#if a book-only person and a movies-only person were to talk about the hobbit

[beatx-mavie-archangelx]

I think it's kinda funny how you can see if a The Hobbit fan is a book fan or a movie-only fan just by asking who their favourite dwarf is and why

[scoonsalicious]

Unwanted: Chapter 1, Unarmed - Pt. 2

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Avenger!Fem!Reader

Summary: When your FWB relationship with your best friend Bucky Barnes turns into something more, you couldn’t be happier. That is, however, until a new Avenger sets her sights on your super soldier and he inadvertently breaks your heart. You take on a mission you might not be prepared for to put some distance between the two of you and open yourself up to past traumas. Too bad the only one who can help you heal is the one person you can no longer trust.

Warnings: (For this part only; see Story Masterlist for general Warnings) Mild language, Bucky and Reader being Tolkien nerds, light fluff, mention of rabies (it's a super scary disease and we should all be vigilant, okay?!)

Word Count: 1.6k

Previously On...: You just had the pleasure of meeting the very handsome Bucky Barnes. Despite a little bit of awkwardness during your first encounter, you have a feeling your life is about to get a lot more interesting now that he's been introduced into it.

A/N: You know what? I said I wasn't going to do this, but I thought "fuck it!" and decided to post all of Chapter 1: Unarmed. My anxiety is too high to just sit on it. So, please enjoy Ch1. Pt2! Pts 3 & 4 to follow!

Banner By: The absolutely amazing @mrsbuckybarnes1917

Taglist: (Please let me know if you’d like to be added!) @blackhawkfanatic

The next evening, you were making your way back to your suite after a productive, albeit exhausting, day in your lab. You were working on a crisis prediction real-time monitoring system to anticipate global threats. You were convinced it would allow the Avengers to respond to trouble faster, but perfecting the privacy algorithm had been an absolute pain in the ass, and you still hadn't gotten it quite right. Technically, you could have farmed the project off to a subordinate; hell, even a team of subordinates of a subordinate, but this was one of your pet projects and you insisted on being hands-on in its development.

You had your tablet open as you walked, chewing on your thumb and reviewing the dataset from the run of your latest algorithm model one more time. Closer, but not good enough. If you were going to convince Tony that this was a program worth implementing, especially at its projected cost, everything had to be perfect. "Damn it," you muttered to yourself.

You rounded the corner and ran smack into Bucky's chest, dropping your tablet and causing him to drop the three books he'd been holding under his remaining arm. "Oh, shit-- I'm so sorry," you uttered as you bent down to retrieve the dropped items. Bucky leaned down to assist you, but you waved him off.

"’S my fault; I've got it," you told him, piling up his books for him. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Bucky leaned up against the wall and chuckled while you stood up and handed the books back to him. "I doubt you could hurt me," he said, smiling softly. "No offense."

You let out a small laugh. "None taken." He was a super soldier, after all. Stealing a glance at book spines, you couldn't suppress the smile that crossed your face. "Lord of the Rings," you nodded appreciatively. "Have you read them before?"

Bucky looked down at the books tucked under his arm. "No, first time. I read The Hobbit back when it was first published in '37, but these didn't come out until after..." he trailed off, but you knew what he meant. After he'd been abducted and brainwashed, turned into a murderer.

You nodded in understanding. "I'm actually really excited for you," you told him. "What I wouldn't give to be able to read them again for the first time."

"You a Tolkien fan, then?" he asked you. When you nodded, he continued: "When I finish them, maybe we can talk about them sometime? Steve's not really into fantasy."

"Yeah, I'd like that," you said. "If you're interested, we could watch the movies. I'll warn you though; they're long as hell, but their masterpieces. I mean, they didn't need to turn The Hobbit into three separate films, but still, they'll blow your fucking mind."

Bucky ran his tongue over his lower lip and you couldn't help but follow the motion with your eyes. "That sounds like fun," he said, his eyes twinkling with... something. "Your place or mine?" Was he… flirting with you?

"How 'bout you finish the books first, then we'll talk logistics," you teased. "Hey, speaking of, what floor did they end up putting you on?"

"Um, this one, actually," he said, tilting his head toward a nearby door.

"No shit," you remarked, laughingly. "You must have done something to piss Rogers off, because he put you right across the hall from me."

Bucky looked down, scuffing the toe of his boot against the carpeting. "He said it was the quietest floor, thought I'd prefer that."

You pursed your lips, considering. "Yeah, that makes sense; it's just been me on this level for ages. It'll be nice to have some company for a change."

Bucky looked surprised. "Stark's kept you down here all by your lonesome? That doesn't seem very nice."

You shook your head and dismissed his concern with a wave. "Oh, no-- Tony hates that I still live down here, actually. He put in all new living quarters a few years back. Everyone migrated upstairs, but I was the only one who didn't want to move."

"Why's that?" Bucky asked, appearing genuinely interested.

"I've lived here since I graduated college," you admitted, "back when it was still just Stark Tower. When Tony relocated here from Malibu to rebrand it for the Avengers, he wanted to redo everything, which meant fancy new suites for everybody. But I love my rooms, so I asked to stay put. They've been my home for so long now and I guess I just like the stability, you know?"

Bucky nodded thoughtfully. "And Tony thinks highly enough of you that he let the blow to his ego slide?"

You raised an eyebrow. "Maybe I have enough dirt on him that he felt like he didn't have much of a choice." You snorted, not able to keep up the pretense. "No, but seriously, I know you and Tony have a complicated... history, but he's not a bad guy. Ego as tall as this Tower, yes, definitely, but he's also incredibly kind and generous. He paid for my entire college education-- undergrad, post-grad, doctorate. I owe everything I have to him."

Bucky shifted against the wall. "That is pretty generous. And he never expected anything from you in return?" He didn't say the words out loud, but the implication was there. Had you slept with Tony in exchange for your diplomas? The innuendo should have bothered you, but it had been posed to you so many times over the years, you'd stopped being offended by it. Before Pepper, Tony had had quite the  reputation, after all, and an MIT education didn’t exactly come cheap. Most people couldn’t understand why he would offer a full ride to someone who, at the time, had been a complete stranger.

"Tony appreciates talent," you clarified. "When he finds it, he cultivates it, nourishes it, does everything he can to help it grow to its fullest potential. But he does like to get a return on his investments, and my skills have helped him make a lot of money." You shrugged your shoulders with a chuckle. "I love my job, I love the work we do, I love the stupid weirdo family we've built here, so I've always considered meeting Tony to be the best thing that ever happened to me. He's kind of like my own fairy godfather."

"So, what exactly does he have you do around here?" Bucky asked. "I know Steve said you did computer stuff, but you said it was an over-simplification."

You ran a hand up to rub the back of your neck while you considered your answer. How best to explain your position to someone who was born before the invention of the television? "Okay," you exhaled, "so, short answer is that I'm the CTO, the Chief Technology Officer, of Stark Industries and, under that, I run the Avenger’s Technology and Innovation Department. It's sort of our take on Research and Development. I've got a lab where I'm in charge of about 450 scientists, engineers, computer programmers, analysts, et. cetera. And our entire job is coming up with cool new ways of making things easier for the Avengers. Like, new features for suits, developing useful programs, coming up with new defenses and weapons, that kind of thing. And if we've got missions that require heavy computer- or tech-work, I come along for on-site support. I'm combat-trained and good with languages, so that comes in handy in the field. There’s probably a ton of field agents that could go in my place, but for Tony, it’s a matter of trust."

Bucky let out a low, appreciative whistle. "Damn. That's impressive. You're a little intimidating, you know that?"

Laughing, you tucked your tablet under your arm. "Please. I'm about as intimidating as a hamster." You paused to think. "Maybe a hamster with rabies, but still a hamster."

A series of beeps emanated from your tablet. As you pulled it out to check the alert, Bucky moved away from the wall. "I'm so sorry-- you were heading back to your room and I've basically been holding you hostage this entire time."

"Actually," you said, silencing the notification alarm that had distracted you, "That was just a reminder I set for myself to eat. Sometimes I lose track of time in the lab and completely forget to have dinner. Are you hungry? You could join me."

Bucky pulled his head back, regarding you as though he wasn't sure if you were serious.

"Or, if you don't want to, that's cool," you said quickly once you noticed his hesitation. "I mean, you wanted a quiet floor. Annoying neighbor is probably the last--"

"I'd love to," interrupted Bucky with a grin. "I'm just surprised someone like you would want to spend time with someone like me."

"Someone like me? Hey now, for all you know, I could be an absolute trash person," you teased, playfully punching him on the shoulder.

Bucky chuckled, his eyes sparkling with a newfound warmth. "Well, I highly doubt that, but I guess I'll find out soon enough."

"Don't say I didn't warn you when you do." You cocked your head toward the door to your room. "I'm going to change out of my work clothes. While I do, how about you decide what you're in the mood for, and we'll go from there. That sound good?" Bucky nodded as you let yourself into your room. The evening had taken an unexpected turn, but you found you were looking forward to spending more time in the company of Bucky Barnes.

<- Previous Part / Next Part ->

[imakemywings]

Hey, are you still bitter/salty over the characterization of Thranduil in The Hobbits movie? It's been 9 years and I'm still pissed because despite how beautiful Lee Pace's Thranduil was, I felt like it warped the perception of who Thranduil really is as a king, father, and son. Even Oropher's reputation in the fandom kinda sored.

Anon, I will be salty about that until I'm cold in the ground.

