#team grima

[theamethystvampiress]

Somewhere Grima Wormtongue is clutching his obsidian necklace and trying to stay out of public. LOL LOL

[the-priestess-of-dawn]

Look at her!!!!

(She was already +10 but now she's got updated skills from the Hall of Forms)

She's got 2 builds because I think the dragonskin one is technically a little better, but... Flared Mirror lets Grima set things on fire and that just feels so good and right for her.

Also A/S Rein Snap makes her super fun to use on a team with the armored Grimas. Imagine 4 fell dragons rushing towards you all at once. That is what happens when they all get +1 movement :::)

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

There is a story about four daughters seeking the love of their father the king. It does not end well for them. One banished, two dead, one mad. There is a story about a king demanding the love of his four daughters. It dos not end well for him. Tolerated, secretly resented, he dies without them at his bedside. Only the one son. And he there for the crown and a father’s blessing, a father’s ring.

‘Reads like a legend,’ Éomer remarks to Éothain. They have returned to Edoras and Éomer is still waiting for Théodred to make good on all those promises for men that never seem to materialize. He wonders if Gríma has something to do with it. Whenever he questions Wyrmtunga he gets dithering or denial or confusion.

‘Dangerous path, that.’

‘What?’

‘Mapping legends too closely to our own lives. Families can be vicious to each other,’ Éothain replies. ‘Who knows best how to rip one another to shreds than mothers and fathers? Sisters and brother?’

‘Cousins,’ Éomer mutters. Leofstan has trotted out of Meduseld looking bright eyed and bushy tailed.

‘Cousins,’ Éothain agrees. ‘But don’t go and do something stupid like think you’re fated or in a myth or legend. Also don’t go and do something stupid like alienate your cousin. Either of them. Also don’t go and do something stupid like get Gríma’s back up about things so he starts pestering your more than he pesters Théodred.’

‘I would never do any of that.’

Éothain lifts an eyebrow, drinks his ale. They’re watching people corral into one of the large fields outside Meduseld that is lying dormant this season and it is where the midsummer fire and festivities are to be held. A few goats penned in for the later sacrifices to the landwights and dísir. Gríma said to Éomer that morning, I think the little one with the twisty horns will do well for us all. And Éomer replied, Small, ornery, and dressed in blacks? We should chuck you in, too. See if the gods like that. Gríma had replied with silence and a withering expression of: really Éomer? that is the best you can do? Éomer, chuffed, laughed at him.

Eomer and Grima, no matter the iteration of the universe or story they are in, are just Like That all the time. 

[iturbide]

from Pokemon Violet’s dex: “It's said that Hydreigon grew ferocious because people in times long past loathed it, considering it to be evil incarnate and attacking it relentlessly.”

*glances at a certain other six-winged dragon*

you know having only played Scarlet while my friend playing Violet is a little behind, I had forgotten the potential in the dual dex entries, because Hydreigon's Scarlet dex entry is not my favorite

That Violet entry, though

if Robin were to have a Grima pokemon on their team it might just have to be Hydreigon

[yanderefairyangel]

It defintely has some Awakening vibes but the writing avoided falling into the same trap as Awakening did *cough cough filler arc *

Spoilers for Awakening and Engage

Like Aversa and Zephia are almost there same character. Sombron and Grima are literally the same character.

The final battle is borrows from awakening chapter 22.

Robin’s story has parallels to Alear’s.

Engage isn’t a bad game but you can tell it was a rework of Awakening

[ludinusdaleth]

there are many theories currently out there about what changes animated vm & m9 will make, but between them saying the world will be more connected, teasing new cameos in lovm s3, saying the alarm is sounded early in m9 s1, and matt saying we will see the cerberus assembly's inner workings a lot more: i think a big inevitability might be establishing ludinus & his allies early.

i think ludinus being a tertiary villain who first appears midway in c2 is not a bad thing at all, and builds up subtly terrifying tension about him. but if you're able to build up your world again, this time with foreshadowing & full interconnectivity, it's best not to introduce the mastermind halfway through exandria's second act. were i in the cr team's heads, i would be thinking: hey, if we're in marquet for this event, would the beginnings of the vanguard not also have reason to set up here? would dwendal refusing to aid tal'dorei not be a massive foreshadow to ludinus molding the empire to be isolationist? would it not be good to set up ludinus as a character much earlier to slowly build up the terror about him and really allow it to grow through the entire saga?

i obviously dont expect it to go exactly as i imagine, but: id fully expect a cameo of otohan pre- or directly post-apex war in lovm s3, ludinus in the final season of lovm as the grima wormtongue to dwendal's decisions, perhaps giving him a scene trying to convince keyleth, percy, and/or vax of something. then id definitely ensure the prologue of m9 animated sets up ludinus & essek, then present ludinus kindly to the m9 with oremid & trent at the zadash arena, creating a purposeful juxtaposition that caleb and the audience inherently doesn't trust.

[least-sexy-man-competition]

INTRODUCING OUR CONTESTANTS...

