thegoldenhoof

[thegoldenhoof]

Can you please develop more on what in your opinion makes Éowyn originally doomed by the narrative? I agree with the idea, I'm just curious as to what traits or parts of her narrative makes her doomed according to you!

In her first scene, she comes across as almost spectral.

First time we see her, she's stood in the shadows behind a decaying old man and his creepy, snake like advisor. Her nickname, the White Lady, conjurs images of phantom "white ladies", which are staples of supernatural mythology, and are usually found in rural places, and are associated with tragic histories and unrequited/doomed love.

When she is dismissed, she leaves, she doesn't speak, but goes silently from the room, and she passes judgement on those she passes. She looks on Theoden with "cool pity", and recognises the power in Aragorn. A pale, voiceless, woman, dressed all in white, passing judgement on those before her, before silently gliding from the room, like a wraith or spirit.

To further reinforce the ghost like imager, she is cold; "thought her fair and cold, like a morning of pale spring that is not yet come into womanhood." She looks on Theoden after his recovery with neither joy or love but with "cool pity".

Whereas warmth usually holds connotations with life, the cold conjurs images of corpses and the grave. Even the use of "spring" in her description, a season associated with life, birth and new hope, is described as "pale". The combination of "spring" (life) and "pale" (death), conjures an image of something that is at once living and dead.

A lot of our view point characters look on her with unease. She is repeatedly described as "stern", and the only time that stern façade cracks is when she shows emotions that are discomforting for other characters.

Her hand shakes when she serves Aragorn the cup, and Aragorn senses her attraction and is deeply concerned about. The intensity of her desire, and Aragorn's unspoken unease, makes for an aura of discomfort and dread.

The only time Eowyn shows "life" is when she's trembling with passion for Aragorn, a passion unrequited, or when her eyes are sparkling with visions of war and death.

The first time her stern face truly cracks, and she lets the feelings show, is when she breaks down in tears, begging Aragorn to let her ride with him. She's either frozen or weeping.

Everyone who observes this is deeply distressed. They find it painful to watch a proud and stern woman break down in tears and beg, a sensation the reader shares with them.

Aragorn himself is deeply pained and troubled by his concern for Eowyn. 'Only those who knew him well and were near to him saw the pain that he bore.'

Aragorn later admits in the Houses of Healing that his concern for her haunted him after their parting, and that nothing caused him so much fear on the Paths of the Dead as his fear of what may come to her.

In the same chapter, Aragorn likens her to a lily. Lilies themselves have connotations of death, and also harken back to Elaine, the "lily maiden" who died of heartbreak after being forsaken by her love, Lancelot.

So Eowyn is a figure of death, despair and tragic love. She is white, cold, lily-like, and is looked on with grief by many who perceive her. And not just grief, but discomfort. They don't just notice her distress, but are distressed by her.

When Merry meets her, he notices she seems to have been weeping, an image that is uncomfortably at odds with her stern manner.

Even Theoden, who cannot be credited with being that tuned in to Eowyn's feelings, notices she is unhappy, asking her how she is, and commenting twice on her obvious distress.

When Merry meets her in her guise as Dernhelm, he shivers, because he feels he is looking at someone with neither hope nor will to live. Their journey to the Pelennor passes in silence. Eowyn is a solitary figure, cut off from all those around her, riding to her death.

This culminates in Eowyn laughing at the Witch King, who brings despair to all who face him, because at this point she has literally nothing to fear from him.

The scene in which she faces him is written as a death scene. She fights him valiantly, but his destruction seems to be her own, and the consequences of her apparent death (Eomer's reaction) are severe.

Her tragedy appears compounded when Theoden bids her farewell, unaware she was with him the entire time, which rather sums up his fond, yet blinkered attitude towards her. She gives her life defending the dignity of a man, who is only half-aware of her existence.

Eowyn is mourned. Eomer rages against the heavens at her passing, and the riders of Rohan speak of their regret that she followed them without knowing. She is carried alongside Theoden, and it is only Imrahil's sharp perception and respect for her beauty that causes him to notice she is still alive, taking them all, and us, by surprise. Up until this point, Eowyn has been doomed, and she seems to have met her doom, heroically so.

