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i-did-not-mean-to · 6 months ago

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Week 2 - Ice

As promised, I've not really counted words this month. I'm just writing what comes to mind.

So, please, have the next instalment of this fic!

Prompt: Ice

Pairing: Faramir x Éowyn, Faramir & OC (oh, and Éomer)

Words: 1 410

Warnings:/

“I wanted to ask,” Faramir burst out before his courage could desert him in the face of so much unexpected, discombobulating pulchritude. “Where could I do some shopping? I need new boots…”

The woman looked at him curiously for a moment.

“You just follow that road until you reach the next town,” she said, pointing in the direction from which he’d come. “They should have most of what you need to survive out here.”

While she’d been talking, the horse had ambled over again and was lovingly nibbling at Faramir’s shoulder until he gave in to the overwhelming instinct to lean against her sturdy midriff.

“I see you two have become fast friends overnight,” Éowyn chuckled. “Please, do come over. We’ve got a young lady from the city staying over—she’s had a rough time at work and is looking to recover far away from bustling crowds. Maybe you’ll have something in common.”

Nodding gratefully, Faramir started to retreat but turned back to give Frieda a last scratch between her shoulder blades. “See you later, old girl,” he whispered and went back to his cabin.

He’d been convinced that it had been him who’d rescued a wandering stray, but now, he was no longer so sure of that. All things considered, he had to admit that it was likelier that Frieda had sought him out to force him into taking his recovery more seriously.

As he rifled through his things to prepare for a short trip to the nearby village, he realised that—while he was curious and sympathetic to his neighbours’ houseguests—he didn’t expect to be much interested in a neurotic city girl.

That sounded much more like the kind of woman that would bowl Boromir over. The thought of his brother’s helper syndrome made Faramir smile, and he resolved to call home after he’d acquired a new pair of boots.

Two hours later, he dragged several bags into the living room and sighed. The little town had been so charming and the tradespeople so welcoming that he’d somehow purchased two thick button-downs, a new pair of jeans, the boots for which he’d originally set out, and more food than a single person could possibly eat in a reasonable timespan.

For the first time in what felt like forever, Faramir felt as if he’d achieved something.

Grabbing a particularly plump, red apple from the counter, he grimaced at his wet clothes from the previous night. He knew that he should hang them up to dry, but he surmised that he could do that later as well.

Now, he wanted to visit his only friend in this picturesque, quiet idyll.

He only realised that his steps were more fluid and much faster already when he found himself pacing around aimlessly in a big, round, deserted courtyard.

“Hello, can I help you?”

A man strolled towards him with a noticeable limp that somehow only made him look more virile; worn jeans hung from his visibly misaligned hips and his long hair, the colour of ripe wheat, was tied into a charmingly negligent bun.

Faramir at once thought that there was one who probably never encountered any troubles when chatting up women.

“I’m here for…she came to me last night…”

“My sister?” The man’s expression darkened ominously, and his stance widened in a manner that could only be described as distinctly threatening.

“Frieda,” Faramir supplied hastily, blushing when the man threw his handsome head back to laugh heartily.

“Ah, you’ve come for the other one of my girls,” he said with a grin and nodded at Faramir’s hand. “And I see you’ve brought gifts. Good for you! She’s over yonder! I’ll send Éowyn out with a drink for the two of you.”

He gave Faramir a singularly crisp nod, betraying that he was only too familiar with the woes and wounds the other valiantly tried to hide and ignore.

Upon catching Faramir’s bewildered eye, Éomer winked cheekily. “I’ve been where you are, brother. If you let them, these ladies are going to drag you back to life, kicking and screaming if necessary. Save your time and don’t struggle!”

Touching two fingers to his brow, the man walked away leisurely while whistling merrily.

Faramir followed the impressively nonchalant gesture as well as the wise words and went to find Frieda in her box, dozing peacefully.

As he drew near, she looked up and gave a joyous whinny that only redoubled when she saw the apple he was presenting to her.

“Careful, or she’ll fall in love with you,” a soft, humorous voice resounded behind him, and—caught in flagranti—Faramir whirled around to see Éowyn standing in the open barn door, holding a glass of iced tea and a bucket.

The ice cubes clinked softly as she handed him the glass, and Faramir was reminded of the little ice cream parlour he’d spotted in the town.

His day had been so gratifying and successful that he was tempted to invite Éowyn, but—at the last moment—he remembered her brother’s reaction and refrained.

After all, he didn’t want to offend his neighbours on the first day of their acquaintance by making unwelcome advances.

“You look livelier,” Éowyn commented as if she could read his thoughts. “And I see that your shopping spree was a success too. Nice shirt!” Faramir couldn’t help thinking that his father would have loathed the rough, supremely inelegant checkered flannel, but he nevertheless sensed that the young woman was genuine in her compliment, so he thanked her as politely as he could with the heat creeping up his throat and settling in his cheeks.

“If you give me a moment, I can pack a thermos of iced water and saddle my own horse. Then, we can take them out to the forest. It is time that you learn to trust your own body and mind again. Don’t you miss the rush of adrenaline?” Seeing his flabbergasted face, she grinned. “Frieda is a good mount—reliable. Don’t worry! Her saddle and tack are on the far wall there, if you want, you can get her ready.”

When he didn’t decline, she set down her bucket in reach of the dappled mare and walked back towards the entrance.

“You’ll have to rub her down yourself after,” she chirruped over her shoulder. “If you clean her hooves as well, you can stay for dinner!”

If Faramir had believed that Éowyn would go easy on him on account of his noticeably limited range of motion or his lack of familiarity with the trail, he’d been sorely mistaken—the ride turned out to be invigoratingly challenging, and he felt his heart soar at the breathtaking vistas he’d completely missed on that first rainy night.

Afterwards, he dutifully dried off Frieda and shared another slightly mealy apple from Éowyn’s stash with the mare; he stayed with her, resting his forehead against her smooth, fragrant fur until he could be sure that his legs would not give out from under him at the first hesitant steps.

True to her word, Éowyn invited him to stay for dinner, and Faramir learned that she and her brother ran a kind of unofficial rehabilitation centre for worn-out city folk.

He also got to meet Drea, a young woman with a bright smile and sad eyes; she’d left a supremely important but unbearably dull job in the hope of finding a more meaningful and fulfilling life elsewhere.

Unfortunately, such profound developments took time, and so she’d taken refuge on this sheltered farm to rest and recover from the mad race that had been her life for the last few years.

“And you’re all alone out here?” Drea asked when Faramir, feeling comfortably sated and heavy, prepared to take his leave from his generous hosts.

“For now, yes,” he admitted. “My brother—who’d be delighted to make your acquaintance, I’m sure—will join me at his earliest convenience, though.”

The thought of Boromir reminded him of the call he’d wanted to make and had completely forgotten about—he winced.

Drea blushed and gave Faramir another one of her beautifully vulnerable half-smiles. “I’d be charmed to meet him,” she said politely, but Faramir could sense that she was not entirely sure of her own words.

“Yes,” Éomer cut in. “Don’t be a stranger, and—if your brother turns up—tell him that we’ll surely find a horse for him too.”

“Shall do,” Faramir promised, his heart alight with mad, indomitable hope.

@fellowshipofthefics

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#og post #Summerstories #FOTFICS #FOTFICS July 2024 #FOTFICS July Challenge #Week 2 #Humans #Men #Faramir #a horse #Ice #Éowyn #Éomer #OC #fem!OC #Chapter 3

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morwensteelsheen · 3 years ago

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For that ask thingy: 🌈, 🌾, and of course, 🎨! Or just one of those, if you'd rather!

Wahey! Thank you so much!!

🌈 Your favorite tropes to write about?

Oh man, it’s got to be, like, friends to lovers and pretty much anything domesticity-based. I know I’ve been writing a lot of heinously angst-riddled stuff lately but 99% of what I want to write, is, like characters fucking around in their own homes and being lazy lol.

🌾 A fic you really want to write but you haven’t (yet)?

I keep floating this and then running away from it because I’m a coward, but I want to write a fic dealing pretty explicitly with the inevitable political split between Faramir & Aragorn. Faramir’s spiel in Window on the West very prominently features this line:

'I would see the White Tree in flower again in the courts of the kings, and the Silver Crown return, and Minas Tirith in peace: Minas Anor again as of old, full of light, high and fair, beautiful as a queen among other queens: not a mistress of many slaves, nay, not even a kind mistress of willing slaves.

Which seems so totally at odds with everything Aragorn is recorded as having done in the Fourth Age it genuinely surprises me it’s not a more common topic in the fandom. I think that rupture would be pretty jarring, and though I can’t imagine that Faramir would ever do anything to destabilise any of Gondor’s politics, no matter how small, it had to have been a really terrifying thing for everybody involved. Plus probably psychologically hellish for Éowyn, given that her brother also was very gung ho on Aragorn’s imperialist wars. One day…one day…

🎨 Show us a sneak peek from a WIP!

Here’s a short bit from the AFTA sequel, tentatively called Days of Cold Pity.

Éowyn caught Faramir’s eye. He took one final glance at the table to confirm his assessment, then nodded at her.

“I am proposing a comprehensive review of the clans currently occupying Dunland and Enedwaith. Those that can evince their non-engagement with Isengard during the war will be allocated superior land to those that cannot. Those that show sufficient contrition will also be considered for preferential land. It is, ultimately, an act of strategic justice. Rather than punishing all of the Hillmen equally when there is every possibility that they were not all equally culpable, we will punish only those who acted in support of our enemies. And, for the immense knowledge acquisition required to undertake such a large-scale act of mercy, we will better understand who dwells at the borders of the Mark and of the Reunited Kingdoms. No longer will we fumble in the dark to contrive a defence of our borders, precision and accuracy will lead the way.” At her return to her starting position, she leaned on the table, the gold of her ring catching brilliantly under the shafts of light that cascaded from the skylights. Insouciant pride sparked in Faramir’s heart. “My lords, are there any objections?”

He lifted his cup to his lips to mask his smile. There would be none, just as they predicted.

