#muslim tolkien

[brighter-arda]

Elenwë and Amarië friendship for @tolkiengenweek

[Image description

1: an Indian woman wearing gold earrings and beige sari (?) looking down from a ledge. Text = 'Elenwë'

2: dark grey background, mosque window shape with lanterns. Gold border has text 'born in valinor' 'beloved of princes of the noldor' 'but parted from them' 'daughters of the vanyar'

3: dark grey background, mosque window shape with flowers, hanging lanterns and moon and star shapes. Gold border has text 'bound in faith' 'bound in friendship' 'bound in grief' 'bound in sisterhood'

4: Arab woman kneeling on the ground in black clothing decorated in gold. She wears decorative gold chains over her face. Text = 'Amarië']

#elenwe #amarie #silmarillion #tolkien women of colour #south asian tolkien #muslim tolkien #swana tolkien #tolkiengenweek #moodboards and edits #toi's creations #mepoc #contains image description #(elenwe model is aditi rao hydari who is indian) #(amarie model is unspecified arab woman)

[suzannahnatters]

all RIGHT:

Why You're Writing Medieval (and Medieval-Coded) Women Wrong: A RANT

(Or, For the Love of God, People, Stop Pretending Victorian Style Gender Roles Applied to All of History)

This is a problem I see alllll over the place - I'll be reading a medieval-coded book and the women will be told they aren't allowed to fight or learn or work, that they are only supposed to get married, keep house and have babies, &c &c.

If I point this out ppl will be like "yes but there was misogyny back then! women were treated terribly!" and OK. Stop right there.

By & large, what we as a culture think of as misogyny & patriarchy is the expression prevalent in Victorian times - not medieval. (And NO, this is not me blaming Victorians for their theme park version of "medieval history". This is me blaming 21st century people for being ignorant & refusing to do their homework).

Yes, there was misogyny in medieval times, but 1) in many ways it was actually markedly less severe than Victorian misogyny, tyvm - and 2) it was of a quite different type. (Disclaimer: I am speaking specifically of Frankish, Western European medieval women rather than those in other parts of the world. This applies to a lesser extent in Byzantium and I am still learning about women in the medieval Islamic world.)

So, here are the 2 vital things to remember about women when writing medieval or medieval-coded societies

FIRST. Where in Victorian times the primary axes of prejudice were gender and race - so that a male labourer had more rights than a female of the higher classes, and a middle class white man would be treated with more respect than an African or Indian dignitary - In medieval times, the primary axis of prejudice was, overwhelmingly, class. Thus, Frankish crusader knights arguably felt more solidarity with their Muslim opponents of knightly status, than they did their own peasants. Faith and age were also medieval axes of prejudice - children and young people were exploited ruthlessly, sent into war or marriage at 15 (boys) or 12 (girls). Gender was less important.

What this meant was that a medieval woman could expect - indeed demand - to be treated more or less the same way the men of her class were. Where no ancient legal obstacle existed, such as Salic law, a king's daughter could and did expect to rule, even after marriage.

Women of the knightly class could & did arm & fight - something that required a MASSIVE outlay of money, which was obviously at their discretion & disposal. See: Sichelgaita, Isabel de Conches, the unnamed women fighting in armour as knights during the Third Crusade, as recorded by Muslim chroniclers.

Tolkien's Eowyn is a great example of this medieval attitude to class trumping race: complaining that she's being told not to fight, she stresses her class: "I am of the house of Eorl & not a serving woman". She claims her rights, not as a woman, but as a member of the warrior class and the ruling family. Similarly in Renaissance Venice a doge protested the practice which saw 80% of noble women locked into convents for life: if these had been men they would have been "born to command & govern the world". Their class ought to have exempted them from discrimination on the basis of sex.

So, tip #1 for writing medieval women: remember that their class always outweighed their gender. They might be subordinate to the men within their own class, but not to those below.

SECOND. Whereas Victorians saw women's highest calling as marriage & children - the "angel in the house" ennobling & improving their men on a spiritual but rarely practical level - Medievals by contrast prized virginity/celibacy above marriage, seeing it as a way for women to transcend their sex. Often as nuns, saints, mystics; sometimes as warriors, queens, & ladies; always as businesswomen & merchants, women could & did forge their own paths in life

When Elizabeth I claimed to have "the heart & stomach of a king" & adopted the persona of the virgin queen, this was the norm she appealed to. Women could do things; they just had to prove they were Not Like Other Girls. By Elizabeth's time things were already changing: it was the Reformation that switched the ideal to marriage, & the Enlightenment that divorced femininity from reason, aggression & public life.

For more on this topic, read Katherine Hager's article "Endowed With Manly Courage: Medieval Perceptions of Women in Combat" on women who transcended gender to occupy a liminal space as warrior/virgin/saint.

So, tip #2: remember that for medieval women, wife and mother wasn't the ideal, virgin saint was the ideal. By proving yourself "not like other girls" you could gain significant autonomy & freedom.

Finally a bonus tip: if writing about medieval women, be sure to read writing on women's issues from the time so as to understand the terms in which these women spoke about & defended their ambitions. Start with Christine de Pisan.

I learned all this doing the reading for WATCHERS OF OUTREMER, my series of historical fantasy novels set in the medieval crusader states, which were dominated by strong medieval women! Book 5, THE HOUSE OF MOURNING (forthcoming 2023) will focus, to a greater extent than any other novel I've ever yet read or written, on the experience of women during the crusades - as warriors, captives, and political leaders. I can't wait to share it with you all!

#watchers of outremer #medieval history #the lady of kingdoms #the house of mourning #writing #writing fantasy #female characters #medieval women #eowyn #the lord of the rings #lotr #history #historical fiction #fantasy #writing tip #writing advice

[astronicht]

Am I F1 posting am I LOTR posting I can multitask. Look I’m barely into Two Towers but I’m on another themed field trip and we’re going to look at 11th century “oliphant” hunting horns now. Was Boromir’s horn material and design ever specified? I don’t recall! probably it was a large boar tusk! Maybe it was a really really big bull! This is all more likely than elephant ivory, tho as seen here elephant (and rhinoceros) ivory WAS absolutely in use, especially in early medieval Muslim Europe (Spain, Sicily, and parts of Southern Italy) and was definitely known much further north (too far north tho and you start getting walrus ivory instead). But you’ve gotta see some of the coolest early medieval hunting horns anyway.

From the museum placard:

“The term oliphant refers to an ivory horn such as the one used by the legendary hero Roland, one of Charlemagne’s paladins, to sound the call for battle. Many such horns have been preserved. Usually decorated with hunting and animal motifs, they were made in Islamic-Arab countries as well as Norman Sicily and in Lower Italy. Many of them served as containers for relics in the church treasuries of the West.”

These two are (and I’m just getting this info off more museum placards) from Italy (Salerno or Amalfi, maybe) and from Arab Sicily. The latter, with the very Muslim-style animals in a web of vines, is my absolute fav. Sicily was conquered by the Byzantines, Fatimids, and ex-Viking Normans in succession and the style got neat as hell. Did Tolkien care about this mate I have no idea, I just think it’s the coolest thing. Also these are huge.

*and of course, ivory today is real fucking sad and part of an ecological catastrophe. But it’s worth saying that the 11th century was Not the century that fucked that one up.

#Astro lotr #barely. barely

[olderthannetfic]

Goyim goysplaining shit to me is why I don't write Jewish characters anymore. "Well actually that name is this AGAB so the character isn't NB they're *insert AGAB here*" "well actually according to Google you shouldn't have used the word candle you should have said this" "well actually goy is a slur and it's not bad of commenters to use 'Hebrews' to refer to all Jewish people even though I *will* get mad if you call Catholics 'Latins' in response" "well actually it's a kippah not a yarmulke you can't use the word yarmulke it's a kippah" "well actually Jewish people are white so why is this Beta Israeli character not white Jewish = white" "uh excuse me but your Jewish characters didn't exchange Hebrew names that's really unrealistic" "uh excuse me why is your character breaking kosher to stay alive? everything I see on TV says Jews would rather die than break kosher and live - no I don't know or care that pikuach nefesh is a thing I just wanted to correct you on the proper way to write a Jewish character" etc. Whether it's goyim commenting on Undertale fanfics to say all Jewish people would be Red souls (because we don't have individual souls, personalities and colors like the non-Jewish characters, that'd be silly) because we survived the Holocaust or goyim saying Jewish Bruce Wayne makes sense because Jews have all the money, or being confused on how you can headcanon anyone as Jewish who isn't white because Jewish people are white (which is a surprise to my Iranian Jewish self but go off I guess) there is always someone there to tell you that you're not human like other people. These people would never go "oh Latinos all have Red souls and the same personality, definitely" or "Muslim Bruce Wayne makes sense, those people all have oil money" but they'll say antisemitic shit right to your face and then have the gall to be annoyed when you don't like it.

This is why I pulled all my fic without leaving copies up for archives. "B-but I love your fic it's the only multichaptered one for this rarepair!" Well you didn't respect me enough not to say Jews have all the money, so fuck you. "Nooo I loved that fic it had such a good magic system!" Yeah well I didn't love being told my "race" shares a single personality type/soul color so tough shit.

And then afterwards of course they write "Jewish Batfam" fic where there's 1 line in the entire thing where one character mentions Hanukkah once and they pat themselves on the back for being such good, diverse, inclusive writers. They're so woke and accepting and galaxy brained, devoid of prejudice, aren't you going to pat them on the back for clogging up Jewish related tags with fic where skipping one line could erase all presence of Judaism from it? No? Well then why don't you go write your own fic then?!

It's a rhetorical question, but here's the non-rhetorical answer: I don't go write my own fic because I'm tired of having to hear Jewish people talked about the way y'all talk about Tolkien's elves or Undertale's monsters and having to advocate for the idea of treating Jewish people like people is exhausting work.

Literally the only fandom I've ever been in that didn't go "oh well that's just fandom! if you don't like it don't write fics lol" was Star Trek. And even then, you venture outside of AO3 at your own risk.

--

[beardedmrbean]

Oh you like my opinions? Well here what I was trying saying with black media

Black activists: We need more black people in fantasy

Me: Oh so you are going create African inspired fantasy kingdoms?

BA: Nope we are going to randomly put a random black elf during the second age and blackwash Aragon

Me: I’m African American…and knew about lotr from my black father…how about you make a Constantinople inspired place for diversity

BA: What that?

You know for a smut snippet I made for a friend, I pointed out that for black characters in middle earth. I pointed out that Frodo could stumble upon an African inspired area and those kingdoms make trades with the other kingdoms up north.

Oh I got second compliant but I want to hear your opinion.

WHY IN THE NINE FUCKING HELLS MODERN FANTASY WRITERS WHO HAVE INTERNET AND FAR MORE RESOURCES THAN THAN TOLKIEN ARE FAR MORE LAZY WITH THEIR WORLD BUILDINGS?!

Why are SciFi writers seemingly unable to match Rod Sterling or Asimov?

They haven't had to think as much with so much of the work already done for them that and shoehorning crap in for meeting diversity quotas and shit is now accepted and nobody asks why there's just that one random black elf over there.

Morgan Freeman's character in "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves" would likely be classified as a "magical negro" but he also mostly fit in with the plot and world the story was set in.

Can't see a Crusader bringing back a Muslim friend but that's ok really, not that big of a problem.

Find places where these things fit, make a black Atlantis for goodness sake if you want. But yes please have a reason for that person to be there other than as a token.