Steve Carlsberg (Welcome to Night Vale)   

Emperor Belos (The Owl House)   

The Onceler (Lorax)   

Emperor Palpatine (Star Wars)   

Pikaman (Tumblr)   

Warren the Eagle (Don't Hug Me I'm Scared)   

Lord Hater (Wander over Yonder)   

Harry Du Bois (Disco Elysium)   

Bill Hawks (Professor Layton)   

Springtrap (Five Nights at Freddy's)   

Walter White (Breaking Bad)   

Cronus Ampora (Homestuck)   

Jerry (Undertale)   

Reigen Arataka (Mob Psycho 100)   

Dr. N. Brio (Crash Bandicoot)   

Elias Bouchard (The Magnus Archives)   

Doofenshmirtz (Phineas & Ferb)   

Kavinsky (The Raven Cycle)   

Dennis Reynolds (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia)   

Lord Farquaad (Shrek)   

Lemongrab (Adventure Time)   

Bill Cipher (Gravity Falls)   

Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture (Venture Brothers)   

Shin Tsumiki (Your Turn to Die)   

Zim (Invader Zim)   

L Lawliet (Death Note)   

Flint Paper (Sam & Max)   

BoJack Horseman (BoJack Horseman)   

Connecticut Clark (Connecticut)   

Fassad (Mother 3)   

Baldi (Baldi's Basics)  

Tony Stark (MCU)

Wallace (Wallace & Gromit)

Spamton G. Spamton (Deltarune)

Logan Roy (Succession)

Grima Wormtongue (Lord of the Rings)

Crux (The Locked Tomb)

Jonathan Sims (The Magnus Archives)

Five Pebble (Rain World)

Tingle (Legend of Zelda)

The Grinch (The Grinch)

Benrey (Half-Life VR But The AI Is Self-Aware)

Sasuke Uchiha (Naruto)

Neighbor (Hello Neighbor)

Tighten (Megamind)

Scout / Jeremy (Team Fortress 2)

Santa Claus (Christmas)

Sans (Undertale)

Ben Chang (Community)

Olaf (Frozen)

Jurgen Leitner (The Magnus Archives)

Pierre (Stardew Valley)

Jesus Christ (The Bible)

Randy Jade (Dialtown)

Count Olaf (A Series of Unfortunate Events)

Trip (Facade)

William Murderface (Metalocalypse)

Syndrome (The Incredibles)

Martin Kratt (The Wild Kratts/Zooboomafoo)

Oswald Mandus (Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs)

Naven Nuknuk (Epithet Erased)

Wario (Mario)

Mordecai (Regular Show)

Glenn Quagmire (Family Guy)

Voting will begin as soon as I have a proper image for the bracket :}

(im probably going to end up making my own at this point LOL)

[teecupangel]

Ok, I'll be honest and say I'm scratching the bottom of the barrel as I'm running out of fandoms to throw Desmond in. So, we've had multiple FE ideas, but not Awakening yet. How do you envision the story playing out if Desmond showed up? (Either being found with Robin or when the Future Kids come back to the past.)

I feel like putting Desmond next to Robin when Chrome and the others find them together might muddy the whole ‘Robin has amnesia’ thing and Desmond would have to deal with the fact that (1) he doesn’t know Robin at all and (2) people keep assuming that since they were found together, there must be a connection.

So we’re going a different route and Desmond is found by the river a few months since the end of ‘act 1’. This way, Desmond would have a bit of time to connect with the team in a more or less peaceful situation.

Desmond remains with them because he was found in the same place that Emmeryn fell and some people believe that he might hold a clue to why they haven’t found Emmeryn’s body at all. Desmond doesn’t feign amnesia, instead actually saying that this isn’t his world.

And they believe him because this is a world where magic exists so why not?

So when Act 2 officially starts, Desmond is part of the Shepherds because he’s gotten close to them.

Then Lucina talks to Desmond after she becomes part of the team and tells him that he was summoned by someone she trusted in the bad future she came from.

To be more exact, there was someone who came to their world and helped them travel back in time in exchange for helping him pull Desmond into their world when they travel.

The plan was for Desmond to appear with their benefactor but it seemed that something went wrong and Desmond appeared in another place instead.

Lucina believes that he appeared near where a relative of hers was because her blood was used to pull Desmond from his world before he died. According to Lucina, her blood was necessary for reasons unknown to even her.

(If we go for chrobin route, it’s because Lucina has the blood of Grima running through her veins as Robin was the vessel of Grima. Grima is their connection because Grima is what is the most similar to an Isu, Morgan’s blood was not used because Lucina would not allow her younger brother to bear the pain of being used as part of the summoning ritual)

And the name of their benefactor?

He only told them to call him ‘Clay’.

[felikatze]

i'm gonna put the lucina that went to therapy alt in the same team as the most deranged version of her parents and it'll be GREAT

the advantage to never doing story in feh is that i just got 110 orbs within 2 days

[wizling]

had my +10 linhardt on my "get orbs by cheesing harder maps with fallen edelgard and legendary grima" team for a while and this kind of thing happened uh. frequently

words by dril

[eviltransswag]

Evil Trans Swag Competitor List

I'm not posting a bracket because I'm still making it and it's by hand, but here are the characters who are going to be in the tournament! The match-ups will be randomly generated and there are 64 characters. The polls will last a week. Alright enough of that here is the list (in alphabetical order bc yeah)

Thanks everyone for submissions and the voter fraud!!

