass like

Internal plumbing in MiddleEarth?! I need to edit my fics now

That was brutal Arondir!

They weren't kidding about the mud in those interviews I see (• _ •)

nor about the creatures | ◉ ͟ʖ ◉ |

He is so ready to be a dad goddammit!!

This Hobbit origin story is legit the best part of this show

I literally feel nothing about this loss

Beardless Halbrand!?!!

preposterous

Isildur building his anti Casting out habit, one day at a time!

Thranduil's elves always being ✨Perfection ✨ is exactly what Tolkien would have wanted!

I'm crying & so are you! 😭

Ent wife my beloved 💚

That heartbreak would have been my villian origin story too!

Elrond having no chill this season is one sad coming of age story ˙◠˙

Cue the name changes from

Adar to Maglor ❤️‍🔥

like Southlands to Mordor in S1

S2|E1 S2|E2 S2|E3

[shrikeseams]

'So @corsairspade's post about Celegorm and Orome and luck sent me down a tangent, because--

Okay. Part of the silmarillion that rubs me wrong is that the Valar never seem to experience any actual consequences for their failures and missteps. Their choice to trust Morgoth has disastrous consequences--everywhere outside of Aman*. Their mismanagement of Noldorin politics leads to the kinslaying at Alqualonde and the Doom of the Noldor (and arguably the knock-on dooming of beleriand) while the valar sit tight at home. Sauron gets loose and spends millenia wrecking shit, but that shit is all conveniently far away from Aman. The only time he gets close to Aman, it ends in a genocide--of people that the Valar wouldn't let into Aman in the first place. They stay high and dry and unchanging through the literal re-shaping of Arda.

So. Consequences! I want them. So what if the apparent waning of the Valar's strength across the Ages is actually a direct consequence of their isolationism?

After all, why are the valar in arda? They're there to build it, and then maintain it. They're there to embody their domains. My conception of them (and I know this isn't universal but this is my personal working baseline) is that each ainu's domain of power is their calling. Their reason for existance. It's the lens they perceive the world through, and they derive their strength of existence in the world by perpetually embodying and enacting that calling. Ulmo is defined by the restless motion of the waves. Varda is defined by the light of the heavens and the shining of the stars. Orome is defined by the hunt.

But then they restrict themselves to Aman. They functionally took themselves out of Arda well before the third age. They made a deliberate and conscious choice to restrict the scope of their activity/influence. What if that choice also restricted the scope of their power?

I keep coming back to Orome because. Look. His case of obedience to authority vs obedience to one's own nature/calling feels so egregious. If any valar should have spent the first age in beleriand, it should have been Orome and Tulkas. Orome's calling is The Hunting of Evil. Tulkas only showed up in Arda to fight Melkor! The act of sitting out the fight reduces both of them from forces of active good to... what? Courtly vestigial remnants of their own true natures? You don't stay the best at what you do by avoiding doing it. Maybe the valar don't retain their primordial powers if they don't exercise them. Maybe limiting the scope of their direct influence (to the place it was arguably least needed ) likewise limited the scope of their strengths.

Which leads to a situation where the valar cannot, in fact, defend Aman against Numenor, because they thought that isolation was enough. So they sat out two ages of the world, and when the world came to find them at home they realized too late that their choices would have consequences for themselves, not just others.

*If you try to argue that the loss of the Trees is equivalent to the destruction of a fucking landmass and the actual enslavement of unspecified numbers of people, save your energy. Just take my disappointed look as a given and go find some other post to comment on.

[eilinelsghost]

I’m quite fascinated by the way that you “play chess with LaCE” (love that phrasing, btw) especially when it comes to Russingon. I’m curious how and why you chose to write it as you did, particularly what seems to be Maedhros’ choice not to marry Fingon? If you intend to expand on this later in the series, of course I’ll gladly wait. But if you can say anything now, I do love your commentaries - they’re always so insightful. :)

So! This is a finnicky one to answer. But I will do my best! This got long, so I'll break it up by each part of the question:

Let's Play Chess with LaCE

The "let's play chess with LaCE" tag is sort of a joke to myself. It originated because that's what the whole thing felt like when I started working on the series. I've talked elsewhere about how the entire Atandil story came about because I was annoyed by seeing several Finrod/Bëor posts and went back to reread the Athrabeth to marinate in how impossible it was....and then came out of that obsessed with the two of them and with half this story pre-formed in my head. The upshot of this was that a) I knew I wanted to write this story, but b) it was very important to me that it operated "within" canon rather than disregarding it, and c) that I needed to find some way to do this where Finrod was (at least not consciously) a complete hypocrite in the Athrabeth.

