#to fan the fire

[cilil]

⭐️Could you give some commentary for To Fan the Fire?

Gladly!

~

To preface this for those not familiar with this work, To Fan The Fire was written for last year's TRSB and tells the story of Yellik and Uzgîl, two Orc sisters who work in Mairon's household, as they navigate the end and aftermath of the First Age, build and rebuild their lives and try to hold on to their culture, traditions and identity in Valinor.

For these two lovely ladies as well as a lot of worldbuilding for Orcish culture in and outside of Angband, I have @celebbun to thank. Please check out the lovely art as well.

~

Now for some general commentary on this fic, I'd love to talk about Dar-Mosnat.

In-universe, Dar-Mosnat - Orcish for "winter midnight" - is a holiday in Orcish culture, think a sort of winter solstice celebration with the gifting and getting-together elements of Christmas and similar holidays thrown into the mix. As you can imagine, winters are particularly tough in the already-harsh climate of Melkor's domain, so the Orcs gather to celebrate their perseverance and community.

On a meta level, Dar-Mosnat serves as a central element of the story, a sort of anchor and theme. Several scenes take place during the Dar-Mosnat celebrations of different years and in different places to show how far the characters have come, celebrate their achievements and mourn their losses.

When I outlined and structured the story, I deliberately chose Dar-Mosnat as the emotional core, so that it would be something inherently and unabashedly Orcish, not overshadowed by Melkor's war efforts or Elven culture in Valinor. Yellik and Uzgîl's experiences of grief, loss and death in contrast to rebuilding, joyful reunions and love, are a reflection of the Orcish experience as a whole on a personal level, told through their journey.

The creation of Orcs by Melkor is regarded as one of, if not his worst crime and their existence is seen by most characters as wrong, evil or, if they're lucky, a great tragedy. But Orcs are strong and persistent even in the face of adversity, just like life has always persisted in this world. Life went on, and so did the Orcs, becoming their own people with their own culture.

This identity is often challenged and disregarded once Angband, which was the home of many Orcs and a cultural center, is destroyed, and in this particular verse living Orcs are taken to Valinor and dead Orcs are reembodied as Elves (at first) because even some of the Valar haven't fully understood their Orcish identity yet, out of well-meaning pity though it may be. But once again our Orcish heroines persist, keep their culture alive and create a new community in Valinor.

Through Dar-Mosnat, I want to show my readers that there's something beautiful even within the things we consider ugly, that there's something to hold dear and keep us going even in the darkest hours and that even if terrible things happen we can survive and endure and go on through the strength of our own convictions and who we are in our hearts.

Thank you for reading :)

[where-does-the-heart-lie]

wow.... i cant believe they were abandoned and Luffy collected them like treasures.....

the rest of the strawhats/friends that were gonna be in this post but i decided against it

This is now a print on my store!!

Not all of them were abandoned by individual people like family members and their community, but the government. Specifically Franky and Law.

Vivi was gonna be in there too but i couldnt,,,, really,,,,, fit her in there.

[roslynn777]

rhaenyra targaryen 👑🐉

[aloekat]

his ass is NOT grant o’brien!!!!

[poobirdy]

xin mo did not become the demonic op sword of all three realms for this!!! for @kawouwu who asked for binggeyuan sillies! thank you for your donation to svsss' gotcha 4 gaza!

[cbrcbbr]

still haven't seen this version

[digitkame]

“…vVeriTaSerum…”

*spoken in dramatic hissing voice*🌚

[forged-in-kaoss]

If I can survive... will I be able to make an impact on someone's life some day? Just like that guy?

[yippee-optimistically]

so ii16 huh

[sprucebluw]

Dan and Phill if they knew how to pose

[starboysbrainrot]

some quick zutara sketch <3

[azulolivart]

An unequal marriage in Westeros.

[where-does-the-heart-lie]

POP QUIZ DONT SCROLL UP YOURE NOT ALLOWED TO SCROLL UP:

WHAT COLOR ARE HIS TITS- I MEAN TITS- I MEAN TITS- I MEAN TITS - I MEAN

Okay now you can scroll up

[sacredxnight]

So I've been rewatching some Seinfeld recently

[quiddling]

lil doodle of maegor n aenys (: