#still one of my favourite scene from the trilogy

[jay-wasstuff]

Le abdollen. (You're late.) You look terrible.

Hannon Le. (Thank you.)

#the two towers #still one of my favourite scene from the trilogy #everything from body language - to the intimacy of their hands - the way aragorn just looks at legolas and legolas' smile #also my pics are so clear #lotr #lord of the rings #legolas #aragorn #aralas #jrr tolkien #tolkien #legolas x aragorn #legolas greenleaf #orlando bloom #viggo mortensen #oh and eowyns reaction

[luceafarul-de-dimineata]

Showing whb characters animated movies

You were in Paradise Lost because you ~acidently~ burned your hand and needed to be seen by your boyfriend Gamigin. Why you were there you asked him to watch a movie from the human world with you to pass the time. You and Gamigin had to put your collective knowledge together to figure out how to connect the phone to the old ass TV they have in Paradise Lost (those small shitty TVs they have in hospitals)

When you put on "How to train your dragon", Gamigin has his mouth wide open looking at the screen. He adores the movie and makes you both reenact his favourite scenes of Hiccup and Toothless. He would become so autistic about the whole franchise and you won't hear the end of it. Marbas and Buer probably give you the cold sholder for making Gamigin "more annoying than he already was" as they put it.

It becomes tradition between you two to watch the trilogy at least once a week (though he always tells you how much better the shows were). Bonus: He has Romantic Flight as his ringtone for you.

Watching Shrek with Beelzebub was an experience. He once shot you a message asking what the most influential film in the human world was and you said Shrek, parly ironically. Next thing you know, you're in one of the countries in Hell watching Shrek with Beelzebub. You two were laughing through the whole thing, partly because of the movie, partly because of your comments about it. He probably starts imitating Shrek's accent in the worst scenarios possible. Once yelled at an angel "Stay out of my swamp!" even though he was on the streets of Tartaros (Mammon at least found it funny).

After you beg Leviathan for 2 days, he finally caves in and watches the My Little Pony Movie with you. He would never in a million years admit that he enjoyed it, but you can still hear him humming some of the songs in it. Surprisingly, he'll let you talk about it, mostly because he likes your voice, but also because he thinks your analysis of it is interesting. Maybe if you're not a threat to Hell and you stop giving Foras headpats, he'll show you a real unicorn one day. If you call him Pricess Twilight Sparkle he'll hang you with no hesitation, though his glare is much more likely to kill you than the rope.

You were back in Paradise Lost, bored out of your mind when Morax comes to you with what you think is a smile on his face. He hands you the DVD for "Beauty and the Beast" and explains how Bathin had gifted it to him before he moved to Nifleim. He asks if you're interested in watching it together to cure your boredom (haha). It was a pleasant watch and by the end Morax was in tears. You cuddled while he just recapped the movie to you while sniffling. "A-and she still love him because h-he was beautiful on the inside".

You find out that Morax never watched a movie before because he was constantly busy, so it must have been a moving experience for him. He will 100% say that you're the beauty and he's the beast unironically because this man's irony part of the brain got surgecally removed at birth.

#whb #what in hell is bad #whb gamigin #whb beelzebub #whb leviathan #whb morax

[perplexingly]

I've been wanting to write a description of the Watermill Theatre's Lord of the Rings musical for these who were unable to see it, so I'll mention some of the things that stood out to me.

Also first of all, I saw that @emeraldskulblaka was kind enough to compile a masterpost about the musical, sharing the available videos and audios here

Now to the Watermill production:

The audience was encouraged to come 30min before the start of the show to celebrate Bilbo's 111 birthday.

During that time the actors were playing music, talking with the audience, playing games with the audience, I almost got hit in the face as Gimli in front of me failed to catch a ring that was thrown at him : D I saw there are some recordings of this part around, eg:

While still outdoors, the play started seemlessly with Bilbo's iconic birthday speech. After his disappearing act (in a puff of smoke), we moved indoors and while the audience was settling down, Frodo sat on stage all sad perusing letters

This stage is very tiny but they used it in a clever way; eg. there were moments when, to show the distance, the actors would say their lines behind the audience on the upper ring. They would also utilise the doors at the center stage or the ladders on the sides to climb on. The lighting also gave each scene a lot of character:

Also each actor doubled as a musician, often playing on the edges of the stage but still in full view, giving this interesting illusion of environment.

I think my favourite moment of using actors as parts of the environment was during Sam and Frodo's Now and for Always duet: once they started singing, Bilbo came to sit on the edge, in the shadow, just looking at them, and with each verse a new hobbit/musician came behind, hanging out in the shadows and giving this dreamy idea of Shire. And when Sam fell asleep, there was Rosie coming a bit forward to caress him.

Another such wonderful moment was near the end, when Frodo could go no longer and Sam helped him. The earlier situation when Sam fought off Shelob with Eärendil's light reminded the viewer of Galadriel's - and the elves - indirect help. And when Sam put his arms around Frodo to guide him, quietly, in the shadows around them illusions of elves appeared to show them the way and to catch them when they stumbled.

Speaking about the plot point - act 1 encompassed the first of the trilogy while the second act the other two. To achieve this condensation in the second act, most characters that were not directly related to the fellowship were either removed or merged with other, eg. Denethor and Theoden were combined into one, with the Rohan/Gondor politics removed altogether. But honestly, I thought it was the smarter choice, as we get the time to get attached to the main cast.

One more thing I'd like to mention were the practical effects. While ents were just an off-stage voice, when they were talking there were leafs falling down from the ceiling. But the most impressive was Shelob, which was a giant puppet with real-like leg movement, mostly in shadow except for the reflective eyes. I saw that there's an early test for Shelob posted on Instagram:

Also, I talked about Gollum in an earlier post, but I just wanted to make a quick illustration of the adorable moment between Gollum and Bilbo that I saw in the epilogue:

#lord of the rings #gosh I want to watch it again so bad #I didn’t want to write every single thing but it turned out long anyway hdhdjd sorry

[secretagentspydetectiveninja]

The new trilogy means we finally got official French translations of the fifth and sixth games (the fourth already had one) so I did my thing and played through them, since they're always a lot of fun. Here are some things about French Dual Destinies I thought you might like to know:

Yes, it's set in France as per usual. They are all French people who live in Paris. And yes, that means that in this universe there is a Japanese village themed around yokai within throwing distance of Paris.

Athena lived in America in this version, and therefore peppers her speech with English and Spanish. My favourite unhinged franglais line was "let's get au travail" which I will be using from now on because it's hilarious

Many characters got French pun names again. Simon's name is "Jack Lamenoire" -- Jack, because the French version of Simon Says uses the name Jack/Jacques, and "lame noire" means "black blade". (Also he's not British or anything in this version, he just speaks in somewhat old-timey French.)

He has multiple nicknames for the judge that are all slight variations of "Your Baldness". He doesn't do that "-dono" suffix thing but he does refer to Phoenix in particular as "Maître Wright".

...I don't like pointing out things I didn't like buuuuuut his voice is a huge downgrade. Actually, to be honest, I don't like the new French voices that much in general... idk man they just don't sound very enthusiastic...

Filch's name is "Arsène Loupet", reference to the famous fictional thief Arsène Lupin, which I thought was pretty cool! (Herlock Sholmes was also a reference to that series too btw!)

