#Variags

[chloe-caulfield94]

Life is Strange/Lord of the Rings crossover fanfic. Basically Max and Chloe go to Middle-Earth and back again.

While this crossover might seem eclectic, I think there are some common themes between LiS and LotR. Ordinary people faced with impossible situations. The power of love and friendship allowing people to endure untold hardships. Destiny and what should people do when confronted with it. "The smallest person changing the course of the future".

If you don't like crossovers in general or fantasy in particular, consider reading the beginning of chapter one and the entire chapter four, which take place before Max and Chloe leave their universe and after they come back respectively. That way it becomes a short story about Max's and Chloe's visit to Away. But then you'd miss the part where I describe how Max's and Chloe's engagement rings look like (how could I write a crossover with the Lord of the RINGS and not touch upon this subject), as well as one particularly sappy and drawn-out declaration of love made by Chloe before they go into battle.

If you think that David doesn't deserve Chloe's forgiveness for his "tough love", my answer is - nobody ever deserves forgiveness. It's always something better than we deserve. I think Chloe is a kind-hearted person. She was able to almost immediately forgive Max. I imagine she would also forgive David. And I find the prospect of Chloe and David being reconciled much more appealing than Chloe hating him for the rest of her life, even if she has legitimate reasons for doing so.

While my nickname on AO3 might suggest I hold extremely unorthodox views on Middle-Earth, I honestly don't think what I wrote is incompatible with what we know about the world of LotR. I don't think what I wrote is a complete retelling, like "the Last Ringbearer". In my mind, I just provided a different perspective on the events we already knew about.

The belief that death is a divine gift and rejecting it is wrong, which is held by the "good guys" of LotR, allowed for some nice contrast and conflict with Max's life philosophy, which seems to be all about saving people who are "destined" to die, like Chloe and Tristan.

[greenieart]

More tiny paintings I did in January 💚

[creetchure]

WIP of a cover for @inexplicifics Must Brave the Thorns. I figured if i was gonna reread that fic for what has to be the fifteenth time, i might as well make something to replace the default on my ebook

[pebblethief]

:)

[bad-succulent-father]

And misc plants that I'm really loving today

[fixaidea]

Totally Variagated Alocasia!!!

Laterz peasants I’m off to MonsteraX to become mega rich!!!

(Lol. It’s been having these little spots of variegation ever since I’ve first gotten it, I just hope it’s not a virus.)

[hotniatheron]

This plant is actually so pretty so I can't wait until I can have it feeling better

apartment turning into a plant hospital and consulting service

[rohirric-hunter]

I really like the way they characterized Helm. It would have been so easy to portray him as either an objectively bad person (and father) who was too proud to listen to anyone or to sweep all his bad traits under the rug and make him innocent of every mistake he ever made, and both of those portrayals would kind of suck. Instead, they characterized Helm as a man with weaknesses somewhat mitigated by the people around him (although whether or not he listens to those people is a bit up in the air). His fistfight with Freca is portrayed as a mistake, but more of a social faux pas than anything, as he clearly didn't mean to kill Freca. (The scene later with Helm fistfighting the troll is genius in this, because it gives the audience a chance to see how Helm works when he is trying to kill someone with his bare hands.)

Then he's too proud to evacuate Edoras, not because he doesn't care, but because he genuinely believes he can defend it -- and if he didn't have a traitor on his hands then he honestly might have been able to. The Dunlendings didn't get anywhere near Edoras until the Variag mercenaries entered the picture, and if Lord Thorne's 300 promised riders were in position then they almost certainly would have been able to handle the Variag party. Helm only took his immediate household to head them off and they took care of one of the Mumakil just fine. He still ought to have listened to Hera and Frealaf, but it's understandable why he didn't.

Helm's pride is so well known that Wulf says very confidently that he would never seek help from Gondor, and he's right. (Although to be fair Helm never really had a chance, and also Gondor might not have helped regardless as they were dealing with some conflict of their own at the time.) It's really a very interesting characterization and I like it a lot.

[calling-cthulhu]

I just got back from a viewing of Kenji Kamiyama's 'The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim'. Hoo boy.

I first have to admit I completely forgot this movie was going to be a thing until today, when I saw the poster on my local theatre and thought 'Fuck it, I got time'.

I must secondly admit I had no real expectations going in. I wasn't expecting to hate it, mind, nothing about it's advertising raised serious red flags like the likes of Rings of Power or Shadow of Mordor did, but neither did I expect to be particularly wowed.

