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erosofthepen · 3 years
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LETS TALK ABOUT SPARRING
I’ve read a lot of fics, have seen many shows, and have watched many movies that are completely inaccurate when it comes to sparring. NOW, i know it’s fiction, and I greatly enjoy it nonetheless, but I would like to share a few things with you, as a person who trains in Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA). There are a few general things in this, as well as stuff more focused to a certain european weapon. (this is all Historical European stuff, obviously if you’re writing for a different region, this probably won’t apply that much.)
SPARRING
-you don’t practice with real sharp swords. Never. It’s incredibly dangerous, especially since sparring is trying to practice your killing/injuring skills. In older times, you would use wood, maybe wrapped in leather or canvas to practice. Today, you use weighted nylon swords/weapons, and you usually wear a mask while doing so. Steel is and was an option, but the blade will be completely dull, and the tip will be bent over itself.
-It’s practically impossible to knock someone off their feet while sparring, unless you are hooking your foot or weapon behind their leg. It’s hard to push back and cause someone to fall, since they can just retreat back a bit.
-YOU. DON’T. SPEND. HOURS. SPARRING. ESPECIALLY WITHOUT A BREAK. It’s exhausting, the most people usually go is 10 minutes before they have a break. During Training, you only spar for about 2-5 minutes before stopping and having a rest.
-You try your hardest never to cross your feet. It’s dangerous and it unbalances you. Your opponent can take advantage of you easily.
-Usually, you want to strike your opponent with the last 1/4 of your blade, basically just the tip and a little below. That’s the sharpest point, and you get the most force behind it.
-Swords aren’t super heavy. Stop the giant, huge, I-can-barely-lift-this trope. Longswords are usually 3lbs. It’s not heavy when you pick it up. However, it gets heavy when you’re holding it up above your head for a while. Swords were not made to be heavy, especially since you would have to hold them up in battle for sometimes hours.
-It’s incredibly hard to engage in witty banter and such. You are constantly moving and trying to strike your opponent. Since it’s fiction, you can do what you want, but just know that trying to have a conversation while sparring is like trying to have one while running. It tires you out even more, and usually just comes out breathless and wheezy.
-Swords are not lightsabers. You cannot try and hurt someone with just any part of your blade. It will just annoy your opponent. Now, for sparring, you will want to focus on hitting your opponent with the edge of your blade, and you won’t really ever be trying to hit someone with the flat of your blade.
-In sparring, you will get hit. And get bruises. I count five from just 2 days ago. (Also reminder that bruises don’t form for 1-3 days.) If you happened to get a hard thrust to the ribs, they will probably fracture. It happens. I haven’t had it personally, but those who’ve trained longer have. The worst injury I’ve gotten is a bruise on my chest that didn’t fade for nearly a month.
-Grip!!! You don’t clutch your sword super tight. No. It limits movement. My instructor taught me to hold firmly with the thumb, pointer, and middle finger, and use the other two as more guiding fingers. You swing your sword with your wrist, not a big giant arm movement. That is tiring and slow. 
I will be focusing on using a one handed sword in this next bit, specifically a Scottish Regimental Broadsword. A basic sword to build off of.
-FOOTWORK. It’s not a super complicated series of perfectly planned out steps. It just isn’t. With Regimental Broadsword (which is what I will focus on, since it’s what I’ve trained with most), you have to have a good base (rear-weighted stance, front foot pointed at your opponent, back foot turned sideways), and then once you have that, you just have to move around and try not to get hit.
-Slipping. (Continuation of footwork). With a rear-weighted stance, the goal is to be able to move the front foot anywhere. You should actually be able to keep your front foot an inch off the ground without having to adjust your back foot. Slipping is when this comes in handy. If your opponent takes a swing at your front leg, you should be able to just slip it back to go next to your other foot, and swing your sword up to get your opponents head. Slipping is really important.
-Advance and Retreat (other continuation of footwork). While moving forward or back, you always want to feel the ground with a heel-toe movement, so you can tell if there are rocks or branches and such. Advancing, you want to move your front leg first. Retreating, your back leg.