Athena and Apollo use informal pronouns for each other pretty much from the get-go, but there have been some changes from the previous games: Phoenix now uses the informal "tu" for Apollo (and Athena) whereas in the prev game he didn't, Pearl now uses "tu" for Phoenix as well, and Klavier uses "tu" for Apollo now (but Apollo still calls him the formal "vous" lmao)

SPEAKING OF... SPEAKING OF. The French localisation continues to utterly baffle me when it comes to Klavier (or Konrad as he's called in French). No listen, liSTEN. In the previous game he was specifically stated to be English and did his law exams in England and dropped English words into his speech (and this is still the case in the trilogy version, I checked). But now?? They seem to have gone back on it and in this game he says he's German again, like the in English translation??? But he's still dropping English words into his speech randomly????? Look I already went through the five stages of grief when I found out they'd english-ified him, I made my peace with it, and NOW they change it???????

God and his new French voice sucks too (his old one was actually good)... what have they done to you my poor boy, was making you English not bad enough T_T Oh and he and Athena didn't even get their little language club moment where they both start speaking in the same foreign language?? Like, that just straight-up didn't happen here and I had been waiting for it aauuugh it's cool it's fine it's cool i'm okay i'm--

True to Dual Destinies fashion, there are still typos. In an emotional moment, Apollo took a leave of asbence from the office. Not absence. Asbence.

I can't put my finger on it but Robin's coming out scene felt more... respectful in French? The English translation was done over a decade ago so it feels somewhat dated, maybe that's why... I obviously don't know if she was purposely written to be a trans girl but she very much comes across that way, and it feels like the French translators were aware of that interpretation and took it into account, idk maybe it's just me

THEY GOT RID OF MY FAVOURITE LINE. THE FORESHADOWEY ONE WHERE SIMON TELLS ATHENA THAT THE PERSON SHE WANTS TO SAVE MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD DOESN'T DESIRE HER DEFENCE, AND HE'S CLEARLY TALKING ABOUT HIMSELF. THE FRENCH MADE HIM SAY SOMETHING ELSE WAY LESS COOL. I don't wanna be like "FRENCH TURNABOUT ACADEMY IS DEAD TO ME" because most of it was awesome, but man these occasional things made me wanna flip tables

Cosmic Turnabout and Turnabout for Tomorrow were great in French though, so there's that. Clay's French name is "Pierre" which worked surprisingly well because it means stone or rock, and the moon rock was also called that, so like, the phantom had to kill Pierre in order to get the pierre... idk it worked and it was cool

Simon and Athena switch to using informal pronouns for each other very near the end of the game, in the scene where they work together to psychologically mess with the phantom. It's around the time when they start openly calling each other by first name since everyone knows now that they're old friends.

Phoenix and Edgeworth also occasionally refer to each other by first name in this game, which threw me off completely. (Reminder that Edgeworth's French name is "Benjamin Hunter". Just picture Phoenix standing in front of Edgeworth and calling him BENJAMIN. Now you understand how absolutely bizarre it felt.)

Here's the entirety of The Dissin' of Phoenix Wright in French

#ace attorney #dual destinies #aa5 spoilers #random stuff #there's actually a fan translation of this game too but last i checked it wasn't publicly available yet #i think i'd still like to play it though. i know they worked super hard on it #i'll make a post about the next game as well when i can be bothered bc i have stuff to say about that too

[booktomoviebrawl]

We are not judging how bad the movie is, we are judging which adapted the book the worst. There are good movies that are bad adaptions.

Propaganda below the cut (spoilers may apply)

Persuasion:

They massacred my girl!! That is not Anne Elliot!! The whole point is that she's beaten down and thinks she's missed her chance at happiness and is bullied by her family, not making mean and snarky nods to the camera :( They completely missed the whole point of the dynamic and it's SICKENING! They also cut Mrs Smith who is arguably one of the most important characters as she highlights Anne's lack of focus on title and rank and her family's comparative obsession with it + it's only through her that Anne learns about Mr Elliot's true nasty nature. Also they cut the 'I am half agony, half hope' line from Wentworth's letter at the end so what's even the POINT of adapting it if you don't have that!! Oh my god!! My poor favourite Austen novel :( (I do want to make it very very clear that my issues with the movie come from the writing and adaptation and not in any way from the race blind casting. The casting is superb and I'm genuinely so disappointed that they got such a bad adaptation bc so many of the cast are literally perfect)

Where do I even start? They tried to 'modernize' both the protagonist and the love story and managed to take out everything that made it good in the first place. Anne Elliot in the novel is quiet and good and helpful, full of regret. In the movie, she constantly turns to the audience to mock everyone around her, feeling so much better than everyone, to the point where nobody understands why Captain Wentworth would still be in love with her, or have fallen in love with her in the first place. Eight years before the plot starts, she broker her engagement to him because she was persuaded by a family friend that it was a bad idea. No way would movie!Anne have let herself be persuaded. They just tried to do a Fleabag/Emma type of thing without understanding what made either the novel or those two things work and thereby ruined it completely

Whoever made this didn't understand the point of the novel at all. They completely screwed up the character of Anne Elliot (the protagonist), which in turn screws the rest of the movie, as the original story only works because Anne is the way she is. Also, it's a period piece but the characters are talking in modern slang the entire time. And not in a clever way but in a very cringey one. If Jane Austen knew, she'd probably turn in her grave, and rightfully so.

Maximum Ride:

The storyline makes absolutely no sense, and the movie is nothing like the book. You could've given the movie an entirely different name and and keep the plot I wouldn't bat an eye

the movie's just bad mate

Horrendous low budget netflix movie with effects so bad they make me feel physically ill and acting so wooden the cast is in danger of being attacked by lumberjacks. The story already wasn't the best and the film somehow made it worst. I came in with nostalgia for my dear kids with bird wings and left never to be the same again.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children:

While Miss Peregrine was one of my favorite books as a kid and incredibly unique in the way the story is written (The author basically took a box of weird antique photographs and created an underlying story behind a handful of them) the movie is incredibly boring. Like seriously I can't remember a single goddamn thing about the movie besides my extreme disappointment with it after leaving the theatres. It's probably because the original is a trilogy but they didn't want to make it a trilogy for the movie so they just scrapped the ending of the first book and rewrote a shitty climax where they threw snowballs at the nightmare child eating creatures or something. I remember THAT scene perfectly because it was so, so dumb. It was so stupid oh my God- ALSO, thank God I have a copy of the book from before the film came out because new copies don't have one of the photographs that the actual book uses as a base anymore and instead have the shitty movie poster! We truly do live in a society.

Changed way too much so it doesn't feel like the same thing. The main characters are these kids with different abilities (called peculiarities) and the movie switches around their powers and changes almost everyone's age. Emma and Olive switch powers so that Emma now floats (they also added that she can kind of control air to some extent) when she's supposed to have fire powers to match her fiery personality. Olive can make fire now and she's also aged up from an eight year old to a teenager and put her in this weird romance with Enoch. Enoch is also aged up from a grumpy thirteen year old to around the same age as Olive. Bronwyn, one of the older kids in the book and sort of a motherly figure to the younger kids, is now one of the youngest kids. Hugh and Fiona are aged down and basically have no interaction at all in the movie, even when their book counterparts had such a good relationship. The only one they didn't really change was Horace and Jacob. They also added these gorgon twins that do like two things. The antagonist in the movie is Mr. Barron who honestly isn't super memorable and isn't in the books whatsoever. The ending of the movie is weird too because they manage to turn back time somehow so Jacob's grandfather isn't dead and then he hops through loops so he can be with Emma and the other peculiars. I guess the problem of wights and hollowgasts is magically eliminated and we do not have to deal with the consequences. It took six books to fix everything. I appreciate that the movie engaged me enough to read the series but once I did, I could not believe they did my kids that dirty.

