#my emotional support orc

[nycteris-g]

You want examples of anti-Manicheanism in Tolkien?

Take Maedhros - he who performed "deeds of surpassing valor" and stood against the darkness and armies of Morgoth for centuries. He who swore a blasphemous oath, condemning himself to damnation. He who murdered his kin not once, not twice, but four times. And he who, finally holding the very object that symbolized his damnation, realizes the futility of all the evil he committed and throws himself into the fire.

Is he bad? Is he good? He swore a blasphemous oath - by Tolkien's standards, that alone would make him 'bad.' And then, of course, there are, you know, the murders. But is he absolutely evil? Born to be a murderous thing? Beyond any redemption or pity? How can someone who so fearlessly resisted The Evil be an entirely lost case? Can absolute evil even recognize the horror of its own deeds?

Tolkien, far more insightful than those who try to divide humankind into simple categories of good and bad, masterfully depicted the complexity of human nature (the Children of Ilúvatar). Humanity is not inherently evil, nor is it doomed to fall - yet it does, and still holds the potential to rise again: to see, to believe, to choose to do good.

[bansheesofinisherin2022]

the pain was so bad today that i saw hexagonal and quadratic shapes with ties on and a random date of the future (?) printed on them, introducimg themselves to me like we were in a job interview. also i couldn't move for full two minutes

[caramelcuppaccino]

where do i apply to become a dwarf in the middle earth

[itsthesinbin]

Laios Touden x Fat!Reader (SFW AND NSFT)

I'm gonna do individual posts just so i dont feel pressured to write a bunch at once

here's the first of the fat!reader stuff- my boy Laios!

for my fat bitches and bastards who get tired of ONLY seeing chubby!readers and how they're all cutesy and insecure about their bodies.

SFW

⦁ We already know Laios likes fat fucks. It's canon from the short orc segment tbh. ⦁ Golden retreiver boyfriend with the brain of an orange cat. He's very affectionate and very stupid (lovingly). ⦁ He's physically affectionate and kinda just. grabs part of you when cuddling. He doesn't mean anything by it but they're called love handles for a reason. ⦁ Emotional support stomach. Like how a woman just grabs her boob for no reason, Laios does the same to your stomach (or your boob if you have them and let him do that). ⦁ "Laios" "Yes?" "Stop jiggling my stomach." And he gives you the puppy eyes cause he's a big weenie. He catches you doing it to yourself later and just "WELL WHY CAN'T I DO IT THEN!!!!" Sometimes you just gotta slap your flab around don't lie to me and say you don't do it. ⦁ Putting the tall in Tall-Men, his clothes fit you so you're often stealing them. He actively gives you clothes to wear and wash so they'll smell like you/your soap when he goes into the dungeon. ⦁ If you go into the dungeon with him to find Falin, he gets worried about your caloric intake (and everyone else's but bigger ppl like you, himself, and Senshi need more calories) and double checks with Senshi that you got enough food. Senshi gets offended that he thinks you're not being fed, but Laios is just worried about you. ⦁ Personal hot water bottle. Extra body fat means you keep heat so if he's cold he's instantly in your sleeping bag- or he begs you to get in his.

NSFT

⦁ Please sit on his face please please please please please please for the love of god please. ⦁ Very much the type to get a GOOD hold on your hips and ass. If it's got meat he's grabbin it. ⦁ Has asked for a boob job at least once if you got them. He'll respect if you say no, of course, but he does pout a little. Not in a guilt trippy way his dumb ass does NOT know how to hide his emotions. ⦁ He's very sloppy and inexperienced, but he is VERY enthusiastic. ⦁ Praise kink to the max- loves telling you how good you look and feel, and absolutely melts if you do the same to him. ⦁ Sucks dick/eats pussy like it's his last meal you WILL be walking funny later.

[apoloadonisandnarcissus]

I might be one of the few fans who don’t really see how Galadriel was sidelined in Season 2. Her connection with Nenya and her growing into her ring-bearer role was such a huge plot throughout the season, as well as her connecting to other races of Middle-earth, namely the Orcs. She’s also starting to understand she can’t possibly fight Sauron alone (which was her character arc in Season 1 and Season 2).

The show is called “Rings of Power”, Galadriel is the keeper of one of those rings of power. There is no way she can be sidelined, because she’s at the core of the story. The fact she’s not doing direct battle doesn’t change that.

If you are expecting Season 1 Galadriel moving forward, I’m afraid you’ll end up disappointed because that’s not her character arc in Tolkien lore during the Second age. The problem here is they moved her First age character to the Second age, and it’s creating a bunch of problems story-wise and a process that should last a few centuries looks instantaneous.

There are so many Galadriel plots the show hasn’t dealt with yet and it has nothing to do with Lothlórien. I see many fans worrying about her founding it and staying there barefoot and pregnant in Season 3. I don’t see any TV show, in this day and age, doing that to a female lead, even if and when Celeborn returns. And we know he will, because the showrunners confirmed it last year, we just don’t know when, so it can be Season 3, 4 or 5.