Later, the lords and marshals and captains were sent away with little fanfare; Rohan, Faramir was coming to learn, was a kingdom of zealous truth tellers, and they were wedded to a particularly thorny definition of truth. If they could not earnestly speak niceties to one another, they would, as a rule, choose silence instead. Unlike in Gondor, many meetings in Edoras ended briskly and brusquely, with neither bread broken nor wine shared to mark the occasion. In different circumstances, Faramir might have felt put off by it. Such as it was, the rather graceless end to the council enabled him to chase after his wife with nary a judgemental glance cast in his direction. Some things, he thought, were indeed better in Rohan.

#asks #thank you!!

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myrkvidrs · 7 years ago

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I continue to read in Elf Problem fandom, just not terribly fast--which pretty much describes the pace of Tolkien fandom in general. (EXCEPT LATELY, HOLY CRAP, THE FALL OF GONDOLIN IS GETTING A BOOK, THAT WAS JUST ANNOUNCED TODAY!!) But I still have a lot of feelings and there's still some absolutely gorgeous, utterly rewarding fic being written, so here HAVE SOME ELF PROBLEM FEELINGS.

TOLKIEN FIC RECS: ✦ Bridges by Bodkin, thranduil & legolas & ocs, valinor, 27.7k Legolas and his wife's father just cannot get on. But elven life is long - and understanding will grow in time. If only they can learn to listen to each other... ✦ Boromir's Return by Osheen Nevoy, boromir & entire lotr cast & some ocs, 522k Boromir awakens from his death and finds himself in an unexpected situation. ✦ The Dragon of Rohan by French Pony, faramir/eowyn & appearances of aragorn & gimli, 11.2k Following the first real fight of their marriage, Faramir learns a little bit about Éowyn's past, which prompts a change in their relationship. ✦ Quenta Narquelion by bunn, feanor & maedhros & maglor & elrond & elros & feanorians & cast, 119.5k Fëanor, dead, watches the First Age unfold and from time to time, joins in. Canon-compliant character death and a detailed account of the Eastern Front of the War of Wrath. ✦ In Courts of Living Stone by ncfan, maeglin/finduilas & eol/aredhel & melian & cast, 31.2k Maeglin and Aredhel never flee Nan Elmoth for Gondolin. Twenty years later, Maeglin finds himself in Menegroth on a mission for his mother, seeking another road to freedom. But he is unprepared for what awaits him there. AU. ✦ Three by Geale, aragorn/legolas/arwen, nsfw, 7.3k One is unbearable, Two is desirable, Three is completion. Legolas left Minas Tirith soon after the War to spare himself the pain but when duty calls him back, everything has changed. ✦ Tales from Vairë's Loom - Estel en-Aderiad by Fiondil, celeborn & galadriel & elrond & glorfindel & elladan & elrohir & legolas, 3.4k A group of Elves journey to Mordor at the end of the Ring War to find closure and something else. ✦ Tales from Vairë's Loom - The Blue Wizards’ Dilemma by Fiondil, the blue wizards & ocs, 3.7k They were sent to bring help to the tribes of Men who had rebelled from Melkor-worship in Middle-earth. They were doing well in their mission until a fateful invasion put an end to their plans. Now they had to come up with a new one. ✦ This Taste of Shadow - "in sickness, in health" by Mira_Jade, beren/luthien, 1.6k (for this chapter) It came upon her slowly, like a whisper of the wind before the rains came. ✦ This Taste of Shadow - "who touches the pupil of my eye" by Mira_Jade, aule/yavanna & saruman & namo/vaire & thingol/melian & luthien & nerdanel, 1.5k (for this chapter) Prompts: See, Hear, Touch, Sense, Smell ✦ This Taste of Shadow - "so there will be no forgetting" by Mira_Jade, bilbo & glorfindel & thorin, 3.2k Magic, Gandalf had said when they entered the valley, but Bilbo Baggins was quite certain that the Grey Wizard was mistaken. For this had to be more than even that. ✦ Return to Aman by bunn, elrond & maglor & cast, 151.6k A loosely associated series of stories about Elrond's return to Aman at the end of the Third Age. All these assume that Maglor son of Fëanor was one of the other unnamed Elves who accompanied Elrond, Galadriel, Gandalf, Frodo and Bilbo on the ship when they left Middle-earth. ✦ Oropher, Thranduil, Legolas by KayleeArafinwiel, thranduil & legolas & cast, 1.1k Snippets and bits about the journey of three scions of the House of Elmo, the burdens of lordship and kingship, and the joys of fatherhood and childhood. ✦ This Taste of Shadow - "made for whispers" by Mira_Jade, celeborn/galadriel, 4.6k There were times when the knowledge of just how far away from home she was caught her by surprise. full details + recs under the cut!

✦

Bridges by Bodkin

, thranduil & legolas & ocs, valinor, 27.7k

Legolas and his wife's father just cannot get on. But elven life is long - and understanding will grow in time. If only they can learn to listen to each other...

I never used to think too much about reading fic with a lot of OCs, but Tolkien fandom (at least the Thranduil & Legolas parts of it) almost kind of demand it, if you want to build something for them, and I'm at the point where I hardly even notice it anymore and instead just jump right in with those authors who are really good at building up the world around them, while not losing sight of the characters that I'm really here for. So, Thranduil and Legolas and their family in the Fourth Age in Aman? Where Legolas is hurt and trapped in a cave-in with his father-in-law who doesn't really like him and they have to find common ground and a better understanding of each other, while the rest of their family searches for them? Sign me up for that! And it was like sinking into this nice, warm bath to read, it was so easy and comfortable and warm and spot on for what I wanted, that there was some satisfying Legolas whump, there was Elves being Elves, there was just really good, lovely writing and fantastic characterization (they all felt

