#lotr arab

[ballroomfitz]

Making you all look at Araboromir again because I love him so so much

[rrcraft-and-lore]

Calling Tolkien nerds - curious about something: Reading over texts and came across:

"All except the Witch-king were apt to stray when alone by daylight. And all, but the Witch-king, feared water, and were unwilling but in dire need, to enter or to cross unless dryshod by a bridge."

We know the Nazgul can/do walk in daylight, just not much, and that their powers are at least diminished by it.

"Of Khamûl it is said here that he was the most ready of all the Nazgûl, after the Black Captain himself, to perceive the presence of the ring, but also the one whose power was most confused and diminished by the daylight."

Unfinished Tales, Part 3, Ch 4, The Hunt for the Ring Notes 1

What inspired this I wonder though? Not crossing moving waters is a theme common in many a monster/demon myth from cultures, same with sunlight hurting monsters/demons - I'm wondering if there is any specific lore Tolkien drew from (creature specifically) on/for that one. Don't just say Norse - no shit. The Hobbit is Beowulf.

Not my point. I've gone into the etymology of Nazgul before and the Arabic ghul, as well as other sources.

But, just curious on that. Maybe it's a shot in the dark.

[leresq]

Languages ranked based on how pretty they are

1. Hindi

2. Arabic

3. Elvish from lord of the rings

4. Russian

5. Korean

[2soft2sensitive]

the racism/colorism of lord of the rings has got me thinking a lot about how it is important to critique the things we love, but it is also important to remember that we can still love them despite their problematic nature- and that everyone that carries on about how anyone that enjoys whatever piece of problematic media are horrible, irredeemable people, always has a piece of media they enjoy that is just as problematic, but because they are convinced that consumption is a moral act (and god forbid you imply they aren’t morally pure), can’t accept it and will make endless excuses as to why it isn’t the same. the only thing that really matters is being able to see what is wrong with the media, engage critically with it, and accept that it is what it is- and that some people will always be uncomfortable with it, and rather than making excuses, you have to own up to the thing you like being kinda shitty

[angstics]

only lebanese people i know in the online content creation sphere are 1. austin show (technically syrian but legally lebanese so we win) and 2. one of the guys in the yms react videos i was obsessed with as a teen. maybe also keemstar.

[astronicht]

Am I F1 posting am I LOTR posting I can multitask. Look I’m barely into Two Towers but I’m on another themed field trip and we’re going to look at 11th century “oliphant” hunting horns now. Was Boromir’s horn material and design ever specified? I don’t recall! probably it was a large boar tusk! Maybe it was a really really big bull! This is all more likely than elephant ivory, tho as seen here elephant (and rhinoceros) ivory WAS absolutely in use, especially in early medieval Muslim Europe (Spain, Sicily, and parts of Southern Italy) and was definitely known much further north (too far north tho and you start getting walrus ivory instead). But you’ve gotta see some of the coolest early medieval hunting horns anyway.

From the museum placard:

“The term oliphant refers to an ivory horn such as the one used by the legendary hero Roland, one of Charlemagne’s paladins, to sound the call for battle. Many such horns have been preserved. Usually decorated with hunting and animal motifs, they were made in Islamic-Arab countries as well as Norman Sicily and in Lower Italy. Many of them served as containers for relics in the church treasuries of the West.”

These two are (and I’m just getting this info off more museum placards) from Italy (Salerno or Amalfi, maybe) and from Arab Sicily. The latter, with the very Muslim-style animals in a web of vines, is my absolute fav. Sicily was conquered by the Byzantines, Fatimids, and ex-Viking Normans in succession and the style got neat as hell. Did Tolkien care about this mate I have no idea, I just think it’s the coolest thing. Also these are huge.

*and of course, ivory today is real fucking sad and part of an ecological catastrophe. But it’s worth saying that the 11th century was Not the century that fucked that one up.

