greenskyoverbluemountains - Tumblr blog

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Hello y'all, chapter 3 of my story "הברווזה | The Duck" in easy Hebrew is up :) Zippora, our young heroine, is determined to get her family out of misery, but a desperate move has consequences she did not anticipate ...

The latest chapter was written with Duolingo Unit 9 Hebrew, so to speak, and there’s also an English translation provided.

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Come and participate in our week long Rings of Power Halbrand/Galadriel event! You just look up and see which day/themes you like from the list.

Create whatever you want based on it. It can be fanfic, vids, music, or even just headcanons, etc... whatever you like!

Post it on the appropriate day. If you’re on tumblr or twitter than just use our hashtag for #HaladrielWeek.

I imagine most people will link fics to their A03, but post wherever you feel comfortable. Just share a link with us when it comes time!

Timeline: Friday May 12 thru Thursday May 18, 2023

Fri May 12th - Firsts, or First Times.

Sat May 13th - Missing Scenes, or What Ifs

Sun May 14th - AUs (Modern, Medieval, Western, etc…)

Mon May 15th - 1st, 3rd, and/or 4th Age.

Tues May 16th - Family & Fluff.

Wed May 17th - Enemies to Lovers.

Thurs May 18th - Wild Card

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Hey! Back again with a “more effort” piece. I really should work in pastel/muted tones more it’s so much more fun. 

If anyone can guess the historical art piece I’ve referenced here I will be so happy! (It’s one of my favourites.) 

I really enjoyed ROP, I understand why people had their grievances, it certainly had its issues and I won’t deny that. But I thought the costume designs and aesthetics were executed so well. I also liked how Galadriel wasn’t as ‘ethereal’ and ‘perfect’ as she was in LOTR, it actually gave her some more depth and warrior-like qualities akin to The Silmarillion. I love a problematic protagonist who has to learn from their mistakes? Feel free to disagree with me of course but hey, AT LEAST THEIRS ART. 

This is available as a print on my shoppe if y’all are interested. 

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Hey! Here is the companion piece to my Galadriel one!

I loved the Habrand plotline so much! I hope we see more of Charlie’s version of him in some capacity. 

GOD the last few episodes had me in a chokehold. 

Available as a print on my shop x 

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How intimate does this conversation between Halbrand and Galadriel become when you drop the music? 😳

SOUND ON 🔊

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Lotr- Rings Of Power + Text Posts

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Craftspeople in Rop

No, not El and Gal. Let me zoom in:

They are weaving the tapestry! It's still a work in progress. I only caught this on my 8th rewatch or so.

And a Númenórean armour maker (sewing the shoulder pieces?)

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Classic friendship scene

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Why Waldreg?  Why was it Waldreg that got to push the self destruct button [“Why do we even have that lever, Kronk?!”(*)] on the dam? Because it makes sense. 

A) He´s not an uruk. Strategically Waldreg is simply the obvious choice. With the Númenóreans around any stray uruk would be suspicious and likely chased. I´m not sure if they would or could have known about human defectors, but even then one random human fleeing the scene would have had a significantly higher chance at making it than someone the Númenóreans would undoubtedly deem an enemy at mere sight. As a human Waldreg is not automatically suspicious, even if the Númenóreans know that some Southlanders joined the enemy, they wouldn´t know which side he´s on just seeing him.  B) He´s going to do it.  Would Adar really leave that important a task to someone else? He´s obviously not bogged down by a misguided ego of the “important” person has to do the important thing but lead by pragmatism and in that sense the leader riding off on a decoy mission is what increases their chances.  Moreover Waldreg has well presented himself as trustworthy. He´s been leading the Southlanders joining them and at least the viewer (**) knows his previous enthusiasm about questionable dark leaders but what was pretty unambiguous is that he paid the costly price and killed Rowan in the “Only blood can bind.” scene (1x05). (And after all forcing such a deed onto a prospect or applicant is a long and well tried technique of gangs, cults, sororities, fraternities etc., having aspiring members commit some kind of bad thing not only binds to the new group it also very much separates them from the rest of society. (xx))  C?) He´s not an uruk Part 2. I think A & B well suffice as answer but there was another idea, I thought I had already read about somewhere but couldn´t dig up anymore (if someone has a link pls send it my way) there´s the theory that possibly the sword hilt might need “red blood”. We only see it used and working with human blood and not black blood. Why? Perhaps that´s just the mechanics of that magic and you would need to install an extra black blood extension to make it work on different blood types. Perhaps Sauron fashioned it to work that way on purpose. Why? Who knows, because he has no respect for orcs and doesn´t want his sword to be tainted or because he believes there is no need  cause he already has the orcs under his full control but the sword´s thrall on red blooded beings could be useful, perhaps he does not want to hand over the power and options the sword grants to orcs, the headcanon possibilities are endless. 

