Science Officer Spock, Commanding Officer James T Kirk, Helmsman Hikaru Sulu and, Chief Medical Officer Leonard McCoy, Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott, and Communications Officer Nyota Uhura: The Original Star Trek Crew In Old Naval Uniforms by Young Rascal
Art for Minutia_R in SpaceSwap! These books are full of glorious imagery. Also on AO3~
"Cup your hands and catch the tears," the mage instructed. He reached to bring her hands together in a bowl, and even as he spoke the falling tears turned to blood that welled up and filled her hands in a moment.
In honor of Boromir's demise, (Feb 26 by the calendar of Middle Earth) I present to you the most interesting and inexplicable Boromir I have yet encountered: that of the Finnish 1993 version of Hobbit/LOTR - it's on Youtube. It's so funny.
Galadriel is a face floating in a lake. Gandalf seems to be accidentally flushed down the lava-loo in Moria. Elrond looks like he should be playing Cirdan. Everyone looks like they're playing the peasant extras in the background of a really budget Renfaire. The backdrops are pasted on, yay! To add to this, the dialogue is often things that seem straight from the books! Even subtitled from Finnish, so many of the lines are right out of canon, (in between skipping over entire sections of plot) and the juxtaposition makes it all the more odd.
The wigs here are on the level of Methos and Kronos' deleted scene in ancient Greece. Actually, I think Boromir may have thought he was showing up to act in Highlander. Or possibly a bad samurai movie. I'm not sure. He's on a completely different wavelength from the entire rest of the cast.
Ready? Here's The Fellowship of the Wigs:
Frodo and Sam. Normal people-sized, but what can you do.
Merry and Pippin. It worsens.
Legolas and Gimli. Legolas seems to have managed to be the most normal looking so far! (while still looking nothing like Legolas.) Gimli needs different contact lenses, these seem to be hurting his eyes.
Gandalf the White! Screencapped from later on, just to showcase his skintone as Gandalf the sort-of-bluish-purple.
Aragorn, son of Arathorn! And the cricket bat that was broken, and will be forged anew~
(Every time I look at him, I want to go hug Viggo Mortensen.)
And, wait for it, Boromir of the Warring States Era! I mean, of Gondor.
Boromir's death scene in this version had me laughing uncontrollably. He does not actually manage to attack any of the orcs, he just holds his katana aloft while pretending to be pierced by a great many twigs that have been attached (in a somewhat wobbly arrangement) to his breastplate.
Also, you can see his tummy moving as he breathes, all the way through Aragorn telling the audience he's dead. So passes Boromir, Ronin of Gondor!
I kind of love this guy. I want to fancast him as someone from the Silmarillion. Possibly Maeglin.
Tagged by Brigdh! Tagging riceflavor, cometcloud, yukulele, surroundedbydorks, and/or anybody who feels like it!
Directions: choose 5 OTPs without looking under the readmore, then read the questions and answer them!
My ships:
1. Legolas/Gimli (The Lord of the Rings – Books)
2. Crowe F Almedio/Arumat P Thanatos (Star Ocean: The Last Hope)
3. Peony IX/Jade Curtiss (Tales of the Abyss)
4. Spock/Leonard McCoy (Star Trek TOS)
5. Percy Blakeney/Marguerite Blakeney (The Scarlet Pimpernel)
The Questions:
Scene/chapter that made you start shipping 5 (Percy/Marguerite)?
In the novel, Chapter 16- Richmond. This whole chapter. The drive, with Marguerite's reflections, the conversation as both of them long for the other one to say what they need to hear. And that last moment, when she runs inside, and he kisses her footsteps, and the place her hand touched the balustrade.
Have you read fanfic about 2 (Crowe/Arumat)?
Yes. But am I a terrible person if I admit my own fic is probably the best out there for this pairing? (along with one other author, though she doesn't write for it anymore, and hasn't in a few years) It's a very tiny fandom.
Has a picture of 4 (Spock/McCoy) ever been your screensaver/etc?
I think they've been my desktop background a couple times. I don't have a screensaver atm.
Why is 1 (Legolas/Gimli) so important?
It's important to me because it was my favourite thing in the books. LOTR means a lot to me. Legolas and Gimli's friendship was one of the things I really missed when the movies came out, because in amazing films with fantastic casting, these two who should have been great friends had no chemistry at all. I think this is because John Rhys Davies didn't make friends with the rest of the Fellowship, due to makeup issues, and because often they were acting with scale doubles rather than each other, but it was a definite disappointment.
I was happy when the Hobbit films created a resurgence in the pairing, but it's often done as a joke, now, or as a 'hipster au', or in other ways that again, don't feel like the original canon.
But when it's done right- when it feels like canon – that's the best feeling. That feeling had me drawing nine different pictures for Dorinda's fantastic 'The Sound Below Sound' last year, and wishing I could convey more. I'm finally confident enough in my art and in my writing to turn my hands to Middle Earth, and I love that. And I'm proud of what I write for them.