There are actually a number of things I like about The Hobbit films. Lee Pace does a wonderful job with what he was given; he really captures the ethereal grace of a being who is above mortal concerns. I love the aesthetics of Mirkwood and its people in the films. And I'm not salty that they tried to beef up his character a little--there's really not much to go on in the books, so adding the tragedy of his wife weighing on him and complicating his relationship with Legolas (do NOT talk to me about how the films massacred Legolas) wasn't a bad way to add more emotional weight to his story. Neither was adding his alluding to the War of Wrath to give him more personal feelings about the waking of Smaug.

But the thing they tried to do where they wanted to make Thranduil ~morally ambiguous~ was so yuck. In the books he has beef with the Dwarves, yeah--because they were trespassing on his land, refuse to tell him why, and have a significant chance of stirring up a dragon if they continue. IF he overreacted, there were some relevant issues at play here. And Bilbo himself describes Thranduil as a well-liked "king of a good and kindly people."

In fact, Bilbo is so taken with Thranduil that at the Battle of Five Armies, Bilbo explicitly thinks that if he were made to choose among them, he would side with the Elvenking. Yes, OVER Thorin.

I've detailed before why the movie switching Bard's gunning for war and Thranduil's reluctance to fight from the books makes no sense, so I won't get into it again, but yeah.

Final thoughts are that the Elves in Mirkwood in the films have so little joy? In the books, the Company stumbles across them feasting and partying in the woods; in the movies, Legolas' scout contingent captures them without any prior contact. All three of the main Elves in the story--Thranduil, Legolas, and Tauriel--are so sober and serious the entire trilogy; I think Tauriel is the only one who smiles or ever looks happy. YES the Elves of Mirkwood are dealing with a lot--Sauron in the backyard and all--BUT the book also shows how much joy they still have, and I think that's really missing from the movies, from Thranduil and all the rest of them.

Also, they cut Thranduil laying Orcrist on Thorin's tomb and that makes me sad.

[kitausuret]

do you ever think about flash and the symbiote just hanging out. talking about mundane things

YES ABSOLUTELY ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!!

I think during Space Knight, during those long long hours (days) flying between planets and missions, both with their own crew and the GotG, they had to have talked all the time. Particularly in SK though, since the Guardians were kinda weird about the Symbiote. (cue eye roll here)

People who know me know that I looooooove the mundane things!! The everyday life! Talking about human organs and what books Flash likes and if The Hobbit really needed to be split into 3 different movies considering the book itself is only about 300 pages!! There's so much intimacy and trust involved in being able to just Exist together. To be able to talk about nothing and everything.

And especially in their case, the idea that... even someone that knows your very body, your very mind and soul, you can just be... comfortable with each other? Flash strikes me as the type to generally try and not like... overthink his relationships. Sometimes to his detriment! But Flash using very casual terms of endearment for the Symbiote while having this incredibly intimate and personal bond is just so... like... him. It's so him.

I also like the contrast between him and Eddie in this regard. Or at least, how Eddie might perceive that contrast.

Eddie, probably: "We do not communicate in words, we communicate in heartbeats and emotions. We communicate in a way that is completely inexplicable in human language, in a way that--" Flash: "yeah we talk about who the best Star Trek captain is. it's Janeway, obviously."

[viola-ophelia]

in defense of thranduil

hello! so you know how i occasionally do “in defense of” meta posts about unpopular characters ( X X X ) ? well, i’ve been thinking for a while about doing one for thranduil, but i wasn’t quite sure how to go about it since tbh, i don’t think anyone could call thranduil unpopular. his ao3 tag is very well-populated, and, ahem, a good portion of it is smut lol. he even has a ton of “x reader” stuff about him on tumblr, which to me is usually the hallmark of a popular character. but i’ve felt the urge to defend him anyway, and i think it’s because... well. i do think a character can be both popular and misunderstood, and for all the thranduil enthusiasm i’ve seen, i’ve seen just as much thranduil hate and criticism, so clearly something about him has people at odds. specifically, a lot of people seem to think he’s a bad dad, and/or that the peter jackson movies totally butchered his character, which is really interesting to me because i actually believe neither. so i’m going to try to illustrate why! i’ll be primarily discussing movie-verse thranduil in this post, with a few references to the books as a secondary source. so without further ado, here is why i think thranduil is A Good Dad Actually, and the movies are not a “butchering” of but a compelling darker/grittier spin on a character who - since he exists in tolkien’s written works only in a book for children and in the margins of a sprawling and very bloody history - only really works if you reconcile those two things. 

under a cut because as always, this is LONG!

let’s first talk about what seems to be people’s main grievance with movie-verse thranduil: the fact that he’s “turned into this greedy character whose only motive is getting back those gems” when that’s not what he’s like in the book. while it’s definitely true that there are a few key differences between book thranduil and movie thranduil, i actually don’t think that the two versions are so incongruous with each other. the areas where they differ, i think, flesh out movie thranduil into a character who compels beyond his simplified, kid-friendly presentation in the hobbit book and who makes sense within the larger historical context of his world. it’s true that the elvenking in the hobbit isn’t explicitly interested in material gain. he mainly seems to get involved in the battle of the five armies to help out bard, since mirkwood is allied with laketown. and there’s also no mention in the book of the elvenking having lost his wife, even though that’s a key part of his backstory in the hobbit movies. in the movies, those gems that he’s so interested in getting back from the dwarves are actually a necklace that belonged to his wife before she died. he’s still motivated by wanting to help laketown - which is why he shows up before the battle with wagons of food and supplies for the starving people - but he’s also motivated by grief - something deeply personal that none of the other characters (except gandalf, because gandalf knows everything lol) are even aware of, and this, i feel, gives depth to his character. 

the thing is, thranduil seems greedy because none of the other characters know of, and thus inherently cannot understand, his real reason for pursuing the gems. and it’s true - at face value, it doesn’t make sense why he’d seemingly put his people at risk for a random necklace. a pretty harsh reading of thranduil’s motives could even align him with thorin’s dragon-sickness. but remember how the battle of the five armies started? thranduil and bard pulled up with their forces thinking it was gonna be all of them against twelve dwarves and a hobbit lol. they probably thought there’d be no casualties and it’d be over in twenty minutes! they had no way of knowing how many other forces were going to get involved. and when thranduil does see the first elves laying dead on the ground, he tries to draw out. he never wanted to spend his people’s lives like that. he realizes he had been blinded by his grief for his wife and had acted selfishly - and personally, i like this a lot better than the book’s sort of handwave-y explanation for why the elvenking is even bothering to involve himself and his kingdom in the (petty, by his standards) affairs of dwarves and men. because... movie thranduil is not just Like That for no reason. he has a whole history, going wayyy beyond his wife’s death even, that makes him the way he is - and that is what is so satisfying about his portrayal in the movies, because it actually attempts to acknowledge that deeper context. 

we have to remember that thranduil, at least in comparison to pretty much every other character in the hobbit, is old as hell. he reminds us of this multiple times in the movies: “a hundred years is a mere blink in the life of an elf. i can wait.” for a character who presumably shouldn’t need to worry or think about death, he’s unusually fixated on his own immortality in the movies, a trait that is missing from the books. and while i do get why some readers are charmed by the idea of an elf who doesn’t seem to perceive himself very differently than the men and dwarves he’s surrounded by, i’m a lot more drawn in by the idea of an elf who just can’t forget about how different he is. because if you actually think about where thranduil fits into the bigger history of middle-earth, it’s sort of hard to turn the page back from this darker, more scarred side to him - because yeah, he might live forever if he avoids conflict, but he also knows death in a way that someone like bilbo baggins would not even be able to conceptualize. thranduil was born in doriath in the first age, making him old enough to likely have been involved in not one but two kinslayings against his people. we know nothing about his mother, making it likelier than not that she was lost in one of them when he was still a child. his father, oropher, the original elvenking of the greenwood, was killed in the battle of dagorlad in the second age - the “last stand” of elves against sauron. thranduil, fighting alongside him and the silvan elves, had to watch his father die and then be crowned as the new king right then and there. (also, oropher died in the very first charge of the battle, which then continued on for months. imagine how hard it’d have been to stave off that creeping hopelessness.) and finally, thranduil’s wife was killed in battle at some point not long after their son was born. thranduil’s dragon fire scar on his face is an invention of the movies, and it’s unclear when exactly it happened - at the same battle where he lost his wife? some time earlier? but anyways. i’ve been going on and on about his life for a reason, and that reason is Thranduil Has Seen A Lot Of Shit. it’s easy to look at him in the movies and critique him - why is he so cold? why is he an isolationist ruler when in the books he’s more welcoming (after initially chucking the dwarves in jail, lol)? but the hobbit isn’t really thranduil’s story, so exposing all of this context in the movies wouldn’t have made much sense, would it. and i actually like that there are some gaps, because that’s what makes him so interesting. no one knows his history, and why should they? when it comes down to it, thranduil is just a side character in someone else’s adventure. 

