#knight rohan

[prim-moth]

Cause you are gold / You are all I see

@shorter-than-her-tbr-pile

[thelien-art]

Shieldmaiden of Rohan, and Lady of Ithilien; Warrior and Healer

Chamomile: Chamomile helps to improve sleep, reduce anxiety, hay fever, inflammation, muscle spasms, wounds, ulcers, digestive disorders, and rheumatic pain - Chamomile symbolizes joy, positivity, peace, grace, and good luck.

Calendula: Calendula treats burns, bruises, and cuts - Calendula symbolizes endurance (due to its long bloom time), joy, remembrance, and grief.

Lavender: Lavender helps with sleep, treats skin blemishes, relieves pain, reduces blood pressure, combats fungus growth, and promotes hair growth; Lavender symbolizes purity, devotion, serenity, and grace - the color purple is the color of royalty, elegance, refinement and luxury.

Taraxacum (dandelion): Taraxacum leaves are used to stimulate the appetit, help digestion, and help the immune system - Taraxacum symbolizes hope, strength, and transformation.

Eowyn lived in Ithilien with Faramir, who had been declared ruling Prince of the land, after the war of the ring, and dwelt together in the hills of Emyn Arnen, where she was known as both the Lady of Ithilien and Emyn Arnen, as well as Shieldmaiden of Rohan, and shield arm.

[jacobmooore]

'Éowyn Confronts the Witch King of Angmar'

[theworldsoftolkein]

Meriadoc Brandybuck Moodboard

Peregrin Took Moodboard

[arwendeluhtiene]

🎨Miniature painting (old work, 2000s to c. 2014, Games Workshop LOTR strategic battle game ✨⚔️ ): Miniature collection. . Top shelf: Last Alliance diorama (LOTR), Fell Beast (LOTR, unfinished); second shelf: Warhammer Fantasy High Elves and Bretonnian knights; third shelf: LOTR miniatures; bottom shelf: LOTR Erebor Dwarves and Rohirrim miniatures.

🎨ArtStation🎨Instagram🎨 DeviantArt

[baheuldey]

Rohan (Tolktober, 12), 2023, encre de Chine sur papier, 21,5 x 14 cm

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Éowyn, Fearless Knight by Magali Villeneuve

[tartrazeen]

uwu

I'm in ship mode.

Starting the new year with some Angus/Deirdre What If fluff.

By What If, I mean I don't actually think this fits in with the show, but they never technically said it couldn't happen uwu

(here's my link to the whole thing)

To set the stage, we know Rohan lived in the castle since he was a kid, and Angus tagged along as part of a package deal. Angus also immediately took to crawling around in the walls, finding passages that were probaby meant for... idk, cats? Maybe? I don't know why there's so much space for him in there, especially as an adult, but there ya go.

But I'm also imagining that with the shape of the stones on the outside of the castle, there are enough handholds for small fingers to find purchase. Experienced rock climbers can get a grip on what seems like a totally flat wall because they can work with such subtle grooves after years of practise. Picture Angus getting into a dozen different places through a mix of gaps between the walls and crawling around on the outside to come in through a window.

Angus and Deirdre technically met in that episode about the curse on Kells, which was just when Rohan went to live in the castle, and immediately after Deirdre referred to Rohan as some "dirty boy". We see Angus getting into Cathbad's chamber, coughing on the way in from all the dust, so no matter how dirty Rohan was, Angus would be even worse. And from the look of things, Angus didn't have a reason to go in the castle until then; the guy makes such a big show of knowing everything about a place when he's introducing someone to it (like Garrett to Tir Na Nog and that kid-prince to Cathbad's chamber too), and he acts like he's never seen this room before.

So.

uwu

Imagine Angus, brand-new to the passages in this castle. He's trying to find his way to where Rohan is, but this place is a maze. He's never truly sure which room he's about to pop out of, but he does realize - after going in a few circles - that there are more than a few ways to enter certain rooms.

Deirdre, who's passing through these halls, hears louder skittering than any rat (or cat) she's heard before. She's curious, and she's bored from all of her princess lessons, so this is the perfect spark of excitement to go see what it is. She follows it around, trying to keep up with it going up and down the floors. It goes all the way until she's in an empty guest room, creeping closer and closer towards the fireplace.

And then out pops a soot monster.

