#reminds me of that scene in lotr

[sweetlemondream]

lifted through the fiery remains; it has passed, rest now

[professorjirt]

not to be bitter about the Durins again but it will never stop pissing me off to a burning degree that in the movies Kíli dies off in a little corner with no one but one elf he met two days ago around, and she’s nerfed to the point she’s utterly helpless until RIGHT AFTER he’s killed. It feels so bullshit and unfulfilling. I remember me and a friend were huge fans of the Durins (her even more than me) as well as the little Kíli and Tauriel side story back when the movies came out, and we watched it in theatres and she literally said she would never watch that scene again bc it disappointed her so badly. She skips it to this day. Bc why the fuck did they have Kíli die for an elf he barely knew (I like Tauriel but it is true— they’ve known each other for maybe two or three days total) over the family he ran out into battle to defend, the family he set out on the quest with and the family that he was so proud of. Why was he not with his brother, or trying to defend his uncle who was still very much alive and in danger? Tauriel literally just serves to get Kíli killed in that scene, bc they nerf her (CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD. Even against a tough orc she should be holding her own) but have Legolas out there holding his own, and it is nowhere NEAR as emotionally devestating as the single sentence we’re given in the book of how Kíli and Fíli went down defending their uncle. I can almost excuse the change in how Fíli dies bc it does hold emotional weight, but Kíli’s death going from the devotion of family even to his own doom into dying for an elf he has puppy love for while being totally cut off from the other dwarves fucking killed the scene for me. And there isn’t really even a good payoff for Tauriel afterward either. We just leave her there regretting she ever loved him. It hurts me so damn much, and not least of which is because for every video someone does as a tribute to Thorin and his nephews, it always takes a sharp left turn into Tauriel watching Kíli die all by himself and it doesn’t even feel related to the other’s deaths. I think it would have felt much more like the best of both if they’d kept Kíli dying defending his family, and then have Tauriel come to him as he’s dying. But that’s not what happened. It fucking sucks. I promise I do like the movies but I will stand hard by saying that it’s weakest writing is the latter half of the second and the former half of the third movie. It only really picks up to consistently good scenes at Thorin’s battle with Azog in my opinion. Sorry for another brief hater moment but man. Man.

[memray]

aragorn is my favourite lord of the rings character so every-time my best friend says he reminds them of me i lose my mind and want to have a little cry.

[weirdgrrlgerard]

watching over my pup (she got back from the vet) so now is any good excuse to rewatch fellowship of the ring (extended version of course)

[chronomally]

Even as the author of Beowulf talks about the rise of the house of Shield Sheafson, the many great battles won by himself and his sons, the specter of doom hangs over Heorot Hall:

...The hall towered,

its gables wide and high and awaiting

a barbarous burning. That doom abided,

but in time it would come...

[nezierf]

arcane spoilers (s2ep09) incoming

so ive seen people talk about this scene, particularly about how jayce accepts viktors touch even when he knows its coming and could potentially dodge it/counter it with the hammer

from what ive read mostly people talk about how much affection (ha) and trust jayce puts in viktor, and personally i also think its because he saw the future and knows its the only way to reach him

if he wants to save him, save piltover he must strip away all the walls viktor has built around himself and his emotions, and thus jayce needs to be let into the hive mind where he can talk to actual viktor and not herald (also parallels to that scene when he shoots him, someone said he didnt let viktor utter a word because he knew he would convince him THEY ARE SO WEAK FOR EACH OTHER MY GOD)

but thats not what i wanted to talk about!! going back to the beginning of that scene on the rooftop

doesnt this seem awfully similar to the medieval coronation ceremony?

jayce is kneeling surrounded by followers/past inhabitants of zaun/piltover, during medieval coronation ceremonies it was a priest who would bestow the crown upon the future king. moreover, coronation was often considered a religious rite because of how rulers and deities were closely tied (different cultures would believe in different versions of this, that their ruler was chosen by gods or perhaps their descendant/vessel).

we already joke how viktor became god/jesus/deity/eldritch cosmic being etc, we also know despite everything he still holds strong feelings towards jayce (damn hypocrite) and views him differently than the others

so it would make sense he would wish to personally "introduce" jayce to his hive mind cult

notice how when jayce got to the roof NONE of the marionettes/machines tried to get to him asap unlike they do with others

no, this is a ceremony performed by their god who is choosing the one closest to him, demonstrating to the world how he wishes jayce to be the ruler of his glorious evolution

viktor places his fingers on him gently and carefully, while when they were fighting in the councils room he was ready to force his touch when jayce initially rejected his proposal (always trying to make jayce understand his perspective)

and jayce accepts it with so much serenity and solemnity that in that moment reminded me strongly of aragorn in lotr

a true king in the eyes of the one coronating them

also his unique fingerprints make me think of a crown/circlet every single time i see them and thats why i wrote all of this

i love all things related to medieval knighthood/royalty so this whole interaction has been boiling in my head until it spilled over, you are welcome

