#you have the best insights into gimli

[tathrin]

i’m so in love with your AU, especially the parts where Gimli is being influenced / hearing the whispers of his ring!! i love hearing Gimli’s inner workings and thoughts as he’s further being corrupted. im not sure where I got the idea that dwarves are more resilient to the influence of the ring (not sure if this is from canon or fanon or just vibes ach) but it’s really fascinating to read your story with the thought that dwarves are resilient (ESPECIALLY GIMLI!!! the knight in shining armour who in the movies literally immediately tried to destroy the ring) and seeing just how far gone Gimli has gone to justify the corruption to himself. its like Gimli is an unmoveable rock and his ring Knows This, so it has chipped away at him slowly, until he withered away and has become something unrecognisable. given what it took for legolas to recognise gimli fully and completely (him taking off his ring) it seems this is already in effect!! but somehow though despite the corruption and the pain going on here i still Trust gimli, isn’t that insane? 😅 it’s like yeah he’s definitely being influenced by evil energy and yeah he’s committed war crimes but also he’s Gimli so that’s okay 🫶 no but in all honesty i feel like how legolas did first seeing him, couldn’t recognise him at first but once i did i flinched back in fear at the dark lord of erebor i saw!! (but also i just feel like when it comes to gimli i cant lose hope!) maybe he snaps out of the evil influence, maybe he falls further into its hold!! who knows what’s gonna happen in this AU? cant wait to read more! <3 (also many apologies for the HUGE chunk of text 😅)

Oh my gods don’t APOLOGIZE for this, I am flailing over it. I am writhing on the floor making happy screams. Thank you ahhhh I am so glad you like it, thank you! And I’m going to respond by rambling my ass off at you, so I hope you don’t regret it too much ahaha. But like. yes! Gimli IS the knight in shining armor! The unmovable rock! The incorruptible pillar! But now...

Well, now I have to justify a dark take on him in this weird-ass AU idea that bopped me on the head out of nowhere lmao. So I’m going to just gush my thoughts out at you incoherently, and see if I can A: get them a little more concrete in my head and B: see what you think! (This is what you get for engaging with me I’m so sorry. You stuck your finger through the cage and now I’m gnawing on it excitedly lol.)

You’re right about Dwarves and the Rings btw, the original Seven Rings couldn’t corrupt the Dwarves the way they did Men (no Ringwraithdwarves lol) they basically just gave them Severe Goldsickness, iirc. But! it’s not gold that Gimli wants! Over him gold shall have no dominion. So that wouldn’t be a very viable way of getting to his heart, silly Ring. So basically where my head went was, the Rings work by corrupting a person’s goodness not by just like. mustache twirling mwa-ha-ha evilness, right? They get to you by offering you what you want, not what the Dark Lord wants; that’s how they hook you, anyway, and then it shifts and drags you down with it into what It wants...but that’s how it starts.

With Frodo, the way the Ring got to him was through him showing Gollum mercy, basically: the whole “I won’t kill you, but if you attack me again you’ll be thrown into fire!” thing. Sure it was wearing him down all along in little ways, but that was where the Ring got its final major defining “in” with him. With Boromir, it was “hey do you want strength to defend your city?” and yeah, of course he does! Who wouldn’t? That’s a viable desire!

So with Gimli, Durin’s Ring has really been working with not a lot so far, tbh.

It’s certainly been enacting influence! Twisting, corrupting, cajoling; chipping away, as you said. A year ago, he wouldn’t have been able to bring himself to do X...but a year ago, he had to do Y. And doing Y makes doing X easier to bear; that’s how corruption works. And the Ring has certainly been working hard. But it just hasn’t been able to get much of a grip.

Because Gimli is compromising his sense of right and wrong for the sake of the greater good, sure; but that was less about the Ring on his hand luring him in than it was about the fact that all of Middle-earth has been conquered by a Dark Lord, so there are no good choices left. Do you defy Gondor and watch your people be slaughtered on the altar of your pride? Or do you bend your knee and try to keep them alive as best you can? Gimli chose the latter, and that’s led to a terrible (and slowly corrupting) struggle, because he has to side with evil “for the sake of his people” and accept, allow, and sometimes even order evil things done, and there’s no good way off that road to hell once you start walking it (especially in Tolkien) — but he hasn’t really needed (or wanted) the power of the Ring. Yet.

Now all of a sudden here’s Legolas in chains before him, and elves are the one thing in Middle-earth who don’t get the option of “bend your knee to the bad guy and live, or defy him and die” — for them, it’s just die. And of course Gimli doesn’t want to stand back and watch Legolas die. But maybe Gimli can save him! He’s the Lord of Erebor! He has a Ring of Power! He should be able to do something to save him...right!?

And that’s how the Ring is (finally!) getting its big “in” with him here.

He’s already compromised himself so much, he thinks; he’s already got so much blood on his hands, spilt to save his people. He’s watched children in Dale starve, because he doesn’t dare give them food the Dark Lord doesn’t think their people have earned. He’s watched Mirkwood burn and stood behind his walls and done nothing. He’s let elves be worked to death in his mines. He’s accepted a Ring of Power, and all it’s done has been to leave him even more powerless than before. He’s stood back while good people were executed, because nothing he said could have saved them and daring to try would have only made more trouble for the people depending on him. He’s pledged his allegiance, and that of his people, to a monster for the sake of making sure the dwarves who rely on him live to see another day. He’s already damned. So what else does he have to lose?

Well. Legolas’s life, as it turns out. And if the Ring can save him...well.

Gimli is such a good, strong person. He’s never wanted power for himself, or lordship, or anything like that. He just wants to save people, to protect them. And just like with Boromir, the Ring is going to offer him the power to do that, and that might be what pushes him over the edge from slowly damning himself by making the best of increasingly bad choices...to falling off the edge into total darkness.

But we’ll see! I have no idea where this story is going to go, so maybe it’ll be a story of salvation! Or maybe it won’t. We get to find out together. Yay?

[giaffa]

Passing this ask game on: List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the ask box for the last 10 people who reblogged something from you. get to know your mutuals and followers. <3 I saw that you already answered this, but I thought that maybe you could share 5 more with me, or share something about our shared hyperfixation, like your 5 favorite silmarillion hcs/characters or your 5 favorite fanfics/artworks? If you want to, of course. Anyways, have a nice day 🤍

Hi! thank you for the ask, I'm always glad to share more stuff 😁 here's some fanfics I recently read and loved:

The Rescue Party by AeolianSands: funny crack au concept, so well done and so epic at the same time, all the characters and descriptions are very well written, the funny parts and the serious ones balance perfectly

All That's Best of Dark and Bright by clothonono: great Thingol/Melian fic with a wonderful dose of eldritchness

Death and the Tax Elf by Grond: Caranthir and dwarves, with great character insight and analysis along the way, fic is still going

Project Requirements by searchingforserendipity: "supply orders for the Þerindë workshop" short ficlet, I really loved the writing style

The Queen is Sad by Skaelds: angsty Tar-Mirirel arc, wonderful writing and character analysis here too

I grew up by the sea and by the woods so the same things that make me happy are also the same things that create a sense of longing in the long run, that's why I love Tolkien's worldbuilding so much. I think the sea longing and subcreation themes are my favourite, I love the hopeful endings and at the same I like to see characters failing sometimes (in one way, see the whole Frodo arc, or another, see the entire feanorian fiasco), I like both character insights and corruption arcs, it's fun to explore all the characters motivations and I appreciate morally grey or "problematic" characters.

Also I like the characters moving through the world and being affected by it, all Tolkien's stories tend to be journeys more than quests, and characters transform through them. In the legendarium the journey can be both through space, moving through the land and the different cultures and their history, and through time, like the way an elf is affected by the years and what happens to them. And in a world where people live through millennia, how are mortal people faring? The worldbuilding rises a lot questions and I love to see fanfic authors responding to all of them. As I said in the previous ask, I do love me a good Narrative <3

This got a little long but I think it explains why some of my favourite blorbos are: Legolas and Gimli, all the feanorians and Maglor in particular, Sauron, Celebrimbor (in relation to both Sauron and the feanorians), Melian and Thingol, Tar-Miriel and Numenor in general, Thranduil.

