WELCOMEEEEEEEEE back to a chapter i've been cultivating for a HOT while
originally the third part in my lotr/aralas things i've been thinking abt series, but i didn't end up talking abt anything other than rings of power and a lotr fic so yeah it got renamed and i still had sm fun writing this one <3
so yeah. lets get ito it !!!
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2) hawthorn by aeolianharps
ive been thinking and i realize now that i've BARELY talked abt this fic??? like i've talked abt the other fic by this author, of men, but i know now that hawthorn >>>>>> of men and i will be taking no arguments
first of all hawthorn is a 50K word 30 chapter aralas fic on ao3 and--------
I CENTER EVERY SINGLE ASPECT OF MY LIFE AROUND THIS FIC.
LIKE I LIVE THIS FIC I BREATHE THIS FIC I THINK ABOUT THIS FIC EVERYDAY.
THIS FIC WAS A CULTURAL RESET. THIS FIC FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGED ARALAS AS A G E N R E. THE WAY I VIEW THESE CHARACTERS IN FICS IN THE BOOKS IN THE MOVIES IS FOREVER GOING TO BE DIFFERENT BC OF THIS FIC.
THIS FIC REWROTE MY CELLULAR COMPOSITION. LIKE THE LITERAL ATOMS THAT MAKE UP MY BEING HAVE BEEN REARANGED SINCE I READ THIS FIC LIKE MOLECULARLY I AM NOT THE SAME.
ME AND THIS FIC----- WE'RE LIKE THIS 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞
THIS FIC AND I ARE ONE. IT LIVES IN MY SOUL IT IS PART OF ME.
THE WAY AEOLIANHARPS WEAVES A STORY OF SUCH EMOTIONAL DEPTH THROUGH CHARACTERS THAT WERE BARELY EXPLORED IN THE CANON---
THE WAY THEY DEPICT LONELINESS, LOVE, IMMORTALITY, DEATH, LIFE, THE NEED TO LIVE AND THE ABSOLUTE LACK OF DESIRE FOR IT AT THE SAME TIME, HEARTBREAK AND SELFISHNESS, DUTY AND FAMILY--------
it is so gorgeous. it is so beautiful. it is a marvel of ao3, imo the greatest fanfic every written and one of the greatest things ever written PERIOD.
this fic turned me into a legolas kinnie. i've read it twice, once on ao3 the day after it was released, the second time on ebooks so i could annotate it and i MARKED THAT SHIT UP w my annotations because i loved it so so so so immeasurably and every line just means so much to me
i think abt the quotes in this fic everyday. one of them will be my first tatoo. this is one of those things that while you read it you FEEL IT IN YOUR CHEST, and your heart just HURTS and feels heavy with the weight of thousands of years of loneliness and need and pure emotion of these characters, espec legolas.
it is just--------------- indescribable. absolutely indescribable.
and i don't think this fic will ever mean so much to anyone as it did to me bc this found me at a point in my life (and found me again upon my reread) where i just REALLY needed to read something like this. legolas as a character is just so----- again, i have no words.
and yes, you will cry. no, you will SOB.
not just in the ending, which is the saddest shit ever, but in the middle. SEVERAL TIMES.
and more tears when you THINK BACK on this fic and just REALIZE the full weight of everything it holds. even more when i reread it and saw all the parallels and foreshadowing......
it's just yeah. yk what i mean?? it's just. its JUST. yeah.
i dont get how someone can write this in like two months and just ✨move on with their lives✨
like idk what aeolianharps was on but like????? i want it
that is all let's move on pls read it.
3) rings of power e3 and 4
no i am not done when will anyone ever be done talking abt this show???
so e3 of rings of power saw the arrival of our absolute ethereal majestic mesmerizing beautiful slaying wonderful lovely never the same unique powerful ate left no crumbs QUEEN galadriel in numenor (oh and halbrand was there too i guess)
and i obvi have THOUGHTS on the numenor design as well as a couple other things abt the episodes that have come out since i last posted
so first of all the NUMENOR DESIGN???? YES. ABSOLUTELY YES JUST 💳💥💳💥💳💥💳💥
like ik we already saw the main shot of numenor in the trailer (and yes as i predicted its less cheap cgi seeming in the actual show) BUT WHEN IT WIDENS AND WE SEE LIKE THE FULL MIGHT OF NUMENOR SPRAWLING ACROSS THE WHOLE ISLE---------
wow. literal tears in my eyes. it's so cool to see smth described as so glorious and such a big deal in the lore FINALLY onscreen.
and the imagery??? like the consistent use of sun and wing imagery which we see the remnants of in modern day gondor??? PERFECT. YES.
AND IN EPISODE FOUR SEEING THE GREAT WAVE???? THE GREAT FREAKING WAVE LIKE CONSUMING NUMENOR IN THE PALANTIR ARE YOU FREAKING JOKING ME???????
SO cool. i was shook because it's SO INSANE finally seeing that onscreen and if nothing else at least that's well done.
AND THE NICKNAMES OMG.
i think now is the time to tell y'all abt one of my many lotr subhyperfixations---NICKNAMES IN MIDDLE EARTH.