(it's angus but she doesn't know that yet)

Deirdre's surprised for half a second, and then outraged that this even dirtier boy is intruding through her castle walls. Angus can't see her because he's got soot over his eyes, so he doesn't know this is the princess yet. But he figures it out after he pats himself off and covers the whole room in soot, getting Deirdre to start coughing and angrily yell for the guards. That makes everything snap into sense, and Angus is back in the fireplace and off through the walls a second later.

Then the rest of the episode with the curse happens, Angus finds Rohan, the two of them meet Deirdre, and they (or Rohan at least) pretty much never talk to her again until they're adults - based on how they are with each other in the first episode, anyway.

Except now I'm gonna change what happened over the years to plant some better seeds for a budding princess-and-thief romance. 😌

Angus is still going to want to visit Rohan while they're growing up (obviously). He's also going to want to map out the rest of this castle. So he visits, and he explores, and he stumbles into empty rooms, and he leaves a sooty mess behind, and he disappears before anyone else can catch him. He and Rohan probably giggle about this since the servants would mention some soot-ghost causing them all this extra work, and - more importantly - annoying the princess, who says it's some boy that's running around. Rohan won't admit a thing to Cathbad, and Angus is good at staying hidden.

Then one day, he crawls out of a passage in the corner of a room, and comes face-to-knee with...

😵‍💫 Deirdre.

Angus has just found out where her room is, and she is not happy.

She isn't the type to start hysterically screaming for help right away, and now that she's met Angus at least once (during the curse episode), she's much more likely to look down at him crawling in from that corner and go, "YOU. 😠 You're the one who's been hiding in the walls."

Angus goes "whoops" and disappears again, leaving Deirdre to shove some furniture over the hole to block it up.

A few nights after that, and Deirdre - stubbornly getting through her needlework in a different room - sees some soot sprinkle down and onto her fabric. She looks up, and beside a hole in the ceiling by the chandelier, she sees Angus. She goes, "😠," he goes, "🤫" and then he disappears again. Deirdre is scolded for getting distracted and quietly returns to her stitches.

A few nights after that, Deirdre hears rustling from behind the wardrobe in her room. She gets up to go see if it's a mouse that's been trapped... and finds Angus chomping on food he's stolen from the royal pantry. Clearly he's mapped out that route, but he mesed up on finding his way back to Rohan and on finding a better spot to rest for a snack.

Deirdre goes, "😠 OUT." Angus goes "😮 oop" and takes off again.

The key to this is that Deirdre thinks Angus is a pest, enough to want him gone, but is having an easy time getting rid of Angus by herself. No guards required, or else everything would forcibly end early.

There are a other few milestones I picture happening along the way when they're still kids, like Deirdre hearing muffled breathing from somewhere in her room, just to explore and find Angus behind the wall of another corner, only just visible behind a smaller hole that - for once - he can't actually fit through.

Except he's just snoozing back there.

He scatters when she wakes him up - throwing a rock at him or something, because he's in her castle and she isn't going to touch him when he's so filthy - but weeks later, he's in there again. Same thing happens. The third time, though, is when he doesn't really wake up from her snapping at him. With the hole being just smaller than their heads, she can't quite get a good look at him, but she ducks down and puts her ear against it to listen, all to hear him shivering. She thought it was the pop of the fire in the hearth, but it's him.

It occurs to her that the reason he's in this part of the wall is because it's beside her fire. He's freezing. It was winter but she hadn't made the connection to the cold and needing shelter. She knows he has a friend in the castle, but she assumes he wasn't allowed to stay with him because of Cathbad. Their druid's complained about him occasionally to her father.

She considers doubling down and waking him up for sure, but... well, the fire drowns out the noise, he's quiet enough anyway, and it isn't like he can get in here through that small hole in the corner. She puts a basket in the way to be safe, casually adds more wood to fireplace, and returns to bed. He isn't allowed to stay there forever, but if it's so cold that he has nowhere else to be, he can stay for one night.

She never asks about his circumstances, since he's a peasant and it's obvious what they'd be, but on the nights that it's cold enough to warrant a fire, she gets into a loose habit of checking if he's there before she goes to sleep. They don't bother each other, but if he's there when she checks (he sometimes is), she'll add more firewood.

He's interesting to her. There aren't any other kids around, and certainly not any boys (she's not counting Cathbad's apprentice). She's peeked at him during the night a few times, like he was a new kitten in a barn or something. He's always either been asleep or already gone to wherever he goes. Both are interesting, even though she has to wonder how he's somehow never awake to notice.