[ai-katsuu]

i await the day someone draws hera, bilbo, and frodo together as the protagonists <3

some criticism that i don't quite agree with is that Helm should've been the protagonist. i disagree. i believe that it is because he is SO amazing and badass that it was the right decision to put him in the same role as thorin and aragorn, the legends in their respective stories. if helm was the protagonist, i doubt there would be much love and warmth that the hobbit and lotr gave. let me explain! the thing with the hobbit and lotr is that frodo and bilbo were just like hera in the sense that they supported the legend of their story in their own ways SIDE BY SIDE, bilbo with smaug/arkenstone, frodo making the trek to destroy the ring, and finally hera leading her people, saving her father, and strategizing the call for aid in the final battle to fight for her people

what i love about hera being the protagonist that i relate with bilbo and frodo is that the heroes of stories are usually a strong heroic man, but tolkein wanted to prove that it is the deeds of ordinary people, in this case: two hobbits, and a daughter; those who are kind and courageous, who can be heroes as well <3

it reminds me of a scene in an unexpected journey where galadriel asks why gandalf chose bilbo baggins:

“Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? Perhaps because I am afraid, and he gives me courage." 

[warrioreowynofrohan]

LOTR Newsletter - October 11

The hobbits and Aragorn are walking in the direction of the Bridge of Mitheithel across the Hoarwell River:

Four days passed, without the ground or scene changing much, except that behind them Weathertop slowly sank, and before them the distant mountains loomed a little nearer. Yet since that far cry they had seen and heard no sign that the enemy had marked their flight or followed them. They dreaded the dark hours, and kept watch in pairs by night, expecting at any time to see black shapes stalking in the grey light, dimly lit by the cloud-veiled moon; but they say nothing, and heard no sound but the sigh of withered leaves and grass. Not once did they feel the sense of present evil that had assailed them before the attack in the dell. It seemed too much to hope that the Riders had lost their trail again. Perhaps they were waiting to make some ambush in a narrow place? At the end of the fifth day the ground began once more to rise slowly out of the wide shallow valley into which they had descended.

In fact their worries have been accurate: there have been three Ringwraiths lying in wait on the Bridge of Mitheithel, as it is a choke point: there is no other way to cross the river nearby.

However, today is also when Glorfindel drives those Ringwraiths off the Bridge of Mitheithel, which is what enables the Fellowship to cross the bridge safely in a couple days. From Glorfindel's account to the hobbits and Aragorn when he meets them:

“It was my lot to take the Road, and I came to the Bridge of Mitheithel and left a token there, nigh on seven days ago. Three of the servants of Sauron were upon the Bridge, but they withdrew and I pursued them westward. I also came upon two others, but they turned away southward.”

This is an example of a kind of occurrence that I see several times in The Lord of the Rings, and not very much in other fantasy literature. It's the literal opposite of the trope of "characters think everything will be fine, but then it goes horribly wrong". Instead, this one is "the characters are dreading something bad ahead of them, see all the signs that something bad is ahead of them...and instead, everything is fine." Actually fine, not a fake-out! The biggest one in LOTR is when Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and the Rohirrim are on the way to Isengard - they see the Isen dried up, they see steam/smoke/fog rising from Isengard, they expect that Saruman's got something dangerous up his sleeve, and then it turns out that, surprise! he's already been defeated. It's not quite eucatastrophe to me, because to me eucatastrophe is when things have already gone bad and seem hopeless, and then a miraculous salvation appears. This is more a case of "that thing that you thought was a problem you'd have to face? it's not actually a problem, I fixed it for you".

Most epic fantasy authors don't seem to go in for it, because a climax is more exciting than an anticlimax, and having all the major crises faced simultaneously (I'm looking at you, Brandon Sanderlanche 😂) is more dramatic than the heroes showing up to find that one of the crises has already been resolved for them.

And I love it because it's a reminder that the story isn't all hanging on one person; that the characters don't have to do everything, they only have to do their part; that you've got other people in your corner. It's the epic fantasy equivalent of a day when I went into work dreading having to spend a few weeks figuring out some very complicated coding, only to find that a colleague (who is much better at coding than me) had already done it all, and I could get started on the stuff I was good at.

[b0tster]

I just watched the Shadows of Yharnam fight and for one thing AAA! You did such a wonderful job! It also reminded me of a question that I had been meaning to ask for a while now but haven’t because I keep forgetting asks exist: why did you decide to go with the lever action shotgun rather than the blunderbuss? I still haven’t payed Bloodborne PSX unfortunately so I’m wondering if it’s something from that game or if it’s a Terminator reference or maybe just think lever action shotguns are cool (which is super valid) or maybe all three? So sorry for the wordy ask and you’re doing great work!

you were spot on with the terminator reference hehe

but also i didn't want to use the blunderbuss because that weapon isnt really associated with damage so i wanted to use the double barrel shotgun found in bloodborne PSX, but power ups in BBKart are primarily only right arm only (as the other hand needs to be steering) so i needed a cool shotgun that could be reloaded with one arm, so the lever action shotgun seemed like a natural fit.

