#EDIT: this doesn't fit w the silliness of the post but i just realized that the poor treatment of half-foots can be viewed | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

vermillioncrown · 2 years

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i want to say something adjacent to the post i reblogged, re: op's request and perspective for not wanting mdzs/cql meta tagged as 'worldbuilding' or 'lore'.

i almost didn't reblog it. not that i didn't empathize nor understand why that post was made, but it felt like... not my place to say since i didn't do meta.

but it made me realize the feeling it stirred up in me was the type of avoidance and deflection learned after years of growing up as diaspora, being treated as alien, learning how to laugh off and play ignorant to microaggressions and other off-color remarks just so i didn't 'rock the boat'.

first and foremost, if i was still doing that, i wouldn't have written dream before daybreak. i want people to know that no matter the humor, no matter the silliness, the inherent cringe and self-indulgence of writing an si: i wrote that because it made sense. the feeling of isolation, of being not quite right - isekai into something that didn't require handwaving to understand and survive because the culture should fit; and it doesn't. and it will never. it is analogous to my diaspora experience. no other piece of media ever felt quite right to write for - if you've seen my 'project: double bastard' tab, i've had naruto brain rot since middle school. that's nearly two decades. and yet it was this story that i found and immediately latched onto.

mdzs is a chinese story. sounds obvious, right? because a lot of us are writing in english, communicating with other english-speaking fans, you can say you know but your brain is very good at getting used to things. if this is not a conscious thing that you are looking out for, you will miss it if you're not chinese.

i am happy to interact w readers, write funny and absurd things, be a clown, make connections, all that. i also don't treat writing that seriously as a craft. i do treat the content of what i write with deliberation, though - no matter the spectrum of silly-to-serious, from an ask that's joking around to each chapter i publish. the cultural consideration is always there in everything i post for mdzs or svsss. it's overtly there for chinese-based media, and i can't hide even if i tried for everything else because that's who i am. i am diaspora chinese.

my writing can stand on its own without the cultural perspective (eh. maybe not with the bilingualism in dream before daybreak). you can still enjoy it. i've put it out there, it is free to read, no one can stop you. but this is from the mouth of the author: you will never understand or follow 100% why something is happening if you are unable or unwilling to recognize that the base media and my fanfics are chinese (chinese-adjacent) by nature. even in something as cracky as lorenz attractors resemble butterflies - especially for that fic. it's easier to forget because i'm not up in your face with the chinese phrases all the time. and it's the collective effort of all the readers willing to have fun with me, so it seems very light-hearted and for the lulz.

here's me telling you the effort it takes to write that fic, hell, the entirety of the 'endure through the night' series. every piece of dialogue is thought through for how it might sound in chinese. i need to carefully balance zyx's inner thoughts versus how they'd talk. mannerisms. how someone is thinking. i also can't help that i'm american, and have english essentially as my first language. i'm always catching myself through speed writes, editing my drafts, correcting my outlines because some shorthand or thoughts came out automatically from a western perspective.

i try to keep things civil and fun on my blog because frankly, i wouldn't have the energy to deal with a perpetual fight in something that's my hobby. however, this is an important fight, one that i'm part of regardless of choice. this post was written as-is, so it is likely not very concise and hard to follow. but i hope that if you took the time to read it, you guys can continue to have fun reading my work but also have more understanding of where it comes from. i believe that understanding can only lead to more enjoyment.

#redglyphs #no one has been overtly rude to me in this fandom #but living as someone 'different' doesn't require overt rudeness to feel unwelcome #and it gets fucking tiring #and moreso because of the fact you feel tired somewhere you should be able to call home #i will never become a meta blog #but am happy to provide my thoughts on a thing if people ask in good faith and are willing to learn #and also understand i'm not perfect and my voice is just one of many as well #... okay i think one weirdo was rude to me but that was more baffling than anything #opinionated verm

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tidalcreek · 3 years

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tumblr user @tashimione i would love to.

