okay right off the bat i need to warn y'all:
if you came here for a cohesive chapter analyzing lotr ships/characters you can go ahead and reread my older chapters bc that's not gonna be this one 😃😃
if you check my conversations on here yk that i just finished hawthorn by aeolianharps on ao3 and im writing this chapter in the midst of a Fanfic Depression Haze™ bc that fic FREAKING TORE MY SANITY AND WILL TO LIVE TO PIECES
"oH cOmE oN iT cAnT bE tHaT sAd cAn iT--"
"I have loved you too long for you to be virtuous to me. I do not want your virtue or honor, nor even your promises. I have only ever wanted you as you are. Whatever name that person goes by."
yes it can. yes it can be that sad. im tearing up writing this.
anyways that fic was 10/10 recommend but only if ur in a stable place mentally 😃😃
OH MY GOD ALSO YOU GUYS
IDK HOW MANY OF MY READERS ALSO READ ON AO3 BUT SKKLSDHASDHJKASKG SOMEONE EXPLAIN TO ME WHY AO3 IS GOING DOWN SO OFTEN ITS RIDICULOUS LIKE IT WAS DOWN FOR THREE HOURS LAST LAST NIGHT WHILE I WAS READING AN ALEXEI X MURRAY FIC AND I GOT EVEN MORE DEPRESSED THAN I DID READING HAWTHORN
uGh
i could 100% do a whole rant abt that fic but i dont wanna spoil anyone reading it so for now y'all get this chapter
oh yeah, remember THIS CHAPTER?? sorry i got carried away ranting abt hawthorn but thats not actually what we're talking abt today
today we're talking abt underrated/undermentioned/cut out of the movies/etc characters in lotr and why i absolutely stan them and you should too
this was originally a draft titled "justifying my love for tom bombadil" but there was too little material there for a whole chapter so i've combined that w a few other characters and BOOM.
✨enjoy✨
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1) TOMMY B MY BOI
if you've been here a while you know i FREAKING ADORE TOM MF BOMBADIL
HE IS SO UNDERRATED AND IM STILL BITTER HE WAS CUT OUT OF THE MOVIES, I LOVE HIS CHAPTERS IN FOTR, HES SUCH A WEIRDLY POWERFUL AND LORE-HEAVY CHARACTER AND SO FASCINATING BC WE KNOW SO LITTLE ABOUT HIM LIKE EVEN TOLKIEN DIDNT KNOW SHIT ABT THIS MAN
it is PRIME entertainment watching the fandom lose their mf MINDS over this man debating and trying to figure out who tf he even IS
ntm that we MIGHT get tommy b content in rings of power which is rn one of the only things keeping me excited for that show
right so the reason tom bombadil is such a widely discussed character in the fandom, whether you love him or you hate him or you're just like okay WHAT, is bc we know so little about him and yet he's just so fascinating for it.
tommy b played a pretty major role in fotr when he greeted the hobbits while they were in the forest and helped set him to rights and on their way and obvi he saved them a couple dozen times after that too
and there's this one line in his chapter in fotr where frodo asks tom's wife goldberry (who is btw pretty widely speculated on) who tom bombadil ACTUALLY IS aka the question we were all asking ourselves
and ofc tolkien being the lazy ass character developer that he is, didnt give us an actual response. most people theorize this is bc tolkien didnt actually know anything about this character and was essentially stalling which is pretty much it tbh
anyways, goldberry tells the hobbits: "He is. He is as you have seen him."
and that's like the only explanation we get on tom bombadil's character 😃😃
so obviously bc what did we rly expect bc of this line ppl started theorizing that tommy b was GOD, like eru illuvitar incarnate and this one guy named ✨chris something✨ WROTE A WHOLE ASS FREAKING BOOK justifying his theory on how god = tommy b JUST TO HAVE IT IMMEDIATELY SHUT DOWN BY TOLKIEN.
pray for chris, yall, i think he's dead now but he needs it
HOWEVER this was rly the only tom bombadil theory that got shut down and every other one (including mine which i talked abt in the first lotr things ive been thinking about chapter) are pretty much equally likely to be true.
so there's theories that he's a maiar, that he's some kind of rogue elf, rogue skinshifter, one of the kings of men or dunedain - but personally the only ones that rly make sense to me are the valar and maiar theories, of which mine is part.
so yeah. tolkien knew nothing abt this mans and he was HIS OWN CHARACTER, we have very little material of him, limited to only a few poems and that one chapter in fotr and TECHNICALLY that one reference in ttt that i talked about in the first lotr things ive been thinking abt too
HOWEVER he's still clearly very lore-heavy. he was doing some shit in the second age, we KNOW, we just dont know WHAT.
and i just love him so much for it.
like while the elves where doing their wars and like kinslaying and shit my boy tommy b was just vibin
like he was just chilling with goldberry snuffing cocaine, drinking, dancing, and he just didnt give a shit abt anything and i respect that on a SPIRITUAL LEVEL.
LIKE GANDALF LITERALLY SAID THAT IF THEY GAVE TOMMY B THE RING HE WOULDNT BE CORRUPTED OR ANYTHING HE'D JUST PROBABLY LOSE IT
and i just adore this man and the fact that we MAY see him in rings of power gives me LIFE.
