rosefires20

[rosefires20]

One of the best parts of the final fight against Kaido is the way that Law, Kidd and Luffy just bicker like no other contrasted by Killer and Zoro being done with their shit. Law is such a little dramatic shit for no reason in this arc.

[rosefires20]

You just know Boromir is just cheering from the grave when Faramir lets Sam and Frodo go.

Because Boromir of all people understands why he hesitates and why he originally trys to take Frodo and the ring to his father. Because they had both seen the absolute fucking terrors of the war and the effects its had on Gondor. And honestly Boromir will spend all of forever regretting his actions no matter how many times Frodo says its ok.

Which is why he is so fucking proud of his baby brother. His brother who did what he could not. His brother who saved the world. His brother who looked after Gondor in his absence, and stood aside for the rightful king of Gondor. His brother who he loves so fucking much and hes so proud of.

[rosefires20]

jack and tommy's big conversation :''''(

[rosefires20]

I do love that you can see the influence of Tolkien meaning for Eowyn to die throughout her arc. That girl just screams "doomed by the narrative". She's set up for this grand yet tragic death, and wants for nothing else than a grand exit and a glorious end to all things.

But having her live is so much more interesting. And having her live to find happiness especially. She seems like a tragic character. She thinks herself a tragic character. She is overwhelmed by a sense of doom and helplessness. Her narrative is overwhelmed by a sense of doom and helplessness.

But she isn't doomed.

Turns out, decent healthcare, clued in and concerned family members, and a decent support base, go a long towards towards un-dooming her narrative.

[rosefires20]

Im-

I just finished the final book of the Earthsea Cycle and oh my god. There are no words to describe that ending or how well it fit. It settled so perfectly and so neatly. It went exactly where it meant to go and no I do not have the words to describe what exactly that intent or path was just that it existed.

Genuinely, the Earthsea Cycle is one of my all time favorite series. It's just so curious and so deep but also not at the same time. The lessons of the series are so fantastic and ones that I believe are impactful no matter your age. The exploration of being a woman in a world dominated by men is incredible in this series as well as the process of finding your place in the world and sometimes acknowledging that it isn't what you thought it'd be.

Each book I love more than the last. The Other Wind is so damn good. I love Alder as a character. I love Irian. I love Azver. I love the Kargish princess and her own character development. Lebannenn's character growth as well. Like just. It's so incredible. It also makes me appreciate Tales from Earthsea more because it's shocking how much each of those short stories truly contribute to the world building and conclusion of the series.

The way the story just slowly built up to the events of The Other Wind is also just incredible considering the time between the books being published especially in the second half of the series. The consistency is incredible and you really don't actually know where it is all going until the end yet everything pays off still.

Just god. I love it so much.

[rosefires20]

I think that Season 10 and especially the Doc v. Cleo trial really epitomizes what I mean when I say that Hermitcraft operates on Wonderland/Feywild logic, where everything is orderly but so nonsensical. There are no laws but you can sue people for whatever you want. The courtroom is explicitly a TV court and the judge makes desicions by flipping a coin, and punishments are decided by whatever is funniest. You MUST address the judge as "Your Highness" instead of "Your Honor." If you want a permit to sell something you have to complete a bunch of nonsense impossible tasks like you're making a deal with a fairy. The only law enforcement does not have the power to enforce any laws and mostly just stands around in slutty outfits. The governmental system is a bunch of people "yes and"ing each other and everyone will complain about the bureaucracy but also begrudgingly follow all of the rules, sometimes with malicious compliance. Your lawyer is a muppet.

[rosefires20]

I got my copy of Tehanu today and I binged it in three and half hours lmao

It's genuinely such a fantastic roundoff for the series. There's still two books after but one is a compilation of shorter stories of the world and the other one is more of an epilogue kinda book but Tehanu is where the original story caps off and it does such a good job of it.

The exploration of Ged not having his powers and of what Tenar has been up to and how the world has changed from the home front is so fascinating. Much more from Tenars POV because she will never fit in normally in the world. She's seen too much of it. So she has her time trying and she doesn't regret it but it's always something of deeper thought to her. She is still the same young woman/child from Tombs of Atuan just faced with a different version of life now. The exploration of society's definitions of a being a woman are such a fascinating part of this book as well as the other conversations about what makes up this world and how they are to live in despite everything.