Akaza (Demon Slayer)

Akechi Goro (Persona 5)

Alexis Meade (Ugly Betty)

Artemis Fowl (Artemis Fowl series)

Ashiok (Magic the Gathering)

Beatrice (Umineko: When They Cry)

Bloodraven (Tales of Dunk and Egg)

Buggy the Clown (One Piece)

Cesar (Big Top Burger)

Sir Crocodile (One Piece)

Dio Brando (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure)

Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Rocky Horror Picture Show)

Dr. Starline (IDW Sonic)

Dracule Mihawk (One Piece)

Edward Nygma/The Riddler (DC Comics)

Elendira (Trigun)

Envy (Full Metal Alchemist)

Ghirahim (The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword)

Giselle Gewelle (Bleach)

Goblin King Jareth (Labyrinth)

Golden-Winged Peng (LEGO Monkie Kid)

Grelle Sutcliff (Black Butler)

Grima (Fire Emblem)

Heinz Doofenshmirtz (Phineas and Ferb)

Henry Cooldown (No More Heroes)

HIM (Powerpuff Girls)

Hubert von Vestra (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)

Ienaga Kano (Golden Kamuy)

Infinite the Jackal (Sonic the Hedgehog series)

James (Pokemon)

Jessie (Pokemon)

Jester Karture (Fate/Strange Fake)

John Hart (Torchwood)

Joseph Bertrand III (inFAMOUS 2)

Lestat de Lioncourt (The Vampire Chronicles)

Liquid Snake/Eli (Metal Gear Solid)

Loam Arnault (Entropic Float)

Merasmus (Team Fortress 2)

Metal Sonic (Sonic the Hedgehog series)

Millions Knives (Trigun)

Moot Tarbella (Epithet Erased)

Mordred Pendragon (The Mechanisms - High Noon Over Camelot)

Mutsuki Tooru (Tokyo Ghoul)

Neferpitou (Hunter x Hunter)

Orochimaru (Naruto)

Pigma Dengar (Star Fox)

Revolver Ocelot (Metal Gear Solid series)

Scaramouche/Wanderer (Genshin Impact)

Scourge the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog series)

SCP-004-J/Stanley Nichols (SCP Foundation)

Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII)

Serafine Savoy (Lackadaisy)

Shamura (Cult of the Lamb)

Shiromori (Mystery Skulls Animated)

Silver (Pokemon)

Suzuki Emiri (High-Rise Invasion)

Sweet Tooth (Moshi Monsters)

The Leading Light (HLVRV)

Turkey (Dorohedoro)

Tyki Mikk (D. Gray Man)

Uncle Wiley (Hatchetfield)

Vaati (The Legend of Zelda series)

Vegas Theerapanyakul (Kinnporsche: The Series)

Yoshiya "Joshua" Kiryu (The World Ends With You)

[theamethystvampiress]

Grima *knifes Saruman the White: "You oughta see me with a .357 magnum. I'm awesome!" LOL LOL

[visenyaism]

Hello. Love your work, you’re both hilarious and insightful at the same time. I would kill to have an ounce of your whit.

In any case, I would love your opinion on Otto Hightower, SER Otto Hightower. What did he do to get knighted? When, How, Where, What?

Artists make him out like some weasely bookworm like Grima Wormtongue. But he’s apparently a knight, like could he go toe to toe with Daemon? I would honestly kill to see those two duke it out with swords. OMG. Forget Aemond vs Daemon, give me the Otto/Daemon showdown.

Man has a whole ass backstory that we have not even come close to unpacking.

People be comparing him to Littlefinger, Varys and Tywin as though he is some master manipulator instead of just some guy, doing what every other guy in a highly stratified patriarchal feudal society would do by trying to accrue more power and prestige.

I just need to know what you think. Please and Thank You

so i do think otto hightower is pretty evil and manipulative, especially towards his own family. He’s got the Tywin Lannister ambition and (better) political calculus, but not the Tywin Lannister fixation on psychosexual humiliation and extreme violence. He uses his children and grandchildren as pawns in a war that gets all of them killed. but I think you’re touching on something important which is that he isn’t UNIQUELY evil. He’s exactly as evil as he needs to be to thrive in a society built on gender violence and systemic exploitation.

I think it’s really useful to compare him to his direct team black counterpart- corlys velaryon. If Laena had married Viserys and had a son, Corlys would be undermining Rhaenyra’s claim from the getgo. is there anything either of them did that the other one wouldn’t immediately also do if they were in the same situation?

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

How about some meta about what Grima drinks? What do you think he prefers when it comes to ales and wines, how does he take his coffee, and so on? And does he like something to nosh on while he drinks (meats/cheeses/veggies with wines and ales, sweets with coffee, etc)?

