#but yeah man i read the Silmarillion before i read the hobbit
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inkskinned · 2 years ago
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sometimes we just need someone to pay enough attention.
for the longest time i had been trying to read The Lord of The Rings. everyone had sung the praises for it, over and over. i'd seen clips of the movie and it seemed like it could be fun, but actually reading it was fucking horrible.
my parents had the omnibus - all the books squished into one big tome - and in the 4th grade i started sort of an annual tradition: i would start trying to read TLR and get frustrated after about a month and put it back down. at first i figured i was just too young for it, and that it would eventually make sense.
but every time i came back to it, i would find myself having the exact same experience: it was confusing, weird, and dry as a fucking bone. i couldn't figure it out. how had everyone else on earth read this book and enjoyed it? how had they made movies out of this thing? it was, like, barely coherent. i would see it on "classics" list and on every fantasy/sci-fi list and everyone said i should read it; but i figured that it was like my opinion of great expectations - just because it's a classic doesn't mean i'm going to like experiencing it.
at 20, i began the process of forcing myself through it. if i had to treat the experience like a self-inflicted textbook, i would - but i was going to read it.
my mom came across me taking notes at our kitchen table. i was on the last few pages of the first book in the omnibus, and i was dreading moving on to the next. she smiled down at me. only you would take notes on creative writing. then she sat down and her brow wrinkled. wait. why are you taking notes on this?
i said the thing i always said - it's boring, and i forget what's happening in it because it's so weird, and dense. and strange.
she nodded a little, and started to stand up. and then sat back down and said - wait, will you show me the book?
i was happy to hand it over, annoyed with the fact i'd barely made a dent in the monster of a thing. she pulled it to herself, pushing her glasses up so she could read the tiny writing. for a moment, she was silent, and then she let out a cackle. she wouldn't stop laughing. oh my god. i cannot wait to tell your father.
i was immediately defensive. okay, maybe i'm stupid but i've been trying to read this since the 4th grade and -
she shook her head. raquel, this is the Silmarillion. you've been reading the Silmarillion, not the lord of the rings.
anyway, it turns out that the hobbit and lord of the rings series are all super good and i understand why they're recommended reading. but good lord (of the rings), i wish somebody had just asked - wait. this kind of thing is right up your alley. you love fantasy. it sounds like something might be wrong. why do you think it's so boring?
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n0-n1c · 9 days ago
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hi! i'm nicolas (nic for short), a self-taught artist from czechia 🇨🇿
my likes vary but art remains:
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art goals for 2025
draw a short comic (at least a full page)
take part in three zines or similar projects
learn to combine ink and watercolor effectively
speed up digital drawing process
stretch goals (as in "it's a stretch")
record art timelapses
increase blog followers by order of magnitude
copy of my tag system page under cut (if you can't find it under the main header)
/tags
tired of endless scrolling? looking for a thing but the search function would deny its own mother? worry no more!
by technique
traditional art – typically touched up a bit digitally, most pictures taken with iphone
digital art – before you ask, i use photoshop cc 2015 & xp-pen tablet (star 03 i think, 10 inch)
mixed media – mostly older pictures, major digital coloring & editing
by fandom
tolkien – the lord of the rings, the hobbit, the silmarillion, whatever by jrrt. older pictures, the obsession subsided. temporarily. much fëanorian content
naruto – yeah. send asks to my main if you want a rant.
death note – symbolism
neon genesis evangelion – actually don’t talk to me about this one before you read my short fics (ao3 link)
attack on titan – huge design potential
doctor who – doo wee doo
good omens – older art
steven universe – only mcu crossover ocs (gemheart au)
gravity falls – unashamedly an old man fan
the witcher – hundreds of hours on the witcher game. yes, the first one. i spam igni, exploit the meteorite loophole to get swords without losing material, and follow the elf route because i always forget i can’t romance yaevinn.
fullmetal alchemist – (chimerahood au)
misc
gift art – pictures i intend to frame and throw at family members as gifts
nic art [main blog, opens in new link] – reblogs from here + messy stuff
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marblesarelost · 2 years ago
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I just went through my book wish list and put it on Bookshop.
(I'm not buying anything TODAY because I have to move in ....FML SEVEN WEEKS?... and I am not stupid enough to buy MORE BOOKS just to have to pack them up and move them. Not to mention some of them are on backorder or preorder and I don't want them going to the wrong address because I am moving in seven weeks.)
BEFORE adding a bunch more?
Um
It was over $300.
AFTER adding a bunch more?
I don't know how much it is, and I'm honestly afraid to add it all up.
WELP
Just added all to my cart.
YEAH
It's under a grand!
.....barely....
But a lot of these books are REALLY IMPORTANT -- Jared Sexton, Heather Cox Richardson, stuff about how we really are facing a civil war coming, stuff about how shitty it is to be poor in America (not that I don't KNOW that shit),and then there's the books I just fucking WANT: the Wolf Hall books by Hilary Mantel, the Shigeru Mizuki Japanese history mangas, new copies of the Paks original trilogy and the expansion of the world as well (I didn't like those as much as the original Paks books, but I liked them well enough, and also Sergeant Stammel -- gods bless him), Gaiman's Norse Mythology and American Gods and Stardust and a new copy of the Graveyard Book, and the Chronicles of Prydain which I really do need to read, and then there's the James Clavell** books that I legit HAVE to have and the Tolkien, again, I have to have them because somehow I do not have copies of the big Four and the Silmarillion and yes I AM getting the illustrated Hobbit and the illustrated Silmarillion separately because ILLUSTRATIONS BY TOLKIEN, DAMMIT
(** Yes, I'm aware that Clavell's work is very problematic. That being said, my mother once told me, when learning that at the time I was reading Shogun and really liking it, that Shogun was the only book she ever saw my father, my actual father, read.
Now I know for a fact, solid and cold, that Daddy liked Stephen King. He read a lot of King after he and my mom divorced. He's who turned me into a Constant Reader -- okay given that I read Pet Sematary when I was eight at my grandma's house -- by giving me The Eyes of the Dragon when I was young; by handing me IT and Christine and The Shining and The Stand when I was older.
All that being said, there is something very special to me about reading and enjoying and loving books that my father read and loved. It makes me feel that we are still sharing, still reaching out to one another, beyond the Boundaries of Death's Country.
Not to mention, King Rat is....horribly problematic. Horribly so. Yet there is something in it that reaches to me. Here is greed, here is horror, here is the worst that man can be to man. Yet here is generosity, here is quiet stoic heroism, here is mercy, here is hope.
Clavell's work is problematic, yes. Lots of work is. But there is something to be learned from it. Do I think every work has something to be learned from? Not really. Some is just shit, and that's the honest truth. But some, we can learn something from.)
and FML I still need to find the complete Keltiad -- the Aeron books and the Arthur books, Blackmantle was a horrible revenge fantasy -- (And just for the record, I KNEW her, I KNEW Patricia, she invited me to her HOUSE if I were ever in NYC, she named me her War-Badger, I counted her as a FRIEND, I MOURNED her when she passed, and I STILL think Blackmantle was a HORRIBLE revenge fantasy) and the complete Belgariad along with Belgarath the Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress --
....FUCK.
(If you're wondering why I didn't mention the Malloreon, it's because I read the first book and hated it)
...I'd love to have the complete Foxfire series...
...guess I'm gonna have to hit up AbeBooks or something too...
RIP the cash I was gonna set aside just for me I guess....
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narratorstragedy · 2 years ago
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1, 2, 3, and... 12
How many books did you read this year?
goodreads says 74 as of today! however, this includes books i read for class, plays, & also at least one short story that i felt like listing separately.
2. Did you reread anything? What?
ohh yes. the hobbit, the silmarillion, the first two raven cycle books, ladrilleros (yeah i read it twice in one year), la casa de bernarda alba, death of a salesman (for class, to be fair), and hamlet (also for class).
3. already answered!
12. Any books that disappointed you?
i read love in the big city by sang young park bc it was on the international booker ... longlist? shortlist? and it was. Fine. but nothing stellar personally. also it took me FOREVER to finish no leer by alejandro zambra and i think perhaps i was just zambra-ed out at that point bc i was like ok man i've heard you make this point like 10 times before bc i read a good 5 books of his in the last year.
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loopy777 · 9 months ago
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Whats your thoughts on book thranduil? Long before the hobbit movies made him a truly wicked asshole, my thoughts on the man was that he was both a giant asshole, who more than lived up to the elves racist tendencies towards the dwarfs by imprisoning the dwarves for potential life for the crime of tresspassing and wanting to ask for help, and shared the same greed as Bard and Thorin when wanting to annex Erebor and take the City's gold for himself(Which unlike Bard, he had no case to argue he had neither right nor claim to), and yet had both compassion and a heart, as he helped out both the townsfolk and bilbo after his betrayal, both for no gain. I actually dig the way the book writed him... But man, do i HATE how the narration and bilbo portrays him as this just swell guy, and obviously the most moral guy there. Like... I want to sympathize with bilbo's choice regarding the arkenstone, but the way the book pretends like Thranduil is just this swell guy afterwards in part to make bilbo's betrayal sting less has always been the worst thing about the book(it has flaws sure, like how only 3 of the dwarves have distinct personalities) and it's the only thing about the hobbit that puts a sour taste in my mouth. And the fact it came so close to make a genuinely compelling case of grey, grey, and grey morality on all three parts, only to fumble here annoys me to no end.
But what do you think?
I admit, I was similarly weirded out that Bilbo had decided to stand with Thanduril during the Battle of the Five Armies, given his treatment of the dwarves, but Bilbo really likes elves. To set the context, I read 'The Hobbit' when was a young teen, and had already read a lot of (more child-friendly versions of) the King Arthur mythos, and when I was younger I had really dived into Greek mythology.
However, I don't feel like the rest of the story was trying to make Thanduril into a good guy; he does indeed make the choice to help the Laketown refugees, but he was in the process of marching to loot the Misty Mountain when he made that choice, and during their parting, he even expresses admiration for Bilbo's character in a way that seems more to me like he himself couldn't live up to those same standards.
So my overall take is that Thanduril is a typical Fey who can be generous or terrible depending on how polite you've been to him, and also evokes some of the less Aragorn-y kings who are sometimes given to temper tantrums but are still considered More and Kingly because of the divine right of stuffs. So by nature of the genre, Thanduril is allowed to both swell and utterly corrupt.
It doesn't help, I think, that what elves even are in Tolkien's sutff is something that's more patchwork retcon than anything solid. 'The Hobbit' was something originally written to be its own thing, disconnected from the backstory that eventually developed into 'The Silmarillion' and even the Lost Tales, but obviously they reflect Tolkien's tastes, so I suspect Thanduril was supposed to be a bit special as an elf even while acting in a base (not 'based' XD) manner.
But yeah, I can see why the movies went in the direction they did. I also like that they give him a moose.
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thoughtsontolkien · 1 year ago
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Prologue
Hullo, and welcome to the first post! This one will be my thoughts on the several pages of set-up before we get to the actual book.