[sweetiebriar]

I really shouldn’t get involved in this debate because, first, it's utterly absurd and immature, and second, it will likely earn me a few enemies and drag me into conflicts, which I despise more than anything… Yet, I can’t stay silent. My anger is boiling over because creators and writers like myself are being bullied by so-called fans with narrow-minded perspectives, forcing us to bow down to politically correct foolishness just to be able to continue our work in peace.

¡Swearwords Alert!

What the fucking, shitty, bloody heck is wrong with these people?! This is a work of fiction—a story set in a fantasy, medieval Slavic world. The rules of the modern, real world do not apply here. Why on earth is representation being demanded in a context where it makes no sense?

¡Swearwords Alert End!

For those who’ve wisely avoided this whole debacle—and I congratulate you, keep doing so in the future if possible, let me fill you in: our dear RC team, along with the author of "The Thunderstorm Saga," Alexander D., were recently pressured (and in some cases harassed) into changing the main character sprites, which originally consisted of various elven races—forest, moon, and dark elves—into human representations (Asian, Caucasian, African, Latin, etc.).

AS: I didn’t get involved in the uproar about Volot’s skin tone in "And The Haze Will Take Us" being a player choice, because frankly, it was ridiculous for a portion of the community to react negatively, as if RC’s decision was some kind of racist move. Let me remind you, we’ve had this kind of choice before, like in "Vying For Versailles" with King Louis, and no one complained. Also, if you weren’t aware, book covers are often altered in their Russian versions. A main character who is Black or Brown in the American/European editions is frequently depicted as white in the Russian versions, except in rare cases where the character’s ethnicity is central to the story, like in "Garden of Eden" or the "Kalis". This change is due to the narrow-mindedness of the Russian community, and RC makes these changes to avoid backlash from its largest player base. Perhaps the decision to change Volot's skin was made with the Russian market in mind, and they decided to keep it consistent for all players. But frankly, I don’t care, and I don’t want to know.

Now, back to the main issue:

I’ve been a writer for most of my life, and I cannot stress this enough: a writer’s vision is theirs and theirs alone. While we might choose to revise certain aspects of our stories or find new ways to tell them, the opinions of readers and fans should never dictate those decisions. We are the creators of the content you enjoy. You read our work because you appreciate our vision. If we start crafting stories the way you want, it ceases to be our vision, and the magic is lost. Instead of venturing into the unknown, the story becomes a mundane reflection of everyday life. People read books to escape reality, not to mirror it.

Frankly, I find the elven races in this story quite representative, if you ask me—certainly more so than in LOTR (And remember the backlash about the Black dwarf queen? How ironic…).

- Forest Elves One have very fair skin, which can be linked to Caucasians. The Forest Elves Two can be more compared to Mediterranean people.

- Moon Elves One & Two, with their warm, brownish skin, can be connected to Hispanic or Latin people.

- Dark Elves, as you might expect, are associated with people of African descent, with group One being darker than group Two.

Sure, not every community is represented here—where are the Asians, the Eastern Europeans, the Arabs, Indians, and Indigenous peoples? There are more than just three skin tones, after all.

But this debate is utterly ridiculous. This is a work of fiction set in a fantasy realm. These characters are elves, not humans, and they don’t need to represent human diversity. The vast majority of players enjoyed the story as it was, and do you know why? Because they chose their main character based on who they found most appealing, not because the character resembled them. Contrary to what some believe, representation isn’t always necessary in fiction. Yes, there were fewer Black and brown-skinned characters in the past due to racism and segregation, but today, in a diverse and cosmopolitan world, young writers incorporate their modern perspectives into their work, and people generally don’t complain about representation anymore. So stop making a fuss over something that was never an issue to begin with. Let writers do their work. Criticising elves for not being "human enough" is not constructive; it’s just nonsense. And if you want to argue with me over this, don’t bother. I refuse to debate anyone over a fictional world, and especially over a game.