2) FIGWIT.
THIS MAN
THIS MAN YALL
FREAKING CARRRIED THE TRILOGY WITH HIS LIKE THREE LINES.
we have no choice but to stan. we simply must.
if you dont know the history behind figwit then first of all, what are you even doing here???? what meaning doth have thy life without this gent????
BASICALLY figwit is the escort of arwen, never mentioned in the books, had like three appearances in the movies and i think two lines, and FOR SOME REASON, everyone just adored this man after fotr came out.
like he was an extra in the council of elrond, just seen for a second chillin in the bg, and everyone watching was like helloooooooo who is thattttt he's kindaaa 👀👀👀
and ofc our man peter jackson decided to give him a speaking part in rotk and dubbed him with the name figwit even though TECHNICALLY his real name is aegnor who is one of galadriel's brothers in the lore but bc he was never mentioned in the books they decided to go w figwit
AND LIKE IMAGINE BEING THE ACTOR FOR THIS CHARACTER YALL LIKE:
the actor (Bret McKenzie): oh yeah i was actually in the lotr movies *proud*
literally anyone: dude that's so cool!! you probably played some rly well known character right??
the actor: .......
the actor: actually i played an elf made up purely for the sake of one scene and then i got to say three words two movies later bc ppl thought i was hot
*cue crickets*
and the actual aegnor, who was this like legendary battle-crazed powerful elf in the lore and in the silmarillion is like crying in a corner bc this is how ppl remember him 💀💀💀
we stan figwit no arguments im sorry i dont make the rules.
3) justice for my man glorfindel
this one's for the fanboys since yall can never shut up about mf glorfindel 🙄✋
i mean you know him, i know him, we all know him, but in case you forgot anyways imma refresh ur memory
basically in the books glorfindel is the elf who meets the hobbits and aragorn halfway to rivendell just past weathertop and takes frodo to rivendell just in time to save him from the black curse after he got stabbed
later he also got a couple lines in chapter 14 of fotr, during the council of elrond, and it was basically predecided that he would be the representative of the elves to go w the fellowship, but then elrond was like nah actually ur too powerful sry let's do legolas instead he's just some random guy no one will notice and legolas was just like gee thanks and ✨boom greatest trilogy of all time✨
anyways glorfindel just cannot catch a break.
1970s animated versions of lotr - he was cut out and replaced with legolas to introduce his character pre-council of elrond
2000s peter jackson versions - he was cut out and replaced with arwen to give her a personality *AHEM* sorry i meant give her character a greater role in the story
AND NO ONE ACTUALLY REMEMBERS ALL THE BATTLE SHIT GLORFINDEL DID IN THE SECOND AGE BC EVERYONE KNOWS HIM AS THAT ONE GUY WHO GOT REJECTED BY THE FELLOWSHIP BC HE WAS TOO POWERFUL AND WAS REPLACED NOT ONCE BUT TWICE IN THE MOVIES
#justiceforglorfindel we stan for elven skin
4) elladan and mf elrohir - last but not least
I CANNOT DESCRIBE MY LOVE FOR THESE TWO IN WORDS OMFG
THEY ARE THE DEFINITION OF UNDERRATED CHARACTERS
I JUST-- AAKSDHLAHDAJHJKFGALAKHDKLAHDLSDHFSDFHWDI
BASICALLY elladan and elrohir are elrond's sons and aragorn's adoptive brothers and the fanboys and die hard book fans who stan them stan them bc of a) their lore and b) their relationship w the rest of elrond's family tree
and while i see that, the reason i love these two so much - NOT EVEN CLOSE
i love these two bc of the FANFICS YALL. THE FANFICS.
EVERY. SINGLE. TIME that I read an aralas fanfic where elladan is like the wingman, he always backs up aragorn and legolas's relationship, he like directs guards in another direction so his otp aralas can have a second alone, he'd be best man at the wedding, etc and elrohir is that one guy who's always teasing him (aragorn) abt it and being like "sooo how was ur reunion w thranduillion 😏😏" and I FREAKING LOVE FICS where he knocks on their door before the council of elrond being like "ARAGORN GET TF UP STOP MAKING OUT W LEGOLAS WE'RE ABT TO DECIDE THE FATE OF MIDDLE EARTH IN THE COURTYARD"
EVERY TIME I READ THAT IM JUST LIKE YES 💥💳💥💳💥💳💥
THAT IS MY SHIT.
the sons of elrond are underrated kings, ntm the fact that they stayed behind after the sailing of the silver ships and kept up the pillow fort in rivendell w galadriel's husband who also stayed and i think that is simply everything <33
***
WHOO 1800 WORDS THATS A WRAP
thanks so much for reading, thank you even more for your lovely support (almost 800 reads!!! TF!!!!) and keep being unhealthily obsessed w lotr <33
if anyone has any HAPPY FLUFFY aralas or just lotr fic reccs for me so i can get out of my Fanfic Depression Haze™ that'd be greatly appreciated
(maria_darkhand i'm relying on you bestie cuz you always have the best reccomendations)
see y'all next chapter, and sorry i'm posting this one a bit later in the day than usual!!
out ✨