#two eps left!!!!

[kandadze]

And then there was light. And then there was your smile. (Yannis Ritsos, can't for my life find the collection I've read this in)

[suzannahnatters]

Many people have asked me why I say THE RINGS OF POWER is far more faithful to the spirit of Tolkien’s work than the Peter Jackson films. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

(Warning: if you deeply love the Jackson movies, feel free not to read this. I’ve been meditating on this for 20+ years. You are not going to argue me out of any of it.)

FIRST – Jackson is, how shall we put it, not sufficiently familiar with Tolkien or his influences. He repeatedly and stubbornly made mistakes both large and small. Tolkien was a master of medieval military tactics. Jackson... is not. Every military decision taken by the characters in Jackson’s TWO TOWERS is pure stupidity. In Jackson’s RETURN OF THE KING, Aragorn casually beheads the Mouth of Sauron, which is a war crime, since the Mouth is Sauron’s ambassador. Jackson’s Eowyn tries to flirt with Aragorn by cooking him stew, even though she is a noblewoman from the warrior class who was raised to act as a civil and military leader in a medieval-coded society where cooking is not intrinsically linked to femininity. Jackson’s Theoden, grieving over the death of his son, utters the words “No parent should have to grieve the death of their child,” which is the kind of sentiment only imaginable in a society where infant mortality and death in battle is a good deal rarer than among the Anglo-Saxon Cossacks during the War of the Rings. Jackson’s Dwarf women are reduced to a punchline; Tolkien’s were miners, craftspeople and adventurers in their own right.

I won’t go on. BUT I COULD.

SECOND – One problem that by itself ought to have disqualified Jackson from adapting Tolkien, is that he is incapable of depicting or even understanding goodness the way Tolkien does. This deeply pervades all Jackson’s films. Jackson’s idea of goodness is ethereal, anaemic, and ineffective before gross and creepy evil. His Elves are not the vivid, passionate, hearty warriors Tolkien wrote: they pluck mistily at harps and feed on spinach. (TROP has Galadriel scaling frozen cliffs and Elrond splitting boulders. That’s FAR more like it).

Tolkien insisted on the concept of Faerie as being foundational to his work. This is a difficult concept to explain. It meant the beauty and glory of Valinor, yes. But it also meant an element of otherworldly, yet immanent, beauty and glory in Middle Earth itself. This is a good summary:

“Faerie may be roughly translated as Magic, but not the vulgar magic of the magician; it is rather magic "of a particular mood and power," and it does not have its end in itself but in its operations. Among these operations are "the satisfaction of certain primordial human desires" such as the desire "to survey the depths of space and time" and the desire "to hold communion with other living things."” (Source: https://www.ewtn.com/.../tolkien-and-the-fairy-story-4094)

When Lewis said of THE LORD OF THE RINGS, “here are beauties that pierce like swords”, that’s that he meant. Peter Jackson had no sense of Faerie. When, at the end of his trilogy, he has his characters get on a ship to go to the Undying Lands, he makes it a metaphor for death. Death! Tollkien’s Valinor isn’t the afterlife; it’s the earthly paradise of his world. Jackson cannot imagine an earthly or material locus of goodness.

This affects many of his narrative decisions. In the book Faramir resists the temptation of the Ring handily. Jackson’s Faramir succumbs to the power of the Ring and has to be scared straight. Jackson justified this by saying that Faramir needed to fall to the Ring’s temptation so that it remained an effective narrative threat. Basically, having failed to grasp the importance of Tolkien’s vision of powerful and present goodness and beauty in the first place, Jackson believed he needed to further degrade it for the sake of the story.

Obviously, THE RINGS OF POWER isn’t perfect, and still has plenty of time to betray its early promise. However, so far its showrunners appear to have a far better grasp of Faerie, beauty, and goodness than Jackson ever did. Its vision of Valinor is ineffably beautiful while still home to flawed living people. Its Elves are noble, ceremonious, dignified, warm, and grave. It is also actively pursuing Tolkien’s original themes. Elanor has a discussion of Providence that contains intentional echoes of “The Shadow of the Past” in LOTR, but there are also meditations on art and mortality that show an attempt to engage with themes Tolkien himself said were foundational to his entire work (Letter #131). These themes may yet be mishandled: but THE RINGS OF POWER has clearly at least READ the assignment. (Jackson’s films, by comparison, did dumb stuff like having Theoden, who in the books is simply dealing with depression, be literally possessed by Saruman and in need of exorcism “because exorcism is a Catholic thing and Tolkien was a Catholic, lol!”)

