#shire streams

[shirecorn]

Who wants an hour long lecture about mermaid anatomy, evolution, respiration, articulation, and vveeery brief history?

Mermaid Overview Lecture

[skyscrapergods]

Streaming my version of the meme! it's so perfect for skyscrapergods

lets goooooo

[shirecorn]

Hey look guys it me!

I joined (begged to be let in) Draft Horses (funny pony artists do pony prompt videos) and I'll be doing silly drawing games on March 30th!

Join me and a bunch of others to have a stupid good time!

We're hosting a 16-artist charity stream on 30th March!

We've been teasing something for the last couple weeks, and it's finally time to reveal it: The Draft Horses channel is hosting the Gartic Horse anniversary stream, this Saturday 30th March! 16 pony artists have teamed up and we're gonna be playing Gartic Phone live on stream to raise money for Cancer Research UK! So come join us!

Head over to the stream page now, and hit Notify Me so you get pinged when the stream is about to go live!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3CeHoSDxgE

If you're wondering "what's Gartic Horse?" Well, a year ago, on March 26 2023, @falloutfurret united a bunch of pony artists to raise money for The Trevor Project by playing Gartic Phone! It went amazingly well, and from there, the idea dawned to make more pony-themed YouTube art content! And so Draft Horses was born! We're returning to our roots and introducing some new friends, so come help us have fun for a good cause!

[professorjirt]

it’s occurring to me that Frodo has had a near death experience, been near dead, or just straight up momentarily dead way too many times

[runawayandhide]

[cinemadaydreams]

Corporate Fantasy Screensaver: The Fellowship of Something or Other

***I saw the first episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - "Shadow of the Past". This review is specifically for that first episode, not the series as a whole (yet).***

So, what does one do telling a story whose ending is already known? I was always puzzled on a storytelling standpoint why Amazon Studios chose this over all other IP products they could have chosen to invest in, especially a story that looks 'back' instead of looking 'forward' in a narrative. For example, I think a large part of the difficulty of the Prequel Trilogy of Star Wars was due to the fact that we knew who would survive and who would (likely) die. Very little left to the imagination in terms of true suspense. I anticipate it will be a similar corner that Rings of Power will end up in. I hope I'm wrong.

First, what to raise a pint of the Green Dragon to - namely, the set design. I could tell the teams within the set designs, both physical and digital, poured their heart and soul in making it live and breathe as a place. It is always refreshing to be carried away by a world. I was more than impressed by their work and I hope they are commended and paid well for their efforts. 

It is evident that this is a high budget production. There is some level of expectancy that it would need to be at a different level than most tv shows visually given the financial means they had to work with. To this end, it has succeeded. 

And now, the longer journey through Middle-Earth that frankly, needs work….

The Prologue or The Absence of Morgoth (“By rights we shouldn’t even be here!”)

One of the key elements of any good visual storytelling moment is giving the audience the ability to 'see' what happens rather than 'tell' us what happens. I know many can draw upon the initial battle of Sauron vs Men & Elves in Fellowship of the Ring as one of the more powerfully filmed sequences to show us the enormous odds that the Free Peoples of Middle-Earth were facing against Sauron.

So why did it work in Fellowship? I think it worked because Sauron's size and power were shown with equal visual weight, and the iconic 'finger-slicing' sword moment of Isildur was shown through image, not simply dialogue.

The “Shadow of the Past" introduction depends far too much on the dialogue itself to carry the weight of the battle against Morgoth (which, on a pragmatic level, might be because of rights limitations). We see the hordes of orcs and the dragons, but only briefly (and flatly lit) where the color grading of the ground battle looks oddly out of place from the epic shots of gigantic eagles and terrifying dragons. She tells us “Morgoth was vanguished” and "Sauron had to flee" but neither of those moments are shown. This was a gigantic opportunity lost, for no one apart from those that read the books actually will see how treacherous and evil a character Morgoth was in the Middle-Earth world. As a viewer I don't understand why they could defeat Morgoth but not Sauron, who was Morgoth's lesser in terms of strength and size. I hope future episodes actually focus on that difference and not simply through thrown-in dialogue, however well-read the narration may be. 

