#and saying that frodo is useless

[emyn-arnens]

A moment of appreciation for Frodo, who

accepts guardianship of the Ring, no matter what it may do to him

undertakes the journey to Rivendell because he knows that as long as the Ring is in his possession, he is a danger to the Shire and everyone he cares about

believes that he will not return from his journey like Bilbo did

wonders where he will find his courage when he needs it

wishes to not take his friends with him into peril and wants to shoulder the burden alone and prevent his friends from suffering with him

hides the pain he feels from the Witch-king's wound from his friends so that he does not worry them

steps forward to take the Ring to Mordor even though he is filled with dread and does not know the way

plans at Amon Hen to go alone to Mordor so that he does not endanger the fellowship further

perseveres on the journey to Mordor, even though the weight of the Ring increases until he feels as if it is dragging him down

pushes forward even though every step toward Mordor he struggles against the power of Sauron’s will and feels it laying bare everything around him

presses through his despair because he must complete his task

feels the presence of the Ring in his mind at all times during the trek across Mordor

believes he will die before ever reaching Mount Doom but is resolved to continue as long as he can, though he has no hope left that he will succeed

never recovers from the Witch-king's wound and falls ill each anniversary of the night on Weathertop and each anniversary of the Ring's destruction

returns to the Shire but cannot find rest or healing there because he has been too deeply changed by his journey and by the torment and wounds he has suffered

[shiveringsoldier]

Thinking again about how stupid and infuriating the whole "Frodo is completely useless" thing is and like. Even as a nine-year-old child I easily recognized Frodo's remarkable strength and courage as the Ring-bearer. If a nine-year-old can see that, the adults who can't have no fucking excuse.

[sillylotrpolls]

(Relevant text below the poll)

Inspired by this post by @roselightfairy and replies by @herrhasen, @enide-s-dear, @unnamedelement, @dragonfirez, and @carlandrea.

If you'd like to refresh your memory of the Fellowship at its bitchiest (and Boromir at his best), the relevant text is below the cut.

Excerpted from The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, Chapter 3: The Ring Goes South

Gimli looked up and shook his head. 'Caradhras has not forgiven us.' he said. 'He has more snow yet to fling at us, if we go on. The sooner we go back and down the better.'

To this all agreed, but their retreat was now difficult. It might well prove impossible. Only a few paces from the ashes of their fire the snow lay many feet deep, higher than the heads of the hobbits; in places it had been scooped and piled by the wind into great drifts against the cliff.

'If Gandalf would go before us with a bright flame, he might melt a path for you,' said Legolas. The storm had troubled him little, and he alone of the Company remained still light of heart.

'If Elves could fly over mountains, they might fetch the Sun to save us,' answered Gandalf. 'But I must have something to work on. I cannot burn snow.'

'Well,' said Boromir, 'when heads are at a loss bodies must serve, as we say in my country. The strongest of us must seek a way. See! Though all is now snow-clad, our path, as we came up, turned about that shoulder of rock down yonder. It was there that the snow first began to burden us. If we could reach that point, maybe it would prove easier beyond. It is no more than a furlong off, I guess.'

'Then let us force a path thither, you and I!' said Aragorn.

Aragorn was the tallest of the Company, but Boromir, little less in height, was broader and heavier in build. He led the way, and Aragorn followed him. Slowly they moved off, and were soon toiling heavily. In places the snow was breast-high, and often Boromir seemed to be swimming or burrowing with his great arms rather than walking.

Legolas watched them for a while with a smile upon his lips, and then he turned to the others. 'The strongest must seek a way, say you? But I say: let a ploughman plough, but choose an otter for swimming, and for running light over grass and leaf or over snow-an Elf.'

With that he sprang forth nimbly, and then Frodo noticed as if for the first time, though he had long known it, that the Elf had no boots, but wore only light shoes, as he always did, and his feet made little imprint in the snow.

'Farewell!' he said to Gandalf. 'I go to find the Sun!' Then swift as a runner over firm sand he shot away, and quickly overtaking the toiling men, with a wave of his hand he passed them, and sped into the distance, and vanished round the rocky turn.

The others waited huddled together, watching until Boromir and Aragorn dwindled into black specks in the whiteness. At length they too passed from sight. The time dragged on. The clouds lowered, and now a few flakes of snow came curling down again.

An hour, maybe, went by, though it seemed far longer, and then at last they saw Legolas coming back. At the same time Boromir and Aragorn reappeared round the bend far behind him and came labouring up the slope.

'Well,' cried Legolas as he ran up, 'I have not brought the Sun. She is walking in the blue fields of the South, and a little wreath of snow on this Redhorn hillock troubles her not at all. But I have brought back a gleam of good hope for those who are doomed to go on feet. There is the greatest winddrift of all just beyond the turn, and there our Strong Men were almost buried. They despaired, until I returned and told them that the drift was little wider than a wall. And on the other side the snow suddenly grows less, while further down it is no more than a white coverlet to cool a hobbit's toes.'

'Ah, it is as I said,' growled Gimli. 'It was no ordinary storm. It is the ill will of Caradhras. He does not love Elves and Dwarves, and that drift was laid to cut off our escape.'

'But happily your Caradhras has forgotten that you have Men with you,' said Boromir, who came up at that moment. 'And doughty Men too, if I may say it; though lesser men with spades might have served you better. Still, we have thrust a lane through the drift; and for that all here may be grateful who cannot run as light as Elves.'

'But how are we to get down there, even if you have cut through the drift?' said Pippin, voicing the thought of all the hobbits.

'Have hope!' said Boromir. 'I am weary, but I still have some strength left, and Aragorn too. We will bear the little folk. The others no doubt will make shift to tread the path behind us. Come, Master Peregrin! I will begin with you.'

