#when in doubt look to jrrt for inspiration

[razielim]

honerva, known madwoman, pulled a denethor thinking lotor was dead and all was despair when he really just needed the houses of healing and the hands of the king are the hands of a healer, and so shall the rightful king be known, which is how it's discovered that sendak was descended from a royal bloodline predating zarkon's reign, when he, the real sendak and not the clone haggar has been using, heals his friend and rival from the precipice. reconnecting to ancient galra roots the same way lotor has once desperately sought to connect to altean hearitage, they reestablish a galra kingdom in exile, separate from the fracturing remnants of the empire, hidden using much the same tricks that had once hidden the alteans for ten thousand years

[moonmothmama]

his harp shall be re-strung

this is certainly not the first time i’ve tried to delineate my feelings about Thorin Oakenshield in my life and i doubt it’ll be the last so without further ado here we go again

as i have said a hundred times i was eight years old when i first read the hobbit. i was a shy little nerd girl and it was being read by my fourth grade class. we were all responsible for getting a copy of the book ourselves and i had my older brother’s paperback copy. the cover photo was...... something. maybe i’ll find a picture, but i digress.

this is going to ramble so if you’ve come this far and are still interested in anything i have to say, be forewarned.

so.

in the book Thorin is an old man dwarf. the oldest there. he certainly isn’t Richard Armitage, all broody and angsty and in his prime. not to say i didn’t absolutely love that man’s performance, because i did. i do. Richard Armitage’s performance as Thorin is absofuckinglutely excellent and comprises no part of my List of Grievances with the hobbit films (which are flawed but not irredeemable imho). i’m just pointing out the divergence for context. because like. i know a lot of people took one look at Film Thorin and fell in love with him bc he’s hot or whatever. and i get it! but for me, like...

Thorin in the book is an old old dude. he’s got a long grey beard- so long he can tuck it into his belt- and he’s an absolute windbag. he loves to hear himself talk. which is a lovely little parallel to Bilbo if you ask me*. anyway. i was a little kid and Thorin was Old and i will never be able to look at him That Way.

*- he also plays a beautiful golden harp. compare and contrast Bilbo’s love of poetry and flowers. i’m not saying the internet sold me on Bagginshield but yes i am saying that

so: i absolutely do love Thorin. i’ve always loved Thorin. my chunky little glasses wearing bookworm nerd ass would have followed him into dragonfire and goblin hordes and troll camps and Mirkwood Forest and the whole deal in a heartbeat.

and like. i’m american. i do not understand the whole deal with royalty and shit.

but Thorin Oakenshield? O great King under the Mountain!

to this day, and probably until i die, the mere mention of The Hobbit will inspire feelings of deep admiration and loyalty to Thorin. which i get that that’s incredibly dorky, okay? i’m Fandom Old now and i don’t care anymore. but anyway, like. childhood heroes and whatnot. a good story can do that. a good story can get into your bones and settle there, and that’s what the Hobbit did. i was very upset when Thorin (and Fili and Kili!) died and i still feel sorrow over it.

i always loved the dwarves. so, so much. Thorin’s whole company, i adored them. to the point of being incredibly indignant toward the narrator (hey professor tolkien. can we talk) when he slighted the dwarves, as individuals or as a people. which happened more than once. little eight year old me was all in for Thorin Oakenshield and Dwarves As A Whole and i would not tolerate a cross word.

the whole business with the Arkenstone and Bilbo and the whole standoff at the gates of the Lonely Mountain still gets me twisted up emotionally to this day.

over and over again i’ve tried to work out why precisely Thorin Oakenshield as a character means so much to me.

i do admire his bravery, his devotion to his people and their legacy... jrrt can go ahead and say “dwarves are not heroes” and fuckin’ choke on it AND all his blatant favoritism toward elves

ahem.

anyway i also think the connection between Thorin and Bilbo was part of it too

but yet again all i can come up with are the Feelings themselves, idk what exactly made them stick so stubbornly

dwarves, man...

also i am completely enamored of the songs/poetry in the book and the Dwarven Song of Old Wealth (aka The Misty Mountains Cold) especially is and always will be a direct route to my heart