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eunoiaastralwings · 2 years

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Well...you fiend! You monster!!!! You better bring reader back and mend poor Erestor's heart! As in...now!

featuring erestor x reader / part one / part two / part three / part four (reading)

fandom tolkien- the silmarillion lord of the rings

a/n @i-did-not-mean-to this was the best request i have gotten LMAOOO! for this story i was inspired to use the hc belonging to my dearest lovely mellon @aeonianarchives of Erestor being Caranthir’s son </3 my own hc too about what powers Arwen has ;) - last and final part - hope you’ll like! another thing lmao! I added an oc 😌 — belonging to my other mellon @sorisooyaa

You sighed — it was another wasted day.

The historic journal in your hand — was quickly placed back on the shelf — as quickly as you took it out.

Since your return — you have been looking ways to find a way back . . . a way back home — where you really belong. . . back to Erestor.

As much as you loved and adored your family and friends here — the pain in your broken heart was not compared to him.

You cried yourself to sleep every night — sometimes screaming into your sheets.

There was an aching loneliness — you felt lost, unloved and forgotten — like it was a dream. . .

But you knew— it wasn't.

It was real, true — a fairytale in your own right — a perfect fantasy — it was so much more than a dream. . .

It was more than just a storybook romance — it was so bloody real!

But right now — everything was out of reach— like Arda, Rivendell. . . Erestor never existed — like it was all really just a dream from the start — but then you’d live you life with a broken heart!

It wasn't fair — you found a love that seemed unlikely or unreal but in the end, it always seemed you didn't have choice.

You would always be taken away from Rivendell. . . from Erestor.

Every since you had woken in the hospital — you tried desperately asking where they found you or have they seen someone named Erestor.

But no — you were found on the side of the road bloodied and bruised.

You recognized the wounds and scratches — if they were real? — so was everything else, right?

When you were allowed to go — instead of taking rest like instructions to do so — and even getting medical leave, you didn't.

Instead — you were too focused on trying to find a way back.

You been through everything — voodoo women, palm readers, fortune tellers, crystal-gazers, therapists — anything and more.

But none of could tell anything — or help, than the idea of mind playing tricks on you while on an experience close to death.

Where were you to go from here?

Even with centuries of old books and journals — sometimes you stayed in libraries throughout the day, for it reminded you of him.

Of how —you would try and sneak up on him, sometimes bringing each other tea and food, while learning — trying to break your language barrier — or those stolen kisses, secret moments — his rare smiles and chuckles, how his navy eyes were shining, his caressing touches. . .

It wasn’t fair — why would all be ripped from you?

What have you done so bad for this?

What has Erestor done —

Erestor. . .

Did he still think of you?

Was he also searching for ways to find you?

If anything — you wished for him to forget you, because then he wouldn’t have to feel the same pain. . . the same endless loneliness.

He didn’t deserve that — he has already lost too much in life— you could not bear the thought of him suffering again.

The last moments you shared — his cries were enough to shatter your dying heart.

The day you woke up in hospital you had dreamt of him too — on the edge of the battlefield screaming in anguish — he looking down to his hands nothing out blood on them. . . your blood — but your body no where to be found.

You woke up again— in tears —remembering how he desperately and violently searched for you —not caring who stood in front of him— he slashed and fought his way through every orc and beast trying to find you.

You wondered if that was real? — You wished you had more time — to sit down and explain how your relationship could never happen. . .

“Marry me.”

His voice was in your head and you sobbed silently— sliding your back against the bookshelf and to the ground.

You hugged your knees—keeping your cries silent, your heart felt like it was stabbed, ripped apart and you wished it was physical — it was funny how something you can’t see can hurt so much.

When slow, cautious footsteps were heard coming down the isle —you quickly dried your tears.

When a pristine white handkerchief was held out, you felt like laughing at yourself— you must look so pathetic.

“No thanks. . .”

You mumbled —straightened yourself with the last bit of pride and dignity you held and left the isle —before the stranger could say anything more and look at your teared, swollen face.

The library smelt of old books and the vintage textures helped you in no way — nothing about it seemed. . . right.

You knew through Erestor’s work and dedication — he would endlessly criticize and show his lack of taste on on everything the library in your city had to offer.

The clouds look dark when you exited —you hoped it wouldn’t rain before you got home.

With that you wiped away the rest of your dried tears and walked down the familiar

When the rain began to shatter down —you sighed and entered the nearest public place —which happened to be a mini art museum.

You walked through — half hearted watching the painting when you spotted one that looked almost like Rivendell.

You gasped —your eyes widening —while some things were either out of place or not the exact structure it did look almost like Rivendell.

“Does it look familiar to you?”

You almost jumped when someone spoke behind you.

“Um. . . — yeah I don’t know. . .”

You mumbled — and stepped away from the painting.

You sighed and thought about getting a hot drink or something, when you heard a familiar call.

“Nitya harma . . .” (little treasure).

You gasped and whipped yourself around.

The stranger was still looking at the painting —lost int thought, but he sensed your stare and looked back at you.

Maybe it was your mind playing tricks on you —. . . or your eyes too?

Because no matter what — you would always recognize that sharp jawline, expert dark eyes and straight thin line lips anywhere.

“What . . .” You breathed out —ready to cry again.

Erestor?

“How did you. . .”

You looked him up and down.

It can’t be. . . —dressed in a pristine black suit and shirt and hair cut —he looked like an young business man.

“Er-”

You were about to say his name —when a woman came and linked her arm with his arm.

“There you are —you need to stop wandering off.”

She somewhat glared at him.

She looked like an East Asian descendant —beautiful and elegant every way she moved and talked.

When she suddenly turned to you —you felt like running.

No. . .this was someone who looked like Erestor. . . it had to be your mind playing tricks on you.

“Oh —am sorry, did I interrupt something?”

She looked very apologetically to you.

When you were about to answer —Erestor look-alike cut in.

“It’s alright, mother-”

“You’re his mother?”

You almost shouted —rather shocked.

Both of them shot their eyes up at you —the color rushed to your face.

“Am sorry. . . it’s just you look so beautiful, rather very young to be his mother. . .”

She laughed and shook her head with a little blush —seemingly a little shy.

“Oh you’re too kind. Thank you! I’ll leave you to it — I need to find his father now.”

You were about to intervene, but she left just as quickly as she came — on her quest to find someone else.

She did — immediately taking his hand and smiling at him lovingly.

His freckled ruddy skin— making you think of how — your Erestor had described his father,

Carnstir — Red-face and Morifinwe —Dark Finwe.

You sighed —with a shake of your head your turned away.

“Am sorry for the trouble-”

“Are you going to leave me again? —Like you did in that awful looking library?”

You frowned.

Then — you shot your eyes back up at him —that usual scowl on his face returned.

“Is this how all the libraries from your world are? — Dark, smelly, dull? Not even a single right coordination —”

“Erestor!”

He stopped and looked right at you —features softening.

“Nitya harma.”

He said again.

You covered your mouth and sobbed —he stepped closer to you and placed his hands on your arms, but then they slide down to your waist.

“How. . .?”

You choked.

He showed his line cautious smile to you —then pulled away your hands to dry your tears.

“You can thank, little Arwen. . .”

He smiled more fondly — like she was all now a distant memory.

You always seen how he would look at him her and the twins, like they were his Godchildren —probably were, seeming how much Elrond trusted them with him on care and teachings.

“How did she. . .?”

You asked and thought of how close you had gotten — she was your friend, like a sister — both of you had tea, walked the gardens and she spoke to you about how much she had fallen for Aragorn.

“Her magic. . . it created a little bridge between my world and your world.”

He stroked your hair gently.

“But it took a long time to get that bridge steady— and for that Arwen, she needed to learn, master her magic. She fell into hardship after witnessing you die —when I returned, she was by your bedside crying. . . then she hugged me like a little elfling and cried some more. . . — it took a lot out of her to steady that bridge— but after that we needed the Valar’s permission to cross it— and it weren’t for my father pleading by my side. . .”

For a moment he broke his gaze from you —then looked at his father, tenderly holding his mother’s hand— then pulled her close to press a kiss on her forehead.

“If it weren’t for him pleading by my side, I wouldn’t be here. . .holding you. . .”

You sobbed.

“Erestor, I missed you so much. . .”

You cried.

“And I, you, meleth nin” (my love).

“Am so sorry. . . am so sorry!”

He gently hushed you and kissed your lips.

“We are here now. . . and because of that bridge— now we can travel back and forth. You do not need to leave here permanently.”

“I would like that. . .”

“You never answered my question. . .”

You giggled.

“You always knew the answer— it’s yes! It was always going to be yes, Erestor! Of course, I’ll marry you.”

“Good. . .”

He said and pulled you into a chaste kiss.

tara’s taglist: @mslizziesblog @spidergirla5

erestor’s taglist: @itsdameron

The East Asian character, Caranthir's wife oc belongs to my lovely friend @sorisooyaa — I didn't know who else to add and love her oc❤️

#erestor x reader #erestor #rivendell elves #rivendell #erestor of rivendell #erestor my husband #the lord of the rings x reader #tarawrites #elves of imladris #tolkien elves #the lord of the rings #erestor lord of the rings #answered

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meduseld · 6 months

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20 Questions for Fic Writers

I was tagged by my dear @angel-starbeam so let's get into it.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

234! To be found right here.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

586,701... I thought that number would be higher tbh.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

A lot, but currently mostly The Terror and 911 on fox. The duality of man I guess.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

In order: I’d Learn To Float, You're Looking At Me (Like You Don't Know Who I Am), Water Is Sweet, Blood Is Thicker, Tough To Talk To and Down On Both Knees. Which is kind of a hilarious progression as it's two Superbat Big Bang fics about love and secret identity, an epic Aquaman with GOT style politics one and two sexy rough Buddie from 911 fics.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yeah I always try to! People are sweet, they highlight stuff I hadn't even seen and sometimes they end up kickstarting the words juice. Like the second half of Nature Teaches Beasts to Know Their Friends is several k written exclusively for/in the comments section.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably After The Night (When I Wake Up) since it's such a dark premise regardless and the ending is just about fucking everybody up.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably I’d Learn To Float up above, since it's a happy family time and personal fulfillment for Clark with less angst overall than some of my other fics.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I have, mostly for NickxZiggy fics and other canon/practically canon ships which always suprises me because I've written pairings that on the surface should be way more "problematic". That being said, hitting that comment moderation button cleared them right up. Haters are cowards, basically.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I have yeah, but I don't think of myself as primarily a smut writer. My niche is probably masturbation as an excuse for character study.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Sort of? Like I like taking elements from one verse to apply to another to see how that works but more in the sense of like an AU over a strict crossover so not in the sense this was meant.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge and I'd prefer to keep that ignorance going because yikes.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, it's been offered but I'm kind of a control freak in these matters as you can infer from the answer above and have asked that people don't translate my fics.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, but none have seen the light of day for different reasons which sucks because I do enjoy it very much, it just hasn't worked out to get to the publishing stage for life reasons.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

I can't pick one, that's too hard, but obvs it really hits when you have a Character who thinks they are unlovable but committed to duty regardless and then a Character who goes on purpose, I love *you* on purpose. You can uh. Infer that from the fics mentioned above.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Ugh too many in my files! That's why I refuse to post WIPs they haunt me. But right now mostly the two big-ish Terror ones I really want to post but alas.......

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think a feel for character? Like I think I get what makes them tick, if that makes sense.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Describing the fucking area they are in!

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I don't think this one has a hard and fast answer to be honest. Like, is it canon compliant (aka do you have a character known for swearing in Klingon? Are language barriers a theme in the work? Does this world have a second language for like magic and shit? Tolkien Elvish and so forth) or is it part of the story you're telling (i.e. does the POV character know this language or is their lack of understanding a plot point? Are you deliberately keeping information from the reader because this is a mystery?) I mean, if you don't have Gomez Addams saying cara mia you're doing it wrong. So basically it really depends on what is going on. If you need the reader to know what is being said/the POV character should know the language italics or implication (he swore in Spanish, and then she used a very romantic phrase in French or whatever) make sense, if you're deliberately highlighting the language barrier or setting up a plot point like they misheard the thing or are trying to piece it together then it should be rendered in that language. Or as implication I love that device.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Uh. The Fullmetal Alchemist anime as a tween. It's for the best the sands of time swallowed that.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

I can't choose! That's too hard. Idk, you tell me your favorite fic that I have written, sound fair?

Tagging, only if you dig it:

@warrenkoles @jacksonmaine @dsudis @poeedamerons @boilyerheid and @dancinbutterfly

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svartalfhild · 1 year

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8, 13, 20

8. Do you have any OC family trees?

Yes, a few! Although whether or not they count would depend on your definition of OC family tree.

If we're counting ones where a canon character or two is involved, then perhaps my most extensive OC family tree is the one for my Bhaalspawn from the Baldur's Gate saga. As per the epilogue for the Rasaad romance, she has seven kids, and they all go on to do great things, so I created and spent a lot time fleshing out seven kids who are all wildly different combinations of their parents' traits. The first child ends up married to another character I made, who is the son of Solaufein (a major NPC from BG2).