Oh I do love a food history question! I’ve answered asks about alcohol preferences before and also food so for reference, links to my previous ramblings: here and here and here and here and here.

I. might like to talk about Grima & food a lot. Maybe.

Tl;dr: I don’t think Grima’s ever had coffee or “true” tea (i.e., tea from the tea plant). Granted, if it existed in Rohan Grima would have a coffee IV drip inserted into his arm because that man looks like the walking dead in terms of a clear need for sleep.

Much more likely, he would have been drinking herbal teas/infusions/tisanes (e.g., dandelion or nettle). For alcohol: he mostly drinks wine, because it’s a status symbol. But he prefers ale and mead. I don’t know how he feels about ciders—I can see him going in different directions on that.

I also ramble about what he’d be snacking on as well—sweets mostly, breads (he loves carbs, we all know that is a man who loves carbs), various cheeses and yoghurt/yoghurt adjacent things.

---

As always, I wrote you all a novel.

---

Some Preliminary Meanderings on Trade

So first, I don’t know that Rohan has coffee or tea? (When I refer to “tea” here I mean tea from the tea plant (Camellia sinensis, which is native to China) I’ll distinguish other teas by calling them herbal teas or infusions etc.)

It’s hard to parse food and trade customs in Middle Earth because Tolkien wasn’t thinking like a historian, he was thinking like a linguist and a literature professor. Therefore, things are a little wonky when you try and work them through from a regional economics perspective.

For example, we know hobbits have tea, but no one else is mentioned as having tea. When drinking happens in other places it’s almost always wine or ale or mead or some other alcoholic beverage.

We also know hobbits have tobacco, which is a North American import. Obviously Tolkien created lore around how they got tobacco, since he seemed to be trying to keep Middle Earth pretty pre-colonization of North and South America in some ways. So they wouldn’t have had access to foods like tomatoes, potatoes, certain squashes, avocado, bananas, pineapples [yes, for all my tomato & pineapple jokes Grima wouldn’t know what they are], corn, certain beans etc. Most of this food wasn’t imported from the newly colonized north, south, and central America and the Caribbean until the 16th century.

LOTR is, first and foremost, a fairy tale smashed with legends such as those found in Arthuriana (Frankish and English versions), Italian legends, and the Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon mythos (think: Beowulf, various poetic Eddas etc.) This is why there are moments where things don’t quite work smoothly if you think about them long enough. (Hobbits are weirdly self-sufficient and technologically advanced yet we know they have regular contact with Bree who seems a hundred years behind them?)

The big, key thing is that Middle Earth, in the third age, is a fundamentally disconnected world. Even before Sauron’s return to Mordor, the human population across Gondor and Rohan and other areas has been decimated through war and diseases of the second age and early third age.

When we meet Rohan they’re a bit isolationist, aside from the strong connection to Gondor—how much of that is Grima, how much is Theoden, Thengel, Fengel, who knows. I can see Fengel starting the trend, Thengel and Theoden had strong pro-Gondor biases so would have repaired any fraught connections with that country, but I don’t see either really caring about anyone else. Rohan seems to have some strong xenophobic tendencies.

Grima, in his treason days, would have seen the benefit of an isolated, weak Rohan so would have kept it that way. If not made it worse.

Therefore, who is Rohan trading with? Gondor. Maaaaaaaaybe Laketown/Dale? But I personally see that as a stretch given the mass amount of pretty much desolate land between Laketown/Dale and Rohan. Also, it’s clear by Eomer’s reaction to Gimli that they’ve had no interactions with the Lonely Mountain. Like. Ever. If they had, Eomer would have known Gimli’s name and even if he’s the most truculent man Rohan’s ever produced, he knows how to do Prince Behaviour and would have acted accordingly.

Anyway, it's one thing to send a delegation or ambassador across such swaths of land on a specific mission, another to have merchants trekking that distance with no real support or safety network. They’d get robbed in a heartbeat.

Gondor has been on tense terms with pretty much all her neighbours, save Rohan, for a few generations at this point. Trade relations with Harad, Umber, and out east (Rhun etc.) are likely non-existent. And have been for a good while.

---

What does this mean for coffee and tea?

Going on Tolkien’s structuring of the world, I presume coffee and tea came from Harad and out east of Rhun since those spaces broadly represent middle east/parts of Africa (e.g., some aspects of Umber was loosely based on Ethiopia) and The East as seen through the lens of an Englishman steeped in a racist, orientalist culture.

Now, we know that Harad and Rhun are both aligned with the dark lord (just coincidentally, not at all for racist reasons /sarcasm/), and have had a historically fraught relationship with Gondor (lot’s of attempted colonization by Gondor, wars, bad international relations), I’m assuming there’s not been trade between them for a good, long while.

So, if there is coffee or tea in Gondor it’s been smuggled in. Therefore, if there’s coffee or tea in Rohan it’s what’s been smuggled into Gondor and somehow managed to be sold on into Rohan for a whack, whack tonne of money.

Perspective: In 14th c England a pound of ginger cost the same as a sheep—and that is a more or less accessible product procured legally.