He lifted up the hobbit. 'Cling to my back! I shall need my arms' he said and strode forward. Aragorn with Merry came behind. Pippin marvelled at his strength, seeing the passage that he had already forced with no other tool than his great limbs. Even now, burdened as he was, he was widening the track for those who followed, thrusting the snow aside as he went.

They came at length to the great drift. It was flung across the mountainpath like a sheer and sudden wall, and its crest, sharp as if shaped with knives, reared up more than twice the height of Boromir; but through the middle a passage had been beaten, rising and falling like a bridge. On the far side Merry and Pippin were set down, and there they waited with Legolas for the rest of the Company to arrive.

After a while Boromir returned carrying Sam. Behind in the narrow but now well-trodden track came Gandalf, leading Bill with Gimli perched among the baggage. Last came Aragorn carrying Frodo. They passed through the lane; but hardly had Frodo touched the ground when with a deep rumble there rolled down a fall of stones and slithering snow. The spray of it half blinded the Company as they crouched against the cliff, and when the air cleared again they saw that the path was blocked behind them.

'Enough, enough!' cried Gimli. 'We are departing as quickly as we may!'

And indeed with that last stroke the malice of the mountain seemed to be expended, as if Caradhras was satisfied that the invaders had been beaten off and would not dare to return. The threat of snow lifted; the clouds began to break and the light grew broader.

As Legolas had reported, they found that the snow became steadily more shallow as they went down, so that even the hobbits could trudge along. Soon they all stood once more on the flat shelf at the head of the steep slope where they had felt the first flakes of snow the night before.

[roselightfairy]

How is it that I have read these books so many times and only now do I recognize the narrative parallel of Sam having a conversation with himself while Frodo sleeps, in which he argues down the "internal voice" urging him to give up and saying it's all useless, just as he overheard Gollum having a conversation with himself a couple of weeks before? And this after they've cast off everything but what they can't possibly leave behind - after Sam leaves behind that last bit of domesticity he has let himself keep carrying in the form of his pans - slowly shedding all those trappings of "civilization" that keep them distinct from Gollum?

I feel like there might also be some symbolism here in that Gollum has so often been associated with water - fish and slime and dark damp caves - and Sam is depriving himself of water on this dry, fiery road to the Ring's destruction. He's giving it all to Frodo - and denying to himself - the vitality that maybe Gollum leaned into in some kind of subconscious attempt to replace the vitality that the Ring was sucking away from him? Frodo is being stripped of his very self, and Sam is not far behind, stripping away all the things that make him what he is.

I also don't think I noticed that Sam is also carrying Frodo's phial for him here. I was going to say that it must be significant that the two things they keep with him are the things that will symbolize their ultimate healing (Frodo the light beyond the world; Sam the soil that roots him to this one), but the fact that Sam is also carrying that light for Frodo is even more tender and meaningful, somehow. Maybe the light would hurt Frodo at this point, the way that the elves' gifts hurt Gollum, but Sam is holding onto it for him because he believes that that light will return to Frodo. Frodo can't see anything for himself, any light beyond that wheel of fire, but Sam is holding onto it for him, holding his - well, not humanity, but you know - and Sam is himself the roots that will keep Frodo going for as long as he does. It can't be forever, maybe, but - just like his resistance to the Ring - it will be just for long enough.

Wow I love these books so much.

[mynameisaury]

So today I read a comment on instagram in which somebody said that everything in LOTR could have been done also without Frodo and that he was useless. I wanted to answer “fuck u” but I don’t want to spread hate and so I prefer answering gently to all those who share the same opinion about this. Clearly they haven’t read the books and if they watched the movies they did it superficially. Those who are really passionate about this story can’t hate Frodo. He may not be your favorite character but you can’t really dislike him if you understood the meaning of movies/books. Whether you want it or not Frodo destroyed himself to save Middle Earth this is why I get so angry when people say he’s useless in the story.

[ironmandeficiency]

modern lotr character headcanons

characters included: aragorn, boromir, gimli, legolas, pippin, merry, frodo, sam, arwen, eomer, eowyn

word count: 745

summary: random thoughts abt lotr characters if they lived in modern times

a/n: this is literally just silly shit, enjoy

boromir listens to old country (conway twitty, george jones, loretta lynn, etc.) and does not tolerate anyone insulting the opry legends

he also listens to divorced dad rock (hinder, nickelback, theory of a dead man, etc.) which gimli will sometimes jam to as well

gimli lovingly maintains an old-as-dirt bench seat ford truck despite there almost constantly being something wrong with it. ignores legolas’s badgering about him getting something more reliable

obviously legolas drives a hybrid and he almost acts as if this fact makes him better than gimli (not in a dickish way, though)

horse girl aragorn.

frodo is the epitome of shy emo boy with the black skinny jeans & death cab for cutie playing in his air pods

merry is the golden retriever in the “golden retriever in love with the black cat” trope 

aragorn and arwen host game nights and various other parties for their friends, but neither of them can cook so they just order delivery (or sam hijacks their kitchen for the hours before)

pippin has a large follower base on social media bc of his drinking songs and other inebriated antics that are usually recorded by whoever happens to be with him that night. usually it’s eowyn & merry, and the three of them will shake some major ass to megan thee stallion

sam goes to open mic nights at local coffee shops to people watch. he will never perform himself, but it’s nice to watch people he knows do their thing

eomer accidentally goes viral on tiktok when eowyn records him doing some dumb shit. never lives it down

the amount of joy gimli gets from going to rage rooms is almost alarming

arwen has a very thorough skin care regimen that she introduces to aragorn, and it becomes a sweet nightly routine for the two of them

eowyn & eomer don’t allow anyone to talk shit about or annoy the other bc that’s their job fuck you very much

frodo has a shitty immune system but sam’s homemade soups seem to always heal from the soul outward

sam is the little spoon favored by the resident neurodivergent

frodo is the resident neurodivergent

yes they’re dating

arwen is always the dd

when it comes to birthdays, don’t ask boromir to remember anyone but faramir’s. hell, he forgets his own birthday sometimes