But there's still a spark of life in her, still a weak breath in her lungs, and that's enough for her to be saved, and taken to the Houses of Healing. It's just a faint sign of life, barely noticeable, but it's life, which means there's hope.

As we look into Eowyn's mindset, we begin to see why she is such a tragic figure.

The first time she is addressed by name, she is being sent from the room. Her orders to take charge of the people of Rohan, which should be something of an hour of triumph and honour for her, feels almost insulting, in how her uncle would rather throw his crown to the people to take for themselves, than name her as an heir after Eomer, and then forgets she is even a part of their house, until Hama reminds him.

Our final scene of Eowyn in Two Towers is of her as a solitary figure, left alone to guard an empty hall, watching as the men ride away beneath their sparkling spears, a striking contrast between the camaraderie and fellowship we witness between the men riding out together.

That Eowyn is loved and respected by many, as revealed by Hama and her ability to safely lead the people to Dunharrow, despite their reluctance, compounds the tragedy, because she is not entirely alone and overlooked, but the people she wishes to been seen by, the people she holds in esteem, Theoden and Aragorn, rejects. Theoden, unthinkingly, by forgetting her worth until it is spelled out for him, and Aragorn in being unable to accept her love, or her offer of service.

Eowyn's driving conflict, the one that seems central to her character, is not even with the villains who everyone else is banding together to fight. She is part of that fight against them, but her personal struggles stem just as much from her conflict with her own family, her own people and her own society, as they do with the threat of Mordor. Victory over the Mordor does not necessarily mean victory for her, we know for Eowyn to be spared her doom, she can't just be rescued from the enemy that everyone else is fighting. She is trapped, caged, and would rather ride out and die, than live to see herself fade.

“What do you fear, lady?" [Aragorn] asked. "A cage," [Éowyn] said. "To stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.”

That whole exchange between Aragorn and Eowyn reveals that above all else, beneath her stern facade and dreams of valour, Eowyn is absolutely seething. She is burning up with rage and frustration, and it is not just her enemies she is raging at, but her allies.

Her narrative starts to turn in the Houses of Healing. Not only is Aragorn able to bring her back to life, but it's clear that despite her unhappiness, Eomer's love for her is still a comfort and a source of happiness. When she wakes up, her first words are joy of seeing her brother there. For a character who until this point has been a figure of sorrow and loneliness, for her to speak so instinctively of joy at the presence of another is momentous.

This joy seems well justified, as not only do we witness the extent of Eomer's love, we also see a change in Eomer, and his perception of his sister.

Her sufferings, and the causes of her sufferings, are finally acknowledged. But they aren't acknowledged as some ephemeral, intangible thing, caused by a broken heart and some vague sense that she's just "doomed", but as the result of a set of specific circumstances that naturally caused her great feelings of despair and hopelessness. Eowyn isn't tragic because "she's Eowyn and she's doomed", but because of Grima's manipulation, and the constraints inflicted on her because of her sex.

That Gandalf compares Eomer's lot to Eowyn's, and points out to Eomer the freedoms and opportunities he had which she did not, further emphasises that it was Eowyn's circumstances that made her so tragic.

Eowyn wasn't "just doomed" and Eomer wasn't "just not doomed". Had their roles been reversed, Eomer could have ended up in similar straits.

Eomer hears this explanation, and a change occurs. He looks on Eowyn differently, and starts rethinking their whole lives together.

In the causes of her suffering being recognised, there is now some hope for her recovery. Her "ailment" has been "diagnosed", and it's much easier to find a "treatment" and a "cure", when there is a "diagnosis". There's a practical solution to Eowyn's suffering, and the person closes to her is brought one step nearer to seeing it.

Eowyn remains in the Houses of Healing, something she sees as frustrating, unnecessary and pointless. She doesn't want to live, she doesn't expect to heal, she thinks herself fit enough to ride and die, and that's what she wants to do.

