#also i guess there's a bit of a pattern???

[haladriel]

so now we know his backstory I’m going to make a case for why Saurbrand didn’t think twice about abandoning Diarmid to his death for his own gain, but for some reason, only days or weeks later, dove to save Galadriel.

We are shown in season two that Sauron is mercenary and super calculating; he sizes everyone up for the best way to use them to further his own aims. And the way he’s now treating everyone else shows how different he was with Galadriel.

Diarmid’s fate shows Sauron’s ‘default’ — despite all Diarmid’s done for him in giving him a new perspective and offering him a new direction, when the situation veers a hard left, he wastes no time adapting and thinks nothing of acting strategically and taking the pouch. After all, Diarmid’s conveniently dying, and unlikely to survive a shipwreck anyway, what else is there to gain in service of his goals and nature that’s worth as much as a royal persona to adopt?

When you set this against how he treats Galadriel (i.e. didn’t leave her to die, which he very easily could’ve done), you’ve got to ask: what’s going on in there?

Maybe he thought he could use her: she’s a lot more skilled and important than Diarmid. She’s certainly proven herself capable in the sea-wyrm attack, where he no doubt values skill and competence in service of creating perfection and order, and keeping someone as powerful as her close is a wise political move. He very likely thought he could manipulate her, although he didn’t know how, or to what ends, quite yet.

Maybe he was simply interested in her. A member of the Golden House of Finarfin, out on the open sea? Since when? He might’ve guessed at the reason why; knowing that she was in the right direction for Valinor. An elf who has turned down the opportunity to go home? Unheard of.

Maybe, it’s the beginning of seeing himself reflected in her, when she sympathises with him about all he’s lost. He found himself being honest with her, in a way that he later does with no other; their first exchange on the raft was the beginning of that pattern. Maybe he is attracted to her, in this way.

Maybe it’s because why the hell not. At this point in the (now filled in) backstory, he is down and out and taking chances. Because his plan is going so well. And maybe the sea (Valar) will reconsider obliterating them if he shows some sign of repentance, holds a hand up. Maybe he knows the storm is for him, and feels some kind of ire and vitriol — ‘up yours’ — towards the Valar (‘that’s unnecessary, you heavy-handed bastards’) that they’re taking her out, as a part of that.

Maybe, it’s all of the above. And also, maybe, it’s because he’s already seeing some of that light he’s so fascinated by. In her kindness, her offering of sympathy to a stranger. And also, at this time, finds that he resonates with things she’s saying as much as vice versa. ‘You’re running. Whether towards or from something, I haven’t yet decided.’ After all, at this point, he’s temporarily diverted from his own crusade to get revenge on Adar; possibly running to, or away, from the Valar.

‘The way I see it, it wasn’t elves that chased me from my homeland. It was orcs.’ Turns out, it literally was. He’s really pissed off with his old family at this point and potentially (even just a little bit) wondering if there’s a better way. When he tells her the enemy is in the Southlands… they are. His enemy.

When you were betrayed by your closest, and everything’s gone to shit, and you meet someone who feels so similar to you, but who radiates light instead… how could you not be fascinated?

When everything you irrevocably are can be used in a different way, for a different purpose?

So he dives to save her.

(contributors to this thought train @multifandumbmeg @scifitheywrote)

[kiichu]

10 first lines challenge

Tagged by @pomegranate-belle​!! <3 

Rules: Share the first line of your last ten published works or as many as you are able to and see if there are any patterns!

Plank of Carneades: Zero knows my identity.

GNAWING:  It’s in between his divorce and potential remarriage, in the gray areas between rekindling old flames and #Single life, that Peter first finds his tongue sliding into the mouth of Miguel O’Hara.

Dead Air:  OJ shoves his hands deeper into his hoodie pockets, side-eyeing his companion.

Off the Record: Ryder dreams of the Thing in the Sky and the glimpses of flesh and bone he’d caught inside it.

In Bad Taste: It’s when Angel’s ready to finally pack it up, when he’s ready to get his legs working to stand up and find whoever’s left alive, that he hears a rustle nearby. 

it's just blood under the bridge: Vladimir’s really hurt.

Mottled: In the first hour after Ali died, Sang-woo felt absolutely nothing.

do better.: When relocating their newfound villain strays to be transported to Happy’s home, Octavius is the last one they move.

as the world caves in: There’s a blurriness to his vision when he first wakes, though that isn’t surprising in the least.

