taking1nspiration

[taking1nspiration]

Song of the day:

The Seeds by Aurora

I recently rediscovered the song, listen on loop.

You know there is joy in finding an old song and reliving the happiness, nostalgia, and memories relating to it.

Is there a song you keep going back to?

[taking1nspiration]

Is anyone else watching "LOVE SCOUT" these days?

Yu Eun-ho is such a green flag and Jiyun is fantastic. I mean who doesn't love a bold female character.

I love that she doesn't mince her words.

Yu Eun-ho is my new kdrama crush. When will I stop falling for fictitious men?

[taking1nspiration]

Wish you all a very happy new year 🎉 😊

May you all find happiness, success, prosperity, and stability.

[taking1nspiration]

SPOILER ALERT Ep9

I KNEW IT WAS THE SECRETARY

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I have started an ongoing show which has only 2 episodes as of now. How can I be so stupid?

Now I will have to wait for a week for a new episode. 🙄 🤦‍♀️🤦

[taking1nspiration]

I have read a lot of Gaon x Yohan on ao3. Some are really really well written. How come there are no Yohan x Fem!Gaon stories? It would make an interesting read.

Curious.

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Yesterday only I predicted who the villain is in 'When the phone rings'. I left a comment too on one of the fan posts.

I was right. Now I am unable to find both - the fan post and the comment.

Does anyone know how can we see our comment history on Tumblr? @staff @support

[taking1nspiration]

Well said.

I lowkey have a headcanon that Thranduil is one of the most powerful elves in Middle Earth. Thranduil is the only elven ruler that doesn’t have a ring, and yet his people are some of the most powerful out there. In LotR his armies tied up a lot of Sauron’s forces because of how close Mirkwood is to Mordor which helped the Fellowship a lot. So yeah I have a headcanon that he has a type of magic which protects the elves of Mirkwood and helps them fight and be more in touch with their surroundings

Whoo boy, Nonny-moose! You’re reading my MIND! *cracks knuckles*

Thranduil is definitely one of the most powerful elves in Middle Earth. 

First of all, there’s no such thing as a weak leader of elves. Tolkein wrote his elvish rulers as having a sort of divine right/might to rule, meaning they had to be powerful in order to be accepted as leaders.  Considering that, out of all the great Elven Lords/Ladies of the time, ONLY Thranduil was considered a “king”, he would have to be very powerful indeed.

(He was also the son of Oropher, who was actually chosen by the Silvan elves to be their king when they hadn’t even had a king before, soo….yeah. Powerful genes.)

Now consider this: Galadriel and Elrond are also great Elven Ladies/Lords, yet they needed the power of their Rings to maintain the beauty and lushness of their realms. Once the power of the Rings was ended, both Lórien and Imladris fade.  

Our buddy Thranduil, on the other hand, maintains an entire kingdom WITHOUT A RING.

While it’s true that Mirkwood’s dark and dangerous, it’s still a place where elves can live. Since elves physically cannot live in evil places, that must mean there is still life, beauty, and good magic in Mirkwood. Even with Sauron literally squatting inside Thranduil’s borders for centuries, Mirkwood was never completely over-taken by the shadow.  

Why? Well, if Sauron’s Dark Fëa was the cause of the Shadow, then there must have been some powerful Fëa of the Light resisting it to keep Greenwood from falling completely. In fact, in the Hobbit, Gandalf tells the other elves that the Greenwood elves have only recently begun using the term Mirkwood, because it took that long for the shadow to effect the forest enough to warrant a change in name.

Which means Thranduil Oropherion single-handedly holds off the might of a tainted Maiar for MILLENNIA. 

And he’s doing it without a Ring. 

Now, could Thranduil personally defeat Sauron? No, of course not. Sauron’s the Tolkein-world equivalent of an greater angelic Power, for goodness’ sake!  Thranduil’s totally fighting a losing battle, and we know his people are forced to retreat slowly northward over the years. But then again, none of the elves could have defeated Sauron alone, not even Gil-Galad; that’s why they sent a Hobbit, lol.

