#great learning blog

[fandomaddict505]

I DID IT!!!!

I AM FUCKING EMOTIONAL

[anghraine]

I think it's interesting that when Gandalf describes Denethor's ability to "perceive, if he bends his will thither, much of what is passing in the minds of men," he ties it less to his wisdom or general insightfulness (though he possesses both) than to his difference from "other men of this time," his near total Númenóreanness, and as bolded here, the active exercise of his will.

Tolkien also attributes Denethor's resilience against Sauron (by contrast with Saruman) to not only his right to use the Anor-stone, but "great strength of will." He notes that Sauron had no servant with greater mental powers than Saruman or Denethor, and Gandalf remarks that Denethor was "too great" to be subdued to Sauron's will.

Denethor and Gandalf have a strange and unsettling silent confrontation, carried on by their gazes, yet it strikes Pippin as like "a line of smouldering fire" and "as if reading each other's mind." Gandalf afterwards says Pippin was stuck between two "terrible old men," lumping Denethor in with himself. Pippin also sees some kind of kinship between Denethor and Gandalf, as Sam saw between Faramir and Gandalf.

In his letters, Tolkien said that the ancient Númenóreans became barely distinguishable from Elves in appearance and in their powers of mind. In Unfinished Tales, he notes that they loved their horses, and when a Númenórean had a strong bond with a horse, it was said that the horse could be summoned "by thought alone."

In LOTR, Faramir—who has inherited Denethor's Númenóreanness/wizardliness—has a reputation for command over both animals and men. When everyone else is thrown by their horses upon being chased by five Nazgûl, he not only keeps his seat, but mysteriously gets his horse to ride back towards the Nazgûl. And during the retreat across the Pelennor, the soldiers in the city conclude that Faramir must be with the men who are managing to retreat in order, repeating Beregond's remark that he has some undefined command over both men and beasts.

Gandalf suggests that this is a result of Faramir pitting himself against the effects of the Nazgûl in some way, but his abilities (whatever they are) are outmatched. In the event, the effect of Faramir's Aura of Courage commanding abilities remains until he's shot and finally falls to the Black Breath.

Faramir also makes repeated references to perceiving or reading things in Gollum's mind. At one point, he describes Gollum's mind as dark and closed, yet unable to prevent Faramir from detecting that he's holding something back about Cirith Ungol specifically. Noticeably, this only happens when Faramir orders Gollum to look at him (which Gollum does "unwillingly"), and the light drains from his eyes as he meets Faramir's. It seems decidedly reminiscent of the later Gandalf vs Denethor duel-by-eye-contact.

Faramir's exact words about Gollum's secrecy are "That much I perceived clearly in his mind," in reference to his earlier questioning of him. He says that he can "read" previous murders in Gollum and Gollum cries out in pain when he tries to lie to him.

When Faramir gives staves to Frodo and Sam, he says that a "virtue" of finding and returning has been placed on them, with zero explanation of what he means by that. He adds a hope that the virtue will not altogether fail under Sauron's power in Mordor. He describes the people who did the woodwork but not who placed the virtues (it doesn't seem inherent to the wood itself, given his phrasing).

We do know that Dúnedain can potentially embed enchantments into items. The Barrow-daggers carried by Merry and Pippin are specifically enchanted against the Witch-king of Angmar by an unknown Dúnadan of the North, and when Merry stabs the Witch-king, the dagger breaks enough spells for Éowyn's ordinary sword to finish the job.

Meanwhile, Aragorn uses his healing powers to help the city, wishing for the presence of Elrond, because he is their eldest of their kind and more powerful. Aragorn, also, has at least some part of this ability to actively exercise his will and mental powers, perhaps an equal share, though he uses it less often.

In the book, he doesn't physically attack the Mouth of Sauron, but instead holds his gaze (again, eye contact is important!). There's another silent struggle that involves no weaponry or any other contact.

He prevails in some way over the Mouth of Sauron (not a warped creature of Sauron in the book, but a cruel Númenórean who has "learned great sorcery"). The Mouth indignantly says he has diplomatic immunity and can't be attacked like this.

But, I mean, maybe they're all just smart and perceptive, it's really unclear.

[mel-loly]

-“He didn't die, he just respawned in a better place”

[abrahamvanhellsingjournal]

Entry Five: Date December 14th 1898

I have come to a most disturbing realization.

Dracula appears to have both sex organs native in both male and female humans. I am not certain if they are functional, but the discovery that this creature is in possession of a uterus and ovaries is quite possibly the most destressing thing I have found about the creature aside from when I first learned of his mere existence.