Could Grima afford coffee or tea? I honestly don’t know. If he could, it’d be like half a year or a whole year’s income. That’s even presuming he would have had an opportunity to procure it. If he did, it’d be a rarity and would have been sold on the down-low, because of the obvious implications of what it means to have access to it.

Post-war of the ring? Gondor throws her weight around, (re)colonizes some places, forces others into subjugation, and as a result trade networks are likely reopened—either willingly or by force. So, after the war I see coffee and tea becoming far more accessible in Gondor and therefore, more accessible in Rohan.

-

I could see it being something people remember. Theoden’s father remembers his grandfather drinking coffee, that sort of thing.

Since I have Grima’s mother coming from the east as a quasi-refugee, she’d recall tea from childhood/young adulthood. It’s just they can’t get any, because of the war and the distance and lack of reliable trade network.

---

What does this mean for our favourite snake man?

So, what would Grima be drinking aside from ale and mead and wine and imported liquor?

Water, of course. There’d be wells also possible access to spring water (depending on where they are). So that’s an option.

There’s also milk. The Anglo-Saxon and early Medieval Scandinavian foodscape did funky, fun thinks with lightly fermented milk products—and aside from turning it into cheese, skyr, and iterations of kefir, they’d also soured dairy run-offs to cure their meat over the winter as an alternative to salting.

The one really relevant to the ask is herbal teas/tisanes/infusions. These would be drunk in medicinal settings as well as for ritual/spiritual reasons. Some were also likely imbibed for the pleasure of it. The ones noted below are a mix of medicinal, ritual, and herbal teas that taste nice.

Some common herbal teas Grima might have access to include, but are not limited to: dandelion, rosehip, elderberry, mugwort (do drugs, commit treason), valerian (as a sedative), mint, yellow gentian, fennel, nettle, clover, pine, rosemary, sage, poppy (another sedative, but also used for other ailments), St. John’s wort, apple and berries, local mushrooms etc.

Some options he’d have easier access to once he is in the king’s household would include ginger, cinnamon, liquorice, vanilla (so. fancy), cardamom, hibiscus and so on.

In the wine camp, he’d also have access to verry and fruit wines—elderflower cordial being one example. But there’d be apple and berry wines. In the early middle ages, based on accounts from Arabic travellers, it appears that these were highly alcoholic and people were spinning after only a few cups and these are people with a phenomenally high alcohol tolerance.

-

As mentioned in previous posts, I believe Grima likes his wine as a status symbol because bitch yeah, I made it. Look at my anachronistic pineapple decorating the table. However, outside of the wine I think he had a preference for herbed ales and meads infused with berries and other additives.

I always run his palate from sweet to tart. So he’d like Jamaica, if that version of hibiscus tea existed in Middle Earth. Sweet and sour, he’s into that flavour combination.

For herbal teas, I think he does a similar approach as he does for alcohol wherein he’ll drink ginger and cinnamon and cardamom once he’s in the king’s household as a status symbol. He can afford the fancy tisanes.

That said, as with alcohol, I think he does have a preference for the simpler teas he would have grown up with. Apple, nettle, rosehip, the various berry infusions/tisanes, and mint. He would be the person who adds a lot of honey to it, though.

Healer person: You know you should drink the dandelion tea straight with no additives, right?

Grima: I am going to put my body’s weight worth of honey into this cup and there is nothing you, or the gods, can do to stop me.

If we’re running with Grima doing some iteration of seidrcræft, there are some herbal teas that would be used to induce a trancelike state such as mugwort, henbane, mandrake, vervain and the like. Yeah, some of these are deadly, but in small doses are mild intoxicants/hallucinogens. Not to mention those Local Mushroom Teas.

One day I will write Grima doing more historic seidrcræft and not like Fantasy Seidrcræft and we will just get to see him being high as a kite while meditating and rocking back/forth to rhythmic chanting.

Does Rohan have drums? The Vikings didn’t. Tolkien doesn’t mention them having drums, only various wind instruments. Who knows.

---

Rohan has breakfast—when Aragorn et al arrive at Meduseld there’s mention of Theoden’s meat having arrived at the board, but it’s morning, so presumably it’s breakfast. Not all societies do breakfast, so that’s a notable thing.

Early medieval Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians seemed to do three meals a day, with breakfast being light, and lunch/dinner being heavier. Not that people didn’t have light snacks here and there, they for sure did, but the three/four o’clock afternoon break for tea or coffee wasn’t a ritualized thing. I also have Rohan following that example.

All of that said, I envision Grima as a snacky person. He’s always nibbling on something at any given moment. He was that kid who could eat a cow and then some and still be hungry. Hollow leg, that sort of thing.

So, he’s sitting there in a council meeting or something and out of no where an apple materializes and people are like “where did you get that” and Grima just smiles and eats it and Eomer is like “Why do you think his robes are so big? They’re full of lies and also snacks.”

Eomer has ransacked Grima’s anachronistic office that Fandom, myself included, have given him for snacks. He knows where Grima keeps his secret stash of baked goods and other treats snaffled out of the kitchens.

