#and 100% he does not know what hobbits are

[dreamyourselfxbackagain]

Look who just woke up- is that CHARLIE VICKERS? No, I must have been mistaken, that’s SAURON from LORD OF THE RINGS. I heard they are APPEARS 31 and stuck here just like everyone else. Even in the 20’s, he still give off a the road to hell is paved with good intentions, always wanting more, confidence that could kill, five steps ahead, the nightmare you tell your children about impression. But here, they are working as A POLITICIAN. They’re known to be quite CHARISMATIC & PATIENT, but have a tendency to be MANIPULATIVE & CRUEL on their bad days.

Gender/Pronouns : Male / he/him

How long have they been in Sydney : In his memories, 3 years. In reality, 2 months

Which suburb do they live in? Darling Point

Personality description : 

Strangers - he is a little cautious with strangers. He knows given his job people dislike him sometimes, but he won't try and be rude straight away. Often he will try and charm. He will definitely manipulate

Casual friends - He is still cautious, though a lot more relaxed. If he needs to manipulate them then he will, but for the most part he is at least pretending to just be a normal person

Loved ones - he has very few of those. Though he does try to be honest, more often it comes over as he can give them power, not always something they want.

Enemies - adding this one, because a lot of people aren't going to like him. He doesn't really care too much about that, if people need a villain he is happy to be it. If only because he knows now, no one really is going to listen to him.

Memories of their real life : 

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and once upon a time a Maia named Mairon did have good intentions. Created by Eru, he was good and uncorrupted. However he wanted order and perfection, and soon realised the quickest way to archive this was by working with Morgoth. To begin with, keeping this a secret so he could gain information but before the end of The Years of the Lamps, his true intentions were revealed. Mairon was no more, instead he became Sauron.

Throughout the First Age Morgoth unleashed terror onto Middle Earth, with Sauron doing his bidding. During one battle, he picked up an insignia off a dead man. However after a defeat, he all but vanished. Morgoth was defeated, and Adar claimed he had killed Sauron due to his cruelty to the orcs.

Perhaps the story would have ended there. Sauron had indeed survived, but now lived under a fake name Halbrand, claiming to be a man running from orc attacks. He wanted to repent for what he had done, but also knew very few would believe him. It may have worked, if Galadriel had not ended up on the same raft.

They ended up on Númenor, where she learnt the insignia he carried belonged to the King of the South. He told her the truth, that he had found it on a dead man, however she didn't believe him. Meanwhile he became a blacksmith, his intent was to remain in Númenor, a peaceful life. But Adar was in the Southlands, and the thirst for revenge soon became overpowering. However when they did return, Galadriel prevent him from getting his revenge, believing Adar could tell her where Sauron was.

Míriel informed the people there that he was their long lost King, and suddenly a feeling he hadn't had in a long time came back. Power. If they were willing to give it to him so easily, perhaps it would be enough. But then Orodruin erupted and he was gravely injured. Whilst he wanted to stay and fight for the Southlands, Galadriel realised he would die from his wounds, and they left.

In Ost-in-Edhil he said something, phrases she had heard Adar use about Sauron, and she finally realised Halbrand was Sauron. After a confrontation he left, returning to the Southlands.

What was their fake life like:

Born into a normal family, it didn't even occur to Sauron to want for power. He was planning to spend his time as anyone in the 1900's would. Except a war broke out.

Like many his age, he ended up serving and it gave him a hatred for how the world was if this was what could happen. There was also horrors he saw out there. In his eyes, the world needed to change and likely the current one would need to burn for that to happen.

On returning, he opted to go into politics, starting at the bottom and slowly working his way up. He wanted to make the world better.

But then his memories came back, and suddenly he had centuries of memories. Had he been wrong before? With getting his memories back at the same time Mairon's thoughts were strong again, as were the ones of wanting redemption. Yet hadn't his point been proven here as well? The world cannot change unless it is broker first.

Optional, please pick at least three and interpret them however you wish ::

Location they work in: Parliament House

Theme Song: Gonna Know My Name - Diamond Dust

Quote: You don't know what I did, you don't know how I survived

[ssavaart]

What does the word Genocide mean to you?

For me... the word Sayfo comes to mind.

Sayfo is the word we use for the Assyrian genocide.

In 1915, my grandfather fled his village of Charbash near Urmia in Iran when he was just 11 years old.

The Ottoman Empire took the land from the Assyrians. The indigenous people native to Mesopotamia (where modern Iran, Iraq, and Turkey exist now).

Over 250,000 Assyrians were wiped out by the occupying Ottoman Empire.

Half of the entire population of the remaining indigenous people.

The rest fled for their lives.

My grandfather and grandmother, being two that, thankfully, made it to New York.

Now, Assyrians have no homeland. No country.

An entire ethnic group that  has been around for around 3,000 years almost completely wiped out of existence by an empire that no longer exists.

It's just so senseless. 

This painting I did of a woman in a Hijab. I have posters of them on my site. 

ssavaart.com

All of the proceeds from the sale of this poster is going to Doctors Without Borders.

I'll sign and ship each and every one of them. 

I know it's not much. It won't stop a genocide. 

But maybe... just maybe... 100 years from now someone's grandchild will be alive and they can tell the story of THEIR people... and what happened to them.

Sending Big Hugs from the Hobbit Hole. ♥♥♥

Scott

[linddzz]

Latest idea floating around in my head: a twist on the Hob saving Morpheus from the time-out ball, except that's where they first met each other.

Hob's still immortal, it's just that Death was the one who came and gave him the deal of meeting every 100 years

(is this also bc I'd love Death being Hob's centennial buddy? Her being way less reserved and straight up telling him who she is. Her delight at his delighting over life. The rage in him when Eleanor and Robyn die. Death took them and she wouldn't even say anything to him when she did it. Also I'd like to see him just immediately choke and squirm like a bastard as soon as he starts explaining his new shipping business to her in 1789. Yes and hell yes gimme Hobsie and Death as bros.)

So Hob is trying out new stuff again. He's never tried out being a magus and gets himself in as a member of Burgess' order and eventually an acolyte.

And then he's introduced to the "devil" that Burgess keeps in the dungeon. He's to help study up on strengthening the wards around the sphere and all that. And boy is he deeply, super uncomfortable with the sight of this frail man trapped in a cage.

("Don't let his pretty face fool you." Burgess will tell him, "the thing is a demon who would destroy us all if given half a chance."

To be fair, Morpheus does not help his case at all and his expression clearly says "you fuckin bet I will")

And Hob is Hob. So while he's working on studying up on wards (which so happens to involve a lot of careful, detailed study of the wards around the sphere) he's chatting at the thing in it. He complains about the boss, talks about the War, tells the demon about his day while the demon either glares at him or makes a hilariously big show of not paying attention. Sometimes Hob straight up shirks work (with a winking "you won't tell the boss right?") And just reads books.

And he nearly shrieks in surprise when he's reading some new novel called The Hobbit out loud and looks up to find the demon watching and obviously interested. So of course Hob is gonna keep reading him stories and keep studying those binding spells super closely.

