#that no one knows about

[ask-the-best-baldi-basics]

[beyonddarkness]

🗡️ Rings of Power Meta Masterpost 💍

(updated)

Hi, I'm Melanie, a random person from Idaho who happens to be obsessed with Payne and McKay's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. On my blog (Beyond Darkness) I will attempt to peel back the layers of the show, dissecting scenes, characters, Bear McCreary's incredible score, and the great volumes of text that inspired the writers, penned by Tolkien himself.

This is an ongoing (and updated) list of everything I have posted so far on the blog.

"It is difficult to say anything without saying too much: the attempt to say a few words opens a floodgate of excitement. [...] I shall inflict some of this on you; but I will append a mere résumé of its contents: which is (may be) all that you want or will have use or time for." - J.R.R. Tolkien, From a Letter by J.R.R. Tolkien to Milton Waldman, 1951

Galadriel's Obsession Part 1: Chance-meeting

"Before theorizing about anything else in the show, I believe the most important thing is to determine by what means Sauron and Galadriel were brought together. This topic was not simple enough for a single post, so it might take several parts, or an on-going conversation."

Galadriel's Obsession Part 2: Finrod's Death

"Everything already made sense on the surface, but when I looked deeper into the reason for Finrod’s death, I found there was much more than met the eye. From Galadriel’s perspective, the dagger was special because it was Finrod’s, and she viewed it as a symbol of his task—now hers. However, on the boat, we saw a peculiar attachment as she struggled to let it go. The reason behind this is simple. 'The most important truths often are,' said Finrod, but we must learn to discern them for ourselves; J.D. and Patrick will not always be there to speak them to us. First, we must trace this back to the source."

Galadriel's Obsession Part 3: Vengeance

"Thanks to Thingol naming the Silmarils in desire, there is a chance that Sauron noticed a great power being moved from slumber, yet he could not discover their secret 'no matter how much blood he spilt in its pursuit.' Fëanor’s vow loomed over everything, and Beren’s oath was underneath; but Finrod’s was the reason they were there. There was enough information and evidence for Sauron to pass on a story to someone who did not know the truth, even if he did not truly believe it himself: 'The head of this company vowed to seek me out and destroy me. But I found him first.'"

Sauron Unchained: Blood Oath

"'But could Morgoth afford to permanently ban him? Physically enslave him and risk turning Sauron against him?' (liveinfarbe). The risk becomes greater when you consider Sauron's subsequent aversion to Morgoth, implied by the enmity he exhibited each time Morgoth was mentioned in the first season. Of course, we know the end from the beginning, but Morgoth did not. Would he have taken the risk? Would it have even mattered? [...] Let's examine the nature of Sauron's attachment to Morgoth."

—FROM TUMBLR—

Sauron's Conditional Use of Names

Invisible Hand: in which the Boat scene parallels the final Raft scene

Always Watching Pt. 1 & Pt. 2: Sauron's-eye-view

A Shadow of the Past: in which the prologue parallels Sauron's threat

Foe vs. Enemy: Morgoth is the Foe, Sauron is the Enemy

Sauron Unchained: in which we learn of THAT first sunrise

Prince of Cats: Tevildo's characteristics in the Rings of Power

A Solace and A Burden: the origin of the dagger in the Silmarillion

In the Darkness, Bind Them: to the power of Morgoth

My Thoughts on Haladriel/Saurondriel

More on Sauron and Love/Sincerity

Means of Mastery: Sauron's Influence in Off-screen Meetings

Disa's and Bronwyn's Character Arcs

Bronwyn Continued

A Bit About Theo and Arondir

What's the Deal with Gil-galad?

Gil-galad and Celebrimbor at Odds

Sauron Rebuilt: in which we see how exactly Sauron rebuilt his power

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

my toxic trait is that I'll write an entire fic directly into the Tumblr posting form and then because I use almost exclusively Tumblr mobile I have to copy and paste it into a proper document paragraph by paragraph

[riviifetish]

i miss being a sexless creature in the embryonic stage

[drumlincountry]

If your life is horrible and you need a new source of meaning and direction.... Do NOT find religion. Learn to identify plants.

