Tumblr crosspost (10 September 2019)

People (initially) seemed to think this post was about the brotp and not the decades of war and invasions of other lands, so I added:

-

I was going to stop there (really!), but I …

All men that had allied themselves with Sauron were slain or subjugated.(POME)

Gondor [was] soon to be of imperial power and prestige… I did not, naturally, go into details about the way in which Aragorn, as King of Gondor, would govern the realm. But it was made clear that there was much fighting and in the earlier years of A.’s reign expeditions against enemies in the East. (Letters)

He became thus King both of Arnor and Gondor, and overlord of the ancient allies of Mordor to whom he now granted mercy and peace. (LOTR)

Um.

Tumblr crosspost (11 September 2019)

They [the Númenóreans] became thus in appearance, and even in powers of mind, hardly distinguishable from the Elves

This is another quote that’s stuck with me, though for entirely different reasons. It’s always shaped my mental picture of both Elves and Númenóreans—I can’t see Númenóreans as just otherwise-normal tall people, but neither can I see Elves as all that inhuman.

 

Tumblr crosspost (12 September 2019)

I’m enjoying the debate a lot more than usual, tbh.

incognitajones said:

I was trying to figure out why you would be watching the Cdn election debate, lol

Hahaha, no! Though this one did mention Trudeau.

Tumblr crosspost (13 September 2019)

Someone made a post (at another site) about how I wrote this hugely popular epic for a ship that’s … actually one of my high-octane NOTPs, and I’m still ??????????? about it.

Tumblr crosspost (13 September 2019)

Unrelatedly:

?????????????????????????????????

#sometimes i really don't understand y'all

grumpyfaceurn responded:

this might be the vaguest anyone has ever vagueblogged

and I said:

Hah, and I’m usually overly specific! But I’d just seen The Thing, so I didn’t want to be too particular.

(NB: it was a commentless reblog of my random post about how it felt weird that someone said I wrote a fic about my NOTP.)

Tumblr crosspost (13 September 2019)

Somewhere in my head there’s a longer post about this, but I feel that something overlooked about (bookverse) Faramir’s lines in TTT is that they are emerging from a very specific, very tense context.

It’s not that he doesn’t mean what he says. But ultimately he’s gathering information. He isn’t being friendly just because he’s nice. He’s being friendly because he’s trying to set Frodo and Sam at ease in order to find out (through various means) what’s going on now and what went on with the Fellowship.

Faramir is pleasant, and he rambles on about Gondorian history and his general philosophies in the middle of a warzone, and he freely acknowledges his people’s past and present weaknesses, and he chats about customs and Elves with Frodo and Sam, and he’s deciding whether to kill them or not.

What he says is true, but there’s purpose to what truths he chooses to tell.

Meanwhile, on Frodo and Sam’s side, their lives hang on what they say. I know some people feel the tension drops out in these scenes, but I’ve always felt that it actually rises—all the more with the contrast between Faramir’s manner and the threat he poses, right up until the moment that he refuses the Ring.