Thanks again and a nice day to you too! 💖

[lucy-verse]

I appreciate you adding your two cents from the other side of the argument. This was in no way an attack on people who ship Tauriel and Kili, and enjoyed the romance as a whole. It was merely a critique of how the movie handled their relationship and the issue of pivotal female characters in male-dominated movies nearly always having their character arcs based around romance.

Just a few refutes I want to make:

-I think it comes down to this, for me at least, that a lot of what their relationship is happens through connections we may not see. The way I like to look at it is that one talk in the prison was not their only talk. If you combine book timeline with movie timeline they could have been talking for a month.

It's clear in the movie that the party are only in Mirkwood for a short amount of time - between the dwarves' arrest, imprisonment, and then their escape, we can say they were there for a week at most if we're being generous, given Bilbo infiltrates the place pretty quickly to rescue them. The writers could have easily implied that they had been there for longer, and had Tauriel and Kili have brief interactions to show the growing attraction - hell, they could have even stuck with the love at first sight thing, but simply given Tauriel and Kili more in-depth dialogue and insight into their personalities.

But most of the film's attention was focused on action scenes, so a lot of the more intimate scenes were limited, which is why it felt like the romance was just shoehorned in for me. Of course, fans are free to fill in gaps, and thank God too, because fanfic writers often make far more interesting stories than canon ever does. But I'm just basing this off what we were given onscreen.

-This also is a relationship that leaves a lot of opening for imagination. What you don’t see in the movies is what I can create in my head.

As an avid writer of fanfiction, I agree. But that doesn't take away from my points in my post, which is focusing strictly on their relationship onscreen.

-He [Tolkien] didn’t seem to have a problem pairing elven/dwarven couples since he hinted at a deep admiration between Gimli and Galadriel and he made a solid pair (romantic or otherwise) between Legolas and Gimli.

My issue here is that Legolas and Gimli's relationship (and Gimli and Galadriel's, to an extent), was significant because it was the catalyst for the elves and dwarves putting their differences aside. It played a big part in their character development in both the books and movies - they go from despising each other to Gimli being the first dwarf to be permitted into the Undying Lands because Legolas can’t bear to be without him. From a canon perspective, I feel Tauriel and Kili's relationships strips away the importance of Legolas's friendship with Gimli breaking the glass ceiling. But that's just me being picky.

-As far as Tauriel not being a strong character I don’t agree here either. It takes incredible strength to leave everything you know behind, even disobeying your king, to follow your heart and what you believe to be right.

I never said Tauriel wasn't a strong character. I agree that it takes incredible strength to abandon tradition and walk your own path. My gripe is that her motives were driven by a man she barely knew. It plays into the old cliche that a woman can only discover her true purpose when a dashing male enters her life and opens her eyes. Not everyone is bothered by this, which is their own prerogative. It's just a personal pet peeve of mine.

-And I still think Legolas considers her more a sister. I know what’s insinuated and maybe he has deep affection for her, but I still think it’s best friend/brother kind of thing.

Once again, everyone is entitled to their own perspective. However, Evangeline Lily herself confirmed that the dynamic between Tauriel, Kili, and Legolas is supposed to be a love triangle, which she wasn't happy about because she didn't want Tauriel to be involved in a romance subplot. The movie was apparently shot one way, and the love triangle edited in afterwards.

-Emotion, love, and passion are not weakness.

I didn't say that. In fact, I explicitly stated that women can fall in love and still be strong characters. My issue is when a woman's character arc relies on her romance with a man. Take the romance subplot out of The Hobbit movies, and there would be little need for Tauriel to be there at all, whereas Kili would still serve an important role regardless. (I want to state that I made a similar post about Legolas, and how this applies to his character in The Hobbit as well. I feel he and Tauriel were both handled poorly).

For example: both Arwen and Eowyn were involved in romance subplots, and are still purposeful characters on their own. But that's because they're given a purpose other than their love for Aragorn.

Arwen's story revolves around her sacrificing her immortality to live the life that she wants for herself. Yes, this is partly because she's in love with Aragorn, but she makes it very clear that she's doing this for herself and her own future too. Aragorn tries over and over again to talk her out of it, but she refuses to back down; this is what she wants, and she's doing it for herself as well as him. She's a great example of a strong female character who is also a love interest. Her actions are motivated not only by her love for Aragorn, but for her own happiness.

And then there's Eowyn, who wants to be recognised as a great shieldmaiden who protects her people, before she sees the horrors of war and realises she'd rather dedicate her life to healing. Though he does inspire her, Aragorn is not the driving force behind her actions; she felt this way long before she met him, and long after he rejected her feelings.

These are both strong women who fall in love. What makes them stand out from Tauriel is that they serve a far bigger role than just being connected to Aragorn.

Tauriel has snippets of wanting to do the right thing and having a desire to break free from the isolation of Mirkwood, but ultimately her actions always tie back to Kili. When the Orc is taunting her about their forces taking over, he mentions that Kili got hit with a poisoned arrow, which motivates her to leave. When Tauriel and Legolas reach Laketown, she's there to heal Kili rather than protect the townsfolk. During the final standoff, she's there fighting beside Kili and Kili only. This is what I mean when I say she was reduced to a love interest; Kili is the driving force for the majority of her actions in the movie. Take him out of the equation, and she serves almost zero purpose to the story.

-Finally, Legolas didn’t flinch because he knew she would never hurt Thranduil.

If someone threatened my dad with a bow and arrow, regardless if I thought they would actually do it or not, I'd be dishing out a serious ass whooping, friend or no friend. Legolas didn't seem to give two shits that Tauriel had just threatened his own father, and Tauriel was made out to be the victim of the situation when she was the one who started it.

Thranduil's character was really butchered in the movies because the writers seemed determined to make him look like the bad guy in order to garner more sympathy for the dwarves. His confrontation with Tauriel was another attempt to make him look like an unreasonable asshole, and her the compassionate heroine. Which really backfired with a lot of fans, given the whole rushed romance thing, and Thranduil's hostility towards the outside world actually being pretty understandable when you know his backstory.

-Her argument was to help stop the bloodshed…it would make no sense for her to kill and shed blood when she’s trying to stop it. She just ran out of options to make him see what she sees and used a desperate measure to get her point across.

This is where I have to firmly disagree. Tauriel wasn't giving Thranduil a choice in the matter; she was outright threatening him with either death or violence if he didn't comply with her demands. All this did was say to him that she was willing to sacrifice her king and fellow soldiers for the sake of a single dwarf. I don't blame him for going off on her.

Thranduil was abandoning the fight to save what little of his army he had left. This is an elf who watched his own father fall in battle, lost his wife, and saw his homeland fall to ruin under Sauron's reign. He wanted to get the hell out of Laketown before more of his kin were lost. And he's rewarded with his own guard captain threatening him and calling him heartless because he won't sacrifice his people for a bunch of dwarves who hate his guts. Tauriel was telling him to prioritise the lives of the dwarves over his own people, and saying he had "no love in him" for refusing to do it, all the while surrounded by the bodies of fallen elves who had given their lives to protect a human village under Thranduil's instruction.

Both of them were being selfish in this scene, but for entirely different reasons. Thranduil was being selfish for a selfless reason; the wellbeing of his people, including his own son. Tauriel was being selfish because she wanted to rescue Kili, which might have been selfless had she not expected the rest of her kin to follow her into what was essentially a slaughter. Thranduil didn't owe Thorin and his company any loyalty, and didn't deserve to be made into the villain for wanting to keep his people safe.

TL:DR I have no issue with people enjoying the Tauriel/Kili romance. This post was simply a critique of how the movie handled it, and my own personal grievances with the handling of her character. I know not everyone feels this way and that's absolutely valid. I just feel like it could have been so much better than it turned out.

The Hobbit really did Tauriel dirty, for more reasons than one.

I like the fact that they added a pivotal female character into an otherwise male dominated movie. But as per usual, her purpose was of little more than to be a love interest for two attractive men, as much as the writers tried to pretend that wasn’t the case. After interacting with Kili a staggering number of three times, she’s head over heels in love and ready to turn her back on her own people - as well as kill her king - to save him. Despite the two of them being raised together, and Orlando Bloom himself saying that he sees their relationship as a sibling bond, the movie was recut to have Legolas crushing on her like an angsty teen, ready to throw everything away just to please her. Doesn’t even bat an eyelid when she’s ready to murder his own dad.