Yikes where to start. The 3 girl characters are all mixed up. There are 2 teens, one who's super strong and has a brother (I'll get back to him) and one who controls fire and is the love interest named Emma. The third girl is a child called Olive who floats. She's lighter than air.

In the movie, strong girl is the child, olive is now the fire girl and is for some reason super introverted, and Emma the love interest floats and gets given a super breath??? Power?? Like she rises a sunken ship by blowing in and keeps a man blown against a wall by blowing air at him. He makes a remark that she'll run out of breath eventually, which happens here because plot convenience, but not when she's blowing in the sunken ship.

The enemies in the book are terrifying Hollows. Creatures who have lost themselves and devour souls of those with powers... The movie decides they eat eyes now. And turn human again. And get busted up in a fair for the final act of the movie. Ugh.

The movie also decides randomly that time travelling through the loops is a thing; a loop being a pocket of time that replays the same day over and over. But apparently this means Main Character can travel back in time and stop his grandfather dying??? What?? His grandfathers death is the whole start of the movie and motivation for the character.

The movie undermines many of things that made the book amazing and even decides it's not a trilogy anymore!! Fuck the other 2 books, right?!

Tldr; it is terribly hollywood-ised and t tim Burton ruined a franchise by trying too hard to make it quirky and fun when the books already had a brilliant sombre and interesting tone to them.

#tournament poll #persuasion 2022 #persuasion #maximum ride #miss peregrines home for peculiar children

[smalltownfae]

Rules: post 10 of your favorite comfort movies and then tag 10 people

tagged by: @lairn (thank you :D)

I am so glad quality isn't necessary when it comes to comfort because this and my favourites list is kind of different.

Spirited Away

This movie is just so beautiful to look at. When I think of comfort I think about the train scene or when Chihiro is at Zeniba's home. There are so many calm scenes in this movie and even the conflict is solved with no action. It's just people talking and trying to understand each other and themselves and I love it so very much.

2. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

When I think of comfort I also think of the Shire. Oh how I wish I lived there. This movie is just so wholesome. I love when a group of people has to work together towards a common goal and I love the bonding moments. It is my favourite movie of the trilogy and one of my favourite movies in general, even though the lack of Smeagol is upsetting since he is my favourite character.

3. Pride

This movie just fills my heart with such tender feelings. I laugh, I cry and I always end with a little hope.

4. The Princess Bride

This has got to be the most quoteable movie of all time. Full of tropes, it's just a fun adventure that makes me laugh and feel relaxed.

5. Now You See Me

Remember when I said I liked when a group of people comes together for a common goal? Yeah. Plus, this is a movie full of tricksters! Honestly, they were just waving a delicious toy in front of me and saying pssss psss psss with this one. I still remember having watched this in the cinema and wanting the sequel to be named Now You Don't. I was really upset when that wasn't the name. I own this in DVD and now I want to go rewatch it so I hope this answers all the questions.

6. Hot Fuzz

Everytime I rewatch this movie I notice something new. This is another movie that never fails to make me laugh and it's also a great friendship story.

7. The Road to El Dorado

Me and a former friend from my teens used to quote this movie all the time (in portuguese). This is one of the movies I know all the lines and it annoys my other friends to no end when they attempt to watch it with me. Very fond memories connected with this one.

8. Pride and Prejudice

Just looking at Mr. Bingley's face makes me smile. Yeah, yeah, I am not on the Mr. Darcy camp. I like my men cute, kind hearted and a little dumb. Enough said. (This movie also looks beautiful)

9. Song of the Sea

This seemingly simple story about conflicting family relationships resonated so much with me. Besides that, like Spirited Away, it is gorgeous to look at. This is probably my favourite movie in terms of visuals. I love the shapes, I love the colors, I love the sountrack!

10. 10 Things I Hate About You

I possibly related to Kat way too much in my teens. This teen movie improved the Shakespeare play that inspired it.

Tagging: @whatevsbla @monpetitrenard @alloysius-g @random-jot @xserpx @vydumaj @electropeach @beeblackburn @garnetrena @logarithmicpanda (only if you want to do it, of course)

#tag game #comfort movies #spirited away #lotr #the fellowship of the ring #the princess bride #pride 2014 #now you see me #song of the sea #the road to el dorado #pride and prejudice #10 things I hate about you #hot fuzz #movies

[brekker-by-brekkerr]

general messy thoughts about sab s2 (spoilers ahead)

Things I liked:

- Genya. Daisy Head SLAYED completely she was SO GOOD. I didn’t like them downplaying her scars and I wished we had gotten the line “I am not ruined I’m ruination” especially knowing how much that line means to so many people but other than that Genya was everything Daisy did an INCREDIBLE job of playing her. I actually got teary-eyed at several points this season (and me and my emotions are not at all close so that’s a feat) and they were all either Genya or GenyaDavid scenes, which brings me to…

- Genya and David. They were so good. So wholesome. The best part of this season IMO. Like their brief scenes, them hugging in the woods, the tiniest moments STOLE the show. I cried for these two and these two alone. Also, David was so well-portrayed like I loved these two so much. 

- Several soft Malina moments that gave me butterflies and I felt accurately showed their dynamic, more toward the beginning of the season but they were there.

- Jack Wolfe as Wylan. I have some not-so-positive thoughts about the aged-up crows in general, but I still think Jack was a convincing Wylan and you can tell from both the show and from his interviews that he really cares about Wylan and his portrayal. Every time he LOOKED at Jesper I was like…wow just WOW.

- Getting to see Nina interacting with the Crows was nice. Especially when they turn around and she has waffles and Kaz has that annoyed moment but then we find out Nina got them the info they needed because she’s a spy and she’s incredible? 10/10 and one of the few moments that felt accurate to the real crows. Also, that part where she was talking to the guard and pretending she needed to pee (idk that was a weird way to describe it I know) but that was so Nina

- Also, just them together in a restaurant vibing was what I needed

- “The barrel doesn’t belong to kings. It belongs to bastards.”

- Tolya and Tamar were so cool in their introduction like they’re so hot and cool and powerful ahh

- When Genya, Alina, and Zoya are all at the Darling’s funeral pyre that was chilling

- The slivers of foreshadowing with Zoya.

Things I didn’t like:

- The weird slow motion in some of the fight scenes was so unnecessary lol

- Okay I’m not a fan of the Darkling and I’ve made that quite clear in the past, but I do think he’s a good and interesting villain and I like the Flavour he adds to the story but this season the Flavour was just…not there. It’s funny how many Darkling stans I’ve seen angry about this season because for once we’re in agreement. Like he was so boring and weird and just creepy instead of interesting and creepy? I wanted to skip all his scenes. Also, they took out so many of the awful things he did in the books like what about him killing Ana Kuya? When he says “you’ll have no shelter but me” that line hits so much harder and is so much more chilling and awful because he’s literally killing off the people in her life. Turning Nikolai into a monster himself?? The moment Alina loses her powers in the books and the Darkling tells her she’s nothing is SO IMPORTANT because it shows he’s just interested in her for her powers, which is a big theme in the books. As wonderful as Nikolai is, he needs Alina for what she can provide for Ravka. The Apparat just sees her for her power. Everyone wants to use Alina for something except for Mal who just wants them to be happy and able to make their own choices. Anyways, the Darkling didn’t feel like the Darkling from the books at all. Also, he was just cringy. Like I was laughing when he was like “I have returned. And I’ve made some new friends” and stared at the camera it was so bad.