Backstory is good, if you're putting a character in give me a story about them, Tolkien did the Silmirillion to fill that in some.

#anonymous

[infatuate]

9 book recs meme! tagged by @roobylavender; ty faatima <3333. this ended up being longer than i wanted it to be but oh well

the bloody chamber & other stories - angela carter

angela carter quotes get circulated out of context on this site every 2-3 business days but i really do think everyone should tap into the bloody chamber at least once. i have written many a paper on this book & each time i uncovered some new aspect i had previously overlooked but which carter hadn't. i'm not sure what i could say about it that hasn't already been said; this is one of the best fairytale anthologies out there, period. not to mention, those quotes are so much better in context.

decreation: poetry, essays, opera - anne carson

the first book of carson's essays/poetry i ever read cover to cover after crashing against plainwater hard when i was like 16. decreation is very aptly named - it's disjointed & deconstructed & more than a little strange, moving from subject to subject, essay to poem to play to opera and back again, but it managed to capture my attention the way none of carson's other works did. decreation is a journey through the self (through sleep & the subconscious, the spirit & God) that doesn't really arrive anywhere but is worth reading for the journey. aside from showing me just what could be done with form, it also introduced to me to marguerite porete, who became my own personal medieval mystic-martyr special interest. i've since read a lot of carson, but i still think decreation is her most interesting (& maybe underrated?) work.

violence & the sacred - rene girard

a solid 75% of my essays in my last two years of undergrad used this text as scaffolding of some sort. even when i wasn't writing about violence, sacrifice, or mimesis, i was thinking about it. this is a dense book of theory that flies by because everything girard is saying is simultaneously insane & so so compelling. other people have if you're interested in rituals, the societal function of violence, the origins of the word scapegoat, or you just want to find a new jumping off point for your own thoughts on any of these topics, i think you would find violence & the sacred a really fascinating text.

the children of húrin - j.r.r. tolkien

i read the children of húrin directly after reading the hobbit at age 14; i wanted another 'short' 'standalone' tolkien book to read before diving into the lord of the rings or the silmarillion. (i clearly did not know anything about tolkien at this point in my life.) but i don't regret it at all, because it's probably the best thing he's ever written. CoH is, for the most part, about the tragic life of túrin son of húrin & how the curse on his family dooms him & everyone he crosses paths with. the tighter focus on túrin's various fuck-ups and miseries is more intimate, more detailed, and more character-driven unlike a lot of tolkien's first age work. it's also the darkest thing tolkien's written, in my opinion; this is his longest most extended greek tragedy moment & he leans into it 100%. hubris, unintentional incest, accidental murder, suicide - the children of húrin has it all. túrin turambar you will always be famous!

a master of djinn - p. djeli clark

this is my favorite new fantasy read of the last couple of years. i went into thinking i wouldn't like it at all—it's set in an edwardian-era alternate history magical steampunk cairo, for one—but clark's writing is incredibly immersive. he's very skilled at reimagining history in a way that both makes perfect sense & is wildly inventive. i thought some of its critiques of colonialism were a little shallow but otherwise it was fun. and lesbian! the main character is a dapper muslim butch, and while i'm not usually a 'representation for its own sake' kind of person, i couldn't help but be obsessed with fatma. it helps that it has a more refined perspective on islam compared to virtually any other muslim/arab fantasy novel i've ever read (this is not a high bar). a master of djinn comes with not one, but two short stories set in the same universe, so you can check out clark's writing for free & see how you like it.

as meat loves salt - maria mccann

this one was recommended to me by a twitter mutual almost 2 years ago and i haven't reread it since, but i think about it frequently anyways. it's a historical fiction novel set during the english civil war, following jacob cullen, a man initially of gentle birth who becomes a servant who becomes a soldier in the parliamentary army. characterizing it beyond that gets tricky; how do you properly describe the completely insane depths of rage, lust, love, & obsession that mccann plumbs? as meat loves salt is for the hannigram girls, the heathcliff/cathy girls, the girls who enjoy devotion & obsession going hand in unlovable hand. major tws for rape & violence, & i don't think i could read it again unless i was in the right headspace, but this one is really good.

ship of magic - robin hobb

i could have put any robin hobb book here, because i do think everyone should read robin hobb at least once. especially if you have even a passing interest in fantasy. ship of magic made the final cut because it's the perfect beginning for anyone who might be turned off by the slow character study that is the farseer trilogy. liveship traders is more fast-paced with a rotating cast of v unique characters and the best villain she's ever put to paper. it has talking ships, terrible parenting even for a fantasy book, representation for awful horrible teenage girls with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, & a truly original take on dragons.

beowulf: a new verse translation - seamus heaney

when i decided to minor in medieval studies, beowulf was at least 60% of the reason. i read the r.m. liuzza broadview translation for class (which i love, to be clear), but my prof recommended that we go read heaney's translation anyways, because it's both a good translation of beowulf & an exercise in poetic brilliance. to me, heaney's beowulf feels less like a translation & more like a free-verse poem he wrote while possessed by the spirit of a 7th century scop. i know there are better, more accurate/faithful translations, but this one has a spirit to it that's difficult to find elsewhere. honestly it's worth reading for the introduction alone.

the fortune men - nadifa mohamed

my token contemporary non-fiction fiction novel of the past couple of years. i'm always rooting for everyone somali but also? nadifa mohamed is just a great writer. this novel is set in 1950s cardiff, wales, and dramatizes the true story of mahmood hussein mattan, a somali man who was wrongfully executed for the murder of lily volpert. mohamed approaches the events with so much empathy for both victims and the extensive research she did shines through at every moment. the consistency and conviction and clarity of her writing will convince you that, even if you don't know anything about the city or the time period or the events unfolding, she definitely does. she was kinda robbed for the booker but that's just my opinion.

tagging @derelictship; @misericordae; @hesitationss; @yevrosima-the-third; @gawayne; @butchniqabi & anyone else who wants to do it!