And this is why I don’t think we’ll see Celebrían on the show (maybe pregnant Galadriel in the epilogue or something). The elves are at war with Sauron, and will be until the end of the show. Everyone likes the bring up the legendarium, except for the fact Elves don’t have children during wartime. Celebrían was suppose to be born already during the show’s timeline, because she was born before the War of the Elves and Sauron (which started in Season 2 and will continue in Season 3), and we have the War of the Last Alliance next (Season 5):

We still have to see:

Galadriel growing into her political role (Lothlórien is not only a safe haven from evil, but a policial center, too); we already saw her as a commander and a war strategist, but the political side of her character has yet to be explored by the show;

Galadriel’s powers: she has telepathic powers (in the lore she uses them to talk to Frodo and Elrond); she can see into other beings’ minds, too. Her magical artifacts (mirror, phial, etc.) will probably be during the Lothlórien arc, though;

I would love for the show to explore her connection with the Dwarves (to connect to her gifting three strands of her hair to Gimli on the Third age);

I really want her to meet Gandalf, and explore the beginning of that friendship;

Actually my biggest concern about Galadriel in Season 3, and if blood binding theory is correct, is the show giving us some weird “Exorcist” stuff, with her being locked up somewhere for her “own protection” against Sauron. This would be absolutely awful, and I hope they don’t go there.

Sure, give me Galadriel wrecking stuff up with her new found powers. The show can even give me “Samara Morgan Galadriel” Peter Jackson style and other characters terrified of her, but do not lock her up, please.

The wisest way to approach “blood binding” is following the Harry Potter-Voldemort route (ironic); with nightmares, visions and access to Sauron’s mind and plans, and vice-versa. Galadriel is tormented by it but goes about her everyday life, pretending everything’s fine, until the climax of the season.

And enough of her feud with Elrond; he’s the Sam to her Frodo in the Galadriel/Frodo parallel the show is doing. His character needs to be supportive of Galadriel, and her emotional rock like Sam was to Frodo.

[lowpolylobotomy]

the fambly ….

current skyrim character . complete maniac on the hunt for a bear boyfriend

[littleapocalypsekitten]

Love is Inevitable

Cross-posted to my original writeblr, Rusted Dreams Stories Posted here because I think more people see me here, but please consider giving my writeblr a follow / reblog from there. One of those "Humans are Space Orcs" "Humans are Weird" type of stories, only instead of admiring us for our physical-endurance abilities, an alien species admires our emotional resilience.

Love is Inevitable  In the ages since contact had been made with the Earth and the human species, the other rational races of the Pan-Galactic Alliance had their various reasons for either abhorring or admiring them. A great many of the peoples admired Humanity for their general physical endurance – the ability to recover quickly from wounds and to withstand conditions that would kill a great many beings.  However, the Mhrr’ah held them in awe for a very different kind of endurance.  First contact between the two species was a bit awkward because humans could not help but compare the Mhrr’ah to a certain kind of pet animal they kept.  “Kitty!”  - They resembled bipedal cats save for the small horns upon their heads, longer, boxier faces and notable biological differences such as reproduction through eggs.  In turn, the Mhrr’ah compared humans to the golb, a small, bald, purplish-colored animal they kept as friends, although they were arguably more pig-like or doggish. Their respective choice of pets, strangely, was what had started conversation which led to the Mhrr’ah thinking of humans as particularly tough.  The Mhrr’ah were rather appalled that humans kept companion animals that did not match their own lifespans.  They were even more confounded by the ability of human beings to pick up and keep working and living after the loss of kin.  The Mhrr’ah were highly emotional beings. As soon as they had grown, they tended to part ways with their parents, but stayed in touch with their clutch-mates.  They formed attachments with mates and friends of similar health-status and age (and they did live long, by the human reckoning) so as to maximize the likelihood of a life together.  Most forms of conflict on their planet were a distant memory of ancestral forms because of this peculiar type of empathy.  If one Mhrr’ah in a friend or family group died, the rest of their strong attachments was sure to follow.  It was almost unheard of for one to lose a life-mate and not to have their own body shut down in pure despair within months of the event.  Conversations with humans brought up widows, those who had lost brothers, best friends, parents and animal companions time and again.  Humans spoke to them of Stages of Grief and of the ways they’d sought out each other to support themselves through it.  They spoke of ghost stories and mythical lands of the dead where some hoped to be reunited someday with those they’d loved.  The Mhrr’ah, who did not understand how one could fall, but not the others in one’s chosen circle would bow their heads in salute to the resilient human explorers and tradesmen they’d met if they ever had a sad story.   And that is to say nothing of other tales the humans told them – the loss of homes, the loss of friends though things other than death, various mental breakdowns that they could recover from.  This, to them, was far more impressive than any physical endurance that humans ever had.  The Mhrr’ah were a people who were careful to keep to small circles and careful to keep themselves safe. They tried to distance themselves from forming friendships with humans even as they’d formed partnerships of mutual benefit simply because they knew that humans felt strong emotions, too, but were shorter lived than they were.  A human might keep a Mhrr’ah in their memory if they’d loved and lost a friend, but a Mhrr’ah would not be capable of it for long.  In the end, they’d even formed attachments with pets knowing that they would outlive them by many spans.  When asked, the humans said something that resonated with all Mhrr’ah.  “We really can’t help it.  Love is inevitable.” 

[warehouse-in-la-cienaga]

My favourite trope in fanfiction is actually time-travel meeting, where the younger ones can see that things do actually get better, and the older ones can see that they have actually changed, and they’ve achieved so much. And I think the Bad Kids are primed for that kind of thing.

I’m imagining that they’ve been graduated for a few years, they’ve got their own careers, but they do still adventure pretty regularly and are a well known party. Then, they’re fighting something that’s gotten ahold of a chronomancy object, and when one of the BKs tries to grab it, they (and the thing they’re fighting) are sent back in time.

Meanwhile, it’s the second day of freshman year, everyone is still standing outside, waiting for the first bell, the younger BKs are whispering about what the corn means, when a huge monster falls through a rip in time and crushes one of the statues near the front doors. Then, before anyone can do anything, six full grown adventurers are destroying it and grabbing the watch and pulling each other up, congratulating each other, laughing.