But the tag is sort of a joke with myself because it also represents how Finrod is throughout the narrative. He's just in a constant chess-game with his own convictions, with his shifting understanding of what it all means, and with what actions are "right" given those factors. This is becoming increasingly apparent in the current installments where he is trying to find ways of inhabiting both things at once without crossing into what he fears would be transgressing Doom.

But Balan, for all he will say that Finrod "understands far more of our lore than do I of his philosophy" (The Warning Sounds Too Late), can play chess just as well and is perfectly capable of calling Finrod on his bullshit even when (especially when) it's his philosophy. And (spoiler) he will.

Portrayal of LaCE in Atandil

As far as "why I chose to write it as I did," I assume this means re how exactly Atandil depicts marriage happening in a LaCE-compliant story, specifically in the latest installment with Fingon/Maedhros? If so, the simple answer is because this is what LaCE says. I know we often talk about it as being "you have sex, you get elf-married," but that isn't actually what the text tells us.

Here is the oft-quoted statement that Elves can and did "marry thus of free consent."

But.

It is caveated with a parenthetical and we can't ignore that. Because "save blessings exchanged and the naming of the Name" is a requirement just as much as the bodily union is a requirement.

Even in the original description of a traditional ceremony, we are told that "it was the act of bodily union that achieved marriage, and after which the indissoluble bond was complete" (emphasis mine). It was the final act in the sequence of acts that culminated in an Elf-marriage - the one that completes it, not the thing within which the whole is encapsulated.

Hilariously (given the "just have sex and you're married!" assumptions), the blessings that this parenthetical references are the ones of the father and mother (see the screenshot below where these are cited as the blessings attached to the naming of the Name).

Obviously this was not going to be possible in many of the quick wartime marriages the text is discussing, so presumably the naming of Varda and Manwë in witness is something that is either taken on by other representatives who stand in for the parents in a barebones ceremony, or by the pair themselves if alone - as evidenced by endnote 9 in the first screenshot which directs us to this regarding Beren & Lúthien:

All that to say, that is the reason I chose to write LaCE the way I did: because it's how I've always understood the text.

Fingon & Maedhros

Regarding Fingon and Maedhros specifically, I'm afraid I don't really have a detailed answer for you here besides "it worked for the narrative."

Having concrete evidence of a) the incompleteness of Finrod's understanding of this so far and b) the fact that this is something done in practice by people he knows well and is not just a hypothetical was going to be necessary to set Finrod in a prolonged wobble about his own convictions re the whole situation. I won't expand on that here because we will go into that in the story itself, but that's the strategic reason for the specific Russingon depiction in Atandil.

Speaking generally though, I don't have particularly strong Russingon feelings and so I struggled quite a bit trying to figure out how to approach this. They sort of exist by default in the background for me, but I don't really have a lot of well-developed ideas around them. However I checked with some other friends who do have a lot more Russingon insight and who have also adhered to the nonmarried option (credit to @welcomingdisaster and @thelordofgifs for the following thoughts), and they said this is because both Fingon and Maedhros are already bound to other things: Fingon's loyalty is foremost to Fingolfin and Maedhros' is to the Silmarils/the Oath.

And that is my best attempt at answering! Sorry this got absurdly longwinded 😂

As always, thanks so much for the ask! It was really fun to have a reason to try wrangling my thoughts on this into written form.

