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ichorai · 1 month

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ties that bind ; nanami kento ; november 4th.

pairing ; nanami kento x reader drabble synopsis ; it's movie night—bring your own tissues! themes ; fluff, slice of life, established relationship (married), pregnant au warnings / includes ; lord of the rings fellowship spoilers, pregnancy, lots of blubbering from reader and yuji HAHA

series masterlist.

4th november, 2018

The large glass bowl you had cradled in your hands was still quite warm, full to the point of near overflow with buttered popcorn. You slowly eased onto the middle of the couch (being seven months pregnant made all your movements irritatingly sluggish) with a wide grin.

“What is this movie even about again?” Nobara asked from your right, plucking three popped kernels into her mouth. There was clear disinterest in the film splayed over her features, but she was adamant on spending time with you regardless, even if the two idiots had to tag along with her.

Yuji mirrored her actions from your left, except he took a fistful from the bowl. “Just the best fantasy adventure trilogy to ever exist on screen! It’s full of raw emotion, and the coolest action scenes, and the soundtrack is so—!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, can we start already?” Nobara barked, impatiently snatching the remote from Yuji’s eagerly-gesticulating hands.

You hummed in agreement, before jutting the bowl towards Megumi, situated on a smaller, adjacent couch. “You want some popcorn, hon?”

“I’m good, thank you.” One of his legs crossed over the other as he leaned back, fixing his gaze to the screen.

You smiled fondly at the stoic, dark-haired boy and nodded. Then, you drew your eyes down to your husband sitting on the carpeted ground, his back leaning against your shins. “Kento?”

“We should start the movie first,” he said, glancing at the clock hung by the television screen. You’ve made him watch this about a hundred times before, and he was well aware of its lengthiness.

“Okay, then.” You clapped your hands excitedly, Yuji practically vibrating in anticipation (this would be his fourth time rewatching). “You can press play, Nobara.”

With that, the five of you started the first Lord of the Rings movie. Unsurprisingly, the popcorn bowl was completely cleaned out two hours later (largely thanks to Yuji), but he volunteered to go make some more when Nobara started berating him. Nanami told him to stay seated, and left to go make another bowl of popcorn, brushing the tips of his fingers along your shoulder on his way to the kitchen.

By the time he came back, you and Yuji were holding onto each other, sobbing profusely.

“Boromir was too young to die!” Itadori blubbered, furiously wiping at his leaking eyes with the back of his hand.

“He gave his life saving the Hobbits!” you added on with a warbling voice, dabbing at your face with a soaked tissue.

Nobara and Megumi could barely hear the movie anymore, and so had taken to staring at the sobbing pair on the couch.

“Is it really that serious…?” Nobara muttered, accepting the freshly-made bowl of popcorn Nanami handed her.

“This happens every time,” Nanami replied, patting your hair from behind.

Megumi frowned at a particularly heinous wail that emitted from Yuji. Samwise was willing to drown to get to Frodo, which was a completely understandable reaction, at least in your eyes. “Every time?” he asked his solemn-faced teacher.

“Every time.” Nanami sat back down in front of you and you flung your arms around him from behind.

Nobara snorted and munched on some warm popcorn, but not without leaning forward to snap a selfie of all of you, capturing Yuji mid-sob. There was the faintest of amused smiles on Megumi’s face, and he quickly threw up a peace sign for the photo.

“Why do you let me watch this movie? Never let me watch this again!” you cried, not entirely certain if your pregnancy hormones were at fault for your emotional state, or if the movie really was just that sad. Maybe both.

Nanami remained silent, but let you hold onto him as you cried through the rest of the credits with Yuji.

#nanami kento x reader #nanami kento fanfiction #nanami kento x you #jujutsu kaisen fanfiction #jjk fanfiction #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen x reader #nanami kento ff #kento nanami x reader #kento nanami fanfiction #nanami kento fluff #nanami kento drabbles #nanami kento imagines #jujutsu kaisen fluff #jjk fluff

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ecle-c-tic · 9 months

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Middle Earth Asks

🥔 po-tay-toes: one of the hobbits invited you for a meal; who are dining with? Which of the seven meals are you enjoying?

🍞 lembas bread: what's the best road trip snack?

🌾farmer maggot's field: what is your favourite plant? Do you enjoying gardening?

🌼 simbelmynë: You've got the opportunity to bring one character back to life, who is it?

🍃 leaves of lórien: what gift would you most like to receive?

📽 action!: rank all six of the films (or three if you're a hater)

🚲 bicycle basket: what is your favourite middle earth meme?

🌟starlight: you're allowed to live in one of the Elf Kingdoms of Middle Earth, which one are you picking?

💀 Hey, did you know-: What is your favourite piece of behind the scenes trivia?

🌙 moon runes: which of Tolkien's languages would you most like to speak?

🧂 best salt in all the shire: which small joys do you most look forward to? (particular tea, using a perfume, rereading a book, etc.)

✂ cutting room floor: of all of the things that didn't quite make it into the movies, what would you have most liked to see?

☕ may I tempt you with a cup of chamomile?: What is your favourite hot beverage?

🐎 bill the pony: who is the best mount in all of middle earth?

🌳 fangorn forest: Which of Tolkien's creechurs is your favourite?

🔮 palantír: you've found a palantir! Who are you hitting up in middle earth? What are you telling them?

⏳ time and age: which poorly aged scene from LOTR is your favourite?

✨ evenstar: Who is your favourite middle earth couple?

🎆 fireworks: you're invited to Bilbo's 111th, what present do you think you'd receive?

🕷 creepy crawlies: which of tolkien's creatures do you think is the most frightening?

💍 my precious: what role do you think you'd play in the fate of the ring?

📜the company of Throin II Oakenshield: who is your favourite dwarf from the company?

🕶 i care not: what common complaint about the movies or novels doesn't bother you?

📢 motivational speech: which film speech do you find most invigorating?

🔥 barbecue: who is the worst antagonist?

🍿 popcorn: list your top 5 supporting characters

🎇 firefly: which (known) deleted scene would you most like to see?

⛏ expedition to Moria: which side character's adventures would you watch a spin-off movie about?

🎞 extra film: is there an extended scene that should have absolutely made it into the theatrical cut? which one and why?

🎵 can you sing, master hobbit?: Which song (from books or movies) is your favourite?

🖋 quill and ink: which of tolkien's themes resonates most strongly with you?

🗝 lost heirloom: which heirloom/object in the films or novels would you like to learn more about?

💿 leitmotifs and orchestras: which of the films songs (Howard Shore or singer) is your favourite?

🍲eowyn's home cooking: which other way could the ring be destroyed? (funny answers only)

🧙‍♂️precisely when he means to: what is your favourite gandalf moment?

⚔ you have my sword: what is your favourite aragorn moment?

🏹 and my bow: what is your favourite legolas moment?

🪓and my axe: what is your favourite gimli moment?

🍄 MUSHROOMS!: what is your favourite moment from the hobbits?

💎 the arkenstone: favourite Thorin and/or company moment?

🧵 spool: list your top five favourite costumes from any of the films.

📕 the red book of westmarch : what is your favourite quote(s)?

💛 family: what is your favourite family moment throughout the novels/films?

👀 the eye of sauron: who are you looking at disrespectfully?

🗺 arda: if you could travel anywhere in middle earth, where would you go?

👑the silver crown: the war is won, the world is saved, the king has been crowned. Who are you partying with at the coronation?

✏ rewrites: here's a pencil, which ONE thing in the novels/films are you changing?

🐺 GROND GROND GROND: which of the battles is your favourite to watch? is there a combat scene in particular that you enjoy?

⚠ fucking buckleberry ferry: from the clip of Dom and Billy discussing the one swear word they could theoretically get by censors, which line would you change?

📚 boxset: how were you first introduced to Middle Earth?

🏔 the misty mountains: the pass is treacherous, which two characters are you taking with you to make it over the mountains?