Is 4 (Spock/McCoy) a serious or funny ship?
Serious in that it's not a crack ship. As a pair, they have serious moments and funny moments both, which I like, it gives them a breadth of interaction, and a sense of balance. Being able to rely on each other, and being able to have fun with each other are both important.
Which ship has the most chemistry?
Percy/Marguerite. They're also the only ones who are canon, for what that's worth.
OUT OF ALL THE SHIPS WHICH ONE HAS THE STRONGEST BOND?
Measuring how? By depth of feeling? Intensity? What they're willing to do for each other? I didn't list any crack OTPs, so all these pairings have a close, meaningful, and indeed strong bond in canon. Do Percy and Marguerite win for being married? Gimli and Legolas for sailing West? Spock and McCoy for that incident with the katra?
HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU WATCHED/READ 2’S (Crowe/Arumat) FANDOM?
Played~ Star Ocean 4 is an Xbox360 game. I've played through the whole game (including all private actions and endings) once, and a bunch of the bonus dungeon, but I've got saves for all the relevant cut scenes that I've played through multiple times. Especially Aeos, even with that rotten 6-round Phantom fight!
WHICH SHIP LASTED THE LONGEST?
In canon? Well, Legolas is immortal, and Gimli lived past 261, so I expect they win.
HOW MANY TIMES HAVE 5 (Percy/Marguerite) BROKEN UP?
Teeeechnically never, but their marriage was pretty rocky until the whole secret identity/signing of death warrants thing was resolved. 0.5 of a break-up?
IF THE WORLD WAS SUDDENLY THRUST INTO A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, WHICH SHIP WOULD COME OUT ALIVE, 1 (Legolas/Gimli) OR 3 (Peony/Jade)?
(I hate zombie apocalypses.) I'm pretty sure they both would, actually. Fighting ALL THE THINGS is something all four of them are quite good at. Also, Jade casting Indignation on all the zombies would be funny.
...probably shouldn't mention Jade's canon epithet (Jade the Necromancer) to anybody from LOTR, though.
DID 4 (Spock/McCoy) HAVE TO HIDE THEIR RELATIONSHIP FOR ANY REASON?
They're not a canon couple, so no. They frequently had to hide being space explorers or aliens, though. XD
IS 5 (Percy/Marguerite) STILL TOGETHER?
Yes~
(Unless you happen to be foolish enough to watch Richard E Grant's Scarlet Pimpernel, which even Martin Shaw as Chauvelin couldn't save from being a vile excrescence I wouldn't wish on anyone who loved the original story)
IS 1 (Legolas/Gimli) CANON?
Debated! Gimli goes West with Legolas because of the 'great love' he bore him, and this is followed with 'more cannot be said of this matter'. Now, is that because they weren't in Middle Earth, so who knows? Or does it refer to other things that weren't talked about at the time?
It's not canon, but it wouldn't take a huge leap. I don't mind either way, I'm in it for the essentials of how they interact as shown in the text – it's canon they love each other, value each other, and are friends for as long as they both live. That's enough for me.
HAS ANYONE EVER TRIED TO SABOTAGE 5’S (Percy/Marguerite) RELATIONSHIP?
Chauvelin! All the time! Usually from purely political/revolutionary motives, in the books, though the movies tend to add a romantic angle.
WHICH SHIPS WOULD YOU DEFEND TIL DEATH AND BEYOND?
I've no problem if people don't ship my non-canon ships, but I do mind a great deal if they insist the characters hate each other, or don't matter to each other.
HAVE YOU EVER SPENT HOURS A DAY GOING THROUGH 3’S (Jade/Peony) TUMBLR PAGE?
No. I've spent ages upon ages on pixiv, though.
IF AN EVIL WITCH DESCENDED FROM THE SKY AND TOLD YOU YOU HAD TO PICK ONE OF THE FIVE SHIPS TO BREAK UP FOREVER WHICH SHIP WOULD YOU SINK?
1-4 I'm totally fine with gen intense friendship, so this actually wouldn't bother me too much.
An AU I never realised I needed - modern-era Scarlet Pimpernel. Marguerite Blakeney would absolutely be friends with all the interesting people of any era.
Eight Things You Should Know About Tolkien's Thranduil
Okay, you’ve seen the Hobbit movies but you just can’t get into the book. Or, you read the book years ago and you don’t remember every detail. I’m here to help.
1. Thranduil did not refuse to help the Dwarves when Smaug attacked. We don’t know what he did - Tolkien never wrote anything about it. Jackson’s preamble is complete fabrication.