Another milestone is a time she's lost something. A necklace, maybe, and one that was important to her. She looks in her room and all over the castle, but it's nowhere to be found. Some time later, after another night she's cried herself to sleep, she hears a soft clink in the corner by the fire. There's no fire tonight, since it's quite warm this time of year. She gets up to investigate anyway, and finds her necklace beside the basket, which was pushed to the side a bit. There's no one behind the wall. She even calls out to be sure, and there's silence.

It's never really clear if she did lose it or if 'someone' took it in the first place. All she knows is that she got it back and she's grateful. Eventually, she decides she must have lost it. Every way of getting in here is blocked off by something already, and she doesn't think he'd be reckless enough to come in through the window.

She doesn't hear him for months after that. No scurrying, no snoozing, no snacking. She's pleased that it's finally done, and proud to have endured it...

... but one night, she decides to leave an apple in the spot behind her wardrobe. It's where he'd been snacking when she caught him that time.

The apple's still there days later. There are a few bites missing, but they look like rat bites. She throws the apple away, embarrassed by the whose idea, but a month later, the urge to try again returns. It might have something to do with Cathbad's newest complaints, meaning Angus hasn't actually disappeared. She leaves better snacks by the other corner, the one small hole by her fireplace, and waits to see if it's gone the next morning.

It isn't.

She's even more embarrassed. There aren't many kids she's allowed to talk to (including Cathbad's apprentice), and if she wasn't talking to Angus...

Well. It was probably for the best. That was the thing with strays: feed them and they never leave. Since she didn't accidentally feed anything, nothing is going to stay to bother her. Especially not a boy who wasn't supposed to be here in the first place.

... She keeps trying occasionally. Just to see if he'd come back.

A couple of years pass, and she hears a commotion outside her door. It's a guard running through a hall. Nothing to be worried about, she thinks, and she's about to forget it entirely when something comes in through her window.

It's Angus. :3 Crash-landing.

Trying as hard as he can to smile his way out of her screaming at him while he's still upside-down and on his head ��⁠\⁠_⁠༼⁠ ⁠ಥ⁠ ⁠‿⁠ ⁠ಥ⁠ ⁠༽⁠_⁠/⁠¯

She's furious at the intrusion, demanding to know who he is to barge into the princess' room. She'll have forgotten his name at this point, since it's been so long, but she has a keen awareness that she knew it once. She'd never ask for it, though, and lucky for him, Angus doesn't misinterpret her demand as that. He's scrambling to right himself and say that he's just passing through, just has to get behind the wardrobe to leave, even moving over to it to start pulling it away from the corner it's been blocking for years.

Deirdre instantly cuts in front of him. He's not touching anything in her room, and she wants him out of it.

In the very back of her mind, she notices he's grown. He's taller than her now. Before, they were almost the same height.

He swears he'll be gone just as soon as she moves, but there's a knock at the door firsn. Deirdre's maid heard her in there and is asking if she's alright. There's an instantly pleading look on Angus' face, and Deirdre glares him into silence because she can't be bothered to kick up a fuss over this. Sweetly, she calls back that everything's fine, and the maid says that's good, but it's also cleaning time so can please she come in. Angus is like o_o because he needs to move the wardrobe out of the way, and that's decently loud.

I guess Deirdre gets inspired by his panic and decides to teach him a lesson. She says the maid can of course come in, but to please start at a certain corner. Angus goes O_O as the door opens for the maid to enter, and Deirdre shrugs while she leaves him to hide. He darts behind the massive curtain beside her window, since there aren't any other options.

The maid starts cleaning around the room, suspicious that the princess is paying this so much attention. Deirdre says everything is fine, but just as the maid comes up to fix the curtain, Deirdre asks her to clean under the bed right now. Not for any particular reason. Just as an order.

As the maid slowly agrees and turns around to do so, Angus sneaks out from the curtain and Deirdre points to under the desk. When the maid finishes there, she's about to go to the desk next, but Deirdre asks if she can go tidy the wardrobe next - and points Angus to under the bed, who figured out what's happening and goes >:( on the way. Deirdre has a great time leading the maid around the room like this, especially as the maid says it's strange that the floor is so worn beside the wardrobe, like someone's been repeatedly moving it. Angus is back to going o_o as Deirdre says, "Really? :3 That's so interesting - what interesting information that is."