(and yes im aware that arny almost broke his hand in this scene no need to pull a lotr style fun fact dump in the comments lol)

[s-u-w-i]

‘Hobbits!’ he thought. ‘Well, what next? I have heard of strange doings in this land, but I have seldom heard of a hobbit sleeping out of doors under a tree. Three of them! There’s something mighty queer behind this.’ He was quite right, but he never found out any more about it. Still requests, this one’s for @greenwhistler, though I hope it’ll also gladden  the-biggest-apple and wearestill 🌼 Thank you for reminding me of this scene, each time I read LOTR I thought I should draw it, so, finally!

[buffyfan145]

Not sure if other Haladriel shippers saw but the images from the new anime LOTR movie out later this year, "The War of the Rohirrim", the main female hero Hera and the main male villain Wulf are giving major Haladriel vibes!!! LOL 😮 Here's a pic from a tweet from FOF:

Hera is one of Eowyn's ancestors but the headpiece is reminding me of Galadriel. Plus, Wulf is human but reminds me of Halbrand. I was excited about this movie anyway and not sure what their scenes will be like but I'm just getting reminded of Haladriel and enemies to lovers ships so much. LOL 😀

[stormhearty]

✨ pairings: Eris x reader

🔮 preview: “(Y/N)…” your name on his dry lips was hoarse, the sound a scratchy noise in your ears and all you could do was whimper, trying to scramble away from the re-dead animation of him. “All I wanted was to be in love… I didn't want to die. What was wrong to fall in love with the same woman as him? Was it so wrong to fall in love with the Lady of Autumn?” A sob escaped your lips, tears streaking down your cheeks, “I’m sorry, Felian…” you whispered, shrinking away from him, frantically tugging at your leg to try to run away. You watched those eyes — those lifeless eyes — stare up at you, begging you to stay with him, to let him drag you down with him to the fire pits of Hell.

📣 trigger warnings: nightmares, mentions of blood, death 🔎 rating: PG-13 | 🔏 word count: 3.6k

💜 masterlist | series masterlist + notes: This part has been way overdue, and I am so sorry for that. Writing recently has been way too finicky for me but I’m slowly churning out fics, please look out for them. This part is a bit of (Y/N)’s history, on her reason to take Beron down, to make Eris High Lord. It’s kind of a filler episode, I guess? But still an important episode. In addition, this has a bit of a spoiler for ACOSF and a bit of non-canon stuff as well. The lore of how the Forest House came to be and where the castle was situated reminded me of Rivendell from LOTR. I hope you guys enjoy it! Like, comment, and reblog if you enjoy it! I would love to hear your thoughts!

Your pulse drummed in your ears, eyes trained on the blood that surrounded you — maroon pooled around your feet, like the Nile River that seemed to be overflowing. The stench of metal hit your senses, and you couldn't help but scrunch your nose at the smell, one so strong that the contents in your stomach churned like raging waters in the stormy sea. You fought the urge to vomit as your eyes trailed that river of blood — homing in on a lifeless body only a few feet up ahead.

The mass of hair, one similar to your hair color, was the source of the blood — the body lying on its stomach, a sword impaled in the middle of its back.

With shaky legs, you stepped forward, feeling and hearing the squish of maroon liquid underneath your bare feet. Your breath quickened as you leaned down, and with much effort turned the body around, a cry of horror unknowingly left your lips.

There, laid, your older brother — dead.

“Feilan…” you whimpered, a hand coming up to press against your mouth, holding back another scream at your brother’s lifeless form, taking a step back, your body wanting just to run away from such a horrifying scene.

But your body felt stuck as if your feet were glued to the ground below you and you glanced down, watching bloodied hands reach up from the pool of blood and grasp your calves and shins, leaving bloodied prints along your skin.

A terrified scream left your lungs, trying to reach down to swat those hands away from your legs, trying to desperately move your extremities from the tendrils of death. But when a lifeless hand reached over and grabbed your ankle, you let out a startled yell and fell backward, landing on your bottom.

You grunted, surprised that no pain racked your body at the fall, but when a squeeze of your ankle pulled you from your thoughts, eyes blinked open and trailed those ashen fingers to the revived hues of your older brother.

“(Y/N)…” your name on his dry lips was hoarse, the sound a scratchy noise in your ears and all you could do was whimper, trying to scramble away from the re-dead animation of him.

“All I wanted was to be in love… I didn't want to die. What was wrong to fall in love with the same woman as him? Was it so wrong to fall in love with the Lady of Autumn?”

A sob escaped your lips, tears streaking down your cheeks, “I’m sorry, Felian…” you whispered, shrinking away from him, frantically tugging at your leg to try to run away. You watched those eyes — those lifeless eyes — stare up at you, begging you to stay with him, to let him drag you down with him to the fire pits of Hell.

You wanted to, you had tried to save him, wanted to save your only family member. You were nothing but a child. You had no power in Autumn Court, no leverage of power to sway thoughts… you had little influence over the Autumn Court Family— there was no way for you to save your brother against the jealous rage of Beron Vanserra.

The grip on your ankle grew tighter, drawing your attention back to him and you watched in horror his features melt away — skin and muscle rotting away in blood, revealing the very male that had taken his life away. Lips tugged into a grin as the form of Beron Vanserra started to grab at your calves and thighs, pinning you underneath him. A scream pulled from your lips, as hands gripped the base of your neck, squeezing the air out of your lungs.

