Madison Brown for Selkie

obsessed with this Degascore shoot 😍👏🏻🩰

Man, we have got to stop treating art like it has an expiration date. That show stopped airing? Doesn’t mean it can’t haunt your every waking thought. Everybody’s into this album, but you don’t have the energy for new music right now? It’ll be waiting for you when you’re ready. That movie’s fifty years old and indie as shit? Incredible, you have the chance to share it with folks who might never otherwise feel that particular punch of delight. Books don’t go bad. Shows inspire fandoms decades after they’ve wrapped up. We’re still looking at cave paintings and statue work from ancient times and letting the joy of creation bring tears to our eyes. That’s the point of art. It’s as close to immortality as we ever get. Why try to give that magic a shelf life?

I do love that in Rohan culture, it seems that it's the custom for men to go out and fight and die heroically, and for women to honour their sacrifice by crying over their bodies or at their funerals. The men are to be brave, the woman to be loving. The men are to do great things. The women are to remember.

But in the film, whereas Eowyn's most iconic moment is her slaying of the Witch King, a great, heroic deed that cements her place in history, Eomer's most iconic moment is (arguably) his guttural scream when he sees Eowyn dead on the ground, dropping to his knees and cradling her to his chest.

Not only is Eowyn's most iconic moment a scene in which she takes on, by her culture's definition, the man's role, the most important role of a man, to die heroically, Eomer's most iconic moment is when he takes on the "woman's" role, to grieve.

I do love his "Death!" charge in the books so much, but because of this parallel between the siblings, I also love the film version where there is no battle for him to fight, no justice for him to wreak, there's nothing for him to do but cradle Eowyn to his chest and rock her back and forth.

rewatched aragorn’s coronation scene and i just realized you can see elrond’s heart breaking as she goes to join aragorn

like, that is the face of a man who was promised eternity with his daughter, a reunion in the west no matter what happened, only to lose her forever to love

Elessar oh Elessar

Whatever force it was that brought you here, soldier, I am grateful for it.

The Rings Of Power FYC Book: Elendil, Eärien, and Isildur

@valardidmewrong um YES you were correct 🤩😍 Thank youuu! Also tagging @adarswidow @mysteriesunfoldthemselves @flinger85 @hardcorefangirlgroupie

It was the night things changed. It’s been 4 years since we jumped head first, Fearless (Taylor’s Version). 💛💛

The Princes and the Princess of Mirkwood

Ok, so, I ignored the will of the people and did what I wanted when it came to Thranduil's kids. In my head there are 4 total, all of which are cool and awesome and magnificent, and so freaking adored by the people.

(from left to right)

I just dipped into Appendix F for an unrelated reason, and I think it’s funny that out of everything Sauron ever did — a master craftsman and teacher, a commander and conqueror, a deceiver and seducer, who achieved so much and, even in defeat, usually came verrrry close and tended just to reappear later all the stronger — one thing he utterly failed at was making Black Speech the common language of all his servants. He made grammar and vocab and syntax, and then the orcs could never figure out how to use his system. They ended up with such a hodge podge of fragmented, bastardized versions of the language that they were often incomprehensible to each other and had to fall back on Westron, the language of their enemies, to be understood even within Mordor.

It feels extremely JRR to me that he would let his Big Bad Villain kill and maim and enslave and despoil the environment, but he simply couldn’t allow Sauron to succeed at…linguistics.

the last line here is sending me...💀💀💀

I really do love that Southlanders defaulted to Theo as their leader after Bronwyn's passing.

Not even Kemen cared—considering Miriel and Pharazon weren't going to send their army without Halbrand going.

Like King of the Southlands, whomst?

Still thinking King of the Army of the Dead 😅

Galadriel, yet another version

The gift

Finally collecting the courage to post a short little festive thing. It’s Yule and Elendil’s wife is visiting him before the Sea Trial. A little festive (but sad) thing I wrote based on the events in Rings of Power 2x06. No other warnings. ____ It was that time of year again, but I didn’t feel the Yuletide spirit in my bones as I used to. Usually, there was a big celebration all over Armenelos with grand feasts that I used to help prepare. There were decorations, food, and dancing, too. It was at one of those celebrations that Elendil first talked to me and finally asked for a dance. The rest was history. 

There was, of course, a great reason I wasn’t feeling the celebrations this year and that was all because of him. My husband wasn’t with me but locked up in a cell. How could I possibly feel festive? I was devastated but tried to hold it together. For him. After what had gone down in the Shrine in the Old Quarter the other night, causing the death of his dead son’s best friend - I was certain all celebrations had been canceled. We were all in mourning. At least, the ones of us who were of The Faithful. Ar-Pharazon and all loyal to him certainly didn't mourn what had happened in the temple. I was afraid of what they’d do to my husband, but I was also afraid of the fate of all of us loyal to his cause. Our numbers had diminished, but we were still determined to fight for what was right.

I had been granted a visit to my husband’s cell. They weren’t complete tyrants… at least not yet. I was thankful I’d get to see him again and had made sure to bring something for him. Maybe there was still hope for some kind of festive spirit, even if I doubted it.

The cells were dark, damp, and reeked of filth. Elendil was sitting on the ground, one handcuffed, dressed in a brown tunic. He had been ripped off his beautiful blue uniform that brought out his deep ocean eyes so well. He was dirty and looked tired and dehydrated, but when he saw me his entire face brightened up. He looked shocked, happy, and sad all at once. The guard stepped out, while still having his eyes on the two of us. I embraced my husband like I hadn’t seen him in ages.

“Elendil!” I cried, holding him tight in my arms, touching his hair, and kissing his forehead. “I never thought I’d see you again” I sobbed. He lifted my head, touched my cheek with his one free hand, and kissed me deeply. Then he looked into my eyes, his love manifesting in this one gaze. “You have been brave, my love”, he told me. I nodded, weeping. “Are they treating you ok? What can I do to get you out of here?” I whispered in desperation. Being close to him again made me realize I didn’t want to be apart from him ever again.

He just shook his head, while not looking bothered by the fact that we were all doomed; accepting his fate, and he hugged me and put my head to rest on his chest while stroking my hair.  He sighed deeply before he spoke with content in his voice.

“There is nothing you can do, my love, but pray the Valar have mercy on this soul. Pray they are on our side.”

Initially, I didn’t like the sound of that. But he was right. I couldn't do anything. Even if I could get him out of this prison cell, there was no plan for the aftermath of that escape. “I’m afraid”, I sighed, while sinking into his chest again, listening to his every heartbeat. It was comforting to listen to, I could feel it calming my pulse. One part of me wanted to convince him not to give up – to not accept this dreadful fate –  but I knew he had already made up his mind and was comforted by the fact that I had to some extent accepted it too.

And then I remembered about his gift. It felt so ridiculous – what did a gift matter now – but maybe he wouldn't think so.

“I almost forgot!” I exclaimed, sitting up. “I have something for you.”

He looked curiously at me. “Happy Yule, my dear”, I said, kissing him again. “Maybe it can bring some luck.” He unwrapped the package with the pendant inside, the one he had been admiring at a shop as we had walked the streets together weeks before. He looked touched by the memory we both shared of that day while he was admiring the craftmanship itself. He put it in my hand and I put it around his neck. “Thank you, my star, now I will always have you with me.”

We kissed passionately, him holding me in his arms until the guard came back to fetch me.