I'm interested to read the last two books to see what else is there to the world but I am definitely in love with the world already. This is an all-time favorite fantasy series for me for sure.

Mentally insane about the Earthsea Cycle tonight

I finished The Farthest Shore a couple hours ago and God. Just god. The messages in the series are so amazing and I adore them so much it's hard to put it into words honestly.

I am very very very very much looking forward to Tehanu which I didn't think the copy I ordered was going to arrive until next week but I check the tracking earlier and it's supposed to come tomorrow and I'm so siked.

Just all the little things and the nuances of the series and writing are so incredible.

[rosefires20]

I just read tehanu, all in one day

i literally just finished so this will be rambling but you can tell it was written long after the first three books, it’s so much more political which is the wrong word but just the way that it so slowly begins to examine the womens roles in these story’s, and by the end it basically becomes about that.

yes it’s finishing up Ged and Tenar’s story’s but it does it in such a human way, the other books read like fantasy epics and this book seams totally uninterested in that and wants to be a story of domestic life that keeps getting interrupted, not by fantasy villains but by the cruelty of life.

it feels very grown up, which of course earthsea was originally written as a kids series so can’t be faulted for that but it does feel so finally different to go from those story’s to one that deals not only with extremely adult themes but also is written in a very different style.

mostly i loved reading from tenar’s perspective again, i think she may be becoming one of my favourite characters of all time

[rosefires20]

Mentally insane about the Earthsea Cycle tonight

I finished The Farthest Shore a couple hours ago and God. Just god. The messages in the series are so amazing and I adore them so much it's hard to put it into words honestly.

I am very very very very much looking forward to Tehanu which I didn't think the copy I ordered was going to arrive until next week but I check the tracking earlier and it's supposed to come tomorrow and I'm so siked.

Just all the little things and the nuances of the series and writing are so incredible.

[rosefires20]

Since I've shared more of my reading interests on here lately, I thought I'd share my rant about the insanity of the book The Princess Bride by William Goldman. Yes. This is the book that is the same story as the popular older movie The Princess Bride.

I'll start this by saying I've never been so affronted by a book before. The closest would be the ending of the first Mortal Engines books (which if you know you know). That ending actually drove me nuts enough that I recall it quite often when thinking about insane books. However, the Princess Bride blows that chaos out of the water.

Not only is the book halted by a lot of extra nonsense that the author throws in of his own thoughts and opinions because part of the story is that he is retelling a book he read as a child and abridging it. The book in question doesn't exist so this is all made up and fantastical. I'm usually down for the silly and extra from writers. I've read Good Omens and plan to read some of the Discworld series sooner rather than later. I obviously recently finished the Hobbit and LoTR. But that is the fun silly that I love. Whatever the fuck is in the Princess Bride bridges on insanity.

The book is mostly the same as the movie EXCEPT for the ending. In the movie, it ends with Buttercup, Westley, Fezzik and Inigo riding off. In the book, it goes further. In to the most insane shit I've ever read in a published book. It's genuinely insane crack fic level material.

Like WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN THEY GET SAVED BY THE PIRATES FROM THE PRINCE'S SOLIDERS BUT HAVE TO LEAVE THE BOAT IN WHICH FEZZIK IS INCHARGE OF ROWING. HE ROWS THEM INTO A WHIRLPOOL WHICH IS WHEN WESTLEY SPEAKS UP AND SAYS THAT THEY HAVE TO SWIM THROUGH THE WHIRLPOOL TO GET TO AN INASSECIBLE ISLAND WHERE THE PRINCE CANT FOLLOW. THIS HAPPENS AND THEN BUTTERCUP WHILE THEY ARE CHILLING ESSENTIALLY TURNS TO WESTLEY AND SAYS LETS HAVE SEX FINALLY. THAT SEX GETS BUTTERCUP PREGNANT WHICH ENDS UP LEADING TO A BIRTH WHERE THE BABY IS BACKWARDS AND TANGLED AND POTENTIAL WILL DIE ONLY FOR FEZZIK IS GET FUCKING POSSESSED AND SHOW UP AND DELIVERY THE BABY SAFELY. THEN THERES A TIME JUMP TO WHERE FEZZIK IS SAVING THE BABY AFTER SHE WAS KIDNAPPED AND HE JUMPS OFF A CLIFF TO SAVE HER AND THANKFULLY THEY SURVIVE BUT THATS WHERE THE BOOK FUCKING ENDS.