Grima’s light fingers extend to procuring treats for himself as well as shiny objects.

And for sure Grima has a sweet tooth—which I think is an across-the-board fandom read on him? At least, those of us in the Grima Camp have that read, from what I’ve seen on tumblr and in the fic I’ve read.

---

Does Grima have a ritual around at least one of the smaller meals that’s not a formal event? I suspect he does. He strikes me as someone who likes his rituals and habits and so on.

For me, I like to think it’s breakfast. This man is not a morning person. He drags his desiccated carcass out of bed, splashes water on his face, contemplates if he needs to shave or not, drops himself into his clothes and shuffles out into the main hall.

He then procures for himself some herbal tea of some kind with a half-tonne of honey dumped in. It has made Eomer nauseous watching Grima add honey to his tisanes. He just chucks a whole ass honeycomb in.

Eowyn: vile. that is disgusting

Eomer: Pretty sure the spoon can stand up in it.

Grima: I need the sugar. We don’t have caffeinated beverage in our country. You don’t know how much I am suffering, Eomer “I wake up at 4am for a light 10k and some push-ups” son of Eomund and Eowyn “I have more energy than the gods ever intended one person to have” daughter of Eomund.

Anyway.

After he gets his tea made to his liking he gets a bowl of some sort of yoguhrt/skyr adjacent product with some berries and disappears around the back of Meduseld to consume it in peace and allow himself to slowly wake up without the rucous of people like Eomer being bombastic and entirely too awake for the hour (it’s like 10am).

---

For some sweet foods he could be snacking on, that I assume him to be partial to, here are a few examples (taken from a previous post):

Sweet & fried breads (e.g., gingerbread, apple loaf, proto-funnel cake etc.)

Fried, baked or stewed fruits, also candied nuts

Sweet cheeses

Custards

Tarts, pies, cakes, and cookies (a very wide range of these existed, include medieval cheesecake)

Sweet toasts i.e. toastee (most usually topped with spiced honey and available nuts)

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Some brief notes on day-to-day food

Obviously everything Grima eats is seasonal. And I’ve talked about it before, in other posts, but I have never envisioned him as being a picky eater (until Saruman & the Lotho Incident). He was raised in a subsistence-based society, that seems to be pretty much living harvest-to-harvest therefore diets of those who are not nobility are mostly limited to what they have access to locally. Which can be quite diverse! But it depends on the time year and where they are in the country.

Obviously the average Joe living in Edoras, the capital and a trade centre, will have a wider variety of food to choose from than a farmer in the countryside. But still, everyone is constrained by season as well as income.

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Bread would have been a huge thing, considering it’s a staple of their diet. I also see Grima just fucking loving carbs. He eats so many of them. They make him so happy.

Neil Price writes:

A whole doctoral thesis has been written on just on Viking bread, and it is in the details of daily life like this that the vividness of their world really emerges. From graves and settlement contexts all over central Sweden, but especially from the Birka burials, at least nine distinctive kinds of bread are known. There were rectangular loaves baked in a form; round loaves threaded on a thin wire; oval buns; thin, soft and foldable flatbreads made on a circular griddle pan—rather like a sort of Nordic tortilla stuffed with food; thin, circular wheels of dry, crisp flatbread with a central hole so they could be hung up for storage […]; at least two different kinds of biscuits; little balls of friend dough; and crunchy figure-of-eight shaped snacks that resemble pretzels or, more particularly, the Swedish nibbles still called kringlor. They made their bread with hulled barley and oats, sometimes wheat for the thinner forms, and very occasionally rye.

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As for meat Grima would eat mutton, goat, beef, pork, chicken, duck, geese, various other waterfowl and game birds, deer, boar, other game meat and forms of venison (Rohan doesn’t have elk, moose or reindeer, it seems, but they’d have deer and the like). He’d also eat freshwater fish, eels, snails, molluscs, plants (e.g., watercress), and other things of that sort.

Pre-Lotho Sackville-Baggins Possible Cannibalism: He’ll eat pretty much anything put in front of him. He has his favoured foods, but there’s no real show-stoppers for him.

Post-Lotho Sackville-Baggins Possible Cannibalism: he goes basically pescatarian + chicken unless he feels he must be polite and eat the meat put in front of him. He’s better with beef or goat but he absolutely can’t do pork.

The reason for the fish + chicken is that I firmly believe Middle Earth is composed predominantly of societies that don’t see chicken as real meat. So, if Grima is like “I don’t really do meat” everyone is like “that’s fine, we have chicken.”

Grima: I’ve gone off meat. After the Saruman Incident.

Eomer: Reasonable. Entirely reasonable. But that’s ok because we have fish and there’s also lots of chicken, gamebirds and waterfowl. So we’re all good! You can avoid meat very easily.

Luckily for Grima, he is born and raised in this society and so therefore would agree with them.

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I feel like vegetables and fruit are all pretty self-explanatory. Pretty much keep it pre-colonization of north, south, and central America and the Caribbean and you’re probably on the right track.