[beardedmrbean]

[Huey Zoomer Anon]

The Left: How can so many young men join the right?

Me: Can stop treating poor white men as the root of all evil while infantilzing the war criminals like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama?

Left: No they oppressed us!

Me: AAAAAAH!

Remember that whole point of “Stop treating people as fictional characters!” thing this what I meant

Also this idea your ancestors must be pure af to where we are seeing black celebrities and activists have mental breakdowns because they discover they had slaveowners ancestry?

Shit, forgot the blogger here name, he that guy with orange hair from mob psycho 100 as his icon. Not 100% accurate but he pointed how so many people who went to college will have the PG versions of non white cultures

Similar to how one of reason why antisemitism have skyrocketed beyond the moon. Is because the left refuse to acknowledge the embedded antisemitism within Islam societies…unless they think they are mentally incapable of acknowledging, reforming, and get ride of it like most bigotry in western civilization.

Which again using Jlongbone point in her Magical Negroes trailer reaction vid when talking about the film try to portray basic human decency and kindness as a magical thing.

WOULD BE UNIMAGINABLE RACIST AND IS SAYING THE ARABS ARE LIKE LOTR ORCS AKA 100% EVIL!

Who fucking raised leftist gen x and millennials? Did Hitler have a secret protocol in case his empire fail to continue to spread antisemitism in the next generations?

Or they really have a kid cartoon idea of history (which is heavily black and white)

The Left: How can so many young men join the right? Ect.

They're not, well they are but much slower and in lower numbers than women are going hard left.

And I'm sorry to have to tell the people on the left this but, the people on the right feel the same way about your positions as you do about theirs. Hell far left and far right intersect in several places, but nobody want's to talk about that.

Also this idea your ancestors must be pure af to where we are seeing black celebrities and activists have mental breakdowns because they discover they had slaveowners ancestry?

They were endorsing a presidential candidate that likely is a direct descendant of a Jamaican slave trader, their mental breakdowns mean nothing to me.

That and if you go far back in anyone's family tree you're going to find an atrocity or three.

Shit, forgot the blogger here name, he that guy with orange hair from mob psycho 100 as his icon. Not 100% accurate but he pointed how so many people who went to college will have the PG versions of non white cultures

I don't know what that is, but ya noble savage shit is still running pretty heavy in academia.

WOULD BE UNIMAGINABLE RACIST AND IS SAYING THE ARABS ARE LIKE LOTR ORCS AKA 100% EVIL!

Ya you're only allowed to say that about white people for some reason. It's insane the stuff that's coming out of that side of the world, women in Afghanistan can't speak to each other among a myriad of other draconian and just flat out evil rules, that young lady in Iran that if she hasn't been tortured to death by now she's probably had a frontal lobotomy preformed, and iraq lowering the age of consent to 9.

But something something cultural relativism.

Who fucking raised leftist gen x and millennials? Did Hitler have a secret protocol in case his empire fail to continue to spread antisemitism in the next generations?

That would be the TV and he didn't need it, that's something that's always simmering in the background and has been for thousands of years waiting for the next time someone needs a scapegoat.

Or they really have a kid cartoon idea of history (which is heavily black and white)

We had Wishbone, not black and white but not historically accurate either.

We also didn't have the unrestricted access to information that later millennials and younger have had, so may have learned a bit less as a result, I do think we retained more of it though.

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

Hey, how about I give you an easy ask to take the bad taste out of your mouth? Do you think the Jedi have their own Language? I mean the Mandalorians have Mando’a, Jewish people have Hebrew and Yiddish, Catholics have Latin, and Muslims Arabic. We know all Force wielders can communicate telepathically bc of Grogu and Nubarron. But do you think there is an ancestral or classical language either written or verbal for the 25,000 years of Jedi?

Ooof that's an old ask 😅 I only vaguely remember what the drama was that time around.