Frantic hands grasped Beron’s wrist, trying to use your strength to pull him off of your form — but it was to little use — he was stronger, more powerful than you and your femme stature was no match for the strength of a High Lord.

“—-S-stop…” you gasped out, feeling your body give out underneath his own, “Please…” you all but begged the High Lord.

The inhumane form of Beron grinned and leaned down, his face hovering over your own as you watched for the second time as those regal features shifted to someone you had grown fond of — Eris.

“(Y/N)…” he whispered your name, one filled with malice and hatred in every syllable.

Tears brimmed the edge of your eyes, as you felt your life slowly trickle away from you. Spots started appearing at the corner of your eyes, the grip on your throat growing tighter every second. You watched as his lips mouthed your name, your body feeling airless as you fell unconscious.

“(Y/N)!!!” You were pulled out of the hellish nightmare by strong and reliable hands, your eyes snapping open, your body lurching forward into a sitting position as hands came up to your neck, trying to feel for hands that were taking your life. Your chest heaved, trying to get the air that was sucked out of you… trying to gain your mind back from your dream.

“…(Y/N)…”

The sound of your name, one that was filled with love and care, pulled you from your racing thoughts, your body jumping slightly in the large bed and head whipping towards your left — Eris looking at you with worry, his hand raised in the air, his touch lingering on your shoulder.

Your body wanted to run — those hands were just on your neck, taking an attempt at your life — those hands wanted nothing more but to hurt you. But your mind screamed at you — this wasn’t the Eris that was in your dream, this wasn't the Eris that was trying to take your life.

This was your husband.

The one who knew your secrets, the one who knew your weaknesses. The one who plays your political games in Autumn Court. The one who protected you for millennials.

Your husband who would never lay a hand against you.

When the fight and flight eventually left your body, a shaky sigh escaped your lips — a signal that you were calming down from your dream. It was the only thing that Eris needed to see before he pulled you close, shifting your body to lie sideways on his lap, his arms wrapped around your waist and tucked into his chest, his chin on the crown of your head.

He didn’t say anything — he didn’t have to.

For centuries, your sleep had been plagued with nightmares of one particular day — the death of your older brother, at the hands of Eris’s father. You had watched him die in front of you, watched his life leave his eyes. And as a child of merely two centuries, you couldn’t do anything to save him.

You had despised your brother, no matter how much you missed him — hated that he had fallen in love with Gwinthedwe, Lady Autumn. You had watched him from afar as he courted her, watching her slowly fall in love with him — despite being married to Beron.

No matter how many times your mother had pleaded against continuing to court Gwinthedwe, he wouldn’t listen — begged that she had been the one for him. He planned to elope to another Court, to bring her with him — to save her from the claws of the High Lord.

That night… when the two lovers had planned to leave, Beron had found them and slayed Felian, in front of Gwinthedwe — and unknowing to them, in front of you, as well. You had followed them in shadow, using your power of illusion to cloak yourself in darkness, you watched from behind the pillar as the sword pierced through his chest, the terrified scream from Gwinthedwe echoing the halls.

But to you, all you could stare at in horror was your brother’s dying form and his gaze never left Gwinthedwe’s as the guards dragged her to the shared bedroom of Beron.

All you had wanted to do was scream at the High Lord for killing your brother, scream on the hatred that grew in your stomach for your older brother — but had been too terrified to do so, too afraid to be caught and be at the end of Beron’s sword.

It was Eris who had pulled you away from such a gruesome scene, saved you, and protected you from his father, though he was only a few centuries older than you.

It was right then and then, that you knew what you had to do — to take revenge for your older brother — and to ensure that Beron’s wrath would be ultimately stopped.

You and Eris had played the long game — a millennial long game. You had played the lovely marriage candidate for Eris, softened the heart of Beron, who had long forgotten that your brother had died by his hand and learned the political ways of the Court — all the while being by Eris’s side.

You had played the beautiful wife, the doting wife… the wallflower that only spoke when spoken to.

Unknowing to all that you were nothing but a vicious butterfly waiting to bite on her prey.

“…—-(Y/N)… (Y/N)…!”

A light shake pulled you out of your thoughts, the growing panic in Eris’s voice evident as he called your name again. You hummed, letting your husband know that he had gotten your attention, pulling you away from the past.

“…Sorry…” you apologized, a word that rarely slipped your lips, “I got drawn to the past…” eyes lifted and looked up at Eris, whose features softened at your words.

“How bad was it this time?”

Eris had been your only confidant about these nightmares. He always had asked about it since the first night you had one, millennials ago at the start of your friendship and into your married life.

And he will only be the only one who will ever know your weakness.

A light simper tugged at your lips as you rested your head against his shoulder, “Beron tried to choke me… and then he turned into you… and then you tried to kill me…”

Your words were light — as if it was a normal conversation.

But it wasn’t.

No matter how much you tried to deny it, your figure shook, still traumatized by the dream — by the reality — that still haunted you. The dream took you into the depths of your fears, where you lost your brother, and where you lost your life — whether it be by Beron’s hands… or by Eris’s.

