“nothing Much Dog, What’s Up With You?”

What do you think would happen if Zhao was stopped from killing Tui? Yue would probably stay in the NWT and marry Hahn like you said, but again Sokka would probably try to persuade her to stay with him. He probably wouldn’t be able to convince her enough, but if he did, what do you think would happen?

I'm gonna be real with you: I think it would be very boring and unsatisfying. I think a lot of other people think so too, because every time I see a "Yue leaves the North Pole" concept, unless it's like a conflict-free modern au, Yue's character is altered from how she's shown in canon. They make her more adventurous, or more of a romantic, because as she is, she doesn't add much to the group dynamic. If the show was paced more like Game of Thrones or Harlots, more based in smaller scale machinations, more following characters' introspection, then maybe there would be something to work with. But in something so action-heavy (and I think we sometimes forget just how action heavy it is due to how often lots of action means just okay writing), a character with no interest or skill in combat doesn't mesh well long-term.

From a writer pov, Yue joining the group as it's shown to be in canon is pretty inefficient storytelling. There's nothing she could really bring with her canon personality and back story that isn't already there with Aang's connection to the Spirit World as the Avatar or Toph coming from a wealthy family. Not to mention that with her being the oldest of the group (Sokka is 15 during the events of the series, while Yue is introduced as being 16 years old, making her about a year older than him) any of the "innocence of the world" that people would wanna play with would have her come off as a bit ditzy when actual 12-year-olds in the group are shown to be more streetwise and worldly. Yue isn't a bad or poorly written character, in fact I think she's one of the most interesting minor characters in the entire franchise, but she wasn't written with the intention of being part of Team Avatar so it's no wonder she doesn't fit well among them.

So, yeah, I don't know because I don't care enough about this concept to give it any thought. An AU where Yue is sent to study statecraft or philosophy or similar topics under King Bumi's tutelage or where she has post-war peace talks with Mai representing the Fire Nation or where she goes on her own journey separately from the group with her own entourage, running into familiar faces and keeping a log of her experiences; it would be a lot more contrived, but the quieter, gentler, more introspective atmosphere it would allow would suit her much better than her staying put while the others fight their way through active war zones and bring her along.

[ID: screenshot of a tag by tolkien-feels that says, "eol about maeglin".

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my beautiful infant son Untitled Document

theory: Aredhel was the most skilled among the Noldor at spells of concealment

support:

she was particularly friends with Celegorm, so it's reasonable to conclude that she, too, was a hunter. stealth is a valuable skill for a hunter.

why did a woman who grew so impatient with Gondolin that she badgered her brother for years into letting her leave, and then slipped away from the escort he insisted upon, even move to such a secret city in the first place? Because she's the one who helped hide it in the first place

seriously, someone in the building of Gondolin must've been an expert at concealment spells. Even with Ulmo's blessing, you simply can't build and move en masse to an entire city without anyone finding out where it is without serious juju. why not Aredhel?

Turgon let his sister leave Gondolin on vacation when he never let anyone else go not out of weakness to the pleas of family, but because he knew that if Aredhel didn't want Morgoth or his spies to see or track her, they fucking wouldn't see or track her - and if they could, Gondolin's hope of secrecy was lost anyway.

alas that Eol was even better at it than she was (maybe this intrigued her at first. maybe there was delighted hide-and-seek beneath the dark trees before there was only hiding)

alas that she didn't have time to teach Maeglin all she knew

anyway I do think Smeagol could have been redeemed/rehabilitated if the story had played out differently

But I can’t talk about climactic sentences in Tolkien’s works without mentioning what is, in my opinion, one of the best things that has ever been written in the English language.

And in that very moment, away behind in some courtyard of the City, a cock crowed. Shrill and clear he crowed, recking nothing of wizardry or war, welcoming only the morning that in the sky far above the shadows of death was coming with the dawn. And as if in answer there came from far away another note. Horns, horns, horns. In dark Mindolluin’s sides they dimly echoed. Great horns of the North wildly blowing. Rohan had come at last.

This is unparalleled. This gives me chills every time I read it. It may be my favorite quote in all of Tolkien’s works, except that choosing a favorite quote would be an impossible decision to make. It’s so inspiring. It’s so moving. It’s so heroic. And obviously, it’s a moment of pure eucatastrophe. Rohan had come at last.

And the moment that Pippin hears the horns of Rohan:

When the dark shadow at the Gate withdrew Gandalf still sat motionless. But Pippin rose to his feet, as if a great weight had been lifted from him; and he stood listening to the horns, and it seemed to him that they would break his heart with joy. And never in after years could he hear a horn blown in the distance without tears starting in his eyes.

