Hello! I’m Cozy: I'm an early-40s fic writer, d&d nerd, and lover of all things wild and strange.
I primarily write for Haladriel from the Rings of Power and Halsin from Baldur’s Gate 3, but I’ve been known to dabble in a few other fandoms. My fics are often NSFW so please, MDNI.
The only other things that I ask are that you ship and let ship, and if there’s something you’re not into, don’t read it. Mind the tags and curate your own experience in fandom.
Thinking about orcs and evil creatures that are not warriors but still have odd jobs that help the Evil Takeover cause. They can’t source vegetables from the elves or men or hobbits so Saruman is contemplating with the eye but has to take a break to sign off on the new cabbage shipment to make soup for the new recruits
I have a lot of feelings about this from the perspective of like. The Haradrim and the other "evil" Men who were Sauron's allies, because like.
Mordor would not have been completely emptied, when Sauron's armies marched to the Black Gate. One, because Mordor is a nation, not just the Plains of Gorgoroth. And two, because medieval military encampments never contained only soldiers.
There would have been noncombatants in Mordor. Thousands of them. Blacksmiths making weapons. Armourers making armour. The sick and injured, and the healers tending to them. Wives and children of Haradrim or Easterling warlords who didn't want to be separated for a long campaign. Wives and children of local Orc soldiers who don't have to be separated at all because they live there fulltime. Imported slaves. Merchants and vendors. Sauron's actual servants who do chores in Barad-Dûr. Girlfriends and children of ordinary allied soldiers who have wives and other kids they left at home. Camp followers, the sex workers who trail around after lonely soldiers with coin and fuck all else to spend it on. Grooms to look after the horses. Mahouts to look after the Mumâkil. Logistics people making sure everyone is fed and sheltered. Entourages for warlords and commanders - their servants, squire-equivalents, retainers, bodyguards.
And this makes sense because like. Yes, Sauron is all about order, but he's also intimately familiar with human nature. He's maintained alliances with kingdoms of Men for thousands of years, going back to when he was Morgoth's diplomacy guy - aside from maybe Gandalf, Sauron would be the most familiar with human cultures of all the Ainur.
So he'd know that rising up against oppression is what humans do. That's who we are at our core - we fight, we hope, and we strive for something better than we had for our children, even if that means paying with our lives.
And the fact that his alliances have lasted so long suggests that he's taken this into account! Sauron's been abandoned by his own forces before, and he had to go be a mortal king's trophy slave for a few centuries about it, so he knows it could happen again. He's taken the time and effort this time around to build good, lasting relationships with his allies. Whatever the eastern kingdoms are getting out of their agreements with him, they're content enough that they send him reinforcements when he needs them, even though the scale of the armies they send likely leaves them vulnerable longterm (to, say, colonialism from Gondor a few decades down the line). So they're not expecting him to lose, and they're willing to stake their cultures' futures on sending enough men to make sure he doesn't.
Anyway, back on point: it's in Sauron's own best interest to keep his allies and their troops happy, because that many angry humans packed in with that many angry Orcs for years at a time could mean a bloodbath that would cost him a good chunk of his armies and maybe some of his alliances. So he would make sure there was entertainment and companionship available for his allies' soldiers. He would house the women and children who've been lugged halfway across the continent to "live on-base" with their husbands and fathers. He would probably bring in performers and musicians and tutors and whatnot from their home countries to keep the higher-ups content, so that they would keep their subordinates under control. Orcs and Trolls might be willing to live in barely-better-than-stone-age filth, but humans aren't, not for long. He probably presented himself to the allied commanders as a very generous, gracious host - because Sauron is a very clever, manipulative person capable of a great deal of charm, tact and likeability when it serves him to be that way.
And so all those noncombatants are the ones who would've still been close to Mount Doom when it erupted. They're the ones who would've been caught in the pyroclastic flow. Their own Pompeii, a cataclysm that might've rivalled Númenor for the Gondorians or the Kinslayings for the Elves.
It fascinates me how this story, beloved by the people of the West for being a great and noble victory, would've most likely been a horror story in the east. Mordor's fall cleared the way for the eastern kingdoms to be colonised "peacefully subdued" by Gondor in the fourth age. Who was their strongest ally? Sauron. Who would they have asked for reinforcements? Sauron. Who would Gondor have had to get past to even reach them in the first place? Sauron.
Just!!!!!! I'm mad the east got so little development idk akfjajfjsnfksfksj i need more of their perspective on ME's history anyway sorry op for tagging on your post
There are going to be days (or weeks, or months) where you sit down to write and feel... disconnected. From your voice, from your characters, from your ideas. Like the person who used to write your stories just packed up and left.
They didn't. They're just tired. Here's how to keep writing anyway:
Lower the bar (Until it's on the floor)
You are not here to write something brilliant. You are here to write something. A paragraph. A sentence. A single line of dialogue. Movement matters way more than quality.
Write around the story
Don't force it. If you can't write the scene, try:
⋆ A character ramble / journal entry
⋆ A conversation that won't be included in the final draft
⋆ A list of things the character would never admit out loud
⋆ A messy summary of what should happen
Engage with the story from a different angle.
Borrow a voice until yours comes back
No, not with AI. Read something that feels close to what you want to write, or watch a scene that captures the tone, then write immediately after. Not to copy, to reignite your instincts.
Write the emotion, not the plot.
What is your character feeling in this moment? What are they afraid of? What do they want but won't say? What's being kept from them? The emotion leads, the plot catches up later.
Stop trying to "feel like a writer" first.
You don't write when you feel like a writer. You feel like a writer because you write.
You are still a writer, even on the days it feels distant. Especially then.
Imagine the terror of being Aaron Bow. Crouched in the darkness. Stalking your prey. You're undetected. You line up for the perfect shot...And then the tallest, most hulked-out man you have ever seen in your life whips around and snatches your bolt out of the air. His eyes and those of his companions reflect the moonlight like cats as they turn to look at you. He shouts that "you're FUCKING DEAD" and starts charging straight towards you in the darkness. He does this all in a giant chunky turtleneck.
He was cozycore 2 minutes ago with a mug of tea and now he is fully the Predator chasing someone through the woods. In a turtleneck. It really jarred me to see that beastial reaction from Mitch because I am so used to him being the quiet, gentle one of the coterie. Amazing and quick choice by Murph
This giant with sweater paws tears his turtleneck off, bounds after you on all fours, takes a crossbow bolt to the chest without even breaking stride and then rips. the. tree. out. from. under. you.
Darkness man got a lot of hehes and hawhaws for being a "superhero" all season but look who is actually the terrifying beastial creature people fear vampires for
You know what trope I wanna see more of? Couples who have been married forever who are estranged but still in love but estranged. You know me better than any other person on earth. I haven't seen you in three years. I never stopped loving you. If I have to spend another minute in your presence I will murder you. I'm hurt and I need you right here with me. God you're such a dumbass. You're the only one I trust to do this job. I want you out of my sight.
On a warm misty morning, you find Halsin comforting what was once a fretful baby just moments ago, now sleeping peacefully in his arm as he softly hums an elven lullaby he learnt from his mother
This was a man, dressed as a plant, making pigeon noises at people walking by. I said hello, asked if it was okay to take his picture, and then asked why he was dressed as a plant. He said, “I’m just working through some stuff. Thank you for asking. No ones asked yet.”
Occasionally you do need to just let fantasy be fantasy. "Why are the mountains around Mordor in a square, mountain ranges don't work like that" well you see there's an evil god who lives there hope this helps