the last thing that i really want to address is thranduil’s relationship with legolas, his son - partly to refute the idea that he’s a bad dad, but also partly to talk about how despite all the griping that i’ve seen about how stupid it was to “randomly” insert legolas into the hobbit movies, it actually made so much sense for both of their characters. obviously, while it’s confirmed elsewhere that thranduil/the elvenking is legolas’s dad, legolas is not actually in the hobbit book. but this, i think, is more so to do with the fact that tolkien wrote the lord of the rings (and invented legolas’s character) after he wrote the hobbit, and less so to do with the idea that legolas is inherently “irrelevant” to the story of the hobbit. because if legolas is irrelevant to the hobbit, then is he irrelevant to thranduil? i really don’t think so, because even though tolkien gave us no clues as to what their relationship might’ve been like, even the fact that they’re father and son is really important. for thranduil, the fact that he has a son adds dimension not just to who he is in the movies - and yes, we see a fraught side of his dynamic with legolas as he has to reconcile with legolas growing up and wanting a freedom that thranduil with his too-deep understanding of the world’s dangers doesn’t want to give - but also to the concept of his character. thranduil has lost so many people he loved in horrible ways that now legolas is all he has left, and consequentially there’s so much talk about him as an oppressive parent, so paranoid of losing him that he keeps him imprisoned inside the always-closed kingdom gates. but at the end of the hobbit movies, thranduil also gives legolas his blessing to go on the quest to destroy the one ring. when it comes down to it, he is willing to let legolas do what's best for him, even knowing that this could be how he loses him. i know thranduil isn’t a perfect parent, that’s pretty obvious lol. but i don’t see how people watch these movies and their takeaway isn’t that he’s at least trying his best and that he does genuinely love his son. also, look at legolas! legolas is clearly proud of his identity as a wood elf. and he’s happy, he’s caring, he’s adventurous, he’s even pretty wise despite being one of the youngest elves. i don’t exactly see a traumatized victim of horrible parenting in him (and believe me, there is no shortage of victims of terrible parenting in the silmarillion/elsewhere in tolkien’s works) - i see a strong and well-adjusted young adult who wouldn’t hesitate to threaten anyone who spoke ill of his father’s kingdom with his bow lol. 

anyway, if you’ve made it this far through my rambling, i hope you can understand at least part of what i’m trying to say lol. it’s hard, because i have so many things i’m kind of trying to say all at once, but: tl;dr i actually think the hobbit movies did thranduil’s character right, not wrong, and that they do the opposite of proving that he’s a bad dad. :3

[emblazons]

what are your favorite byler headcanons?

—I never get asked this question, so thanks for being the first lmao. (I did write my “S5 hopes” before, but these are different I think?) Anyway. Hmmm.

While they both love Tolkien, Mike likes the Lord of the Rings trilogy books more, but Will enjoys the Hobbit best. Mike loves the depth of the lore and complexity of how Tolkien describes things in the original trilogy because they help him when he’s coming up with campaigns, but Will enjoys the straightforward (and a little sweeter) narrative of The Hobbit more—and also has a preference for it because the version he had as a kid was more image-heavy, and he’s an artist. :)

Speaking of Tolkien—Mike absolutely has a one-ring he keeps around his neck like Frodo. (It may even be what he chooses as an engagement ring way, way down the line, but Will is so outdone he decides to just buy it to wear it around his neck instead lol).

When it comes to getting work done, Mike is a think-out-loud type—as in, will talk to himself out loud and not even realize he’s doing it when alone, or with someone he’s comfortable getting into his head around. Will doesn’t say anything about it, because he thinks it’s hilarious—but Mike eventually learns about his own tendency when Will knows about a surprise he had planned before he can even do it…because he was thinking out loud. (He gets up in arms about how Will should have told him, but the more time passes, the funnier the tendency becomes to them).

Mike was hype as hell for the release of Jurassic Park in 1993. Will was also hype, but. Not nearly as excited about it as Mike was. When the Peter Jackson’s LOTR adaptation was announced, they were both over the moon (though Will was a bit scared. He is very picky about his movies, and adaptations even more so).

The two of them would settle in San Francisco, and would definitely be the ones who run a “teach DnD / campaign night” in conjunction with a comic book store in their neighborhood, in an attempt to keep the younger generations’ love for it alive—the same way as the bookstore owner who introduced them to the book. this is maybe based on an actual comicbook store with a dnd night in the SF Castro that I found a few years ago. The world may never know. They are thrilled in 2016 when a new Netflix show (😉) and Critical Role revives people’s love for it when they’re much, much older.

The first time the topic of “going to pride” comes up in the mid-90’s (long before it was the socially accepted event it is today), Will is mildly terrified—and so is Mike, but his “brave paladin” side absolutely talks himself up enough to get Will to join him solely out of a need to prove he can. They end up having a great time, and Mike, who has never really delved into queer history, ends up on a whole tangent of learning about it for an entire month afterward. Will finds it v endearing.

Mike sucks at poker because he cannot keep a single thing off his face. He is, however, really good at playing “the house” in card games, so that’s the role he takes on (comes from years of leading campaigns. He’s a bit of a showman that way).

Will cannot stand cold even after he’s disconnected from Vecna/the UD, and misses California—which is why they move back. When “global warming” talk starts becoming more common, his favorite dad joke to make is “if I think it’s getting hot, it must be,” but no one but the party & family know why it’s funny.

Earlier into their relationship, Will becomes a bit troubled by the fact that Mike is the only person he ever dated. It causes tension in their relationship for a little while, though Will eventually realizes he doesn't want to be with anyone else, so it doesn't matter. (Much later, Mike admits that he thought Will’s concerns were unfounded, considering the only person he ever dated outside of Will happened when he was 13 & probably shouldn’t have even been his girlfriend in the first place, given the fact that she was 3 seconds out of a lab…& he doesn’t even like women anyway).

Mike knows Will is healing more from “the events of the show” when Will starts making dark-humor jokes about being possessed and/or being lost in the upside down—though it takes him a lot to get used to it, given how scared he spent years being about losing Will. Eventually he gets on board and laughs—which Will appreciates, because it helps him to see Mike get less uncomfortable and feel safer about keeping Will safe after all that happened.

There are ten I could think of off top?? LMAO someone ask @magentamee what my other headcanons are I’m sure she’s heard them all by now 😂

Thanks so much for this ask!

[lathalea]

It sadly seems many in this fandom don't even know Thorin at all. He's a traditional man who would never agree to any of the modern quips of today. He would be in a committing relationship with one woman, if he were to ever have one, and there's no way that him or any of the dwarves would agree to strange gender ideologies and gay pride. This group of beings from middle Earth would know nothing about this stuff and if they found out about it, I'm sure they wouldn't agree to it. The issue is, too many people are flooding your ask with these strange questions, being completely alright with retconning their favorite Tolkien characters with modern day tactics. It just doesn't make sense. Do you ever wonder how weird this stuff can be?

Dear Anon,

Thank you so much for your ask! 

There is a lot of information to unpack here and quite a few questions to reply to, so bear with me while I do it. In the meantime, have a nice and hot Thorin pic:

(If you hear a sigh, it's Lathalea swooning.)

“It sadly seems many in this fandom don't even know Thorin at all.”

The Tolkien fandom is a huge group of people from all over the world united by the love of JRR’s works. There are hardcore fans and casual fans. Some of them only read the books, some saw only the Rankin/Bass animated version of Hobbit or the 1985 Soviet television play, and others fell in love with Peter Jackson’s movies. I’m sure you know that in all these adaptations, Thorin’s character is portrayed differently from the book. You can argue whether these adaptations were close to the source or whether they served the purpose, but that’s not the point here.

It works similarly when it comes to Thorin fans. Some of us prefer one version over the others, and others create a completely new interpretation of this character in their minds. And some of them put their ideas on paper (umm… computer screen). Even if this or that specific version of Thorin is not 100% the Thorin you or I like, it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t exist.

Various versions of this really inspiring character fulfil each person’s specific needs. Personally, I don’t think there is anything sad about making people happy this way. When I read a fic or an imagine where Thorin does not act in the way I prefer, I simply stop reading and move on. Someone wrote a story that made them happy, someone else liked it, and that’s fine. Not every work of fiction has to cater to everyone's needs.

The same goes for writing asks or requests about Thorin – if someone feels the need to be comforted or supported by a specific version of their favourite character, I’ll be happy to create a story about it if I can. We are living in crazy times, some of us are directly influenced by war, health issues, abuse and so on — and that is the least I can do to help.

(Here Lathalea makes simping sounds.)

“He's a traditional man who would never agree to any of the modern quips of today. He would be in a committing relationship with one woman, if he were to ever have one…”

If we are talking about the canon version of Thorin, I agree with you here. If he was to survive BOTFA, he would most probably marry a Dwarf-woman of childbearing age, mostly to strengthen the line of Durin and provide the heirs to the throne of Erebor, plus to secure some alliances with another large Dwarf house by the way of marriage.

Of course we can also say that he would not marry anyone because he is a Dwarf focused on his craft — and that would also be valid, especially since he has Fili and Kili as heirs (if we’re assuming they survived BOTFA as well). If you read my stories, you have most probably noticed that the first version is the one I choose most often – because I like my fics to stay as close to canon as possible, and I imagine that the Dwarven culture draws from the early mediaeval traditions (plus the Scandinavian culture because we know that Tolkien was partially inspired by it when creating Aule’s children). But that’s my own private headcanon and it’s okay if you see it differently.

(Here Lathalea dreams of combing his hair.)

“...and there's no way that him or any of the dwarves would agree to strange gender ideologies and gay pride. This group of beings from middle Earth would know nothing about this stuff and if they found out about it, I'm sure they wouldn't agree to it.”

What if I were to tell you that for Tolkien’s people of Men in Middle Earth, Dwarves most probably had “strange gender ideologies” too? Some examples:

— People of Men thought that there are only male Dwarves in existence and that their children were “born” out of stone. — Dwarves respected their women greatly and considered them extremely precious (while people of Men often treated women as subservient to men).

— Both Dwarven men and women had beards and wore similar clothes in the outside world, so they all looked like men to the outsiders. Among the people of Men, it was the opposite — and women often had a limited amount of roles to fulfil in their lives.

