#lotr banners

[ahobbitstale]

Lord of the Rings Icons & Banners 1/?

The world needs more of Miranda Otto’s smile. Eowyn icons are free to use, so please Like/Reblog if you use them! Requests are open if you want a specific character. More banners are below the cut.

[from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras]

I'm still thinking about banner bearers as I continue working on my Obscure Blorbo Guthláf story, and I do find it impressive how much context about the banner bearer role Tolkien shoved into LOTR in barely half a dozen sentences' worth of small references.

For starters, there are (by my count) 3 acknowledged banner bearers in Lord of the Rings: Halbarad of the rangers of the North, Guthláf of Rohan (♥️), and an unnamed Haradrim standard bearer. I reject the distinction Tolkien made between so-called high, middle and low Men, but it is notable nonetheless that he created a banner bearer character from each of these 3 groups. That shows how universally important the function was, at least to communities of Men, just as it was extremely common in the real world for many hundreds of years of human history. All kinds of Middle Earth's Men have them, no matter how different the Men are from one another.

In addition, all 3 of the banner bearer characters die at the Pelennor Fields, which effectively illustrates how incredibly dangerous a job it was, both in Middle Earth and real life. Given how intentional Tolkien is about everything, I think it's fair to assume that he purposefully killed all of them in recognition of the realities of ancient warfare. (The only banner bearer I can think of in any Tolkien book that survives their war is Eönwë in the Silmarillion, but he's an immortal Maia so...TOTALLY different circumstances.)

And finally, Tolkien shows us how significant the loss of a banner bearer was to both sides in a battle. When Théoden kills the unnamed Haradrim standard bearer (just before the Witch King rolls up), that's the moment when the forces of Harad founder and start to flee because they've lost their rallying point and their source of morale. They can't function without their banner bearer. On the opposite side, Théoden cites his felling of the black serpent flag to Merry as one of the singular achievements that will allow him to sit proudly alongside his ancestors in the afterlife, so he clearly also understands taking out a banner bearer to be a massive battle achievement.

We don't witness Halbarad or Guthláf’s final moments, but their deaths are just as significant. Out of the untold numbers of dead at the Pelennor Fields, they are both in the small handful of names to be recorded in the story because they were important and their deaths meant something to the broader battle. And we see in the immediate aftermath of Guthláf’s death what a huge deal it is to the Rohirrim—they stop to address his death and retrieve his banner so that it can be borne by another before they even take the time to tend to their mortally wounded king. Those are the actions of people who understand how strategically important a banner bearer is above almost all other battlefield functions.

I'm not trying to say Guthláf is more important than Théoden* but I am saying that Tolkien really demonstrated, through a handful of very economical little actions and asides and unremarked-upon events, how critical people like Guthláf were, as well as how ridiculously brave and selfless. And more than anything else, I guess I’m saying that now, as I approach 27,000 words about Guthláf in my Google docs, he’s…on my mind a lot.

*At this point, I would absolutely say this for myself. In my heart, there's no contest and it's Guthláf forever. But I know that’s because he’s my special li’l guy and I don’t expect that of anyone else!

[sesamenom]

Day 6 Traditions for @tolkiengenweek: Arwen embroidering the Gondor standard with strands of hair as a continuation of a family tradition started by Luthien's hair cloak.

I think I might have said something about this before but i can't find the post, so basically my idea is that it's become a family tradition for whoever the current mini-luthien is to sew or weave something with their hair during times of war, usually for the protection or remembrance of a loved one.

for luthien, it's obviously the hair cloak. dior sews some of his hair into the hem of his kids' cloaks just before the sack of doriath. kid elwing, when told of her family's deaths, creates a little memorial tapestry with her hair woven into it. elrond during the last alliance weaves his hair into isildur's cloak and elendil's banner. arwen embroiders the white tree with her hair.

[official-rolli-und-rita]

Can i just say how much i love this woman for somehow always making the single best video on youtube every time she posts?

[frodo-with-glasses]

Splatted Wormtongue, as requested by @hobbitmajora, for all your splatted Wormtongue needs!

[incorrect-lord-of-the-rings]

Bernadette Banner’s video on the Game of Thrones costuming is so helpful in understanding why much of the Rings of Power costumes don’t sit right with me.

[anragaire]

me *denying that Halbrand is Sauron because of how much I love him as a character (and also don't want Charlie Vickers to leave the show)* holding hands with Celebrimbor as we skip right into Sauron's clutches

[justsomerandomfanfic]

Can I have 🌈 with Eowyn from lord of the rings?

Banner! (✿◡‿◡)

Wallpaper! (/≧▽≦)/

Thank you for requesting again! Love making these! Hope you love them!

[willowhaired]

hello everyone! i'm willowhaired; you can call me willow or will. 🤗

i share things i like but also write fanfiction and the occasional reader insert. the fandoms i'm active in are: Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit, Harry Potter, Peaky Blinders, Twin Peaks, X Files, True Detective, Under the Banner of Heaven. HERE you can find my masterlist. 🌿

i am also posting on ao3 and fanfiction.net.

currently on hiatus

[kinsey3furry300]

God Yes! Did not know I needed this sillyness untill now!

[from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras]

Don Marshall, the obscure LOTR facts guy from TikTok, is making pride merch with queer Rohirrim carrying related banners of many types and I find this to be a very exciting development.

(Don has made LGBTQIA-friendly Tolkien merch in the past, too, and is pretty thoughtful about it—working with queer designers and donating proceeds to relevant causes. He also made some elf-based anti-racism merch when people were being really shitty about the casting of Rings of Power. So I guess I’m saying that I think he’s a solid person and that adds to my confidence in this effort!)

[isilwhore]

When you watch RoTK for the 8,000th time and you notice another nod to Isildur 😭 Return of the King indeed

[mellaithwen]

…..yeah this is very on-point 😅 also spent 2,210 minutes listening to Dermot Kennedy 💕

[the-sunshine-dragon]

A’ight, let’s bust out the Christmas theme aka my Christmas Chicken....if I can find it

[tenth-sentence]

Behind him his banner blew in the wind, white horse upon a field of green, but he outpaced it.

"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" - J.R.R. Tolkien