They could have easily included a strong female character without reducing Tauriel to a love interest. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that women can’t fall in love and be strong characters at the same time, but given that most movies seem incapable of doing it right, I think it’s sometimes best to just not do it at all - especially for a book like The Hobbit, where romance is neither present nor necessary.

As is always with this trilogy, there was so much wasted potential.

[heniareth]

I was really curious about what your opinions on the DAO companions are :) I know we have talked about some, but I'd love to hear more and about the others as well :D I hope it's ok to pose this as an ask :)

Sure! That sounds like a ton of fun. This might be a long one tho. Mind you, this is not the finished version of the answer. I'd like to link stuff and add a cut, but rn that's not possible. I'll update it when I can.

Edit: I have updated it ^^

Let's go alphabetically bc why not.

Alistair:

Sweet guy. So sweet. There was a moment when I was hard pressed chosing between him and Zevran (alas, Zevran won). Also, he's weirdly tall according to the wiki? How did I not notice that before?

Let's get a bit more serious now, Alistair is a great guy. The only reason he's not the hero of the story is because he doesn't want to. He has all the qualities of a leader: he's good at dealing with conflict (as evident with the conversation with the mage at the beginning. He gets where he wants to get without antagonizing the mage, but without allowing him to trample all over him). He's a solid tactitian and knows how to make allies (he suggests to use the Grey Warden treaties, after all). I bet if he was in the leadership position, he'd even not bicker with Morrigan. His moral code is pretty tight; some might say too tight, but I think it's less about the moral code and more about learning to judge people by their actions, not by the labels they fit into (Morrigan is a proud apostate and therefore bad. Wynne is a humble circle mage and therefore good). He also has a bit of a black-and-white way of seeing the world. I empathize a lot with Alistair, especially with his experience with the Chantry and his subsequent reluctance to deal with it. I really wish I had gotten to know more about concrete experiences he had during his training as templar, but he seems reluctant to talk about it (gee, I wonder why).

Since I've only played the game once, I haven't really picked up on Arl Eamon's abuse towards him, which apparently exists (Isolde, however... I mean, even if he were Eamon's illegitimate son, he's a kid, ma'am, he didn't exactly get to chose his parents. So that's so not okay). Alistair's way of speaking about them both, however, is either sign that he has not come within a hundred miles of acknowledging how much it hurt him, or that he's already gone through the whole process and has decided to forgive them. The latter shows a very strong character; yes, he relies on the approval and leadership of others, he has his issues, but he's already started working on them.

That being said, irl Alistair would be like a little brother to me. I'd tease him relentlessly (all in good fun and I promise to stop if it makes him uncomfortable, but he's just so teasable). I still wish the videogame gave him the chance to take important decisions for himself. But that, of course, would somewhat defeat the point of the game.

Leliana:

Another sweet, sweet person. Her singing voice is amazing. Her belief in the Maker inspires me (I'm a religious person and seeing religious characters represented in a positive light is Very Cool. It's also sometimes a source of discomfort, because the Church has done a lot of very messed up stuff and positive representation can sometimes veer into apologetics for things that should not be excused, but that's a whole other can of worms. The bottom line is that religious characters sometimes work for me and other times don't and Leliana works for me very much bc she's an outsider inside the Chantry).

Leliana is best friend material, tbh. I'd love to get to know her irl, discuss theology and philosophy and maybe even politics? She makes mistakes and has prejudices, but, tbh, so do I. And I do get the feeling that she tries her best to learn. From the times she intervenes in a conversation between the Warden and an NPC, she shows herself to be compassionate and open to the needs of others. What I get from her character is that she genuinely wants to help, which is something that I adore of her. I suspect that she sometimes has a hard time deciding wether she's a good person or not. She has killed and seduced and worked for a morally dubious person, and she doesn't show the same nonchalance about it as Zevran (though they both do discuss their line of work in very... professional terms). This is, however, more of a headcanon than actual factual canon.

I also very much enjoy her girly side, like her interest in shoes and dresses. She's one badass woman who also looses her cool about the latest fashions in Val Royeaux. I like that. Between her and Alistair, a non human noble Warden has as good a help to navigate the Fereldan court as they're going to get. Leliana is also, I can't forget that, clever and insightful. It'd be easy to write her off as the innocent chantry girl, but she's so much more than that. Her kindness is paired with foresight, I think. She knows that taking on the trouble to help now can go a long way in the future. I just have a lot of respect for her.

Loghain:

This one's gonna be short bc I didn't recruit him. He's an amazing villain and would probably be a great Warden as well. He reminds me of Denerhor from LOTR; once a hero/stewart of his people, ambition and desperation have driven them both down a terrible path. I have also only little idea about his past. People say he lost a lot, and I believe it wholeheartedly; it doesn't excuse the fact that he plunged the country into a civil war in the middle of a Blight. I don't have a lot of sympathy for short-sighted politicians. I wish he hadn't made himself regent. That's what I take away from his character.

Edit: One thing I forgot to mention that really impressed me was his death. I had Alistair duel him (that was a rough duel), and then it kinda just jumped to a cutscene of my Warden nodding and Alistair executing him. That didn't sit well with me. I didn't want to kill Loghain, and less so in front of Anora. But what impressed me was that Loghain just accepted it. That takes a whole lot of guts. Compare that to Howe's death, and how he screams out that he deserved (more, probably, or anything but death) and it's crystal clear who the more noble of the two is. Loghain strikes me as very lawful neutral, and any neutral alignment has the particularity that it can be dragged towards good or bad, sometimes without the characters noticing it (which is interesting from a DnD perspective; neutral is often concieved of as just as stable as good or evil, but that may not be true. But that's a different post). Anyway, Loghain's death was impactful.

Morrigan:

I could kick myself for not maxing out her approval in the first play-through. I got to enjoy a bit of her friendship by the end of it and boy was even that little bit worth it. Friendship with Morrigan is something that is hard-won. It's all the more precious because of that.

Morrigan is full of paradoxes, I think. She's incredibly wise in some ways, yet also very short-sighted (”just kill them, don't solve their problems”. Morrigan, dear, I'm not going to gain a lot of allies if I kill everybody who poses a problem to me). She is so intelligent, but emotionally... not so. She knows so much about some things, and very little about the next. She's incredibly wilful and knows what she wants, but follows Flemeth's orders all the time through. She hungers for power and independence, yet craves closeness, but won't allow herself to have it. She asks you to prove yourself to her and is extremely critical of your actions, I think, because she's afraid. She bites the hand that feeds her because it might hit her next.

Like with Eamon, I haven't managed to catch the undercurrent of abuse that seems to permeate Flemeth's relationship with Morrigan. Except there are signs, because there must be something Morrigan is scared of and who has instilled all that rage in her, and that's Flemeth. Also, she clearly hates/does not care about her and wants her dead (unless killing Flemeth was part of Flemeth's plan as well? Hm.)

Morrigan is that one person who you are nice to, continuously, because nobody else is. And suddenly she becomes less cold. And then friendly. And suddenly you're asking yourself why everybody hates her, because she's a really good friend! I just wish the other companions came to a similar conclusion, especially Alistair and Wynne.

Oghren:

They did this man dirty. He has such great lines and I'm convinced he was a great person before Branka disappeared. He has that dwarven warrior spirit, and while he looks like Gimli, some of his most impactful lines remind me of Dwalin or even Thorin Oakenshield himself. He could be so noble had he gotten some character development, damnit!

Oghren as he is written is somewhat disgusting. I hate the lechering comments and the drunkenness. And still, I don't hate him because of those amazing lines he has when he's actually sober. It's frustrating and I'll give him that character development myself if the game won't. I strongly associate the song Whiskey Lullaby with him, bc that's how he would have ended up if the Warden hadn't taken him along (warning: the song talks about suicide and alcoholism). Like I said, they could have done such cool things with his character. As he is written now... it's just sad. Moments of lucidity drowned in alcohol and creepy jokes. As you can see, I don't blame the character for either. The alcoholism happens all too often irl. The creepy jokes... I put that one on the writers' tab.

