really enjoying this series

does the Oath of Feanor work as a magical compulsion, or does it have magical properties, and are its consequences real?

yes, because the magic of Arda is also based on words of power, and it would be dissatisfying and limiting to assume that somehow that power doesn't work in this specific instance. no, because even if Feanor is the one speaking, not even his power could bend the fate of elves to that extent. yes, because the fate of any one people can be bent, delayed, or weirdly modified until an oath is fulfilled; in LOTR, the ghosts of the path of the dead prove it. no, because Manwe and Varda would not feel bound to enforce an oath of death with them as witnesses, and it goes against the rules of oathing. yes, because the enforcer is Eru, they just stand as witnesses and do not have the power to release the swearers as Eru would. no, because we don't even know if Eru accepted that oath. yes, because if the oath was invalid from the start, it would be beyond callous of Manwe and Varda not to inform the swearers and allow the consequences of the oath to happen. no, because a magical compulsion would remove or to an extent at least lessen responsibility of actions taken in its pursuit. yes, because the author of the story acknowledges a certain "will" of the oath by making it wake or sleep with active verbs. no, because even swearing without additional magic on top can feel like a compulsion to do things or to keep going that otherwise would not exist or not be felt by a given swearer. yes, because no matter what the everlasting darkness is or does, it can be real independently from any other prior compulsion to act; in other words, there may not be a magical property to the oath, but its called consequences for the swearers are very real. no, because there's several slightly different versions of the oath across the texts, and it's impossible to do a literal, word for word reading of its lines if it's possible to recite it slightly differently at a given time. yes, because the only valid version is the original pronounced by Feanor in Tirion, you can't wiggle out of that one. no, because who's to say that was recorded correctly, it's far too poetic for a sudden decision. yes, because who's to say that Feanor couldn't whip out all that via improvisation, I bet he could. yes, because other characters beyond the sons of Feanor treat the oath as something absolutely serious and real, and that includes Finrod in speaking to Andreth, when he says that Eru's name is not called upon even in jest, as well as Melian, when pointing out the strong forces awakened by involving that power. no, because neither of them can talk to Eru anyway. yes, because it's narratively more satisfying to imagine characters morally struggle against something that is eventually unbreakable and unavoidable like in any good tragedy. no, because it's narratively more satisfying to imagine characters do it to themselves and compromise with who they are out of family loyalty. yes, because the curse of Mandos actively turns it against the swearers into a betraying force, a consequence that wouldn't otherwise be a given, that is, nothing says that everything they start well would have finished badly and that the oath would have led them to defeat, and if it weren't magical before Mandos' addition, it is now. no, because Amrod's death in a draft would prove it breakable through his (admittedly only guessed) desire to turn back. yes, because he still died in the process, aka the everlasting darkness claimed him for being an oathbreaker. no, because how is it possible that it's simultaneously unbreakable and broken. yes, because the fate of arda and that of elves is inscribed within the eternal paradox of everything being predicted and everything being free will, and that will never be solved, neither regarding the fate of the elves nor the oath of Feanor. no, because the oath is a narrative device. yes, because the oath is a narrative device. three hundred more lines.

hope this helps. hope it doesn't. your pick.

Holy shit… please…take this quiz…

Bonus internet points will be awarded to anyone who actually tries this exercise before voting.

Assume you need to get the spelling at least somewhat close, and if a character has multiple names, only one counts. Also, if a character doesn't have a canonical name, I'm sorry, but "that guy's wife" doesn't count.

For reference, if you can name the 9 members of the Fellowship, the eponymous Hobbit and his 13 dwarf buddies, 3 prominent women, and the guy who runs the Rivendell B&B, that's 27 characters right there. And you probably also know the name of a dragon.

For further reference, Tolkien Gateway has 637 (!!) pages dedicated to Third Age characters. (Don't click that link until you've voted, of course)

Edit: Your humble pollmaker gave this a try, and got as far as 73 before deciding she was too tired to keep trying to remember dwarf and Silm names. If you also want to share (and don't mind people being incredulous at your having forgot ____), pastebin allows you to paste text and share it for free. :)

disturbed by how little ppl acknowledge the secondary health risks of vampire bites. if your vampire lover is drinking your blood you MUST be up to date on your tetanus shot. puncture wounds are at especially high risk for tetanus infections. just because your partner was born in 1312 doesn’t mean you have to die like it.

moreover they should be prepping the bite point with an alcohol wipe.

and while I’m at it, I’ve noticed a blithe disregard for health & safety when it comes to blood pacts. can’t believe I have to say this but you should absolutely NOT be cutting your palm open with the pocket knife from your belt holster (??????)

if you’re expecting to be in a blood pact/oath situation please just pick up some sterile finger lancets from the pharmacy. cannot stress this all enough.

“Robot Story” del artista: Vaskange.

“Endless Robot Feelings” melodía: Por Adrien Melano.

