#ceescedasticity

[tanoraqui]

now that this fic is all published, I can ramble about the things that happen afterward in the timeline! Feel SO free to ask about anything you want more details of.

First off, all three posts about Dave the Balrog are 100% canon to this au, except for where they sometimes contradict the fic's worldbuilding or plot bc I hadn't settled on every detail yet. Also, Dave’s name is probably more like “Drav”, from the Sindarin “drava-”, “to hew.”

That happens much later, though - about 1980 TA. FIRST, immediately, as Celebrimbor says: it's time to save the orcs!

That is, wildly self-indulgent crossover with @ceescedasticity's fic(verse) elves, once, which isn't 100% my headcanon for orcs but it's essentially canon for this au because it makes everything VERY FUNNY in a tragic irony way. I've thought about this so much that it really deserves its own bullet-point post, but highlights include:

- Annatar attempts to conceal the fact that Curufin and Celegorm are orcs, and, y'know, have been since they died. This works until Celebrimbor identifies a bunch of the orc army's weapons as made by his father, even if the style is strange and fell, and the two of the have a HUGE fight in front of representatives of every Elvish kingdom in Middle Earth and most of an army of orcs.

- Bellow/Turgon is having the single strangest, most uncomfortable road trip of his life, and he counts the crossing of the Helcaraxë in that total.

- Turgon tries to convince Galadriel to take Celebrían and Elrond and get out of here, because inevitably this must be a cruel trick and all the orcs will be forced to turn on all the Elves. Galadriel is like, "Honestly, I've been watching Celebrimbor's slow corruption and Sauron's slower un-corruption for about 2,000 years now, and I think we actually have a shot at this. Also, bold of you to assume you can beat me in a fight."

- Curufin and Celegorm had BOOKED IT when Annatar's summoning-compulsion snapped, on the reasonable assumption that any plan the Dark Lord had for them + Celebrimbor could only be cruel to the extreme...so Celebrimbor and Annatar go on a bonus road trip to retrieve them.

- Everyone meets up by the Sea again, but instead of taking (or, obeying) the offer of escape into Ulmo's hands, Turgon and probably a bunch of other orcs volunteer to come help break the Crucible. They Deserve This.

- In the end, as usual, the day is ultimately saved - as are the souls of thousands of trapped elves - by the power of love and overwhelming violence.

AND THEN...

Celebrimbor & Annatar don't actually rebuild Ost-in-Edhil and Eregion as they were. Those days are over, and also the surviving Númenoreans kinda...regard Annatar as Absolute Evil, for some mysterious reason. And those who knew about the whole or even partial conspiracy - namely Tar-Miriel herself - aren't too keen on Celebrimbor, either.

They leave whoever wants to stay and rebuild in Eregion, leadership tbd based on the traditional system of craft-based meritocracy, and take a few decades off to lay low from geopolitics, work on their marriage, and for Celebrimbor to learn a little bit of necromancy so he can manipulate his own fëa and hröa, thank you very much.

They stay with the Witch-Queen of Calador for a while, discreetly because officially that kingdom is also not on good terms with its “former” evil-ish overlord. (The Witch-Queen of Calador and her not really sane, almost certainly unsafe, but arguably consensual relationship with Annatar really deserves her own post, too. She’s my favorite OC of this au. She really loves bats.)

Elrond & Celebrían get married! Elrond always knew his wedding would have to involve stopping drunken brawls from erupting between people who love him but hate each other, but he’d assumed it’d be Iathrim and Fëanorians, not an elderly Queen Miriel going for Annatar’s eyes with a butter knife.

Annatar regards the birth of Elrohir and Elladan with some concern, this alarming lineage now augmented by the blood of Arafinwë (cut off Melkor’s foot) and Galadriel (Melian’s pupil, hates him). But that’s nothing to how freaked out he is by Arwen, who is such an obvious Reprise of Lúthien that it’s now CLEAR that this was all a Melian scheme to assault him, personally.