Jackson didn’t completely obscure the beauty and goodness of Tolkien, and I’m aware that THE RINGS OF POWER could not have happened without his pioneering and often sacrificial work in adapting the story to screen. I don’t want to discount the things that are good about his intentions, his work, and his love for the source material. But watching THE RINGS OF POWER was the moment when 20 years of frustration boiled over as I realised that, contrary to what I’d always told myself, it WAS possible to do Tolkien more justice than this. So far, I’m very pleased, and I’ll be waiting for future seasons with bated breath.

[fake-married-my-dead-fiance]

No Gain No Love Text Posts 1/2 (Post 2)

[clowningcrows]

happy agatha all along finale gay people in my phone, praying for you and your toxic yuri today 🕯️🕯️🕯️

[incorrect-riordanverse]

me when im a literal pjo blog and my mother has watched the pjo show but i have not 🧍‍♀️🧍‍♀️

[gootube]

My angel hare fanart

[trophywifemac]

IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA

↳ S12E08: The Gang Tends Bar

[yuviur]

And then, Henry is holding them really tight, more for his security than theirs, and he walks out of the dungeon (ep 42)

I cannot be the only one who cried when the twins climbed Henry and sat on his shoulders like two loving pauldrons 🥺

[hannahhasafact]

God this season is so much fun obviously but what I’m so delighted by is how everyone playing is so excited about hearing the story as well

Like Izzy being like “No???? No cutting back to us I gotta know what happens with Dang??” just really delighted me because like yeah she wants to know what happens too!!!

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

Ed + Stede Moments Per Episode: 1X8 We Gull Way Back

[premamelody]

could you draw Pomni with Gummigoo?

the fact i never drew gummigoo until this point is a crime

im failing as a lizard lover

[wanpleng]

i can't believe there's only two pluto episodes left... this show is too good i don't want it to end yet 😭💔

[ghost-doodles]

so I watched ep. 4 of link click yingdu and holy fuck yall

well at least we know that its likely in any timeline Cheng got his powers himself he didnt have to get traumatized by watchin someone die (still traumatized tho in this case bc lets be honest what is link click with out trauma).

I am curious to see if they are going to explain why certain people have powers though, because ig in the grand scheme of this web of time that link click has woven its not the most pressing matter.

also im pretty sure yingdu is supposed to be the prequel to season 1 and 2 like specifically and considering Cheng didnt know he could clap himself into a photo by himself in season 1 I am curious to see how the show ties this all together because link click is way to fucking smart to mess up a big detail like this

I mean I really hope they dont but I wouldn't put it passed link click to kill Cheng by the end of yingdu have lu dive again and then consequently lead into s1 and s2

[sunforgrace]

sorry I know it’s 2023 the show has Been over but on any other show. your best friend confesses their love for you and dies. the very act of confession is what kills them because its their moment of true happiness - just telling you they love you - so the act of confession, of loving you, becomes happiness for its own sake and sacrificial death all at once.

on any other show. perhaps this would not insignificantly impact the character who was confessed to and would be further addressed in the text of the show. as you do when such fundamental worldview changes are introduced to characters that they now have to reconcile with along with the loss. perhaps this would even be a subplot, an arc to their character development. on any other show.

on the show where - just two seasons ago - said character Did have an entire arc and subplot dedicated to mourning the loss of their best friend who was killed in the context of battle, without any added significance such as. I don’t know. telling the other they’re in love with them which is the very thing that kills them. after the audience is deliberately shown that the character mourns for them in a distinct way compared to other characters, who mourn him as a close friend or paternal figure. which perhaps would beg the question: what is the distinction then. and the answer is: don’t worry about it. You Are Watching Supernatural

[maniacace]

two consecutive reactions to arcane s2ep7, an exhibit

[rizwalda]

my piece for _pysics' Jukebox 20: An Album Redraw Zine - created as part of @d20zinejam 2024 get this zine and 67 others in a bundle and help support humanitarian aid for the people of Palestine

there is an wonderful, accompanied playlist 🎶 here

orignal art by @wishbow