#ch: aragorn

[daeneryssansa]

THE LORD OF THE RINGS The Two Towers

[isabelpsaroslunnen]

You know the posts that periodically make the rounds that say something like "I don't support monarchy as a system except when it comes to Aragorn"?

I don't actually feel that way about Aragorn, in either the book or films (though I much prefer the book character). But I have some sympathy because I very much feel that way about Attolia Irene.

When I read The King of Attolia last December, I was impressed by a lot of things, but the overriding one was that I was deeply invested in the political success of a pair of monarchs. I didn't love it quite as deeply as The Queen of Attolia, mostly because I do not love Eugenides (or anyone) quite as much as Irene, but he's still a fun and deeply engaging character and I was actively rooting for his triumph for the duration of the book.

It's also handled deftly enough that it doesn't feel like I'm being expected to idealize monarchy itself, though—it's more the system that these characters are operating within and around. Costis as the dominant narrative voice helps carry it off, to be sure, but nevertheless, it felt like it was very smoothly done.

[dunbonnets]

YGRITTE & ARAGORN

[annabawritersdream]

The Royal Family of Gondor: children of Aragorn & Arwen

(L-R)

-Henry Cavill as Eldarion: Crown Prince of Gondor, former husband to Elenna "Enna" and husband to Ilmarë, handmaiden of Varda.

-Kaya Scodelario as Gilraen: first daughter of Aragorn and Arwen, she kind of hates her older brother. Originally betrothed (and possibly married) to Eldarion's scheming tutor, she eventually falls in love with a fisherman from Dol Amroth. She's essentially a tomboy and doesn't really get along with her parents.

-Marina Moschen as Lóthuil: second daughter of Aragorn and Arwen. She's more of a lady compared to her older sister, but far from a proper one. She's a great archer and will enter Elenna's service in Ithilien for a while.

-Mariya Andreeva as Meleril: youngest daughter of Aragorn and Arwen. She will also enter Elenna's service and will eventually marry Elboron. She's shy, retiring and gentle.

[tanoraqui]

Theory: Elrond effectively wears headlamps like a Dad(TM)

Proof:

Elrond, at least on semi-formal occasions, wears “a star upon his forehead” (RotK book 6, ch.9)—that is, presumably, a pale glowing gem on some sort of coronet. This comes across as very classically Elvish (light, jewelry, star imagery), and a nigh-explicit reference to his father Eärendil. However…

Elrond’s children don’t see as well as Elves, as cited here. If his children don’t, then Elrond, even less Elvish by blood, certainly doesn’t. Now, I will admit that I forget if “Elves can see in the dark” is canon or very popular, D&D-enabled fanon, but it certainly makes sense considering that Elves flourished for centuries or millennia under just starlight, before daylight even existed…and it’s equally reasonable to assume that half-elven night vision is as relatively “weak” as their cited distance vision.

Elrond is the proud father of three, and exhibits traditional Dadly behaviors such as being a little bit of a nerd (loremaster) but also one of the most reliable guys you know, adopting any child left in his presence for a sufficient amount of time (Aragorn), and telling his daughter’s aspiring bf that he won’t be good enough for her until he has a steady job (also Aragorn).

My dad irl, who I promise is a pretty typical Dad, was positively delighted when he discovered casual-use head-mounted flashlights about a decade ago, and has self-satisfiedly worn them on every camping trip and nighttime dog walk ever since.

CONCLUSION: Elrond regularly wears glowing, star-evocative gems on his brow, especially while traveling or at fancy evening parties, and he looks great and it make people respectfully murmur Eärendilion (whether he likes it or not)… But really, it’s not a fashion statement or implicit political position or whatever; it’s because if he doesn’t have some sort of flashlight, he will trip on torchlit steps or walk into low-hanging tree branches in the dark. And it’s so much easier if it’s hands-free! (Especially when he’s spelunking for lost texts!)

His kids all go through a phase of thinking he’s mortifyingly dorky about this, then begrudgingly come to accept that it is really convenient to have a hands-free light for dark nights, caves, etc, and start wearing one themselves.

[daenysthedreamer101]

Youngest Original ~ TVDU

Ch 5 - Where are you?

