Deep Roots Are Not Reached By The Frost

Mostly Tolkien and Marvel. All I want in life is for J.R.R. to be my grandfather. Isaiah 58:9

[fairycosmos]

prescribed 10 consecutive replays of iris by the goo goo dolls

[oatmealaddiction]

No but like, this is the thing about Sam carrying Frodo and the ring up the mountain. It's a cool scene in the movie, but they don't explain what's happening at all. The ring at this point is so heavy Frodo can't even lift his head. It's like essentially a cinder-block he has to carry around his neck. And finally he gives up and Sam offers to carry him and:

DO YOU GUYS GET IT? THE RING IS A BURDEN, BUT FRODO ISN'T. FRODO DOESN'T WEIGH ANYTHING TO SAM. SAM CAN LIFT HIM EASILY!!!! HE'S NOT A BURDEN AT ALL I —

[assiraphales]

sick to my stomach bc samwise the brave wasn’t a fighter, a noble, a scholar, a wizard…. what could he do in the face of this darkness? and he chose to carry the hope of middle earth on his shoulders

[izalith-witch]

You think if someone told this guy:

He'd be defeated by this Hobbit:

That Sauron would shake and quake and fall to his knees crying saying it's fake news.

Celebrimbor laughing all the way from the Halls of Mandos with a spear in his gut.

[overthinkinglotr]

One thing it took me a while to appreciate in the LOTR films were the parallels between Frodo and Boromir—

At the end of Fellowship of the Ring, the two of them are both planning to “break the fellowship” for their own reasons.

Frodo wants to protect the others from the corruption of the Ring. Boromir wants “the strength to protect his people.” Both would have to sacrifice the fellowship for this— “to bear a ring of power is to be alone.”

They convince themselves it is their duty to save the world on their own: that this is their quest and their burden, and that they must take it even if it they do it alone, against the will of the rest of the Fellowship.

Boromir tells Frodo “I know why you seek solitude. You suffer— I see it day by day.” Earlier in Lothlorien, Boromir had walked away from the group to grieve alone.

When Boromir is first introduced, he has a large flashing arrow over his head saying “this man is going to be corrupted by the power of the Ring.” The other characters are often mistrustful of him, deeply wary, or treat his corruption as an inevitability. Gandalf warns Frodo about how “evil will be drawn to you from outside the Fellowship and, I fear, from within” while casting a side-glance in Boromir’s direction.

When the Fellowship is refused entry to Lothlorien because of the One Ring, there’s a scene where the other members of the Fellowship can’t meet Frodo’s eyes, looking away whenever he looks at them— it’s as if they’re starting to perceive him as the burden, and not the Ring.

Boromir notices this, and tells Frodo “you carry a heavy burden; don’t carry the weight of the dead.” He does not take his own advice: he carries the weight of Gondor’s dead. Fighting on the front lines of the battle between Gondor and Mordor has left him with far less hope than the other characters; he acts resentful of the other characters, because he believes they don’t truly understand the threat Mordor represents, because they haven’t spent the past few years on the front lines like he has. He tearfully confesses his kingdom “looks to him to make things right and [he] would do it”— it his duty to singlehandedly save Minas Tirith. The weight of this burden is what makes him so susceptible to the power of the Ring— which, in turn, is what makes everyone else so wary of him.

By carrying these burdens, Frodo is also becoming isolated from the other members of the Fellowship, the way that Boromir is.

At night on the banks of the Anduin, Frodo/Sam and Aragorn/Boromir have arguments that parallel each other— Sam tries to help Frodo and Frodo pushes him away; Boromir urges Aragorn to go to Minas Tirith and Aragorn pushes him away.

After the climactic battle at Amon Hen, they’re both in despair— Boromir believes his death means the end of the kingdom that has been relying so heavily on him, Frodo believes he is doomed to travel to Mordor on his own. But both are are ultimately “saved.” Aragorn swears to defend the people of Gondor, who he accepts as his people, and Sam refuses to let Frodo leave alone.

The parallels continue in the next films as well though: Frodo is ultimately corrupted by the Ring, just as Boromir was; he’s crushed under the weight of the burden he took on. But it’s just fascinating to see how much they have in common, despite being so different on the surface.

[thehouroftwilight]

・・・

[kartman1993]

[in-flvx]

Breakup so bad both end up changing their names

[autumnhobbit]

episode 2 is so funny

obi wan: going thru the horrors, in a spy movie

anakin and padme: in a soap opera

shmi: in an eli roth movie

[schizo-toddhoward]

George Lucas saw Ewan McGregor’s luscious hair and really said chop it all off

[saevity]

happy birthday folklore i love you so much princess 🌿🩶 5 years since taylor rhymed "cardigan' with "car again" and lives everywhere were changed forever

[fraseris]

me having a weird time: man this weird time sucks! i don't feel like myself! i wish i was having a normal time!

me having a normal time: well the weird time did have a certain je ne sais quoi...