Finally, when the maid leaves and Angus can get up, Deirdre scowls and says, "Do not go through my room, or I'll have every guard in my castle drag you to the dungeon."

Angus gives an awkward little bow, and then goes over to the wardrobe, loudly scraping it against the floor as he pivots it to reveal that hidden passage in the corner. Deirdre doesn't even bother saying he could've gone through the door, and simply watches him crawl through and loooudlyyyy scrape the wardrobe over the floor again as he pulls it back in place behind him.

Deirdre puts a small vase at the foot of the wardrobe. Sure enough, weeks later, the vase is awkwardly sat a few feet away - like someone pulled the wardrobe back into place behind them, but couldn't sneakily reach the vase to reset it too.

Once - and only once - the guards are particularly upset. She walks past them and into her room, just to see the wardrobe pulled slightly away from the wall. She rolls her eyes and goes to move it properly, but stops when she puts a hand on it and feels that it's wet. She sees blood on her palm when she checks it.

Before she can do anything, her door flies open and a guard barges in. Deirdre whirls around, and the guard - apologizing profusely for not realizing this was her room, having simply been told to search everywhere - tries to peek around while explaining that they're after a Temran spy. Deirdre tells him to search somewhere else because this is her room, but only when the guard lingers does she fully snap and tell him to gtfo right this second. It works, and the guard jumps and scurries away.

She checks outside the door and sees more guards crowding the halls. Then she firmly shuts the door and locks it. The smear of blood on her palm catches her attention again, and she slowly decides to wipe it off the wardrobe before anyone else happens to find it. She's procrastinating, she supposes, because eventually she starts having to check around the room herself.

She's only vaguely concerned that she's locked herself in with a spy, because a spy wouldn't know about that hole behind her wardrobe. There's nothing behind the curtain, but under the bed, there's Angus - eyes shut like he's playing dead.

She doesn't yell at him this time. After she's done peeking out of that same, young curiosity, she takes a true look for blood and sees his hand's wrapped but leaking through. Wordlessly, she stands back up, finds another wrapping in her desk, grabs an apple from a bowl in her room, and puts both of them on the ground beside her bed in silence. But she's still not exactly happy at this, and doesn't want to seem like she's condoning it. Just to be safe, she kicks the apple over to him, and is satisfied by the little snort of disapproval that earns. It means he is only playing dead.

Ten minutes go by before she finally hears some muffled chewing.

Angus is gone in the morning, along with any trace he'd been there. He must have gone back out through the window, because the door is still locked and the wardrobe was still slightly ajar. The guards caught the spy eventually; it was someone else, and the king notices how unusually pleased his daughter is to hear that.

I don't want these two getting too close while they're kids, because I still want everything to line up with the first episode, where Deirdre's pretty damn unhappy to have him knock her over and doesn't seem to know Rohan that well either. But I do want there to be some established level of familiarity with each other, because she was fast at kicking him for kicking her (which is very unusual for her; she's usually more composed than that, outside of the one time she punched Pyre lol) but Angus reacted like it was normal for them. So there's like a friendly, unique, antagonistic banter built up over the years, where Deirdre's more than comfortable snapping at him, teasing him, and touching him than she is with anyone else, who she always has to be A Princess™ with.

What I love about this is the curiosity Deirdre has. It's completely unspoken and easy to deny, even to herself, but she keeps finding reasons to be drawn to him. When she's young, she sorta treats it like she has a pet? Like a wild rat or something that she pretends is her pet, because she feeds it every so often. She keeps enough distance to avoid getting too attached, but she's quietly delighted to see signs of him around. She's also furious to see any mess because ew, a rat.

Meanwhile Angus gets more and more desensitized to her. He gets kicked by her and doesn't have any problem snapping back an excuse - almost like he does when he's being yelled at by Cathbad. He's comfortable enough to overstep their formal boundaries, but is still fully aware he has overstepped and is cautiously testing the new, 'real' boundaries that exist: he can hide in her room if he's desperate, she won't immediately call the guards if he doesn't make a mess, but she has very little patience for him altogether. It's enough for him to be cheekier and tease her back when he's not in her room (doing his "i think the princess would prefer my hand" schtick), but also to avoid rocking the boat so hard that he loses the tiny privilege he has. Well, until he gets more comfortable and bolder with his teasing over the course of the show.