(**) and regarding B) I would say the real question here is: Did Adar get to know that Waldreg was the one that had the sword hilt in his possession all that time?!!  They get to know about Theo having it, but before Theo snatched it from Waldreg, he was the one holding onto it and keeping it hidden. - Did Waldreg tell Adar about that?  - Did Adar believe Waldreg?  - Did they have a conversation about why Waldreg kept the sword hilt?  - Did Adar chide him over letting Theo just take it away?  - Or did Adar just eye roll him away everytime Waldreg got close to even mentioning that certain dark lord and he never got to know about the sword hilt having been in Waldreg´s possession? 

I need answers.  

(*) No seriously why? Was that mechanism always meant to flood the volcano or just something that came in handy? Why the sword specifically? Janitor sword hilt for structural maintenance? Was that a spare weapon he used for another task or was that weapon fashioned as multitool? Are there other mechanisms that sword operates in other structures around middle earth? If the dam self destruct button was not meant for the creation of Mordor what was it for? Do dams generally have a self destruct mechanism? What´s going on? Whose plan was it anyways? Adar? Morgoth? Sauron? Others? Joint project? The sword gets associated with Sauron, so if it was meant to be part of the volcano plan he would have been involved? Galadriel´s words could point to it being Morgoth´s idea and project that a successor has to put into action in case, but it could point to that successor already being in on the project as well or even it being a successors project that Morgoth isn´t even involved in.   “I must be blind. This is no sigil. It is a map of the South lands. (…) It is the Black Speech. It speaks not only of a place, but a plan. A plan by which to create a realm of their own, where evil would not only endure, but thrive. A plan to be enacted in the event of Morgoth’s defeat… By his successor.” (1x03) - Also how does Adar feel about aligning with that very plan (of whomever) and putting it into action? Was he following the initial idea or repurposing it for their own goals? How did he get to know about it? Was he, after Morgoth´s defeat expecting and waiting for it to be put into action just to be disappointed by Sauron, who had better things to do (like fusing uruks with walls) and then taking matters into his own hands? Did he get rid of Sauron as a threat for them first and did he then look for a path to how they could proceed and find this plan?   | Waldreg (Geoff Morrell), Adar (Joseph Mawle), “Fabio” (Jed Brophy), “Fury” (Luke Hawker) | The Rings of Power | 01x04 “The Great Wave” & 01x06 “Udûn” |

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“And what do you wish?’ he said at last. ‘That what should be shall be,’ she answered.” 

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Support me on my Etsy Shop ✨ Ko-Fi ✨ Society6 Art Prints

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Okay, so this… thing… has been living rent free in my brain for months now and I still don’t know what to make of it.

You know that scene in Númenor where Halbrand makes that unforgettably wonderful murder glare?

Yeah. That one. So, we have this dialogue:

Númenórean dude: “What are you called again?” Halbrand: “Depends.” “Depends on what?” “How close we are.”

Then we have the alley scene. After Halbrand beats the shit out of those guys, the last thing he says is this:

Okay, so here it is, the thing:

After Galadriel tells him her name on the raft, he doesn’t hesitate AT ALL before introducing himself as Halbrand.

WHAT ABOUT THE “DEPENDS,” HALBRAND? WHY IS SHE AUTOMATICALLY ON THE “HALBRAND” LIST, HALBRAND?

