#mathom

[mrsallnut]

I'm feeling seen by Mr. Tolkien. Are my ancestors actually hobbits?

[shoutsthedustflake]

Hold on, gotta raise a trillion dollars real quick so I can buy Rings of Power from Amazon for the express purpose of making a 50 minute bottle episode of this.

I feel like Bilbo would teach the elves of Rivendell the concept of a mathom with the express purpose of oh so politely asking them over dinner how were the Silmarils not a mathom

[crumblingpastry1]

one frodo/sam thing i’m interested in (of many) is we know their personalities, their hobbies (somewhat), what they know and can do but I’m curious on the little specifics of what they’re slightly proud to be good at within the broader hobbit society. you know how some suburban moms have that thing of being better than someone else at some random, mundane thing? like being able to tie the best bow on a christmas present? having the most trendy accent wall?

what are frodo, sam, merry and pippin’s things this way? not something to boast about but still collectively known for it?

[lovesodeepandwideandwell]

I love this time of year I get to go in my ribbon box so often

[notallsandmen]

@mathomhouse-e for @dreamlingforukraine gave me the opportunity to write an epilogue to Putting Out Fire With Gasoline — this time, inspired by Depeche Mode’s Enjoy The Silence, and taking place on June 7th, 1990.

And I will yet again leap at the opportunity to share @mathomhouse-e ‘s stunning artwork for this fic, specifically The Bratty Bow

[arianaofimladris]

Guess I'm not yet over making tiny Christmas mathoms. It's card-size and will most likely be used for cash/voucher attached to a Christmas gift for my younger cousin. Might make more.

[laurelins-light]

LOTR Fandom I need help!

Help me decide on a name for my home, I like all of these names, and I just can't decide on which to actually use. I plan to basically call my home "(NAME) House" or "House of (NAME)" but I am kinda paralyzed for choice!

For reference - my cats, and my car all have names that start with M, but I'm not set on using that letter anymore

[bookphilos]

[immacaria]

I was tagged by the ever-lovely @mathomhouse-e who I'm very happy to hear about again and can never bother me!! Thank you for the lovely tag, dear!!

Rules: Shuffle your Spotify On Repeat playlist, and put the first 10 songs in a poll. Have your followers choose which song is their favourite

As always there's no pressure to do this, but I would love to see what you listen to, @cannibalhellhound @ravensilversea @staroftheendless @aquilathefighter @virgo-dream @seiya-starsniper @aletterinthenameofsanity

[an-unexpected-sideblog]

So Sméagol wanted the Ring to be given to him as a birthday present, right? He wanted to receive it as a gift and killed Déagol when he refused.

400-something years later, it's common hobbit custom to give gifts on one's birthday instead of receiving them. Bilbo gets special mathoms for his 111th birthday party to give away.

Does this mean an old legend of a murder over a birthday gift lead to this massive cultural shift?? I can't find solid evidence that it's directly related but I mean... Hobbits are known gossipers and a rare murder would be very well-publicized. And it seems in-character for them to avoid the possibility of further birthday gift violence with such a strange, neat little solution of flipping the expectation around.

[pilkypills]

Personally, I think Bilbo was pretty awful at processing his trauma (and the ring certainly did not help)

Bilbo quietly lived next his grief for years but never looked directly at it. He sent the mithril shirt to the mathom house. He watered down his story until it was something palatable for children—and what’s more, made himself as much of a bit player in it as he could get away with. Yes, he was still kind and generous and clever because he’s Bilbo, but he was probably also terribly lonely, surrounded by people who could never understand what he went through and what he saw. The only ones who could are thousands of miles away inside a mountain he refuses to visit because, again, he can’t look his grief in the eye.

[starsofarda]

So, here's some thoughts about a fic I willone day write. Many thanks to @starshadeemilyart for helping me with brainstorming a few ideas.

I do not have a title for this yet. I will call it, at the moment, "The Feanorians' adventures in the Shire".

Bullet points seem like a good idea, so I am sticking with that.

Feanor gets kicked out of Mandos, Namo has had enough of this guy moping over the tortures of his sons and adamantl requesting to be sent back to Aman.

