#legoglas

[do-you-ship-it-polls]

Do you ship it?

Legolas/Gimli (The lord of the rings)

I ship it!

Neutral

I don't ship it

I don't know the characters

Voting ended onMay 28, 2024

Do you like the worst image possible that I chose from google

[tathrin]

🎤—Describe the opening scene

Hmm, I have several stories in progress right now, so let's see which one to pick for this...I think And His Hands Ran With Gold And Shadow, because I think that's the one I have going right now that would need the most changes from the way the opening scene is written to how it would best be filmed.

We would start the scene sort of the way The Two Towers does, with a long pan-in across Middle-earth, perhaps starting on the Anduin and then scanning across the dark trees of Mirkwood, over Dale, slowly closing in on the Lonely Mountain.

There would be faint voice-overs from some of the familiar lines we all know and remember, sometimes mingling together half-heard and sometimes crisp and clear, slowly getting louder as we get closer to the Mountain and to the moment of divergence, until at last we reach new lines, a changed scene that we do not see, but we can hear, and infer, and shudder at...

Galadriel: I amar prestar aen...

Elrond: I was there, Gandalf. I was there the day the strength of Man failed...

Frodo: I will do it. I will take the Ring.

Boromir: It is a gift...a gift to the foes of Mordor.

Galadriel: But they were all of them deceived...

Aragorn: Boromir. Give the Ring to Frodo.

Boromir: Gondor has no king. Gondor needs no king.

Gandalf: All we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is given to us...

Elrond: Evil was allowed to endure.

Boromir: Why do you recoil? I am no thief.

Frodo: You are not yourself.

Boromir: What chance do you think you have? They will find you. They will take the Ring. And you will beg for death before the end!

Elrond: The line of kings is broken. There is no strength left in the world of Men.

Boromir: I see your mind! You will take the Ring to Sauron! You will betray us!

Galadriel: And into this Ring he poured his cruelty, his malice, and his will to dominate all life.

Boromir: It is not yours, save by unhappy chance. It could have been mine. It should be mine! Give it to me!

Frodo: No! Let go! Let me go! Noooo!

(sounds of a scuffle; a scream in Frodo's voice; panting breaths; frantic footsteps on crackling underbrush; silence)

Aragorn: Frodo? Frodo!

Samwise: Mister Frodo, no! Look, Strider, he's still breathing! Oh, hurry, he's still breathing...

Aragorn: But Boromir, where is Boromir?

Samwise: Strider, please! (sounds of someone dropping to the ground; rustling cloth; a moan.) Frodo: The Ring...Aragorn, he has taken the Ring. Forgive me, I could not stop him. Boromir has taken the Ring...

Denethor: And so my son returns to the White City at last!

Boromir: Father, I bring you a mighty gift.

Denethor: Can this be? The One Ring—Sauron's Master Ring?

Boromir: Yes, father. Isildur's Ring, returned to Gondor at last.

Denethor: And Gondor will make good use of such a gift, my son...

Galadriel: One Ring to rule them all...

And on Galadriel's last words, the camera swoops down through the enormous double-doors of the Lonely Mountain and inside to the great hall, tall and shadowed and lit by crystal lamps that are not quite numerous enough to drive away the gloom that hangs in the corners of the tall ceiling and around the wide pillars that hold up the weight of the mountain.

On the throne in the center of the hall sits Gimli, dressed so regally that we can barely recognize him, with heavy beads of gold and gems braided in his beard but, crucially, no crown upon his bare head. A few other dwarves mill around, some by the throne and others lining the walls; it is clear that court is being held, but that it is an ordinary day of no especial significance. Perhaps a few proposals or orders are issued as we pan in for some establishing flavor; their specific content does not matter, because the focus of the scene will be on the slight scuffle by the door as the dwarven guards step aside to admit a handful of ragged, filthy, half-starved looking Men from Dale who drag in four struggling, bloody, wounded elves draped in heavy chains. The Men shove the elves to their knees before the throne, a line of dwarven guards in front of them with others gathered close behind; there will be trouble, and no escape, from either the prisoners or their captors.