🌄 the rolling hills of the shire: what is your favourite outdoor activity?

🌋 mount doom: what middle earth take are you throwing into the fire?

⚙ technology: everything is exactly the same but you can give one character a modern invention. Who is it and what are you giving them?

⛵valinor: we're approaching the end of this game, is there a take/opinion you absolutely want to share?

🦅 the eagles: What thing or thought saves the day when it's not going so well?

🦗 weta: you're allowed to take one prop (or the canon useful version) home with you from the set, what are you taking?

☀ when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer: either share a piece of good news or something you're looking forward to.

📖 final chapter: what unanswered questions do you have middle earth?

#lotr #middle earth #the hobbit #tolkien #lord of the rings #ask games #asks #lotr asks #full disclosure i've read the hobbit 5 times and the trilogy once #I haven't started the salmon riot yet #never seen RoP #and i've seen all of the movies (lotr and hobbit) about 1000000 times now :)#chaos mix of MidEarth questions and personal qs #i didn't spell check whoops (its too hot for editing)#i also did the emojis on my laptop so if they don't match well just ignore that #rao's games #rao's asks #this was a fever dream (i wrote the word strongelist a one point)#the worst part about making stuff is walking away from your device afterwards bc I want to constantly refresh my notes 😭

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novelmonger · 3 months

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Continuing to watch through the Writer/Director commentary of LotR (with Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, and Fran Walsh) and jotting down any new-to-me information I come across. Here's what I gleaned from TTT:

When they got the New Line logo to put on the movies, it was very old and scratched, so PJ gave it to Weta to touch it up. They joked about how they should bill New Line for it XD

Originally, the studio wanted TTT to start off with a prologue too, with Cate Blanchett narrating what sounds like it was basically going to be a "Previously on..." spiel, even though they didn't like the idea of the prologue in the first one. Thankfully, these three ignored the studio's advice both times XD

The Uruk who says "Manflesh" is also the guy in Sauron's armor in the prologue!

In the scene where the Rohirrim find Theodred, it's not actually raining! They used rain towers for the close-ups, but any wide shots just have CG rain. I would never have guessed!

Andy Serkis did the voices for the Uruk-Hai who says the "maggoty bread" line, and the orc who says, "Yeah, why can't we have some meat?" (The actor in the suit for the latter is, of course, Jed Brophy, who went on to play Nori in the Hobbit movies.)

Somehow it never registered for me that Orlando Bloom has brown eyes, and so he had to wear blue contacts when he played Legolas ^^' But sometimes he wasn't able to wear the contacts (or forgot), so there are some scenes where they had to fix it in post.

PJ called the Treebeard from the animated Bakshi movie "a walking carrot" XD He also said that Treebeard is his favorite character!

The scene with Smeagol killing Deagol was originally going to be a flashback right after Frodo says his name, and then the Nazgul shriek would pull the audience out of the flashback. They decided not to do that for pacing reasons and because we haven't spent much time with Gollum yet, so that's why they put it at the beginning of RotK instead.

Bernard Hill had his son with him on the shoot and would play with him in his downtime on the Edoras set. Puts things into perspective when you hear that he was the one who came up with the line "No parent should have to bury their child."

They were originally looking at Bernard Hill for Gandalf! (I feel like I've probably heard this before, but anyway.)

They filmed a flashback to Aragorn and Arwen's first meeting?! Viggo shaved to make himself look younger, and it was a scene of the two of them "frolicking about the forest." It was originally going to be put in the Lothlorien sequence, but they cut it out in favor of that scene between Aragorn and Boromir, because they decided it was more important to earn Boromir's death scene than to remind the audience of the romance. I agree with that decision, but it would be cool to see that footage! (I say as someone who prefers to skip the TTT Aragorn/Arwen scene entirely XD)

Originally, the warg battle was going to happen at Edoras itself. It was going to be at night, everything was going to be on fire, and ultimately that was going to be the reason everyone evacuated and went to Helm's Deep. Also, a warg was going to be set on fire and end up dragging Aragorn through the streets, and that was going to be how Aragorn would be left for dead. Ultimately, the reason they did it the way they did was because the studio wasn't sure Weta could do a flaming warg (something all three of them laughed about, considering everything Weta did manage to do with flying colors), and because it would have been a nightmare to light the Edoras set at night, because that location was so remote and so windy. Which is why every scene in Edoras takes place in the daytime!

In the scene where Faramir talks about his dream where he saw Boromir in the boat, you can see a sort of pinkish color in the water around Boromir's body. That's because the dye from his shirt (surcoat? idk) was leaking out into the water! XD

When Andy Serkis did ADR for the Forbidden Pool scene, he couldn't manage to sing the song off-key, so they had to use the audio from the motion capture footage XD

They shot some additional footage of Aragorn unconscious on Brego's back, riding past an orc encampment, that they never ended up using.

Theoden was originally going to give a speech to the soldiers in the armory, but Bernard Hill's performance was so inspiring that it defused most of the tension they were trying to build up before the battle, so they took it out. Would love to see that footage!

So the boy Aragorn encourages before the battle ("There is always hope.") was Philippa Boyens' son, who was 13 when they filmed the scene. But by the time they went to do ADR, his voice had broken, so they had to get a different child actor to say his lines.

Aww, the extra who was missing an eye said he always felt self-conscious about his missing eye, so he always wore an eyepatch. But then after they gave him a close-up and the guy saw the movie, he said he felt much better about his appearance! :')

Treebeard's line "I always like going south; it feels like going downhill" was ad-libbed!

When Saruman turns and reacts to all the water pouring in and washing his machinery away, that shot was actually a reaction shot to Wormtongue on top of the tower from the RotK movie that they repurposed for this scene instead, since they hadn't shot any reactions to the flood.

At least at the time of the recording of this audio commentary, the final shot of Gollum, where he's arguing with himself and ultimately decides to lead Frodo and Sam to Shelob, was the longest CG shot in any movie. (I tried to google what the current record is, but couldn't find anything, so if anyone knows, I'd love to hear about it!)

Fran Walsh: "All cinema storytelling, to a degree, is shallow. That's the nature of the medium. You've got two or three hours to present a world and a dense story with a hundred themes and a ton of backstory, in this instance, and 22 characters...so you can only really have the veneer of depth. You really can't have anything that comes close to the depth of the books, or the experience of the books. So I think what we attempted to do was to use the language of the books where we could and to certainly invoke them, the iconic images, where we could, but to keep the storytelling very much...to modernize it, if you like, in terms of cinema language. So we didn't, for example, use the style of storytelling that was in the books between these different after-the-fact storytelling, of Sam and Frodo and then a chunk of the Aragorn story. We completely undercut it. That was a far more immediate and engaging way to connect it to the audience. You can't really hope to satisfy people who adore this book, with the movie. You can only ever give them the sense of what might have been. That's all a film can do. I think, in that sense, films...I mean, they're entertainments. They're just not going to give you the pleasure that a book can give you."

#lord of the rings #lotr #the two towers #peter jackson #philippa boyens #fran walsh #i feel like i learned more with this one than the fotr one which was cool!

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imakemywings · 7 months

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Hey, are you still bitter/salty over the characterization of Thranduil in The Hobbits movie? It's been 9 years and I'm still pissed because despite how beautiful Lee Pace's Thranduil was, I felt like it warped the perception of who Thranduil really is as a king, father, and son. Even Oropher's reputation in the fandom kinda sored.

Anon, I will be salty about that until I'm cold in the ground.

There are actually a number of things I like about The Hobbit films. Lee Pace does a wonderful job with what he was given; he really captures the ethereal grace of a being who is above mortal concerns. I love the aesthetics of Mirkwood and its people in the films. And I'm not salty that they tried to beef up his character a little--there's really not much to go on in the books, so adding the tragedy of his wife weighing on him and complicating his relationship with Legolas (do NOT talk to me about how the films massacred Legolas) wasn't a bad way to add more emotional weight to his story. Neither was adding his alluding to the War of Wrath to give him more personal feelings about the waking of Smaug.

