#also I don't think any of the elves are meant to be white but I'll get into that later when I'm ready to publish my research

[room-surprise]

Kabru from Dungeon Meshi's Ethnic origin

(Masterpost of evidence available here now!)

I've seen folks talking about this, which makes me SOOOOO happy. I've been trying to tell people that Kabru is *some kind* of fantasy version of Indian since at least March of 2023, which is when I finished reading what was available of Dungeon Meshi at the time. You may have seen my post in the Kabru tag about his name suggesting that he's of Nepali origin! I'll go into this in a LOT more detail when I finally publish my big Dungeon Meshi research paper (soon, I promise, I hope), but this is such a wonderful win for Kabru fans that I wanted to make a post about it! So many helpful fans were able to identify the sweet Kabru's trying to talk about is rasgulla, which means I didn't have to actually do any research to figure it out like I normally would have. Though since I know Kabru's meant to be from someplace like India, it wouldn't have been hard to search for "Indian dessert white ball" and figure it out.

Rasgulla (literally "syrup filled ball") is a dessert popular in the eastern part of South Asia. It is made from ball-shaped dumplings of chhena dough, cooked in light sugar syrup. This is done until the syrup permeates the dumplings.

While it is near-universally agreed upon that the dessert originated in the eastern Indian subcontinent, the exact locus of origin is disputed between locations such as West Bengal, Bangladesh, and Odisha. The name rasgulla is derived from the words ras ("juice") and gulla ("ball"), and other names for the dish include rasagulla, rossogolla, roshogolla, rasagola, rasagolla, and rasbhari or rasbari. Rasbari is the name of it in Nepal, so I think that's probably what Kabru would have called it if Milsiril hadn't interrupted him.

[wannastayugly]

After watching Blood Origin, I kept wondering "what if the storyteller chose to show itself to Jaskier as Geralt?", and then this little thing happened. I hope you enjoy!

-

"Hello?" he whispered, getting no response. Elves and soldiers stood in place, stopped in the middle of a deadly dance.

Jaskier gets up from the bloody floor, with a heartbeat so desperate he could hear it in that deafening silence that had suddenly taken the battlefield. A fear he knew too well tightening his throat.

"Hello?" He calls, louder this time.

Jaskier had never been one to appreciate silence. It was a hard truth to admit: that while bringing music and warmth to others, the thing he craved the most was filling his own ears with their voices, whether they were singing back or telling him to leave, and that, while doing that, the bard had never really learned how to hear nor deal with his own thoughts, much less to be on his own.

Now, looking around, not really knowing what he is looking for, he feels the tears starting to come out and he closes his eyes, allowing them to wash away the dirty on his cheeks as a soldier stares in his direction, but doesn't really see him. No one to perform to tonight.

"I'll haunt you, witcher!" he roars. His chest aching. "Do you hear me? Maybe if you had treated me a little better, I'd never have tried to play hero!" I'd never have tried to be more like you.

He falls to his knees, covering his face and pulling his own wet hair with his tied hands. I don't want this to be how I end, he thinks. And he hurts his throat screaming one more time. Anger, desperation and fear taking him whole.

"Geralt!" don't leave me alone.

"Hello Sandpiper" a familiar voice reaches him, and Jaskier lets out a scream of fright as he immediately gets up and takes five steps back, almost falling to the floor when he stumbles on a death man. And then he sees him. His eyes go wide.

Geralt looks at him with the ghost of a gentle smile on his lips. He is wearing his usual black clothes. White hair falling in front of his face, moving with the wind. Jaskier's mouth is half-open, but he doesn't pronounce any sound. There's a moment of relief, a moment of wanting to run to that man and feel those strong arms around him again; to go back to the safest place he had ever known. But that moment doesn't last long, because that can't be him.

Jaskier wonders if that's just how angels look like when they come to guide you into the afterlife, then: safety. And, somewhere between the mess that is his mind, somehow he finds the strength to laugh at himself, because, if that's right, then even the angels know he'd follow Geralt again, anywhere, and that he'd do it with gratitude.

"Am I dead?" he asks, sounding like defeat. The angel denies. "What are you?"

"I'm many things. Many faces, many places" the white-haired man walks slowly, getting closer. Jaskier feels his heartbeat going fast again, frozen in place not by magic but by something else that had always been inside him, but he had always been too coward to name. And as the man approaches him, so close he can feel his breath over his face, that something screams even louder.

"Why do you look like him?" Jaskier whispers, lost in those golden eyes like a stupid moth attracted by light. But Jaskier already knew why.

I'd follow him anywhere.

"Because you love him"

The creature disappears. Becomes wind. And the next second Jaskier sees himself in the middle of the woods, in another place, maybe another time, and under daylight. He feels nauseous. The elven lady talks to him in a calm, gentle tone. A storyteller, he learns. And she tells him the story of seven warriors who came together to fight for their people, a story he is meant to sing to the people the Sandpiper now protects. But there's also something else there. Something that tears him apart.

"I know why you chose me" he says when she is done, impatient, reading what he just wrote, "It's not only because I'm helping them, is it? It's this… This stupid, tragic love story. But you're wrong about us. You're wrong, because we were never like this."

But when he looks up, the woman isn't there anymore. It's him. Close. His nose touching his. And Jaskier feels like a fool because his heart skips a beat; because he holds his breath, and because, even though he knows that isn't really Geralt, he can't help but being inebriated by the sight of him; can't help but wanting to press their lips together and taste his tongue as that thing tears his clothes apart and makes him his.