spot on

to me!) and it was incredibly engaging. It was the right length for the story being told, it did a great job of balancing all that it was trying to put in there, and was just a really, really good read that got me back into wanting to read about these characters again! ✦ Boromir's Return by Osheen Nevoy, boromir & entire lotr cast & some ocs, 522k Boromir awakens from his death and finds himself in an unexpected situation. I do not know where to begin with this rec, because I'm not sure how to encompass everything that this fic is! When I first picked it up, it sounded like it could either be great or it could be terrible--such an unassuming title and summary, using a first person narrative, the importance of an OC in the beginning, a truly impressive length at well over 500k. All of these seem like red flags being thrown up, if you've read much fic over the years. But I thought, well, I can just read the beginning, see how it goes, it's long enough that I can read quickly and not have to worry about savoring it. So, I started to read and was nearly instantly sucked in--and maybe it wasn't until a chapter or two later that I realize it, but this fic is masterful. Every choice the author makes in this fic is one that I support--the OCs are absolutely necessary, but even more than that are wonderful, I came to care about Boromir's new friend just as much as any canon character, he was beautifully written and the friendship between them tugged at my heart something fierce. The first person narrative is actually a great choice because it allows for getting into Boromir's head in a way that a third person fic would not, it allows the fic to show so much more of his character than could have otherwise been achieved. And, holy shit, the length was pitch perfect. This fic never flagged, it never felt overly drawn out, every scene was a joy to read, everything contributed to the greater whole, the pacing was fantastic so that I kept wanting to read what was coming next, no climax felt like an ending or the aftermath a let-down. Instead, I can scarcely look back to the beginning and see how far these characters and this story came without it feeling like I started the fic another lifetime ago, in the absolute intended way that I should feel looking back on this fic. It covers so much of the events of LOTR, but from the point of view of Boromir in Gondor, unable to return to help the rest of the Fellowship, to give new events that found the perfect balance of what happened in canon versus how things would change in this AU. The events themselves were true to the spirit of the story and the narrative, I 100% believed this fic every step of the way--and the author showed their work, making every step clear how things happened and unfolded and made it so interesting along the way. The blend of action versus the moments between the fighting, the rebuilding of Gondor and Boromir's life, all of it was incredible. But, oh. The best thing about this fic. The characterization was magnificent, every single step was brilliant for every single character. Boromir himself is breathlessly perfect, but also the characters around him shine with such fascinating presence, from the Hobbits to the other Men to the rest of the Fellowship, everyone is seen through Boromir's eyes, how he feels about them, but also you understand that he comes with his own biases. It was incredible to read every single scene with Aragorn, how human he is in this story without making him anything less than the incredible figure of the books. It was fucking awe-inspiring how well Denethor was written, how complicated and difficult and charismatic he could be, how Boromir saw all his faults, how he was not an easy man to be around, but you also saw his strength and his motivations and what drew people to him. I never doubted why Boromir or Pippin or the rest of Gondor loved him so much. I've been reading this fic over the past two months and it's been my comfort place, the fic I pick up when I just want to read something that totally engrosses me, the fic that just made me happy to read, even when things were difficult for the characters. I could have easily read another 500k or more of this fic, I feel a little bereft now that it's gone from my life, and it still stuns me how well used everything is, how everything is so incredibly true to the canon, and everyone is so layered and individual and fascinating. It might seem daunting or not that interesting, but it's truly one of the best fics I've read in any fandom, not just this one, and the length doesn't matter because time seemed to lose all meaning while I was reading, it just slipped by me as I was engrossed in the world this author created. Everything is done to perfection and I honestly am sad that I have no more of this author's work to read. ✦ The Dragon of Rohan by French Pony, faramir/eowyn & appearances of aragorn & gimli, 11.2k Following the first real fight of their marriage, Faramir learns a little bit about Éowyn's past, which prompts a change in their relationship. I enjoyed this story so very much, both for the building of Faramir and Eowyn's relationship as well as the glimpses into her past, why she feels so strongly about a certain element in her home. I love how their relationship is portrayed here, it's not perfect, but it's so good , they're still somewhat getting to know each other, but they manage to work things out and make everything even better between them, and I'm just delighted by the sense of a beginning here, how they're building their home and their marriage and their life together. The addition of Aragorn and Gimli in their respective scenes was further a delight and it made the whole thing just an absolute joy to read. ✦ Quenta Narquelion by bunn, feanor & maedhros & maglor & elrond & elros & feanorians & cast, 119.5k Fëanor, dead, watches the First Age unfold and from time to time, joins in. Canon-compliant character death and a detailed account of the Eastern Front of the War of Wrath. Rec #1: When I first picked up this fic, I wasn't really sure what I was going to get or where it would be going, with Feanor's spirit refusing the call to Mandos and how that would affect things and what it would all mean. What I got was a bit of an exploration of what it meant to be a bodiless spirit in Middle-Earth, but then more and more an exploration and expansion of the storyline of The Silmarillion from that point on. It's gorgeously written and pulled me in hard, it gives such detail and depth to the storyline and the events that happen, especially once the attack on the Havens happens. It's also an exploration of what the Oath does to the sons of Feanor, how they do/don't react to it, how it drives and directs them--in a way that's woven around all the other plot stuff that's happening. This is fascinating all the more because Feanor himself is watching as a spirit, one who cannot really speak with the living without danger (as the living and the dead should not speak to each other) and this gives him the breathing room to step back from his anger and really see how his actions have created this tidal wave of effects. It's beautifully done for how it doesn't excuse Feanor or his sons or their followers, it doesn't try to make villains out of the people they attacked, but still makes you understand why they do what they do and have such deep sympathy for them. You understand why Elrond and Elros love them so much. You understand why the Dwarves are such longtime friends of them. You understand why many Men are longtime friends of their as well. This is also in a fic where there's such thought put into the magic and arts of the world, the music and spirits that linger and the words of power and how they're tied to the fate of the World and what it means to be Elves. It's a fic that has so many moments from The Silmarilion given life , like what it's like to be in that part of the world when the Valar themselves finally come to fight Morgoth and the devastation it leaves in their wake, what it's like to spend that many years fighting and fighting and constantly having to struggle to get up when you have no hope left, all of it wrapped up in really beautiful, thoughtful characterization. I wasn't sure I'd like another fic (at least not for a long while) after Return to Aman hit so many of the buttons I wanted, but this one just knocked me over and wouldn't let me get up until I'd read my way through all of what was available (and I'm recommending this now because it's regularly updated, so even as a wip, the rec will stand!) and it's one of those that makes this fandom satisfying to be in! Rec #2: I wasn't sure what to expect when I first picked this fic up--Feanor as a spirit watching over the events to come? And what I got was one of the most satisfying pieces I've read in awhile, that it starts as a Feanor piece, but it's also just as much (and sometimes moreso) a story about giving detail and breathing life into the story of the First Age, the story of the Feanorians. It's got gorgeous worldbuilding (the use of songs and various abilities, the power in words and voice, the touching of minds, the ability to call on things, all of it is blended together with the story in a way that utterly made sense to me, it felt like Elves, especially ones from the First Age) and it's gorgeous characterization and it's gorgeous canon gap filler. It's a story that takes the frame of canon, then builds and builds on it, so that it's this really coherent narrative, both in terms of the worldbuilding and in the characters--you get why the Feanorians do what they do, your heart breaks for them as they slide more and more into evil, because they aren't evil, but they have done so many evil things that they are inseparable from it. It doesn't dismiss the terrible things they've done, it doesn't deny that they truly did evil, but also it shows why they're so beloved, why Elrond and Elros love them, why their story is worth telling. On a narrative level, it's kind to both sides and that gives the story such depth and brilliance that a flatter reading of it (one side or the other being entirely ~bad~) would never have reached. I enjoyed the story for the structure of it, the building up of various abilities (the Elves' magical powers just fit so well into the world that I could easily take it all for canon) or the Dwarves or various other Elves (besides the Feanorians or the Peredhil), all of that is gorgeously done. But the moment I will always remember most came in the second to last or last chapter, with Feanor watching over Maedhros and Maglor at the end of all of this, that got me. It got me so hard that I sat there in public, with tears welling up in my eyes, because I was affected by these characters and their journey, the way they were written. It's a beautiful piece for the Feanorians, you can feel the affection for them as characters without losing what makes their story tragic, that they have become evil through the sheer scope of the things they've done, and yet I want so, so badly to save them, because I fell in love with them over the course of the story all over again. And it's not just me being a fan of the characters, it's truly that the writing is gorgeous, that everything the fic sets out to do, it achieves, and I wish I could articulate it better, how much I loved reading this, how good it was, how well it did everything, because it really helped me through some tough times when I needed it, just by being so good. ✦ In Courts of Living Stone by ncfan, maeglin/finduilas & eol/aredhel & melian & cast, 31.2k Maeglin and Aredhel never flee Nan Elmoth for Gondolin. Twenty years later, Maeglin finds himself in Menegroth on a mission for his mother, seeking another road to freedom. But he is unprepared for what awaits him there. AU. I did not know how much I needed this AU fic until I read it and had such trouble putting it down! Maeglin accompanies his father to Menegroth, a letter from his mother hidden on him to ask for help, and there he meets Finduilas and tries to find the best way to speak to Galadriel and pass her the letter without his father noticing. There's such thought and care given to the worldbuilding of Menegroth and the Elves here, what that place must have been like, what it's like for the Elves living there, what it was like for Maeglin and his limited experience. It's such a great piece for his character, it really does such a fantastic job with this poor kid who has been hidden away and is so inexperienced and so ground down, but still desperately wants to do something , even amongst his fear. It's a really lovely look at how things could have gone better for him if he'd met someone more suited to him, the dynamic with Finduilas just sparkles here, it was a relationship that I absolutely fell in love with and it had such a natural grace. But also Menegroth as a whole! The little details of how it affected Maeglin, the stars on the ceiling, the pulsing feeling of everything, the way Melian was so otherworldly, like she was there and yet not, the way she felt alien and such a heavy pressure to her. She's like Menegroth here--there's something genuinely terrifying about her, yet also beautiful and wonderful. The way such life was breathed into Finduilas as a character, she had such a vibrancy about her that you could believe everything here was plucked straight out of canon! It's a fic that achieves everything it set out to do and, sure, I'd loved another 30k for a sequel fic, but also I was satisfied with what was here--it was fascinating and a beautiful piece to read. ✦ Three by Geale, aragorn/legolas/arwen, nsfw, 7.3k One is unbearable, Two is desirable, Three is completion. Legolas left Minas Tirith soon after the War to spare himself the pain but when duty calls him back, everything has changed. Every time I read Aragorn/Legolas/Arwen fic it just further cements that I really do love this trio more than any single pairing and this fic just fed further into that. It's wonderfully balanced, especially the way it starts as more Aragorn/Arwen + Aragorn/Legolas, but eventually does become a trio, because, you know, Elves. It's a blend of angst and happiness, it's aching to read at first, but such love comes through that I felt entirely warm after reading it. There's a brief bit of sex that's lovely and hot, too, but it's mostly that I believed this scenario for them that really got me. ♥ ✦ Tales from Vairë's Loom - Estel en-Aderiad by Fiondil, celeborn & galadriel & elrond & glorfindel & elladan & elrohir & legolas, 3.4k A group of Elves journey to Mordor at the end of the Ring War to find closure and something else. This wound up being one of my favorites in this fic collection, where a group of Elves journey to Mordor to see for themselves the land of their fallen foe. Once again, the balance between all that's been lost, the heart of things, and the hope found amongst the rocks and hard ground, is wonderfully done. The moments each character gets to think on what (and who) they've lost, the aches they still carry with them, but that eventually they pull through to a lightness of heart again, it's very Elven and had me eating this fic up like candy. It's nicely done as a group piece (which is not always easy!) and as an aftermath piece. ✦ Tales from Vairë's Loom - The Blue Wizards’ Dilemma by Fiondil, the blue wizards & ocs, 3.7k They were sent to bring help to the tribes of Men who had rebelled from Melkor-worship in Middle-earth. They were doing well in their mission until a fateful invasion put an end to their plans. Now they had to come up with a new one. Given how little we know of the Blue Wizards, it could be difficult to come up with an interesting story to tell about them, but given how much I've enjoyed the other fics in this collection, I was perfectly willing to give this one a shot as well. And it is interesting to see what the author did with the scraps of information we have, how much was built up in such a short time, how the focus on these singular moments in the middle of greater plot machinations tell so much and how humanized these characters (both the actual humans and the wizards both) were. Even going in knowing very little, I felt like all of this absolutely made sense to me and that's a great achievement. ✦ This Taste of Shadow - "in sickness, in health" by Mira_Jade, beren/luthien, 1.6k (for this chapter) It came upon her slowly, like a whisper of the wind before the rains came. This was a really lovely and sweet moment with Beren and Luthien, how she gets sick for the first time after becoming mortal and how it's kind of quietly terrifying, but she embraces it in the way she always does, as well as Beren is just so kind and charming here, you can absolutely see why Luthien loves him so very much, why this life with him is so very worth living. It's a sparkling, warm-hearted piece that really captured one of those quiet moments that shows just how much deep and true love there is here. ✦ This Taste of Shadow - "who touches the pupil of my eye" by Mira_Jade, aule/yavanna & saruman & namo/vaire & thingol/melian & luthien & nerdanel, 1.5k (for this chapter) Prompts: See, Hear, Touch, Sense, Smell This is a series of shorter ficlets connected through a themed prompt set as well as a sense of loss and difficulty, how each of these characters deal with such things. Aule's loss of Mairon, a favored pupil, Namo trying to understand the process of death in the early days, Nerdanel mourning her losses, and so on. It's a lovely set and adds these little touches of something you can really empathize with when it comes to all these characters. ✦ This Taste of Shadow - "so there will be no forgetting" by Mira_Jade, bilbo & glorfindel & thorin, 3.2k Magic, Gandalf had said when they entered the valley, but Bilbo Baggins was quite certain that the Grey Wizard was mistaken. For this had to be more than even that. One of the most frustrating parts of Peter Jackson's movies is what they've done to the Elves, especially the Hobbit movies, even having set them from the Dwarves' point of view. This is a lovely look at Bilbo learning a bit more about the swords they carry from one who is very familiar with them and then another lovely look at Bilbo telling Elven tales, showing the depth of them to some who would like to deny it. It was a nicely cathartic read for me, as a fan of these characters and this history, but it's also a really great look at giving depth to the time Thorin's company spent in Rivendell, fitting between the scenes of the movie very nicely! ✦ Return to Aman by bunn, elrond & maglor & cast, 151.6k A loosely associated series of stories about Elrond's return to Aman at the end of the Third Age. All these assume that Maglor son of Fëanor was one of the other unnamed Elves who accompanied Elrond, Galadriel, Gandalf, Frodo and Bilbo on the ship when they left Middle-earth. I don't even know where I'm going to begin with this! I read this entire series over the course of about a week, the only thing that kept me from devouring it all at once is that I didn't want to run out of it too quickly--and, yet, here I am all caught up and desperately wishing I had another 80k+ to read through right now. It's a collection of stories about Elrond and Maglor journeying to Aman in the Fourth Age, about healing and humor and what comes next for the Elves, now that their time in Middle-Earth has ended and they have to actually deal with seeing a son of Feanor again, that Maglor has to deal with the Oath and what he's done and his sorrow over it. I'm interested in these things just for themselves, of course, but this fic series has been absolutely incredible at giving such sharp personality to everyone, that Finrod has such an incredible sense of humor and rolls with a joke, that Nerdanel has such common sense, that Elrond may be younger than most of the Elves here but he's Seen Some Shit as well as he has an incredible way with building bridges between people, that Bilbo and Frodo are such Hobbits and genuinely feel different from the Elves, that Nimloth has to be experienced rather than described, that Celebrian seems so delicate and yet has such strength to her, all of it is incredibly sharp and brilliant. I came to this fic for the concept and the lore, but wound up staying even more for the sheer gorgeous characterization and deftness at which this really feels like these characters' thoughts, feelings, and actions. Which isn't to say that the lore isn't incredibly well done, too! The story feels just a little bit formal in the way the Elves speak to each other, there's just a touch of poetry in their words and actions, but in a way that's incredibly smooth and engaging to read! And the bits of worldbuilding, the way they see into each others' minds or the way their power works, that Maglor knows he could use his harp and voice as a weapon possibly even more deadly than his sword, that the Oath is a burning thing in the minds of Feanor's sons, that the time in the Halls of Mandos is not so easily described. All of this add such richness to the story being told, all of this is why I'm fascinated by the Elves! And I wish I could write a better rec for this series, I wish I could write a rec for each of the (at current) eleven stories, because they deserve it, because they utterly enraptured me and satisfied me on an emotional level. It's a story about forgivenes and where that line is, that Maglor has regretted so many things, that they weren't just monsters, they were thinking and feeling creatures as well. That he has to live with the fury that's aflame around so many Elves that he hurt, but also that he struggles with pride and his own wounds, the loss of family. It's a story that makes the Feanorians sympathetic again, that doesn't excuse what they've done, but that holding onto grudges never heals anything. I'm incredibly on the side of the people that they hurt, but this fic got me feeling things for the Feanorians all over again, especially because it's so very clear that Maglor loves dearly and hates what happened, that it destroyed him in a way he'll likely never recover from, especially not with the strength of Elven memory. But it's still a road worth walking, coming back to life and healing. And, oh, even the one conversation between Nerdanel and Feanor here had me practically rolling over in my bed to clutch my reader to my chest for the sheer amount of feeling it gave me. It's a fic that's so beautifully written all the way through, that has such care put into it and different perspectives considered and finely written dialogue that it really, really earns the slow burn redemption that it's going for. It's an incredible story that I'm so glad I'm getting to read. ✦ Oropher, Thranduil, Legolas by KayleeArafinwiel, thranduil & legolas & cast, 1.1k Snippets and bits about the journey of three scions of the House of Elmo, the burdens of lordship and kingship, and the joys of fatherhood and childhood. These were very short snippets of fic that were lovely to read and I picked them up because I, too, headcanon that Oropher was from Elmo's line, though, I don't think you really have to be that familiar with The Silmarillion to enjoy this! They're shorter fics and really cute scenes, very much about the care and feeling between the Elves, just little details to fill in the world and connections between them all. It was a lovely read today! ✦ This Taste of Shadow - "made for whispers" by Mira_Jade, celeborn/galadriel, 4.6k There were times when the knowledge of just how far away from home she was caught her by surprise. I have definitely been on a Celeborn/Galadriel kick lately, especially takes on their early courtship days and how the reveal of the Kin-Slaying events and the tension between the Noldor and the Sindar would have affected this relationship. It's a look at such a strong character like Galadriel, who has her pride and her sorrow both, that she feels stained and cursed, that in a way she truly is, and doesn't want to spread that to this Elf she is coming to love, but also will not settle for crumbling under the weight of what she bears. The way she moves from Artanis and Nerwen to Galadriel, the way she is proud and unbreakable, the way she grieves for what they've all been through, all of it is so Galadriel. And the way these two interact with each other, the sharp connection between them, the pull that neither of them could possibly deny, the strength and elegance and grace of both of them, the sheer might of both their presences in a room, all of it is very, very nicely done and suits them so well. I can easily see this as how things might have gone!

