Ride To Ruin And The World’s Ending

Mainly Lord of the Rings but a little bit of everything Kat - she/her

[riderofrohirrim]

welcome to my account!

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my other accounts:

@my-love-for-finan (The Last Kingdom secondary blog from this account)

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Thank you to everyone for your support!

[riderofrohirrim]

Whoever made this playlist must think they’re hilarious

[riderofrohirrim]

This is very different to my normal posts but here goes: the exit poll in the U.K. election is extremely worrying.

I have a degree from a very good university. My area of specialism? The rise and consolidation of the far right across Europe, with a focus on the use of media and literature to aid and abet.

Reform being predicted to win 13 seats, some of them from Labour is extremely worrying. And we only need to look to France to see what centrist complacency does for the far right. France is not the worst in Europe, other countries already have elected far right governments.

I have been screaming it from the rooftops, trying to raise awareness, trying to educate everyone I can. Europe is willingly walking into the return of the far right, and truth be told it never really disappeared.

The U.K. exit poll mirrors what has happened in other countries now led by the far right. Labour under Starmer is not a reassuring thought either. Something needs to change. We need to wake up.

[riderofrohirrim]

The Hunt for Gollum has SO much potential

Younger Aragorn with Gandalf

Gandalf enlisted the help of the Mirkwood elves from the very start of the hunt (from the very very beginning like TA 2944)

So much travelling through various countries and landscapes of middle Earth

Of course that also means an Elrond appearance and a return to Rivendell

Elladan and Elrohir appearances

But this could also mean a return to Lorien (and an Arwen appearance)

Gollum is also eventually captured and taken to Mirkwood (he escaped and that’s why Legolas ends up in Rivendell for the council)

Aragorn and Legolas potential first meeting ?

More Thranduil too

So potentially we will see more of the inner workings of elven kingdoms too (although probably unlikely)

Obviously we’ll see the various evil players in Middle Earth too

This could provide a bigger insight into the inner workings of Mordor as we know Gollum was tortured there

Gollum’s revelation that the One Ring has been found and a hobbit is now in possession of it

I can’t stress enough the various landscapes of Middle Earth !!!

Aragorn travelled over 900 miles to bring Gollum to Thranduil and searched far and wide before that

We could see a completely different side to many of our beloved characters and give them even more depth

This potential better not go to waste

[riderofrohirrim]

I just know closing scene of the Hunt for Gollum will be Legolas appearing as Gollum is taken into Mirkwood and Legolas will be there just in that one scene but Orlando Bloom will be plastered all over the posters

[autistook]

Bernard Hill

1944 - 2024

[autistook]

Rest in Peace, Bernard Hill 🤍🕊

[mithrandirl]

These staves he spoke, yet he laughed as he said them. For once more lust of battle was on him; and he was still unscathed, and he was young, and he was king: the lord of a fell people.

part 2, lotr quotes

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Reading Tolkien’s annotated translation of Beowulf, and learning all kinds of things about LOTR and the Silm from it!

First:

Leave here your warlike shields [from Beowulf]

[Tolkien’s commentary; bold mine:] Note the prohibition of weapons or accoutrements of battle in the hall. To walk in with spear and shield was like walking in nowadays with your hat on. The basis of these rules was of course fear and prudence among the ever-present dangers of a heroic age, but they were made part of the ritual, of good manners. Compare the prohibition against drawing a sword in the officers’ mess. Swords of course also were dangerous; but they were evidently regarded as part of a knight’s attire, and he would not in any case be willing to lay aside his sword, a thing of great cost and often an heirloom.

This gives me some perspective around Tolkien’s probable intended tone for the moment in Meduseld in The Two Towers where Aragon strongly protests against being told to leave Andúril (a sword of very great value and ancientry, and very much an heirloom) with the door-warden. From a contemporary perspective it’s easy to read it as Aragorn being unnecessarily prideful and combative, but this passage strongly indicates that Tolkien intends it to be Théoden who is being unreasonable in that event, an indication - along with many others in the scene, prior to Gandalf dislodging Saruman’s influence - that Théoden is being discourteous and behaving in a manner unworthy of a king who is recieving heroes offering aid. (The fact of Meduseld being a ‘golden hall’ like famous Heorot in Beowulf may be deliberate to strengthen the parallel.)

Second (immediately following the above commentary):

But against this danger [from swords] very severe laws existed protecting the ‘peace’ of a king’s hall. It was death in Scandanavia to cause a brawl in the king’s hall. Among the laws of the West Saxon king Ine is found: ‘If any man fight in the king’s house, he shall forfeit all his estate, and it shall be for the king to judge whether he be put to death or not.’