Mikaelson!OC

Warnings: none really, minor description of blood, compulsion

Masterlist

This is the shortest chapter by far, save the prologue and it is kind of filler but I liked it regardless, hope you like it as well

I'm a shoulder you can cry on Your best friend, I'm the one you must rely on

Mystic Falls, September 2010

In the following weeks, the renovations on the mansion Kassandra and Klaus picked out took place. It was mostly over, the only place left was the entrance hall. The bedrooms upstairs were all finished.

Klaus was currently gone, doing God knows what with his hybrids, so she was alone in the house. She was brushing out her hair and listening to music. Many of the artists she loved in the 80s and 90s were now older or passed away. She cried when she found out Michael Jackson passed away.

She was listening to "Chiquitita" by ABBA. As the finishing touch, she sprayed perfume on her wrists and neck - it was vanilla-scented with hints of rose and citrus. Once she was satisfied with herself she made her way downstairs.

Her mind was on her sister. It's been weeks and there was no sign of her. Rebekah was capable of protecting herself, sure, but she would be defenseless with a dagger in her heart. Kassandra sighed as she nervously played with the heart-shaped ring on her hand. 

Stefan Salvatore had stolen the caskets containing her sibling's bodies and he was using that as leverage against Klaus. "I just hope we find them soon..." She thought as she poured herself blood into a wine glass.

~

Kassie was currently on the couch in the living room - she was watching the movie adaptation of one of her favorite novels, The Lord Of the Rings. The movies were filmed and released while she was daggered so she only recently found out about their existence. 

She was currently on the scene where Aragorn and Arwen were talking to each other before the shards of Narsil when all of a sudden Klaus came in bursting through the house, sounding rather annoyed.

"Kassandra!" He yelled, his voice echoing through the large mansion. She sighed and paused the movie. 

"Here." She answered softly, knowing he would hear her. In an instant, he appeared in front of her. She looked up at him, with an annoyed expression on her face. "Yes?"

"Put some shoes on. We're going on a little field trip." He said as he took the remote from her hands and turned off the TV. 

"Hey! I was watching that!" She exclaimed. 

"What do you mean field trip? What are you talking about?" Kassie asked, confused.

"I've found a way to find Bekah." He replied. 

She looked at him suspiciously. "How?" She asked with narrowed eyes. 

"And here I thought Rebekah was the judgy one." He joked. "What do you think I've been doing all this time?" 

Kassie simply shrugged her shoulders. Klaus chuckled and put his arm around her. "Have some faith in me, love." She gave him an unimpressed look.

"So, what is your master plan?" She asked as she got up from the couch, in the process pushing away Klaus's arm.

He chuckled again. "It's fairly simple - a locator spell." 

"Of course! God, how haven't I thought of that!?" Kassie exclaimed. They walked toward the front door where her jacket was. "So that means you found a witch to help you?"

"Naturally."

"Right. But don't you need the blood of a relative to find the missing person?"

"And that's where you come in, dear sister." He said as he held the door open and the two of them walked out of the house.

Kassie furrowed her brows. "But you're her sibling as well. Why didn't you just give your blood?"

"The witch demanded your blood. She said yours would be better since you and Bekah are full-blooded siblings." He replied and Kassie didn't miss the hurt in his voice.

"And the witch said it would work even better because of your matching rings" Klaus added as they got inside his car.

Kassie and Bekah had matching heart-shaped rings. They were fairly simple in design, the only difference was that Rebekah's was made of gold and Kassie's was silver. They bought them from a small jewelry store back in the 1800s. The two sisters never took them off. (xx)

"Right...so where are we going exactly?"

"Thankfully for us, she moved to Richmond a couple of years ago."

~

Two hours later they found themselves in front of a small, shabby-looking apothecary. Klaus entered first and Kassie followed. The inside didn't look any better - dust was visible in the air, cobwebs covered most of the shelves, and an unpleasant smell of something burning was present.

"How...lovely..." Kassandra remarked as she looked around unimpressed.

"Now, now love, we're not here to be judgy," Klaus responded. Soon after, an elderly woman appeared. She was on the shorter side. Her golden hair was tied back into one long braid. Her icy blue eyes bore into Kassandra. 

Even though her youth was fading away, Kassie could see traces of her former beauty. The woman wore a flowy blue dress with long sleeves and had many necklaces covering her neck. On her head, she had a beautiful black headband. 