Now if we're not counting canon-involved characters, those things are a bit more limited for me. I do tend to flesh out my characters' families, because of course family is so informative of who a person is, even if they don't have a family, they still came from somewhere. I have a lot of characters who are orphans, but I like having information about why they are orphaned and who their parents were.

13. Which story has the most lore?

Oh damn, this is very hard to gauge, because I love fleshing things out and for any given story, there's always a mountain of backstory, and I try very hard to balance between peppering in that information and sparing my readers from my Tolkien-level aspirations for lore. You may think I'm exaggerating, but I have notebooks filled with fictional languages I've created for my stories.

I think the most in-depth I've gotten with lore for a story was the novel I was working on in my first couple years of college, but I haven't touched it in many years, because I've changed so much as a person, and I feel like I need to rewrite everything I had. It was a Norse mythology inspired story about a dark elf mage who discovers a plot by the Asgardian Empire to destabilize the Elven Republic only recently formed between Ljosalfheim and Svartalfheim. The technology level was like late-19th Century, but powered by magic, so there were floating trains and carriages and shit, and I created the dark elf and light elf languages. I got intense about it. I even consulted my space-enthusiast brother on interesting planetary qualities for the different realms, because I conceived of them as different planets and interplanetary travel was done either through portals or the Asgardian Bifrost technology.

Okay, I'm gonna stop now before I infodump the whole thing.

20. What story are you the proudest of? Why?

At present? Probably The Nightmaven from my series of short stories about my DnD character, Vrae Zilivna. It's the only one that is almost entirely written from another character's perspective and treats her as the villain. It was a lot of fun to write. It's an incredibly messed up story about a couple of incredibly messed up people who have an incredibly messed up relationship, and it was a fun challenge to make that compelling, because the romances I usually write are generally about two very good people who are simply in shitty circumstances, but that is not so here. What happens when you're a resistance informant who accidentally fell in love with a fascist secret cop and your relationship ended in a predictably explosive way after he found out who you really are? Maybe you become a black widow assassin about it and do serial murders of your ex's colleagues while he runs around trying to catch you and having emotional turmoil about it.

Anyway, the part that really elevated this to Best Current Work for me was the embarrassingly large ego boost I got from coming up with the last line.

#ask #late-nite-scholar

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eirian-houpe · 1 year

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TMI Tuesday

Tuesday is with us again!

I’m still trying to figure out where I want to go next, now that I’ve finished posting Disparate Pathways. Which fic should I work on? Should I make a schedule? I rolling list? What do people actually want to read? Now that I have a fic off my WIP list, should I start another one? All of these are questions floating around in my head right now.

If anyone has any preference, you can always let me know.

Anyway… The Rumbelle Showdown second round writing period is happening right now, and the fics are going to post on Sunday. Can’t wait to read them all as the first round fics were AMAZING!

Please feel free to ask about any of my fics. I’m hoping to get some writing done soon.

Here are some suggestions for you…

Ask suggestions

Ask something about any of my fics (full list is below the cut). If you want specifics from some fics that are already outlined, you can ask about:

All Our Past Mistakes, Chapters 11 through 44 Lover’s Leap Series, Stories 15 through 31 Time’s Curse, Chapters 5 through 10 Laer o Faen, Chapter 27 & 28 Stargate: Atlantis, Harms Way or any of the 20 fics in the series.

Ask something of any of my characters in general or you can get really specific if you like - for example you might want to ask Gold from Pawn Shop a question about a chapter, a thought, a feeling… (the world is your oyster really)

Ask about my process as a writer, what makes me tick,, or even ask about me personally. Almost nothing is off limits.

Also, if you want to see a specific character or fic featured in Three Things Thursday, or Saturday Secret, feel free to send in prompts, if no one does, then either the choice will be random or they just won’t happen at all. I made an analogy for why that might be in a different post about a car stuck in the mud with spinning wheels. Those wheels are still spinning!

Please remember: if you read a fic you enjoyed on AO3 or on Tumblr (not just mine), please take the time to comment and/or leave kudos, and to reach out on TMI Tuesday. It means a lot to the writers and artists.

You can find all my fics currently on AO3 here, and there is a full list under this cut.

Storybrooke’s Best Kept Secret - Rumbelle

Darkness In Hyperion Heights - Woven Beauty au

Seven Tastes - Rumbelle

Tuesday - Rushbelle AU

The Language of Flowers Series - Rumbelle

Disparate Pathways - Rumbelle AU

Scattered - Rumbelle AU

All Our Past Mistakes - Rumbelle AU

What the Actual Fuck! - Sutherelle

Breathe - Rushbelle

The Lover’s Leap Series - Rumbelle

Awakening - Rumbelle

War Is Coming To Storybrooke - Rumbelle

Given No Choice - Rush

Thoughts On A Happy Ending Series - Rumbelle

Darker Hearts Series - Wish!Rumbelle

Modern Wonders - a OUAT/Alice crossover

Time’s Curse - Rumbelle

The Pawn Shop On Main Street - Rumbelle

The Mansion On the Edge of Town - Rumbelle with a side of Jefferson

Cobra: In Your Prayers - Cobra/FatWS/UC:Undercover et al

To See Series - Rumbelle

Nobody Knew (Bingo) - Rumbelle

Secret of the Seas - Rumbelle AU

Butterfly and Phoenix - ST:DSC

Laer o Faen - Tolkien

Ship’s Rats - ST: DCS

I Amar Boe Men Heb - Tolkien

Coming Down - Halt and Catch Fire

Armor of Ice - Halt and Catch Fire

Duath i-Achas Eriol - Tolkien

Balance of Terror - Sleeper Cell

What To Believe - UC: Undercover

If: In The End - UC Undercover

Precious - The Mummy Series

Forbidden - The Mummy Series

Power Is - The Mummy Series

Angel of the Heart - The Mummy Series

Star of the Morning - The Mummy Series

Not Yours To Keep - Foundation (TV)

No Saving Throw - Stranger Things

ILP (or IEP) for Rumple.

“Only Remembered For What We Have Done.”

Here are fics that haven’t yet been started, but are in the Muse’s bucket.

The Miner’s Day Festival - Rumbelle

Aftermath - Rumbelle (with a side of madness)

Saving The Dark One (WT) A twist on a twist of Rumplestiltskin.

Brought To You By The Color… (Red)

Calcul(us)

(In)consistent equation

The Boston Storybrooke Line

Breaking the Waves (Movie AU)

One Last Wish

In Service to My Son

Playground Games

Bright Eyed and Bushy Tailed

Librarian: UC

Exquisite Harmonies

Resolutions - Rushbelle in the Deck the Halls universe.

#TMI Tuesday #asks #send asks #send me asks #ask me anything #ama #feel free to prompt me #The Rumbelle Showdown

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shepherds-of-haven · 2 years

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Do you have any advice for newbie fantasy writers? Your characters and world feel so real. I want to reach that level. Also how did you create the language phrases in your story?

Hi there, thank you so much, these are such high compliments! I wrote a little bit about the hardest parts of writing fantasy here recently, and of course there's always more advice in the #writing advice tag, but I think my biggest piece of advice is to start small. Start with your main plot: who are the central characters, what are their roles and relationships to each other, what do they want and how is that in conflict (and there has to be conflict, whether internal or external; otherwise there's no plot). Everything else--all the little details and tidbits about the culture and history and economics and politics--comes way later, and you risk overwhelming yourself if you try and sit down and outline everything from the get-go.

Like, if you know you want to write about a princess and her bodyguard falling in love, start with that and then work outward. What's keeping them apart? What's her job as royalty and her relationship with her family, and her family's relationship with the public? Why are they rulers? Are they regarded favorably or not? Really basic things you need to know before you start writing. Then branch outward: are women eligible for the throne or not? How does succession work in the event of unexpected death? Is this more like a western monarchy, an oligarchy with many ruling clans as part of the court, or something else? Are there threats to the royal family's position? What makes the bodyguard fit to be her bodyguard? Trained in secret arts, master of a special weapon, has special powers, or something else? Then you'll start getting into whether or not magic exists in this world and how it factors into the main plot, what kinds of politics or conflicts exist, which will branch into antagonists and villains, urgent concerns and high stakes, and etc.!

Do not try to start from the beginning (like "500 years ago, there was a war between three factions over the world's most precious resource, ferrunum, and the winning faction retained control over ferrunum, which gives one the power to grant wishes, but only people of pure blood from this one mountain clan can be the ones to ask for the wishes, leading to more conflict over time..."). It spirals out of control quickly and gets the main actual story lost in the muddle! I mean, maybe that's just how my brain works, and outlining everything from the beginning of the universe to the present works for other people; but I think keeping things manageable and just letting different ideas accumulate over time rather than deciding everything straight from the start allows the story to build momentum, rather than stalling it in its infancy!

Another thing I would recommend is looking at many different sources of inspiration, rather than just one or a handful! Read a book (or watch a show, or read a manga, or play a video game) about merchants or pirates or spice traders or inventors rather than just princesses and bodyguards to get a feel for how things work in other aspects of the world, and feel free to explore other fantasy worlds, too--especially ones inspired by other cultures rather than just the classics, like Tolkien and Lewis. I got inspiration for how the nobility acts in Shepherds from sources as varied as Crown Duel (a YA court intrigue fantasy novel), Bridgerton (TV show on Netflix), and Curse of the Golden Flower (Chinese epic wuxia drama film). Just absorb lots of stuff and let the little details inspire you and amalgamate into your own creation!

Finally, to answer your question about different language phrases in the game, I just straight up mashed letters together until they looked right on the screen. Like, I always thought Elvish would sound very flowing and lyrical, like a river rolling over a bed of cool smooth stones or the breeze winding through grass, so I stuck a lot of l's and r's and e's and a's together until they looked right, like aya lani ("the gods smile"). And I thought Haven city slang would be sharp and guttural and cutting, so insults like muti and ketch sounded right!

I hope that helps!

#Shepherds of Haven #writing #writing advice #writing tips #fantasy #FAQ #tips #advice

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incorrectlumityquotes · 3 years

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Why Amity fell for Luz: A Theory

Watching all the episodes of The Owl House and reviewing them brought back a lot of thoughts and feelings that I maybe forgot about. We all ship things and sometimes we do it for fun; sometimes for deeper reasons. I just started lumity because it reminded me of Diana & Akko from Little Witch Academia. I loved that show so much that I wanted more, and I thought it would be cool if Luz & Amity did something similar. I had no idea that it was going to go beyond that, so DAMN. To quote a talking science wolf, “For years we ask how, but we should ask why.” I mean, we saw how. But why? Well I can take a guess.

If we’re are going to start anywhere it’s going to be with the girl in question, Amity Blight.

As far as I know as of this typing, Amity Blight is a witchling from The Boiling Isles. She lives in Bonesboro at The Blight Manor estate with her parents and her siblings. She attends Hexside School of Magic and Demonics. Good for her.

Amity has an ambitious and competitive personality. She’s always striving to be better and be at the top of whatever she is doing. When she’s introduced in I Was a Teenage Abomination, she’s showing having great pride in being the top student in her abomination class. In Adventures in the Elements, she goes to The Knee in hopes of training to beat her siblings’ high score on the placement exam.

Amity also has a bit of a temper and gets annoyed easily. In I Was a Teenage Abomination, she sics her abominations on Willow and Luz just because she wasn’t named top student that day. In Enchanting Grom Fright, Amity snapped at the person she bumped into before realizing it was Luz. And later in the same episode, Amity beat up Hooty when he decided to get too close.

But she does have a soft sensitive side. She keeps a diary in her secret room in the library and even reads to kids in her free time. Amity also has a strong sense of integrity. She despises cheating (and cheaters) and feels guilt when she’s forced to break ties with Willow.

So why did someone like this fall for Luz of all people? (see above image)

Enter what I call my Shipping Theory of Compliments

The Shipping Theory of Compliments is that two characters would be shipped and sometimes canonically enter a romantic relationship based on their personalities complimenting each other and fulfilling elements they don’t have alone necessary to developing the character.

People like to use the image of a missing puzzle piece, but I don’t like that comparison because I think it’s a little inaccurate and I don’t like puzzles. Think of it more like the two pieces of the yin and yang coming together and then growing the circles of the opposite colors in them.

Something like that.

And it’s compliments, not opposites. When you think compliments, think more Star and Marco from Star vs the Forces of Evil. Star wants to go on a magical adventure. Marco also wants to go on a magic adventure. The difference is that Star goes in recklessly while Marco wants to plan it out a bit. They still have their adventure as oppose to Star’s opposite who wouldn’t want to go on a magical adventure. That sort of thing.

So how do Luz and Amity compliment each other?

Let’s start with that they have in common. Obvious stuff aside, they’re both training to become the best witches they can be. The difference comes that Luz is a human who has to learn magic via glyphs that she finds and Amity learns magic the “proper” way on The Boiling Isles.