#thranduil #legolas #galadriel #feanor #maedhros #maglor #elrond #elros #celeborn #boromir #fic recs

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shewhodoesnotexist · 8 years ago

Text

GenEx Letter

I’ll just leave this here...

Hello, dear Writer, I sincerely hope my requests do not look too discouraging to you! This letter is meant to help you, not to hinder you, so you don't need to follow my wants exactly – they are just general guidelines. I enjoy a number of things, surprise not excluded :)

If you want to clarify anything, feel free to message me on this blog! (Just remember to stay on anon ;))

General

What I like:

Exploration of a character's situation, motivations, relationships with other characters

Internal conflicts, conflicted loyalties, regrets directed towards another person

The power of love and friendship, but also how sometimes it's not enough

Tragic pasts ;)

Family drama, complicated relationships within family

But also how even so, it's important and leaves a lasting mark

So you see I gravitate more towards angst, but fluff is also fine, if it's substantial; preferable taste is bittersweet, I guess

Also fairy tale motifs

Formality, courtesy in personal relations, especially contrasted with strong feelings (applies mainly to nobility settings)

I like nobility/royalty settings, too

Canon filler, elaboration of minor incidents

AUs are fine, especially if it's canon divergence/what-if scenario; for full AUs, avoid High School AUs and most types of modern AUs unless you have a truly great idea

Kidfics are appreciated

In truth, I'm fine with most genres

Perhaps the most highly I value witty, ingenious comedy (can also be black), but that's hard to write (I can't), so don't pressure yourself to write anything funny because I said comedy; yet if you feel it will be genuinely great, go for it!

What I dislike:

Most of the things I dislike don't apply strictly to Gen fics, but just pro forma: sexual violence, incest, slash, overly sexual content

Mentions of abortion

Fics focusing on sexuality

Character bashing/demonisation

Sacrilegious/blasphemous content

Overly politicised content

Ummmm, I think that's all?

Fandom-specific:

1. The Silmarillion

The Gondolin royal family: I'm interested in Turgon – what kind of father was he, was kind of grandfather? I'd love to see his relationship with Idril after Elenwë's death, see him be a loving grandpa to little Eärendil, all against the overall dilemmas facing Gondolin. Also, Eärendil's relationship with his parents, especially as he grew up and they sailed away, the way he searches for them, at the expense of his own family.

Celebrimbor: you will recall what I said about conflicting loyalties and family drama – that exactly sums up Celebrimbor. I'd happily see both his relationships with his grandfather – how much does he remember, to what extent is he shaped by Fëanor's memory?, his uncles – do they stay in touch, what do they think of his actions regarding Curufin? but also the people of Nargothrond, especially after Celegorm and Curufin left. Also, in my headcanon he was friends with Finduilas.

Maglor&Elrond&Elros(&Maedhros): Their shared story is fascinating to me. How much did it cost them to learn to love each other? How did it happen? How much conflict did it create in each of them? How did it affect the boys' later years? Truly, anything about that.

2. Riddle-Master Trilogy

The relationships between Morgon and his siblings: as they grow up, as their parents die, as Morgon becomes involved in all the drama, goes missing, generally during the events of the books – the thoughts of Eliard and Tristan as they're dealing with what their brother does and becomes, Morgon's memories of home during his journeys.

The royal family of An is also welcome.

3. The Lord of the Rings

Rohan: relationships between Éomer and Éowyn growing up; as kids with their parents, with Théodred; how it all develops during the war and afterwards; how does Éowyn like Lothiriel? If applies, background Faramir/Éowyn will be appreciated.

(Here I need to note one thing: I love Éowyn's story, and to me the main and most beautiful part of it is her learning to appreciate life again after having sought death. I've seen people treat this character development as negative or sexist; please avoid this interpretation.)

Mithrellas&Gilmith: I am transfixed by the story of Mithrellas. Why did she leave her family? What did her children think? How did they remember her? We know so little.

Other: nothing to add, simply: the relationships.

4. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

In the last exchange I took part in, I received a story about Ben Solo's childhood. This time, I'm interested in the time during and after the movie: how does he feel about his parents, about Snoke, about Han's words about Snoke? What does he think Vader wants him to do, what are his options? What is his attitude towards Rey? (Again, it's Gen, but a touch of Reylo is always welcome.)

5. Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea

Tatsumiya bringing up Wadanohara in the absence of Meikai; her thoughts about the past and his legacy.

Also: how did Wadanohara pick up her new trio of familiars? Where did Fukami come from? How did they find out about Samekichi and how did it affect their relationships?

Happy writing!

#exchange letter

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armenelols · 4 years ago

Note

Tindomiel and/or arwen for the character asks?

Thank you, anon! ❤️

Tindómiel

OTP for them: Eraelin, my OC. Praying I got her name gramatically correct because I am rubbish at making names in Tolkien's languages :D

BROTP for them: she is close with her siblings, especially Manwendil (since they are closer in age)

Other ships: none. I don't see her much interested in relationships in general, not until later in her life.

What kind of fic I'd write about them: I have this idea of Vardamir and Atanalcar not fitting with their race - Vardamir feeling more like an elf while being a man and Atanalcar becoming an elf when he feels like a man. And I like exploring their sibling relationships within that universe, so probably something about that

A favorite canon moment: it's not as if we had any, so I am just going to say her birth. Because it was the birth of an icon :D

Color that reminds me of them: bright and vibrant colours in general, then white, golden, light blue

Song that reminds me of them: Govinda by Kula Shaker. Nothing to do with lyrics, just the vibe of the song.

A headcanon about them:

the only one of her siblings to have Idril's golden hair

morning bird

artsy type (no specific area of interest - she can go from painting to sculpting)

sharp tongue

ace lesbian

has ridiculous heat tolerance

helped with the design of the Númenorean flag

after Manwendil, she is closest to Elrond and Vardamir in her family. 100% of the time teases Elrond about how she wants more cousins.

