Finarfin Fades.
No one expects it, no one’s faded in Valinor since Miriel. The War of Wrath is won and he comes back, waving off the courtiers, well wishers, and congratulators with his usual grace, and walks into the palace of Tirion. To rooms abandoned since their owners left so long ago. Winding deeper and deeper his feet take him to what was once Finwë’s favourite garden.
He’s so tired.
He’s fulfilled his promise to Fëanaro and Nolofinwë, to avenge them. To make the agony of their final moments - agony Finarfin felt, falling to the floor screaming as fire and darkness consumed his spirit - count for something. Now Morgoth is finally gone, but he’s not the only one.
His brothers, larger than life, larger than death, are gone. With them his sons. Niece. Nephews. Grandchildren. His daughter is never to return. He Saw little Nelyo’s death in his dreams and is sure hopes for the child’s own sake that Makalaurë will be close behind.
Little remains. Even less on these golden shores.
So Finarfin sits on a bench long overgrown with vines and weeds, and watches the sun filter through the thicket, wishing the ghosts he sees in his father’s garden would flesh out.
He sits. He waits.
And by the time anyone finds him, it’s too late.
…at least he’s smiling again.
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I feel like every condemnation of the gods of Exandria, in-world or out, comes from someone who, when posed with the Trolley Problem, was like "well I would simply ensure I was not in that situation" and just generally I think the first time you say that in your life someone must give you a patient, gentle, and throrough explanation of the concept of a thought experiment. they should also give you a healthy snack. every time after that though it's purge rules.
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The "tactics" of torture, forced disappearance, and clandestine warfare used by the Argentine military dictatorship of 1976-1983 were taught to the Argentine military by their French military "professors," who used them extensively in their miserable attempts to maintain their empire over Vietnam, Algeria and other countries. These techniques of state terror were first used in French colonial violence, and then were applied here, with the approval of Plan Cóndor supported by the United States. The same tortures that were inflicted on Vietnamese peasants and Algerian activists were also inflicted on Argentine students, the same cruelty that the military dictatorships used from Mexico to Chile was dictated as a method at the School of the Americas. In Argentina, 30.000 people were forcibly dissapeared, tortured, raped and killed, and countless others were brutally repressed with scars they, and our entire society, still bear today.
Here is an article (in Spanish) about it.
Imperialism is a never-ending fractal of cruelty.
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I screamed out, "How'd it get this bad?"
And the thunder answered back;
"If you know not what you lack
Then you must un-turn your back
Your inside is overcast
You are tethered to your past
And it must feel like fucking hell
To be a patchwork of yourself"
The Thunder Answered Back by Gabby's World
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what gets me about the shadow/maria dynamic is that it takes the trope of "weak helpless girl dies for a tragic plot device" and subverts it
Maria wasn't helpless in her fate. She did have a choice. Shadow would have been strong enough to protect them both (Where else could they even go? Would he need to hurt someone?) but instead she made a choice to protect Shadow.
Shadow's story isn't tragic because he failed to protect Maria and now spends the rest of his life tormented over it. Shadow's story is tragic because he is the strongest creature alive, but raw power isn't always enough, and his loving friend made a sacrifice to let him go hoping she was giving him a chance to learn compassion because she was strong!
Maria's purpose isn't that she's a weak little girl who dies. Maria's legacy is that she protects the strongest creature alive, and teaches it the strength of love.
Her character gives the moment purpose, not the other way around. Her willingness to die so he can go free, asking him to use his strength to protect the people of Earth, despite everything. It's her proof of love that gives Shadow's burden that kind of extreme weight. Shadow will live forever and with so much limitless power, would life be easy to discard without a second thought? Not Maria's. Not when she asked him to protect it. That weight will remind him, always.
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