#At What Cost

[astronicht]

Okay I'm almost done with Fellowship, here's an incomplete list of shit I noticed and thought was buck fucking wild on my first ever read-thru: medieval edition.

In literally the second line of the book, Tolkien implies that Bilbo Baggins wrote a story which was preserved alongside the in-universe version of the Mabinogion (aka the best-known collection of Welsh myths; I promise this is batshit). This is because The Hobbit has been preserved, in Tolkien's AU version of our world, in a "selection of the Red Book of Westmarch" (Prologue, Concerning Hobbits). If you're a medievalist and you see something called "The Red Book of" or "The Black Book of" etc it's a Thing. In this case, a cheeky reference to the Red Book of Hergest (Llyfr Coch Hergest). There are a few Red Books, but only Hergest has stories).

not a medieval thing but i did not expect one common theory among hobbits for the death of Frodo's parents to be A RUMORED MURDER-SUICIDE.

At the beginning of the book a few hobbits report seeing a moving elm tree up on the moors, heading west (thru or past the Shire). I mentioned this in another post, but another rule: if you see an elm tree, that's a Girl Tree. In Norse creation myth, the first people were carved from driftwood by the gods. Their names were Askr (Ash, as in the tree), the first man, and Embla (debated, but likely elm tree), the first woman. A lot of ppl have I think guessed that that was an ent-wife, but like. Literally that was a GIRL. TREE.

Medieval thing: I used to read the runes on the covers of The Hobbit and LOTR for fun when I worked in a bookshop. There's a mix of Old Norse (viking) and Old English runes in use, but all the ones I've noticed so far are real and readable if you know runes.

Tom Bombadil makes perfect sense if you once spent months of your life researching the early medieval art of galdor, which was the use of poems or songs to do a form of word-magic, often incorporating gibberish. If you think maybe Tolkien did not base the entirety of Fellowship so far around learning and using galdor and thus the power of words and stories, that is fine I cannot force you. He did personally translate "galdor" in Beowulf as "spell" (spell, amusingly, used to mean "story"). And also he named an elf Galdor. Like he very much did name an elf Galdor.

Tom Bombadil in fact does galdor from the moment we meet him. He arrives and fights the evil galdor (song) of the willow tree ("old gray willow-man, he's a mighty singer"), which is singing the hobbits to sleep and possibly eating them, with a galdor (song) of his own. Then he wanders off still singing, incorporating gibberish. I think it was at this point that I started clawing my face.

THEN Tom Bombadil makes perfect sense if you've read the description of the scop's songs in Beowulf (Beowulf again, but hey, Tolkien did famously a. translate it b. write a fanfiction about it called Sellic Spell where he gave Beowulf an arguably homoerotic Best Friend). The scop (pronounched shop) is a poet who sings about deeds on earth, but also by profession must know how to sing the song or tell the story of how the cosmos itself came to be. The wise-singer who knows the deep lore of the early universe is a standard trope in Old English literature, not just Beowulf! Anyway Tom Bombadil takes everyone home and tells them THE ENTIRE STORY OF ALL THE AGES OF THE EARTH BACKWARDS UNTIL JUST BEFORE THE MOMENT OF CREATION, THE BIG BANG ITSELF and then Frodo Baggins falls asleep.

Tom Bombadil knows about plate tectonics

This is sort of a lie, Tom Bombadil describes the oceans of old being in a different place, which works as a standard visual of Old English creation, which being Christian followed vaguely Genesis lines, and vaguely Christian Genesis involves a lot of water. TOLKIEN knew about plate tectonics though.

Actually I just checked whether Tolkien knew about plate tectonics because I know the advent of plate tectonics theory took forever bc people HATED it and Alfred Wegener suffered for like 50 years. So! actually while Tolkien was writing LOTR, the scientific community was literally still not sure plate tectonics existed. Tom Bombadil knew tho.

Remember that next time you (a geologist) are forced to look at the Middle Earth map.

I'm not even done with Tom Bombadil but I'm stopping here tonight. Plate tectonics got me. There's a great early (but almost high!) medieval treatise on cosmology and also volcanoes and i wonder if tolkien read it. oh my god. i'm going to bed.

edit: part II

[sugaredoleander]

richard siken really said "sometimes you get so close to someone you end up on the other side of them."