As a punishment Namo kicks him out, but sends him in the Shire, together with his sons, Fingolfin, Fingolfin's sons/daughter and Thingol. They are at the Grey Havens and Cirdan is refusing to let them leave ME. Arson/Kinslaying is stopped by the arrival of Gandalf.

Gandalf is tasked with taking care of Feanor & co. Gandalf will be happy about the task until Feanor opens his mouth and it is an insult. Gandalf also opens his mouth and it is another insult.

It's suddenly Gandalf "I preferred white" The Grey vs Curufinwe "Get thee gone from my gates" Feanaro in a battle of who can sass the other out first.

Someone interrupts them, maybe Gwahir has come reminding Gandalf of the task at hand.

Moment of Fingon calling Gwahir "Thorondor" and Gwahir saying "no, that was my great grandpa, I am Gwahir, current king of the Eagles". "Ok. You were not supposed to have such a short life?" "Apparently it's punishment for saving you all." "We are sorry!" "Oh no, we chose this, no probs mate"

Anyway, they are all in the Shire and it's during their travel to Hobbiton that they see what appears to be a bard, all dressed in black, sad and looking like a withered stalk. He is singing the Noldolante and they see it's actually Maglor

Cue family reunion, cue everyone gets filled in on what happened since their death.

Somehow they also start learning Westron bc having Linguistics Georg over there is actually a good thing.

They finally arrive at Hobbiton and Bilbo has come back from the Lonely Mountain and his house is being put on auction and Lobelia Sackville-Baggins has already stolen the infamous silver spoons.

Feanor is reminded of his exile at Formenos and enquires CALMLY.

As in he shouts a loud "WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING HERE WHY ARE YOU DEPRIVING SOMEONE OF THEIR HOUSE?!"

Which also prompted Bilbo shouting as well: "I WAS GONE FOR 5 MINUTES AND NOW MY HOUSE IS ON AUCTION, ALL THESE PEOPLE ARE TAKING POSSESSION OF MY MATHOMS AND MY BELOATHED IN-LAWS HAVE STOLEN MY PRECIOUS SILVER SPOONS"

Cue explanation on what is a Mathom. Feanor, as crown prince and king, takes it well.

"GET AWAY FROM HIS GATES YOU FIENDS! AND YOU! GIVE HIM BACK THE SILVER SPOONS, I WILL FIGHT YOU!"

To which Lobelia replies like the refined lady she is. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU, I STOLE NOTHING, YOU WILL BE BEATEN BY MY UMBRELLA OF DOOM!"

Fingolfin, Thingol, the SoF, Fingolfin's sons are like trying to not be perceived, but they are being served tea and biscuits to enjoy the fight, bc this is an EventTM in the SHire and evveryone is treating this like a rooster fight.

It's at that point that some of them decide "fuck it, we might as well."

Maglor becomes the announcer, Celegorm is the referee, Curufin is the one building the ring, the Ambarussar act as PRs, Caranthir starts taking bets.

Maedhros is crying sobbing on Fingon's shoulder and saying something like "I want my mum, I probably deserve all of this, but by Eru Allmighty!", Aredhel is now in the Hobbit Ladies Gossip Club, Turgon, Argon and Fingolfin still try not to be perceived.

That until Thingol, out of spite, goes to Caranthir and bets against Feanor.

RIP Thingol, King of Bad Choices.

Gandalf is watching the drama unfold with the same glee he pulled Bilbo together with the Dwarves and doing absolutely nothing.

It's Feanor and a forging hammer against Lobelia and her umbrella.

It's a choir of "fight fight fight!" all the way.

Yes, Maglor is making introductions WWE style.

It still ends in a draw, but Bilbo gets back house and spoons and mathoms, bc the Hobbits as a whole deem him enough trouble if he has not only Dwarves, but also Elves around. Anyway, Mad Baggins now has a bunch of Elves with a lot of pent-up rage and a lot of free time.

DW, they are useful to the entire Hobbiton and they learn the way of the Hobbits. Somehow they start getting along.

Russingon wedding happens in Hobbit fashion, like the two are now clothed not with Elvish robes, but with carefully tailored suits like any gentleHobbit. There is a lot of crying.

CeleDhel wedding happens, but mostly so that if Eol ever gets reembodied he can fuck off immediately. Also, they are good friends and when Maeglin gets reembodied as well he can maybe have a slightly better father figure.