But the thing they tried to do where they wanted to make Thranduil ~morally ambiguous~ was so yuck. In the books he has beef with the Dwarves, yeah--because they were trespassing on his land, refuse to tell him why, and have a significant chance of stirring up a dragon if they continue. IF he overreacted, there were some relevant issues at play here. And Bilbo himself describes Thranduil as a well-liked "king of a good and kindly people."

In fact, Bilbo is so taken with Thranduil that at the Battle of Five Armies, Bilbo explicitly thinks that if he were made to choose among them, he would side with the Elvenking. Yes, OVER Thorin.

I've detailed before why the movie switching Bard's gunning for war and Thranduil's reluctance to fight from the books makes no sense, so I won't get into it again, but yeah.

Final thoughts are that the Elves in Mirkwood in the films have so little joy? In the books, the Company stumbles across them feasting and partying in the woods; in the movies, Legolas' scout contingent captures them without any prior contact. All three of the main Elves in the story--Thranduil, Legolas, and Tauriel--are so sober and serious the entire trilogy; I think Tauriel is the only one who smiles or ever looks happy. YES the Elves of Mirkwood are dealing with a lot--Sauron in the backyard and all--BUT the book also shows how much joy they still have, and I think that's really missing from the movies, from Thranduil and all the rest of them.

Also, they cut Thranduil laying Orcrist on Thorin's tomb and that makes me sad.

#asks #anonymous

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sotwk · 8 months

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Can I ask what inspired you to write about Legolas having other siblings?

Superficial yet honest answer: Because it means getting more Elves that resemble both Legolas and Thranduil, and that means you get a gorgeous lineup of characters that look like THIS:

(Please click/zoom to enlarge)

L-R: Prince Turhir, Prince Gelir, Crown Prince Mirion, Prince Arvellas, Prince Legolas

Now for a more thorough, meaningful answer...

What inspired the "Sons of the Woodland King" (SotWK) AU, the core premise of which is that Legolas had brothers?

It started as a roleplay concept, back in 2004 (I think? It was so long ago!), when I first started dabbling in LOTR fanfiction not long after the release of RotK.

Because roleplaying games typically encourage the creation of original characters, I suppose it just occurred to me that having multiple Princes of the Woodland Realm would make for an interesting setting and premise centered around the Elves of Mirkwood.

Believe it or not, I had not even read The Hobbit at that point, and it was prior to PJ's film adaptation, so inspiration did not come from Lee Pace's magnificent portrayal of Thranduil--though it certainly turbo-fueled ideas later on!

SotWK back then was quite a silly, shallow game focused primarily on fluffy romance and shipping, without much direction, canon authenticity, or detail. I still have some old copies of the stuff I wrote from that era; they are definitely cringe and I don't care to share them again, ever. LOL.

Fast-forward to 2014, when The Hobbit Trilogy came out. I returned briefly to the Tolkien fandom and the SotWK concept, and dropped a few chapters of "Greenleaf's Day Out", only to pause it halfway, unfinished (because I got distracted when I met the man who would then become my husband...and life happened).

Fast forward again to 2022: A husband and two babies later, in need of a hobby I can squeeze in between the hectic activities of motherhood/adulting, I returned to fanfiction writing and wound up coming to Tumblr to share it. Finally equipped with book knowledge from LOTR, Hobbit, AND the Silmarillion, I completed "Greenleaf's Day Out", my first (and so far only) Thranduilion-focused story, and decided I wanted to keep writing and sharing more.

Why the Thranduilion Princes, brotherhood, and family-centered stories hold such a dear place in my heart:

I grew up as one of three sisters, and just one brother whom I love but never really had a close relationship with. I guess with boys being few in our family (even amongst my cousins), I didn't have a lot of interaction with them growing up, and it led to a fascination and fondness for brotherhood stories.

As most of my followers know by now, I'm a mom with two sons of my own. The birth of my second son coincided with my return to fanfic writing and the Tolkien fandom, so surely life with my young family influenced the decision to focus on the SotWK concept.

I think Thranduil is an AMAZING character with a fascinating yet underdeveloped history. I enjoy creating stories about his background as a king, a lover/husband, and a father, but I love most of all his role as a father both to his biological sons and the citizens/subjects he views as his children.

Thank you for this wonderful Ask @a-world-of-whimsy-5, and giving me the opportunity to share my writing history! <3

#sotwk answers #thranduil #thranduil headcanon #sotwk headcanon #legolas #legolas fanfiction #legolas headcanon #tolkien #mirkwood #mirkwood eleves #thranduilion

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niennawept · 1 year

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Tolkien Twenty Questions (themed asks)

If you could be the Middle Earth race you would like to be, which would it be?

If you were the Middle Earth race that your personality most matches, which would it be?

When did you first come into contact with Tolkien's work? Who or what introduced you?

What passage in Tolkien's books or in any of the films/shows/media speaks to you the most?

Ruthlessly rank the main projects of the Tolkien universe (the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Rings of Power, the Silmarillion). You can break Lord of the Rings into three books for additional chaos, if you like.

Favorite character in all of Tolkien's work?

If you could download a Tolkien language into your brain and speak it fluently, which one would you pick and why?

Favorite of the Westron versions of the hobbit characters names (Bilbo Baggins = Bilba Labingi, Frodo Baggins = Maura Labingi, Samwise "Sam" Gamgee = Banazîr "Ban" Galbasi, Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck = Kalimac "Kali" Brandagamba, Peregrin "Pippin" Took = Razanur "Razar" Tûk)?

The place (and time) you would most like to visit in Arda? Why?

Favorite performance by any actor in the Tolkien film projects? Bonus: What's your favorite scene with them?

You can have four Tolkien characters over for dinner. Who do you choose and why?

Tolkien's work contains a lot of interesting themes: devastation of war, things lost that cannot be restored, rebirth/renewal, holding true to one's companions even when it is darkest, and others. Which is the most important to you?

What do you think it is about hobbits that makes them much better at resisting the evil of the One Ring than others?

You are dropped into the middle of the map in the Third Age (that's roughly between Mirkwood and Lothlorien) during the events of Lord of the Rings. Where you are headed first?

One of the most interesting things about the different cultures of Middle Earth are the crafts they value. Which craftspeople would you want to learn from the most?

In a similar vein, the peoples of Middle Earth fight in different styles. You have the opportunity to train in one of the armies - which one would you pick and why?

Tolkien's work is full of songs and poetry. Which is the dearest to you?

The magic of Middle Earth is barely ever explained. If you could gain just one of the barely-explained talents or magic abilities of a person in Arda, what ability would you choose? Would you hide it or use it openly IRL?

What piece of Tolkien media do you revisit the most? What about it captivates you?

What is your favorite Tolkien universe headcanon? Why did you choose to accept it?

#tolkien #tolkien asks #tolkien tag #tolkien legendarium #lord of the rings #the hobbit #the silmarillion #go ahead and ask

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invisibleicewands · 3 months

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Michael Sheen Reveals How The Pandemic Shaped His New BBC Drama With Adam Curtis & James Graham, And Why It Shifted From Middle England To His South Wales Hometown

Michael Sheen, Adam Curtis and James Graham‘s BBC drama The Way has been gestating for almost a decade but, for Good Omens star Sheen, the wait has been a necessary one.

As the BBC prepares to launch the drama set in Sheen’s hometown of Port Talbot, he told Deadline the pandemic and other recent events played an important role in shaping the script and believability of the three-part series, which is one of the broadcaster’s most anticipated of the year, bringing together three of the nation’s supreme creative talents.

Starring Sheen, who is making his directorial debut, Luke Evans (The Hobbit), Callum Scott Howells (It’s a Sin) and a wealth of talented Welsh actors, The Way tells the story of an ordinary family caught up in an extraordinary chain of events that ripple out from their home town. Driven by celebrated documentary maker Curtis, the drama takes an experimental approach by imagining a civil uprising in a small industrial Welsh town. Fleeing unrest, the Driscolls are forced to escape the country they’ve always called home and the certainties of their old lives, but will they be overwhelmed by their memories of the past or lay their ghosts to rest and take the risk of an unknown future?

