#I really do like the Elrond and Galadriel dynamic in RoP | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

runawaymun · 12 days

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if nobody's been here yet I'm gonna be very cringe and on brand and ask about the Partake Prequel

also Rivendell's Tiny Tearaway sounds DELIGHTFUL

Ahhhh thank you!

Ask me about my not-yet-written-fics from this list

The Partake Prequel

(also if you wanted to know more about Rivendell's tiny tearaway just lmk I can make another post for that haha. But I am glad it sounds good!!!)

(cw: discussions of pretty abusive dynamics and questionable consent, also discussion of sex)

so this only exists in my head because a) I'm morbidly curious and have a fascination with the psychology of messed up relationships and b) I am a masochist.

I am just constantly thinking about how the fuck We Got Here when it comes to To Partake. Like how do things get to a point where it's this fucked up and messy and tangly and Bad?

and of course there are bits and snatches that are mixed in to Partake -- like little glimpses into the backstory of Elrond and Gil's situationship, but I want to know more specifically how we got to where we are now.

We know that Elrond started pining after Gil sometime in the late first age when he was roughly in between the age of fifty and seventy. Which...for a Peredhel is a perfectly acceptable age to be sexual (Elwing and Dior had kids and were married by 30). But from an Elvish perspective (i,e. Gil's) that's a baby.

Literally he does not think about anyone else. This is a somewhat unhealthy obsession already. There's a fealty-kink wrapped up in here somehow that's all messily combined with the fact that Gil is currently the only adult who is really present in Elrond's life (if we're going with ROP's timeline Galadriel seems to fuck off to hunt Sauron shortly after Morgoth's imprisonment in the void, and you know...Earendil is busy Earendiling)

So to start I don't think Gil even really saw anything with Elrond as being on the table until sometime in the very early second age, after he appoints Elrond as herald. It's unclear when this happened -- I couldn't find a date for it. But I presume it to be sometime after Lindon is founded and Mithlond constructed and certainly after Elros sailed for Numenor (Elrond would have been emotionally vulnerable and attached to Gil-Galad even more -- and in my head Elros would not have approved of anything going on between Elrond and Gil-Galad so that's very off limits until he's gone)

But--- with Elros gone indefinitely, yeah Elrond gets more attached to Gil.

They're still not sexual yet though.

Elrond is taking regular trips to Numenor etc.

So I generally imagine that things really Began between the two of them sometime shortly after SA 432, when Elrond is around 500 years old. He's "mature" at this point in Elvish terms, and Elros has just died -- so, unhinged and probably at one of his lowest points.

SEX CW: I have a VERY firm idea in my head which I was planning to make a oneshot of. But Elrond at this point does get Very Horny about Gil and starts masturbating about it sometime around here. Gil catches him and that's how....uhhhh things start.

Because OBVIOUSLY (Gil brain here) he is into Gil and THEREFORE this is a PERFECTLY NORMAL and FINE thing to do!

Plus he is OF. AGE.

Nevermind the fact that Elrond is incredibly unstable and vulnerable and depressed & still extremely young, completely inexperienced, and there's some really fucky power dynamics -- all of which affect his ability to consent properly to ANYTHING.

So that's how it starts. They just start having sex. I think nobody really knows about it at this point.

(we start with mostly just Gil on the receiving end of some oral sex that Elrond is getting rapidly better at)

Gil's the one to broach anything more than that and Elrond is down for anything as long as Gil is happy.

rumors do start circulating at this point but absolutely nobody is keen to confront them about it.

I feel like there's potential here for Galadriel to catch wind of things, directly ask, and for Elrond to deny absolutely everything.

If she asked Gil there's no way that he'd admit that anything is going on either because she makes him fear for his life haha.

Elrond has been actively suppressing links to Melian at this point because it freaks out most Elves -- and because Gil doesn't like it.

At some point Gil broaches-- and by broaches what I really mean here is tries (he doesn't ASK!!) an osanwe link. Likely either during or just after sex.

Elrond does not know any better and his brain is full of dopamine and he thinks this is AWESOME. The king wants to be EVEN MORE INTIMATE

boom osanwe link. Far more of an osanwe link than they ever should have had.

boom immediate dissonance which is painful for Gil and so he assumes it is painful for Elrond

Elrond has not had enough osanwe experience to know this is pretty insular to the specific way his and Gil's Themes don't mesh.

