Bunny Noldo

Tolkien, the Rings of Power, Dragon Age, BG3

[bunnynoldo]

The tags:

[monidoll]

instant loss 2koma

[prokopetz]

The really funny part is that many modern sources that want to gas up Sparta will bring up this specific anecdote, but stop at the "if" and just not mention what happened immediately afterwards.

[elucubrare]

similarly, "μολὼν λαβέ" (come and take them) is a really cool thing to say, made significantly less cool by having them taken

[what-even-is-thiss]

Spartan propaganda usually only works if you stop right before the end of the story tbh

[dduane]

Cf. also the Wikipedia entry for Laconophilia. This particular line of wishful-thinking/cherry-picking BS has been going on for a long time. 😏

[brenshor]

This would kill me

[moviecritc]

unrelated, but the marvelous ms. maisel is the funniest show i watched in a long time, and rachel's acting is a-ma-zing. i needed more than five seasons!!

[mooncat139]

not even done with act 1 and Gale has been on his knees for me. Twice. There are entire cutscenes dedicated to him getting on his knees.

[morose-idealist]

Currently romancing the wizard right now and it's just lovely. I think he likes it down there 😏

[grimmscythe]

Reblog to cast heal on prev

[callmestannismaybe]

[rapidlydecayingcorpse]

i feel like people aren't getting how dire ai is. we are running out of drinkable water. our brains aren't engaging as much with what we see and hear. people near data centers don't get clean water and experience electricity blackouts. it's being used to make pornography of underaged people and women. it often just lies. it affirms everything. it lies. it has made people kill themselves. it lies for gods sake. and people act as if im dramatic for being staunchly against it. 'now i KNOOW you hate ai and whatever, but look at this cute video' this isn't me being a new age puritan about internet videos, this is about the fucking earth and our future living on this planet. people are suffering now, people will suffer more, and my friends and parents will roll their eyes and think im annoying for despising ai so explicitly. we need to wake up because we cannot live like this

[ringsofpowermemes]

Who am I to exempt myself? Thanks for the template to @CaliviaMelodia

[fatcatlittlebox]

I cannot tell you how profound it was to me that Charlie confirmed this week in interviews that his understanding of Sauron is that he is NOT this great, omniscent mastermind. I had written metas before that this was how Sauron was being depicted in ROP but to have it supported by the actor was still a little surprising because that has been debated for awhile. Furthermore, Charlie has said now several times that when he plays Sauron playing another persona, whether Halbrand or Annatar, he believes that Sauron is fully invested and reinvented as these people. He 100% believes. And I think that is such a provocative idea. I am totally dumbfounded by it. Because how do you go from this:

To this.

How hauntingly tragic his "Halbrand" era was. It was the closest thing to peace he had found in thousands of years and he got to that place by doing something so uncharacteristic. He took a chance. This Maia, who is obsessed with control and order...he gambled. And won. Until he lost. Why and how the hell did he think pretending to be a mortal king, offering to bind himself to his sworn rival, allying himself with Light would possibly succeed? He had to know it was a near impossible feat. The path he had taken before was probably charted with logical, measured decisions and weighed with statistical probabilities. But not this one. It wasn't hubris or arrogant ambition. It was hope. He believed and that belief was sparked and buoyed by Galadriel.

This is why this shot right here is so symbolic and poetic of this period in his life. Look at Halbrand here. As so many times before where it concerns Galadriel, he looks unsure. Vulnerable. Look at how he holds the pouch and how he stares at it. It's as if his fate rests inside. This is a crossroads. Then he throws it on the table like dice or a coin toss. He seems to have made up his mind. Probably because he had estimated and concluded that following Galadriel was probably not going to work. But then, at the last moment he changes course.

The fact that the camera stays on the pouch for several beats emphasizes that 1) this is a pivotal moment 2) it was impulsive. Sauron had already left and then came back. (12 seconds-- I counted). Just like the raft on the Sundering Seas, he came back for Galadriel. He makes a bold choice. Again! One not even the gods would have expected. He takes a chance. A monumental one.

It's exhilarating, especially now that we have a bigger picture of the actual choice he's making. It's so hopeful. So audacious. So human. So NOT Sauron. And in letting himself fully embody and inhabit the life of a low man, he's never been more connected to Middle Earth, never been more real in this world. The stakes mean something different. He's tactile, emotional, reactive. His actions and relationships have more gravity. His footsteps and words have weight. He's not a puppetmaster. He's alive in the world, an ocean of color.

Contrast that with his Annatar phase. As Charlie portrays him, he is completely detached. Floundering. There's a vacancy to his presence.