Anyway, thoughts.

The movie is ultimately... fine. Not unentertaining, but it felt a bit conflicted with itself at times. You definitely feel like there's almost two movies here, one of a grounded localized conflict in Rohan, and a J.R.R. Tolkien™'s The Lord of the Rings™ movie where there's shots of recognizably iconic Middle-Earth™ things for their own sake.

The best characters are ultimately Helm himself, Wulf, and somewhat unexpectedly, a character called 'General Targg'. No really.

Hera, Daughter of Helm, unfortunately feels... stock? Like, forget the cultural warrior whining about 'Strong Female Protagonists', Hera honestly spends a shocking amount of time getting put in positions of distress and very rarely actually wins a straight fight. Unfortunately compared with fearless death-seeking Eowyn, she comes off as a bit more Disney Princess, and doesn't really change all that much as a character. She's not bad, per se, but is just serviceable, and is unfortunately surrounded by characters more interesting than her.

I admit I'm not the biggest into the Rohirrim, Gondor all the way baby, but for the most part as an adaptation of what's essentially a Tolkien sticky note, nothing about it struck me as an egregious case of 'Writer Trying To Make It Their Own'-itis, unlike certain other works I could name. If you're even slightly familiar with the events, there are no big twists or turns, the plot is incredibly straight and narrow with everything be telegraphed from a mile away. Whether this is a good or bad thing, I leave up to your personal discretion.

The biggest alteration I'd say would be the inciting incident, namely the circumstances in which Helm kills Freca. There is actually a lot in the incident that is true to the text, mind, such as Freca insulting Helm's age, who returns with jabs about his weight, but there seems to also be an attempt to justify some of Freca's marital ambitions by him claiming Helm's too influenced by Gondor as he wants to marry Hera, our protagonist, with a Gondorian prince (Sir Not-Appearing-in-this-Film). Freca is... Actually right, Helm absolutely wants to marry his daughter off to Gondor. I actually kind of like this, as right away we have the contrasts between Theoden and Helm. Helm is kind of an imperious, more moral Bobby B type, very used to getting what he wants by his word alone.

And yes, he destroys Freca in a single blow... But I have to deduct points off this, because rather than the premeditated straight-up murder of the text, this is more of a formal brawl where Helm accidentally loses his temper due to Freca's insults, which honestly is kind of funny as Helm clearly expected Freca to get back up after smashing his face in.

Another change I'm not really fond of is that Freca and Wulf actually do seem to have Dunlending blood. While in Tolkien's work it's fairly easy to read as it being an unsubstantiated rumour used to discredit an influential rival, here Wulf straight admits he was discriminated against due to his ancestry, and even uses his heritage to become 'High Lord' of Dunland.

Anyway, Wulf amasses an army, including 'Variag mercenaries' who are clearly just Haradrim, but whatever, and beats Helm. I won't go too much into detail, but the battle itself isn't incredibly impressive, imo, clearly trying very hard to emulate Jackson's Return of the King.

Speaking of Wulf, marketing kind of painted the picture of a kind of badboy former childhood sweetheart of Hera turned evil. He is... not that. Very little of his childhood relationship with Hera is actually explore. Instead, Wulf instead channels more Macbeth or Captain Ahab. An incredibly bloodthirsty and ambitious warlord who is ultimately undone by a combination of hubris, lust for vengeance and a complex over his own inadequacies.

Frankly, the only reason he doesn't fall faster is thanks to, again seriously, 'General Targg', his Dunlending advisor. Not that you would be able to tell he's a Dunlending, being clean shaven and having close-cropped hair... He looks like he's just a Roman strategist plucked out of time, like an Africanus or even Caesar. His main job is to tell Wulf to please stop being dumb and take his Ws, such as when Helm straight up offers to surrender the crown for the life of his last son. Wulf for his part never actually listens, however, cumulating in him spending the last of his gold building a giant 'siege tower' (Think the Warwolf if its only job was to fall over and provide a big bridge for soldiers to march up the undefended walls of Helms Deep) and he promptly stabs Targg once the man gets fed up of Wulf being a complete failure of a king.