Luz and Amity are also both fans of The Good Witch Azura book series. Difference is that Luz is more open about her fandom while Amity tries to keep it a secret. Also petty thing but they’re both fan artists too, but I think Luz might be a better than Amity. But hey, her crosshatching is improving.

Luz and Amity are also (at the start of the series) both lonely people. Luz’s mom says that she doesn’t have any friends, and Amity doesn’t like her “friends.” The difference is that Luz reaches outward to ease her loneliness (being social and friendly, trying new things, etc.) while Amity reaches inward (keeping a diary, staying busy, having a secret spot, etc.). They both also use escapist fiction to ease their loneliness.

That’s all well and good, but now we get into the real speculative parts.

...complimenting each other and fulfilling elements they don’t have alone necessary to developing the character.

When I was taking acting classes I was taught that the way you see people act is a persona based on their experiences on what it takes to survive and avoid physical, emotional and social death. So now we have to speculate based on what we were given on what emotional/social needs and wants has Amity not been getting before that she has with Luz.

First let me point you to another show called F is for Family. F is for Family is an adult animated sitcom on Netflix that follows a very dysfunctional family in the 1970s. These are legitimately bad characters, not in terms of being poorly written. What I’m saying is that these guys are assholes. But here’s where it gets interesting.

One of the characters is Kevin Murphy, the teenage son of the family. He’s a dim-witted wannabe rockstar who is always yelled at and put down by his parents throughout the entire series. However in season four Kevin meets Alice. Alice teaches Kevin that his favorite band is a big reference to Tolkien and gives him a copy of The Hobbit. They bond over their love of Lord of the Rings and get along really well. Alice calls him smart for being able to read all of Lord of the Rings over a few days and never puts him down. Even in the one time they did fight she never yelled at him or raised her voice which he found weird because he’s so used to being yelled at. Alice gave Kevin the emotional support he always wanted but never got from his family.

Using that as a backdrop, let’s go back to Amity.

Amity grew up with her parents making her do things she didn’t want to do, making choices for her. Amity wanted to be one way. Her parents wanted something else. Amity��s mother even dyes Amity’s hair green so it matches her siblings. Amity wanted to be friends with Willow. Amity’s parents wanted her to be friends with the mean kids. While Amity does work hard to be the best at what she’s doing, her parents also put pressure on her to make sure that she is at that level.

Her siblings are another bag of awful. They constantly refer to her by an annoying nickname that I’m guessing has an embarrassing moment attached to it. They seem to live by a double standard that Amity despises. She has to work hard and follow the rules just to be accepted while they are naturally talented and break the rules with everyone still thinking that they’re perfect.

Family is supposed to provide unconditional love except it looks like the love of the Blights is based on conditions. Nobody just likes Amity for who she is. She doesn’t have a friend.

Enter: the friendliest person she’s ever met

Amity has to struggle and work for the simplest things, even affection. Except when it comes to Luz. Luz is naturally friendly and positive. Amity doesn’t have to earn her kindness. Even when she’s bullied Luz before, Luz is always coming back with a smile. I suppose when you live life surrounded by jerks, you’ll want to hang out with the one person who’s always nice to you. Sort of.

Yes, Amity did think Luz was a bully for constantly getting her into trouble. But even at Covention and Lost in Language, Luz kept reaching out to her. This combined with Amity’s awareness of her own behavior is what convinced her to try to reach out in kind to Luz by the end of Lost in Language. “She’s trying to be nice to me, so I should try too,” I’m guessing is the mindset especially in Adventures in the Elements. And then...Luz continued to be nice to her which is kind of a big deal for Amity.

Let’s tally up what we have so far:

Luz and Amity have similar interests (The Good Witch Azura series, art, fiction, learning magic)

Luz and Amity have similar values (work ethic, disdain for cheating, protecting those closest to you, etc.)

Luz gives Amity the positivity and affection that Amity doesn’t normally get anywhere else

They still have differing personalities with Amity being more competitive and Luz having more of a live-and-let-live attitude.

Even with all these things in mind, why was Amity so scared to ask Luz to Grom?

Speculating again but my theory is that Amity wasn’t sure if Luz actually liked her or if Luz is just friendly because that’s how Luz is. Amity was scared of being rejected because she felt that maybe she was just reading the situation wrong. Luz is this ray of sunshine in her gray skies (if you’ll forgive the cliché). People like Amity always think of all the worst possibilities (I know because I do this too). Amity was probably thinking a bunch of what ifs. “What if Luz doesn’t actually like me? What if she’s just being friendly because she feels sorry for me? What if she has feelings for someone else? What if she never actually liked me? What if she’s straight?”

Luz is Amity’s first crush and it is scary as all hell to put yourself out there like that for the first time. She wasn’t expecting to get married at Grom night. She just wanted to dance with the girl she liked.

The dance at Grom was like confirmation for her that it could happen. Amity didn’t have to ask out Luz because Luz asked her. Being with Luz isn’t a pipedream. It’s a definite possibility. And we all know how she reacted to that idea.

Uh...she’ll be in her bunk.

While Luz and Amity aren’t together as of this typing, I believe it’s bound to happen. Until then, after The Lumity Trilogy, Amity knows that Luz is the girl she likes.

tl;dr version

Amity fell for Luz because they have similar interests and values, their personalities differ in a compatible way and Luz provides Amity emotional needs and wants that she doesn’t get anywhere else.

Also, round eared girl pretty.

Thanks everyone for reading.

#my thoughts #lumity #meta #analysis

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of-elves-and-mad-hatters · 2 years

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“The Azure Sky”- Chapter 8 - Lego Elves

Masterlist

_________________

Shadows to the Brightest Flame: Series

- The legacy of Lumia’s influence is scarred eternally into the lands of Elvendale. Burdened by a prophecy foretelling her demise and need for a successor, she watches for one capable of such power. Yet her enemies are working steadily to undo all she’s labored so long for, and it is millenia too late to make peace.

Emily Jones, heir to Eimileen, is a bold girl dedicated to protecting Elvendale, but the world she has grown so fond of is not so black and white as it seems, and the titles of Guardian of Portal and Guardian of Light may hold darker legacies some ancient elves have worked tirelessly to hide.

In conjunction with the extended version of the Guardian of Light prophecy I wrote previously

Basically a rewrite of all of the Lego Elves & Secrets of Elvendale storylines with an additional arc beyond the Season 4: Into the Shadows. There will be a varying degree of deviation from canon.

Technically a crossover with Lord of the Rings/Hobbit/Silmarillion in terms of worldbuidling, as I set Elvendale as being north of Middle-Earth, cause this is fanfic and I can. So there will be mentions of the Noldor, Sindar, Silvan, and some Tolkien characters, but they will be mostly background. Definitely not an issue if you aren’t familiar with the Middle-Earth fandom; everything will still be easy to understand.

Book 1: The Azure Sky

Grieving over the unexpected death of her grandmother, Emily Jones is accidentally trapped in another world. Befriending a few young elves in an attempt to find her way home, Emily discovers many secrets about her grandmother’s past, but for every truth she learns two more questions take its place, leaving her vulnerable to darker force inhabiting this realm.

A rewrite of Unite the Magic

____________________________________

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

____________________________________

Empty-handed, Naida and Emily trudge back to the hollow’s entrance. “Do you think anyone else will have been successful?” the human ponders.

“Most likely Farran. He has the strongest connection to the trees, and while the ones here don’t have the most friendly of dispositions, they still have a fondness for earth and silvan elves.”

“Trees have dispositions?”

Naida smiles, “Yes, but on most worlds they perpetually sleep, living their lives in the dream world. In this realm, when the elves were first created, they started to wake them up.”

“Why did they want to wake them up?”

Naida shrugs. “It’s just in the elven nature. Curiosity, and a deep love for the elements of nature, desiring to be nearer to it. Some travelers even say that elves have a greater love of language compared to other species.”

Emily smiles. “My parents always said I got my green thumb from the grandmother. My little sister can’t stand the racks of plants I keep in my bedroom.”

“Maybe that’s why Eimileen chose you to inherit the key,” Naida suggests gently, “because she saw more of elvenkind in you than human.”

“You really think so?”

“I’m not wholy certain, but ever since I’ve met you, you’ve seemed comfortable in our land, almost connected to it in the way we are.”

A blush spreads across Emily’s face, “I don’t know that I’m…” but she is, if she thinks about it, peeling away the layers of the fear and anxiety she’s experienced since coming here, she realizes how much more alive she’s felt in this world, far more than she ever has on earth. Suddenly, the prospect of going home seems almost devastating.

Naida stills.

“What is it?”

The water elf doesn’t respond, turning her head to watch the woods behind them. “There’s someone here.”

“You think one of the others came looking for us, since we were late?”

Naida frowns, staring deep into the trees.

That’s when Emily feels it, a presence, lurking beyond where they can see. Elusive, oppressive like a vivid surreal dream. Her amulet weighs heavier upon her neck, threatening to cut through her skin. The clear blue surface of the stone turns dark, cloudy.

“Aira? Azari? Farran...” Naida calls softly, though it is clear from her face that she does not expect and answer.

There is none. Just the deep silence.

“That’s not them,” Emily stutters out, “It’s something else…”

Naida grabs her hand, turning them around to walk briskly. “We’re not far from the entrance.”

“We should go faster.”

“We don’t need to panic. Whoever’s back there is probably just another elf minding their own business.”

“They were watching us.”

“That doesn’t mean they would try to hurt us. There are very few people and creatures to fear in Elvendale. It would be unlikely we would come across one of them.”

“But possible.”

Naida sighs quietly. “Just keep ahold of my hand.”

They continue on a few steps, and Emily can feel herself calming down. “Didn’t Azari say this place was haunted?”

“I very much doubt what we felt was a ghost.”

“Do ghosts even exist, like for real, in Elvendale?”

“There are rumors, and one cannot discount the abundant bizarre events that have occurred here…but I doubt it.”

Nuala had always said the images that haunted the hollow weren’t spirits, but rather vengeful memories. Of course no other elf could speculate where the second sister had come across such an eccentric idea, but Nuala held to it all the same. She once told Naida that it wasn’t the memories themselves she should fear, no matter how frightening the apparitions were. It was the people who could make those memories come alive. Those were who she should fear. Naida asked ‘who possessed such power?’ but that her grandmother never answered.

Spotting Aira and Azari ahead, the water elf is pulled from her thoughts. “Any luck?” she calls. The fire and air elves shake their heads.

Farran then emerges from his path, grinning from ear to ear. His face is riddled with bloody scratches, and he holds a key that glistens as if it had been carved from an emerald.

“You found it!” Aira exclaims.

“Yep, wasn’t an easy task though. It took an incredible amount of discipline and skilled magic to unearth it from a block of solid crystal. Halfway through, with sweat dripping down my brow, lungs burning, I…”

“Yeah, yeah, we get it,” Azari interjects. “What happened to your face?”

Farran shrugs, sheepish. “The block of cyrstal may have been located underneath a squirrel’s acorn stash. Said squirrel was not particularly happy.”

“Here, let me help.” Aira kneels down and pulls some salve and a cloth from her back. She gently cleans the cuts.

“I wish I could have seen it,” Emily muses. “Anyways, two keys down, two to go. What does the map say?”

Azari snatches it out of Farran’s hand.

“Here at the birthplace of the changing world

Fire reforms that which is old and worn

Trials of flame perfect their sacred jewel

Concealed behind a falling curtain of gold.”

The fire elf frowns. “No clue what that means, but it looks like the next key is located somewhere in the Lava Fields.”

“That sounds…dangerous,” Emily comments.

Azari grins devishly. “Trust me, it’s one of the coolest places in all of Elvendale.”

#chapter 8 #the azure sky #lego elves fanfiction #lego elves #elvendale fandom #rewrite of the unite the magic #background crossover with lotr #lotr elves #emily jones #naida riverheart #aira windwhistler #azari firedancer #farran leafshade #tw: blood #unite the magic #the azure sky chapter 8 #multi-part fic

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manuscripts-dontburn · 3 years

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Journal of a Russian Grand Duchess: Complete Annotated 1913 Diary of Olga Romanov, Eldest Daughter of the Last Tsar

Edited by Helen Azar

First published: 2015

Pages: 302

Rating: ★★★★★

Another excellent addition to the first-hand sources about the Romanovs. Just be aware that this really is a journal of daily events, not a novel, and may not be easy or super engaging to read unless you really are into the subject. Perfect if you want to do some serious research into the daily lives of the Imperial family

Only Plane in the Sky: The Oral History of 9/11

Author: Garrett M. Graff

First published: 2019

Pages: 512

Rating: ★★★★★

I read this book in record time partly because my human nature was fascinated with a new, intimate look into one of the greatest tragedies of my own lifetime, but partly also because I knew I did not want to spend any more time in the chaos and terror it represents so well than necessary. I was 14 when 9/11 happened and even though on the other side of the world, I watched live as that second plane hit and other hijacked planes were announced missing. I remember being numb all over and crying through the night, fearing that the Third World War was upon us and it was the end of everything I knew. The author himself makes you aware early on this is not a strictly structured narrative supported by the meticulous research of archives. This is a cry of those who lived it all.