Direct quotes from the book will be in italics to differentiate them from my rambling :)
1: Concerning Hobbits
My man Jirt immediately mentions The Hobbit about four lines in
'Many, however, may wish to know more about this remarkable people' - I read somewhere that JRRT wanted to publish The Silmarillion after The Hobbit but his publishers were like 'no. more hobbits' , and if that's true I would like to think that this was JRRT's way of being like 'fine. you want more hobbits? i will give you SO MUCH INFO about hobbits'
I strongly agree with hobbits about shoes being annoying - I myself prefer to not wear them when I can (and since I now live in an area without bindies I can assume that it will be safe to walk barefoot on grass)
Early hobbits were living near the Anduin when Greenwood became Mirkwood
The hobbits renamed the river Baranduin 'Brandywine' - aka 'alcohol 1 alcohol 2' and I love that for them
Bullroarer is mentioned twice within the first 5 pages and both times Jirt is like 'it's an interesting story BUT irrelevant here so I'm not going to bring it up again'
I love that we get a full and detailed description of hobbit architecture for multiple paragraphs
'Hobbits delighted in such things, if they were accurate: they liked to have books filled with things that they already knew, set out fair and square with no contradictions.' - Oh, to be a hobbit and not a historical archaeologist constantly arguing about How Things Were
2: Concerning Pipe-weed
Opinions: is pipeweed tobacco or straight-up weed? I know that since Jirt says it's probably a variety of Nicotiana it's probably tobacco, but also it says 'probably' and it's funnier to imagine that hobbits are just constantly high
The Prancing Pony is apparently the home of smoking
'Not even the Wizards first thought of that before we did. Though one Wizard that I knew took up the art long ago, and became as skilful in it as in all other things that he put his mind to.'
And from that information I like to imagine that Gandalf stopped in Bree when he first showed up in Middle-earth, was given a pipe, went 'that's the good shit' and immediately spread it to as many people as he could
3: Of the Ordering of the Shire
Jirt: thank you so much for making it 'the Shire' and not 'The Shire'
I love hobbit naming conventions and the fact that they seem to be the only race in Middle-earth with distinct familial surnames
For some reason the name 'Brandybuck' has a Good Ring to it
The Tooks truly are a wild family - the Thain is apparently 'master of the Shire-moot, and captain of the Shire-muster and the Hobbitry-in-arms' and now I'm imagining a very angry Took leading a small army of 3-foot-tall hobbits sometime in hobbit ancient history
The head of the Took family is just called 'The Took' like they're some notorious criminal
4: Of the Finding of the Ring
Quick recount of the events of The Hobbit in case you haven't read it
Bilbo gave his mithril coat to the Mathom-house in Michel Delving. This shows how little hobbits care about shiny things, but I do find it funny that he was like 'yeah just send the shirt to the House of Random Things' and it stayed there for years
NOTE ON THE SHIRE RECORDS
Bilbo you absolute legend, thank you for being the preeminent Hobbit Historian
If the story of the copies of the Red Book ain't a good description of what actually happens to many historical records I don't know what is
Merry and Pippin, we love hoarder librarians
Elladan and Elrohir apparently stayed in Middle-earth long after Elrond and Galadriel sailed, and Celeborn stayed with them in Rivendell for a while until he sailed too
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amaziana · 2 years ago
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Rings of power rant
I never actually thought I’d do this (mainly because english isn’t my first language), but here we are but I just need to vent or I’ll explode. strap in because this is going to be long. Also keep in mind that this is a rant and I’m just getting stuff off of my chest so formating probably isn’t the best. 
First of all, I’m hard core Tolkien fan. I don’t remember time when I didn’t know the story of the hobbit and I read the lotr books for the first time when I was seven three times in a row. In my teens I started exploring Silmarillion and the rest of the middle-earths history. I know the lore like the back of my hand. It’s safe to say that Tolkiens works have shaped my worldwiev heavily and I love them fiercely.
So Rings of Power is out and it’s bad. And no, poc actors and women wielding swords is not the problem. Actually I think hawing Poc characters is great and completely in harmony with Tolkiens writings. For example, harfoots are described as being “browner of skin” that other hobbits. I’d even go as far as argue that every single actor playing a harfoot should be poc. Now as for Disa, there are seven dwarven clans in Arda, four of which originated from far east. I see no reason why one of these clans couldn’t have darker skin than the rest and why Disa couldn’t be from this clan. However I do think that it would make more sense lorevise if she was portrayed by east-asian actress due to the previously mentioned fact that four of the clans come from the far east. As for Arondir, Tolkien describes elves as being fair of skin, but I don’t see anything wrong with having elves of different skin colors. 
My problem with Galadriel isn’t that she is a woman who is in power and wields a sword. I myself am a girl and own a sword and have learned the basics of german longsword. In general I’m very interested in martial arts. Now when it comes to cannon lore elves have multiple names and Galadriel doesn’t even receive that name until she meets her husband, Celeborn, (which the show seems to have forgotten about). Her original names, ones that should be used in the Valinor flashbacks, were Artanis and Nerwen. First meaning “noblewoman” and second meaning “man-maiden”. Now she was named Nerwen because she was taller than most of the other women of noldor and she was strong of body, will and mind. She was also of ��Amazon disposition” and “bound her hair as a crown when taking part in athletic feats." She even defended her mothers people when Feanor, her uncle and greatest of Noldor, attacked them for their ships. So yeah, she was a badass. The problem with her character is that by the second age, the time the show is portraying, she moves from place to place and lives in several places, including Lindon and Eregion. She is also married and gives birth to her daughter some time before the rings of power are forged. 
So no, the poc characters and powerful women do not make the show bad. What does is the fact that it shows such disregard for it’s source material and the spirit of Tolkien. It takes his work and turns it into generic, your run of the mill fantasy story without spirit. It blatantly ignores the lore in order to create a storyline that Amazon thinks it can sell. It turns Galadriel, who is a powerful woman in so many levels, both physically, meantually and spiritually, into you cardboard cutout of what Hollywood thinks is the only acceptable version of a strong female character. The dialogue is corny and often sounds like they are just trying to sound cool and wise, the costumes are bad and feel like, well, costumes and not something the people of that world would actually wear. The black goo they use to show the evil still lurking in the world/ coming back is cliche and boring. Now the visuals are good I’ll give them that. Lindon is beautiful and I like how it feels so close to nature. 
All in all, the story seems to relay more on nostalgia than anything else. They take some things from Tolkiens works, couple of things from the original Lotr movies and completely made up the rest and wrapped it in a nice golden paper with a ribbon. The result is bland and tasteless story that isn’t intriguing at all and disrespects Tolkiens work on fundamental levels. Best way I can describe it is if someone painted a picture of Mona Lisa with all the wrong colors making a duckface and it was hung in the museum besides the original piece.
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vibesandwonders · 4 years ago
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“The what?”
“The Lord of the Rings,” Sam stops dead, and jogs back to him, “You serious? You said you read the Hobbit?”
“Yeah?”
“JRR Tolkien?”
“Yes.” Bucky runs a hand through his hair and sighs.
“But you don’t know The Lord of the Rings?”
“If you keep repeating it, maybe it’ll catch this time.”
Sam’s mouth falls open, “Mother of— they froze you before Lord of the friggin Rings?”
Bucky blows out a blast of annoyed air and moves to run, Sam grabs his forearm, “Stop that, we’re talkin—“
“—We are running.”
“Not anymore,” Sam leans his weight on Bucky and laughs, “Shit. I always forget that they popsicled you,” He shakes his head, “Tolkien, he wrote the Hobbit yeah, but like… ten years later he wrote a Trilogy, the Trilogy, like, the one to rule them all.”
“Are they any good?”
Sam practically squeals with laughter, his arm still looped inside Bucky’s, “Yes.” He says, emphatically, grinning so much that Bucky is tempted to smile back, almost, “The movies are good too.”
“Movies?”
“Moving pictures?” Sam grins wider, “Talkies?”
Bucky tilts his head, rolls his eyes, already ready to run again, Sam’s having none of it, he starts pulling Buck back the way they came,
“What about the run?”
“This,” Sam insists, “Is more important, we gotta head back,”
“It’s 7am.”
“Exactly, which means we’ve got time to hit the store on the way home,”
“Why?”
“Provisions, we’re gonna be busy all day, we need to have snacks and keep hydrated.”
“What?”
“Extended editions baby, this is a 12-hour Lord of the Rings lockdown,” He grins at Bucky, “Consider yourself absolutely blessed that I was nerdy as hell in high school. I gotta text Torres, tell him we are taking the day off.”
“You’re taking a day off, from being Captain America?”
“He’ll understand.”
~ Hours later~
“Bucky,” He sighs, and plants his palms on the kitchen countertop, “James Buchanan Barnes,” Nothing.
He takes his phone out and pauses the damn TV,
The man in question rotates very slightly, his eyes wide, red, in shock, also as pissed as Sam had quite possibly ever seen him, including the time he was kicked off a domestic flight home because of his ‘metal arm’.
“You good?” Sam asks,
“So they just left him? After he sacrificed himself to get them out and across the bridge of Khazad-dûm and away from the Balrog?”
Oh Jesus,
“The bridge of Khaza—" He stops himself, chuckles, can't help it, he shouldn't surprised by this and yet, "Yeah man, they couldn’t—“
“What? Walk out there and grab his hands? There were eight men,” He shakes his head incredulously, “Bilbo’s nephew, wouldn’t walk twenty feet to save Gandalf?”
“Wait wait, Are you crying man?” He smirks, teasing, “There are two and a half more movies to go Buck, and you’re already out here cryin’ your ass off, you gotta chill—“
Bucky regards him sourly, “Have you even read the Hobbit?”
“Not even gonna dignify that kinda hostility with an answer James.”
He unpauses the tv and digs through the fridge, a moment later, the TV pauses again,
“Sorry.” Bucky mutters, “I uh, I’m enjoying them.”
“I can tell.” Sam says, and again, a grown-ass man getting way too sucked in to a High Fantasy trilogy 60 years late shouldn’t be damn adorable, but it is, “You hungry, oh member of the fellowship?”
Bucky rolls his eyes, turns back around,
“Is there coffee?”
Sam grins, and starts filling the water kettle.
“We, are gonna take a break.”
Bucky spins, finger already on the remote to jump to the next movie, Sam shakes his head.
“You haven’t eaten yet, and this is our…shit, third pot of coffee.”
“But they’re taking the hobbits to Isengard.”
Sam cackles, “Yeah, you are indeed correct, that is happening, but, we got 8 more hours of cinematic masterpiece, and you— are gonna eat somethin’”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Would Aragorn not sustain himself while trying to rescue Merry and Pippin?” He asks dramatically,
Another eyeroll, but he stands and stretches, folding one of the new blankets that had somehow started appearing randomly inside his apartment.
“How do you feel about cookies?”
He watches the top of his head twist, but Bucky’s eyes don’t leave the screen, “Thought we were eating lunch?”
Sam laughs, “Thai?”
He texts Sarah, attaches a picture of Bucky swathed in a blanket, staring in fascination at the TV.
“He’s never seen Lord of the Rings.” And then a bunch of laughing emojis.
“So where’s Rohan in relation to Mordor?” Bucky asks over the top of the couch, “They keep talking about the Gap of Rohan, but then…”
“Google it.”
“You’ve got your phone.” Bucky argues, “Do library books still have the maps in the back nowadays?”
Sam’s already got his app open, Complete Works of JRR Tolkien, Hardback
He swipes and makes sure they have maps— New York freakin City, it’ll be delivered before they finish the second one.
“Sam needs to kill Gollum.”
He looks up at the mention of his name, grinning at the screen, then back at the microwave: he lost rock, paper, scissors, so popcorn’s on him.
“Smeagol?”
Bucky purses his lips, unimpressed, “He is clearly untrustworthy, “
“Sam’s also a little jealous of Frodo’s attention, they’ve been one-on-one for a while now,”
“I guess,”
“Frodo also sees a lot of himself in Smeagol, what he could have become…”
Bucky pauses the movie, “they’ve still got those elf-blades.” He mutters, “He’s talking to himself, and creeping off in the night, Sam should kill him, and tell Frodo he found him that way.”