legolas is the best at remembering the birthdays of his friends but forgets his own

they have to remind each other of their own birthdays when that time of year comes around

merry is always the favorite audience member at a drag show

arwen & eowyn never dress like they’re going to the same place when they hang out

gimli says southern grandpa idioms unironically — “as useless as a screen door on a submarine”, “higher than eagle titties”, “busier than a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest”, you get the idea. merry keeps a running tab of said quotes

boromir is the “we’re not getting a dog” dad. said dog ends up being his best friend & the sole inheritor in his will, fuck them kids

aragorn & gimli have their own moonshine still they think is perfectly hidden from everyone

that does not include merry & pippin, who are booze bloodhounds and immediately knew where to find it but swore to secrecy as long as they got more than everyone else

frodo sips fruity little drinks because he can’t shoot whiskey

sam can drink in the way only a divorced middle-age man can despite not being a divorced middle-aged man

eowyn cannot drive for shit & the several dents on her car prove it. the only reason her insurance hasn’t gone up astronomically is because she just. doesn’t report any of it

said car has a fuck ton of bumper stickers with all sorts of silly things

gimli can’t ride a bike AT ALL but has a motorcycle, make it make sense

he goes on bike rides with eomer when they have the time & the weather is nice

merry & pippin are two halves of a whole idiot at every given moment

eomer LOVES 90s and 00s country music but is kinda picky about newer country (he is a massive fan of cody johnson but will throw you through a wall if you talk about morgan wallen in his presence)

arwen dances in the rain & literally never gets sick from it. merry is insanely jealous of this fact

frodo’s favorite video game is animal crossing: new horizons & has very sound opinions on what villagers are the best (fuck you, rodney)

[physalian]

Evil MacGuffins (Or an excuse to gush about Lord of the Rings)

It’s kind of crazy how so much of Tolkien’s worldbuilding has defined fantasy. The default for Elves and Dwarves, fantasy kingdoms, character archetypes, themes, and motifs come from Tolkien’s works.

But you know what’s rarely ever redone in modern fantasy? The One Ring. Probably because works piggybacking off the success of their predecessors rarely understand the themes of what made the original so legendary *cough* teen dystopia *cough*.

So—the One Ring.

Addressing the infamous Eagles “plot hole” once again for any stragglers who still think *gotcha* for this masterpiece: 1) The Eagles were busy. 2) The Eagles are not subtle at all and this mission required absolute stealth, because the one place the One Ring can be destroyed is in Sauron’s house, thus the closer they get to destroying it, the closer Sauron gets to just reaching out and taking it. 3) There were 9 Nazgul and Fellbeasts in the way. 4) The Eagles are basically gods, second only to the actual gods of the world. This makes them deeply inadvisable to go anywhere near the One Ring.

Why? Yes the Ring gives you some random powers like invisibility and slower aging but its purpose is temptation and political power. As you can see in the movie’s prologue, all the Rings of Power were subservient to Sauron’s master ring, the One Ring, to bend to his will… to varying degrees of success.

The power of the One Ring is proportional to the power of its wielder, giving you social and political influence over all your followers. So if you’re, say, a king of men, and you become Sauron’s minion, you’re going to lead your kingdom to ruin doing his bidding whether you realize you’re doing it or not. If you have no political or social power, like, say a hobbit? The Ring doesn’t have much use for you and you, seeing no benefit to world domination, are more resistant to its beguiling.

All this to say: The story makes it very clear that Frodo has to be the ring-bearer because he’s impervious to the Ring’s wiles. Anyone more competent, like Aragorn or Legolas, or Gandalf, are more susceptible to its power. The more power you have, the more destruction you will wreak under the Ring’s influence, and everyone bends to the Ring’s will eventually, no matter how good your intentions.

Eagles are great. Evil Eagles would be very, very bad.

Gandalf is great. Evil Gandalf looks like Saruman, and we all saw how that went.

That is a built-in plot armor I never see in modern fiction—Why?

—

One of the many messages of LOTR is not “good always triumphs” but instead “evil always loses”. The difference being here that it’s not necessarily the Power of Friendship that defeats evil, it’s evil’s selfish and self-sabotaging nature that eats itself to its own demise.

Example: Neither Frodo nor Sam strike the killing blow on Gollum. Gollum falls fighting Frodo for the Ring and can't let go of it to save himself. The Power of Friendship saves Frodo, but it doesn't destroy the Ring.

The One Ring is a MacGuffin like no other in that it’s not just a cool inanimate and useless object that only holds meaning to the characters that want it—the Ring is its own character enticing all these people to lust after it and fall on their own swords doing so.

Obviously, if you find the enemy’s magic weapon in your possession, you’re going to want to use it against them, which is exactly Boromir’s argument. Any other story and you’d have a difficult time justifying why your characters wouldn’t seize this golden opportunity. In this story, by the weapon’s very nature, trying to use it is exactly what it, and its creator, wants.

The point of the Ring, and at least my interpretation of its meaning, is this: When you’re going up against the evil and corrupt, you cannot let yourself become corrupted trying to defeat it, or else the cycle will never be broken. Or, “Hate can­not dri­ve out hate; only love can do that.”

I almost wish we had seen it seriously tempt the more powerful characters—like seeing Aragorn forced to use it in an emergency the way Frodo does several times. See what it does to him and how hard it is to resist this beguiling weapon’s siren song.

“Evil weapon is super conveniently powerful and would solve all our problems but alas, it has some nasty side effects” has been done before, frequently in anime. Usually, though, that weapon isn’t the centerpiece of the story. It’s the edgy side-character’s Hail Mary when things have gone Very Wrong.

—

Most LOTR copycats focus on the cool species and the magical lands and the magic systems and a generically evil villain who wants world domination. Yes, Sauron is, by modern standards, pretty one-note. He wants to rule the world. Why? Because he’s Evil and Prideful. There’s nothing wrong with a pure-evil villain, they can be highly entertaining without angst dragging them down.