The Phantom Atlas: The Greatest Myths, Lies and Blunders on Maps

Author: Edward Brooke-Hitching

First published: 2016

Pages: 256

Rating: ★★★★★

Gorgeously illustrated and engagingly written as a sort of encyclopedia - yet without being exhausting or dry - this is an utterly fascinating book. Read it if you are at all interested in old maps, discovery of the world, human obstinacy, shameless liars and pranksters.

If We Were Villains

Author: L.M. Rio

First published: 2017

Pages: 432

Rating: ★★★★☆

This is one of those books everybody knows about so I feel no review is needed from me. You either enjoy it or you find it pretentious. I personally enjoyed it. Certain parallels with The Secret History are inevitable, but even then the book stands the comparison more than well.

Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident

Author: Donnie Eichar

First published: 2013

Pages: 288

Rating: ★★★★☆

Even though my curiosity was immense, I have abstained from reading anything about the recent discoveries and explanation of the Dyatlov Pass Incident precisely because I wanted to read this book first and judge it on its own merit. I am glad I did. (And I would advise anyone to do the same). Although some of the parts in which the author narrates his own personal journey and research may seem slow and even unnecessary, the rest of it is a terrifying, haunting and genuinely disturbing wild ride. I found myself almost reluctant to turn the next page in fear of what it would bring to the picture. I also have to acknowledge that the author really tries to introduce all of the possible theories that were available and suggest his own, trying to be as impartial as possible. In other words, he is not courting scandal, he just really wants to know the truth. Yet again this book proves that real life can top any fictional horror book. And now I´m off to read on what actually did happen.

The Haunting of Hill House

Edited by: Shirley Jackson

First published: 1959

Pages: 246

Rating: ★★★★☆

Fantastic. Creepy. Heart-breaking. Weird. And so, so beautifully written.

The Forest of Enchantments

Author: Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni

First published: 2019

Pages: 372

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

This is not a powerful feminist retelling of Ramayana. It is a simplified version of the great Hindu epic told from Sita´s point of view. Here and there an outcry over the injustices Sita suffers appears, but for the most part, the language the author uses feels impersonal and reduces what could have been a truly magnificent story full of contradicting emotions and passions into a bland fairytale. Even Sita´s arguably strongest, the most defining moment in the story - the trial by fire - is rushed, unexplained and simply "undercooked" if you pardon the expression. I am deeply disappointed. (Sidenote: I always found it curious how Ram - a literal God - is in a way the worst and most unlikeable character in the whole of Ramayana.)

The Fall of Gondolin

Author: J.R.R. Tolkien

First published: 2018

Pages: 304

Rating: ★★★★★

Every single sentence Tolkien has ever written sings. The dedication of Christopher Tolkien to his father´s legacy is nothing but awespiring. The illustrations by Alan Lee stunning and outworldly. These are the reasons why I am rating this much-welcomed addition to the Middle-Earth mythology so high.

Cinderella is Dead

Author: Kalynn Bayron

First published: 2020

Pages: 389

Rating: ★★★☆☆

This was actually a lot of fun, once I stopped expecting something grand and subtle. A wonderfully original idea that is the basis for the story is worth notice and some of the action scenes are truly engaging. If you don´t mind being hit over the head with the injustices (though I wonder if the lack of subtlety was brilliant or the opposite of that still) heaped upon women in this world, and if you are not bothered by insta-love, this is a good book to spend an afternoon or two with.

Floriography: An Illustrated Guide to the Victorian Language of Flowers

Author: Jessica Roux

First published: 2020

Pages: 224

Rating: ★★★★★

Perfect coffee table book!

The Henna Artist

Author: Alka Joshi

First published: 2020

Pages: 366

Rating: ★★★☆☆

I enjoyed this book but... I have almost nothing to say? Somehow this is exactly the kind of book that is good.... but it is that "standard" kind of good. Like... sure. It was good. I have not had any super-strong feelings towards it.

Catherine House

Author: Elisabeth Thomas

First published: 2020

Pages: 320

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

It started with a promise, turned into a boring slog and fizzled out without anything resembling a satisfying climax. I may have enjoyed it more had it not been for other books centred around weird and creepy campuses (namely Vita Nostra and If We Were Villains) I have read this year, which were simply better in every way. I believe the author might win me over in the future, her writing was good and the premise itself interesting. Unfortunately what this whole thing misses are an actual plot and a finale. I did not feel scared or creeped out... I was just bored.

#booklr #wrap up #September 2021

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memory-mortis · 4 years

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Diamond is Unbreakable OC

You can now interact with my new baby! Also I’m gonna tag @mistaeq here cause they might be interest in her- I took the concept of ballet dancing and sort of changed it up, because I didn’t want her Stand be a straight up copy of Adonis’s oop

Name: Ava Isogawa Age: 22 Date of birth: 13th March Zodiac sign: Pisces Ancestry: descendant of Japanese immigrants in Australia Sexuality: bisexual Pronouns: she/her Personality: empathetic, usually somewhat quiet and relaxed, her rage is silent, dreamy, creative, distrusting, maladaptive daydreamer, observant Likes: the colors blue and black, sword fighting, fantasy books, bubble tea, Josuke, Jotaro, stargazing, more to be added Dislikes: loud crowded places, ballet, being underestimated, inconsiderate people (aka Rohan) Height: 163 cm Weight: 68 kg Appearance: athletic, very fair skin, light blue eyes, always wears blue lipstick, white shoulder-length hair with black ends in the back (usually worn in a low bun), hand bracelet with a sword pendant, due to old cuts on her fingers she wears bandaids over them Stand name: Kashmir (reference: Led Zeppelin) - tall, muscular woman with a long skirt, bandages around her chest, gloves and a valkyrie-like helmet, long flowing hair that turns into shadowy smoke and dissipates at the ends Stand power: great speed and agility, dances with a one-handed sword, can blind a person for a certain amount of time by swiping a hand in front of their eyes Background:

Ava is the firstborn child of the rich Isogawa family in Sydney, Australia. Ever since she could remember, her parents had very high expectations of her. She was homeschooled, had a generally very strict upbringing and despite her very creative and dreamy nature, she was expected to become the heir of the business. She struggled with focusing on subjects like maths and economy, constantly being punished for zoning out or daydreaming, when such things were to be expected from a child.

Hoping to somehow sate her creative needs, when she was 6 years old, her parents signed her up for ballet classes. Ava hated every second of it, not only because it was incredibly boring to her, but also because she was forced to have a very strict diet, causing her to become dangerously thin. She was constantly tired, which made it even harder for her to concentrate on studying.

At the age of 12, however, she found a new passion: books, more specifically of the fantasy genre. Tolkien quickly became her favorite author, and as she got more and more consumed by the fantasy world, she grew enamored by the image of a strong, powerful warrior woman. Often she would stand in front of her mirror, studying her frail features. This wasn’t who she wanted to be. Becoming a businesswoman was not her calling, and she would rather die than get stuck in an office staring at a computer five days a week.

As her other 2 siblings were born, she could feel her parents’ attention on her slipping. She began to have more freedom, more space to get away with things. She used that to her advantage and started skipping ballet classes. With the help of her closest friend, her maid, she instead started going to the gym, took up martial arts and gained some weight. She also got a secret job, and finally by the age of 22 she had enough money to escape her family.

She moved to a small, friendly town named Morioh Cho in Japan. Thanks to half of her family speaking Japanese, there was no language barrier, and she could fit right in. The small town was perfect for her - somewhat quiet, or at least on the surface. One day while she was people watching at a park, gathering some material for her possible future book, she was shot with an arrow. Yet to her surprise, she didn’t die. Quite the opposite, something within her awoke and she soon stood face to face with a strange being, her Stand. A blonde man named Nijimura Keicho and his younger brother Okuyasu approached her and tried to persuade her into using her Stand on their sick father, but she refused to and even won a fight with them, quickly learning how to use her new powers.

She soon got to meet Kishibe Rohan, another creative soul like hers, though he was very different and very unbearable. He used Heaven’s Door on her and she took away his sight in return, making him swear not to do that again. Their relationship is somewhat neutral now, though she doesn’t really hang out with him unless she has to. Thanks to Rohan she met Josuke and Jotaro, who were much more likeable, and she even grew some sort of admiration for Jotaro.

Currently she works at a bakery.

#jojo oc #ava isogawa

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arofili · 3 years

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HURT/COMFORT EXCHANGE PROMPTS:

This is a very sketchy list of prompts for the Hurt/Comfort exchange. Feel free to ignore/adapt these as you choose. My TPP prompts are in the signup itself, not in this letter; this just has Tolkien prompts. My Russingon prompts are all grouped together despite being split into two different requests in the signup. See my signup for DNWs/general likes/canon preferences.

~~~

Fingon | Findekáno/Maedhros | Maitimo (hurt Maedhros) Fingon | Findekáno/Maedhros | Maitimo (hurt Fingon) Fingon | Findekáno/Maedhros | Maitimo (both hurt) the OTP <3 I just love em. Most of these are going to be hurt Maedhros, but hurt Fingon is ALSO very good, I love it when the expected dynamic is inverted. But the expected dynamic is expected because it’s VERY GOOD CONTENT, so go with that if you want to!!

Character discovers their friends have been defending them behind their back: Maedhros discovers Fingon has been fighting his battles for him, has mixed feelings about this

Character A reassures Character B they are still loved: this is the GOOD SHIT. fingon reassuring Mae he is still loved post-Thang ;-;

Experiencing Another's Pain Through Psychic Bond, Soul bond means A can feel B's pain even when B is trying to hide it: could work either way, but probably Mae having a flashback to Angband or his aches and pains getting to him, and Fingon can tell even when he tries to hide it

Body worship focusing on the scars and aftermath of trauma: Finno still finding Mae extremely sexy post-Thang

Careful Sex Because One Partner Is Injured/Ill: post-Thang first time? or maybe Fingon gets injured in a minor battle but is still very horny, lol

Carrying sick/hurt/exhausted character to bed: tiny but buff finno carrying his giant husband to bed!!!

Character A hurts Character B (at their request) during sex but Character A immediately regrets it: Fingon hurts Maedhros at Mae’s request, immediately regrets it - basically kink/boundary negotiation

Masochistic sub asks for more pain than they really want: the inverse of the above prompt

Character A is in despair and Character B offers hope: this is literally The Russingon Dynamic, i love it SO much!! bonus points if Finno literally shares his hope/estel with Maedhros through their soul bond

Character A made to live through/experience B's worst memory: more soul bond angst :)) Finno reliving one of Mae’s worst moments? or Mae realizing Just How Bad the Ice was?

Past Rape Accidental Reveal - Consensual Sex Causes Flashbacks To Previous Rape, Character A reveals they know something B has tried to hide and reassures B that it changes nothing: Maedhros tries to hide something that happened to him in Angband (probably sexual abuse but it could be something else), Finno had already figured it out and it didn’t mean change how he felt about Mae, but it still really bothered Mae - now Finno realizes how much it’s bothering Mae, and reassures him

Character believes they're (turning into) a monster: post-Thang orc Mae??? 👀

Character didn't want to be brought back to life: Mae committed himself to Everlasting Darkness, thought he was beyond forgiveness/redemption, killed himself so he would Cease To Be - but now he’s suddenly reborn and has to deal with that, with Finno’s help of course

Hurt A expects B to take advantage of them. Is stunned when B doesn't, Character expects to be punished but is unexpectedly comforted instead: post-Thang Mae in a fucked up mental state expects Finno to punish him for some minor indiscretion, but Finno comforts instead

Past Rape Accidental Reveal - Consensual Sex Causes Flashbacks To Previous Rape, panic attack during the first time they try to have sex after rape, Dissociating During Sex, Consensual Sex Causes Flashbacks To Previous Trauma, Character Should Safeword But Doesn't, Character has no sense of their own boundaries: post-Thang Mae struggling to understand consent and dealing with sexual trauma ;-;

Character increasingly bothered that their love interest walks so willingly into danger: Mae has a not-so-subtle death wish, Finno gets upset that he cares so little about himself

Character used to past traumatic sexual experiences is confused by genuinely loving partner: post-Thang Mae with Fingon. in this case, bonus points for them getting together for the first time AFTER Angband, so Mae only has bad sexual experiences before this...

Characters live together while one recovers from hurt: Maedhros lingers by Fingon’s side for longer than he really /needs/ to post-Thang

Coping with past rape through sex: this one probably makes more sense if they were already together before Angband, Mae learning to enjoy sex with Fingon again. Maybe Finno expects that Mae will only want to be on top given what happened in Angband, but actually Sauron liked to force Mae to be the top, so he prefers bottoming now?

dealing with grief by fucking: post-Bragollach Fingon is grieving but doesn’t want to think about it so he fucks his husband instead

edgeplay due to thin line between kink and trigger: post-Thang Maedhros figuring out his boundaries

Slow Burn - Soulbonding is the only way for A to save seriously injured B's life, healing energy transfer accidental soulbond: immediately post-Thang, Maedhros is bleeding out and Fingon soulbonds with him to save his life. could be that they were pining but not together before this, OR that they had a messy breakup and this comes at a really awkward stage in their relationship but now they’re basically married

Humor as way of dealing with pain/trauma: Mae with gallows humor that makes everyone uncomfortable...except for Fingon, who Gets It

Impact Play - inflicting pain until character breaks down in much-needed emotional catharsis: Maedhros deserves to get spanked until he can cry :)

just because they're immortal doesn't mean they can't suffer: HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA this is just. THE ENTIRE SILM. ESPECIALLY these two.

kink(s) as coping mechanism: Mae has now figured out what his boundaries are, and Finno has too, and now instead of it being scary they can just enjoy tying Mae up and hitting him and Finno being possessive

Loyal character loses object of their devotion; doesn't know what to do with their life now: fealty kink!!!! but post-Nirn :)))))))

Mutual pining during slow recovery from near-fatal injury: Russingon getting together post-Thang

Physically Injured Character Comforting Emotionally Distressed Character: Fingon is extremely upset about having cut Mae’s hand off, Mae comforts him

Slow gentle hesitant touches to help character who's used to rough or falsely-gentle touches: Finno helping Mae relearn to enjoy touch

Touch-Starved - Only seeks out touch from one trusted person: no one dares touch the infamously stoic Lord of Himring...except for Fingon, who drapes himself all over him whenever he visits...is Lord Maedhros just tolerating the prince for political reasons? but wait...is he leaning into the touch???

Touch-Starved Character Having Overwhelming Tender Long Foreplay First Time Sex: first time post-Thang, Fingon is incredibly gentle and loving which is really overwhelming for Mae (in a good way)

Accidental arousal while cuddling for comfort: mutual pining (probably in Valinor)

Being bathed while mutually pining: post-Thang pre-relationship, Finno is the only one Mae trusts to bathe him

Character A Confesses Feelings Because They Think Character B is Unconscious: Finno thinks Mae is unconscious post-Thang? OR recovery period time, they’re sharing a bed bc Finno passed out exhausted from a long day of tending to Mae and Mae confesses when he thinks Finno is asleep

Character A thinks they are unworthy of Character B: Maedhros thinks he’s not good enough for Fingon - bonus points if this is BEFORE Angband, and he’s always had self-worth issues

Character(s) ashamed of their sexual desires: very similar to the above, Maedhros has always had messed up ideas about what he Should Feel

Characters Are In Love But Duty Will Keep Them Apart Forever Until Something Makes Them Do It: idiots mutually pining <3 perhaps an arranged marriage situation??

Comforted with homemade meal: Mae’s love language is food, he makes something for hurt!Finno

Comforter tries to comfort with a homemade meal. It doesn't end well: Mae’s love language is food, so when he needs comfort Finno tries to make something for him, but Finno is a terrible cook

Comforter stunned by how much comfortee trusts them: Finno doesn’t understand how Maedhros can still love him after he cut Mae’s hand off

Comforting character is in denial about attraction to other character: MUTUAL. PINING. and repressed Mae :))

Delirious hurt character & comforter are hiding their relationship from other people present: post-Thang married-in-Valinor, Finno shows up with Mae on eagleback and it’s very hard to keep their relationship a secret when they’re upset like this and Mae is delirious with pain

Estranged Characters - Injured A shows Up on B's doorstep Saying "I didn't know where else to go": This would probably be some sort of AU (like a modern AU, idk) where Russingon broke up ages ago but suddenly Mae shows up on Finno’s doorstep and they have a long and awkward getting-back-together process :’)

Fate tries to keep them apart: is this not just canon? :(

Gentle Kissing: SOFT BOYS PLS

Hair Brushing: hair kink!!!!!

A has to listen to loved one B being slandered/insulted/mocked: Finno has to listen to people shittalking his husband, he can only hold it in so long before he goes off on them

pining character thinks object of their affection loves someone else, Nervous about confessing love - Misunderstands and thinks it's for someone else: GOD TIER MISCOMMUNICATION TROPE, i love this shit, especially if it’s Mae who messes up so bad Finno misinterprets and Mae is usually very eloquent but NOT WHEN IT COMES TO THIS

Pining character reveals their feelings while not quite lucid (hurt/drunk/etc.): a young drunk Finno confesses to Mae in Valinor? Mae confesses to Finno for the first time in the midst of his haze of pain post-Thang?

A protects B despite damage to their own reputation: Finno will stand up for Maedhros NO MATTER WHAT

Refusing to Leave Other Character's Side: Maedhros and Fingon stick together no matter what - possibly an AU where things go a bit better?

A rejects B despite the pining being mutual due to insecurity/outside circumstances: this is another EXCELLENT trope for these two, especially in mutual pining in Valinor - Maitimo wants Finno very badly but is convinced the politics of it will make it impossible, Finno keeps trying anyway until finally Mae loses his resolve

Secret Relationship Revealed - Consequences Are Disastrous/Deadly: ...and maybe Mae was RIGHT and when they get found out All Hell Breaks Loose

Committing a moral wrong for the sake of other character: Finno rushing into save Maedhros at Alqualondë :)))) and knowing he’d do it again even if he understood what was going on......

Curse Breaking: TRUE LOVE DEFEATS THE OATH

Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies doesn't mean Nobody Hurt: Finno survives the Nirn...at a Cost

Falling Asleep As A Sign Of Trust: Maedhros has trouble sleeping, but he can relax around Finno ;-;

Character has to learn new way of fighting following injury: Finno helping Mae to learn to fight with his left hand

Character Can Never Make Up For Murder: Maedhros and Fingon both grappling with being Kinslayers

Hurt character who believes they don’t deserve comfort begins to accept they do and accepts comfort: this is EVERYTHING i want,, Maedhros learning to love himself!!!!! AHHHHHH

Pining A saves B's life at great cost to themself then hides it from them: pre-relationship, Finno saves Mae from Thangorodrim but keeps nobly pining all on his lonesome despite Maedhros dropping every hint that he’s madly in love with Fingon

Sharing a bed with hurt character while mutually pining: delicious at any time, but especially if they’re sharing a bed during Mae’s recovery time post-Thang

Recovery from permanent loss of limb(s); love interest builds/brings a prosthetic for them: the Noldor are a crafty people, I bet you even Fingon was a bit of a smith! he makes a prosthetic for Mae :) OR he bugs Curufin to make one and delivers it to Mae

Waking from a happy dreamworld to a painful reality: soft fluffy Russingon.........except it was a dream and when Mae wakes up Finno is dead :)))))))))))

Waking up from nightmares while sharing a bed: Mae has a nightmare post-Thang, Finno comforts him

Helping hurt character to dress/undress: erotic undressing and scar reveals post-Thang? 👀

~~~

Maedhros | Maitimo & Maglor | Makalaurë (both hurt) Maedhros | Maitimo & Sons of Fëanor (hurt Maedhros) Maedhros & Maglor & Elrond & Elros (hurt Maedhros & Maglor) Maedhros & Maglor & Elrond & Elros (hurt Elrond & Elros) I requested this with Kidnap Dads in mind, but there’s a few ideas I have for Maedhros + bros angst too :) Overall, please hurt Maedhros (and then comfort him) - even when E&E are the ones hurt, I imagine their guardians will be upset for them!

Anniversary of a traumatic experience: for Kidnap Dads, the anniversary of the attack on Sirion. for Mae + bros, anniversary of Fëanor’s death? or the Nírnaeth? or Mae’s capture? something like that.

Character discovers their friends have been defending them behind their back: shortly post-Thangorodrim, Mae discovers that his brothers have been defending him against people who no longer trust him because of his time in captivity

Character draws negative attention onto themself to protect another, Fighting to protect someone while injured yourself: Mae defending E&E from an outside threat!!

Character A reassures Character B they are still loved: Mae’s bros reassure him, or Mae and Mags reassure E&E

Memory issues make character forget details about their friends: post-Thangorodrim Mae with memory issues

Character draws negative attention onto themself to protect another, Character A claims they're Character B to save B from danger: Elrond or Elros pretend they are the other one so early-KD M&M will get mad at him instead of his brother (but M&M aren’t actually mad)

Character A is in despair and Character B offers hope: E&E & Maglor giving Maedhros hope in late-stage Beleriand!!!!

character A overhears sth that makes A think character B doesn't want/like A anymore (A is wrong): Maedhros overhears something that makes him think his brothers/the twins hate him?

Character A panics/overreacts over B's minor hurt/illness: M&M overreact to E&E’s minor ailment because elves don’t get sick but the twins are peredhil!

Character A sees Character B cry for the first time: E&E see Maedhros cry for the first time

Character A's parents disapprove of Character B: I know this is meant for like, romantic interests, but the image of E&E’s two sets of parents disapproving of each other is hilarious. Please don’t have either of them be Truly Awful Parents, but animosity/tension between them (much to E&E’s dismay) is excellent

Fix-it - Character survives canonical death, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies doesn't mean Nobody Hurt, Character expected to die but didn't and has no idea how to live anymore. Other helps & comforts: Maedhros lives AU!!!

Character isn't used to being loved and shown tenderness/affection: touch-starved Mae who hasn’t been properly loved since Fingon died ;-; (not for Maglor’s lack of trying but he also had a lot going on, and kids are better at getting through to Mae in any case)

Character taken prisoner; expects torture/humiliation; gets kind & honorable treatment: E&E expect the worst from M&M, but M&M immediately start being their dads

Character who can't offer much comfort does what little they can: Maedhros doing what he can to comfort E&E

Character who thinks they aren't well-liked is shown evidence that other people like them: E&E help Maedhros see how much the Fëanorian followers respect him

Character who's killed before comforts character forced to kill in self-defense: OH BOY this is a BIG OOF. I was specifically thinking of magical healing here, Maedhros and Maglor trying everything they can to keep Elrond and Elros from having to kill but then Elrond does have to kill something and he’s really beaten up about it, and Maedhros comforts him

Tolkien: Healing power blocked by killing: very similar to the above prompt - Maedhros used to be a healer but can’t anymore, still tries to teach Elrond; Elrond feels powerless because to heal he can’t fight

Characters know exactly how to hurt each other emotionally: Maglor and Maedhros being absolutely vicious to each other in KD era, E&E comfort them and get them to make up

Childhood Nightmare Turns Out To Be Very Real: E&E grew up hearing horror stories from Elwing about the Second Kinslaying, now it’s the Third Kinslaying

Comforted with homemade meal: Mae who loves to cook!!!! comfort food for the twins!! comfort food for his bros after an argument!!

Comforting Cuddle Piles: Mae is feeling down in Valinor and his bros all pile on top of him :’) or KD era would also be excellent

Curse Breaking: E&E are immune to curses, and help M&M defeat the Oath?

Family Feels - Fraught Sibling Relationship: This could go for any of Mae’s sibling relationships, but specifically early days KD era Mae and Maglor have been mean to each other for a long time since the Nirn, but now having the responsibility of E&E they have to work together again

Hostage Situations, Guilt-stricken character does good deeds to try and make up for past actions: Is this not M&M adopting E&E?

Hair Brushing: ELF HAIR TRADITIONS! bonus points if it’s different/not so important for humans/Sindar elves, but Valinorean elves like M&M place a huge emphasis on hair care

Having A Difficult Relationship With A Parental Figure: E&E looking back on their time with M&M and/or the abandonment they faced with Elwing and Eärendil (please no character bashing, but complicated feelings is good)

Hurt/sick character hides their own condition to allow less hurt/sick character to be treated: Maedhros hides his hurt so E&E can be taken care of first :)))

loss of voice: Maglor loses his voice, E&E & Maedhros care for him

music used to cause harm: Maglor teaching E&E songs of power!!!

musical healing: Maglor teaching Elrond magical/musical healing

Sibling unexpectedly cares/helps: Maglor expects no help with E&E from Maedhros, Maedhros immediately goes into dad mode anyway

Sleeping in the same bed because one character is too scared to sleep alone: E&E crawl into Mae’s bed after a nightmare when they usually go to Mags instead

Smaller/Weaker Character Tries to Shield Hurt Character With Their Body: M and/or M get hurt, E&E try to protect them despite being Baby

Unexpected Mercy - Character Who Believes They'll Be Tortured/Killed Begs Mercy For Another: Elrond begging M&M for Elros to be saved or vice versa