And ok that's where I gotta admit the story doesn't have a solid conclusion in my head yet (besides obviously Hob is gonna bust Dream out and then get kissed a LOT) but I do have one bit where Morpheus first talks to him and of course it's just cryptic weird shit. Because Morpheus has started watching this shit-wizard who won't shut the fuck up back and can tell that something is OFF about him.

So just imagine Hob is yammering away about how he thinks the masters kid and the gardener have something going on, and he nearly shits himself when the "demon" presses a hand against the glass and says

"Death has touched you. I see it now. My siblings marks upon you. Is that what you are here for? To report to them? To let them see how low their family has come? So they do know what has come of me then, and they have sent you to chatter away and truly make it clear that they will do nothing."

Hob's just like. "WHAT?? SIBLINGS?! You TALK??! Hang on you know Death???!" But Morpheus already is back to curling in on himself in a furious pissy sulk

[formerheroeswhoquittoolate]

okay so for those of you who haven't met me (most of you) I really like thinking about the way people talk (tone, inflection, accent, speech patterns, et cetera) and I'm tired so I'm extending this to the batfamily here we go here's my thoughts, unrequested and only slightly edited:

dick: sounds a bit like a male pop singer (think brendan urie but without the whining or busting his voice with drugs and bad technique). dude has a killer falsetto and can hit some of the highest notes in the house, beat out only by steph. saw a headcanon somewhere about him growing up speaking romani because of his parents and having an accent as a child that comes back when he's hurt or tired and honestly 100/10 it's part of this headcanon (and if you know where this post is please tell me! it's not mine and I'd love to give credit). you can also hear it in the way he says a couple less common words but his accent otherwise sounds exactly like bruce's.

jason: doesn't have the deepest voice of the batfamily; he's third deepest after bruce and duke. his tessitura (comfortable vocal range) is big though and his voice pitch changes a ton with his mood. he's got a soft r that the other bats don't have (think ny or boston) that he learned from his mom. his falsetto is trash but he is one of the better singers in the family. all low notes. you should hear him do the song the dwarves sing in the beginning of the hobbit.

tim: his voice is a little scratchy but it's not too noticeable. damian is the only batboy with a higher voice; tim and cass are at about the same pitch. he's a tad self-conscious about how he sounds in general and heavily mimics so he's got bruce's crisp ts and a softer r like jason's. he says "ahm" instead of "um" and that's not really common in gotham so nobody really knows where he's gotten that from. he's definitely more monotone, for a lot of reasons, and tends to emphasize his words by changing in volume rather than pitch.

damian: he's like twelve so his voice hasn't dropped yet but he wants it to be lower like his brothers. he's got just a touch of an arabic accent so his speech is a little more melodic and much like tim he's a mimic so he has bruce's ts and a few sporadic romani and aave quirks from dick and duke respectively.

duke: second lowest voice of the batfamily. the kid's quiet and his speech is usually peppered with aave although he's often a little self-conscious about it around the primarily white batfamily and especially white upper-class bruce. doesn't sing in public but he's good at it (he refuses to acknowledge this)

cass: okay she hardly ever talks but when she does it's slightly lower in pitch than what people expect. she typically speaks in broken english (well that's canon not headcanon) and it's always the same way as someone else in the batfamily speaks, usually babs, steph, duke, or jason since she spends the most time with them. she's barely ever louder than a kitten sneeze.

stephanie: holy shit the girl talks fast. she's got the highest speaking voice too by a few steps. gorgeous soprano but only about fifty percent of the time. loses her voice completely when she gets sick and turns into a raspy old lady. has an absolute knack for impersonations, not necessarily in terms of pitch but in speech patterns/rhythms.

barbara: right in between tim/cass and steph in terms of pitch. she uses very precise language and there's often random hacker lingo in there. she's also surprisingly loud and can out-shout any of them except for alfred.

and finally, bruce: deepest voice by a step or two. his batman growl is actually slightly higher in pitch if you listen closely enough which jason finds hilarious. he's got very crisp ts as a result of being raised primarily by the very british alfred and he often takes his time speaking especially in meetings.

[blakbonnet]

curious about your favorite underrated artists/fic writers/creatives on here?? and maybe your specific favourite underrated fanwork??

Ooh. I love this question so much, anon ❤️

Underrated gif maker, and I say this with no bias, is definitely Ida @bizarrelittlemew because she just puts in so much effort in all her gifs. Ida looks through tutorials and then also does so much on their own, but mainly: if you look at all the recent gifs, they have such a unique Ida ™️ vibe to them. From rotoscoping (still don't know what that is) to playing with blending, Ida deserves to be right up there with one of the most creative gifmakers this fandom has produced recently.

Unfortunately I just very very rarely hang out reading ofmd fics T-T (I'm mostly in the hobbit and sandman fandom side of ao3) and there are a few writers I love and I tend to stick to them (xoxoemynn, forpiratereasons being the main ones) Most of what I read and like in the fandom is when a mutual ends up writing something that isn't modern au.

Having said that, underrated writer to me 100% is @palavapeite because their writing just never fails to transport me to whatever setting they're talking about. Listen, I just don't read modern AUs, they don't do it for me (def a me issue, I'm sure there are brilliant modern au writers in this fandom but it's something I filter out) but I would absolutely recommend this fic as something that brought me so so much joy, is fast becoming my more reread fic, because it did a perfect job with getting Stede's voice right. I can hear every single thing he says in my mind, it's SO good. Also their fic with priest!stede lives rent free in my head and I would soon find the time to read their non blackbonnet fics.

Another one is adamarks who, again, has such a good grasp on Ed and Stede's character that it doesn't matter which AU Jay has picked, it just always always works somehow. My favourite is this fic tho which is just so them that I might as well weep.

For artists, my recent faves (and I think they're underrated) are Lilo @harrylovesspaezle who's so so talented and I still can't get over that sketchbook tour - the growth and love for this show ough, @ofmderapolag whose pieces are just so so dreamy, and also @spookynadja whose style just floors me every single time.

I'd also like to shout out one underrated category, people who write such amazing text posts like @ourfag who obviously has the s3 scripts and is only sharing them with us in small increments due to the nda and @tulipseason for the currently unpublished book of "1 million ways I will articulate how much I love hit television show our flag means death"

and then there's my favourite most beloved cheerleaders who are always lifting up new writers and artists too like @marbledwings and @insteading ❤️ I especially love that everyone has a beautiful story with these two, you could ask any small or big writer in the fandom if they've been made to cry by wings or insteading and yeah, they're just lovely.