WHAT THE GENUIENE ACTUAL FUCK IS THIS BOOK. WHAT THE FUCK

[rosefires20]

Every time I read or watch Lord of the Rings I can’t help but think about how Tolkien had survived one of the bloodiest, most cruel, most dirtiest and darkest wars in human history, came back and wrote this:

“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”

And this:

"'I wish it need not have happened in my time,' said Frodo.

'So do I,' said Gandalf, 'and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.'"

And this:

"I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend."

And this:

“Many that live deserve death and some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be so eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the wise cannot see all ends."

And this:

“True courage is about knowing not when to take a life, but when to spare one.”

And clearly they were all written partly because he survived the war, because of what he’d seen and done and learned. But at the same time the unwillingness to lose faith, the courage and strength that this man had to believe in these things after going through hell! It makes the nihilists look so cheap, so uninteresting! People who’ve went through concentration camps and wars believe in humanity anyway, isn’t that proof that hope and love exist? And many, many, many of them did not return or returned broken and cruel and traumatised to the point when no faith in others was possible for them, and nobody can blame them. But there were many who refused to lose faith and hope. They have seen some of the worst that life has to offer and came back believing that we shouldn’t be eager to deal out death in judgement and should love only that which the sword defends.

No matter how many people say that humanity is horrible and undeserving of love, and life is dark and worthless, and love doesn’t exist I remember this and have hope anyway. Because there were people who have actually had all reason to believe in the worst and still believed in the good, so the good must be real. The good is real, even despite the evil, and we must trust in it.

[rosefires20]

The one thing that gets me about the Lord of the Rings movies is how much they fail Faramir's character but manage to really show Boromir's specifically in the extended cuts.

Faramir gets so little time in the movies compared to how much he gets in the books. He is genuinely such a good character in the books and I adore him so much. He has one of the best lines in the series as well that really captures some of the larger themes of the peace.

"I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend." - Faramir in The Two Towers

He is genuinely such a kind man, and in the books, you see that through his actions but also the actions and words of everyone around him. In the books, you get Beregond and Pippin's interactions and conversations where Beregond talks about how much he admires and loves Faramir as his captain and how much he trusts him. Beregond's love and dedication is part of the reason why Denethor's plan to burn him and Faramir alive gets delayed long enough for Pippin to go and get Gandalf and return with enough time to save Faramir at least.

The movie fails so hard because they have Faramir and his group take Frodo and Sam forcefully to Osgiliath and he has a moment with the ring. In the books, before even knowing for sure that Frodo had the ring, he said he would not take it. When it is revealed, he completely denies it and aids Frodo with food and shelter for a bit. The scene of him rejecting the ring especially with the knowledge that it got to his dearly beloved brother is so good and so core to Faramir's character which drives me nuts with how it went down in the movies.

In the books, you also get most of a chapter dedicated to Eowyn and Faramir and their healing journey. There, you also get to see how kind and loving Faramir is as a person with how he respects and interacts with Eowyn. Just god. He's such a good example of the series's gentle masculinity. He parallels Aragorn a lot in it especially since Aragorn is the one who is meant to be king while Faramir had the hearts of the people.

[rosefires20]

when people ask me what i love about lotr i can't quite explain it in a normal way. its not the wizards and the dragons and the wilderness. its not the frightening thrill of moria, or the glory of helms deep. its not the ethereal magic of the elves or the pride of the growing civilizations of men. in fact out of every fantasy setting it is to me the most innocuous, the most irrelevant because what i love about lotr is the love. its the humanity. the hope. it is about goodness and fellowship. it is a manual on how to live right, with your friends by your side and your songs in your ears and a constant reminder that the best thing about going anywhere is coming home

[rosefires20]

My brainrot today is thinking about just how incredible for a character Eowyn is.

Genuinely. The series might not have many female characters but the ones we do get go so fucking hard.