A little piece of advice for Americans navigating what will be an increasing number of posts about US politics in the coming year:

If a post makes you feel angry, upset, and hopeless, while offering no actionable information, scroll on and don't reblog it. I know that is going to feel harsh in some cases. But it's important to spend your political energy on what you can actually do and not be sunk into helpless rage and despair that benefits no one.

Welcome to the blog of the AO3 Demographics Survey 2024!

We are an independent fandom research project whose goal is to perform a large-scale survey of AO3 users, asking questions about demographics, preferences and behaviours.

The survey is now running 1 Jan - 1 Feb 2024. Take part at https://forms.gle/2kt5J17ipzcAbnFY9

If you are interested in following along with the project, this is the place to do it! We will be making official announcements on our progress here, including any requests for public feedback.

If you have any other questions, please check our FAQ. If that doesn’t answer your question, the askbox is now open.

Reblog and put the species of the nearest stuffed animal

Standard fantasy RPG pantheon, except:

each god is also the patron of one of the setting's local city-states, and each city-state espouses their own version of the pantheon's org chart that positions their patron as King or Queen of the Gods. The gods themselves decline to weigh in on who's correct.

the god of war died in a bizarre trebuchet accident several decades previously; a coalition of other gods have been playing Weekend at Bernie's with their priesthood ever since, doing their best to answer their prayers with variable plausibility and success.

there are two separate gods of knowledge with two separate, non-overlapping cults. Each god's cult is apparently unaware of the other's existence. There's nothing obviously supernatural about this separation; they just never seem to bump into each other.

the supreme god of the Nice Pantheon of Goodness and Light and the supreme god of the Icky Pantheon of Evil and Darkness are clearly the same guy wearing two different hats. Most NPCs react to having this pointed out as though it's obviously absurd.

the obligatory Squiddy Alien Gods From Beyond The Stars are treated as just another branch of the pantheon alongside the usual faux-Greek deities. Nobody thinks it's at all odd that the god of thunder's sworn blood-sibling is a shapeless cloud of blazing eyes.

Re: making professional-looking PDFs, I use the freeware what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor Scribus, but I can't recommend it without caveats because I'm willing to do unreasonable amounts of tedious fiddling. It works well for me that I'm not looking for something else, though.

If you do try it, lemme know and I can talk you through some of the hurdles I had to overcome

(presumably in response to this)

Thanks for the info! I'll have a look at it sometime and see if the interface looks usable.

The Nine Alignments Unexplained Using Near-Incomprehensible Metaphors

Lawful Good: The alignment of the average head of state if you ignore literally everything they've ever done, said, or believed.

Neutral Good: Imagine a small child, then get drunk until your head child is 50% an actual child and 50% your deep emotional hangups over having wasted your youth, then consider the trolley problem.

Chaotic Good: Whatever moral advice the reanimated skeleton of Tony Hawk would give you between kick flips and rap battles.

Lawful Neutral: This one's easy, this is the alignment your spleen has.

True Neutral: Release an angry bear into a philosophy seminar, whichever side wins the subsequent spirited debate is True Neutral

Chaotic Neutral: Like if that weird carpet pattern that only existed in early 90s bowling alleys was capable of complex ethical stances.

Lawful Evil: What would happen if you taped a knife to the King of England

Neutral Evil: If the color gray felt emotions this would be the ethical nature of all its emotions

Chaotic Evil: You know how people used to think bad luck was caused by mischievous goblins? Like that if instead of "bad luck" it was "esoteric metaphysical arguments on the nature of existence"

I hope this antihelps!

I saw this neat video in the wild and thought tumblr would like it

A safe and cozy cave, perfect for a nap.

Ma’am it isn’t your sexuality I have an issue with. It’s your habit of magically guiding ships to break against the rocks. You’re creating a serious workplace hazard for the sailors out there.

Ten inessential worldbuilding features for local communities in your fantasy RPG:

A grievance or conflict of interest with a neighbouring community which the community's members feel much more strongly about than the issue's magnitude really warrants

A substance or commodity important to everyday life with no local source, and the complicated and inconvenient arrangement the community has made to obtain it from outside sources

A local practice or custom whose original motivation has been rendered obsolete by changing circumstances, and which is now carried forward out of tradition

Something that's technically illegal, but everyone does it on the sly anyway, with enforcement of its illegality being reserved for people the community's leaders want to mess with for unrelated reasons

An obscure piece of trivia or local history which the community's members regard as obvious and widely known, to the extent of treating outsiders with contempt for revealing their ignorance of it

Some undertaking or realm of achievement in which the community isn't particularly exceptional, but which the community's members believe they're the best around at as a point of civic pride

A mostly harmless thing that nobody talks about because its existence or some facet of its historical context is regarded as an embarrassment to the community

A particular prank that's become traditional to play on visitors to the community, and which occasionally gets taken further than is strictly appropriate

A specific area of the setting's history where what the community's members insist really happened is wildly at odds with the accepted version of events

A genuinely dangerous circumstance that everyone treats with casual disregard because it's always been there, and only a damn fool would actually get hurt by it anyway

Image dump of images previously hosted on discord, Cat edition