#the narratives. i say i lie

[jam-packed]

i watched aliens (1986) and tbh where are the adrift in space aus for motogp. trap those guys in some situations

[anghraine]

Hi! Can you explain what really the power of foresight was with Faramir? I read the books earlier this year and I don't really quite understand it. He could predict the future? Like he would see it in his dreams? But how did he found out from Gollum that he was taking frodo and sam to cirith ungol and that he had committed murder before?

No problem, it's one of my favorite topics!

The concise explanation: I think Faramir's foresight/aftersight in terms of visions is a largely separate "power" from his ability to bring his strength of mind and will to bear on other people and animals, and to resist outside influence. The visions seem more a matter of broad sensitivity, something Faramir doesn't appear to have much if any control over. The second power is (in our terms) essentially a form of direct telepathy, limited in some ways but still very powerful, and I think this second ability is what Faramir is using with Gollum.

The really long version:

In my opinion, Faramir (or Denethor, Aragorn, etc) doesn't necessarily read thoughts like a book, particularly not with a mind as resistant as Gollum's. Faramir describes Gollum's mind in particular as dark and closed, it seems unusually so—

"There are locked doors and closed windows in your mind, and dark rooms behind them," said Faramir.

Still, Gollum is unable to entirely block Faramir's abilities. In LOTR, it does not seem that Gollum can fully block powerful mental abilities such as Faramir's, though his toughness and hostility does limit what Faramir can see. (Unfinished Tales, incidentally, suggests iirc that Denethor's combination of "great mental powers" and his right to use the Anor-stone allowed him to telepathically get the better of Saruman through their palantíri, a similar but greater feat.) I imagine that this is roughly similar to, but scaled down from, Galadriel's telepathic inquiries of even someone as reluctant to have her in his mind as Boromir, given that Faramir is able to still see some things in Gollum's mind, if with more difficulty than usual.

(WRT Boromir ... ngl, if I was the human buffer between Denethor and Faramir, I would also not be thrilled about sudden telepathic intrusions from basically anyone, much less someone I had little reason to trust.)

Disclaimer: a few years after LOTR's publication, Tolkien tried to systematize how this vague mystical telepathy stuff really works. One idea he had among many, iirc, was that no unwilling person's mind could be "read" the ways that Gollum's is throughout LOTR. IMO that can't really be reconciled w/ numerous significant interactions in LOTR where resistance to mental intrusion or domination is clearly variable between individuals and affected by personal qualities like strength of will, basic resilience, the effort put into opposition, supernatural powers, etc. And these attempts at resistance are unsuccessful or only partially successful on many occasions in LOTR (the Mouth of Sauron, for one example, is a Númenórean sorcerer in the book who can't really contend with Aragorn on a telepathic level). So I, personally, tend to avoid using the terminology and rationales from that later systematized explanation when discussing LOTR. And in general, I think Tolkien's later attempts to convert the mystical, mysterious wonder of Middle-earth into something more "hard magic" or even scientific was a failed idea on a par with Teleporno. Others differ!

In any case, when Gollum "unwillingly" looks at Faramir while being questioned, the creepy light drains from his eyes and he shrinks back while Faramir concludes he's being honest on that specific occasion. Gollum experiences physical pain when he does try to lie to Faramir—

"It is called Cirith Ungol." Gollum hissed sharply and began muttering to himself. "Is not that its name?" said Faramir turning to him. "No!" said Gollum, and then he squealed, as if something had stabbed him.

I don't think this is a deliberate punishment from Faramir—that wouldn't be like him at all—and I don't think it's the Ring, but simply a natural consequence of what Faramir is. Later, Gandalf says of Faramir's father:

"He can perceive, if he bends his will thither, much of what is passing in the minds of men ... It is difficult to deceive him, and dangerous to try."

So, IMO, Faramir's quick realization that Gollum is a murderer doesn't come from any vision of the future or past involving Gollum—that is, it's not a deduction from some event he's seen. Faramir does not literally foresee Gollum's trick at Cirith Ungol. His warning would be more specific in that case, I think. What he sees seems to be less detailed but more direct and, well, mystical. Faramir likely doesn't know who exactly Gollum murdered or why or what any of the circumstances were. Rather, Gollum's murderousness and malice are visible conditions of his soul to Faramir's sight. Faramir doesn't foresee the particulars of Gollum's betrayal—but he can see in Gollum's mind that he is keeping something back. Faramir says of Gollum:

"I do not think you are holden to go to Cirith Ungol, of which he has told you less than he knows. That much I perceived clearly in his mind."