Having said that, if we were to follow Tolkien’s canon, we have no way of knowing exactly how the gender dynamics or ideas look among the Dwarves. This was the race not created by Eru, but by Aule, in secret, and therefore they are different from the Children of Illúvatar. We only know the Dwarves are very secretive and there are many misconceptions about them. We don’t know what they would think about any concepts we take for granted in our modern societies :)

The same would happen if we invert the situation: for someone raised in, say, the USA, in modern times, the various concepts of gender that have existed in our world throughout history (for example in the North American indigenious cultures, in the ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, India, and so on) will probably feel strange, too. And it is totally understandable, mostly because we weren’t raised in those cultures. The same goes for the world of Tolkien. You probably know of his times, his background and worldview that influenced his writing, so I’ll skip it and go straight to fanfiction.

When it comes to fanfiction that is less focused on staying in line with canon, anything can happen there. It is every writer’s creative playground. Some even say that it is both its greatest blessing and a curse ;) But, as such, this playground gives every fan an opportunity to experience certain concepts and ideas in a safe, controlled environment. To experiment. To think out of the box. There is nothing wrong with playing around with different ideas if one feels inclined to do so. That’s how great stories and classic pieces of literature came to be. And there are many great fics that deviate from Tolkien’s writings at the same time being inspired by them.

But of course if those kinds of stories are not your cup of tea, that’s totally fine, too. One of the basic rules of fanfiction says “don’t like it, don’t read it”, after all, and I follow it every time I read anything new.

(This is the scene where Thorin kills Azog and survives and lives happily ever after and Lathalea will die on that Ravenhill. See what I did there? ;) )

“The issue is, too many people are flooding your ask with these strange questions, being completely alright with retconning their favorite Tolkien characters with modern day tactics. It just doesn't make sense. Do you ever wonder how weird this stuff can be?”

I hope that what I wrote above explained my point of view. And if you read Thorin's my replies to these asks, you have most probably noticed that I imagine Thorin as a person firmly set in his times and having completely different concepts and worldview than the one many modern people have.

I completely understand that the ideas offered by many Thorin simps that stray from canon don’t have to make sense to you, and that’s okay. My headcanon of Thorin is also close to Tolkien’s canon and being a writer, it makes me happy to explore this character within those bounds. Each of my “iterations” of Thorin in every of my fics is slightly different from the others and yet I try to follow the path staked out by Tolkien to the best of my ability.

There are, however, many writers or artists who choose different paths and interpret our beloved Thorin in other ways — and that's okay, too! They are very much free to do so as long as they are having fun! The possibilities are endless and so is our imagination.

We all have different definitions of “weird stuff”. There are probably many people saying that my fics are weird because, for example, I don’t write Bilbo x Thorin romance. It is all relative. I don’t feel qualified enough to judge others. I just believe in unrestricted creativity and say ‘no’ to gatekeeping.

Thank you for coming to my Thorin TED Talk ;)

(Thorin's brooding skills are legendary. But it's not surprising. He's a very skilled dwarf, is he not? 😈)

Tagging all the Thorin simps, including @fizzyxcustard @linasofia @xxbyimm @legolasbadass @middleearthpixie @i-did-not-mean-to @shiinata-library @frosticenow @sweetestgbye @onlywifetothorin555 and everyone else who adores our majestic dwarf :)

[seraphsfire]

things i did and didn’t like about rings of power (so you don’t have to watch it)

disclaimer: if you do want to watch it for whatever reason, please don’t pay for it, find a way to pirate it, don’t give jeff bezos any of your money. If you did really like it i totally respect that, i hope you enjoy it, these are just my personal opinions.

things i did like: 

the worldbuilding and set design is gorgeous, on par with the movies and i’d tentatively say the cgi is better than the hobbit trilogy. If that’s the kind of thing you’re interested in, i’d say it’s worth a watch. However, you’d probably waste less time by googling screenshots 

the dwarves are DELIGHTFUL. they’re a little different than Hobbit movie or Lotr dwarves, but they feel like Tolkien dwarves and they have a ton of personality and charisma. Disa is gorgeous and hilarious. And while she doesn’t have a beard, she does have sideburns that you couldn’t really see in the promo pics of her. (the dwarves don’t show up until episode 2 tho). They were probably my favorite part of the show so far.

The girl they cast to play Nori is super adorable and cute. The actors in general for the hobbits are very charming even if they look horrifically stinky and filthy. 

Morfydd clark doesn’t exactly feel or look like galadriel, but she does feel like an elf (unlike all the other elves in this show). If you forget she’s supposed to be galadriel she’s cool to watch even though the elves in this show are, in general, absurd. She’s clearly a good actor even though you can tell the directing on her part wasn’t great, there’s a lot of Very Dramatic squinting and Staring on her part and she has some ridiculous lines.

I actually really like the guy playing elrond. He also does feel like an elf and although he looks like a fancy hobbit, he’s the only one in the show i feel like is trying to be the character from the books he was cast as. If they did better stuff with his makeup and hair he could really be great. Idk maybe season 2 they’ll give him better hair or some Fenty diamond veil.

the elves’ (regular) costumes actually look a lot better on screen than they do in promo pics. Not super elfy, but enough of a fancy king-arthur feel for me to give it a pass. Much better than house of the dragon costumes (so far) or most of the non-important costumes in game of thrones.

things i didn’t like: 

hoo boy. 

i Mean i could go on and on about what the HELL were they thinking with the elves. Maybe not all the elves in the hobbit movies or lotr looked super elfy themselves (craig parker ily but you do look like A Dad) but the nasty looking short hair? 

neo-n@zi style undercuts?

 If they were going to do short hair they could have tried something. Idk. more romantic looking? or like cherub curls or soft floaty waves? there is so much hairspray in those elves’ hair. The ears are massive, thick and ugly looking. Their Token Diverse Elf guy is, other than galadriel’s brother, the only sort of unusual looking one to be passably cast as an elf but either he is a very bad actor or he was Very badly directed. His lines are awful. He’s supposed to be in love with this human chick but there is nothing about how they met, why they like each other, what they have in common, anything. No chemistry whatsoever. He’s also got a very stupid, plastic-looking costume. 

Also. They cast maybe the strangest oatmeal faced dudes they could find in britain as elves. What is this

The elves armor is very stupid looking. Plain plate armor that is a matte grey for some reason, which i assume was to give it a softer look but really just ended up looking like it was spray painted, same with the chain mail they have under the armor. 

so much of this show had me going “wait, WHAT? why is that happening?” i knew this was mostly made up and wouldn’t have a lot directly from the silm or appendicies, but just trying to understand it narratively was baffling. They reference all these things they never explain. 

Galadriel talks about all the people she lost that the orcs / morgoth took from her but all you get is a seconds long scene of her looking at her dead brother. None of these other multitudes of people she’s lost are mentioned. A lot of stuff happens like this, just some character being like “oh this happened so thats why i have Emotional Damage,” and just moving on without any explanation. No chance to really get to know the characters, apart from a little bit with galadriel and she has very little backstory other than being Full of Need For Revenge.

WHY ARE THE HOBBITS SO DIRTY. WHY.

they clearly know how to live off the land and build things, they’re not anywhere far away from water, but they are just COVERED with dirt and their hair is matted and absolutely nasty, their clothes are stained with sweat, their teeth are super yellow. they all look disgusting and i have no clue why. All the hobbits having an irish accent and there being a decent number of brown people among them unlike the elves or humans but them looking so gross feels Bad like a microaggression. but like i said in another post since I’m white and also not irish i feel like this isn’t something that’s my place to break down and discuss. The whole time they looked so gross that i was just cringing. They do act like hobbits tho. 

Just random plot threads and scenes that were so bizarre and cliche that they didn’t need to put in when there’s So much more interesting things to pull from in the appendicies. Sauron apparently leaves this Mark everywhere that looks like a trident and the elves just DON’T KNOW what it means. 

why is sauron marking his victims like a serial killer? Why are there orcs poisoning cattle? why the hell did bronwyn’s son find that orc sword / morgoth’s sword / sauron’s sword or whatever? These are plot threads that are obviously put in there to make it supposedly interesting, but they’re all overused tropes from other stuff that afaik aren’t related to/established by anything that happens in silm or lotr, while they could have used so many other interesting things from the text instead. It feels VERY geared towards like, 8-12 year olds, but way too slow for them. Some things they rushed through, while other scenes, especially dialogue scenes with the humans, just dragged on without really giving any interesting information or character development.

there was this whole scene with galadriel escaping a sea monster for some reason which didn’t make sense, i don’t see why we could have seen more of her backstory instead, but i mean peter jackson did that kind of thing pretty often in lotr and the hobbit so whatever. It wasn’t actually even that interesting of a fight and they didn’t even show more than a fin either which was kind of disappointing.

galadriel being a Girlboss full of Revenge. I guess there’s ways to do that that i could have believed but it’s just So dramatic i just kept grimacing the whole time. Since she’s the main character pretty much, this doesn’t help. Opening with her as a very dour looking child building a boat out of paper was a really strange choice.

the “diversity” being all talk and no substance. Wild to me that amazon went to all that trouble to toot their own horn about diversity and piss off the racists and then didn’t actually bother. Yeah there’s brown hobbits, and a few brown dwarves. Galadriel’s company that she commands is 100% white and male. I saw maybe one east asian person. The border guards where the love struck elf guy works are all men. The dwarves with speaking roles are men other than Disa.

it’s bizarre, it’s all over the place, the lines sound like generic fantasy rpg #28, only a couple of them were actually taken from the text, it’s a sausage fest, the elves suck. The dwarves are cool and the one thing that really feels like Tolkien in the whole show. The worldbuilding is pretty. The music is kind of nice but not really noticeable. It has very little resemblance to anything middle-earthy, it’s very juvenile, and very boring. anyway. That’s about it. 

