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corroded-hellfire · 4 months

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A little blurb I came up with in honor of our High Lady’s birthday and the winter solstice. This is modern!eddie x reader who seem to bump heads when it comes to their respective fantasy series: Lord of the Rings & A Court of Thorns and Roses. Thank you to @big-ope-vibes and @fracturedarkness for reading this over for me 💖

Words: 733

Dustin lets himself into your apartment as he always does. One of the very first things you and Eddie learned when you’d moved in was to make sure the front door is locked if you didn’t want hordes of teenagers just busting in at all times of the day.

“I can’t believe you think that’s better!”

Dustin hears Eddie shout from your shared bedroom and the younger man sinks down into a kitchen chair with a groan. Maybe he could make an escape before either of you noticed he was there. It’s not like you could have heard him come in over the volume of your argument.

“God damn it, not this again,” Dustin mumbles to himself as he stands up.

He isn’t quick enough though. Eddie stomps out of the bedroom, you hot on his heels. You notice Dustin before your boyfriend does and throw him a quick, semi-forced smile before turning your attention back to your boyfriend. Eddie gives him a nod in greeting before your reply.

“You have no taste! Arwen sounds like the name of a hotel maintenance repair guy! My daughter will not have that name.”

Eddie scoffs and shakes his head.

“And what, your top pick is so much better?” Eddie spits out.

“Yes!”

Eddie lets out a humorless laugh. He closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Yet you say I’m the one with no taste?” he asks.

“Feyre is a beautiful name! What’s wrong with it?”

Eddie pulls out the old, worn blue chair that’s across the table from Dustin and plops down into it. He looks imploringly at one of his best friends, not even sure what he’s asking for. Backup? Agreement? Would either make a difference?

“What about Galadriel?” Eddie asks. “We’ll call her ‘Gal.’”

“That’s worse than Arwen!” you tell him as you walk to the fridge and grab a drink. Eddie opens his mouth to speak but you hold up a hand before he can get the words out. “If you say ‘Éowyn’ I swear to God you’re sleeping on the couch tonight.”

Dustin rolls his eyes as Eddie stands up again, taking a few steps closer to you.

“Éowyn sounds like that other name you suggested!” he argues.

“Amren?” you ask. Eddie nods and you shake your head. “They are entirely different names. And I think I’ve given you some great options.”

“Haven’t heard a good one yet,” Eddie says as he crosses his arms over his chest.

One hand slams your drink down before it rests on your hip while the other you hold up in front of your face so you can count off the names on your fingers.

“Morrigan, Nesta, Elain!”

“Uh, you know,” Dustin pipes up as he begins to stand, “Elain sounds pretty reasonable.”

“Gimme a second, Dustin,” Eddie says, waving a dismissive hand at his buddy. The shorter man just rolls his eyes and plops back down in his seat.

“Samwise!” Eddie hurls at you, upping his volume. “It could work for a boy or a girl! Call them Sam.”

“If we’re going with that, we might as well go with Rhysand! Call him Rhys!” you shout back.

“I see we’ve moved on to boys now…” Dustin mumbles to himself.

“Legolas!” Eddie barks.

“Cassian!” you snap back.

“Aragorn.”

“Azriel.”

“Boromir.”

“Lucien.”

Eddie smirks and you narrow your eyes at him suspiciously.

“What about Tam—”

“You shut your damn mouth,” you hiss, pointing a finger at him.

Eddie scoffs and opens his mouth, but before he can say anything, Dustin stands up, emanating a deep groan.

“You guys!” he yells, louder than both of you had been. It catches your attention and you and Eddie look over at him. “Will you two stop arguing over these names? Holy shit. You’re not even pregnant—you’re not having a baby! God damn it.”

Dustin shakes his head and walks towards the front door, clearly exasperated from just being in your home a few minutes.

“Maybe I’ll come back after you do have a kid and all this bullshit will be over,” he mumbles as he walks outside. The door reverberates as he slams it shut behind him.

A moment passes before you and Eddie tear your eyes from the door to meet each other’s gaze. Your boyfriend arches an eyebrow at you.

“So, the name Dustin is a no go?” he asks.

“A definite no.”

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x y/n #ACOTAR #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson fan fiction #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fic

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wordbunch · 1 year

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how the fellowship reacts to you singing...

a/n: this was requested - how the fellowship members react to you singing for the first time. It will include the fellowship boys + Faramir, because I adore him and he needs more love. let me know how you liked it! 💗💗💗 (it will be longer than you think lol)

+ tagging my beloved @entishramblings

ARAGORN

at first he wasn’t sure whether his ears were deceiving him

but he stopped and listened carefully, eventually realizing it was you

then all his attention went into listening to you

he very much enjoyed it, but waited for you to finish your little performance before saying anything (didn’t want to interrupt you, nor make you feel awkward)

he wouldn’t be giving you elaborate compliments and praise, just something short and to the point, but you’d see in his face that he genuinely loved it

he likes to listen to you sing, but also sometimes loves to join you and sing together!!!

wants to learn all the songs you know

💫

LEGOLAS

with his excellent hearing, he picked up on you humming tunes quietly as you walked, many times

and he found even that very pleasant

but when he heard you fully singing for the first time he had heart eyes, basically

he thought you have the most angelic, soothing yet powerful voice

he would never ask you to sing anything for him and wouldn’t want to push you, but he would enjoy it so much when you do

he wants to know where you picked up all the songs that you know

his absolute favorite thing is when you quietly sing while braiding his hair!!!!!

💫

GIMLI

an absolute fanboy of yours, openly

as soon as he hears you singing, he wouldn’t only divert his attention only to that...

but he’d make sure to point it out to everyone else as well

I diagnose him with singing off-key, butttt he still wants to share some dwarf songs with you, and you appreciate it

would be the kind of person to be like “now [Y/N] will sing something for all of us” skhssdhgsh

you know it’s all with the best intentions even if you feel self-conscious about your singing

but this guy right here would hype you up so much that eventually you wouldn’t even care how your voice sounds to others

💫

BOROMIR

he compliments the heck out of you (for singing and everything else)

however he would try not to openly praise you for it to everyone everywhere bc he doesn’t want to make you uncomfortable

keyword: he would try not to

he cannot sing so he appreciates your talent all the more

can’t help smilingggg whenever he hears you!

very grateful that you’re comfortable with sharing that part of yourself with him

if you ever actually sang in front of a crowd at some celebration or special occasion, this man would combust of pride

💫

FRODO

can’t help smiling as soon as he hears you, and he immediately recognizes that it’s your singing voice, even from further away

will sneakily approach you so as not to startle you

but he definitely wants to hear more

very curious about where you learned to sing and how you picked up all the songs

it’s a safe haven when you sing something to him, he will literally be in seventh heaven

loves to write and he would be beyond thrilled if you sang some poem that he wrote, but he wouldn’t actually ask you to

enjoys singing together with you

💫

SAM

is generally easily captivated by beautiful and magical things, your voice absolutely being one of them

will ask you countless times to sing again (but he will be quite shy about it every time)

gives you ideas on what you could sing about

he gives you cute little compliments but wishes he could express all that in a much more elaborate way

it brings him incredible joy to hear you singing from somewhere while he’s gardening

he swear it makes everything grow bigger and more luscious

God forbid anyone makes even a slightly negative comment about your singing, he is ready to throw hands

💫

MERRY

jaw drops to the floor when he hears your singing voice

this boy is captivated

smooth compliments that make you blush

why can I see him dancing/trying to dance to whatever you’re singing

potentially he’s not THE best singer out there but oh my does he love singing with you

especially spontaneously, out of nowhere

yes actually he would totally dance around when you sing, and he would dance around with you and spin you around until you’re so out of breath that you can’t sing anymore but instead just laugh heartily

💫

PIPPIN

generally worships the ground that you walk on, and that also implies all your talents and abilities

absolute heart eyes as soon as he hears you singing

(he already loves just listening to you talk, let alone anything else)