Sheen said the idea had always been to make a story about an “explosion of unrest” as “believable” as possible. Before the pandemic, the team initially dismissed ideas around making an entire population remain indoors, or placing a hard border around Wales.

“Lockdown gave the story a whole new lease of life,” he told Deadline. “When it ended we revisited the story and it allowed us to be bolder, particularly around ideas of conspiracies and Covid. We knew it was ‘of the moment’ and didn’t want something to feel dated, but we didn’t ever imagine it would be quite as timely as it has turned out to be.”

Producer Bethan Jones, who runs The Way co-producer Red Seam with Sheen, said commissioners in the early days were worried it would be “a bit too dystopian” and were querying: “Haven’t we seen [shows like] this before?” “But now the audience have experienced some of these things themselves and are watching with all the knowledge of what that means,” added Jones.

As the episodes develop, Sheen said that “paradoxically the absurd nature of it all starts to come to the fore.” He said he wanted his first directing experience and Red Seam’s debut commission (it is co-produced with Little Door) to act as a mini guide to living in the UK over the past decade.

“That is a reflection of trying to capture what it has felt like to be living in our culture over the last 10 years, where you are never sure if you’re living in a sitcom or horror film,” added the four-time BAFTA-nominated Frost/Nixon star, who attended The Way’s screening last night.

The industrial Welsh location plays a crucial part in setting the tone and symbolism behind The Way. It was initially forged with a middle-class English family in mind, Sheen revealed, before being shifted to his hometown of Port Talbot, an industrial town that has been in the news recently due to the much-criticized closure of part of the legacy Tata steelworks.

“We knew we needed it to take place somewhere with a history of unrest,” he said. “It needed to feel like there was unfinished business there. That led me to thinking about my hometown and the steelworks, and the past then became more important to us in the story.”

Sheen moved back to Port Talbot around the time The Way was first developing. He subsequently sold his houses, gave the proceeds to charity and declared himself a “not for profit actor.”

He said his town is “full of interesting contradictions.” “It has a beautiful area by the sea and then there is the heavy industry in the middle of it. It has an extraordinary mixture of things and using that in the telling of this story was exciting.”

Working with the community was integral to the show’s authenticity and Jones explained that numerous local extras were used in protest scenes around the town hall and steelworks. “It’s that thing of people being stuck in the past and finding a new way forward,” she added.

Four-time BAFTA-winning documentary-maker Curtis is cutting his scripted teeth with The Way and Sheen celebrated his influence both stylistically – including use of archive and CCTV footage – and on the development of the story.

“He has always been a fantastic provocateur and is good at thinking about where the power lies and what is under the surface” said Sheen. “And I wanted us to have a dream-like quality. By the end of our first chat I knew that even though [having Curtis involved] would make things more complicated, it was such an interesting possibility and I wanted him involved.”

Sherwood scribe Graham, meanwhile, who worked with Sheen on hit ITV drama Quiz, was the perfect choice to pen something “not typically dystopian and not overly serious.” “He brings a brilliant combination of big ‘state of the nation’ ideas with character, humor, warmth and the everyday,” added Sheen.

Together, the trio have forged something Sheen hopes will tap into the “strong British tradition” of filmmaking led by trailblazers such as Ken Loach, Alan Clarke and Jimmy McGovern, coming at a time when ITV’s post office drama has led to much excited chatter about the power of traditional broadcasting to deliver change.

“[The post office drama] took an issue that had been in the public eye for a long time but never really connected and made something fantastic out of it,” he said. “Long may that continue because it would be a terrible, terrible thing if we stopped making that stuff.”

#Michael Sheen #The Way #Interview

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bella-rose29 · 5 months

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just finished my binge of all three hobbit movies (again) and I can't stop thinking about writing a fic for lockwood x fem!reader where their relationship is kinda like Kili and Tauriel

(possible spoilers under the cut for both the hobbit and a brief mention of Bridgerton s2)

I don't want either of them to die, obviously (because even though Kili definitely dies and while Tauriel doesn't exist in the books it makes sense that she dies from heartbreak, and I think that's mentioned in lotr? but I can't remember), but mostly I got stuck on the conversation between Tauriel and Thranduil after the battle, and these two lines in particular:

"Why does it hurt so much?"

"Because it was real."

Okay first of all, Thranduil spent the entire trilogy telling Tauriel that she's both not good enough for Legolas (because of hierarchical views of elves) and also that what she feels for Kili isn't real, so for him to say those words has such an impact.

Second, I feel like those two lines are so Lockwood coded and I can't figure out why (they just are).

Maybe it's the fact that he tries to shut himself off to caring about people by not telling them things, because he doesn't want to let anybody close enough to leave him again like with his family.

Maybe it's the fact that Lockwood would absolutely want to know why love had to hurt so damn much, because there's already so much pain in the world so why should something so beautiful end the same way?

I also think that Lockwood would be the sort of person to pull an Anthony Bridgerton and not want to be the cause of that pain, therefore becoming somebody likeable but far away and out of reach. He would absolutely try and limit the amount of pain that he caused others, because he's been through so much himself that he would hate himself if he ever became the reason that they felt the same way he had.

I think there's something to write about the types of race that lockwood and reader would belong to, since Tauriel and Kili are of two races that despise each other (for anyone not familiar with Tolkien's works, when I say race I mean what they are as a species, e.g. elves, dwarves, men, etc.). Lockwood I'm torn about what race he would be. My initial instinct is to class him as an elf, since he has the face and charm for it, but I also think that elves try and avoid anything that will cause them harm (since it will kill them), whereas Lockwood actively throws himself into harm, both physically and emotionally, even if he tries to hide the emotional part (he's often unsuccessful). Similarly elves are wise beyond all others, and while Lockwood definitely has a brain and his wits about him, he can also be stunted by his emotions (just look at what happens when Lucy does anything). That makes me want to place him more in the race of men, since they share attributes with the elves in some ways, but allow emotion to control their lives more freely than elves appear to.

I have no idea if any of that last paragraph made sense (and I would like to make it known that I haven't read the Hobbit in a good few years, and this is based off of what I can remember from that and the films (which are different to the books)), but essentially what I'm trying to say is that Lockwood is either an elf or a human and I can't decide which, and the reader is of a race that despises his (because I think it works better). If they have a sort of star-crossed lovers theme going on, then it makes the impact of those two lines even stronger, because they were never meant to have it in the first place. (I have other thoughts on Romeo and Juliet so don't get me started)

They were born into species that hated each other because of a slight that happened in the past, and loved each other anyway, regardless of the consequences, and I think that there is something beautiful about that.

Say what you want about star-crossed lovers, if it's done correctly, then it's brilliant. Is it done too much? I don't know. But I want to write one anyway because Lockwood in Middle Earth is not something I was aware that I needed until this evening.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk guys (not that I'm entirely sure what the topic was other than lockwood in middle earth).