A random AU I think up on the spot for them: flower shop AU where Manwendil comes to her shop regularly and ask for relationship advice. Later, so does Vardamir. Tindómiel is exasperated with them. She turns into a matchmaker with the help of Eraelin, whom she has hired recently

Anything else: has the vibes of a cool grandma with twenty cats

Arwen

OTP for them: Aragorn

BROTP for them: not sure, so I'll just go within her siblings - she is close to both, Elladan and Elrohir. And later, after LotR, she definitely would great friends with Éowyn and Faramir.

Other ships: none, she wasn't interested in romance till Aragorn. Maybe on aro-ace spectrum

What kind of fic I'd write about them: something about her and at least one of her siblings. Yeah, I am a sucker for family feels.

A favorite canon moment: her meeting Aragorn. Aragorn was just so ridiculously oblivious that I can't help but love it. Also that scene with her Frodo at the end of RotK

Color that reminds me of them: darker colours, grey, some shades of blue and purple

Song that reminds me of them: I had a hard time choosing and spent about two hours scrolling through my downloaded songs and youtube :D Still not sure what would I say, but lyrics to Aerosmith's Dream On could be good for her?

A headcanon about them:

Lúthien 2.0 in more than her looks

smarter than people give her credit for

daddy's girl, grandma's girl

she is the calm and reasonable one until you get to know her better

could and would kick ass if it's necessary, but prefers to stay at home in peace

has foresight

definitely thought rangers were some dirty weird mortals till she met Aragorn

Elrond had to name her Undómiel because of Tindómiel

A random AU I think up on the spot for them: modern AU in which she is a famous... Something, good at it, and enjoys it, but has to give it up because of... Idk, maybe the media press after she starts dating Aragorn? But in the end, she is content with her life

Anything else: I love her, my weird hyper fixation on half-elves is showing again

#thank you again! ❤ had fun with this #arwen #tindómiel

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hobbitwrangler · 1 year ago

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End of Year Fic Recs

Thank you @emyn-arnens for tagging me, it actually made me remember to leave comments on some fics I've read while on holiday. I haven't read or written many fics this year, particularly not long ones, hence why I've gone with my own sections but here we go!

Fics from 2023

Something of Home by @emyn-arnens (G, Faramir & Finduilas of Dol Amroth, <1k) Heartbreaking, precious portrayal of Faramir's relationship with his mother at the time of her death. It is canon to me now.

Something Burrowed, Something Blue by @scyllas-revenge (G, Took/Fairy Wife, 11k) How the Took ancestor met his wife. Funny, sweet and so hobbit-like, I loved Milo and Beryl, the author writes fairy nature perfectly.

cold be sleep under stone by Feanoriel (Ar-Pharazôn, <1k) Ar-Pharazôn in the Caves of the Forgotten. So many chills reading this, the writing style is so vivid, I could feel the undead misery in the darkness.

On These Hither Shores by @emyn-arnens (G, Boromir & Frodo, 3.2k) Frodo and Boromir discuss their hopes and fears. I keep thinking about this fic, it's one of those stories which follows you around and won't let go, it's a great depiction of Frodo and Boromir and their relationship.

The Last Midwinter by @sallysavestheday (G, Frodo Baggins, Sam Gamgee, other fellowship members, 1.3k) Sam and Rosie devise a plan to lift Frodo's spirits. This filled me with so much joy (of the slightly sad kind) it's so sweet.

Untitled by @i-am-a-lonely-visitor (Elros/Elros's wife) I love the complex relationship that is encapsulated in this snapshot and the unsettling youthfulness of the peredhil.

The Farewell Feast by @searchingforserendipity25 (G, Gandalf & Galadriel, 2.4k) Wonderful exploration of Galadriel's thoughts at the end of the Third Age and her relationship with Gandalf.

what the shadows hid by @swanmaids (T, Luthien/Thuringwethil, <1k) Thuringwethil leaves her mark on Luthien. One of those fics where every line is so expertly crafted, flavoured with my favourite horror undertones.

Untitled by @vidumavi (Vidumavi/Valacar) Not enough fics about these two but this is such a heart-warming snapshot of their relationship.

The Broken Shield by @sotwk (G, Thorin, Frerin, Thranduil, Thranduil's wife, 9.5k) In which both Thorin and Thranduil lose one whom they love. Great depiction of elf-dwarf tensions in the midst of their alliance.

Fics from pre-2023

Nine Fingers by Prackspoor (G, Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, 6.3k) The hobbits encounter a mysterious stranger on their way home. Such well done suspense, I was so nervous reading this and it's such an interesting concept.

Burn Like Cold Iron by @scyllas-revenge (T, Boromir/OFC, 155k) An absolutely elite take on the ninth walker trope. Funny, heartfelt and perfect characterisation, plus a great main character. All relationships, romantic and otherwise, are so thoughtfully written.

Warming Hearts and Hearths by @starspray (G, Gandalf & hobbits, 1.3k) Gandalf encountering hobbits, what more do you want? My heart was certainly warmed.

Queen Under the Mountain by @imakemywings (T, Dís, Dáin, 2.9k) Such a heart-wrenching exploration if Dís's grief and all the complicated emotions surrounding the return to Erebor.

consuming by siraetha (T, Khamûl, Sauron, <1k) A great concept explored so vividly, I could feel the heat and the horror while reading this.

Use Well the Days by @cycas (G, Círdan/Lalwen, 2.7k) Círdan and Lalwen discuss whether they have a future. I am rapidly warming to this ship and really enjoyed how this fic explores tension between the elves.

The Floor Is Molasses by @scyllas-revenge (G, Boromir, Sam Gamgee, Merry Brandybuck, Pippin Took, 2.6k) Hobbit chaos plus Boromir lives and of course absolutely hilarious.

My fics from 2023

Too Burdened to Fly (G, Finduilas of Dol Amroth, 3k) A look at Finduilas' thoughts during her final moments.

A Monster in the Shadows (T, Éowyn & Théoden, 3k) In the aftermath of her parents' death, Éowyn is plagued by fear. Nineteen years later, it returns.

At the Death of a Friend (G, Saruman & Galadriel, 3.4k) Saruman has not heard Galadriel's voice in years. But in the aftermath of Gandalf's death, they speak one last time.

And there we go, just about in time for New Year!

#fanfic recs

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hobbitwrangler · 9 months ago

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20 questions for writers

Thank you @scyllas-revenge for tagging me! <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Only 6 so far.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

21,536

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Only Tolkien fandoms so far.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Lol since I only have 6 fics this is basically all of them but from highest to lowest it's Victory in Defeat, A Monster in the Shadows, The Power of Tea (did not expect it to be this popular), At the Death of a Friend and Too Burdened to Fly.

5. Do you respond to comments?

Of course! Not necessarily immediately but I always reply.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I feel like At the Death of a Friend and Too Burdened to Fly are more sad than angsty, so I'll go with A Monster in the Shadows. That fic really put me through my Théoden and Éowyn feels.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I'm going to say it's a tie between Victory in Defeat and White Blossom, although Victory in Defeat gets to the happiness with less reflection beforehand.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not so far thankfully.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Nope, I have neither the courage nor the conviction.

10. Do you write crossovers?

No. Much as the idea of the three main Istari meeting the witches from Discworld fills me with great joy, I do not have the necessary skills to pull it off.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I'd be open to the possibility.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No and I think I'd need more time to grow confident in writing within Tolkien's universe before I'd consider it - although it sounds like it could be very fun!

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Farawyn have had me in a chokehold since forever, as anyone who has been on my blog for more than about five minutes will probably know. However, I must also give credit to Odysseus and Penelope (who are getting revived by me rereading the Odyssey), Kaz and Inej and Cor and Aravis (icons). Also Vimes and Sybil (my parents actually).

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have a Hunger Games fic which I started a few years ago because I needed a way of digging into how horrific the idea of Career Districts really is. The characters from it have a very special place in my heart but I don't think it has enough plot to work properly.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue? I tend to start with dialogue and then build the scene around it. I also think I'm fairly good at representing people's emotions.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Description/scenery. I have to force myself to do it every time and it's usually the last part of the writing process for me.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I could do French and Spanish but that's unfortunately not very useful in Middle Earth. I might be able to sprinkle some Sindarin/Quenya words here and there but whole sentences? No.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Lotr actually! I've come full circle.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

This is like asking a mother to pick her favourite child. I like all of them equally because they've all challenged me in different ways and allowed me to explore different character dynamics, some of which I've loved for ages (Théoden & Éowyn, Éowyn/Faramir) and some of which have only occured to me recently (Saruman & Galadriel, Bilbo & Gilraen). But if pushed I'll go with A Monster in the Shadows for now, since it allowed me to give my take on Théoden and Éowyn's relationship, which I've loved ever since I first watched the lotr movies as a kid.

tagging @imakemywings @glorf1ndel @emyn-arnens @searchingforserendipity25 @brigwife if you haven't done this already!

#tag games

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anghraine · 4 years ago

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@laufire tagged me in a fic meme!

The Game: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favourite opening line. Then tag some authors!

1. Even in Gondor, Éowyn was cold.

Tolkien, WIP: an AU take on the Éowyn/Faramir hair mingling scene with f!Faramir/Fíriel. I’ll probably fold it into daughters of the great at some point, but haven’t yet.

2. Elrond did not call the Council.

Tolkien, WIP: a (new) AU where Faramir is the one sent to Rivendell. I’m not writing it in a long fic sense, but I do have some snippets.

3. Gwen did not often dwell on life before the Searing.

Guild Wars, WIP: a canon-compliant one-shot focused on Gwen Thackeray’s last day before the Searing, ft. the GW: Prophecies PC (here, Irene Fairchild).

4. At least, Lady Georgiana thought, Darcy had the mettle to write to her of his engagement himself.

Austen, WIP: a canon-compliant fic dealing with the responses of Darcy’s canon and headcanon relatives to his engagement/marriage. This first bit is posted here.

5. The Steward was fortunate in his children.

Tolkien, WIP: an AU take on Denethor and Faramir’s relationship, with f!Faramir. Another piece of the Fírielverse.

6. Faramir was born under the Shadow, son of a weary father and wearier mother.

Tolkien, WIP: a canon-compliant take on Faramir’s childhood and his first dream of Númenor.