Galadriel's substance as a leader (“instead of a Dark Lord you would have a Queen!”)

    Her leadership itself isn’t an issue. Who better to lead the Elves on mission into the darkness than one of the most powerful elves in the history of Middle-Earth? It is how the writers chose her emotional set-up of why she’s obsessed with taking down Sauron in the first place that I have to address. I was gobsmacked by how little I cared.

   As a global audience, thanks to Peter Jackson’s trilogy, most of us KNOW how much of a baddie Sauron is (or are at least aware of it). The writers of “Shadow of the Past” seemed keen to emphasize that point without offering anything new in the process. We knew everything they told us. Nothing new was expressed. All we saw were flashpoints (almost video game cut-scene style) that told us how to feel, rather than draw us in. 

There was an incredibly easy solution to this that would have made Galadriel a far more captivating character for me. She’s already a warrior at that point of the War of Wrath, correct? Why not SHOW her brother slain by Sauron in front of our eyes and more importantly, in front of Galadriel. Make us understand her centuries’ long obsession is based on an actual event she witnessed but could not stop. You could even throw in the High King Gil-Galad and her elven warriors fighting, but not willing to risk their lives to vanquish Sauron, thus sacrificing her brother to the slaughter. Make Galadriel’s anger at them for cowardice in her quest to track him down visually palpable.

I think Clark did a fine job as an actor portraying one as an elf kindled by rage and hatred of Sauron, but I as a mere mortal myself who is not a warrior, I found it difficult to really ‘feel’ for her. It made me recall that 10 second moment in “Fellowship of the Ring” where Isildur witnesses his father Elendil bludgeoned to death by Sauron. The grief, fear and rage is all shown within those 10 seconds. As the viewer I understand every piece of that because I was ’shown’ Isildur going through that moment, not ‘told’. I hope if anyone in the writing teams are reading this review, please, I beg you, don’t fall into that trap of telling us about events constantly and expect us to still identify with that character as strongly as we did with those in the original movie trilogy. Unless you show us, it will be hard to want to keep watching this for another five years, let alone the next season. 

The Diversity of Language as a Showcase of Culture (“cannot be concealed by the power of the Elves”)

       The lack of Elvish itself within the narrative of the Elves themselves was bewildering. JRR Tolkien's expertise as a fantasy fiction writer was largely based on how detailed he went to make the races within those world so uniquely specific through language and culture. Professor Tolkien created almost 12 languages single-handedly.

      I had to recollect after the fact why the Elves felt so similar to the world of Men in the first episode and then it hit me: they chose to NOT use the Elvish language in scenes that were featuring only Elves. The main scene I refer to is when High King Gil-Galad of Lindon makes his congratulatory speeches to Galadriel and her warriors. If I'm to truly believe that the Elves are the lords of Middle-Earth, especially at Lindon's height of power, everyone in Middle-Earth would recognize that Elvish is the main language people would want to speak, not the other way around. At the very least, that should have been the focus within the Lindon sequences. All I heard was the Common Tongue (aka English). My guess is that Amazon is attempting to make the story as wide-reaching as possible for all their Prime users, but I could not find it more ironic of them assimilating the Elven culture to the Common Tongue for the sake of ‘universality’ all the while celebrating other choices they made. This is a lost opportunity to welcome in new watchers into the Tolkien world that felt like Tolkien’s making, rather than a company attempting to convince us they can mimic it.

The ending - “my people are leaving these shores”

Galadriel willfully plunging into the middle of the Sundering Seas after what seems like hundreds (if not thousands) of miles was one of the more blatant uses of a future Deus Ex Machina I’ve seen in decades for a big-budget production. It reminded me sadly how different a TV show set in Middle Earth will be structured than a film, with each ending of an episode leaving you dissatisfied with some mystery yet to be discovered (unless you watch the next one). But here’s the thing, and it galls me because I WANTED to like this episode - I felt no urge, no compulsion, no interest whatsoever to know about Galadriel’s plight. Frankly, that moment felt written forcefully to move the plot, not an organic choice that sprung out of creativity. 