I actually think Oghren could have been a great mentor figure (I know, I shock myself as well sometimes). Next to the Grey Wardens, the ones who know most about fighting darkspawn are the dwarves because they have to deal with them constantly. Especially a warrior caste dwarf like Oghren could have brought a lot of that invaluable knowledge to the team, especially since there are no Grey Wardens in Ferelden but two extremely green recruits. Next, you get the chance to give Oghren the command of the teammates you leave behind in the battle of Denerim with the reason that he has lead men into battle before. Where did that suddenly come from? Oghren should have been right up there telling my Warden that they were doing this wrong, that they needed more food (and booze) and a confident leader to keep the armies they've called together going. Oghren should have been able to tell my civilian city elf who got recruited into the Grey Wardens a six months ago how one leads an army. How one presents oneself to inspire confidence, how one doesn't crack under the pressure, how one gets the leaders of said armies (some who hate each others guts i.e. Dalish elves and humans) to work together. And, last but not least, Oghren could have had a great story about grief. This is a man who has lost most of what made him (and what he hasn't lost he's spilling down the drain with every mug of ale). This is a man who, if you take him into the Deep Roads, has to see what his wife did to his family, how his wife got absolutely obsessed, and can be forced to kill said wife or watch her die. All Wardens loose their home and families at the start of the story. It would really have rounded the whole narrative out if the Warden and Oghren could have recognised their grief in each other and hashed it out somehow. Such as it is, Oghren is a depressed drunkard and there is nothing we can do about that. I find that frustrating.

Rascal (a.k.a. Dog):

Best boy. 100/10. I wish we had gotten to see the reaction of the different origins to the mabari (because elves probably have a whole different experience with them from mages or humans. And dwarves just... I think they straight up have none? XD). Other than that, no complaints. The name Rascal was the one I gave my dog because you have to be a right rascal to survive what he did and play the pranks he plays. Smartest breed in the world indeed.

Shale:

Shale is one of those characters that I recruited rather late in the game, so I haven't had the chance to explore their personality and worldview, really. I didn't even get to take them to the Deep Roads (this will be ammended in playthrough nr. 2). As such, I don't have particularly strong opinions on them (or her? The wiki refers to Shale as 'it', but that sounds weird). But, because I know so little about Shale, I have a lot of questions. First, what were they like before they were a golem? Shayle, as she was called then, was the best warrior of her time if I remember correctly. Why did she become a golem? Was it to be able to eternally protect her people? Was the sarcasm the golem Shale exhibits also part of the dwarven warrior Shayle or did that come later (if for thirty years you have nobody to talk to but yourself, you better be entertaining. And I can imagine how it could make somebody terribly jaded as well).

Next, how attached is Shale to their golem form, exactly? According to the banter, they infinitely prefer it to a squishy fleshy form. If that is the case, however, why go to Tevinter to try and become a squishy dwarf again? It's not like that process could be reversed if they wanted to become a golem again; if Shale survives to the end of the game, the Anvil of the Void is destroyed and Caridin is dead. Was the whole spiel about their indestructible form a façade? It might have been, but not because Shale actually disliked their form. I think it would have more to do with the loss of their memories and with the very invasive experiments and alterations of Shale's body made by the mage Wilhelm. The loss of memories means that Shale is unable to remember life as a fleshy creature. They might be deflecting by pretending that they didn't care for that experience anyway because of the superiority of their golem form. The modifications made to their form by Wilhelm would have alienated them from their body. In light of this, it's significant that Shale asks the Warden to decorate their form with crystals.

All of this is, of course, pure speculation. I may have easily missed or forgotten details that would disprove the above thoughts. All in all, I like Shale and I hope we meet them again in DA4 (given that it's mostly set in Tevinter). It's a liking from a respectful distance, because Shale is tall and made out of rock and also way more experienced than I will ever be (they are literally the oldest member of the Warden's little Blight fighting squad).

Sten:

Sten is another person I'd keep a respectful distance from physically. That seems to be the what he would prefer, at least. I've enjoyed his character a lot, especially because he seems pretty clear-cut at first, but slowly lets the nuance of his person show (gruff and stoic, but then he has an eye for art, a sweet tooth and he likes cute animals). It's also very interesting that there's no moment when you learn "the truth" about him the way you do with Zevran or Leliana. There's no big reveal about his life under the Qun before coming to Ferelden. He says he was sent to monitor the Blight, but honestly? If neither Ferelden nor Orlais knew there was a Blight, how could the Qunari know? I think he's lying, and he takes his secrets back with him when he leaves Ferelden. And yet I think I know him enough to say that a Warden who has become friends with him has nothing to fear from Sten.

One thing I find very interesting about Sten is how he thinks. His conversation about how women can't be soldiers has been analysed a lot on this page I think. He seems to be arguing based on a different paradigma than the one the Warden has. He also seems to have a very clear-cut view of the world. What is fascinating to me is that, when arguing with the Warden and learning about their culture, he is not necessarily becoming more lax about his worldview. I think it's more likely that he is expanding his paradigma, the structure of thought through which he understands the world. I don't think that he is now convinced that women can be warriors as well. I think he rather understands that, in Ferelden, the relationship between occupation and gender is different than under the Qun. Which of the two he thinks is more right or more agreeable, I have no idea. I'm also not very interested in that. But I find it fascinating how he always seems to be looking on quietly, gathering data, classifying it and trying to fit it into his understanding of how the world works. I wouldn't be surprised at all if his original party was a scouting party to see how vulnerable Ferelden was at that moment to outside forces. One thing I don't understand with all of this is why he urges the Warden to meet the Blight head on. No smart soldier would suggest that, except if they are foolishly proud (and Sten doesn't seem like that kind of guy tbh). I get that the Warden takes way longer to gather allies than expected because they first have to solve all of their allies' problems. But surely Sten sees the need to have allies? Is he just that impatient? Does he have a death wish (à la, I lost my sword and am without honour, better to die sooner than later and in glorious battle)? Was he his group's previous commander and is he now having trouble following somebody else's orders? Or maybe it's his way to make sure the Warden knows what they are doing? To push them into becoming the self-assured commander their allies will need once they're all gathered? I really don't know. I like the last option best, however.

For me, Sten is my fellow, more experienced soldier. Like Alistair, he can potentially be the Warden's brother in arms, but he's definitely the older brother here. He probably doesn't take kindly to tearful confessions of how hard everything is, but I feel like he's otherwise a solid rock to lean on. I feel like the Warden can trust him to do what is necessary and count on him no matter what, especially after they get his sword back. His devotion from that point on is honestly so powerful.

Wynne:

Wynne was such a support for my Warden (except with the whole conversation about love vs. duty and that she may have to choose between Zevran and ending the Blight and that she should therefore break up with him. Wynne had a point. Astala was so not willing to sacrifice her relationship with Zevran. But the whole conversation came at a point where she was already so disillusioned that she blew up in Wynne's face (”can i please just have one (1) nice thing????”)). But all in all, Wynne is great.

She has a lot of flaws. She was very marked by her life in the Cricle and, for all her age, she has little experience living outside of it. She is also a conformist despite her strong moral core. In a way, her ability to find peace with her lot in life impresses me deeply because it speaks to a lot of strength of character. Sadly, however, strength can be ill applied and used to suppress. I think she has convinced herself that the Chantry is right under (almost) all circumstances to be able to rationalize the life that mages live. She's had her son taken away from her as a baby and an apprentice killed. Her reaction seems to have been to convince herself that this was right, or for the greater good (and now I'm thinking about the Guardian's question at the temple of Andraste's Ashes; are you wise or do you just repeat what others have told you? The answer is not as clear-cut as it might be). This is why she is so irritated by Zevran and Morrigan. By aligning herself with the Chantry, she is, in her eyes, good. Zevran and Morrigan are not; they do not conform to Chantry morality and they defend themselves tooth and nails against somebody who would try and convert them. This is something Wynne never allowed herself to do; she always did the "right" thing and it has cost her so much. I'm not saying she was right (it would probably have done her some good to rebel from time to time, and to trust her own gut instinct more), but in light of this, it hardly surprises me that she's so judgamental. She has to be, or she would be forced to confront all the evil she has not fought against all those years and all the hurt that has been caused to her by the very institution she protects (and thank God she only tries to argue and can appreciate it when people have found a good life outside of her comfort zone. If she tried to convince by force or, for example, drag her former apprentice back to the Circle... boy oh boy that would get ugly). If you think about it, Wynne really is a good example for what happens if you live by a philosophy of always choosing the lesser evil.

