#and theodens death

[curiouselleth]

FALL, FALL INTO BED RIDERS OF THEODEN,

SWEET DREAMS AWAIT: OF ELVES AND JOY!

BLANKETS SHALL BE LAID, PILLOWS SHALL BE FLUFFED,

LET THE BLANKETS BE DRAWN BACK, THE ALARMS TURNED OFF!

FORTH, EORLINGAS!

FALL, FALL INTO BED RIDERS OF THEODEN,

PEACEFUL REST AWAITS: HOBBITS AND HOPE!

CURTAINS SHALL BE DRAWN, BLANKETS SHALL BE TUCKED,

A COZY TIME, A SLEEPY TIME, UNTIL THE SUN RISESSSSSSSSS!

SLEEP NOW! SLEEP NOW! SLEEP FOR GONDOR!

SLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP

SLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP

SLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP

credit to @maellor, who inspired this by refusing, once again, to go to bed at a reasonable time. and possibly at all I think this is some of my best work.

[mando-cyare]

Hail, Theoden King!

"I go now to my fathers. In whose mighty company, I shall not feel ashamed."

Bernard Hill passed away today, at the age of 79.

I'm rewatching the Two Towers tonight in his memory.

[conkers-thecosy]

I am so sad to hear about Bernard Hill, he’s done so many amazing roles, he was a fantastic actor, but to me he will always be King Theoden of Rohan.

[lostmymarbles]

i feel like the choice rhaenyra laid out for alicent was a bit... on the nose? but at the same time i feel like alicent has felt for a while, lurking in the back and sometimes at the front of her mind, that her sons were only half with her, like they were only half alive. because ever since she birthed aegon her father started pressing upon her that either aegon would take the crown or his sister would take his life. how then could she love either aegon or aemond with her whole heart? and how could she ever have fully reconciled with rhaenyra, knowing the threat her very life posed to her sons?

i really feel for aegon and aemond - despite their various sins - because now more than ever they crave the love of their mother. but she has been preparing to mourn them for a long time now. and through preparing to mourn them, they became easier to sacrifice.

helaena, meanwhile, is no challenge to rhaenyra's claim. helaena is safe to love. but helaena offers cold comfort as she speaks prophecies of doom.

[chernyadventures]

The King of my younger years has passed on.

Hail the victorious dead.

May you rest and your heart sing inspiration to many generations to come.

[ardashitposting]

[gone2soon-rip]

BERNARD HILL (1944-Died May 5th 2024,at 79). English actor. He is known for playing Théoden, King of Rohan, in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Captain Edward Smith in Titanic, and Luther Plunkitt, the Warden of San Quentin Prison in the Clint Eastwood film True Crime. Hill is also known for playing roles in television dramas, including Yosser Hughes, the troubled "hard man" whose life is falling apart in Alan Bleasdale's Boys from the Blackstuff in the 1980s, and more recently, as the Duke of Norfolk in the BBC adaptation of Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall. Bernard Hill - Wikipedia

[itspileofgoodthings]

return of the king has too many moments that make me want to jump into a pit of lava (ooof sorry) for me to be able to liveblog them all

[luthielion]

Live reaction to the good omens season 2 ending brought to you by yours truly

[kashilascorner]

super interesting how Denethor's demise has to do not with him lacking information but by the careful, constant exposure to one kind of information and one version of the truth. Also interesting how his pride almost ended Minnas Tirith, but it was his genuine grief that led him to it

[petermorwood]

It may not be a sentiment - at least not one expressed so publicly - proper to the warrior king of a warrior people whose parents would have to bury their fallen warrior sons a lot more frequently than, say, peaceful agrarian hobbit parents.

That said, the audience for these films aren't (mostly) warriors, so the line works, and Bernard Hill almost certainly heard some bereaved friend say it for real.

Maybe at the end of an illness - like my cousin Janet, not yet 10, from leukaemia - or maybe when a soldier son or daughter returned from active service on the shoulders of six mates, but far more probably as the result of an accident.