He can’t just kill her now—Elrond and Galadriel and both right here, not to mention Celebrimbor. And then she’d absolutely be his enemy when she Returned… No, the only solution is to stay in Imladris for a while and become her most beloved uncle whom she would not dream of assaulting, whom she could not bring herself to injure even if circumstance and conscience forced her hand. Love has ever been the undoing of Melian’s line. The Reprise is obvious, but not so established that he cannot twist it into irony, Lúthien’s heir as his devoted student and companion rather than foe.

[smash cut to late 3rd Age Annatar watching the Music settle into place as Arwen interacts with the newest, currently toddling scion of the House of Elendil and nearly killing the child right then because no, no, thats not how this was supposed to Reprise—that’s his jewel of an elf-queen, Singer and trade-manipulator and niece, and he’s going to lose her forever? Killing the brat won’t even work, that would only make her follow him sooner, one way or another—]

Celebrimbor doesn’t want to build a city (and have his heart broken by the loss of the city) again, but he very much does want to ImproveThe World, and also to Make Things With His Hands. So he and Annatar, and whoever of the Gwaith-i-Mírdain wish to join them, set about… “Traveling” is too loose a term; just because they’re not city-building doesn’t mean anyone here wants to live on the road. They need workshops, forges, and ideally a maia-sized cat tree tall tower from which to survey their domain. They are a highly skilled work crew/technical, artistic & management consultants who change cities every 5-200 years, throughout Middle Earth and perhaps even other continents.

This what Celebrimbor and Annatar do, for most of the rest of their time in Middle Earth. A few of the Mírdain travel with them all the time. Others strike out on their own, or in similar small groups. Others stay in rebuilt Ost-in-Edhil, or Rivendell or the Havens or another Elvish kingdom, and come lend a hand when their particular talents are called for. Everyone who “died” in Númenor and was “resuscitated” by Annatar walked away with a strengthened, basically permanent osanwë connection to the simulated workshop group chat, which they’re aware of, and a location tracker and fëa-stamp saying “PROPERTY OF MAIRON, FUCK AROUND AND YOU WILL FIND OUT” which only an Ainu could detect.

They're the mysterious stranger(s) who accept an offer of hospitality on a stormy night and reward you with a magic ring that blesses your farm with fecundity. They arrive in a city in the middle of a cholera outbreak and inform the local rulers that they're here to overhaul the whole wells & sewers system in exchange for room and board; no, the local rulers do not get a choice in this. One time they do oust an evil ruling dynasty and just kinda take over the kingdom for a few centuries, but then Celebrimbor starts to get paranoid of his own growing attachment so Annatar reluctantly agrees to find and raise some honorable candidate for kingship [gender-neutral]. One of the Mírdain with them says, what about the choice of the people? And then after a lot of discussion, partly in collaboration with their local Men, they write up and seal with Power a Constitution that establishes an oversight body of political, economic, craft and etc. experts to oversee and have veto power over popular elections to kingship from a slate of candidates chosen by the current/soon-to-be previous king, on a strict thirty-year schedule. There, that should stabilize the whole messy business of mortal succession!

Also, 1300 years or so into the Third Age when this version of Gondor hits its equivalent of the Kin-Strife, Annatar takes advantage of its weakness to initiate a plan he's been contemplating for a while, especially while gaining local insight into a variety of nation-states and their management, and returns to Oroduin to forge what may he his last Great Work...a new standard of currency.

It’s called, in the common tongue developing from Adúnaic and Sindarin, the “mira”, pl. “miran”, from Quenya “mírë” (“jewel, precious thing). Where pettier currencies are based in gold or silver or the might of some particular empire, these hold value Because a Great Maia Said So—indeed, Sang So, Sang a new line into the Great Music that these coins would always have a value of…whatever he said so, if he updated a petty lyric or two of their Song. Those who use the coins don’t need to know this; they simply intuit, with coins in hand, what they are worth.

(You can lead even the mightiest empire by the nose if you control the price of grain alone, much less other commodities, or one currency relative to another. Each minute adjustment takes Power, especially to shift the natural balance of multiple interlocking goods…but Annatar is a master of the perfectly placed lever with which to shift the world.)