Meanwhile, in a letter written shortly before the publication of LOTR, Tolkien said of Faramir's ancestors:

They became thus in appearance, and even in powers of mind, hardly distinguishable from the Elves

So these abilities aren't that strange in that context. Faramir by chance (or "chance") is, like his father, almost purely an ancient Númenórean type despite living millennia after the destruction of Númenor (that destruction is the main reason "Númenóreanness" is fading throughout the age Faramir lives in). Even less ultra-Númenórean members of Denethor's family are still consistently inheriting characteristics from their distant ancestor Elros, Elrond's brother, while Faramir and Denethor independently strike Sam and Pippin as peculiarly akin to Gandalf, a literal Maia like their ancestress Melian:

“Ah well, sir,” said Sam, “you [Faramir] said my master had an elvish air; and that was good and true. But I can say this: you have an air too, sir, that reminds me of, of—well, Gandalf, of wizards.”

He [Denethor] turned his dark eyes on Gandalf, and now Pippin saw a likeness between the two, and he felt the strain between them, almost as if he saw a line of smouldering fire drawn from eye to eye, that might suddenly burst into flame.

Meanwhile, Faramir's mother's family is believed to be part Elvish, a belief immediately confirmed when Legolas meets Faramir's maternal uncle:

At length they came to the Prince Imrahil, and Legolas looked at him and bowed low; for he saw that here indeed was one who had elven-blood in his veins. "Hail, lord!" he [Legolas] said. "It is long since the people of Nimrodel left the woodlands of Lórien, and yet still one may see that not all sailed from Amroth’s haven west over water."

In addition to that, Faramir's men believe he's under some specific personal blessing or charm as well as the Númenórean/Elvish/Maia throwback qualities. It's also mentioned by different groups of soldiers that Faramir can exercise some power of command over animals as well as people. Beregond describes Faramir getting his horse to run towards five Nazgûl in real time:

"They will make the Gate. No! the horses are running mad. Look! the men are thrown; they are running on foot. No, one is still up, but he rides back to the others. That will be the Captain [Faramir]: he can master both beasts and men."

Then, during the later retreat of Faramir's men across the Pelennor:

At last, less than a mile from the City, a more ordered mass of men came into view, marching not running, still holding together. The watchers held their breath. "Faramir must be there," they said. "He can govern man and beast."

Tolkien said of the ancient Númenóreans:

But nearly all women could ride horses, treating them honourably, and housing them more nobly than any other of their domestic animals. The stables of a great man were often as large and as fair to look upon as his own house. Both men and women rode horses for pleasure … and in ceremony of state both men and women of rank, even queens, would ride, on horseback amid their escorts or retinues … The Númenóreans trained their horses to hear and understand calls (by voice or whistling) from great distances; and also, where there was great love between men or women and their favorite steeds, they could (or so it is said in ancient tales) summon them at need by their thought alone. So it was also with their dogs.

Likely the same Númenórean abilities were used for evil by Queen Berúthiel against her cats. In an interview with Daphne Castell, Tolkien said:

She [Berúthiel] was one of these people who loathe cats, but cats will jump on them and follow them about—you know how sometimes they pursue people who hate them? I have a friend like that. I’m afraid she took to torturing them for amusement, but she kept some and used them—trained them to go on evil errands by night, to spy on her enemies or terrify them.

The more formal version of the Berúthiel lore recurs in Unfinished Tales:

She had nine black cats and one white, her slaves, with whom she conversed, or read their memories, setting them to discover all the dark secrets of Gondor, so that she knew those things "that men wish most to keep hidden," setting the white cat to spy upon the black, and tormenting them.

Faramir, by contrast, has a strong aversion to harming/killing animals for any reason other than genuine need, but apparently quite similar basic abilities. He typically uses these abilities to try to compassionately understand other people or gather necessary information, rather than for domination or provoking fear. Even so, Faramir does seem to use his mental powers pretty much all the time with no attempt to conceal what he's doing—he says some pretty outlandish things to Frodo and Sam as if they're very ordinary, but it doesn't seem that most people he knows can do all these things. This stuff is ordinary to him because it flows out of his fundamental being, not because it's common.