As I said before, I think Sauron left apart of himself in Halbrand. It's almost as if the piece of him that was human, that grounded him, was severed. And in doing so, Annatar glides through the world as if in a dream and he were made of ice and shadow. Look at his manner and how he moves. He's imposing but almost inert. His expression is dazed and distracted. His heart is somewhere else. With someone else. Or maybe it's because he actually isn't there. It gives an added layer of meaning to Adar's supposed "message" to Annatar -- "Where is he?" Because why is he so clearly disengaged? Where is his mind is wandering off to constantly?

Again, I'm left pondering how do you get to that, from this?

I'm left shaken at Charlie's performance. He is truly an amazing, gifted actor. There is a reason he plays such a stark contrast between season 1 and season 2. To go from that simmering volcanic intensity to such an emotional void. It's like watching the collapse of a star. I get the sense that there is a rich backstory there that the audience is not privy to. Not yet.

[princessfantaghiro]

It's like watching the collage of a star..

O.M.G. Your words so true here. SO BEAUTIFULLY TRUE. 🫡🥹💔🧎‍♀️

[simply92-me]

Him being so emotionally void and distant in the second season is very interesting too when you see him come alive again when he's interacting with Galadriel again.

Which to me, just drives home the OP's original point all the more.

You see him become more intense, more emotional and a little reactive at times during their fight. The longer their episode plays out, the more emotional he becomes, in his own Annatar way until he thinks he has her and she jumps.

[akzgaj]

Feanor

[the-moon-loves-the-sea]

Shared here today by Matthew Boroson on Facebook. (ETA: Gaining inspiration from other authors is great. Lifting passages and avoiding giving credit isn’t.)

Tanith Lee was the first woman to win the British Fantasy Award for best novel, for the second book of the Flat Earth series. She died in 2015. You can buy Tales From the Flat Earth here and here .

[booksbrackenbooze]

You can also borrow some of Tanith Lee’s books from the Internet Archive if you are unable to buy them.

Here’s a link to Night’s Master, the first book in the Flat Earth series.

I cannot recommend Lee’s work enough. And it pains me that I’d never even heard of her until last year.

[carys-the-ninth]

"Was this book good or was I deeply 19 when I read it:" an investigative journalism series

[not-your-lawyer]

“Was this book bad or was I simply lacking enough life experience to appreciate the narrative when I read it” : an award-winning followup

[bringbackmaes14]

And both of these together are the creation of:

[togetherwithmistakes]

the ONE thing that is annoying me most about the Wuthering Heights criticism is everyone saying “Wuthering Heights is not a romance, ughh how could anyone see the story as romantic, it’s not meant to be romaaaantic”

Like, yes it is. The love between Heathcliff and Cathy is there. It is a tragic story about their selfish, destructive, unconsummated love for each other.

The classist, racist society around them made their love for each other impossible, not because of any one character alone but simply because of who they are in the world they live in. Society is a villain. It begets the abuse, the anger, the cycle of violence and revenge.

The constraints of societal expectations and norms, internalized by Cathy in particular, are what ultimately deprive them of their love for one other.

Cathy is allowed to run wild as a child and is more or less unrestricted by the typical societal expectations of someone of her position. In her youth, she doesn’t see this wild and carefree part of herself as something to be ashamed of until she meets the Lintons.

After meeting Edgar and Isabella, Cathy becomes ashamed of herself and ultimately ashamed of Heathcliff, as a reflection of the most personal, intimate and unencumbered parts of herself. The parts that society thus asks to be exchanged for acceptance.

But unlike Cathy, Heathcliff doesn’t have the luxury of just deciding one day to fit in. His otherness is insurmountable and therefore the choice has to be made. Join society, be respected, secure yourself or give in to love.

Cathy is SO young in this story. She is incredibly sheltered and naive which makes her spoiled, entitled, crass and cruel. She never stops being that way because she never stops rejecting the expectations of society. She cannot let go of that part of herself that loves Heathcliff and loved being free as a child.

She is literally driven mad by having to participate in the role society expects of her (childbirth leading to infection) and ultimately she dies a young girl, heartbroken and longing to be free.

Healthcliff and Cathy’s love is so interlaced into who they are, she haunts his every thought even after she’s died.

I’m not saying anyone should model their love life after it, but it is a beautifully crafted, tragic love story and that is not at all where the criticism of the movie should be coming from, there is plenty real criticism for it !

[gellavonhamster]

#the “not a romance” is just shorthand for “plz don't go in with the classic romance genre clichés in your head” but this is EXACTLY what#the love in it is about (via @darrenjolras)

[sonandheirofnothinginparticular]

[joy-haver]

[letthefairyinyoufly]

SAURON/HALBRAND appreciation 14/∞

[segamascott]

[depsidase]