"Kassandra, this is Natalya. She will help us find Bekah." Klaus introduced the two women. The witch grabs Kassandra's hand and takes off her heart-shaped ring. After a few seconds, she lets her go and goes behind the counter.

She opens up a map of Virginia and puts it on the counter. She also brings out a knife. "Will you do it or shall I?" The witch asks Kassandra. 

Kassie is quiet for a second, then picks up the knife and cuts her left palm. She hissed but endured the pain. Blood dripped from her hand down onto the map. Natalya took the ring, grabbed Kassie's free hand, and started muttering.

As she was muttering, the blood started moving around the map. After a couple of seconds, it stopped right above two words - Mystic Falls. 

"I knew it! I told you, she never left town." Kassie exclaimed. 

Klaus hummed in response. "I think I know where she is." 

After they met with the witch, they returned to their mansion. Klaus poured himself a glass of bourbon while Kassandra watched, waiting for him to reveal his plan. 

He downed the remainder of his drink and turned to his sister. "Here's what you'll do. You'll go to their little Mystic Falls High and compel yourself an enrollment paper." 

"You want me to enroll in their high school? Why?" Kassie asked with furrowed brows.

"Because, little dove, I need you to be my eyes and ears since Rebekah is down at the moment." He explained while one of his hands moved a strand of hair from her face.

"You want me to spy on Elena and her friends." She concluded quickly.

"I knew you were a smart girl." He said with a wicked smile.

"But they'll know it's me. Stefan will recognize me." Kassie pointed out.

"It doesn't matter. What can they do against you? To everyone else, you're just the new girl in town." 

Kassie sighed. "I'll get to it, then." She picked up her purse, took the car keys from the table, and begrudgingly went to do what was expected of her.

~

"This is ridiculous." She thought as she parked the expensive Audi in the school parking lot. She got out of the car and walked inside the building. Her heels clicked against the floor, the sound reverberating off the walls. 

The halls were quiet and the school was almost empty, save for a few professors and a janitor. There seemed to be no students present. "To be fair it is Friday evening." She told herself.

She finally found her way into the office of the school secretary. "Right. Let's get this over with." Kassie thought as she entered the office. 

The woman seemed surprised by her entrance and asked her what she needed. "Can I help you?"

"Yes. I need enrollment papers." Kassie said, trying to be nice before inevitably using her powers. 

"Do you have any documentation with you?"

"No."

"Hun, how do you think to enroll without any documentation?"

"Like this," Kassie said as she leaned over the counter, looked the woman in the eye, and compelled her. 

After 10 minutes of waiting Kassie got her papers. She once again compelled the woman to forget their entire interaction and then left the office. 

~

Sherrif Liz Forbes was in Mystic Falls High, picking up some papers for Caroline. On her way there, she noticed an expensive-looking car parked in front of the school.

Once she entered the school and was walking toward the secretary's office, she saw an unfamiliar young woman walking out of said office.

The girl was tall, with long brown hair, and was dressed affluently. There was something odd about her, Liz thought, she didn't seem like a regular high school girl.

Before she could do anything, the girl was gone. Shaking her head, Liz entered the office and greeted the secretary. 

"Hello, Grace." 

"Oh, Liz! Hello, how are you?"

"I'm good...Grace, who was that girl?" Liz asked.

Grace tilted her head in confusion. "What girl?"

"...The girl that just walked out of your office."

"There was no one here. You're the first person to enter my office since lunch break." 

"Are you sure?" Liz asked again.

Grace chuckled. "I think I would know if someone entered my office, Liz." 

"Of course," Liz said, alarm bells going on in her head. "A vampire..." she thought grimly. 

***

Kassie and Klaus figured out that Bekah was daggered and we see how deep Kassie's care is for Bekah. We see her compel her way into high school lol and at the end, Sheriff Liz almost catches Kassie in the act. Hmmm..

Thank you for reading 💜💜💜

If you have any opinions feel free to comment!

[queensabriel]

Boromir Lives!AU ch 1 is now up!!

Rating: M (violence, language, some spice later maybe)

Chapters: 1 out of ??

Characters/pairings: Boromir/Eomer, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, Eowyn, Merry, Pippin...p much everyone

Current Word Count: 4,744

Summary: Badly wounded after the encounter with orcs at Amon Hen and the breaking of the Fellowship, Boromir must find his way amidst conflicting forces as the War of the Ring reaches its height.

