#anyway i hope this is useful to some people <3

[eri-pl]

You are a great believer of the only Eru can create true life theory it seems from your posts- what origins of dragons do you subscribe to then in how they were made from something else? How much personhood do you ascribe to individuals among them with variation/free will?

Thank you for the ask! I love asks!

First, maybe I am pedantic on words, but I like to be on the same page, so:

I don't fully agree with the word "believer" in context of a fictional setting, especially given that they are people (I've seen one on YT) who genuinely seem to believe in the Legendarium as mythology/religion/I'm not sure what word to use. I don't.

I respect (or sometimes hype about maybe too much) some of Tolkien's ideas on hot his legendarium ties to the real world, can't internalize some others, but at the end of the day, it is fiction, so the question is less "what is true" and more "what makes sense with the story and world", "what Tolkien intended".

And I do believe (based on things I read and watched on YT) that Tolkien did intend to "evil cannot create true life" and "only Eru can create souls". Does "true life" mean "sentient", or "alive in general"? If "sentient", how is that different from "having a soul"? I have no idea. But anyway yea, "Morgoth can't make things that have free will" is a very safe bet about what tolkien thought of it. And does make sense with the story.

(Still, I will take this wording as a compliment. thank you.)

I don't have a single strong HC about how dragons were made. Made from lizards? From big snakes? From dinosaurs which he somehow stole from Valinor (unlikely because siege)? Probably mutated some big lizards.

Personhood? Hmm. the text is tricky there (even a bit contradictory), but I would go with the "they have bits of Morgoth's will in them, a bit like the Ring had Sauron's". No personhood.

My default assumption about various types of more-or-less monsters is:

deeply corrupted Elves/Men: full personhood, but extreme mental issues due to trauma / generational trauma and probably their free will is, how to say it, imprisoned deep inside their minds, so very unlikely to behave in a good way (think: very strong addiction, some extreme mental ilnesses): all variants of Orcs. (Yes, it makes killing them complicated, I can live with that) (Also I did a post on Orcs and how would I try to make them more metaphysically coherent. TLDR they revert after some generations of not being moderated)

fallen spirits: full personhood, self-inflicted (+ some help from evil superiors) trauma, more effective free will, could get over their bs, yes it is hard but also they aren't willing: Morgoth, Sauron, the Balrogs, some various "demons", I'm not sure about some beings. I like to see Thuringwethil here, even though it's probably not canon.

Elven ghosts who agreed to be bound by Sauron (with coercion!) or Morgoth (if he bothers to do necromancy at all), put into various (animal or engineered from parts) bodies: free will fully bound inside, because of the magic. they can regret but they can't escape: werewolves, vampires, stuff like that, also Thuringwethil

bits of Morgoth's will/mind/whatever put into modies of mutated animals: dragons, I'm not sure what else. As they are various bits, they do have some indyvidual character, something like personality, but they aren't persons. Think: OCs. The dragons are Morgoth's OCs. ;D

They (dragons) could be type 3, but from what I remember the text more suggests 4. Or was it just the musical?

And yes, dragons being active after Morgoth was thrown out doesn't contradict this. Ending of the Quenta Silmarillion says that bits of his will still circulate in the world.

I hope this answers your question.

[zhongrin]

I FINALLY MOVED OUT TO A NEW PLACE!!!

i'm absolutely exhausted and i still need to unpack so many things and i still need to buy a proper desk and restock my groceries & supplies and a do a whole lot of other things BUT i'm hoping to get settled in soon so i can get back to the creative endeavors™️✨

love yall, stay safe, take care, and good vibes 🫶🏻

[shrews-things]

Yesterday my little brother called because a stranger, a worker at a bakery told him that he really reminded her of a friend and that he's nearly identical to this friend she has, and said my name. Turns out she's the lady from the secondhand book cart I used to live next to and befriended her while walking by nearly every day, but then I moved and she switched jobs and I haven't seen her in months and I've been wondering how she's doing every time I shopped at a book cart and apparently she remembers my name too and thinks of me as a dear friend. Idk it just made me happy and I feel like there's a poem to write here but I'm not very good with words

[solarnerves]

hey y'all, what's up? look at my shiny new

✨ ETSY SHOP!! ✨

i fell headfirst into crocheting and now i'm buried in all these plushies. wanna help me out? (HELP i love to make so so many Little Guys) right now i have a bunch of cute plushies and keychains up, with more to be added as fast as i can design & make them :D

[donaviolet]

Friendship is the most special thing in the world because no award could be give me bigger happiness than jumping around in my room and smiling because my pookie asked me if I wanted to match pfps

[bmpmp3]

yesterday in vocal synth news

[lunarharp]

wip thing...

of my bg3 avatar hellebore. i also did some casual nude studies of my 3 characters which i'll put under a cut... rather unlike me after all. (so WARNING for abrupt non-sexual full Artistic nudity lol...,,,,) (< won't be making a habit of this)

they mean the world to me

[drivebypainter]

[casualhedonists]