The idea of death scares you, that you were nothing but a shaking leaf in Eris’s lap, paralyzed by the very thought.

You didn’t want to lose your life… not yet.

Not when your revenge against your brother was unfulfilled.

And you would not lose your life before you fulfilled your promise with Eris.

To put him on the Autumn Court throne.

You felt your hands shake in your lap, you glanced down at them with a frown. You hated when your body became vulnerable like this, showing every emotion that you attempted stomped down in your chest. You practiced for millennials to keep your body and emotions in check — to ensure no one knew of your vulnerabilities.

But moments like these, in the dead of the night, where they ran rabid through your body — it was hard to control them.

A large hand grasped your own, pulling you away from your mind once again, seeing Eris’s hand grasp both of yours gently, forcing you to look up at him. His eyes showed with worry, but with a hint of resolution, he brought your hand to his lips and kissed it, letting his lips linger on your skin as he spoke.

“You know I would never lay a finger on you, right?” he asked, truth dripping with every letter.

You nodded your head, and Eris sighed and pressed another kiss on your palm.

He knew your dream was unusual — your dreams usually consist of your dead brother and his father — that nightmarish day still haunting you after so many millennials. However, the fact that he appeared in your dreams with the intent of hurting you, made him worry.

Eris shifted you in his arms, moving you so that you were straddling his thighs, your arms placed around his shoulders while he grasped your waist. Amber hues looked up at you, assessing your features for a moment, “I will never hurt you, nor try to kill you. That would break my promise, wouldn’t it?” he said with a light simper of a smile, softening his features.

You chuckled and nodded, your fingers playing with his auburn hair, the long locks out of its usual ponytail and free flowing over his back, “I know… I just, don’t know why you appeared in my dreams either. I just… think that I fear one day…” Your eyes averted his own, staring at the wall behind him, “I fear one day you will not need me anymore and will dispose of me…”

You felt Eris stiffen underneath you and those hands that were on your waist, slid up your back and grasped the back of your neck, gently forcing your gaze to return to his own.

“I will always need you, (Y/N). You are my wife. After millennials with me, of being at my side, can you not see I need you? As my wife, as my partner-in-crime… You are what I need right now. I will never leave you, I will never dispose of you. Do you understand that?”

His tone was so determined, so strong… yet all so soft that you felt your heart — one that you were sure stopped beating all those years ago — thump in your ribcage. Eris always seemed to see you in such a good light, one that was not tainted in blood nor poison.

You had done horrible things — killed people with your magic, manipulated people to your liking. You did everything in your power to turn the tides to your liking, to ensure that once it was time, Eris, with your help, would be sitting on that throne. That he would have little bloodshed on his hands, and you would be the one bearing all the weight of all the people you’ve killed.

And yet, here was he… your husband, showing you that you were still needed, you were still wanted. That he needed you after all of this, even if he sat on that throne, ruling over Autumn Court:

He would still need you.

A soft sigh escaped your lips and nodded your head, silently answering his question.

Eris let out a disappointing click of his tongue, fingers grasping your chin, “Words, my butterfly. I need your words.”

You chuckled softly, bringing yourself close to him, letting your breath fan over his features, “I understand that you will not abandon me, that you will need me long after you sit on that throne...”

Eris let out a pleased sound, leaning up to kiss your jawline before he maneuvered the both of you back into bed, an amused chuckle escaping your lips.

“You look gorgeous as ever, sister-in-law…”

You paused mid-step, a well-practiced smile tugging on your lips, turning on your heels to greet Rian — the third Vanserra son. You gave an elegant bow, before feeling a finger against your chin, forcing you to look up at him, that arrogant smirk on his features.

“In my eyes, you’re more gorgeous like this… below me…”

Oh the conceit that radiated off him made your lips twitch with annoyance, and your head pound.

Were all the Vanesrra blood like this?

You stood up, forcing his hand off you, tilting your head and feigning innocence, “Unfortunately, Rian…” His eye twitched at the lack of title before his name, “Much to your dislike, I am the wife of your eldest brother… And I’m quite sure he would not be pleased with your words towards me…”

Rian stiffened at such threatening words. Like the other Vanserra brothers, he knew you were off-limits. Eris had made that quite clear when he had married you all those millennials ago — even had decided to kill someone on the spot for attempting to seduce you in front of him.

That show of power and dominance for the Autumn Court Heir had made the brothers wary of you, but being the innocent wallflower you portrayed caused the brothers to seek you out more often than both of you wanted. The brothers vied for your attention, often seeking you out in their free time. They believed that if they had you by their side, they would become the Autumn Heir, pushing their eldest brother out of contestant. You played them, and used that to your advantage — you used them to gather information about the Court, confidential information only the Royal blood would know; using their infatuation to pit them against each other.

The brothers played right into your hands.

“(Y/N)…”

You watched as Rian’s form stiffened, eyes averting from yours to look behind you. He bowed his head and stepped aside, eyes glancing at you for a split moment before he turned his heels and walked down the hall into the throne room.

