#lotr in modern world

[nap-mak]

LOTR in a modern world headcanons? I think yes.

I did this on one of my old accounts that i ended up deleting for some reason, i don’t remember, but here. Back on my Lord Of The Rings BS, let’s gooooo. This’ll be the fellowship with everyone intact, no one is dead.

As always requests are open and let me know if you want more!

LOTR x GN! Reader, general headcanons for if you had to take care of them today, in 2023. Enjoy!

The ring most likely has no power in this dimension, so yay Frodo is free from torment!

Sam loves watching cooking, gardening and home renovation shows, and he gets very invested in the former two. You learn a lot you didn’t really need to know from his commentary

Once Pippin learns about pyjamas and fuzzy slippers he never goes back, you literally cannot get him out of them

Boromir and Aragorn, being human and coincidentally two of the most responsible members of the fellowship, are the easiest to take in public to the grocery store and such.

You can pass off the hobbits (if they cover their ears with their hair) as children, and Gimli is your friend with dwarfism.

Gandalf you can pass off as your grandfather, and Legolas looks pretty normal if you cover his ears.

Pippin is the type to bounce in his seat in the car and ask “Are we there yet?!” every 5 minutes

Frodo really likes to draw, especially when there’s so many cool places and movies to draw inspiration from.

Movie nights? No horrors. The hobbits are terrified by ‘em.

Movie nights are literally so difficult because they all have such different tastes

Merry really likes James Bond movies.

Pippin is obsessed with nail polish when you introduce him to it. Boromir gets his repainted every time the polish come off. His nails need serious help after a while

Pippin and Merry often start pillow fights, and drag everyone else into it

If you have space for a garden or plants in your home, Sam is on it. He finds it calming, so now you have some home grown plants :)

Taking the hobbits in public? Bad idea. You can trust Frodo and Sam, but Merry inevitably drags Pippin off to do something dumb and possibly dangerous.

Gandalf has an old man rocker. There is no discussion.

The hobbits do the classic “getting one sibling to ask for fast food because whoever’s in charge will say yes”, they get Frodo to do this because he has the best puppy dog face and he’s unsure about asking for things normally.

Pippin and Merry cannot handle too much caffeine or sugar or they go crazy

You thought Legolas’ hair was good before? He steals your hair care products and his hair is literally perfect.

(He’s also willing to do skincare with you, not that his face needs it. Again, flawless)

Game nights are so chaotic. You can’t play a lot of games since they don’t know what many things from this world are, so games like Trivia and Charades are off the table

Gimli and Legolas verse each other in video games, often enough it ends with Legolas winning and Gimli rage quitting

Aragorn is so responsible he’s literally the perfect man to do anything with, and he can hold the fort down if you need to leave

Pippin is so clingy, he trails you wherever you go and asks you random questions but it’s adorable

Boromir insists on carrying your stuff, bags of groceries, all that

Frodo often goes to the library to find new books to read, with you of course

There’s a whole debate on whether 3D or 2D animation is better, i would not get involved if i were you.

Pippin and Merry are also avid fans of quoting their favourite movies, once they see them

Legolas and Frodo are the best listeners, they will just sit there and not judge or try to give you advice they just. sit there. like the perfect men they are.

Legolas would have a meme for everything. Like any situation. You text him like “PIPPIN FELL DOWN SOME WELL WE DON’T EVEN HAVE A WELL HELP” and he just has a meme that fits the situation perfectly.

Frodo and Legolas would watch Avatar: The Last Airbender together because it’s their favourite show. Aragorn jumps in also.

Those three are also avid tea drinkers.

Boromir likes Game Of Thrones. I don’t know anything about it, he just does. Please confiscate Pippin while he does.

Pippin gasps dramatically whenever a plot twist surprises him.

Sam loves to cook, and he does a lot of cooking in the house once he arrives. You two just work together in the kitchen (if you can’t cook, he’ll teach you) and have nice sweet conversations

Legolas is great at doing people’s hair. If you ask him to, he’d probably agree, though he’d probably be a bit flustered as that is a courting ritual in his culture.

Ask Legolas to talk to you until you fall asleep. His voice is so heavenly istg-

The hobbits get sleepy when their hair is played with and it’s adorable

Won’t lie this hyperfixation came back then it circled back to TMNT and today i watched these films with my friend and now i’m back to LotR love. Most of this has been sitting in my drafts for a couple weeks.