Something that I keep forgetting over her grandmotherly and dignified character is how damn powerful she is. She has escaped the carnage at Ostagar; HOW!? She protected those mage apprentices in the Circle tower for God knows how long. In the battle of Denerim, she wades through an army and comes out alive on the other side. The wiki lists her age at 40, I think, but that doesn't make a lick of sense unless 75 years of age are the Fereldan equivalent to 100. This lady, about whom people make grandmother jokes, did all that. It's impressive.

Zevran:

You know, I would really love to know what Wynne thinks about the events at Kirkwall in DA2. It might be a disaster for her, or it might pave the way for one last bit of character development. She certainly didn't want to return to the Circle after fighting the Blight. That may be an indicator of some change in her stance on the Circle of Magi.

Edit: I forgot that she is what the Circle considers a literal abomination! Holy cow, how could I forget that?? Anyway, her conversation about what being an abomination means is so... heartbreaking, actually. It's so tentative. So careful. "Am I an abomination? Am I the same thing that has killed my students? The same thing as Uldred? Am I lost and damned? Did I invite this spirit in? Is this my fault?" Like wow, Wynne is going through something huge right there. I love it. I have to continue playing the game to see what it ends up as, but it's fascinating and such a huge thing that she allows the Warden in on that.

Ah, Zevran, my beloved (he has stolen my heart so much it's not even funny anymore). He's funny, he's charming, he's so so loyal and it breaks my heart. Zevran is the one about whom I've read most meta: these three wonderful posts for instance, as well as this one about his possible lack of scars, and this one about his lack of freedom. All of these have influenced my opinion of him and they are great reads.

I have talked about Zevran with you before, so I'll just skip to the new stuff. I have come to conclusion that Zevran is an artist at heart. This is totally not biased by the fact that I also do art, but hear me out. One of his preferred gifts are bars of silver and gold. While those have the obvious utility of basically functioning as money (they can be sold to any silversmith or goldsmith and their value is pretty stable through time and in different countries), there's also this from his codex: "Zevran shows an affinity for the finer things in life—hardly surprising for an Antivan Crow—but his appreciation can be more poetic than he lets on. A simple bar of refined silver or gold, uncomplicated by a craftsman's hammer, is elegantly valuable." Tell me that is not an artist's eye that sees that gold and sees the beauty in it. Then, there's also the meta about Zevran the Seducer which I linked above and link here again. It talks specifically about how he lets himself enjoy the target and be seen in his enjoyment. Tell me that is not an artist's eye that beholds the beauty of something he is set out to destroy. Even his talk about his assassinations show this. He talks about it as an art, the way somebody would talk about the brutal intervention in stone that produces a sculpture. Yes, it's a rationalization of the act of killing and yes killing is still wrong. But he doesn't go on about it on a moral tangent the way Alistair or Wynne would (”this person was bad, killing them was necessary”) or even through the argument of survival like Morrigan would (”it was either them or me and it sure as Hell wasn't going to be me”). He talks about the pleasure of a job well done, of the satisfaction of striking the precise point and executing a plan to the perfection so as to minimize chances of discovery and to make a clean death possible. And pleasure in seeing and in doing, this I firmly believe, is absolutely fundamental for an artist.

My favourite part about my Warden and Zevran as a pairing is that Zevran precisely brings out that ability to take your pleasures as they come and to really savour them. Fighting the Blight is tough; it's so important to find good things amidst the chaos to stay sane. If Astala saves Zevran from himself by offering him a place to stay and a purpose, Zevran saves Astala from herself by keeping her from running herself into the ground trying to save the world.

There are some things I don't like about Zev. The incessant flirting, for example, sometimes makes me uncomfortable (it becomes enjoyable for me once the Warden and him are in a relationship, but before that? Nah, no thanks). I wish he would also leave the other female characters alone (and there's so many more shameless comments of his aimed at Morrigan, Leliana or Wynne than at Alistair or maybe even Sten).

---

And that's my take on the Origins companions (this was rather long. Whew ^^' I hope it was still readable and that you enjoyed it!!) Thank you so much for the ask!! It's been a joy thinking about this. I was worrying at first that the less prominent companions like Sten or Shale wouldn't get as much content but... well XD

[phoenixisbored]

I FUCKING ACCIDENTALLY DELETED THE FIRST VERSION OF THIS AND I’M SO MAD

Anyways… Here we go! Onto a new chapter. Last time I predicted that this chapter would be a bit more plot focused. Let’s see if I was right.

Sansûkh Chapter 4 Reactions/Reviews

Once again the start of this chapter got a laugh out of me. The beginning encapsulates the “wait, he got one? I want one too” sibling dynamic. I know it all too well.

I’m glad this story addresses it, but I’ve always been bothered by the idea of an unchanging afterlife like the Halls of Waiting. An existence that is forever the same in a paradise that you can never leave sounds maddening to me. I know that the dwarves have their craft in this case but, yeah, to someone like Thorin it would be hard to adjust to/endure.

No, Glóin. Nooooo. Don’t fall into that gold plated trap. Why would you do this to my boy 😢

Ooohh I see that little bit of Bagginshield angst there. I like it. GIVE ME MORE.

Gimli is such a ball of sunshine here. I love him.

I love it when the 3 most delightful dwarves in the company get together. Glóin, Bofur and Bombur have so much kindness and love in them for their friends and family (at least in fanon), and the way they interact with Bilbo just brings a smile to my face. So nice. I have a big soft spot for those three dwarves.

I have to say, of all the struggles the members of the company face after the battle, Bifur’s hits me the hardest. I’ve seen people who have fallen ill to degenerative brain diseases and it is very similar to what is going on with Bifur. The struggle to communicate, the loss from reality, the pain of friends and family that can only watch, all of it just hits me on a very personal level.

OH MY GOSH!! This is the chapter with that scene! One of the first things I ever saw of Sansûkh was that comic of Bilbo and Glóin, Bofur and Bombur in Bag End by @fishfingersandscarves. I love that little comic and it it is part of the reason I was so excited to read this story in the first place.

Welp. Ask and thou shall receive. I wanted more Bagginshield angst and I sure as heck got it. Thorin’s reaction to Bilbo’s conversation was…something. I can’t imagine the pain of realizing that the love you so desperately craved was so close in reach, but you didn’t know it until it was ripped away from you. While I kind of think that Thorin’s reaction was a bit much, especially towards Kíli, I can totally understand why he couldn’t quite figure out his emotions there.

Damn Kíli, that was a hell of a monologue. That was audition level quality right there. In all seriousness this is a really impressive bit of character analysis. It really examines just how Kíli would see his uncle. It totally makes sense that Kíli would be the best person talk to Thorin about this, as he has probably the most unique relationship with Thorin. Kíli’s understanding of Thorin’s social dynamics comes from that unique relationship. Thorin was Kíli’s family, mentor and role model for a large part of his life. As the youngest Durin with no claim to the throne, it was only natural that he would want to know exactly how he fit into Thorin’s life. He had no crown in his future, unlike Fíli, so his observations of Thorin’s relationship to himself and other dwarves makes perfect sense. Idk I’m kind of rambling. All I’m trying to say is that this part was an excellent bit of character writing and was really well done.

Haha oh poor Mahal. Jokes on him though. He make Kíli the way he is, and now he must face the consequences. Even almighty beings get a big dose of karma every now and then.

Well, I was somewhat right about this chapter. There was definitely more plot present in the chapter, but I would say that this chapter was driven mostly by character insight. The first half of the chapter was still a “where are they now?” thing for the members of the company. Although there was a bit of plot sprinkled in (I feel like Glóin’s gold sickness is going to have some significance), the pace did feel a bit weird here. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, since the heart of this chapter is very clearly in the second half. The three character scenes that all build on each other in both tone and emotional impact are really well done. The author does a fantastic job with character writing. There is a clear understanding of the roots of these characters, but also gives them a different flavor from other fan interpretations. Fantastic job.