- Ruin & Rising is my favourite from the trilogy and I was so disappointed with how much was cut out for the most random crap, like hallucinating and eating butterflies?? Instead of the bonding time with the whole TGT crew? And no Oncat I’m crying. There’s so much character growth that happens and so many relationships that are deepened in Ruin & Rising and WHERE WAS THAT?

- Personally, I didn’t think Paddy was giving Nikolai. Like he seems like a good person and actor and all that jazz but he just didn’t feel like Nikolai and since Nikolai is my favourite, this kind of hurt.

- Erasing Mal from the story and his struggles. Look, Mal is not by any means a perfect character. And he doesn’t need to be. Let him be messy. Let him struggle and sometimes be rude and make mistakes because that’s real that’s compelling. They could have shown all the book!Mal haters that maybe they were being too harsh on him because he was struggling SO MUCH but instead they just turned him into Perfect Supportive Man. His character growth in Ruin & Rising is so good especially after you’ve spent Siege & Storm thinking “what is going on with this man.” Seeing him owning up to his actions and seeing him working on his flaws and seeing his support for Alina is so good and we deserved it especially considering how talented Archie is.

- Cutting Zoya almost completely out, especially since this is the book where she goes through a lot of growth. Also, the fact that Alina choices they’re making are cutting into Zoya’s future story >:(

 Things I HATED:

- Killing off David. WTF. Obviously we didn’t see a body so he might come back but like…what’s the point. We didn’t even get to see Genya and David get married.

- Almost all of the Crows content. The rushed Crooked Kingdom plotlines with none of the significance from the books. Rushed Wesper. Matthias working with Pekka. Nina’s character completely revolving around Matthias. Kanej focusing on Kaz’s trauma but not Inej’s and making her contract with the Menagerie all about Kaz and his vendetta against Pekka and killing off Tante. Actually, pretty much everything Kanej this season was so awfully handled. Also, just not a fan of the Crows being aged up and I tried to be okay with it but this season made me more upset with the casting choices. The Crows stuff was so so so badly done I want to cry. Comfort rereading the duology right now

- The ending. Just…frick the ending. I hate it. Too many thoughts I just hate it I can’t even talk about it

- I’ve already reblogged a lot of posts that go into things I hated but just in general it was such a mess they combined too many stories without doing them justice and there’s more I’m upset about but this is it for now

#anti shadow and bone #anti sab show #anti s&b show #shadow & bone #sab show #sab s2 #sab season 2 #shadow and bone s2 #shadow and bone spoilers #sab s2 spoilers #anti the darkling #anti darkling #anti darklina #malina #malyen oretsev #genya safin #genyadavid #six of crows #grishaverse

[papermonkeyism]

Me age 13: "omg, this is the best book ever I love it so much!"

Me age 20: "ugh, this is the worst book I've ever read, I hate it."

Me age 36: "this is a DnD campaign."

So I made it through the second book of the Icewind Dale trilogy, Streams of Silver, in my nostalgia trip.

And yeah. It's a game of DnD.

Specifically, it's a bunch of Tolkien fan boys having fun playing a fantasy fighting game and being awesome, and, yeah, it does its job.

It's still lacking in things I like in stories, but I can see where this is coming from. I prefer characters with more emotional depth and them having more natural feeling interactions, and deeper world building. But this is a game for people who like feeling awesome in a traditionally heroic way, and experience similar stuff as with their favourite books.

The characters are more archetype-ish/stereotypey, because they're written as player characters instead of complex people. There are A LOT of bad guys and evil creatures that the heroes have to fight, because DnD is a game built around a fighting mechanism, and campaigns are built with Random Encounters so the players can engage with the mechanics of the game they're playing. So this area has orcs in it, that will fight you. This bit here has human barbarian tribes that will fight you (and have some Unfortunate Implications about "noble savages" and their belief system being built aroud this monster creature from another plane of existence and other fun eighties tropes, but it's not like they get mentioned again after the encounter.) You failed a persuation roll to let this one town's guards let you pass because your elf hails from an evil elf race even if he himself is a good individual, and him having black skin marks him as dangerous to people (no wonder many modern depictions of drow have them more purple or gray than flat out black), so you are forced to take a detour through this swamp area that's full of trolls that will all attack you. And there's a giant snake that will attack you. And so forth.

And the Tolkien really shows! You could probably make a drinking game out of spotting all the Tolkien references, just the amount of times the word "mithril" gets thrown around could be one on its own.

So one of the main characters is a dwarf king of a lost underground dwarf kingdom, the Mithril Halls, who's ancient home got taken over by a shadow dragon which drove them to exile, and the Main Quest is to go find it and take it back (Hobbit). (None of his other clan mates from the Icewind Dale seem to remember or care enough to join their king in his search, but that's not the point, because you only got four players and they all picked different races. It's a game, your supposed to build it for them to play, that's the whole point.) Once they get to the place, there's a kinda "Mines of Moria" feeling scene of them wondering how to open the door, though the solution to it is more DnD feeling than that of Lord of the Rings. Though, speaking of Moria, remember how awesome the Gandalf vs Balrog scene was? Good news! We liked it too, so much so that we did the whole "beloved hero falls to a 'certain death' in the depths of the mine while fighting a bad guy/evil being" thing TWICE! Oh, and did your players like Galadriel? You have a nice GM who gives you a magical queen NPC (who's name even rhymes with her), who comes to the heroes' aid by giving advice and helpful items, except even better, because what if she also had a crush on your favourite character?

Sprinkle in a group of evil rivals, with a nemesis for the favourite character ("narrative foil" kinda feels like an understatement, though, as Entreri gets introduced as a dark mirror for Drizzt with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer), couple evil wizards, a fun and quirky family of good wizards for a fun interlude for your players, and few other fun and magical encounters, some cool loot, and a classic damsel in distress (though I do give credit for Catti-Brie actually having a role in this book. I hated the way she got kidnapped and damselled when I read the book last time, but on a re-read now, I do see her being clever and using her situation to sabotage her kidnappers, even if teenage me was very disappionted in how she didn't pick up a sword and do the awesome battle stuff herself).

(Okay, so this is just me theorizing, and I don't really have any factual basis for this, but I kinda get the feeling like Wulfgar was originally planned as the "young hero protagonist" of these books, but Drizzt ended up a lot more interesting of a character, and the stories just gravitated to focus on him instead as the author's fave. Not that a similar thing would have ever happened to me or anything, haha...)

Like. This book still isn't my thing, really. I very much prefer deeper and more rounded character writing and more thought out worldbuilding, but I must admit, realizing that this book was basically a game of Dungeons and Dragons kinda made the whole experience so much more enjoyable. Even if I spent the entire time reading thinking about the players of the characters instead of the characters themselves as people, but still.

You made the story out of reshuffled Tolkien tropes but edgier, put in some whimsy nonsense that makes no logical sense, and had tons and tons of really flat enemies that kept spawning and aggroing your party like video game mooks. Aww, sounds like a fun campaign, your players must have had great time!

... I should probably re-read Lord of the Rings one of these days.

#shut up paper #I think I need a tag for these

[gortrash]

Been working on a basic height chart for all my TES characters, so here are my dysfunctional babies (and here’s to hoping tumblr doesn’t kill the image quality, but if it does, just click on it to see it better.)