“He was Aragorn’s best friend,” Bucky murmurs, his voice is a little choked up, “He came to defend the men of Rohan.”
“Mmmhmm.”
Sarah’s texted him back:
“Oh god, you found another geek.” She says, “Are ya’ll gonna like have a Star Trek themed wedding?”
Bucky’s got the second book open across his knees, his fingers holding it open so he can occasionally frown down at the maps.
“He died protecting him.”
“They had a bond.” Sam agrees, “Read the appendices, there’s loads more about the elves. Just wait until you get deep in the Silmarillion.”
“Yeah.” Bucky says, only half-listening, “Starting to think his ‘heir of Gondor’ schtick is getting old, man can’t even protect his friends— and where is Gandalf?”
“Are you shitting on Aragorn? Son of Arathorn?”
Bucky shrugs, “Just seems like he’s avoiding his calling, what he’s good at, born to do… running from it, cause he’s scared.”
“It’s a lot of responsibility he didn’t ask for.” Sam replies mildly,
“Tough shit. Sometimes you just gotta use the cards you’re dealt.” Bucky stands, “I gotta pee.”
“You think I should grow my hair out?”
Sam hides his grin, making an effort not to stare at Aragorn on screen, who is currently smoldering with the best of them,
“I think you should do whatever makes you happy, Buck.” He takes a sip of his coffee (decaf this time) and stares fondly (not really) at the side of Bucky’s face. Sure, he’s distracted, but at least this time it’s not damn mission files.
Buck grunts, they’re sprawled next to each other on the couch, knees touching, blankets shared and spread between them. Between bathroom breaks and Sam occasionally poking Bucky to make sure he was still breathing, personal space had become even less of an issue than usual. Not that Sam was terribly bothered by it. They’re roommates, sorta? Partners?
A couple of guys.
“So, Arwen or Eowyn?” Bucky asks, still unblinking, Sam is pretty sure he unleashed a monster, cause this boy is a nerd. He’s already googled other trilogies, on Sam’s phone. Sam is pretty sure movie night might become a thing.
Buck’s still waiting on his answer, it’s a timeless question to be sure, Sam pretends to ponder it.
“Eomer actually.” He says, keeping his eyes on the screen, “Loyal, strong, and the man knows how to ride.”
actual fic here plus others, leave some love, say hi,
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idjitlili · 4 years ago
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Hey that’s Hela!Shut up Thorin
Loki x reader
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Summary:Tony started the point break references to Thor,but you take it to the next wave. Thor and Loki were the definition off Bodhi and Utah. Thor decides to interrupt you watching Lord of the rings with Loki.
Word count:2804 y/c=your country or somewhere you wish to live ,as not everyone is from america,yeah I'm from England.
A/n:Loki ,and stark live au,captain dies instead of tony.Sorry not sorry
You were no Avenger,simply Tony starks apprentice all the way from y/c ,so what Tony had done is moved you into the stark tower for the year. You did have to pay for anything ,and in honesty you it was scary being so far away from your parents for so long,only seeing them on facetime. But hey you were learning a lot from the billionaire playboy,Tony Stark,he became rather protective over you in just a week.
He had warned you to stay away from the God of mischief,Loki,you had agreed to,you couldn't go against the man that was feeding,housing,and educating you. You had no idea that Loki was even staying at the Stark tower,aswell as Thor. Something to do with Korg and Valkyrie as temporary management while Thor was away with his brother.
Basically Thor needed to get back into shape using Tony's gym,yep user indeed. Tony had trainer, the trainer being thing guy called Logan. Turn's out his trainer is bloody Wolverine,how he got this to happen I don't know,but it happened. Pretty epic if you ask the scribe, since a child you have admired him. So basically you had begged Tony to introduce him,you were more than nervous ,stuttering and such. Hence the picture you now how next to your bed of you and him. Loki had watched from next to his brother in disgust at your affections to the mutant.
You had understood why Tony called Thor point break;that movie was a classic ,Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves what more could you ask for in a movie.
This one particular day you had no work to do with Tony,from not feeling too great. Scrambled eggs,yeah,Tony knew hence why you were sat on the sofa watching movies,all day eating whatever you wanted. Well that was until Thor decided to interrupt you,sitting down,eating your favourite food,just helping himself. Anger had bubbled in you ,"HEY,that's my food!" It was no surprise that you had became more loud around Thor since this wasn't the first time he had stolen your food. You were mostly quiet,but some things got you rilled up.
Thor had shrugged carrying on eating your food, you were not spolit,but this time in a womans cycle this was uncool ,to say the least. "Tony! Patrick Swayze is eating my food! TONY,HELP" yet you recieved no answer, Loki however had sneaked into the room eyeing the situation ,you had scowled at Thor,still munching on the food ,with a smirk.
You had brought your socked foot up quickly before kicking him in the face knocking the food out of his mouth you had grinned, but the victory was short lived,he had grabbed your foot pulling you onto the floor ,before laying where you were placing his axe thing on your back. "TONY! BOdhi has put his axe on me!TONY! " you could barely take in any oxygen,turning your head you had saw Loki just watching from a far. "Oi, Utah,please,you are the better God,please your brother is a huge ass." you had pleaded with the God of mischief,he had turned away to leave. "I am dying,at least tell Tony,come on stab him I'll take the blame,he ate my food."
Loki had looked back you smirking before leaving ;it wasn't long until Tony came in. At this point Thor had eaten all your food,while you had passed out,he had thought you had fallen sleep. "THOR,what in hell is this?!" He had demanded ,"Oh shit." he had whsipered ,lifting the axe off you,turning it into an unbrella,acting like nothing had happened,but of course Tony had seen it all. Rushing over to your,and turning you over to check your heartbeat. "She's barely breathing!" before anything else could be said your eyes shot open , you had rushed to your feet ,grabbing the candle stick.
"TOny,he ate all my food!" you had cried out before running at Thor whacking him harshly with the candle stick as if it was a bat. "You are supposed to be here to lose weight not gain it ,pointbreak." Tony had a smirk inlaced with his tone ,not making any attempt to stop you. " Y/n go order some food, Thor you idiot." and that was it,for that day,you had brutally attacked a God.
Over the next two months,Loki word speak to you more than two words,asking what you watching or what were you reading.Thus breaking your oath with Tony. He had borrowed your hobbit and Lord of the rings ,even the silmarillon book. Therefore you had convinved Tony to let you have the next day watching the movies,he had agreed as he had to go out for a meeting or something. You knew he would have dragged you along if he knew you were planning to spend time with your new God friend. Tony had left mid afternoon to travel to Europe for his meeting,he would not be back for at least 24 hours.
You were not sure if Loki would even agree to watch the movies ,let alone watch them with you,but you thought just to ask. Plus he was very handsome,yeah maybe you would end up staring at him instead of the movie.
You had stood infront of his door for a minute ,as thoughts flung around your head,deciding to ignore them all and just to knock on the pine door. Knock ,Knock,knock. It wasn't long until the door was pulled open to see Loki standing before you ,with the same greaed back hair ,but instead of his Asgarding clothes or black suit,he wore jogging bottoms? Still with the button up shirt however,he looked at you questioningly as you held a tower of the extended editions of the hobbit and Lord of the rings.
"uh..I was wondering s-since you borrowed my Tolkien books..mayybe you would want to watch the movie..w-with me?" you had spoken quietly ,trying to not anger the God,his reaction was much different to what you had expected,he smiled,his blue eyes shining back into your e/c ones. "Of course,darling,when?" Your cheeks pinken,Loki's grin widening ,you had picked up the name not long ago. "oh..well I thought If we started the hobbit now we could finish them tonight ,and then start Lord of the rings tomorrow."
"well now it is! We shall find snacks first ,but we must hid them from my brother." that is exactly what you both did,soon you were sat on the sofa together the snacks surrounded you both on there. Loki seemed to enjoy the hobbit ,what you didn't know was that he liked seeing your face as you watched it for the 349494 time,as your face lit up when you saw Bilbo. You had both intensely watched the movies ,well except Loki's swift short glances at you.
Before you knew it you were almost to the second appearance of lady Galadriel,when your stomach growled loudly,so loud that Loki heard it, "hungry?" he had asked with his face soft ,you had nodded ,pausing the movie gathering your rubbish to throw away ,looking for the takeaway menus. Soon enough you had ordered waiting for it to arrive you and Loki continued with your film,well not for even a minute before Thor came bonoucing in.
Thor had lost a lot of weight since he ate all your food,he had eyed you and Loki,before turning his gaze to the telly gasping. "OH MY GOD BROTHER,it's Hela! She's still alive." Loki had sighed,you mute expressionquickly turned sour. "It's not Hela,it's Lady Galadriel," you had grumbled,Thor had smirked,walking closer. "Brother leave us." Loki had tried to get his brother to leave ,but no Thor went to sit down. "Awwe , you are courting Lady Y/n." he had teased,you had shot up grabbing the candlestick again,making your way to Thor.
"OI Swayze! We are trying to watch,but you are trying to disturb that.." Thor's eyes went wide ,you pass quickening as you chased him out of the room with the candletick,before returning to the sofa,Loki had chuckled as you had thrown yourself down. "I can see why you stabbed him so often." You didn't realise at the time but Loki had gotten closer to you,before more could be said the door had went ,food was here you had grumbled about not wanting to get up again,efore going to stand. "I've got it." With that Loki had made it to the door,leaving a gently touch on your shoulder before hand.
By the end of the night, you both had became incredibly close,and you had just finished the last movie ,turns out Loki really liked them considering he hates mortals. Loki had apparently had already finished reading the silmarillion and the hobbit and you two just talked about them for a good hour. In which it didn't take long for you to grow tired, you were knee was touching Loki's,yet your faces both facing eachother,as you talked. Soon you had sat back,and drifted into sleep head resting on Loki's shoulder.
He did not have the heart to wake you ,bro he was supposed to be evil,so much for that,and he certainly did not want to intrude your personal space by taking you to your room. He didn't even have time to make a decision as he had turned to lay in the corner of the sofa,you had fallen to lay on top of him. Thus all he could do was wrap his arms around you,whilst he fell into sleep too,hoping to keep you warm.
Once you had awoken you had quickly realised what happened ,blushing,you had pulled yourself up,heading to your room to go get ready to start lord of the rings.
As you returned to Loki he had all the food the food set out,waiting for you,you had smiled back to him practically jumping into your set on the sofa. Today you had felt more comfortable than the day before not knowing what to except from the God ,but he was a chill God in honesty,thus you began watching ,not stopping until Thor had interrupted you again.
"OH my god!That's that guy skarge? I don't know ,I can't remember his name." He had pointed out in shock,you had sighed,he mant Eomer. "no it's not! It's Karl Urban,now get out!" you had thown a pilllow at the God 'hey' he had grumbled ,you reached for the candle stick,but he ran for it already. Yet again Loki had smirkedat you,you had not seen this though.
Roughly when Pippin is taken to Gondor by Gandalf ,you had a thought. No its a stick insect no it isn't. "hey..Loki..uh.. what's the chances of you saying yes to someone.. braiding your hair." you had spoken carefully ,gaining the Gods attention he had looked at you with the same smirk as ever. "Depends who is asking. I would not allow anyone touch my hair ,but for you I shall make an exception." his words smooth as ice,well he is a frost giant ,so what do you expect. You had smiled widely ,running to your room,to retrieve your hair brus, some hair bands and clips,before returning.