Eowyn still sees herself as doomed by the narrative, but the narrative and the cast no longer see her as such. She is kept in the Houses, she is encouraged to rest and to heal, she is encouraged by Faramir to have hope, and gradually she starts to thaw.

She also becomes more gentle and vulnerable. Her youth is dwelled on, and her former concerns about living forever in a cage for a moment lapse as she focusses on a more trivial worry that Faramir thinks she's childish. When she scales down her request from permission to ride to battle, to be allowed to walk the gardens and look east, she speaks as a "maiden, young and sad."

In becoming more vulnerable, she becomes more approachable. She is no longer the ice maiden, a spectre, but a living person, with worries large and small, and Faramir is able to smile at her and offer her consolation.

The requests she makes during her "thawing", to look east and not be confined to her bed, signals a slight, perhaps unnoticed by her, return to hope. East is, as Faramir remarks, where their hopes lie. In looking east, she is looking towards hope. Furthermore, her second request, to not be confined to her bed, is something that Faramir can provide a practical solution for. She can have a chamber facing east, and she can have freedom to walk the gardens.

He almost speaks to her like a conciliator, or a negotiator. He talks her down from asking for death, to having a chamber looking east, and freedom to walk the gardens and take in the sun, in return to her agreeing to 'stay in this house in our care, lady, and take your rest," . That he phrases it gives the sense she has agency, he isn't saying "you will stay, and you will have a chamber that looks east, and you will walk in the sun", but instead he says if she agrees to stay, this is what they can do for her.

Therefore, the choice to stay, the choice to walk in the sun, the choice to heal, is put back into her hands, and in accepting Faramir's offer, she accepts the chance to heal.

Both Faramir and Aragorn are struck by pity when they meet Eowyn, but Aragorn's pity makes him hold her at arm's length. He maintains a distance between them, he turns from her and rides away. When he does try to "reason" with her, he only makes things worse, twisting the nail into Eowyn's frustrating circumstances.

Faramir feels pity for Eowyn, but he also feels kinship. She isn't some strange, removed creature. He doesn't look at her and see someone who is doomed. Nor does his treatment of her isolate her, as the treatment of so many others have.

He speaks of the pair of them as a unit, right from the start. He notes that both of them are "prisoners" of the healers, he tells her that both of them will be able to fight the end, if it comes to them, if they rest, and that the hours of waiting are something both of them must endure, and that both of them have passed through a shadow, and in from kinship, he expresses a belief that he might find comfort in her presence.

Eowyn's isolation and lack of agency are key causes in her despair, so it is understandable how this man, who makes efforts to understand her, to get to know, to befriend her and to make a connection with her, is such a balm, and manages to cause such a turn around in her arc.

Through her friendship, and later romance, with Faramir, she opens up, and arguably becomes more emotionally resilient, neither freezing her emotions, "cold and proud", or breaking down, weeping or begging. She shows uncertainty and fear in more moderate, casual ways, instead of pushing them down until they burst out of her.

However, she is still Eowyn. She is still proud (Faramir describes her as looking queenly), she is still proud, strong willed and sharp tongued. Even in her happiness, when she agrees to marry Faramir, she teases him for his people's snobbery, and she refuses the Warden's attempts to "release" her into Faramir's care, by instead asking to stay at the Houses of Healing.

She doesn't go from Ice Maiden to Fragile Flower. Instead, in grasping her future by the hands, in choosing for herself what she will do and where she will go, in deciding her own fate, her own role (that of healer), she shows that she is as strong willed as ever, and Faramir, who re-iterates twice; when speaking of his plans to marry her and go to Ithilien with her, that they will only do so if she is willing.

Eowyn also makes it clear to Faramir that while she will return to him, she has other duties and priorities that will keep her. That is, the rebuilding of the Mark. She has to go, she will come back. A striking contrast to her first introduction, when Eowyn is told "go", then told "stay", as it pleases those around her. She now has freedom of movement, she now chooses when to go, when to stay and when to return.

That Eowyn speaks of how she must go back, must look on her country and help her brother, also indicates that Eowyn sees her own worth and importance. She values herself and feels valued.