It's not clear how much fine control he has, interestingly. This is more headcanon perhaps, but I don't feel like it's completely under his control, even while it's much more controlled than things like Faramir's vision of Boromir's funeral boat, his frequent, repeated dreams of Númenor's destruction, the Ring riddle dream he received multiple times, or even his suspiciously specific "guess" of what passed between Galadriel and Boromir in Lothlórien. Yet his more everyday mental powers do seem to involve some measure of deliberate effort in a lot of the instances we see, given the differing degrees of difficulty and strain we see with the powers he and Denethor exhibit more frequently and consistently.

This is is also interesting wrt Éowyn, because Tolkien describes Faramir's perception of her as "clear sight" (which I suspect is just Tolkien's preferred parlance for "clairvoyance"). Faramir perceives a lot more of what's going on with Éowyn than I think he had materially observable evidence for—but does not see everything that's going on with her by any means. He seems to understand basically everything about her feelings for Aragorn, more than Éowyn herself does, but does not know if she loves him [Faramir].

I'm guessing that it's more difficult to "see" this way when it's directly personal (one of the tragedies of his and Denethor's relationship is that their shared mental powers do not enable either to realize how much they love each other). But it also doesn't seem like he's trying to overcome Éowyn's mental resistance the way he was with Gollum, and possibly Frodo and Sam—he does handle it a bit differently when it's not a matter of critical military urgency. With Éowyn, he sees what his abilities make clear to him, is interested enough to seek out Merry (and also perceive more than Merry says, because Faramir has never been a normal person one day in his life) but doesn't seem to really push either of them.

So I tend to imagine that with someone like Faramir, Denethor, Aragorn etc, we're usually seeing a relatively passive, natural form of low-grade telepathy that simply derives from their fundamental nature and personalities (as we see in Faramir with Éowyn, possibly Faramir with Aragorn). That can be kicked up to more powerful, forceful telepathy via active exertion of the will (as described by Gandalf wrt Denethor's ability to "bend[] his will thither" to see what passes in others' minds, and seen with Faramir vs Gollum, Aragorn vs the Mouth of Sauron, more subtly Faramir vs Denethor). At a high point of strain this can be done very aggressively or defensively (Denethor vs Gandalf, Denethor vs Saruman, Denethor vs Sauron seriously is there a Maia that man won't fight, Faramir vs the Black Breath given his completely unique symptoms that Aragorn attributes to his "staunch will", possibly Aragorn vs the Black Breath in a healing capacity...).

Anyway, I hope these massive walls of text are helpful or interesting! Thanks for the ask :)

[bringbackavac]

lowkey want to bury myself in plushies and blankets bcs i accidentally thought about how steve’s house was the first feel of home danny’s ever had in hawaii —and speedrun to s10 ep22 where it finally becomes his, but the person who helped him made it his home isn’t here, so it’s just a house now. a haunted house.

exactly like how steve felt in the first season (haunted by memories of his mother, his childhood and then his dead father’s murder) before danno walked into his life and helped him built that house back into a home again

[gothicrepetitions]

5x22//12x23

[asukiess]

it’s so funny like. el toro came out and people were like “wahhh nathalie was so mean to Marinette” and I was like !!!!! she’s so angry !!!! she’s seething !! what a side of her that isn’t directed at gabriel !!! waiter more please !!!

[sholmeser]

ary scheffer / justus knetch / snake & ocelot

[sneakyboymerlin]

It’s 2025 and people are still putting posts that absolutely SHIT on rare pairs in favor of their popular ships in the rare pair tags. Keep that shit out of rare pair tags! We don’t care to see you talking about how your ship is better! 🥱

[barkingbarghest]

Something I've been thinking about a lot this season is how "The Jokerification of Mr. Milchick" has to be increasingly on the table, and I've seen several posts that ask along similar lines "how bought-in does Milchick have to be to put up with this," so I think it's not just me. The thing is, ever since he took over the severed floor, Seth Milchick has been subject to indignity after indignity after humiliation after failure. Where's the line? There has to be one. Even Harmony "went to Eagan religious boarding school and had an Eagan shrine in her basement" Cobel had a line, so where's Milchick's?

Since taking over the severed floor, Milchick was told essentially "use your best judgement" when deciding how to manage the fallout of the MDR uprising, only to basically immediately be told "actually, undo all that stuff you did, we want you to handle the situation this way instead". Undermined. His gift for his promotion is the art series of a brown-skinned Kier Eagan who nonetheless has blue eyes*. Insulted. Even the computer still reads Cobel instead of being updated to his name, and he has to personally harry IT to get it fixed. Frustrated. Mr. Milkshake.

