Anghraine

2020 fic writing post!

2020 was not my most productive year, but apart from the general state of 2020, I had a lot to do for my PhD and sleeping problems, so … /shrug. Anyway, this year—

- I got inspired by my “eh” feelings about TROS to outline a big chunk of my f!Luke series, and after (I think) four years of no updates, wrote some eighteen and a half chapters on The Jedi and the Sith Lord in something like six weeks. It’s now 67k.

- I updated my very niche Guild Wars 2 fic, pro patria, a kind of fragmented AU in which the “Missing Sister” option to say that the PC/Deborah are proud Ascalonians has a major effect on the PC’s character and story. I got Althea through a bunch of Ebonhawke/Fields of Ruin stuff, which was 50% of the motivation for writing it at all. It’s now at 89k.

- I finally finished the gift of men, the Eldarion/Faramir-and-Éowyn’s-daughter fic that has been rolling around my brain/Google Drive for years. It’s only a little over 1k, but I was really glad to get it finished and posted.

- I was overpowered with Ascalon/fuck the Searing feelings while playing the original Guild Wars and wrote a fic about the Prophecies PC’s last day (creatively called the last day) before the Searing. It’s also just over 1k and almost nobody read it, but it was really for me, so that’s okay.

- I updated tolerably well acquainted, my canon-compliant book-only P&P fic about how Elizabeth falls in love with Darcy from Pemberley onwards. Lydia just ran off with Wickham and Elizabeth reunited with Jane; I wrote about half of another chapter, but didn’t finish it. The fic as a whole is now 27k, which is kind of astounding to me tbh.

- I’d always thought of my Éowyn-meets-f!Faramir fic, we also are daughters of the great, as a one-shot, but got inspired by their canon scenes to take it further … and then got waylaid by Merry feelings? I don’t know. I also wrote about half of another chapter of this one before exams struck, so that’s partly done. I’d really like to get to the hair mingling scene! Someday. It’s 4800 words.

- I haven’t posted much of it (just this) or named it, but I started a fic about Darcy’s family (canonical and head-canonical) reacting to his engagement to Elizabeth/Elizabeth herself. It’s part of the tolerably well acquainted continuity, I think, and a kind of fun experiment with different voices. It’s 1500 words so far.

- I started a fic about Faramir’s birth and early childhood, but it stalled partway through dealing with tiny Faramir’s first dream of Númenor. I might get back to it someday. It’s 1300 words.

- I also brainstormed a Star Wars/Dungeons and Dragons fusion where Anakin is an aasimar (as are Luke and Leia), but the composite setting drifted far enough from either that it became an original fic in a universe powered by the blessings/curses of the gods. It follows a sorceress of the god of the Void who takes on the care of a troubled demigoddess. I wrote a ton of background material, but only 1200 words of actual fic.

- After only cutting things out and fixing the gaps for years, I wrote two full chapters of my original fantasy novel; I’ve decided to take out a big chunk of one of them, but even so, it’s very satisfying, and (after a lot of cuts) brought the whole thing to 72k.

And I think that’s everything!

I’ve been babbling about it on Twitter, but I think there’s an unnamed, unknown character who really deserves more credit than he gets: the Dúnadan who crafted the Barrow-dagger that Merry uses to stab the Witch-king.

Think about it for a second. The Witch-king is a sorcerer using a Ring of Power. He is nigh invulnerable!

Meanwhile, some completely unknown Dúnadan is like … you know what? Hell with him and hell with his Ring. I’m going to craft weapons that are specifically designed to break the spells holding him together. And then he just up and does it, and one of them actually works in disenchanting the King of the Nazgûl. Tolkien says that “no other blade” could have done it.

People are like Elves this and Ainur that, and they do lots of amazing things, but let’s not forget to pour one out for Unknown Dúnadan.

Tagged: #people are also like ... dúnedain don't have special powers they're just big and long-lived #random dúnadan: okay time to enchant this with lvl 9 dispel magic #(necromancy) #jkasdfjk; i just love the whole concept of enchanting an item with 'fuck that guy in particular' #but also how much dúnadan specialness is tied to /craftsmanship/ #also other things but it forms a big (sometimes literally big) part of it #regardless kudos to this dude #and maybe there were other ones like him and they were just That Good #either way that's work to make aulë proud

Several people responded to this:

lotesse said:

Merry is the best tho *encourages*

velvet-jellyfish said:

Ooh exciting!

heckofabecca said:

I LOVE MERRY

I replied:

Here’s a bit of him!

“What is she like?” Merry asked.

Pippin tilted his head, thinking about it. In fact, he thought about it for so long that Merry might have poked him, if not for the chain mail.

“A bit Elvish,” he said at last. “She belongs to those heights, right enough—but isn’t so far-off, if you understand me. It’s hard to explain. You can talk to her, and at the same time, she … you can’t help feeling that you would do anything for her.”

He flushed a little as he spoke. Merry hid a smile. 

“Did you ask for a strand of her hair?” he said.

I reblogged this post I made in Nov 2013:

Little Estel growing up in a place where no one dies or ages or changes, ever, except him

Estel is Aragorn and it fills his heart with pride and then he falls madly in love with the most unattainable woman on the planet and it means his own grief or breaking up his family eternally

Young Aragorn returns to his people, who he doesn’t actually know, and has to become a Dúnadan of the North, the Dúnadan, when he’s only ever been a not-quite-Elf. His mother dies.

Aragorn wanders all over the globe. At one point he goes to Gondor, the country of which he has to gain kingship at some undetermined point in the future. The Steward’s heir is one year older than he is, looks as much like an ancient Númenórean as he does—looks like his brother, if he had one—and has ancient Númenórean powers to go with his height and face, just like Aragorn. Denethor hates him and Aragorn has to walk carefully around him. He leaves when Denethor’s son, Boromir, is three.

Boromir shows up out of nowhere while Frodo is recovering in Rivendell. Little Boromir is now forty, a massive and supremely skilled warrior. He’s instantly suspicious of Aragorn. But they forge a relationship of mutual respect and perhaps even friendship through their assorted tribulations, yay!

Boromir, who Aragorn remembers as a toddler, dies in his arms.

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So I'm twenty-six today, and it feels rather odd, but I had an awesome birthday. My mother bought me a pot of daffodils, and I spent hours at Powell's Books (the local bookstore with over one million books at this location, hell yeah) and had ultra-bittersweet hot chocolate (yum!) and then went to the Mongolian grill. Also I don't have homework, for once!

As well as being the 2056th anniversary of Julius Caesar's death, March 15th is mentioned in Lord of the Rings as the day that Théoden died. Wow, thanks Tolkien - but hey, doesn't that mean it's also the day that Éowyn slew the Witch-King?

Why, yes. Yes, it does. So to finish off the fabulous day I've just had, I'm going to do a picspam of a fabulous character: Éowyn, and mostly Éowyn's shining moment on March 15th.

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