Anyway, I think that’s about it from me, I hope you guys enjoy! :)

If you want to request, rules are pinned on my page! Let me know if you want a general part two or a set of modern headcanons for a specific character. I love LOTR in the modern world content so much.

Have a good day, and remember that you are loved!

[rohirric-hunter]

I'm seeing That One Post go around again so this is your periodic reminder that No, Denethor did not know about the political situation in the Shire or Pippin's status as the son of the Thain or what that meant. Middle-earth does not have phones, email, or internet. There is no contact between the Shire and any of the human civilizations east of the Misty Mountains. Gondor thought hobbits were a myth until one of them literally showed up in their capital city. The first written records of Hobbits were in TA 1050 and exclusively in Eriador -- while they lived in Rhovanion before then no written records of it exist and they lived far north of where Gondor ever considered their territory. The Shire wasn't founded until TA 1601, when Gondor was recovering from the Kinstrife and had other things to worry about. And the title of Thain was invented in TA 1979, when Gondor stopped having any regular contact at all with anyone in Eriador on account of Arnor not existing anymore. Any information Gondor had about hobbits came from folktales shared by the Rohirrim, which were incomplete and likely inaccurate. While it would be reasonable for Denethor to do a bit of research when Faramir and Boromir told him about their dream, his only real avenue to finding this information would be the Palantir, finding information about something you know nothing about in a Palantir is actually quite challenging. You can't just say, "Show me information about Halflings," you have to know what you're looking for. Also, Sauron directly controlled everything Denethor saw in the Palantir and would never have let him see a culture of happy and carefree people benefiting, however distantly, from Gondor's war against Mordor. Speaking of which, Denethor was also at war and most likely would have prioritized using the Palantir for that. The people of Gondor's guess that Pippin was a prince was just that, a lucky guess. They had literally no way of knowing. Pippin told people that his father was a farmer and Gandalf built Pippin up on his own accomplishments. Nobody knew anything about Thains or sons of Thains and Denethor wasn't playing some deranged game where he pretended to not know who Pippin was. He just didn't.

[silvantransthranduiltrash]

Modern au where the elves resort to making up an official nationality/ethnicity/etc bc “while yeah, we are white/black/brown/ etc, none of use are actually caucasian, african, hispanic, asian, etc.”

They might look like they’re part of a certain ethnicity, but many were all born long before these distinctions really existed and aren’t inherently familiar with cultural aspects of other nationalities and ethnicities. Especially the elves that were born before humans, and especially those that were born pre-orome.

Like, what would they answer when asked “where are you from?” Yeah, they could give a technical answer in relation to their current citizenship, but it’s not like they’re actually from there, nor could they really pretend to be as that culture simply wouldn’t reflect in their behavior.

They can’t exactly tell people they’re ancient immortals bc they’d end up in the loony bin.

So as far as humans are aware, there’s an obscure country, tucked away in the middle of the ocean that no outsider has been to, that so happened to have a mixed bag of races, a good number of which end up becoming respected or known throughout certain demographics.

Conspiracy theorists go crazy about them, claiming they are aliens, but elves have people everywhere for the sole purpose of making their otherness seem normal.

[fanficsforfun]

If your fanfic doesn’t have warnings and summary, I will not read it.

The problem is that I cannot know what kind of content there is, if it's suitable for me and whether I even wanna read it in the first place or not. I bet I'm not the only one who thinks this way, so if you want to get more reads for your fics, include warnings and a summary! It's not that much trouble, for real. All you need to do is to write a few sentences about what happens in your story and tell if there is any sexual or violent content, the nature of it in (at least some level of) detail, and if there are any themes/content related to death, self-harm, intense fear or anxiety, mental disorders, trauma, drug use or substance abuse or hard language.

[tathrin]

Hey Tolkien fandom, anyone want to do some world-building? I’m thinking we should come up with some Modern AU Middle-earth Car Makes/Models and toss them out into the world for folks to use freely in their stories.

For instance, a rugged but light-weight off-road vehicle (a jeep, maybe, or something like a jeep?) called the Ranger.

Then there should be some kind of Hobbitish ATV/four-wheeler for trundling around the Shire, especially Tookland...maybe called something like a Smial Wheeler? Or a Tookland Rumbler? idk

Rohan should have something like that too. Maybe call it a Mark-wheeler? A UTV/SSV design might be better for Rohan actually, even more rugged. Heck, maybe even give them the occasional Unimog if you want.