At Theoden's funeral/Eomer's coronation, Eowyn plays an integral role in the ceremonies. She presents Eomer with a golden cup and gives the signal for the cups to be raised to drink to the new king. This in itself indicates the esteem in which Eomer holds Eowyn. However, she has arguably been a cupbearer before, and it hasn't been a role that has brought her much joy. While it is a position of prestige, and shows she is a valued member of the household, it's not enough. Luckily, here, she isn't just there to oversee the celebrations of others, but to be celebrated herself.

Eomer ends the ceremonies by announcing her betrothal to Faramir. His justification for doing so is because of Theoden's love for Eowyn, which he uses to argue that Theoden wouldn't begrudge Eowyn's announcement being made at his funeral. He also notes how great the gathering before him is, greater than has ever been seen before. That Eomer wants to announce his sister's happy news before such an assembly, speaks of how much he wants to honour her.

Eomer certainly appears to have taken Gandalf's words on board. When he makes the announcement of Eowyn's betrothal, he says that Faramir asked for her hand, and Eowyn granted it, full willing.

He doesn't say anything about whether or not he gives his permission, (as her king and head of family, he probably was asked, but considering Eowyn and Faramir made their plans to wed with total confidence, you get the impression this was a matter of form, they were going to marry, Eomer disagreeing would be a complication, not a defeat), but instead emphasises how Eowyn has agreed to marry Faramir, full willing.

The final image we have of Eowyn can be a foil of that image of we have of her at the end of her first chapter in Two Towers. Once more, she is bidding farewell to a loved one as they depart Edoras. However, this time, she is embracing Merry before he leaves. She gives him a gift, that speaks of the bond of friendship that is now between them, and a remembrance of the time they rode together to battle, comrades in arms.

Compared to her formal parting from Theoden in Two Towers, this parting is full of warmth and intimacy. She and Eomer both hug Merry farewell, and when Merry leaves, Eowyn is left with both Eomer and Faramir, the two people she loves best, Faramir himself putting off his own duties in Gondor, to be near to Eowyn as she does her duty in Rohan.

Even the parting of Eowyn, Eomer and Merry, which could be a sad thing, is softened with Tolkien concluding "and so they parted for that time".

Their parting isn't forever, it's just for the moment. They will see each other again. Compared to the jarring juxtaposition of the brotherly army riding out, to Eowyn left alone to guard an empty hall, which created a sense of dread and foreboding, the final lines here at this parting fill us with warmth, with them all embracing, and leaves us with a promise that this parting isn't forever, and that the friends will all be reunited soon.

So, to summarise, Eowyn at first appears "doomed by the narrative." She is cold, stern, ghost like, and carries an aura of tragedy and dread.

Her doom she seems to carry through to fruition, and she is mourned accordingly, but the smallest spark of life remains in her, and in the causes of her despair being acknowledged, in the people in her life reaching out to her, making an effort to understand her, and in her and those around her making practical changes, the characters actively defy the narrative that has apparently doomed her, and together, through their combined efforts, Eowyn escapes her fate

Eowyn feels hopeless and trapped, and the people around her struggle to relate, and in fact many of them contribute; some un-knowingly, some knowingly (fucking Grima), to her depression. It first looks like a force greater than herself (the narrative) is causing her despair, and it cannot be overcome, but will instead lead to her destruction.

But actually, there is hope, and there are practical measures that can be put into place, to help her overcome her despair. Medical treatment, a support network, and a greater understanding from herself and from others of what she is going through, enable her to defy the narrative and find happiness.

[thegoldenhoof]

"your dysphoria and desire to be male is actually just a coping mechanism to deal with misogyny–" my friend if i had been assigned male at birth i would have been immediately clocked as the biggest faggot of all time. there was never any winning the system for me. i really do just want a penis

[thegoldenhoof]

This is more than Spock and Kirk, "going cannon."

It is two characters who were irrevocably influential to science fiction, to fandom, to media at large, getting a beautiful and poetic ending.