"You two are way more like them than you realize."

And just like that, Jaskier is back in the battlefield, surrounded by blood, screams, swords and arrows, with the papers in his hands being the only proof of the reality of what he had just heard and seen.

-

PART II

[raayllum]

Oh and because I'll be writing about these two soon I thought I'd toss up some cents design wise:

The larger Celestial elf is Astrid, who we've seen pictures of at a couple of cons, voiced by Boone Williams. She's the one celestial elf with a name thus far, and most of us are predicting she may help Callum and Rayla (even if the other celestial elves aren't as friendly / on board if not antagonistic). She has wings, though the fact they're white, I think, is meant to maybe evoke angels > the other wing colours we've seen before on Nyx, Callum, and the Dragonguard Hendyr.

The second elf seems male judging by the shorter hair, but who knows. He also notably doesn't have natural wings or Callum's spelled wings, instead having something that seems almost-insect like. Maybe a contraption to wear or a spell to use? I did find it interesting that unlike Astrid, he wears silver bracelets around his wrists, which makes me think of chains / Callum's own golden symbolic chains in his arc 2 design.

Moving on...

One thing I did notice at first was that these two actually have pretty similar hair in regards to the part and both having some kind of hair dye. It's too soon to say if this indicates a close (familial?) connection or if it's traditional for celestial elves alongside their garb and blind folds. The uneven quality to the dye is consistent, and both seem to have some white/grey hair mixed in as well (boy with the top of his hair, Astrid along the ends) which... we don't see any elves have naturally white hair other than Moonshadow elves, so... maybe the celestial elves aren't against dark magic either?

We'll just have to wait and see

[snaggletoothedbastard]

All right, I'm about to say it. Frodo Baggins is autistic.

During what I just realised is literal years I've spent researching autism, I have noticed quite a lot of autistic traits not only in myself, but also in Frodo. And I'm going to talk about them because I've been thinking about this for a long time and I just really want to talk about it. (Also this gives me a chance to practise analysing stuff for some English exams which are happening soon.)

Just to be clear: I am not a psychologist nor do I claim to be; this is based on extensive research, my own experiences and the experiences of other autistic people that I've seen/heard/read about.

I'll focus on the book first.

So, literally one of the first things anyone says about Frodo and his family is that they're "queer", in this case meaning "strange". Someone also says Frodo is very similar to Bilbo, and if Bilbo is not autistic I will eat my fucking hat. It also makes sense that some people in Frodo's family would be autistic because autism is genetic.

In the first chapter of "Fellowship", Frodo spends the day after Bilbo's party dealing with various annoying hobbits, and we get these lines: "In the middle of the commotion the Sackville-Bagginses arrived. Frodo had retired for a while and left his friend Merry Brandybuck to keep an eye on things. When Otho loudly demanded to see Frodo, Merry bowed politely. 'He is indisposed,' he said. 'He is resting.'" and "Frodo was sitting at a table with a lot of papers in front of him. He looked indisposed – to see Sackville-Bagginses at any rate; and he stood up, fidgeting with something in his pocket. But he spoke quite politely". Both imply quite strongly that he ends up getting burnt-out from having to interact with all those people. Also, "fidgeting with something in his pocket" sounds a lot like stimming, and it happens again in the Prancing Pony when he stands on a table and tries to divert the attention away from Pippin. Another example of stimming is the random singing/waxing poetic that happens frequently in the book. However ridiculous it might be to read, it's actually something I do quite a lot, especially at school.

There are some implications of sensory issues throughout the book. In chapter six Frodo is "reluctant to have his garments touched". When he is in Lothlórien he seems to experience some kind of sensory euphoria, suggested by the lines: "The others cast themselves down upon the fragrant grass, but Frodo stood awhile still lost in wonder" and "He saw no colour but those he knew, gold and white and blue and green, but they were fresh and poignant, as if he had at that moment first perceived them and made for them names new and wonderful", which describe quite accurately how sensory euphoria feels for me. In chapter one of book four when he hears one of the Ringwraiths he "loosed his hold (on the rope) and put his hands over his head and ears"; this quote is fairly self-explanatory.

Frodo doesn't speak for a great deal of the book (highlighted in various quotes, including, "He said nothing, indeed he hardly spoke at all") and there are multiple occasions when someone, usually of high status, is talking to him and he doesn't say anything back because he can't find the words. When I read this I thought, bloody hell this is literally me.

He also has a very strong moral compass and sense of justice, which is shown frequently in the book (and the films, of course, but the book seems to make it more obvious). He makes a point of avoiding having to kill people, two good examples of these people being Gollum and Saruman. Several moments in the book, for example, the part where the elves don't want to let Gimli into Lothlórien and Frodo defends him, and the part where Faramir says Gollum should be blindfolded when they leave Henneth Annûn to which Frodo says this: "Blindfold us all three, and cover up my eyes first, and then perhaps he will see that no harm is meant" show how much he values fairness, and his determination to keep things fair in difficult situations.