"Let me fix it ok?" "Oh god please fix it"

Also there's the undertone here of Gil doesn't like it and Elrond feeling the need to manage his emotions and divest himself of anything displeasing even if that's his fucking Theme.

Hence the theme fuckery begins.

And things really really really start to devolve with their relationship.

Like I imagine in the beginning Gil was pretty cautious and careful -- not in a lovey dovey way but he's not wholly inconsiderate and it's within his Partake characterization that he doesn't like to hurt his partner unless it's in a fun kinky way. He also does not get off on someone being scared. That's an ick for him. So initially he would be careful.

But Elrond starts getting really good at masking things and figuring out that Gil likes to be rough.

And of course, anything for Gil.

Do you see where we're going.

Well and it's compounded by the fact that Elrond does actually like it, too. It just scares him. So he as a lot of really confusing feelings going on that he doesn't know how to handle and there's also a lot of shame wrapped up in it too

And obviously Gil is not um. Guiding him through this in the way that a more experienced partner who is sometimes building scenes and domming should.

And again -- there's that messy thing of "I need to please you in absolutely every way possible and also clearly my differences are Bad, and therefore I must mask all of them as best I can and keep up with my work demands because being useful is better than being loved."

(Which is a lesson he learned from literally everyone, even Elros in the end. It is not a lesson that Elros meant to teach him. But Elros loved him. And then he left.)

Anyway that's as far as I've gotten. The beginning is much more specific and it gets more nebulous as we get closer to the Partake timeline, but it's very easy for me to see the trajectory of their relationship, and that's really what I want to explore.

OHHHH also the undertone of codependency because Elrond and Gil are both fundamentally isolated and find solace in each other. And Gil isolates Elrond further to ensure that He Will Not Be Left. Because Gil is afraid of being inadequate and has literally no one else except like, Cirdan, who cares for him so deeply. (I mean, he would. If he wasn't an asshole. But you get where I am going with this.)

Yeah. Sorry.

There is no happy ending to this fic it is just a dissection of how we get from point A to point B. The happy ending would be Partake alkdhg.

#finally actually have time to respond to this today #to partake #partake prequel fic #cw abuse mention #cw sex mention #Gil is a very bad partner #and by that I mean he strategically isolates people because he is fundamentally afraid of being left alone #and Elrond is uniquely vulnerable to being isolated #because he also has the same fundamental fear #Gil responds to that fear by needing to control everything around him #and Elrond responds to that fear by making himself into an exact mirror image of whomever he is trying to form an attachment with #this is a horrible combination

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abnerkrill · 1 year

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4, 6, 9, 12 Rop asks!

thanks friend!!

4. Favorite story arc?

the Khazad-dum arc is my favorite purely based on the Elrond/Durin/Disa chemistry and the cave conversation. Closely followed by the Elendil family soap opera, which is just so darn compelling for so many reasons but mostly because we know where these characters end up!!! aaaahhhhh! cries forever.

6. Favorite character dynamic?

I already answered Elrond/Durin/Disa but my next answer is Elendil/Míriel, for shippy reasons but also because the queen/knight dynamic is 🔥, and there's the whole "we know where these characters end up" thing, and the way they're tied by their faith and their duty and their love for Numenor...... i cry.

9. What is your favorite scene?

the elrond durin cave scene ofc!!!!!!! it was what finally got me to go oh frick i'm deeply in love with elrond and also this show. never getting over it.

...closely followed by the white leaves falling and Míriel and Elendil making the most intense eye contact known to man...

...closely followed by the whole this wandering day sequence...

...closely followed by Galadriel kneeling before Míriel while Elendil CRIES ABOUT LOSING HIS SON...

...and the whole adar and arondir conversation is also really good--but I should probably stop myself there. (other honorable mentions: the battle scene/charge especially galadriel wholly flinging herself off a horse & arondir and theo making heart eyes. also, everything with disa. also, everything with adar being the most emo guy in middle-earth, which is saying something.)

12. Which outfit do you like the most?

Ha, I get to talk about costumes more! I really really like Bronwyn's outfit. (quick, someone do some analysis on the meaning and importance of the color blue in ROP.) I'd love to wear the costume IRL (could totally cosplay……….) and it fits her character so well—pretty but practical and well-used; very fitting for a mom and a healer and a future leader of her society. also, I freaking love a good cloak, and she gets TWO!

another favorite, just for funsies: CELEBRIMBOR'S FORGING OUTFIT. i adore his leather apron thingy and his disheveled hair in this scene. RIP in advance celebrimbor, it was nice knowing you.

rings of power asks!!!