Maybe at some point the Valar are like, “okay, I think they don’t irrationally hate us anymore, I think this could work” and send a small group of Maiar to openly, humbly approach Annatar and Celebrimbor and ask if they might be apprentices in the craft of…whatever the fuck is happening here. Or maybe something adjacent, because Pallandro and Alatar would really like to fuck off into those excellent looking woods and hunt the remnants of Ungoliant’s spawn, and Radagast actually wandered away 5 minutes ago to talk to a bird. He’s gonna be a while. But Curumo and Olórin are listening politely!

…Or maybe not. Maybe it’s just the Jewelsmiths, slowly becoming folklore, bettering the world (and manipulating wide-scale economics) one stone at a time. (They’d still be the “Jewelsmiths” anyway, even if they included those who, in another universe, were called “The Wise.”)

As stated in the third Dave the Balrog post, they do Sail eventually, several centuries after Arwen’s death. Celebrimbor just gets tired, and Annatar can’t fix it. Ossë spends the whole voyage backstroking next to their ship and sarcastically quoting Annatar back at himself, Years of the Trees insults about being made weak and pathetic by love, until Annatar nearly lunges over the side as a wolf to tear his throat out.

[bonyfish]

Great big commission for @ceescedasticity of a royal family of elves, going back three generations! This one was a challenge, but ultimately very satisfying; thank you again!

(commission info here)

[thelordofgifs]

End of Year Fic Recs

Thank you @sallysavestheday for the tag and the kind rec 💕

Recommend up to 5 series or multi-chapter fics from 2023 that everyone should read (multi-year WIPs count, if the last update was in 2023).

Recommend up to 5 single chapter fics/one-shots (long or short) from 2023 that everyone should read.

Recommend up to 5 fics NOT from 2023 that everyone should read (oldies but goodies).

Recommend up to 5 of your own fics (completed or WIP) from 2023 that everyone should read.

Five WIPS from 2023:

we will make this place our home by @leucisticpuffin. 200k, AU, kidnap fam. The loveliest softest 1970s AU! It feels like reading all my favourite cozy childhood books and the characterisation is impeccable (Maglor my DARLING). Cannot recommend enough.

seabird by @welcomingdisaster. 24k, AU, russingon. "Give me a quick russingon prompt for smut week," Lena said. I obliged. This happened. Anyway the dynamics are so so good and the characterisation is so so good (Maedhros you little IDIOT) and the suspense!! is so good!! Everyone go and read it immediately.

ashes, ashes, dust to dust — the devil's after both of us by @that-angry-noldo. 9k, AU, Finarfin and Maedhros and Maglor. Maedhros and Maglor come up with a plan to capture the High King of the Noldor in return for the Silmaril. SUCH good m&m (I am a single-issue voter ok!) and incredible Finarfin/Eonwe dynamics as well, I cannot wait to see where this fic goes next.

Atandil by @eilinelsghost. 105k, canon compliant, Finrod/Bëor. The best worldbuilding, THE most gorgeous flowing heartrending prose, absolutely incredible characterisation... I am so so obsessed with this series you can't imagine. Still weeping over part 14 a month later.

And Love Grew by @polutrope. 8k, canon compliant, kidnap fam. A newer WIP, but I'm already so hooked! So far the characterisations of all the Fëanorians have been delicious and there are SO many compelling OCs as well.

Five one-shots from 2023:

Sea-Bells and Sunlight by @actual-bill-potts. 4.5k, canon compliant, Finrod and Lúthien and Beren. Lúthien finds both Finrod and Beren in the Halls of Mandos. LOVE the shifting dreamlike nature of Mandos here, and my darling Lúthien is so so perfect. Also all the Finrod feels... aahhh.

Somewhere To Return To by @searchingforserendipity25. 4k, canon compliant, Maedhros and Maglor, russingon. Just the softest loveliest most heartbreaking post-Thangorodrim fic. LetMaedhrosNap2k23.

the world to come by @arrivisting. 4k, AU, Fëanor/Nerdanel. A chilling imagining of Arda Remade, featuring some incredible Fëanor characterisation and the most gorgeous beautiful prose.