To end the section about the book, here are two quotes:

"'I had a funny dream an hour or two before we stopped, Mr. Frodo,' he said. 'Or maybe it wasn’t a dream. Funny it was anyway.' 'Well, what was it?' said Frodo, knowing that Sam would not settle down until he had told his tale, whatever it was. 'I haven’t seen or thought of anything to make me smile since we left Lothlórien.' 'It wasn’t funny that way, Mr. Frodo. It was queer. All wrong, if it wasn’t a dream.'"

and: "Faramir smiled grimly. 'Then you would grieve to learn that Boromir is dead?' 'I would grieve indeed,' said Frodo. Then catching the look in Faramir’s eyes, he faltered. 'Dead?' he said. 'Do you mean that he is dead, and that you knew it? You have been trying to trap me in words, playing with me? Or are you now trying to snare me with a falsehood?'"

In the first quote Sam says his dream was "funny", meaning, "It was queer. All wrong, if it wasn’t a dream", but Frodo takes him literally and thinks he means "funny" as in "anything to make me smile". Autistic people are often more likely to take things literally when meanings aren't entirely clear. And something similar happens when Frodo talks to Faramir, as shown in the second quote. When Faramir says, "Then you would grieve to learn that Boromir is dead?" Frodo doesn't understand him straight away and assumes he is talking hypothetically.

Okay now I'll focus on the films. I'll probably be doing more subtext-reading for this, because the films can't really show what's going on in Frodo's head as well as the book can. So I can't promise that everything I say here will be totally accurate but I'm thinking, if it's not explicitly stated, you technically can't tell if it's wrong or right so I'm going to go with what I think is the most accurate interpretation of the evidence given, and hope for the best.

The way Frodo expresses himself in the films is interesting. He is likely to be more expressive when he's with people he's close to, like Gandalf, than when he's with people he is less friendly with, like the elves in Lothlórien. If we compare his facial expressions in these shots:

to these:

we can see that they change a fair bit more when he's talking to Gandalf than when he is in Lothlórien with the rest of the Fellowship and the elves. In the first three pictures his face doesn't really change drastically but it conveys various different emotions, whereas in the last two pictures his face is very neutral and it's harder to tell what he's feeling. It's also important to take note of the scene in between these two sections, which I'll just refer to as Gandalf's Death Scene. Frodo's reaction to Gandalf's death presents itself as a relatively short but very intense outburst which quickly turns into a much quieter, and what looks like a more internal, reaction. He goes from screaming at the initial shock to just crying silently within about two minutes. The impression I'm getting from this is that he feels quite intense emotions but possibly struggles to express them, especially around people he doesn't know. And the scenes I've mentioned are just a couple of examples. Here are some more:

(talking to Faramir)

(talking to Sam)

See the difference?

Going along similar lines, Frodo is clearly shown to have a lot of empathy. The stereotype is that autistic people don't have much empathy, and while this is the case for some people, for others the opposite is true. Frodo is very empathetic and also very compassionate. He obviously cares a lot about other people and he at least tries to be kind to everyone, even when no-one else sees the point. (Is it obvious I'm referring to Gollum? Because let's be real, we all knew this was going to come up eventually. I've talked in great detail about this before so I won't elaborate too much about it now or else I'll just be repeating myself. If you want to read my analysis about Frodo's relationship with Gollum, it's on my blog somewhere, it's fairly recent and it shouldn't be hard to find.)

I think one of the most noticeable differences between the book and the films, at least in the context of what I'm writing about, is the fact that the body language in the films seems to have more significance (for want of a better word). Not that there isn't any in the book, because of course there is, but as far as I can tell, the films, being very visual things, allow body language to be shown more clearly and with more subtle details than the book. This is what has led me to focus more on things like facial expressions when I'm talking about the films, in contrast to what I've said about the book, which is mostly about dialogue (or lack thereof) and description. So, following on from that, I'd like to point out something that is apparently quite obvious and has caused a lot of people to take the piss out of Frodo: his clumsiness. Apparently Frodo falls over thirty-nine times (or thereabouts) in the film trilogy, and spends a fair amount of time walking like he's got two left feet. Struggling with balance and coordination is a slightly less well-known autistic trait but it's an autistic trait nonetheless, and it's also a symptom of other disabilities like dyspraxia. So I would advise against making fun of it, because being made fun of for showing signs of a disability doesn't feel great.

In conclusion, Frodo is autistic-coded and I see this as an absolute win, whether it was intentional or no. He is a brilliant character and the fact that he is autistic-coded just makes me like him even more. There are a lot of fictional characters that I like and can relate to, but I have yet to find someone I can identify with as much as Frodo.

[latinfeline]

i just saw the actual worst take ever about the tts/volot situation so im going to shadow rant about it cause i blocked the author

keep reading if you want to see me rant about elves/volot while summarizing the og post ig

ok so op is like super pissed that rc is changing the tts mc's sprite to add elves with poc features claiming that they were bullied for the sake of "politically correct foolishness"

i don't think asking for ONE mc who doesn't look like she's of european descent is too much of a demand especially since most games give themselves to self inserting, that's why we have white passing amala

also having multiple elven races is not diverse if they all have the same face and hair type, and claiming that giving them poc features/brown skin options is "human diversity" is nuts, elves in almost all fantasy can have whatever shade of skin (ex. drows can have skin ranging from gray to black with a purple undertone), hair type, etc. the only thing they need is their subrace-specific traits (which iirc NEVER say "this elf can only look like a white person" it usually covers skin color, not shade, eye color, etc) and pointy ears.

op then goes on to say what happened to volot WASN'T racist

changing a character from black to race of choice (black or white) because of backlash from people who didn't want him to be black for any reason is racist

op also argues that since tts is fantasy and doesn't take place in the real world that there should't be a need for diversity standards of our world to apply

so where's the same energy for volot? one of the main complaints is that he was black in a slavic inspired setting. it doesn't take place in our world so why should we expect him to look like real life ancient slavs?