-Traversing (last continuation of footwork)(maybe). Transversing is basically advancing in on your opponent in a circular motion. You’re trying to get close and personal. Reminder to not cross your feet. You will loose balance and probably end up getting whacked with a sword. Traversing is a spiral motion sort of. Your opponent can avoid getting trapped If they do it as well.
I will probably come back and add more soon, because there’s more I know, but can’t remember at the moment.
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The Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist: Savannah, Georgia
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Photos by @claraofthepen
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elvish-sky · 3 years
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how dare you join the side of the duck
well, in my defense my nickname at school is ‘duck’ (although unrelated to the bird) but i did feel like i owe it to them! plus, poor @thewhiteladyofrohan couldn’t be left alone to deal with you and @beenovel 😂
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frogfog · 3 years
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I'd say you look like a fairy
that’s my goal!!
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saoirse-1887 · 3 years
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I love seeing you on my dash, cause like, we don't rlly interact or talk or anything, but everyday i see a shit ton of johnlock content that you reblog, and i go "look at my bestie being thoroughly obsessed with this ship" and idk it just makes me delighted
😂😂
No worries lolol
1) sorry for the torrent of my dumbass gay babies, I just love them to death
2) it's always lovely to hear from mutuals, frequent or not
3) I also love the stuff you post. If there were three fandoms I will come back to, it would be: LotR/The Hobbit, Sherlock, and Doctor who. So seeing lotr stuff on my dash always makes me really frickin happy.
Have a wonderful rest of your day/night!!
💛💛
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i-am-darth-feanor · 3 years
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🤐😑🌸🚲
Thanks for the ask!
🤐 (secret) I... might think that Fëanor was kind of a jerk... *hides*
😑 (pet peeve) People reading over my shoulder. I HATE it.
🌸 (fave flower) Roses are the best, especially white or orange! But I also really like any kind of jasmine.
🚲 (preferred transportation) rUnNiNg (Cross Country is fun)
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fizzyxcustard · 3 years
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whenever i see thorin, i immediately think of you and your blog
Hehehe. Thank you, my love. :) My job is done. <3
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mary-is-writing · 3 years
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I saw your tags on my sparring post! Remember, while swords aren't that heavy, your character will still be holding them up for a while. After a few minutes, you start to feel it in your arms and shoulders. You said your oc wasn't fit. That doesn't really matter, depending on how long they've been using their sword. It gets wayyyyyy less heavy after you've trained/used it for a few weeks. So basically, if they aren't fit at the start, it might be difficult, but if your oc has been using one for a while, it'll be much easier, even if they aren't super fit.
Omg thank you so much for reaching out and for your input!!! I'll keep that in mind while writing 😄
I don't think a lot of my oc's have swords, but this one in particular has had one since the very beginning. It got tricky cause then I thought that maybe a shield fit him more with his personality, but there's stuff I want to do with the sword (and it's kinda a pretty important plot point), so I changed it and made him carry both. He's gotta work on that stamina now xD
I wonder if is kinda like a bow and arrow? I practiced archery a little bit a while back and the bow was so more heavy that I first thought, but the more I used it the less I felt the weight even tho my body isn't fit at all 🤔
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starryeyedrogue · 2 years
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You have bewitched me body and soul… and I- I love… I love you
…..ok you win 😳
(this is such a lovely line!! i love this!!)
(also I’m like. the easiest person in the world to fluster but it’ll still be fun/interesting to see what y’all come up with lol)
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thespiritoflife · 3 years
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I just received BEAUTIFUL letter from my lovely friend @claraofthepen . It is really amazing and so aesthetic. Thank you, my dearie, I'll keep it forever, it will be my treasure💙🧚
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erosofthepen · 3 years
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Dís left erebor when she was like 10 and i headcannon that she has a super thick accent that’s different from Thorin’s, an accent from the blue mountains.
And their sibling arguments are always the greatest, since Thorin has this fancy upperclass accent and Dís is there spitting out swears in this nigh unintelligible accent to the point where Thorin can hardly understand her. 