Quicksilver by @clothonono. 26k, AU, Indis/Míriel. Beautiful beautiful writing and wonderful characterisation. One of the fics that made me adore Indis.

What Will the Kinslayer Lord Do Next? by @tanoraqui. 3k, canon compliant, Maedhros and Maglor. Ok this is a spin-off of The Minstrel and the Star which you should also read because it's excellent but. again. SINGLE-ISSUE VOTER. and this is a top-tier m&m fic, all that tenderness and grief and bitterness and some delicious musings on the Oath and Silmarils.

Five older fics:

and one man, in his time, plays many parts by @lintamande. Canon compliant, Maglor and his younger brothers. One of my favourite Mithrim-era fics.

seven years of holidays by @jouissants. 10k, AU, kidnap fam. Elrond and Elros find a strange elf in the woods. Excellent kidnap fam dynamics and absolutely beautiful prose.

A reason to live (a reason it is not permissible to die) by Chestnut_pod. 27k, canon compliant, Eärendil/Elwing. Absolutely incredible Sirion worldbuilding and a wonderful depiction of Elwing.

elves, once by @ceescedasticity. 43k, canon compliant. THE most horrifyingly plausible theory of how orcs came to be. Both heartbreaking and fascinating.

It's the New World, Darling by @avantegarda. 107k, AU. A truly delightful 19th-20th century AU of the silm. Nothing makes me laugh as much as Victorian!Fëanorians.

Five self-recs:

The hard bit!

Ilimbë. 15k, canon compliant, Fëanor/Nerdanel. I still think this is the best thing I've ever written! Check it out if you're interested in Greek mythology, or in baby Fëanor making an idiot of himself.

the fairest stars. 78k, AU, Maedhros & Maglor, russingon, Beren/Lúthien and more. Probably my favourite of my fics, if not objectively my best. I know I love to hate on tfs for being completely insane, but I'm also pretty proud of it. It's got some of my best m&m, a rather in-depth exploration of the nuances of the Oath of Fëanor, and SO SO MANY cliffhangers. A silly bullet point fic that is also somehow the one I've put the most thought and effort into over the year.

in the breaking. 2k, canon compliant, Maedhros & Maglor. Still very fond of this one.

Inflection. 9k, canon compliant, kidnap fam. A very difficult one to write, but I'm proud of the result.

The Stranger. 928 words, canon compliant, Maedhros and Maglor. A very tiny little ficlet, but I like how I captured the post-Thangorodrim dynamics here.

Going to tag everyone I mentioned here, if you'd like to share!

[elronds-library]

elves, once

by Scedasticity (@ceescedasticity)

Part 1 of elves, once

They were elves, once. All of them.

Mature, No Archive Warnings

Words: 43,562

[gwaedhannen]

Throwback Thursday

Not sure how much of a throwback it can be when I've only been writing for four months? But ok. Tagged by @thelordofgifs and @polutrope to rec a fic of mine that's at least a week old!

I kinda cringe a bit looking back at my 2023 writing, but I still have a fair bit of fondness for Kill the flame, as my first published work. It's got family angst! Gut punches! The blurry line between forgiveness and loneliness! Vague headcanons and hints of characterization that I've yet to do anything with! Shortness! Quintessential stormfallen.

For Turgon, steadfast always. Your descendants still build in the echo of Gondolin’s unforgotten glory. For Amras, quiet on the woodland trails. They say you went mad in the trees. Or did you simply find a truth no one else could accept? For Amrod, betrayed and yet unbowed. You were pulled from the fire, and walked back to it with eyes open and torch held high. She had not wept, to see her father again. She had not wept, as the Herald laid down his sentence. She had not wept, as the white ships sailed away.

No-pressure tagging @ceescedasticity, @undercat-overdog, @that-angry-noldo, @between-thepages, @thescrapwitch, and anyone else who wants in!