And there definitely ought to be some kind of Haradrim Sandrail...

What about the Baggins Adventurevan, a Hobbit-sized campervan in which one can go on an adventure in proper comfort?

The Tunneler, a Landrover-type car made by (and sized for) Dwarves?

I’m sure folks who know more about cars than I do can come up with more and better ideas, so please don’t be shy!

[sidhewrites]

Thinking back to the death of the Nazgûl king.

I love eowyn and i know that she gets the “I am no man” line but I think I love most how much rules lawyering goes into how the prophecy is fulfilled with both she and Merry slaying the king in the books.

On the one hand you have Eowyn, of the race of man but not the gender. And on the other hand you have merry, the gender but not the race. And then you also have both of them. It’s typical to assume a single hero would be the one to slay the evil king, but we don’t have one “man.” We have two. No man can kill the king but nobody said anything about two.

[aeonianarchives]

As the Advent Calendar Commands

Summery: Lindir gets an Advent Calander and as he opens It's doors he takes it to literally and follows it's doors as if they are orders when they are not facts or saying how many nights or days till Christmas.

Pairing: Lindir X Reader

CW: Reverse MGME fic (Elf falls into the modern world)

Taglist: @eunoiaastralwings, @aetherofthepen

"Lindir have you ever had a advent calendar" You questioned the elf as your head lay in his lap you opened an eye to him.

"No I have not" Lindir said you grinned and sat up you had not opened the door for today

"You open a doors on the days coming to Christmas, and the doors have little facts or something on them and you get a chocolate, or something else depending on the calendar but it is mostly chocolate" you said as you passed your own to him

"It's the xx today so you open that door, read what is on the door and then take the chocolate from the foil" you said the ellon gazed at the advent calendar for a while

"Is this why you call me Lindor" Lindir questioned as he read the companies branding

"Maybe, just open it" You said Lindir he nodded and opened the door

Time to Hunt for Last Years Wrapping Paper

Lindir stood setting the advent calendar and went scowling your apartment he even looked in your chaotic storage cupboard

you glanced to the door and started laughing "Lindir, you don't actually do what the doors say" you said getting up and pulling him to a stop

"It's more like silly advice which you never actually follow" you said unwrapping the chocolate and popping it in Lindir's mouth before he could say anything you glanced up and let out a sigh of course while you were gone to show Lindir what coffee was your roommate had put up mistletoe adding the final decoration to the apartment.

"You know Kissing under the mistletoe is also a tradition" you said as you stood on your tip toes grabbing his shirt pulling him down so you could kiss him for good measure you stole what he hadn't eaten of the chocolate in his mouth leaving a very flustered elf.

"The only thing missing is a tree, when my roommate gets you I can show you want we do with it" you said

"Also Lindir we don't have any wrapping paper, we each go to our parents every year and use their wrapping paper" you said pecking his lip and returning to the couch

"Want to watch a movie" you said patting the spot next to you

"I wouldn't be opposed" Lindir said joining you

[marypsue]

Yanno what, I like high fantasy just fine, but the older I get and the more I read, the more I'm starting to think I like high fantasy better when it's in-universe fantasy fiction for a different story instead of like. Me, directly reading/watching/etc it.

[melhekhelmurkun]

What is the point of fanfiction if not to manipulate canon to your will like an evil little guy spinning a web of lies

[ultfreakme]

You must be in a tumblr bubble because how have you never seen posts with thousands notes claiming most classical literature is actually fanfiction of bible and the rest is of mythology. Like, this isn’t a hot take on tumblr, unfortunately.

Probably because I have a life outside of tumblr and curate my experience, but yes, I have seen posts about how Paradise Lost is just Bible fanfic and Dante's Inferno is self-insert fanfiction, but mostly from people who watch OSPD videos and say it as a joke. It's a major simplification of about a dozen concepts but okay, if you look at it from the point of definitions, yeah, Paradise Lost & the Divine Comedy are technically fanfiction; they are based on pre-existing work, with Dante there's irl people in scenarios they've never been in, etc etc.

Although I have never seen anyone saying any particular fanfic is a literary masterpiece that must simply be taught in academic settings, which is what that OP's post was actually implying.