A simple change in the story would create a desperate situation for our hero that would kindle our interest and sympathy. Why not have her elven warriors turn on her? If they were fed up with her relentless drive and ego to take down Sauron, why not one of her fellow warriors push her off the boat, denying her entrance into the eternal bliss of Valinor? It might have been initially cruel (and certainly a shock) but then the questions would percolate and make me want to see how she survives, rather than knowing in episode 2 she will be picked up by some kind of raft/ship/boat/etc. And why not we thicken the plot? What if the High King gives that order as his final command to the other elves? “Leave no trace” or something along those lines, and whisper that line in elvish in secret after the ceremony? Show that the corruption of Sauron, though still invisible, is starting to trickle into the veins of Linden itself.

“Here at the end of all things”

Bilbo Baggins was right, the power of the Ring does make one feel stretched and thin. Already I see the unfortunate gathering of what looks to be a beautiful-looking juggernaut of corporate fan fiction that cares not a button for what fans may or may not like. This I would be fine with if the show runners had insisted on better writing, which in turn would create engaging storytelling, regardless if they are taking Tolkien’s characters in a completely different direction than one would expect (or hope for). The Goodwill of all Free Folk will only go so far with this mindset. 

So, for those of you who continue to watch, I wish you all the health that the Shire can muster. For I will not be continuing to watch, as I have yet to encounter a person who tells me “you HAVE to watch the rest!”. Until that point comes, I will keep my Middle-Earth adventures tied more closely to Tolkien’s literary rendition, rather than that of a corporation insistent to regurgitate drone-shot-after-expensive-drone-shot, 3D printed armor (my personal theory, some of the costumes have that look rather than organically made by hand), the writing playing Balderdash with the Fellowship of the Ring prologue, and characters that are telling us their importance, rather than showing their importance through their actions. Like Samwise Gamgee said, “if I take one more step, this is the furthest from home I’ve ever been”. I felt like this show was leaving the home of Middle-Earth into a void of strangeness with no real voice of its own nor language than that of the Tongues of Men. And the “hearts of men are easily corrupted”. I hope I’m proven wrong but until then, I have other roads to walk on. 

Last thought - I have absolutely no problem with the show runners themselves. Frankly, I was impressed as first-time directors they were given the project and pulled off the season with the scale they had to handle. I’m hopeful that if they stick with it, and make a point to improve the writing, that their gamble will pay off to create a story that is memorable and brings people together in hope and one people will want to turn back to again and again. 

[djemsostylist]

Recently watched Episode 1 of Wild Isles and it's like, if I wasn't understanding Sir Johnald Ronald Rolkien Tolkien before, I really do now

[silmarillion-ways-to-die]

Bilbo Baggins of Bag End, Bagshot Row, Hobbiton, The Shire has a clock on his mantlepiece.

Nobody else in Middle Earth has clocks, outside The Shire and Bree. No clocks are mentioned in Gondor. They certainly don't have them in Rohan. Elrond doesn't announce the start of the Council of Elrond by saying "oh look at the time." Only Hobbits have clocks.

Only Hobbits have mills. Laketown has all that water and no mills. Erebor has a stream coming out of the entrance, where's the mill? What about Thranduil's halls, they have a river running through them, where's the mill?

The Hobbits of The Shire don't wear medieval clothing. It's all waistcoats and jackets—19th Century clothing. They might as well be wearing spacesuits!

And don't get me started on tobacco. Nobody in medieval Europe had tobacco.

Everyone in Middle Earth lives in the Middle Ages except the Hobbits. They're Victorian.

They're from The Future.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS IS A SCIENCE FICTION BOOK.

[ailustrarte]

Ligament Manor! Home of Nana Morri and Fearne, just an idyllic place in the middle of the Fey Realm.

Illustration for Critical Role

Thanks to Kyle Shire and Matthew Mercer for the opportunity and their guidance though both the new pieces revealed in tonight’s stream!