#are these even recs they're like mini-books reviews. sorry you get my unfiltered thoughts i usually reserve them for twt #if you dont read anything else. PLEASE READ THE FORTUNE MEN OK. support my somali sister ty #txt

[lindsaywesker]

Good morning! I hope you slept well and feel rested? Currently sitting at my desk, in my study, attired only in my blue towelling robe, enjoying my first cuppa of the day.

Welcome to Too Much Information Tuesday.

Castrated men live longer.

It only takes 0.2 seconds to fall in love.

Research shows vaping can shrink testicles and cause sperm counts to plummet.

New scientific research suggests finding new scientific discoveries is getting harder.

Not having enough sleep per day leads to a desire for sex, depression and alcoholism.

You are 13.8% more likely to die on your birthday than on any other day of the year.

Ferrero, the maker of Nutella, uses about 25% of the world's hazelnut supply.

In a lifetime, the average person will spend over five years of their life on social media.

Canada’s largest cemetery is plagued by groundhogs who keep digging up the bones.

People who sleep late have more mental stamina and can outperform early risers.

Steve Jobs was adopted. His biological father was Abdulfattah Jandali, a Syrian Muslim.

At least 1/7th of subscription service revenue is from people who forgot they were subscribed.

People who read books live an average of two years longer than those who don't, according to a Yale study.

Studies have shown that people who frequently use emojis in text messages have more active dating and sex lives.

In 2023, Canadian residents were shocked to see an enormous phallic iceberg float past their home town of Dildo.

A Japanese woman was having laser surgery on her cervix when she farted, igniting the laser and setting herself on fire.

A study found that marrying an older man reduces a woman's lifespan, but marrying a younger man reduces it even more.

The world’s first nudist colony, founded in India in 1891, was called The Fellowship Of The Naked Trust. (Good job Tolkien didn't name it!)

The most powerful way to win an argument is by asking questions. You'd be surprised at how it can make people see the flaws in their logic.

Athletic shoes are called ‘sneakers’ because, when they were invented, people used them to their advantage to move around quietly.

Walking for just one hour twice a week increases the size of the hippocampus, the brain area in charge of verbal memory and learning.

The word ‘dude’ was first used in the 1800s as an insult towards young men who were too concerned with keeping up with the latest fashions.

The best thing in life is finding someone who knows all your flaws, mistakes, and weaknesses, and still thinks you're completely amazing.

In Detroit, a man was arrested after installing and bolting a marijuana vending machine to the front of his home and selling weed to his neighbourhood. He was making over $2,000 a day.

Movie theatres in Iceland, Switzerland, Egypt, Turkey and India often have a 10-minute intermission in the middle of the movie, giving viewers a chance to visit the concession stands or use the restroom.

Diddy has reassigned his publishing rights back to all the artists and songwriters who helped build Bad Boy Entertainment. Ma$e, Faith Evans, The LOX, 112 and the estate of the Notorious B.I.G. have already signed agreements to regain those rights.

The TV show ‘Dallas’, about the family of an oil tycoon from Texas, was named by a producer. When the writer protested saying that, “Houston is the oil city,” the producer said, “Who knows that? Who cares? Do you want to watch a show called ‘Houston’?”

Peter Mayhew, the actor who played Chewbacca in Star Wars actually had to be accompanied by crew members dressed in brightly coloured vests while filming in the forest of the Pacific Northwest. This was to ensure that he wasn't shot by hunters who might mistake him for Bigfoot.

In 1940, the Nazis sent 12 spies to Britain to pave the way for an invasion. However, the spies were captured, partly due to their poor knowledge of British customs and lack of fluency in English. Two spies were arrested for biking on the wrong side of the road, another for ordering alcohol at 10 a.m.

The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) is an area in London where an emissions standard based charge is applied to non-compliant road vehicles. Plans were announced by London Mayor Boris Johnson in March 2015 for the zone to come into operation in September 2020. Sadiq Khan, the subsequent mayor, introduced the zone on April 8th, 2019.

Okay, that’s enough information for one day. Have a tremendous and tumultuous Tuesday! I love you all.

#mixcloud #mi soul #dj #music #new blog #lockdown #coronavirus #books #democracy #brexit #cronyism #election #radio #tuesdaymotivation

[wutbju]

Did you catch this kerfuffle?

BJU Class of 1999, Timothy Scheiderer wrote an op-ed on Fox News trashing Wheaton as guilty of the crimes of teaching critical race theory and gender fluidity. He says:

But recently, the school in the leafy suburb west of Chicago has begun to mimic Harvard’s wokeness. Banning biblical words, teaching critical race theory, and psychologizing gender identity issues may not seem extreme in modern academia. But for a school which houses the works of Rev. Graham, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, it is adrift from its orthodox, Christian moorings. But this isn’t a recent drift. In the 2000s, the education department commended the teachings of Marxists. In 2016, 78 faculty members voiced support for a fellow professor who stated Christians and Muslims worship the same God. And five years later, the school held its first ceremony recognizing graduating minority students sans White students. And currently, Wheaton permits its professors to teach critical race theory. 

Good grief.

He ends with a real winner:

In light of these shifts away from the Bible, would Billy Graham, the most influential 20th-century evangelical, endorse his alma mater? In the 19th century, Harvard was slowly, and permanently, transformed from a Christian university into a secular one. Belief in a trinitarian God was eventually toppled by in vogue philosophies. At Wheaton, the biblical belief in only two sexes is being tainted. With this and the other shifts mentioned, it may seem like a slow drift. But a gentle tide can carry a boat far from its dock.

Slippery slope anyone?

