What A Bittersweet, Heart Wrenching Moment It Must Have Been When Galadriel First Met Aragorn And Saw

Inside of you there are two wolves.

One wolf says that Sam and Frodo’s relationship is not romantic, and all the affection and moments between them that might make a modern reader question how platonic it truly is are simply moments inspired by soldiers in wwi, where tragedy and horror brought people together, ignoring societal norms such as the amount of affection you can show your friend before it’s seen as anything other that what it really is. When you live in a reality where death is all around and you’re lonely and starving and miss home and you might die tomorrow, and you got no one else but your companion, you are bound to become closer and create a bond that is unlike any other friendship. Their relationship is also influenced by the fact that Tolkien is a medievalist, and in the Middle Ages affection between a pair of friends was more normalized and there’s plenty of medieval literature where the characters have relationships similar to those of Sam and Frodo. The reader needs to let go of their modern lenses and see the story while acknowledging it’s temporal context and background.

The other wolf says that Sam and Frodo’s parallels with Lúthien and Beren, Tolkien’s amount of queer friends, and just how different their relationship has been since the start, before the horrors even began, is gay asf. He also says, and I quote, “if Frodo isn’t gay I’ll eat my hat”.

Both wolves are correct.

what's left to those with ash instead of soul if not to cling to those who burn a bonfire?

+

the product of me contemplating about olrox's possible backstory and reading several mexica culture + spanish conquest books for the past 2.5 weeks (was absolutely worth it)

(+ a bit of yapping under the cut)

I've been thinking of him as a warrior from the commoner class or as a priest who was accepted into the calmecac from the same lower class because of his high capabilities (it was possible to accept children who were talented and with good qualities); and the priest version slowly took over - Quetzalcoatl, whose feathered-serpent form olrox takes, is a patron of knowledge, learning and priests; while it is symbolical - for a priest after spanish invasion and all the consequences (erasing of culture, persecution of the religion, converting into the christianity) to have this form in the manner of some kind of support, it also creates a common ground and parallels between olrox and mizrak in the aspects of religion, harsh duty, devotion to divine beings and theological questions, which i found fun to explore :)

i also thought of him being on lesser position in hierarchy - maybe as an offering priest, who could have got higher due to the fall of Tenochtitlan and immense decrease of population.

Anyway, I'm so normal about him and so looking forward to read more about other precolombian cultures now!

merry yule everyone !

Look at this 'morgoth doing a big steppy on fingolfin' cookie

Bilbo Baggins, Consort under the mountain lol

holy hell aragorn chill out

I’m a fucking idiot. I’ve been turning over in my brain why nobody in the Silmarillion seems to get a redemption arc, why nobody seems to be able to make up for the harm they’ve done, etc.

One of the biggest themes in the Silmarillion is “the fall.” The fall from grace, the doomed, the railing against the impossible. Of COURSE nobody gets a redemption arc! It runs counter to the whole point of the book!

Now, Lotr specifically is different. Lotr is about finding hope when all seems lost, and finding allies in unexpected places against the darkness. This allows characters like Boromir to “fall” and yet redeem himself in his final moments, is what allows Sméagol to peek through in Gollum, is what lets Theoden lift his head from Grima’s ear and instead take Gandalf’s counsel.

But the Silmarillion? The Silmarillion is about the fall and doom of the Noldor, the decimation of Beleriand, and the consequences of failing to stop Morgoth. Of course nobody recovers. Of course.

I like to think of what Bilbo will see when he opens his eyes.

Nelyo scribble.

i put this on twitter but it feels like the sort of thing i should subject everyone to

whyd i never post this a