Hehhhhhhhh... I know there’s a Legends-inspired fanon conlang called Dai Bendu but I’m not super into tbh, and those examples you listed are interesting because as far as I can tell they wouldn’t actually apply to the Jedi.

I won't try to give history lessons on languages I'm only superficially familiar with, but as for the one I do know the full history of... Mando’a isn't even the unifying language it's made to be. It’s spoken all of twice in canon afaik (by Sabine in Rebels when asking to land on Krownest, and a dialect by Satine and a dying Death Watch terrorist in TCW), and even ultra traditionalists like the Children of the Watch don’t speak it onscreen among themselves. (Obviously because conlangs are a pain to get right. Not everybody can be LotR Elvish or Jason Momoa's Dothraki.) So it's only a big deal in Legends, really. Which is not to say it's not interesting, but that means I can't compare the way the Jedi Order works in Lucas' canon with the way the Mandos work in Legends.

Now for the irl languages:

Not all Jewish people speak Hebrew, or Yiddish (Yiddish is Ahskenazi, not Sephardic, for one thing) - and that Hebrew is even a living, thriving language again was a huge and conscious effort born out of extreme necessity. It's so unique that I can't compare it to anything.

Most Catholics don't know Latin (and it's a dead language anyway) and though the use of the language in liturgy started because the early churches were living under the Roman Empire and Latin was quickly replacing Greek as a 'universal' language, it carried on as a religious tool specifically to prevent expression and to further class divide. Having all holy or political texts written in a language even the small literate portion of your lower class wouldn't know was a device for control.

There are many, many Arabic dialects and not all Muslims speak them, and just like Latin, and English (and French, and Spanish, etc) the reason why so many people speak it is a tangled mess of religion, commerce, colonialism, convenience, etc.

But yes, those languages have a huge historical/religious/traditional/cultural and spiritual importance to them - but all for very different reasons, as their histories are all pretty unique. Again, I don't know nearly enough to try to say any more about them. But.

The political, religious and cultural incentives to have their own common language wouldn't exist for the Order as far as I can tell.

For one thing, because the Galaxy has its own common language. (I don't know if there's anything in Legends that gives an indication of how long Basic has been around for, but I'm assuming it's at the very least as old the Republic.) Just like the early Church didn't randomly pick Latin and Greek even though all but one of the writers of the New Testament weren't (there's good evidence that at least two of the Gospels were originally written in Aramaic of Hebrew) but used those languages because they were conveniently what everybody else could understand, the Jedi would have had every reason to use Basic as soon as it was available to them and they started to grow into an actual Order. And unlike Catholicism, the Order never grew so much that it took over the government it developed under, so Basic had no reason to become just theirs.

Would they have a language created (or resurrected) piecemeal, like Esperanto, as a way to foster unity and communication? As I said, they had Basic already - just like Esperanto was more or less a failure on account of English and a few other languages already filling the role of universal language.

And as a way to keep their more arcane/dangerous lore from falling into the wrong hands... Well, they have holocrons, and most people don't have the Force. The Order had no real reason to develop a way to keep their writings and teachings safe from outsiders - by the very nature of their connection to the Force, outsiders can't use Jedi lore. You can use holocrons to preserve your history and your culture, in a way that's much more effective than any language you could ever develop.

(Remember, Sith struggle to open Jedi holocrons and vice-versa. It's as perfect of a safeguard as you're ever going to get.)

Plus, the Jedi aren't really that concerned with being a closed group. Rather, their entire job description is opening themselves up to the Galaxy around them. They are originally diplomats, ambassadors. They have more reasons to learn the native languages of the people they help - the people they all come from - rather than to have one of their own.