ADORES when you two sing together, but initially just a bit shy to suggest it, or to just spontaneously join you

will he come up with songs for you? absolutely

songs for you two to sing together? ABSOLUTELY

would never, in any way, push you to sing in front of everyone else, he actually enjoys it being like a lil thing between the two of you

💫

+ bonus FARAMIR

he heard your voice echoing in the Gondorian halls as you were carrying out some tasks

he was almost convinced it was a sound from heaven

but he followed the sound of it and found you!

you were a tiny bit embarrassed but he complimented you immediately

he finds it very relaxing when you sing to him and it’s so intimate to him

he will occasionally write poems and cautiously ask you whether you can make up some melody for them and turn them into songs

not the best singer, but loves to join you sometimes

💫

+ bonus bonus character GANDALF

“[Y/N], stop with the unnecessary noise, I am trying to think”

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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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lesbiansforboromir · 2 months

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Why do you think Aragorn as accepted as a King? They don't have blood tests to confirm his identity and he is not even from Gondor (was probally born here, but not raised)

Oh no Aragorn was not born in Gondor, canonically speaking he was born in the north amongst the northern dunadain and that is his cultural heritage. And not only that, Aragorn's claim to the throne is legally shakey at BEST. His only claim to the line of Meneldil (original King of Gondor after Anarion and Elendil's deaths) is through a female line, which used to be an accepted path to kingship in Numenor, but was since entirely discarded by both Gondor AND Arnor (so not even Aragorn's own direct ancestors agreed with letting women rule kingdoms) And a previous legal ruling on this PRECISE ISSUE decreed that Aragorn's ancestor DID NOT have a right to Gondor's throne. So yes it's a good question isn't it? There are two answers!

#1 Gondor is still a partial if not full theocracy. This is one of those aspects of the book that doesnt really make sense unless you understand all the character's actions through the lense of catholicism and religious faith in general. Aragorn is 'Estel' or 'hope', but when people say 'hope' in Middle-earth what they mean is faith etc.

In lotr meta-logic the divine right to rule is a real thing that actually exists, god (Eru) literally wants Aragorn to be king. The characters within the story are aware of this to varying degrees, Boromir being one of the few characters who properly disregards this and wishes to view Aragorn's claim on it's own merit. Even Denethor knows and understands that Aragorn is chosen by god, and he's very bitter and angry about it! (good for him). But in general, all other characters including all Gondorian lords are 'faithful' or 'elendili', and within this religion the only people who could be called 'priests', who can bridge the divide between man and god, are their Kings. So, religiously, if Aragorn IS sent by god to rule them, then they would be committing a kind of heresy to refuse him. And remember, god literally exists in Arda canonically and so therefore does sin and heresy, not just in a moral way but also in a literal like... fact of nature kind of way.

So when Aragorn arrives in Pelargir with an army of ghosts it gives Lord Angbor FAITH in him. When Gandalf, an angel literally doing god's will, is his friend and expressly supports his claim the other lords of Gondor also are inspired to have faith in him. Aragorn spends a good deal of time after the siege of minas tirith ticking divine checklists for 'guy who should be king', he is not making a legal argument for his right to the Gondorian throne, he is making a religious argument for his right to rule over the entire population of 'the faithful' which includes Gondor AND Arnor, destroyed or not.

There WOULD be discussion though! Not everyone in Gondor is dunadain and not everyone is faithful in the way that the dunadain are faithful. Culturally the northern and southern dunadain have been seperated for 3000 years and a lot of people would have issues with being ruled by someone so other to them, even if he had lived among them for 10 years (though that does help). But in the end the lords of gondor are almost all dunadain and they all have to abide by the tenets of their faith, or '''fall''' and become '''lesser men''' than even the rohirrim (terrible I know 🙄) so they really had no choice but to support Aragorn in the end.

However, reason #2

Minas Tirith's armies were absolutely decimated after a weeks long siege and war before that, and what few soldiers were left were exhausted and barely functioning. Aragorn arrived at their gates and broke the siege with a full army who'd only done ONE fight and told everyone he was king of Gondor. What was Imrahil gonna do, say no?

#chats #Anonymous #aragorn #erran vs tolkien

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is-actually-an-emo-hobbit · 10 months

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LotR Starbucks Orders

so I work at starbucks and I sometimes find it funny to think about, hey what would the fellowship's orders be? (and what kind of customers would they be as well?)

frodo is a chai latte lover all the way. Iced in the summer, hot in the winter, he's a regular and knows the names of the employees at the local starbucks. He always gets it with oat milk. the employees know it by heart. He's one of those customers that's there for hours, working tirelessly. (everyone's clocked him for what he is; a gay writer)

sam is a London fog tea latte kinda guy, with brown sugar syrup and two pumps of vanilla. the only exception is when it's really hot out, that's when he gets either a green tea lemonade or a strawberry açaí lemonade. He tips as generously as he can. He usually stays with Frodo and orders him chocolate croissants because "mr. frodo, you need to eat!" (the employees have bets on whether or not they're together, and if not, when are they going to get their shit together?)

merry needs his coffee frap with extra espresso and a grilled cheese, no matter what time of day. he's usually the one that pays for pippin's drink (he doesn't really care, he's got money to burn.)

pippin only wants his blended strawberry açaí lemonade if someone else is buying. otherwise he will only get cake pops (birthday cake and bumblebee because they're the most fun) and get made fun of by the employees behind his back. one time the hobbits were in a car with Gandalf and pippin had always made him buy his drink in the largest size just to frustrate him. so finally, Gandalf snapped and didn't order pippin's drink, but gave him a pup cup instead. (sam then took it away because pippin tried to snort it on impulse. merry and frodo were laughing too hard to help)

gandalf needs his earl grey with milk and two packets of brown sugar. He knows exactly how much it costs, and will make sure the employee knows when it's over his usual total.

aragorn is a matcha latte lover, and it's always hot. He usually gets the bacon gouda and he always brings Arwen her order. (Arwen mobile orders while Aragorn orders in store)

Arwen gets a flat white and a cheese danish every time.

boromir wants a nitro cold brew in the biggest size fucking possible. (pippin and merry are his roommates and sleep is not an option.)

legolas wants his vanilla bean creme frappe grande, and he's always in some sort of hurry.

gimli likes his coffee hot with two sugars. that's it. he always comes through the drive through. the starbucks workers were surprised when he ordered a creme frappe as well (and then kept ordering it) until one day he came through the drive thru and Legolas was in the passenger seat, his hand tangled with Gimli's.

Bonus; Sauron gets a caramel ribbon crunch with mocha drizzle because he's a material girl.

#lotr headcanons #the fellowship #frodo baggins #frodo x sam #sam Gamgee #merry brandybuck #pippin took #gandalf #aragorn #legolas greenleaf #boromir #legolas x gimli #sauron #lotr

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nikosheba · 1 year

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Okay but. you guys know this scene right.

i HAVE to talk about this.

because we’re so used to the beautiful way it’s cut. Faramir brings in the hobbits, he says to take them to Denethor, that he’s sending a “mighty gift.” But shit goes down and he thinks better of it and lets them go. This is intercut with Sam’s magnificent speech about Some Good In This World That’s Worth Fighting For and the victory at Helm’s Deep and Isengard being obliterated by Ents.

but

the thing is

if you cut out the other scenes

and JUST look at what’s happening in Osgiliath

this is what happens word for word:

Faramir: Take them to my father. Tell him Faramir sends a mighty gift. A weapon that will change our fortunes in this war. Sam: Do you know why your brother died? He tried to take the Ring from Frodo! After swearing an oath to protect him, he tried to kill him!* The Ring drove your brother mad. Scout: NAZGÛL! Frodo: [walks slowly up a bridge to stare at a Nazgûl] Sam: [tackles him] Frodo: [draws Sting] Sam: It’s me. It’s your Sam. Don’t you know your Sam? Frodo: I can’t do this, Sam. Sam: I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. They kept going because they were holding on to something. Frodo: What are we holding on to, Sam? Sam: That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for. Faramir: I think at last we understand each other, Frodo Baggins. Madril: You know the laws of this country, the laws of your father. If you let them go, your life is forfeit. Faramir: Then it is forfeit.

