huh. @wretcheddumplings - Tumblr Blog

lotsofkn1ves

the boy who gathered stars

hellenhighwater

Hey everyone needs to look at this, it's gorgeous

#arcane

theaftersundown

the holy grail types of fanfic

teaboot

Friendly reminder that these only happen slowly, carefully, with lots of reader encouragement, engagement, reflection, and support, and an ending is never a guarantee.

Writing communities are gardens, not subscription services

#do Not. take it for granted

hirilelfwraith

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

#lotr

armandageddon

who gives a shit if the heated rivalry actors are queer or not. if they're queer then good for them for getting to play queer roles and if they're straight but this cheerfully willing to have hot sweaty gay sex with other men on television for our entertainment then more power to them too. other straight men should take notes. whats the issue here again

laurie-fish

#tolkien

neonknight

The Lord of the Rings acrylic paintings (70s) by Tim and Greg Hildebrandt

#Tolkien

voyaging-too

I know that the nitpicking over why the Fellowship didn’t just ride the eagles to fly directly to Mordor has been talked to death, there’s more than enough answers. The Doylist answer is that would stop the whole book from existing, or replace it with a wholly different book all about eagles. The Watsonian answer is that a) the eagles are a noble independent people not a taxi service, b) the quest is a stealth mission and huge massive giant eagles are not stealthy, c) Mordor has air supremacy and the eagles could only fly to Mount Doom after Sauron was defeated and the Nazguls all gone.

But just now, option d) occurred to me: do we really trust the eagles to withstand the ring? If it tempts Gandalf and Galadriel, surely it tempts Gwaihir the Windlord. Do we want to create the Dread Lord of the Skies? He would wear the Ring on his lovely sharp claw! He would fly higher and swifter than the winds of the world! He would build a magnificent nest from the broken timbers of Edoras! He would eat so many people! All elves and men would be forced underground!

#tolkien

ferithtolkienesque

The Silmarillion fandom is genuinely insane. Like, you hang out on tumblr, read fic on AO3 and you think, yeah. Lots of people have read the Silmarillion. It’s Tolkien. Everyone’s read Tolkien. Barnes and Noble has a whole bunch of the HoME and also a bunch of books by people writing about the legendarium. This is mainstream, surely.

But then you actually touch grass and talk to normal people. Not even that, you talk to people who self diagnose as hard core Tolkien fans. And. None of them have read the Silmarillion. The Silmarillion is famously a book that nobody reads.

And yet. On AO3 The Silmarillion and Other Histories of Middle Earth has more works than The Lord of the Rings. Think about that. That’s baffling. It’s ridiculous. Like I realize that LotR fandom is split a bit by the movie, but still. The Silmarillion has almost four times as many fics as the LotR movies. Everybody has watched the movies!

I need to know what percentage of people who actually read the Silmarillion went on to write fic or draw fanart about it. Because it must be insane, surely. Like, I’m pretty sure the Silmarillion wins some kind of record in this department.

Thinking about the fanfic bell curve where on one end you have “Perfect, needs no improvement or elaboration” (LotR sits here) and on the other you have “So bad it’s no fun to even think about” with the middle being the fanfic zone. But I think there may be a secret fourth Silmarillion option. Which is a book that is perfect* but simultaneously non existent. It’s not even a real story! The language is super pretty and deeply incomprehensible (especially to people who, unlike me, were not raised from early childhood on both the Bible and classic literature). And it’s more of an outline and an abstract painting of cultural and world building vibes (not cultural and world building facts and information) than an actual narrative. There are story hooks galore. There are vivid and fascinating characters, but their lives are glossed over and you only get one or two paragraphs of prose that will reorder your brain chemistry and haunt you forever. There are countless more characters who only exist as names, the implication of whose existence is fascinating. All of this is deeply frustrating, both to casual readers who just want a Normal Enjoyable Book, and super fans who want All the Lore. But it is catnip to anyone who engages in transformative work.

*I am aware that not anyone who is a fan of the silm thinks it’s perfect

lferion

This … is remarkably true. Of course it also happens I have 318 pieces tagged with The Silmarillion and Other Histories of Middle Earth, and only 42 for LotR. And most of those are drabbles &/or poetry.

mrshamill

raises hand i've read it. The biggest stumbling block to reading the silmarillion is that people think you just need to sit down and read it. nothing could be further from the truth. do you actually sit down and read the bible straight thru? generally, no, people read it by books. that's the silmarillion. you read the first chapter, then skip to the chapter of beren and luthien and then read about the fall of gondolin and... and... if you try to read it straight thru, you'll not only get lost, you'll get a hernia trying to lift all the allegory at once.

you can accuse good ol' professor t of many things, but being readable (in the sense of any 'standard' novel) ain't one of them. he's dense and thick as a brick. take the silmarillion in chunks and digest them separately, you'll get it then.

razziecat

I don't read Tolkien-based fanfic because I'm just like that, but fun fact: He deliberately, intentionally left gaps in his lore for others to fill in, for people to make art and music about, and more. It's true. I'm on Kindle rn and don't have the quote handy, but it's there in his non-fiction writings, in his own words. I assume the Silmarillion was included in that intention so have at it, I guess.

#Tolkien

shadesfalcon

J. R. R. Tolkien: no, my books aren't about the war I experienced. It's just a story

J. R. R. Tolkien's works: you cannot go home, war ends entire bloodlines, you are mourning the death of your brother alone, you dug into the earth and permanently scored the land, you cannot explain what you have been through, you cannot go home, "that wound will never fully heal. He will carry it the rest of his life", leaving the women behind does not save them, the young die first, you cannot go home, the parent will bury their child, you have lost the wives and you will never connect with them again, "how shall any tower withstand such numbers and such reckless hate?", you are not the same, you cannot go home, you can never go home, your father will only side with those he sees as worthy bloodlines and you cannot change his mind, it is more meaningful Not to kill, sometimes your sacrifice accomplishes nothing, you cannot go home

#lotr #fuck.

dozydawn

nimble, a border collie-papillon mix, wins the 12” class in the 2024 masters agility championship. the first time a mixed breed has won at westminster ever.