#Bob Jones University #Wheaton College #Tim Scheiderer #Maryville #Ohio #Class of 1999 #Proof is in the Product

[mogwai-movie-house]

yo isnt the doctor a shapeshifting alien who reincarnates into a random form every time they die? because of that it makes sense lore-wise that the doctor would change into a different color after changing into a different sex, they can look like anything they imagine.

Well then, theoretically, the next doctor should be far more likely to look like this

or this

or this

or this

And actually, I'd probably tune in for that, since it would be very interesting to see where they went with the story.

The issue is simple: the two most recent "Doctors" have been explicitly chosen for political reasons that have nothing to do with continuing the story but using the work and its fandom to preach a hateful, divisive and destructive agenda.

The charm of Dr Who has always been that he was an old-fashioned English gentleman who just happened to roam time and space in his old fashioned English police phone box. To think you're 'improving' the story in any way by making him black, or trans or gay or a woman or a Muslim is as dumb and pointless as making Sherlock Holmes black or trans or gay or a woman or a Muslim. Or Huckleberry Finn. Or the cast of Lord Of The Rings: why do that? Why not just leave beloved, iconic and instantly recognizable characters the way you found them, and make your own new story featuring characters with the surface characteristics you feel so strongly must be inserted into the public eye?

The answer is, none of the people with this political agenda are capable of making a character as beloved and timeless as Doctor Who, James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Huckleberry Finn, Gandalf, Aragorn, Frodo, Jean-Luc Picard, Spock, James T. Kirk, Thor, Loki, Tony Stark, Captain America, and so on and so on.

So instead they concentrate all their energy on taking over these wonderful mythologies and destroying them from within, perverting the characters and the stories to become often the very opposite of everything they once represented to the world.

These people are cultural vandals: nothing more, nothing less, and the things they make are, every time, never anything but the very opposite of art itself: the death of art, in fact.

As a great man once put it,

"Evil cannot create anything new, they can only corrupt and ruin what good forces have invented or made"

- J.R.R. Tolkien

[kaatiba]

A Writeblr Re-Introduction

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Hey hi hello! My name is Sumayyah (or Mayyah). I was a writeblr back in 2020, but I decided to move to my own website...which I still run and love, however I miss the sense of community and readership that writeblr offered, so I’m back!

This blog will be a place for me to collect inspiration and writerly posts, engage with your works, and talk about my writing in a less formal/structured way than I would on my site. There will probably be some crossposting, because I thrive on engagement. On that note, I’m open to tag memes and ask memes etc!

My navigation page is here.

I also run Beyond What You See, a literary podcast, where I’ll be reading along and responding to The Lord of the Rings series by J. R. R. Tolkien. Currently it’s in the process of being re-recorded!

Before I get into sharing my works (below the cut), I just wanted to share that I offer editing/beta reading services, and you can see more about that here. Feel free to ask me questions about this or anything else, I love to chat!

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ current works

✧ Legends of Mourra • [page] • [tag]

A Muslim-themed fantasy featuring a boy abducted by the djinn and the determined mother, lovelorn kinsman, gentle warrior, female Ranger, and scarred outcast hoping to rescue him.

» previously titled Chronicles of Mourra with a very different plot, I’ve been working on this universe and these characters since ~2007 or so. In May of 2022 I hit upon a new storyline which revatilized my interest in it. Currently it’s in the planning stage. 

✧ Oracle WIP • [page] • [tag]

A very loose retelling of Alice in Wonderland and its sequel, featuring an oracle who isn't, an assassin who decides against killing her mark, a usurper queen who was once a hero, and much betrayal.  

» Partly a retelling, partly a portal fantasy/isekai, this work is going to be darker in content than anything I’ve written before, with characters that are all fairly unhinged and/or awful. I’m very excited for it! We have Ro, an assassin, Sage an oracle and a liar, and Alyss, a former chosen-one who became a villain. Currently it’s in the drafting stage. 

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ completed works

✧ Rivener • [page]

Wren is alone, and that’s how she likes it, especially since bad things happen when she loses her temper. Her days are spent wandering the wilds and hunting or foraging or just…being.

When she stumbles upon a man, wounded and mute, she knows he’s trouble, but she’s not quite so cold hearted as to leave him to die in the woods, a silver-studded collar digging cruelly into his throat. Besides, she knows exactly what those collars are for. Or rather, for whom…

⤷ a story about healing, self-acceptance, and belonging set in a post-apocalyptic world.

✧ The Queen, the Lion, & the Rings • [page]

Once a king or queen of Narnia, always a king or queen of Narnia.

⤷ Or, Susan Pevensie's story, continued.​

✧ A Net of Stars, Woven • [page]

A flash fiction collection featuring various figures of Greek and Roman mythology, both mortals and immortals alike.​

✧ The Peacock, The Crown, & The River • [page]

A fable about how the peacock earned his beautiful colours.

✧ October Odds • [page]

A flash fiction collection built on prompts provided the Fictober 2019 writer's event, all featuring a dash of oddness.

#writeblr #writeblr intro #writeblr introduction #writeblr community #podcast #lotr podcast #literary podcast #muslim writer #muslim writeblr

[brighter-arda]

Non-SAM aromantic Nienna for day 3 of @aspecardaweek 🔵💙🤍💚🟢

Nienna as non-SAM because I think she had no wish to marry and decided that her love was given to the world and thought no more about it.

I chose silver fern for the final photo because their shape, koru, means new life and hope.

[image description: 10 images in blues, white and greens

1: white clouds, text 'Nienna' 'sister of the Feanturi'

2: ceiling of a blue mosque, text 'she dwells alone'

3: woman in black clothes and a black hijab on blue background, text 'she is acquainted with grief'

4: sunlight through trees, text 'and mourns for every wound that Arda has suffered'

5: green tinted supernova, text in a circle 'so great was her sorrow, as the music unfolded'

6: water surface, text 'that her song turned to lamentation long before its end'

7: waves on a beach, text 'and the sound of mourning was woven into the themes of the World before it began.'