Another excellent chapter! I can’t wait to read the next one! ❤️

[kimberly-spirits13]

Legolas x (Deity from Valinor) reader HC

So you’re technically an elf but an elf with great magic 

You can control the elements and along the way of your life have mastered magic and sorcery

When you go to Mirkwood, you’re sent there at a very young age from Valinor

You had a mission that would be carried out you just didn’t know when or what that mission was really 

It was your choice after the mission whether to return to Valinor or not after you were done

That saying it didn’t mean that you couldn’t go back or forth as you pleased seeing as you were too powerful to be stopped 

Legolas thought that you were beautiful and the most intelligent being that he’d ever met 

His father liked you since you weren’t really royalty, more than that 

It wasn’t really a position more like deity

You knew Legolas since you two were young and you grew up together 

You became one of the greatest fighters of the elves 

A great advantage against enemies 

You and Legolas fought together frequently 

Although you had a suit that was more fit for Mirkwood styling, you had your own that was created from Valinor

It was more flush to your body and closer to a breathable armor than the leather and flowier uniforms of those in Mirkwood

It’s also got a cape and hood for being spoopy and sneaky 

Legolas got along so well with you people were sure that you two were dating before you really were 

You were best friends and nearly inseparable 

You would patrol together, fight together, read and stuff together, go for walks around the woods and streams, basically just anything 

He loves talking to you and getting your insight on things 

When you’re not looking at him or are intensely focused on something he’ll look at you in adoration which everyone notices but you 

You’re often communicating with those that sent you to Mirkwood and sometimes he almost walks in on your conversations

Asks many questions about it 

your sarcasm is also something that he admires and it took him a while to get used to 

He just wasn’t ready for it for a while 

Now he’s picked it up even though it took him a few years to get good at it 

You just petty laughed for the first 6 years or so and then he got the handle on it 

When it was time to go on the journey for the ring, you and Legolas went together 

You attended the meeting along with Legolas and were not letting him go alone 

Absolutely not 

That saying it was a great advantage that you were on the team since your magic and fighting skills 

Gandalf was the one to point that out when Gimli started complaining about elves 

You and Legolas stick together at all times still

Scouting for Orcs and things at night, making sure the Hobbits aren’t dead, fighting, training others, and even now sleeping 

Legolas doesn't become affected by the change in weather but you can if it’s extreme

He noticed this and decided that you should sleep in his bed mat with him

If something happens to one of you, the other is on it immediately 

The hobbits really like you since they think that you’re really cool

They’ll ask questions and you entertain them sometimes since they have a short attention span on long journeys 

You’re also the representative along with Legolas when Gandalf leaves or can’t be bothered 

[paradoxcase]

So, there was some objectively terrible on all sides LOTR discourse I remember from a while back where one person wrote some kind of treatise on why Sam was the true hero of Lord of the Rings, and then, as pushback for that some other people came up with some incredibly dumb ideas, like “you just don’t appreciate Frodo because he didn’t fight in any battles” (as opposed to Sam, who did?) or “if you’ve never experienced mental illness you can’t possibly know what Frodo went through and if you think anyone else was more heroic than him you’re ableist” and so on and so forth.  Let it be said: according to the companion, Tolkien himself wrote in a letter to someone that by the Return of the King, Sam had become “the chief hero”.  I really doubt that Tolkien meant to imply by this that Sam was the most heroic character, or the best character, or whatever else.  When we say that someone is “the hero” of a story, we usually just mean that that’s who the narrative follows, and who contributes the most POV, etc.  Throughout the books, the POV characters, and the characters that the narrative follows, are almost always the hobbits (I think the only exception is the segment in the Two Towers when Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli are chasing the orcs across Rohan, and the battle of Helm’s Deep, and the first part of the Paths of the Dead - I’m pretty sure those are the only parts of the story told directly that don’t have hobbits in them), and of the hobbit narratives in the last two books, Frodo and Sam’s is the most important, and almost all of the POV in that narrative is Sam’s.  When Frodo and Sam get separated because Frodo gets captured, the narrative follows Sam.  Actually, this is another interesting book/movie comparison, because when the same thing happens in the movie, the narrative follows Frodo, and we don’t even learn that it was Sam and not the orcs who took the ring until after Sam rescues Frodo.

Lord of the Rings is specifically a story told from the perspective of people who do not fit the mold of a traditional hero - the most central character who does fit that mold is Aragorn, and Aragorn has no POV at all in the entire trilogy, except for a few moments when he sits on the high seat at Amon Hen, we don’t even have indirect Aragorn POV where he describes his adventures to another person, and we only very rarely get any insight into what he is thinking and feeling.  The narrative doesn’t follow the hobbits (and Sam specifically) because they’re better than the other characters, or more heroic, but because the story is supposed to be told from the perspective of people who are more relatable and ordinary than the rest of Tolkien’s larger than life characters.

[aquaburst3]

Highlights from AJ LoCascio and Neil Kaplan Let's Voltron Podcast

Neil and AJ praise the animation on this show

Neil sometimes gets so sucked into the series as he watches it on TV, he goes, “Oh yeah! I’m on it, too!” 

Neil teases AJ by saying that one of the reasons why he enjoyed this season is that he enjoyed listening to AJ’s Lotor voice and can see why all of the fangirls love it. (AJ gets bashful at this part) 

Neil loved seeing the scenes between him and AJ in context. AJ says the same thing. 

AJ loves the interaction between Lotor and Zarkon since you get a sense that they both know the other is lying, so no one is fooling anyone. Seeing their relationship play out is so much for him to see

AJ says that Neil’s voice is awesome. 

When AJ was 16, his mother kicked him out of the house. (He never gave a reason why his mother did that or went into detail outside of that.) He does claim it was a “blessing in disguise.” Because of that experience, AJ says that Lotor being ordered to killed on sight and seeking out the paladins may be a blessing in disguise, so Lotor can find who he truly is.  

When asked if Lotor knows if Honerva is Haggar, AJ says he can’t give it away. But then he and Neil joke around about the answer some more, saying that it could all be a dream. (From what I can gather, that answer is a spoiler, so we could be getting some more insight about that down the line) 

 Zarkon isn’t ignoring Lotor after hearing about the comet. Zarkon dismissed Lotor at first, but now he knows about the ships, he’s putting an end to it any way possible. 

 Lotor might use the comet as a bargaining chip for the paladins

If Lotor was a paladin, he would be the Purple Paladin and be Voltron’s hat 

When asked about what got in between Zarkon and Lotor, AJ and Neil joke that Lotor used “clackers” and Lotor listened to a lot of emo music

Neil thinks Zarkon should take a vacation in order to reassess about how he’s gonna go after Voltron and that he’s doing too much himself thanks to his generals letting him down

Zarkon would remove Lotor with puppets (I think Neil’s joking about this...?) 

Unfortunately, the show is such a well oiled machine, so Neil and AJ haven’t talked with each other outside of saying lines in the booth as much they would like.  If that was the case, Neil is sure that he would be picking up as much VAing knowledge as visa versa 

The only thing that Neil taught AJ is, “Don’t eat all of the sandwiches from Portos.”(Neil explains that’s a bakery near their workplace) 

The only way for Zarkon to accept Lotor is if he delivered Voltron to him

If they were in an RPG, Lotor would be an elf and Zarkon would be a tank or a wizard

When AJ saw the part where Lotor dislocates his shoulders for the first time when he was recording that part, he screamed. 

The reason why Lotor is able to do that is likely due to mixed genetics and the fact that he was in a life and death situation, not really caring that he was hurt

Lotor isn’t that bothered by Zarkon training Sendak now, but he was when he was little

 AJ once whacked his head on the Blue Lion (There’s life-sized models of the lions in the studio) 

There was a time where Neil was with all of the major VAs in the booth and went, “Oh that’s who you are.” He can’t go into detail outside of that. (So, what caused that is a spoiler, pretty much. Maybe Zarkon interacts with the paladins in the future?)