IN MY ARWEN UNIVERSE aragorn and arwen are lesbians and arwen is much more involved with aragorn’s plot because they are a dream team. tolkien knew arwen was an underdeveloped character so he literally cant blame me for this! for simplicity im going on what i would change about the movies so im also bound by that format and i am actively trying not to think about how long this post is gonna be. BUT what that au would look like is:

we still meet arwen for the first time in the 'ranger caught off (her) guard' scene, and arwen still takes frodo to rivendell because i think that's cool of her. this sets up a very collaborative and equal relationship between aragorn and arwen that will continue throughout the movies (i saw a post recently about how the scene where they discuss getting frodo to rivendell changes everything you thought you knew about aragorn from the beginning of fotr, and shows you she's Not actually a mysterious loner and she does rely on arwen as much as arwen does on her. which is a VERY sexy take)

arwen is at the council of elrond-- she doesn't join the fellowship but she's involved! she has a stake in this. also i think that she and legolas should have a silly little friendship

elrond gives anduril to aragorn in rivendell. i love the rotk scene as much as the next person but im changing this bc a) ive never liked that it makes aragorn's worthiness hinge on whether or not she has anduril, instead of her being given it at the beginning of the journey and having to grow into the kingship as she carries the symbol of it at her side. and b) the movie scene messes things up for this au so to rivendell it goes

we still have the scene where arwen gives aragorn the evenstar but with different dialogue-- we're gonna b spending more screentime on this dynamic so we are NOT going to knock out all their backstory with one scene. in fact we are not even going to let them talk about arwen choosing a mortal life-- elrond can allude to that in a side conversation with arwen before aragorn leaves rivendell, but it's not a choice that she's actually made yet

moving on from rivendell through the end of fotr, we have a flashback or two w material from the tale of aragorn and arwen so we know whats going on there (love story of all time). this is where we get actual setup of arwen's Choice that's going to drive her plot, and also more emotional setup of aragorn's kingship and her reluctance about it (we fit 'all that is gold does not glitter' in here perhaps?)

in the first half of two towers we have a couple more flashbacks or scenes to set up arwen's plotline in tt/rotk. we move the arwen/elrond tension from rotk to tt, but stop short of arwen Making Her Choice; instead she and elrond fight and she takes the army to helm's deep without his permission (knowing that she's only postponing her decision)

like i just think it would be neat if arwen came to helm's deep like pj was going to have her do. she can fight! if they were gonna add elves to that anyway she could at least have caught a ride from rivendell with them. she shows up leading the army and we have an aragorn arwen reunion and she makes friends with eowyn and she kicks some ass. she has a thranduil botfa moment of seeing all the death around her and contemplating Mortality, which sets up her rotk arc

rotk: in place of elrond bringing anduril to aragorn, we have an aragorn arwen scene where arwen decides she has to go back to rivendell and take the ship to valinor. it is heartwrenchingly sad and we all cry but we don't blame arwen for fearing death and we love aragorn for letting her go. aragorn takes the dimholt road and arwen sets off back to rivendell

now we have parallel scenes-- aragorn in the paths of the dead and arwen riding alone across the westfold. this is where arwen has her vision of old aragorn with their son (they can have lesbian biological kids fuck you). it's all extremely dramatic and a big moment on 2 fronts: aragorn claiming her title and kingship for the first time to summon the dead, and arwen realizing she's making the wrong choice and turning back around. both of them making choices that they can't unmake!

on the way back to the rohirrim arwen runs into ghan buri ghan (hi king) and secures the army's passage through the druadan forest (and to justify taking up screentime with this, the druedain probably join the rohirrim and go to gondor even though that's not really the point of them)

anyway arwen rides to gondor with the rohirrim and fights on the pelennor fields; aragorn gets there with the army of the dead; they reunite on the battlefield after the fighting ends and it is the most justified high romantic drama youve ever seen. this is where we finally get i would rather share one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone. and we parallel this with merry and pippin's reunion bc gay rights

i havent seen the extended editions in a while so i dont remember exactly what happens between pelennor and the march to the black gate. i think it's mostly houses of healing + aragorn looking in the palantir? anyway arwen is there

arwen rides to the black gate with everyone else and flies her own standard of evenstar thank you very much :) i think it would also be fun if she fired a warning arrow at the mouth of sauron instead of aragorn killing him (since thats like. a war crime?). in my mind arwen is the fiery one in the arawen dynamic and she's more likely to react impulsively to the mouth taunting them with the mithril shirt

anyway arwen charges the black gate with the others and the rest of the movie wraps up as it normally does except for arwen appearing at the coronation (instead she just finally gets to see elrond again which is great). and you get to be happy for aragorn and arwen with some EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT behind it because youve had THREE MOVIES of their backstory and intertwining arcs instead of the bare minimum scenes! this is so much and im deeply sorry i have lesbian arawen disorder!!

#THIS IS TOO MANY DETAILS!#there’s also versions of this where reforging anduril happens at a different time and arwen is more involved in that #this one is just my personal taste #lotr

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