Goldenhoard tries to go up to them and ask what’s going on, and the goblin on the half-orc’s shoulders pulls out a gun and shoots him point blank. Everyone’s confused as hell, and the group don’t seem to know where they are. Until someone mentions the date, and then they just look kind of exhausted. At the end of the day, when the young BKs try to go to Krom’s to spy on Johnny Spells, they find older versions of themselves, who spent the day reminding themselves what happened and figuring out how to help with Freshman Year level problems, including-

-Fig getting Gorthalax out, sitting all her parents and younger self down and having a talk about how best to keep communication open and be kinder to yourselves, since they all want each other to be happy.

-Fabien has a long talk with both of his parents, getting his mom sober earlier, and a talk with younger him about being your own person and living up to expectations.

-Adaine pulls younger her from her family, and gets Aelwyn to chill. She does get her parents out of Elmville, via Blackmail or other means, with the implicit threat of punching them to death. She now has two younger sisters, and encourages the type of emotional self expression that was previously repressed.

-Riz giving his younger self the schedule he works on, including breaks for all meals and six hours of sleep each night. He doesn’t allow younger him to fall int the bad habits he did. He also tells his mom a little bit about his dads new job, and they have a happy cry about it.

-Gorgug gives his parents the schematics for a reinforced bed and a few of his works. Younger Gorgug is a little starstruck that older him is so cool, and Gorgug takes a minute to explain to younger him that he deserves to have the things he puts effort and thought into pay off, that he deserves to take pride in the cool things he could accomplish.

-Kristin gets younger her to speed run an entire theological breakdown, reassures her at every step, and gets her into a more relaxed, solid mindset with a support system outside of her family. She also has to find a smart way of getting young Kristin to realise she’s a lesbian without sending her into a crisis, and is semi-successful.

-Throughout the year, the older BKs have run ins with their parents, go about fixing problems for Sophmore and Junior year (they stop Porter’s plan, and when he runs off Gorgug ends up being a substitute Barbarian teacher for half the year). They’re trying to figure out how to get back to their time. The ending is either Kristin dying to Coach Dawn and bringing Arthur back, who can send them back, or they can’t go back, so now there’s two versions of the BKs running around, and if both groups are in one place, everyone else evacuates, because something is about to go down.

[quinacridonered]

Rings of Power Recap - Season 2, Episode 3

Berek: Buddy! My human! Where are you?

Orcs: Are you sure you are not a dog?

Berek: Let me offer you my hoof in your gut as evidence.

Oversized Spider: I am not a dog either.

Isildur: If these are local spiders, I don’t want to know local dogs.

Waldreg: No, you really don’t.

Giant Evil Chihuahua: *burp*

--

Miriel: Emotional Support Elendil? Where are you?

Earien: I am really against her as a potential stepmother.

Numenorian Citizen: *slaps the queen*

Miriel: Hug it out?

Earien: Our family fights will never be the same.

--

Sketchy Lord: Shall we depose the queen?

Pharazon: Yes, let’s. 

Numenorian Citizens: Hey, they are discussing treason in the middle of a pub.

Pharazon: All the better to foment a civil war, my dear.

Earien: If I show you this Palantir I stole, will I get some nice new earrings?

Kevin: With or without magical properties? 

--

Orc Baby: *gurgles*

Entire Worldviews: *collapse*

--

Prince Durin: Magic rings? Are you serious? Go back to the runway from whence you came.

Sauron: *refrains from dwarvicide*

Celebrimbor: Good job.

Sauron: *refrains from elvicide* 

Celebrimbor: I think I am going to spend the afternoon lying to my king about what we are doing.

Sauron: I love that you think this was your own idea.

--

Former Southland Citizen: Aaaaaah!

Isildur: Do you always start a conversation with stabbing?

Former Southland Citizen: Pretty much, yeah.

Isildur: You guys had problems before the orcs showed up.

--

Prince Durin: Hug it out?

King Durin: Are you on drugs?

Prince Durin: I’ll be brief. Weird fucker in Eregion. Magic rings. We can get some.

King Durin: Let’s assume that I love you without me saying it.

Prince Durin: Aww, Dad. Consider it assumed.

--

Isildur: Can I tell you about my childhood trauma?

Former Southland Citizen: I am a woman who grew up in Stabby Land and just escaped from an orc-run Gulag where being branded was just the orientation session. You will not win this trauma competition.

Theo: I too have trauma.

Unknown Attacker: Would you like some more?

--

Miriel: Time to coronate. Or septre-ate. Whichever.

Divinely Ordained Eagle: MI-RI-EL!

Sketchy Lord: PHA-RA-ZON!

Eagle: MI-RI-EL!

Crowd: PHA-RA-ZON!

Eagle: What the hell. I am speaking perfectly clear Eaglish.

Crowd: PHA-RA-ZON!

Eagle: Fuck this. Eagle out.

--

Kind Durin: How ‘bout them rings?

Celebrimbor: *grabs mithril*

Sauron: Ahem.

Celebrimbor: Is this the beginning of our struggle for control?

Sauron: I love that you think you had any.

----------

More recaps:

Season 2, Episode 1

Season 2, Episode 2

[brillantradiance]

This is me just talking to the void but I can’t help but to imagine the version of solo leveling where there’s significant internal conflict. For example Jin Woo literally losing emotions every time he gets stronger. Like I wished the story took the time to actually delve into how that would affect him and the people around him.