#middle earth!au #lockwood and co #anthony lockwood #lockwood & co #anthony lockwood x reader #lockwood x reader #anthony lockwood x you

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thecarnivorousmuffinmeta · 7 months

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This is a follow-up question of "On the Nature of Adaptations" meta post. (https://www.tumblr.com/thecarnivorousmuffinmeta/646041627313553408/i-used-to-be-obsessed-with-percy-jackson-when-i) In the post, you said: "A lot of stories and backdrops are not appropriate for an intended audience or will need cultural translation. Many stories do this. Disney, for example, I believe does it quite well. They removed almost all of Hercules’ myth in the movie and made Hera and Zeus loving parents, The Little Mermaid film is very different from the original story though still quite good. I am not against adaptations, however, I do think we should acknowledge they are adaptations." May I ask: what sort of "cultural translation" is understandable? i.e.: what makes you enjoy Disney's Hercules but not Percy Jackson series? Pardon me if this example is wacky, but my point being: what's the difference if they are both not that faithful to the source material? I understand different media has its different limitations so sure, I can understand why Dinsey's Hercules is the way... Disney's Hercules is. But why "no" to Percy Jackson? What's the line here? P.S.: To clarify, I am not a mega fan or mega defender of Percy Jackson, plz don't get me wrong. The reason I am sending this ask is bc your "What Disney song would represent Twilight main cast?" post. I am honestly glad that you mentioned three of Disney Hunchback's songs. Not just Hellfire, but three. Thank you Muffin for not shitting on Disney's Hunchback for... *cough* "not being faithful to the source material." Thank you. So plz take this ask like, I kinda want to justify my love for Disney's Hunchback personally. Thank you again.

Why I Don't Like Percy Jackson.

I guess I should get this out before the show is released and tumblr is overtaken by Percy.

To avoid getting into a whole rant about adaptations, when they work and when they don't, and why it's okay to be unfaithful to the source material or even the spirit of the source material even when Harry Potter fans are upset that not every little detail of the books made it into the films and how dare they cut this character who only had one line! I'll just say how I personally view it.

It boils down to "is the thing good". That's it, that's all I want out of my adaptations.

The Shining film was a slap in the face to The Shining novel, King infamously hates the film, mostly because Kubrick took basically just the setting, the character names, and the very basic plot and uh completely changed everything else. Still a great movie, one of my favorites.

Ghibli adaptations tend to have next to nothing in common with the source material they're based on, they still tend to be very good films.

The Lord of the Rings Peter Jackson films are fantastic, they do not take every detail from the book and even drop a few major plot points for runtime/plotline reasons (such as the enslavement of the Hobbits by Saruman).

For me an adaptation should be able to stand on its own and be enjoyable, even if it diverges from its source material. If you can do that I'm happy with you. If you can't, you bore me, or you make the source material worse/more boring.

Justifying your love for Hunchback's a different post, suffice to say for me, I find it a great film (admittedly with some issues) with a fantastically evil villain.

#about this blog #meta #opinion

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stelly38 · 9 months

Text

LOLOLLLL

I copy/pasted this from Buzzfeed. Dated March of 2015. It's the kind of piss-taking I can totally get behind. They claim they got drunk and had this conversation... this was basically my inner monologue while watching the series completely sober.

Everyone Is Talking About “Poldark” So We Got Drunk And Watched It

Because, you know, Aidan Turner.

If Sunday night Twitter is anything to go by, however, Poldark is mostly a showcase for the brooding charms of Aidan Turner – an unreasonably sexy man last seen being an unreasonably sexy dwarf in Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy – here playing the facially and emotionally scarred Ross Poldark with an unreasonably sexy intensity.

This week we (Daniel Dalton and Hannah Jewell) watched the first two episodes of the show. Here's what we learned.

Daniel Dalton: Had you heard about the show before we watched it?

Hannah Jewell: I knew nothing about this show, other than the fact that it was arousing the middle-aged women of Britain quite effectively.

DD: I knew nothing either. Insert period drama here. I didn’t even know there were books. Shall we start with a plot summary?

HJ: This is a show about dangerous cliffs and even more dangerous men.

DD: This is a show about buying a mine, sexily.

HJ: This is a show about responsible agricultural landownership, but sexy.

DD: This is a show about the one sunny weekend in Cornwall. With sexy results.

DD: Okay, so to summarise, Ross Poldark – Aidan Turner – has been fighting a war and everyone thinks he’s dead and then he comes back all sexy and his ex is about to marry his cousin, who is a proper wet fish.

HJ: And cliffs.

DD: There are three clifftop scenes in the first 10 minutes. Happy cliff, sad cliff, horseback cliff. I lost count after that...

HJ: Pretty sure there was another sad cliff shortly after the horseback cliff.

DD: This is a show about gazing wistfully from clifftops.

HJ: He gets back and his dad is dead and his estate is worthless. He wants to get a loan but no one will lend to him. Poor, sexy Poldark.

DD: It's really hard to get a loan these days, to be fair.

HJ: What year was it set?

DD: Like, 2014 I think. Or 2013. The recession hit everyone pretty hard.

HJ: OK, so it's the 1780s. I googled it. I feel like the whole thing is hinged around this utterly unconvincing love triangle. Like, 'I wonder who she’ll end up with – the wet fish or the dark, rugged, passionate one the show’s named after?'

DD: They put a lot of effort into lighting Aidan Turner's magnificence, and forgot about dramatic tension. I got up to get whiskey every time they talked about arranged marriages or mining. Honestly, any time Poldark wasn’t on-screen I kinda zoned out.

HJ: You kept checking Twitter.

DD: Yes.

HJ: What does Twitter have that Poldark doesn’t?

DD: Personal validation. Everything about Poldark makes me feel terrible about myself. He’s so handsome.

HJ: I may not have been paying attention the whole time either. Mostly I was assessing our whiskey situation.

DD: Here are some questions I had: How does he keep his stubble so on point? In TV, why is it always so easy to rip sheets? Am I just weak? Why does no one in film ever eat quietly? I wanted to stab out my eardrums with a fork. Also, in period dramas, how do they all learn the dance? Is there just one? Do they have a seminar? These are the things I was thinking about while watching Poldark. I was pretty Poldrunk.

HJ: Polsame.

DD: Loldark.

HJ: OK plot. Poldark arrives back in town and of course the wedding is in a fortnight. They would have done it immediately, or in a month’s time, but then they wouldn’t have been able to say “the wedding’s in a fortnight”. It’s the most tragic amount of time. Also, this is why you should never remarry when your lover dies in war. Because they always surprise you later, being alive and well and ruggedly handsome. Every time.

DD: Just never leave, or if you leave, never come back. Or just never love anyone. Love is the worst.

HJ: Remind me to never run through a meadow upon a cliff by the sea at sunset – you’re just asking for future plot trouble.

DD: And for some reason everyone was obsessed with mines. I was like, ‘Wait! Is this a show about a guy getting a mine?’ I felt like I’d been tricked into watching a show about mining by Aidan Turner’s eyebrow game.

HJ: He’s like a sexy venture capitalist. But instead of the next Tinder clone, he’s got like, a shit mine.

DD: And still he stayed and tried to make a go of his mine. The most implausible part was that he didn’t want to leave Cornwall.

DD: Aidan Turner might be a good actor, but I have no idea. He walks around being moody about things. And sexy. He always looks like he forgot what he went into the room for. The answer is always sexiness.

HJ: Man loves to stare out a window. He knows his angles. And his retorts. Poldark loves a zinger.

DD: He does. And he loves hammering things. And building walls with his bare hands. And carrying fairly light bales of straw. He’s a saint. A saint I tell you. Sexily sainting around, with his saintly eyebrows.

HJ: I wanted more Aidan Turner. I felt like I’d been promised more. There was a bit when he was swimming and I was like “OH YEAHHH HERE HE IS ALL NEKKID AND SWIMMING” but it was too far away. And only for like, two seconds.

DD: Even I wanted more. Polboner.

HJ: Like zoom in, BBC. Zoom in. Fuck.

DD: What about Elizabeth?

HJ: Again, it’s like, I see you, I see your proportionate facial structure, I see your ample bosom, I see your forbidden glances, but in the end I’m still like, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

DD: So her whole deal is she used to be with Poldark and now she’s with his cousin, whasisname.

HJ: Francis.

DD: I felt Poldark could do better, to be fair. She seems nice. But also, like, how are you just gonna go ahead and marry his cousin? Poldark is so goddamn sexy. Everyone’s loins would be ablaze at all times in his presence. Her dad would be like, “You better fuck Poldark before I do.”

HJ: It's like a gun in a Chekhov play: If you have a man this sexy in a costume drama, he has to get laid.

HJ: Why was it always sunny in the late 18th century?