[overthinkinglotr]

WAIT WAIT AHHH there was a cut reprise!?? Is there any way to find it online?? I would be so grateful if you shared a link (Is this Gollum’s reprise of it, or is it a different thing?)

If there's one thing about me, it's that I AM going to cry at the cut Now And For Always reprise no matter how many times I experience it

[shirecorn]

Streaming!

Mpreg Seahorses, frog fish, toad fish, straight up frogs?? Confusing and confound array of mermay, that have been requested via ko-fi!

Mermay Stream!

[skyscrapergods]

I love your AU and your art! ❤

I was wondering: have you read the comics? They are dubiously canon (some stuff is contradicted by the show, other times the show seems to subtly reference them so... lower tier cannon I guess? Where they can provide some valuable background info, but show canon wins out over comic canon) but they have some interesting stuff. Apple Jack's parents, how Nightmare Moon was created, and what I wanted to mention: The backstory for Cadence, Sombra, and the Crystal Empire.

I can ramble more if you want later (please I love to ramble), but the gist is that it's HEAVILY implied that Cadence is a sort of reincarnation of the Crystal Empire's first ruler/founder. If true, it makes Celestia's decision to make her the ruler of the Crystal Empire make more sense. Heck, near the end of the episode where the Crystal Empire is introduced, a crystal pony calls Cadence THE crystal princess.

Cadence, Sombra, and the Crystal Empire are honestly more intertwined than they seem, in the comics at least.

I just thought you might find this interesting bc it is so fascinating to me :)

I have not read the comics! I probably should, as half the fun of my worldbuilding is making homages to canon.

I'm a bit too deep in the sombra/cadance/nightmare moon lore to change it now. I've got things mostly planned out in my server with my patrons. I could Try though!

Skyscraper Gods Cadance is installed by Celestia to serve Equestria's interests. She is a colonizer upon the crystal empire, stepping into the power vacuum created by sombra's defeat.

If you want the details of everything I've been planning, please join my patreon or ko-fi (new!!!) on anay tier to see and help me worldbuild in real time

There's also some details given during my streams, though this is somewhat outdated. The Rise of Sombra:

The Fall of Sombra:

[skyscrapergods]

ITS ME THE BIG HORSE

I've been in a couple draft horses episodes now! Come see me get hyped about my favorite pony of all: Me <3

Draft Horses anniversary episode!

We've been drawing horses together for a whole 365 days! (Give or take a few...) To celebrate, @timsplosion brings @shirecorn, @captainhoers, @melodymelancholyart, and @thebirdgang together to pay tribute to their fellow Draft Horses artists in the best way possible: putting their sonas in a blender! It's a lot less violent than it sounds, trust me.

Watch us super-combine at the live premiere on August 7, 3:30pm EDT/12:30pm PDT/7:30pm GMT. Make sure to turn on notifications too!

[mushroomates]

some boromir headcanons

he likes to eat spicy food. he cannot handle the spice, but keeps eating it anyways.

he stays up during merry and pippin’s watches during the night. half because he wants to keep them awake and give them company, half because he’s pretty sure they wont be paying attention.

best hugs. he will kind of pick u up while he hugs u.

would wear a fanny pack.

his favorite food is chicken. he likes any kind of chicken. also likes apples.

decent story teller. can recall gondor’s history easy. when he starts talking about it, he becomes very passionate and has been known to yell or cry while retelling events.

carries around a packet of dirt from gondor around with him for good luck.

tried to make his own brew. went blind for a little bit after trying it. gimli fuckin loves it tho, tried it at gondor and brought a batch with him.

has dogs. took in a stray while patrolling the city, named him Minas. Minas lived a long and happy life, and afterwards Faramir brought him a puppy who he named Ithil.

he is also allergic to dogs. insists otherwise.

his men call him “big brother boromir” behind his back. he pretends not to know.

once pippin called him dad and he coasted on that high for weeks

afraid of heights. will not admit it.

great with babies. would carry faramir around. his dad let him even though boromir was only five at the time, and faramir would try and wiggle out of his arms.