And here's the thing; I think fanfic has the potential to be considered a classic. Because, what makes let's say, the Divine Comedy so important? It's not because it's old, but because it struck a nerve among the masses, it did things against the societal structure no one dared to do before, it transformed the Italian language as we know it, it's this carefully, excruciatingly crafted work in terms of sentence structure and is primarily a theological exploration. Now this stands out also because the og canon content, the Bible, is MASSIVE in influence. That thing STILL shapes social norms, conventions and expectations.

No current fanfiction now will ever come to be seen as a true classic unless the canon thing the fic is based on reaches Bible levels of influence on society, which is going to take centuries. Same can be applied to Greek Myths in general(also in both these cases the canon thing is also tied to social structure and religion which large portions of the world follow). We don't want to equate the term 'fanfiction' to that stuff because it feels like it's beyond that but technically, yeah. It's fanfiction.

But the term fanfiction itself is extremely recent, it was said first in 1939 and therefore carries temporal contexts and definitions. It's why it feels juvenile and uncomfortable assigning such a new, and initially frowned-upon term to classics. Being angry about what is and what isn't fanfiction depends entirely upon how you view the term 'fanfiction'.

For me, it is value-neutral and doesn't immediately denote lowered quality these days because at the most fundamental level, fanfiction is literary work based on pre-existing media. But if you add the current cultural context in which fanfiction is primarily written, ie., posted online by anyone and everyone with a desire to write, mostly to fulfill shipping fantasies or certain character scenarios canon didn't provide, then I can see why people would consider giving the label of fanfiction to the classics an insult or "shooting too high".

Maybe 'fanfiction' isn't fitting because of all the social stigma around it, maybe it doesn't apply because it feels like trying to apply modern story beats and terms to ancient mythology. What specifically, is making someone uncomfortable about the term 'fanfiction' on the classics? What the hell even is "fanfiction" in the first place because you could argue that The Song of Achilles is canon-compliant POV change fanfiction but its advertised as a retelling. Pride & Prejudice & Zombies also counts for fic. I think there's a good discussion to be had on what makes "fanfiction" as we know it now what it is because even I think assigning the term to Divine Comedy or Paradise Lost feels wrong. Maybe it's about intent? The classics are written with the need for social change or to make people see things different; art for life's sake. But most fic these days are purely art for art's sake- it is peak self-indulgence and self-expression.

I'm looking it up and people keep narrowing the definition of "fanfiction" as like

Amateur writing

Based on copyrighted characters

Without permission from og creator

Now that whole "copyright" concept complicates things because Romeo & Juliet? Not originally by Shakespeare. Dude borrowed characters from a different play, pretty sure he changed Juliette's name, and he wrote it when the og was only recently made. The concept of "copyright" and "author permission" is also VERY recent. What even counts as actually "amateur" because Van Gogh is considered a pro now but when he was alive he only sold one painting apparently so back then he could've been classified as "amateur"?

I have fully derailed. I forgot what I wanted to say-- Okay yeah I'm aware people say the classics are fanfiction, and in a way, yeah, it is, depending on how the individual defines "fanfiction".

[frosticenow]

Tolkien Boy in the Modern World

I love Modern Girl in Middle Earth fics and one day when scouring the tag on AO3 I found a fic where Kíli ends up in our world and I loved it.  I have been calling this trop ‘Tolkien Boy in the Modern World.’  

So I am assembling a post of all the fics I have found that do this.  Please, please link me more if you find them!!!

Kíli/OC

Where You Heart Lies by Thatskasterborous

Their worlds had merged momentarily, reality shattering at a single point. The walls of the two worlds melting together until something broke through. 20 year old Leah Orrison was camping with her Mother when an unexpected visitor crashed into their camp site. Now she has to deal with the fact that Middle Earth is very real and that there is a very real dwarf who needs her help.

So so good.  This fic is the first one I read where a Tolkien character comes to our world and what originally put me on to this idea.  And I just love it.

Thorin/OC

A Kind of Magic by Lathalea (AO3)

This was writing for an ask and it is just the cutest, fun, quick read.

Where I Belong by MiddleEarthPixie (Tumblr)

After being unexpectedly dumped the night of her firm’s Christmas party, thoroughly modern Noelle James decides to skip the festivities and go for a walk along Fifth Avenue. The last thing she expected to happen was to be accosted by a man dressed in all fur and leather carrying a lethal-looking sword and asking for her to help him find his way back to Mirkwood. As in, The Hobbit Mirkwood. But not the novel, the movie.