Milchick is accustomed to handling people, and before the second half of season 1 he's demonstratably good at it, except all of that was coming from a place of assured power. He can smile and be patient with the severed employees both inside and out because he knows more than them and he can manipulate them. Now? He's running to catch up. He was always a cat's paw, but now it chafes. How much longer will he last?

*The Board's rationale for giving Milchick the paintings was "in the hopes that [he] will see [himself] in Kier" or somesuch, some appeal to those with Eagan true in their hearts, but even racial insensitivity and tone deafness aside Milchick's face in that moment is not that of a guy who seems to agree with that idea and feels that the sentiment is worthwhile compensation for his work. In other words, not someone bought into the religion of Eaganism. I'm sure that gift went over great with Harmony Cobel, but Seth Milchick is not Harmony Cobel.

And then, in this most recent episode, it's all brought to bare when Helena Eagan /orders/ him to act. Remove the Glasgow block. Do it, Seth. Milchick's relationship with Helena is so wild, but I really can't get into that or I'll be here all day.

My point is, every episode this season Mr. Milchick is kicked like a dog and I have to wonder what it'll take for him to snap - and furthermore why he does it in the first place. If he's not a True Believer like Cobel is/was, then why is he willing to go to such lengths for this project? Why does he want to manage the severed floor so badly? Why does he want to own this when, from where I'm standing, his job sucks and his only thanks is an insult?

[essektheylyss]

I am absolutely agonizing over pov and narrators for this draft that I am literally nearly done with, and it did make me wonder how much importance other writers give these things. So I am running a poll.

To preface, the following notes and elaborations on the options:

"Crucial" would mean that it has a significant impact on your writing process up to and including impacting your ability to progress.

"Important but not crucial" would mean that you consider it, and it does have an impact on the story you're telling, but it does not significantly hinder your process.

"Inconsequential" would be something like, you kinda just pick something and go with it, and do not find yourself rethinking that later.

I ran out of room with the options regarding one or both being important at the start, but that can be either crucial or merely important. If you mess around with your pov or narrators within, say, the first 10% of a draft, but don't really worry about it once you feel like you've settled on something, these are the options for you.

If you feel so inclined, elaborate in the tags on what kinds of things you weigh when you think about one or both of these! I'm curious!

[kkkkkkkitty]

[lorillee]

im really normal about them <- lie

[mengyan]

watching ajtl is like being told that you will be kicked down the stairs of a 500 story building, accepting that you will be kicked down the stairs of a 500 story building, then getting kicked down the stairs of a 500 story building, screaming crying and throwing up while tumbling all the way down, and finally arriving at the bottom to get a pat on the shoulder and a bandaid that says "congratulations for surviving" 😊

[imeminemp3]

what i love so so much about lady parts is that ayesha doesn't come out to her parents. her girlfriends gives her this 'ultimatum' but it's not right for her to come out. so she doesn't. when she said 'there's a lot to be said for staying in. where it's safe.' she was right. coming out isn't the best choice for everyone and im so, so sick of media trying to say it is

[writing-is-a-martial-art]

man shut the fuck up about that mythology shit

Beautiful zero context situation. At this point I'm not? Doing anything? With mythology? You might be talking to the ghost of me from three years ago who wrote a story in an hour in a mix of joy and fever dream and damn he spelled year as yesterday and mixed up most of the facts but he sure had his fun.

[arohuacheng]

also hiiiiiii while i'm on the subject of "pei ming respects women actually" (<— that man provides for all his lovers when he's not there and is altogether very normal about things, just isn't interested in romantic relationships) can we talk about the whole "pei ming likes women who are softspoken and docile" thing. cause i know the narrative says it several times. but the most significant relationship that the narrative shows pei ming having in canon. is him and another fucking general in the middle of a war. somehow i don't associate xuan ji with words like softspoken or docile or even easygoing. and yet pei ming seems to have no problem hanging out with her... and very actively prefers her as a strong opponent rather than someone who gives up her own agency for his sake... my point here is that the narrative loves to just straight up fucking lie about pei ming. we're ostensibly in xie lian's head and i don't think he actually understands what's going on with pei ming sfjkgdf

[irn-bru]

I love the framing of these panels and how they literally mirror each other