then they say that writers shouldn't have to sacrifice their vision for the wants of fans

SO WHERE'S THE SAME ENERGY FOR ALICE? she had to sacrifice her vision of volot to appease racist fans

they then say that people read fiction to escape reality and so it shouldn't be a reflection of reality

bffr right now you basically just said you need an escape from people of color

after whatever the fuck that was they then say that the elves were actually super diverse actually because they have different skin colors like no your mcs should look different outside of skin color

they then also link each elf subrace to a real life race which seems iffy as fuck but i'm white so i can't really speak on that

they then conclude that fantasy races shouldn't adhere to human diversity standards (which in this case is including at least ONE poc) and that since some people choose to play as the mc they find prettiest (i actually do this) that diversity is not necessary

what the fuck, right? it gets worse though

they then say that poc were included less in old stories because of racism, but that today writers usually do put poc in their stories so people usually don't complain "so stop making a fuss over something that was never an issue to begin with"

WHAT THE FUCK? that is insane to say.

imo unless an author has an explicit reason to not include more than one race in their story (ex. one of jester's other stories, lotw, took place in an era where there was nobody except japanese people in japan) they should include it. especially in a cyoa story where the player is meant to project onto the main character.

rant over ig if you want to argue with me, don't, if you agree with op, i can't stop you but i'll block you

[lesbiansforboromir]

So, I've waded through the "rings of power" tag here, and heard every bit of negative feedback. The Eminem looking fella everyone assumed was Annatar, beardless dwarf women, short hair elves, old Celebrimbor, "politically ambitious" Elrond, and all the costume critiques made by those spoiled by WETA workshop. And of course, the fact half the show is made from just the LotR appendices, the other from scratch. I don't suppose you have any positive notes from the trailer?

MY FRIENDS? That trailer was absolutely great I've no idea what you're all on about, it revealed nothing negative in my view about the show that we didn't already know (except the Balrog at the end but I had suspected that for a while and I'll talk about it later.)

Okay first off for the elf fans out there, pretty sure the first scene is literally the aftermath of the battle of sudden flame like I know piles are big Nirnaeth arnoidiad imagery but that wasnt a pile of bodies it was a pile of helmets (bodies burned to ash??) and all around it the whole landscape is scorched to hell and that shot was incredibly ominous! For what I can only imagine is a brief flashback shot, that was a really striking representation of that obscure first age battle! Is that not cool to you elf fans? It seems like they're gonna give Galadriel a dead brother compilation! I thought it was cool and I couldn't care less about these folks.

But more importantly PALANTIR? 👀👀 oh acknowledgement of Palantiri in Numenor, Tar-Miriel using it BEING it's user, the special tower specifically created and designed with precise geometry to enhance the Palantir's sight!!!! Do I think Galadriel and Miriel were ever here in this tower together? No! But it's a cool scene to think about, it's a cool concept to ponder even for noted Galadriel-hater me! Where are all the AU fanfic lovers out there, come ship these two!! And once again I have to keep saying this; all the imagery of Numenor has been absolutely impeccable, I literally couldnt have asked for better numenorean design work, did yall know they went and built a city to film this all in? I had to stim about it.

AND NIMLOTH AHHHH That's my fucking tree mum there she IS she looks so beautiful I genuinely cried when I saw her and i was RIGHT too I thought those petals in the teaser trailer were from her! The way the arches around her are so old they are degrading because the anti-elf sentiment has meant people do not care for the tree and it's setting as they used too?? I'm excited to watch Numenorean politics! I think Miriel and Pharazon are attending Tar-Palantir's funeral here too.

Okay now listen, the eminem thing was funny initially but this here priestess doesn't look THAT much like him first off she just has buzzed white hair. And secondly Sauron cult!! I love Sauron cult and seeing the religious side to his influence and the way they're wearing WHITE I love that so much yes evil people wearing white. Am I psyched about stereotypical gender non-conforming woman being the Evil Priestess here? No not really, but her eyes look scary and we haven't seen the Sauron cult on screen before so!! I'm excited about it, it's a unique plot point to include! The ominous rune and the 'have you heard of Sauron' and spooky evil swords!! It's very Silmarillion is what I'm saying!

Not specific to this trailer but the looks at Khazad-Dum so far have been absolutely spectacular, I might not be a fan of this much exposed rock without beauty to that rock but just the sheer scale of it and the blue light to it and the way it's so lively and the dwarven battle masks that cover their beards too!! And Durin's costume!!! I'm so unbelievably excited for the dwarf stuff, Disa's character especially is so exciting, she's also a mother as well as being Durin's wife apparently like!! Thats an aspect of dwarvenness we've never seen on screen before and I want to see what Sophie Nomvete does with it!

Okay and THE HORROR MONSTERIFICATION OF ORCS BABES! Make orcs fucking terrifying yes oh my god, they're strong they're silent they strike in the dark they terrorised Middle Earth for seven thousand years and they ARE a threat, even one of them! Love that angle to view them in, really exciting as a concept!

ALSO! Just as more of an aside but I love all the mature romantic relationships we're getting in this show. As far as I can tell the only romance plot we're possibly going to see is between Kemen and Earien, Arondir and Bronwyn have been together for a while, Disa and Durin are married! Also Bronwyn already has a son? Is that with Arondir? I want her to be divorced with an elf husband so badly but her old husband is probably dead OR Theo is half elf which would also be cool, NO MATTER WHAT I'm into all of them.