However, Pure Evil villains work best when either they’re incredibly charismatic, like Disney Renaissance villains, or they’re just the face of the metaphor. Ozai from ATLA does not need character development, Netflix. He may be the face of the Fire Nation, but it’s his regime and this one element’s unbalanced crusade for world domination that’s the “villain”.

Sauron isn’t even a giant, corporeal eye in the book. He’s just this disembodied entity represented by the eye in visions. His influence and how it motivates legions of orcs, humans, and anyone else tempted by power, is the “villain”.

The One Ring serves as his thematic proxy. It’s not just a magic ring, it’s a cosmic mousetrap waiting to spring on anyone proud enough to think they can overcome it.

And I just never see that in modern fantasy.

—

TLDR; There is no MacGuffin quite like the One Ring and no, the Eagles aren’t a lazy or forgotten deus ex machina. When you’re coming up with your heroes and villains in fantasy and sci-fi, consider something like the Ring as this double-edged sword that has everyone gunning for it either unknowing that it’s exactly what the villain wants, or too proud to think they can fall victim to it.

[frodo-with-glasses]

Ah, now here’s one I’ve been looking forward to discussing. Lord of the Rings has a strange relationship with hope. Before I began this read-through, I would have told you that hope is at the core of LotR: hope that the war will end, hope that light will triumph over darkness, hope that “there’s some good in this world, Mister Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for”. I would have told you that it’s an innately cheerful, optimistic story, though it gets dark at times.

But over this past year, as I’ve reread this book with the eyes of an adult, I’ve begun to realize it’s more complicated than that.

Lord of the Rings is not a story about hope. It’s a story about what you do without hope. It’s a story about when your spirit is utterly defeated, and your prospects are grim, and both the best and the worst possible outcomes look shockingly alike, and yet you keep walking anyway. It’s not a story of blind, naive optimism, of sitting back and dreaming about a better about-to-be. It’s a story of weighing the facts with a clear mind, of realizing that there’s no way in hell this works out well for you, and of doggedly moving your grain of sand to tip those massive scales anyway, because the only other option would be to sit back and let the world burn.

I feel like that rings truer to the human condition, really. After all, what good is it in the end to be kind and generous and courageous; what good is it to waste our short lives trying to make this awful world a better place? For every one human being trying to be a good person, there are hundreds more who are selfish, cruel, exploitative, greedy, twisted, and wicked. For every good deed done on this planet, there are hundreds more murders and abuses and horrors. One day, you will die, and at some point, everyone who knew you will be dead. There will come a day when you will be utterly forgotten. No one will remember you. No one will remember what you did. No one will remember if you made a difference, if you tried to make the world a better place. And let’s be honest; you won’t. No matter what light you managed to throw into the world while you were alive, this awful cosmos will generate enough pain and misery to overshadow it, eventually. When you’re gone, the world will be just as bad as it always was. Always has been. Always will be.

What good is it to go on loving someone when the diagnosis is terminal—when the medicine doesn’t work—when the sickness in their head has locked the person you love behind an unbreakable concrete wall? What good is it to stand for what you believe in when it’s not popular anymore—when friends and family turn their backs and reject you—when those who gave you praise and encouragement now insult you and curse you and spit on your face? What good is it to love when your heart is broken, be kind when your skin is mottled with bruises, be brave when your back is bent and your arms are weary under the weight of it all? What good is it to cast your little candle light when all the wind in the world tries to blow it out? Why be good? Why be selfless? Why sacrifice so much, when you lose so much more than you gain?

In that moment, there’s only one answer. And it’s not hope. It’s not optimism. It’s some strange defiance, some visceral fire that roars in the chest and aches in the bones.

“I will be light,” it cries. “I will defy you,” it howls. “I will push back with the last of my strength, though you crush me down,” it screams. “Because if I am not light, I am darkness, and I cannot, I will not, I refuse; let me die with my knees unbowed and my head held high; I WILL NEVER SURRENDER”

There are many instances in the book that speak to this point—Aragorn himself says something along the lines of “we must do without hope for the moment”—but to me, nothing better encapsulates this strange spirit of hopeless defiance than this moment with Sam Gamgee.

“Sam said nothing. The look on Frodo’s face was enough for him; he knew that words of his were useless. And after all he never had any real hope in the affair from the beginning; but being a cheerful hobbit he had not needed hope, as long as despair could be postponed. Now they were come to the bitter end. But he had stuck to his master all the way; that was what he had chiefly come for, and he would still stick to him. His master would not go to Mordor alone. Sam would go with him.”

Sam would go with him. Not “we will win”. Not “I believe in us”. Just “he will go, and I will go with him, whether this ends in (improbable) victory or (more probable) a horrible, horrible death”. It’s not that Sam’s hope began to fail here; it’s that he never had much hope to begin with, but he went with it anyway, and it’s only his cheerful disposition in the face of near certain disaster that ever began to flag. Holy cow.

Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but when the first two fail, love is the unkillable cockroach of all the virtues and will survive the nuclear winter of utter despair and grow wings and fly buzzing right up into your face just to spite you.

Now, of course Lord of the Rings does not simply leave us with the tragedy of a futile fight against the darkness. This story has a happy ending. And I’m glad it does, because sometimes, there are happy endings. Sometimes sicknesses are cured, families are restored, and old scars are healed and begin to fade. Sometimes loved ones emerge from the prison of their own minds and return to you—wiser, more melancholy, but still themselves—and you discover that the bond is deeper, the smiles sweeter, the laughter richer, and the love galvanized into something stronger than it ever would have been. Sometimes there are happy endings, and it’s not wrong to want them. It’s not wrong to have hope.

But Lord of the Rings lets us linger in that moment of hopeless defiance, because it offers an odd sort of comfort of a totally different kind.