[ladysternchen]

End of Year Fic Recs

Thanks @polutrope for tagging me 😁!

Recommend up to 5 series or multi-chapter fics from 2023 that everyone should read (multi-year WIPs count, if the last update was in 2023)

Recommend up to 5 single fics/one-shots (long or short) from 2023 that everyone should read.

Recommend up to 5 fics NOT from 2023 that everyone should read (oldies but goodies)

Recommend up to 5 of your own fics (completed or WIP) from 2023 that everyone should read. (oooohhhh damn. I'm gonna SO fail at this, because I actually read so little myself- I tend to re-read the same stories over and over and over again, but I'll see what I can do)

Multi-Chapter

'Tis the Season (To Be Tea-la-la-lally) by polutropos (Teen And Up, WIP, AU) I'm not one for modern AUs normally, not at all, and I honestly didn't want to read it at the start, but then I did (here on Tumblr) and got sucked in LOL. It's just great, and I love the Holiday Spirit! (I won't tag you here again, as you're tagged in the entire post anyway 😄 brilliant story)

Rising as if Weightless by StarSpray (Gen) The story of Elwing suddenly becoming the big sister/foster mom of her older brothers. This is so tender and beautiful and has so much character growth and so many bitter-sweet reunions, and above all so much depth.

A Pair of Stars by Magicfeather205 (Teen And Up) Pre-historic Elves, and the birth of future kings. That was honestly the most interesting story I read this year, with wonderful and very accurate world-building and a beautiful story (and thank you, author, I now can't get the 'Elwë and Olwë were indeed the first set of twin-boys in that family' out of my head where it fights a raging battle with my own headcanon) Also, I want this fic to be read by every single midwife (and, more importantly, other obstetrician). THAT is how you treat a birthing mom. That's how you handle unforeseen events. I loved this so so so much. It would have felt perfectly natural to have Trixie and Nurse Crane walk in there- sorry about that fandom-mixup)

As Flowers From the Sky by Beleriand Death Trip (E) Fingolfin/Elu Thingol... this is honestly a ship I would never ever have thought of myself, or seen a way in which this could work, but this story DOES work within canon, and beautifully so. It has it all, from very interesting world-building ideas to mild- (and VERY funny) horror-elements, and from foreshadowing and tensions to being wonderfully wholesome. You'll feel better after reading this, I promise!

The Unforsaken by @ceescedasticity (M, WIP) Last but definitely not least. I'll again link the first part of the series in the before-2023-part, and probably say more about it there. But yeah, absolutely a must-read! Go! Go, destroy the Orc-bank! (But don't blow yourselves up!)

One-Shots

Bloodied by ohboromir (Gen) Just a little First-Battle-story. I love to see Elu and Beleg and Mablung together so so so much (who would have thought, ey?).

Unstoppable Winds by LadyBrooke (Teen And Up) The destruction of Númenor as viewed by a few of their ancestors. I really loved this because I have never actually seen a story about the Fall of Númenor written from that POV and it did (or rather does) inspire me quite a lot in my own WIP. (I have to apologise here for not having more, I read so many great one-shots here on Tumblr that I just failed to save in some way. I may add to this list if I find the time to scroll through my timeline and see which of those I reblogged)

Before 2023

elves, once (M) by @ceescedasticity The part one of the series The Unforsaken belongs to as well. And for me the most recommendable story there is (though I would guess most who see this post will know the story already). The name says it all, really, as it is the story of all those canon-characters who ended up as Orcs. This is the sort of fic I really enjoy because it actually gives an answer to a question canon rises. The Orc-bank has since so much passed into my own headcanon that I sometimes forget that it is not actually canon (which leads to very awkward situations sometimes at our monthly discussing-Tolkien-gatherings, I tell you that)

across so wide a sea (Gen, WIP) by Adwen Unfinished, but one of the most hilarious stories I've ever read. I hope so much that author continues writing it one day, but even if they don't, it's a great laugh to read what is written, and ah, the possibilities!