DATING IS SO HARD WTF

[daz4i]

how and why is there discourse about whether or not certain queer identities exist/if people should be allowed(???) to use them. why is "people know their own identity better than you ever could, and they're the only one who get a say on what they are" such a tough concept to grasp

i think if you find yourself offended by the label someone uses (especially if they're a stranger) or think it invalidates your own, it's a good idea to look inside yourself and question why that may be. more often than not, it's a result of insecurity or uncertainty of your own identity (or many other things, but i won't make a whole list here). whatever reason it is, until you resolve it, you shouldn't take it out on people for having an identity you don't understand

many have said it before but it's worth saying over and over. infighting only helps our oppressors. conservatives don't care if you're a cis gay or a xenogender aegosexual aplatonic lesbian, they hate all of us either way. trying to fit in by going for people who are easier targets for them isn't gonna help you, it'll just alienate you from your own community, and you're never gonna please them. the momentary rush you get from hearing you're not like "one of /those/ gay people" is not worth it and is gonna do more harm in the long run, i assure you

also, it is important to me to say this, but having some less than nice kneejerk reaction caused by confusion about an identity you don't understand doesn't mean you're a bad person or anything. as long as you aren't mean to that person, and you take a second to think smth along the lines of "wait a minute, this isn't any of my business" after having said reaction, you're good 👍 a lot of reflexive reactions we have to things are ingrained into us simply by. well. living in a society 🤡 and you're not terrible for having those thoughts. it's your actions that matter, and your second thought (the "wait, why did i just think that?") is more defining of your actual character and morals than your reflex. i know that having thoughts like this, even tho they're unwanted, can very easily make one spiral, so it's important to me that whoever needs to hear this knows this doesn't make you a bad person 🙏 you're good, keep taking actions to be good, accept other people even if you don't understand them, and you're on the right track :)

[dogearedheart]

🏞🏞🏞

[thedragonemperess]

Episode 22 of the Vampire Diaries and I'm looking for a filler episode. Where is the filler episode. This is episode 22 of Season 1 and I am in dire need of a filler episode. These characters are great, I love seeing them interact, I want a little bit less of the rapid fire plot progression in which nothing gets the time to sit in itself or grow. How high is the bidding for a filler episode. I am desperately searching for a filler episode. Can someone please get me a filler episo-

.....What's that?

............There is no filler episode?

............................................

Well, fuck me.

[uncanny-tranny]

you mentioned the "first reansmasc haircut" thing and i gotta say its not just a white thing, i did the same thing lol

I didn't want to be overly presumptuous because hairstyles are incredibly diverse, but... it's nice to know this is a thing we can share regardless of what The Haircut happens to have been 🙏

[caffeinatedopossum]

"Why does autism need to be diagnosed?" and "you shouldn't self diagnose autism" people listen up. Imagine this:

You're 7 feet tall but no one knows it. Everywhere you go, you hit your head and people stare at you. Everyone asks you "why are you like this?" and you don't know. You start to ask yourself too.

Everyday, you're forced to wear the same pants as everyone else, even though they will never fit. It hurts. It hurts that people don't understand you and it hurts that you can't understand yourself. You haven't even been given the language to ask for the accommodations you need.

It seems really strange to you that no one else ever seems upset by the clothes that don't fit and the doorways that are too low. You assume you're just too sensitive to do these things. When you do complain, people just tell you "well everyone hits their head sometimes". They don't know what being 7 feet tall actually feels like. They don't know what the world looks like from where you are and when you try to tell them, either you don't have the words or they don't listen.

You don't know you're 7 feet tall. All you know is "why am I like this?"

Then one day, maybe you meet someone else who is 7 feet tall. You see them at YOUR eye level and gasp, thinking 'this has never happened before! They're like me!' Maybe you talk to them and they mention that they get their pants tailored because they can't find regular pants that fit. You think to yourself 'that's an option??' They say "yeah it's because I'm 7 feet tall." And for the first time, that question isn't 'why am I like this?' but 'is THAT why I'm like this?'

You feel relieved and even overjoyed because things make sense. You finally understand. Or at least you think you do. But when you ask people to accommodate you for being 7 feet tall, they only ask if you've actually been measured. Not many people actually get measured, only people who go to the specific doctors that specialize in measuring.

The problem is those doctors are not only expensive but good standard measurements don't exist yet. Sometimes those doctors can't even reach to 7 feet or the measuring tapes themselves don't go that long. Even the standard for diagnosis is often inaccessible to people who are actually 7 feet tall because the doctor doesn't understand being 7 feet tall either.

Let's say you don't get diagnosed. Everyone denies that you're 7 feet tall for the rest of your life. You become anxious because no one understands you and you don't understand them and you become depressed because everything is so hard it often doesn't feel worth it.

Sure, you *can live* like this but everything is strained. People don't treat you well because they see you as an inconvenience, the job that your coworkers effortlessly work overtime on is exhausting to you and you barely make it to work. And when you get home, you don't do the things you want to do, you just ask yourself 'why am I like this?' and sleep uncomfortably in your bed that is too small for you.

[taeyungie]

😺

[crochetpiece]

DRAGON IS DONE I think that took all of the crochet energy out of me for the next few weeks so this will probably be my last crochet project for the year. Took me 4 days and I kinda wish I gave myself more time especially because the body kinda looks a little wonky when working in continuous rounds. I might go back to working on my needlepoint or sewing projects soon though. Also Niki nui for scale and also all the update photos I posted privately in various discords included him so they feel like a package deal. My coworker will not be getting a Niki nui as part of the gift.

If you want to make this little guy for yourself you can find the pattern here!