[rruhlauthor]

Film Review - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

I read The Hobbit in 2018. I’ve never seen the movies before, nor have I read or watched The Lord of the Rings yet. I was excited to give the movies a try, starting at the beginning. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey had questionable pacing, arguably extraneous additions to the book’s story, and relied on the audience’s knowledge of the outside lore for parts to make sense, but the deeply resonant theme and the escapism only an adventure story can provide make the story a beloved classic.

Let’s first talk about the good qualities of the film. By no means did I think it was a bad movie, even if the pacing was off. This is the kind of story that resonates across the generations. A man leaves home and travels far away on “an adventure.” There are simplistic yet powerful themes of good versus evil, of leaving and returning home. Tolkien’s writing takes inspiration from Norse mythology, stories so important to humans they have endured for millennia. The popularity of fantasy is due to the escape it provides from the real world. There may still be darkness and grief, but there is also magic and dragons. A reader can imagine leaving their dull home, picking up a sword and an enchanted ring, and going on an adventure to save the world instead of to save the office job. Tolkien wrote from his experiences in WWI. In The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, people are caught in a war, but their struggle is not for nothing, and they are not forgotten. The great evil in the world can actually be defeated by the goodness of people. The foreword in my copy of The Hobbit mentions the books didn’t gain popularity until the 1960s. In the United States at the time, people needed escape and comfort from the Vietnam War and a battle for civil rights. Epic fantasy stories can be inspiring.

I know Tolkien wrote from a British perspective, but watching An Unexpected Journey, I was reminded of old Western movies. There’s a band of righteous travelers, their mystical companion, outlaws, wild animals, authority figures that don’t believe in the quest, and a legendary city of gold. Characters travel through ruins and graves and sing of a bygone golden age. From the perspective of our protagonist and the insert for the viewer, the whole world is literally larger than life for a Hobbit. Gandalf the Grey, whose magic serves as a deus ex machina on more than one occasion. Thorin Oakenshield, slayer of countless formidable foes. The otherworldly knowledge and abilities of the elves. Giant spiders and stone giants. We have this grandiose setting populated by heroes and villains and their exploits, but the theme is antithesis to that. The story is about a small person who doesn’t know how to use a sword and would rather be home reading.

For this one line, the film spoke to me, and I fell in love with it. This one scene was the heart and glory of the story.

In some ways, the movie gets caught up in the great power, but the book starts on an intimately human level. “In a hole in the ground, there lived a Hobbit.” From the book comes the core of the film. It isn’t the battles or magic the film added to the book that makes it a success, but the good story it was based on.

I don’t think The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey could be successful on its own if not for the success of the books and the preceding Lord of the Rings films. If we treated this like a regular fantasy adventure story not associated with the popularity of Tolkien: the pacing was slow, the plot jumped around a lot with little sense of connection between points, and the titular character is not the focus of the majority of the film. If I had not read The Hobbit previously, I would have been completely lost. Honestly, I still was lost with the pieces that were added for the film. The book is 300 pages. Stretching that into three movies is too much, in my opinion. Some scenes seemed to drag on forever. I was almost certain I did not remember the parts with the orcs or Gandalf’s other wizard associates from the book, and I was glad a friend pointed out they were added for the movie. I don’t mind film adaptations of books being a little long because they’re trying to be true to the story, but The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey could have been about half an hour shorter, and closer to an expected two hour film runtime, if the scenes that weren’t in the book weren’t added just to stretch a short book into a trilogy. The one thing you never want your audience to be, regardless of what genre you’re writing, is bored. I got bored and had to spread this film over several days of watching, and honestly if I didn’t know what climax this movie was building up to, I would have stopped watching because I lacked investment.

This is the problem with creating a movie or book just to establish context for a future installment in a series. There’s a ton of exposition and rising action, but the climax isn’t going to happen until the second or third movie, which risks leaving the viewer unsatisfied or questioning the purpose of the film at all. I think two parts would’ve been grand for an adaptation of The Hobbit rather than three. One has to wonder if the length of the film series was not in the spirit of creating an immersive story but rather for the box office. I hate to be pessimistic, but given the fact some side plots were added that weren’t in the book, I’m inclined to consider the latter.

That’s the thing about blockbusters though, isn’t it? When a title becomes immensely popular, saturates the cultural consciousness, and gains a large and dedicated audience, they can create whatever they want and it will sell. If something says Marvel, or Star Wars, or The Lord of the Rings, or even Frozen, it will be read, it will be watched, and it will make lots of money because the existing fanbase is already so loyal. I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing as long as the audience is enjoying it, but I do become cynical when the quality of installments noticeably drops because the studios have figured out they don’t need to spend a lot of effort to get a large return. This contributes to a “fast fashion” cycle of rapid consumption in our current media climate, which is stressful on both fans and creators. It makes it harder for new stories to get a foothold in the market if they have to compete against Avengers 22, or Star Wars Episode 16, or the umpteenth remake of a Disney cartoon, or Harry Potter Prequel 7: This Time With Even More Bigotry, or whatever it is this month.

I’ve gone on a tangent, and I’ll end on a good note. I didn’t really appreciate epic fantasy until watching this movie. When I read The Hobbit six years ago, it wasn’t at the right time of my life for me to fully connect with the story. Now, I feel immersed in the comfort the escapism can provide. You can always return home, though not unchanged. Change is an inexorable part of life, but if you have the courage to confront it, you can do great things.

[celestialcrowley]

Ello, ello, ello!

I’m late (fashionably) to the party, but…

I’ll start off by saying how awful I am at tagging my moots when it comes to ask games, but know that I love all of you. Please never hesitate to pop into my inbox anytime for a chat. 💚

For everyone who has become invested in my Good Omens fanfiction, thank you for your patience. I promise I am working on chapter two. I’ve only recently returned to my normal work schedule. I have been getting overtime since October.

Alright, let’s gooo!

I was tagged by: @paperclipbean — thank you so much!

1. Were you named after anyone?

🪐 Not that I’m aware of, and hardly anyone calls me by my actual name. It’s usually either Ginger, Khasper the Spicy Ghost (affectionate) or Pippin.

2. When was the last time you cried?

🪐 I don’t exactly remember, but maybe a month ago. I miss my girl. My dog. She lost her battle with arthritis at 13.5 years old. The anniversary of her death is coming up in February. I can’t believe it’s almost been a year.

And now you know what the hobbit behind this tumblr looks like.

3. Do you have kids?

🪐 I don’t, but my best friend has two wonderful sons, and I see them as my own. If I actually had a child, just picture Louise from Bob’s Burgers.

4. What sports do you play or have you played?

🪐 I currently don’t play sports, but I used to partake in tennis, badminton, wall ball, basketball, volleyball and gymnastics.

5. Do you use sarcasm?

🪐 Not really, but it does also depend on if something is said that warrants the use of sarcasm.

6. What’s the first thing you notice about people?

🪐 Personality. I am good at reading people. I may not always talk. I observe. I’m neutral on most everything, but — well, if someone has a bad personality or is mean to animals, that’s a no go for me.

7. What color are your eyes?

🪐 Nothing fancy. Green.

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

🪐 I am the spooky connoisseur.

9. Do you have any talents?

🪐 I suppose if reading books, writing fanfiction and reading people count as talents.

10. Where were you born?

🪐 I am a born and raised Florida bean.

11. What are your hobbies?

🪐 Writing, drawing, stand up paddle boarding and listening to true crime podcasts. I can recommend a good one if that’s anyone’s thing.

12. Do you have any pets?

🪐 Thing One Mycroft and Thing Two Patch

13. How tall are you?

🪐 So tall. I’m 5’5’’.

14. What is or was your favorite subject in school?

🪐 It was history and science.

15. What is your dream job?

🪐 The one I have now. I am a kennel technician responsible for the care of police and military canines.

No obligation tags: @ineffabildaddy @sad-chaos-goblin @skinnyscottishbloke @peregrintook @ritz-writes @bildads-shoes @peachworthy @phoen1xr0se @shadesofdeviant @scarecrowcloud @tragic-cosmic-magic @pretendygood @notagoodlad @ineffablemiscreant @ineffablemoist @azirapalalalala @crowleysgoat @justtofollowgaiman @xxxtosoxxx

[shouts like michael sheen] OPEN TO ALL!

[dragonmuse]

20 Questions for Fanfci writers

I was tagged by @thetragicallynerdy ! Thank you!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

278. Please remember I've been writing for 20+ years and I did port everything over when I left LJ.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

4,491,070, but that is artificially inflated from the 800k repost of Leda Verse in one file, so it's actually 3.6 million give or take.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Right now just OFMD, but uh...many. So many.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. How (thanks to Gabriel) Dean and Castiel (accidentally) raised each other (and Sam). Supernatural. Dean/Castiel. Sam/Gabriel. I wrote this 11 years ago. It's a juggernaut.

2. A Mountain I'm Willing to Die On. Zootopia. Judy Hopps/Nick Wilde. I have no defense, I was compelled as soon as I saw the movie.

3. (Redacted because fuck J.K. Rowling, but I refuse to take down work and pretend that I was never in the fandom. The story comes with a very clear disclaimer that I do not support or agree with her in any way.)

4. Jonathan to his David. MCU. Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes. The one were Steve has a tiny penis and Bucky is into it.