Still, Thranduil’s power at least keeps Mirkwood from becoming Darkwood, preserving enough of the goodness of the forest that his people can still live there, that Men can still live there; and not just live, but thrive. I mean, have you seen the Mirkwood Army?

Remember, 2/3 of their forces were slaughtered at the Battle of Dagorlad, where Oropher was killed. The rest barely made it home. And yet here, only 3000-odd years later (not a long time in terms of Elvish reproductive cycles,) he can field an army of thousands with, what? A week’s notice? 

Conclusion? Mirkwood elves must breed like rabbits. But…how?? How do the female elves, who have to invest significant spiritual energy to create even a single child, have enough space/health/support/wherewithal to have several children apiece while living under a Shadow?

And how, in a place that is ostensibly “mirky” and “tainted”, does one raise a ball of elvish sunshine like Legolas? How are the elves of Mirkwood still a merry and good and honorable people, (if a bit suspicious of “furriners,”)  whilst surrounded by so much darkness? How have they not become tainted, too?

Someone must be standing between them and the darkness; making them feel safe, preserving that light and goodness so they can live their lives.

(hint: It’s this guy^^^)

Not to dismiss the actual boots on the ground work that the elvish guard does in protecting Thranduil’s people, of course. Obviously, it’s a team effort, and each elf of the Woodland Realm must strive to maintain it. But as neither all of Elrond’s folk nor all of Galadriel’s would have succeeded in maintaining their realms without their leaders, we can reasonably conclude it’s the same with the Silvan elves.

Not only does Thranduil hold the borders of his kingdom without help, he’s secure enough to actually leave Mirkwood for short periods of time. This either means his power has a really long range, or that the echoes of it are enough to sustain the Wood for a period of time. 

And remember, Mirkwood is BIG: 600 miles long by 250 miles wide (or 150,000 mi^2, or over 96 million acres.) For a mental picture, Mirkwood is about the size of the distance from Los Angeles to Mt. Shasta, CA; a distance which covers most of the state. Even if you estimate conservatively, and say that Thranduil’s power could only cover the northern third, that’s still ~32 million acres under his protection.

So strong is the power of Thranduil that during the War of the Ring, Sauron sent two separate armies to destroy Mirkwood, out of fear that Thranduil’s army would come to the aid of Men; one army of orcs, and one of Easterlings. The Easterlings were distracted by the dwarves of Erebor and the Men of Dale; but the other army of orcs/goblins/etc engaged the Mirkwood elves. It’s not explicitly stated, but reading between the lines it looks like Sauron’s guys got trounced so badly that they panicked and tried to BURN THE WOOD TO THE GROUND. 

And even THEN, they lost. 

(And yeah I know, Celeborn’s army came to help destroy Dol Guldur itself; but a part of the reason they succeeded is that Thranduil had already destroyed Sauron’s armies in the region. Celeborn, BTW? Fellow Sindar, also a huge power without a ring. I headcanon that Celeborn and Thranduil get along like gangbusters.)

Then let’s talk about after the War of the Ring, when Sauron’s power is broken and the shadow is lifted from Mirkwood forever. Without Sauron actively suppressing it, Mirkwood becomes Greenwood again, a realm of beauty possibly on par with Lórien or Imladris. In fact, Celeborn actually claims the southern third of the Wood as East Lorien, and his people are perfectly happy living there; which suggests it must be at least as nice as Lórien (sans the giant trees.)

Now, even after Sauron is defeated, the other elves are diminished. They go into the west, their kingdoms fade away. 

But not Greenwood. 

Thranduil’s realm apparently flourished, entering into a sort of Golden Age that lasted well into the Fourth Age. Of the elvish rulers, he’s the only one who hasn’t gone into the west by the time Tolkein’s timeline ends. Which means even in a time of fading magic, when elves have lost their dominion and the time of Men has come, Thranduil’s kingdom endures.

There’s a reason the Elves of the Greenwood call Thranduil Oropherion their Greatest King. 

[taking1nspiration]

Fanfic recommendation of the day:

The world-building, character development, the pacing -all top-notch.