DD: They filmed it on August bank holiday. Everyone knows that it’s the only sunny time of the year.

HJ: This would all be much more believable if it rained, like, once. They’re probably saving up the rainy scene for when they do sex. That’s how sex works, see.

DD: Everyone sounds like Hagrid. "Yer a wizard, Poldark." Actually that would have been a better show. Everything is hyper glossy and luscious. It looks like Broadchurch. Like Broadchurch: The Poldark Years.

HJ: Why are Poldark's servants constantly boning? SERVANT MAN CANNOT STOP FUCKING HIS SERVANT WIFE.

DD: There was nothing else to do in the 1780s. You were either fucking or gazing wistfully from clifftops, into distances, etc.

HJ: The servants are like, “Hey, how many stereotypical places can we fuck?” so far they’ve done 1) haystack, 2) meadow.

DD: Maybe they have a checklist. A fucklist. A fuckitlist.

HJ: Being wealthy in the 1780s just meant strolling forlornly through some hedgerows being pursued by a nervous man named Francis.

DD: Wait, who is Francis?

HJ: His cousin. Fishface.

DD: Oh, fuck that guy. I genuinely thought Ross was going to murder him in the mine. “Here, cousin. Come down this mine with me. Let me murder you, in the face. With sexiness.”

HJ: “Maybe we can find you a stronger chin down here.”

DD: Then he tries to drown him. Bit of drowning never hurt anyone.

HJ: Like, you grew up in Cornwall and you can’t swim mate.

DD: His lack of ability to swim is odd because he’s such a wet fish.

HJ: Then there was the maid.

DD: Demelza. They kept calling her "the child" like she’s not the same age as them.

HJ: She’s like, 23. The second she turned up I knew she’d be well fit under all that grime, and that it was only a matter of time before they boned.

DD: Yes. She’s a redhead. Of course she was going to turn out gorgeous. After an angry bath.

HJ: By the fourth episode he'll be like, “I’m such an egalitarian that I *suppose* I'll fuck this hot redhead even though she's a bit poor.”

DD: “Society may be prejudiced against your poverty, but my dick sure ain’t.”

HJ: But no. No sex for her. Not yet anyway.

DD: Just a frolick or two. She had a bath then frolicked in a meadow. There’s really nothing else to do in Cornwall if you're not fucking and you don’t like cliffs.

DD: Speaking of which, there was distinct lack of boning in this.

HJ: Absolutely. Like in this even the IMPLIED boning is rubbish. The best we got was when Francis touches Elizabeth’s shoulder for a second, but it cut away immediately. Not that I would have wanted to see THAT sex.

DD: Imagine fucking that guy.

HJ: He’d just stare at you, stroking himself with two hands.

DD: If this were HBO it would be bone central. Wall-to-wall boning. Cliffs and boning.

HJ: There were THREE potential sex scenes in the second episode and they were ALL cut away from.

DD: What channel is this on again?

HJ: CBeebies.

DD: Clearly this is an issue. Someone needed to fuck. On camera.

HJ: There’s the bit where Poldark was in town and Elizabeth was also in town and she just handed him a pile of linens she had purchased and their hands kinda touched and that’s supposed to pass for sex in this show.

DD: Fuck hands. I wanted their crotches to touch.

HJ: I wanted to see some full-on dick.

DD: We’re terrible people. Maybe Poldark is fine, and it’s us that’s awful.

DD: Honestly, I don’t even know what the big deal is about this show.

HJ: Me neither. I felt like I needed a murder or a boob to keep me going.

DD: Game of Thrones has ruined us. Without murders or boobs, what is there? I’m so unengaged. This is just a bunch of people being miserable near cliffs. I’m not sure I can recommend this.

HJ: If it just had a believable romance.

DD: All it has is Aidan Turner. Maybe that’s all it needs.

HJ: Yeah, to be fair, by the end I was like, ‘Ohhhh, I get it now.’ I was also drunk.

DD: I mean. I'm going to keep watching it. Because Aidan Turner. Obvs.

HJ: Obvs.

#poldark bbc #taking the piss #lololol #period drama #yes to all of this

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thephantomcasebook · 11 months

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i read a theory that emma d arcy is right now in spain because she will join rhaenys at rooks rest fight

i am seriously so pissed if thats true

like why are house of dragon writers so biased towards black team????!!! Why do u want green team to be one dimensional villains whereas black team are just one dimensional good people, heroes?

In the books, there was a good and bad side to characters. I loved how rhaenyra and aegon were balanced out in the book. And now the show makes everything about gay tension between alicent and rhaenyra. When there is so much more depth to be explored within these great character stories ;((

This might not seem like an answer to your question.

But it is on a fundamental level.

And this is important.

When you are a showrunner, especially a showrunner of a large franchise genre show, you have to give the air of confidence that you know what you are doing. Because, if you don't, than the studio will note you to death, because, they don't trust you to do the job. Especially if they're shelling out a shit ton of money and riding a lot of the future of their company on your success.

Ryan Condal, while a pretty good writer, that guy ... his inability to get production off the ground and missing several deadlines to do so, is why Rhaenyra is now breaking canon by fighting in battles. Cause, I guarantee you, that was a studio note by some fuck head executive who doesn't understand why they're spending all this money for "Strong Female Character" to sit around and do nothing while "Older Strong Female Character" get's her fucking ass handed to her and gets a good chunk of the "Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity" army destroyed by three White Men.

Any other showrunner would be able to tell the studio executives why Rhaenyra isn't at the battle, why she won't be fighting, and why the story is playing out as it is. But, because, Condal couldn't even finish scripts on time and produce coherent story arcs from the disastrously fucked up 1x08 - 1X10. The studio had to step in and basically hold the budget hostage till their demands are met while their people got the show off the ground.

Example:

There is a very, very, reliable source that claims that Sara Hess and another female writer were given a very pivotal episode to write in Season 2. They did four - FOUR! - Drafts of this script and it was getting progressively and progressively worse the more they worked on it. Eventually, in the 11th hour, GRRM himself, came in, took it from them, and quickly rewrote the episode personally - almost from scratch - and turned in just at the studio deadline.

This is what happens when you have chaos in pre-production. If the Studio has to come in and fix things personally, then they take your show from you and run it from a corporate board room.

This exact thing happened to "The Hobbit" movies. Peter Jackson was only a Executive Producer on the films. Guillermo Del Toro was supposed to be the director. However, because, of pre-production chaos and Del Toro leaving. Jackson had to come in and direct a production that was completely studio controlled at that point. Thus, we get Elf/Dwarf love triangles, gross out humor, and a trilogy of movies rather than two.

Sum it for me Bobby B!

youtube

#House of the Dragon #Game of Thrones #The Hobbit #Ryan Condal #Sara Hess #George RR Martin #Warner Brothers #HBO #Rhaenyra Targaryen #Anti-Rhaenyra

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magnorious · 2 months

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Eowyn and the "Strong Female Character" debate

In the ongoing argument about Strong Female Characters (SFCs), the usual poster-women of “characters no one ever complains about” are the strong badass women from classic movies, like Elen Ripley, Sarah Connor, Princess Leia, and Trinity. Modern SFCs no one hates include Wonder Woman, every female character in Last Airbender, a handful of Marvel women like Gamora, Nebula, Agent Hill, Black Widow, and *some* of the heroines from teen dystopian fiction like Katniss Everdeen.

The attention paid to the women of Lord of the Rings goes, “Galadriel is a badass in her own right and the movies could have had more women, but the women we do have are great.”

And, yes, I agree, but I want to look at Eowyn in particular and answer this question: Would Eowyn, written exactly the same, in the exact same story, be criticized by today’s audiences? We’re looking at movie-Eowyn, not book Eowyn, for familiarity’s sake.