2. Thranduil did not consider the Silvan Elves to be ‘lesser’ Elves:
Oropher [his father] had come among them with only a handful of Sindar, and they were soon merged with the Silvan Elves, adopting their language and taking names of Silvan form and style… . They wished indeed to become Silvan folk and to return, as they said, to the simple life natural to the Elves before the invitation of the Valar had disturbed it. (Unfinished Tales, ‘The History of Galadriel and Celeborn’ p 249)
3. Thranduil did not aid the Men of Esgaroth out of self-interest:
But the king, when he received the prayers of Bard, had pity, for he was the lord of a good and kindly people; so turning his march, which had at first been direct towards the Mountain, he hastened now down the river to the Long Lake. (The Hobbit, ‘Fire and Water’ p 255)
So I've figured before from how you write about them that you don't like elves that much (I don't blame you, I find them pretty pretentious world building wise and I always felt they don't really work as people), but could you articulate why?
so my main beef with elves is not so much about the elves themselves, but the way that Tolkien (and, by extension, the narrative) favors them. I identify a lot with Andreth, who in the Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth, spits out: “We may be ‘Children of Eru’, as ye say in your lore; but we are children to you also: to be loved a little maybe, and yet creatures of less worth, upon whom ye may look down from the height of your power and your knowledge, with a smile, or with pity, or with a shaking of heads” (Morgoth’s Ring 308).
Tolkien himself confirms this, that he gave to his Eldar “the artistic, aesthetic, and purely scientific aspects of the Humane nature raised to a higher level than is actually seen in Men” (Letters 236). Elves embody of all the best of humanity—the wisdom, the creativity, the joy and beauty—supposedly untainted by humanity’s uglier sins. What’s more, they exist on a scale that dwarfs most men; only epic heroes such as Aragorn and Beren can hope to match.
and it just…it’s unfair. It’s so fucking grating, if you don’t buy into it at the start, because these are the fuckers who made Silmarils and slaughtered their kin and took each other captive and went to war and denied the valar and we are supposed to consider them greater than dwarves and men and orcs, because….why? they’re good at arts and crafts? they’re immortal? they make great music?
no reason is ever given for why elves are better. They just are.
they own the story, and the history, and the culture, everything is theirs—even gondor measures worth on an elven scale, how like the elves are you, how sindarin are you, how numenorean—the narrative loves Faramir over Boromir because Faramir is like the elves; Dol Amroth is better than Minas Tirith because they speak Sindarin like breathing; The Hobbit likes Thranduil better than Thorin (despite the similarity of their fixations) because Thranduil is an elf.
Bilbo—who undergoes this terrible harrowing journey to reclaim Erebor with companions whom he has learned to love and trust—Bilbo doesn’t want to return to Erebor, when he is old and grey. He doesn’t want to see the halls that his friends have built, the great dwarvish kingdom that Thorin died for finally restored to its former glory—
Bilbo wants to go to Rivendell. Because who would want to go to some dwarf’s cave when you could stay with the elves?
But we’re supposed to love them, because they are beautiful, and we are supposed to agree to this standard of measurement because why not, and when you are in this for anyone else—the Edain or the dwarves or the hobbits or the orcs—you want to scream because one of those groups is special because they were made to be, and the others just sort of struggled along, inventing semaphores and mills and languages and trade routes and mining techniques and farming techniques and genetic experimentation (apparently)
but Tolkien doesn’t care, because the elves sing about stars, and the natural world does what they want because they ask, and why wouldn’t you love these creatures who have had all the aces before they even started playing
Bilbo wanted to stay in Rivendell not because 'elves are better', but because Bilbo liked the place, and it's full of stories. Bilbo loves storytelling, that's why he wrote There and Back Again, and why he decides, when he's old, to retire somewhere he can write poetry and study in a great library. (A library that's written in languages he can read. Which helps. Khuzdul being, you know, secret.)
Nor did Bilbo blow off his friends, or decide that he didn't want to see Erebor's halls rebuilt and restored to their former glory. When he departed the Shire after his one hundred and eleventh birthday, that's where he went. (FOTR, 'Many Meetings). 'my last journey, I shan't travel again.' And his last journey was to visit his friends and their home.
V: Most of the non-English music I listen to is Bollywood. My absolute favorite song is Sheila ki Jawani which is just a totally shameless, ridiculous item song (an ‘item song’ is when the plot stops to have a random pop song, usually featuring a sexy lady, that tends to have nothing to do with the characters or action).
In an entirely different vein, I’m also a huge fan of Mera Jute Hai Japani, which is from 1955 and has a very grammatically simple chorus, which means I can actually sing along! :D
G: This song has always made me think of Tolkien (though I can’t really say why, exactly) and that in turn makes me think of you I like the live version better than the studio one, though unfortunately this video doesn’t have the best sound quality:
Meru Jute Hai Japani is in serious danger of becoming an earworm. :D These are all great! I hadn't heard any of them before. I love White as Diamonds, so being mentally associated with it and Tolkien is an association I'll happily accept!
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