“Lost all hope, did you?” it whispers. “It’s all right. So did Frodo, and Aragorn, and Gandalf, and Sam. But you see, they kept fighting anyway, with hope or without it, and that’s what made them heroes. Oh, you might still have your happy ending, someday, and it might come in ways you don’t expect. It is also equally likely that nothing will get better, and it will actually get much worse, and you shall die. But do keep fighting. Do keep walking. One foot in front of the other. If you do nothing, the worst will definitely come to pass; but if you fight, it just might not. So if we shall win, let’s not be embarrassed by our cowardice when that happy ending comes; and if we shall lose, let’s not go down without a fight.”

Perhaps, paradoxically, that’s what makes Lord of the Rings the most hopeful story of all. Because this is the story that whispers, “Remember, when all hope is gone…

“It isn’t.”

WORD ASK GAME!

[achillyscomedown]

lotr (+ 1 hobbit) quotes def not stolen from brooklyn nine nine

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thorin: you think you can just bully people, but you can’t. it’s not okay. i’m the bully around here, ask anyone.

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merry: the only thing i’m not good at is modesty, because I’m great at it.

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gimli: i’ve only said ‘i love you’ to three people. my mom, my dad, and my dying grandpa. and one of those I regret.

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pippin: i’m not totally useless. i can be used as a bad example :D

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frodo: i wasn’t hurt that bad - they said all my bleeding was internal. that’s where the blood’s supposed to be!

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legolas: you don’t dance with the devil because you’ll get burned. or in gimli’s case because he has no rhythm and his hands are like little rat claws.

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gandalf, while smoking pipe-weed: the english language cannot fully capture the depth and complexity of my thoughts so i’m incorporating emoji into my speech to better express myself. winky face. wizard hat. peace sign.

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sam: my nana always said ‘bad news first because the good news is probably a lie’. fun fact: she made me cry a lot.

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aragorn: i’m fine at parties, i just stand in the middle of the room and don’t say anything.

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gandalf giving a super detailed and thought out plan:

pippin: sir, with all due respect, i am gonna completely ignore everything you just said-

—————————————————————————

boromir recounting how he’d broken the barrier between man and hobbit and how him and the four were now good friends: i appealed to their sense of teamwork and camaraderie and love of food with a rousing speech that would put even elrond to shame.

aragorn who’d heard the hobbits laughing about the speech just minutes earlier: :D

[velvet4510]

Maybe this is an inadequate comparison, but I find these two characters’ situations to be similar enough to warrant mentioning.

Think of the iconic finger-pricking scene from Sleeping Beauty - we all know it. It is quite clear that Maleficent is violating Aurora’s free will. Aurora is not in control of her own mind; Maleficent hypnotizes her. Aurora does not want to prick her finger; Maleficent forces her to do it. And as an ordinary girl with no powers of her own, she has no chance of adequately fighting back against Maleficent’s magic. Yet even in that scene, we see her inner strength. The fairies yell “don’t touch anything!” and not only does Aurora hear them, she actually moves her hand back in obedience. Then Maleficent reiterates “touch the spindle” and overpowers her will once more. And as far as I’ve read and heard, everyone who watches the film understands this. I’ve never heard any blame thrown at Aurora (though I’m sure it’s been done sometime by some ignorant viewers). Everyone understands that this isn’t her fault, that she tried her best to resist but didn’t have a chance. She gains our sympathy, not our contempt or scorn.

So why can’t everybody extend Frodo Baggins the same courtesy? Maleficent’s indomitable power over Aurora is made clear in only one scene, but the Ring’s indomitable power over Frodo is made clear throughout an entire book / three entire movies. And Frodo’s strength is made even clearer … for 6 months straight, while walking thousands of miles on foot, he still resists it and fights it all the way into Mordor, all the way into the one place where the Ring would be in danger. And yet … some people still blame Frodo for being ultimately unable to defeat the Ring’s will in Mt. Doom?! They still say it’s his fault?! They still say he was weak and useless?! One reviewer actually wrote and printed that he “should’ve been executed in Gondor” for not destroying the Ring himself?!

What is WRONG with people?!!! Aurora and Frodo’s situations are pretty much the exact same - the only difference is that Frodo had it EVEN WORSE than Aurora. Wake up and smell the coffee, for heaven’s sake!!

I can’t believe there still exists a need for this point to be made. Yet I once again stumbled across words of Frodo hate and felt I had to put this out there.

[andiwriteordie]

omg??? congrats!! so well deserved <3

hmm. what abt wheelclair friendship where Mike has his “oh” moment while Lucas is talking abt how he feels abt Max? maybe they have a chat abt it? I j love them <3 ;__;

ahh!! hi, thank you so so much!

i got carried away with this one, WOOPSIE. can you tell i love wheelclair friendship? like HELLO I LOVE THEM.

hope you enjoy! (also. highly recommend listening to this song it is very byler coded!)

—

wherever i'm going, i'm going with you

Today’s Mike’s day to sit at the hospital with Lucas and Max.

It’s been nearly six months now that Max has been in a coma—nearly six months since Vecna nearly killed her and ripped open the gates in Hawkins. Nearly six months since the Upside Down first began bleeding into Hawkins and nearly six months Will’s nightmares, caused by his growing connection to Vecna, first began. 

It’s been nearly six months, there’s no end in sight, and Mike feels completely useless.

Seriously. There’s nothing that he can do right now—nothing that any of them can do but sit and wait until Vecna strikes. The only good thing about Will’s connection to this asshole is the fact that they can somewhat monitor him as well and at least get a basic understanding of what Vecna’s state is. He’s still injured, according to Will. He’s not in any condition to strike and to come after them again.

So, now… all they can do is wait.

Talk about the world’s slowest apocalypse. 

