#lotr blogging

[agentcherricola]

lord of the rings good movie series amen

[venndaai]

What really gets to me about elf/dwarf ships is dwarves are long lived. They’ll outlive many friends. See many generations born. Learn patience, and resilience. Hold long, long grudges and carry traditions across the years. Fully experience the passage of time.

While the elf is immortal, with a completely different relationship to time altogether.

[rohirriiim]

For I am the daughter of Elrond. I shall not go with him when he departs to the Havens: for mine is the choice of Lúthien, and as she so have I chosen, both the sweet and the bitter.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY (2001 - 2003) dir. Peter Jackson

[alithographica]

Big day for nerds and frog enjoyers, get a load of this new chunk: Hyloscirtus tolkieni

(Article has a few more photos)

[tlotrgifs]

Happy New Year (2024).

[pitsazawr]

I want to dress like him

[anghraine]

It's interesting (if often frustrating) to see the renewed Orc Discourse after the last few episodes of ROP. I've seen arguments that orcs have to be personifications of evil rather than people as such or else the ethics of our heroes' approach to them becomes much more fraught. Tolkien's work, as written, seems an odd choice to me for not wrangling with difficult questions, and of course, more diehard fans are going to immediately bring up Shagrat and Gorbag.

If you haven't read LOTR recently, Shagrat and Gorbag are two orcs who briefly have a conversation about how they're being screwed over by Sauron but have no other real options, about their opinions of mistakes that have been made, that they think Sauron himself has made one, but it's not safe to discuss because Sauron has spies in their own ranks. They reminisce about better times when they had more freedom and fantasize about a future when they can go elsewhere and set up a small-scale banditry operation rather than being involved in this huge-scale war. Eventually, however, they end up turning on each other.

Basically any time that someone brings up the "humanity" of this conversation, someone else will point out that they're still bad people. They're not at all guilty about what they're part of. They just resent the dangers to themselves, the pressure from above, failures of competence, the surveillance they're under, and their lack of realistic alternative options. The dream of another life mentioned in the conversation is still one of preying on innocent people, just on a much smaller and more immediate scale, etc.

I think this misses the reason it keeps getting brought up, though. The point is not that Shagrat and Gorbag are good people. The point is that they are people.

There's something very normal and recognizable about their resentment of their superiors, their fears of reprisal and betrayal that ultimately are realized, their dislike of this kind of industrial war machine that erases their individual work and contributions, the tinge of wistfulness in their hope of escape into a different kind of life. Their dialect is deliberately "common"—and there's a lot more to say about that and the fact that it's another commoner, Sam, who outwits them—but one of the main effects is to make them sound familiar and ordinary. And it's interesting that one of the points they specifically raise is that they're not going to get better treatment from "the good guys" so they can't defect, either.

This is self-interested, yes, but it's not the self-interest of some mystical being or spirit or whatnot, but of people.

Tolkien's later remarks tend to back this up. He said that female orcs do exist, but are rarely seen in the story because the characters only interact with the all-male warrior class of orcs. Whatever female orcs "do," it isn't going to war. Maybe they do a lot of the agricultural work that is apparently happening in distant parts of Mordor, maybe they are chiefly responsible for young orcs, maybe both and/or something else, we don't know. But we know they're out there and we know that they reproduce sexually and we know that they're not part of the orcish warrior class.

Regardless of all the problems with this, the idea that orcs have a gender-restricted warrior class at all and we're just not seeing any of their other classes because of where the story is set doesn't sound like automatons of evil. It sounds like an actual culture of people that we only see along the fringes.

And this whole matter of "but if they're people, we have to think about ethics, so they can't be people" is a weird circular argument that cannot account for what's in LOTR or for much of what Tolkien said afterwards. Yes, he struggled with The Problem of Orcs and how to reconcile it with his world building and his ethical system, but "maybe they're not people" is ultimately not a workable solution as far as LOTR goes and can't even account for much of the later evolution of his ideas, including explicit statements in his letters.

And in the end, the real response that comes to mind to that circular argument is "maybe you should think about ethics more."

[mirkwoodprincess]

There are no purest and most devoted lovers than shifters !! We are defying reality as we know and becoming aware of other realities just to be with the ones we love and care about.

