The One Ring as a human. Highly desirable, powerful and dangerous.

One of my favorite hobbies is thinking about the fucked up implications of this fantasy world map my parents got me for christmas

[Image ID: photo of a map. On the left side of the map is Middle Earth, with the Shire and Mordor labeled. To the direct right of Mordor is Whoville.]

“Denethor - not a real king, not the real king of Gondor...I call him Little Tomato.”

Rereading the Lord of the Rings series recently, and it's so fascinating to me how much the series is a denial of the typical juvenile power-fantasy that is associated with the fantasy genre.

Like, the power-fantasy is the temptation the Ring uses against people It tempts Boromir with becoming the "one true king" that could save his people with fantastic power. It tempts Sam with being the savior of Middle Earth and turning the ruin that is Mordor into a great garden. It tempts Gandalf and Galadriel with being the messianic figure of legend who brings salvation to Middle Earth and great glory to herself.

The things the Ring tempts people with are becoming the typical protagonists of fantasy stories that we expect to see. and over and over we see that accepting that role, that fantasy of being the benevolent all-powerful hero, is a bad thing. LotR is about how power, even power wielded with benevolent intent, is corrupting.

And its so fascinating how so much of modern fantasy buys into the very fantasy LotR denies. Most modern fantasy is about being that Heroic power-fantasy. About good amassing power to rival evil. But LotR dares not to. It dares to be honest that there is no world where anyone amasses that power and remains good.

I guess that's one of the reasons its so compelling.

Me in the group chat on the morning of March 25th, the day the One Ring was destroyed: Fun Tolkien fact! Sauron’s original name, Mairon, can be translated as “precious,” which means that when Gollum called the ring his precious, it’s like he was talking directly to Sauron. Isn’t it interesting that Sauron isn’t his first name? The Elves began calling him Sauron, which means “the abhorred,” after he started doing evil stuff. And he just leaned into the name because, well, he turned evil. Actually, Sauron has a lot of names. At different points in his storyline, he also goes by Gorthaur, Annatar, and Zigur–

My friends: Is today a Sauron-related day or something?

Me: FUNNY YOU SAY THAT–

The fact that Sauron finds out what the real plan was when he senses Frodo wearing the Ring in Mordor ultimately adds to the satisfaction of his downfall. If Frodo hadn’t done that, Sauron wouldn’t have known why his land was suddenly collapsing and why his own form was withering away. But because of what happens, when the Ring is finally destroyed, Sauron knows exactly why and how. And his last thoughts are about how he was fooled, tricked, deceived, and totally outwitted by people with 1000x less power than him. That was actually the best punishment that Frodo could’ve given him: the blow to his ego that he deserved.

disguise ✨

( prints! )

La Belle Dame Sans Merci~💍✨

‘eye of sauron’ ny cheesecake with orange gelee, pomegranate gelee, and toasted poppyseed garnish :)

Sauron

I have been awake since before the breaking of the first silence. 

im still obsessed with this scene 

SAURON SENT AN EVIL BOOP REVENGE

SAURON SENT AN EVIL BOOP REVENGE

SAURON SENT AN EVIL BOOP REVENGE

SAURON SENT AN EVIL BOOP REVENGE

SAURON SENT AN EVIL BOOP REVENGE

Finrod and Sauron battle

commissions are open!

Mairon