I’ve narrowed it down to three equally ridiculous theories:

1. He recognizes the name Galadriel and instantly goes FUCKING HELL THERE’S A HIGH ELF ON MY RAFT AND IT’S THE ANGRY BLONDE ONE, MAYDAY, ENEMY ALERT (Halbrand => not close, derogatory)

2. He thinks a good tavern brawl is a neat bonding experience and that the Númenórean dudes are now allowed to use his name (Halbrand => close, appreciative)

3. He simply wanted to seem like a Cool Guy and the “depends” seemed like a Cool Guy thing to say, no deeper meaning to it whatsoever (Halbrand => neutral) 

(Oooooor the showrunners just needed a setup so they could finish the fight with the badass “Call me Halbrand.” That’s a boring option though so I’m going to ignore that.)

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Weird enough, I just realized that when Halbrand asks who Galadriel is in episode 2, he doesn't actually ask what her name is or who she is.

He asks her "What are you called?" instead.

And in responce to Galadriel telling him what to call her (which is her name), he says "I'm Halbrand."

He's not giving her a name she would know (of which he has many), and he avoids stating that his name is Halbrand.

Maybe it's because I'm not native English speaker but to me there's a difference. Halbrand is not lying here, but he might consider it lying if he would have asked "who are you" and then answered her with the same words. After all, with how he phrased his initial question, his answer can be taken as I am (called) Halbrand, which is not lying.

After all, he is called Halbrand just by him telling someone to call him that. It just doesn't necessarily make him be Halbrand.

And again, in episode 3 Miriel's command to both Galadriel and Halbrand is "Name thyself."

Here he is also not asked to tell them his name, but to give a name for himself. So again, he's not lying.

In these occasions, he is placing his words carefully to avoid speaking complete untruths, but still letting others draw their incorrect conclusions that benefit him.

After all, it's the other people that assume that by being called Halbrand, or naming himself Halbrand means that he is indeed Halbrand and nothing else.

Or maybe I'm just overthinking with how many times I've been rewatching the series and trying to analyze even the smallest of details. Who knows.

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Rings of Power + Tolkien Fusion Meta

Names as Stories: Theo of the Southlands & His Future

As I’ve previously written, names matter in legendarium. It signals a trait or how that person interacts with the world. If names also matter in TROP, linguistically, what can we learn about Theo? Because for better worse, the show has set up him to have a great destiny.

In this post, I discuss:

Theo & the future Nazgûl theory

Theo symbolically pledging fealty to Sauron

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Theo & the future Nazgûl theory

Bronwyn and Theo’s names follow Rohanese naming conventions which is in Old English (Anglo-Saxon).

For example: Thengel→Théoden→Théodred and Morwen→Théodwyn→Éowyn. Théoden and Théodwyn are brother and sister. [source]

Though Rohan doesn’t yet exist, the Rohirrim are descended from Northmen (Gothic language). ‘Theo’ isn’t a word itself but it is part of Theod or þeod ("folk", "people", "nation") which exist in both Gothic and Old English. However, Theo could be a short for a longer name that includes Theod.

The most well-known Theod name belongs to Theoden, King of Rohan, of the Third Age. Theod + -en suffix means “King”. His son, Theodred, must have been wise indeed because Theod + -red suffix (“counsel”) means “advisor to the people or king.”

Theo’s pledge of fealty to Sauron

Theo lives up to a name possibly meaning “leader”, as he’s very proud and protective of his people and homelands. And not afraid to take action. Even Galadriel has to restrain him when he tries to confront the orcs after the eruption. She also hands him a sword as they get closer back to camp.

Some fans counter the Theo-as-Nazgûl theory, remarking how Theo doesn’t bow to Halbrand/Sauron unlike others. That is, a sign that he will fight Sauron during his rise to power. But when Halbrand/Sauron Galadriel leave for Eregion, Theo holds up a sword and shouts:

“Strength to the Southlands!”

Interestingly, Theod or Þeód can also mean “retainer” or a warrior who attaches service to a ruler. And Sauron eventually proclaims himself King of Kings, making his Nazgûl, once kings themselves, his retainers.