BIG FISH!!

And just a bunch of little things and design choices in all the scenes, the tambre of the voices, the acting itself I'm!! Excited!! We haven't DONE this in so long, in fact the tolkien fandom has never done this, we've never had a piece of tolkien media where we dIDN'T know what was going to happen in it and more importantly to ME it's been far too long that PJ's been allowed a monopoly on tolkien designs, lets see what this has to offer! Come on, most of you were kids like me when the lotr films came out and when I was a kid I loved them and had a fantastic time watching them, be twelve again!! This is new and unique! Lets all have fun together about it! :D

Addendum: Yes, I am annoyed that (as seems likely) dwarves cannot be allowed narratives that dont revolve around their homes being traumatically taken from them through some narrative moralisation of gold and mining that has very antisemetic undertones. I would have liked dwarf politics not just Balrog. 

[bloededhoine]

world building cause twn doesn't part 12: the hen ichaer

i realize i've been mentioning the hen ichaer without really explaining it, and for that i apologize. but without further ado, let's go

colour code cause i fucking love colour codes - already happened/introduced, probably s2, important background info, stuff that might be in the prequel, extras

series masterpost

general

the hen ichaer is basically a magical gene that originated with the elven sorceress, scholar, and princess, lara dorren aep shiadhal

it can lie dormant or inactive for generations, but when someone is an activated carrier of the gene, they are called a source

sources have an insane capability for magic, it's so intense that without instruction they are a huge danger to themselves and/or others. remember pavetta's betrothal feast? hurricanes should not happen indoors

same thing with ciri's sonic scream.

obviously, the hen ichaer is highly weaponize-able, but it's difficult to put this into theory since the magic is so strong that it can easily kill the person who carries it

most important is that the hen ichaer can open ard gaeth, the gates between worlds. you may remember that the witcher is a multiverse, and the continent is just one of countless worlds

aen elle

the aen elle, elves who live in another world called tir ná lia, controlled at least one gate that they used to get slaves from other worlds

however, this was before the hen ichaer was seriously studied. unicorns are also capable of opening ard gaeth, and were present in tir ná lia, so the aen elle would kidnap them to be used as their world-hopping-genocide key. yeah, the aen elle are seriously fucked

the king of the aen elle was named auberon muircetach, and he was very well known for his wars with the unicorns, who weren't too keen on being enslaved for the purpose of conquering other worlds

the hen ichaer came into play when auberon noticed that his daughter, lara dorren, had pretty intense magical abilities. like, ard gaeth opening abilities.

auberon, lara, and a few other elves began studying the gene and trying to figure out how it works and how to use it.

through this study is how we got the title aen saevherne, which is used to distinguish an elven mage with extensive knowledge of history, science, magic, and, most importantly, the elder blood.

both lara and auberon were aen saevherne, as was lara's husband-to-be, avallac'h, and avallac'h's foster son, caranthir ar-feiniel

ithlinne's prophecy

ithlinne aegli aep aevenien was an elven prophet known for her incredibly dark prophecies that she delivered at totally random times. how dark were they? ithlinne's prophecies were almost exclusively about the death of all humanity and/or the end of the world. she was fun at parties.

anyway, when we talk about ithlinne we really only mean one specific prophecy, aen ithlinnespeath. to be confusing it's usually referred to as ithlinne's prophecy

here's the prophecy itself:

Verily I say unto you, the era of the sword and axe is nigh, the era of the wolf's blizzard. The Time of the White Chill and the White Light is nigh, the Time of Madness and the Time of Contempt: Tedd Deireádh, the Time of End. The world will die amidst frost and be reborn with the new sun. It will be reborn of Elder Blood, of Hen Ichaer, of the seed that has been sown. A seed which will not sprout but burst into flame. Ess'tuath esse! Thus it shall be! Watch for the signs! What signs these shall be, I say unto you: first the earth will flow with the blood of Aen Seidhe, the Blood of Elves...

what does that mean? well, the white chill (aka the white frost) is a massive ice age that has been approaching the continent for years. don't believe me? the white frost has destroyed countless worlds in the past, and it literally cannot be stopped. the only way to save the world is by the power of the hen ichaer.

here's a perfectly frightening visual of the white frost

ithlinne didn't elaborate on the how, but we now know that the only to survive the white frost is by finding a new world and massively evacuating the continent through ard gaeth, which can only be opened by the power of the hen ichaer.

genetics

clearly, the hen ichaer is important enough to literally save, or end, the world, but the aen elle did a famously terrible job of studying it. like, you'd think they'd be good at that, but no. to their credit, it is a bit complicated

first, there are multiple types of elder blood genes, the main gene, the latent gene, and the activator gene. to actually show the powers of the hen ichaer, someone would need to either have one latent and one activator, or the main gene.

let's go back to secondary school biology for a second, remember punnet squares? these fuckers

the letters in a punnet square represent a genotype, or the two alleles that are inherited from the parents. phenotypes, on the other hand, are what you see on the outside. for example, a genotype would be Aa but a phenotype would be brown eyes.

while the main gene is a simple dominant allele (shown by a capital letter on a punnet square), both the latent and activator genes are semi-dominant, meaning that when they meet they create a new phenotype: the innate magical ability that makes you a source.