[from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras]

Religion in Rohan

On the recommendation of @sotwk and on the off chance that others find this interesting or useful, here is another summary of some of the background head canons that support how I think of Rohan when I'm writing stories set there. This one is about religion, for lack of a better term, and covers at a high level what they think about gods, the afterlife, etc. and the influence of that on their culture. I fine-tuned some of this recently as part of a back-and-forth with others, and it's (hopefully?) more interesting than my pages of thoughts about changes in Rohan's horse breeding economy over time (the TL;DR there is that Théoden’s grandfather created crown-sponsored horse breeding enterprises to better supply the expanding army, but that ended up forcing some of the traditional horse breeding families into poverty)! Anywho...

Most of what we know about the religious history of Middle Earth (the full Silmarillion-style recounting of Eru, the Valar, the making of the world, etc.) comes via the elves and Númenóreans. But the Northmen ancestors of the Rohirrim didn’t really interact much with these groups, and so their knowledge of that history was limited to what they directly experienced themselves or what filtered through to them in sometimes irregular ways. This means their belief system, which is what became the Rohirrim belief system, is a mix of those Silmarillion-style ideas plus concepts they picked up in other places and some homegrown beliefs and practices. 

For example, the Rohirrim don’t make a real distinction between Eru and the Valar. To them, they’re all “the gods” who made the world and are of roughly equal power and importance (though they are particularly attached to one as further discussed below). 

They also recognize fewer of the Valar than others do, having a stripped down set of 7 associated with earth, sky, water, plants/animals, battle/protection, weather, and all things to do with the spirit/soul (roughly corresponding to the Silm’s Aulë, Varda, Ulmo, Yavanna, Oromë, Vána and Eru). The compression of all the spirit-based Valar into just one likely happened because these Valar almost never left Valinor and so the evidence of their separate existence for those who had never been there was tenuous at best. Although the Rohirrim gods have spheres of influence as denoted above, the lines between these gods are porous and they might all be involved in anything. They also each have their own Rohirric names.

The Rohirrim don’t practice their beliefs in a form that is anything like organized religion – no formal rites, ceremonies, prayers, etc. They simply pass down beliefs from generation to generation, and individuals or families may all have different ways of expressing those beliefs (or may choose not to express them in any sense). The primary purpose of their beliefs is to explain the world as they see it around them (How was the world created? Where did this storm come from? etc.). People may appeal to a certain god for help in difficult times or they may give thanks to a god for luck or fortune, but they also believe direct, purposeful intervention by a god in the real world is extremely limited since the War of Wrath and the end of the First Age. This causes the Rohirrim to put a lot of weight on both living honorably and taking care of your community, because there probably is no god coming to help you – you can only help each other. 

Unlike the Gondorians, who think the ultimate fate of mortals beyond the world is unknown, the Rohirrim believe in a very specific afterlife. They believe the gods come to collect the dead and reunite them with their families so that they can “live” a second existence together with one another (the so-called “halls of our fathers”). Anyone who doesn’t deserve admittance to their family’s halls is put in service of the spirit/soul god until they’ve earned their honor back through deeds.

The Rohirrim are particularly attached to their god that is the Valar Oromë the huntsman, who they call Béma and associate with both battle and protection. He was a great favorite of the Northmen, and this connection was passed on through time to the Rohirrim. 

They believe that, just as he did for the earliest elves, Béma rode among early men. They don’t care that the elves and Gondorians don’t believe this happened; they will not be swayed and say that he came in disguise, which is why others didn’t recognize him. They further believe that Béma chose their ancestors among early men to be his loyal foot soldiers in the fight against the evil creatures of the world. He asked for their aid, and they granted it. This established a firm belief among them that coming to the aid of an ally against evil is a sacred duty, never to be refused or ignored when requested in good faith.

As his allies, Béma bestowed horses on them, and the most treasured and best of those horses (the mearas) are thought to be descendants of Béma’s own horse, Hnaegan (whose elvish name, Nahar, is meant to evoke the sound of neighing and so the Rohirrim call him by the Rohirric word for “neigh”). Because Béma always hunted and fought on horseback and usually announced his arrival through the blowing of his great horn, the Rohirrim inherited these same practices from their ancestors.

Béma also influenced the disposition of the people, who adopted his very stern personality and his tendency to pursue thankless duty with grim determination. Showing Béma-like strength and persistence in the face of insurmountable odds is considered one of the very highest demonstrations of character in Rohan, akin to a religious virtue.