The Carriage held but just Ourselves (Teen and Up) by StarSpray The story of how Melian and her descendants deal with death when they finally come to face it. I don't know when I last cried so much when reading a fic. It's not just that it's so so so sad (because yeah, go kill us all even in the one chapter that should be somewhat 'happy' 😭), but also incredibly beautiful and written perfectly in-character. It's looking into those women's minds. One of my bed-time-stories. (hmpf. All the others are multi-chapters form this year. ah well...)

My own

Yet Were Its Making Good, For This (not rated, but mature:ish; WIP) Ah, my problematic WIP. I wanted that story so so so so so badly written that I forced it, and it cost me MANY nerves. Mablung of Doriath/Elu Thingol. (How is it that nobody ever wrote that ship before?????????????) Works within canon if one squints one's eyes a bit. I'm currently working on the Epilogue ind Valinor, which might, MIGHT, for once give one of my stories a truly happy ending.

Into Oblivion (M) The smut-part of Yet Were Its Making Good, For This. Elwë/Mablung/Beleg. (Well, what do you all think they got up to during the journey?) Doesn't interfere with later canon.

Why, It Asks (Gen) It's a very short read, but one that is super dear to me for some reason. Elmo's thoughts as he stands by and watches his brother's grave being dug.

Moving On-series (Gen) Is this cheating, now? As it's really three one-shots? If it is, pick the last one to read. I'm just so fond of what my imagination spat out there world-building-wise LOL. It's the story of the time Elwë was missing to his and Melian's coronation, as mostly told from Elmo's POV.

Eyes In The Dark (Gen) I just had to put it here, as it's quite sweet to read, but given the hardly-mentioned-in-canon-characters it's hardly read by anyone. Give it a try, though. I bet you like it. Little Denethor is frightened by eyes in the dark, and runs for Lenwë for help. And Lenwë is being just about the best Dad ever.

And now we come to the bit I always dread. I suck at tagging people, because I always forget who enjoys such things and who doesn't, and because everyone's probably been already tagged. So let's do this differently, then- all writers who read this and want to share their recs, please do! (Cheating again, I know)

[prowlingthunder]

Last Line Challenge

Rules: in a new post, show the last line you wrote (or drew) and tag as many people as there are words (or however many you like).

I was tagged by @morethansky

His men are so precious and they don’t even know.

Tagging @azems-familiar @mtraki @mandakatt @zpansven @egodominustuus @iwishtocountthestars @certified-spacewitch @erinptah @ceeeeeeleeeeeebriiiiiiaaaaaan @ceescedasticity

[shrikeseams]

Thanks to @ceescedasticity and @feanorianethicsdepartment, I am now toying with the idea that the power shift between elves and humans had an effect beyond, y'know. The obvious.

Because immortal elves in a fundamentally mortal ecosystem is weird, right? There's a strong element of mismatch there, something that (to me) marks elves as intrusive and foreign regardless of how attuned to nature Tolkien wants them to be.

So. What if, before humans are introduced, all living things are functionally immortal? Still vulnerable to predation etc, but not to age and disease and such (unless specifically introduced by Melkor). And the introduction of humans is also the introduction of mortality, and a gradual shift from immortality as the natural default to mortality as the natural default? With the process ending at the end of the second age, with the enroundening of Arda.

It also gives some teeth to humans' resentment of elvish mortality (not that humans have ever needed a reason to long for eternity). It makes sense for them to resent their own inherent finite nature if they're introduced to a world where mortality isn't the default.

Not sure this actually works at all. But I'm chewing on it nonetheless.

[potatoobsessed999]

First Lines

Thanks for tagging me, @zealouswerewolfcollector!!

Share the first lines of your last ten posted fics and see if there is a pattern.

-

Finrod Felagund. "Philosophic discourse regarding the enmity of Orcs with Elves." The Philosophy of Finrod Felagund. 2nd ed., edited and translated by Vardamir Nólimon, Armenelos, S.A. 130.