This is layered in Star Trek canon, but more than that it is Kirk and Spock reuniting.

Against all the odds in the universe, ours and theirs.

Kirk was dead. Spock was dead in ANOTHER DIMENSION. They died alone and without each other. This was their unbelievably tragic and cannon ending UNTIL TODAY.

Now their ending is this.

Reunification, connection, crossing time, space, and reality itself to be together again. Because that is how important they are to one another. Because that is how important they are to Star Trek itself. Because that is how important James Tiberius Kirk and S'chn T'gai Spock are to media at large, Star Trek fans and beyond.

This is insane to a degree that I truly do not know if people can understand and I will NEVER get over it.

[thegoldenhoof]

Low key hating people screaming Spirk is canon now because I wish i had been able to see the clip without this at the back of my mind because in itself

It was beautiful and made me cry in a 8 min scene with no dialogue. Seeing Prime Spock again was a gift because being unable to say a proper good bye in the short scene in ST Beyond hurt! Being given this as a last scene of Kirk and Spock instead is truly a gift.

It was amazing. (I am still half trying to process it)

On the other had there is nothing here that is new that hasn't been said about their relationship a dozen times over over the decades and who scream for canonization of every over the smallest thing should calm the fuck down.

Kirk and Spock have always been soulmates beyond the ties of any other relationship.

(If I am missing context please enlighten me because this feels entirely in line with previous canon to me)

[thegoldenhoof]

Suddenly remembers how mdzs has some of the most complex characters ever and also the most teenager on wattpad kinktober pwp ass sex scenes ever..

Talk about containing multitudes...

[thegoldenhoof]

'life is about getting older, being gay and eating well' cinematic universe

[thegoldenhoof]

Onions & Two Chicken Thighs

[thegoldenhoof]

Onions & Two Chicken Thighs

[thegoldenhoof]

Kinou nani tabeta, Tsukuritai onna to tabetai onna and Koisenu Futari: The holy trifecta of what I want in my future relationship

Idk man, the simple yet deep joy and comfort of sharing a homemade meal at the end of the day with someone you care deeply about is getting to me tonight.

Bonus: Ossan's love because them

[thegoldenhoof]

tou-san said “boy, you’d better werk”. anyway, please watch kinou nani tabeta

[thegoldenhoof]

More people need to watch Kinou Nani Tabeta? . (2 seasons, a special and a movie)

More people need to talk about it!

I sort of pushed it to the back of my mind and missed the second season so started a rewatch and damn i forgot how much it absolutely tore my heart and healed me the first time i watched it. And it is honestly better than i remember it being (might me because i was crying through half of it and having major breakdowns about my queerness and family). The first time i watched it was before i'd gotten into asian queer tv proper. The couple of BLs I watched were fun but meh.. But this.

There is something so heart wrenchingly familiar about Shiro's relationship with his queerness and his family in the beginning. Something so beautiful about how he struggles to express love in words like his partner but says everything he needs to say in actions ...... And FOOD. So much amazing food.

His practical approach to love feels real and ground after the normal fantastical romantic fare of gay romcom but it is light and funny without leaning into tragic like the 'realistic' gay shows. And I love that early on they establish that these 2 are sexual partners and like almost never touch it again. Its evident and unnecessary to harp on and these middle aged men have bigger problems and i love them soo much.

(This doesn't really have a point beyond random rambling and hoping someone gets curious enough to watch it/talk to me about it)

[thegoldenhoof]

[thegoldenhoof]

Some fans be like why do you engage with it if you don't think its good.

Because we saw the potential for something great in it and we are both morurning it and keeping the memory of it alive.

[thegoldenhoof]

Random reminder that David never said that Izzy 'is' or 'was' a father figure to Ed but that by the point of his death he had grown into one and a positive one. (Not that this makes it much better cos like *looks at the text*fucking where???)

And because this "transformation" doesn't exist anywhere in the text some fans just found it easy to generalize it into "Izzy was always the abusive father figure" to fit better into their interpretation of Izzy as someone with power over Ed.

Which... Definitely not what David said.