Grima would be eating lots of carrots, turnips, parsnips, beetroot, cabbages/lettuce/chard/other herbage, onions, garlic, certain beans, peas, other legumes etc.

For fruit the local options are likely various apples, pears, plums and other stone fruits, many different berries (gooseberry, blackberry, red currant, bilberries etc.). Theoden’s household could likely import more exotic options of oranges and other citrus, pomegranates, quinces, grapes, rhubarb, and the like.

Depending on the kind of orange that exists in middle earth, they may not have had the sweet varietal, only the bitter or sour orange.

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Holy shit, I have written way too much on this.

Thank you so much for the ask! My apologies for how fucking long it got.

[synergysilhouette]

Remaking Fire Emblem: Awakening

I kinda did a remake with "Fates," so I thought I'd make one with Awakening. To be fair: this is all subjective. I'm not saying my choices would make the game more enjoyable for everyone or that it'd be objectively superior. And most of this is plot-related, based on my understanding (or lack thereof) of the game after playing it. I changed a lot, and I've experienced gatekeeping within the community before back in my Reddit days, so be nice with your feedback!

Fell Dragon relevancy and the reduction of villains--It's revealed in retrospect towards the end of the game that certain villains aren't what they seem. Aversa was brainwashed by Validar as a child, Walhart was actually trying to prevent Grima's revival (albeit earning everyone's ire in the process) and was being manipulated by Excellus. Along with this, Grima and Walhart aren't really villains who affect the overall story, moreso placeholders for the main event. Because of this, I'd prefer to keep the focus on Validar and the Fell Dragon Grima, without there having to be those "well, in actuality" moments (as a Kingdom Hearts fan, I'm tired of those)--though we could keep the Aversa being brainwashed subplot; in fact, I'd re-work it so after Validar kidnaps her, she's raised by him to become a friend/servant to Robin (more on that in a sec), so they're the only one who can truly break through to her. Walhart is less aggressive with his approach to destroying the Grimleal, asking for cooperation rather than trying to take over the whole continent and forcing everyone to help him (he'd be allies with Chon'sin and actually have Say'ri and Yen'fay join before later joining our ranks himself), and Gangrel is a begrudging ally to the team because it inconveniences him greatly if the world is destroyed, as it would anyone--plus he realizes his troops are planning to revolt against him and wants to make nice with the people of Ylisse in case he ever needs to abscond.

Robin's background--First off, keep in mind that "Fates" was my first game, and while it copied a lot of "Awakening" (and "Engage" would do the same), the latter will always be my second FE game, and thus I wanted to avoid some tropes. Robin being the child of Validar is kinda burying the lead, and their mother is an unseen NPC, which is a big pet peeve to me with customizable characters; I adore a backstory. Seeing how Corrin, Byleth, and Alear's backstories follow similar beats to Robin's, I'd prefer if we switched it up. I'd enjoy if, rather than going the "nice, mostly absent mom and evil dad" route the succeeding games would go, we instead make Validar a bit more grey. He is still a devout follower of Grima, but not by choice. Coming from a family of worshippers, he plans to defect with his wife and child, but when they are captured and threatened with death, Validar agrees to become a vessel to Grima. This fails and corrupts him, and he raises Robin as the next vessel, his love being twisted with a fixation and obsession with them. His wife helps Robin escape shortly before the events of the game, but she disappears shortly thereafter and is presumed dead. Robin no longer has amnesia here, but has been kept a secret from the outside world, and thus Frederick is correct in being hesitant to trust them, and Robin understands, slowly revealing their origins to Chrom and co. (the full of which is done before the end of Act I).

The confusing paradox/Lucina's Mission--If you weren't mad before, you probably will be now. I kinda found the explanation of "Grima from an alternate future came to the present, gave Robin amnesia and went back to square 1" explanation kinda confusing and convoluted. Given the fact that the future children don't return to their time period anyway, I'd rework the story so that the alternate future that they came from is destroyed, and the children are the last remnants of it. No Grima going back in time with them; he was a being of destruction that brought about his own demise, eventually. The children were simply given a new lease on life, as well as wanting to spare their past parents the heartache of it all.

Making the children from the same timeline--This would mean a lot of extra work, but I'd enjoy it if the story and support convos reflected each character's unique heritage depending on who their dominant parent married. This INCLUDES CHROM ACKNOWLEDGING HIS KIDS HAVING BRANDS. If you recall, that's a family trait, and Lucina (the daughter he has regardless of your choices) has it, and Inigo (a son he could potentially have with Olivia) also shows that he has it. Any other possible kids Chrom can have should also mention having or not having a brand, imo. Morgan's backstory also changes. Here, Morgan comes from the same timeline as the other children (which can potentially happen in the OG game, but mainly if they have a sibling to confirm this), and they maintain a bubbly attitude, albeit not as moronic/silly as in the OG game.