You knew that voice anywhere — the voice that still echoed in your head, one that still accompanied your nightmares.

Turning on your heels, you gave another deep bow, “Lady Autumn…” you greeted her, straightening from your curtsy to look at the female.

She was still as you remembered, that nightmarish day — beautiful and immortally young. Gwinthedwe hadn’t changed since that day and you couldn’t help but wonder if your brother was still alive, would he have aged as well?

You felt an arm on your shoulder and you snapped out of your thoughts, looking up at the female as she gave you a soft smile — but you could see, underneath that smile was pity. You know that she still looked at you as that child, the child that lost her older brother.

You wanted to blame her — your whole being wanted nothing but to blame her, but you knew you shouldn’t.

She was Eris’s mother, the only person Eris cherished besides yourself.

But she was also the main reason your brother died — their romance was why Felian had to be at the end of Beron’s sword. You knew she regretted it, you saw it every time she looked at you.

And all you could muster up every time was a stiff smile.

“…Was Rian bothering you, (Y/N)?” she asked in a motherly tone, light and airy, soft and gentle.

It made your heart pang.

You shook your head, gently sliding out of her hold, “No more than usual, Lady Autumn…” you answered, eyes averting away from hers, towards the large double doors.

There, you noticed Eris standing near them, awaiting the two of you to enter the throne room.

It seemed that Beron had called the entire family — he had an announcement to make.

Glancing back at the Lady of Autumn, she gazed at you with a light twinkle in her eye, one that came and gone before she stepped ahead of you, greeting her eldest son with a kiss on his forehead before she entered the room.

Eris looked back at you before silently offering his arm.

With your head held up high, ensuring your mind was wrapped in fire and protected by your hounds, you stepped up to your husband’s side, slipping your hand into the crook of his arm. His hand slid into yours, squeezing it as he signaled the guards to open the grand doors.

The groan of ancient wooden doors opened, and you couldn’t help but bring yourself closer to your husband as you stepped through the archway and into the throne room, where the Court turned their heads.

Scrutinizing gazes fell onto you, but you kept your head high, walking gracefully to the dias, and gave the Autumn High Lord and Lady of Autumn a curtsy, all the while Eris gave a bow at his waist.

“Ah, Eris… my son…” Beron’s voice was full of pride at the sight of his eldest son, “And (Y/N)… It seems the whole family has finally arrived. Sit, we have much to discuss…”

You straightened and allowed Eris to lead you to the long table that was situated in the middle of the throne room — an oak table that was carved eons ago from a large oak tree that grew right where the Forest House now stood.

It was said that the first Autumn High Lord searched high and low for the perfect place to build his Court. And when he found the tree — one that had little leaves compared to the foliage that surrounded it — that was near the top of a jagged cliffside, he declared this was where his castle should stand. He built the large castle, allowing the rivers to flow from the top of the mountain to the caverns below, creating intricate pathways and bridges that would confuse trespassers. Only those who have lived in the Forest House and be told its secrets would know the correct path. He built a multitude of rooms to house family and guests, and where that singular oak tree stood, he placed his throne.

With skillful hands, he used the wood of that oak tree to carve this table, the official insignia of the Court — the large oak tree — was carved onto the top. Millennials passed and all the Autumn High Lords added their signature to the Forest House, but this singular table — where the rulings and laws of Autumn Court were created, had never been altered or changed.

You sat in your usual spot, next to Eris, near the head of the table, across from Gwinthedwe. Your eyes focused on the High Lord as he sat at the head of the table, the Autumn Crown made of golden twigs and leaves glimmering on top of his head. Once he had settled in his chair, a pleased smirk tugged on his lips.

“I have found her… I have found Briallyn…”

👑 General Tag List: @prythianpages . @strangelygreat . @honeybeeboobaa

🕯️Series Tag List: @imma-too-many-fandoms . @assriels . @kiarathace . @xyzmeh . @doctorpeterphan . @phoenix666stuff . @glaciuswduo . @glitterypirateduck . @cat-or-kitten . @sevikas-whore . @darling006 . @inloveallthetime . @viatorem-maris

those italicized I was not able to tag.

[hood-ex]

Remember when Dick fought Beast Bruce on top of a bridge, and Beast Bruce flung himself at Dick, sending both of them careening into the river below?

Titans: Beast World #2

My brain was so kind to remind me of a similar scene in LOTR when the Warg dragged Aragorn over a cliff and into the river.

[novelmonger]

Continuing to watch through the Writer/Director commentary of LotR (with Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, and Fran Walsh) and jotting down any new-to-me information I come across. Here's what I gleaned from TTT:

When they got the New Line logo to put on the movies, it was very old and scratched, so PJ gave it to Weta to touch it up. They joked about how they should bill New Line for it XD

Originally, the studio wanted TTT to start off with a prologue too, with Cate Blanchett narrating what sounds like it was basically going to be a "Previously on..." spiel, even though they didn't like the idea of the prologue in the first one. Thankfully, these three ignored the studio's advice both times XD

The Uruk who says "Manflesh" is also the guy in Sauron's armor in the prologue!