Eowyn looks a lot like the terrible so-called “strong female characters” modern audiences hate from modern movies. She’s strong, she’s skilled, she’s smart, she’s capable, and her whole story is about overcoming the stigma against women warriors and joining the battle in the end, and killing the great evil Witch King that “no man can kill” by virtue of having a uterus. She’s also one of… I think five named women in the cast, Arwen, Galadriel, Eowyn, Freida (little villager girl), and Rosie (the hobbit bartender).

She checks so many boxes, she’d have to fail in a movie written today, wouldn’t she?

I love Galadriel and Arwen and I love the argument around them—that SFCs don’t need to act like men to be considered strong. They don’t need to be physical warriors, they can champion their femininity and that in itself makes them strong. Their wisdom and compassion and wits, not just their muscles.

Eowyn, though, is a warrior through and through. She literally goes “I am no man,” as she stabs the Witch King, a line specifically and implicitly subverted by Wonder Woman in her debut solo film during the No-Man’s Land scene when it’s softballed to her with the line “It’s No-Man’s Land, that means no man can cross it.”

Surely, a 2024 Eowyn would be ripped apart…. Right?

—

Getting this out of the way first: Every character is written with depth and nuance, including the women, and, thus, no character feels like an agenda with a face taped to it. So already Eowyn has a leg up on so many other terrible releases lately. But let’s take it piece by piece here.

Eowyn is one of three prominent women in the cast

Yes, no arguing that. Why? “Because it’s fantasy and the author is sexist-” no. This is an author who lived through the World Wars, from a time period without women soldiers. Young men and boys being ripped away from home to never see their sisters, daughters, wives, aunts, mothers, best friends ever again is what he lived through and what this story is saturated with.

Could there have been scenes of prominent women nurses, or lady elves at the Council of Elrond or any member of the Fellowship? Yeah, sure, but it’s not at all a lack of women because Tolkien discounted women warriors. This cast is hefty enough, these movies are long enough, and they’re based on a book that’s almost 100 years old.

Eowyn is objectified by male characters and trapped in a love triangle

Yeah… the love triangle bit was weak. However! Eowyn was never bitter over Arwen and didn’t know she existed until Aragorn tells her basically, “yeah, I love her, but I’m guaranteed to never see her again,” so… can you blame Eowyn for holding out hope? It doesn’t at all define her character either, and she likes Aragorn not because he’s Protagonist Boy but because he’s a high-ranking, noble man who doesn’t bat an eye at her desire to join the war effort. She then gets Faramir, so, win-win.

Grima objectifies her, but Eomer, her brother, Aragorn, and Theoden, her uncle, all defend her. Eomer gets banished under punishment of death for standing up for his sister (among other things). She’s not the butt of jokes or slights or innuendos. No soldiers look at her with lust and desire. No one degrades her or belittles her or mocks her for being a woman. Nowhere do the writers get to satisfy their own sexism by writing in gratuitous insults and slurs against her.

Eowyn is repeatedly told to run from the fight and hide with the other women

Theoden has no living siblings and his only son dies off-screen. Eomer is (I think) older, but he’s busy being a general. Eowyn is Theoden’s best chance at an heir to the throne and he can’t let her get killed on the battlefield. Eowyn being told to hide is strategic, not sexist. Not only that, she may be competent enough with a sword, but she can’t have trained as well as the battle-tested soldiers to not be at risk in a nasty battle.

Also, at the rate men are getting killed on the battlefield, sending too many of your women off to war risks so much collateral damage.

Even putting strategy aside, Theoden loves his niece, loves her strong and pure and good soul, and doesn’t want to see it destroyed in the fog of war. All he wants is to see her smile again, so he can give her a world and a future worth smiling for. War is the “realm of men” not because they’re male, but because it’s a horrible, terrible, violent, depressing, scary place to find oneself in, and he’s trying desperately to protect her from it. Eomer tells her this explicitly in a deleted scene, that they’re only trying to spare her some horrific trauma.

When Eowyn does finally see real battle up close, she’s rightfully horrified and terrified and out of her depth during the battle for Minas Tirith. She’s not riding into war all smug and overconfident, and she’s not magically a better fighter or rider than the rest of the cavalry.

Eowyn constantly complains about being looked down on for not being a man

She’s not allowed to be a soldier, yes, but women of Rohan aren’t treated as lesser by the men. She’s not being teased or mocked, her station as the crown princess is uncontested, being relegated to the caves with the women isn’t seen as a time-out, but a necessity to make sure all the vulnerable non-combatants don’t get murdered and the entire kingdom of Rohan doesn’t get exterminated in one night.

She herself isn’t putting other women down for not wanting to fight, or putting men down to make herself look better. No one is telling her she can’t be a soldier because she’s weak and womanly. If she was Denethor’s kid, he’d be singing her praises right next to Boromir (within the context of movie Denethor, at least). She wants to fight, not because she hates her own femininity, but because “women of this country learned long ago that those without swords can still die upon them”.

Eowyn single-handedly kills the Witch King because Woman

Actually, Merry stabs him in the leg to distract him first, giving Eowyn a few seconds to breathe and surprise him. The legend goes that “no man can kill the Witch King,” but it’s not meant to be the fault of men and instead the arrogance of the Ring Wraiths. These nigh-immortal spirits are so cocky and overconfident they don’t even register women on the list of potential threats, to their own doom. The legend also didn’t specify no Elves, Dwarves, or Hobbits, since “Man” is a race, not just a gender.

The Witch King is the Witch King because he was seduced by a shiny ring and a lust for power by Sauron. The “power of womanhood” isn’t the point, it’s the overinflated ego of the Witch King that is his downfall.

So Eowyn’s “I am No Man” is as much a “yay feminism” as it is a dig at his arrogance. It’s the fulfillment of this line by Galadriel: “Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.” Frodo is small in stature and worldly presence, and Eowyn is small in prowess and authority.

*headcanon that Sauron also hates the Nazgul and wrote in that little clause for the Witch King so he could get the last laugh on these snot-nosed, so-called “kings of men”.

—

So would Eowyn be panned by today’s audiences? No, I don’t think so. Another well-written woman who wants to learn swordplay and join the men’s war, and kills an unkillable witch king is Arya Stark. That “victory” went over like a box of rocks and no one hates Arya for it.

You can write women warriors in a no-women-allowed fantasy land. You can write them championing feminism without cramming an agenda down your audience’s throat, or insulting the audience for presumed bigotry. You can write women who kill the Witch King through a prophetic loophole. You can write them in a love-triangle and give them all the “women empowerment” speeches you want.

She is still feminine. She’s still nurturing, still has her wardrobe of pretty dresses, still sings at her cousin’s funeral and pines after men she absolutely deserves. She’s also a terrible cook and independent and not afraid to put creepy men in their places. She has flaws, she’s humble, she’s shown having fear. She’s not built up by stepping on her male counterparts, and her big moment isn’t detracted by Merry going “Wow! A woman! Who’da thunk it?”

#lord of the rings #eowyn #strong female characters #female characters #feminism #retrospective

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vroomlesbianvroom · 2 months

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Your Harry Potter posts are a bit strange. I re-read the books recently as well, and yeah, they're not as perfect as I thought they were when I was 10, go figure.

But I think it's very easy to see what made them appealing still. For all the gaps and flaws in the logistics of her worldbuilding, the atmosphere she creates is just so strong. The books are easy and fun to read, never get boring, and always have cool mysteries woven in. Nothing super unique, but still, how can you just not see those things at all anymore?

Also "it doesn't make any sense, they have one teacher per subject but not enough teachers for a whole week of classes" or whatever - I'm sorry, nobody reads books like this. Especially children's books about wizarding school. This does not matter!

I know we're all angry and maybe even heartbroken by Rowling deciding to use her remaining time, money and influence to fight against trans liberation. And I know it would be easier to reconcile our feelings about what she does these days with our memories of the books if they just turned out to magically have been terrible all along, and every human on earth was just very stupid in the late 90s and 00s I guess.

But it's just not true. And that desperate grasping at straws to paint this book series as abysmal just looks strange from the outside.