8: same woman as before, with her arms lifted out. Text 'but she does not weep for herself;'

9: cropped, blue tinted image of Gandalf with text 'and those who harken to her learn pity'

10: fern fronds, text 'and endurance in hope']

#nienna #silmarillion #tolkien women of colour #muslim tolkien #queer character #moodboards and edits #toi's creations #aspecardaweek #mepoc #prompts: across the aspec / hope #contains image description

[southfarthing]

ramadan mubarak! i just wanted to ask, what is it like viewing tolkiens works, that have been so clearly influenced by christianity and tolkiens faith, as a muslim? i am non religious myself and view his works through that lens but i am curious to see the opinion of someone who does have faith, just not the one the author had. i hope this ask isn't insensitive feel free to ignore it if so.

thank you!

honestly not that different, I don't think? I suppose there might be things that I don't pick up on at all, and I don't know the extent of this so I can't really comment. but of the things that I do notice (like ideas of stewardship, not giving in to despair, putting your faith and trust in the higher power, etc), these are ideas that we share! so I don't feel like I'm missing out on much tbh in terms of meaning. in any case, I feel like a text should be enough in itself without requiring a biographical reading and studying the author's background and motives in order to understand the themes, and I feel like lotr achieves that for me

edit: the only thing I can think of that affects my interpretation maybe? is viewing the valar more as angel-like beings and parental figures rather than gods

#anonymous #replies #I've not really sat down and thought about the silm from a religious perspective so maybe I'll have different ideas later idk

[fyeahheistverse]

@arwenindomiel TOLKIEN SOUTH ASIAN WEEK 2022 | DAY SEVEN: ALTERNATE UNIVERSE [2/5]

Detective Constable NABEEL LINDIR was the youngest member of Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Elrond Peredhel’s inner circle. A talented cyber analyst, he worked closely with Counter Terrorism Commander Karim Erestor, a close friend and fellow member of the East London Mosque. The son of Pakistani immigrants, Nabeel took pride in his Sunni heritage, and would split his time between his work and volunteering at the London Muslim Centre associated with the Mosque.

Image description under the cut.

[ID: A three-row, six-picture picspam featuring Nabeel Lindir. The first picture of row 1 is a photograph of the sign outside the London Metropolitan Police headquarters, it reads in all-caps “New Scotland Yard” in metallic letters affixed on each side of a black cube. The second picture of row 1 is a cat standing in the doorway of a mosque. The photograph is taken to emphasise the smallness of the cat relative to the doorway, and the door opens into a dark hallway. The first picture of row 2 is lines of white, yellow and green code on a black computer background. The second picture of row 2 is of Nabeel. He is facing the viewer, half of his face shrouded in darkness. His head is shaved and he has a short black beard and what appears to be a cut on his forehead above his left eye. The superimposed text is a transliteration of his first name into Urdu: “نابیل”. The first picture of row 3 is of Nabeel once again. Here, he is facing away from the viewer, looking at something off-camera. He seems pensive and most of his face is in stark lighting. The superimposed text is of his name, “Nabeel Lindir”. The second picture of row 3 is an aerial photograph of a group of people inside the East London Mosque engaging in one of the daily prayers. End ID.]

#arwenindomiel #tsaw22 #tolkien south asian week 22 #tolkienedit #hobbitedit #lotredit #heistedit

[valacirya]

If you felt like talking about it I’d love to hear your thoughts on the silmarils as (not) property! Only if you want to though :)

Well, my thoughts aren't really coherent enough to write a deep analysis about this or anything. To me, the whole debate comes down to three points: one, mass murder is not in any way justifiable, legally or morally, to recover stolen property; two, the Feanorians in my opinion forfeited their right to the Silmarils the moment they decided to go after Doriath instead of targeting Melkor; and three, the light of the trees is what made the Silmarils special and that did not belong to Feanor.

I think there's a tendency in the fandom to view the text within a Eurocentric, capitalist framework. And I get that, given that that's how Tolkien was writing it, but as a South Asian Muslim, I just see things very differently. I grew up with the idea that the more private property you have, the greater your responsibility is to others, and that everything ultimately belongs to the Creator. So the Feanorians' actions to me are repugnant, and I'm not inclined to give them the leeway that most fans do. They could have tried to recover the Silmarils from Melkor instead, and died heroes or maybe even succeeded, but they didn't. My culture values martyrdom, so the way the Feanorians die, compared to for example Finrod or Fingon, is very dishonorable.

Also, the Silmarils don't have a will of their own the way the Ring does, but they do seem to reject or accept bearers. If it was as simple as them being stolen property and only the Feanorians having a right to them, then why were Luthien, Beren, Dior, Elwing, and Earendil all able to bear them? And why did they burn Maedhros and Maglor, the supposed rightful owners?

More importantly, the Light did not belong to them. Tolkien himself points this out. I think that the moment Feanor damns himself isn’t even the Oath, it’s when he refuses to give up the Silmarils to restore the Trees. It’s a direct parallel to Galadriel freely giving the Phial to Frodo, and Celebrimbor giving away the three Rings.

Of course this is just my perspective. I prefer to interpret the text within a spiritual/moral context rather than a legal/political one.