Thorin Oakenshield has no idea how he ended up in modern day New York City, and no idea how to get back to where he belongs. The last thing he remembers is becoming disoriented while wandering through the enchanted forest at Mirkwood. He stumbled forward and out of his world into one wholly foreign to him. And now he has to rely on this one woman to help him. And neither one of them was at all prepared for things not quite going as they were supposed to…

This is the second fic I read under the same trope.  It’s so well done and a fun read.  I am such a sucker for cultural misunderstanding/exchange and this fic has lots.

Fíli/OC

My fic which I posted Monday!:

Young Man's Fancy was Turned into the Spring

Fíli son of Víli and Dís, brother to Kíli and sister-son and heir to Thorin Oakenshield has gone missing without a trace. While his family in the Blue Mountains mourn him, the young prince finds himself in a world different from the one he has always known.

No pairing

Dwarves always Knock Thrice by GaurdianofRivendell 

Another really fun quick read.  Kíli and Fíli feature in it and get up to all sorts of shenanigans.

Fic Rec Note:  If I have linked a story you wrote and you want me to:

a) remove it/links to your ao3 or tumblr, 

b) add your ao3 or tumblr if I have not included it

PM me on tumbler.

Authors: @lathalea, @guardianofrivendell, @middleearthpixie

[bowtruckle]

I'm so tired of being a bad person for liking Harry Potter

[weariedwight]

@mxrvelouscreations (Sophie) sent: “ please don't go. “

Faegalad stopped, and turned to look back at her. Visibly taken off guard by the request from one she had only just met, but...

Worry crawled beneath her skin, and with a slow breath, she tilted her head slightly. Her surprise fading from her expression as she studied the woman. "Alright," she said - her voice quiet. "I... will stay, then. Is everything alright, mell nín?"

[ladyofpembroke]

I’m mainly a casual fan, although I have read the Silmarillion, but I think reviews that called the rings of power just okay are probably right. I mean most of the visuals are nice and the story would be okay if it was not connected to a larger narrative that Amazon is not allowed to really even mention. If it had been a middle earth knockoff type story. But my biggest problem is that you don’t really get the sense of awe and reverence that you can feel in the lotr movies. You also don’t get the sense that elves arent any different from men except pointy ears and living longer, and literally why did they not have long hair? Like what is the reasoning I genuinely do not understand why this decision was made, I feel like it would have made people 10x more sympathetic to the show than they are now if they gave elves long hair.

[tathrin]

Hey fabric-side of tumblr, anyone want to help a writer out? I remember reading about silk threads being layered or sheathed or something like that in books that I’ve read before, is that a real thing? How does that work?

The internet is being unhelpful, just giving me lots of links to thing to buy rather than to information (thanks, modern internet, you suck) so I’m hoping that appealing directly to experts who like to info-dump will be better!

Context: I’m writing an elf explaining his quasi-magic spidersilk shirt which is self-repairing when it gets torn/cut, because the elves have a way of weaving spidersilk so that sticky threads are encased in non-sticky threads, and when the cloth gets cut it exposes the sticky bits so that they can twist the fabric back together and it will self-seal. I don’t need this to actually be possible, because it’s Elf Magic, but I want to describe it in a way that feels plausible-within-the-context-of-a-fantasy-world, if that makes sense?

Anyway thank you in advance for your help, anyone and everyone who has thoughts they wish to offer!

[hedgehogoftime]

Rereading the Lord of the Rings series recently, and it's so fascinating to me how much the series is a denial of the typical juvenile power-fantasy that is associated with the fantasy genre.

Like, the power-fantasy is the temptation the Ring uses against people It tempts Boromir with becoming the "one true king" that could save his people with fantastic power. It tempts Sam with being the savior of Middle Earth and turning the ruin that is Mordor into a great garden. It tempts Gandalf and Galadriel with being the messianic figure of legend who brings salvation to Middle Earth and great glory to herself.

The things the Ring tempts people with are becoming the typical protagonists of fantasy stories that we expect to see. and over and over we see that accepting that role, that fantasy of being the benevolent all-powerful hero, is a bad thing. LotR is about how power, even power wielded with benevolent intent, is corrupting.

And its so fascinating how so much of modern fantasy buys into the very fantasy LotR denies. Most modern fantasy is about being that Heroic power-fantasy. About good amassing power to rival evil. But LotR dares not to. It dares to be honest that there is no world where anyone amasses that power and remains good.

I guess that's one of the reasons its so compelling.