You had stood behind Loki ,his eyes on the tv ,as you brought your brush to his hair gently brushing it. Well not that it needed it ,his hair was very well kept,maintained. Using your fingers to section of pieces and cliping them into place,before you weaved your fingers throw is jet black silky hair. You couldn't deny you weren't used to being this forward with guys you liked, well you had no luck with guys you liked dickheads. You end up like the god of mischief and he is so much nicer to you then them all combinded. You hadn't been in a proper relationship.
Securing the three plaits with the bands ,you had finished ,you had recreated...Legolas' hair on a God. You had rushed away to get a mirror before returning and passing it to Loki,who took it to admire your work. "Lovely,darling ,now I am Elven Prince." he had stuck his head up with fake pride you had laughed,as he turned into bloody Legolas. "You look much better with that hairstyle than Legolas," he had simply smiled before making a stoll appear at his feet,gestering for you to sit.
"what?"
"It's my turn now,now come on."
Thus you moved to sit in front of Loki as he began to brush your hair ,still watching the movie. HIs long fingers were soon braiding through your hair with ease,and yet again it wasn't long until he was done.  You hoped he didn't make your hair look like Lord Elrond,oh god. BUt instead he held the mirror for you presenting you with the Legolas hair style too. You had thanked him touching the braids,smiling ,and you both went back to watching.
It wasn't long until you both finished the trilogy ,Loki liked it so much more than the hobbit and you had agreed.
In the next hour you had put the soundtrack of Lord of the rings on,and yoou some how convinced Loki to recreate some of the scenes together,in fact you didn't even have to convince him. You had duct taped a pillow to your middle ,then helping Loki do the same,he had magically got some wooden swords and thats all you needed. Okay so you had no combat training,so you were like a rubbish Merry and Pippin,while Loki was Boromir. Basically he was teaching you how to defend yourself whilst you were re acting the scene.
It was all going well until bloody Thor came in. "Oh hey guys,OH that looks like fun,OH you have matching hair ,why did you not invite me? I am the bravest warrior in Agard!"he had spoken ,resting his hands on his hips, head high, typical superhero pose. You and Loki had just stood staring at Thor.  "we didn't invite you THORin ,because you ate all my food and pinned me to the floor ,"
"you aren't going to let that down are you?" you had shook your head ,nothing else was said from the three over you,as Tony and walked into the room with Peter. Ton'y face was unreadable ,as he stopped walking but Peter continued with excitement on his face. "Mister Stark! They have been watching Lord of the rings! Without me!"his face read betrayal "I got called a nerd  for liking it ,and now I find out Mister Loki,likes it.Mister Stark!"
Peter was buzing with excitement ,as you and Loki now were trying to remove the duct tape from yourselves.Well he had no trouble you were the one struggling well until Loki had appeared behind you ,as he cut the duct take ,pulling the cushion off of you. You had smiled up at him,in which he smiled back in return ,staying like that for a moment ,until Tony coughed.
"Hey kid,why don't you take Y/n to the icecream shop round the corner ,heres my card." he had pushed the card into Peter's hands ,his eyes still on Loki,Peter's eyes had lit up,as Tony pushed you to Peter forcing you out.You had looked back at Loki who watched you leave,it was obvious Tony was going to have a go at the Gods.
"Hey Y/n ,can We watch that when we get back with the icecream?" Peter had questioned ,whilst you both stood in the lift. "Yeah,spiderman." he had gasped,"you know too?!"
"yeah Tony told me."
"Uncool,mister Stark."
To say the least Stark did not stop you talking to Loki, come on he is a God he does whatever. Maybe just to say the least you didn't just stay as friends...
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saurons-pr-department · 4 years ago
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How did you become a Sauron fan?
Honestly, I’m not quite sure... It kind of snowballed quickly XD Maybe a year or so ago, I started to really get back into LotR and The Hobbit and, as happens with these things, I wanted to know more and more about Middle Earth and whatnot. Then I remembered that I had been to a panel at a local convention a few years before this where two lads explained The Silmarillion and I was like, “ah yes, this is what I need!” But I didn’t get a chance to get the book for another while after that, so I spent a lot of time looking up fan art and reading about The Silm and stuff. I found myself particularly drawn to all things Sauron.
When it comes to people’s favourite characters, you’ll often hear people talk about how they either identify with the character in some way, or that the character has some kind of traits that the person wishes they had themselves. And while no, I don’t want to rule the entire world with an iron fist XD there are things about him that I can’t help but think “I kind of wish I was a little like that”. Mostly his organisational skills and his full confidence in himself and the things he does. Like, at no point does this man ever seem to question himself! I once spent about ten minutes practicing how I was going to ask for a stamp at the post office, while this man saunters into Númenor and converts everyone to a religion he’s making up as he goes along and convinces them to go fight the gods and then has a good ole giggle to himself because he thinks he so damned clever! Okay, it backfired on him, but you have to admire the ballsiness of it XD In terms of identifying...it’s more fanon Mairon/Sauron. In a lot of fics, he comes across to me as neurodivergent, even if the writer probably isn’t intending it. I’m neurodivergent (ADHD) so sometimes I’m reading something and the writer is trying to make him seem really ‘other’ because he’s an Ainu and I’m just like “hehe, no, that’s just life with a funky brain”. But yeah, I kind of ‘get’ him in those situations.
And then we have the fact that much of what we know about him lands him right in the middle of the type of story that I love: angsty fall stories. I looooove fall stories and I loooooove angst stories and he just delivers on both. And he has multiple falls! He went from The Admirable to The Abhorrent. He rose to power as Melkor’s second in command but that was whipped out from underneath him in the War of Wrath. He rose to power as a Dark Lord in his own right but was defeated more than once. He’s just rise and fall, rise and fall. It’s the kind of drama that I love! Then there’s the angst. Like, there are multiple points in his story where I feel that he was happy, or could have been happy, but something came along to ruin it (sometimes that ‘something’ was himself *cough*Eregion*cough*). What’s even better, is that much of his story is a mystery. How did he go from serving Aulë to Melkor? Why is he specifically singled out as a shapeshifter even though all the Ainur are technically able to change their form like we’d change clothes? Did he genuinely want to repent after the War of Wrath? What was he doing before he “fell back into evil”? What were those “bonds that Morgoth had laid upon him”? How did he go from ‘Melkor should be in charge of everything’ to ‘I am literally the only person in existence who knows what’s good for the world’? What exactly did he do in Barad-dûr all day?? Not only is the canon information on him really interesting, but there’s so much space to make things up too that just make him such a fun character to play with, especially his motivations.
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theartofbeinganeldar · 5 years ago
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The Art of Being an Eldar: Legolas x Reader Chapter 6
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Summary: After discovering that you were stuck in Middle-Earth, Thranduil summoned a council of powerful Elves and wizards to see what should be done with you, expressing his wishes of wanting you out of his kingdom. The council decides to send you with Legolas on an orc-hunting mission, and if the Elves of the company that he deems trustworthy-- one of them being his own wife-- say that you've proven yourself worthy of staying among the Mirkwood Elves, then you can stay. The problem is actually managing to succeed...
Chapter No.: Chapter 6
Key: [Y/N]=Your Name [F/N]= Friend's Name [B/N]= Bro's Name [S/N]= Sis's Name [M/N]= Mom's Name [e/c]= eye color [h/c]= hair color [s/c]= skin color [lad/lass/y-o]= lad/laddie, lass/lassie, young one
Notes: So, I have finished the Silmarillion, and may I just say, wow. I have a whole new understanding of Middle-Earth. It's amazing and inspiring. I do miss Maedhros and Maglor already though... Now, I've finished Beren and Luthien and started The Children of Hurin next in my quest to read every book on Middle-Earth that there is, written, of course, by the Tolkiens.
Warnings: Fluff, angst, graphic depictions of gore and violence (Cuz of orc battles y'know?), more angst, slow burn, some light depression in the first few chapters, some amnesia about Middle-Earth because the Valar say you're not supposed to have foresight, hard-core language, feels, lots and lots of feels, mentions of NSFW content, maybe some eventual NSFW content, LGTBQ+ characters, Thranduil being a jackass at first because he's fabulous, Legolas being a hot edgy prince that nobody can handle, Kili being an innocent bean, Hobbits being smol innocent beans, except for Bilbo 'cause he's been through some tough shit, Bard being dad of the year, Thorin being one dumbass boi, awesome dragons, awesome Nazgul, awesome scenery, awesome stuff in general, Elrond isn't listened to by anybody, confused Aragorn is confused,  Denethor's a bitch as always, brace yourself for creepy as fuck Cream of Wormtongue Grima Wormtongue, Boromir LIVES, au to where some of the Feanorians lived, Gandalf. (yes these are all legit warnings don't judge me.)
Pairings/Ships: Legolas x Reader, Legolas x you, Aragorn x Arwen, Faramir x Eowyn, Thranduil x Elvenqueen, Galadriel x Celery Celeborn, Boromir x OC, Maedhros x Fingon, Maglor x OC, Thorin x OC maybe Bilbo you won't know for awhile, Fili x OC, etc. general LoTR standard shippings plus some of my own cuz I can't stand my boys being lonely
Word Count: I try to keep my chapters short, under 2000 words.
Rating: Teen (14+) for now
Instead of Blue-Eyes meeting you by Starlight, it was Erestor, instead. Aside from the one time you'd spoken to him with Haldir, asking him about other continents (Which, it turned out, you'd misunderstood. Beleriand had sunk, and so had Numenor and Tol Eressea, and no one but the Eldar could reach Aman anymore.), you hadn't spoken to him.
He was an older Elf, kind of intimidating, with a bird-like demeanor and an expression that said Don't fuck with me.
So yeah, you were kinda surprised.
Still, you bowed in the Elvish fashion. "Len Suilon, Erestor. Ci maer?"
"Suilad. Ni maer, [Y/N]," He assured nonchalantly. "A gin?"
"Ni maer eithro." You looked around nervously, hoping Blue-Eyes would pop out of nowhere and save you from a further conversation in what would probably be your poor Sindarin with an age-old Elf. "So, her majesty chose me for this scouting mission, eh?"
"Indeed," Erestor inclined his head. "Your Elvish improves, if slowly. You do not hesitate in your greetings anymore."
"Thank you, sir."
"Come, and lead Starlight along," Said Erestor unfairly regally, and sailed majestically away. "Have you been practicing your swordplay diligently? You may need it."
You nodded as you followed him. "Yes sir. Legolas, Elros, and Lindir have made sure that they split my day into learning Sindarin, weaponry, and even the general Elvish way of being Elvish." You tried not to sound irritated about that. They literally never gave you any free time. Not that you'd brought any books to read, and not that you could read any Elvish, but that wasn't the point.
"Good," Erestor nodded. "What are your strong suits?"
Ah, shit. "Uhm... I can throw a dagger pretty hard? I can probably shoot somebody dead if I'm point blank, but other than that, my aim sucks. I'm somewhat okay with a sword, though, and I prefer two. Why?"
"Curious," Erestor replied all mysteriously, and that was all he said on the matter.
The Elves chosen for the scouting mission-- the Elvenqueen herself, with Blue-Eyes, Haldir, and Elros-- were gathered and speaking amongst themselves, while Thorin and Dwalin next to their very dignified ponies glowered at them. Balin was feeding his own pony an apple, muttering to it kindly. Compared to the Elves, who were naturally tall and lithe, the short and stocky dwarves looked outrageously tiny.