Asking Dracula about it does not ease my confusion for the creature seemed to panic upon being questioned as to why he possessed female sex organs. It appears not even the vampire, himself, realized it which makes me wonder what other sort of strange things I will find as I continue my dissection.

Though this now begs several questions, will I have to worry about female based ailments as I continue my study of the creature. Could he perhaps be susceptible to female hysteria? I do not know and dare I say, I hope not. That would be simply too strange, especially on the discovery that in the past the vampire has taken on the form of a woman before. Apparently he also does not seem to care when it happens, stating that his form means little to him.

I cannot see how that could possibly be the case, and I imagine there's something sinister or even perverse going on when he transforms into that of the fairer sex. I shall keep an eye on this creature, for I cannot fathom as to why he appears to be a hermaphrodite or why he would not care about the shape he takes on. It seems suspicious to me.

[ox1-lovesick]

hi

[sobselpop]

So yeah I binge-watched the new Fallout series and fell in love with a cowboy ghoul 🧍‍♀️

[cutiel0vesu]

Still constantly looking at ur Simon he’s so somft I wanna hug him 🥺🥺🥺

Thank you so much ! Im sorry its been taking me so long to get to answering asks , I am just starting to learn how to draw faster :•)

[basics-academy-yum]

"Excuse me... Are you guys still accepting students...? I have nowhere else to go, really-" -📚

[theaologies]

Hozier writing a song about language and the loss of it at the hands of colonialism and how so many indigenous words are used all over the world as place names but so few people know their meanings but at the same time, they mean “home” and how he’s grateful that Gaeilge was preserved and how despite so few people understanding it nowadays it still feels like “home” has me so deeply fucked up I’m weeping

[xianyoon]

i miss 2021 genshinblr sm im ngl 😞😞😞

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Drew WWX and LWJ after I finished my rewatch of The Untamed a few months ago. I have gotten marginally better. May this set a benchmark for what to expect from this blog.

Edit: June 2023 redraw

[iinmysights]

must not be as rusty as i thought bc this is just shy of 3 hours of work. anyway here’s caedes :3

[overdevelopedglasses]

Tachibana Blog Real?

I know the answer, but for real this time...

Obligatory picture of the man himself

[kinokoshoujoart]

so while i’ve been moving & not in the best position to draw real polished stuff, i’ve been digging through the dialogue files of sos awl, and basically there’s dedicated a dedicated file just for the stuff your child overhears about individual NPCs (one for your son and one for your daughter)

a lot of extremely juicy tidbits, everyone in town is airing their dirty laundry in front of your child i guess!! the naughty, normal, and shy personalities usually overhear different things… not to mention the sons lines slightly vary from the daughters, and there’s different lines per chapter. and the lines carry different nuance in japanese and english, in AWL vs AnWL vs SE vs SOS AWL. so many possibilities…

HOWEVER…

a bunch of the secrets for individual npcs are just “What?”. this infuriated me because the first block of “What?” on the list starts with Nami and Rock, both of whom I am absolutely dying to know more about, and they are both victims of this mysterious plague pretty consistently

my first thought was that they were lines cut from the original, but after checking the message files for AWL (in english and japanese) they always said “what?”..

so if your child says “what?” often, just know that they’re probably trying to tell you an npc secret so obscure that the game itself has silenced them !

i kinda wanna organize the existing secrets/comments by character and post em, lmk if that would interest you or if seeing this stuff would ruin immersion/be boring. there’s so much lore that feels Buried but so tantalizingly close to the surface to me and now knowing how it works it feels like you would be unlikely to see it all even if you married everyone (unless i’m missing something)

anyway here’s some brainless rocks (free secret,! he is the only ‘human’ in AWL aware that he is inside of a video game)

[sapphire-weapon]

"Something not being realistic or likely is not necessarily an argument for it [...] being a mistake. [...] Yes, these are stories about characters traversing a literal place, doing literal actual things with literal actual people, but there's also a lot of metaphor within that. [...] So, you have these scenarios where something happens that is not entirely realistic, [...] and you can present that as 'this is actually what's really happening in the story' without the presentation of it necessarily being realistic, because the point is to present the story in a way that is thematically, narratively, metaphorically compelling." - Sam from Games as Literature

he's not talking about RE4make here -- this is from the Resonant Arc finale dissecting Spec Ops: The Line -- but as he was talking all I could think about as a point of reference was:

Ashley putting Leon in the chair by herself.

like, what he said there is exactly what I've been trying to say about it lmao

it being realistic or not isn't the point. that's not what the scene is trying to do, and to call the scene bad or wrong or a mistake for it is obtusely missing said point.

[homesickhalfling]