In the scene where the Rohirrim find Theodred, it's not actually raining! They used rain towers for the close-ups, but any wide shots just have CG rain. I would never have guessed!

Andy Serkis did the voices for the Uruk-Hai who says the "maggoty bread" line, and the orc who says, "Yeah, why can't we have some meat?" (The actor in the suit for the latter is, of course, Jed Brophy, who went on to play Nori in the Hobbit movies.)

Somehow it never registered for me that Orlando Bloom has brown eyes, and so he had to wear blue contacts when he played Legolas ^^' But sometimes he wasn't able to wear the contacts (or forgot), so there are some scenes where they had to fix it in post.

PJ called the Treebeard from the animated Bakshi movie "a walking carrot" XD He also said that Treebeard is his favorite character!

The scene with Smeagol killing Deagol was originally going to be a flashback right after Frodo says his name, and then the Nazgul shriek would pull the audience out of the flashback. They decided not to do that for pacing reasons and because we haven't spent much time with Gollum yet, so that's why they put it at the beginning of RotK instead.

Bernard Hill had his son with him on the shoot and would play with him in his downtime on the Edoras set. Puts things into perspective when you hear that he was the one who came up with the line "No parent should have to bury their child."

They were originally looking at Bernard Hill for Gandalf! (I feel like I've probably heard this before, but anyway.)

They filmed a flashback to Aragorn and Arwen's first meeting?! Viggo shaved to make himself look younger, and it was a scene of the two of them "frolicking about the forest." It was originally going to be put in the Lothlorien sequence, but they cut it out in favor of that scene between Aragorn and Boromir, because they decided it was more important to earn Boromir's death scene than to remind the audience of the romance. I agree with that decision, but it would be cool to see that footage! (I say as someone who prefers to skip the TTT Aragorn/Arwen scene entirely XD)

Originally, the warg battle was going to happen at Edoras itself. It was going to be at night, everything was going to be on fire, and ultimately that was going to be the reason everyone evacuated and went to Helm's Deep. Also, a warg was going to be set on fire and end up dragging Aragorn through the streets, and that was going to be how Aragorn would be left for dead. Ultimately, the reason they did it the way they did was because the studio wasn't sure Weta could do a flaming warg (something all three of them laughed about, considering everything Weta did manage to do with flying colors), and because it would have been a nightmare to light the Edoras set at night, because that location was so remote and so windy. Which is why every scene in Edoras takes place in the daytime!

In the scene where Faramir talks about his dream where he saw Boromir in the boat, you can see a sort of pinkish color in the water around Boromir's body. That's because the dye from his shirt (surcoat? idk) was leaking out into the water! XD

When Andy Serkis did ADR for the Forbidden Pool scene, he couldn't manage to sing the song off-key, so they had to use the audio from the motion capture footage XD

They shot some additional footage of Aragorn unconscious on Brego's back, riding past an orc encampment, that they never ended up using.

Theoden was originally going to give a speech to the soldiers in the armory, but Bernard Hill's performance was so inspiring that it defused most of the tension they were trying to build up before the battle, so they took it out. Would love to see that footage!

So the boy Aragorn encourages before the battle ("There is always hope.") was Philippa Boyens' son, who was 13 when they filmed the scene. But by the time they went to do ADR, his voice had broken, so they had to get a different child actor to say his lines.

Aww, the extra who was missing an eye said he always felt self-conscious about his missing eye, so he always wore an eyepatch. But then after they gave him a close-up and the guy saw the movie, he said he felt much better about his appearance! :')

Treebeard's line "I always like going south; it feels like going downhill" was ad-libbed!

When Saruman turns and reacts to all the water pouring in and washing his machinery away, that shot was actually a reaction shot to Wormtongue on top of the tower from the RotK movie that they repurposed for this scene instead, since they hadn't shot any reactions to the flood.

At least at the time of the recording of this audio commentary, the final shot of Gollum, where he's arguing with himself and ultimately decides to lead Frodo and Sam to Shelob, was the longest CG shot in any movie. (I tried to google what the current record is, but couldn't find anything, so if anyone knows, I'd love to hear about it!)

Fran Walsh: "All cinema storytelling, to a degree, is shallow. That's the nature of the medium. You've got two or three hours to present a world and a dense story with a hundred themes and a ton of backstory, in this instance, and 22 characters...so you can only really have the veneer of depth. You really can't have anything that comes close to the depth of the books, or the experience of the books. So I think what we attempted to do was to use the language of the books where we could and to certainly invoke them, the iconic images, where we could, but to keep the storytelling very much...to modernize it, if you like, in terms of cinema language. So we didn't, for example, use the style of storytelling that was in the books between these different after-the-fact storytelling, of Sam and Frodo and then a chunk of the Aragorn story. We completely undercut it. That was a far more immediate and engaging way to connect it to the audience. You can't really hope to satisfy people who adore this book, with the movie. You can only ever give them the sense of what might have been. That's all a film can do. I think, in that sense, films...I mean, they're entertainments. They're just not going to give you the pleasure that a book can give you."