"Ah," The Elvenqueen's attention was on you faster than a supersonic jet's. "You have arrived."
You bowed deeply. "Your majesty." To Haldir, and even to Legolas just to be safe from potential Elvenqueen-wrath-2.0, you added, "My Lords." You turned to Erestor. "I'm sorry I didn't greet you with the title, I forgot what ‘my lord’ is in Elvish."
To your surprise, the Elves chuckled. Except for the Elvenqueen, of course. "You need not worry yourself, mellonenin," Elros assured you. "You are still learning."
The Elvenqueen inclined her head. "We leave at once, if all are ready."
There were positive responses throughout, and everyone present mounted up. You caught sight of Lindir coming out of his tent for the morning, and waved; he looked confused, but awkwardly repeated your gesture. "What on Arda are you doing?" Blue-Eyes asked under his breath, like you were embarrassing him.
You snickered. "It's like a 'hi' and 'bye' gesture for when you're out of earshot of someone you know. It's called ‘waving’. Everyone does it where I come from."
"This is not your world, [Y/N]," The Elvenqueen reprimanded firmly. You fought the urge to shrink in on yourself. "If you are going to be a part of it and learn our ways, then you must do so faithfully, leaving everything you know of your world behind you. Your land is nothing but a poison, and I do not want it infecting Middle-Earth. Am I understood?"
"Y-yes ma'am-- your majesty, yes your majesty."
"Good," Said the Elvenqueen, and then she continued giving orders in Elvish, while Thorin purposefully repeated them in dwarvish for Balin and Dwalin, though everyone present spoke fluent English-- Common. For you, Blue-Eyes translated what he could before he was called up to ride beside his mother, so then Elros and Haldir took turns explaining. The whole event left you feeling like a fish out of water.
***
It was around noon when the company halted, which Thorin and Dwalin had been leading on foot, while Balin kept their ponies tied to his own. At first, you assumed, lunch, finally, I'm starving, but instead, you'd stopped because Thorin had found a trail. "Orcs," He said.
Duh, you felt like saying, what else would it be? Bigfoot?
But after the Elvenqueen's earlier lecture, you kept that to yourself.
"Which way do they lead, master dwarf?" The Elvenqueen demanded.
Thorin huffed as he stood. "They go north, but they are heavy from travel. Wherever they came from, it is not from anywhere near the northern borders of Mirkwood or Erebor."
"Where else would they come from?" You blurted out before you could stop yourself. "Are there like orcish towns in the north or something? Maybe we could--”
"There is no such thing," The Elvenqueen snapped.
"The wargs that I had tracked were from Gundabad," Blue-Eyes said calmly, as if that hadn't ever been important information before. "The ones that attacked us on the river, however, were from Mordor."
You leaned over to Haldir as Blue-Eyes continued to speculate. "I'm confused. What's the difference?"
"Gundabad wargs are darker, lithe, and more agile," Haldir told you quietly. "They are more viscous, as well. A Mordor warg is more... Stout, I suppose you could say, and slightly lighter in color."
There was a flash of color before your eyes. Suddenly, you felt as if you were in a clearing of trees, surrounded by people in dark colors, while the sound of howls filled the air, unlike the ones you'd heard before.
These are Gundabad wargs! They will outrun you!
These are Rusteveld rabbits! I'd like to see them try.
You shook your head as you resituated yourself in the saddle. Well, that was sudden... It had been quite a few days since any of the strangely-familiar visions had come to you. You came back to your senses as Dwalin laughed uproarously. "Well, that settles it, then! To Gundabad!"
"Wait just a moment," The Elvenqueen said. "We are not all brash, Master Dwalin. We will go back and retrieve more forces before even thinking of going near Gundabad." With that, she turned her silver mare around and began trotting back, Haldir and Erestor on either side of her. Thorin, Balin, and Dwalin hung back, taking their time getting on their ponies and following after.
"Where's Gundabad?" You asked Legolas quietly; not that it did any good. Elves could hear grass growing on the other side of the continent if they wanted to. "And what is it?"
"It is northwest of here, in a cleft between the mountains," He answered. "It is an old fortress, from the time when the Dunedain first came to Middle-Earth from Numenor, if you remember." You nodded; he'd told you the entire story of the Silmarils and anything that went with it or after. "It was the gate that lead to the Witch-Kingdom of Angmar."
"Lead by the Witch-King..." You finished for him automatically. An eerie echo of a voice filled your mind: No man can kill me. At his impressed look, you scrunched up your face. "And what are you, French? How'd you make that 'h' sound in the middle of the damn word?!" You realized what you said only after you'd said it, and quickly looked to the Elvenqueen to see if she'd heard. If she had, she made no sign of it. "Sorry."
Blue-Eyes patted your back. "It is fine, Sairen, you can speak to me of your world, don't worry." With a cocky smile, he looked down at you smugly. "As for the pronunciation... You will learn to do it soon."
Back at camp, a group of Elves was already up and waiting to move out, and at the Elvenqueen's ringing voice, they followed after, and you all retraced your steps back to where Thorin, Dwalin, and Balin had found the orc tracks. You considered it pointless-- they could've just taken the host of a couple dozen Elves with them that way they didn't have to retrace their steps.
Partway there, you decided that goddamn song that'd been going through your head needed a damn good explanation. Unfortunately, Blue-Eyes was now up by his mother, leaving you between two totally random Elves. You'd never been good at starting up a conversation, but you decided to give it a try anyway. "...Hey, do either of you speak Common?"
Both Elves busted out laughing as if you'd made a hilarious joke about dwarves.
"Most Eldar can speak Common," The one on the right said, removing his helmet to look at you more clearly. Whoa. You practically fell off Starlight. He was beautiful. He had long, purely golden hair that fell down his back in unfairly glorious waves. He had soft blue eyes (Not as gorgeous as Blue-Eyes', but still.) and a fair face. "It would be considered quite odd, in our long lives, if one did not learn the tongues of others."
You just stared at him. "Dude. Are you like, made of gold?"
He laughed, which sounded a lot like something naturelike and unfairly beautiful. You'd never heard any of the Elves outright laugh, so this was a weird, new experience for you. "I have been asked many things, but that is new. No, I am just as flesh and bone as you are."
"Yeah, but yours are like, plated in gold, so, you're... Wow."
He laughed again. "What is your name, mellon?"
"[Y/N.]," You replied, in a daze, then leaned over quick to the Elf on your left, who tensed and tried to lead his horse away. "Do you even see this guy?!"
You turned back to Goldie. "A gin?"
As best as he could in the saddle, the Elf placed his right arm over his chest and bowed at the waist. "I am called Glorfindel. Gellon len covad!"
"Mae l'ovannen!" You said in response.
Glorfindel smiled at you. "What was your question, mellonenin?"
"Well thanks to you and your blinding gold-ness, I forgot. Give me a minute." You thought for a second, trying to ignore the literally glowing Elf beside you. "Ah! That's it. I asked if you could speak Common so you'd understand my question. You guys have songs, right?"
Glorfindel gave you a look like you'd just told him his hair looked like an orc's. "Of course we have songs! Many, many songs! They are as timeless as we are, and we, all of us, are taught these songs from a very young age. Did you wish to learn them?"
You shook your head. "Nah. I've never been good at singing." If I sang all you Elves would shatter like a glass in an opera-room. "When I got puffed here, a song started going through my head. I can never remember all of it. Just bits and pieces here and there. But it's really bugging me. So if I told you all I could remember, think you could remember one from your Elvish past?"
Glorfindel inclined his head. "I shall answer to the best of my ability."
"Okay," You wracked your brain for the lyrics. "Okay, uh... Something about leaving home, and fading... Lots of fading. The one sentence I can always clearly remember is 'all shall fade.'" You looked at him curiously. "That ringin’ any bells?"
Glorfindel thought hard. "If by that you mean if I can remember anything similar, I cannot. If it is a song of Arda, it is not one I know, and I can remember most Eldar songs."
That caused a lightbulb to appear above your head. You gasped, wide-eyed.
"Wait! You're Glorfindel?! As in, the Glorfindel?! The guy in Gondolin who tried to protect Turgon by fighting the Balrog?!"
"Ah, Turgon... He was a good friend."
"And when it fell it grabbed your hair?!"
Glorfindel flinched. "Can we not mention that...?"
"And then you came back to life to fight Sauron?!"
"Yes--"
"The guy who was in love with Ecthelion of the Fountain?!"
Glorfindel flushed, his face going a deep shade of un-Elvish red-- on him, though, it was more of a rose-gold... "Yes, I am that Glorfindel, and I would advise you hush before you draw the attention of the Elvenqueen."
Nervously, you glanced ahead, to where the Elvenqueen sat regally upon her horse. If she or Leggy had heard you, neither of them made any indication of it. With a giddy smile, you looked back to Glory. "This is so cool. Where I'm from, you rarely ever meet anybody so important. Now I've met some of the most important people of Middle-Earth! Ooh, am I also gonna get to meet the king of Gondor?!"
Glorfindel looked confused, but amused. "Gondor has no king, and has not for many, many years. Not since the death of Isildur. Now, the stewards of Gondor keep watch over the city and uphold its laws, and await for the heir to the Gondorian royalty to show himself."
"Or herself," You specified, fighting a wince as you heard a voice echo, Gondor has no king. Gondor needs no king.
Glorfindel raised an eyebrow. "Hardly ever is a mortal woman given any sort of royal duties alone. She would have to marry someone of high standing to be considered queen."
You scoffed. "Great. So the humans of Middle-Earth are assholes, too. Figured I'd escape from that."
"The race of Man is a fickle one," Glorfindel agreed. "More often than not, they are the cause of most grief in the world." He smiled. "But worry not! You are of the Eldar now, and are not subject to their torments."
You shrugged. "Good point..." You beamed excitedly at him. "Tell me about your adventures!"
He did, until the Elvenqueen gave the signal to dismount and to keep silent. You'd been so into Glorfindel's stories that you hadn't noticed that the trees had thinned out, giving way to loose, rusty-brown soil and rocky slopes. All of the Elves sailed silently over the rocks, while the dwarves trampled noisily.
For days (Which passed like extremely-long hours, and you weren't even hungry or thirsty or tired.), the procession trekked through the hills without any audible communication, until the huge hills rose up to your left and in the north into jagged mountains. You kept going, and going, and really wondered how any of the Elves that'd been left could possibly reach any of you for backup if needed in time.
On what was about noon of the week and a half mark, you came to an overlook that spread down beneath you into a huge, rocky valley, dry and desolate. There was no sign of life, and further still, about a couple days away by foot, was another tall, jagged outcropping overlooking a massive structure of bronze. Small black dots which you were going to assume were birds flitted about the top of it, and it stretched what looked like hundreds of feet into the air. You were astonished.
"We came all this way for rocky dirt and an old tower. I don't see any signs of life there." You kept your voice at a whisper, like some of the other Elves who'd began talking amongst themselves.
Blue-Eyes eyed the tower warily. "You're not supposed to."
You turned to watch him walk away. "Then what?" Blue-Eyes gave the Elves some order in Elvish, and you continued. "So we came all this way to see that it really doesn't look like there's orcs there but really, there are, so, what do we do? They've obviously got a shit ton of more orcs behind there. We're probably way outnumbered. So what do we do?"
"We," He replied, "Are going to do just what we came here to do. We're going to scout, by getting as close as we can and seeing what we can. Then we leave. It's as simple as that. If, however, we're ambushed, the rest of the procession has been following us slowly. They're only a couple of hours behind."