Baptism by Fire: There’s a moment, when the airship hums to life and begins to ascend into the sky, where Bucky takes pause and recognizes that things might be turning around.

Tagging: you!!

[im-smart-i-swear]

kuron voice do i look like i was born yesterday

[abeterger]

Discord Icon we made for a man that has INVADED OUR BRAIN... Literally. It has been YEARS since we have THOUGHT of this series. Where did he come from. Girl I am possessed by a Ghost now. He has described his own canon to me that loosely follows the actual thing. Girl help. Girl. Can anyone hear me. Hello.

[le-agent-egg]

Fuck you (V3s your Trigger Happy Havocs)

It’s protag time

I’ll do the other guys eventually teehee

Repost cause tumblr nuked the quality for some reason

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads / storygraph

Something More

YA contemporary about a Palestinian-Canadian girl starting high school, navigating new crushes and accepting her recent autism diagnosis

[gemmahale]

I don't know if it's the lack of sleep, the stress from work, or the agony of having to yet again apologize to a group of participants and volunteers for dropping (metaphorically) full platters for one of my programs, but I'm struggling.

I just feel overwhelmed and nothing is going to happen past this point today, unfortunately.

I have five carts open (three of which are yarn, of which two of those are housed in the UK - P, can I come teleport just for the cheaper shipping?). Part of me wants to go nuts, get that dopamine hit, fuck it all to hell and back, everything will work out. Logical brain knows that's silly and unnecessary - while there are things I need, there are far more I don't. And the budget is tight already this month with a trip to visit my parents and some semi-annual obligations.

I just want cute little flower crochet people and twirly dresses and to not be agonizing over how badly I've fucked up my job this year (because if it's not one thing it's another right now - my biweekly meeting again reminded me about "timeliness".)

I don't want to stress about how to firework-proof the house so Kallen doesn't have another PTSD meltdown and I don't want to be agonizing over making sure ends meet and I don't want to be doubting things because I've seen this cycle before and if we're going to invest money in something I want to know that it'll be worth it and not cast by the wayside again.

I just really want to curl up and not adult any more today. Is that too much? (World says "yes".)

[catgirltoes]

wait you're canadiam? meow :3

I live in Canada! And I will not specify my location further no matter how much I want to complain about local poltiics on here. :3

[icewindandboringhorror]

Misc. photos from the past year or so ~

[obstinatecondolement]

“[Barbie Fashion Designer] was a bestselling software title in 1996,” said Rachel Simone Weil, video game historian and founder of FEMICOM Museum, which preserves the history of girls’ toys and games, to Polygon. “How amazing that we collectively completely forgot about it, and then it was able to rise back up into the collective consciousness, where it is today.”

Nice to see this article about Barbie Fashion Designer on Kotaku, but also genuinely amazed that apparently "we" forgot all about Barbie Fashion Designer, probably the second best video game I have ever played.

[plantenjoyer]

I SWEAR I KEEP TRYING TO DO ART BUT THEN SOMETHING GETS IN THE WAY AND THEN I PROCRASTINATE AND THEN SIX MONTHS PASS

[themyscirah]

Philippus? Wym philippus this is a wholeass other woman?????? She's white?????? Guys come on now

ALSO cursed white Euboea in this same sequence.... homeboy she's Asian please stop

Joe Phillips I'm sorry but this is some shitty ass guest pencilling how can you not know anything abt what these people look like thats literally your job... you also just needed to read the issue before this to know?

Editors should have caught this one these are major Amazon characters

[le-jardin-inculte]

not dead, just completely consumed by a manic crafting spree

[babaroqa]

i wouldn't mind so much david tennant as the 14th doctor if they hadn't said that he's different from the 10th doctor and then gone and dressed him up the same as the 10th doctor. i'm trying to wrap my mind about this guy who was just a woman in suspenders and a gay t-shirt and before that an old scottish man in dr martens and a velvet coat and before that a funny young man in a tweed coat and a bow tie and... choosing to go back to three piece suits and converse? why? if not the same person, then why wear the same clothes?

[ethereal-hollow]

Why does everyone who make "genetically correct" warrior cats make them brown, when domestic cats can be the most orange fucks on earth

You're telling me my man Firestar isn't this orange?? Why should Firestar the orange cat be a black/brown tabby