7. My dear Edith,

I hope you and your brother are well.

Guild Wars, complete: a canon-compliant epistolary take on the GW: Prophecies’s PC’s last day before the Searing. Here.

8. Eldarion had no queen.

Tolkien, complete: a canon-compliant fic where Eldarion has an arranged but happy marriage to Faramir and Éowyn’s younger daughter + lifespan angst. Here.

9. “Is there no deed to do?”

Tolkien, WIP: the opening to we also are daughters of the great, a Fírielverse fic with Éowyn and Fíriel first getting to know each other. I wrote and posted the first part a longggg time ago; the newest section begins with:

Fíriel was easy to talk to, Merry found.

10. “But Lizzy, you can tell us whether it is like or not.”

Austen, WIP: the opening to tolerably well acquainted, a fic that was originally tracking the development of Elizabeth’s feelings for Darcy at Pemberley, and then kept going. The current chapter’s draft begins:

By the time that Elizabeth reached the signature, she could nearly have crumpled the letter in her hand.

11. I always thought of myself as Ascalonian first, and Krytan second.

Guild Wars, WIP: a slight AU of GW2 from the POV of the human noble origin PC w/ missing sister storyline, where making the PC/her sister proud Ascalonians has a significant impact on them and their choices. I’ve been poking at the fic, pro patria, for years, but the current section begins:

I’d opened my mouth to ask something else, but Frazarblade suddenly interrupted me, slightly raising her voice.

12. If Darth Vader did not avoid the sight of his daughter in carbonite, he certainly did not seek it out.

Star Wars, WIP: the third part in an AU-of-the-OT f!Luke series. This part, The Jedi and the Sith Lord, follows Lucy and Vader after she’s captured by the latter in Cloud City (for AU reasons I won’t get into here). Like the last few, I started this a long time ago, so the beginning of the new section is:

Anakin didn’t hesitate.

13. In the first few years after his escape from Yakone, Noatak drifted: from place to place, from name to name.

Avatar, WIP: from One More Tomorrow, an Amon-centric f!Tarrlok fic (...I do understand that this is a) very predictable for me to write and b) of very limited interest to other people). It’s actually part of a longer series, though not nearly as lengthy or the f!Luke one or as involved as the f!Faramir one. The new section begins:

Amon had already stopped walking.

14. Boromir and Fíriel could both command man and beast alike.

Tolkien, complete: a short Fírielverse fic about Fíriel grieving Boromir/meeting Pippin. Here.

15. In her heart, perhaps, Fíriel knew what must happen.

Tolkien, WIP: a Fírielverse fic about Fíriel after the destruction of the Ring and Denethor’s death in battle, deciding what to do about Aragorn’s claim in the midst of grief for her father and uncertainty about her future. Here.

16. When Leia told them the truth, Jyn and Cassian said nothing.

Star Wars, complete: a Leia/Jyn/Cassian fic set after Leia finds out that Vader is her natural father. Here.

17. They escaped the way they arrived.

Star Wars, complete: AU Jyn/Cassian fic where the main cast of Rogue One makes it out of Scarif alive, and it turns out everyone has assumed Jyn and Cassian were in a relationship. Bonus grey-ace!Cassian and autistic!Jyn. Here.

18. Jyn never forgot the moment when her mother’s body slumped to the ground.

Star Wars, WIP: AU Jyn/Cassian fic where Jyn, Cassian, and Bodhi make it off Scarif together, only to get sucked into the Death Star and forced to pass themselves off as Imperials without getting caught. Another one that I started a pretty long while ago; the most recent part of it begins:

As Jyn made her way back to the hold, she caught the murmur of voices.

19. Augustus Jones was a gentleman.

Austen, WIP: an AU where Wickham gets murdered after the Netherfield Ball and the cast of P&P are suspects. Darcy/Elizabeth, of course.

20. Jyn imagined herself with Princess Leia, sometimes.

Star Wars, WIP: a Leia/Jyn/Cassian Everyone Lives AU where Jyn struggles with being into Leia and Cassian at the same time.

I think that’s about the right fics, anyway! Basically: now and then I jump straight into the story, but most often, I begin with a statement that’s kind of ??? in terms of where the story is going, but then ‘zooms in’ to provide some context/background/revelation of what’s going on before we head into the story proper. I think of it as orienting the reader, basically, and I’m usually a bit ????? unless I can think of a way to do it. I didn’t include my original stuff on this list, but I generally do the same thing there.

My fave of these is probably:

In the first few years after his escape from Yakone, Noatak drifted: from place to place, from name to name.

It does the thing where it starts from this kind of distant perspective in order to narrow in later, but I think it does a much better job than usual of giving an idea of the story’s focus, and I like the phrasing.

tagging, if you want to do it ... umm, I’m not sure who has this quantity of fic, but: @ncfan-1, @ladytharen, @kazaera, @brynnmclean, @irresistible-revolution, @steinbecks

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morwensteelsheen · 4 years ago

Note

Do you have any advice for someone who wants to write Éowyn x Faramir fanfic in a way that remains authentic to who they are/how Tolkien envisioned them? Of all the fics I’ve read on this pairing, yours just stands out to me as being most in character, whether you’re writing them in Middle Earth or a modern!au. I agree with you about Faramir being gentle but NOT a crybaby and Éowyn not a loose cannon and actually somewhat frosty! Any advice you have would be appreciated. Cheers!

bro... 🥺❤️ that is so kind of you, thank you so much!!!! Like holy moly I am going to be riding high on that compliment all week hahaha, i’m giddy thinking about it.

i’ve been fretting about how to answer this question because i think i still struggle quite a bit with their characterisations. also i’m terrible at framing advice, so i’m going to try and answer this by giving my interpretations of certain things and how that effects how i write about them, and hopefully that will be helpful? also i’m so sorry, this is literally 6,000 words, this totally got away from me.

To start quite generally, i think it’s super helpful to realise that almost all of the characters in LOTR are devoid of any significant internal life because the book is structured as a retelling of historical events to frodo, which are later written down and then “translated” by tolkien. unless a character is explicitly telling frodo/someone else what they’re thinking, we don’t really know what’s going on in there (except éowyn and i’ll come back to this later). But the other reason we don’t really get a sense of most characters’ internal lives is because they function as, essentially, heroic/fantastical archetypes and responses to other elements of literature. People tend to shy away from this because of this weird postmodern backlash against tropes, but it’s, i feel, extremely important to remember that these characters aren’t in the books because they’re fully-fleshed out human beings, they’re there because tolkien needed characters to fulfil certain narrative roles. this is not a value judgement, but acknowledging that’s what’s going on here is helpful for us as we try to figure out what these characters would be doing when canon doesn’t explicitly tell us what they’d be doing (or what they’d be doing in an au/a rewrite/whatever).

All this to say: all of these characters are born out of a specific literary and historical context, and i think in the first instance its suuuuuuuupa helpful to go back and figure out what that context is, because it helps you to build out a character profile in your head that feels true to character even when you’re operating in the great canon unknown.

Okay so for some general thoughts on each of the kiddos:

Éowyn

I’ll start with éowyn because i think i’ve spent the most time thinking about her lately and i feel like i’m finally starting to get in her head a little better. I’m not super confident in my take yet, but it’s getting there, i feel.

éowyn’s metatextual character history is really fascinating and really important for understanding who she is. éowyn is, essentially, a direct response to the character of lady macbeth and what tolkien saw as a massive disservice to her character at the end of the play. I had a much better pull quote from tolkien talking specifically about that, but i can’t seem to find it right now so you’ll have to use this really brief overview instead — sorry! I will update this if i come across the quote again.

understanding that foundation in lady macbeth, we can start to ask certain questions about éowyn vis a vis lady macbeth. What are the things that we know — in text — make lady macbeth and éowyn similar? Quite a lot, actually. They’re both ‘fully realised’ women (and i’ll come back to this in a sec), they’re both not naive about the mechanics of power — lady macbeth is a conniver, éowyn is left in control of a whole ass kingdom while the menfolk are away etc —, they’re both hindered by their gender (this is obvious for éowyn, but i HELLA recommend reading lady macbeth’s come you spirits/unsex me here speech and thinking about the relationship between womanhood and violence, especially in light of éowyn’s experience of battlefield violence and later decision to give it up to go be a hippie in ithilien), and they both have to deal with men being frustrating. I love and will defend théoden quite explicitly, but it’s important to realise that he did, in essence, fuck éowyn over entirely and abdiate on his familial responsibilities to her, before you even get to his abdication of duty to the crown etc.

The other big — very big, i feel — similarity between éowyn and lady macbeth is that they are both tremendously emotionally distant and restrained. But éowyn, unlike lady macbeth, is capable of camouflaging her emotional distance when necessary. Here, from ROTK, is a passage of crucial important to understanding éowyn:

‘Alas! For she was pitted against a foe beyond the strength of her mind or body. And those who will take a weapon to such an enemy must be sterner than steel, if the very shock shall not destroy them. It was an evil doom that set her in his path. For she is a fair maiden, fairest lady of a house of queens. And yet I know not how I should speak of her. When I first looked on her and perceived her unhappiness, it seemed to me that I saw a white flower standing straight and proud, shapely as a lily, and yet knew that it was hard, as if wrought by elf-wrights out of steel. Or was it, maybe, a frost that had turned its sap to ice, and so it stood, bitter-sweet, still fair to see, but stricken, soon to fall and die? Her malady begins far back before this day, does it not, Éomer?’

‘I marvel that you should ask me, lord,’ he answered. ‘For I hold you blameless in this matter, as in all else; yet I knew not that Éowyn, my sister, was touched by any frost, until she first looked on you. Care and dread she had, and shared with me, in the days of Wormtongue and the king’s bewitchment; and she tended the king in growing fear. But that did not bring her to this pass!’

‘My friend,’ said Gandalf, ‘you had horses, and deeds of arms, and the free fields; but she, born in the body of a maid, had a spirit and courage at least the match of yours. Yet she was doomed to wait upon an old man, whom she loved as a father, and watch him falling into a mean dishonoured dotage; and her part seemed to her more ignoble than that of the staff he leaned on.