Starting with the people around him I think Jin Woo would overall be apathetic in nature and as the story progresses values human life (other than his own and his family) less and less to point where if Jin Woo had a choice to either spare/save a group of people but not get exp or kill/ let them die to get stronger (kill boss/monster etc.) he chooses the latter without a single thought . And you see this in the demon king raid with Esil but I feel like he kinda gets away with it because they’re demons in a gate. No one is there to call him out on it. And he uses the logic oh if I was weak they would’ve done the same which is true but If the story changed where it was out in the open whether it be a raid with another guild or a dungeon break it gives Jin Woo a moral dilemma that tackles how he’s losing his humanity because now he’s dealing with people. I feel like Jin Woo would most likely still choose to get stronger like he’ll try to do both but if it means some hunters/civilians have to die to get the job done so be it. And by doing so, the public and maybe even his own guild members find him to be a bit more monstrous. Which Jin Woo wouldn’t care until that fear hits his family.

Jin Woo’s Family:

Imagine after that hypothetical scene Jin Woo comes home to greet Jin-ah just for her step back in fear because she was watching the entire broadcast after school and while watching Jin Woo brutally kill those monsters and maybe kill some people just to get to those beasts faster she’s reminded of the orcs that came to her school and just shuts down. I think it feeds into the tragedy where Jin Woo wanted to get stronger partly to support his Family just for his family to be afraid of him and his power. And Imagine after this Jin Woo waits for the feeling of devastation, the hurt, the pain to wash over him just to feel nothing. He feels empty. Out of habit, he reaches for her and Jin ah skitters to her room. Jin Woo stands there feeling completely hollow. And as if he’s a zombie leaves the apartment to look for another gate just to feel something.

And in terms of his mother: I think after he wakes her up his mother does not recognize him at all. (Like I know it’s been four years but Jin Woo would’ve been 20 and most likely would’ve stopped growing his appearance would not be able to change that drastically) She panics : yelling who are you and Jin Woo does his best to calm her down. Then she looks into his eyes seeing how cold and lifeless they are and states you aren’t my son. My son was full of life. You reek of death. And maybe it’s not until Jin-Ah comes and explains that is in fact Jin Woo she finally accepts him. Also headcannon since Jin Woo serves as a vessel to the shadow monarch as he gets stronger his body temperature decreases due basically being the lord of the dead. Jin woo’s mom goes to embrace him just to realize he’s cold as a corpse. And the panel you see is his mom’s eyes completely overcome by fear and concern.

I think moments like this would make his choice to side with humanity so much more potent. maybe if he could never be ‘human’ like he once was he could use terrifying power to protect them regardless. OR push him to join the monarchs in the end because there’s nothing left for him on Earth. (Hero to Villain Jin Woo would’ve been so iconic like I can go into heavy detail)

Side note: another thing I will say is that story really does go out of its way to make Jin Woo never in the wrong for killing anyone which I can’t stand if he’s going to be morally grey commit to the bit. Let other characters not like him don’t just make them cartoonishly evil and then kill them off. OR let Jin Woo kill them off without cartoony evil antics and use that to reflect on Jin Woo as a character. Again it shows how he’s losing his humanity. Like the most egregious example was the Thomas Andre fight. They had to throw in im going to kill this bastard because he hurt my ego line just so Jin Woo can beat the shit outta of him. Like seriously, aside from that Thomas was literally just doing his job.

This was completely unedited and first time doing something like this. But if you made it to the end of this rant. Thank you. I have become deranged because of the potential of what Solo leveling could’ve been. Let me know if y’all want more rants. I could go on for days.

[sotwk]

Hi! I saw you mention that you have some headcanons about why Celebrían left Middle-earth. I'd love to hear them if you want to share them! I love hearing people's headcanons about her 💕 — @emyn-arnens

The Fate of Celebrían

According to the "Sons of the Woodland King" AU

In the SotWK AU, Celebrían is perhaps the most beloved friend of Thranduil's wife, Elvenqueen Maereth (more info on that here), so she is a significant supporting character in the stories I have planned for the Greenwood royal family. (She's already appeared in a couple of my fics, if you look closely.)

Canon details are sparse when it comes to Celebrían's abduction, torture, and passing over the Sea. Here are the headcanons I have developed to fill in the blanks of the "how's" and "why's":

Content warning: Brief but non-graphic discussions of violence, torture, and character death.

SotWK Fancast: Connie Nielsen as Celebrían ("older" version)

The Abduction and Attack

Celebrían was not alone when she was abducted by the orcs at the Redhorn Pass. Besides having the strong escort of Rivendell guards, her cousin Nimeithel (oc, younger sister of Nimloth and niece of Celeborn) was with her.

The attack was not random; Celebrían was specifically targeted by these orcs under the orders of Sauron himself. Hurting her was a strategic blow to two of the Dark Lord's most hated and feared enemies: Galadriel and Elrond. However, there is reason to believe that Sauron hated and feared the power and light of the Lady of Imladris herself.

Nimeithel and half the escort were killed fighting in the initial ambush, while the rest were incapacitated.

The orcs took special care to immediately drug and weaken Celebrían, for they wanted to keep her alive but also prevent her from using the powers they feared her to have. They were afraid of her, except they feared Sauron more.

Poisoned and bound, Celebrían was certainly physically tortured to the brink of death, but what has been less mentioned is the emotional/psychological torture of the orcs methodically torturing and killing her friends one by one in front of her.

The Rescue and Aftermath

Celebrían was found on the third day of her abduction which, all things considered, was a swift rescue. But by the time her sons Elladan and Elrohir got to her, unspeakable damage had been done. She was also the sole survivor of the travel party.

Needless to say, not a single one of those orcs made it out alive either, as the wrath of the Peredhil fell upon them.

As has been canonically stated, Elrond succeeded in healing his wife of all physical injuries she sustained. Additional help came from Galadriel and Elvenqueen Maereth. Within weeks, Celebrían's body was healthy again, albeit scarred.