OKAY. SO. Being intercut with the other scenes REALLY gives this one a boost because I didn’t realize how weird this is until this most recent viewing which has to be like my 40th time through.

Faramir has made his choice and then he sees Sam tackle Frodo and make a nice speech and then he says I think we understand each other Frodo Baggins???? What EXACTLY has this taught him about Frodo that’s worth ALLOWING HIS FATHER TO EXECUTE HIM (according to this nebulous “give me the ring or else” law Denethor supposedly has in place)???? Like he just sees Frodo being wet and pathetic at Sam and is like “hold on I have to rethink my entire life”?????? He genuinely goes from “Take them to my father, I’m sending a mighty gift” to “AH NOW I UNDERSTAND” in 5 minutes and explicitly seems to understand FRODO after hearing Sam make a speech at him??

how did I never notice this before it’s driving me crazy i’ve been thinking about this for 6 weeks

* Asterisk because Sam, one, you don’t actually know how Boromir died so that was a weird power play, and two, if we know that Faramir ALSO doesn’t know how Boromir died it occurs to me that it kind of sounds like Sam is saying, “Yeah, I did it, I stabbed your brother for coming after Frodo and I’ll stab you too, Legs.”

#lord of the rings #lotr #faramir #samwise gamgee #frodo baggins

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constantcrisis19 · 2 years

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A Day At The Pool

Billy Hargrove x GN S/O

AN: Now with a sequel, Table For Two.

Word Count: 1,637

You could admit that you were a little nervous, you hadn’t exactly had time to do mundane things like this much because of your usually busy work schedule, but the Party had insisted that they wanted you specifically to accompany them to the public pool.

“Oh no. Our spot is taken.” Will lamented once you and all the children passed through the gates after paying for entry, drawing the Party's attention to what you assumed was their unofficial spot. And, true to his word, the almost blindingly white lounging chairs were occupied by a family of six.

“Shit. That was the perfect place for easy access to the pool and the food booth.” Dustin grumbled, eyes narrowed into a fierce glare at the family who had claimed the spot. Unlike the Party, you didn’t particularly think it was a big deal seeing as there were plenty of other chairs available that were equally accessible to said pool and food booth.

“What about over there? There’s shade because of the tall bushes and it has less traffic.” You suggested, gesturing to the area in question. The kids' collective blank stares followed the smooth wave of your hand, their eyes widening as their faces lit up when they realized that your analisis was a sound one.

“That’ll work nicely.” Lucas concurred and the Party looked to be in agreement, the kids starting off toward the huddle of lounging chairs to unload their stuff. You were surprised at how little they brought compared to yourself, your shoulder bag containing far more beach-related items because you hadn’t been sure what was necessary for an outing such as this.

“Sunscreen first guys.” You dutifully reminded, adjusting your round sun hat as you elegantly settled into one of the lounge chairs and raising a brow at the whining protests that immediately started up at your command. “No complaining, I’m returning you lot back to your parents in the same condition that you left in.”

“Stop talking about us like we’re toys that you borrowed.” Mike hissed, crossing his pale arms over his equally pale chest.

“You’re just mad because putting on sunscreen makes you look like a ghost.” Max snorted, prompting a bark of laughter from Dustin and Lucas while Will fought a smile, Mike turning the full brunt of his sour face onto his trio of friends.

“The beacons of Gondor could only ever hope to be as bright as you.” You crooned, your lips stretching into a toothy grin when your comment caused an uproar of laughter. Although, Mike’s frown only deepened at the harmless teasing.

“I regret introducing you to the wonders of J. R. R. Tolkien. Worst mistake of my life.” Mike groused even as he went about rummaging through his backpack, retrieving a tube of sunscreen before popping the cap open to squeeze a liberal amount onto his palm.

“Thanks for letting me borrow the series by the way, it was riveting. Although I’m not sure why the eagles weren’t utilized more.” You sighed, your legs spreading in order to make room for Max to sit between them, the ginger handing you her own bottle of sunscreen before settling with her back to you. You cracked it open and smeared some of the thick white substance onto your hand before diligently setting to work.

“The eagles couldn’t be around the ring or they would risk falling into its thrall. Like Boromir.” Will explained, being his usual helpful self in the face of your relentless curiosity about anything and everything.

“Boromir snapped out of it though. I respect him for that, I can imagine that it's hard to resist such compelling darkness.” You hummed thoughtfully, completing the finishing touches by directing Max to turn around so you could get the ginger’s face.

When Max was done and ready to splash around, Will took her place, settling in for his own slathering of sunscreen. Dustin was the last to seek you out, closing his eyes and leaning forward so that you could rub sunscreen onto his face. You found that you weren't surprised by the kids' behavior in the least because who didn’t like being pampered from time to time?

“Alright, have fun. I’ll pay for any snacks or drinks that you guys want, so don’t be afraid to ask for anything.” You assured, unable to help but smile when they all enthusiastically thanked you before scampering off, leaving you to your own devices.

You watched their progression to the pool before leaning to the side to grab your shoulder bag, digging out the thick book that Lucas had borrowed to you and flipping to the page where you had left off. Splitting your attention between the kids and the book proved to be easier than you had anticipated considering how packed and noisy the public swimming area was.

“She’s coming down.” A voice declared and you lowered your book, your curious gaze finding the source of the statement to be a woman who was the fourth one down in a lineup of other women, which were clad in brightly colored one piece swimsuits that flattered their matured figures.

They all appeared to be looking at something and you followed their intense stares to the large white tower that was on the other side of the pool, where a female lifeguard was making her way down the ladder before heading off toward the main building. Movement drew your eyes back to the women, who had posed in their respective chairs in a manner that seemed sensual and flirtatious, and you blinked at their lounging forms uncomprehendingly for a moment.

But a flash of brilliant red in the crowd had your focus redirecting to a teenage boy, the blond bombshell wading through the mass of people with a confident strut that indicated that he damn well knew he was hot shit. He drew all manner of eyes to his person, his mere presence demanding attention.

When he reached the lineup of women, they all greeted him as Billy, which was a familiar name seeing as it was the very same one belonging to the person who had beaten the ever-loving snot out of Steve at the Byers house during the mess with the Mind Flayer. And the odds that this Billy was the very same violent bully that the kids frequently bitched about were certainly plausible. After all, how many Billy’s could there possibly be in a small town like Hawkins?

“I haven’t seen you around before.” Someone drawled in a low baritone that was pleasing to the ear and you snapped out of your thoughts, quite suddenly realizing that you were the recipient of the comment when you blinked up at Billy, who had paused in front of your chair.

“You wouldn’t have. I’m new.” You said dumbly, because apparently stating the obvious was your first response when caught off-guard. Your only saving grace was Billy's decision not to comment on the utter stupidity of your blurted declaration, which was relieving because you weren't exactly used to speaking to anyone other than a select few in a manner that wasn’t strictly professional.

“And what would compel a beauty such as yourself to come to a place like Hawkins?” The tinted sunglasses that Billy wore didn’t do much to conceal the slow up and down movement of his eyes as he took in your figure. And, while his tone was light, there was clearly an insult toward the town hidden in his words of flattery.

“I’m visiting a friend.” You hummed, politely shutting your book and setting it aside because Billy seemed to be looking for a conversation.

“Oh really?” He mused, his boyish smile widening into something more predatory.

“You might know him? His name is Steve Harrington.” You sat up and folded your arms on your raised knees before propping your chin onto your arms, noting how Billy’s face flashed through several emotions before ultimately settling on a grin that was equal parts malicious and mischievous. “He invited me to stay with him over the summer.” You shrugged, peering up at Billy’s mildly alarming expression under the brim of your sun hat.

“We played basketball together before he graduated, so you could say that we’re acquainted.” Billy said disinterestedly, his focus shifting over to the empty lifeguard stand in a way that implied that their talk was about to be brought to an end. “I gotta get situated, but it was real nice to meet you…” He trailed off pointedly and it suddenly occurred to you that you never introduced yourself.