‘Think you that Wormtongue had poison only for Théoden’s ears? Dotard! What is the house of Eorl but a thatched barn where brigands drink in the reek, and their brats roll on the floor among their dogs? Have you not heard those words before? Saruman spoke them, the teacher of Wormtongue. Though I do not doubt that Wormtongue at home wrapped their meaning in terms more cunning. My lord, if your sister’s love for you, and her will still bent to her duty, had not restrained her lips; you might have heard even such things as these escape them. But who knows what she spoke to the darkness, alone, in the bitter watches of the night, when all her life seemed shrinking, and the walls of her bower closing in about her, a hutch to trammel some wild thing in?’

Emphasis my own.

there’s a whole hell of a lot going on here, but i’m going to try and boil it down to a couple main things:

1. gandalf and aragorn immediately see misery in éowyn, but they are both very good at reading people. faramir (later, in the steward and the king) also senses the misery, but he is explicitly talented at reading people, and even he takes a while to fully understand what’s going on in her head

2. Éomer, who éowyn feels obligation and duty to (both as her brother, but also her superior in rank) has no idea that éowyn is suicidal. he knows she’s not happy, but he thinks it’s not until aragorn shows up that she finally becomes despondent and is amazed to hear that that’s not the case, to which gandalf responds, essentially: you weren’t meant to know, she was working with a will of steel to hide her emotions from you because she wanted to protect you from it. So éowyn is well versed at controlling her emotions when she needs to, and is not prone to showing them where she doesn’t want to.

3. Gandalf describes éowyn first as wrought from steel (which, short of an incredibly hot fire, is not easy to break), and then amends it to say that she is made of ice. Ice, compared to steel, is far easier to melt. Maybe inadvertently on tolkien’s behalf, i think this speaks to the nature of éowyn and faramir’s relationship — first she is melted by fire (battle, the witch-king, etc) and the she is warmed by the sun (faramir! Minas anor! The winter has passed, etc).

4. Earlier i said the characters in lotr don’t really have a huge internal life, except for éowyn. This is where that comes in: éowyn, we are supposed to understand, has a really intense internal life, because her mind is really all she has. We are meant to understand that she’s got a lot going on internally, but there is a very specific reason we’re not privy to it. That’s important to think about.

what this does is widen the gulf between what éowyn’s thinking and feeling, and what she’s actually saying and doing. If you’re writing (as i tend to prefer) in a way that deals with her inner life quite intensely, building that gap up is much easier to do. She’s going to have a lot of thoughts, and almost all of them are going to be hindered by either other people’s expectations of her, or her own expectations of herself. And that’s going to cause problems for her — maybe not always throwing-herself-at-death level problems, but certainly problems.

so there’s that. Then i think there’s a lot to be said for widening the net on éowyn inspirations. I’ve looked to joan of arc (which i kind of hinted at here) quite a bit. I feel like the joan of arc comparison is easy to understand so i wont waste too much time on it, though i will say i’d actually recommend reading catholic interpretations of joan of arc, not later protestant Girlboss interpretations because i think those miss the point of joan of arc entirely.

I was going to try to comment more on the gender element but i feel like i’m not on great footing with that yet so i will leave that to the side for now.

Faramir

tbh i was kind of dreading getting to this because i still find it exceptionally hard to get into his head, so wish me luck lol

I’m going to be a total bore and recommend you check out this article. Bear in mind that that was written by a dude at the citadel so it’s going to stray into the realm of Military Brain at points, but i think it’s a worthwhile read anyways.

ah christ, faramir. okay. cowabunga.

faramir, more so than aragorn, is the platonic ideal of a romantic hero. Both in the genre sense (as in, romance novels) and in the sense of the artistic movement of romanticism, i know i’ve said exactly this before but it’s worth reiterating. I’ll start with the romantic influence and then go onto the romance.

So the romantic movement is a really important intellectual, cultural and political movement, and you will have to forgive me because i am only loosely a modernist and more a contemporary historian, and not at all an expert in literature or art history, so this is going to be, like, a 101 level understanding of what was going on.

The romantic movement is kicked off as a reaction to both the emphasis on rationality and quantifiability promoted during the enlightenment, and the bourgeois economic revolutions (this is the french revolution, mostly, but the later revolutions across the european continent in 1848 and the kickstarting of the industrial revolution in england). Romanticism was, essentially, a return to intense emotionality, reverence for nature, and appreciation of that which is, ultimately indefinable. Not necessary for writing a fanfic, but reading about the idea of the sublime is kind of a fun rabbit hole to go down if you’ve got time to spare.

A lot of present day writers will talk about the romantic movement as a break with the past, which is, i guess, kind of true, but is also not really true. The romantic movement — as much as the enlightenment — took its inspiration and logical from classic art and thought. But it interpreted the classics differently to the enlightenment. Whereas the enlightenment era thinkers were fascinated by the rationality and mathematical precision of the greeks and romans, the romantics were more interested in their emotional liberty, and the epic (in the truest sense of the word) shows of emotion and experiences of human life.

but what does this mean for faramir? A lot!

The first time we’re introduced to faramir (if not in name) is in fotr, when boromir talks about the destruction of the bridge at osgiliath, when he describes an epic story of war and heroism, wherein only four total people survive swimming from the bridge: two unnamed others, boromir, and faramir. right from the off we know that, if nothing else, he’s not a limp-wristed little lordling, he has the fortitude to survive what few others can.

Then, barely half a breath later, we get a description of faramir’s premonition, the fact that it came to him repeatedly, and that he immediately volunteered to go blues clues his way through it. We get the sense that he’s a guy who doesn’t back down from a challenge. And then faramir goes away for a while, until two towers, when we meet him again in the brilliance that is ithilien. And here i’m going to go back to our friend from the citadel for some interesting character insight:

the rangers under the command of Faramir are armed with long bows, giving them the capability to wage war over distances greater than most of their foes. This is the same type of warfare deemed cowardly and dishonorable by the chivalric knights, but is far more effective and less perilous than the face-to-face [...] This tactic also reveals Faramir to be a conscientious leader, minimizing the risk to his subordinates while maximizing their effectiveness in battle. Faramir was considerate of the risk he put his men to and sacrificed the idea of glorious face-to-face combat in favor of a weapon system that would be less desirable in the eyes of men such as Boromir, but also much more efficient. [...] Using camouflage and stealth, the warriors un d er Faramir's command set themselves apart from all other military units besides the elves in The Lord of the Rings and ultimately align themselves more closely with the soldiers of modern warfare than with the ancient heroes prevalent in the work of Tolkien.

Okay enough of the military history because it’s soul-crushingly boring, but the gist is that faramir is, (whatever else he is) a very unique figure. Taking this as a value neutral statement, we get the sense, before we even hear him own to it himself, that he’s a man apart from the rest. I think it’s important also to think about the extent to which he is situated as a part of nature when we first meet him, even if we later know that he is from this big, awful stone city, we are meant to immediately associate him with nature. And not nature in a primitive sense, i’d argue, but nature in the romantic sense, where it speaks to the beauty of creation etc etc etc

Then there’s the bright sword speech, which im not going to say anything on because cleverer people than me have dealt with it much more efficiently, but i would say that the takeaway from that, besides that he loves peace yada yada yada, is that he likes talking about peace. He has opinions on the war, perhaps even a controversial opinion, and by god, he wants people to know it. So thinking about what that level of immediate and almost impolitic honesty says about him is worth thinking about as you try to write him.

Later, we get to see faramir in the white city, and what we see is that he’s kind of a drama queen! I say this lovingly, but it does correspond to him going off on one immediately about how the war sucks ass and how he’s above it and how all the other people of middle earth are shit, including his own, and how much better life was In Númenor (which is, essentially, the crux of a lot of romantic poetry. And my headcanon of faramir’s connection to romantic poetry is here).

The other thing we learn in the white city is that faramir is very aware of himself as a person, and is actively altering whatever his base inclinations are to fit his desired personality. Here’s what i said in a comment on swaddledog’s excellent hearts and minds:

When Denethor hits him with the "ever your desire is to appear lordly and generous as a king of old, gracious, gentle," he's not saying it because he thinks that sort of behaviour comes naturally to Faramir but because he knows he has to work really, really hard at it. I think inherent in that desire is also the failure — he tries, but sometimes he comes up short (often, even — that kiss on the wall wasn't exactly gracious and gentle!), and it's because he sometimes comes up short that Denethor knows it doesn't come naturally to him. And you get that perfectly, just so, so perfectly.

That gap between what faramir thinks he is and whats to be versus what he actually is is very important for understanding him. Though, as i say, i really struggle with writing faramir, so it’s definitely not an easy thing to work into a fanfic.

I realise i’m probably not articulating this as well as i should, but that’s because dealing with faramir is a tremendous arseache for me, lol. I think basically my advice here is to familiarise yourself with a lot of these romantic figures and try to bear them in mind as you write. pierre bezukhov from war & peace actually fits quite closely to what i imagine young (as in, pre-ring war) faramir is like, with some necessary alterations for canon, and the fact that faramir seems like he’d be slightly more responsible than pierre. And certainly far, far, FAR more confident.

So that’s the romantic, and then there’s the romance. I saw a post a few months ago that identified faramir as, essentially, a love letter to women. And he totally is: he’s this fucking baller guerrilla warrior who quotes poetry and reads widely and falls in love deeply and sweeps a woman off her feet because he finds her beautiful and incredible and worthwhile even when she’s at her absolute worst. emotional intimacy is real, hallelujah! And so i think any time you’re writing faramir you’re going to have to keep that in mind, because he is this sort of breathless romantic. He’s a character that exists (inadvertently because tolkien couldn’t predict the future) to act, outwardly, as an antidote to the All Men Are Shit mindset. How much you actually keep him on that pedestal is up to you. I like to nuance his character with a bit more chaos, let him be a bit of a shameless flirt in his younger years, let him be so high and mighty in his romantic behaviour that he doesn’t realise that sometime éowyn just wants to fucking chill, that sort of thing.

There are lots of other character moments that stick out to me that i dont want to say a huge amount about, but will instead link to this incredible meta about faramir’s númenóreaness, with the disclaimer that dealing with that sort of capability in any serious way scares the shit out of me, so i have mostly just Pretended I Can’t Read every time i think about it, except for a super brief reference at the end of this fic.