Fili and Kili have Thorin’s accent (for some bizarre reason?? It’s the same as Thorins in the movies), but understand their mother perfectly, and always sit down with a tub of popcorn whenever their Uncle and Amad get into a good old fashioned sibling fight.
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Rose Garden, Furman University
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Photos by @claraofthepen
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elvish-sky · 3 years
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Here is a lil bumblebee who wants you to have a fucking fantastic week.
AH THANK YOU BUMBLEBEE!!! honestly i am having a fucking fantastic week.
I hope you have one too!
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If you listen closely, you’ll hear me fucking dying and wheezing from an asthma attack-induced laughing fit
Tagging literally all y’all, I can’t —
@entishramblings @beenovel @messiambrandybuck @gremlinfaemess @claraofthepen @elvish-sky
Someone said in the comments Frodo towards Legolas was like, “Oh look! It’s…uh, Elfolas…? Gimli’s friend! :D!”
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saoirse-1887 · 3 years
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Salmon, Void, Lime
😂😂
Yep, pretty much!
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💛💛
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beenovel · 3 years
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A Frankly Hilarious Misunderstanding
Pairing: Kili x gn!reader
Word count: 2,103 (.... I have nothing to say for myself)
Warnings: none, misunderstandings for the purposes of comedy, not angst
Summary: Some minor human/dwarf cultural differences lead to major confusion. (AKA Kili is a himbo that doesn’t understand human customs)
A/n: This was a random shower thought that made me laugh until I slipped and @claraofthepen encouraged me to write.
Thank you to @claraofthepen @elvish-sky and @messiambrandybuck for beta reading!! Y'all are the best <3
Brief background: Y/n and your brother (Will) are humans that Gandalf brought along on the quest. Don’t ask me why, the spooky old wizard is mysterious. In your culture, it’s traditional for the courter to ask a courtee’s older relative if they can court. This will be important later. Also, homophobia isn’t a thing because I said so.
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You lowered yourself onto a log by the fire with a grateful sigh. After a long day of walking, the thought of a hot dinner and sleep (even on the hard ground) was a relief. Thorin had called for everyone to stop right as the sun neared the horizon. This meant you’d had enough light to set up for the night much faster than normal.
Kili sat down next to you. He smiled and despite your exhaustion, you returned the gesture on instinct.
“Here,” he said while handing you a bowl of soup. You knocked your shoulder against his in thanks.
You, Will, Fili, and Kili had become all but inseparable over the past few months of the journey. Being so close in (relative) age, you all got along very well. You and Kili had grown especially close. He flirted with you non-stop and you had quickly fallen in love with him.
The only problem was that while Kili flirted with you quite a bit, he also flirted with everyone. Including your brother, though only occasionally. You were waiting to be sure he actually wanted to be with you, but if he made you wait any longer you were going to ask him despite your doubts. Patience is a virtue, but virtues are overrated anyway.
You looked across the fire to see your brother all but sitting on Ori. Dori did not look particularly happy about this. Your brother, on the other hand, was giggling like a ditzy maid at something Ori had said. You could see how happy Ori was at having made Will laugh, as he was looking at him with a small affectionate smile.
You wanted to walk over and smack their heads together for being so obtuse. Everyone could see how much they cared for one another but they were both too nervous to do anything about it. You had seen your brother face down a lone warg with nothing but a handful of dirt and a stick. And now he quailed at the thought of admitting his feelings for the quiet scribe. Ori seemed convinced that someone as brave as your brother could never love someone as quiet and shy as him.
You shook your head lightly in exasperation. Will had forced you to listen as he lamented his 'unrequited love' countless times. Despite your many, many (many) attempts to convince him otherwise (and all evidence to the contrary) your brother resolutely believed that Ori could never love him the same.
You thought back to the other night when you’d both been on watch.
“I’m just some human,” Will had said as he looked over at Ori’s sleeping form like a kicked puppy. “How could he ever feel the same?”