In the meantime, Mike tries to keep himself busy. Things… don’t really go back to normal, but he tries to find normalcy in any way that he can. He goes to the makeshift shelters often and volunteers with Dustin, Steve, Robin, and Robin’s friend, Vicki. Will tags along sometimes, but a lot of days, he’s exhausted from being unable to sleep well at night, so Joyce makes him stay at home more often than not.

(Will hates it, but he doesn’t ever say anything to Joyce about it. Instead, he rants to Mike about it on the nights when neither of them can sleep—sharing his thoughts about how this type of thing makes him feel so pathetic and like his life will never be normal. Like… like he’ll always be different because of what has happened to him.

His words feel hauntingly familiar, and some night, after Will does manage to fall asleep, Mike finds himself staring up at the painting that had been gifted to him just six months ago.

He doesn’t dare fall down that rabbit hole though, lest… lest he find himself with many, many questions he doesn’t wanna deal with.)

On top of going to the shelter, the Party also takes turns sitting with Lucas and Max at the hospital. They have a schedule planned out, and between the four of them plus Steve and Erica, they always try to make sure Lucas isn’t alone at the hospital. 

He shouldn’t be alone. He shouldn’t. 

And so, that’s exactly why Mike finds himself sitting in the chair opposite from Lucas and listening to him read the newest novel he’d chosen to read to their comatose friend. He’s reading The Two Towers—one of Mike’s personal favorites, actually.

“'Master, dear master!' said Sam, and through a long silence waited, listening in vain,” Lucas reads, and Mike looks up, a pit growing in his stomach.

He knows this scene. Oh God… Mike knows this scene, and judging by the way Lucas’s hands are clenched tightly around his books, he knows it too.

“Then as quickly as he could he cut away the binding cords and laid his head upon Frodo's breast and to his mouth, but no stir of life could he find, nor feel the faintest flutter of the heart,” Lucas reads, his voice getting quieter as he continues the paragraph. “Often he chafed his master's hands and feet, and touched his brow, but all were cold.”

“Lucas,” Mike starts to say, his own voice soft, but his words are lost to the sound of Lucas continuing the passage of the book.

“'Frodo, Mr. Frodo!' he called. 'Don't leave me here alone! It's your Sam calling. Don't go where I can't follow! Wake up, Mr. Frodo! O wake up, Frodo, me dear, me dear. Wake up!’” Lucas reads, and his voice breaks.

The room goes impossibly quiet, and Mike holds his breath, watching his best friend carefully.

He… he doesn’t have the right words to say. It feels like a common problem nowadays. Back when he was younger, Mike always felt like he knew what to say to make his friends feel better. He’s a writer, a storyteller for God’s sake. Words are kind of his things.

But nowadays, he never seems to know what to say to help anyone.

So, Mike just swallows the lump in his throat, and he whispers, “I… I’m so sorry, Lucas.”

It’s the first time he’s said those words aloud, but God, Mike has been thinking them. He’s been thinking about them ever since he first heard about what happened to Max from Dustin. He’s been thinking about these words every single day he’s come and sat with Max and Lucas, and he’s been thinking about these words every night that Will wakes up, breathless and terrified from another nightmarish encounter with the monster tormenting everyone’s lives.

"Don’t go where I can’t follow," Sam had said—desperate and pleading and terrified.

Oh, how Mike knows what that feels like.

And Lucas does too.

Lucas looks up hesitantly. There’s a watery look in his eyes, and he meets Mike’s gaze, before taking a shuddered breath. “I miss her,” he admits, his voice impossibly soft. “God, Mike… you have no idea how much I miss her.”

Though he doesn’t actually say it, Mike knows from talking with Dustin and with Will that Lucas… really hasn’t opened up to anyone. The person who has had the biggest breakthrough with him has been El, but even then, Lucas really has kept most of his pain and grief to himself. 

It feels like bitter irony, considering the fact that this is exactly how Vecna had been able to target Max.

“I know you do,” Mike whispers back. “God… I know, Lucas. And I… I’m so sorry.”

The words don’t feel nearly big enough, and that sucks. But somehow, they must help, because Lucas manages a shaky breath and wipes his arms on his sleeve. 

“I keep thinking about what I could’ve done differently that week, you know,” he confesses, looking down at Max now. “About… how maybe if I’d been just a little faster, or if I’d made one different decision… maybe I could’ve prevented this. Maybe… maybe she’d still be here.”

Mike can’t help but flinch. The lump in the back of his throat grows, and he… he can’t help but think back to his own regrets—ones he’s had all the way back since 1983. An old memory replay over and over again in Mike’s mind—haunting him and reminding him of how his own mistake could’ve prevented so much pain.

“It was a seven.”

���Huh?”

“The roll, it was a seven. The demogorgon… it got me.”

…

“Well, see you tomorrow!”

“I get that,” Mike finally manages to say, and he swallows the lump in his throat. “I… I think I get that.”

For a moment, Lucas is quiet, like he doesn’t know what to say. Then, finally, he murmurs, “Right… I… I bet you would think about that stuff a lot when El was missing that year… after the fight with the demogorgon.”

The words are a gut punch, and Mike’s breath catches.

Why…. God, why hadn’t he been thinking of El? Obviously… obviously, Mike felt guilty about that instance too, but… that hadn’t been his first thought, even though El used to be his girlfriend and everyone still expects them to get back together someday.

But the truth is… El is rarely the first person that Mike thinks about… in any circumstances nowadays.

It’s always Will.

…

Why? something in the back of Mike’s mind wonders, and he can’t help but look at Lucas and Max curiously. There’s a gentle gaze on Lucas’s face, and he reaches up, brushing some of Max’s hair from her face.

Why is it that Mike always thinks about Will? Why is it that Will takes up so much space in Mike’s mind and heart—to the point where Mike had noticed the difference in that year that the two of them barely spoke? Will’s his best friend, sure, but… but so is Lucas. And so is Dustin. But Mike doesn’t think about them this much, and… and he can’t imagine himself doing the same things for Lucas and Dustin that he would for Will.