“Y/n. It was nice to meet you too, Billy.” You chirped, snorting when his brows rose, likely caught off-guard by the fact that you already knew who he was. “Your reputation precedes you.” you clarified, arm sliding out from under your chin in order to stick out your hand.

He looked down at the offered appendage for a beat, but ultimately accepted it. His hand easily engulfed yours, his tan skin calloused and warm as he raised your hand to his mouth, his smiling lips pressing against your knuckles in a kiss before he relinquished his grip.

“See you later, angel.” Billy purred, the farewell sounding an awful lot like a promise. The smirk that dominated his face was the embodiment of trouble, the teen smoothly turning on his heel to saunter his way around the pool’s edge before climbing onto the unattended tower with an ease that hinted at his familiarity with his surroundings.

You sat there for a long moment, staring after him as the skin where his lips had touched tingled pleasantly. Then the spell was broken by Dustin's high-pitched shriek and you managed to pry your gaze from the blond lifeguard in favor of searching the water for a familiar head of curly hair.

Prompt: Pool

#stranger things #st3 #season 3 #lifeguard billy hargrove #flirty billy hargrove #billy hargrove #billy hargove x reader #meet cute

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southfarthing · 1 year

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For the ask game: Faramir of course 🤭

one aspect about them i love

EVERYTHINGGGGGGGGGGGG ok ok. I love how committed he is to his own moral stance. he won't be swayed - not by the ring, not by his father - from his decision to do the honourable thing

one aspect i wish more people understood about them

HE'S NOT A PATHETIC BABY ohhhhh my god. oh my god. this guy basically told his dad he was a dumb bitch who killed his own son. to his face!!!!!!! and that he therefore has reason to not take his father's advice!!! faramir is smart and honourable and good yes but he is also shrewd and bitchy <3 and a literal mind-reader??? with prophetic dreams??????ok

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have about this character

finduilas used to read stories to him about numenor and dol amroth and the sea, so after she died, he felt closer to her among the dusty bookshelves in the archives. he determinedly learned how to read so that he could find her in the pages whenever he wanted to. this is where gandalf first found him - this small, black-haired boy with a book half his size in his lap.

one character i love seeing them interact with

eowyn....gandalf.......any and every hobbit........

one character i wish they would interact with/interact with more

ELROND!!!!!!!! you don't understand I'm obsessed with the idea of these two meeting at midsummer in minas tirith. also a scene or two with boromir would have been 🥹 oh and beregond!!!! like 'hi i committed treason and murder to save you. also i've been your biggest fan for years. and now i've been exiled/rewarded by being your personal guard. do you want to be my best friend' '...who's this guy?'

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have that involve them and one other character

he and eowyn write books together about rohirric culture and history and legends and songs <3 wait i just had a Thought i'm gonna make a separate post

#thank you!#filmamir #faramir #lotr #replies #hc #my hc

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frodo-with-glasses · 1 year

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Been thinking about a particular LOTR what-if scenario (because my D&D campaign took a turn into collaborative LOTR fanfiction), and I'm interested in your perspective on it if you have time . . .

Supposing Boromir somehow survived protecting Merry and Pippin, what effect would that have on Denethor?

Denethor's being fed despair by Sauron either way. But I have always read him as the news of Boromir's death being the thing that breaks him and makes him start to believe it. His grief is certainly a large part of what's informing his treatment of Faramir (though certainly not the only thing, as I think there's textual evidence that Denethor favored Boromir all along).

If Boromir didn't die . . . would Denethor still give into despair? Would he still send Faramir on a suicide mission — and if he did, and Faramir still suffered the same wounds, would Denethor still end up in his whole "all is lost; better to die on our own terms" spiral? Or would he have the presence of mind to see to the defense of the city?

How would he react to Aragorn, a man who has all the qualities Denethor disdains in Faramir but even more so, and who people are now saying is the rightful king (who even his own sons, even favored Boromir, are saying is Gondor's king returned)?

(He almost certainly wouldn't be a fan of Aragorn's plan to draw Sauron's eye away from Frodo. He probably would be greatly displeased that the Ring had been allowed to go across the River to Mordor at all, and even Boromir would have trouble convincing him otherwise.)

Thank you for letting me ramble in your askbox, haha. Don't feel pressured to answer if you don't want to or don't find the question as much as I do. (But if you do answer, I will be delighted.)

As much as the Gondor Dudes aren’t my personal hyperfixation in LotR, I am nonetheless a big fan of overthinking hypothetical situations, so this is right up my alley. :-D (Also, it’s really cool that you’re running an LotR-themed D&D campaign!! Sounds like a blast.)

To be honest, you hit pretty much every point I was going to touch on; Denethor’s despair and consequent insanity were certainly motivated, at least in part, by grief, so if you take the grief out of the equation then naturally the results are going to be at least slightly different. But we still have lots of other factors at play here: fighting a hopeless war, the looming specter of deposition, knowing that your allies just sent a nuke into the territory of the Enemy in the hands of a garden gnome so small you could punt him, and Prolonged Exposure to Cursed Artifact are still going to take their toll on Denethor’s mind. He will doubtless be more motivated to hold on to life while his favorite son is still alive, but even if he doesn't turn paranoid and filicidal, he’s still going to be Deeply Messed Up regardless.

So since I'm not getting any new ideas by looking at things from a Watsonian (in-universe) perspective, I'm gonna steer this in a Doylist (meta) direction and talk about implementation instead. The question I always ask myself with these sorts of "canon but a bit to the left" fanfictions is this:

What do you want out of the story? Do you want to:

A) Return to canon as quickly as possible? B) Change just one thing and see how far it butterfly-effects out? C) Find something somewhere in the middle?

Because the thing with "canon but a bit to the left" AUs that you can make pretty much anything work. It's a hypothetical situation. The question is how far away from canon you're willing to deviate. If I'm writing a "Boromir Lives" AU, I might go a couple of different directions, and the one I ultimately choose depends on personal preference and what I want out of the story.

Putting this under a read-more 'cause it's about to get long.

Option A: Canon, but like .5 degrees to the left

Ever since the battle at the Falls, Boromir has been following Aragorn and doing everything the Three Hunters (well, Four Hunters) do. When Pippin looks into the Palantir, Gandalf decides to take him to Minas Tirith right away, and Boromir, who's eager to get home and feels some responsibility for Pippin, volunteers to go with them.

(Yes I know that Shadowfax travels at ungodly fast speeds to get from Rohan to Gondor, but it's implied that lesser horses can keep up with their lord when they need to, so even if Boromir took a different horse they might still have been able to make it to Minas Tirith in a similar time.)

Denethor gives an enthusiastic welcome to Boromir and a far less enthusiastic welcome to Gandalf and Pippin. That welcome becomes less enthusiastic still in the ensuing conversation/interrogation, when he learns that they totally had the Ring but they sent it into Mordor instead of bringing it here. Boromir tries to reason with his father. Denethor is very disappointed with him. He blames Gandalf for corrupting his other son with all this foolishness, and treats Pippin with suspicion because of the whole prophecy with the Halfling, and the convo ends with hurt feelings all around.

I might need the War Nerds on this blog to correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, the attempt to take back Osgiliath wasn't a completely useless suicide mission, at least in concept. It is a major river crossing, and controlling transportation routes is like War 101. If you make it hard for your enemy to cross the River, you make it hard for your enemy to get to your stronghold, and that's good. Not a bad idea on paper. The only problem was that Minas Tirith didn't have the manpower to pull it off.

(And also there were Nazgul.)

Anyway, the point is, it's almost logical enough that you might be able to get away with Denethor ordering the Osgiliath offensive even without the grief-induced paranoia. Besides, there's still other paranoia in play: so far as Denethor is concerned, the Ring is walking into enemy hands, his son and most trusted captain has turned against him, and Gandalf is already planning a coup.

So here's what I'm thinking. Keep the Osgiliath battle, but send Boromir out there as well. Boromir and brother bravely bear the baleful battle, before their butts are badly beat and they get bit by the Black Breath. Dad feels bad, his boasts bashed as his boys' bodies burn with fever. Battle bears down on the beleaguered bourgeoisie, but their bereaved bigwig is barely bothered, too busy building bier bonfires.