[Ed. note: Private papers of Finrod Felagund.

i'd have taken out your heart of flesh, put in a heart of stone

“Oh, first let pass the black, black horse, and then let pass the brown, but quickly run to the milk-white steed, pull ye his rider down.”

his knife in your back

The knife in your back.

Impossibility

Four years ago, Cousin Maedhros was swallowed by a maw-mouth during graduation.

Well-Formed One

My Edain tell a tale for every scar.

Fëanorian Bredliks

nor foe nor frend

Dreaming, Waking

I wake with my face wet and my heart hammering.

neither in dreams nor stories

I’d done my best to go away inside myself while Chernobog fought the Staryk, but when at last it dragged my broken body back through the mirror, the sheer overwhelming relief of the palace’s relative warmth shocked me to full awareness.

in the deeps of time (and amidst the innumerable stars)

When there arose life, then arose the Force; for years uncounted it sang in the spaces between all living creatures, until at last some of them began to hear it.

Dawn

They find you barefoot in the morning dew; you stand unsupported, trembling, your face held up to the dawn.

Patterns... I don't know. I suppose I like to start in media res? And if I'm not doing that then it's probably because I'm playing with format somehow.

IDK who's done it yet, but I'll no-pressure tag @jaz-the-bard, @ceescedasticity, @halfelven, and anybody else who wants to!

[grumpyoldsnake]

Book Rec Request

Has anyone read any nonfiction books diving into details about the electromagnetic field that they’d recommend? (Up to and including text books, as long as they’re intro-ish level.)

I’ve already read Faraday, Maxwell, and the Electromagnetic Field by Nancy Forbes and Basil Mahon, plus Relativity: The Special and the General Theory by Albert Einstein. (Though admittedly I only fully understood ~66% of Relativity. 😂) I’m still looking to read more about the topic!

I gave The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking a read, but it wasn’t really what I’m after. At least for this topic, I much prefer a closer look that digs a bit more into the conceptualization or logistics of an idea as opposed to the "we think maybe XYZ" overview.

Reblogs to spread the word are welcome. ^_^

(And on the spreading-the-word front: @nurgletwh , @ceescedasticity, @ceruleancynic, @prokopetz, @jayrockin, @waywardmartian @ausp-ice @dduane @ryannorth, zero pressure whatsoever, but you strike me as folk who might either have recommendations yourself, or trend towards followers who might in turn!)

[tanoraqui]

Writing Game: Last Lines

@thelordofgifs didn’t tag actually tag me in this, but it looked fun! Last lines from the last 10 finished works I posted:

“Go ahead, make my day!” (Burial Weapons, Discworld)

“I've been thinking about it.” (Eldamar!Buzzfeed’s Top 5 Maglor Fëanorion Songs, The Silmarillion)

“We got your distress call. We’re here to help.” (In Which Space Orcs are Men, The Silmarillion)

Then he surrendered to temptation and kissed the taste of raspberry from her lips, and every other flavor he could find until Eärwen, laughing soft and giddy, tugged him to his feet and away into the starlit shadows. (Arafinwë’s 100th Begetting Day Party, The Silmarillion)

So, of course, he had to help clean up this mess, too. (Justice of the Noldor, The Silmarillion)

At least they'd long-since shooed all the under-bakers from the room, so maybe Celechwes wouldn't devastate morale with rumors of her general incompetence at the position she'd so boldly stepped up for, and never thought she'd actually be in. (unnamed prompt fic, The Silmarillion)

“You know how Punch always hiccups…” (Heterodynes 101: Experimental Etiquette, Girl Genius)

“You’re going to need it.” (Magic Traps, Kate Daniels series)

Two Ages later in Eregion, in bright Ost-in-Edhil which he could already see outshining Tirion one day, Celebrimbor swallowed his pride, his bitterness and his paranoia, and declared, "I vote we invite Annatar to stay." (Celebrimbor, No Old Mistakes, The Silmarillion)

“You may complete your journey and live in the blessed land in peace.” (Idril, Dreaming, The Silmarillion)

Wow, there’s a really clear pattern! I end with something short and impactful (at least, I try!), usually dialogue, like the end of a sitcom episode right before they freeze frame. And I end with the sense that this isn’t the end, that something is going to come next, whether it be love or tragedy, mythologically epic space battles or weary but welcome clean-up… I write like someone is (ideally) going to need to write cathartic fanfic of it in order to fully process the big emotions that I socked them with then left them wanting more.