If Will was ever in Max’s position, Mike knows he would be just like Lucas—faithfully sitting by Will’s side and waiting for him to wake up. Hell, it was only for a couple days, but Mike did that, just a couple years ago when Will was suffering through his possession. Mike would’ve stayed for as long as Will needed him. He knows he would’ve.

But why?

You know why, that voice in the back of Mike’s mind whispers, and Mike’s breath catches as he watches Lucas press a gentle kiss to Max’s forehead. You know why.

…

Oh.

Oh.

…

Oh, shit.

The lump in Mike’s throat grows, and his heart pounds inside his chest as this newfound revelation begins to sink in. Suddenly, it feels as though the blinds have been opened, or like he’s finally seen the light, or like the last piece of the puzzle has finally slotted into place, allowing him to solve the mystery of why things have always been different with Will.

…

Mike is in love with Will.

…

Mike is in love with Will.

Holy fucking shit.

“Lucas,” Mike blurts out, before he can stop himself. His heart continues to beat nervously—thump, thump, thump—and Mike forces himself to take a deep breath… in and out. In and out.

Lucas looks up, a confused expression on his face. “Um… yeah?”

“I… I wasn’t talking about El,” Mike whispers, watching as a confused expression forms on Lucas’s face. “And I… I think I just realized something, and to be completely honest with you, I am freaking out right now, and honest to God, I should just shut up before I say something I regret, and—”

“Mike,” Lucas interrupts sharply, and Mike closes his mouth, still staring at his best friend with wide eyes. “Dude, okay… first of all, breathe. Second of all… what are you talking about? If… if you weren’t talking about El, then who were you…”

His voice trails off. Mike can pinpoint the exact moment that Lucas makes the same realization he did, and Lucas stares at him with wide eyes. “Oh, shit.”

“Yeah, ‘oh shit,’” Mike echoes, the panic still rising in his chest. His face feels like it’s burning up, and he runs a hand through his hair, tugging at the ends. “Lucas, I don’t… what do I… I’m not supposed to…”

The words fall flat again, and as tears sting Mike’s eyes, he looks away, lest Lucas see him cry over this. Fuck. This is bad. This is bad, and Mike has no idea what he’s going to do here. He’s officially fallen down the rabbit hole, and there’s no turning back now.

“Hey,” Lucas says softly, and Mike looks up, tentatively meeting his best friend’s eyes. “Let’s just… let’s not freak out or anything. I mean… there’s nothing wrong if you do feel that way for Will… but… but let’s just try to figure this out first. Okay? Nobody has to know but you and me.”

“Right, right. You’re right.” Mike takes a deep breath again—in and out. Okay. It’ll be fine. Maybe he’s just overthinking all of this, or… or maybe he’s not. But for better or for worse… this is happening. He’s down the rabbit hole, and he’s dragged poor Lucas in with him. 

“What makes you think that… that you might feel that way for him?” Lucas asks gently. 

It’s a loaded question, but then again, it’s not. It’s really, really not, especially when Mike stops to think about all the moments in his own life—staying by Will’s side through thick and thin and doing anything to make sure that Will is protected and safe and cared for. All those moments… they parallel exactly what Lucas is doing for Max right now. The similarities are undeniable.

Mike glances away from Lucas to look at Max, then back at Lucas again, and with a shuddered breath, he whispers, “Because I’d follow him anywhere, Lucas.”

Just like you’d follow her anywhere.

“Don't leave me here alone,” Sam had cried, in the passage of the book Lucas had just read. “Don’t go where I can’t follow.”

Mike doesn’t have to say anything else.

Because better than anyone else in the world, Lucas gets it.

[fullyarmoredbattlesturgeon]

Wait was Tolkien actually an anarchist? That's so cool, I noticed a lot of anarchist themes in his work, especially with The Shire and such, but I never knew he himself held those beliefs and stances.

i mean, kind of? he never really liked talking openly about these things.

he reminds me of Aldous Huxley, in a lot of ways, if Huxley was more introverted, obsessed with fantasy and way less forward with his politics. I don't think either directly called what they believed anarchism, but people who have paid close attention to either generally seem to think that, yeah, they were more or less anarchists.

just before he died Huxley wrote a utopian book describing what can only really be understood as an anarchist society that had a vestigial monarchy. it was like he believed in anarchism, but just couldn't let go of the idea of people needing kings, even if he thought that said kings ought to be powerless - which is surprisingly similar the way that Tolkien wrote middle earth: a series of societies that effectively flourishes without hierarchical power, yet still have monarchs (think of the elves, and how while the human lands have monarchs, all those monarchs *really* do is lead armies into battle).

Tolkien isn't technically an anarchist, one could say, but every major story he wrote seems to be obsessed with the evils of power, and how power is explicitly what corrupts man - and how utterly useless all those kings and their armies are in the face of that corruption, because they are fighting something that perfectly embodies all of their wishes and desires.

even frodo, the most humble and down-to-earth character in lotr, just can't let go of the ring, in the end. power's like that. it has to be knocked from his hand, because there *isn't* anyone who is completely capable of letting go like that, no matter how pure and perfect they are. the end of the lotr is very explicitly about how there is *no one* who can justly and fairly hold that kind of power, much less be trusted with it.

So is Tolkien an anarchist? I'm not completely sure, but i think we can let his work speak for itself.

[eupheme]

During your journey through Middle-earth, you stumble upon an old chest filled with old artifacts and treasures. There’s a rumor that each piece holds an echo of blessing from the one who last held it.

👑 - The winged crown, shining silver and inlaid with gold, rests heavy upon your brow. The voice of a kind and just king echos throughout the woods, telling you, “There is always hope.”

💎 - The jewel glitters brightly, and you can’t help but reach out and touch it. “Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.” You hear, spoken by one who was the mightiest and fairest of them all.

🪓 - The pair of dwarven axes call to you - intricately made and well used. The voice that fills the glen is gruff, one of a warrior, “Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.”