[mushroomates]

pretty sure legolas was awkward around the fellowship because his people literally tried to steal the treasure at the lonely mountain a scant 100 years before

legolas is like a covid dog. daddy thranduil did not take his son to the dog park so now legolas does not know what a child is and freaks out when he sees one. legolas is an unsocialized shelter herding dog with too much energy and impulsive to herd and protect his flock of hobbits that he doesn’t understand.

point of order: legolas would have been in that siege. i think legolas does not feel awkward because of this; his awkwardness is pre-existing and now he has to deal with this. and because is he so awkward, any attempts to deal with this are also awkward. also- any awkwardness from the attempted seigue is not out of guilt but out of embarrassment of mirkwood’s failure to take over the lonely mountain. he does not understand why mirkwood was in the wrong, and probably would not until gimli laid it out to him and even they he might not.

ok real talk:

legolas grew up in an environment that was full of change and he didn’t have much to anchor him self on. no to mention he’s one of the only elves (arwen being the other) to experience this new world- a lot of the knowledge that could have been passed down to him is now redundant. he had no peers of his age so naturally that impacted his social development- not to mention the overall fleeing of elfkind from middle earth. he had no maternal figure and what we can assume was a strained relationship with his father, so his ability to connect with people suffered greatly. from what we know about elves, their sense of community is incredibly important, and the lack of relationships in his life created a naturally awkward person who does not know how to begin or maintain said relationships. i believe this is a legolas was not only placed on the fellowship, but sent to rivendell to begin with: quite literally, to socialize him.

[setaripendragon]

Okay so new accidental proposal idea for Bagginshield.

There's a big party in Erebor for reasons. Thorin is still not fully healed and when Bilbo asks if he's ready to go lay back down since he's been up way more for the day, Thorin says he must be the first to dance so everyone else can start too and dance at least a little more than one or two songs and glances tiredly at a group of dwarrow.

So Bilbo stands up, and being a well raised gentlehobbit, dramatically sweeps into a bow and offers his non dominate hand palm up and keeps his position as he asks if Thorin will dance with him. There is a huge pause.

NOW either Thorin can choke out a yes and take Bilbo's proffered hand and the hall erupts in cheers OR for comedy Balin can basically remind everyone that Bilbo is a hobbit and does not know their ways and Bilbo gets to be rather embarrassed that he technically proposed to Thorin in the most serious of ways for dwarrow, one that would only be done for a love match, and so publicly makes it way more intense. While Bilbo was just holding to proper Shire manners by not staring at the asked so they can feel less pressure to say yes if they don't want to.

I think if I had the health for writing that I would go with the first way as accidental proposals are so fun in my opinion but just wondering which way others would take it. So which would you pick if you were writing a story or would you have another way?

*Asks are sent for fun, no pressure to answer.

Oh, absolutely Thorin would accept! I'd probably write it that Balin or someone would be About To Explain, but Thorin, who 100% thinks Bilbo - clever, sneaky little hobbit - did the research and Knows What He's Doing, says yes before anyone else can jump in.

And then everyone else wonders if Bilbo did in fact, know what he was doing.

And Bilbo gets Very Confused when people keep congratulating him, and very exasperated with Thorin who keeps asking him about Proper Party Planning Procedure, and he keeps demuring because he knows Hobbity Manners, not what's appropriate for dwarves! Which Thorin thinks is yet more Respect For His Culture, and pushes for the hobbity answer anyway, which devolves into hours long discussions of Hobbity Propriety, and maybe that's when Thorin starts to get an inkling...

So he does the sensible, responsible, grown-up thing - hah! - and talks to someone not Bilbo about his growing concerns that he's planning a wedding Bilbo doesn't realise he proposed. And that someone (Balin? Dis?) face-palms because they're a bit too deep in planning a mountain-wide celebration to just drop it now if Bilbo didn't mean it.

And then someone (I'd go with Dain because Dain's my favourite, but Ori or Kili would be funny too) just blurts out something about 'the wedding' and Bilbo gets all 'Oh! A Wedding? Is that a big deal to dwarves?'

'Is it not to hobbits?!'

'Well, the actual... getting married part is important, of course, but we don't really celebrate it so much. It's all very personal and private, you see? It's common knowledge in the Shire that if someone up and vanishes for a little while, they're probably off getting married.' A long pause as Bilbo stares off into the distance looking more and more perturbed. 'Oh good gracious me! Everyone back home is going to think that I-'

'Well, aren't you?'

'Aren't I what?'

'...getting married?'

'WHAT?!'

And then probably cut to an epilogue-scene where Thorin and Bilbo are getting married in some very long-winded, official ceremony deeply steeped in Ritual and Tradition, and in between speeches and vows and probably Balin droing on and on and on (possibly reciting lineages? That seems like a thing that might be very important at a dwarven wedding), Bilbo and Thorin are having a hissed argument on the topic of 'I can't believe you thought I'd propose like that!' 'I can't believe you thought I was asking all those questions theoretically!' 'Oh, pardon me for thinking you might be interested in learning about my culture' 'That is not what I meant and you know it' 'Oh do I? You don't seem to know what I mean by things, so why would you expect me to know what you mean!' etcetera and so on.

I'd probably try to figure out a way to have it devolve into aggressively complimenting (complisulting?) each other somehow, so that Balin could ask for their personal vows/declarations of affection and intent, and they'd just... carry right on without missing a beat.

(Some dwarven songcrafter would turn it into a rom-com duet. In Khuzdul, so Bilbo has no idea it exists for years and years and then gets to reprise the 'Tell Me What Things Mean, You Great Lump!' argument when he finally does realise what it's about.)

[windsweptinred]

So in the Netflix series alone, both Death and Dream have mentioned they've lived through numerous world(s) already. The way I see it that is 100% permission to drop these seven feckers in any fandom you want ��. On the premise that the world has come and gone...

Star Wars

Desire: I present to you my magnum opus. I call it, the Skywalker!

Despair: What does it do my twin?

Desire: F*cks sh*t up mainly.

Lord of the Rings

Destruction: The Hobbits are going to end the war?

Destiny:....

Destruction: The Hobbits! Yey high, furry. Who's main priorities in life are tea and or biscuits?

Destiny: (Raisies an eyebrow)

Destruction: By the maker! It's Delight and her ewoks all over again.

Game of Thrones

Death: So, what have we learnt?

Dream: (Sulkily).... Don't give the humans dragons?

Death: Don't give the humans dragons. Yes.

The Witcher (Special Dreamling Bonus)

(The Endless having a family picnic on a mountain top. Watching Geralt tell Jaskier to f*ck off. Dinner and a show..)

Delight: His delight fades...

Despairs: He despairs

Destruction: Never fear my littlest sister. That one is never one to wallow in sadness for long. He'll be back on his feet by the next turn of the moon. You'll see.

Dream: Indeed, his love of life is gloriously relentless. I find it is most... admirable.

(Death stores that tidbit away for later)

Desire: Poor baby, never fear my darling. We shall get you a whole new wardrobe and an epic, I'm over you and your lovely bottom, break up ballad.

Dream: What a foolish, proud man. To cast aside a loyal companion who has brought naught but glee and warmth to his life, in fit of anger. He shall come to regret such actions.

Destiny: (Knowing smirk) Indeed.