As Halbrand is the presumed King of the Southlands, Theo’s declaration can be interpreted as pledging his sword and fealty to his king. A symbolic act of foreshadowing.

Galadriel gifting him a sword. His pledging of his sword to Halbrand/Sauron. Whether a future Nazgûl or not, it’s clearTheo’s future is as a leader and warrior.

What do you think?

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Thank you so much for tagging me, @tairona-is-taken​ ! This is actually a first for me <3 And I am also happy to get to know you a little bit, sounds like you are having a really exciting time at the moment. I wish you good luck and success with your novel and of course all the best for your growing family!

Rules: Tag 9 people you want to get to know better.

Last song: ?? my memory :)

Last show: Rings of Power

Currently watching: -

Currently reading: Comment marier Chani Kaufman by Eve Harris

Current obsession: trying to learn Hebrew with Duolingo - just finished Unit 5 :)

I’m not gonna tag anyone since I’m already a bit late on that one and everyone has likely already been tagged, but if someone in the Haladriel/Saurondriel fandom sees this and wants to pick up: Feel free to reblog and keep it going!

tag game

rules: tag 9 people you want to get to know better. I was tagged by @st-eve-barnes tysm darling!! <3

last song: you should see me in a crown - Billie Eilish

last show: TLoU (also, I slept on the last episode, need to finish it)

currently watching: Medici (not to see baby Charlie shut uuppp!)

currently reading: self-help books and fanfics!

current obsession: Haladriel D:

Tagging with no pressure, only love: @bad-surprise @bananaphanta @ahalvedsoup @honeyfarts666 @lazymeriadoc @goldfearless @coraleethroughthelookingglass @thesolarangel @myfavouritelunatic @thetempleofthemasaigoddess

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Dark Lord D*ck Measuring, Episode II

Sauron: Okay, newbie. Tell us your greatest Dark Lord accomplishment, and we might accept you.

The Darkling: I created a Void of darkness and shadow where these horrifying creatures live! It’s called… *hands spread dramatically* THE FOLD.

Sauron: *scoffs* Sounds familiar… But I called it MORDOR and we had *spreads hands too* ORCS. So much more fearsome, newbie. You can stop copying me.

Voldemort: Yeah, and I poured my very soul into Horcruxes to keep my evil essence alive.

Sauron: *glares* You’re kidding… like, what…?

Voldemort: Oh, a crown, a pendant, a ring…

Sauron: A RING?!? NOT COOL. ARE YOU ALL JUST COPYING ME!?!

Voldemort: *pouts noselessly* … a snake…

Darth Vader: *breathes* I blew up a planet. Ruled the galaxy under a Sith Empire.

Sauron: *deeply offended, yet perplexed* What’s a planet?

Just another one because the first one brought so many giggles. And yes, this is just how my brain works sometimes… it gets crowded in there with angsty, attractive, mostly-dark men… sorry not sorry.

Tagging for (another) laugh:

@mixingpumpkins @myfavouritelunatic @myrsinemezzo @marimosalad @mamanmae @rebelrebelwrites @restless-tides @youwearfinethingswellwriter @scriberated @thegreatzombieartisan @jurassiclexie

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There’s a lot of criticisms to make of Rings of Power, but I think the way it plays both Galadriel and Sauron was basically unimpeachable (and I say this as someone who found Halbrand unbearable for most of the season - as it turns out, that was the reaction I was meant to have). And one choice I really like is that Sauron is not a grandmaster who manipulates the heroes into playing a role in his secret plan. Yes, there are glaring red flags that everyone, not just Galadriel, ignores, and yes, his experience of the season is very different from what all the other characters assume it is. But he’s not lying. He genuinely is in a funk after having suffered a catastrophic defeat. He genuinely wants to just disappear into a normal, anonymous life. He probably would have been quite happy playing the Southlands king, at least for a while. And Galadriel does genuinely browbeat and inspire him into finding himself again. His character arc over the season is exactly as it appears, with one small but highly significant missing piece of information. Which I think is a really smart way to play the sudden villain reveal, and make us both sympathize and recoil from a villainous character.

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Sophia Nomvete as Disa in The Rings of Power s1 (x6)