It's Been Nearly Five Years, And I'm Still Upset We Never Got A Dousy Hug.

Okay but seriously an AoS musical episode would literally be the PERFECT spot to include Chloe's little stint as a Chinese pop star

I have no idea how a musical episode would even work into the plot (maybe sometime in s6? Bc Izel's whole thing was about resonance frequencies so maybe they had to sing in order to stop some plan of hers?), but it's just. It's so perfect

Can you imagine them all arguing or something and suddenly Daisy breaks into song, beating all the others, leaving the others stunned. Like, "whoa, had no idea she could do that!" and "where did you learn to sing like that?" and Daisy's like "uhhhhh don't worry about it"

And then we have a post credit scene of her desperately trying to wipe the "Uh Oh" music video off the internet but no matter how hard she tries she can't do it

Ive come up with the phrase "blorbo-in-law" which is a fictional character who isn't, like, YOUR blorbo from YOUR shows but it is your mutual's blorbo who you nevertheless have developed strong opinions about due to long term dash exposure

B2MEM - "Ashes"

@spring-into-arda (308 words)

My first thought on seeing that one of the prompts this time was the song "Ashes" by the Longest Johns was that this was a great prompt for Elrond and Numenor; the talk about worshipping the ashes really seems to fit with later stage Numenor and tending to the flame of life and hope is a very Elrond thing.

(Okay, my very first thought when I saw that one of the prompts was a song link was an irrational certainty that it was a Rick Roll. Tumblr has made me paranoid.)

. . .

It was a hard thing to visit Numenor now. He had seen it when it was green and golden; to see it slowly crumble into ash was a hard thing.

It was elves who were supposed to be most tempted by memory and its traces of old glories; to see Men so enthralled by their own past, their own dead, felt unnatural. Elrond had known these faces when the lifeblood was still bright in their cheeks. He did not mind seeing them captured in stone, but to see more care expended on these remnants than on the ever fewer children whose voices echoed down the cold streets - it disturbed him.

There was not much he could do. The kings of Numenor did not like an elf telling them their business.

Even if the one doing so was, even now, not quite an elf.

There had been a time -

But he turned his mind firmly from memory. He could do no good there.

He could do some good here in the poorest quarter of the city in the market corner where a host of anxious mothers with infants who had caught the fever plaguing the city had gathered because they had heard he could help.

It was a good reminder that there was still some new life in the city.

“Hello, little one,” he said softly to the first squalling little one that was placed in his arms. “Let me see what is amiss. Should you like to hear a song while I do?”

It was an old song, good for soothing fevers and children alike.

He had sung it long ago to some who were now immortalized in ever more elaborate stone. He could lose himself in grief for that if he let himself.

He could.

He would not, so long as there were more children to tend.

I have some thoughts on Héra's "death" line at the climax of War of the Rohirrim and how it relates to Rohan's story during the War of the Ring.

Spoilers below for the movie!

When Héra tells Wulf that she was promised to death on the siege tower, I think that she was genuinely expecting to die there. Even if the plan went perfectly, she would be isolated from the Hornburg (as the siege tower's gangplank burned down) surrounded by an enemy army. Even if Fréaláf showed up, which to her is still a big if on timing if nothing else, that is not a situation one can reasonably expect to survive.

Yet, it's the only hope her people have to escape. She might die, but the rest would live if she could keep enough attention on her. Is this not what Théoden would do centuries later, first on the ramp of the Hornburg drawing the attention of the Uruk-Hai? Then again at Pelennor Fields, one probably last charge to try and win survival for their people. Failing that, at least choosing to die on their own terms instead of waiting for their turn to fall.

Is that not why Théoden's riders cheered "death!" at the enemy as they charged, throwing back the fear Mordor sought to spread back at its hosts? That they had accepted it and were ready to meet it? Is that not what the ideal of a warrior is so often touted as, fighting because they love what stands behind their aegis?

Héra may not have been fighting the same kind of existential war that Théoden was, but the same kind of courage was needed. Even if it all went well, I doubt she had any expectations of surviving that night. She nearly didn't, even with Fréaláf arriving and utterly terrorizing the Dunlending host into such a panicked rout. Yet, it was the way she could save those under her charge.

The moment she rode out onto the tower's gangplank, Héra truly promised herself to death.

The Differences Between Hera and Eowyn

Just thinking about these two shieldmaidens, and the stark differences between them.

I think a big one is that Eowyn is a romantic, whereas Hera has no wish to marry.

Meanwhile Eowyn hungers for battle and glory, and Hera, although willing to fight, does not desire it.

Hera seems to have grown up in a time of peace, or at least her childhood seems to have been peaceful. Although she lost her mother, she was too young to remember her, she had a father, two brothers, a cousin and a motherly figure. She had constant love, affection and security. However, Helm seems to have been protective of her, so freedom was her greatest desire.

Eowyn's mother and father died at an age for her to be devastated at their loss. She then lost her uncle, her father figure, as he succumbed to Grima's enchantments, and her brother and cousin regularly left her behind. Her life was marked with violence and loss.

Meduseld was a cage, but the only people close to her leaving Meduseld were soldiers riding to battle. Freedom meant battle, because battle was what went on beyond the walls of Meduseld. Battle also meant a place in the histories, a chance to be remembered. Battle was where her brother and cousin went when they left her behind. Battle was the opposite of the dry nursing role she was ill suited for, yet had thrust upon her.

Eowyn yearned for battle. She yearned for love. To ride to battle, to be loved, to be remembered, would ease her grief over being left behind, abandoned by those around her. Her infatuation for Aragorn was wrapped up in her admiration a soldier has for a captain. Romantic desire and desire for battle were intertwined.

Both of them were royal shieldmaidens who chafed under the expectations of their sex, and showed great courage in times of crisis, but the similarities begin and end there. Hera, we see, was playful, young, naïve, clever but sheltered, until the events of the film forced her to grow up. Hers was a coming of age story.

Eowyn was cold, despairing, bitter and angry. The events of the movie and the books see her regain the capacity for hope that was taken from her.

Hey students, here’s a pro tip: do not write an email to your prof while you’re seriously sick.

Signed, a person who somehow came up with “dear hello, I am sick and not sure if I’ll be alive to come tomorrow and I’m sorry, best slutantions, [name]”.

> read library book

> it's good

Thank you library

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