(Art found on Etsy)

Emmeryn and Philia survive--Since I've already reversed the (seemingly) deaths of Walhart, Aversa, and Gangrel, I wanted to focus on Emmeryn. In the game, Philia is killed while trying to save her, and she commits suicide to prevent Chrom from giving up the Fire Emblem. Emmeryn can survive in one of the paralogues, though how this is possible isn't stated, and she has amnesia that makes her somewhat child-like. In my rewrite, Philia and her knights--or at the very least, Philia--doesn't die, and manages to rescue Emmeryn, though she has been roughed up in the process (IDK if I'd still make it because of Gangrel or if it'd be from Validar; probably the latter), forcing Chrom to take the role as king.

Romance options are more flexible--This includes same-sex options for Robin. Obviously this is more of a bonus aspect rather than something that largely affects the story/gameplay, but as a gaymer, this is something I'd enjoy, as well as STILL having kids in this (Fates mentioned same-sex couples adopted, but they don't get xenologues or get to be part of the story at all). Of course, this doesn't mean we can have Robin/Chrom since there's emphasis on heirs and Chrom has a big wedding with a bridge (unless you wanna have them get married and have an offscreen surrogate, which would be neat). Concerning Chrom, I'd enjoy Miriel, Anna, Panne, Tharja, Phila, Say'ri, and Flavia being additional romance options for him (which could come with interesting consequences).

Olivia joins earlier--This is a nit-pick as a Olivia/Chrom fan (mainly because of him acknowledging Inigo more than his other extras kids), but I also enjoy having a dancer on the team earlier.

Perhaps a bit more background/attention for some characters--In games like "Fire Emblem," most of the characters' personality and background is shown in the form of their supports with other characters. This might be unachievable in the game, but I would like more inclusion of the characters who join; the ones who join earlier definitely feel like they fade to the background as the story goes on, and things like Ricken's admiration for Chrom, Tharja's obsession with Robin (cue "obsessive dad" flashbacks), and Stahl's training under Frederick are some of the things I wish the mains story would bring up here and there rather than confining it to convos.

It'd also be nice to have an open-world, exploration-style story like 3H and "Engage," but it's not a necessity; it's just a fun thing I'd enjoy. Plus actually letting us replay our convos like we're able to do in later games would be awesome.

And that's my take! I'm almost certain that I'm forgetting something, but I can always edit this later. Lemme know what you think!

[dentos-wife]

Day 2: Relationships

Art by @/RitDelba on Twitter

Day 1: Introductions here

When Alfonse tells Jane not to befriend the heroes she summons, she does the opposite because she no longer wants to listen to anyone. Most of the time it's fine and she gets along with mostly everyone; there is the occasional person she doesn't but it's nothing bad. Until she summons Grima and goes through hell trying to get him to listen to her; partially because she's stubborn and partially because everyone told her to send him home he's too dangerous. And she wanted to prove them wrong.

Let's talk about the ones in this image here:

Grima: Becomes Jane's special partner but the start was rough, her snarky attitude pissed him off and she taunted him to do his worst. Once he found a loophole in the summoners contract, the summoner is only protected physically not mentally he tried to break her spirit in various ways. After finding out her hidden hatred of humanity in one of his cruel attempts became curious about her and the two came to an understanding. He's like her shadow always there, even if it's a meeting he can't be a part of.

Leo: Jane's first summoned hero and her advisor. She doesn't listen to his advice most of the time however. It's his job to keep her in line and prevent her from getting into too much trouble. Enjoys being in charge for it allows him to step outside of Xander's shadow a bit. Sees Jane like another sister and butts heads with Grima and his "ideas" often.

Corrin: Jane's best friend in the new world, always willing to lend a hand. Full of trust. It's her heart and kindness that prevents Jane from going too far and saves the team from a lot of trouble. Also sees the summoner like a sibling, a sibling from another world. Really wants to befriend Grima and might be making progress with the Fell Dragon the more they interact as a team.

Azura: Quiet and reflective usually is the one to deal with the messes the group gets into. Her song can both calm and invigorate. Really interested in music from Jane's world and fascinated with the different styles. Once she learns of Jane's hidden secrets she is able to understand having secrets of her own about Valla.

And some others not in the image

Alfonse: Great friends with Jane but exasperated with her tactics of act first think later. Despite this he still trusts her with his life. Once he discovered she does the opposite of what he asks often he plays mind games with her and asks her to do what he doesn't want knowing she'll do the opposite. He has a 50/50 success rate of this tactic.

Plumeria: Someone agrees humans are disgusting? As a sex repulsed asexual Jane feels awful for Plumeria having to do that job because she sure couldn't do it. They're able to bond over this. With Askr Plumeria is slowly able to stop the job she hates and gives fluff instead of smut. Gains the nickname the Sugar Plum Fairy with her new purely romantic dreams.

Eir: Is the one to convince Grima and Jane to take over Hel so it has a ruler while she rebuilds Ymir her true home. Considers the order to be her new home. Gets really into magic girls after learning about them from Jane

Robin: Jane's tactics teacher; the only reason she does more than running headfirst at the enemy. Used to wake her up for her tactics lesson with a bucket of cold ice water, because she refused to wake up early but stopped once Grima moved in. Originally not very happy about the summoning of the Fell Dragon but over time the two are like twin brothers, and they fight over who is older.