he whittles!!! or carves. works with wood. he made little trinkets for the hobbits in his spare time during the journey. he made pippin a little wooden dog and merry a rabbit because merrys kinda afraid of dogs. he made a bill the pony for sam after moria and was working on a cat for frodo before he passed away. it was in his pocket, half made. the didn’t spot it before he sailed away.

made faramir toys when they were younger- whole barnyard full of animals and some important gondor land marks. also a mini version of their family. faramir passed this down to pippin, who passed it down to his kids. it’s now a family heirloom.

dyslexic. faramir would read to him while he carved trinkets and such.

the fellowship goes out of their way to visit this shrine. he also has one in gondor, rivendell, and just outside of lorien.

boromir tried to teach merry and pippin wood carving once. pippins carving tools were quickly confiscated but merry learned how to make a boat.

merry officially took up wood carving after his death. he makes little boats for the hobbitlings and they have a race every summer down stream.

he also taught the hobbits how to make said boats, so when they’re older they hold the race themself. afterwards, they take the winning boat down to the graveyard.

boromir has a grave in the shire that the hobbits put gifts on, including said boats. it’s on the edge of the forest by the river. the fellowship all come to visit. some things left include: flowers, hot sauce, wooden toys, notes, homemade jam, pretty rocks, and some of farmer maggot’s produce. farmer maggot does not know of this.

[apoloadonisandnarcissus]

Has anyone noticed the similarities between Sauron and Gollum in “Rings of Power”?

Deep down here by the dark water lived old Gollum, a small slimy creature. I don’t know where he came from, nor who or what he was. He was Gollum. The Hobbit

Riddles were all he could think of. Asking them, and sometimes guessing them, had been the only game he had ever played with other funny creatures sitting in their holes in the long, long ago, before he lost all his friends and was driven away, alone, and crept down, down, into the dark under the mountains. The Hobbit

They cursed us. 'Murderer', they called us. They cursed us, and drove us away. And we wept, precious. We wept to be so alone. And we forgot the taste of bread, the sound of trees, the softness of the wind. We even forgot our own name. Return of the King (2003)

“What a pity Bilbo did not stab that vile creature when he had the chance!”

“Pity? It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity, and Mercy: not to strike without need. And he has been well rewarded, Frodo. Be sure that he took so little hurt from the evil, and escaped in the end, because he began his ownership of the Ring so. With Pity."

“He deserves death"

“Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends. I have not much hope that Gollum can be cured before he dies, but there is a chance of it. And he is bound up with the fate of the Ring. My heart tells me that he has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before the end, and when that comes, the pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many--yours not least"

Fellowship of the Ring, Shadow of the Past

The “my precious” face:

Gollum looked at them. A strange expression passed over his lean hungry face. The gleam faded from his eyes, and they went dim and grey, old and tired. A spasm of pain seemed to twist him, and he turned away, peering back up towards the pass, shaking his head, as if engaged in some interior debate. Then he came back, and slowly putting out a trembling hand, very cautiously he touched Frodo’s knee – but almost the touch was a caress. For a fleeting moment, could one of the sleepers have seen him, they would have thought that they beheld an old weary hobbit, shrunken by the years that had carried him far beyond his time, beyond friends and kin, and the fields and streams of youth, an old starved pitiable thing.” The Two Towers

This is not random, because not only Sméagol was corrupted by the One Ring (Gollum), but he was also captured and tortured by Sauron himself for information in Barad-dûr (Mordor) to learn who had the One Ring, in the Third Age (in the books, Sauron is not a giant eye ball on the top of a tower).

However, Sauron let him go (instead of killing him), which is odd not only by Sauron’s standards, but because Gollum knew Sauron’s plans, and releasing him would be a terrible risk (especially for a being as secretive as Sauron). And indeed it was, because it allowed Gandalf to know that Sauron was planning to use the Nazgûl to get the One Ring, and that he was aware that Bilbo had it, and the Nine Riders were headed for the Shire.

However, that’s what Sauron does. And why? Tolkien himself answered, in the Unfinished Tales: Sauron saw something on Gollum.

“He [Sauron] did not trust Gollum, for he divined something indomitable in him, which could not be overcome, even by the Shadow of Fear, except by destroying him.”