You frowned. You must not've gotten that memo because everybody felt the need to speak highly advanced Elvish when you only knew a couple ways to say "hi." "So what do we do if we see something we don't like? Attack?"
"If we can," Blue-Eyes told you, "But it most likely will not come to that. We simply came to see if they have larger numbers than those few who attacked us at the river."
You gave him an incredulous look with an eyebrow raised nearly to your hairline. "...Few?"
He scoffed, and walked off, giving orders in Sindarin that you only caught a word or two of. You were watching him with a glower, when you noticed Lindir sidling up on your right smugly. "...Do you not wish that you know what he is saying?"
You playfully rolled your eyes. "Ugh, Lindy, geez, can you read my goddamn mind?" You turned to mock-glare at him; he was preening. "Well? What was he saying?"
Lindir laughed and wagged a finger at you-- so Elvish. "No no no no no, mellon, I will not make it that easy for you. If you wish to know exactly what he said, then you will have to continue learning from your current point."
Your shoulders slumped. "Really? Damn. Fine, I guess, since it looks like we're camping here." And it did. Practically everyone was going around setting up bedrolls, but you seen no sign of a fire. "Glad it's warm-ish. What, we just supposed to freeze?"
Lindir gestured to Gundabad. "If we light a fire, they will see us, and our stealth will be for naught."
You gave him an odd look. "...What?"
Lindir blinked. "If they see us, our stealth will be for naught."
You stared at him blankly. "...Naught?"
Lindir suddenly looked panicked. "Do they not have that word on your world? It means the same as nothing, in this context."
You scoffed with a cocky smirk. "I know what it means. You Elves are just so damn fancy." You reached over and ruffled his strangely-perfect brown hair, to which he yelped and yanked away from you as if you'd tried to stab him. You left your hand in the air where his head had been, wide-eyed, as Lindir stared at you in shock. "Uhh... Got a sensitive spot on your head there?"
Lindir narrowed his eyes at you. "I should teach you Eldar custom as well. No Elf touches another's hair, for whatever reason, unless it is necessary, which is more than likely never to happen. Braiding and touching another's hair is considered something only for the wedded to do."
You yanked your hand away from where his head had been. "Sorry. I didn't know. Where I come from, that whole hair-ruffle thing is used between siblings or friends."
Lindir smiled softly, straightening his hair. "It is fine, [Y/N.]. You had no way of knowing. But, now I realize I must teach you language and customs-- or perhaps Elros can do that..."
You snickered to yourself, earning an odd look from the Elf. You shrugged. "Nothin', just, I've got specific Elvish teachers now. You're my language teacher, Elros is now customs, Legolas is history, and Glorfindel is music. I'm gonna be a true Elf before I know it."
"Maybe never a true Elf," Lindir laughed, "But close enough!"
You laughed with him, but on the inside, winced. You doubted if he meant it as an insult, but it hit you like one. No, you'd never been considered good enough to be a true anything, especially an Elf of all creatures, who were naturally shiny and glowy and perfect and shit. But still, for someone to confirm it, even in a joking manner, that you'd never be good enough to be a true Elf...
It really hurt.
You acted all casual on the outside throughout the rest of the evening, laughing and joking when needed, but internally, you were fighting a dull ache in your chest. You'd gotten it a few times before-- rarely, but still-- and you knew exactly what it was. The desire to fit in. You'd never had a chance on Earth. But here, you'd hoped to at least be considered a part of their realm.
Dammit, why am I so sensitive?! He didn't mean anything by it!
But what were you really doing here? Struggling to prove yourself to a race that would never accept you. To all Elves, you'd be considered an imposter, like Thorin had said. You knew for a fact you'd never be good around "the race of Man," as they put it, and even in this world, you knew you'd never fit in with them, either. At best, the Men would see you only as a rebel Elf trying to fit into the society of Man. Dwarves? Hell no. What about the Hobbit-folk? Maybe you'd at least be considered a friend to them? No, you were an Elf here. They'd be wary of you, maybe even fearful.
Maybe you should just settle for traveling like a vagabond, like Gandalf does. When everyone else was resting, you stayed by Starlight. You scratched underneath of his chin, and he rested his snout on your inner elbow, allowing you to rest your head on his, staring into his eyes and putting off a feeling of calm. "You accept me for who I am, right?"
Starlight's ears were pricked toward you, so at least he was listening. His only response was a blink. You sighed, closing your eyes. You didn't even have the security of him. One day, he'd grow old and pass away, while you lived on for eons. Carefully, so as not to spook him, you reached up and scratched behind his ears.
"Mellonenin?" Said a voice behind you. You turned to see Legolas, looking concerned. He glanced back over his shoulder, to where the rest of the Elves talked amongst themselves, even conversating a little with the dwarves. "What are you doing out here?"
You gave him a smug look. "What's this I hear, Blue-Eyes? Showing concern for me?"
He rolled his eyes playfully. "Hardly. Just curious."
You shrugged, going back to loving on Starlight. "Everybody seemed to be doing good without me. Lindir and Elros said my lessons on custom and language were done for the day, so I figured I'd spend some time with Star."
Blue-Eyes shook his head in exasperation. "I will never understand your shortening of names..." He fixed you with an expression that you couldn't quite read. "...Are you nervous about a potential battle, Sairen?"
You shrugged. "Hack'n'slash. Can't be that hard. I have played video games, y'know, and I did get here through a LARP event." You shot him a cocky grin. "I think I can handle myself. Always have."
Blue-Eyes smiled softly. "Well... I am certain you will surpass my father's standards. I have no doubt of it."
A warm feeling blossomed in your chest. Your cheeks flushed. "Thanks. That really... That really means a lot, for you to be sure of me."
Blue-Eyes hummed thoughtfully, smoothing down Starlight's pitch mane. "Your world did not appreciate you as it should have. You are a kind person, Sairen, and while at times you are eccentric, that only adds to your persona. I know that I can put my full trust in you anytime, and not be disappointed." He smiled at you. "I am glad to know you, mellon. I feel as if you were meant to be here."
For a minute, you both just stared at each other with smiles on your faces, while you felt all warm and fuzzy inside. Any upset feelings from earlier completely burned away. His pale gold hair looked white in the moonlight. Fuck, I will not cry. I will not. Not at all. Definitely not even having to try... You finally blushed and looked away, busying yourself with straightening Starlight's forelock, though the smile remained on your face.
"Damn, Blue-Eyes. You're making me blush." He laughed, and you added, "But... I'm really glad I know you too, Leggy. You've been nice to me, and actually believe in me..." You smirked at him. "That's rare for me. Thank you."
He looked almost appalled. "You do not need to thank me for taking a liking to you, Sairen. It is not as if it is a chore." Suddenly making up his mind about something, he drew his shoulders back. "Would you like to go for a ride together?"
You beamed at him. "Duh! It's a horse, of course I wanna go for a ride!"
Blue-Eyes laughed. "Come on, then, let's go. Stay close to me; we will be going in the opposite direction of Gundabad, but orcs could still roam these wilds."
You nodded as you mounted Starlight, grinning stupidly down at the stupidly perfect Elf who smiled at you. "Got it. Let's go!"
Your heart was pounding dangerously as the two of you trotted off away from camp, talking about the history of Middle-Earth, as you tried to keep from staring outright at Legolas. As your heart faltered, looking at him smiling at you as the moonlight hit his hair, you realized something...
Shit.
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demigodsanswer · 6 years ago
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You mentioned in another post that you have a bunch of Clarisse headcanons sitting around. I’d love to hear some of them!
Yeah! So here are some general ones about her childhood before camp and around the time of the first series, but I have more specific ones (about her when she’s older, with her mom, and with Chris, ect), and I’m happy to share those as well! Some of these might be repeats because I don’t remember what I have and haven’t shared. 
Her mom is 29 when she’s born. Ares told her mother (Madeline) that he was a god, but she didn’t believe him and he didn’t do a lot of work to convince her. So Madeline was not expecting Clarisse to be a demigod. This made Clarisse a bit of a challenge to raise, because she not only inherited her mother’s temper, but she was also more violent, ADHD, and all the other Ares perks. 
She was born in France where her mom was a ballet dancer. Soon after Clarisse was born, her mom started dating one of the other dancers in the company. Jean (the man) and Madeline dated for three years before getting engaged. But when Madeline was getting ready to retire at 36, she got news that her mother had lung cancer, and she made the choice to move back to Arizona with Clarisse. She broke off her engagement with Jean. Still, Clarisse believed (until Coach Hedge showed up at camp) that Jean was her biological father. 
Clarisse did ballet between 3 and 6 years old and hated every day of it. When she moved to Arizona, her mom let her play soccer instead of doing dance. Clarisse’s coach noticed that Clarisse had more coordinated footwork than anyone else on the team. Madeline told the coach it was probably the dance lessons. After that, parents started sending their kids to Madeline’s dance classes for athletic training. Over the two decades that Madeline lived in Arizona, her dance studio became known for it’s specialty athletic training. 
Clarisse actually really loves soccer. She was kicking a ball around by herself on the beach when she got to camp. Chris saw her and asked if he could play, and they started playing one-on-one. That’s how they met, became, and stayed friends. 
Even before she was cabin counselor, she had a lot of trouble with her brothers not taking her seriously because she was a girl. She got into fights a lot with them. Finally Chiron decided that she needed some time where should could just be by herself and not worry about her brothers. He let her use a room in the Big House that had a TV, some books, and some DVDs to relax in whenever she needed some space from her brothers. 
Two of the DVDs in there were The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. She watched both and became obsessed. Then she read all of the books, and The Hobbit, and the Silmarillion in one year. She and Chris snuck out to see The Return of the King in theaters the day it came out.
Her first kiss was with Chris the night before he left for Luke’s army. He kissed her and she pushed him away. She thought he was just using her to either get her to go with him to beg him to stay, neither of which she was going to do. So she just told him to make up his mind on his own. 
When Chris healed from insanity, Chiron told him “Mr. D healed you, but you owe Miss. La Rue your life.” Once Chiron left, Clarisse came to visit him. Chris said: “I guess I owe you my life.” She just said “Keep it. I’ve seen it, and I’m not impressed.” Then she left and didn’t talk to him for three days. This is what prompted Silena to try and help her, because Silena could tell that nothing would happen between those two if someone didn’t intervene. 
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lawyernovelist · 6 years ago
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Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master: A Legend
I'm not dead! Sorry for the long break, and sorry in advance for the fact that this post isn't quite up to my usual wordy standard; I've spent the last several months suffering from massive writer's block on almost every project I have on the go, including a novel, the next chapter of My Tauriel, and several blog posts.
Anyway, to get on with the show, I thought what The Last Jedi did with Luke Skywalker was one of the coolest and gutsiest things in it.
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Bring it.
Spoilers for Star Wars through The Last Jedi and Lord of the Rings.
Now, I opened in that unnecessarily confrontational way because I've seen criticism of how this movie handled Luke from all over the place and all directions. And to an extent I get that, like I kind of get a lot of the criticism of this movie. I would, however, just like to get one small thing out of the way, and that's the comment I've seen all over the place that "they made Luke evil to make Kylo Ren good." And... no?
I think where this comes from is a feeling that because we see Luke do - or start to do - something unequivocally morally wrong, namely murder his student and nephew in his sleep, that must mean that the movie is telling us that Luke turned evil after we last saw him in the original trilogy. The main narrative beneficiary of such a change would be Ren, since this means that not only is the person telling us how he went bad unreliable, but he himself pushed Ren over the edge. It's not Ren's fault; his mentor betrayed him and so he fell from grace as a reaction to that. Luke is actually evil - the sort of man who would murder a helpless boy who trusted him - and Ren is his innocent victim.