This adds context to the incident in the story of Túrin in The Silmarillion where Saeros taunts Túrin in Menegroth and Túrin responds by throwing a heavy drinking-vessel at him and injuring him (it’s indicated the injury is serious, so I’d take it along the lines of him giving him a broken nose and knocking out some teeth.) It is stated in at least some versions of the story that death is the punishment for drawing weapons in the king’s hall, in line with the historical customs mentioned here. This gives a further emphasis that what actually happens - Túrin is not punished at all and Mablung strongly reprimands Saeros for provoking him - illustrates that Túrin is, Saeros’ behaviour notwithstanding, in very high favour in Menegroth. (Saeros as the king’s counsellor is also in roughly the same position as Unferth in Beowulf, who taunts the titular character - Beowulf responds heatedly but without violence. Tolkien may be setting up a deliberate contrast here.)

Third:

The word hádor is an adjective meaning ‘clear, bright’…it is almost always found in reference to the sky (or the sun or stars). But that association is in description of brightness…

This was one a lightbulb moment: oh, in the name of Hador Goldenhead (the ancestor of Húrin, Túrin, and Tuor in The Silmarillion), ‘Goldenhead’ isn’t an additional name/epessë so much as it’s a glossed translation of ‘Hador’! The guy with bright, golden hair.

Fourth: Going back to the Rohirrim - Edoras, the name of their capital city/royal court, is basically just the Old English for ‘courts’:

under was very frequently used in describing position within, or movement to within, a confined space, especially of enclosures or prisons, ‘within four walls’. Cf. in under eoderas (eoderas being the outer fences of the courts), ‘in amid the courts’….‘eoder’ means both ‘fence (protection)’ and ‘fenced enclosure, a court’.

I’m also learning a lot about Beowulf - Tolkien’s notes are clarifying a lot of tone and nuances, not to mention the political/diplomatic relationships between the different kingdoms, which were confusing me - but it’s amazing how much it reveals about ways that Tolkien’s knowledge informed his legendarium!

[riderofrohirrim]

Gandalf saying “I like white better” when Saruman shows him his new multicoloured rainbow robes will always remain funny

[dagordagorath]

15 March: The Battle of the Pelennor Fields

[riderofrohirrim]

Died 17th March 461 Born 17th March 1990

Welcome back patron saint of Ireland!

[riderofrohirrim]

Every time I rewatch Lord of the Rings the thing that always gets me is Boromir’s accent. The rest of the Gondorian nobility have posh accents and then Boromir’s just there with a Yorkshire accent.

[riderofrohirrim]

Just imagine Boromir being like “ey up it’s a bloody Balrog”

[riderofrohirrim]

Every time I rewatch Lord of the Rings the thing that always gets me is Boromir’s accent. The rest of the Gondorian nobility have posh accents and then Boromir’s just there with a Yorkshire accent.

[camille-lachenille]

Happy Stabbing of the Witch King Day!

Let’s not forget that, on 15th March it wasn’t just Julius Caesar who got stabbed to death by unexpected opponents! On this day, Éowyn daughter of Éomund and Meriadoc Bradybuck killed the Witch King of Angmar, chief of the Nazgûl, during the battle of the Pelennor Fields.

[riderofrohirrim]

Imagine being in Rohan when the fellowship arrived:

• There’s a really weird guy who is the king’s most trusted advisor

• Speaking about that the king looks super rough and has been making super odd decisions recently

• The king’s son has been killed and the new heir to the throne has been imprisoned on count of treason

• You discover elves and dwarves are real and remember that your kingdom has beef with both

• The old man with the walking stick is actually a wizard and suddenly your king has had a full on makeover and looks young again, dermatologists envy him

• The elf, man and dwarf are just beating up people in Edoras while all this is going on

• They fight with you at Helm’s Deep and literally saved the heir to the throne from certain death

• Hobbits are a thing ??? And one of them talks to the enemy through a weird shiny sphere thing ?

• Turns out the guy who looks like he has never seen a bath ever is actually the heir to the throne of Gondor

• You have to ride to Gondor bc the king finally decided he was going to uphold the oath of Eorl

• More elves and a group of men show up calling the man their brother and leader, turns out bath dude was raised by one of the most powerful elves in middle earth

• Then they all fuck off under the creepy mountain with the other elf and dwarf right before battle. So much for help!

• Apparently they summoned a huge army of ghosts to fight for them

• Your new king is best friends with them

• Oh and your princess who was meant to stay behind in Rohan killed the literal Witch King of Angmar

• And you’re just meant to return to Rohan and act like all of this was normal

[mithrandirl]

You see much, Éomer, son of Éomund. Too much.