it gets a little less scientific here so bear with me; this new phenotype is so powerful that it sometimes creates a whole new genotype. so instead of having one activator gene and one latent gene, the two would merge and you'd be left with only one (very powerful) main gene. this is the only single gene that actually has magic and it's a dominant gene, so you only need to have one to have the power.

but, the latent and activator genes don't always combine. you still have the full powers when they stay separate, but it is then less likely to pass the hen ichaer your children.

complicated? very much so. but in practice it's a lot easier.

for simplicity's sake i'll call the activator gene g/a, latent gene g/L, main gene g/m and a regular nonmutated gene g/r. to be a source, the genes you inherit would be g/a g/L, but they may combine to be just g/m. your average person would be g/r g/r and a carrier would be either g/a g/r or g/L g/r.

clearly, this makes tracking it pretty messy, since generations of people can be carriers without having a single source

tracking the hen ichaer

for now, let's do what those elven sages couldn't and track then hen ichaer, starting with lara dorren

eventually, lara met an exceptionally talented human mage, cregennan of lod, and they were lab partners (oh my god they were lab partners) in the study of the hen ichaer.

eventually, lara met an exceptionally talented human mage, cregennan of lod, and they were lab partners (oh my god they were lab partners) in the study of the hen ichaer.

for all the studying, lara and cregennan's own genes have always been something of a mystery. elven mages don't tend to have any issues with using themselves as lab rats, so it's entirely possible that lara and cregennan, knowingly or not, mutated their own genes in their research.

ultimately, it doesn't matter what lara and cregennan's genes originally were. by some happy little accident, the two eventually ended up with at least one activator gene and at least one latent gene between them.

later, when lara and cregennan made their own happy little accident, riannon, she inherited one of each gene (g/a g/L), making her a source. however, riannon's genes did not combine as the elves expected, which made her a little harder to study.

riannon eventually met king goidemar of temeria (g/r g/r), and they had two children named fiona and amavet. i'll start with fiona, who the aen elle managed to figure out had the latent gene, making her g/L r

fiona ended up having a baby with king coram II of cintra (g/r g/r), they named him corbett, and he inherited fiona's g/L and one of coram's g/r.

the aen elle lost track of the hen ichaer when they studied riannon's other kid amavet. see, amavet was kind of a whore. he had twins, muriel and crispin, with the married countess anna kameny. obviously, these children weren't legitimate, and when the angry count kameny murdered amavet a few months later, he was officially childless

the elves did, however, manage to figure out that amavet had riannon's g/a gene and goidemar's g/r gene. anna kameny was just g/r g/r, and crispin ended up being g/r g/r as well. destiny does favour the hen ichaer, but sometimes it's just not meant to be. muriel, on the other hand, did inherit her father's activator gene and was g/a g/r.

let's hop back to corbett, fiona and coram's g/L g/r son. he and princess elen of kaedwen (g/r g/r) had a son, dagorad, who got corbett's latent gene and one of elen's regular ones, meaning he was g/L g/r

muriel married robert of garramore (g/r g/r), and their daughter adalia, the dramatically posed lady right there, had the same genetic combination as her mother, g/a g/r

this is where it gets even weirder

the lovely adalia married dagorad. her second cousin. they shared riannon as their great grandmother. feel better in the fact that it was not intentional, adalia's mother, muriel, was not officially riannon's granddaughter. no one would have even known, but adalia's g/a met up with dagorad's g/L in their daughter, calanthe

for the first time since riannon, the hen ichaer was back, and calanthe's parents genes combined to give her g/m g/r

while it took generations of destiny and accidental incest to make the hen ichaer happen again, now that calanthe had the main gene there was a 50% chance she would pass it to her child, which, of course, she did

calanthe and her husband roegner (g/r g/r) had pavetta, who inherited the g/m from her mother. no one knew about this until pavetta literally created a source hurricane, and was already pregnant

pavetta and duny's (g/r g/r) daughter, ciri, inherited the main gene from her mother and was a source.

sources

it's important to note that a source is not necessarily an incredibly powerful sorcerer, merely a person who has the genetic predisposition required to channel very intense magic

sources, like anyone else, can be bad students, allergic to potions, or just generally averse to magic on all levels except heredity. there is also no way to guarantee that even the most willing source will be good at using magic, in fact it's far more common that they will be really really bad at it. sources are extra susceptible to the chaotic state of magic in the world, and many end up pretty seriously harmed by it.

magical talent tends to make itself known in very emotional situations, like the death of a parent or a war. the same applies for sources, but they have an extra rule: their full powers are off limits until they lose their virginities

now, netflix has not mentioned that rule to be true or false, but i'm going to think of it as strictly book/game/etc canon, because ciri is 10 years old when netflix shows her using her source powers for the first time

the virginity rule makes things even more complicated, as customs about premarital sex are pretty strict in the witcher world (well, among nobility), and the dudes didn't seem to have fast reflexes. what i'm saying is that getting pregnant the first time you had sex was not uncommon. sources couldn't even use, and likely weren't aware of, their powers until they were already passing them on to another generation.

and even still, there is no guarantee that someone who is a source will ever actually show their powers. calanthe had the genetics, but she wasn't a mage. what happened? we don't really know. after calanthe married, cintra was pretty peaceful; there were no invasions or massive upheavals that could put enough stress on her to show her powers. plus, her parents didn't know she had any magical powers, so they didn't give her the training that would develop them, and she was a very level headed person who would likely be unaffected by many of the things that would make another source lose their shit.