What's more, in regards to the languages you cited: their cultural importance developed over centuries of shared history. Languages are transmitted through the generations, to your children and grandchildren - that's how accents and dialects come about in the first place. The Jedi are unique in that every single one of them is adopted. And so 'ancestral' just can't have the same meaning for the Order as for, say, an actual ethnic group. They start with a clean slate with every generation, so to speak - or rather, they're constantly flooding their own culture with contributions from all over the Galaxy, constantly mixing rather than being a closed circuit. Just take the iconic Jedi tunics - not only are there plenty of Jedi who don't wear them, but there are plenty of non-Jedi who have a very similar dress style (see the average Tatooine farmboy).

And basically all Jedi have different accents - which suggests that they hold on to their native languages. Even Piell and Aayla definitely don't sound like they're native Basic speakers, Obi-Wan has his own accent, Gungi or Byph don't speak Standard at all... Just like Jedi don't take away names, they don't seem to take away language. I don't think it's culturally Jedi to see being a Jedi as quite its own culture. More like, being a Jedi is a calling, a life commitment and a community, and the cultural aspects are what you bring over from your roots (which are not Jedi) and what you use to reach the people in the Galaxy who need you. Jedi, by design, are extremely multicultural - I just don't see them smoothing that over.

Even the super duper old 'Sacred Jedi texts' from the Sequels aren't just in one language:

Although...

In a sense, the Jedi do have kind of their own language after all, as you mentioned - empathy (telepathy seems to be more of a specific ability some Jedi have, like psychometry), which can't be codified into either words or written symbols, which I really like. It's much more unique than giving them a conlang that echoes to some distant origin of the Order (because as I said, they renew each other with each generation which is very special on its own) or mixes all the languages they bring with them (because, again, the point of those languages is to be focused outward, not inward).

Jedi can do what real people can't: they can speak to each other from the heart with no language actually required, and that's the greatest communication ability of them all!

Interestingly enough, the Sith do seem to have 'classical' languages for their occult rituals:

(Hey kinda like what happened with Latin lmao) But yeah, the Sith use secret languages to remain closed off and keep their lore to themselves, which isn't in the Jedi's nature. That's an interesting parallel.

Obviously this is all my very subjective interpretation. I've got an old post touching on whether or not the Jedi can be considered a 'minority' in SW and I'm gonna say more or less what I said then: they are comparable to plenty of real life groups and cultures (including many that do have their own languages), so if my take doesn't convince you, headcanon away! I couldn't find anything in support of it in the movies or TCW, but there was nothing that directly contradicted the idea either so it's a free for all!

Mostly I stuck to my guns because from a Doylist perspective while absolutely amazing when done right conlangs tend to be a fandom catastrophe. It typically reveals that most people using them have no idea how bilingualism works or how the conlang itself works (if you've read 2000-2010 era LotR fanfiction... you know. You just know) and it becomes absurd to the point of parody. And just look at Mando'a. Not using it is sometimes denounced as ooc despite its near complete absence in canon.

So yeah, tldr: subjectively, I wouldn't really want the Jedi to have one (because fandom), practically, I don't really see how they would have developed one + empathy/the Force kind of counts as its own method of communication, thematically, Jedi culture is much more focused outward rather than inward, but for funsies go crazy.

[popiellart]

Tell us ur DUNC thoughts pal! <3

what can I even say about DUNC other than i fucking love it!!! i've been a shameless dick rider for denis villeneuve ever since Sicario, and I went to the cinema to see DUNC and DUNC 2 which. one thing about me is i hate cinemas. i didn't even go to the cinema for scorsese or yorgo lanthimos or top gun 2 so you know it's serious

the visuals are straight up incredible, the casting is peak, the material is handled with a lot of what feels like genuine love and passion, the lady going ham on the arabic yodeling on the OST is a queen, and in general wrt dune fans watching DUNC, I imagine that's how people who like Tolkien felt when Peter Jackson's LOTR came out

i can't wait for the conflict between the matriarchal eugenicists with milking machines and the patriarchal eugenicists with breeding tanks

which is what the books are really about. oh, and i guess the galactic jihad also happens, so that's fun

[therealrhian]