Neil is more musically inclined since he did musical theater, but AJ can play the harmonica

 AJ thinks Zarkon and Lotor’s relationship like Loki and Odin’s from the MCU along with Ozai and Zuko/Azula from Avatar. 

Neil thinks their like Henry and Christian from Moulin Rouge, Mario and Luigi from The Super Mario Brothers Movie (They were father and son in that movie unlike the games...at least that’s what I got from online reviews of that movie)  and Eddie and Roger Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit along with some characters from Lion in Winter (Not sure which ones since he listed off some actors instead of characters) 

Lotor’s favourite holiday is Halloween since he would love scaring everybody at a haunted house in his home. (As a side note, someone needs to make a modern AU about this) 

Neil also added, “Lotor also loves Halloween so he can dress up as Pidge--his favourite paladin.” 

Zarkon’s favourite holiday would be Thanksgiving

Zarkon’s favourite food at Thanksgiving would be the Quintessence Stuffing and onion rings.

Lotor never gave his dad a “Number One Dad” mug

AJ used to watch Leave it to Beaver a lot as a child

Zarkon is a smooth jazz kinda guy 

The one thing Lotor and Zarkon can agree on is that Jazz is better then Death Metal

AJ would’ve added the “Most Annoying Sound in the World” from Dumb and Dumber when Lotor dislocated his shoulders 

Neil would love to add a clown horn into the show if he could add a goofy sound effect

Neil sang a song on air and unfortunately AJ didn’t

Galra teens in the empire would say, “Vrepit sa, dude!” according to them

Lotor would get along with Keith and Allura the best since they have similar backgrounds.

 AJ added, “Kimberly and I get along very well, so art might intimate life.”

Neil thinks Lotor and Keith will get along the best. 

AJ agreed, saying that Keith may bring out the good in Lotor and ground him.

 AJ teases that Hunk could bring out the more “human” side of Lotor and food brings everyone together.

Neil thinks Lotor’s ex generals would make for an awesome girl band

Neil thinks that the Galra Empire doesn’t get enough credit for being inclusive towards women

The arena set up isn’t staged on Lotor’s part. He really is that good of a method actor

Lotor and Zarkon would dress up as two characters from Twins, Harry Potter and Voldemort or Gimly and Legolas if they were forced to do a group costume

There were probably some other points I’ve missed, but those were the major ones I caught on to... 

[wearetakingthehobbitstogallifrey]

Your opinion on Jung from Scarlet Heart Ryeo, which other Jane Austens should be modernized or genderbent, and Legolas. :)

OH MAN THESE QUESTIONS!!! 

 1. Jung! Jung is the son I didn’t realize was so awesome for the first few episodes. It doesn’t help I kept confusing him with Eun for a while! But now that is cleared that up I just keep noticing all the ways he is a good and true-hearted young man, even if he is not always the wisest. 

 Some random and out of order examples:Jung is a promising young warrior and has a both pride and humility in that department. I mean, he loves to fight so much, whether just for fun or for the adrenaline of competition or to improve himself or whatever, but he never gets upset when he loses. He will fight soldiers and common folk alike and have a great time doing it, and if my memory serves me correctly he doesn’t get mad that the bear girl (so sorry sweetie I can’t remember your name) holds her own and even defeats him. 

 He has an admirable sense of justice, and that shows in his treatment of both So and Soo. Especially as the episodes go on, he grows fond of Hae Soo, and they have that bonding moment when he is about to be dismembered and she stays to help him. After that, he never stands by without protest when she is ill-treated. When she is banished, he turns to Wook and tries to spur him into helping her. (Kind of like Baek Ah does all the time but Baek Ah is wiser and turns to So.) I feel like Jung at the start is this innocent and naive young man, who just loves his mother and his brothers and martial arts. He means no harm and just wants a normal family. But as things happen, he starts to see injustice, sees his mother and brother Yo ill-treating So, and it starts to bother him more and more. And eventually he starts to protest, to walk out of the room when they discuss treacherous matters. And yet he loves them still! Which makes the episode where it at least looks like Yo died even sadder than it already is… 

I love Jung. Which probably means he will die or suffer further tragedy because that is Scarlet Heart Ryeo for you :((Also early on there is much brotherly love and teasing and Jung is a big part of that and I looove that) 

2. Other Jane Austen’s that should be genderbent and/or modernized? Hmmmmm. Well I really want to think about this more but here are a few thoughts off the top of my head. I would LOVE to see a modern genderbent sense and sensibility just because I love the story so much but honestly I feel like it might be difficult and I have NO idea what that would look like. Maybe Persuasion would be the best…two young people in love and forced to split up. You would have a lot of options for the female wentworth’s risky yet ultimately successful occupation: a singer or stage actress or film actress…Or stay in the military, or some type of sport, or….orrr really i don’t know but I do know that I love the thoughts and the inner workings of Anne’s mind, thoughtful and insightful and wise and kind even when difficult and honestly if you ever try your hand at an adaption I know it will be beautiful and angsty!!!

3. Legolas!!! OKAY so listen up. I was 13 years old and a couple at church shoved the extended edition of the Fellowship of the Ring in its deep green glory into my mother’s hands and said WATCH IT. So me and my mom and sister watched it and I was mesmerized from the start but OH HEAVENS when Legolas rode (floated) into Rivendell on that grey white horse and leapt to the ground and turn his head breathing in the elvish realm my heart fluttered as it never had before because he was an ANGEL I had never seen anyone so ethereal and like whoa 

 And that was cool and all but then during the council of Elrond when Boromir was hating on Aragorn (sorry Boromir I love you too) this beautiful elf jumped up and defended Aragorn with fire and friendship and yeah I was like BROTP before I even knew what a brotp was (also Aragorn looks embarrassed I love it, please sit down Legolas) and then there was the amusing rivalry with Gimli 

AND THEN he walked over the rocky hills with them and his hair blew in the wind and I was like mom I am going to marry Legolas and she was like ok dear um he’s fictional you know?AND THEN. Caradhras and he walked on snow? Like what?  

ANNND THEN Moria and he used his bow and arrow for the first time and him fighting by the tomb of Balin like he was so GRACEFUL and STRONG and then he saved Boromir from falling and then Lothlorien and he became friends with Gimli like BROTP AGAIN and OK you know what this post will be forever if I continue on in this fashion

For now let me just say that movie Legolas thrilled my young soul and heart and he was beautiful and strong and skilled and deadly and was besties with both Gimli and Aragorn. And then I read the books and even though the original character is different from Peter Jackson’s version I just I loved him still? The same but different? Like he was so young and sometimes naive but still wise and fair of heart and here is this young elf, probably in the equivalent of his early twenties come down to Rivendell where he stands up and confesses his and others failure to keep Gollum in custody and Elrond is like yo the world’s in danger wanna help? And he says sure! Like he must know stories of Sauron and the last alliance and why does he choose to go anywhere near Mordor? To make up for his grandfather’s impatience and lack of ability to collaborate? To avenge the deaths of elves he may never have known? To be part of the effort to destroy the greatest evil known to him? To strike a decisive blow in defense of Mirkwood, dark and overrun with spiders? WHY I NEED TO KNOW THE THOUGHT PROCESS 

 ALSO LEGOLAS IS RIDICULOUSLY FUNNY. FAREWELL I GO TO FIND THE SUN! LOL WELL HE WAS OFF DANCING MERRILY IN THE SOUTH OR WHATNOT SO I DIDN’T BRING HIM AFTER ALL 

 AND HE FREAKING TAKES GIMLI OVER THE SEA WITH HIM LIKE NO BIGGIE LEMME JUST BRING MY BESTIE TO A BLESSED LAND WHERE ONLY ELVES (AND RINGBEARERS) ARE ALLOWED TO TREAD. SURE HE IS A DWARF WHO CARES? THE VALAR? THE OTHER ELVES? EH THEY CAN JUST LEARN TO DEALI LOVE LEGOLAS AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT AND THOUGH I HAVE COME TO LOVE MANY OTHER CHARACTERS HE WILL ALWAYS HOLD A SPECIAL PLACE IN MY HEART I MEAN I HAVEN’T EVEN TOUCHED IN HALF THE REASONS WHY I LOVE HIM

[ten-summoners-fails]

For the Silmarillion themed question : 6, 8, 13, 22 and 24 :)

6. Would you have followed Fëanor?

Without any doubt orhesitation, yes; even if I saw in advance all the pain and regret it wouldcause me (and others). Personal evolution happens through trying, failing,making mistakes, falling into the darkest pits of our own mind, then getting upon our feet and trying again. Other than that, I can imagine situations where Iwould follow a real-life version of Feanor even; with my deepest personalvalues questioned every day, I admit that I often have just the mood to get upand change the world. I’m afraid of the day when I might eventually acknowledgethat I can’t.