[lonesomedreamer]

The Rings of Power Liveblog: “Shadow of the Past” (Episode 1)

Two years late, curiosity got the better of me, and I decided I had to see this thing for myself ahead of the second season premiere…spoiler: I didn’t hate it.

I’m not going to gripe about these children looking decidedly human (or at least not Elvish), because I understand the limitations of using, you know—actual human children as actors. But I will question the notion of Elvish children being smug bullies.

But baby Galadriel definitely looks the part.

“It’s not going to float, it’s going to sail.” Not off to a strong start with the dialogue…

Oh, the Elf children are…throwing rocks at her paper boat? All of them? Why?? I know the behavior of Elves in the First and Second Ages tended to be less detached/noble and whatnot, but little Galadriel is literally about to punch this Elf boy…

I have so many questions about this hairstyle choice.

“We have no word for death.” Somehow, I doubt that. This is the Second Age, right? Elves had definitely already experienced death.

Why does this seem like a slightly retooled Minas Tirith design? Is this supposed to be VALINOR??? (Actually, this would be a decent Amber design…)

A very underwhelming depiction of the destruction of the Two Trees…this is what Amazon spent amlost a billion dollars on? I know they can’t accurately depict what happened because, you know, no rights to The Silmarillion, but it still underwhelmed me.

This sequence is just all so obviously CGI. While I’m no fan of the original Jackson films (sorry, I know—boo, hiss), a lot of it looks real.

“See, it’s just like that Game of Thrones spinoff you like, but with terrible CG!”

It would be so helpful if Galadriel’s voiceover told viewers that Orcs were created as a mockery of the Elves, or hinted at why Morgoth created them/why he hated the Elves. Unfortunately, this is what happens when you try to adapt a work to which you don’t have all the rights.

She is very, very pretty.

“What devilry is this?” Is that a word in Middle-earth?

Lots of Galadriel confidently assuming she knows things she can’t possibly know (for the sake of hurrying the story/journey along, I guess)…if only the streaming services didn’t limit themselves to eight or ten episodes and gave their stories room to breathe!

Anyone watching who’s never read The Silmarillion (or even the trilogy): who the fuck is Morgoth? What are the Trees?? What year is it??? What’s going on here??!? Again, the huge problem of adapting a larger story/universe when you only have partial rights…

Insert obligatory video game-esque troll battle that’s also a callback to the Moria scenes of the FOTR film. You can use the bathroom here and miss nothing.

Some proto-Hobbits, because why not? I did like the “hidden village” reveal thing, though!

I kind of love them?

There’s a lot to be said for the charm and appeal of the Shire from an audience perspective, the comfort of it (which is why the Scourging of the Shire is so thematically important and excising it was an irredeemable sin…but I digress), so I actually 100% understand why they included these guys. TTT is by far the bleakest book of the trilogy, my least-favorite, and the lack of the Shire is a huge reason why.

23 years later and I’m still not over the utter miscasting of Hugo Weaving. Visually, this Elrond isn’t really better. Why is Elrond so damn hard to get right??? And his hair is described as black!

The best costumes a billion-dollar budget could buy?

“Elf-lords only.” Such a dignified, Elvish thing to say…

Yes, Elves could be haughty and unkind; just ask Bilbo! But Elrond is an Elf-lord. Hmm.

Also…Elrond and Galadriel appear to be approximately the same age. It doesn’t matter that Galadriel is actually much older (and his eventual mother-in-law!), because TV is such a visual medium.

This is actually a larger overall problem. Because most of The Lord of the Rings takes place over the course of one year, an adaptation doesn’t need to hold the audience’s hand regarding the passage of time. But in this case, as Galadriel’s narration too-briefly mentions, events are taking place across hundreds and even thousands of years. Elves like Galadriel are significantly older than others, like Elrond, but unless you tell the audience that, they won’t know, and the story loses something as a result.

Even though this design is clearly based on Rivendell in the Jackson films, it is quite lovely.

Pretty!!!

How do Galadriel and Elrond know each other? They seem close. Inquiring minds want to know!

The content and context of this scene is meaningless, but I don’t care—it’s just so pretty!

Even though I know they get worse, for now I don’t really mind the proto-Hobbits. They’re obviously not Tolkien, but they’re an homage, and they’re fun/visually appealing.

The casting director gets a D+ for the male Elves. (Then again, they were poorly-cast in the Jackson films too.)

“And as a reward, you will all be exiled!” lmfao. Being shipped off to Valinor doesn’t seem like much of a punishment, though. Where do I volunteer?

Still, it makes sense that Galadriel, who (correctly!) believes Sauron to still be alive and a threat and who wishes to avenge her brother, would be upset about this. They’ve changed her backstory/motivations—which I hate—but her attitude does track with those changes.

Nuns??

This set design is magical, no notes.

Luthien??

She really is perfectly cast.

Elrond, one of the wisest and kindest of all the Elves, is being written as some smug royal enforcer. Just like the Jackson films wrote him as a grumpy, condescending overprotective dad. Sigh.

“[Evil] waits. And at the moment of our complacency, it blinds us.” I mean…yeah, that’s basically how it goes down in Middle-earth. Repeatedly.

Not Elrond mansplaining about Valinor to someone who was literally born there…

None of these people look like Elves.

“I’m going with you!” But why?!? This lady is a healer with a youngish son still dependent on her at home!!!

I really hate them saying “mum” instead of “ma” or “mama” or something similar. (I’d also hate it if they were saying “mom,” to be clear. It’s just so modern-sounding and breaks any immersion they’ve built so far.)

Wow, the hilt of a broken sword with Sauron’s symbol on it… Generic “halfling” characters I can enjoy as a homage. This is lazy writing. And see? I knew her son needed adult supervision. (It’s also a ripoff of Pippin and the Palantir.)

(muttering) None of these people look—oh, forget it.

Elves don’t age as Men do (or age extremely slowly/imperceptibly), so what’s going on with this dude?

Gorgeous, all.

Ents???

Galadriel jumping off of the ship and just…floating there in the middle of the sea is as silly as the naysayers said it would be. However, I thought the scene leading up to it was fairly well-executed, though I wish they’d done a better job animating the rain of silver glass that leads into Valinor…that image has always resonated with me.

The Good:

Many absolutely stunning visuals thanks to great set design (with Valinor of all places somehow being the least-impressive!) and, apart from some cheap/underwhelming looks, costume design that varies from good to great

A solid score that seems to be trying a little bit too hard to mimic Howard Shore’s from the films

Morfydd Clark, in her entirety; the writing for Galadriel might be awful in upcoming episodes, but her casting was inspired

I find the Harfoots whimsically charming, at least so far, especially Nori.

The use of Tolkienesque maps to indicate location changes

An attempt was clearly made, in this episode if nowhere else, to pay homage to the source material, even the source material they don’t have the rights to use outright (the Two Trees, Morgoth, perhaps Luthien)…it’s better than nothing.