Intro post because why not actually

Hi you can call me Sage or Saros (not my real name btw)

I'm 14, im Jorsanian and propalestinan, and here are some of my interests

Digital or traditional art

Making kandi

Origami

Reading fantasy or science fiction stuff

Writing (mostly hc fanfics but I have my own book series I want to start)

Attempting to make song covers

Voice acting (unseriously)

Languages I do know

English

Arabic

French

And currently learning Japanese and Russian

Things I DO draw (I'm a multifandom artist)

Character fannart

Oc concept art and panels

Animatics

Anatomy practice and gory stuff

Headcannons and ships

MAYBE backgrounds but only for practice

Fandoms I'm in based from most hyperfixated on to least

Sge (the prequels mostly but also the main series)

Danganrompa

Voltron

Vocaloid/utau/synthV and all that stuff

TMR

Countryhumans/balls

Solarhumans/balls

Fnaf

Rayman legends

Octodad

Heather, epic and Hamilton (musicals)

Undertale and deltarune

Tbhk

Jjba

Divergent

LOTR

[ballroomfitz]

For your consideration:

- Boromir will not let ANYONE else in the kitchen when he’s cooking it will ruins the Mana’eesh Vibes

- Faramir likes to cook surrounded by his friends and family, everyone rolling grape leaves together, having a nice communal experience

- Boromir is fine with this, just Do Not Enter His Mana’eesh Corner

- Boromir has the biggest Drunk Uncle Doing The Dabke At A Wedding vibes I’ve EVER seen

- He is shimmying and drinking arak like there is no tomorrow everybody pray for him

- Faramir is chilling in the corner, smoking shisha with Pippin, watching the show

- How did Boromir get a drum

- I guess he has a drum now

I think Faramir and Boromir are Arab

[firespirited]

In other news my Dune fixation caused by some amazing tumblr meta writing has not been sated by watching the DUNCs.

I had a long pretty good post typed out after the first one and tumblr ate it:

here goes:

I considered it an alternate timeline (by the time we get the non-Alia and Chani choices of DUNC 2, we're definitely in a different version of this story - I like not knowing if Messiah will be much like the book, I like it if there's no escaping the plots set in motion). I had to repeat Alternate Timeline as a litany when there was no diplomatic party, no tweaking methhead bitchy Piter and Kynes didn't get That Moment with nature.

Was disappointed by the fact Paul isn't already tormented by potential futures at his first major fight wondering if dying might be the best way to avoid mass death and escape the machinations. To me, in that fight, he's chosen a path to the suffering of billions and justifies it and refines it later.

Lynch Dune remains fun because it's bonkers, this is fun too but definitely alternate timeline and neither are at all how I imagine it. Lynch seemed to nail the spirit of some of the characters better despite massive creative liberties with the plot details. It's its own weird and wonderful artefact.

Villeneuve remains the king of ovoid spaceships, mega landscapes and letting the fashion and sound designers get a great budget. I love the Chani additions, not canon and I don't care, it works!

The lack of Arabic complex concepts and more references to eastern religions was sorely lacking: flow has to be more than just a picture of moving sand, i wanted that cells interlinked within cells interlinked: galaxies and molecules and populations easter egg.

I also had a hope for DUNC 2 that it would show the whole universe as deeply religious, as in hardwired to give themselves over to a higher power even if that belief is atheism or eugenics. It didn't and I think that's really important context to properly understand what the story is saying. We've got political devotion bad and religious zealotry bad with both being culturally groomed into people but not the larger context of other "cults" that aren't explicitly about power but self-improvement or belonging or even service.

