The Differences Between Hera And Eowyn

Reblog to hug prev

Please

Reblog if you've found friendship because of your fandoms.

One SEVERELY underrated moment in the Fellowship of the Ring, one of my favorite subtle moments in the film, is Aragorn’s reaction to Weathertop.

First the Hobbits/Aragorn travel out of Bree and into a barren wilderness. After struggling for days through barren plains and disgusting marshes full of so much nothing, they arrive here:

A bare, melancholy landscape in the middle of nowhere.  The music is bleak and lonely.

There is nothing around except a pile of broken ruins on a far hill. 

Aragorn’s reaction is to say, basically to himself: “this was once the great watch tower of Amon Sûl .” 

And you realize that the lifeless landscapes these characters have been journeying through for the past few days used to be part of a beautiful, vibrant kingdom that no longer exists. 

And that Aragorn understands that, and feels that loss, but the hobbits don’t.

Then they set up camp on Weathertop. The hobbits all put their things down and start to relax….but Aragorn stands up, and walks away.

Then he stands on the edge of Weathertop, and looks out over he landscape:

It actually took me a while to notice that you can see his silhouette under the overhang, against the clouds:

And while this moment is tiny, it reminds me of a moment in the book. When Aragorn and co. arrive at Weathertop in the book…..Aragorn suggests they all look out over the top, so that they can see the same view the ancient kings saw when they used Weathertop as a watch tower.

And that’s what I feel like Aragorn is doing in this little moment– surveying the horizon the way the ancient kings used to do before everything fell apart.

And I love that because…. there’s a recurring thing in the films where Aragorn comes across symbols of  his kingdom, but the symbols are always decayed or broken. The most obvious example of this is Narsil, the Sword that Was Broken.  (And Aragorn’s character arc in the films is about learning that his kingdom, though it seems hopelessly broken, is not beyond repair.)

And I think Weathertop is another, more subtle, example of that.

no more cold and calculating i want warm and calculating. i want characters who use deductive reasoning to figure out whether their friend would like a wool or cotton quilt based off of their lifestyle, career, hobbies, and habits. i want "your nails are often chipped because you work for a law firm as a typist for this company which notoriously underbudgets their IT department, so ive bought you a keyboard cover that will not only prevent manicure damage but is also sensory friendly because I know you dislike certain clicking noises". i want characters who figure out their friends entire schedules and social battery levels just by examining who only use that info to know when the best time is to hang out with them. i want characters who create elaborate, supervillain level schemes just to get their hands on some collectible they know their best friend wants. most of all i want characters who do not use intelligence and reasoning skills as a reason to be cruel but as a means to be kind

someone on twitter is trying to claim that use of an em-dash is an indication of AI-generated writing because it’s “relatively rare” for actual humans to use it. skill issue

Reblog to make it die faster

Petition to start referring to Susan Pevensie's arc as "The Tragedy of Susan" rather than "The Problem of Susan." Her arc is not defined by the "problem" of growing up; it is the tragedy of forgetting she is a queen.

In Prince Caspian, we see the seeds of this. "It's no good behaving like kids now that we are back in Narnia," Peter tells her when she is afraid of entering the treasure chamber in the ruins of Cair Paravel. "You're a Queen here." Aslan does not chide her for being too grown-up to believe in him; he lends her his breath for bravery so that she can stop listening to her fears. Susan's "problem" in this book is in fact that she behaves more like a child than a queen.

In many ways, Susan's arc parallels Prince Rilian's in The Silver Chair. He is the Lost Prince; she becomes the Lost Queen. He is enchanted to forget who he really is. The Green Lady twists his birthright so that he is going to conquer his own land and rule as a usurper--the land where he is meant to be the rightful ruler! He unconsciously trades his role as the true prince for a false kingship (similar to Edmund trading his birthright as a true king of Narnia for the Witch's false promise to make him a prince ... hey, you'd almost think this was a theme or something).

Susan likewise trades her identity as queen for a false substitute in England, exchanging the substance for the shadow. She is a child pretending to be a grown-up, not actually being grown-up. Lewis never says there's anything inherently wrong with "lipstick and nylons and invitations," but they are merely the outward trappings of society. What makes a person a king or queen comes from inside. When Rilian returns to Narnia, he is instantly recognized for being a prince, despite his lack of a crown or any of the other formal trappings of royalty. He is recognized because he is no longer hidden by the armor of the Green Lady--and so he looks like himself. In fact, he not only looks like himself, he looks like his father. (Which is also how Lord Bern recognizes Caspian in the Lone Islands, despite Caspian not having any outward proof of his kingship--Caspian looks and sounds like his father. Shasta is recognized as a prince because of his resemblance to his brother--oh hey, we've got another theme going.)

Susan has put on the armor of the world, and in doing so has lost herself as queen. That is what makes her arc a tragedy. But! There is always, always hope. Rilian is rescued. Shasta is restored to his true identity as Prince Cor. Edmund is redeemed. Aslan breathes on Susan. Caspian's kingship restores right order to the Lone Islands. No one is ever irredeemably lost.

Once a king or queen of Narnia, always a king or queen of Narnia.

Even when they themselves have forgotten who they truly are.

why do we romanticize everything except healthy marriage

B2MEM - "I will not bid the stars farewell, nor say the day is done."

@spring-into-arda (397 words)

There was a point where hoping that things might yet get better - or that at the very least they might endure as they currently were - was not, perhaps, sensible.

With the protections of the Valley breached and the enemy even now pounding at the last barricaded door to his halls, Elrond had to admit that this point might have been reached.

It was an almost unimportant thought, however. For one thing, it changed nothing; this was not an enemy they could surrender to. They would defeat it, or they would be destroyed; there was no other path to seek.

For another, he had spent an uncomfortable amount of his life at this point. Most of his childhood, certainly. And yet, time and again, the light had endured.

The light, he was certain, would again. If he himself would - Well, that mattered far less than those of his people gathered here with grim purpose behind the shuddering door. This hall had been meant for songs and feasting, but he was a child of the First Age and had built accordingly; it would hold a siege a while yet.

Most of those who had won to this redoubt were armed and ready, but there were injured among them, and he moved among those quickly now, giving what chance he could that they might stand ready when the time came.

His ring weighed heavily on his hand.

He had not leaned on it much. He had not dared. And now -

Now he must make his choice. Throw his will and his might into its blatant use - reveal beyond all doubts its presence, throw his will against Sauron’s - or take one last desperate measure to hide it, that at least those others who might still be fighting might have a better chance.

Both measures were likely doomed unless help came.

There was no help that might yet come.

And yet -

And yet.

How many times had he thought those words before?

The door shuddered.

Cracked.

He squeezed the hand of his last patient and stood, drawing his sword at long last.

“We stand!” he cried, the full power of his will weaving through the words.

“We stand!” his people echoed in a response that shook the timbers of the roof.

Splinters flew from the door.

Above the thunderous roars that followed, he could just hear one more impossibly powerful, impossibly familiar voice, ringing out in distant answer.

Could somebody give me Dorothy L Sayers 101? I had never heard of her until joining tumblr, where you fine people seem to talk about her a lot 🙂 She sounds like some kind of hybrid of Agatha Christie and CS Lewis! Where should one start with her? And can one pick up any old Lord Peter Wimsey book from the library with no context, or do they need to be read in sequence?