The Bad

Every single male Elf is miscast; yes, I said every single one, from Galadriel’s brother to Elrond to the OC Arondir. Gil-galad and Celebrimbor look like they’re in their late 40s/50s, at best, and idk…there’s nothing “Elvish” or “ageless” about any of the male actors playing Elves. (Full disclosure: I don’t remember being impressed by the male Elves in the Jackson films, either.) I also saw someone say that Gil-galad looks like Liam Neeson in a mullet, and now I can’t unsee that.

Some really clunky dialogue

Lack of adequate backstory/exposition…but exposition in an adaptation like this is hard, because most of it is contained in The Silmarillion, for which they don’t own the rights.

Building on that theme, I appreciate the idea of “showing not telling,” however…did they ever tell us Galadriel’s brother name (Finrod)? Or that “the king” is Gil-galad? Or even suggest that there are a variety of different Elves in Middle-earth? A lot of people know these things, because we know Tolkien. But I’ve got to assume that a lot of others don’t. Heck, it took them until almost the end of the episode to name one of their OCs (Bronwyn).

Some worthless scenes, like Galadriel’s company fighting the “ice troll” in the mountains. Actually, the entire sequence in the mountain lair was badly-written.

I don’t care about the “forbidden romance” subplot between the OCs Arondir and Bronwyn…if they’d spent longer than a few minutes in the first episode establishing their relationship/characters, maybe I’d be more invested. (See my earlier complaint about unnecessarily short seasons—some stories need room to grow!)

Even though my criticism outweighs my praise, even though I’m a self-identified Tolkien purist, I thought this was…fine. It’s an absolute feast for the eyes, truly gorgeous to watch (even with all those woefully miscast male Elves)—visually, apart from a few moments of obvious CGI, it’s what I would expect/want from a Tolkien adaptation! My expectations aren’t high for the rest of the series. There are upcoming plot points that I know will disappoint, infuriate, and disgust me. But considering that I went into this episode expecting to loathe it, I was pleasantly surprised.

Besides, I’m going to keep watching no matter what to see more of Nori and Morfydd’s face. This also makes me want to finish The Silmarillion, which I have been starting and then “saving for later” since I was a small child.

[frenzyarts]

hi!! I was recently at a book store and had absolutely no idea what to get. you seem to have impeccable taste in everything (homestuck, the locked tomb, ur whole aesthetic) so I was wondering if you had a list of books you'd recommend! have a good one (⁠｡⁠･⁠ω⁠･⁠｡⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠♡

This is very flattering, thank you 🥰 I like a lot of novels and comics so it would probably be easier for me to narrow it down if you gave me a genre you like but if you’re open to anything here are some of my favs!

Beauty by Hubert and Kerascoët

“When the repulsively ugly Coddie unintentionally saves a fairy from a spell, she does not understand the poisonous nature of the wish granted her by the fairy. The village folk no longer see her as repulsive and stinking of fish—they now perceive her as magnetically beautiful—which does not help her in her village. A young local lord saves her, but it soon becomes apparent that Coddie's destiny may be far greater than anyone ever imagined. Caustic and flamboyant, this fairy tale offers grownups an engrossing take on the nature and corrupting power of beauty, in our age of obsession with it.” (The art in this book is so so so gorgeous. Also I love dark fairytales)

Not Simple by Natsume Ono

“Ian, a young man with a fractured family history, travels from Australia to England to America in the hope of realizing his dreams and reuniting with his beloved sister. His story unfolds backwards through the framing narrative of Jim, a reporter driven to capture Ian’s experiences in a novel: not simple. A story within a story, a book within a book, a tale about the search for family, for an emotional home.” (This one has some really dark themes, highly recommended looking up content warnings before you read. It WILL make you cry, but it’s one of the most beautifully plotted novels I’ve ever read. Also the art style rules.)

Not even gonna bother to introduce this one cause it’s so famous but if you’ve never read the Hobbit, I highly recommend it. Especially because bookstores are always making pretty gilded versions of the book cause it’s so famous.

A short story but: Ligeia by Edgar Allen Poe (sorry I know he sucked) but that short story and the poem it features left a big impression on me. I feel like I can’t describe what the story is about without spoiling it, but if you like stories about mysterious and beautiful women who are involved with the supernatural and death, then you might like this short story!

Okay last one since I don’t want to make this list too long (I have a lot more recommendations if you’d like, these were the first that came to mind!)

Snotgirl by Bryan Lee O’Malley and Leslie Hung

I’m struggling to find a description for the series as a whole, probably because it’s still slowly being released and it comes out in monthly issues (you can usually find the issues compiled into graphic novel format in bookstores, which I still need to get, I only have the issues) But basically it’s about a social media influencer named Lottie Person. She gets wrapped up in a sapphic supernatural romance with a big mystery element. If you’re a fan of the famed “toxic yuri” then this is the series for you, 100%. I’ve actually been meaning to do a re-read 👀

[sotwk]

Happy birthday and bless you for coming up with such a fun, hobbit-like way to celebrate!

I would love to avail of your matchmaking services for one of my OCs. He’s called Ejder and he features in the Boromir/OC fic I’m currently working on, as Eirlys’ stepbrother by her stepmother Miryeman.

He feels somewhat separate from the rest of his new family, feeling like something of a leftover. This, coupled with the sense of alienation from both his home culture and that of Gondor, means that he, more than the rest of Duinhir’s children, is entitled to a bit of a whine. (Try telling them that though)

Since his mother married Lord Duinhir, he has actually been the child who has spent the most time with his stepfather, acting as his advisor and his more diplomatic mouthpiece among his people, since politeness has never been Duinhir’s strong suit

He’s naturally friendly and resilient. He tends to adapt well due to having a keen eye for social dynamics (inherited from his mother) and being genuinely nice to be around

Outdoorsy but not in the ‘must go kill something’ way of his stepsiblings and more in a ‘ride alone and contemplate the trees’ kind of way. Eirlys sometimes goes with him but tends to ruin the vibe by bringing a crossbow and getting trigger happy around rabbits

He really enjoys making pottery. He started learning it when he and Miryeman were living in the Haradrim quarter in Minas Tirith and he befriended a local pottery (who he lowkey wanted to be his new dad) and has pursued it henceforth whenever he has the time. He’s actually really good and finds it an effective way to relax

Despite not being naturally inclined towards the life of a warrior, he joins Gondor’s active military in the final years of the War of the Ring to tamp down rumours of his disloyalty to Gondor due to his heritage

I’m really bad with actors and tend to have too specific an image of a character for an actor but here’s a picrew of him all prettied up for some event at Minas Tirith.

Given that I actually haven't worked out who/if Ejder will end up with anyone, I am interested to hear what match you comeup with!

"Feeling like something of a leftover" and "sense of alienation from both his home culture" produces such delicious angst in a well-rounded character! But I love that Ejder rises above those issues to use his gifts and help his father with official duties. He definitely sounds like a stand-up guy and a great catch! I have just the noblewoman to suit him nicely...

The SotWK Matchmaking Machine pairs Ejder with:

IDIS, Daughter of Théoden! (Semi-Canon)

Idis 100% exists in the SotWK AU and is given the fanon attention she deserves! I don't want to spoil my own WIP too much, but Idis does play a significant role in flashbacks of "Change the Stars". She is Théodred's older sister by only a year, so they were very close throughout their childhood.