[brookston]

Holidays 1.3

Holidays

Bitcoin Day

Chin State Day (Chinland)

Day of Silence

Drinking Straw Day

Gensh-Sai (Japan)

Humiliation Day

International Mind-Body Wellness Day

J.R.R. Tolkien Day

Loosing (a.k.a. Namsoong; Sikkim, India)

Martyr’s Day (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

Memento Mori Day (a.k.a. "Remember You Die" Day)

Ministry of Religious Affairs Day (Indonesia)

Nakhatsenendyan Toner begins (Armenia) [Until 1.5]

National Be Yourself Day

National Crypto Currency Day

National Do It Now Day

National Florence Pugh Day

National Write to Congress Day

Nyilo Winter Solstice; Bhutan)

Passport Presentation Day (Russia)

Proof of Keys Day

Remember, You Will Die Day

Revolution Day (Burkina Faso)

Riddle of the Year

Sandstone Day (French Republic)

Shigoto-hajime (1st Day of Work; Japan)

Snappy Comeback Day

Snow Day

Tom Sawyer’s Cat’s Birthday

Women Rock! Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Anchovy Day

Cherry-Filled Chocolate Day

Fruitcake Toss Day

National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day

National Oatmeal Nut Waffles Day

1st Wednesday in January

Most Popular Day to Start Looking For a New Job [1st Wednesday]

National CanDo Day [1st Wednesday]

Ski Season begins [1st Wednesday]

Independence & Related Days

Alaska Statehood Day (#49; 1959)

Queensland (Declared; 2015) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Anterus, Pope (a.k.a. Anteros; Christian; Saint)

August Macke (Artology)

Daniel of Padua (Christian; Saint)

Day of Remembrance for Princess Olga (Slavic)

Feast of Holy Prophet Malachi (400 B.C.E.)

Festival of Pax (Ancient Rome)

Festival of Sleep Day [began yesterday at sundown]

Genevieve (Christian; Saint)

Hakozakigu Tamaseseri (Ceremony of the Red Ball; Japan)

Harryhausen Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Holy Name of Jesus (Christian; Saint)

Inanna’s Day (Pagan)

Jack Levine (Artology)

Jimmy (Muppetism)

J.R.R. Tolkien Day (J-Days)

Kuriakose Elias Chavara (Syro-Malabar Catholic Church)

Macaroni Art Day (a.k.a. Make Macaroni Pictures Day; Pastafarian)

Orpheus (Positivist; Saint)

Prophet’s Birthday (Sunni Muslims) [12th of Rabi’al-awwal]

Tamaseseri Festival (Hakozaki Shinto Shrine; Fukuoka, Japan)

Tenth Day of Christmas (Snow Day)

Twelve Holy Days #9 (Sagittarius, the sacral plexus; Esoteric Christianity)

Twelvetide, Day #10 (a.k.a. the Twelve Days of Christmas or Christmastide) [until 1.5]

Valentin de Boulogne (Artology)

William Passavant (Episcopal Church)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Lucky Day (Philippines) [2 of 71]

Prime Number Day: 3 [2 of 72]

Tomobiki (友引 Japan) [Good luck all day, except at noon.]

Unfortunate Day (Pagan) [1 of 57]

Unglückstage (Unlucky Day; Pennsylvania Dutch) [3 of 30]

Premieres

Ace is Wild or The Flying Casket (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S1, Ep. 12; 1960

The Arsenio Hall Show (TV Talk Show; 1989)

Big Fat Quiz of the Year (BBC TV Series; 2011)

Birds of Fire, by the Mahavishnu Orchestra (Album; 1973)

Blossom (TV Series; 1991)

A Creep in the Deep or Will Success Spoil Boris Badenov? (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S1, Ep. 11; 1960)

Don Pasquale, by Gaetano Donizetti (Opera; 1843)

Don’t Give Up the Sheep (WB LT Cartoon; 1953)

Forky Asks a Question: What is Cheese (Pixar Cartoon; 2020)

Head Office (Film; 1986)

I’m Walking, recorded by Fats Domino (Song; 1957)

Mayor of Simpleton, by XTC (Song; 1989)

On Being Ill, by Virginia Woolf (Essay; 1930)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (TV Series; 1993)

Statistical Thermodynamics, by Erwin Schrödinger (Philosophy Book; 1952)

Sylvia Scarlett (Film; 1936)

Time Cat, by Lloyd Alexander (Novel; 1963)

Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! (Radio Series; 1998)

Today’s Name Days

Genoveva, Odilo (Austria)

Cvijeta, Danijel, Genoveva, Mladenka (Croatia)

Radmila (Czech Republic)

Enok (Denmark)

Gerhard, Gert, Keerdo, Kert (Estonia)

Elmer, Elmeri, Elmo (Finland)

Geneviève (France)

Genoveva, Irma, Odilo (Germany)

Genovefa(Greece)

Benjámin, Genovéva (Hungary)

Genoveffa (Italy)

Miervaldis, Ringolds (Latvia)

Genovaitė, Vida, Viltautas (Lithuania)

Alf, Alfred (Norway)

Arletta, Dan, Danisz, Danuta, Enoch, Genowefa, Piotr, Włościsława (Poland)

Gordie, Maleahi (Romania)

Ulyana (Russia)

Daniela (Slovakia)

Genoveva (Spain)

Alfred, Alfrida (Sweden)

Gaynor, Geneva, Genevieve, Guenna, Jenifer, Jenna, Jennie, Jennifer, Jenny (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 3 of 2024; 363 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of week 1 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Beth (Birch) [Day 9 of 28]

Chinese: Month 12 (Jia-Zi), Day 22 (Bing-Yin)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 22 Teveth 5784

Islamic: 21 Jumada II 1445

J Cal: 3 White; Threesday [3 of 30]

Julian: 21 December 2023

Moon: 50%: 3rd Quarter

Positivist: 3 Moses (1st Month) [Orpheus]

Runic Half Month: Eihwaz or Eoh (Yew Tree) [Day 9 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 14 of 89)

Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 13 of 31)

#calendar #Holidays

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 1.3

Holidays

Bitcoin Day

Chin State Day (Chinland)

Day of Silence

Drinking Straw Day

Gensh-Sai (Japan)