Lastly, my biggest criticism of the movies is probably that a lot of the Tolkien elements feel very incidental and solely there for the sake of the intellectual property. The Mumak and the 'Variag mercenaries' show up for one battle and are never mentioned again. The Watcher in the Water appears once and quickly disappears again. There's one scene with Orcs that only exists to foreshadow that Sauron is looking for rings, but it's completely irrelevant to the story proper and mostly exists so Helm can have a Batman moment saving Hera from a troll. Saruman pops up at the end to wink at the camera, and perhaps most egregiously of all, they pull a Battle of the Five Armies, where Hera rides off into the sunset after she says a wizard wishes to talk to her, who 'in the common tongue is Gandalf'. I have no idea where this is going to lead and can only pray Philippa Boyens isn't trying to make Gandalf a kind of fantasy Nick Fury who is gathering heroes from all across the land for another movie...

In terms of rating, from a bottom-barrel The Rings of Power to a lovely The Lord of the Rings Online, I rate it a Fellowship of the Ring (2002). That's a 5-6/10 for you boring people. The animation itself isn't bad, but it's not quite your name or Mononoke Hime level. It's an entertaining enough one-time watch, but I don't foresee being it much of a repeat classic like it's forefathers. Overall a decent but unambitious foray into Tolkien, which given the current competition, may not actually be an insult...

[theworldsoftolkein]

Éomer Faces the Mumakil - by Wout Art

A personal piece two years in the making, on and off. Was dissatisfied with the direction it took and left it for a year. Happy I found my inspiration again.

My favorite parts in the Lord of the Rings are probably those that speak of the Rohirrim. I love their desperate sacrifice and this part of the book, where Éomer is overcome with grief over his fallen sister Éowyn always gets to me.

---------------

An excerpt from The Return of the King, LoTR Book 5, Ch 6, The Battle of the Pelennor Fields, by J.R.R. Tolkien:

And now the fighting waxed furious on the fields of the Pelennor;... and the mûmakil were bellowing as they were goaded to war.... [The] horsemen rode eastward to the succour of Éomer: Húrin the Tall Warden of the Keys, and the Lord of Lossarnach, and Hirluin of the Green Hills, and Prince Imrahil the fair with his knights all about him.

Not too soon came their aid to the Rohirrim; for fortune had turned against Éomer, and his fury had betrayed him. The great wrath of his onset had utterly overthrown the front of his enemies, and great wedges of his Riders had passed clear through the ranks of the Southrons, discomfiting their horsemen and riding their footmen to ruin. But wherever the mûmakil came there the horses would not go, but blenched and swerved away; and the great monsters were unfought, and stood like towers of defence, and the Haradrim rallied about them. And if the Rohirrim at their onset were thrice outnumbered by the Haradrim alone, soon their case became worse; for new strength came now streaming to the field out of Osgiliath. There they had been mustered for the sack of the City and the rape of Gondor, waiting on the call of their Captain. He now was destroyed; but Gothmog the lieutenant of Morgul had flung them into the fray; Easterlings with axes, and Variags of Khand, Southrons in scarlet, and out of Far Harad black men like half-trolls with white eyes and red tongues. Some now hastened up behind the Rohirrim, others held westward to hold off the forces of Gondor and prevent their joining with Rohan.

[izargx]

Played Warhammer: Rogue Trader.

What a game! Enjoyed it immensely.

Used the same unhappy character who got isekaied first from his native DA' Thedas to BG3's Toril and now to RT. His transuniversal background really helped, both in specific encounters and in the overall characterization. Both he and I absolutely hated the Warhammer universe, stubbornly persevered with stupid and irresponsible humanism and goody-two-shoosiness, and completed the game as a level 4 iconoclast (and faced few consequences because of connections).

Heinrix is the best waifu (I needed this after the whole BG3 debacle! Many thanks to Toybox and to xghoulia for making a Bi Heinrix mod).

Nomos is the best son, Abelard is the best, period. Loved all psykers in our retinue, too. Pasqal is his own thing, though I wish there was more of him in act 4.

As for the game in general, I approve of unvoiced narration, because in other games it takes ages to listen to everything when you can skim the text so much faster. Partially voiced companions also worked surprisingly well: voiced lines give better idea of their personality, but silent ones are not at all immersion-breaking.

Turn-based combat has always worked well for me, so here, too, I found it rather enjoyable. Cassia was a game-breaking character since Act 2, joined by Idira in Act 4. Two repeated AOE monsters who devastated the battlefield. Followed closely by Ulfar who kincked his way through everyone and everything and my favourite Abelard, an impenetrable rock who just went from one foe to another indefinitely doing chop-chop-chop with his two-handed sword.

Was not a fan of space battles, but they still were not irritating enough to skip entirely.

Scanning planets proved unexpectedly relaxing, especially with all these tiny narrative events.