While their reverence for Béma shaped many significant elements of Rohirric culture and identity, they also ask/hope for his intervention in times of crisis. As a huntsman, they leave him small offerings of spear heads or bridle bits when they most hope that he will come to their aid, and the phrases “Béma protect us” or “thank Béma” are common parts of the lexicon – as noted above, they don’t necessarily *expect* Béma will show up and intervene, but it doesn’t hurt to ask!

Although their focus is Béma, the Rohirrim also give some primacy of place to his wife, whose name is Vána in the Silmarillion and is called Ácith in Rohan as the rough translation of her epithet “Ever-young”. She’s associated with the weather and turning of the seasons. Much like the other peoples of Middle Earth, the Rohirrim say that flowers bloom in Ácith’s wake as she walks through the world, which she does at the end of each winter to usher in the spring. The Rohirrim also believe that the consistent and otherwise unexplained appearance of simbelmynë on their graves is evidence that Ácith has been there to personally escort the dead to the halls of their fathers. The Rohirric expression that someone “went with Ácith” means that they died.

Other common Rohirric expressions with religious roots: “the light of Hnaegan” (a sign of hope in a bad situation, deriving from the sparks of light that came from Nahar’s golden hooves and were the first light in the world after Morgoth killed the trees); “you’re going to hear Béma’s horn” (you really fucked up and are about to experience someone’s wrath); and “to earn the hall” (doing something good and honorable that would earn your place in the afterlife halls of your fathers).

[cilil]

Miscellaneous Manwë headcanons...

...because I feel like talking about him right now idk

Manwë actually didn't want to be Elder King - which makes him a good choice at least in terms of avoiding tyranny - but accepted Eru's choice and tries to do it to the best of his ability. He would give up his crown in a heartbeat if Eru said so and has been tempted by Melkor multiple times, as it would be a great relief for him

To this day Manwë doesn't know the full story about what happened between Melkor and Varda. Melkor didn't tell him out of shame and Varda didn't tell him to avoid him worrying about hurting his brother's feelings. Whenever rumors go around Valinor, Manwë assumes it was a pretty standard sort of dispute

He's still sad about Melkor's betrayal and believes in his redemption. However, he knows that he and Nienna are pretty alone with this belief and therefore stopped talking about it. Manwë has since taken to grieving and hoping in secret, not even sharing these thoughts with Varda sometimes

The reason why he doesn't speak to mortals is not any sort of elitism or dislike, he has merely learned that, much like with Melkor, he has trouble understanding them and his presence would likely cause more harm than good

Manwë's title as Lord of the Breath of Arda and the way he uses his element to defend himself against Melkor in Lost Tales imply that he creates air and wind by breathing. This in turn may result in him always providing fresh air, maybe actually breathing regularly like incarnates do (simply for convenience) and being unable to suffocate, even if he decided to wear a fána that requires air

Due to his nature as a being of air and wind, Manwë is very light. Despite the size difference, even a Hobbit could lift and throw him

This is also why he hates any sort of restrictive clothing and will pretty much always wear robes and nothing else

Manwë is pretty much always floating, it's just not visible due to his robes. He even performs walking motions and thinks he's walking like everyone else as long as his feet touch the ground occasionally, but he isn't quite there. Nobody has had the courage/bothered to correct him yet

Manwë switches back and forth between humanoid and bird feet frequently and often forgets which set of feet he currently has. This leads to him grasping and holding on to things using humanoid feet with surprising dexterity. He also prefers to use stress balls with his feet

Due to bird feet having talons Manwë has ruined various pairs of shoes and socks over the years and has since stopped wearing them entirely because he feels bad whenever he ends up breaking things by accident

Manwë has blue eyes (that part is actually canon). He defaults to having blue eyes in other fánar as well and is only seen with different eye colors if he's actively choosing to change it

His wings are always there, but not always corporeal or visible. Manwë summons and dismisses them as he sees fit. He is of course able to fly with them, but doesn't need them

Will add more later maybe, we'll see