…Sorry, I don't know where that came from.

Anyway, the point is, this puts us squarely back where we'd be at this point in canon: Denethor thinks he’s about to lose his family, his city, and his kingdom, and consumed by despair he decides that it's better to die on his own terms than in the hands of the Enemy. You can pretty much just follow canon from here and copy-paste Boromir with whatever is happening to Faramir.

(Except, of course, for the whole "falling in love with Eowyn" thing. But hey! Boromir was in Rohan! He and Eowyn probably know each other already! So they might have some fun conversations in the Houses of Healing.)

This is the route I would take if you want to stick as close to canon as possible and still keep Boromir alive. If adherence to the narrative is not your biggest concern, however:

Option B: Go stupid, go crazy

Boromir doesn't die. What does that change?

Well, everything, if you let it.

Let's say Boromir does return to Minas Tirith with Gandalf and Pippin like I suggested above. Let's say he's able to talk his father into begrudgingly going along with their unorthodox plan to save the world. Let's say Denethor doesn't call for the almost-but-not-quite-entirely-completely-a-suicide-mission to Osgiliath and instead puts Boromir and Faramir to work strengthening the defenses of the Minas Tirith. By time the Battle of Pelennor Fields rolls around, Denethor—now no longer occupied by the family barbecue—is available to direct defense of the city, with both sons acting as his captains.

Awesome! All this is great stuff, right?

Well, yes. So far.

The problem is that we lose so many great moments with other characters in the process. Pippin's pell mell run to find Gandalf. Beregond abandoning his post to protect Faramir. Eowyn and Merry, who slayed the Witch King together because Gandalf was too busy putting out fires (literally!) to get down there and do it himself. Aragorn, proving that "the hands of a king are the hands of a healer"! And if Faramir and Eowyn hadn't both suffered the Black Breath, they wouldn't both have been forced to stay behind as everyone else went to fight at the Black Gate, and they wouldn't have fallen in love in the same way.

This is not a statement meant to push your decision one way or another, but it's just a fact of the decision: If you dispense with Denethor's paranoia, and the insanity, and the murder arson, then you dispense with a lot of the other cool moments in this book. The question you've got to ask yourself is if that's a price you're willing to pay, and if not, how you can work around it.

Anyway, back to Pelennor Fields. I want you to imagine that Denethor is standing at the wall, watching the battle raging below him. It's not going well. The reinforcements from Rohan arrived, but they're barely hanging on. And to his dismay, he sees a fleet of black dots which could only be Corsair ships sailing up the river.

The foremost ship unfurls a banner, with the Tree of Gondor glittering on it.

And the army that pours out of them absolutely wrecks shop with Sauron's forces.

Is Denethor feeling relief? Yes. But is he feeling dread and apprehension and anger too? Also yes. He knows what this is. It's a challenge to his power waiting to happen. All his suspicions about Gandalf's ulterior motives are coming true: he has found someone to supplant him, and whether or not this kid is the true Heir of Isildur, the darn upstart's already gone all dramatic and made a war hero out of himself. Whoop-de-frickin'-do.

And then, he sees Aragorn's face.

And he's livid.

Fun fact: Appendix A tells us that Aragorn actually worked for Denethor’s dad, Ecthelion, for a long time. Aragorn went by a different name, of course, but he was so competent and so well-liked that he became Ecthelion's most trusted and honored captain, to the point that the Steward liked Aragorn more than he liked Denethor. We don't just have history here. We have beef. It's a little bit of a Tony Stark, Howard Stark, Steve Rogers situation where it’s like “Dad liked you more than he liked me and I’m his own son”.

You’d better bet your bottom dollar that when Denethor’s childhood rival rocks up to Minas Tirith, flying a banner made by an elven princess and carrying the Sword that Was Broken on his belt like he's somebody important, it doesn’t matter if Boromir and Faramir and Imrahil and everybody else in Minas Tirith likes him and happily falls in line behind him; Denethor is still gonna take one look at his face and go, “oh. it’s YOU. I freakin' HATE you.”

Whether this colors their ongoing relationship "coolly polite" or "passive-aggressive" or "outright hostile" depends on how vindictive you want to write Denethor. Because let's be honest, bro could totally order Aragorn to leave Minas Tirith and he would; Aragorn knows he's not the king yet, and he's humble enough to accept orders while the Steward is still in charge (as bass-ackwards as that is). But the thing is that Aragorn has the support of the people, and banishing him isn't gonna change that; if anything, it will probably garner sympathy for him, cause the people of Minas Tirith to distrust their leader, and maybe result in fracturing the loyalties of the populous.

So here's what you've got, okay.

You now have a David and Saul situation.

Think about it. Charismatic, upright war hero, beloved by everyone he meets, serving under the suspicious and deeply disturbed incumbent ruler who knows the newcomer is gonna boot him off the throne. You can't live with him: 'cause he's gonna boot you off the throne. But you can't live without him: 'cause you're in desperate need of his particular set of skills, and you'd be incredibly unwise to do away with him and earn the ire of the public. So you put up with him. And put on a show of liking him. And maybe chuck a spear at his head while he's playing the harp to calm down your possibly demonic fits.

But that's just Saul, so let's get back to Denethor.

The next step, in the book, is obviously the Battle of the Black Gate. And, obviously, Denethor is gonna think this military equivalent of knocking on the door of an axe murderer and threatening him with a pea shooter is a terrible idea, because it is. But the whole point—Aragorn and Gandalf and Boromir and Faramir and Imrahil and everyone else insists—is to distract Sauron long enough that the Ring-bearer can succeed in his mission. The plan isn't to win, it's to be bait.

Now you have a few options.

Denethor can, once again, begrudgingly go along with it, showing that he's slowly changing in heart. Perhaps Aragorn's humility is winning him over. Perhaps Boromir's impassioned pleas are getting through. In any case, you have a pretty good set-up for a redemption arc here, which could be interesting if you want to go down that road.

Alternatively, this could be the moment that Denethor entirely gives in to despair and basically says "fine, if you guys wanna go kill yourselves, I'll just be over here doing the exact same thing", and he tries to make Steward a la flambé. (Whether or not he succeeds is up to you, but I will say that this would be a pretty easy way to settle the succession crisis.)

Alternatively still, Denethor could publicly denounce the whole idea as stupid and order the people of Minas Tirith to stay put and defend the city, at the same time that Aragorn and the rest are urging those same people to come with them for one last stand. Now every eligible fighter in the city has to make a choice. Who will they follow? Lord Denethor, or Lord Elfstone? The people are divided. Factions are made. (This might be the moment that a certain member of the Guard sees Faramir standing with Lord Elfstone and decides, for the first time in his life, to break the rules.) In any case, the force that travels to the Black Gate is far smaller than it would have been if not for Denethor's interference.

If you go with the first option, it's a quicker road to a happy ending. Aragorn returns victorious, he and Denethor reconcile, and Aragorn honors the Steward and puts him in a place of high esteem. Everyone in Minas Tirith likes this, including Boromir and Faramir, and everyone lives happily ever after.

If you go with the second option, Denethor has either successfully or unsuccessfully attempted sudoku, which should probably disqualify him from public leadership either way. If he succeeded in barbecuing himself, it's the tragedy of a man who never got to see the upcoming victory; if he failed, it's the tragedy of a man whose mind was so utterly broken by the Enemy that he couldn't enjoy it.

If you go with the third option, congratulations; after Aragorn gets back, you still have to deal with the succession crisis. But I've waffled on for long enough and have basically no ideas how you'd handle this post-story, so I'm not gonna go down that road any further.

Option C: Pitch straight down the middle

Now what I've just presented are the two most extreme possibilities of a "Boromir Lives" AU that exist in my brain, but they're far from the only options. This thing is a spectrum. There are a potentially infinite number of possible storylines, some closer to canon, some further away.

If you like parts of one but not the other, you can mix and match. Take an exit ramp from the AU and get back on canon wherever you want, or just don't and see where it takes you. All I've done is present the furthest extremes I could think of to help shake up the ol' creative juices.