IDK these last two points seem like a natural consequence.

Thingol and the Gaffer become good friends, gardening reminds him of Melian, maybe he's finall making one (1) good decision.

And then they see that Elves are abandoning ME, at this point Gandalf tells them about Sauron, the rings and the whole deal.

"And who made the rings?" "The ones for the Elves was Celebrimbor, the others was Sauron."

Curufin: "And pray tell, WHERE IS MY SON."

Gandalf: decribes Celebrimbor's death as reported in the chronicles

The rest of the family reacts in the same way

In the meantime Bilbo has adopted Frodo and Frodo reminds them of little Tyelpe and they are going to throw hands

Maedhros just says: NO OATHS THIS TIME NO OATHS. OATHS BAD.

And well.

Ideas so far were to have them go to like Dol Guldur and have a fight off with Orcs and Nazguls, I am still undecided whether I want them to know about the One Ring. Oh well.

I'll probabl post something else once I figure out more stuff

Thoughts? Comments?

[nellynee]

Dear Hazbin Hotel fandom

I say and mean this with the most possible respect and love. I mean this in the kindest way possible.

Stop using poker as the pivotal game in your gambling/Husk centric fics/storylines

Like you're fine. It's fine. What's typically presented in fic is usually a very Hollywood romanticized version of poker, and that's what 90% of what the fic consumers are going to be familiar with, and it's fine. But as someone who does play poker, let mama tell you how to step up your game a little bit.

So why shouldn't I use poker?

First of all, poker's psychology doesn't really work like Hollywood says it does. You aren't sitting around a table of other people who's ears twitch or scratch their nose every time they got two aces in their hand. Anyone with such tells is sitting at the low roller table getting slowly milked by a Stepford dealer. An ok table might be a ring of stone walled faces, guys taking themselves way to seriously. Guys with enough skill to maybe break even and with way more ego at stake than money, though they might have that in spades. They might make their way to the high roller tables, but only get invited so the House can milk some cash back off them if they happen to land big. They might be smart enough to say no depending on the character, but these types will probably be foaming to sit with the Big Wigs. A lot of fics do this right actually.

But poker is a social game. You aren't looking for physical tells, you are looking for consistency. A bad poker player is a consistent one. If you consistently only bet on good hands, or try to bluff on pairs, or keep doing the same things, you can be predicted. And poker is not the safe game where you can lead your opponent Hollywood wants it to be. In a decent game of poker, you can't know if you are going to win, because you can't know what your opponent is going to do. Two decent players are going to shake up their strategies, calling, folding, and raising with different definitions of usable hands, all while trying to retain enough money to bully bigger pots away when you don't have a sure thing, and taking advantage of the sunk cost fallacy to try and trickle up pots bigger when you do.

More importantly. It's a slow game. Even with multiple people to play off each other, you aren't going to have a lot of excitement. It's a lot of garbage, a lot of calling the first around of cards to feel each other out in a very quick, passive way, or folding garbage, and a lot of passing the same low pot back and forth. It's why poker is so social. Unless something is happening, nothing is happening. And there's a lot of downtime.

It's also not a two player game. Like, you can. But a table is probably going to break up long before that point. Watch the tail end of a professional poker tournament to see why. It's hands and hands and hands and hands of folds and low calls. And when one person calls, you are statistically way more likely to just fold and wait for your own decent hand. It's the slow grind of several players but less to play off of. It's agonizing. People often get bored before they win and raise to get it over with.

Poker is not your penultimate, tension building, end of the arch game you want it to be.

But what if I want to use Poker/how do I use Poker?

Like I said. Poker is a slow, social game. You absolutely can use it for your finale, but a few easy tweaks will give it some real authenticity

Use it as a padding game but not the final one. I've seen versions where people have Husk calling in Overlords and Royals and even Sins to pass around gossip and mathoms and alcohol. This is legit perfect. Poker between equals in terms of bets in a casual setting is mostly a social game. This also makes poker the perfect game for the hotel patrons in modern day fics

2. Add them garbage hands. An offhand mention of big gaps between exciting hands can go miles towards authenticity.

3. Have wins with bad sounding hands. This is a bit difficult because you have to learn a bit about the game, but again, watch tournament and you'll see a lot of wins where everyone folded and the winner had a pair of 7's. Learning the heiarchy of cards and hands just enough for one or two hands can go miles towards sounding like you know what you are doing.