[bluemoonscape]

No no listennnn it’s the way Obi-Wan drags out the first ‘a’ in Anakin’s name. It’s the way everyone else ignores the hyphen in Obi-Wan’s name and runs it all together but Anakin pronounces every syllable slowly and clearly. It’s how Anakin was the only constant in Obi-Wan’s life from the time Qui-Gon died, how he threw all of his energy into keeping Anakin safe and sheltered, because he’d already seen too many horrors as a slave. It’s about how Anakin went to Obi-Wan’s room every night for a year because he was afraid he would disappear like Qui-Gon and his mom, and Obi-Wan lost sleep because he doesn’t know how to swim. It’s how Anakin grumbled and complained about Obi-Wan’s teaching to others because his feelings were so muddled and confused and yet he would die for him in a heartbeat and thrived on his approval. How Anakin, hours after losing his mom horrifically and suddenly, threw himself into a battle with Count Dooku on Geonosis and lost his arm to save Obi-Wan because he couldn’t lose him too. How Obi-Wan tried to steer Anakin from attachment but in the process became irrevocably attached himself, admitting multiple times to loving Anakin, passing down the gift his own Master gave him for his birthday years ago that meant nothing to Obi-Wan when he got it but meant everything to Anakin because it was from Obi-Wan, holding onto Anakin’s lightsaber and cloak when all else of him was lost, taking care of his children because they were living pieces of him. It’s that they called each other and asked after the other constantly when they’re apart during the Clone Wars. It’s that Ahsoka was technically Anakin’s Padawan but they thought of her as theirs and she called them her parents to others. It’s the little things like Anakin modifying Obi-Wan’s R4 droid to look like his own R2 unit. It’s the big things like them being able to sense one another from lightyears away even after Anakin turns. It’s Obi-Wan willfully turning a blind eye to Anakin’s violations of the code because he wanted him to be happy more than he wanted him to be a good Jedi. Anakin still referring to him as “Master” even after their apprenticeship is over, to their last battle; Anakin wishing that Obi-Wan would stay with him in his time of need rather than go to fight General Grievous and end the war; that they were the greatest Jedi to live, at the end of the age of heroes, “the best for last” and they were so insanely, disgustingly, beyond attached despite the Code’s teachings on what made a Jedi good, and they were the best. They were the best because they were together. Because they were Kenobi and Skywalker and that became one name, the name of the Open Circle Fleet, name of the greatest duo the Jedi had ever seen. I consider almost nothing from the sequel trilogy canon EXCEPT for the force dyad because you can’t tell me they weren’t one and never even knew because that was just how they were. They just figured they matched each other’s freak too hard. That’s just them.

[skywalkerrtno]

SLAYY

[overthinkinglotr]

Hey girl Did you know that um The musical leitmotif you hear after Gandalf's death actually appears three (3) times throughout the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Its first and most famous appearance is after Gandalf's death in Moria in FOTR, where it's sung by a lone vocalist. (While most of the vocal bits in the soundtrack are in Elvish/dwarvish, this one bit of the soundtrack is entirely wordless, conveying the idea of "suffering beyond words"-- like that moment later on where Legolas is unable to translate elven singing because "the grief is too near.)

The second time we hear the leitmotif is in Return of the King, when Mount Doom erupts and Gandalf thinks Frodo is dead. But now the meaning is reversed; it's Gandalf who believes Frodo is dead. [3:00 of the first video, and the beginning of the second.]

The last time is at the Grey Havens, when Gandalf says a final farewell to all of the hobbits.

One thing I haven't seen discussed very often is that this motif is tied to Frodo and Gandalf specifically--- and the way it develops mirrors the way their dynamic changes.

In FOTR, Gandalf dies sacrificing himself to protect the Fellowship, and Frodo is overwhelmed with guilt and grief. In ROTK, it appears that Frodo sacrifices himself to defend Middle Earth, as Gandalf is overwhelmed with guilt and grief.

In FOTR, Frodo is forced to confront that the even his powerful 'mentor figures' are still human, fallible, and able to be taken away from him; in ROTK, Gandalf witness the aftermath of Frodo destroying the Ring, proving that even this small unassuming hobbit can have this unimaginable capacity for strength and self-sacrifice.

Finally, the two of them journey into the Grey Havens together, because neither of them really survived.

In a way-- Frodo died in Mount Doom, as Gandalf died in Moria.

They've returned to life, they were called back. Gandalf was called back by forces "beyond thought and time," Frodo was called back by Sam's refusal to let go of him. But despite being recalled to life, they're permanently changed, transformed in a way that means they no longer belong in Middle Earth. They have to go across the sea.

The use of this leitmotif is so excellent because it captures that thematic beat perfectly. The motif becomes a goodbye that both of them say to the Fellowship.

[snydog17]

they love me because I be saying shit like alas and perchance

[russian-painting]

Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky - Winter landscape, 1880s.