5. All the First Times. MCU. Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes. One of those stories where Bucky heals in the Avengers Tower.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

YES! Because I love to stay thank you and it helps build community! <3 Love you all.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Treacherous Waters. The Hobbit. Fili/Kili. I got many shrieking comments on this one, including 'I actually curled around my computer making distressed sounds of horror' Very proud of myself for that one.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

That's pretty subjective. A lot of my fics end pretty happily with personal growth, found family, and parties.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

So far I've mostly managed to avoid being picked up on that radar. I've gotten stray comments, but it's rarely hate. I think it's mostly because I've never quite gotten popular enough to draw that kind of attention. I know the more attention a fic has gotten, the more likely I am to start to get odd comments or asks. I'm also not very active on Twitter which I think helps.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Rarely! I used to subscribe to the theory that if you don't put in smut, no one will read your work, but as birthday present to myself five or six year ago, I just stopped writing it as an experiment and while my hits went down, not nearly as much as you'd think. Now I only write if the mood really strikes me and am much happier for it.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Yep! I don't think it was crazy, but I wrote a short Avengers/Mad Max one that I'm pretty proud of: Fresh Eden

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not stolen. I did have them put on Goodreads without permission which was a weird moment in fandom a few years back. I mean it's possible someone's stolen something and I haven't found out yet, I guess. My book has been pirated though.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! Thanks to all the translators out there, you do incredible work for your community.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

A few times! Nothing super recent though there's WIP out there.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I don't have one. I'm a consummate multishipper. I will say my most consistent ship over the years is Brian/Bender of The Breakfast Club. I will always go back to that well.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

The SMAU I was working on in OFMD. It was a really fun experiment and I don't really have that much left to go, but the amount of work to make it was extensive.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue. I really love writing how people talk to each other and I think a lot about tone and vocabulary and styles.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Plotting. I tend to go by the seat of my pants.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I will generally just note when someone has switched languages. I don't have any confidence in auto translators and unless it's an established canon nickname or endearment, I try to avoid it. I admire multilingual authors so much!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Buffy! I was fifteen and it was a Willow/Spike fic. That was...almost twenty five years ago.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

The answer changes, and for a long time it was this Sam/Gabriel fic where I put my whole philosophy major ass into it. But these days, it's definitively Leda House and the Kraken Verse. How could it not be?

---

Thanks so much for the tag, this was a lot of fun!! Neat to look back, too.

I'm gonna tag (but only if you feel like it friends!) @internerdionality @museaway @napneeders

If you didn't get tagged but see this and want to do it, consider yourself tagged!!

[obsidiancreates]

Some thoughts/criticisms of Battle of the Five Armies because I'm back on my Hobbit Movies bullshit

Should've put more screen time (and by "more" I mean "any at all") into Thorin's descent into the Gold Madness/Dragon Sickness. A lot of BotFA feels, to me, a bit... meandering. Like they needed to hit a certain length but weren't fully sure how to fill it (and I think that also shows in how it's the shortest of all 3 movies, at least Extended Edition-wise). We go right from "They all watched Smaug die," to "He's been down there for days and he's as Gold-Mad as Thror." We needed more connective tissue between those scenes- even just a scene of Bilbo noticing Thorin is refusing food, maybe trying to convince him to eat ("Thorin, take your share." "I've no need of it." "You can't live on gold alone, you know, heh, ahem." "We shall see, Master Baggins.") or something like that.

I get why Smaug died in the first twenty minutes. I do! There's both story reasons as well as behind-the-scenes logistical reasons (can y'all imagine what these movies would've been like if they'd had Reasonable Deadlines, less studio pressure, and more ethical cast and crew treatment? It would've fixed any of the CGI issues, they could've cleaned up some of the odd pacing and editing moments, none of those awful "QUICK QUICK QUICK WE'RE ALMOST OUT OF TIME!" moments in the Appendices would've existed... Fuck Warner Bros, man. Peter Jackson obviously had a lot to do with a lot of the unethical overtime and expectations and wasted time/effort, but like Warner Bros also contributed to this Massively). Anyway, I get why Smaug died so early into the movie. But god, I wish he hadn't. Now I haven't read the novel to it's end in about 13 years give or take- I keep picking it up, getting a good ways in, forgetting to continue, and then picking it up and starting over at the beginning- but I remember Smaug's death being a very Little Thing in the book, since it was Third-Person limited (mostly) and Bilbo wasn't in Laketown. I know that this wasn't a moment of Inaccuracy (though honestly I don't mind most of the inaccuracies but that's for another post some other time) but it was a moment of Deeply Unsatisfying Payoff. Again, I understand why! It's kinda unsatisfying in the novel too- frankly, a lot of the ending stuff in The Hobbit is, but you didn't hear that from me, got it? I'm not sure, exactly, what I wish was different about it. Killing Smaug at the end of Desolation wasn't really a viable or satisfying option either, and focusing more on Laketown would've gotten tedious and repetitive- only so much Burning and Screaming can be made into Watchable Cinema at one time. I think perhaps a larger focus on Gandalf and his experiences with Sauron could've worked here- especially if Sauron is somehow Aware of Laketown falling and uses this to mock and torment Gandalf, speaking of how the quest of the dwarves has truly failed and Middle-Earth is soon to fall the same way- but again, I understand why they didn't do that, that's just a lot of Ian McKellen sitting in a birdcage getting Taunted by an Eyeball. So I don't know what I would've had them change, and I think a not insignificant amount of this Dissatisfaction is unavoidable given the glossed-over nature of the very same plot point in the book. But it's still saddening, especially since they nailed Smaug so well and he's such a fun villain to watch on screen. Azog... a good deal less so.

Bro we couldn't have had one line where they were like "OH GOD FILI KILI BOFUR AND OIN ARE STILL DOWN THERE!" when they were watching Laketown burn? One show that someone remembered FOUR OF THEIR PARTY IS STILL THERE?!

Some of the line deliveries in this movie were an... interesting, choice, to make into the final cut. I'll chalk it up to Those Damn Studio Deadlines, though.

I know I already talked about this but SERIOUSLY WHERE WAS THE CONNECTIVE TISSUE OF THORIN'S MADNESS, IT AIN'T EVEN IN THE EXTENDED THE EXTENDED IS MOSTLY THE ACTUAL BATTLE (plus the Best Scene In The Movie where Balin alludes to Bilbo to keep the Arkenstone hidden forever, which it's a crime that was left out of the theatrical by the way).

Yeah okay the Kili and Tauriel parting at the shore was kind cliched and acted weird. Again I'll chalk it up to The Deadlines.

If we could've have had the Connective Tissue scene(s), I wish the reunion with Bofur, Oin, Fili, and Kili had been a proper scene and not just a quick cutaway. It would've been a great opportunity to catch them and the audience up on Thorin's condition and how he got to that state, as well as establish how The Company In General feels about it earlier into the movie.

Again, I know why they didn't... but even a hint that the Madness was taking the other Dwarves at least a little bit would've been nice. I truly feel that, by the time of The Ramparts, the party was at a point where at least 1 or 2 of them would've decided to go with Bilbo, and a hint that they're all slightly under the spell of the gold in the way Thorin is would've really made their decision to all 12 of them stay behind make more sense. Yes, Thorin is their king and their leader and their friend and Dwarves are known to be very loyal- but Bilbo has stood in as a leader, rescuer, and friend often enough that I think one or two of the party, in their own fully right minds, would've chosen to go with him, especially after witnessing such a horrific display from Thorin.

The pacing of the movie in general Needs Some Help, that can't go unsaid- but again, Those Damn Deadlines. The amount of palpable stress from the crew in the Appendices is genuinely stressful and heart-wrenching, and I blame the majority of my issues with this movie- and the other two- on Warner Bros being completely unreasonable with their time expectations. Especially since they pushed this 2-movie project into being 3 movies, like Fuck off, Warner Bros.

GOD I WISH MORE OF THE RING STUFF HAD CARRIED OVER FROM DESOLATION. Like again I get why it didn't, this movie kind of takes some of the focus off Bilbo and uses that extra attention on Thorin and Bard and Legolas, which I enjoy. But still, The Ring Moments in Desolation were so good, and the effect The Ring had on Bilbo in Desolation is not unlike the effect the gold has on Thorin- but Bilbo is better at fighting it. It would've been nice to see something done with that, especially as Thorin was falling to madness and Bilbo maybe recognized some of the signs from his own experiences like the one in Mirkwood. But also THE RING STUFF WAS SO COOOOOOLLLLLLLLL I WANT MORE OF ITTTTTTTTTTTTTT

[dejjablu]

Hi! I’m a-random-nerd, you can call me Star if you want. Saw you reblogged that post about wanting more asks so that’s what this is :)

I followed you for lotr stuff, and I was wondering what you think about the differences between the book and movie versions of the Hobbit?

I personally have only read the book (multiple times) and I’m planning on watching the movies, but from what I’ve seen (in posts) they added in a fair bit of characterization of their own for the dwarves and especially Thorin. Does that line up with your experience or do you think the movies stay pretty true to the book character-wise?