[idjitlili]

She’s the man

fili x reader

Also please send in prompts, it would help dearly. You know like lines like "uhh what exactly do they do? kick names , kick ass."

Summary: Gandalf tells you to hide the fact you are women ;to allow you come with the company without Thorin rejecting you because you are woman. I have seen this idea a bunch of imagines so I decided I'll take a kick at it , making it my own. Word count:2464

You had been apart of the company a couple of weeks , nine months now, yet your identity is still hidden. You barely talked to anyone; if you did it was to Gandalf or Bilbo. You knew Bilbo was smart he knew something was up with you, every month there was a couple of days where your face screwed up frowning ,or you clutched you're stomach. Bilbo was no idiot, he took in the small details, not bathing at the same time, always wearing a hat ,scarf and oversized clothing.

He decided to confront Gandalf about it, in which Gandalf brought you over and you told Bilbo your secret , and concluding that he was sworn to secrecy. This caused you to grow close to Bilbo, he would take watch when you bathed so no one saw you , you would ride next to him on the pony, and you would make fun of of the dwarves behind there backs.

The Two princes caught on about your close bond with the hobbit and decided they need to confront you. The two princes stood behind you smirking as you bent down to grab your bedroll packing it up. Oh you just know they stared at your ass , even though you were a 'man'. You had chosen the name Jared , as your male name , you didn't know why , you knew how to read and you weren't a moose. Yeah.

"Mister Jared?" Kili has called out , making you stand up right facing them, towering them slightly , because simply you were a human. You had just finished packing your bedroll ready to be on the road again when they had gained your attention. You had nodded trying not use your horrible excuse of a mans voice.

They had taken in a big breath, before fili spoke "uh.. we were wondering if you and Bilbo were um-""are you fucking master boggins?" You had gasped at their question, and their use of words , "why would you think that?!" You had whispered shouted at the princes , as there flashes flashed red , well mostly fili , kili was smirking. "Well you always take him to keep watch when you bath so..." he had grinned at you, you scoffed.

"Bloody hell, maybe I just don't want prople seeing my body, it's called privacy." You spoke quietly not trying to draw the others attention.

"Why wouldn't you be comfortable?" Kili had continued not convinced really, he was really annoying you now. "Because I don't have the typical male body-""how so, you don't have breasts.” you had gasped "maybe I don't want dwarven princes seeing my cock out , then bloody wanking to my big ass cock." And with that you walked away with your bag hoping on your pony ready to continue your journey, leaving the princes stunned.

Now you were at Rivendell, you were finally able to bathe in peace and walk around in a elven dress and no one would recognise you. You and Bilbo had decided to share a room, he had been writing in a book on the bed as you went to bathe. However once you had gotten out wearing just a robe ; Bilbo was no where to be found. So you had dressed in a mint green dress that Elrond had given you , knowing your secret. You would have worn your own clothes, but Bilbo had taken them to wash them for you , what a nice hobbit he was.

You were very much grateful for the friendship that bloomed between you had Bilbo. You could not deny the attraction you felt towards the golden haired prince, you had no chance he liked women but you had to be a man. You wish he could get to know you , y/n a women , That had been admiring him the whole journey.

So now you were in search of a little hobbit , in a fancy dress which showed more of a bust than you were use to, you know being a 'man' and all you didn't show anything. You spent around an hour searching for him; before you found him at a fountain with your clothes all laid out to dry.

Unknowingly to you two dwarven princes were following you , in awe of your beauty , hiding in bushes and such. "Bilbo!" You had called out , making the hobbit turn and smile at you. "Look at you all dressed up!" He had called, you smiled widely at him before bending over picking him up placing him on your hip like a toddler, as he had just bunched up all the clothes placing them in a bag which you took and placed on your shoulder.

Whilst fili had whispered to his brother , "I know that bottom, kili." Kili had looked at him confused. "I don't know who's it is but I know it." The brothers stayed hid thinking where they could know you from, surely they would remember such a beautiful girl , they had thought.

You had headed back to your room to change , sending Bilbo to dinner to make sure no one went looking for you , he would just tell them 'no he is just getting dressed he had just bathed he will be here soon.' But it was too late Thorin had already sent fili to your room to fetch you. You were half dressed, in your trousers and undershirt which was a thin white vest which showed you definitely had breasts even if they were small or huge, no hat ,hair down.

Knock, Knock, Knock. You had assumed it was Bilbo telling you to hurry up, he always knocked just in case , but he seen you in a vest and pants before so it was fine. "Come on." You had raised your voice so Bilbo could hear. The door creeked open , and the shuffling of feet was heard soon after a gasp. "Um..excuse me but why are you wearing Jareds cloth- wait." You had turned around to see a red faced Fili , you gasped throwing on your shirt.

He thought about it and it all made sense. "You are Jared. " he spoke you nod, "yeah, um but that's not my name, it's Y/n." You spoke looking down at the floor in embarrassment. "Y-your a women..why lie?" He asked still shocked , he knew he liked you since he met you , but it wasn't common , well it was rare for a male to like another male so he pushed it off. "Your uncle wouldn't have let me come, plus if anything it was Gandalf's idea." You sat on the end of the bed , Fili shut the door , and walked to next to you taking a seat.