Well, that only really holds up if you subscribe to the belief that if someone does or thinks one wrong thing they're irredeemably evil and that anyone who's been victimised is automatically good. And to be honest, I shouldn't be surprised this is a thing; it seems to be a really common belief on the internet.
But this was part of why I admired this story beat so much: it goes square against that narrative. What Luke did was wrong. Nobody denies that, even him. Right then in the moment he realised that he should not murder a defenceless boy just because of his own fears of what that boy might grow to do, and he accepts that what happened next was a consequence of his actions. Meanwhile, while Ren was right to be frightened and defend himself in the moment, and it's entirely reasonable that he drew his own lightsaber, force-pulled the roof down on Luke, left him for dead, and fled into the night, you know what wasn't a reasonable thing to do? Burn down the school and massacre the other students.
Luke did a bad thing, acknowledged it as bad, and accepted the personal consequences, including the lasting guilt. That doesn't make him evil, it makes him human. Ren reacted in an entirely understandable way up to the point where he went way too far and continued his trend of, when presented with multiple choices, always taking the evil one.
Ren: Gee, I've captured a teenage scavenger who has information I need. Shall I put her in a secure but comfy cell, apologise for scaring her, and offer her money and a ride home to Jakku in exchange for the information, or shall I tie her up, threaten her and her friends, and mind-rape her?
Also, while I'm defending Luke, you get points for realising that what you're about to do is awful before you do it. They say that the first thought you have is what you've been conditioned to think and the second is what you actually think.
Anyway, that probably would have been a nice segue over from the last post where I talked about the presentation of good and evil in these movies, but I did want to explicitly call out that one piece of criticism because it actually irritates me more than is rational. They did something complex and interesting! Stop discouraging them!
OK, so I mentioned that I can see why people are upset about this, and the next one I'm going to address is one that I actually kind of sympathise with, as well as being the reason I chose this specific quote as the title of this blog post: the presentation of Luke as a disillusioned old man who has failed to live up to his own legend.
I thought long and hard to come up with a hypothetical Tolkien example so I could empathise on this one, because Star Wars wasn't a big part of my childhood or anything, so maybe that's why I find it easy to say "Oh, neat, they're doing a cool new twist on an archetypical character" when everyone else in the cinema is saying "WTF have you done to Luke?" Eventually I came up with the option of "What if some asshole came along and made a sequel to Lord of the Rings in which we see that power corrupts and all the bad aspects of medieval kingship (and there are a lot of those) have started manifesting in Aragorn?" and concluded that yeah, I'd be pissed and that would actually be less upsetting than this must be because at least I'd have the comfort that such a sequel would be terrible fanfic, not actual canon. This is Star Wars canon now.
So yeah, I get why people are upset, but hear me and my outsider's perspective out.
For one thing, this is another difference between that hypothetical Lord of the Rings example and The Last Jedi: the problem isn't with Luke except that he couldn't live up to the legend that had grown up around his name and his position as the last of the Jedi and founder of a new Jedi order. And that's an awesome take.
A couple of things about me: first, I'm actually really interested in the question of what happens after these classic stories end. Now, that doesn't always mean that I want to find out - I don't feel the need to actually see Cinderella struggle to adjust to her new life as a princess in combination with the potential political awkwardness caused by the fact that the heir to the throne clearly suffers from face-blindness, and that's why I cannot believe Disney made two sequels (though I hear Cinderella 3 is way better than it has any right to be) - but it's always an interesting question. That's especially true of bigger and more complicated stories with world-shaking consequences like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings: it is kind of interesting to wonder how, after the happy/bittersweet ending, things fell apart. Because that's what things do.
To continue down this rabbit-hole - I promise I'll surface with a point in a moment - this was something Tolkien really got and which you can only really appreciate if you read all his Middle-Earth work: The Silmarillion, The Hobbit (supplemented by The Unfinished Tales), and The Lord of the Rings, in that order: things fall apart. Every time there's a victory, something is lost and it's only a temporary reprieve because evil always rises again. It may be smaller, but so are the forces of Good. Tolkien actually did start work on a sequel to Lord of the Rings in which we see evil returning during the reign of Aragorn's son Eldarion, not really because Eldarion was a crappy king or anything but just because that's what evil does.
The Last Jedi hits a similar note: Just because the Empire was defeated, evil isn't banished from the galaxy. And just as in that unfinished sequel, it's not because the heroes of the previous stories did anything wrong, it's just that this isn't as simple as it looks and winning one big battle and killing one guy doesn't solve all the problems. Eventually the situation will deteriorate again.
That's even more true where the heroes involved don't necessarily know how to pick up the pieces of the evil empire they destroyed, by the way. The galaxy was pretty lucky to have Leia on hand.
The second relevant thing I find interesting is myth-making: how people tell themselves stories about what's happening around them, and how that affects their behaviour and expectations. This is something that happens all the time, sometimes because someone is deliberately creating a myth around an event, group, or person, sometimes because a story has been heard, mis-remembered, and repeated so many times that it's lost some details and gained others, sometimes because people desperately want to believe in something. And it's honestly pretty fascinating. It's been great fun watching the discussion around Hamilton, for example, and how it seems to have changed views of the founding fathers because it presents a new myth in the form of a history play with awesome music.
Watching modern myth-making in the form of polemic and conspiracy theory is also a little bit terrifying, but that's a whole other topic.
Humans love to tell themselves and each other stories, and you can bet stories spread far and wide about Luke after the Empire fell. Even Rey, having grown up in this crappy backwater town on Jakku, seems to have knowledge and expectations of Luke and the Jedi. Doesn't it make all kinds of sense that those stories became myths and that they grew and changed in the years between the fall of the Empire and Luke taking some students and setting up a Jedi school, painting Luke as a larger-than-life hero who could do anything?
Personal anecdote time: when Obama was elected in 2008, I was at university in the States (now you can all guess my age :P). I watched the results coming in on the TV in our dorm lounge, and when the election was called for Obama the place went wild. We spilled out into the road, I could hear the celebrations from other dorms half a mile away, even I went running down the length of the building screaming and wearing an American flag as a cape. But once I'd calmed down a bit I looked around at the Bacchic levels of celebration and said to one of my friends "He'll be remembered as a failure." Naturally, she looked at me like I'd grown at least five heads, so I elaborated, "Everyone's built him up to be the Second Coming. He can't live up to this. Nobody can." I bring this up because that's what I remember when I look at Luke in The Last Jedi: everyone had such high hopes and expectations of him, a legend had built up around his name, he'd become a figure of myth, but at the end of the day he was just a man. He couldn't live up to that. Nobody could.
That acknowledgment of the effects of myth-making around great people and events isn't something I see very often in film, and it ties into what I was saying about seeing what happens after the words "The End". What stories do the people in the world tell themselves about the hero? How does that affect everyone's view of him? How does it affect his view of himself?
That last is also why I find Luke's characterisation in Last Jedi very believable. It makes total sense to me that after this massive failure, which also cost the lives of his students and might have driven his nephew to the dark side, he has withdrawn and become embittered. Again, I come back to the line I used to title this post; the way Hamill delivers it really sums that up.
By the way, good grief did my estimation for all the actors in this film go up.
Anyway, that also feels like a subversion of tropes, which was something this movie did in spades and I love it. I'm having trouble thinking of another of these epic fantasy stories where the hero tracks down the mentor who will turn them into a great warrior or whatever and finds someone so disillusioned. Rey's not having to persuade Luke she's worthy or anything (side-note: I especially enjoy that he never gets weird about the fact that a girl is so strong with the force. It wouldn't make a lot of sense - I mean, he knows Leia - but it was still nice not to have a a subplot where she has to prove she's worthy despite the ~*~terrible handicap~*~ of a second X chromosome), she's having to persuade him that just coming back into the fight at all is worth doing. She's not having to persuade him to train her but to train anyone, and his refusal actually does make sense. I mean, look what happened last time he got himself a crazy-powerful young student. Clearly he can't do this and it might not even be a good idea for anyone to do this.
Now, again, not very familiar with the original movies, this might actually be the exact route they took with Obi-wan and/or Yoda, but I don't remember ever seeing it before and something that distinctive is something I'm sure I would have noticed seeing for a second time. If I'm way off the mark here, though, I can only apologise.
One more comment, and then I'll close. I also really enjoyed Luke's relationship with Ren. This is kind of bringing me back to where I started, but it was still interesting to see how the break with Ren has affected Luke as well as how it's affected Ren. I like watching the emotional consequences play out, as well as how his previous failures have affected Luke's later relationship with Rey and view of himself. Also, that last fight was amazing. It did a great job of developing Ren's character in how he reacted to the sight of Luke and also the emptiness he seemed to feel when after all that Luke wasn't really there. For me, the way Ren reacted after that fight really did cement my view that this is not about Ren defending himself any more, no matter what his initial reaction might have been when he woke up to find Luke standing over him with a lightsaber; it's now about revenge. It kind of shone a new light on Ren, which was in itself interesting to me.
Anyway, I liked Luke in the original trilogy. I liked his enthusiasm, his intelligence, his determination, and his compassion (why did nobody tell me about him redeeming Darth Vader with the power of love?). However, that just meant that I enjoyed all the more seeing how he's been developed here. That Luke was still there, minus some enthusiasm and plus some world-weary cynicism that makes perfect sense given what's happened in the interim. I liked him as a character, I liked what he added to the story, and overall I think his presentation was one of the gutsiest things in this movie.
In summary: Luke good. Film good. Don't @ me.
If you enjoy my blog, you might also enjoy my novel: Bladedancer's Heirs. You can also find me on Goodreads!
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lokigodofaces · 4 years ago
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Bucky: so people have been telling me I need to watch Star Wars because I guess there’s a big twist that I need to learn before someone spoils it.
Sam: oh are you talking about the part where they say Luke Skywalker and Han Solo are twins? Or when they find out that Obi-Wan is their father? Or when it turns out celibacy is banned under the Jedi Code? Or that Leia Organa is secretly part Hutt? Or that the sand people are the real heroes? Or when Boba Fett is revealed to be Darth Vader’s brother in law? Or when it turns out the Empire has been using magic to make it not rain on Tatooine? Or that Queen Amidala is really a Mandalorian? Or that Kylo Ren was actually adopted? Or that Poe Dameron is the Chosen One that will bring balance to the Force? Or that Yoda was actually a con man and the Jedi and Force aren’t real? Or that R2-D2 is not a droid but pretends he is one to mess with everyone? Or that Han’s been on drugs this entire time? Or that Yoda de-aged and has to be babysat by a Mandalorian? Or that Vader kills everyone? Or that the Death Star destroys Earth? Or that the Millenium Falcon is actually meant to be used for short romantic rides but Han stole it to mess with his ex who is running that business? Or that Picard is actually Obi-Wan with amnesia? Or that Data is C-3PO’s father? Or that Han dies by crashing into the biggest, most obvious space monster ever? Or that Spock is a Sith Lord? Or that Jar Jar is the Grandmaster of the Jedi? Or that the Enterprise kamikazes into the Death Star in order to save Alderaan?
Bucky: I don’t care if those are all fake, if they are all real, or only a handful are real. I am going to kill you.
*later*
Bucky: so have you ever read The Hobbit? I read it before the War when it came out and liked it. Is it still a thing people know about?
Sam: yeah, have you heard about the movies?
Bucky: movies?