Idis is smart, kind, brave, and skilled. She has the makings of a shield-maiden just like her cousin Eowyn, but she was born with health issues that precluded her from that lifestyle. She therefore turned to intellectual pursuits, and becomes somewhat of an expert not just in Rohanese lore, but also the cultures and histories of other realms of Men--yes, including the Haradrim, Ejder's (his mother's??) homeland!

Idis is constantly overlooked in favor of the King's heir, Théodred, but she does not begrudge him that; she loves her brother and cares for him in place of their deceased mother. Idis knows the realities of her situation, it does sadden her sometimes--she just keeps in all inside. She and Ejder would be able to bond over this as well.

(My Unsolicited Fancast: I thought Santiago Cabrera fit the bill for Ejder, based on your Picrew of him!)

Thank you for trusting me to match up your OC! :)

This OC Matchmaking game is part of SotWK's Summer Campfire Sleepover 2024. (Requests accepted only on July 11-15, 2024.)

[esculentevil]

What made you start shipping Thorinduil?

O hey! Thanks for the ask! ^^

Um, basically, when I first watched The Hobbit like 10 years ago? x'''D I really liked Thranduil but literally fell asleep during the other parts of the movie (yea I literally woke up just for Duil x'D) so shipping wasn't a thing for me back then which is why I'm so late to things

But that's not the question!

(Going under a cut cuz this got stupid long xD;;;)

At first, I just wanted to ship Thranduil with anyone--cuz he deserves love, damn it--so I just looked up ALL the ships [and yes I got scarred by a few... not mentioning which but it happened] and I actually started with Elrond, believe it or not, cuz who DOESN'T want to see the two hottest elf dads find love and comfort in each other.

This same idea is what led me to at first be good with Barduil because it's literally two hot dads but one's an elf and the other's a human. After like a week or something of reading fics for them and seeing pics (cuz, at this point, I was still working with just the first movie and what I remembered from the second when I watched it a decade ago) I actually found myself temporarily confused because in some fanart Bard and Thorin look pretty much the same (both short males with dark wavy hair and beards) and I got them mixed up a lot lmafo until I realized the best way to tell them apart is the beard thickness and Thorin's braids vs Bard's half-ponytail thing...

Then I saw THIS by @rinnirrinnir and I just... Q~Q

I suddenly remembered that this HAPPENED: Thranduil has always been Thorin's weak spot--he trusted and believed in this person so much that when he DIDN'T come to their aid that day his whole WORLD just... sort of fell apart (and not even because of Smaug but really because the person he put so much faith in just walked away and I imagine it must have been like watching your hero leave you--tho I doubt Thorin would ever admit that)--to the point that, even 100 years later and even with his company seeing him as their king and even with all his barbs and insults and blames and ire, he's still soft and in love and so easily rendered VULNERABLE by Thranduil that his elf sees right through him during the whole interaction even tho it's literally been like 200 years and Thranduil shouldn't KNOW HIM as well as he does; but like the same is also true for Thranduil because Thorin not only ignites his elf's own ire, forcing him from his calm and distant iciness to get all passionately up in Thorin's face, but also, literally, (re)opens his old wounds--his SCARS--and seriously for Duil to do that, to drop his walls--his illusion of perfection--like that...

Idk, as soon as it clicks that they've been vulnerable with each other CANONICALLY and that all their arguing really stems from this... "Once I trusted/relied on/believed in you and you let me down" and "Once I had hopes that we could build something beautiful together but reality reminded me that I'm old and ugly and not good enough (for you) so I thought it best to let you go when I should've held you" type thing... Pretty much any other pairing for Duil seems... bland?

And just the idea of them finally RECONCILING with each other and becoming the loving couple they could totally be >v<

Also, no lie, half the appeal of this is how well Thorin fits Mirkwood: like, he looks so lovely with all his earthy browns and metallic grays and lake blues accentuated by Thranduil's forest like he was MEANT for it... and you KNOW Duil would deck him out to highlight that--how well his dwarven mate actually fits into his beloved home--and, really, for all that Thorin fought to get back Erebor, I think him and Mirkwood would actually be a good fit because Thranduil's Halls ARE underground enough to satisfy a dwarf's need to be buried while still being open enough for an elf (which Erebor is NOT; seriously)

There's also the family situation--cause one of the appeals of Barduil, for example, is them banding together to parent their four kids--which: first of all, The Thranduil and Dis Sisterhood; second of all, Legolas (plus all his adopted siblings) and Fili and Kili as brothers (kinda, I know the dwarflings are Thorin's NEPHEWS but still) learning to be all kinds of mischievous shites together~; third of all... Thranduil sharing what he's learnt since the Last Alliance about fatherhood and childrearing with Thorin, Thorin validating all of it because he can see how strong and skilled all of Thranduil's kids are (even if they're all struggling at least a BIT with emotional displays because they've all been wounded somehow and rendered reserved--which Thorin could probably help with cuz canonically he's skilled af at getting Thranduil to come out of his icy shell and FEEL again; so: chances are he could easily do this with any elf, including Duil's kids), Thranduil getting farther validation by bonding well with Fili (because Fili strikes me as the more understanding of the two AND, since Legolas is the youngest elf of all Duil's kids, Fili being a big bro with him despite their ages [which make Fili much younger than Las] seems like it'd totally happen and be so flipping cute if it did~ >v< Duil would also totally love seeing that as Fili's Thorin's Honored Heir and if THEY can get along then there's real hope for the north's future) and eventually Kili (I could see him being more influenced by Thorin and his centuries of hatred [born out of his betrayed love] of Duil and, if you wanna keep the [annoying] romance plot he has with Tauriel then he'd probably also resent Duil for that too before realizing Thranduil literally cut all ties with his adopted daughter so she could BE with Kili even if their love story is so painfully contrived it hurts), and Thorin actually being adopted by all the elflings Duil adopted plus Las plus his few humans (let's face it: Aragorn is so Duil's too; that's why he's also Las' babysitter: they're really brothers lmao) PLUS all the Elder Elves that see Thranduil as both their king AND their son (because they adopted him and Oropher back when they first arrived after the fall of Doriath--some even taking on the role of grandparent) so suddenly Thorin goes from having just his sister and sister-sons left to having numerous parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, kids, etc-- Just: the family dynamics that could happen here are so sweet.

ANYWAY

The long and the short of it is really the throne room scene and realizing what their actions in that moment really meant~

Thanks again for the question! =D Remembering this was really fun All my love~!

[onesaltysir]

I need to settle this with myself, I can't decide if it's a good movie or not. Debate material under cut.

Eva Gabor slays as Miss Bianca (my queen) both times so that's an automatic yes from me. The story itself was also not bad.

On the other hand the animation threw me off because I've always been so loyal to the original 1977 The Rescuers. Milt Kahl's animation is such a big deal to me, that was the best era of Disney and I will not be hearing other opinions because they are wrong.