And I did not expect to get so invested into managing the colonies.

All in all, the gameplay was variagated, rich, and enjoyable, and while I hated the WH4k universe in principle, our stay in it was not at all uncomfortable (well, probably less so for my charatcer, especially since I made him eat that soup...)

[melni-zirgi]

Is Lithuania's outfit one you made up or is there historical reference? The green one with red neckline :3

ooh great question!

There is historical/traditional clothes aspect to it.. Lithuanians were really not strangers to long white shirts, with either peasant or cuffed sleeves, tied with a red, green, variagated sashes. People still wear these, ofc, in villages or folk festivals or just as part of attire.

This sort of style chemise was used all across of europe, and notably lithuanians, belarusians, latvians held onto the ''tunic'' shape really much. I ofcourse add an artistic flair to it, but here's how it looks usually.

Now, but you say, these are white, you care about the green one.

Well that is where the boyary/szlachta comes in!

Rich people wore much more colored attire, with a lot more embroidery, more elaborate embelishments, though still in the same shapes. The later century ones following polish fashion were longer, often being put on as a second layer- even having buttons in the front (but this is still diffrent from the much thicker fabric-made mundurs, coats), or belts over sashes - oftentimes both. Tolvydas is a lithuanian, so his shirts remain as were, just colored!

Then well the real inspiration are various folktale books i had as a kid and the cartoons lithuania made in ussr times.

From simple to complex, I think i've found 3-4 ''basic'' outfits i detail if needed, changing a bits from 13th to 17th centuries.. Then he wouldve worn something more of the times probably.

For compensation of this long stupidpost heres illustrating of how he dresses up in the morning, after sitting infront of window naked brushing his hair for two hours

[elejahfanfic]

Ring of Fire

_fanfiction

_inspired by lotr and rings of power

*

oc: Elara Starfire_

oc: Thorsten Oakland_

a/n: in this long snippet, we find out more about Thorsten and his role in stopping the destruction of Middle-Earth.

*

*

Cuiviénen

Elara walked down to the sea. She stood quietly gazing at the silver horizon.

The sea air brushed her face with a nostalgic and humble majesty. The memories of yesteryear danced in her heart. The happiness of returning to the the alabaster city, rebuilt from ashes, made her kin's soul sing. There was nothing but carefree summers and divine enjoyment of all the beauty that Arda unfurled upon all creatures inhabiting it.

And then in one salty moment she was back right there in the present, to the very smallest fraction in which time may be measured. The sea air has a way of doing that, of anchoring the emotions of Arda's spirit.

Flashback

A fortnight ago

"It takes someone strong to feel the sting of the dark-side and remain steadfast in a will to work only for the light - to see the dagger in hand at the exact moment you feel compelled to use it and still be loving and kind, to let the weapon clatter to the floor, soundless, unnoticed. That's what being a warrior for the light requires, an inner strength, a keen eye for noble and good opportunities to bring peace, health and love - a self-control to avoid doing service for the one who harms." Thorsten said.

"I will go carrying these words in me - we won't falter - ever." Elara took hold of the Northmen's hand as a pledge.

"We won't falter - ever." Thorsten said with a small nod.

"Lady Elara, please forgive my intrusion," Aranthir said as he approached the elfin, "but you have a visitor seeking your audience."

"Who?" Elara looked at the elf puzzled.

"Barri Underhorn" Aranthir replied.

The elfin was slightly taken aback as she had expected anyone from Red Mountain to answer her call to take part in the Great Council that was to take place in two days.

But there in the Emerald Hall, she saw Ulf Silverbeard standing next to the dwarf king. Her heart went clump as the Northman's stern and silent eyes met hers.

"I am unfortunately a bearer of bad news, Lady Elara. Jarl Oakland was taken by the Variags. We believe he is no more."

The words were like daggers running deep into her heart.

"If I may interupt," Nimë, the elf princess walked in from the side balcony,"they might keep him as hostage. They are much changed - for centuries now they do not do Sauron's bidding anymore. And if it is so, the ransom will be high."

"We can only imagine what they would ask for him." Barri now said.

"The Silmaril from Morgoth's Crown" Elara muttered.

"But they are a myth." the dwarf king said.

"They are not." Nimë looked at Elara and then at Barri. "They are hiden deep in Ered Engrin."

"The Iron Mountains" Barri uttered.

"Yes" Elara exhaled softly, hiding her pain and worry under the cloak of calmness.

"This all will be discussed further at the Council at sunset," Nimë said gesturing to the dwarf King and the Northman, "now - we offer you Quarters readied for you to rest until then."

