Rorshach

[wintersoldierfell]

you've heard of death of the author, now get ready for death of the audience: where instead of basing your reaction on a thousand uninformed opinions online, you actually read the text and engage with it

[michaelmoonsbookshop]

postcard c1910

I shall pass through this world but once, any good thing therefore I can do, or any kindness I can show to any human being, let me do it now, let me not defer it or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again.

[sunder-soul]

What do you think Tom felt towards his bio mother, Merope? I’ve seen a lot of people tackle this differently, but I’d appreciate your opinion. Some people say indifference, others disgust. Some say he can’t bear to think about it because it only further strengthens his self-loathing. JKR really never touched on it—at least I don’t think she did. That being said, I understand why there’s so much hatred thrown at Merope, but Tom/Voldy was unaware of how he was conceived. Thanks for answering and thanks for all the great writing you share with us 🌸

Ooh good question (CW: brief mention of nonconsensual sex).

Well if I'm remembering correctly, Tom immediately assumed his mother had to have been a Muggle because she'd died, and even before getting to Hogwarts, he associated magic with strength and weakness with Muggleness. He looked for anything in the school mentioning his father's name for a long time before giving up and turning to his mother's side of the family and realising that his magic came from her.

So upon first learning of her, I think he has two main conflicting feelings for her: the first is a reluctant reverence since she poses as his connection to magic, to Slytherin, and therefore to what he perceives as his most important qualities (his strength, the veneer of superiority over all his pureblood lackies, his unique ability to speak Parseltongue which sets him apart from others, magic in general...).

The second feeling I think he'd develop over time as he learned more about her, and that's a deep disgust similar to what we see of how he feels about his father - though for a very different reason, obviously.

(A quick aside: I'm not sure if Tom would have ever known that his mother used magic to force Riddle Snr to be with her (I'm firmly in the camp that this was rape and she's morally repugnant for this), since I doubt he would have looked too much into their relationship upon realising that his father was a Muggle. If he did know about the love potion I think he would find it incredibly demeaning to use magic to force the attention of a Muggle.)

Anyway, I think Tom's disgust and revulsion for his mother would begin as a reaction to the fact that she makes him feel very, very insecure. She's proof that even someone who has all the qualities he supposedly prizes can be 'weak,' and importantly, that they could die basically nameless in squalor in the backstreets of London and never really be thought of by anyone again. Magic was supposed to be what would protect him from anonymity and death and everything else he's afraid of, and Tom strikes me very much as the sort of person who would see this person who violates his personal worldview and triggers his insecurities, and react with a vitriolic disgust lashing out at the individual 'weakness' of that specific person.

If she herself was simply 'too weak' to have appreciated (or made the most of) her gifts, then he's logically able to go on believing that those exact same gifts will lead him to his goals if he's simply 'strong enough.' He can't face the possibility that she basically disproves the infallibility of magic, so it has to be her personal weakness, rather than that his understanding of the world is batshit stupid.

This would only be exacerbated after he visits the Gaunts and sees the state they'd devolved to. Like he searched for years for some connection to a proud lineage (in what I'm sure was a mix of ego, envy, and desire for external sources of personal identity), and he actually did find it after all that, only to meet them and find that.

If he resents his father for being everything he hates, Tom resents his mother (and the Gaunts in general) for having everything he wants and squandering it.

There's only power, after all, and in his mind his mother was just one of those too weak to seek it.

[lawyernovelist]

Tone Problems in The Phantom Menace

So I don’t think I’m going to be shocking anyone when I say that The Phantom Menace (or, as I call it, “The first Star Wars prequel” because I can’t keep track of the real titles) has a tone problem. The components of the tone problem also aren’t exactly a mystery. However, I recently watched it for the first time in years as part of a big watch-through of all of Star Wars and would still like to…

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[icathia-magnus]

Galadriel & Finrod

Sin fondo porque no sé hacerlos.

[irrational-philosophy]

Seven Stars

[yashmel]

For the art requests: Beren and Luthien 🥺

As a daughter of a maia and a very tall elf, Luthien probably were taller than Beren.

[yashmel]

[raven-dame]

Sons of Finwë and High Kings of the Noldor

Curifinwe , Nolofinwe and Arafinwe

Heres to one of the most dysfunctional siblings relationship in the whole tolkien legenderium. May the fanarts of them never cease. ╰⁠(⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠´⁠꒳⁠`⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠)⁠╯

This is a redraw! I felt that they needed a good cleaning up and i needed to procrastinate from learning to animate and so i did what any sane person would and redrew it lol

Here's the old one from 2023

Safe to say i learned a thing or two

[eamonorus-blog]

They should be white!

