I’d love to hear your thoughts on what Eldritch peredhel entail
-@@outofangband
Sorry this took so long @outofangband and thank you for asking this I am! Delighted! And am preemptively putting a read more down because I cannot shut up about they <3
alright I'm just gonna put stuff and headcanons down as they occur to me so expect low-moderate levels of coherency
shapeshifting is an obvious one (gets weaker down the generations) but because my brain is Like This I have caveats!
thanks to my whole peredhil things=gender allegory that my brain spit out without my permission I've long struggled against my inherent feeling that while they can shapeshift they don't like it
but because I'm now aware of my brain's reasoning I can say it's because of ✨fantasy dysphoria✨
that's oversimplifying, obviously, but peredhil already have so much issues with working through who and what they are and compromising between body and mind and spirit that actively choosing to change into/present as something/someone who They Are Not is. Not usually their cup of tea.
As a whole they tend to have specific forms that they prefer as being closer to themselves, and distinct enough that it doesn't feel like they're faking something they're not
(changing to look like a different person, or a edited version of themself is Very Very not fun unless either explicitly for disguise or shenanigans)
(the exception to this is that Luthien can make herself look almost perfectly human without any real issue. she doesn't do it often but especially as she ages she likes to catch glimpses of her reflection and get both excited and sappy. this is in contrast to making herself look almost perfectly like an elf which makes her feel like her skin is on fire.)
(Also I'm pretty sure all of them can flip their agab presentation while only feeling varying degrees of off, and even then it's a different feeling than the shapeshifting dysphoria. Dior and Elwing are the two who I think mind it the most)
They all have the (agonizing to write) trait of feeling very distinct relationships to their species in their body vs soul/mind vs spirit/fea and they all feel it very differently! This isn't exclusive to Luthien's line but the maia blood does make it worse.
Oh! This is a new headcanon of mine actually but!
They all have faces that are very very hard to capture in image. They are the bane of portrait artists (and, to a degree, sculptors) everywhere because the art never looks accurate to life
It's not blatantly off it's just. missing something? Or something was added? maybe it's a little too wide, or narrow, or long, or short, in one place or another
It's not unrecognizable but if you've ever seen the subject in real life you can just tell
It's especially bad with Luthien (and Daeron) and Dior (to a lesser extent) because everyone literally sees them differently, as in their features will be slightly different depending on what each person finds attractive/aesthetically appealing and beautiful
(not a lot, again, it's not unrecognizable, but there has never and will never be any accurate depiction of Luthien as she was as a person)
(as a concept, though, as the most beautiful creature to have ever existed in Arda, a little of her image exists in every portrait lovingly made of a beloved spouse, every child's drawing of their family, in biological sketches of songbirds and field mice, in a sculpture of a stranger's face. Daeron remembers his sister perfectly, but he collects these regardless)
(Arwen, Luthien come again, isn't described as such by her grandparents. Galadriel and Celeborn both knew Luthien, and while Arwen and her father both look as closely to her as genetically possible, to those who actually know them both it's nothing more than uncanny family resemblance. Luthien was to most a concept personified, Arwen is a person with concepts imposed on her.)
The list of people who have seen Luthien how she actually, physically, defaultly is, essentially consists of Melian, Daeron, Beren, and Dior
Beren doesn't see her as she is right away because he doesn't know her right away, but they learn about each other and she shows herself and he sees her and by the time she rescues him from Tol-im-Gaurhoth there are no echoes on her face
(He's always a little bit haunted that he nearly died without realizing he'd never quite seen the truth of her before)
Neither Thingol or Beren can quite see their own features on their children's faces. They clearly take after their mothers, after all!
(This leads to much affectionate eye-rolling on Melian and Luthien's part)
Hair stuff!
It's alive! kinda! it's definitely not normal hair!
It moves a lot on its own. Sometimes like a breeze is blowing where there isn't one. Sometimes more like tentacles. It depends on its mood.
They've got some very pretty traditional cosmic horror vibes swirling around on their heads. It's very sparkly and colorful but in a Forbidden Shrimp Colors that your brain is unable to comprehend way so it reads as iridescent black mostly, or holographic white, where applicable
Luthien's hair actually is a glimpse into space, Daeron's is a glance at a star
(Luthien's magic hair cloak survives, I think, into the 4th age and beyond, though if anyone/anything has found it they certainly don't know the origins of the beautifully intricate living star map. It has seen the reign of countless north stars, yet the lines always point to the same coordinates- where the ancient, sunken, ruined remains of what once was Tol-im-Gaurhoth lay)
Speed round!
Fangs and talons and horns oh my! Are they tooth and keratin and bone, or are they petrified wood and gem and stone? Yes!
They all smell a little like ozone and a lot like petrichor, flowers, and Green. If you've smelled green you know what I'm talking about. Also, unfortunately, like bird. Birds don't smell great, especially wet bird.
Weird Foresight Powers++
(Most of them don't have actual foresight, but all of them are more in-tune with the Song than is natural for an incarnate)
Their eyes glow, most notably in the dark, unless the irises turn black as they sometimes do. They are also all unnaturally bright versions of the less-spooky parent's- Dior's are gold, Elwing's are blue-green like a tropical sea (Elured and Elurin split the color between them- ultramarine and emerald), Elrond and Elros have pale star-gold, Elladan, Elrohir, and Arwen all have silver.