4. Add players. If you want that tension building showdown, a group of nameless, faceless nobodies works fine but like, there are some interesting ways to take this. Have the big moment come during what is externally a perfectly normal game, only for Husk to cash out and let everyone else have opinions on why. Let him use the other players so subtly up the ante for him so what he wants ends up in the pot while retaining deniability so his opponent isn't suspicious

Hell, have someone unrelated win Angel's soul what Husk wanted and have that lead into a second act twist

The act of Valentino and Husk playing two person poker the way it's typically presented is certainly possible. But to anyone who's got a familiarity with the game, the way Val would have to be led by the nose and twisted around to play that badly completely undermines Valentino as a villain. And if you want to do that, fine, but it also completely undermines the tension of the scene as well.

But what if I specifically want a Poker game between Husk and Val because of some details I've already written

You can ultimately end up with a two person Poker match between Val and Husk but a few tweaks will really elevate the authenticity of the scene

Add other people, like I said. They can drop out quick, or end up as bystanders as the tension rises but start the game with a full table. If Husk as an overlord owns the casino, that makes him the house. Poker is a bully game. You get people to put in bits, then use your bigger stache to up the pot until they fold at a loss because calling is to risky. Husk needs to define his pot before the game starts or no one will want to play with him. It might not be as exciting, but define your pots. It's much more realistic for Val to become desperate than overconfident. A game of sunk cost. Of betting more than you can afford. Of "this hand will win it"

Ugh that's to complicated, but I have plotlines and important moments around cards, any alternatives?

Old maid.

the game you are looking for is old maid. At its simples form, you split the deck, grab a blind card from the other person's hand, make a pair of cards on your turn to discard, and keep going until there is one card left, "the old maid" or looser card. This is the game.

Is a one or nothing bet style that gradually raises the tension as cards are passed back and forth and you try to get the "old maid" out for your hands. It very dependant on body language and trying to both read your opponent and lead them. It's got everything Hollywood wants you to believe Poker is except the escalation of a pool, and there's nothing stopping the players from adding to the pot during a game or playing multiple rounds to allow for manipulation.

It's also what Husk and Alastor were playing in the flashback.

It has thematic relevance to Husk and his overlord days (it also makes sense why Alastor won, cheating or no, with that manic, stone face, he has no tells when he's in control of a situation)

I have my own opinions about Overlord Husk Au, but please, let him gamble well.

[arianaofimladris]

I really hope mum's friend took correctly the measurements of her husband's phone, or else this is gonna be a fancy handkerchief case 😅

Mum asked me to make an Easter mathom. I've met that guy perhaps three times in my life and exchanged "Guten Tag" with him, so I haven't the faintest idea what to make for him. We settled for a phone case. I hope it won't be too small.

But I managed to test on this case how it would work if I made the front out of two layers of leather glued together. It turns out the case is quite stiff with both the back and the front made of two layers, with just the stripe giving the depth of the case made of one layer. I might apply that to the next belt pouch I make (if I make another one. Let's be realistic here - I will make another one 😅.)

I didn't cut any patterns, I used some leather pieces I didn't like as the inner layer, since no one is going to see it anyway on the side that was glued. That might be actually a good idea to get rid of bits that were scraped or otherwise damaged. The glue stinks, but hey, it's warm enough to open windows now for longer period, so no problem there.

[sapphoismymuse]

wait i lied this one called me out more 3 pages later

“Hobbits delighted in such things (family trees), if they were accurate: they liked to have books filled with things that they already knew, set out fair and square with no contradictions.”

The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien

“The Mathom-house it was called; for anything that Hobbits had no immediate use for, but were unwilling to throw away, they called a mathom. Their dwellings were apt to become rather crowded with mathoms, and many of the presents that passed from hand to hand were of that sort.”

The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien

I have never been more called out by a book in my entire life and I will be adding this to my vocabulary now

[sillylotrpolls]

If you haven't read the Silmarillion, a Silmaril is a very special rock filled with tree light. Elves did very, very bad things trying to possess them.