As a month or even week of watching any news programme will show, young people and vehicle fatalities are an all-too-frequent combination.

It happens to older people as well. My Auntie Cis (then in her 70s, she lived until 90) used those very words to my Dad & Mum at the funeral of her son who, thanks to a heavy cigarette habit, had just died in his 50s.

Parents burying their children breaks the natural order of things.

Old or young, fictional or real, too soon is too soon.

Bernard Hill said once that he came up with the line, “No parent should have to bury their child.” And, no, it’s not canonical, but it’s absolutely what the story needed. It’s what the character needed. Hell, it’s what we needed. It’s a better and more compelling and more relatable and more moving and more empathetic film for having that emotion expressed. It was such a simple idea, but such an important one. And we needed him to get it. May the simbelmynë always bloom on your place of rest, Mr. Hill.

[allmyrandomfandoms]

The Battle of the Pelennor Fields - the Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King live in concert at Radio City Music Hall

[torchwood-99]

Theoden's Favourite

Going off the books, I'd say Theoden's kids are ranked accordingly;

Eomer

Merry

-

-

-

Eowyn

-

-

-

-

-

Theodred (kid dies and he says nothing about it)

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Idis, the daughter cut from the first draft.

[hesperioae]

Hail the victorious dead.

"My body is broken. I go to my fathers. And even in their mighty company I shall not now be ashamed."

Thank you for giving us the Theoden we needed, Bernard Hill. Join your fathers and rest in glory. ❤️🙏😔

[maenefa]

So I’m thinking more about Peter Jackson and his inexplicable hatred for Gondor… I have never figured out why he (or more specifically Philippa Boyens) put this “Virgin Gondor, Chad Rohan” dynamic in the films.

It’s not just that they demonize Denethor, they also sanitize everything dubious about Theoden…

Remember the poignant funeral scene where Theoden weeps for his son and says “no parent should have to bury their child”? That was invented for the movie! Theoden never really mourns his son in the book. It’s actually quite odd and disturbing, the lack of emotion he shows. I don’t even know what Tolkien was trying to imply there.

Denethor is the one who grieves inconsolably for his sons in the book. But the movie downplays the heartbreaking, sincere nature of Denethor’s grief for Faramir. And his grief for Boromir is depicted as something harmful and self-indulgent.

We are supposed to admire movie Theoden for overcoming his terrible grief and choosing to keep fighting (unlike crazy evil Denethor) but in the book he doesn’t grieve openly at all! He shows some grief when he hears about Boromir’s death, but he is weirdly silent about his son Theodred.

Then there’s the Wormtongue issue. In the movie, Theoden is literally possessed by Saruman, which suggests that he is merely an innocent victim of Wormtongue. But in the book it’s unclear if there is actual magic involved: Theoden has chosen to listen to a bad advisor, and he bears some responsibility for trusting Wormtongue and ignoring Eomer. Book Theoden gets an actual redemption arc; movie Theoden hasn’t even done anything wrong!

Another thing that is BURNING ME UP after my latest re-read of LotR:

The infamous tomato scene.

We never actually see Denethor eating in the book. However, Denethor makes sure that Pippin and Faramir have food and wine during their meetings with him. Like… according to the fandom Denethor is supposed to be the Most Abusive Dad Ever, but after Faramir’s traumatic escape from the Ringwraiths he gets Faramir next to a warm fire and gives him wine and bread before he asks him any questions. Yeah, they have a nasty argument and say some hurtful things to each other, but their fight is bracketed with these quiet expressions of Denethor caring about Faramir.

The sheer perversity of turning Denethor, who sleeps in his armor so he doesn’t get soft—but makes sure that his guests are taken care of!—into a selfish glutton in a fur-trimmed robe who gobbles roast chicken and slurps wine in front of Pippin while he is sending Faramir on a suicide mission… um… yeah. I can’t be normal about this.