"Is that why you would only talk to Bilbo rarely anyone else? Because he knew?" He questioned you, you had simply nodded. "So are you going to keep this a secret still? I don't think Uncle will abandon you on the side of the road. The company like you, plus if he tries to kili and I will hide you in our packs. Mahal I will develop ale belly over night just to hide you like that.." You giggled at his words, small blush on your cheeks , he smiles at you.

"I guess ;I must now." And with that he grabbed you hand pulling you up , saying we already late for dinner and there won't be any left if we do not hurry. He lead you down the stairs and to the company who were sat at two tables, they all had looked at you and fili confused. "Who's the lass,Fil." Bofur had shouted with a smirk looking at your interwoven hands,which you tried to drop but Fili kept a hold. "You already know y/n." Gandalf looked mortified , looking towards Thorin , who's lips twitched up for a second.

He wasn't stupid just like Bilbo he had figured out that you were not a man, he didn't push it because you stayed out of his way and in fights you tried your best even though you had barely any experience. You didn't know why Gandalf had requested you on this trip, nor did anyone else apart from Gandalf who forced you on this trip.

The company had sat staring still until Bilbo stood up, throwing his arms up in the arm. "You bloody idiots , it's Jared ," he had shouting , as the dwarves whipped back to you eyeing you up and down. " you have a cock?" Kili had enquired only for Dwalin to slap him in the upside of the head. You pull fili by the hand sitting down on the next empty seat.  "Y/n been pretending to be male this whole time, so that you would treat her the same, I did not want you treat her like a burden, when she is not." Gandalf spoke up making the dwarves turn their attention to the wizard , no reaction at first.

Well that was until Fili stood up from beside you with a cup of ale ,"I say we welcome her , as we did before." "Aye to that." And with that they drank.  

That started your friendship with the oldest prince ;however it was not like the one you had with Bilbo. When you had all been kidnapped by Goblins he had shield you from the whips , and once you were running to escape he had grabbed your hand pulling you along with him.

Then when the orca had ambushed you  he became your shield again , even though you told him not to and tried to push past him but he would not budge. After that the eagles came he had almost suffocated you , to hold you , trying stop you falling off the eagle. Which you would not have.

I am not joking when I say this , when Beorn started chasing you he had thrown you over your shoulder , Turning into sonic to get you to safety. This is exactly what Gandalf meant about being treated like a burden, you didn't know that wasn't why he was doing it.

Anyways you all had been captured by the elves of the Greenwood realm , and you were stripped down to your underclothes not the dwarves, thrown in cells but then Bilbo had broke you all out. Your vest see through from the water , as you out swam the orcs. Legolas the kings son stopped watching you all go. You had turned around in the barrel "get shagged by an octopus, princess!" You shouted towards him, you were pissed off by the fact they had stripped you to such a level. He had looked at you like a little puppy turning his head side to side, you turned away to smirking company.

"She's got a mouth on her lads." Bofur had shouted out smirking, not that you saw kili or some of the other dwarves raising their eyebrows suggestively. He sent them a look that said  fuck off.  As you reached land stepping out of the barrels soaking wet, hair sticking to you , clothes sagging down due to the water weight.

You had noticed your problem moving your hands ove the fabric of your vest ,which your nipples were visible, crossing your arms. No one had any coats as they were only stripped of them.  Fili had walked over to you ready to strip himself of his tunic, you shook your head no. "I'll be fine once it dries, don't worry." You had spoken quietly to the dwarf . Before he could say anything a barge man had appeared firing his bow at the rock kili held in defence.

"Do it again and you're dead." Damn his voice sounded like pure golden domination,and stern. Fili had placed himself in front you, you had groaned at his action, which he ignored.

Soon enough you were all upon his barge,only then did you confront fili,who left his injured brother to follow you around like a lost puppy. He stood close next to you,you could almost feel the heat radiating of him ,oh how you wished for warmth. Goosebumps mapped down your  bare arms like snow,even the barge man had looked at you in concern. You glanced at fili's frowning face, "Fili?" he had turned to look at you letting out an quiet 'hmm?' you had broken his thoughts of you,but you didnt know that."why do you seek to protect me ,when I dont need protecting. I thought you knew I didnt want to be treated like a burden." you had whispered not wanting the company hearing your petty moans.

Fili took his gaze off the icy lake ,looking at you like he didnt know what to say,he knew a bit over the top."its not like that,you aren't a burden...its just that..uhm"his flashes lightly with a blush. "fee,please..." your tone sincere and worried as you turned to him gripped his rough hands,you couldnt believe you had touched him you go got move your hands but again he keeps them in his hands. "the reason I'm like that is because you are my one y/n,its my duty to keep you safe,even if it costs my own life." he had looked away in embarrassment back to the cold water ,but you hand moved so you were directly infront of his lips ,pressing yours to his ,delivering a short kiss.

"if you die then I die with you,now keep me warm with those strong arms." and with that a chuckle left his mouth quiety as he cupped your cheeks pressing his lips to yours like you did he gasps in shock after. "god you are freezing,darn lucky im wearing two tunic?"

"you are wearing two? I would have took one earlier ,Ijust didnt want you to be cold. seriously everyone has seen my nipples through my vest." you groaned in annoyance but fili soon shedded one of his tunics putting on you ,you thank him before he wraps his muscular arms around your body,as you both look out to the lake. However the whole company had watched in awe.

You already know you have the princes and Thorin you also know fili gonna get hella jealous when you have to pretend to court bard in about 0.03 seconds.