From left to right, we have Ilyavanthra, Evelynn, Morganne, Delilah, Taka-Xil and Jacken.

More info on these guys under the cut!

Ilyavanthra Atyreni is my resident villain, a Thalmor superior who thinks she’s god and refuses to acknowledge the Divines out of spite— which won’t go down well with the rest of the Thalmor, but that’s fine, she’s got big plans for them along with the rest of the world. The pivotal point for her was when she went missing, lost her legs under mysterious circumstances, came back wrong, refused to elaborate. After that she began frantically planning some kind of ultimate design and built new legs as proof of her efficiency. She’s positively obsessed with the Dwemer, their ideologies and methods and studied them for a large part of her life. At some point she was married to Evelynn, but their relationship is… difficult. All in all, giant scary lesbian Altmer with religious trauma and one hell of a god complex about to make it everyone else’s problem.

Evelynn is my favourite child, she’s my Bosmer Vestige and has lived for a very long time after the events of ESO, in which she has spent the years going from outright saving the day to falling into the background and preferring to work on the preservation of Tamriel from behind the scenes, as she knows no other purpose. Super complicated bisexual disaster love life, let me tell you about it, sheesh. She’s been around to help put down Mannimarco whenever he pops up, but has been running from Molag Bal and the looming feeling of impending doom he carries— little does she know she’s in a rat trap. Because of her extended life, her mind has far outgrown her body and by the time the fourth era rolls around, she’s less than all there, susceptible to any forced that would wish to control her (she’s also the character I put through the Vicn Trilogy, because putting her back in Coldharbour sounded like the worlds sickest joke.) I love female characters who have been put through extreme tribulations and come out of it little bit off the rails RAHHH!!

Morganne is my Imperial Dragonborn who remembers absolutely nothing prior to the carriage ride except her name. She fulfils her destiny in not only slaying Alduin but also taking up the role of Konahrik, which only strengthens her power as Dovahkiin. But what does it mean about you if you managed to destroy the destroyer of worlds? Does that not make you just as, if not more, dangerous? Perhaps. She’s still young and pretty naive but by god, is she as stubborn as a dragon should be, and keeps doing impulsive dumb shit she gets in trouble with everyone for. She refuses to kill Paarthurnax, who she ends up considering her father figure, refuses to kill any more dragons considering it ‘kinslaying’, as well as arguing that she believes Odahviing and Durnehviir to be her most loyal brothers, and instead of killing him at the summit of Apocrypha, releases Miraak and keeps him on a leash. They hate each other’s guts (code for they are deeply in love and cannot resist one another but both won’t make the first move out of pride)

That tiny lass is Delilah, a Breton with big dreams of being a sorceress but unfortunately also sucks at magic. See that staff she’s holding? She doesn’t know how to use it aside from thwacking people. She does however have a mass aptitude for Restoration locked away, she just has to figure out how to harness it, because without control, her emotions dictate her powers in miraculous ways, even resulting in resurrecting the dead. See that big fella beside her? He’s proof of that. Also, don’t let her baby face fool you. She’ll bite your ankles and she has a thing for monster boys.

The big fella in question is named Taka-Xil, and oh boy, does he run on pure spite. He’s not had a very good start to life, despite being born under the Hist, he seemingly had no connection to it whatsoever and couldn’t properly read the social cues of his kin or fully understand them. For that reason, he was deemed soulless, and no matter how much sap he consumed he couldn’t connect to the Hist— the amount he drank only made his scales much tougher, his tongue golden and his height drastically taller than by Argonian standards. So he runs off to join the Dark Brotherhood and developed a great deal of reverence for Sithis. He becomes Listener and lets out all that steam on contracts, until he meets Delilah, who teaches him that being soft is just as important as being strong. She’s the only one he sees any light in and he adores her. Big gruff guy soft for sunshine girl plus dramatic height difference trope here.

Lastly, we have my most experimental OC, the wonderfully unhinged Jacken Archanymia, the very last Cyrodiilic bird person. He’s been alive all these years due to a curse bestowed upon him by Peryite, and has since dedicated his life to creating the cure to everything. Yes, everything. Beginning with his own terrible affliction. He’s a brilliant alchemist and doctor, and regardless of how spooky his attire is and how… rotten he is beneath it, he’s very charming and animated, and does his very best to act gentlemanly. Just don’t get too close or you might get sick. That mask is more for your protection than his.

#dunno if anyone will read all dat but those are my disaster babies #if the quality is bad just. pretend it isn’t #my ocs #oc: Ilyavanthra #oc: Evelynn #oc: Morganne #oc: Delilah #oc: Taka-Xil #oc: Jacken #the elder scrolls #Skyrim #dragonborn #vestige #Jade’s art

[ferniliciousness]

Mass Effect Trilogy Tag

Was tagged by @nowandthane Thank you :) You tagged me over a week ago, but I saw someone else do it and just remembered 😅 Covid brain.

I am a fan since: July 2023

Favourite game of the series?: Dont hate me for this, but its Mass Effect 1. The others have better mechanics, but the storyline and just pure variety and choice you have in one, not to mention THE MAKO! just makes me love it so much. And I'm saying this as someone who has yet to even romance anyone in 1.

MShep or FShep?: FShep hands down. Have never even contemplated playing MShep lol.

Earthborn, Colonist or Spacer?: Ive been Earthborn 2 or 3 times but I also enjoy Spacer.

Biotics or Tech: Tech. I am a tech girlie through and through. Ive only played a biotic class once. It was fun but I still prefer tech.

Paragon or Renegade: Paragon hands down lol. Sometimes a pit of Paragade but I'm too nice to be mean to people.

Favourite Class: Engineer or Soldier. I love the tech powers of Engineer but I also love my assault rifles lol

Favourite Companion: Tali, hands down.

Least favourite Companion: Jacob.... do i need to say more.

My squad selection: ME1- Garrus and Tali or Wrex, ME2 Garrus and Tali or Mordin, ME3 Garrus and Liara

Favourite In-game romance: In case you couldnt tell from above, cough, its Garrus lmao

Other pairings I like: Garrus is the only romance I like for the first two games for femshep, but Traynor <3, the amount of times I have almost broken up with Garrus for her is insane.

Favourite NPC: Kal'Reegar

Favourite Antagonist: TIM

Favourite Mission: Priority Palaven. As a Garrus romance it has one of my favorite scenes in the entire series.

Favourite Loyalty Mission: Tali's, I love the ship and the drama if you bring Legion

Favourite DLC: Citadel

Control, Synthesis or Destroy: Destroy, everytime

Favourite Weapon: M-96 Mattock, best part of being a soldier

Favourite Place: The migrant fleet from Tali's loyalty mission.

A quote I like:  "Your best has my mandible on the floor. Damn."

#mass effect #tag game #this is so late #I am so sorry #my brain is finally functioning

[waldensblog]

Reading Ruin and Rising

So I have finished The Grisha Trilogy! Overall, I quite enjoyed the book series after watching the show, and I will continue on to the Six of Crows Duology and then the King of Scars Duology. Below the cut are my thoughts on the final book in the trilogy.