The pet thing matters too, because I'd like to think the arrangement of Angus being in Deirdre's walls doesn't change. Angus doesn't just stop using those passages, but they wouldn't turn every night into a sleepover. Maybe once, Deirdre would hear a sound in the wall that wakes her up, and she'd nervously call out, "Angus?" And there'd be silence for a moment before he says back, "... Yup?" And that'd be the end of it. They don't have to talk, and there's a look of understanding between them the next morning. (Especially 'cause there's a guard who's pissed about something.) (Deirdre swears she doesn't think it's funny, and Angus swears he totally didn't see her grinning.)

But that emotional distance is important because Angus still defers to Rohan - and hell, even Garrett - as the real End Game for Deirdre. He's just a funny little pet rat that scurries around the walls sometimes. A jester at best. Nothing more, even if he's openly asking her for a kiss. He's completely harmless.

The truest test would be one night in the middle of the show, when Angus is passing through and hears crying. It's Deirdre, mourning her mother, since she never got to see everything Deirdre's accomplished over the years. He's torn on whether he should ignore this like they always do - this is her room, after all, so part of arrangement means respecting her privacy - but then he hears her call out, "Angus?"

He doesn't answer. In fact, he stays silent long enough for Deirdre to bury herself back in her pillow and weep.

It doesn't feel right for him to intrude on her.

He crawls through, back on his way, when he realizes there's no chance she would have heard him. She was guessing to see if he was there. That worries him, because there's a good chance that was to scream at him after correctly assuming he was intruding. He's already back to space where he can start climbing down outside as he thinks this. He can't explain why the hell he doesn't, because he really can't afford to lose his Wall privileges, but he climbs up instead - and through her window.

Deirdre doesn't notice until Angus has his hand gently on her back. At that, she's a bit startled, but mostly just relieved to see someone there. She doesn't hesitate to sit up and pull him around her, taking all the support she can get from him quietly holding her. He stays until she's asleep, and he's gone long before she's awake.

There's no look of understanding shared the next morning, because Angus just doesn't look at her. It's not meant to be rude, just affirming that they were both going to politely pretend it didn't happen. And it doesn't last forever, obviously. Angus does deliberately - cheekily, as always - find her afterwards and maybe even spins her around as extra proof that this is no big deal, and asks if she's okay. She says she is, and he ends it there almost instantly, trying to spare them from her awkwardly thanking him out of obligation. Somehow, it's exactly what they need to reset things. It's their emotional wardrobe sliding back in place over their emotional... emotions.

But just like the real wardrobe, even if Angus thinks he's sealed everything up again, there's something still out of place from Deirdre's side. In the moment, she'd really wanted anyone to comfort her. She'd only called out for Angus since he was the sole person with a chance of being in earshot. But the more she thought about it, she didn't know who else she could've asked for. Angus holding her felt so close and right, like he alone had any chance of soothing her.

She's not going to think about it. She's going to move the emotional vase back in front of the emotional wardrobe, but she's keenly aware that this happened.

And she's curious to see if she can feel like that again.

[dernhelmalso]

merry defending éowyn during the battle of pelennor fields like

[tenth-sentence]

But thereupon Éomer rode up in haste, and with him came the knights of the household that still lived and had now mastered their horses.

"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" - J.R.R. Tolkien

[sufficientlylargen]

It always gets me that the name "Gandalf" literally just means "Wand-Elf" or "Stick-Elf". I'm imagining old Gondorians just being like:

Librarian: I saw that weird guy at the library again today.

Guard 1: What weird guy?

Librarian: The old guy with the beard? Kinda elfy-looking, apart from the beard?

Guard 1: Oh, with the big-ass stick?

Librarian: Yeah, looked like he was carrying an entire tree branch.

Guard 2: Yeah, that's the Stick Elf.

Guard 1: Hell yeah, I fuckin' love the Stick Elf.

Librarian: The "Stick Elf"?

Guard 2: He comes by every few years, usually after some weird book or other.

Librarian: Oh. Yeah, he wanted a treatise on goblin breeding habits.

Guard 2: Like, how they have sex? We have books on that?

Librarian: Yeah, turns out we do. I was as surprised as you are.

Guard 1: What'd the Stick Elf need a fuckin' goblin-fuckin' book for?

Librarian: I didn't ask. So you just call him "Stick Elf"?

Guard 2: I mean, he looks kinda elfy and he always has that stick, so, like, yeah.

Guard 1: Dude also has some fuckin' dope pipeweed.