In regards to how she "lost all delight in Middle-earth", I think this is most commonly interpreted as an unshakable and deadly depression. My AU's take however, is that Celebrían felt herself becoming overwhelmed not by grief and despair, but by bitterness and hatred and rage.

The experience did not leave Celebrían weepy and quailing, but angry, vengeful, and vindictive--a very far cry from her peaceful, compassionate self.

The Decision to Leave

Celebrían had always been spiritually strong and very "emotionally intelligent" (high E.Q.); arguably more so than even Elrond. She was quick to realize that her heart and the core of her personality had been compromised and irreversibly damaged.

Memories and nightmares of her abduction plagued her, and despite her best efforts, she could barely contain their effects on her behavior and demeanor. She became prone to angry outbursts, sullen and withdrawn, and tempted by violent thoughts and fantasies.

Elladan and Elrohir, the children most closely bonded to her, were most affected by this, and it drove their unquenchable hatred towards orcs for the rest of their lives, long after their mother departed.

With her intuition and foresight, Celebrían saw that the growing darkness inside her that she could not restrain would only poison the rest of her family (parents, husband, children), if they continued to watch her suffer and struggle.

She knew they all had very important parts to play in the coming battles and the final stand against the Dark Lord, and she refused to distract them or become a hindrance to their destinies.

Celebrían made the difficult decision to ask Elrond to let her sail to the Blessed Realm, where she would be incapable of hurting or adversely influencing anyone, and where she could rest and wait for him in peace.

At first Elrond could not bring himself to let his beloved wife go, but Galadriel's counsel about the future and advice to trust Celebrían's judgement eventually convinced him.

Elladan and Elrohir had to be persuaded by their mother NOT to sail with her, but both vowed that they "will see her again", hinting that they had already decided on their own fates.

Celebrían consoled her grieving family by telling them that in staying, they will "know the joy of seeing Hope reborn"--her foretelling of Aragorn's birth 400 years later.

Thank you for the thoughtful Ask, @emyn-arnens! <3 I loved sharing these with you and I am honored you care to know about my headcanons/AU.

I have many happier ones about our beloved Lady of Imladris, including how powerful and skilled and talented she was, and her tremendous influence and contributions to the foundation and growth of the Last Homely House. Not to discredit Elrond or anything, but I refuse to believe that was all just HIS doing. :)

For more SotWK AU headcanons: SotWK HC Masterlist

Elves HC Tag List: Tags be added in comments temporarily while Tumblr tags are malfunctioning.

[ele-alien]

Ferrek Oralsufaen Kiviliir

Ferrek Kiviliir is my current dnd character. He is a dhampir battlesmith and ranger who has seen the fall of society due to the apocalypse. Hes currently with a group simply dubbed The Misfits while he hunts down the person that brutally knocked his life off course.

Hes a deadeye and an amazing mercenary, but falls a little short on the social department. His main companion is his owl-shaped steel defender, Fe (Fee), who he created when he was younger. Fe has sort of become the emotional support animal of the group, with her curious nature and sweet demeanor.

Ferrek is in @cos-myc s campaign The New Age, and the other misfits are

@chonylolu as Taketros, the Silvanus worshipping Ranger/Cleric centaur

@stormystarlight / @pyrrhuria as Five, the tabaxi Tempest Cleric

@faaarawayyy / @delfinxxia as Abel, the Paladin Warforged

@vamp1r1cjuggalo as Caprino, the Circle of Spores reborn firbolg Druid

and @bellsartworks / @lady-chainsaw as Bunny, the half-orc Fighter/Barbarian

[jamiewintons]

Just have to say I am soooo encouraging your boromir idea with a fellowship member reader. I am a sucker for fellowship reader and looove boromir. I saw your idea for early morning bathing at the stream. I also think boromir is the perfect guy for inner conflict (tension and a crumbling self restraint!!) about his attraction towards the reader. I think he'd have a lowkey thing for reader that he keeps to himself but during a sparring/training session something would snap in his mind and he'd realize he's willing to cross his own boundaries he set for himself. Nobody in the fellowship is blind to it whether they openly say anything or not. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to talk about my dear lotr friend Boromir

Hi!! I love Boromir very much as well!! And I love your thoughts! I’ve actually started writing that fic properly after I received this ask, it was very inspiring, thank you for your support 🤩

I love the idea of Boromir struggling with his feelings for the reader, trying so hard to ignore it but being unable to. I can’t help but think of what would happen if she got hurt, or he had to protect her from Orcs or something!! I think even if he hadn’t admitted to anyone - even himself - that he had feelings for her, he’d go all out to keep her safe. We saw everything he did to try and protect Merry and Pippin (now I’ve made myself sad 😔)

(I am about to start rambling about Boromir in ways that are not relevant to this ask)

Like he is legitimately such an interesting character (though LOTR is filled with incredibly interesting characters imo). There’s just something so appealing about him, like he’s a strong, brave warrior who is also so gentle at the same time. He can kill a bunch of Orcs and then play and laugh with the Hobbits. And I especially loved seeing more of him in the extended editions!! Like I’d already fallen in love with him when I rewatched the theatrical editions, but there’s so much more to him in the extended versions. And the extended versions of Two Towers and Return of the King are the only way you get to see more Boromir (besides short flashbacks to his death). I mean, the bit where Denethor hallucinates Boromir standing behind Faramir isn’t much, but it definitely made me emotional 🥲 . But the flashback scene in Two Towers should have stayed in!! It was so good and so important. I wish we got to see more of Boromir and Faramir together.

[hottakehoulihan]

This is a rant/musing/meandering about Worm fans WRT Wildbow. I think it's time I at least once made myself an unsubtly dissenting voice, since silence indicates agreement to so many. Move on if you like. This is probably mostly for me.