----------------------

My silly pet theory is that the font is like that because we're probably never getting the two other "ones who bridge everything" of the trinity: sad worm god emperor and our man DUNC potadaho the ultimate renaissance man with a thousand lives. (As much as I'd love DUNC 8 2039: we're putting silver fox Momoa in situations again)

The dream will always be the cartoon/anime adaptation:

52 x 50-minute episodes that teeter wildly between dense political machinations, ecological exposition, that Bakshi LOTR trippy violence and even trippier visions interrupting action scenes, but most of all, near blasphemous levels of religious symbolism top to bottom, the Abramic sure, but the Buddhist, Hindu and Taoist. If they could add Paul getting a big dose of gender WTF: trill-style after being exposed to the water of life that would be amazing.

But yeah I need to get my hands on large print books - yeah yeah, the migraines will murder me regardless. I missed being in everyone's head. Like, the films are great a conveying scale but not how much it's an interpersonal drama first and foremost... for many of the side characters too.

[bunnyboybosom]

Get to know Clover better!

I saw this on @oh-yeah-no's blog a while back and decided to respond now 😄

Last song: Better in the Morning - Birdtalker

Currently watching: mostly NACL and LCS vods! upset that 100 thieves didnt make it to finals, i was really rooting for sniper 😔. really excited for the NACL promotion tournament now! :o

Three ships: Emery x Kozakura (ffxiv oc x canon), protag x Ryoji (persona 3), femshep x Liara (mass effect)

Favourite colour: it changes depending on when you ask me lol. right now I'd say seafog blue!

Currently consuming: bigelow green ginger tea

First ship: I'm aromantic af, I can't remember xD

Place of birth: Northern east coast, usa.

Current location: Just a bit south of that ^

Relationship status: Engaged to @cindernet-explorer for over two years now! It'll be three in july 🥰

Last movie: lotr return of the king! When stardew's 1.6 dropped I binged the lotr trilogy while playing for a few days xD

Currently working on: I'm going through my tumblr drafts to look at saved quotes and missed tag games. I've recently reignited my ffxiv inspiration too, so I plan to go through my characters and mods and fix things that had been bothering me or organize everything a bit better (for example, Bru'li has a tattoo with arabic characters, instead of eorzean >.> so i gotta repaint it or remove it. some of Dayin's clothes have notable seams on the skin texture and then there's the whole mess with Orisa's prosthetic.)

Tagging: @swear2g-d, @pawjamas, @regalbastard, @lost-harts, and anyone else who wants to do one! no obligation, and feel free to opt out of uncomfortable questions.

[succiducus]

FULL NAVIGATION ~ BIO & CONNECTIONS ~ DIRECTORY

{şükrü özyıldız, 35, cis-male, he/him} We are so glad to see you safe, REGENT SULTAN ROSTAM of PERSIA! It’s dangerous out in the world these days, but I hear that you are PHILANTHROPIC and GENTLE enough to handle it. Just don’t let your AGGRESSIVENESS bring you down! Stay on your guard, because with your secret being at risk for exposure, you wouldn’t want everyone to find out [that he believes his older sibling is the cause of his husband’s death].

b a s i c s //

birth name: selim adım abdul

persian royal name: rostam qajar

birthday: september 21st (virgo)

occupation: regent sultan of persia / crown sultan of turkey

orientation: homoromantic - pansexual

status: betrothed to ariyan banerjee

languages: turkish, persian, arabic, english.

p e s o n a l i t y //

If ever there was a human born to the Earth who reminded their parents of summertime, Rostam Qajar , born Selim Abdul, was that reminder. He was a wispy boy; hyper-active, always moving, and empathetic beyond what any father would be proud of. However, he paid attention to his nurture. It made his tongue sharp and his mind calculative, a son worthy, if the time came, to be crowned sultan. He was kind, out-going, but often would fall victim to the anger that had always lurked deep down inside of him. Being such an intelligent man meant that when bored, he grew frustrated, and in the shadows of frustration, anger festered. It came out as self-destruction and the inability to handle stress in a time that was beyond stressful. Most abnormally, he was a romantic - somebody who cared deeply for the people who moved into and out of his life like the rise and fall of water levels in a river. He always identified with the wind - while normally easy-going and gentle, the wind, much like him, could bring about disaster if tempered. Now, with the death of his husband coming on so suddenly and the family that he’d married into thrown into chaos, every ounce of summertime has been taken from him. He’s quiet, reserved, has isolated himself from his people but also from the family that he had gained after marrying for love. More so, toward his family in Turkey, and without their understanding, most know him now only from his anger or from his complete silence - there is no in between. character influences: king rauru (totk), gollum & bilbo baggins (lotr), gojo satoru (jjk).