Gimli looks bored—a cover for his misery—barely interested, until...he sits up a little in his chair, a look of horror growing behind his beard as the camera draws in closer to him. Then we switch to see the elves he is staring at, three of them with dark hair and one of the two in the middle a pale golden-blonde. Cut back to Gimli, who is gripping the arm of his throne with one white-knuckled hand, on which rests a heavy golden Ring adorned with a thick gem that catches the light and glimmers brighter even than the crystal lamps.

Gimli whispers so quietly that the audience can believe that none of the dwarves are standing near enough to hear him: Not like this. He closes his eyes, swallowing hard as though to fight back tears.

All the elves kneel, some struggling slightly and some staying stoically still, and their heads are bowed, but as Gimli stares and as the camera of his eyeline pans in closer, focusing in on the blonde one, his head comes up and the audience can see Legolas's face, streaked with blood. There is no recognition in his cold eyes as he stares back at the dwarf on the throne.

"A fine tribute," Gimli says, his voice ringing out strong but hollow in the echoing hall. "Tell the Men of Dale that they have earned their people four months of triple rations in addition to the gold-price on the heads of these elves."

The bedraggled Men lift their heads, grinning with joy and relief. Dwarven guards step forwards to take charge of the prisoners and the Dale Men back away, murmuring gratitude to the Lord of the Mountain for his generosity. Some of the dwarves stare at the elves through narrowed eyes; others eye the Dalemen with either pity or distaste. Some confer quietly among themselves, so used to these sort of things that they aren't even worth watching any longer. A few (one of whom we will later meet as Mólin; it is important that he be seen to be part of this scene, although he should not have too much focus put on him yet, to telegraph ahead of time that he is a Notable Character) watch Gimli closely, curiosity or suspicion glittering sharply in their eyes.

"Have the elves taken to the cages," Gimli announces, in his bold and hollow ruler's voice. Then his regal tones break a little, and he says, "Except — except for the golden-haired one."

Legolas's head snaps up, but there is still no recognition in his expression; just a sort of sad, smoldering anger and resignation. The other elves glance at him, then away again, the same grim looks on their bloody faces. One of them snarls at a dwarf who holds her arm, but can do no more than that with the heavy chains around her wrists and ankles and solid dwarven hands holding her tight.

"Take that one to my chambers," Gimli commands, his head thrown back and his voice ringing out boldly across the stone. He curls his lips into a cruel smile that does not reach his eyes. "I will see to his breaking personally."

The elves are dragged away, some struggling and some stoic, by their dwarven captors; Legolas is separated from the others. He holds his head high, his face blank, and does not look back, although two of them turn with miserable frowns to stare at him as they are pulled through different doors.

The Ring on Gimli's hand glitters in a close-up. His fingers are curled into a tight fist.

"Oh," Gimli says, making his voice light, "and heat water for a bath as well; the elf is all-over filthy with blood, and I will not have him defiling my rooms any more than can be helped."

Several dwarves chuckle with varying degrees of sincerity (Mólin is not one of them). Gimli holds his smile long enough for all the elves to be pulled away through the doors that lead deeper into the Mountain.

Then his smile fades to a bleak look of horror and he sinks down heavily into his throne.

We close-up on the Ring again, and see blood dripping from his hand from where he has gripped it so hard that the band has bitten through his skin and broken it.

Then we end with a long-shot of Gimli on the throne in the shadows, the other dwarves at a bit of a distance now and out of focus and looking to their own conversations, leaving him looking very very alone.

End Scene.

Technically I suppose it still opens the same, after the opening...but because we're doing a canon-divergent AU, I think it works best to establish what the divergence actually is, in broad-strokes at least, before the story itself starts. And since TTT has already established this style of opening with voice-over exposition/reminders, it seems the best way to go about it here too I think.

Granted, we could ostensibly actually cut in to show some of those scenes here too, the way they do with Gandalf battling the balrog...but I think it's stronger if we don't actually show anything in this case. Also because we don't want to then segue into Gimli having a dream or flashback, so the cut would be somewhat awkward — but also I just think it's got more weight, in this case, without actually being able to see what happened.

Just make everyone listen to some familiar lines, and then gradually realize that that part isn't the same, oh no...