(Daeron and Luthien being the exception again, because I decided they have Melian's eyes before I decided this, and I don't know what color eyes Thingol has. Watsonianly: Melian's spooky genes overwrite a lot. Luthien's genotype is probably much closer to his than her magically overwritten phenotype)
Their sclerae turn black and their pupils white, on occasion, usually when using powers
They don't bleed right. It's a little too red for an elf, a little too light for a human, and it shines strange as it beads like quicksilver on the skin
They have very shiny, cool skin. Luthien looked like her's was silver plate under a stretched stocking, the rest toned it down from there but it's still noticeable.
The Song is. Attached to them. They are all very much Main Characters. Their lives have a clear story arc with symbolism and narrative parallels. They are all subconsciously aware that their lives are a fairytale, whether tragic or no, and yes this has many Implications and affects. They are not the only ones like this, but they are the only ones who, to some level, know they are in a story.
This is the fundamental separation between them and everyone else.
The difference in how they perceive themselves between heart soul and spirit is very difficult to explain and understand, but not impossible to someone who knows them and is willing to put in the work.
The life-long knowledge that they are Important to the Song and their every choice and event they experience and their mere existence serves a greater purpose in a way that most other people simply do not- that's very, very isolating.
No one else can understand how they see the world. Very very few people are willing to try, and even fewer in a way that's not frustrating. There is a reason most of them find only one person to latch on to outside of their family, and a reason they hold on through hell and high water.
(This is about being neurodivergent)
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Funny how people will be so weird about fma 03's Scar design, citing him being younger/'bishie' compared to the manga and Brotherhood versions as a negative against the first anime adaptation because, let's be real here, a lot of people see this design decision as "feminizing", making him weaker or more palatable at the expense of the role he's meant to play.
Meanwhile 03 Scar, unlike the manga and Broho counterparts, not only is more staunchly anti-military and consistently uses violence and strategies against the system throughout his entire arc, he straight up has a kill count so massive it would make manga + Broho Scars blush (and manga + Broho Elrics have a full existential crisis).
My man never once becomes an Amestrian reformist, never once celebrates the militia (he would have laughed Miles right out of the room if he tried to guilt him for not licking military boots for a scrap of acceptance; in canon he fully declares he has zero pity for soldiers PERIOD) and goes down killing well over 7000+ soldiers and state alchemists in his entire run.
Need I remind everyone that he draws a city-spanning alchemic rune, by himself, with a boulder and a chain to drag it? And lures in the Amestrian invaders by dropping Kimbly's freshly murdered carcass (his doing of course) that he carried with his teeth to the top of a building, while armless and bleeding out? Drawing them further in while dodging gunfire on foot. Iconic. Awe-inspiring. Pure 100% platinum-grade badass.
03 Scar never loses sleep about killing the pigs of a fascist nation, never cedes any ideological or material ground to them, and he could never be shamed out of actively fighting back. Unfortunately we can't say the same for the defanged mangahood Scars. Because despite their more overtly gruff and 'tough' character designs, they're so thoroughly cowed by a small mob of Amestrians who use basic shaming tactics to stop them dead in their tracks and join their side, never to kill another jackbooted hog.
03 Scar clears manga and Brotherhood Scars, easy
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Dndads names and why I won't steal them for myself
Starting of strong with: Henry. Beautiful. Wonderful. I feel like other people have a different mental image of someone called Henry tho, but it's almost near perfection. Might also fit better with someone a bit older than me
Darryl. Never heard of the name before listening to DnDads. Don't think that Dutch people will pronouns or spell it correctly (including myself when I realized I have spelled it wrong this whole time until I checked it specifically for this post)
Ron. No offense to all the Rons out there, but no thanks. Sounds a bit too old. Also, I know a Ron
Glenn. If rock music would have been my personality. Also, Dutch pronunciation sounds awful
Taylor. Too many people associate it with the real Taylor Swift obviously. Would have been a considerable choice otherwise
Lincoln. Actually, I like the sound of the the name. Not for myself probably, but it sounds nice. I hate the spelling tho
Scary. No.
Normal. Absolutely not
Hermie. I absolutely love this name. But then I would want to have Hermie as a nickname and Herman as the full name, but in my understanding, the name Herman in Dutch is mostly popular with middle-aged emotionally distant men. But Hermie sounds so good aaaah
Terry. Pretty solid. Don't see it for myself, but it has something going for it
Sparrow & Lark. Same reason: if I would have been into birds as much as I'm into ants, I would have definitely stolen one of their names. Probably with a preference for Sparrow. A tiny bit sad that I'm not into birds that much
Grant. Nah. Also, Dutch pronunciation is awful. Kinda funny, but awful
Nick. No cons at all?? I love it??? It's PERFECTION. You can even go with Nicholas as a full name and use both Nick and Nicky as nicknames and !! I don't know anyone irl with that name, the most famous person with that name I can come up with is the character Nick from heartstopper, but I like the books, so I don't mind? Nick is just chefs kiss to perfection. But also, I can't keep collecting names like a dragon hoarding gold. But they're just all like tiny little shiny jewels I want to keep in my pockets
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