TL;DR:  -I liked how Alina grew more ruthless, really was full fledged. Her ending is tragic. -The Darkling basically won, and was taken down by his weakness: love. Still a Darklina stan, what a tragic romance they had.  -I like Nikolai overall, and his ending is likewise sad, as he now is possessed. Kind of Darkolai ending for him. I like Nikolina too. -Mal isn’t the literal worst the entire time, but I’m not a fan of him still. I think he was not a true amplifier but a curse to whatever Grisha killed him. His happy ending comes at the expense of literally everyone else’s and the good of Ravka. -Story is overall a tragedy. A good tragedy, but a tragedy nonetheless. 

Alina: Although she once again starts in a position of weakness, underground, recovering from the Chapel fight, I found myself loving the start. Alina’s developed into a morally grey and ruthless character, and I love this. She’s stuck with the apparat, but biding her time. 

Her tether scene with the Darkling shows how far she’s come. She reached out to him, which surprised him, and stroke his face, taunted him with their love story - hell yeah, it was a very strong start for me. 

When escaping the apparat, she almost kills (again), but only ends up branding someone. Again, loving this gray and ruthlessness, and all the inner thoughts about how very much like the Darkling she is becoming. 

Alina eventually meets back up with Nikolai and they’re at the Spinning Wheel, where she trains more with Baghra, and gets stronger and stronger. During the escape from the Spinning Wheel, she uses the cut to kill someone, for the first time. She is disgusted with herself in part because yeah splitting someone in 2 would be pretty gorey, but also because of how... easy it was, how good it felt. She knows she’s going down a dark path, and I personally love to see it - because it breaks the hero archetype, giving her more an anti-hero arc.

I’ll discuss the ending itself further below, because I have a lot of thoughts on that, but to keep it brief here: the end of Alina’s story is, to me, tragic. She’s a tragic hero to me. I overall like her character, though I definitely have gripes about her at times, mostly, the Mal addiction. 

The Darkling: My favourite still. The Darkling is to me an anti-villain - he does bad things for the right reasons. In another story, he may have been the anti-hero, not the one Ravka deserves perhaps, but the one Ravka needs (*Batman theme plays*).

The Darkling has basically won by the start of the story. He’s ruling Ravka, he can expand the Fold any way he wants, the King is on the run. He can ensure Grisha safety, stop the wars... he’s won. His weakness is what he always said: wanting, or more specifically: love. 

When his mother jumps off a cliff, it’s because she knows this. She knows he would go after her - try to stop her from dying. Alina feels him try to pull her into the tether afterwards, and can feel his overwhelming grief. She refuses the call, but she knows. And in the Fold, when Alina loses her power - she doesn’t need the tether to feel his grief. Her metaphorical death there was too much for him. It wasn’t only about loneliness, but love. He wanted to rule with her - he wanted to his soulmate by his side. He wanted a partner. He goes about it poorly - having learned cruelty and abuse from his mother, and never breaking the cycle.

It was clear to me that they loved each other deeply as much as they hated the fact. In the tether, when he kisses her neck as she’s against him, the attraction, the pull, is very strong. At the end, she’s crying as he dies, and he just looks at her and is happy to know at least someone will mourn him - that he was loved. 

I absolutely lose my mind about the fact that his body was burned alongside Ruby’s-disguised-to-look-like-Alina’s, because that was absolutely not for Ruby - who probably would not like that - it was not for him - because he probably wouldn’t like that either (though would be happy she respected his wish to burn the body) - it was certainly not for Ravka, who complained about it - this was for Alina. Alina asked for a Grisha effigy of herself to burn next to him. Her metaphorical funeral. Side by side. The immortal rulers of Ravka that could have been. As she watches this, she whispers his name in a sob. Dear.God. what a tragic lovers-to-enemies romance this is. I do wish there were more tether scenes, but I loved the ones we did get. 

Nikolai: Nikolai starts on the run, and without tether scenes, we don’t get to see him for quite a while. When he finally does show up, I cheer. Yey! Our pirate prince is back! I loved all the scenes with Alina, and found their chemistry intriguing. I do feel that they could have been happy together, King and Queen of Ravka - a Grisha Queen which may have helped bridge the gap between Grisha and otkazat'sya, even leading to a Grisha king if they had a son. Certainly, that’s what both Siege and Storm and Ruin and Rising were saying was supposed to happen. I would have accepted this end, even if it wouldn’t have been my favourite, because it would be a bit status quo-y. As good a King as Nikolai may be - a great one with Alina at his side, he is still ultimately a monarch, and a mortal man. His descendants may not been as good - we could hope, if they’re Grisha, that they would be. He would have died as Alina remained ageless, so this would still have a tragic end for her. I like Nikolina, but it’s still a second choice to me after Darklina.  I did have a pretty big gripe about Nikolai at the Spinning Wheel though: when it came to Genya. Sure, it’s great that he took her side, but his punishment to his father is so... what a slap on the wrist. Oh you abused this woman, well off to a warm retirement you go, I’m the King now, dad! To me, the fact that he didn’t stand trial kind of tells me the nobility will always get away with more under his rule than peasants would. He may not be the Worst, he may be a good and great king - but at the end of the day... a monarchy is still a monarchy. 

The Darkolai vibes here were great - fucked, but great. The Darkling saw Nikolai at the spinning wheel, Mal too - and could have a) killed one or both, b) infect them with nichevo’ya. He specifically targeted Nikolai for option b - instead of killing the King, instead of killing Mal or infecting him. Why? Jealousy because Alina showed interest in him? Because he never saw him during tether scenes and therefore knows Alina does have genuine feelings for him? Or because... secret option C? I mean the tendrils down the throat is bit... not-hetero. They both ultimately want the same things, and in another story, another life, they may have been allies. At the end, Nikolai is still ultimately scarred, and the shadow demon-ness is not gone. A part of the Darkling lives on inside Nikolai’s body, so we... sort of have a Darkolai ending, don’t we? 

The Darknikolina-ness of no tether scenes when she’s with Nikolai, the shadow demon and emerald ring, trying to cure via her light, the tendrils down the throat. My god. I am still on about this, yes. Imagine the possibilities... 

Mal:  Mal was not the literal worst in this book like he was in Siege and Storm. He’s finally gotten past being a drunk, angry, asshole, and now sees himself as a tool in a war. I’m glad he’s had some development, and that he’s accepted a position as not-Alina’s-lover. I find his tracker abilities absurd at times - what the hell do you mean he can target a beetle and shoot it to make a bomb explode?! WHAT? What in the world does that have to do with his being the firebird anyway?  On that note, I posted this elsewhere, but I have a theory that Morozova’s third amplifier - the firebird - Morozova’s daughter and her bloodline, so Mal - is actually not a true amplifier, but a curse. Any grisha that dared kill the firebird would lose their powers, and a bunch of nearby otkazat'sya would get them. Kind of a monkey’s paw situation (you want power? wish granted - they get the amplified power, not you). Not that Mal would know that. I also think that this curse is partially why Alina was so drawn to him. It’s a bit tragic really - they think it’s a sincere affection, but it’s really the amplifier, a trap, pulling her in, luring her. It’s unfortunately dismissed immediately by Mal when Alina brings it up - what if everything between them was just the amplifier? I personally think it was. I also maintain that he was very much a drug for her. He wanted to carve out her power, and in the end, he basically did. She goes back to being “useless” Alina, and unhappily staring out a window, longing for her powers. Once again, Alina tries to tell us she is happy - despite the evidence suggesting otherwise. 