Guard 2: Oh yeah, his pipeweed is awesome.

Librarian: How long has he been coming here?

Guard 2: Oh, for decades. He's, like, super old.

Guard 1: More like fuckin' centuries. Dude's old as balls.

Guard 2: Wait, really?

Guard 1: Yeah, my gran-gran used to talk about him. She loved his pipeweed too.

Librarian: So he's… an immortal pipeweed dealer?

Guard 2: I think he's just, like, a connoisseur. He doesn't sell it or anything. He just always has some really top-notch pipeweed on him.

Archivist: Oh, are we talking about Stick Elf?

Guard 1: Hell yeah we are!

Librarian: You know about the Stick Elf, too?

Archivist: Oh, totally. Stick-Elf's a super chill dude. Gave me some awesome pipeweed when I was maybe 12, and tee-bee-aitch I think I'm still a little buzzed from it.

Guard 1: What'd I tell ya, fuckin' dope pipeweed!

Archivist: Also he's really old.

Guard 1: Old as balls.

Librarian: Yeah, so Éodan and Jenniforomir were telling me.

Archivist: My grandpa used to tell me stories - he said one time he saw Stick Elf enter a smoke-ring contest.

Guard 1: Ooh, I'll bet he kicked fuckin' ass.

Archivist: Apparently the guy made an entire warship out of smoke and it flew around shooting down the other rings.

Librarian: And how much of this "fuckin' dope" pipeweed had your grandfather had by this point?

Guard 1: No no, that's totally plausible. Dude's got weird elf powers and shit for sure.

Archivist: He brought fireworks for the king's birthday one year, too.

Guard 1: Oh fuck, I forgot about those! Fuckin' incredible fireworks! Dragons and knights and glowy trees and shit! I was fuckin' 6 years old or something, they totally blew my mind. Hey Éodan, did you see that shit?

Guard 2: No, I think that's before I lived in Gondor.

Guard 1: Wait, you're not from here?

Guard 2: Oh, no, I grew up in Rohan. We moved here when I was, like, thirteen because my uncle Éojeff said he could get my dad a sweet job. And also that there were houses that didn't smell like horseshit.

Guard 1: Oh shit, are you related to Éojeff and Éosteve who run that æbleskiver stand on Norndîl St?

Guard 2: Yeah, they're my uncles!

Guard 1: Shit, they cook a fuckin' great æbleskiver!

Librarian: Ok, hold up a sec, "Stick Elf" can't possibly be his real name.

Guard 1: Why not?

Librarian: What? You think his parents named him in the hopes that he would carry around a fucking tree when he got older?

Guard 2: Maybe they gave him the tree when he was born!

Archivist: I don't think a baby could carry that stick.

Guard 1: You ever seen a baby hanging onto something? They're hella strong.

Archivist: It's not a strength thing, their hands are tiny. That staff is enormous!

Guard 1: My halberd's bigger 'n I am, I can hold it just fine.

Archivist: You're not a baby.

Librarian: Also why would elf parents name their kid "stick ELF"?! Presumably they know that their kid's going to be an elf!

Archivist: Is he actually an elf? I didn't think they grew beards.

Guard 1: How'd he get old as balls if he's not an elf?

Guard 2: His ears aren't that pointy. Maybe he's just a really old guy? Like, a Numémoriam or something?

Guard 1: Did you just say "Numémoriam"?

Guard 2: Nûnenorman? Munimõrbitan? Y'know, those guys like the king that can get super old.

Guard 1: You mean the fuckin' Númenóreans?

Guard 2: Yeah, the Númenóreums.

Archivist: Even the Númenóreans don't live THAT long.

Guard 1: Plus he carries that fuckin' stick around.

Guard 2: Wait, what does the stick have to do with it?

Guard 1: That's an elf thing. Y'know, trees and shit? Very elfy.

Librarian: Ok, look, but his parents naming him "Stick Elf" would be weird whether or not he's an elf. In fact, it's even weirder if he's not - what human names their kid "elf"?

Archivist: Huh. Yeah, you're right, he probably does have another name.

Guard 2: Yeah, I guess so.

Librarian: He's been coming here for decades and nobody's ever asked his real name?

Archivist: I dunno what to tell you, he's Stick Elf. Even his library card just says 'Stick Elf'.

Guard 1: Fuck yeah, the Stick Elf!

Guard 2: Maybe we could, like, ask him his name sometime?