The way that I came to reconcile both these comments is my putting Izzy in a position of uncertainty. Izzy is always something to Ed but that something is not definable.

Izzy is the ultimate "ish"

Izzy was the jilted spouse -ish

Izzy became a father figure -ish

Izzy is almost a lot of things to Ed but never manages to actually be any of those things.

To Ed certainty is boring and unwanted. Its just Izzy. Izzy doesn't have to be anything else.

For a man like Izzy craving certainty and structure to the point of unhealthy dependency not knowing who he is must be hell. But most likely that would not be something he would ever be able to acknowledge but rather fill in the gaps with assumptions.

Filling the gaps with Blackbeard. Because Izzy "knows" his role with Blackbeard. That is the heart of their tragedy to me.

So maybe Izzy can be all those things David wants him to be and also none of those things fully.

not enough people have e beef with the fact david said love triangle and then said father figure. this mirrors so much stupid queerbaiting content and yet you get lynched for pointing that out. like oooo that was never his intention duh! just listen to what he’s saying, i know there’s a canon gay couple, which by the way had most of the important stuff skipped in favour of kissing, but guys, i don’t fucking know!!!!

[thegoldenhoof]

Long ass rant that sums up to "anything Ed does is general pirate life and anything Izzy does is personsl evil" aside...

I find it hilariously when people are confused as to why Izzy was giving orders on "Stede"s ship" because they seemed to miss the part where technically it is not Stede's ship anymore. That is literally the point of contention. They miss the "what to do with the crew" "The uzze" " Put them to work and kill them later?" conversation.

(Also Izzy is evil for pulling Fang's beard but also wrong for not punishing Fang (because punishing your own crew on an enemy ship you occupied is a brilliant idea)

Pirate crews do share spoils. They fight for gold. Wonder what spoils the crew who fought and died to rescue Stede (and piss off the Spanish navy in the processes) promised. Could it be *gasp* Stede's ship and wealth? Or were they just destined to die for Ed's lovel life to become interesting.

The Revenge at the beginning of the show is an occupied ship no matter how much Ed forgets the fact for he is distracted by Stede.

[thegoldenhoof]

What i feel is worse is that the interpretation of canon for a lot of people seems to be "what is written" Free from the corrupting influence of actor interpretation. (This is of course selective applied to shoot down readings other than what they deem correct)

Aside from being just plain wrong i find this actively insulting to the actors' choice, the director who chose to include that and the 1000 other people who participate in creating any scene.

my favorite thing about antis crying "it's not canon" is when they have their own Favorite Character representation that's 100% not supported by canon

for real, anon

many parts of this fandom are so obsessed with 'canon' as a weapon and a 'fuck you' to fans they don't like

people don't seem to understand the freedom that comes with the whole notion of 'Death of the Author' as both a literary framework and an understanding that the moment a piece of art of any form (be it writing, photographs, videos, etc) enters the public domain, the author no longer has any control over how that piece of art will be interpreted or understood.

a lot of fans in OFMD should take note of that.

like the word canon isn't supposed to mean 'my reading of the text is more correct than yours.' it's meant to be neutral in terms of literary analysis. it's meant to be simply that which occurs within the body of text. but people will have their own interpretations and understandings of the text based on their own subjective realities. i don't have to agree with those realities, but i'm not going to go out of my way (at least for now, we'll see how salty i get) to shit on someone else's reading of a text.

you want to read Stede as GNC? fine. that's not my interpretation of the character but you do you.

you think Ed's gender journey is more important than Jim's? i'd rather focus on the only non binary character in the show than another cis character but sure. have your gender critiques and analyses as it pertains to a cis character.

you see how im not going back to the argument of 'well in the TEXT' or 'well in CANON' to make any of my arguments here? because the way canon is used in this fandom's discourse is stupid and pedantic

this is fandom. this is a sandbox. canon was thrown out the window the moment the show aired. people will do what they please with the text. the author is dead indeed. all hail the author

[thegoldenhoof]

Randomly thinking about how much Season 1 of OFMD was a queer show and Season 2 a gay show..