Best thing is the characters are not black and white here. They are grey, exactly how I had always imagined the Jujustu society to be like.

You all will fall in love with this story.

So good. I adore Ema. She is a wonderful character.

[taking1nspiration]

Pssst. Haikyuu fans! Have a look at this -

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hinata Shoyo (@haikyuu_hinatashouyou)

Copyright and credit goes to the creator.

[taking1nspiration]

Song of the day...

The Rider by Paris Paloma

Got goosebumbs while listening to it.

Try it.

[taking1nspiration]

Reblogging to spread the word.

Each nomination is well deserved. Let's aim to bag the awards too.

All the best.

Fanfiction Nominations!

So thank you to those who have nominated this fic for awards from r/AsoiafFanfiction!

It ended up nominated in 7 categories, but fics and authors are only allowed to compete in 4. So they are as follows:

Best Overall fic Best SI/ISOT Best overall prose Best chapter-Chapter 21

Nominations close on November 28th and the voting stage starts on November 29th and will run for 4 weeks, so to the other side of the Christmas holidays.

Voting will take place via a google form, so reddit account is not required to vote or take part.

If you want more information, you can click on the link to this reddit post- Reddit Post

Or browse the fics and authors nominated via these google form links-

Google Form 1

Google Form 2

There are loads of other great stories you might want to check out! I got really confused as to the sudden influx of new readers who were very, very angry at me, until one of the mods contacted me to let me know about nominations being underway. Which explains my inbox lately. Full of angry anons and rage-filled bookmarks.

I’m too old to understand the rage bookmarks, but I have refunded them the money they paid for the experience.

[taking1nspiration]

This illustration is wonderful. Lucife56, thanks for sharing this with us.

Folks please check out The Winter of Windows by laughingnell.

Ursula Mires

"A river to my people"

Inspired by The Winter of Widows by laughingnell

[taking1nspiration]

My all time favourite fanfic - WINTER OF WIDOWS by Laughingnell.

Sharing a fanart by suburbanbeatnik as this deserves more likes.

Artwork I did depicting Ursula Mires from Laughingnell's amazing fanfic WINTER OF WIDOWS, now on A03 and Spacebattles.

When she awoke to a new life in Westeros, Ursula Mires nearly did the smart thing. Only a year away from becoming sworn to the Faith as a septa and being free to live in relative comfort and safety in one of the more prestigious Reach cloisters, she was content with her lot in life. Her advice, slowly fed to her father over many years, had enabled her family to survive the Dance and rise in station. House Mires had its legacy secured, until tragedy struck early that winter. Now Ursula is heir to a floundering House she does not want, in a war-torn land that she must drag out of the mud. Many ladies are in her position in what maesters would later call ‘the winter of widows’.

Only Ursula knows what is coming next, and she’s not sure if her house will survive it.

The artwork was done on Canson hot press watercolor paper, with India ink, gouache, watercolor from a Binney & Smith set from the 1940s, and fountain pen ink (specifically Lichen and Riviera from the Birmingham pen company).

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My friends,

Give this story a try - The Healing of the Elvenking by LordOfLasgalen. You will not regret it.

It is so good. So beautifully written.

I binge read it in 20 hours. One of the best fanfics I have have read till now.

Please give it a try.

I have one request though. Once you have read it, please let me know if you liked it too.

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Why was I unaware of this series till now?

Accidentally discovered this. Where can I watch the full series?

Anyone who has seen this already, please share your thoughts.

I am so into Matthew already. I seem to have a type Matthew Claimont, Elijah Mikaelson, Fitz. Darcy. I am discovering new things about me.

[taking1nspiration]

Going to start this fanfic today

At the Edge of Lasg'len by AnnEllspethRaven, SonaBeanSidhe

6.7 million words and still ongoing.

Let us see if I will like this. I got introduced to Tolkien very late and have only watched the movies, so I am not aware of the worldbuilding in the books.

How long do you think it will take me to read 6 7 million word fanfic?

Edit: I dropped the fic after chapter 8. Not my cup of tea.