I'm white, from the USA, grew up with thrift store clothes and scavenged pencils but got to visit the dentist when needed, and was raised in the same ethnocentric, homophobic, fatphobic, ableist, Puritan-influenced culture that most of us were. I try to routinely examine and correct my biases and blind spots. I am trying to see what I might be missing, with as open a mind as I can manage.

I reread Worm (fourth readthrough, but my retention is meh) these last few months actually looking for any evidence at all I could find of the various phobias (all of them, it seems, and also the vaunted hates-drug-users) that some folk like to assert Wildbow has. I didn't find much that didn't--IMHO--more closely fit an accurate description of how the characters (including Taylor, who is literally a child that grew up in an even less-enlightened environment than most of us) are biased. This, coupled with an unfortunate shortsightedness of methodology (do NOT use dice when you write your story. It seems like a good idea to naive youth, but We Do Not Live in a world where you can just let RNG dictate that your [insert bad thing] is committed by [insert group that is already stereotyped as doing that bad thing]. (Though sometimes that's gonna happen in real life too, and art depicting things that happen in real life is Not Always Bad you just have to be careful about context and tone.) Also, try not to accidentally/subconsciously follow Hayes code-influenced patterns. ...though that's hard to do when you're making almost EVERY character a morally grey one) is all the support I see.

Whew, that was a weird parenthetical juxtaposition. Should I rewrite? Nah; it's already taking too much time.

Seriously, how many actually 100% goodguy fleshed characters does Worm have? Arguably zero. Even Yamada and Legend, by dint of having to work within the confines of their structures, made concessions to evils. Dinah made her ruthless calculus decisions just as Cauldron did. Taylor's famously grey self-justifications were agonized over no more or less than Parian's. A perfect character would be a blemish, arguably. (I'll just take Amy as my woobie; after more than a dozen years of emotional abuse and neglect by her kidnappers, she deserves a bit of consideration and rehabilitation.)

And just like I'm willing to assume that Gregor's somehow flawed, like he offscreen asserted that there are acceptable civilian losses when you're doing crimes or assaulting Cauldrons, and that's clearly bullshit because there's no actual evidence Gregor is anything less than perfect but it's easier to assume evils (and more fun to talk shit) than not, I figure a bunch of folk are trying to fit in by agreeing and priming their confirmation biases accordingly.

And this is without, even, considering the millions of other words in non-Worm stuff. You're gonna read Pale and tell me this same junk?

...though, well, perhaps my cutie Biscuit, and a thing Louise said about addicts essentially vanishing from the lives of their loved ones, might count as being against habitual recreational narcotic use. I'll think about that over my next bottle of wine.

I like reading light novels, and fluffy fanfics, and similar, even though usually the characters involved seldom have what you might call facets. When the retired orc warrior who started a gnomish coffeeshop moves on to her next volume, I'm there, and I don't care if I never find out that she once had to choose between leaving baby goblins to die in a fire or saving a teammate from a spike trap.

I've read so many stories where there's no such thing as an 'ism', or rather there's just no example of representation, because every character is two steps away from being an AFGNCAAP (Ageless, Faceless, Gender-Neutral, Culturally-Ambiguous Adventure Person)

I think Wildbow is serious about trying to always be a better writer in the approaching-MFA sense. I see efforts to portray believable behavior of real "human" (whether human or not) characters from multiple backgrounds, in a world that scans as plausibly diverged from the same sort of ugly we live in today.

I do not see any more latent phobias of any sort than I see in pretty much anything else available to read, from fanfic to bestseller lists to "new favorites" lists at the local library. In fact, I see markedly less, to include some (fuck 'em) commenters complaining about shoehorned-in wokeness.

It's weird to me that, given the body of work and the literal black-and-white facts about who and what exist within, and the extra time and effort the author made and makes (too much, IMO) generously engaging with the fans, the default is to diss the author for not doing even more. In their first work. Of which half the concept and much of the worldbuilding dated from grade-school practice. And it's still great.

And I'm saying this about a story where a significant number of the villains are literally white male nazis, torturemurderers, and literally inhuman terrorists. You wouldn't expect people to be demanding a lot of nuance if you were an outsider to this story. But Worm delivers, IMO.

This is not in response to anything recent; I've been chewing on this for years prior to even joining tumblr or creating this username.

tl;dr: Are you sure you're not talking shit about Wildbow just to fit in with the other cool snarksters and feel cool and cynical and superior? Instead of sincere? Because I went looking, and, respectfully, I think you're wrong. And it's a bit ugly and sad.

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Would you do 3, 8, and 12 for the choose violence ask game, please?

3. worst take you’ve seen on tumblr

This gets the worst take award for someone making it up out of their own head and then treating it as canon. I have seen at least two people say they hate Thingol for ‘deliberately orchestrating the death of Denethor (king of the Green-elves) in order to incorporate the Green-elves into Doriath’s rule’. Something that never happened - Thingol and the Green-elves fought and defeated one orc-army but Denethor was cut off by another, and Thingol’s army was too late to rescue him when they came to defeat the second army. (This also gives the lie to the assertion/assumption that Thingol never fought and never left Doriath. He did both in the First Battle.)

The Green-elves, when they came to Beleriand, were welcomed by Thingol “as kin who long return”. Thingol arriving too late to save Denethor, but not too late to avenge him, is something that could foster as many tragic, heartbreaking imaginings as Maedhros being unable to reach or save Fingon at the Nirnaeth.