I JUST LOVE THE CONCEPT.
like elves just NOT AT ALL understanding the idea of nicknames bc they put so much weight in names and think its absolutely atrocious to shorten something with so much meaning and putting sm pride into their long ass names
and men, dwarves and hobbits hating it sm and using every opportunity to shorten their and others' names
so like imagine an elf and a human being friends and the human calling the elf by a nickname and shortening their long ass sindarin name to something semi comprehensible and then having to explain the concept of nicknames to then and the elf thinks it's the cutest thing ever and they just call each other by nicknames after that
LIKE I---- AHFWLHFWHFQFWHFAWFHKLWFWFLWGF
its everything. so obvi hearing valandil call isildur "isil" made me want to throw myself off a cliff but like in the best way possible yk??
however there are SOME THINGS that made me wanna throw myself off a cliff in a BAD WAY.
for example the complete disregard to archaic language and how anduic would've translated into english???
like i got SO EXCITED when miriel said "show THYSELF" by way of greeting to galadriel but then like five minutes later everyone's using abbreviations and acting like its 2022 and not 2000 S.A??
like yes i understand they're men and of lower class than miriel but it was the SECOND AGE. it might've made sense w PJ in the third age, but not here
the second thing is isildur's non existent sister Earien who was made up for the show because...... because.... hmm i can't seem to remember why.... why DID they add her in... hmmmm..
*bangs fist on table* OH YEAH I JUST REMEMBERED.
THERE WAS NO REASON. HER CHARACTER IS COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY POINTLESS.
and LISTEN IM NOT USUALLY AGAINST ADDING FEMALE OCs IN A MALE DOMINATED STORY
BUT THE FACT THAT SHE ONLY EXISTS AS A LOVE INTEREST FOR PHARAZON'S SON????
nope. does not pass bechdel. get out.
and SPEAKING of pharazon, why is this mans there?????
like the lore???? who is she??? don't know her
in the original numenor lore miriel never got to be queen. she should've been but the king's nephew Ar-Pharazon (later Ar-Pharazon the golden greatest and i think last of numenorean kings) usurped him and took miriel against her will as wife
SO OBVIOUSLY THATS DISREGARDED. bc in the show miriel IS queen and pharazon is her advisor.
i'm actually not too mad abt this bc i've always loved miriel's character and wanted to see her on the throne, so ig she'll get usurped later?? in the third episode i was more upset bc i didn't see how that would work since she's already queen and her ppl would back her up if anyone wanted to usurp her but since the fourth ep dropped i do see how that would work
bc at the end of the fourth ep (**SPOILERS BC THIS ISNT IN THE LORE AND U WOULDNT KNOW THIS UNLESS YOUVE WATCHED THE FOURTH EP**) Miriel decides to leave numenor w galadriel to go to middle earth w her
again, the lore??? don't know her
so obviously she'll get usurped while she's gone, the plot is predictable enough and i see how it would work now
HOWEVER IM STILL MAD ABT IT BC NUMENOR NON VISUALLY ISNT AS ACCURATE AS I'D HOPED
moving on from numenor tho, there are some more things i liked in these past two eps apart from all that
one, the blades. i feel like this is so random but the SWORD DESIGN IN RINGS OF POWER??? SLAYING. LOVED.
(and speaking of swords there are SO many weird narsil references in those episodes w elendil and speaking of elendil I LOVE THIS MAN AND I LOVE HIS CASTING OH MY GOD YES THEY UNDERSTOOD THE ASSIGNMENT)
((oh and speaking speaking of references there were SO MANY silmarillion references in ep3 and 4. like the mention of earendil and the silmaril that he carries??? OH MY GOD I DIED))
next is the MITHRILLLLLLLLLLLLLL. again, the thing that rings of power does w taking things that are described w sm glory and made so much out of in the lore and we FINALLY get visual representation of those things and it just makes it SO much cooler and more real
the discovery of mithril is one of those things and i loved it sm.
and on that note, I also FREAKING ADORE THE DWARVESSSSSSSSSSSS
like is the depth of the friendship between durin, disa and elrond accurate to the lore?? no, not even a little bit. BUT DO I STILL LOVE IT??? YES YES YES YES OMG.
the dwarves are my lifeline and they get way too little screentime for my taste. GIVE US MOREEE.
next, like literally everyone else and their mother rn, i loved the orc design !!!!
everyone was saying this but the use of practical effects and the exertion of the traditional orc-vibe (that's not a word but ykwim) as established by dnd lore and tolkien just makes the orcs SO PERFECT and more importantly so fitting for the second age!!! like the difference between PJ's third age orcs and amazon's second age is THERE and it is GIVING.
but now i'm being too positive. let's get into summore stuff i HATED.
one, the use of sindarin (adar meaning father in sindarin) when sindarin was a barely existing language back then?? and if adar is rly who we think he is (aka annatar) wouldn't it make more sense for him to be called father in quenya, seeing as that's the high tongue and not its grey-elven derivation??
that annoys me A LOT as someone who a) studies sindarin in her free time b) stans annatar and c) has a hyperfixation on languages and dialects specifically in the second age
two, the actors for bronwyn and her son are doing a shitty job i said what i said. maybe it's because they're characters are badly written if still good concepts but i'm sorry but so many of their scenes both w eac other and other characters felt fake af.
three, the ELF EARS. look closely nxt episode and tell me those elf ears dont look a LITTLE OFF to you. like the edges are curved, so they look almost hobbity?? this is so nitpicky but its annoying me okay
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andddddddd cut!!!
tysm for sticking around ily <3
nxt chapter is abt legolas x elrohir 👀👀
love y'all smmmmmmmmmmm
out ✨