What did Sauron see? We don’t know, because Tolkien does not say. Only that Gollum made him uneasy, and he was not able to discern why.

Some theorize that Sauron might have seen Eru’s plan for Gollum in the creature (he would be the one to take the One and cast into the fire), and couldn’t kill him by “divine intervention”. To me, this theory doesn’t make much sense, because if this was what Sauron saw, why release Gollum, in the first place? Why not keep him a prisoner in Mordor to prevent this from happening?

Others say that Sauron did not trust Gollum but knew he would seek out the One Ring, and he could use this to his advantage, and that’s why he let him go. This is more likely, but still doesn’t explain why Gollum stir something in him.

And it seems that “Rings of Power” might be exploring this angle by giving Sauron some Gollum inspo. Which might mean that Sauron shared a recognition with Gollum. Which makes sense, since the he was corrupted by the One Ring, which holds a part of Sauron’s soul.

This makes me wonder, if we’ll get a scene like this in future seasons:

Frodo looked straight into Gollum's eyes which flinched and twisted away. 'You know that, or you guess well enough, Sméagol,' he said quietly and sternly. 'We are going to Mordor, of course. And you know the way there, I believe.' 'Ach! sss!' said Gollum, covering his ears with his hands, as if such frankness, and the open speaking of the names, hurt him. Two Towers

Frodo's calling Gollum by his true name has opened a door within him that had long been shut. It’s Gandalf that tells Frodo Gollum’s real name in the chapter The Shadow of the Past in “Fellowship of the Ring”.

Gandalf uses the name “Sméagol” in the past, never in the present (he calls him “Gollum”): this establishes a duality between the two names: Sméagol vs. Gollum. Pretty much the same as Mairon vs. Sauron. Sméagol is the “forgotten things” of Gollum’s past; like Mairon the Admirable is to Sauron. Gandalf admits he has hope that “Gollum can be cured before he dies”, meaning redeemed. This was Halbrand in Season 1; the Repentant Mairon.

Frodo, by addressing Gollum as Sméagol, evokes (or hopes to) the memory of these “forgotten things” (like Gandalf told him). Of course, Gollum is far into his corruption (being a ring-bearer to the One for over 500 years), for a mere evocation of his true name to redeem him, however, it could open the door to the hope of.

Indeed Gollum himself makes the distinction between the two: “Don't ask Sméagol. Poor, poor Sméagol, he went away long ago. They took his Precious, and he's lost now.” Or “No precious, no Sméagol”. In Gollum’s mind, “Sméagol” was lost not with the murder of Déagol centuries before, but when he lost the One to Bilbo.

In the Peter Jackson adaptation, this scene translated into this:

Frodo: Who are you? Gollum: Musn't ask us. Not his business, gollum, gollum. Frodo: Gandalf told me you were one of the river-folk. Gollum: Cold be heart and hand and bone, cold be travellers far from home. Frodo: He said your life was a sad story. Gollum: They do not see what lies ahead, when sun has failed and moon is dead. Frodo: You were not so different from a Hobbit once, were you... Sméagol? Gollum: What did you call me? Frodo: That was your name once, wasn't it? A long time ago. Gollum: My... my name. Sméagol....

In Season 2, it was Gandalf who had to earned his name via finding his staff. His character arc parallels Sauron’s in “Rings of Power”, which makes me wonder if his real name (Mairon) might come into play in Season 3.

Especially since we had so many mentions of him having “many names” in “Rings of Power”, already.

Which raises another question: did he, like Gollum, forgot his real name?

But who could come into play in this scene? The character who’s paralleling Frodo and Bilbo, of course: Galadriel.

[sephiramy]

a story I'd like to share:

my partner likes to play "Concerning Hobbits" aka "the Shire theme" whenever cooking OR eating food, so sometimes I come downstairs and my partner - broad-shouldered, 6 feet tall - is standing in the kitchen eating a salad right out of the plastic tupperware while peaceful violins are streaming from the phone, just totally vibing, and I think it's 1) nice and 2) hilarious