The ending: I’ve already touched on the ending above a fair bit, but to summarize, I interpret the ending as a tragedy. Alina is a tragic hero - she tries to make things better, but she didn’t fix Ravka, there are still wars, and people still hate grisha. She loses her powers in the process, dying a metaphorical death and burning herself alongside her soulmate who she killed - our anti-villain, the Darkling. Nikolai is scarred, possessed, and left to rule alone, as Alina removes herself from society, sadly looking out the windows at the sunlight and wishing she had her powers, as Mal - the only happy one at the end has succeeded in keeping her weak. I know many hate the ending - I don’t, but it’s because I view it as a tragedy. 

#Grishaverse #ruin and rising #grisha trilogy #darklina #nikolina #darkolai #darknikolina #anti malina

[gravitasmalfunction]

9 Fandom Peeps to Get to Know Better

Thank you for tagging me @yletylyf!

3 ships you like: I'm going to go general rather than specific here - competent by nature, codependent by choice x (n>=2) - obviously we're not in love this is just an arranged marriage I just happen to refuse to abandon no matter what - a: oh no, b is hot. i must keep this realisation a secret and take it to my grave

First ship ever: Eowyn/Faramir (from the books! I still haven't seen the movies! Miranda Otto and David Wenham are unbearably hot and I love them but I am very committed to the balcony scene I reenacted in my head hundreds of times as a young teen)

Last song you heard: Scenes from a Separation, Darren Hanlon, because it was an earworm and then because I found it on YT for you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY3M9fetmao

Favourite childhood book: (only one? no no no. books plural, a curated selection, in roughly chronological order) The Hobbit A Year and a Day by Monica Furlong The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis The Emperor Mage by Tamora Pierce The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (a trilogy in five parts) Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins

Currently reading: Just finished Still Life With Woodpecker, and before that Faro's Daughter. Haven't picked up another book yet (currently studying: the HSK1 word list)

Currently watching: Rising Feather (dubcon! abs! revenge!) The Romance of Tiger and Rose (the plot workshopping is coming from inside the narrative!)

Currently consuming: Decaf instant coffee, fruit bread and butter with cherry jam

Current craving: roof insulation

Hmm drama enjoyers to tag, let's see: @golgafrincham @heyyo-heyyo @stayg6ld @planb-is-in-effect @cairthe-deactivated @invisiblerhythmcat @tockamybeloved @dannysbian @shan190811 and you, the tumblr user who is looking at this right now and in the mood to do a meme, yes you, do the meme. tell 'em I tagged you xxoo

#tag game

[tenacioussongster]

Finally I Watched “NERDY PRUDES MUST DIE”

As someone who has spent much of their adolescence watching YouTube and listening to original broadway cast albums, team starkid was the perfect intersection of my hyper fixations. Since I’ve gotten older with less time on my hand, I’ve only been a casual fan within Starkid nation.

However last Friday at 5 o’clock Eastern Standard time, Team Starkid premiered the third horror musical comedy within the so-called hatchet-verse, “Nerdy Prudes Must Die”. The chaos of midterms and rehearsals pulled me away but I had my first watch on Sunday night. I have watched bits and pieces since plus people’s compilations on YouTube.( i’l link down to them later) I have many thoughts about the show itself and some things I’ve read online and I am just gonna list them out. (Warning Slight Spoilers Ahead)

Probably my favourite musical so far out of the trilogy. I was a little underwhelmed with Black Friday when I initially and worried this wouldnt live up to TGWDLM. It is better, funnier and better paced overall. Definitely worth the watch

Angela's expressions remind me of Rachel Bloom in the best way. Her commitment to every bit is fantastic and she makes Grace Chastity.

Will Branner sounds so freaking good and plays Max’s up max’s funny and scary moments really well.. I really hope to see him again in another starkid project.

Dirty Girl is underrated and  it was my favourite song on first watch. Will and Angela mesh well, it's got this goofy sexy vibe and the second hand embarrassment I get watching this fantasy play out makes it so memorable. It kinda bummed me out to see it ranked so consistently low on other people’s rankings.  

Speaking of music, Jeff Blim knocks it out of the park and I will probably listening to the album when it hits streaming nonstop.

Steph and Pete are mad cute as the main couple within the cast of characters. 

Jon Materson is so good in this! The character Richie felt very real to me and I was so endeared to him. I did not want him to be the first to go, but Jon belting out “ I’m not a loser” go so hard.

Hatchet Town is easily in my top 3. Bryce sounded amazing in her verse annd I’m glad to see her utilized more. All the cameos were a treat for anyone who kept up with the hatchet verse lore, shows and readings,

I liked Barbecue monologues but I think Ruth’s dragged a little long. Still love Lauren Lopez as always and her voice was lovely in that scene’s solo.

Loved that Pete was confirmed as hot chocolate guy from TGWDLM. Once again, I love the lore tie-ins

“She’s bisexual and dead, where else would she is?” Is the freaking greatest one-liner in the show and I need it on a t-shirt or something. 

The Summoning is the best song in the show, Its been going on my head nonstop. I loved the costume and physical interpretations of the lords in black especially Kim’s Nibbly and Lauren’s Blinky.

Those were all the main things I wanted to share about the show and my commentary. If y’all having any theories or head cannon, I want to hear them. I will probably start posting my own after another rewatch :)

Here are the link to the show plus other people edits and thoughts of npmd that inspired this post.

#hatchetverse #hatchetfield #starkid #team starkid #nerdy prudes must die #npmd spoilers #I guess this counts as a review idk #this is mostly for myself #musicals #musical theatre #youtube

[lycan-troth]

Thought about watching one of the Harry Potter films as my Christmas film this year. However, I decided on something more comforting; The Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey.

My favourite bits are at the beginning when Bilbo is recounting the past, Thorin's past, and when he banters with Frodo. It's just so nice to see Frodo as he was before he carried the ring, he's so lively, content and free of trauma. I like when Bilbo saves Thorin from Azog too, that scene on the carrock, when Thorin embraces him. Something I find a little funny is how Frodo resembles Thorin a little bit; blue eyes, somewhat similar shade of hair although it's more like Kili's really, and his gentleness reminds me of The Battle of the Five Armies when Thorin would only show gentle, fond smiles/expressions to Bilbo.

If Thorin behaved more like that on screen, I feel like the sense of resemblance/familiarity might be more obvious. Not to say that they are the same character, they're both rather different but there's still those vague similarities between them. I do ship bagginshield, and I am guilty of indulging in fix-it fics with them being a family with Frodo, so I could very well be biased about the concept. Regardless, it is fun in a sad sort of way to imagine Bilbo being of a similar mindset; scenario being that Thorin is dead and Bilbo sees elements of him in almost everything. So he too could be biased because he sorely wishes that Thorin were alive, but he isn't and its such a hard thing to accept especially because it was traumatising too. So, when he adopted Frodo it would be easy to see glimpses of Thorin in him, merely because it could be what he wanted to see.

In Frodo's soft, fond face he would see that rare gentleness and vulnerability that Thorin showed him near the end. Bilbo would see Thorin in the colours Frodo would fashion and in the way he would quietly observe the world. However, there's plenty of room to argue for the opposite; that Thorin and Frodo are too different, despite how much Bilbo could long to see Thorin in his nephew. Although, it could be a balance or mix of both; that there are just as many similarities as there are differences between them. To be honest, I do tend to dislike in fics where Frodo is very similar to Thorin; to the point that he reads as being an oc almost. I like the idea of them being somewhat at odds because of their differences, which potentially gets in the way of seeing the few similarities they might share. Frodo isn't prone to brood somewhat menacingly like Thorin, he'd grow quiet but he would willingly open up if prompted into conversation. Frodo wouldn't be as knowledgeable about the world or be fuelled with seeking justice; he's motivated by doing what he thinks is the right thing to do like saving The Shire.