[whovianofmidgard]

Update!

Ch. 12.: War: The Bane of Ungoliant’s Spawn

Mordor was a dark stain upon Middle-earth, like an ink blot spilled over an intricately drawn map. The blackness spread day by day, eating away at the light above the surrounding lands. Eärendil could just barely pierce through the unnatural smoke clouds hanging over Minas Tirith, his and the Silmaril’s light a faint reminder of the hope he symbolised.  

From the vantage point of Vingilot among the stars Eärendil could see far below the happenings of Arda. Nothing was hidden from him as long as the Silmaril shone upon it, and with the help of his spyglass he could observe them in detail. If he wished it, he could see all.  

All except for what was concealed by the poisoned fumes of Mordor.  

The peredhel and his crew had kept watch with growing curiosity over the strange proceedings with the halflings. That four hobbits had left the Shire, venturing well beyond Bree and into the wilds, while unusual, normally wouldn’t have caught their attention immediately, if not for the fact that the Black Riders were after them.  

From then on Eärendil made sure to check on the hobbits’ progress each night. He watched as one of them suffered an injury by the hand of one of the Nazgûl, and how his many-times mortal grandson tried his best to heal the wound. He saw as Glorfindel found their group and carried the injured hobbit to Elrond’s realm. He saw when some two months later the four halflings left the safety of Rivendell in the company of five more allies, a mishmash of representatives of all the races of the Free Peoples of Middle-earth.  

While Eärendil lacked the context of these events, he understood that something monumental hinged on the success of their quest. The touch of Fate lingered heavily around their person.  

The star had also seen the company fall apart as time marched on. He saw the nine of them enter Moria and only eight of them emerge. Then the Man of Gondor fell in battle, taking many an arrow before his end, and the whole group began to rapidly dismantle. Two hobbits taken hostage by a new breed of orcs, the other two escaping the battle and continuing their journey on their own, while the Sinda, Dwarf and Aragorn took up pursuit of their stolen companions.  

It had been many weeks since then, and Eärendil could still see most of them, even the grey Maia, now white, whom had recently made his return. Only the two hobbits who had entered Mordor some days ago were missing.  

The halflings had slipped beneath the veil of Darkness, followed by a creeping, pathetic creature of ill intent. Ever since, Eärendil’s sight was cut off from them, and in turn they were cut off from his guiding light.  

Or so he thought. 

Read the rest on Ao3

[frodothefair]

Ch 24 or so of Flowers of Mordor is going to have Sam and Frodo and Mari discussing (and joking) about a hypothetical Mari as a tenth walker scenario.

Though honestly, she would have made a terrible tenth walker -- she is not strong at all, doesn't really have any skills that would help the Fellowship except cooking and maybe healing (though she is nowhere near as good as Aragorn unless someone’s giving birth), and she'd be a distraction to all the others, because they'd be extra worried about her well-being as a woman (because sexism is alive and well, y'all, let's face it). Also, Frodo would have been against it. Had they gotten together before the quest, he probably would have taken her with him as far as Rivendell, but then implored her to stay and keep Bilbo company. Which she would have gladly done. It would have been better than being in the Shire and in the Lockholes, though they would not have known it at the time.

Oh dear goodness, now I want to write a spinoff AU where the above actually happens, and Marigold has fled with the other hobbits to Riverdell during the quest, and she and Frodo are already an item... Help me.

@konartiste (are you getting tired of being tagged yet?)

[thescrapwitch]

Writing Patterns

Thank you @starsuncounted for tagging me! Here are the first lines of my last ten fics. I went with the opening lines for first chapter in my longfics ones since I was curious if there was any difference in how I started those compared to how I started my one-shots.