Humiliation Day

International Mind-Body Wellness Day

J.R.R. Tolkien Day

Loosing (a.k.a. Namsoong; Sikkim, India)

Martyr’s Day (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

Memento Mori Day (a.k.a. "Remember You Die" Day)

Ministry of Religious Affairs Day (Indonesia)

Nakhatsenendyan Toner begins (Armenia) [Until 1.5]

National Be Yourself Day

National Crypto Currency Day

National Do It Now Day

National Florence Pugh Day

National Write to Congress Day

Nyilo Winter Solstice; Bhutan)

Passport Presentation Day (Russia)

Proof of Keys Day

Remember, You Will Die Day

Revolution Day (Burkina Faso)

Riddle of the Year

Sandstone Day (French Republic)

Shigoto-hajime (1st Day of Work; Japan)

Snappy Comeback Day

Snow Day

Tom Sawyer’s Cat’s Birthday

Women Rock! Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Anchovy Day

Cherry-Filled Chocolate Day

Fruitcake Toss Day

National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day

National Oatmeal Nut Waffles Day

1st Wednesday in January

Most Popular Day to Start Looking For a New Job [1st Wednesday]

National CanDo Day [1st Wednesday]

Ski Season begins [1st Wednesday]

Independence & Related Days

Alaska Statehood Day (#49; 1959)

Queensland (Declared; 2015) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Anterus, Pope (a.k.a. Anteros; Christian; Saint)

August Macke (Artology)

Daniel of Padua (Christian; Saint)

Day of Remembrance for Princess Olga (Slavic)

Feast of Holy Prophet Malachi (400 B.C.E.)

Festival of Pax (Ancient Rome)

Festival of Sleep Day [began yesterday at sundown]

Genevieve (Christian; Saint)

Hakozakigu Tamaseseri (Ceremony of the Red Ball; Japan)

Harryhausen Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Holy Name of Jesus (Christian; Saint)

Inanna’s Day (Pagan)

Jack Levine (Artology)

Jimmy (Muppetism)

J.R.R. Tolkien Day (J-Days)

Kuriakose Elias Chavara (Syro-Malabar Catholic Church)

Macaroni Art Day (a.k.a. Make Macaroni Pictures Day; Pastafarian)

Orpheus (Positivist; Saint)

Prophet’s Birthday (Sunni Muslims) [12th of Rabi’al-awwal]

Tamaseseri Festival (Hakozaki Shinto Shrine; Fukuoka, Japan)

Tenth Day of Christmas (Snow Day)

Twelve Holy Days #9 (Sagittarius, the sacral plexus; Esoteric Christianity)

Twelvetide, Day #10 (a.k.a. the Twelve Days of Christmas or Christmastide) [until 1.5]

Valentin de Boulogne (Artology)

William Passavant (Episcopal Church)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Lucky Day (Philippines) [2 of 71]

Prime Number Day: 3 [2 of 72]

Tomobiki (友引 Japan) [Good luck all day, except at noon.]

Unfortunate Day (Pagan) [1 of 57]

Unglückstage (Unlucky Day; Pennsylvania Dutch) [3 of 30]

Premieres

Ace is Wild or The Flying Casket (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S1, Ep. 12; 1960

The Arsenio Hall Show (TV Talk Show; 1989)

Big Fat Quiz of the Year (BBC TV Series; 2011)

Birds of Fire, by the Mahavishnu Orchestra (Album; 1973)

Blossom (TV Series; 1991)

A Creep in the Deep or Will Success Spoil Boris Badenov? (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S1, Ep. 11; 1960)

Don Pasquale, by Gaetano Donizetti (Opera; 1843)

Don’t Give Up the Sheep (WB LT Cartoon; 1953)

Forky Asks a Question: What is Cheese (Pixar Cartoon; 2020)

Head Office (Film; 1986)

I’m Walking, recorded by Fats Domino (Song; 1957)

Mayor of Simpleton, by XTC (Song; 1989)

On Being Ill, by Virginia Woolf (Essay; 1930)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (TV Series; 1993)

Statistical Thermodynamics, by Erwin Schrödinger (Philosophy Book; 1952)

Sylvia Scarlett (Film; 1936)

Time Cat, by Lloyd Alexander (Novel; 1963)

Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! (Radio Series; 1998)

Today’s Name Days

Genoveva, Odilo (Austria)

Cvijeta, Danijel, Genoveva, Mladenka (Croatia)

Radmila (Czech Republic)

Enok (Denmark)

Gerhard, Gert, Keerdo, Kert (Estonia)

Elmer, Elmeri, Elmo (Finland)

Geneviève (France)

Genoveva, Irma, Odilo (Germany)

Genovefa(Greece)

Benjámin, Genovéva (Hungary)

Genoveffa (Italy)

Miervaldis, Ringolds (Latvia)

Genovaitė, Vida, Viltautas (Lithuania)

Alf, Alfred (Norway)

Arletta, Dan, Danisz, Danuta, Enoch, Genowefa, Piotr, Włościsława (Poland)

Gordie, Maleahi (Romania)

Ulyana (Russia)

Daniela (Slovakia)

Genoveva (Spain)

Alfred, Alfrida (Sweden)

Gaynor, Geneva, Genevieve, Guenna, Jenifer, Jenna, Jennie, Jennifer, Jenny (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 3 of 2024; 363 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of week 1 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Beth (Birch) [Day 9 of 28]

Chinese: Month 12 (Jia-Zi), Day 22 (Bing-Yin)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 22 Teveth 5784

Islamic: 21 Jumada II 1445

J Cal: 3 White; Threesday [3 of 30]

Julian: 21 December 2023

Moon: 50%: 3rd Quarter

Positivist: 3 Moses (1st Month) [Orpheus]

Runic Half Month: Eihwaz or Eoh (Yew Tree) [Day 9 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 14 of 89)

Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 13 of 31)

#Holidays