Guard 1: Hey, look, Elrond's over there. He's old as balls too, maybe he knows?

Guard 2: Oh, we shouldn't interru-

Guard 1: HEY ELROND, YOU'RE OLD AS BALLS, RIGHT? WHAT'S THAT OLD ELF WITH THE STICK'S NAME?

Elrond (coming over): Do you mean an old man cloaked all in grey and blue, leaning on a rough-cut staff, who came to the great library this day?

Guard 1: Yeah, the Stick-Elf!

Guard 2: (Sorry to bother you, sir...)

Librarian: He's got to have a real name besides 'the Stick Elf', right?

Elrond: Indeed, for no elf is he. You speak of the wizard Olórin, wisest of the Maiar, older even than Eä itself. Many are his names in many countries: Tharkûn among the Dwarves; Incánus to the south; Mithrandir he is called among my people, the Grey Pilgrim.

Librarian: Oh.

Elrond: And here in the North he is called Stick-Elf.

Librarian: Oh.

Guard 1: Fuck yeah!

[rohan-kishibaby]

*gets a scam call*

*grooves to my ringtone instead of answering*

[torchwood-99]

After the destruction of the ring, during his time in Cormallen, Eomer starts getting letters from nobility from all across the land, offering condolences for the death of his uncle, congratulations for his ascension to the throne, thanks for his country's support in the war, and offers of marriage for either himself, his sister, or both.

Eomer decides to enlist his knight, Meriadoc Brandybuck of Brandy Hall, to take over his correspondance for him, a task Merry takes to with zeal.

Unfortunately, no one bothered to tell Merry that all he needed to do was send some gracious lines back, acknowledging their congratulations and condolences on Eomer's behalf.

Merry knows how to write a letter properly, and if there's one thing hobbits are good for, it's getting chatty with strangers, even through writings.

He writes long, friendly letters, rambling on about the war, the House of Eorl, Rohan, horses, Bill the Pony, pipeweed, and everything else that pops into his head.

In response to the marriage proposals, well, he doesn't want anyone to waste their time, so while he writes back that "the Lady Eowyn is indeed most fair and valiant", he's actually pretty sure that she and Lord Faramir have a thing going on, or at least, Lord Faramir would like them to, and nothing has been announced but they did spend an awful lot of times holding hands and Ioreth; Ioreth one of the head healers at the Houses of Healing, very chatty but nice lady, her sister keeps a garden, said she saw Lord Faramir kissing her on the forehead on the battlements, and he gave her a mantle belonging to his mother, of course, it was rather cold, but when Merry's father courted his mother her gave her a brooch that had belonged to Merry's grandmother, who got it from her husband, who got it from an aunt, who got it in a card game (and on it goes), and as for Eomer King, well, he can't say for certain but he hasn't heard of anything going on there, so certainly, if they think Eomer and their daughters might take a fancy to each other, there could be no harm in them meeting.

And that's how Eomer ends up having daughters from every noble house thrown at him, and becomes the last man in the kingdom to find out about Eowyn and Faramir, and Merry ends up becoming pen pans with half the nobility in Middle Earth.

[anghraine]

I originally compiled a set of quotes about how Elrond and his children are not identified exclusively as Elves a couple of years ago in a reblog, but I wanted an easier version of my post for reference, so here it is:

The distinction between Elves and half-Elves is most glaring with Elladan and Elrohir, but there’s an interesting description of Elrond as great among Elves and Men, as if (despite his fate lying with Elves) he’s both/neither. And, of course, when Aragorn wishes for Elrond as he goes about healing, he describes Elrond not as a better healer because he’s an Elf, but because “he is the eldest of all our race, and has the greater power” (ROTK, “The Houses of Healing”).

In addition, I think the language used around Elladan and Elrohir is really interesting. When they show up with the Dúnedain of the North, Legolas says of them, “they are fair and gallant as Elven-lords; and that is not to be wondered at in the sons of Elrond of Rivendell” (ROTK, “The Passing of the Grey Company”). They are like Elven-lords because they’re Elrond’s sons, but not actually called Elven-lords.

When we actually see Elladan and Elrohir, we hear: “So much alike were they, the sons of Elrond, that few could tell them apart: dark-haired, grey-eyed, and their faces elven-fair” (same chapter). They look as fair as Elves. But when the Grey Company, including Elladan and Elrohir, goes to the Paths of the Dead:

“The company halted, and there was not a heart among them that did not quail, unless it were the heart of Legolas of the Elves, for whom the ghosts of Men have no terror” (same chapter).

