fool-of-the-tooks

[fool-of-the-tooks]

when you’re watching the lord of the rings, you don’t really get the full picture of just how insane it is that sam was able to defeat shelob in battle—in the book, tolkien spends literal paragraphs describing how ancient and powerful shelob is, how her skin is so tough that no warrior (NO warrior, like ever !) has been able to pierce it.

like sure sam had the phial of galadriel, but this guy is 3 and a half feet tall with absolutely zero training and he sent shelob crawling back into her little cave with nothing but pure rage. like OMG??? literal chihuahua of hobbits istg

[fool-of-the-tooks]

The fact that Orlando Bloom (Legolas) and Andy Serkis (Gollum) both said that they based their performances in Lord of the Rings off of cat behavior really shows you the sheer range of what cats are like

[fool-of-the-tooks]

Movie Frodo: Sweet, gentle, trusting, brave. Very much feels like he's a bit of a damsel in distress. I love him tho.

Book Frodo: feisty, committed petty mushroom theft regularly as a kid, first response when faced with an elder itch horror is to stab it. I also love him.

[fool-of-the-tooks]

Thinking of the larger context of LOTR and like, the fellowship swapping old war stories and shit and Sam just says “Yeah I killed a huge spider…Shelob, I think?”

And Gandalf just blinks and is like, “You what now?”

“Yeah, killed it. Had to save Frodo”

Gandalf elects not to tell Sam that he killed the spawn of a primordial demon.

[fool-of-the-tooks]

the thing is that war should always be reluctant. no one should want to fight. legolas and gimli and aragorn don't want to kill the orcs, they just want to to save merry and pippin. gandalf does not want to fight the balrog, he wants to pass through moria unharmed. aragorn doesn't even want to take power from the stewards of gondor, he just wants the people to have a stable leader. faramir says it best when he hopes that one day they will tell stories, sitting on a wall in the sun, laughing at old grief. we just want better times. we just want to be happy. we don't want to fight, we only fight because we have to. because they are forcing us

[fool-of-the-tooks]

What do normal people who haven't had half their personality shaped by the lord of the rings think about when they are scraping butter across bread?

[fool-of-the-tooks]

The difference between movie Aragorn and book Aragorn is hilarious. Especially at Amon Hen. Movie Aragorn finds Frodo and let's him go. He kills a bunch of orcs and then has the most epic duel with a big orc boss. Very cool and heroic. Book Aragorn, however, mostly runs around scared and confused and wishes Gandalf was there so that he wouldn't have to make difficult decisions.

[fool-of-the-tooks]

I know the hobbits are little but the HOBBITS are LITTLE. just like you. just like me. little in the face of very big problems. little meaning easily squashed and often overlooked. little like one lit match in the vast night. sometimes little people are the only thing left fighting. sometimes the little match is what lights the bonfire. hope never dies

[fool-of-the-tooks]

The fact that The Hobbit is such a lighthearted family-friendly book, especially when compared to LOTR, actually breaks my heart when you consider that it is Bilbo’s writing. That journey was anything but a fun trip for him. He went through real dangers and horrifying moments. He saw violence for the first time. At the end of it, he lost his love. And he went home traumatized, heartbroken, and forever changed.

Yet when he wrote the story down, he emphasized the more successful and fun parts, and glossed over the depth of his pain and grief when the losses happened (even leaving Fili and Kili’s passing to a throwaway line.)

Because what else could he have done? Nobody else could possibly understand his pain. Bilbo wasn’t like Frodo. He didn’t have a Sam who he shared the experience with and could talk to about it every day afterward, to help him work through writing down the details of the darker parts of the story. And his other friends lived far away and could only visit occasionally.

And the hobbit children were all full of wonder about Elves and dwarves and trolls, so he put the focus on that.

I feel like that was his way of dealing with his trauma.

[fool-of-the-tooks]

[fool-of-the-tooks]

One of my favorite things in the LOTR books is Sam being obsessed with Elven magic and wanting to see it and when Galadriel finds out she basically tells Sam "I don't know what the fuck magic is but I can show you the future in this bowl of water if you want" as if that's just a normal ass thing to be able to do.

[fool-of-the-tooks]

Imagine going on a cross country trip to share the (mildly embarrassing) news with an adjacent king that your guards lost a prisoner, but when you get there- there’s actually a huge crowd of people who all get called into a massive Super Important Meeting. And the prisoner (who you thought wasn’t like That Big of a deal) gets brought up, and everyone’s talking about how great your kingdoms security is, and how important it is that he’s locked up, and you’re just sitting there sweating buckets. And you have to stand up in front of Everybody and tell them ‘actually he escaped and had been gone for months’. While everyone looks at you with the most disappointed faces you’ve ever seen. What a loser.

And Then you have to go on an even Longer trip with all of these people who’s first impression of you was some cringefail sweaty loser who can’t even keep track of one (1) guy.

No wonder Legolas was showing off every chance he got, he was trying to bring his reputation up from like -100

[fool-of-the-tooks]

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.

[fool-of-the-tooks]

Literally going insane over how

“I would have gone with you to the end, into the very fires of Mordor.”

Is a perfect summary of all the main relationships in lotr.

The hobbits planning out Frodo’s escape before he’s even told them he’s leaving the shire. Following him every step of the way, no matter how treacherous the road becomes.

Boromir traveling across the country in search of an elf king he’s not even certain exists, just because his brother is having visions. To put his brothers mind at ease, and keep their kingdom safe.

The three hunters travel a nearly impossible distance, running days on end with next to no sleep, for two hobbits. For two dear friends.

Arwen gives up immortality to be with Aragorn. For the chance to end up in the mortal afterlife, she leaves all her people behind for her love.

Gimli leaves his home, his family, all of middle earth, to sail to the edge of the world with Legolas. With no idea of what lies in store for him there, he sails anyway.

Sam leaves the shire to sail across the sea to Frodo. Following him to the end, one last time. Unsure what awaits him besides seeing his friend once more- no matter what lies across those shores, being at Frodo’s side once more makes anything worth it.

The idea that love is going to the end, no matter what that may be or how certain it is, but journeying nonetheless. Holding tight to hope, and following those you love through it all. To the very fires of Mordor.

[fool-of-the-tooks]

really love dynamics that are like 'it honestly doesn't matter if you view them as romantic or platonic, the point is that they love each other. the type of love is inconsequential, all that matters is that it's there'. gotta be one of my favorite genders.

[fool-of-the-tooks]

God imagine if you're fighting this war and you're miserable and your dad hates you and the only thing you like about your family is your brother who went to go see some elf dude about some fucked up dreams he's been having and you just go hang out by the river for a second and see a boat floating by, so you get in the water to look at the boat and you see your brother, who should be miles and miles away from here, dead in that boat. Just out of nowhere, no way to possibly expect it, I wanna throw up thinking about it

[fool-of-the-tooks]

sometimes the moral of the story really is just "you cannot go back and what happened to you is going to be with you for the rest of your life. but it's still going to be okay" huh