Sam: yeah, some idiot made a movie for every chapter
Bucky: there, there is no way that actually happened
Sam: with Lord of the Silmarillion, they have to make each film cover two chapters instead of one. 
Bucky: wait, there are more books?
Sam: yeah, there was a series based off of The Hobbit, seven books. 
Bucky, suspicious: huh, okay. what’s it about?
Sam: well, Gandalf time traveled to 1920 England and started a school for wizards he called Hogwarts, which is elvish for serenity. So it’s basically about what happens to a few students, Harry, Ron, and Hermione. And they end up having to fight orcs that call themselves Death Eaters in order to save all non-magical people. And elves have been enslaved by humans by then and Hermione wants to free them.
Bucky: there is no way any of that is accurate. stop pulling my leg. you really had me excited by Tolkien wrote more, but of course he didn’t, not if you said he did.
Sam, feeling bad because he might be the reason Bucky won’t see Lord of the Rings: actually, I think I might have the first book somewhere...
*later*
Bucky: I heard some girls while walking here complaining about “creepers” following them around. I didn’t want to ask them because I thought that’d be awkward. So what on Earth is a creeper?
Sam: oh, they were probably talking about a game named Minecraft. There’s these monsters in the game called creepers. If they get too close to you, they blow up. It sucks because you die and the game is all about building, so they probably destroyed something you had been working hard at. They were probably upset because a creeper destroyed their house or something.
Bucky: oh. that actually makes sense. for once you didn’t lie to me maybe.
Sharon once Bucky leaves: why?
Sam: okay, he is right. I didn’t lie to him. For all we know those girls were very upset about creepers destroying their house.
Sharon: or, more likely, they’re upset because some man was following them. You know that if he knows what that word means, he might be able to help someone if he ends up in a situation where he could stop someone?
Sam, realizing his mistake, running to find Bucky: okay, I promise I wasn’t lying about Minecraft, but I was also not telling you the other meaning of that word and Sharon made me realize that by not telling you I could be putting people into danger.
Bucky, rolling his eyes: you really couldn’t help yourself, could you?
tfatws is just going to be sam telling bucky increasingly absurd lies and bucky not having enough knowledge of the modern world to dispute it so he spends the rest of the episode trying to figure out if sam is telling the truth while sam watches on in amusement
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samiraheaven93 · 7 years ago
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The idea to this came from me rereading both Whispers Underground and the Silmarillion Charlie is reading the Silmarillion and had promised to show Peter what she can do with glamour Peter came in while she was at the scene of the Oath and she decided to just show him some illusion of it (it's easier for her to let the things appear that she is currently reading … while reading) The glamour doesn't last long because Peter isn't the best victim for this kind of magic… he is just to curious ^^' "Who were those people?", Peter knew they were elves but he had never heard of a ginger one. Charlie looked at him confused. "Those were Maedhros and Maglor, or more precisely how I imagine them." The young man looked at her, now even more confused. "I thought you know Professor Tolkiens work?" "Of course I do! I know The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. But I never heard of those two…" Charlie couldn't resist to giggle "that's because they aren't from those books. They are from the Silmarillion! The two oldest sons of Feanor and the stepfathers of Elrond and Elros." "Wait! Elrond like the Elrond from Imladris?" "Yeah. You really don't know what happened before the third age?" Now that she mentioned it, why hadn't he thought about what happened before? There must have been so many things! "Peter, so you tell me you don't know how Middle Earth was created?" This leaded to Charlie explaining the important parts of it "Wait…it was created with music?" Charlie nodded, she knew what he was thinking. "That's just like when I use magic! Does this mean TOLKIEN was a practitioner?!" "No, but Professor Tolkien knew some things about how it is done." "How?" "Peter…" she looked like she remembered something nice and smiled at him. "He was a Professor in Oxford and friends with our~ librarian. The met for tea sometimes and talked a bit about… basically anything. At some point Professor Tolkien told him that he wanted music as the medium of starting it all and our librarian explained to him that that's how you could describe doing magic" "They talked freely about all this?!" "With each other, but they both kept their secrets of course. Remember, Peter, it was a different time." "Yes, but how do YOU know about that?" "He told me of course " "Who?" "Professor Tolkien"
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barduil · 7 years ago
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B’S FIC LIST
It’s been a while since my last multi-fandom fic list, so I thought I’d remake one. I didn’t include anything from before 2016 except one fic since they’re all… pretty bad, I mean it was my first year of writing, so yeah… but anyway! 
This list includes all the stories of mine I think are worth sharing, in chronological order, as well as the fanarts and/or aesthetics that go with them :) There’s quite a wide variety of settings and tropes, so if you’re new to my writing, you should hopefully find something that pleases you! Here we go!
** are personal favourites
THE HOBBIT
Petrichor (Bard/Thranduil) 14.5k, General Audiences, reincarnation, modern world, bookstore, books and cats • aesthetic, fanart 1, fanart 2, fanart 3, fanart 4
It's been six thousand years since Thranduil last laid eyes on his husband - Bard. The world has changed and the great Elvenking with it, lingering in the shadows of Men; as hope for a miracle festers within his heart that grows weaker with every passing day, the only thing keeping him going is a promise he made, many moons ago.
Those Colours We Share (Bard/Thranduil) 84.7k, Mature, soulmates, slow burn, 50s, post-war, animal shelter, sexual content • aesthetic (links to fanarts included in the caption) 
Had anyone told them, Thranduil Oropherion and Bard Bowman would never have believed they would see the world painted in colours again. Until that fateful day of December 1956, when one little boy entered a former soldier's animal shelter.
Forgotten Roads (Bard/Thranduil) 61.8k, Teen and Up Audiences, fantasy, roadtrip, creatures, shapeshifting, slow burn, asexual characters • aesthetic, fanart
When Bard's secret was revealed, he had no choice but to accept exile. Sent away with no hopes of ever being trusted or seeing his children again, Bard wandered across the country without purpose. Now comes a man with the promise of a new life at the end of a long journey, should he accept the stranger's request: to lead him through lands and dangers long forgotten, in quest of hope long lost.
Somewhere Only We Know** (Bard/Thranduil) 10.6k, General Audiences, Middle-earth, past major character death, fix-it • aesthetic 1, fanart 1, fanart 2, fanart 3
When the eighteenth month since Bard's death comes, Thranduil wakes on a strange feeling. He follows a mysterious blue orb through the ill trees of his forest, where he is shown precious memories of his ephemeral time with Bard. But is it a trick of his mind, a dream, or reality?
Crimson Water (Bard/Thranduil) 30.8k, Teen and Up Audiences, merpeople, merman Bard, childhood friends, forbidden friendship, forbidden love • aesthetic, fanart
“You're different,” it added, tilting its head slightly to the side. Thranduil meant to answer, but in one swift movement it turned, and disappeared under the water.
Bright Eyes (Bard/Thranduil) 2.7k, General Audiences, soulmates, tooth-rotting fluff, sequel to Those Colours We Share • aesthetic
Tilda bakes cake, Thranduil sings Disney songs, and Bard slow dances with an unusual partner.
hope, lost and found again, by the forgotten lake (Bard/Thranduil) 9.1k, General Audiences, fairy tales elements, centaur Thranduil
“Are you real?” Bard eventually asked, eyes wide. He held up his hand, and from the tip of his finger, poked at the centaur’s flank.
what was found and lost behind** (Bard/Thranduil) 11.3k, Teen and Up Audiences, post-war, 30s, reunions, father-daughter relationship, happy ending • aesthetic, fanart 1, fanart 2
Bard's been followed by ghosts all his life. When he and his family move to London, he doesn't expect one of those ghosts to come back from the dead—nor to be faced with his past, long concealed in a forgotten, old journal.
Warm, Cracked Hearts (Bard & his kids) 2.1k, General Audiences, character study, family, asexual character, angst, anxiety
One cold evening of winter, Bard faces the worries of his children. 
What We Want (Bard/Thranduil) 4.7k, General Audiences, university, asexual characters, slice of life, fluff, angst? I don’t know her, slow burn
Bard couldn’t be seriously annoyed with the project—he was glad something had allowed them the possibility of becoming friends. Even if it was something as frustrating as a huge assignment.
THE SILMARILLION
Under the Moonlight (Maedhros & Elrond) 2.4k, General Audiences, angst, adoptive father-son relationship • aesthetic
Elrond was no fool; such tears were not of a pain any medicine could heal. There was something else to them, too: they weren't just tears one spends in grief of kin or family. Elrond couldn't quite explain it, and so he asked, “Who is it, that you cry for?”
Home, by the Fireplace (Maedhros & Elrond) 1.6k, General Audiences, bonding, adoptive father-son relationship
“Elrond will come and find you soon enough,” Maglor said. He was back to working on his instrument. “Be kind, when he does—he only means the best.”
or Winter is harsh on Maedhros, and Elrond tries to help.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
The Way He Looks** (Gaston/LeFou) 2.4k, General Audiences, early days, pre-war, first kiss • aesthetic, fanart
Tentatively, LeFou risked looking up at him again. Gaston was looking out the window now, certainly dreaming of his next, successful hunt in the vast plains of the land. These were perhaps LeFou’s favourite moments; when they stopped to make camp in the forest or under the stars—and when they found peace here, at home, and he could watch Gaston bathe in the sunlight.
Blood on his Hands (Gaston/LeFou) 3.8k, Teen and Up Audiences, pre-movie, wartime, protective Gaston
"Was the man even still alive?
Gaston didn't know, and didn't care.
Hell, if anything Gaston hoped he was; he could suffer some more and die later."
or Wartime Gafou drabbles
He Loves Me (Gaston/LeFou) 3.5k, General Audiences, pre-war, first kiss, pre-movie relationship
LeFou glanced at Gaston, and watched his chest rise and fall to the steady rhythm of his breath. He thought back to the day when they’d been lying on top of the hill, and he’d asked Gaston, “Why are we friends?”
The answer had been simple, and easy back then; today, though, LeFou thought that it might have meant something different, for they were now older, and perhaps, a lot more wiser, too.
Reflection** (Gaston/LeFou) 7.7k, General Audiences, post-movie, Gaston lives, healing, scars • aesthetic
While Gaston heals from the fall that almost claimed his life, LeFou, hurt by Gaston's betrayal, struggles to come to terms with the aftermath of the battle.
OTHER
Not the End (Emmett Fields/John Cantrell, The Raven) 823 words, General Audiences, post-movie, fix-it
She stops by the door, fingers around the doorknob when she hears it. As the nurse had said, there's someone in the room already, and Emily can hear his voice, hushed and almost trembling. She's heard that voice before, but not like this—she's heard it strong, and confident, and commanding.
Today, it’s none of those things.
Old Friends and Broken Promises** (John Moore & Laszlo Kreizler, The Alienist) 2.1k, General Audiences, post-books, character study, angst
Months have passed since the Beecham and Hatch cases—but their shadows still linger over John's life.
Oh, if the Dead Could Weep (Héctor Rivera, Coco) 1.8k, General Audiences, pre-movie, angst
Héctor thought that being dead was already bad enough—until the first time he tried crossing the Marigold Bridge.
Sooo that’s it! There are other stories on my account that I didn’t include, either because they’re not any good or because something bothers me about them, but if you wanna give them a read, no one can stop you! but please don’t
Kudos are much appreciated, and comments mean the world to me. Even a few words would make my day!! It's never too late and even a tiny one would be wonderful. ;w;
I’ll also take this opportunity to thank @piyo-13 and @johnsmoore, who beta’ed most of those stories. Thank you so so much my friends, my fics and I would be nothing without you <3
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