Tagging @animatedamerican, @finxwrites, @ceescedasticity and @smallblueandloud!

[thelordofgifs]

I'm coming in your inbox a lot these days ahdhdhd but 2, 6, 10, 11 :3

(spread love asks) BESTIE please keep coming into my inbox all the time I love it <3

Answered 10 here :)

2. Tell us why you love one of your OCs or an obscure canon character (link to any fics/art you have featuring them!) 

I don't really have any proper OCs, but it may surprise you to learn there is an obscure canon character very dear to my heart! Yes I am taking this as an excuse to talk about Eldacar. My darling appendices blorbo, the bestest king of Gondor, the protagonist of the coolest story in its history!! I love that his life story is explicitly about overcoming racists and he WINS, he defeats the bigots, he proves them wrong!! I love the awful tragedy of his son's death and I am obsessed with the fact that he avenges him. I love all his triumphal-returning-king swag and also his immigrant child trauma he has LAYERS ok LAYERS.

A couple of small ficlets about him (I really need to write something longer too): Eldacar on the eve of his grandfather's death and also Eldacar meets a fox!

6. Ship or platonic relationship that you got into because of the fans

going to be a little basic here but it's actually russingon! For my first couple of weeks in the fandom I wasn't too sure about it, but it's so prevalent that I eventually convinced myself to try a fic or two out and I am SO glad I did. My darling murderers are so important to me ok <3

11. Recommend a fic with an unusual/original headcanon or characterisation that you loved

Going to take the opportunity to rec the fantastic elves, once by @ceescedasticity, which takes the idea that orcs were made from tortured elves and makes of it some of THE best worldbuilding I have ever had the pleasure to read in fic. It's dark it's touching it makes me weep I love it so so so much. (Also, for my darling Curvo mutual: some of the best Curvo characterisation I've seen!!)

[elronds-library]

The Beleriandic Rivers Resettlement Program

by Scedasticity (@ceescedasticity)

When Beleriand fell into the Sea, its lost rivers — most of them poisoned and choked by Melkor — were gathered in by Ulmo. After they've recovered, they obviously can't return to Beleriand. But Aman — Aman doesn't have any rivers on record. (Or: Celon and Little Gelion are fiiiiighting, Adurant and Ascar have some unresolved issues re: Nogrod, Lithir is sadly unequipped to fight Eönwë in a Denny's parking lot over the Sauron thing, Esgalduin is trying to resocialize their tributary from Nan Dungortheb, Narog is working on landscape design plans, Rivil and Glithui must discuss rights to Tuor, Gelion misses their emotional support Kinslayers, and Sirion is definitely, totally, 100% over their PTSD.)

General, No Archive Warnings

Words: 10,194

[tanoraqui]

Last Line Game!

Not actually tagged by @thelordofgifs, but I FINISHED A NEW FIC for the first time in months and I want to brag about the fact. This isn’t the last sentence of the fic, but I’m pretty sure it’s the last complete sentence I wrote, or at least, heavily edited from a previous version:

Wordlessly. Finarfin swung with all his might at that same foot they’d been working on all this time, with that wound that Fingolfin had first opened with his last, despairing wrath.

Tagging @vesperaevis @smallblueandloud @finxwrites and @ceescedasticity!

[elronds-library]

The Unforsaken [WIP]

by Scedasticity (@ceescedasticity)

Part 2 of elves, once

Let's go destroy an Orc Bank.

Mature, No Archive Warnings

Words: 47,616

[spectralreplica]

The new Phantom Thieves from @ceescedasticity‘s Persona 5 time travel series, Start Again.

At first I tried to look up their actual heights from screenshots of the game and anime, but then I gave up and drew them however I wanted.