To me, Eowyn is literally the definition of defining being a woman for oneself. She rejects the roles she is given despite acknlowdging the importance and its mostly because she knows part of the reason is that she is a woman.

The reason why she is obsessed with Aragorn isn't because she loves him but because she wants what he has. She wants the freedom and courage and bravery that Aragorn has at every turn. She literally has multiple conversations during the Two Towers about how what she fears most is a cage. All this girl wants is the freedom to be and not be forced into a role. The best thing is that she literally gets that.

The segment of Return of the King about Eowyn and Faramir is literally about her piecing together what she truly wants. She doesn't want Aragorn. She wants freedom and the ability to choose. Faramir does nothing but encourage that in her. Their love story is literally one of the healthiest love stories I've seen in a long time because at the heart of it, their love is a place to return home to for both parties. Both go off to lead and help their people for a considerable amount of time before returning to each other but that does not diminish their bond. Even Faramir, I believe, falls in love with her bravery and dedication to her loved ones. The reason she went to Pelenor Fields and Gondor with the troops of Rohan was because she had things she wanted to fight for. She wanted to fight for herself, her people, and her loved ones. She is the one who protects Theoden after he is killed so that his body gets the treatment it deserves. She encourages Merry and helps him go to the battle because she sees her struggle in Merry. They feel helpless standing around when there are things to be doing.

Let's also not forget the fact that she was around Grima Wormtounge just as much as the King was. She was exposed to the same poison and awful words that eroded the king. It's even implied that her care for him is part of the reason why Theoden was savable when Gandalf showed up. She had the same power and bravery as everyone else even if she didn't see it in herself.

Then at the end of the day, SHE decides where she wants to go and what path she wants to walk. She walked the path of a warrior. The path of a princess/ruler. The path of a caretaker. But in the end she decides which elements truly mean something to her outside of gender definitions. That is what makes her character so incredible to me. In this she literally kills one of the biggest enemies in that battle with such a badass line.

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Screaming into the abyss

I just finished reading the Lord of the Rings and my god

The ending.

The build up.

The catharsis.

Like I am genuinely crying but they aren't tears of sadness yk. I'm sad I've finished the story but these tears are not necessarily sad. Just god. It's one am and I think that ending might sit with me for awhile now.

I lowkey already want to reread the series. Thank God there's the movies to watch so I can get the reward of a visualization of the world. I fully know that the movie will most likely make me cry again but God it's just such a beautiful ending what the hellll. I also have the appendices that I know I will love.

Just god. What are words anymore? How could I possibly explain how this story ending has made me feel?

[rosefires20]

One of the biggest things that caught my attention immediately with the QSMP was the bond of friendship and a community.

From even the first day, a community started forming among the ccs. Friendships ignited. That bond was only ever furthered by the introduction of the eggs. With how the eggs were set up, they all learned how to lean on each other and help each other out. If someone called for help, someone would answer. (Ie Bobby's last day where everyone available went to help Jaiden and Roier get him back). That was what I always adored. Everyone was their own individual but they were never alone.

I truly believe that the true message of the QSMP was love and compassion. How to be human and live life. Elena's last statement about how she has learned how to care and love because of the islanders this last year really summarizes the server to me. (I need that in poster form ASAP). It's why I appreciate that Fit intentionally had his character keep living and keep going. Q!Fit is forever changed by the love he had for Ramon, Tazercraft and the rest of the island and that is something truly beautiful.

The stories on the server have always been painfully human to me which is why I have loved the server as much as I have. I'm glad the ending didn't disappoint in that regard. Shit went wrong outside of the server and I hate that it happened because the server was something so beautiful and important to many. It's sad to say goodbye but as I've been saying for a while now. The server is the embodiment of the word 'saudade'. It's over but not forgotten. We have all changed thanks to the stories and experiences of the QSMP and that is unregretable.

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cubito!Tubbo doesn’t exist by the rules that all the other cubitos do. something about him was always defiant, always wrong in a way that you cannot place, but it makes it harder for you to perceive him.

he is not immortal. he is not all that powerful outside of his skill and knowledge. but he does not exist by the same rules and that’s why you can find him in weirdest places and he is always ever so slightly (or massively) changes. like an NPC that DM improvised on the spot and now constantly mixes up some details, yet this NPC prevails to exist through the whole campaign.