[vampiresinthedaylight]

some bits from the books I really like... I think they move each other <3

[prokopetz]

Every time I post about dicks somebody in the notes remarks that the topic at hand reminds them of something to do with Gollum from Lord of the Rings. Normally I'd assume it was a bit, but it's a different person each time, so I can only surmise that there must be some underground Gollum dick appreciation community on Tumblr with which I am regrettably unacquainted.

[scarstiletto]

Frodo and The One Ring (redraw from the return of the king)

[butchniqabi]

lotr has me thinking about the wasted potential of orc deserters 🚬✌🏽😔

[the-moon-ate-my-stardust]

Okay literally no one asked but as a former Hobbit movie hater who has since experienced character growth, I feel compelled to share my thoughts on the movies on my gay little blog.

Listen. There are legit reasons to be critical of these movies. They were made on a rushed timeline, at time where CGI overuse was the thing and there are definitely unnecessary moments. But despite those issues, these movies still have a lot of heart and character and some really wonderful acting! To compare them to LOTR, is unfair I think because LOTR was such an unimaginable success and I truly believe no other movie franchise can do what those movies did. To expect the Hobbit movies to be the same caliber considering the behind the scenes drama and massive difference in timeline is just not it.

Truly I think that the Hobbit could have been much more than it was and it’s sad to see the amazing moments and realize that we could have had movies that were maybe closer to the level of LOTR, but that doesn’t take away from all of the great things that the movies gave us! Despite what he may be like irl, Martin Freeman was a great young Bilbo, Richard Armitage was insanely good as Thorin (despite the change in age) and the other dwarf actors brought a great sense of loyalty, brotherhood and shared loss to their roles. The music is still dope as hell and there are some beautiful shots despite all the CGI.

This is way too long and I’ve not said anything that hasn’t been said before but honestly, I’m so glad that I stopped hating on these movies and have seen the special things about them. Nothing will ever compare to LOTR, but that doesn’t make these movies bad. They’re fun, they’re emotional, they have great characterization and it’s super valid to enjoy them.

Final gay thoughts because I’m obligated, but I struggle with people who argue against Bagginshield with the whole “why does everyone have to make everything gay?” thing. Because Hollywood is so deeply homophobic that we see so little genuine queer representation, so forgive us for enjoying the chemistry we find and making it our own since our society gives us breadcrumbs. If you’re not into Bagginshield, totally legit and fine, but don’t hate on other people (especially queer people) trying to find some romantic love in media that we enjoy. Also no one can convince me that Richard Armitage wasn’t at least somewhat intentionally putting his queer energy into this role, I will die on this hill.

Anyway, TL;DR there’s no shame in liking or loving the Hobbit movies despite their faults and there are lots of things to appreciate and enjoy and I for one, am glad to leave my LOTR purist hater days behind me

[roprot]

Okay

I didn't think I'd ever do this but there are so few RoP memes and places of joyful discussion out there that it made me return to tumblr. I've been a quiet fan ever since the show started but there are no places to be silly about it, ffs just LET ME HAVE MY PRETTY GIFS No, it's not prestige drama. Nah, I don't mind the lore changes. Yes, I'm pro diverse casting. The elves are elfy enough for me with all their pettiness and various lengths of hair — PJ just made us default to copypaste Vulcans (Tra-la-la-lally & Fa-la-la-lolly anyone?). Amazon evil, professionals behind the show I'm neutral about. What I DO love about the show is that I get colourful high fantasy cheese with moments of true beauty and absolutely no SA /oversexualisation/grimdark in between. Geez, RoP makes me HAPPY. I mean, it feels so sincere it's awkward at times. But after these past years... decades... of cynical media I feel like we kinda need that. I need that. Also yes, Galadriel slaps. As does Hannatauron and Elrond and Celebrimor and Disa and Durin and Elendil and Berek and— Anyways, low-effort blogging ahoy, hello all and give me your nice things pls <3

[elffromforests]

I love that when Galadriel ponders who Elrond could have gone to with the rings, she says, "It is someone wiser than us whose voice will carry authority even for you, King."

Gil Galad:"it will hurt me .Fuck"

[books-4-life9]

The way Legolas grabs him and falls with him, not letting him go

Even when he no longer has the orb he’s still on the ground with him