c o n n e c t i o n s //

mohammad khan qajar  (آغا محمد خان قاجا) (late husband) - they fell in love in the gardens of the turkish palace in the spring. their chemistry was envied, their empire built on solid foundation was complimented, but most importantly, they remained quiet about the reasoning for their marriage. they knew that people enjoyed ruining the good in life, especially for royals and so they lived a quiet life inside of the persian palace albeit one of luxury. the persian people welcomed rostam with hesitance but over time came to love him just as much as their ruler. they had no children at the time of the sultan's death, however, they had talked about expanding their family many times. he was rostam's first and only love and his only experience with death. in fact, he doesn't know if he can move on without him but he hopes that he can make it long enough to see justice fall on the person responsible for his death.

cailean fergusson (friend) - malcom and cailean, rostam and khan, to the world, they were very different yet when together, they were simply four people who could bask in the authenticity and solidarity of finding great love. however, in 1770, nearly a decade after a falling out due to rostam's childish upset over cailean's distance after the death of their partner, rostam and cailean have something unfortunate in common - the loss of the men they loved.

[brother-genitivi]

hello 👁️👁️. i would like to request multiple (dozens) of facts about my favourite delikanlı aydın.

merhaba canım, thank u so much for this ask!

He has a torn earlobe from Murphy kidnapping him. Unfortunately, he was wearing long dangly earrings at the time, and thralls have no regard for his poor earlobe </3

His hair used to be waist length. It's only after book 2 that he cuts it a lot shorter, the main reason being to avoid having it grabbed during combat. And the need to reclaim some body autonomy, of course.

Aydın has quite a few tattoos! Three dragons on his forearm, a frog on the wrist of the other arm, a dragon that stretches down his spine and two more dragons that line his top surgery scars.

He likes dragons.

His relationship with Reyhan (his mother) is a strained one at best. He doesn't trust her. She wasn't there when he woke up from top surgery, she wasn't there during his recovery. But they have exactly the same eyes. They laugh at the same things. She still brings Aydın his favourite snacks. He loves her. He resents her. He can't deal with not being raised by her. He gets why she wasn't there. It's weird.

He's demisexual + trans. He's half Turkish from his dad's side and half Syrian from his mother's. Aydın's very close to his aunt (his mother's sister), but the rest of his family is very large so he's not sure he's even met them all.

Aydın has a little black cat named Lucifer.

He's fiercely protective over Douglas. Even more so after the events of book 3. He blames himself for what's happened to Doug. Aydın gives him the keys to his apartment at some point and they watch lotr every weekend.

He wants a Turkish style wedding if he is to get married. Spoon dancing, pinning money to the couple's clothing, the whole shebang. Not the car honking, though.

He knows a ton of languages, Turkish being his first. He knows North Levantine Arabic, English, French, Spanish, Estonian and Latin. Plus Tolkien's Sindarin Elvish because... why not?

Aydın can sing. He's a soprano.

He finds it very hard to fall for people, or so he thinks. Then Mason comes along and suddenly Aydın is feeling very real things very quickly, which is utterly terrifying. He spent half his life convinced that he is difficult to love (which is ironic because it's the easiest thing Mason has ever done). He's oblivious, but he also self sabotages by convincing himself that any reciprocation from Mason isn't real. It takes them a long time to actually get together, but the lines between friendship and romance are so blurred there's no defining 'we are together now' moment. It just... happens.