[omgitzlongdennis]

"lord take all of faramirs suffering and give it to gollum" -samwise gamgee

[eamonorus-blog]

That's not quite what Sam is saying. Faramir warned Gollum that if he lied, something bad would happen. I believe that that is what Sam is talking about here.

[ryandonato-deactivated20130922]

A Tiger and His Boy

[veggiezombiex]

A realistic tiger emerging from the page holding a doll that looks very much like Calvin from “Calvin and Hobbes” comic.

[atlinmerrick]

How have I never seen this concept in reverse like this I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

[marsharmonicorchestra]

no, no. you’ve got it all wrong. girls don’t want flowers. all girls want is to look for his coming from the white tower and see him return. all girls want is for the tower guard to take up the call and tell them the lord(s) of Gondor have returned.

[junesend]

This may be a hot take but I'd like to speak my peace

I don't ship Frodo and Sam. I really just can't see it.

*Just to be clear, you can ship whoever you want within the realm of reason, I just want to share my confusion on the conclusion a lot of people have gotten to since I can't personally find that perspective*

I haven't read Lotr yet, but so much of this shipping context is derived from the films so I think I'm safe to say that they (the actors and writing) don't at all act with romantic subtext.

Throughout all of the films Frodo and Sam's relationship is very much that of close friends who bond differently during the journey due to dependency on each other and hardships.

Sam is the closest person to Frodo through this intense burden and psychological/moral turmoil. Sam carries our boy to the mountain because he's been with Frodo the entire journey from start to end, and has seen the toll it has taken on him. He carries Frodo with an air of camaraderie, loyalty, care, and emotional strength.

Anyhow, the fact that Sam and Frodo don't exist in a romantic context together is cinematically supported, and I can't find it at all in the way that the actors portrayed them or even in dialogue.

Personally (and you can metaphorically sue me for this if you want) i have one specific friendship of my own that I very much see in Frodo and Sam when I watch The Lord of the rings trilogy, and this is my lifelong friend and platonic soulmate. We tried to see if dating was for us since everyone said we should and it didn't feel right on either side (this was middle school, mind you, and now we're in college).

I see our friendship and our type of platonic love in Frodo and Sam because of the sheer amount of obvious love for one another present without any romantic influence between the two.

And, I also see the crowd calling for queer romance just because of two same gendered friends with a deep bond. To me it looks like people have blatantly ignored a prime example of positive and strong friendship between two men in favor of the ever present gay-ship fandom fodder. It also is concerning as I see women primarily vouching for this ship specifically.

Mind you, I am a queer woman, and I have a multitude of queer ships that I'm a fan of, including mlm (like merthur, which is my personal favorite). I just can't see what others are seeing when it comes down to Sam and Frodo's relationship type.

Frodo loves Sam, and Sam loves Frodo, this much isn't even up for discussion, but it's important to distinguish between the love you share with a friend and the love you feel for a romantic partner.

It's very clear that Sam loves Rosie, as we Begin the trilogy with Sam admiring Rosie from afar and Frodo encouraging him to be a little bit more brave. We end this series with Sam marrying Rosie and Frodo is happy for him. Frodo himself is depressed because of how the journey changed him and his perspective of the life he once had, which is unrelated to the fact that Sam found happiness and he couldn't after the shared journey.

Again this is just an opinion, and also kind of a vent post in a way. I really just don't understand how this conclusion is so popular. People are bound to get to a conclusion of shipping two characters that don't really mix in a fandom, I know that to be very true. It's just strange that this one is so popular, since it's got such little usable context to support the ship with.

I'd love to know what others think tbh

[eamonorus-blog]

I agree, I do think you really need to read the books to come to a completely informed opinion. There are several meaningful differences from book to film that change the dynamic!

[lemonomelette]

something something about doomed yaoi

[per1w1nkl3]

ykw i think they were cowards for making legolas the hot one and gimli the comedic relief in the movies- personally I feel like there was a lot of material in the books for the exact opposite dynamic

[eamonorus-blog]

Exactly! PJ has done terrible damage to the pop culture perception of Elves and Dwarves, in Tolkien and otherwise

[redreyenotarget]

Eonwe is done finally, after rotting in my folders for 1 year. I based his design a bit on St. Michael the Archangel because it felt…right ig.

[neldeathstar]

✨SLAYFINDEL✨