8. Who is your favourite character from the book?(You CAN’T cheat like me, it must be JUST ONE)

In that case, I refuse toanswer this question, because I can’t choose one. It seems impossible. Either Ican say I have a dozen favourites, or I can say I have none. Those who followmy blog and read my writings probably already know that the Sons of Feanor areamong my favourites, but so is half the royal court of Gondolin, so are theinhabitans of Rivendell, and so is Bilbo Baggins (even if he doesn’t appear inthe Silmarillion).

(Most of you probablythink that my favourite is Maedhros, and maybe you could really say that; butthe truth is not that simple. Of course I, like everyone else, am sometimes„plagued” by favoritism, but I prefer to say neutral on some level and merelywrite about the characters who I find interesting. The best example for this isprobably the case of Maeglin: I don’t entirely understand him and I can’tidentify with him either, but still he continues to intrigue me, therefore Iwrite about him. Another such example would be Saruman, who literally makes mecringe, but that didn’t stop me from creating an entire thread for him in theold version of my ’A Tale from Rivendell’ series, merely because making him appear,think and act was fascinating. I like challenges).

13. A character you don’t like and why.

I greatly admire Lúthienand Beren, and I find their tale mesmerizing (no wonder it’s so carefully anddelicately handled in ’The Seven Gates’), but with all due respect, I don’treally like either of them.Especially Lúthien. To be very honest, I don’t care about her that much, andmany of her actions seem a but too „ex machina”. I mean, there’s a bit of animpression that the tale of Beren and Lúthien is set in some standaloneuniverse, where certain rules of the actual Silm universe don’t apply, andwhere several characters act in an absolute OOC manner (like Celegorm andCurufin. But that would be a long story, and it’s not like I’m defending orpalliating them, either!). Also, neither Beren nor Lúthien seems half as vividas, for one, Thingol. Or even Eöl!

However, I must alsoacknowledge that I have developed most of my way of viewing The Silm throughreading the tale of Beren and Lúthien, which has led me to create the notion of„second degree mythology” but that’s entirely another story, and I’d rather notbore you with it now.

22. If you could marry one of Fëanor’s sons whichone would you choose?

Is „none” an option? :D:D

All right, all right. Sincethey are all sociopaths on some level, I’ll stay superficial and choose Maglor,just because I picture him as the kind of lover who dresses elegantly, holdsyou the door, calls you „mlady” from time to time and greets you by kissing theback of your hand. (And he makes music). I would like that.

24. Why do you think that the race of men are theonly one that never went to Valinor besides the orcs?

…so basically you’reasking me why we have Gimli and the Hobbits going to Valinor, and never mortalMen – I mean, not Earendil-like Men, but actually „real” Men, without any Elvenblood? Huh. Are you sure you want me to answer that? OK. Let’s study some HoME,LaCE and other beautiful things together, then.

First of all, let me admitthat my independent knowledge is not very deep in this particular matter; inorder to be truly able to explain it, I would have to reread quite a fewletters and studies, which I can’t manage right now, but I’ll tell you what Ican. (And of course, my own opinion).

If we want to answer whyMen did not go to Valinor, we need to see why others did. Starting with the obvious: I see the case of Elves as a trulyunique one, and here is why.

Firstly – of all beings -,we have the Valar and maiar, beings who are more closely connected to„supernatural” dimensions of existence than material ones. Their knowledge and insightmay seem inhuman, and (especially in the case of Manwe) very close to omniscience, butthat is not the case. In my opinion, everything they know or guess in advancecomes from the impressions and sensations they’ve had during the Ainulindale,which set the frames of past, present and future and created the dimensions oftime and space. At that point, they could have had impressions on what wasabout to happen, and what was the general purpose of the Allfather (even if thevery essence, the entirety of the world’s fate remained in secret, a secret evenManwe could not tell). And when it comes to the maiar, it’s practically thesame case – only, they’re less powerful beings. Still, they have much lessconnection to the material world than other beings do, and are mostly „chained”to the eternal echoes of the Great Music, right from the birth of the world.

Elves, however noble and powerful,are no such creatures: their existence is strongly and inseparatablyintertwined with that of Arda. The world, initially, was meant to be perfectand functionating, but the machinations of Melkor sort of ruined those plans(well… this is a quite fascinating subject, we could argue a lot about that;recently, I had the honor to witness a lecture of a Tolkien scholar onIllúvatar’s notions of free will and free decisions, and how Melkor tried tointerfere in his plans; the question if he succeeded or not was an open one,and honestly, no one in the room could answer it at the end of the discussion.But whatever!!). All in all, Elves are bound to remain young in body (but notin spirit) and live on, as long as Arda lives. This is the manner of theircreation, and the fact that their body doesn’t age and is immune to maladies,sicknesses and lighter wounds is – in truth – no more than a biological defensemechanism (if you don’t believe me, please consult LaCE). Also (my friendnosmaeth has re-drawn my attention to this fact recently), there is not ONEline in the ENTIRETY of the Professor’s works which states that they are immortal!They simply live on, or, if you prefer, continueexisting – while Arda exists.

What does this mean?Mainly that they are f*cked. Sorry for the strong word, but really. Severalmillenia of joys and sorrows just weighs hard on one’s shoulders, and requiresan inhuman mindset (one I always have a hard time showing in writings, or inany other way. Yup. Elves are not superhumans, but entirely another race…).

Dwarves, Men and allother mortal races, however, were given the Gift of Illúvatar – death – which allowsthem to free themselves from the chaines of Arda marred, and reach directly outto the Creator when they leave the Circles of the World. This basically meansthat they have access to a sort of entire healing and absolution Elves wouldhave trouble seeking. Mortals – and especially men – were given the gift ofbeing able to purge themselves from everything wrong Melkor ever did to theworld.

So why could Frodo, Bilbo,Gimli and Sam go to Valinor? If you ask me, the privileges they got had nothingto do with their race. Mortal Men could have perhaps earned this sort of gift ifthey were Ringbearers, and the fact that no Man happened to have this role inthe history of Middle-Earth does not imply that Men didn’t go to Valinor simplybecause they were Men, or it was not the fate of their race. What happened toBilbo, Frodo and Sam was exceptional, and sort of made them leave the frames oftheir own purpose and existence. They – along with Gimli - could go to Valinorbecause they were members of the Fellowship of the Ring; and the three Hobbits,in addition, were Ringbearers. They’ve seen and endured things that could notbe healed in Middle-Earth; the Blessed Lands were the only possible cure forthe wrongs they’ve suffered, and thusly, they were given this gift. As forGimli, we could argue if his arrival to Valinor was some Galadriel-ex-machina,or was simply granted to him because of his remarkable friendship with Legolasand his service as a member of the Fellowship. Returning to Men… Aragorn andBoromir were the only Men in the fellowship; Boromir would have never gone toValinor, and Aragorn was destined to another fate.

Speaking of Men ingeneral: if we go back as far in time as the very history of Númenor, sailingto Valinor was the very thing the Valar forbid them. To explore the mostobvious reason behind this, I could very well quote the Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth (from the HoME series): „Do candles pity moths? / Or moths candleswhen the wind blows them out?” – Valinor could have had the very sameeffect on Men as the company of Elf-lords did as mentioned by Sador Labadal (inthe Children of Húrin), among others: it could drain them out, diminish theirpowers too quickly, before they would be able to reach the fullness of theirown human potential. Also, one cannot have the Gift of Illúvatar and theblessings of Valinor at the same time.

Gosh anon, I could haveonly said that „Men couldn’t go to Valinor because it was not their fate”, butI wanted to draw a bit of background to it… hope I didn’t scare you off. Andthank you for asking!