You had rolled your eyes then and you rolled them again now. Will often told you that one of these days you were going to roll your eyes so far back into your head they’d get stuck. He hadn’t particularly enjoyed it when you strongly insinuated that it would be his fault.
You were so distracted by your brother and Ori, you didn’t notice the nervous breakdown Kili was having right next to you. He was staring into the fire with some intensity while silently moving his lips to the thoughts in his head. His hand was deep in his pocket, worrying a courting bead.
Fili (who no one was paying attention to unlike you, Kili, Will, and Ori, who had the entire company's attention split between the four of you, with varying amounts of exasperation) was watching Kili with much the same expression you were watching Will with. After a moment he leaned over to his brother and whispered in his ear so that only he could hear.
“Go ask, you know what the reply will be. I’m growing sick of watching you two dance around each other and if you don’t ask soon, I'll ask for you.”
Kili turned to Fili with wide, concerned eyes.
“You wouldn’t.”
“Want to bet?”
Kili really didn’t.
Kili turned to you and gently placed his hand on your arm, pulling you out of your (by this point slightly murderous) thoughts.
“Take a walk with me?”
You smiled brightly at Kili.
“Alright”
Kili leads you to a stream the company had stopped near earlier in the day. He was silent the whole way and while silence between the two of you was usually comfortable, you couldn’t help but notice how nervous he seemed.
“Everything all right?”
He smiled.
“Of course Y/n!”
He still seemed nervous but you figured he would tell you when he was ready. You soon came to the small stream and sat down on a fallen log beside it.
Kili took a deep breath and turned to you.
“Y/N, for months I have been quite taken with you.”
The boldness of Kili’s words and how suddenly he said them took you by surprise. Kili, upon seeing your expression, hastily tried to amend his words.
“What I meant to say, erm, is that I’ve fallen in lo-” Kili coughed “I mean, I would like— Mahal Damn it give me a moment.”
Much to your giddy amusement, the young prince stopped his ramblings and took a breath, gathering himself before he spoke again. His voice was level, though his hands still fidgeted and his eyes were downcast.
“(Y/N), your mind and your beauty have enraptured me. I’ve never met your equal in wit and kindness, not in all the years I’ve been on Middle Earth. I ask for your hand in courtship, if it would please you, for it would surely please me.”
The prince glanced up at you and saw the tears in your eyes. His own widened and he began to pull away as he backtracked.
“However, if you were to refuse me, I would understand… I shouldn’t have assumed you felt the same… I mean, I’m so sorry-“ you interrupted the prince's ramblings by throwing your arms around his neck.
“Kili I would love to court you!”
Kili pulled back just enough to smile at you.
“So you’ll let me braid your hair?”
“Of course! Isn’t that pretty much the same thing as asking me to court you?”
Kili nodded.
“Then I’ve already said yes, you silly dwarf! …. Though my brother might be a bit upset.”
Kili frowned and remained silent for a moment before he asked
“Why? I thought he liked me.”
“No, no he does! It’s just, well, you were supposed to ask him first.”
Kili looked at you for a moment in obvious confusion.
“Kili? Are you alright?”
That seemed to break Kili out of his thoughts and he gained a look of determination. He quickly got up and began striding back towards camp.
You sat on the log for a moment looking after him in disbelief before getting up and jogging after him. You caught up to him and moved in front of him to block his path.
“Kili, Kili stop. Where are you going?” You asked him breathlessly.
“I’m going to ask your brother,” Kili said, clearly confused.
“We can do that later, my love.”
Kili took your hands in his and looked up at you.
“If it’s an important human tradition then I would honor it. Your culture and customs are just as important as my own.”
You wanted to argue further, but he was being so sweet and thoughtful you only sighed. You could also tell this was something he was going to be stubborn about.
“Alright.”
You hadn’t even finished speaking before he resumed dragging you back to camp.
You got back to camp and Fili turned to you with a big smile, which was quickly replaced with a frown at his brother’s intense expression.