💐 - Your fingers brush over the petals of a dried bouquet. “There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo… and it’s worth fighting for.” The words are kindly spoken, by someone more important than they’ll ever know.

🔮 - The crystal orb catches your attention - the stone smooth beneath your touch. The voice that rings out after is warm and old and full of wisdom, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

💍 - The light glitters off a ring, such a small thing. A voice echoes as you slip it on, “It is useless to meet revenge with revenge: it will heal nothing.” Spoken by one who had faced many hardships, and met them with kindness.

📚 - The pile of manuscripts call to you, each lovingly inked and hand-bound, filled with truly incredible stories. The voice is pleasant and good-natured, telling you, "It is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life."

🏹 - A bow fits in your hand, strong and beautifully-crafted. “Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.” The words spoken by an elf-prince, one who found friendships along the journey that were more precious than gold.

[cornerful]

Boromir and Aragorn being Helpful, Practical, and Aware of their Surroundings on Caradhras Appreciation Post

'We cannot go further tonight,' said Boromir. 'Let those call it the wind who will; there are fell voices on the air; and these stones are aimed at us.'

.

'...it is no good going back while the storm holds,' said Aragorn. 'We have passed no place on the way up that offered more shelter than this cliff-wall we are under now.'

.

[Frodo] felt himself shaken, and he came back painfully to wakefulness. Boromir had lifted him off the ground out of a nest of snow.

'This will be the death of the halflings, Gandalf,' said Boromir. 'It is useless to sit here until the snow goes over our heads. We must do something to save ourselves.'

.

'What do you say to fire?' asked Boromir suddenly. 'The choice seems near now between fire and death, Gandalf. Doubtless we shall be hidden from all unfriendly eyes when the snow has covered us, but that will not help us.'

.

Boromir stepped out of the circle and stared up into the blackness. 'The snow is growing less,' he said, 'and the wind is quieter.'

.

"Well,' said Boromir, 'when heads are at a loss bodies must serve, as we say in my country.' (...) 'Then let us force a path thither, you and I!' said Aragorn.

.

'Have hope!' said Boromir. 'I am weary, but I still have some strength left, and Aragorn too. We will bear the little folk. The others no doubt will make shift to tread the path behind us. Come, Master Peregrin! I will begin with you.'

 😊 we all love Elves and Dwarves and Hobbits and Wizards, but where would they be without these two!!

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

*me, shaking people* he wasn’t always as he was when we meet him in the text/film!! That’s the point!! Grima served Theoden in his way (for many years, it’s implied in the book)! He was once a man of Rohan (as Theoden says in the films)!

The point is that he was a clever, capable man who was good at giving advice and riddling and word play who then, for various reasons, was taken in by Saruman and switched sides.

But he wasn’t always evil!

Because nothing and no one in Tolkien is ever inherently evil. everyone always starts as a reasonable, half decent person. Then they make choices, and shit happens, and they end up falling into darkness—but even then, for most of them, hope is never absent.

As Frodo says, it’s useless to meet hatred with hatred. And even when he knew he couldn’t cure Saruman, he still bade the hobbits let him live in the hope he might find it. To Grima Frodo said: You need not follow him. I know of no evil you’ve done to me. Rest here, for a spell, and when you’re stronger you can go your own ways.

Not to mention his name is Gríma son of Galmód and Wormtongue is a kenning which, in Anglo-Saxon (tolkien having based Rohan off the kingdom of Mercia with some Scandinavian elements, also horses), is wyrmtunga—dragon tongue. Means like Grima who is good at riddles. Grima who is good at word play. And so on. Like how dragons are.

Anyway.

[satureja13]

This is the last part of ‘The Story of Jeb’ (two years ago, link leads to chrono)

After he ran away from the laboratory where he failed to rescue the kids that had been held captive there, Francine urged him to come back home. He did - reluctantly. (He was only 16 then and had nowhere else to go anyway...) He refused to live in the house together with the rest of the family, though and moved to the shed and put that bag on his had - he was so ashamed and felt so guilty. (It looks so different from how we know his room almost two years later. After he had met Ji Ho and Giga. So Ji Ho really brought back the light in Jeb’s life, like Jeb confessed to Ji Ho the other day at school.)

Minerva (Ms Coombes) and Francine knew that it was useless to tell him that his actions, as silly as they were, helped to rescue the kids (he never knew that it had been Jack and Giga). In his state he was in then, he might have thought they just tell this to him to make him feel better.

(You possibly experienced this yourself when trying to give advice to a friend - it’s useless until they are ready for it. Frustrating, right?) At the wall behind my psychiatrist’s reception desk is a writing: - change is a door that can only be opened from the inside -

And it was frustrating - the most for Francine. Being so powerful, and at the same time unable to help her grandchild, hit her hard. But she had faith and trusted in destiny, in life and in Jeb. Jeb has it’s own pace to deal with things and he will grow stronger and prosper once he resolved it.

My thoughts on this: I’m sure Frodo would never have thrown the ring into the fires of mount doom if the eagles had flewn him there in the beginning, because else he never had experienced the danger of the ring and why it needs to be destroyed. And Harry had never fought this eagerly for Hogwarts if he never experienced the hell at Dursleys. And Ji Ho had maybe never become a part of the boys life if Ms Coombes had forced them to live together at the Space Bar. (See chapter: -> ‘The Intruder’). Haha and(!) Giga had never grewn fond of that little annoying werewolf!  You’ll never know what the shit you are going through is good for in the end! Therefore some (wise or stupid) people say: I would go through it again - because it lead me here.

So they found together through their experiences and hardships and this glued them together. They just know that they can depend on each other and trust each other. TMI: In the beginning Ms Coombes allowed Ji Ho to sleep in the storage of the school until Jack and Vlad became suspicious and chased after him. While running away Ji Ho stumbled into Giga and he took him to the Space Bar :3

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