The egg scene with Johanna and Mcleach in the kitchen? Made me smile during my surgery recovery. Animated movies rarely make me smile. That scene was peak cinematic gold.

The absolute deciding factor is if Jake is sexy or not. Now for the record I am 100% team Bernard. Thicc mouse man with a dumpy and a big heart? Yes maam. (He also has a slight stutter. As a stutterer myself, child me instantly fell in love when my father had me watch the original for the first time.) But there's just something about Jake's charm. That Indiana Jones ass kangaroo rat could punt me into the sun and I can’t tell if I would thank him or dropkick that Crocodile Dundee motherfucker.

Miss Bianca, however, has been and always will be my favourite. Everyone has a crush on her everywhere she goes and she looks so put together but I promise you she is so fucking autistic and probably does Jello shots with whoever wishes to humour her. Just watch the original, and then this is emphasized in Down Under. Fucking icon. God is a white mouse from Hungary with a purple hat.

That being said, let's turn back to the animation. What are these CGI scenes doing in here? Now mind you, overall I *am* impressed with the CGI. This movie came out in 1990 and they combined 2D animation with so many near flawless CGI shots. But why though? The combination was awesome, it slayed, it served. But there was just something about it that seemed so corny to me and I can’t place my finger on it.

And what are these size proportions? Cody is six years old acording to the Disney Wiki. If you are familiar with six year olds, then you know those things aren't exactly tiny. Why is he able to ride on that eagle? Golden eagles are real birds however they are smaller than bald eagles. Bald eagles are large birds but they are not that large. In fact the largest eagle as of right now is the giant Philippine eagle, which is only a meter tall. A six year old can’t ride that. Not only did Marahute fly hundreds of metres in the air supporting an entire six year old and then some, but she was also large enough for this kid to pitch a medium sized tent on. What the hell. Fake ass bird.

Another problem I have is that it takes place in Australia. So why in the absolute FUCK does Cody sound like he's from Nebraska USA? Riddle me fucking that. Mcleach is understandable because he's a poacher, probably dropped in from the US. In fact he sounds like he's from Tennessee so you know his ass did. But come on. Cody? He's a six year old born and raised in Australia. The only characters with Australian accents were two kangaroos, a koala, and Cody's mother. His mother is a stretch though, Edinburgh sounding ass bitch.

Also what six year old owns a large pocket knife? Cody if you don't put that shit down and go work on your colouring book. I swear to god.

What redeems it for me is Bianca and Bernard. Jake really thought he could pull Bianca from the perfect man. Bernard respects Bianca with everything he has, he continually gave her everything he could. Bernard loved her, and Bianca loved him back. Jake tried to shit on her man and Bianca said 'I think the fuck not.'

And yes. I know Bernard is some Hobbit ass motherfucker. He didn’t wanna go on the trip to save Penny in the original, he hates flying, he hates adventure, but Bianca taught him to love that and it was beautiful. He tried it for her and found out that he did love it after all. Bianca brought out his courage, and Bernard brought out her heart. They're the best Disney duo. Fuck you.

I got distracted. The question I want to answer is, is The Rescuers Down Under a great movie or is it a horrible movie? It's not just good or bad. You either love it or you hate it, and I can't decide.

Miss Bianca supremacy for life.

[borom1r]

WEIRD fuckin ask but we talked about it once and it would not exit the brain. Flavours of neurodivergence within the fellowship: discuss?

OGH. no, good ask. good ask I love it. AUTISM FLAVORED bc that is my own experience :3

Aragorn— autism of the “I Am 100% A Changeling, I Have No Idea How To Relate To Humanity” variety. like yea being partly raised by elves didn’t help but he absolutely wandered around mimicking people to learn how to Behave Like A Person. autism trait absorption for the win!! comes to Minas Tirith and gets a painful crash course in masking, but never quite figured out how to Not stare at someone like a feral cat when he wants something from them (despite the Stare, HATES eye contact)

Boromir— OPPOSITE AUTISM. very direct. EXTREMELY rigid routines. military history special interest (literally just undiagnosed dad autism). probably has food sensitivities but he’s spent so long as a soldier he can just eat anything now. he hates it and he won’t eat a big portion of non-safe foods, but at least he can swallow them. he IS absolutely 100% undiagnosed and doesn’t think there’s anything wrong but if he doesn’t get to perfectly make his bed every morning he will be in a Noticeably Bad Mood for the rest of the day < does not understand that this isn’t normal

Gandalf— oh there’s definitely something going on there, but good luck with figuring THAT out

Legolas— AuDHD king. the autism/ADHD comorbidity is real and he barely bothers to mask. least of all in front of men?? he’s an elf prince and you expect him to act “normal” by human standards? I love how jacked up the Hobbit film timeline is bc Thranduil implying to Legolas “yeah go hang out in Rivendell with a ten year old” is SO funny. canon to me tho. there was a very significant chunk of time where Aragorn was just Mini Legolas. hell world for civilized Rivendell elves. unlike Aragorn, however, prefers very direct eye contact. WILL fully hit you with the 👁️👁️ almost unblinking for a whole conversation

Gimli— I’m gonna be real here. I think neurotypical but in the sense of like. literally nobody cares. dwarves are craftsmen, artisans, smiths, you think they’re going to risk squandering talent simply because somebody needs some accommodations? are you nuts???? like yea maybe somebody’s a Little Weird Sometimes but they can work the forge just fine or tool leather for straps/handle wraps, or draft designs, or stamp metal for decorations, like?? doesn’t particularly grasp the need for labels when you can just work with ppl to figure out what’s best for them + then everyone’s happy. fully has to stew on the fact that Men Don’t Do That, men are actually very rigid about what is socially acceptable and won’t provide accommodations Unless there is a label. wild.

Frodo— autism/depression hell combination. no meltdowns, only shutdowns. auditory processing disorder!! definitely also has poor temperature regulation (CONSTANTLY cold). hey did u know that’s a symptom of ASD? crazy. WILD. anyways. Sam knows he can barely handle the feeling of mittens/gloves so half the time when they’re hanging out is Sam just holding Frodo’s hands so they actually fucking warm up for a bit. not too rigid about Big routines, most of his are Little (always putting a specific amount of sugar in his tea, for example)

Sam— neurotypical but in the sense of my dad where he was just SO used to me being Autistically Strange that he was just like. “well, that’s Strider!” < blissfully unaware. fully just SO used to whatever’s going on w/ Frodo+Merry that it’s Normal to him. like wdym they’re different?? those are just his friends?? hello??

Merry— ADHDDDDDDDDD. and look ik Tolkien said pipeweed is just tobacco but that’s a lie and we all know it, right? right. self-medicating with pipeweed.