Later, as the armies of the west make their way to the Black Gate, we hear:

“And from that evening onward the Nazgûl came and followed every move of the army. They still flew high and out of sight of all save Legolas…” (ROTK, “The Black Gate Opens”).

Even the random minstrel of Gondor at the Field of Cormallen addresses those present at the victory celebrations with:

“Lo! lords and knights and men of valour unashamed, kings and princes, and fair people of Gondor, and Riders of Rohan, and ye sons of Elrond, and Dúnedain of the North, and Elf and Dwarf, and greathearts of the Shire…” (ROTK, “The Field of Cormallen”).

So the exceptional nature of Elrond and his children does seem a) accurate, given the exclusion of Elladan and Elrohir from generalizations about Elves, and b) very generally understood and accepted.

Oh, and there’s also Tolkien’s extratextual translation of Elladan and Elrohir’s names:

“Both signify elf+man. Elrohir might be translated ‘Elf-knight’; rohir being a later form (III 391) of rochir ‘horse-lord.’ Elladan might be translated ‘Elf-Númenórean’” (Letters 282).

Rohir is “a later form” of rochir because it’s Gondorian/Númenórean usage. The El- in both names and the suffixes indicating 'mortal man' clearly refer to Elrond’s family—so for instance, Elladan can only be considered a Númenórean of any kind through Elrond. If, as Elrond’s sons with a fully Elvish woman, they are not considered Elves, this can only be all the more true for Elrond himself.

[medievalandfantasymelee]

👑🌹The Queen of Love and Beauty🌹👑

Round 1 (2 of 6)

The Queen of Love and Beauty shall hold the honour of presenting unto the winner of the Tournament his Champion's Coronet.

Vote for the lady who, to you, best exemplifies feminine dignity, grace and loveliness

The six contenders with the most votes will advance.

Row 1 - Danielle de Barbarac [Drew Barrymore], Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998) - Lady Jocelyn [Shannyn Sossamon], A Knight’s Tale (2001) - Kate [Laura Fraser], A Knight’s Tale (2001)

Row 2 - Éowyn of Rohan [Miranda Otto], The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003) - Arwen Undomiel [Liv Tyler], The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003) - Galadriel of Lothlórien [Cate Blanchett], The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003)

Row 3 - Joan of Arc [Milla Jovovich], The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999) [2] - Queen Isabella [Tilda Swinton], Edward II (1991) [1] - Princess Isabelle [Sophie Marceau], Braveheart (1995) [1]

Row 4 - Queen Susan the Gentle [Sophie Winkleman], The Chronicles of Narnia (2005-2010) - Queen Lucy the Valiant [Rachael Henley] - Jadis, the White Witch [Tilda Swinton], The Chronicles of Narnia (2005-2010

[gracefuldisasters]

Reuploading this in it's own post >:)

Based off of this lovely idea

Panel 1:

My Dearest Rodsildre, I pray this letter finds you in good spirits and health. Unlike our beloved Eomer, King of the Mark, who has just recently taken a drunken tumble into a rather nasty horse stable. He is neither well or in good spirits, and I rather question your desire to court the man.

Panel 2:

… while I could not in good conscious recommend you to attempt to win the heart of our fair lady Eowyn, for you may find a sword stabbed through your gullet. Which could come from the lady herself,or Faramir, Steward of Gondor and Prince of Ithilien.

He's an awful prick you know.

Panel 3:

Sam, you would not believe the atrocious things the people of Rohan will put into their mouths. Just yesterday I witnessed a man eat the most shriveled, moldy potato, I believe there was even a worm still wriggling inside of it! We don't even have any herbs or spices, Sam. We've run out a week ago, and I think I would like to die now. Pippin may already be gone from this mortal world.

Panel 4:

To the lovely Stor Nokkerose, Greetings from Meriadoc Brandybuck, Knight of the Mark and Master of Buckland. I suspect no one else shall be reading this, so I will tell you this upfront. I've given your letter to Mogop, and darling, let me tell you, that boy is head over heels for you. As well as your sister. Not to worry, I've given him a stern talking-to; which I believe has put him in his place. He shant break your heart again, love. I've also let him know that the true way to win a lady's affection is to bring her the head of wild bear. So you should expect one of those on your doorstep soon.