[miggylol]

First off, spin this wheel.

You just landed on one of 200 fandoms that have been very popular somewhere on Tumblr over the years. Topics were chosen either from appearing on a @fandom end-of-year recap or from my own long (long, long) site memories before that.

also all of these fandoms are definitely things that really exist in the real world and none of them are Tumblr creations

[inkskinned]

my brother got covid because he's a college professor and there's not much he can do to mitigate exposure when he has 200+ students per lecture. he's got a baby at home, so he does his best, but.

the governmental website for covid information is now propaganda. not a joke, not hyperbole, not an exaggeration: it's genuinely the definition of propaganda. this is biased misinformation determined to push a political stance. it is being hosted on a government server. it looks like something you'd find in a "top 10 weird internet conspiracy stories (and their origins)" youtube video.

my brother called me when he saw it. he had me type it into google. for a second i legitimately thought that i had typed something wrong. we have both taught college: we have both said "a .gov site is usually a reliable resource." i just stared at my phone for a long, long time.

i thought about how when i was a kid, conspiracy theories were mostly fun and a little spooky. unserious. i remember reading some long, complicated website about how avril lavigne is dead. how bigfoot is real. it used to be funny-and-a-joke.

over seven million people (globally) have died from covid. america has the highest death rate with over 1.2 million people.

the thing is - every time a person dies from something like a mass shooting or poverty or treatable illness - we are told don't make it political. we are told it's just something that can happen. we are told it's sad but what can you do!

the president of the united states is using a government website to try to erase the very-real deaths that he personally caused due to a complete mismanagement of the pandemic. the president of the united states is using a government server to host propaganda, undermine science and medicine, and encourage distrust amongst his followers.

nothing is going to happen. nobody's gonna, like, do anything about it. it's a thursday today, and we are just going to move on from this like we have been moving on from everything else.

yesterday my brother was outside walking his dog, mask included. a guy in a truck pulls up and shouts something about covid and whatever the fuck else. my brother has a good sense of humor, described it to me as enthusiastic! i hadn't ever been catcalled before, this was new and therefore thrilling! i do see why you hate it, though. like. i have actual covid, does he want me to cough on him?

my brother doesn't get extra time off work anymore, because the cdc practically doesn't exist. my brother said i'm not exposing 200 students to covid. his boss shrugged and said: who cares? they're going to get it eventually anyway. like it isn't a pandemic.

like it's just a fucking thursday, and who cares about it.

[doctorsiren]

More on that AU where Ford takes Stanley with him to Gravity Falls…I realized they’re kind of like the Winchesters if one of the Winchesters was autistic about cryptids

[butchfalin]

the funniest meltdown ive ever had was in college when i got so overstimulated that i could Not speak, including over text. one of my friends was trying to talk me through it but i was solely using emojis because they were easier than trying to come up with words so he started using primarily emojis as well just to make things feel balanced. this was not the Most effective strategy... until. he tried to ask me "you okay?" but the way he chose to do that was by sending "👉🏼👌🏼❓" and i was so shocked by suddenly being asked if i was dtf that i was like WHAT???? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?????????? and thus was verbal again

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Expertise can't help you here.

[batcavescolony]

Katniss is such an unreliable narrator. She says "Then something unexpected happens. At least, I don't expect it because I don't think of District 12 as a place that cares about me" girl you deliver strawberries to the Mayor, you hunt and trade for the district, when you fell at Prim being chosen someone caught you, when you went to Prim people parted for you, when you volunteered EVERYONE stopped. Idk how to tell you but I think you're a pillar of the community.

[egophiliac]

missed the mark by (looks at calendar) uhhh. hm. but I really wanted to do something for the 5th anniversary! happy five years to these idiots 🎉

[fantasmadelaciudad]

i'll be honest thinking about las vegas makes me nauseous.

[salamispots]

it got turned into a 17" x14" pillow instead haha

[borealing]

obsessed with this