1 For Want of a Crown (ch 1) "Fëanáro did not think that Nerdanel would come." Silmarillion - M - So. Many. Characters!

2 Reforged (ch 1) "Maeglin did not die, though he would not realize it until years and years later." Silmarillion - G - Maeglin, Celebrimbor and others

3 Those That Remain (ch 1) "Novembers could be an awful month when they put their mind to it and this one, thought Daeron, was in the running for being the worst." Silmarillion - G - Daeron, Maglor, Lindir

4 The Price We Pay “One little bird on a roof in Tirion…” Silmarillion - M - Maglor, Maedhros, Fingon

5 A Flame Among the Ice "Before Indis had ruined his childhood, little Fëanáro would sit beside his father and demand stories of the crossing every night before bed." Silmarillion - G - Fëanor and many others

6 Soft-Shelled Soul "At first, Maedhros thought he lingered in Irmo’s realm." Silmarillion - G - Maedhros, Crablor

7 Flickers in the Dark (ch 1) "Being dead felt a lot like floating in water." Silmarillion - G - Gil-Galad and many others

8 The Conditions of Existence "Performing surgery on one’s soul was not a pleasant process." Silmarillion - G - Annatar, Celebrimbor, Sauron

9 Life in Miniature "They’d been drunk when Turgon first suggested the plan, not realizing how such a simple idea would grow and consume his life." Silmarillion - G - Turgon and many others

10 Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark "The four of them met by chance at the Prancing Pony." Silmarillion - G - Maglor, Aragorn, and some unlucky OCs

I seem to like setting up the story with shorter exposition lines, getting as quickly as I can to the main focus of the fic. Most of these also come from the main POV character of the story, so that way the readers know who the story will be focusing on. Also, a lot of setting up an expectation a character has only for it to be countered in the following sentences.

This was fun! Tagging: @dreamingthroughthenoise @echo-bleu @lordgrimwing @arofili @aroace-moron @whovianofmidgard @camille-lachenille and whoever else wants to join in. No pressure!

[isabelpsaroslunnen]

[Original date: 13 March 2018]

Unrelated to Éowyn, but one of the things I find interesting about the LOTR movies is how much harder they push the Chosen-One-by-blood narrative wrt Aragorn than the book. It's certainly present in the book, but much more debatable.

The short version: in the films, Aragorn has to convince himself that he should be king. In the book, Aragorn has to convince the people of Gondor that he should be king. He doesn't lead the dead to Minas Tirith; he leads Gondorian armies to Minas Tirith by saving south Gondor and winning their support.

The longer version:

In the films, Isildur, last king of Gondor, refused to surrender the Ring and was betrayed by it. His male-line heirs were kings, by right, of Gondor, but never claimed it. The main tension: Aragorn is king by right, but doesn't want it out of fear of hereditary weakness via Isildur.

In the books, Isildur handed over Gondor to his brother Anárion's heirs and left to take the Ring to Elrond. Much later, the king descended from Anárion died without male heirs, and his son-in-law, separately in line to be the next heir of Isildur, claimed to be rightful king. It was dodgy af and Gondor rejected the claim.

(Dodginess: a) he only claimed it as Isildur's heir because his family's kingdom was in shambles, b) he argued that since their ancestors had ruling queens, he should be king through his wife [??], and c) his father was actually alive at the time [?????].)

Gondor crowned a cousin of the old king, a captain of the line of Anárion who had just showed up with an army and saved Gondor. That guy's son was a fool (IMO) only kept in check by his faithful Steward, also descended from Anárion, and when that king got himself killed, Gondor decided to just keep the Steward.

It's not like Isildur's heirs could have waltzed in at any time as Rightful Kings. They thought they were (including Aragorn), but Gondor was pretty much "lol no" about it. When Denethor says Aragorn is only an heir of Isildur so idgaf, that's what he's talking about.

So Aragorn has to simultaneously be his own ancestor who claimed the throne AND the guy who actually got it by saving Gondor. Obviously, all this is pretty involved for film, but "Aragorn's family tried to claim Gondor by blood alone, but got rejected, so Aragorn has to prove himself to become king" isn't.

It's not just "they changed a thing = bad." I genuinely think it's interesting in a cultural sort of way that they could have made it much less Chosen One-ish than the original, and instead made it very much more so, AND modern audiences found that profoundly appealing.

[everybodyhatesrand]

Ch. 38–41 are emotional and climactic but largely flopped for us. Why can't Rand stop ascending to godhood? Why does everyone want Lan to be Aragorn? Why is The Beautiful Shendla here? We have these and other questions. 

[theworldsoftolkein]

Caradhras - by The Headless Girl

Caradhras rose before them, a mighty peak, tipped with snow like silver, but with sheer naked sides, dull red as if stained with blood....