[maryellencarter]

Andy Serkis, of course, as *the* expert in motion-capture acting ever since he first played Gollum 20+ years ago, is a shapeshifter in ways beyond even most character actors to achieve.

He's also a high-level shapeshifter by normal character actor methods -- when I saw him in Black Panther (I think possibly the only place I've seen him wearing his own face, me not being a great moviegoer at the best of times), there was only one brief moment where an expression that reminded me of Gollum flickered through.

Recently, it turned out that a free trial of Amazon Prime which I happened to have running could be converted into a second free book credit on Audible if I should take a free trial there. I've been curious for some time about the 2021 audiobook of LOTR performed by Andy Serkis, and while trying to get my sleep schedule right way up for job-hunting purposes, I've been working on listening to his Fellowship of the Ring. (I've just reached Moria.)

It's a straight-up audiobook, not a play, by the technical definition: one performer, no music or added special effects. But *damn*, you want to talk about shapeshifting? Serkis does startlingly accurate impressions of every actor in the Peter Jackson movies, plus unique voices for characters with no movie casting, and he sings the songs that are described as having tunes.

(I don't have the ear to tell whether he's using new compositions or some kind of traditional tunes, except that I can say for certain he doesn't use Tolkien's rendition of "A fox went out on a winter's night" for Sam's "Troll Song". If anyone with a better ear than mine happens to investigate, I'd be delighted to know what's discovered.)

His narratorial voice isn't 100% Jirt, which is a Choice, but one I honestly support. The Professor had a thick Old English accent which would probably be a chore to listen to or perform for 60+ hours of total audiobook length. Serkis seems to be using something close to his natural Middlesex accent for the narration, as far as I can tell, but there are enough of the familiar Tolkienian twists (like using the "o" sound from the word "tossed" in "shone" and "wroth") that I'm favorably impressed so far.

His Elvish pronunciation isn't perfect, but it's solidly movie-quality (positive); you'd likely have to be me, with a quarter-century and counting of Sindarin as a second language, to snag on the tiny things I'm snagging on, stuff like the Finnish-style double-length "m" in Remmirath or the "eth" sound represented by the "dh" in Caradhras. (There is properly no D sound in Caradhras; the middle consonant sound should be that of the "th" in "these clothes", but I've never actually heard anyone besides myself say it that way.) He gets a lot of the tricky sounds correct, better than I do when I'm being sloppy, like the long-i-adjacent diphthong in Edain or the broad second A in Gandalf.

Also, the unique voices and the vocal effects he brings in for certain scenes are just... I don't even have words. The Barrow-Wight is as terrifying as it was when I was ten. Tom Bombadil sings about 95% of his dialogue, which I've never imagined any performance acknowledging unless it were the hypothetical LOTR opera I suggest every so often, but goddamn if he doesn't somehow make it work. For the movie-cast voices, he flips so smoothly between the mishmash of accents that I keep forgetting I'm not actually listening to a full-cast play with Billy Boyd's chirpy Glaswegian, Sean Bean's gruff Yorkshire, and Sean Astin's earnest put-on West Country all complete.

As for the lowest bar, the reason I refuse to recommend Rob Inglis's older unabridged audiobooks as an entry point -- Inglis regularly inserts contractions that aren't in the original text, turning the formal tone of scenes where "cannot" and "will not" are important signifiers into something incongruously conversational. I do not forgive that kind of alteration in a text where the formality level, and the changes between levels, are such an incredibly fundamental part of what's being conveyed. Serkis has already successfully cleared one dialogue point where it would have been easy to change "can not" to "can't" (Pippin talking nearly as fast as hobbitly possible), and I'm very optimistic that he'll continue to hit those marks.

Wow, that got longer than I expected, but I'm *really* enjoying this rendition. Unless it majorly blows up in my face somehow, I fully expect to have a new go-to recommendation for How To Experience LOTR for people who can't get through it by reading the text. (And even for people who can. I've said on many occasions, that book is written to be read aloud.)

[elainarcheronslawyer]

I’m filled with an overwhelming sense of procrastination so have a list of things that remind me of Elain

Amy march 🎨

2. Floral tea cups 🫖

3. Luna Lovegood ✨(Elain can see the future she’s definitely wholesomely unhinged)

4. Sabrina carpenter💋 (in her pink tour looks) please please please can someone draw this

5. Evangeline Fox 🦊

6. All Hares 🐇 it irritates me when people liken her to a fawn (sjm I'm looking at you) she’s clearly a hare

7. Cassandra , as high as hope and what the water gave me by Florence and the machine🥀

8. This painting 🌸

9. Bag end 🥄

10. Sunlight through trees 🌲

11. That scene in Lotr when they find the statues head crowned in flowers and Sam says “look mr Frodo the king has his crown again” 👑

Whilst we’re on the subject: 12. Samwise Gamgee 🧑‍🌾 I think it’s because they’re both kind and brave and gardeners but I don’t really know

13. Lucy pensive 🦁

14. Hannah Dodd 🩰(my own personal fancast)

15. Ruby from Anne with an e 🎀 ( yes I know it was a book first I’m talking particularly about the show)

Finally 16.Elle fanning as Aurora 💐