I’m free to talk about lotr and especially the Hobbit anytime if that’s soemthing you would also like :) hope you’re having a good day!

hii Star!! im so happy you decided to send an ask, it brings me so much joy!

and oh gosh.. i could talk about this topic for HOURS. if i honestly had the talent to formulate my thoughts into a whole video essay i would... but i shall do my best!

so i have seen both the movies and read the book (am rereading and reading in my native language) and i think i truly love them equally! they have a special place in my heart now ever since i randomly decided to rewatch the movies a couple of years ago now.

there is of course a lot of controversy surrounding the hobbit trilogy which i think is not quite fair compaired to the lotr trilogy. again am no expert in storytelling or filmmaking for that matter but as a simple fan and viewer i too can judge of what i like about the adaptations. and you are correct! they put a lot of characterization for the dwarves to make them into more like their own individuals and have personality. they are all so lovable and they did a really great job with them.. and especially getting thorin's story and presence across very well. from hearing the stories and thoughts from the cast of the dwarves especially, you can feel how dedicated they were to the job of bringing their characters and this story to life.

now the big controversy and difference of these films being the changes in the story, adding in characters that were not there originally and pre-production being a bit of a mess with warner bros. some major differences in desolation of smaug the most i think... that legolas is there, theres a love story between tauriel and kíli, some differences with bilbo's encounter with smaug, also the more emphasis of the arkenstone. now i know its also controversal of all the cgi in the film compared to the lotr trilogy but honestly, it was in an era when cgi was the big thing to have in movies in the 2010's i believe. it does not excuse from being a bit too much cgi when there could of been some practial stuff instead maybe.

but the films for what they are i think are really fun and entertaining and i wont pretend they are...to me they are really good in their own way as a tolkien book adaptation. so my biggest problem with the controversy being people who claim all the problems with the hobbit dont hold the same towards the lotr trilogy, that i mean with story changes that would deem it "not a faithful adaptaion", to me lotr trilogy is not really a faithful adaptation if you look at it literally, its really good because its made well in its own way the best they thought they could make it... but does not mean its perfect. the hobbit isnt perfect either, but again, its really good for what they managed to make from interpreting the original book. there as also another thing of that the hobbit didnt need to be a trilogy but honestly, being the massive nerd i am, i want that.. give me more.

now i could talk about thorin FOR DAYS even but to summarise for those who have to read all of this. i love how they made thorin in the movies.. a little different maybe how he is in he book, the thing about making him about middle-aged instead hasnt bothered me. the actor, richard armitage who has quickly become a favourite of mine, put a lot of dedication to his role as thorin from having a personal connection to the book and it just warms my heart seeing that love and care for it, from the whole main cast really.. i love them dearly. i saw the movies when they came out in theatre when i was a pre-teen and i was blown away from seeing it.. and years later when i found my way back again and reading the book as well, can't do anyhing but love it. it is not a faithful book-to-film adaptation but i think its really great, its linear and as the original plot points.. if you just want a fun watch i believe the movies are great, if you ever want to discuss if you end up seeing the movies, dont hesitate to come around again!

im sorry if i strayed too much from main question and ive tried to summarise the best i can.. i shall add on if i remember more things i could bring up! hope this was something to read at least! <33

[anneangel]

Controversy: The dwarves are better characters in The Hobbit trilogy, than in the book.

Although much criticized by fans for differences comparing to with the book, it is agreed that the highlights the movies gave to the dwarves was welcome. Ok, the book has deserved public love, I love the book, but that did not stop me from having criticism about parts of the narrative either.

In the book, the dwarves were much of my discontent: (1) starting with their number, 13, practically unnecessary when it is clear that none gain true development and are usually referred to in plural. (2) They are quite inappropriate for the journey, since they carry musical instruments and, when their combat skills are needed, are mediocre, they can not overcome any obstacle on the way, needing to be saved all the time (by Bilbo, Gandalf or others). (3) They are more greedy, there is no voluntary noble attempt to recover the kingdom, are more focused on the treasure that will recover than in the kingdom itself. (4) They do nothing really useful along the way, besides being grumpy, talking about treasure, music, doubting bilbo and needing to be saved. (5) Thorin is a petty leader, there is no real vocation, only his royal blood, if the narrator not inform us who he is, would not stand out at all, his character does not kill Azog (in Azanulbizar) not even Bolg (in BotFA), it only serves as a moral to show the evils of greed, to be able to recover and apologize with Bilbo in the end. (6) Their "plan" is that Bilbo steal how much of the treasure could be possible so that they could retain and then leave, if there are no miracle that kill the dragon, and even Smaug mocks this. (7) The dwarves have no plan, at no time in the journey, and not even against Smaug, they do not even see the Dragon, they are all the time hidden on the mountain depending on the service and salvation of third parties, Bilbo is the only one that values courage to go to Smaug (3 times) and the only one who encourages all of then to continue. (8) Bilbo becomes the "leader" in the end having to make decisions that would be expected of Thorin (by the way, Thorin was never a leader but in the title).

In short, it is not possible to like any dwarves in the book. Not even form a development paragraph for each of them, their acts are tiny and their amount unnecessary. When three of the royal family die in the end, the only consideration I had to regret was about the age of Kili and Fili, but despite that I didn't feel their losses like characters to whom I had attached (they had to have development for this).

On the other hand, the movies had ridiculous decisions: how to relive Azog solely to give Thorin a plot and various scenes of action, persecution, escape and unnecessary combat. When only Bolg would be enough...

...it is obvious that Thorin being much younger and less bearded, and Thorin, Kili and Fili being heartthrobs is just an attempt to please Hollywood and people who watch only for the aesthetic standard. It honestly doesn't bother me that they are aesthetically different from what they are in the book (but it might bother fans more focused on what the characters "should" look like). Lmao...

...it is also obvious that the producers and screenwriters only highlighted Thorin because they believed a badass character, warrior and with a sense of purpose (everything that Bilbo is not as an archetype of protagonist), soon the films transformed Thorin into a “second protagonist”, giving him many scenes, differing from what he is in the book. Are hollywood standards and commonly used in diverse plots dictating the rules of cinema again...

...However, heroes, bumbling and comic as the dwarves are in the movies, there is a greater prominence in each of them and their different personalities, as well as there is a greater sense of nobility and dream to belong when their desire is to "return and conquer the kingdom" (all the thing about Arkenstone like necessary to rule was stupid, but at least they had a better goal than "stealing from the Dragon and leaving if no miracle happens as the prophecy says"), and the fact that they are more prominent fighters in the movies is good too (although the overkill of the nonsense action scenes and the absurd CGI spoiled many of this scenes). They plot a plan against Smaug (even if it was a ridiculous plan, after all who throws hot gold in a fire dragon that loves gold? Ridiculous!).

But these are flaws of the movies and the book, as there was an attempt to cover very silly, too childish or unfounded holes in the book.

The criticism made here about the book, for example, are common in reading groups of The Hobbit: (1) bad development of secondary and supporting characters. (2) Dragon premature death (four pages). (3) Battle of the Five Army summarized. (4) Absence of female characters. (Note that these are points that the trilogy tried to remedy, but in a mistaken and misunderstanding way, unrelated with book, scenes that were pure filler rather than good Extra Canonical contains which would be more preferable).

* And even a child complains about these points in the book!!! So the justification "is a book for children" does not support itself.

* Much of the errors of the trilogy was in script, script decisions badly thought to the scenes (a pity, because I love the cast, the soundtrack, the costume, setting and lease).

I Would follow more the dwarves of the trilogy than the Hobbit's book dwarves.

Do I have criticism of the movies? Yes. Most of them because I love Trilogy, but the criticism comes because I know it could be much better than it was if the amazing parts of the book had been used more carefully and devotion. But I am also not extremist to the point of thinking that the book is perfect.

@anxious-alien-overlord , fantastic conversation we had about this, I owe this post to you ❤️

[juliedrawz]

🌼 Big Info/Update on my "Coco" Book 🌼

So it's almost been a year ...

Wow! What a journey so far! I wanted to take my time to talk to you "every dear one of you who loves my art and follows me" for a bit. Now, this will be a long post so keep that in mind!

I cannot remember a year in which I went through so many changes. I grew a lot mentally and I learned a lot. When I first watched Coco, I didn't know at all what kind of impact it will have on me. I know it did for a whole lot many more than just me. It's not just a movie, it's something that moved my heart in depths I cannot explain. Look, the only movie franchise who ever was able to impact me that deeply was Lord of the Rings/Hobbit, but then Coco came along and well ... Héctor! ... and Ernesto.

But talking about Héctor in every little detail possible is planned for another post. There is so much! And Ernesto even more. Ernesto is actually (has actually) been my biggest surprise this year 🤯 And let me tell you why for a little because this is a important part of this whole post!

Villains. We all know what a villain is. When I first saw Ernesto, I was instantly drawn to his charmful personality. I love mexico! I love mexicans, (they happen to be one of the funniest, kindest and most temperamental ones I ever came across and they understand how to celebrate life and death!) At first, we only see what Ernesto can do without knowing anything just yet. I was blown! Let me get this down, he's a musícan with a inrcedible voice (I have an opera education background so I connect to his trained voice), he's a actor, a showman, he's a phenomenal horseback rider and he's handsome! I don't need to tell you about the punch in the guts you end up having later!

Oh, yes! Something I would say! Seriously! I do act like that whenever I am burning for something! *cough* snowflakes quite recently! It was late and my boss only had 1 client left and it started snowing big flakes and I went full child excited mood "think Ernesto and fireworks" until they hit me with their "Augh, snow! Cold, wet, annoying!" And then I literally turned into this cinematic drama queen telling them about nostalgia and the spirit of christmas! *laugh* Their faces 😆 Bah humbug! Truly!

Can you imagine Ernesto in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge? I can! 😆 Héctor, Ceci and Imelda as the 3 spirits of christmas. Yes sir! I want that for christmas! *cough* aaand I'm rambling! I was talking about my book ... yes ... back to that!

Anyway! Moving on! I've told you before that as an INFP personality it's in my nature anyway to think and feel myself deeper into things (whatever they are) and I need about 2 or 3 rows to analyze and solidifying my opinion. That's what happened with Ernesto. Yes, at first I was "heck this guy!" Mildly said, I did not like Ernesto. One. Bit. I was mad and I, for the first few moments, labled him as a villain too! But then I rewatched and rewatched and rewatched Coco and I analyzed Ernesto. And after I went "wait a dang minute!" I realized, no, this man is certainly not your typical "Bad guy!" And after my Dad "an ex-soldier and chef prison guard" confirmed my analysis, I started researching and studying on human behavior, trauma (PTSD) and especially psyche! Now, I wanted to do this anyway because of Héctor and Imelda but it played into my hands with Ernesto. But it also flipped my whole opinion of him. It is a canon fact, that Héctor and Ernesto grew up together and were like brothers to each other and I had the statement, that Ernesto isn't proud of what he's done. Oh boy did that flip tables for me! Because guess what! A true villian is evil, period. You don't go thinking about any redemption because they are that far gone! And a truly rotten, evil soul does not regret their actions or deeds, they are perfectly fine and content with them. I would love to share my whole Sherlock Holmes 🔎 action I did on Ernesto with you but I can't because that would def. spoil everything that is to come!