Traumatic discovery of biological parentage: this is the odd one out here, but it’s related I promise - Russingon baby Gil-galad realizes that Maedhros is his dad, is really upset by that, but E&E help him cope

~~~

Finrod Felagund | Findaráto/Turgon of Gondolin (hurt Turgon) Aredhel & Turgon of Gondolin (hurt Turgon) These are mostly Turgoldo ship prompts, but there are a few sibling relationship ones too!

Aromantic character unsure how to comfort friend with relationship troubles: Aredhel having trouble comforting Turgon amidst his pre-marriage woes? Or even worse, her having trouble comforting him after Elenwë’s death

Pining after your best friend who just lost their significant other: FINROD @ TURGON

Anniversary of a traumatic experience: anniversary of Elenwë’s death :(

Accidental arousal while cuddling for comfort: Finrod and Turgon on the Ice, Finrod is Very Aware of his crush and is super embarrassed OR Turgon hates himself for getting aroused so soon after he lost Elenwë

after much pining & almost dying A (bloody & bruised) comes straight to B & kisses them in public: post-battle Turgon finally reciprocates Finrod’s love ;-;

Being Cared for by Their Unrequited Love Interest: Turgon being cared for by Finrod, he knows Finrod is in love with him and wishes he could reciprocate, OR Finrod thinks his love is unrequited but Turgon is really just horrible with feelings

Character A Confesses Feelings Because They Think Character B is Unconscious: I was thinking Finrod to Turgon here, but also the other way around would be 👀

Character A panics when B starts crying during/after first-time sex; B reassures/comforts A: Turgon gets very overwhelmed when losing his virginity? OR Turgon gets very overwhelmed (with guilt?) having sex for the first time after losing Elenwë? OR Finrod gets very overwhelmed because he never thought he’d actually have this with Turgon?

Survivor Guilt, Character blames self for what they went through: Turgon blaming himself for Elenwë’s death :))))

Character Finally gets a Hug: Turgon gets hugs despite trying to push people away ;-;

Character's lie has unintended terrible consequences on loved one: Turgon lies by omission about Aredhel’s death (he lets Fingon think she’s still alive)? Finrod pretends he’s over his crush on Turgon JUST when Turgon finally reciprocates?

Character(s) ashamed of their sexual desires: Turgon is massively repressed

Comfort focusing on little hurt because the big hurt is massive and unapproachable: Aredhel and/or Finrod dealing with some minor injury and not mentioning Elenwë’s death

Comforting character is in denial about attraction to other character: Turgon @ Finrod

Comforting someone who is dealing with grief and loss and has shut themselves off from everyone: Turgon is almost nonresponsive after Elenwë’s death, Finrod and Aredhel take turns caring for him and for Idril

Nearly losing someone reveals deeper feelings, First kiss after almost dying: Near-death experience leads Finrod to impulsively kiss Turgon!!

Hair Brushing: elf hair kink pleaaasseee, this is especially relevant to Finrod tbh

Trapped/Injured in a Cave-In, Snowed In - A gets hypothermia and pining B has to cuddle them back to health, Huddling For Warmth: on the Ice :))

Inexperienced Character is Afraid of Not Being Able to Sexually Please Experienced Partner: Turgon @ Finrod

Longing For Home: this is literally why Turgon built Gondolin to look like Tirion...probably Aredhel comforting him here

Losing beloved: Turgon losing Elenwë...and then maybe his reaction to losing Finrod too :(

Pining character reveals their feelings while not quite lucid (hurt/drunk/etc.): an injured Finrod blurts out his feelings for Turgon? a drunk Turgon confesses he loves Finrod? - either way they were Not Ready for that revelation

pining character thinks object of their affection loves someone else: Turgon misinterprets the situation with Bëor? Finrod bemoans his fate at Turgon and Elenwë’s wedding?

Typically stoic character breaks down and admits how ill they feel: Turgon keeps all his emotions locked up in his chest but he breaks down one day and Finrod and/or Aredhel are horrified at just how much he’s been repressing

~~~

Gimli (Son of Glóin) & Legolas Greenleaf (hurt Legolas) Gimli (Son of Glóin) & Legolas Greenleaf (hurt Gimli) Gimli (Son of Glóin) & Legolas Greenleaf (both hurt) all Gigolas is good Gigolas, and you can quote me on that, but I nominated with the & symbol because my very favorite kind of Gigolas is queerplatonic Gigolas. would absolutely die of joy if you wrote that for me!

Character discovers their friends have been defending them behind their back: this is probably before they’re good friends - Gimli finds out Legolas has been defending him to elves or Legolas finds out Gimli has been defending him to some dwarves, basically “wait he really cares about me??”

Fighting to protect someone while injured yourself: battle buddies :)

A and B have a troubled past; forced to work together: enemies/rivals to friends!!!!

A and B have to work together to help injured mutual loved one C, A and B mourn death of person they both loved: Aragorn gets the short straw here, he’s either hurt and L&G have to help him before they’re really close, or it’s after Aragorn’s death and L&G are preparing to go to Valinor

Hair Brushing, Back rubs/hair stroking to help a character sleep: elf hair kink PLEASE, Gimli discovers that running his fingers through Leg’s hair will make him zonk out :’)

Character A Confesses Feelings Because They Think Character B is Unconscious: mmmm maybe Legolas to “unconscious” Gimli? And then Gimli cracks an eye open and is like “you really mean that, laddie?”

Character A doesn't know how to comfort Character B: cultural differences are intimidating

Character A falls asleep on B's shoulder: height difference :D especially if it’s Leg falling asleep on Gimli’s shoulder!

Character A thinks they're about to die and voices their feelings for B; but oops A survives: again I think this is probably Legolas confessing because he’s Dramatic

Character A's parents disapprove of Character B: this is the GOOD shit!! Thranduil disapproving of Gimli? Glóin disapproving of Legolas? excellent shit right there

Character comforts their platonic soulmate: OK so I am Particular about soulmates but in this scenario, let’s go with the soul-bond angle instead - Gimli getting used to a soul bond he never expected to have bc dwarf? Legolas instinctively comforting Gimli through a soul bond Gimli doesn’t know how to reciprocate with?

platonic cuddling for comfort, Cuddling & Snuggling: it’s just cute

Immortal Character A deals with B's mortality: Legolas in denial that Gimli is mortal, especially in Valinor (I don’t want Gimli dying fast in Valinor, but like...he will die eventually, you know?)