As Barri and Ulf exited the Hall Nimë asked Elara to join her in the Library.

And there, she plucked a book out of the cabinet. "This is something you need to read."

"Parme Melmar (Book of Stars)" Elara muttered as Nimë passed it to her.

"We found this in the foundations of the Old Gate Library after the excavation. There is a section about the Ring of fire. And the magic that draws destruction upon all of Middle-Earth."

"Morgoth's son could wield such magic?" Elara asked.

"He is part Valar." Nimë said. "There's something else you should know - Thorsten is only part human. His mother is Nienna."

Elara looked at the princess astonished at the revelation. "She is a Valar."

"She must have known that Morgoth had a son."Nimë said. "The Valar's needed a courageous nemesis."

"Thorsten does not know this?"

"He does not. It has been revealed to us by the Istar., Palacendo. He is eager to speak to you." Nimë said.

Elara nodded slightly, and looked at the ring Thorsten gave her.

"You said once that his and your soul are the same. I can see that now. He means more to you than you are willing to see."

"Yes, he does. My heart would break if something happened to him."

*

Meanwhile

Ka'lth, Khand

"Nin canó - nin quetë mellynni. (I beseach you - let me see my men.)" Thorsten said in Quenya, as he knew that this was the language the Variags would understand, even though they detested it.

"Savop avalkaumn! (Stop talking!)" the man who held him captive said in Varadjian and turned to one of the wardens. "Puav naj-ri shal avhe zi houuke (Put him in the black house).

And when he was hauled down the river to imprisonment, his thoughts were with his men that would be slain. The Variags were mercenaries. Kept only those hostages that were of value. And he knew that he was spared as they found Elara's charm on his necklace.

His heart was heavy. Reeling. All now seemed to be lost. The quest futile.

"Nothing is in vain. Though it may seem so." Elara's words drummed in his head. "Much sacrifice will come to pass - to stop darkness from falling all over Middle-Earth and beyond. Everything can be taken from you in a second - trust your spirit - it is so strong. Your soul and mine are the same. We endure."

[badstitched]

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[dreamingkitsunewrites]

Hey Kat! Would love to hear about these, for the ask game: 🍓, 🌵, 🔪!

🧡💜💛💚💙Hiiii Minnie!!! 🧡💙💚💛💜

@pmpmyread First of all: I've bumped into your writing a while ago and LOVED it!!!

Thanks for submitting your questions! It's so nice to meet a fellow Sagittarius🤝my star sign is one of the very few things of myself I am proud of😅♐

🍓:How did you get into writing fanfiction?

This is such a long story😅  I've been privately writing fanfiction for almost two years now, sharing my fics with my close group of friends because of my insecurity…  I took up this hobby after spending hours bathing into genial works I found here on Tumblr. Since my childhood, I used to write small poems to help my mind cope with my emotions. But then I got into the world of fandoms and I struggled to accept that things end at some point...Sometimes I just couldn't stand the thought of amazing plotlines ending so abruptly, so I started putting down ideas in words to create sequels, expand reflections of backstories and…simply chase some further adventures together with my favorite characters. It has always been a way of keeping their memories alive and  escaping reality for a while in the meantime… (really hope this makes sense😅) 

My best friend also played a key role in the creation of this blog…  she is actually very good at writing in English and I used to be a sort of editor for her works. Her heartfelt support  helped me find the bravery to finally start my writing journey..

🌵 Share the link to a playlist you love

THIS question is probably my fav, since as I mentioned a while ago, music is often the main source of inspiration for imagery…In other words, music has always been my Love Language 😅

Sorry I couldn't choose just one:

My fav Band -Nothing But Thieves- aka Comfort Playlist (this band and their lyrics mean so much to me, they have been a sort of anchor through thick and thin)

One of my Work Playlist (the one that best sums up my -variagate and incoherent- music taste)

🔪 What's the weirdest topic you've researched for a writing project?

Sooo…this is another interesting one… apart from Japanese demons and folklore, I have to admit that the deepest work of research I have ever embarked for, is the journey around Middle Earth's Philosophy and Geography: I was writing a Legolas fic back then and I needed an insight into the theory of souls (fëa and hröa) in Tolkien's universe, resulting in me devouring the Silmarillion in a matter of days and studying essays about this beautifully-philosophical topic…

It's a little embarrassing to admit I had even calculated distances and timetables for an itinerary around Middle Earth🙈🤦