Ok, this whole Ernesto case has changed and impacted my book! And not only that. The longer I wrote, I got back my grammar and writing skills (after not truly writing for years!) I improved and only after months and then going back to the first half of my book, I realized that many things weren't the way I wanted them anymore. The plot was now solid (wasn't at first) some age/timeline aspects changed! I tweaked some things! Grammar too. And that means I will need to go over my whole first bunch of chapters eventually!

Now I really know where my book is heading! From beginning to end! I now have the silver lining! That also means, the Title of my book has changed! But I will change it in time, not just yet!

The thing with Ceci 👓

Honestly, when I first included Ceci in my book, I, just like with many things, as I mentioned, had no idea what to do with her! I knew I wanted her in, because of that one scene! She instantly had me with her sassy attitude. And since it was pretty clear that she and Héctor knew each other and that she's been helping him not only once, I knew that there had to be a connection. And so I went with it. But that was still raw and not well thought through. That came fairly quickly though! And by now, Ceci is, next to Imelda one of the main characters! She plays a big role and she will be very important for the future!

My Book - Not just any other Fanfic

I know that everyone has their own opinion, view of things and headcanons. This is mine! But while it is my headcanon, I had the goal from the moment I sat down and decided "I'm going to do this!" To make my book feel as canon as possible. I knew I didn't just want to create yet another "great" fanfiction, I wanted to create something that is way more than just that. Something that could give huge Coco fans like me something back. Something that has an impact, something that shares what I have in my heart at least a little! I wanted to do something that hasn't been done before! And for once, I dedicated myself to it, no matter how long it will take, I will finish it! Oof, didn't that sound like something Héctor would say?

This thing has become my baby! 😂

I wanted to stay "true" to each character, stay in line and make readers go "yep, that's how it all happened" I wanted the characters to stay real and authentic. I didn't want to change them or make them do things that would fall out of their character. I knew I wanted my book to circle around Héctor mainly but the longer I worked on it, the more I understood that Ernesto, Ceci and Imelda are just as much of a part of Héctor! And developing their story, they became a huge part.

I wanted and still want to bring emotions across as if you'd feel them! I also knew and now I know even more, that my book is "in no way" for children! It is in everyway for us adults, for teens at least! Because I go deeper and touch on topics that are scary, painful, harsh and dark. You'll see that even more in chapters to come!

Conclusion ❗️

Since it's a real book I am working on, I realized that it is pretty normal that some chapters take weeks, sometimes even months to write. I understood that it's ok to take my time! And if it ends up taking me 2 or 3 years to finish it. I stopped feeling guilty when I cannot post new content fast enough because it just takes a lot of time and effort. And besides my passions, life happens and continues. Work happens to be exhausting sometimes, not all weekends end up being a free-time for me. And there are family gatherings, normal things to do, as plain as grocery shopping. And recently, christmas. But I appreciate every time I get to work on my book and my art!

-

So, yes, I had to get to this conclution on my own. While it is clear for others. And that has everything to do with my personality. I love pleasing people and making people happy. And by all means, I love love love what I do! If I could I would double my arms and work on more tings faster! Sometimes I wish I could stay home and work on my hobbies only but that isn't going to happen for me.

So at that point. I want to say "Thank you!" AGAIN! For all you guys who have been sticking around so far! For all the kind words! I hope you'll stick around for the next year/years to come and keep Coco alive!

🌼 Coco is timeless 🌼

It is so much more than just bringing across a deep important message! It has earned itself a very special place in my heart! It has caused me to pick up writing again, and it made me pick up my guitar and finally learn it! I will finish telling Héctor's story! And Ernesto's along with it! And I am no longer scared if some might end up hating it or calling me crazy for it! Because, like Héctor said, then I am, un poco loco! And I want to be nothing else!

[borom1r]

I'll be honest, I don't know much abt lotr, but!!! for the text game you're putting together, what has been your favourite date and/or route you've written so far? + as an addition, if you'd like, what are things you admire/love abt any character of your choosing? (I hope you're doing okay bestie, I'm sorry you're having a rough night 💖)

haugh thank you dude i am. feeling more grounded now (and my hand stopped hurting so i Didn't actually burn it, yayyy) but gods that was bad for a hot minute

ummmm my favorite thing ive written is probs tied between Éomer's 2B date (go to a celebratory bonfire w/ him) because there's a lot of silliness, it's just very lighthearted + cute!! or Faramir's first date?? it's actually hard to pick a specific date bc Faramir is just very fun to write. I adore him so much lol — his first date's a little library meetcute and you get to give him a kiss on the nose and listen to him be So autistic about Really Old Texts (it's what he deserves)

uuuuuuuuuuu well u know as a Boromir Guy. a certified Boromir Enjoyer. Enjoyer of Boromir. there's just. oagh theres so much. I was rewatching th Osgiliath scene again for reasons (quotin it for sth i think) and the way he behaves with Faramir vs how he behaves with Denethor is so. im DERANGED i need to sit down w/ Sean Bean and talk abt Boromir for fucking hours. the way he prepares himself to have to speak w/ his father, the disbelieving shake of his head at Denethor's "I know his uses and they are few" line about Faramir. the "one more moment of peace can he not give us that" line. "the victory is Faramir's as well" and he's grinning, his nod of encouragement, motioning Faramir over because he's RIGHT and Faramir's achievements deserve to be recognized and they're fighting fucking FORCES OF MORDOR so how could he possibly blame his brother for Osgiliath falling? they reclaimed it and they're alive and that's cause for celebration! im so.

Boromir son of Denethor seeing the best in people. when he could so easily and so understandably be completely fucking pessimistic. He is ON THE FRONTLINES he would have every excuse to be a bitter jaded asshole having grown up with the sole purpose of being a soldier. he lives only to serve!!! and he lives watching the people he is supposed to safeguard suffering and dying, watching the darkness of Mordor spread with little hope of vanquishing it, only keeping it at bay for a time. it has been long since he had any hope!!!!!! and yet the victory is Faramir's too! his baby brother who he is so proud of, who he sees the absolute best in, who he longs for Denethor to see the good in too because Faramir is trying his absolute fucking best and Boromir sees that!! Boromir, who sees Merry and Pippin's determination and takes the time to coach them in swordplay when others would have made them stay behind. they're only hobbits, after all. what could they do? (quite a lot, naturally, but it was Boromir at first who empowered them to be more than just tagalongs. who thought they should be more prepared and took the time and energy to make sure they were.)

there is frailty in men but there is goodness too. the world is cruel and awful and he is surrounded by violence and death. and even a wizard like Gandalf can die. but there is goodness in men. goodness in the world!! Minas Tirith is on the brink of disaster but it is beautiful and he longs to return. even diminished, she is beautiful!! and he wants to share that. he wants to share Faramir's victories. he knows firsthand how horrifically cruel the world can be but he sees the best in the people around him and he wants others to see it too. ARGH!!!!!!!!

ALSO. ive talked abt it in another post floating around somewhere but while i do love book!Faramir i think he is. kind of a nightmare person. in that he has some Deepset Prejudices that he Needs To Unpack. smacking the shit out of him with a cardboard tube.

and while i thnk there are valid criticisms to make abt movie!Faramir i do actually GENUINELY adore that he is tempted by the ring. because on one side of it, his temptation mirrors Boromir's in that it is done out of love (desire for his father's love and approval vs Boromir's love for his people) and that he overcomes it. because that is Boromir's Baby Brother and isnt the goal of it all for the younger generations to surpass the older? isn't the hope that Faramir would learn from Boromir's failures and be better? not repeat them? and he doesn't. he is flawed and he is tempted by much the same thing and yet he does not fall!! and that's not to say there's any Legitimate moral failing on either of their parts because its the fucking One Ring, but i think its just. very poignant. I genuinely prefer it way more than the book where hes all "I would NEVER take the ring!!!"

but he also has his whole "boromir died well, achieving some good, and was even more beautiful in death than in life" thing and that gets into the spirituality of middle earth and the layers of Weirdness there which im not abt to unpack on this ask. not a fan of it in the slightest. shaking Boromir's hand for being rebellious against god tho i would be too if i was living in that whole fucking sitch. if the only thing my brother could say was "idfk if he fucked up or not but he was more beautiful in death than ever so ik he died a holy death, which is preferrable" my ghost would start throwing bricks.

also, having movie!Faramir fall prey to the ring when book!Faramir is like this. paragon of grace and goodness and holiness who Cannot be tempted. idk i think especially with Aragorn grappling with his humanity and frailty as a man, having Faramir Also be tempted is sooooo. like. augh!!! it is not a failure to be tempted. you can still be Good and Gracious and Lordly and a Paragon Of Men. he is Still Faramir even though he fell prey to the call of the ring. he resisted. he let Frodo go, putting his own life at risk in the process, because he is still a Good Man even though he is flawed. even though he almost didn't. movie!Faramir my beloved!!!!!!!

LASTLY ik ive talked abt this a couple times but it is fucking DERANGED to me that Éomer is only twenty-eight in TA 3019. HE SHOULD'VE BEEN IN THE TAVEEEEEERRRNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!