Neither comforter or comfortee will directly acknowledge that comforting is taking place: still in the transition from rivals to friends phase :)

~~~

Kíli/Tauriel (hurt Tauriel) Kíli/Tauriel (hurt Kíli) Fíli & Kíli (hurt Kíli) Fíli & Kíli (hurt Fíli) Fíli & Kíli (both hurt) There’s a good mix of brotherly prompts and Kiliel prompts here - and quite a few where Fíli and Tauriel work together for Kíli’s sake!

Aromantic character unsure how to comfort friend with relationship troubles, Character A doesn't know how to comfort Character B: Fíli comforting Kíli about his hopeless love for Tauriel

Anniversary of a traumatic experience: anniversary of BOTFA/almost dying, anniversary of Kíli getting poisoned

Character discovers their friends have been defending them behind their back: Tauriel discovers that some dwarves (including but not only Kíli - Fíli, Bofur, Óin are good options since they were together in Laketown) have been defending her from other, more prejudiced dwarves

Fighting to protect someone while injured yourself: Kiliel in BOTFA?

A's unrequited pining found to be requited while B helps them recover from serious injury: the athelas scene!!

Aftermath of Tragedy/Catastrophe: Tauriel post-BOTFA (canonverse), Fíli and Kíli in an AU where Thorin dies, Kíli and Tauriel in an AU where Fíli and/or Thorin dies but Kíli lives

A and B have to work together to help injured mutual loved one C: Fíli and Tauriel don’t always get along but they work together for Kíli’s sake :) - this could also work with the athelas scene

Being bathed while mutually pining: Tauriel bathing a sick Kíli? Kíli bathing an injured Tauriel? Bonus points for them both being very 👀 about each other’s bodies and how elves/dwarves are different than expected

Character A Confesses Feelings Because They Think Character B is Unconscious: Tauriel post-athelas scene confessing to Kíli after he’s already said his “she walks in starlight” thing

Character A panics/overreacts over B's minor hurt/illness: little Fíli overreacting about Kíli’s injury/illness? Kíli overreacting about Tauriel because he doesn’t know how lef healing works, or vice versa?

Character A realizes their love for character B when B is hurt/sick: the athelas scene!

Character A thinks they're about to die and voices their feelings for B; but oops A survives: Everyone Lives AU where Kíli confesses everything more plainly before he dies, but then survives

Character A's parents disapprove of Character B: Dís and Tauriel angst!!

Character won't stop getting up no matter how many times they get hit: Kíli protecting Tauriel! Tauriel protecting Kíli! Fíli protecting Kíli! Kíli protecting Fíli! Or heck, even Tauriel protecting Fíli for Kíli’s sake, or Fíli protecting Tauriel for Kíli’s sake!

Dying Character Comforts Already-Grieving Comfortee: Kíli dies in Tauriel’s arms 😭

Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies doesn't mean Nobody Hurt: please hurt Fíli very badly (I have a fic where he loses a hand, something along those lines) but Kíli is there for him and unwaveringly supportive

Fake Dating While Mutually Pining & One Partner Gets Hurt: Kiliel fake dating AU!!!

First kiss after almost dying: Kíli and Tauriel finally get to kiss and it’s super emotional! ooh maybe Kiss of Life, where Tauriel’s kiss brings Kíli back?

Fix-it - Character survives canonical death: kind of basic for this fandom, but I’m a sucker for it anyway. Maybe for this exchange, just one of the Durins lives and the others have to deal with it (with Tauriel there making things complicated, especially if it’s not Kíli who lives...)

Hair Brushing: hair is very important to both elves and dwarves, Kiliel miscommunication about this :D

Immortal Character A deals with B's mortality: Tauriel dealing with Kíli aging

Refusing to Leave Other Character's Side: Kíli standing with Tauriel despite Thorin threatening to exile him? Or just “I belong with my brother”

#tmi anna #exchange letter #hurt comfort exchange #hcex

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stardomyx · 4 years

Text

blindbrilliance replied to your post “Hetalia people!”

Alfred is HP Lovecrafts inspiration.

Similarly, JRR Tolkien based his elves off of Arthur. You know how he always vaguely describes his elves except for constantly repeating how tall, beautiful, and tragic they are? How their immortality is a curse and a blessing? How humans are lucky to have the gift of a short life? That's the APH Nation vibe all the way through. Maybe Tolkien was one of the few who knew the secrets of the nations.

What about hivemind nations? In extreme points in history we've seen countries and the people within become almost a single entity, all driven by one unknowable force.

Nations can permanently scar each other, but they can do much more than that if given the chance. They drastically slow and disable their kin by cannibalizing them. When one nation gains victory over another after a great war, perhaps they display their power and dominance by consuming the other. The consumed will grow back of course, it just takes a while.

You know how Germany's land was divided into east and west at the end of the war? It wasn't just his land that was split in half, and larger than life superpower nations like America and Russia tend to work up quite the appetite after being at war for long periods of time.

All nations have excellent hearing. Not just for sounds in the present, but in the past as well. America hears old Native American chants no matter he goes, China is so old that he hears languages that were only ever scraped out on cave walls, and ancient Celtic lullabies will lull Arthur to sleep. Norway is sometimes deafened by long melted glaciers grinding over his land, and Russia is still serenaded to the customary firing of three hundred canons to announce the birth of a future Tsar.

Oops I got carried away and just dumped all my headcanon trash in here, not just the stuff about how the Nations look

OP I just want to say that I absolutely adore this, and I’m sorry that it’s taken me so long to get back to you, I’ve been in a bit of a slump motivation-wise for a few days, but I’m starting to get back into the swing of things now.

Firstly I really want to touch on your points about Nations being inspirations to various writers, because not only are they amazing and absolutely something that would happen, but a long time ago I had a post in the works ft @hrharthurkirkland that revolved around how Nations inspired fashion. Mainly how Arthur unintentionally shaped the more ridiculous aspects of Tudor fashion.

We never finished it, but I feel like I could quickly plug at least the concept here, I’ll try to keep it short but:

In a nutshell: My body headcanon for Arthur may have ended up contributing to quite a few fashion trends, mainly the fashion trends seen throughout Tudor England and into the Elizabethan era too kind of. If any of you have ever looked at Tudor fashion before, you’ll notice that it looks pretty silly with their clinched waists and their horrendously padded out calves. But what if the reason why it all looks so strange and unnatural was because they were trying to mimic the body of something – or in this case someone – that wasn’t human. Enter: Arthur Kirkland, with his tiny waist, weird skin tone, jacked teeth and numerous other delightful qualities that would’ve stood out about him back then.

I need to draw up and post my body headcanon for Arthur, but if you look at Tudor fashion and how weird they all look, that’s my body hc for him. He just naturally looks like that, and that signature Tudor Look was because - well - who better to take inspiration from looks wise, than the dang Country himself.

So your little tidbit at the beginning about humans taking inspiration from the ways Representatives look and present themselves really took me back to that post that never was, so thank you!

CAN I SAY. THE HIVEMIND CONCEPT? Y e s. Please do elaborate on that because it’s something I haven’t really considered before OOF. Nations probably would resort to things like that when it comes to battle, which is why I also love your idea that they can straight up munch on one another?? Oof, that’s something I’ve discussed again with hrharthurkirkland but really that’s more up their alley than mine. I’ll leave this open for them to comment on since they know a bit more about it than me. Also since your example involves Ludwig, they’re bound to be all over this post like a rash.

And lastly YESS to their hearing being enhanced. Myself and others have also talked briefly about sounds like that being present in their voices when they shout. Nations have a v e r y impressive set of vocal chords and can scream down anything should they want to, and in that scream you probably would be able to hear things like cannon fire, the grinding of glaciers and the pounding of guns. Plus the little nod to them all taking comfort in listening to the past is,,, lovely.

I’m sorry if I didn’t cover all of your points, but please do know that I’ll be sticking this post in my save tag, please and thankyeuh.

#hetalia #Axis Powers Hetalia #Axis Powers ヘタリア #Hetalia lore #cannibalism tw #save tag #sorry again that it took me so long to get back to you!

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straykats · 4 years

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castle in the sky + secret world of arrietty <33

sorry in advance for long windy answers fjkfn

Castle in the Sky: If you could live in any fictional place what would it be? (laputa, atlantis, narnia etc.)

hmmm... hmmmmmm.... honestly, i would love to live in idris (from shadowhunters/the shadowhunter chronicles.. not sure if it was ever in the show?) because the way that it’s described... the fields... the forests... the aesthetic (women in long skirts but still wielding weapons???? stfu). the shadow world itself would be amazing to be a part of, and i’d like to think that with training i could actually survive, but haha aNYWAYS i’d love to learn about demonology, about the dead languages. I would love to have a travel year and visit another institue and learn about culture and customs. I would love to learn to wield different weapons??? also like, the existence of the fae and warlocks and vampires and werrwovles... yknow, young adult fantasy stuff lmaooo.

i suppose narnia would be such a beautiful place to live in too? and the magic of it all. I was going to say like... tolkien’s world bc of the elves’ place but tolkiens world seems way more hardcore than the shadowhunter chronicles. GASP living in the atla world is also up up up on my list too!!!

i’ve given a lot of answers but i think i must refine it to primarily idris, and then the world of avatar... not sure if i’m answering this question correctly but hehe

Secret World of Arrietty: Tell me about the most beautiful place you have ever been.

I’m rather sure I saw something recently that made me think, wow, this is the most beautiful thing i’ve seen. but i can’t recall it. darn. hm, but seriously thinking... i’m not sure. i’ve always found beauty in the night sky, and that’s.. well, that’s everywhere, no? oh! but an actual place - at the beginning of this year (early feb) i went on a cruise, and there was a spa there for 18+. not that it was an adult spa, just that it was supposed to be a place for adults to get away from all the kids on board...? hm. well, it was a physically beautiful place - it was at the front of the ship, and was almost like a greenhouse - glass domed roof all around the front, and i think if there were less lights inside, you could see the stars. but there were lights - warm yellows, purples and blues. I don’t know how they did it, but the purple and blue lights really worked well w the yellow to create such a nice atmosphere. The spas were in the middle front, and a bar was at the back. there were all these trees - palm trees are the only ones i can name (sigh) but ther ewere so many plants. everything looked so nice and it was very empty at night, so it was the most calming and relaxing thing to go at night. my description does this no justice, but gosh it was so good and just being there was so calming. the question doesn’t ask this but the place was also really nice because i could talk with my cousins and bond more??? er. i swear it’s so much nicer than i’m making it out to be. (i wanted to answer this q with this place but i’ve talked about this place in another ask meme game thing before sigh)

#for the most beautiful place question #i 100% know there was some other place #but i can't remember #and that makes me really sad #unless it was an experience that was beautiful #and not the physical plave?#oh dear me #it really all comes back to seeing the stars on a clear night #pixielix #again im so sorry for the looooong answers bub

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apesoformythoughts · 4 years

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I am halfway through Marlon James’ Black Leopard, Red Wolf and I want to say a few words about this unsettling, riotous read.

Tracker is in prison, accused of murdering a boy he was tasked with finding. The book is his account of what happened, how he joined a ragtag search party and their travels in search of this mysterious boy. Marlon James took the mythology and history of Africa and created a lavish world filled with mystery, scheming, fantastical creatures, and fascinating characters. I cannot remember the last time a book felt so alien to me. The book’s world, language, and even its syntax contribute to that feeling. It’s all very sensual and dreamlike (if you can use those words side by side).

And yet…because all of this, it’s a shame that the book contains so much explicit sexual content (including rape) and violence. Maybe that is why some people call the book an “African Game of Thrones.” You can skim over those parts when you get to them, there’s a paragraph or two at the time, but if you avoid foul language as a rule then the book is not for you. My first, likely superficial, impression (as I’m not familiar with James’ work) is that he’s done this to communicate the brutality of the world. Of course, I think all that detail is superfluous at best.

So, if you are kinda desensitized to foul language and want a wild, mysterious tale, think about giving this book a chance.

If you wonder how I came to be reading this, I can only say I fell completely for the back cover blurb:

“Black Leopard, Red Wolf is the kind of novel I never realized I was missing until I read it. A dangerous, hallucinatory, ancient Africa, which becomes a fantasy world as well-realized as anything Tolkien made, with language as powerful as Angela Carter's. It's as deep and crafty as Gene Wolfe, bloodier than Robert E. Howard, and all Marlon James. It's something very new that feels old, in the best way. I cannot wait for the next installment.” —Neil Gaiman

Tracker is known far and wide for his skills as a hunter: "He has a nose," people say. Engaged to track down a mysterious boy who disappeared three years earlier, Tracker breaks his own rule of always working alone when he finds himself part of a group that comes together to search for the boy. The band is a hodgepodge, full of unusual characters with secrets of their own, including a shape-shifting man-animal known as Leopard.

As Tracker follows the boy's scent--from one ancient city to another; into dense forests and across deep rivers--he and the band are set upon by creatures intent on destroying them. As he struggles to survive, Tracker starts to wonder: Who, really, is this boy? Why has he been missing for so long? Why do so many people want to keep Tracker from finding him? And perhaps the most important questions of all: Who is telling the truth, and who is lying?

Drawing from African history and mythology and his own rich imagination, Marlon James has written a novel unlike anything that's come before it: a saga of breathtaking adventure that's also an ambitious, involving read. Defying categorization and full of unforgettable characters, Black Leopard, Red Wolf is both surprising and profound as it explores the fundamentals of truth, the limits of power, and our need to understand them both.

#black leopard red wolf #books

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pamphletstoinspire · 6 years

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A LANDSCAPE WITH DRAGONS - The Battle for Your Child’s Mind - Part 2

A story written by: Michael D. O’Brien

________

Chapter II

The Shape of Reality — Seeing the True Form

Just a Fairy Story?

Shortly after our children’s exposure to dinosaurs, I began to read fairy tales aloud to them. As they listened over the years, they each heard the story on different levels. Interestingly, sometimes a five-year-old could grasp a subtle point an older sibling had missed, yet it was clear that they were all tapping into the mysterious power of Story. I rummaged through attics, library sales, and used-book stores in search of as much old literature as I could find. I even began to plunder the attics and box-rooms of my own imagination, inventing bedtime stories for them. This strained my imagination somewhat, and some of the stories were better than others, but a little goes a long way in a family. The children began to compose their own as well, and there were nights when bedtime became rather an elaborate affair. Telling “pretend” stories naturally stimulated a flow of accounts of real happenings. The children began to regard the day-to-day events of their fives as the material of their stories. Conversation grew; communication expanded. As we developed into a full-blown storytelling family, I noticed something interesting happening in our children’s play. First of all, they began to find playing more exciting. Also, they acted out the fundamental dramas of the cosmic struggle between good and evil, embellishing and revising them with startling ingenuity. I gradually came to understand the universal love among all peoples for “fairy stories”.

In his masterful essay “On Fairy Stories”,1 J. R. R. Tolkien describes the vital role played by these tales in the cultures of the world. They contain rich spiritual knowledge. The sun may be green and the fish may fly through the air, but however fantastical the imagined world, there is retained in it a faithfulness to the moral order of the actual universe. The metaphors found in the literary characters are not so much random chimeras as they are reflections of our own invisible world, the supernatural. Whether in dreams or conscious imagination, the powers of the mind (and one must see here the powers of the human spirit) are engaged in what Tolkien calls “sub-creation”. By this he means that man, reflecting his divine Creator, is endowed with gifts to incarnate invisible realities in forms that make them understandable.

For example, magic has been used traditionally in fairy stories to give a visible form to the invisible spiritual powers. But a crucial distinction must be made between the use of “good magic” and “bad magic” as they appear in fairy stories, because for us in the real world, there is no such thing as good magic, only prayer, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and abandonment to divine providence. “Good magic” in traditional fairy stories represents these very realities, symbolizing the intervention of God in the lives of good men put to the test. It is actually a metaphor for grace and miracle, the suspension of natural law through an act of spiritual authority, culminating in a reinforced moral order.

Bad magic in traditional stories represents the evil power that the wicked use in order to grasp at what does not rightly belong to hem — whether worldly power, wealth, or even love. It is also a metaphor for the intervention of the enemies of God, the evil spirits, in the lives of wicked men. As Saint Paul says, “For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

Good magic and bad magic in truthful stories correspond to true religion and false religion in our real world. True religion is the search of the soul for God in order to surrender itself to him, the search for his will in order to fulfill it, the search for truth in order to conform to it. False religion is the inverse. It makes a god out of oneself; it makes one’s own will supreme; it attempts to reshape reality to fit one’s own desires. True religion is about surrender, while false religion is about control. Most of us do not learn about the nature of reality through theology, philosophy, or higher mathematics. But all of us readily grasp the language of a parable drawn from the universal human story. The forms may be dressed in elaborate costumes and enact impossible dramas, but they enable the lover of tales to step outside of himself for a brief time to gaze upon his own disguised world. What is the value of this temporary detachment? It is an imaginative withdrawal from the tyranny of the immediate, the flood of words and sensory images that often overwhelm (and just as often limit) our understanding of the real world. A rare objectivity and insight can be imparted regarding this world’s struggle for spiritual integrity. In the land of Faerie, the reader may see his small battles writ large in the wars of titans or elves and understand for the first time his own worth. He is involved, not in a false or spurious world, but in the sub-creation of a more real world (though obviously not a literal one). I say more real because a good author clears away the rampant undergrowth of details that make up the texture of everyday life, that crowd our minds and blur our vision. He artfully selects and focuses so that we see clearly the hidden shape of reality.