To give a sense of how bad this take is: imagine someone claimed they hated Maedhros because he deliberately abandoned Fingon in an attempt to gain the kingship of the Noldor. That would be a ludicrous misinterpretation of the Nirnaeth, but it would still have more evidence than the one about Thingol and Denethor. Thingol shows up; he defeats one army and then shows up to defeat the second one, but just too late to save his friend and ally. The Fëanoreans flee the Nirnaeth - all of them surviving - before they get anywhere near Fingon or his armies, and apparently also flee while their dwarven allies are still fighting (“the sons of Fëanor…drew together, and gathering a remnant of the Noldor and the Naugrim about them hewed a way out of the battle and escaped far away toward Mount Dolmed in the east. Last of all the eastern force to stand firm were the dwarves of Belegost…”).

Make up whatever headcanons you like, but “I think this character is awful and unsympathetic for [non-canon and counter-canonical thing I made up them doing]” is just nuts.

8. common fandom opinion everyone is wrong about

The typical (almost universal) characterization of Maedhros as 1) a master diplomat/politician; 2) a dad-figure to his brothers; and 3) extremely stoic and not given to showing his feelings, really has very little canon support, and most of what we do see of him indicates the opposite! A shortlist of things he is described as doing in canon:

Begging Fingon to kill him when he is chained to Thangorodrim

Again begging Fingon to kill him when Fingon can't cut him loose (the stoic, practical, ruthless type we see in most fanon would have come up with the 'cut my hand off' thing himself)

Seeking Fingolfin's pardon for the burning of the ships, and making what certainly comes across as a self-deprecating joke (calling Fingolfin "not the least wise" of the House of Finwë, implicitly in comparison to himself) in the process.

Defusing the tension around Thingol's limits on where the Noldor can settle by laughing at it.

Planning the Fifth Battle out of a sudden feeling of hope inspired by the success of Beren and Luthien's quest.

At the end, throwing himself into a fiery chasm in despair.

That's without even getting into the HoME material, where Maedhros' account of Morgoth's attack on Formenos is so melodramatic it circles around to being ridiculous.

This does not come across as a stoic person who continually conceals and buries his emotions. I don't have issues with that characterization existing, but it's strange for it to be so universal that you virtually never see a Maedhros who isn't defined by it.

With regard to his brothers, we definitely do see him engaging in deliberate brother-wrangling in Beleriand, because he needs to in order to keep the peace, but he's only successful at it as long as they're all in relatively close proximity (see, Celegorm and Curufin going off-leash in Nargothrond), and after the Nargothrond incident, not even then (see: Maedhros being unable to stop them from threatening to kill Thingol, and not substantively punishing them for anything they did). And the "team dad" thing is nowhere in evidence.

Lastly, I would say there's enough in the Silmarillion to say that Maedhros is at least decent at political management - and more importantly, that he has enough humility to do what's necessary to keep the Noldor united (first abdicating the kingship, and then moving his brothers to where they'll be in less contact with other people and make more trouble). But he doesn't consider whether a nominal acknowledgement of Thingol's kingship of Beleriand might smooth relations over at the start, he doesn't make any attempt to apologize or make restitution for the kinslaying even after Thingol learns about it, he at no point in canon attempts to negotiate for the Silmaril or offer anything in return for it (yes, the Oath is presumably involved in that). Treating the Nirnaeth of all things (a battle which is lost largely because a large part of his allies turn out to be traitors, and in which two of the largest kingdoms in Beleriand refuse to participate due to personal grievances against his family, and where his only major elven ally is the guy who's ride-or-die for him regardless of anything) as evidence of diplomatic skill is particularly strange! his sole wholly positive achievement re: the Union of Maedhros is the alliance with the dwarves. Which is not nothing, but also not enough to support the "master diplomat and would have been an awesome king" assumption. In terms of Noldor-Sindar relations, the ones who stand out are Finrod (of course) and, far less acknowledged, Turgon - Gondolin is a mix of Noldor and Sindar, and that the Sindar are willing to choose to follow him to a hidden kingdom even at a time when Beleriand is largely at peace says a lot.

I'm not actively opposed to the usual characterization of Maedhros, but I'm somewhat frustrated (and getting bored) with it being the only one we see when it seems almost entirely fanon-created and there's so much space for other portrayals.

12. unpopular character you like and why more people should like them

Mandos! It’s barely even really a case of fans emphasizing certain passages and detractors emphasizing others, many of the passages that make me like him are the ones other people dislike him for. I like what we see of him in "Laws and Customs of the Eldar". I like what he says regarding the Statute of Finwë and Míriel:

"We may indeed in counsel point to the higher road, but we cannot compel any free creature to walk upon it. That leadeth to tyranny, which disfigureth good and maketh it seem hateful. Healing by final Hope, as Manwë has spoken of it, is a law which one can give to oneself only; of others justice alone can be demanded. A ruler who discerning justice refuseth to it the sanction of law, demanding abnegation of rights and self-sacrifice, will not drive his subjects to these virtues, virtuous only if free, but by unnaturally making justice unlawful, will drive them rather to rebellion against all law. Not by such means will Arda be healed."

And, continuing from this, I like his reaction to Finwë's decision to stay in the Halls and allow Míriel to return to life:

"It is well that thou desirest not to return, for this I should have forbidden, until the present griefs are long passed. But it is better still that thou hast made this offer, to deprive thyself, of thy free will, and out of pity for another. This is a counsel of healing, out of which good may grow."

It's two sides of the same coin: that justice means working with a flawed world and giving people their due even if the choices they are making are not the ideal ones, because self-sacrifice is not something that can be compelled or demanded. But he's happy - we rarely see him happy, but he is happy about Finwë's decision - when people choose something better than mere justice. And that's not something seen in most literature from characters represented as the literal personification of Justice!