#wildwren #trop #ask games

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valasania-the-pale · 1 year

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your turn for Galadriel pls hit me with your thoughts on your blorbiel <3

1: sexuality headcanon

Very bisexual. Perhaps even thought she was exclusively attracted to women before she really met Celeborn - it wasn't that she didn't find men physically desirable, the issue was that, as the 'Star of the Noldor' (or whatever else of the undoubtedly countless names the wordsmiths of Aman came up with for her), she had so many suitors vying for her hand, and was sick to death of them.

2: otp

Galadriel/Celeborn is ofc the endgame, but I do like to explore her early life as well, at which point I really have come to like Artanis/Luthien for the brief time before they realized they weren't for each other.

3: brotp

(whoops forgot to add this - I was jumping around)

Kinda depends on what point in her life - I think her social circles have been ravaged so often that there are definitive phases to who she was close to as friends.

Early on? Maedhros - while Artanis was the youngest, she still has major ‘Eldest sibling’ vibes, maybe because Ingoldo has a more free-spirited, younger vibe and I don’t have strong feelings about Angrod and Aegnor - and she and Maedhros bonded over that.They drifted apart over the course of the first age, and probably definitively broke with each other when the Second Kinslaying happened (locking eyes over a bloody field, feeling a bond severed, ugh).

Once their relationship plateaued into friendship, I think Luthien was probably her closest friend, each really happy when the other found true love. I think Luthien’s death hit her pretty hard, and she never really filled that void in her life after.

Once he really settled into Rivendell, Elrond definitely. He might be her son in law but he’s got that ‘Not quite Noldor but also not quite Sinda’ vibe that she shares, she’s used to dealing with whatever Feanorion AND Maiarin impulses/quirks he has. For Elrond’s part, I think he saw her as an amazing mentor which bloomed into a warm friendship in time.

4: notp

Sauron in whatever incarnation (ROP or otherwise) - I think Sauron would have tried pretty hard to seduce her in the Hollin years as Annatar, but it didn't work. She saw through his shit and he's lucky he had Celebrimbor to cover his ass.

Feanor/Artanis is something I've also seen on occasion that's a big nope - I think he saw her as an object more than a person at times and that's just a shitty dynamic. Frankly I think Feanor's advances for her hair have this implication to them that just feels icky in the canonical text, and I imagine he was a big factor in why she was so uninterested in a true relationship for so long.

5: first headcanon that pops into my head

I headcanon her as having a few partners or crushes before she met Celeborn; after reading 'The Nolde: There and Back Again' I am very fond of the headcanon that her bisexual awakening was Arien - she essentially saw this Very Pretty maia who would one day become the Sun for her brilliance and was deer-in-the-headlights struck with the realization that 'Lady Pretty' (though it never came of anything).

After that, the fact that she spent so much time with Irisse in Aman (they had overlapping interests and there was a period before Irisse really set her heart to Tyelkormo) led to them essentially starting a 'friends with benefits' relationship to blow off steam and experiment.

And after that, the last one, she had a Thing with Luthien - both of them have a claim to the whole 'Fairest of their respective people' shtick and I think would have been able to connect over the experience of dealing with that.

I think Luthien would have been the one to initiate it (I headcanon Luthien as pretty bold and direct; her whole life is an exercise in testing and challenging her own boundaries, and it leaves her with a shifting idea of where others' are), and both would have found something in the other to draw them. Luthien, drawn to Artanis' sharpness and anger - that blade-like resolve that lets her look so many suitors in the eye and say 'please fuck off.' Luthien's always been the darling everyone's in love with; I think she'd have diffiulty saying the same.

And Artanis found Luthien's inner chill fascinating; her lack of a need to prove herself, to strive for the sake of others' image of her - Luthien and Melian both have an inner peace - a comfort with themselves and their plaec in the world - while still having power, and Artanis craved that until she had it herself.

And finally Celeborn - I think he was very jealous of the years Artanis and Luthien spent together (mostly because Luthien is bold and wasn't keen to hide it, and lowkey kinda taunted him about it - "Well if you want her so badly, do something about it!"), though not in any way where he'd be rude or try to interfere. When they finally ended things, Celeborn was super quick to directly state his intentions clearly and without artifice, and it was that - compared to so many times where the Wordsmiths and Poets and Courtiers had tried to use pretty words and flattery to get to Artanis' heart - that really made her see him as a potential partner.