Dragons in Myth, Legend, and Faerie

The term “fairy tale” is used rather loosely, for many of these stories are not about fairies as such but deal with a variety of supernatural beings and imaginative happenings. Ancient hero tales, nursery stories, riddle-songs, legends, myths — all have their place in what is really a very broad field of literature. There are countless tales from hundreds of races and language groups, many dating back thousands of years. With very few exceptions, they display a surprising uniformity in their depiction of good and evil: good is good, and evil is evil.

A rich treasure trove of such fiction grew with the passing of centuries. A pattern of symbols emerged that signified real presences in the invisible world. Beautiful winged persons represented unseen guardians and messenger spirits. At the opposite end of the spectrum, dragons (and a host of other monsters) represented the fiendishly clever spirits that sought mans destruction. These symbols were common to so many races and cultures that they were practically universal. But they were also well suited to the spiritual insights of Christian civilization. The shape of these symbols told the reader in a flash some essential information regarding the invisible realm — a realm that long predated Judeo-Christian civilization and was, even then, a spiritual battleground.

Dragons, for example, appear spontaneously in much of the literature of the ancient world, long before paleontology gave us knowledge of the dinosaurs. Egyptian, Chaldean, Greek, Roman, Aztec, and some Oriental mythologies are full of gargantuan reptiles, and their nature is almost always depicted as malicious and sly. They are frequently associated with “the gods”. In the Egyptian religion, Apophis was the great serpent of the realm of darkness, vanquished by the sun god Ra. In Chaldea the goddess Tiamat, symbol of primeval chaos, took the form of a dragon. A close relation exists especially between dragon myths and the mother goddess cults, which explains in part the persistence of human sacrifice in such religions. The dragon god devours human blood and is placated, which is a diabolical reverse image of Christ’s sacrifice.

The symbol is not perfectly universal: In some Asian cultures dragons are considered good luck, or at worst a mixture of good and evil. Even Greek and Roman mythology, though it bequeathed ample warnings about the terrifying brood of Medusa, the Gorgons, Hydra, Chimaera, and so forth, did at times regard the dragon serpent as a clever dweller of the inner earth, a knower of secrets, an oracle. This ambiguity is due to the blurred distinctions between good and evil in dualistic Eastern religions and in those early Western cultures influenced to a degree by the East. But in Western civilization, founded on the clearer vision of Judaism and flowering in the fuller revelation of the New Testament, the symbol of the dragon sharpened into focus, assuming its definitive identity. Thus, in the literature of the West dragons Have been regarded as powerful agents of evil, guardians of stolen treasure hoards, destroyers of the good and the weak (children, maidens, small idyllic kingdoms), and, on the spiritual level, a personification of Satan prowling through the world seeking the ruin of souls.

Some modern mythologists lamely attempt to explain dragons as an inheritance from the age of dinosaurs, a kind of fossil-memory lingering on in the subconscious. But this theory does not explain why the image of the dragon is so universal when, say, that of the mastodon is not—surely, the prehistoric mammoth would just as deeply impress itself on the mind of primitive man. Neither does the theory explain why there exists alongside the mytho-poetic legends another body of writings that discuss dragon encounters in the factual language of a news report. There are, for example, some forty medieval accounts of encounters with dragons in England. Several of them describe Catholic bishops and missionaries overcoming the dragons by spiritual authority. More frequently the sword is used.

With the rise of Christendom, the slaying of dragons became the crowning achievement of heroes such as Siegmund, Beowulf, Arthur and even Lancelot, the great ideal of medieval chivalry. Beowulf was the earliest English epic poem written in the Anglo-Saxon tongue, sometime between the ninth and tenth centuries. It offers a stirring depiction of the battleground and can be read to children once they develop a taste for the heroic style. Through such tales, universal truths entered the world of literary culture and were passed down. If they functioned in some respects like ancient mythology, they were myths with a crucial difference. Actual dragons may or may not have existed, but that is not our main concern here. What is important is that the Christian “myth” of the dragon refers to a being who actually exists and who becomes very much more dangerous to us the less we believe he exists.

Perhaps the worst of the demythologizing in recent literature is the message that the basic stories of the Christian faith, especially the Paschal Mystery, are merely our variation on universal myths. It is suggested that many cultures have tales about a hero who is killed and then returns to life. G. K. Chesterton pointed out, however, that the demythologizer’s position really adds up to this: Since a truth has impressed itself deeply in the imagination of a vast number of people of varying times and cultures, therefore it simply cannot be true. The demythologizer does not consider the possibility that people of all times and places may have been informed at a deep, intuitive level of an actual event that would one day take place in history, that would be, in fact, the most important event ever to occur.

The dragon has a vested interest in having us dismiss the account of the battle as make-believe. It is not to his benefit that we imitating our Lord the King, should take up arms against him. He thinks it better that we do not consider him dangerous. Of course, the well-nourished imagination knows that dragons are not frightening because of fangs, scales, and smoke pouring from nostrils. The imagination fed on truth knows that the serpent is a symbol of hatred and deceit, of evil knowledge and power without conscience. If dragons do exist, it is not in the form of green steam engines or painted Chinese masks or overgrown lizards. The dragon that takes no form is the worst kind, and I would rather it not prowl around the neighborhood I call home. Most of all I do not want it infesting my children’s minds. I do not want them befriending it, either, nor do I want it calming their instinctive good fears and perhaps in the process taking possession of their very selves.

At this point I may sound somewhat contradictory. It seems that I do not want dragons in my children’s minds, I say, and yet at the same time I want them to read plenty of stories in which there are dragons that act like dragons and meet a dragon’s end. In fact there is no contradiction here. It is the real dragon against which I want my children armed. Their interior life has need of the tales that inform them of their danger and instruct them at deep levels about the tactics of their enemy. It is good that our children fear dragons, for in the fearing, they can learn to overcome fear with courage. Dragons cannot be tamed, and it is fatal to enter into dialogue with them. The old stories have taught our children this. There have actually been suicides brought about through the “Dungeons and Dragons” cult among adolescents. But it is very important to note that this tragedy is not the result of overheating the young imagination with too much make-believe. On the contrary, it is the result of not believing in dragons until it is too late, of thinking it “just a game”. It is the logical consequence of our ignorance of this principle: The imagination must be fed good food, or it will become the haunt of monsters.

I do not want our children to grow up believing in the actual presence of dragons. But the child who learns fairy stories knows that flying horses and fire-breathing serpents are not to be confused with the cows in our neighbor’s field. Some writers suggest that children do not grasp the meanings in symbol and allegory. This is simply untrue. They may not be able to articulate it in adult terminology, but the young, even the very young, are able to reach across the gap between the real and the sub-created world and find the truths within the mysterious events that are the cosmic drama. They have a natural sense that something mysterious, wonderful, and useful is hidden within the tale, not so much like those trick pictures in which they must find how many bunnies are hidden in the bushes. More like stepping into a marvelous new kingdom where they stand in awe before the fact that angels and dragons are there. The child then asks himself, “Why are they there? And why is it like that?”

Answering the Critics of Fairy Stories

Modern critics of the fairy story have sometimes objected that the world it presents is too simplistic. They maintain that beautiful heroes and heroines are too much aligned with good, and the physically ugly characters are used too much to represent evil. Such an argument is obviously the result of too cursory a glance at fairy tales. There are many stories in which bad characters have, a beautiful appearance. There are some in which ugly creatures have noble princes and princesses hidden inside of them. Generally, however, it is true that the exterior forms that many traditional authors give to the morally or spiritually ugly character tend to be ugly forms. Likewise, beautiful forms tend to express a beautiful interior life. This is a literary device that works well to reinforce the child’s budding awareness of interior ugliness and beauty. Children are not so colossally naive as to think nice-looking people are always nice or that unattractive-looking people are bad. My children know from infancy onward that their grandmother (bad teeth, liverspots, and a big tummy) is the most beautiful person in their life. She loves. She is kind. She listens to them. Also, in their short lives they have met more than one beautiful-looking person who is manipulative, sarcastic, and abuser, of others. They instinctively dislike such people, for their image is not consistent with their substance. Children know this is how the real world works.

We seem to have lost sight of a keystone that was firmly in place in the culture of classical civilization, one that has been crumbling in the West for a long time and at an accelerated rate since the industrial and the technological revolutions. We have lost our sense of the holiness of beauty, our intuition that at some level it reflects back to him who is perfect Beauty. If a bad character betrays that beauty by sin, this in no way negates the authenticity of beauty. By the same token, when exterior beauty is in harmony with a character’s interior beauty, then the sign value of the tale or the character is greatly enhanced. Similarly, when worship of God is done poorly, it is not necessarily invalid if the intention of the worshiper is sincere. But when it is done well, it is a greater sign of the coming glory when all things will be restored in Christ. Clearly God is better glorified by a humble hunchback mumbling badly phrased prayers in a ditch than by a proud aesthete singing hymns perfectly, solely as an art form. Yes, give us that poor, godly hunchback over the vain successful man, rich in his religiosity! But what if the beautiful heart of that hunchback were to dwell in the developed art of the aesthete? Would not a greater glory be rendered to God by the restoration to harmony of both substance and form? In literature we have a medium in which it is possible to express this and, more than that, in which it is possible to show our children that it is possible to live this.

Some modern critics have accused the traditional fairy story of being too fixated on punishment of evil characters. They maintain that children are being conditioned to want revenge, that violent instincts are being incorporated into their personalities, and that they will grow up lacking compassion. Such anxieties stem from the modern preoccupation with peace at all costs, from exaggerated fears about conflict, and from the mistaken belief that sin can be educated out of fallen human nature. Such people believe that children (especially male children) will grow up to be happy nonviolent adults if they are prevented from playing with toy weapons. This is naive. Little boys deprived of toy swords and guns will simply make their own out of anything that comes to hand (such as Lego, sticks, and even pieces of toast). I draw the line at buying plastic machine guns or bazookas for my children, but I do not consider it unhealthy to spend an hour in the woods with my son finding just the right willow sapling to bend into a bow for him. The principle at stake in this issue is not so much our laudable desires to raise compassionate children. The real question is: What approach will best raise compassionate and courageous children? Normal childhood play, riddled with joys and conflicts as it always has been, “educates” at a profound level. The secret is not to deprive a child of his sword but to make the sword with him and teach him a code of honor. In other words, chivalry. Responsibility. Character. Justice. It is a distinctly modern prejudice that holds that a boy with a sword will probably run it through his little sister. The truth of the matter is, most boys, unless they are mentally disturbed, quickly learn that it is far more heroic, exciting, and rewarding to protect a little sister with that very sword by chasing off dragons and bullies.

Unlike the sword or bow and arrow, the mystique of the gun is something of a different problem in the modern era, because it means different things to different people. The word stimulates immediate emotional response in everyone. For those who live in rural areas, where a gun is used for protecting livestock from predators or providing food for one’s family, it is like any other useful but dangerous tool. Is it reasonable to propose that we can create a safer world by eliminating references to guns? Can we clean up humanity by sanitizing literature? If so, should we also drop all references to cooking because sometimes an irate housewife will throw a rolling pin at her husband, or banish references to chain saws because sometimes people have accidents with them when cutting firewood, weed out every reference to automobiles because many people use them badly and even kill others with them? After all, a far greater number of people die violently as victims of car crashes than die at the wrong end of a gun, or a sword, or a bow and arrow. For the urbanite, however, guns conjure up images of Belfast, Bosnia, gang wars, and high school murders. But this, I believe, has more to do with the power of television than the influence of fairy stories—I suspect that terrorists and drug lords have read very few.

It has been suggested that fairy stories would be much improved if they were rewritten without references to weapons, violence, and punishment. Perhaps a few of the Grimm brothers’ tales would benefit a little from this, but to apply such “cultural cleansing” to the entire field of children’s literature is really a symptom of naïveté about human nature and about the role of literature. The point we must keep in mind is that the fairy story is a literary heritage, containing the imperfections that fallen human creators bring to their art. If we were to try to cleanse every work of traces of original sin, we would have to burn a great deal of the literature of the world, and a fair portion of the Bible as well. In the Gospels, for example, Judas does not end well. Neither does Herod, nor a host of odious characters in the Old Testament. “Where is compassion in those texts?” we might ask ourselves, “Where is mercy?” I think the answer, at least in literature, is that stories teach us, and this passing on of the truth is their chief act of mercy. Part of their task is to warn us, to posit the possibility of damnation. Furthermore, a literary figure is not in fact a suffering person but an image in the mind. And the dire image of a witch’s death may suggest in the mind of a child that witchcraft is so absolutely a violation of their souls, of their personhood, that a dire punishment is warranted. Even very young children realize that no one is going to make a witch dance herself to death in red-hot shoes (a cruel and unusual punishment if there ever was one). No, the modern witch will be left very much to do as she pleases—perhaps have an interview on a morning talk show, write a best-selling book, or gather a group of devotees about herself. At worst, she may have to suffer some insensitive comments from her critics.

The fairy story is not an incitement to violence; it is an incitement to reflection on the truth. It does not really propose violence against the sinner (the witch); it reminds us to do violence against the sin (in this case, witchcraft), but more importantly against our own sins, just as the Scriptures command us to do—“If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out!” The merit of a bad end to a bad fictional character is that it imparts a warning about the act. There are worse things than turning into a donkey or dancing to death in red-hot shoes, eternal damnation and diabolical possession being two of them.

The concept of justice is not always easy to grasp, especially in a culture that has been conditioned to exalt rights at the expense of responsibilities, that suffers from the impression that punishment is always a cruel thing. One of law’s important functions is to instruct and to deter on an objective level those whose inhumanity (and they will always be with us) impels them toward the ruthless use of other human beings. There is great need for a return to objective warning signs strong enough to prevail over the massive subjectivization of the modern mind — a mind, by the way, that has abandoned the stern messages of right and wrong that one finds in traditional fairy stories; a mind that is instead pumped full of images that glamorize the diabolical. Without dear deterrents, the imagination will soon be influenced by, and eventually infested by, many demons. If that process is not reversed, the malformed mind, pacified by neutered concepts of justice and mercy will find itself without defenses; it may even in the end come to believe that evil is good, and good is evil.

The purpose of dragons in literature, and of the fascination children have for them, is to arm the soul with an ever-developing, discernment of spirits. The purpose of the fairy tale is not to breed superstition but rather to defend the mind against superstition. As I write this I am gazing out the window at an epic being enacted on our hillside. The children are galloping over a yellow carpet of birch leaves on this sunny afternoon, running through the woods with swords they have cut from branches and silver shields they have borrowed from the tops of our trash cans. They are stalking the shadows lurking in the forests and caves. They are armed with homemade bows and arrows, willow rods bent to the breaking point by twine, and wobbly shafts outfitted with chicken feathers and armed with arrowheads they have chipped from stone. Are we training them to be aggressive little militarists? Not at all. They seem rather kind and gentle children, until roused by a real enemy — dragons, for instance.

They do seem to be developing a great deal of character, and it might be important to note here that violent people, on the whole, tend to be lacking in character. The children’s play is filled with an implicit moral consciousness of natural and supernatural law, even when, on occasion, they break that law. The point is, they know the law — and the spirit of it.

It is encouraging for us to see how their friends are drawn magnetically to the fantasy life of our young tale-bearers. A community of questers is born on an ordinary Saturday afternoon. For a brief, burning moment they know that nothing is ordinary, least of all themselves. When the moral order of the universe is reinforced, as it is for these children, man begins to know who he is, where he is, and what he is for. When the moral order of the universe is corrupted, his perception of reality itself collapses. The collapse may be slow or rapid, but the end result is a mass submersion into a swamp, in which creation is radically devalued, life becomes meaningless, and man, no longer able to know himself, is driven to desperate escape measures.

________

1 The essay can be found in J. R. R. Tolkien, Tree and Leaf (London: Unwin Paperbacks, 1988).

#a landscape with dragons

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