And, also in the Statue, I want to note what he says about Eärendil:

"I say to you that the children of Indis shall always be great, and the Tale of Arda more glorious because of their coming. And from them shall spring things so fair that no tears shall dim their beauty; in whose being the Valar, and the Kindreds both of Elves and Men that are to come shall all have part, and in whose deeds they shall rejoice. So that, long hence when all that here is and seemeth yet fair and impregnable, shall nonetheless have faded and passed away, the Light of Aman shall not wholly cease among the free peoples of Arda until the End. When he that shall be called Eärendil setteth foot upon the shores of Aman, ye shall remember my words."

And then people act like he's not pleased when Eärendil shows up! He very much is; it's his role to bring up the Doom so that it can at last be lifted, but he knows that this is the moment when it will be lifted through Eärendil's action.

I also have no issue with his "Not the first" line in response to Fëanor's line "I shall break my heard and I shall be slain; first of all the Eldar in Aman." I take it as a hint: You are not the only thing that matters in the world, think of something other than yourself for a second. There's nothing stopping Fëanor from turning around and saying "What do you mean by that?" and I think Mandos would give him an answer if he did - but Fëanor is too absorbed in the Silmarils to even consider what it might mean.

I moreover like the description of how Elves can return from the Halls: But his dooms in such matters are not uttered in haste; and even the most guilty are long tested, whether they may be healed or corrected, before any final doom is given. If an Elf is staying in the Halls permanently, it's not just a matter of their deeds in life, no matter how bad those are, but a matter of them sticking to those deeds and refusing to change or heal even when they're offered the opportunity.

[topbanana-art]

Finally making an OC info post- by no means is this all of them, just ones that are most active and/or live in my head rent free.

First up- Rhys (DnD 5e - Rime of the Frostmaiden)

20 years Old, Half Orc, Half Elf (sweet baby angel) , He/Him

Fighter- Echo Knight

Absolute Ray of Sunshine; Rhys is from Icewind Dale; more specifically the Nomadic Reghed Tribe of the Elk.

He's unfamiliar with the outside world and even includes settlements in his own country

He's a Himbo basically a big dog.

This campaign lead him to leaving his tribe for the first time after an unfortunate accident which turned him into a small 'painted child' and searching for his missing sister. (both these are sorted now!)

*Rhys found an old oil painting of this child, blacked out and next thing he knew he was that small elf child. Her skin and clothing having the texture of painted canvas, and bleeds paint.

For a good chunk of the campaign he was just a totally normal elf- whose shadow didn't match with the body

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Dhalas (DnD 5e Annalor)

36 Years Old, They/Him, Triton

Drunken Master Monk

Chill surfer dude vibes

Part of a travelling circus, They're a balancing act

Extremely laid back, Dhalas talks like they fight- dancing around, seemingly without rhyme or reason and occasionally clumsy.

---

Foxglove (BG3)

138 Years old (tweaked her age a lil), She/They, Drow

Arcane Trickster Rogue

Guild Artisan Background- Locksmith & Apprentice Finesmith

Chill and sassy, that Tav who talks their way out of shit.

Skews Towards Chaotic Good

Presents Androgynous most of the time

Must lockpick everything- she's not actually super interested what's inside, she just wants to see the workmanship of the locks and trashtalk how bad they are.

Yeah she's smooching the vampire. (and Halsin)

Naturally cares for others, even at the cost of her own wellbeing.

Has a Phobia of anything touching/going near her eyes- so the start of the game is A Time for Fox.

---

Arslan Dhoro (FFXIV)

21 Years Old (as of ARR), He/Them

Xaela AuRa

Dragoon - White Mage Main (All healer classes tbh)

Stoic, Resting Angry Face Himbo

He struggles to show emotion but he's just pretty shy and cautious about opening up to others.

From the Azim Steppe, he left in his early teens with his father after the death of his mother, to explore the world beyond the Steppe.

His Father Died in his late teens, attacked in Coerthas thinking he and Arslan were Dravanians.

He's extremely soft and protective for the Scions/his friends

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Shiv (DnD 5e Saltmarsh- campaign completed)

Awful, terrible lesbian

68 years old, She/Her, Halfling

Celestial Warlock - Unicorn Patron w/ a Baby Phoenix familiar, Toby

A piece of shit. Is an absolute asshole and wont let you know she cares.

Lowkey magical girl

Ex-smuggler, who's patron is literally 'I can fix her', 'she can be a better person'. Part of the 'Beyond Skeletons' Pirate crew, she's the medic of the crew.

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Pymmyr Tathnel (DnD 5e)

Pym

85 Years Old, He/They, Drow

Gloomstalker Ranger

Emotional Support Blink Dog, Princess Liquorice

This boy is scared all the time

Doesn't talk much, but speaks in a soft voice

Has disordered 'Sleeping' and Eating :)

His plague mask has tinted lenses to help ease the strain with how bright the surface is

I wont tell too much about them as a lot of their info is spoilers to other players. But this sad Drow just rocks up in my head on the regular.

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Erebus (Anima Beyond Fantasy)

AKA- My first TTRPG character! circa 2011-2 I think???

Real name Sho Yoshimitsu

22 Years Old, He/Him

Duk'Zarist Nephilim

Assassin

Textbook 'strong silent and intimidating hot man'

But basically a big soft boy if you break past the mile thick ice

Tragic backstory™ , used to using his body for the job

He really enjoys cooking!

Also hopelessly in love with a small soft summoner, Caelum (the one hugging him), They're RedxBlue gays

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I think I'll leave it there for now!

I may add more later, I hope it was interesting?? and I'm still pretty shy with yelling this much about my characters haha.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far! 💜