(I would have explored the possibility of Boromir arriving on the corsair ships with Aragorn instead of a few days earlier with Gandalf and Pippin, but that didn't change much except for Boromir having less opportunities to talk his dad down from bad decisions. So do with that what you will.)

Conclusion

I have no idea if this was the kind of answer you were looking for, but I guess I'm just returning rambling for rambling, LOL! In any case, I hope this helped, and if not, I hope it was a fun read.

But there is one more thing I can do for you, before I wish you good luck in your D&D endeavors, and that's turn it over to everyone else who reads this blog and see what they think!

HEY YOU GUYS! If Boromir lived, how would that effect Denethor's psyche?? Reblog with your thoughts!

#asked and answered #faramir #denethor #boromir lives au #lord of the rings #lotr #my writing #in which i ramble about probable story trajectories for WAY too long

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forgondor · 1 year

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One thing about Pippin is that he is literally so portable. Men, ents, orcs, wizards, any race at all will see this guy and just go “I think I will pick this little dude up” And then they do.

Case in point:

'Have hope!' said Boromir. 'I am weary, but I still have some strength left, and Aragorn too. We will bear the little folk. The others no doubt will make shift to tread the path behind us. Come, Master Peregrin! I will begin with you.' He lifted up the hobbit. 'Cling to my back! I shall need my arms,' he said and strode forward.

^12th January

He [Pippin] felt himself flung to the ground, and he lay as he fell, till black dreams took him. But he did not long escape from pain; soon the iron grip of merciless hands was on him again. For a long time he was tossed and shaken, and then slowly the darkness gave way, and he came back to the waking world and found that it was morning. Orders were shouted and he was thrown roughly on the grass.

^ 28th February (not a great time for him I grant you)

A large knob-knuckled hand was laid on each of their [Merry & Pippin] shoulders, and they were twisted round, gently but irresistibly; then two great arms lifted them up. [1,338 words later, like 5 good minutes??] 'If you would like to hear more,' said Merry, 'we will tell you. But it will take some time. Wouldn't you like to put us down? Couldn't we sit here together in the sun, while it lasts? You must be getting tired of holding us up.' 'Hm, tired? No, I am not tired. [...]’

^29th February (this is Treebeard carrying them)

and the funniest to me

Going to Pippin, Gandalf picked him up in his arms. 'You shall come with me this time,' he said. 'Shadowfax shall show you his paces.' Then he ran to the place where he had slept. Shadowfax stood there already. Slinging the small bag which was all his luggage across his shoulders, the wizard leapt upon the horse's back. Aragorn lifted Pippin and set him in Gandalf's arms, wrapped in cloak and blanket.

^5th March

This guy just gets flinged about everywhere he goes. He doesn’t seem to mind to be honest

#the last one kills me like gandalf could easily have just woken him up ??? why fucking carry him around like that lol #the guy is asleep gets picked up wrapped in blankets put on a horse and off he goes #the one with treebeard too. Just haveing a full conversation with a tree while being held up in the air. why not #the entire conversation is hilarious if you really picture it #lotr #lotr newsletter #sindar-princeling

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starssunsoftheinfinite · 8 months

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This is just me rambling about the lotr musical I just saw spoilers for the watermill theatre production of lotr!!

In no particular order

HOLYMOLY THAT WAS SO GOOD ARRGGRGReatsit

First off I was expecting a new musical (for context there was another musical first performed in 2006 I think) BUT IT WASNT at least the songs weren't I'm not sure about the script since its insanely hard to find anything on it APART from the songs, they can be found online even on Spotify! Point is I thought it was a new one BUT THEN THEY STARTED PLAYING ROAD GOES ON AND MY ASS FELL OFF ISTG Seeing that og musical has been a DREAAAM OF MINE BUT THEY DON'T PLAY IT ANYMORE OR SO I THOOOOOUUUGHT

The music is insane actually it's so good!!!

When I saw the elves and realised they wouldn't have long hair unless the actor already did I was a little nervous since I just find its difficult to portray elves without the iconic long hair BUT MY GOD THEY'RE GOOD I don't know what these guys did compaired to the short hair elves of lotr prime BUT IT WOOOORKS legolas was perfect and GALADRIEL the actress has stage presence if I've ever seen it!!! She had this for lack of a better word fuck ass bob with a gold wreath thing and a PANT SUIT SHE'S MENTAL I LOVE HER!!!

Her voice is insane there was a moment where a group of people all sang together and they seemed to be singing at the usual stage level right but here voice just boomed iver the whole group it was amazing! She was so loud but she did it well!! I find often when people sing that loud it's like shouting but not in a good way, she was SINGING it was beautiful. She captured galadriels aura and power so well every time she was on stage I just wanted to stare at her.

aragorn was so GOOOOD he also sounded a lot like Orlando bloom to me lmao. His outfit was actually perfection and his haircut??? HE HAD this shaved sides thing going on and???!?!?! I THINK I LIKE IT MORE THAN MOVIE ARAGORN DARE I SAY???

Don't even get started on arwen dude. THE COSTUME DESINERS DID AMAZING WITH HER DRESS AND THE ACTRESS CAPTURED HER SO WELL her ethereal feel with a slight bit of young wonderUUuGGHHhHh screams. Her voice is also actually insane I'm chewing bark.

Frodo was done so wellLLLLLLL the moments when he got taken over by the ring were so distinctly not Frodo!! The actor switched between the two moments so flawlessly!! It was like he was playing two people.

AND SAAAm what a sweetheart he is he's perfect in every way can do no wrong ever ever!! His voice was so pretty I'm gonna goble him up for real. Also I think he got slapped in the face?!? I couldn't see it perfectly but that slam sounded very real with the noise so I wouldn't be shocked. Dedication woa.

GIIIMLI meow meow meow he's so good bald king<<<3333 HIS OUTFIT?? punch me in the face please thanks. Bro his face when legolas was being sassy to him MF said >:000 I LOVE HIS PORTRAAAAAAIIIL UGggghhhHHH he's perfect in every way everyone stay back from my bald king RAAAA

Boromir my pookie gone too soon <333 his outfit was so good his actor was so good EVERYTHING WAS SO GOOD UUUGH Meow when he held frodo wrists to get him to stay I was like 🤨🤨🤨🤨😏😏😏 LOTR MUSICAL IS JUST FULL OF HOT PEOPLE

OMGOD GANDALF UUUGH HE WAS AMAZING idk why I thought he's be played by a younger guy in makeup?? Getting an actually older actor makes way more sense and HE WAS AMAZING

Saruman, elrond and golem were all played by this one guy and it was so good?? You could tell visually like his face that it was all him but he differentiates the characters SOOO well!! Bald elrond will haunt my dreams though..

MERRY AND PIPPIN UUUGHGHHG I love I love they made a tiny tweak to pip which was that since he was played by a lovely actress pip was referred to as a girl, but it was done very well! Nothing about the character changed, personality, story beats, outfit, everything was still pippin the only difference was a few she's here and there which is very much how this thing should be done :)) if you do need to or want to switch and characters gender it's good to keep them the same in other aspects otherwise they just come across as a new character with a familiar name! But that didn't happen here at all, the actress portrayed pip amazingly

Merry was also so good! His voice was amazing and he was so charming!

THE OOOORCS they were amazing. They were so unsettling!! I wasn't sure how they were going to play them but they had this gassmask type thing on it was so good! Everytime they came in I was excited to see them.

The way they did the nazgul was so fun. They were these skeleton horse head puppets!! They opened their mouths so wide it was really unsettling!!

AND THE SPIIIIDERRR everyone gasped when the spider came on. They opened these big doors in the back of the theatre right and she didn't even walk on she was right there! She was huge. She's this big puppet maned by like it's gotta be six or seven people SHE WAS AMAZING

AND OH OH OH THE FIRST AND LAST SCENES WERE OUTSIDE bilbos party was out in the garden!! We all got to sit around and the hobbit came and spoke to us all like we were invited to the party! Bilbo came out and asked me if I had eaten today if was great!! Speaking of which he was SOO GOOOOD

ANNNNDD they mentioned Tom!! WOOO at the end gandalf spoke about going to speak with Tom bombadil! We all had a giggle it was fun

It was just generally amazing all round

#Lotr #Lotr musical #Lord of the rings

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valandhirwriter · 5 months

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Pick 3 of your favorite characters. Tell us when and how you fell in love with them. Inquiring minds want to know :)

Then tag 3 or more people, hopefully who aren't shy :D.