Of course, Celeborn was good with words himself (he fucking named her what he did), but he knows when is a good time to be pretty and when is a good time to be direct and honest. He respected the hell out of her and would yield to her advice and wisdom as often as he'd check her when she overreached. His vibe was just right, and Artanis/Galadriel really quickly realized that This was working more than anything ever had before, and fell in love hard and fast.

6: favorite line from this character

Honestly so many of my favorite lines from her are more fanon than anything. However:

"I have passed the test. I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel."

This line of course strikes me for the many ways it can be interpreted - is it the test of the Valar, or is it her own, self-imposed trial? How does she know her ban has been lifted?

My favorite interpretation is that the test was her own, or else she perceives it as a test set by Eru, because frankly I've never seen her as someone who sets stock by the will of the Valar - she might respect them, but she's lived her life in defiance of their edicts. I don't even necessarily think she's saying that she'll sail, here - "I will diminish" may well be her accepting that she would properly Fade, however it would be on her terms.

I cordially dislike interpretations that say that her sailing to the west was by the sudden mercy and understanding of the Valar; it's a fair reading, but frankly, their decisions have never stopped her from doign what she wanted in the first place - I prefer the implicit threat she makes when she sails with Elrond and the ringbearers, "Stop me if you dare" - the ban isn't lifted, but will they truly stop her after all she's done for Middle Earth, after what she sacrificed, and with who she's with? I like to think the ban was lifted when she forced the matter, not that the Valar suddenly had mercy on this one, specific thing (rather than everything else she'd done up to that point - much of it good and wise).

7: one way in which I relate to this character

Galadriel has an anti-authoritarian, non-comformist vibe to her that I adore. She's going to live her best life, damn the Powers that Be who would say otherwise - I relate to that sentiment a lot because it's the thing that really caused me to break with religion, and it's how I interface with my queerness a lot as well, as an asexual who reads and writes a lot of smut and kink content.

8: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character

(Don'ttalkaboutringsofpowerdon'ttalkaboutringsofpowerdon'ttalk-)

Honestly I really don't like the shtick that PJ does with the 'All shall love me and despair' in the movies - I get what he was going for, and I think it's cool that they were drawing on the whole 'elf lords become fonts of power and light in their wrath' detail from the Silm, but I just don't read that scene in that way.

Her tone to me when she makes that speech is light, almost self-effacing, and her laugh afterwards is tired, exhausted even. She's lived so long in Middle Earth, the last of her generation sundered by war and internal strife. She didn't learn to refuse power because of some grand act of self-denial, she learned that power leads nowhere, that even the powerful will be slain and trodden into the mud when their time has called. It was a slow process of being ground down, nothing heroic.

Overall I just think it's way too melodramatic. Like, hell, poor Frodo, having to see that.

9: cinnamon roll or problematic fave?

Absolutely problematic fave, it's why I love her.

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andthebubbles · 2 years

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well i’m glad i didn’t/am not waiting around for the race... it’s daylight hours here so i went and assembled a cat pram (yes) with my mum, which was fun

i was rewatching some of rop last night and to whoever that was on reddit who said they’d never used the text thing before for naming places re the southlands turning into mordor, well actually they did use the text thing before quite a few times in the earlier episodes. i’d forgotten too. and no i didn’t find it cheesy/like a game when they put mordor on the screen, but i thought it was a little underwhelming because it was pretty clear once mt doom erupted in the last episode that it was mordor now

i am in suspenseeeeeeee with halbrand and the upcoming season finale... fuck i’m not ready for his and galadriel’s dynamic changing, assuming the leaks are true. ahudfhugughguhgughuugugguughg

charlie vickers (halbrand actor) is also a potential Problem because he doesn’t have social media and i find that quite attractive (*coughSebVettel* or at least up until recently anyway, technically XD) but um yeah he’s a really good actor?? i need to keep an eye on what else he’s doing. and to a lesser extent, the actors for elrond and durin IV, but like... charlie vickers is also helped by such a brilliant character... fuckkkk i hope halbrand gets to stay around past the next ep. dO YOU SEE WHY I’M IN SUSPENSE

ETA: the biggest irony is that i’m not such a big fan of lotr. it’s okay but i don’t really like it overall/it’s not my thing. i liked the first hobbit movie very much though but i didn’t like the next two (they threw out the character growth between bilbo and thorin! how dare they)

#rop #rop spoilers #spoilers for the leaks hence why it's under a cut #ramble.txt #untracked f1

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