Okay onto the meat of this (oh my god, i’m so sorry for how long this is)

Faramir + Éowyn = true love

Before i start, i just want to point out that in terms of seeing their relationship, we only really get it in the steward and the king, which is significant for a lot of reasons. For one because tolkien got a huge amount of shit for how quickly they fell in love (people accused it of being war-bride stuff, which typically was not a great arrangement for those involved) — tolkien himself said ‘shut the fuck up dude’ to that, and this is probably because tolkien married his wife, edith, right before he went off to war. I’ll come back to that in a sec because it’s important.

The other reason it’s important is because the steward and the king features some of the most consistent lofty and high-fantasy prose of the entire series. Tolkien does this magical thing where he weaves high brow purple prose in with deeply casual, familiar (for the early 20th century) vernacular, and to great effect. And he does this for a reason, he wants to create the sense of this deeply developed, fantastical world that extends well outside the bounds of what we are allowed to see in text while also allowing us the rhetorical space to relate to the characters we see. It is, then, significant that there is almost none of the “low-brow” vernacular speech in the steward and the king. It means tolkien’s got all thrusters on full, so to speak, in terms of the romance. He wants to evoke arthurian romances, courtly/chivalric love, the sort of fated-by-the-stars love that nobody would think to deny because of the time constraints because it seems so abundantly obvious that this love is Meant To Be.

But that’s just what he’s doing tonally. In terms of content, he’s weaving a more complex picture.

We’ll start with the obvious. Emotionally, both éowyn and faramir are at their worst. Sort of. éowyn’s worst might have been when she did her suicide run on the pelennor in terms of self-destructiveness, but i think her real low point is actually when she wakes up in the HoH, basically immobilized, prevented from dying, and now aware she’s going to have to do the One Thing she refused to do, which is watch everybody she loves go off to die, and then sit about and wait for her own death. faramir, meanwhile, went off to a hopeless battle (expecting to die) after mouthing off at his father, then wakes up to find out he’s not only alive, but the only surviving member of his family (for some reason! because don’t forget gandalf is very clear that he shouldn’t find out about denethor’s death until Later), is now the fucking steward of gondor, and also this mythical king is Back. also he too has to sit around and wait for death. So emotionally neither of them are doing too great.

Their first impressions of one another are very important.

faramir, of éowyn: “and he turned and saw the Lady Éowyn of Rohan; and he was moved with pity, for he saw that she was hurt, and his clear sight perceived her sorrow and unrest.”; “He looked at her, and being a man whom pity deeply stirred, it seemed to him that her loveliness amid her grief would pierce his heart.”

So he knows who she is, and he can see that she’s physically hurt, but also can see she’s feeling all kinds of fucked up. And the first emotion he feels is pity. He’s assessing her in terms of pain and sorrow, and all of these sorts of emotions éowyn seems desperate to divorce herself from. And he offers her pity. That’s significant.

éowyn, of faramir: “she looked at him and saw the grave tenderness in his eyes, and yet knew, for she was bred among men of war, that here was one whom no Rider of the Mark would outmatch in battle.”

She doesn’t know who he is, not really, but she does immediately think he could kick ass. And that’s her first and only real assessment of him. That’s also significant.

And éowyn is miserable, and she’s so miserable she’s actually willing to openly talk about if (if only to a limited extent) and faramir does what is, I think, one of the most incredible things in the entire book. He functionally disarms her, lets her down gently, and places them on equal footing with a single joke:

‘What would you have me do, lady?’ said Faramir. ‘I also am a prisoner of the healers.’

There’s merit in interpreting this straight, but I actually think it's quite funny to relate the safety and security of a hospital in wartime to a prison, to a cage. And I think tolkien’s aware of this, and not really intending us to read it straight. What this does is soften éowyn up enough that she asks for what she wants, but also seems to make her more interested in dealing with him, even if she reacts badly to his compliment of her.

And then they fall in love, and whatever. The chapter’s there, there’s a million fanfics out there about it, whatever.

But faramir’s proposal is Big, and deserves thought for what it says about their relationship. People like to bitch about it because they take it to mean that éowyn has had to change all this stuff about herself, give up her desire to be a firebrand or whatever to go off and be a lovely prince’s wife in this noble hippie commune over those hills yonder. I think that’s totally wrong.

I think what’s going on in faramir’s proposal and éowyn’s response is a really fascinating illumination of the accord they’ve reached with one another through their (admittedly brief) courtship. Here’s why:

First, faramir tries to approach the conversation with a bit of subterfuge. Not in the weird negative way, just in that he’s not hitting it head on at the start. He obviously still doesn’t understand what’s going on inside her head fully, so tries to ask around the question (‘why aren’t you at the cormallen?’) instead of asking the question he’s obviously interested in. éowyn has no time for this, and tells him to nut up or shut up. And he does!

But then there’s this line:

But I do not offer you my pity. For you are a lady high and valiant and have yourself won renown that shall not be forgotten.

Two things going on here: one, faramir’s rescinding his initial emotional reaction. He felt pity for her, but has now come to know her well enough that he realises she doesn’t need pity, and isn’t dumb enough to try and force it on her. But the second thing, almost more important, is that he assesses her in the terms that she prefers, which is that she has won herself renown and has shown her valour. These are not the things Faramir values, we know this, that’s the whole point of the bright sword speech. But they are the things éowyn values, and he loves her, and is willing to acknowledge what her desired self image is. That’s a huge concession she’s won off him, that’s big.

And then éowyn responds:

I will be a shieldmaiden no longer, nor vie with the great Riders, nor take joy only in the songs of slaying. I will be a healer, and love all things that grow and are not barren.

here’s my potentially controversial take. I don’t think she’s giving up on her desire to be a fighter of some sort, but she’s giving up on some specific traditions, which is that of the mythical (but, let’s be clear, functionally nonexistent, save for éowyn) shieldmaidens, and of the riders of the Mark, who, as we have been told throughout the books, are given to valorising warfare and martial acts above all. This is supported by her saying “nor take joy only in the songs of slaying.” she’s not saying she won't take any joy in it, or that she won’t still praise it when it earns her admiration, but that’s not going to be her only raison d’etre anymore. Her life is going to move beyond the realm of death and killing and battlefield survival to growth and life and the future. That’s also a concession on her behalf.

And then there’s this hella romantic kiss on the walls, which is fucking brazen behaviour, but is also i think representative more of the unique situation than setting a trend for them. It is, i think, the positive equivalent of éowyn’s slaying of the witch king in terms of its uniqueness. In the same way that she’s not going to keep going around throwing herself headlong into fights she’s not meant to win, she’s also not going to be publicly playing tonsil hockey. This is the big moment, and then it’s back to the reserve from there.

Really, their entire relationship is, to me, about a series of negotiations. One culture and another, wives and husbands, old and new, war and peace, life and death, etc. they are similar in a lot of ways — both are intensely headstrong — but they’re similar primarily in character, not necessarily in belief, and so much of what they’re going to have to do as a pair is work to find their harmonious accord, if that makes sense. Sometimes they’ll do it peaceably, sometimes they’ll have blow up fights, but their entire relationship is going to be predicated on negotiating the space between, if that makes sense?

Okay i said i’d say some stuff on the relationship of tolkien and his wife edith to faramir and éowyn. Tolkien was adamant that they were beren and lúthien (that’s on their tombstones), and i’m full willing to grant him that. But i think it’s complicated by the fact that faramir is, in some senses, tolkien’s self-insert. Obviously authors can have stand-ins for their opinions without the character having to be them exactly (and i think there’s more merit certainly to saying that tolkien’s 100% self-insert is tom bombadil) but i think there’s something worth exploring to the connections between beren and lúthien and faramir and éowyn. I know the morality issue makes B+L more closely comparable to arwen and aragorn, but, as I argue for here, the mortality issue (or lifespan issue) isn’t totally alien to faramir and éowyn.

As i write them, there are some core themes i’m pretty consistently thinking about, so i’ll just list em here in case that’s any help to you.

Family

This would be: life after orphanhood, life as the last of a family, what your obligation to your family is, how you go on and have your own family after having had a less than ideal childhood, etc.

Duty

Here’s what I said about their differing approaches to duty in a now-abandoned draft chapter from willow cabin:

Faramir has said, not in as many words, that she should not begrudge him for following orders. This, she knows, is a crucial difference between them. They each hold duty above all other charges, but their interpretation of what exactly that means is different. It comes from the differences in power they wield: he has ever been empowered to change the course of decisions before they are made, while she is forced to react to them after. To him, then, it would be unreasonable to disobey direct orders, given that a failure to change them in advance is a reflection upon his skills, not the legitimacy of the command. She, however, has rarely had control over how and when orders are given, and so sees no inherent legitimacy to them, and thus no reason not to disobey orders that are unjustly given.

Time

As I alluded to above, éowyn is going to live a significantly shorter life than Faramir, and she is no doubt very aware of this. But this also means that they’re going to experience time differently, and that will have an impact on their behaviour. What might seem like foot-dragging to éowyn seems like impatience to faramir, etc

Healing

We never actually see faramir’s reaction to finding out denethor tried to burn him alive. That’s a lot. We have no idea if he knows when he proposes to éowyn. When does he find out? What does that do to his mood? Etc. but also, éowyn says she’ll become a healer — what does that really mean? Is she going to be nurse/doctor éowyn from now on? Will she broaden the definition of healing (for my part, i say yes, which is what i’ve been trying to do in willow cabin, though a little less successfully than i’d hoped)

Gender

This is a slightly less popular theme in the bookverse fics, but i think as part of éowyn and faramir’s relationship of negotiation, they’re going to have to deal with éowyn not feeling one hundo thrilled about being a woman. And i think that raises some interesting questions about what faramir’s response to that will be. men/manhood is often treated as the historical default — so what happens when someone like, say, éowyn, starts challenging the notion of gender and gender roles around faramir? How does he react? What does that do to his own self-image? Etc.

Okay. yes. That’s all i can think of right now. I am so, so sorry this is so long, i just totally brain dumped there. If you have any questions at all though please please do hit me up and i’m super happy to read whatever you’re writing (literally gagging for farawyn content rn lmao), if you’re comfortable sharing etc.

#oh my god this is ridiculously long i am SO sorry #asks #faramir #Éowyn

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