3 of my favourite characters.... that's quite the challenge I have to admit. Because I read a lot and had a lot of favourite chars accordingly. But, here we go, I will try to give this a bit of bandwith, because I have character types that speak to me much easier than others.

Boromir of Gondor

When did I fall in love with this character? At about 13, when I first read Lord of the Rings. I remember reading through the story, and wondering why none of his companions would try and reach out to him. Legolas and Gimli waste time arguing whether bow or sword is the better weapon, while beside them their comrade is slowly drifting off into darkness. Boromir also had some vibes of Hagan of Tronege from the Niebelungenlied to me, also a character who is considered dark, fierce and also fiercely loyal. While many consider Hagen the bad guy of the story, I also liked him best. The early picture of Boromir that I had in my mind, was close to the book describtion, black hair, very tall, haunted grey eyes and a scar on his forehead. Naturally when the movies came along, my favourite actor Sean Bean had the role, and the picture changed around a little. Watching his interpretation of Boromir seeded the first ideas for a story arc about him in my brain, though it would take me another ten years to sit myself down and write the story. In that story i then explored many of the questions I had since first reading the novel: What drove Boromir to such extremes? What happened to Gondor? How did Aragorn leaving after the Umbar campaign impact Gondor long.term? Even after finishing that huge arc, I still love Boromir as a character. His story has been with me for a long time, and will hopefully remain with me for a long time still.

2. Raistlin Majere

I discovered the dragonlance books by accident in my teens. And while the quality of the novels can be called into question, their humour certainly still echoes with me. That and... Raistlin. He was the character I found fascinating at once, and not just because he was the only one in the group actually using his brain. Unfortunately the authors had set up his split from the group and later his "fall" in War of the Twins, instead of really exploring the character with more depth. There was so much potential there, so much aspects to tell a story. Raistlin had the potential to be one of those compelling dark characters, who casn make the heroes torn, because while not with them on principle, their help is still invaluable. I sometimes consider writing a story about him, beginning from before his trials at the Tower of Wayreth and building the AU from there. But I would have to take huge liberties, and have yet to find just the right story companion for him. What draw me to Raistlin is his intelligence, also his detachment, his ability to see the situation for what it is, and not need delusions about hope or good, to sustain himself. He sees what is, and doesn't despair but come up with a plan. That nickname "the sly one" hit me hard when I first read about him, because it told me how judgemental those friends of his were.

3. Eskel

Ciri arriving in Kaer Morhen, and getting frightened by one of Geralt's comrades, because his face is clawed up in some manner... I still remember reading that scene, some time in the 90ies. I was curios at once, especially as scarface, ahm Eskel, proved to be a nice guy in the few scenes he had in the book. I liked him, and I wanted to know more about him. I came up with several stories how he had gotten his scars, and who he was outside of just one of Geralt's brothers. Unfortunately the author never bothered to tell us more about him. Then came the games and I was only marginally enticed by them. Some aspects are good, others are meh... and I will honestly admit that I am still so-so about the Diedre tale. Then came Netflix... and wow was I pissed. Eskel needed his own heroic story I decided and well... it happened. He's still my favourite Witcher, and hopefully will remain so.

Honourable Mentions

Lan al Mandragoran

Wheel of time was another series I devoured in the late 90ies (and on as new books came out), and Lan was my favourite character in them. I was sure he would die in Tarmon Gai'don, but that did not hinder me devouring everything about him. And what a confrontation in the last battle. Reading that, i was sure, so sure, he'd not come out of this alive, and so happy when he did. I would love to write a story about him and Tam meeting at the Blood Snow and upsetting the entire applecart of events.

Athos

Athos from the Three Musketeers is another childhood hero, from reading the books (Three Musketeers/Twenty Years After/ The Viscount of Bragelonne) when I was a young teen. I like Athos, is aloofness, his honour, is utter reality-defying sticking with said honour, and also his haunted past. He was one of my first fanfic subjects (cringe, the stories were so bad) and i still adore him to this day.

Tagging @regis-favorite-raven, @do-androids-dream-ao3acc, @lohrendrell and @eskel-loves-lilbleater to talk about their favourite characters and how they encountered them.

#ask game #nice asks #favorite characters #reading

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novelmonger · 3 months

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So I'm a pretty big LotR fan. And I'm a pretty big fan of the movies. No, they're not perfect, but they're a really good adaptation and a truly masterful work of cinematic art. I've grown pretty familiar with the movies over the past 23 years (@_@) - and not just the movies themselves, but I also love learning all about how they were made. I've watched all the way through all the bonus material in the Extended Editions at least five times (and some of the more fun bits way more times than that XD). I've even watched all three movies with the cast commentary.

But you know what I've never done, not even at the height of my obsession when I had way more free time than I do now? I've never watched the movies with the other commentaries. It looks like there are three more commentaries, with different groups of various people on the crew, and for some reason I never got around to listening through them. I can't for the life of me think why - maybe I thought I already knew everything they'd talk about? maybe I somehow thought it would be boring??? - but today that changes!

I'm going to just jot down the main things that stick out to me that I didn't know before. I've gleaned a lot of BTS information and stories about these movies from various sources, so I'm not sure how long this will be, but I'm sure there will be some new things that jump out at me.

From the FotR writer/director commentary with Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, and Fran Walsh:

There was a draft of the script where they didn't have a prologue, and all the information about Sauron and the Ring and Gollum and everything was going to be in that conversation between Frodo and Gandalf @_@ Can you imagine? I mean, yeah, it would be more like the book, but At What Cost? (At the cost of several memes and short attention spans, that's what.)

Peter Jackson says he doesn't like magic or wizards in movies. Um...sir? Why the heck are you making fantasy movies then???

The location where they shot the Ford of Bruinen was a real ford that was used during the gold rush in New Zealand! Because New Zealand had a gold rush around the same time as the one in the U.S.!

Hugo Weaving actually did the voice of Isildur when he claims the Ring and says, "No." I have...questions.

Peter Jackson says the journey through Moria is the best sequence in the book, and Fran and Philippa say it's the best-written chapter. Interesting! I don't know what I would point to as the best-written chapter of FotR; I don't think I've ever thought of that (though I might say some of the best descriptions in this book are in Rivendell).

They said they might redo the Gollum scene in Moria to make him look more like he does in TTT. Uhhh...it's been 23 years, guys, where's my remaster? XD

The Frodo-Gandalf conversation in Moria (the "all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us" conversation) was done with forced perspective??? I never realized that! I thought they just had Elijah sit a little lower than Ian so their eyelines would be right! They totally look like they're looking into each other's eyes, but they're not! :O

"Often in movies, that's a rare thing, to have shots in which nothing is real." - Oh, PJ, if you only knew what the state of things would be in two decades....

The scene of the Fellowship mourning Gandalf outside Moria was filmed before Ian McKellan had even arrived in New Zealand! :O So they were all mourning and reacting to the death of someone they probably weren't even sure what he looked like yet!

Sean Bean was apparently the only one of the primary actors who had any experience with a sword? Or at least he had the most experience. Viggo had to do the Weathertop fight scene on his first day, when he'd never touched a sword before @_@

In Boromir's death scene, the words sung by the chorus in the background is an Elvish translation of Faramir's line "I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend." ;A;

At one point, they were going to have Frodo fighting off an Uruk-Hai before he goes into the boat??? They even shot some of the footage?! Thankfully, they realized that was completely the wrong way to go about his end to this movie; it needed to be an emotional climax, not an action scene, and Frodo's victory is over his own doubts and the Ring's influence on him, when he grasps the Ring and marches forward to continue on his Quest, alone if need be. Thank goodness they realized that before it was too late.