Where Thorin would be able to carry on after experiencing great loss, Frodo isn't able to live with the trauma of it in the long run. That isn't to say Frodo is weak because he isn't; it takes great strength and resolve to do what he did in the end. I suppose they might find more common ground in their losses and trauma. Frodo is changed by his journey similar to how Erebor changed Thorin. The greed, that filthy desire for material objects; the arkenstone and the one ring. Both are figurative sicknesses that cause greater harm than imagined. That is something they could have bonded over, and sadly Bilbo too.

This is all just me rambling, but it's fun to think about these concepts; all the what ifs. Majority of these are heavily based on just the trilogy, not the book. I am in the middle of reading it though, a little disappointed at the lack of characterisation from the dwarves so far. I like how different Bilbo is at the start compared to the film; the book characterisation of him is something I'm rather enjoying. And of course I'm always scowering each page for details and mentions of Thorin! Still not too much about him yet, although noticeably he's not nearly as off-putting towards Bilbo as he is in the beginning of the film. Instead he merely tolerates him, well, mostly ignores him. I'm looking forward to Bilbo becoming friends with them all as the story progresses. His relationships with the dwarves are one of my favourite things about the trilogy.

#the hobbit #bilbo baggins #thorin oakenshield #frodo baggins #bagginshield #lotr #ramblings

[desssertsoul]

Soooooo

Opinion on The Shadowhunter Series:

I love every trilogy in the series but Infernal devices is my favourite favourite one ever!! Except, after Infernal devices, my favourite is The Dark Artifices. Like, after Will and Jem, it's the son of thorns, Julian, who ripped my heart apart and the best thing about him was that he isn't as morally perfect as Jem (no James Carstairs slander will ever be tolerated) and as far as Will is concerned then imma say that Will wasn't perfect but he wasn't as morally questionable as Julian was (Apologies in advance but William Herondale is mine).

Back to the topic tho. Julian is a perfect character. I love him with all my heart. I don't know whether I would ever love any Male character in this category as much as I love him. I might be morally questionable because family above all is my rule. The line where Jules went that the world can burn[...] I died because I thought that was??!!!! okay.... I am a grey person. I think the same. No one comes above family. The desperation of an elder sibling that is always present with Julian is heart shattering and too relatable because hello! I am the elder sibling, except I am a girl.

Julian will always be my favourite character and there is nothing as relatable as him in the Shadowhunter series. As a character, his flaws are his definition. His love for his family makes me relate to him a lot. As an elder sibling, the sheer fear of thinking that your younger sisters or brothers might get hurt and they might not tell you or they will outgrow the age of tenderness and innocence and you have to let them go and not think of them as little babies anymore is appalling and trust @cassandraclare to put it all in while making Julian.

As far as his love for Emma is considered then.... I love the angst. The Infernal devices angst was top tier but I saw the real angst from Clockwork Prince (only my opinion. Everybody is free to think in their own way) but with Julian, I saw the angst from the very first chapter of him being introduced. I am a simp for Blackstairs angst and that cottage scene😭😭Don't get me started!!! Likeee "break my heart into pieces. I give you permission".

If I ever write any novel—correction: if I ever COMPLETE writing any novel then I'll be damned if I don't use this line in my angsty scenes. More than Julian and Emma's scene and their heartbreak over whether it was Emma breaking up with him or Julian having the most sad and angry outburst of admitting that he was still in love with Ems or having Emma realise that Julian had gone to Magnus and turned his emotions off, I cried like a non-human person at Julian's jealousy of Ty being comfortable with Mark or Livvy and Ty giving gifts in their own way to Julian before he was leaving for Cornwall Cottage or Livvy dying (that's the cursed chapter) or Julian running after Ty even if his emotions were flipped like damn light switch to darkness or him saying to Dru that she was the heart of the family.

It's crazy to say that Julian was this relatable and..... Well...... Guess time to re-read the Dark Artifices again

#julian blackthorn #cassandra clare #dark artifices #emma carstairs #william herondale #james carstairs #im cryin

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

Just got back! OMG I love these movies, Gunn you're awesome!!

Non-spoiler review: I loved it. Go see it. Bring tissues because you're gonna cry! There are 2 post-credit scenes.

Spoiler review ahead.

This is one of those movies that I enjoy because I hate spoilers. I spent the entire thing feeling anxious every time a battle erupted as I was sure some of them would die, so the fact that none of them did and they all survived in the end was an unexpected surprise (but a welcome one!). If I had known it wouldn't have been the same experience at all, but that's just me.

I love, adore and worship the ground Nebula walks on. I always loved her but in this movie she's absolutely perfect in every scene she's in. When she cries after hearing Rocket? Hell yeah, I cried with her. And that scene where they're seeing what they did to Rocket and she's looking straight at it... damn, that was tough. "What they did to him was worse than what Thanos did to me". Holy crap.

Nebula telling Drax that he wasn't born to be a Destroyer but a Dad... damn, that one hit hard, especially when it's Nebula the one telling him. Now I want him to act protective towards her. And my girl is ruling the city too! Val rules the Asgardians, Nebula rules those people... I have a (female) type, folks!

Also I love that Gunn keeps on throwing jabs at Thanos and how awful he was. Love him for that.

I really liked that Gamora is different and they let her stay that way. I was kinda worried they were gonna change her in the span of one movie back to who she used to be pre-EG so I'm glad they didn't. Oh and that chat she has with Peter about her being someone else and him having to move on... is it just me or there was a parallel there between Steve and Agent Brexit? Maybe it's just me but I will live my days happily enjoying my headcanon that that particular scene is a jab at EG's stupid ending.

Every flashback to Rocket's past was so damn painful to watch, good thing I brought tissues with me. Knowing they killed his friends right in front of him makes IW even worse, the guilt he must have felt... my poor little raccoon. Oh, and he said it himself! "Name's Rocket Raccoon". Hell yeah! And Lylla's quote "This whole story was yours and you didn't even know it" that's James Gunn stating the trilogy was Rocket's all along, loved that.

I also really liked that they showed Quill being an alcoholic and struggling to get it together... but the very second his team is in danger he's back just like that, in a split second he's trying to heal Rocket and flying the ship. I gotta say I really liked him, this is what character development looks like. You see how he was in GoTG and you see him now... he's so much better. Which is why I'm kinda worried that the credits say he's returning? Unless it's under Gunn's hand, I do not want him back.

Mantis was great, more outspoken this time than we've ever seen her before. I love that she keeps making men fall in love with Drax...

And the hallway fight? That was amazing! Oh, and the High Evolutionary? MILES better than HWR. That's how you introduce a new villain, develop him then kill him off at the end.

Adam was okay. So much for a warlock but the dude was pretty damn scary at the beginning of the movie. He then turned into comedic relief but still... he was okay.

If I have something negative to say though... the farewell came out of nowhere. I get they needed to disband because this is the last movie but I think it could have been written a bit better.

The ending... F+TM is my favourite band so to have the "Dog Days Are Over" song playing when all the team is dancing and having a great time was AMAZING.

I think I'm forgetting some things but that's it from the top of my head. I really liked the movie and I'm so watching it again soon.

Gunn, THANK YOU!

#gotg #james gunn #guardians of the galaxy