Kili quickly walked up to Will and got down on one knee in front of him. Will looked over Kili’s shoulder at you and you shrugged. He turned back to Kili when he started speaking.
“Will, would you do me the honor of courting me?”
Will blinked and your jaw dropped. Silence fell over the camp. Everyone looked either at Kili or each other in bewilderment.
Ori stood up beside Will and glared at Kili so intensely that he’d have died on the spot if looks could kill.
“You knew I was going to ask him to court me! How could you?!”
Your brother (who had been looking at Kili like he’d grown a second head) turned to Ori quickly.
“Wait what?”
“Don’t ask me, it’s some sort of human custom!” Kili said.
You, Will, and Ori all began talking at once.
“Why would you - talking about - FIGHT YOU FOR HIM”
Will turned to Ori with an “Again, what?!”
Kili turned back to you with a fearful and very confused face.
“You said I had to ask him first.”
You blinked at him for a moment then burst out laughing so loudly Oin fell off his log.
The rest of the company stared at you in shocked silence for a moment before Will asked you (or maybe just the world at large) a question.
“What’s going on?”
Unfortunately, you were laughing too hard to reply and poor Kili didn’t understand any better than the rest of them.
Dwalin looked at Ori (who had turned a brilliant shade of red) and then moved to stand between Ori and Kili.
“Kili I think you’d better explain what happened when you and y/n were in the woods before Ori bursts a blood vessel,” He said
By now your face was starting to hurt. Kili looked at you in worry before he began.
“When I proposed Y/n said,” Kili paused here and turned his eyes to the sky as he tried to remember the exact wording “Of course, but you have to ask my brother first.”
Will started laughing too, and by this time you were lying on the ground near passing out from lack of oxygen.
Bilbo came to Kili’s rescue as most of the company was doubled over laughing now, having realized what you meant.
“I think what y/n meant was that you have to ask Will for permission to court. Not that you have to ask him to court you.”
You vaguely nodded as you continued to wheeze on the ground.
Eventually, you stopped laughing long enough to get off of the ground and you wiped your eyes. Kili gave you a slightly betrayed look as Fili used your shoulder for support to keep himself from falling over.
Will had managed to pull himself together long before you, so he was only chuckling when he said “Kili, I give you full permission to court y/n.”
He got far more serious as he turned to Ori who was now calm and growing shyer by the second.
“And I would love to court you, Ori.”
Ori smiled and nodded and they went off to the edge of camp to braid each other’s hair.
You noticed Nori was having to nearly physically restrain Dori from storming over to them.
You turned to a bright red Kili. “Aren’t you supposed to be braiding my hair?”
Kili took your hand and slowly began leading you to the edge of camp.
He sat behind you and while you expected to feel his hands in your hair, you didn’t.
“Kili?” You asked.
When he took a moment to respond you turned around to look at him. He was looking at your hair with a strange mixture of longing and sadness.
You sighed.
“Kili, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh, I-“
“Are you sure you want to court me?” He cut you off “I would understand if you didn’t, I mean I pretty much ruined the whole thing.”
“Kili” you whispered as you put your hand on his cheek.
“There is no one I’d rather be with,” you said.
“And besides, just think what a wonderful story this will make,” you said with a smile “plus if you hadn’t, Will and Ori might not have ever gotten together.”
He barked out a laugh.
“Those are very good points, ghivashel.”
“I know, I’m the one who made them.”
Kili pulled you in for a soft kiss. It quickly got more heated and your whole body was screaming for you to climb into his lap. Sudden whooping (from the company members) and exaggerated gagging (from Will and Fili) reminded you that you had an audience.
You lightly slapped Kili’s knee and said “get to braiding” as you turned back around.
He did and you reveled in the feeling of his fingers twisting in your hair.
“Now, tell me what ‘ghivashel’ means.”
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Tag list: @elvish-sky @kumqu4t @anjhope1 @thewhiteladyofrohan @claraofthepen @dat-pan-dwarf @messiambrandybuck @shethereadinghobbit @cassiabaggins @animallover81
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