Pippin— neurotypical but Pippin-flavored

[astrovian]

Amy Hubbard, UK Casting Director for The Hobbit trilogy on Richard Armitage's portrayl of Thorin Oakenshield

What Richard does in the film - playing northern English, speaking in a voice register lower than his own, and playing a noble leader of thirteen - is one of the most committed performances I've ever seen. He chose to stay in character on set, which is only sensible given the transformation he was making. I know he won't mind me saying that Peter saw potential in Richard that hadn't been fully exploited before. Richard was due to appear in another season of Strike Back for Sky. He turned down that opportunity to make himself available to The Hobbit. His commitment to the films, pulling out of a sure-fire job for the chance of appearing in a project that was 90% likely to go into production, but wasn't 100% green lit at the point of casting him, was an inspiration to all of us. And, I believe it was a much needed boost to the filmmakers' morale during a marathon casting process. He's a hero on screen and in life. Other actors made similar sacrifices, but Richard made this one very early in the casting process.

[gemini-care-barr]

For Barry and Hal-

What fandoms or franchises do you think they are in or follow? Could be podcast related, Reddit forums they are a part of, movie sequels or trilogies or novels!

Definitely something that should be mentioned more in canon comics so let’s use this as a manifesting moment by detailing it out 🤭

Right off the bat, I have to make it clear to absolutely everyone that Barry is 100% a Trekkie and Hal is most likely a Star Wars fan. And while we’re on the most heated sci-fi debate, I’ll add that once Hal and Barry became friends and Barry learned more about the Green Lantern Corps he undoubtedly introduced Hal to Star Trek and successfully convinced him that it was the superior sci-fi franchise, we stan two Trekkies 😜

Now then, I don’t think Hal would be very into book series or fantasy in general but he’d definitely have a particular interest in the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings trilogy and I think he’d try Game of Thrones and The Witcher because of everyone’s recommendations but would probably not like it very much. He’s the noble-type though and would be pretty easily convinced to read the Lord of the Rings books (including the Hobbit and Silmarillion) because of the nobility of the characters and story. Same reasoning goes for Donita K. Paul’s DragonSpell series. He’d also probably be into the writings of Henry David Thoreau, Ernest Hemingway, and Raymond Carver, not hugely into them necessarily but if he was super bored and he had access to their stuff he’d dig it haha. His favorite poem would also probably be Tennyson’s In Memoriam A.H.H.. I don’t see him being too into podcasts, but he’d definitely like rock bands like Foreigner and AC/DC. He’s also definitely into movies more so than tv shows and would love movies like The Right Stuff, Top Gun, Braveheart, The Patriot, John Wick, most blockbusters classics really, and probably anything with Bruce Lee haha. He’d probably think anime/manga was for nerds until someone pointed out that Dragon Ball Z was, in fact, an anime then he’d realize they can be pretty cool hahaha. And with video games, I’d say he absolutely doesn’t have the patience for long form RPGs but can probably be convinced to play some FPSs with friends like Call of Duty and Halo lol. Basically, this was a long way of saying that Hal is probably more sporty, not in an obsessive fan of sports way, mind you, just that he participated in mostly sports growing up and even as an adult probably prefers hanging out playing baseball with kids (Adams’ GL run has an adorable scene of just that) rather than watching/reading/listening to anything so essentially he’s just not very media-obsessed; he’s a doer! He also probably wouldn’t participate in the fandoms of any of the media he does consume because he cares more about engaging with the media itself rather than about others’ thoughts and feelings on it haha.

Onto Barry, honestly, Barry is kind of tougher for me to figure out purely because I feel like he and I are very similar so I’m inclined to list basically all my favorite things and my thought processes haha, but I’ll try to avoid doing that 😝. So, like I said, Barry is definitely a Trekkie, the Federation’s belief in preserving alien lives and lifestyles plus its dedication to exploration and science all appeals to his inner nerd. He probably loves the shows For All Mankind, The X-Files, and Bones because of their science-y natures (he definitely introduced Hal to For All Mankind and it’s one of the shows they watch together haha). We all know he’s a huge comic book fan (shout-out to Pre-Crisis that had him reading Golden Age Flash comics 😜), but I’ll also add that I think this love of Golden Age Flash, thanks to his mom, would have led to his own love of Greek and Roman mythology once he realized where the idea for Jay Garrick’s helmet and shoes came from! A love of mythology would eventually lead to a love of ancient western philosophy and writings then to Medieval romances like the Arthurian legends and the works of Chaucer. Old English stuff would’ve crept in there too starting with Beowulf. He was an old soul from a young age so all these things would’ve caught his eye on trips to the library and the old-fashioned romantic notions and chivalry has definitely stayed with him. All this appreciation for much older works would then slingshot back around to him loving and appreciating more modern works that took heavy inspiration from all this older literature like The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings, the Percy Jackson series, the Harry Potter series, the Codex Alera, and the Dresden Files, oh and all the detective novels, just all, from Doyle, Christie, Poe, Hammett, etc. then when he found foreign detective fiction he’d go mental and just read them all haha. He’d also probably read the Remo Williams and Jack Reacher book series and convince Hal to do the same! I’d say he’s also into old movies and classic tv shows because they all make him feel good with their sweet morals and happy endings. He’s probably not much of a gamer except for the ones with good stories, he’s too interested in learning new things to just watch someone else play though, if a game’s story interests him then he’s definitely playing it himself. Mass Effect is probably one of his secret favorites. He’s super into podcasts, anything informational and/or scientific, probably conspiratorial and/or true crime stuff, too, if for nothing else than to help him get inspiration on how to approach his own cases, he may even try and solve some cold cases that he hears about (he’d probably stumble across Black Box Down then convince Hal to listen with him haha). He definitely grew up with both the Pokémon TCG and show and was actually aware that it was an anime so is likewise somewhat into other very popular anime/manga like Naruto. Music would be jazz (he’d try and fail to get Hal into it, too, see: New 52 Flash’s Annual #2), 60s rock like the Beatles and the Monkees, and probably 80s pop like the Culture Club, oh and Air Supply (which is also Hal’s guilty pleasure band hehe). He likes sports a lot, both playing and watching, but was still more likely to be found reading/watching/listening to something rather than playing; still, the same way Hal can be convinced to play a video game in order to hangout with friends, Barry can be easily convinced to join in some sporty endeavors if it’ll mean bonding with a friend or loved one. Finally, like Hal, I don’t see him engaging too much with fandoms, he’d probably try when he was younger but wouldn’t find too many people who were into the same things then when he did find people things would devolve into arguments instead of just joy for whatever the thing was so he eventually would resign himself to just enjoying the thing itself, our Barry is a soft boy 🥹. He likes discussion though so once he found people who were his safe space they wouldn’t be able to get him to shut up hahaha.

…I …I can’t believe I wrote this much ahahah 😅. I swear I wasn’t going to get this involved! I was just going to name a few popular franchises that each would be into, but then I started thinking about mediums and how they’d appreciate different ones and then… all this came out lmao 😅😂. I apologize for the long walls of text! Just remember: this is your fault 😜

(Note: forgot to say, Barry would 100% be into Jurassic Park (books and movies) and would convince Hal to read the books (he definitely already watched and loved the movies)!