I understand that people will have completely differing views on many book series, Harry Potter being a main one.

I, personally, believe that a good children's book should be able to stand the test of time. You should be able to read them at 10 and again at 30 and still think they're just as good. To put the lack of world-building, the plot holes, and general errors down to it being a kid's book is insane. The recommended youngest age to read The Deathly Hallows is between 9-12 (depending on child development), the recommended youngest age to read The Return of the King or the Hobbit is 11. Those two books cannot be compared in terms of world building and development.

Obviously, the teachers is not a major problem and most people wouldn't notice. But, I do read books like that and it's one of those things that just irritates me. Mainly, because it had such an easy fix. She just had to offhandedly mention other teachers. Most of the plot-holes had easy fixes.

The entire plot stems on Harry Potter surviving the killing curse. The entire book series only exists because this happened. J.K. Rowling's description of how and why this happened doesn't make sense.

Her world-building isn't good. There's three (or four) magical locations (that we know of) in Great Britain. Hogwarts (and Hogsmede, I don't know if they'd count as separate places), The Ministry, and Diagon Alley. That isn't a community, it doesn't account for the amount of magical people in Great Britain.

Her character development isn't great outside of the main three and a few side characters. Her descriptions and building of the past is almost non-existent. Her character naming is shoddy at best.

There are a lot of plot-holes or magical logic that just doesn't make sense. And I can say that without it having a single thing to do with J.K Rowling's personal or political opinions. You also can't separate the art from the artist in cases like this when she still makes money from it. I have a film degree (theory and productions) and some of my favourite directors we learnt about were atrocious human beings, but, I can still talk about their work putting what they did aside.

There are good parts of her books, the story is good. It is easy to follow and fun to read. But that doesn't make up for all the issues in the books.

#harry potter #jk rowling #anti jk rowling #that ones just there so people can avoid this #if wanted

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ana-chronista · 3 months

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🖤💉✈️⭐️🌺 please? :)

Thank you for the asks!

🖤 favorite hobbies outside of your blog Writing is a big one (of course), as is reading. Tolkien and Terry Pratchett are both favourites of mine, and more recently I’ve been reading a few books by Emily St. John Mandel and would definitely recommend them! I’ve been gaming for years, especially RPGs. I’m currently getting started on another playthrough of Stardew Valley (because really you’re never done with that game and this is my ‘evil’ playthrough) and trying out the Final Fantasy VII remake. I’d like to get back into jewellery making, it’s been a while since I’ve had the time (and space!) for it but it’s nice to do something creative that’s a bit different. 💉do you have tattoos and/or piercings A couple of ear piercings. No tattoos (yet? Never say never!) but mainly because I haven’t ever been able to decide on one particular design to stick to! ✈️ favorite place you’ve travelled New Zealand! I travelled around both islands for a few weeks several years ago and absolutely loved it. A couple of things I’d recommend:

The Waitomo Cave on the North Island is very famous, but my favourite of the three around there was actually the Ruakuri Cave; we had a guide who had worked on the excavations and was really passionate about the subject, so it was really interesting. You can also go black water rafting through it!

Obviously lots of Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit related tours are on offer, and as a Tolkien fan I enjoyed that. Of all of it though, the Weta Workshop near Wellington where the props etc. were made was the best, and it’s fascinating to see how all these special effects are achieved for TV/film even if you’re not big on Tolkien as they cover a lot of different projects.

The penguin sanctuary at Dunedin, especially learning about the inter-penguin dramas going on!

Overall though just a really lovely place to visit – it’s a beautiful country and everyone seemed very friendly and laidback (at least compared to where I come from, so it was a good change of pace).

The other two are a bit longer so I placed them under a cut...

⭐️ what is one of your biggest accomplishments? Why is it so important to you? I was the first person in my family to go to uni. Lots of people have that same achievement, but for me personally it meant so much because I’d worked so hard for it and still had really strong doubts I’d ever manage it. I definitely wouldn’t be the same person today without it because of the self-confidence it gave me, and for me personally it was definitely one of the best things I’ve ever done. 🌺 what is the best gift someone has ever given you and why is it so important This is very random, and something very normal, but a towel turban. It was a Christmas present from my SO a few years ago – we’d been together all of five minutes, and what do you buy for someone when you’re still getting to know them? I hadn’t actually seen these before but after a conversation about why I always wrapped my hair in a heavy towel after a shower, my SO went and researched and found one for me as a surprise. It was just something really lovely and thoughtful because I could use it every day, and especially because it came from someone who’s never had long hair nor had anyone in their family with long hair to know about it beforehand. I’m now on towel turban number 3, all gifted by my SO, and still referred to as “the best thing I ever bought you.”

#ana answers

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tarisilmarwen · 1 year

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Hi Tari, I remember there was once upon a time a video that brought the whole “Why couldn’t the Fellowship just have the Eagles carry then to Mount Doom so Frodo can drop the One Ring into it” argument.

One argument it brought up goes something like and paraphrase here “Is really the whole ‘Frodo and Sam split off from main Fellowship and go to Mordor in a sneaky fashion plan the best one they can come up with, because you can’t count the amount of times the two got spotted, captured, injured or all of the above. For everyday it takes to get there on foot, thousands of lives are probably being lost. It was only by dumb luck that plan worked at all”

Do you have any rebuttals to that argument?

As I already pointed out in multiple posts re. the eagles, they simply do not fly far when carrying passengers and you would still have to get within feasible range of Mordor (by walking) to utilize them. Or use them in short burst all down the Misty Mountains which would get them spotted by Saruman's crebain spies and then probably ambushed while they camped to let the eagles rest.

More to the actual point of the complaint though, I wonder if this person actually read the books or watched the films because, ah, sending Frodo and Sam off alone to find the rest of the way to Mordor? Was most certainly NOT in the actual plans.

The Fellowship had intended to travel all the way to Gondor together. If they had even planned that far ahead. They were constantly having to readjust their plans and routes to avoid Saruman's Uruk-Hai forces and other bands of orcs. They tried the north mountain pass of Caradhras to avoid Isengard and wound up stymied by the weather, so they took a gamble through Moria to avoid having to go through Rohan which was way too close to Isengard.

That brought them out by Lothlorian so they took to the Anduin River to try to get some speed on the orcs and debated all the way down there which road to take once they reached the Falls of Rauros. Boromir wanted to go to Gondor, to Minas Tirith, to get reinforcements, Aragon obviously had some doubts and suspicions with that plan. The attack by the Uruk-Hai and Boromir making a play for the Ring decided things. Frodo decided it was safer for him to break off from the rest of the group, seeing as how the Ring was going to be seriously starting to corrupt them one by one. Sam stubbornly went with him out of sheer loyalty.

That left Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli on their own, unable to catch up to the hobbits, with Boromir dead and Merry and Pippin captured, on their way to Isengard where Saruman would learn pretty quickly they didn't have the Ring. Frodo and Sam were already out of reach. But any delay or distraction the three could afford them could only help.

So they go after the Uruk-Hai. Hope to stop them on the plains and keep the enemy confused about the actual possible location of the Ring. Hope to keep Sauron and Saruman's attentions in Rohan. Hope with a fervent foolish hope that Frodo and Sam can make it through to the end.

The whole point of Frodo and Sam breaking off from the Fellowship was that it was a massive unplanned Indy Ploy driven by unforeseen circumstances that they had no choice BUT to adopt, since the two were already too far ahead of them to catch up with. And Frodo had a very good reason for refusing additional aid along his path, having seen the Ring quickly corrupt Boromir's heart. He would not run the risk of that happening to more people along the way. He would have been very acutely aware of the Ring growing in power the closer they got to Mordor.

Tl:dr- No one planned on the whole, "Send two hobbits alone into the heart of enemy territory and pray it works." thing, shit just hit the fan and it wound up happening that way.

#askbox #lord of the rings #boromir #aragorn #frodo baggins #merry brandybuck #pippin took #sam gamgee #gimli #legolas #saruman

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