[undead-knick-knack]

Taliesin better thank his lucky stars Ashton pulled thru 😤

[haltandcatch]

there is something so humiliating about literally begging on hands and knees for a second season of aloto for SEVEN months and then they’re like oh my god fine here’s 4 little reduced budget episodes now please shut the fuck up like…i don’t know why i expected any better and i hate that i can’t even be fully happy about something we’ve all been wanting for so long. we shouldn’t have to be constantly settling for the bare minimum and it’s okay to not feel “glad we’re even getting anything”

[then-be-a-warrior]

FOR ALL THE WRONG REASONS-

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

Remember I started being more public of my love for shipping Solar and Moon on tumblr, and How I was joking and making posts like "They should hold hands!"

Well.......

.....They're holding hands........ ;m;

And despite Moon not wearing a VRheadset I know that he was holding his hands during this whole thing.... up till Solar put his hand on his shoulder, and even in his final moments, tried to calm Moon down and be his rock.

I'm not doing okay

(coughs up blood)

[beargyufairy]

Just My Thoughts Pt. 26

One of my favorite arc in all of Fairy Tail is the Tartaros arc. It had everything I wanted and more. I think it was one of Mashima best written storyline (I haven’t watched/read his other works). It was more than just friendship is power and all happy endings. It had sacrifices, loss, heartbreak, and all the gut wrenching emotions. It was honestly one of the reasons I’m into anime now. At the point of first watching FT, I wasn’t really convinced anime was for me. But that arc changed it all. I have a special place for it in my heart. While they did end up victorious, it wasn’t without a lot of trauma. Natsu lost his dad, Igneel, after being reunited which was his life goal. Gray lost his father again and Juvia believed she was responsible for it. Wendy and Carla were ready to sacrifice themselves for the sake of their friendship and love. All of the dragon slayers lost their dragons. FT ended up disbanding for the time being. And Lucy lost her new home, her friends left her, Natsu/Happy went off to train and process their own thoughts, she was left alone after sacrificing Aquarius one of her first celestial keys to save the lives of her friends. I really loved how despite their win, it didn’t seem as successful. I really think it added a very deep element to the story and their characters.

I really hope the 100 YQ has something similar as we approach the end. It’s been good so far but kind of lacking in some aspects such as proper portrayal of emotions beyond the few in their range. I also think that having another arc the idea of “win but at what cost” is very important for FT. All their growth and loss from the original series seems to have evaporated from the 100 YQ. I won’t get into this too much or else I’ll end up ranting. But an arc with some loss would be amazing. I think it should have something related to Aquarius since Lucy did lose her in the Tartaros arc. So it would be a full circle type of concept. Additionally, I really really hope (and beg on my knees) for Mashima to use Lucy fear of Natsu flames for the first time in a gut punch way. It needs to have some impact and importance to the story. I need it desperately.

On the side note, I have been enjoying the little side stories or filler episodes in the 100 YQ. Ichiya and Anna was very unexpected but it’s understandable in a manner if we consider the last arc of FT. I also love the ship crumbs in the last few episodes. Jellal and Erza need to just kiss already!! I’m so glad he’s joining the guild. And ofc… NALU crumbs has my heart. I whole heartedly believe that Natsu thinks he’s dating Lucy since the last episode of the original series. I just can’t wait for this to play out!!

Until my next thought! ❤️

[whatsitcalledagainn]

RAHHHHHHHAJANANAMAKZKXKXNSKANSKSLXPPALAKSKSLSLLLLLXMDLS

[heyitsphoenixx]

fig barbarian multi classing truthers how we feeling tonight

[weregonnabecoolbeans]

As someone who immediately loved both Sol and Mother Aniseya the second I saw them…

Im conflicted

[saintbleeding]

the “because you follow [tag]” function is so great at collecting and curating the wackest takes for ur immediate consumption every damn day

[snakesandstone]

See, this is why I never draw sleipnir. Why is he built like that. What the fuck kinda skeleton does he have under there. What is my biology student speculative biology enjoying ass supposed to do with him. Horses are already janky as fuck why would you do this

[the-sappho-of-lesbos]

The payoff of being hydrated isn’t worth how often I have to freaking pee

[strangerstilinski]

not to get senile on y'all but god do i miss buttons on cell phones. i miss picking at them with my fingernails. i miss the clacking when i type. i miss being able to text without looking because i could feel the keys under my thumbs. hell sometimes i even miss t9 word. stop this madness. i just want some buttons!!!!

[thefroggybazaar]

every day i want to reread the silmarillion

[eddiewithcat]

somehow we managed to win in the absolute worst way possible