'Winter deepens behind us,' Gandalf said quietly to Aragorn....'Tonight we shall be on our way high up towards the Redhorn Gate. We may well be seen by watchers on that narrow path, and waylaid by some evil; but the weather may prove a more deadly enemy than any.'....

'[It] is no good our delaying the passage of the mountains. Further south there are no passes, till one comes to the Gap of Rohan. I do not trust that way since your news of Saruman.'....

When they returned to the Company Gandalf spoke.... [It] had been decided to face the weather and the high pass....

'From signs that we have seen lately,' said Gandalf, 'I fear that the Redhorn Gate may be watched; and also I have doubts of the weather that is coming up behind. Snow may come. We must go with all the speed that we can. Even so it will take us more than two marches before we reach the top of the pass.'....

The Company set out again with good speed at first; but soon their way became steep and difficult. The twisting and climbing road had in many places almost disappeared, and was blocked with many fallen stones.... By midnight they had climbed to the knees of the great mountains. The narrow path now wound under a sheer wall of cliffs to the left, above which the grim flanks of Caradhras towered up invisible in the gloom; on the right was a gulf of darkness where the land fell suddenly into a deep ravine.

Laboriously they climbed a sharp slope.... But before long the snow was falling fast....

Gandalf halted. Snow was thick on his hood and shoulders; it was already ankle-deep about his boots.

Aragorn said, '... I knew the risk of snow, though it seldom falls heavily so far south, save high up in the mountains. But we are not high yet; we are still far down, where the paths are usually open all the winter.'....

While they were halted, the wind died down, and the snow slackened until it almost ceased. They tramped on again. But they had not gone more than a furlong when the storm returned with fresh fury. The wind whistled and the snow became a blinding blizzard....

The Company halted suddenly.... Stones began to fall from the mountain-side, whistling over their heads, or crashing on the path beside them. Every now and again they heard a dull rumble, as a great boulder rolled down from hidden heights above....

‘It is no good going on. Only a little higher, if I remember rightly, this path leaves the cliff and runs into a wide shallow trough at the bottom of a long hard slope. We should have no shelter there from snow, or stones — or anything else.'

'And it is no good going back while the storm holds,' said Aragorn. 'We have passed no place on the way up that offered more shelter than this cliff-wall we are under now.'....

The Company now gathered together as close to the cliff as they could. It faced southwards, and near the bottom it leaned out a little, so that they hoped it would give them some protection from the northerly wind and from the falling stones. But eddying blasts swirled round them from every side....

The Fellowship of the Ring LOTR Book#2, Ch#3, The Ring Goes South

[esta-elavaris]

🔥HWFG ch. 15 is up!🔥

I don't have a pretty gif, but I do have this very sophisticated diagram I made while writing.

[Boromir/OC] 5,584 words for this chapter

AO3 - FF.net

When she arrived, the table was set for ten with five at each side – although thus far, only Aragorn and Prince Legolas were present. Their conversation ended as they noticed her arrival, and they quickly rose to their feet in greeting. “Please don’t,” she said quickly, offering a shy smile. “Your legs will grow very tired before all is done, should you keep that up.” Her joke, weak as it was, appeared to break the ice – for they chuckled, and Prince Legolas gestured to the chair to his right in offering. It saved her from dithering, at least.

[rhosinthorn]

Heavy is the Head Ch. 5

“Oh no, Mr. Lupin,” Aragorn smiled politely. “We think you’re the perfect one to answer our questions.”

Read it on AO3 and FFN!

[queensabriel]

Update! ➛ Ch 4: Through a Glass Darkly

Boromir's no good horrible very bad detox. Besties reunion. Pippin put that thing back where it came from challenge 3k19 (failed).

----

Summary: Badly wounded after the encounter with orcs at Amon Hen and the breaking of the Fellowship, Boromir must find his way amidst conflicting forces as the War of the Ring reaches its height.

Rating: T (violence, language)

Characters/pairings: Boromir/Éomer, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Éowyn, Gandalf, Merry, Pippin...everyone shows up at some point but it's Boromir-centric.

Word Count: 21,264

----

Chapter 1: Naegidhas

Chapter 2: Weary the Head, Heavy the Crown

Chapter 3: Behind the Hills into Shadow

Chapter 4: Through a Glass Darkly