SEAN ASTIN WAS NOT UNDERWATER IN THE SHOT OF HIM DROWNING WHAAAAAT MIND BLOWN

The shot of Boromir's boat going over the edge of the waterfall was actually footage of a barrel going over the Niagara Falls, and they just used CG to replace the barrel with the boat O.O

Fran Walsh: So Viggo's just put on Boromir's gauntlets... Me, a nerd: Vambraces, actually.

#lord of the rings #lotr #peter jackson #philippa boyens #fran walsh #these might be a little slow coming in because i don't want to binge the movies three times in a row #but i WILL be going through all the commentaries besides the cast commentary which i've already heard

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lesbiansforboromir · 1 year

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Boromir and Faramir in the films are such comical characters when looked at from a certain angle. Like on the face of it they've got this terrible father who's driven mad by power hunger and a paternalistic need to continue his bloodline, so he disparages his younger son for some reason and supports his golden child eldest, okay, awful... but when you look at the actual actions of his two sons... HE'S KIND OF RIGHT!

Like Gondor is still definitely at war with Mordor in the films, no matter how much worse at it they are than in the books, BUT whilst Boromir is there they're doing things like winning entire cities back from the enemy AND Somehow defending themselves AGAINST the enemies apparently holding Osgiliath beforehand which is literally right next to all their farmlands AND WITHOUT EVEN THE RAMMAS BETWEEN THEM??.. Boromir makes a speech with such blatant optimism and such weirdly frivolous priorities like 'lets retake all the cities we have lost and make music and beauty in them again!' it's the speech of a pretty victorious country, not a country 60 years into a war of attrition where the measure of success is 'how much can we delay our inevitable defeat'. And the Steward even PERSONALLY arrives in this just-won warzone- like! the confidence the Boromir-lead Gondorian army has is unbelievable.

And then Boromir leaves... and everything absolutely falls apart. The the chronological next update we get about Gondor's situation is that Osgiliath is EASILY taken (almost immediately after Faramir arrives from Ithilien which begs the question why were you hiding in the woods if an attack was so imminent and how were you taken so unawares), the entire garrison is routed and sent fleeing madly and haplessly back to Minas Tirith and most of them are either killed on the way or killed during the first attack (which sees Faramir running about dazed with clearly no real knowledge of where most of his men are or what they're doing, needing to be literally saved from traps his subordinates create independently without his knowledge.) Faramir even shouts 'Nazgul' as though they definitely are already very accustomed to these creatures and yet still have no way to combat them apparently!

And then Denethor's like, retake Osgiliath! Which, whilst in the moment seems mad, if we're running on what BOROMIR accomplished, is a completely reasonable request! Faramir is like 'Osgiliath is overrun'- it was when Boromir retook it too! But what does Faramir do with this request? Accepts it as a death sentence and does NO PLANNING whatsoever. Literally eleven year olds with no prior military experience would be able to tell you that charging cavalry at a city WITH LINES OF ARCHERS is the most useless asinine action possible, but that's what Faramir does! And in the end he gets ALL THOSE MEN KILLED because of it!

So looking at it all this way... we've got a head of state (who's a pretty normal guy, not especially brilliant at ruling and struggling with the pressures of his responsibilities) his heir and eldest son who's this savant style military leader who was essentially the load bearing rock which was holding up the entirety of Gondor's sub-par military prowess and whom his father is relying on for essentially everything at this point, and the youngest fail-son brother who's only skills are #1 firing bow #2 telling others to fire bow at the right time and #3 looking sad. Literally IN the extended edition conversation, apparently Faramir lost Osgiliath THE FIRST TIME TOO, LIKE THIS IS TWICE THIS MAN HAS ALLOWED THIS FORTRESS TO BE BESIEGED AND TAKEN IN IT'S ENTIRETY!! WEST AND EAST OF THE RIVER!! Faramir makes this excuse like 'we had too few men' and everyone believes him but given Denethor's DERISIVE reaction at that and what ELSE we see of Faramir's military prowess, IT DOES SOUND LIKE AN EXCUSE TO ME. Even Boromir is like he TRIES to do your will, as in 'dont be mean to him he's doing his best!' Denethor's like 'dont trouble me with Faramir I know his uses and they are few' and Boromir has NOTHING to say against it cus he knows he's right!! Of course Denethor would only be able to trust Boromir to go get the ring,

Gondor's film!situation is an entire country of sub-par dudes plus Boromir who apparently was born with every single braincell the rest of them are lacking and whom has a VERY REAL UNDERSTANDING that literally everything is up to him to fix 'He looks to me to make things right and I will do it' who else is going to do it??? Certainly not Faramir!! It's so funny, no wonder he's so emotionally fragile and desperate for Aragorn's approval, he's just looking for ONE SINGLE OTHER GUY whose halfway competant to work with here. They didn't give him the 'Gondor wanes you say but Gondor stands and even at the end of it's strength it is still very strong' line because it narratively would have been a complete lie.

#film critical #erran vs peter jackson #text post #film!boromir #film!denethor #film!faramir #lotr #long post

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fictionadventurer · 1 year

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Rapid-fire thoughts about Book IV of The Two Towers:

Frodo is extremely lucky that Gollum showed up, because how on Middle Earth did he plan on getting to Mount Doom without him? He had no clue what kind of terrain he was going into. No map. No guide. Going it alone is noble and all, but he really did not have a viable plan for making it work.

There's something to explore in the fact that Sam and Gollum both call Frodo "Master." They butt heads at least partly because they're in similar roles. Sam is the faithful servant and Gollum the treacherous one.

I really appreciate that after three extremely bleak chapters in hellish landscapes, Tolkien gives us an entire chapter of "They went to a slightly wrecked but mostly lovely landscape, and Sam looked at all the flowers and cooked a nice meal."

Forever mad that the movies left out Ithilien. That is a great setting. There is a hideaway behind a waterfall looking out to the sunset! So much cinematic potential wasted.

It's interesting to me that Faramir is reliably described as "grave", while also being shown smiling and joking a lot. It's kind of an odd sense of humor, too. ("The ring has come to me with a host of Gondor at my command" is grimly funny from his POV, but saying all that to Sam and Frodo is still pretty mean.)

There's also something interesting in Sam and Faramir's dynamic. Faramir's the character who most often treats Sam as a servant, making a big deal about calling Frodo his master. He scolds him and kind of pokes fun at him. But there's also a lot of respect. ("The Shire must be a peaceful place where gardeners are held in high esteem.") Maybe it's to do with the fact that they're both servants who are happy to serve and have no ambitions to attain higher rank.

I can see why Tolkien struggled with the ideas of portraying orcs as totally evil. On a conceptual level it can work, but portraying them as characters in a narrative gives them humanity. You can believe that something like Shelob is totally evil and needs slaying. But orcs are just guys. They're capable of rational speech. They hold conversations and make plans for the future. Listening to them talk among themselves is kind of like listening to workers stuck under a tough boss. Yeah, they're okay with horrible things, but they're also just trying to get by. It's hard to see them as completely evil when there's a possibility that they're being misled by a greater evil the way that plenty of other races are.

Both Fellowship and Two Towers end with a betrayal that splinters the group. Gollum and Boromir as parallels as people who both covet the ring?

I really fell in love with Frodo as a character in this book. Right from the beginning, the way he treats Gollum has a lot of parallels with how Gandalf treated Saruman and Pippin in the last book. He's patient and wise and commanding but still very fallible.

Catholic Tolkien experience is getting to the scene where Sam and Frodo call upon Galadriel, and it's absolutely impossible not to see parallels to calling for the Blessed Virgin's intercession.

And there's a ton of Christ imagery. The ring as the cross. His apparent death leaving his follower unsure of what to do next. Sam's sort of the loyal disciple who follows him to his death, and sort of the unfaithful one who leaves him (though in this case he's just trying to do his best when he truly believes Frodo is dead and he's got to carry on the quest.)

This book ends upon a cliffhanger. Is this where the "ending book 2 of the trilogy on a cliffhanger" trend started?

#tolkien #lord of the rings #the two towers

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