I LOVE LORD OF THE RINGS SO MUCH

Just got the most valid bookmark comment on Salvage:

Bookmarked by Misty_Silva_Moon, 11 Jan 2023

Tf w the kids don’t like the feral raccoon that u adopted from a dumpster

[ID.: two screenshots of a Mashable article. The text reads, "That discovery was almost entirely manual, made possible by the all-consuming, boundless energy of adolescence without any algorithmic design. 'We are in this place of culture, where so many people expect algorithmic understanding,' says Brennan. Tumblr might be the place for you to go out and find yourself, but 'TikTok basically comes to you,' says Zuccarelli, because the algorithm 'knows everything about you.' To compete in the recommendation algorithm arena, Tumblr would need to ask its users for more information about who they are and what they like, something it historically has rebuked in favor of anonymity. At the time of publishing, Tumblr reports that there are 9.4 million daily posts on the platform, compared to 84 million in 2014. But with the rise of '90s and early 2000s nostalgia among Gen Z, a revival of the platform seems possible. In January, D'Onofrio said that half of the platform's active users and 71 percent of its new users are Gen Z. Kahle who, at 25, is a zillennial, says attracting Gen Z and getting them to stay 'may come down to the product.' For example, Kahle says 'if Gen Z's attention span is whatever percent shorter than millennials' then the recommendation algorithm needs to be used to churn out content way faster.'"

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Not that I disagree with OP, but I'd reblog a lot more fanart and other images if more people put image descriptions. Making your posts more accessible means more people can reblog them!

/nbh /nm

if you’re a new tumblr user from tiktok or IG or something and only like posts and dont reblog them yeah people will think you’re a bot and block you but you will also make this website actively worse. they want “algorithmic” users like you, served recommended posts through likes, not people who just follow each other and respond to the direct chronological feed. there is a reason this website is still better than the rest, even with all its problems, do not ruin this

Can I please ask for your top five theories on why the Ringwraiths become so much more powerful over the course of the LotR trilogy? By the end of the books a single Ringwraith holds an army of 6000 men in paralysing dread from a height of a mile, they're dismaying hosts of men, etc. And in the beginning, they're easily defeated by "jumping behind a tree," "pretending to be in a different room," "getting on a little boat," "man with a stick on fire," etc.

hmm ok

1) their power depends on how physically close they are to sauron/mordor

2) they consciously weren’t unleashing their full power early in Fellowship bcos it didn’t seem worth it when they were just dealing w hobbits

3) they just woke up from a REALLY long nap and it takes them a while to fully come ‘online’

4) their power just waxes & wanes sometimes

5) hobbits are their One Weakness 

To maintain proper focus while writing, I like to make my characters smokin hot.

-JRR Tolkien (probably)

So I was doing some thinking on the Huge Spiders that haunt Greenwood and I had some THOUGHTS about how it might affect the ecosystem of the forest. Now, these thoughts are sort of based on two main assumptions. 

One - That the spiders either grew larger and larger over a steady period of time OR 

Two - They didn’t wipe out the original habitat and ecosystems to the point of all other animals dying or being driven out / eaten and allowed time for change and adaptation. 

There are several animals that regularly eat spiders in normal settings and ecosystems including but not limited to: Other Spiders, Wasps, Reptiles, Amphibians, Praying Mantis’, Scorpions, and Birds. 

When a certain part of an ecosystem begins to change dramatically the rest of it is sort of forced to change along with it, or die out. And I think that Greenwood chose to change along with the Spiders. That as the Spiders grew, so did the creatures that hunted them. 

So not only does Greenwood have unnaturally large Spiders, they have huge Wasps flying around through their tree’s. Each wing is nearly the length of a fully grown Silvan, and their stingers the size of a leg. You can hear them buzzing from miles away but they’re almost impossible to see until they're right upon you. Their nests no longer hang from the trees as they are too heavy, but fill entire meadows bigger than a human's house. 

Lizards and other reptiles skitter along the ground or across thick branches. As silent as ever but each one capable of killing or at the very least putting up a damn good fight against a spider. They grow more teeth, or become venoms as a self defense. Snapping turtles lurk in the riverbeds, large enough to snap several elves in half if it so wished. Waiting, lurking, always ready to snap at the next thing to wander by. 

Cunning birds grew in size to accommodate the extra muscle needed to power they're powerful thick beaks, able to peck through a spider's shell with one go. Or snap a leg off with ease. Smaller birds linger around these larger one’s, each one being elected the ‘ruler’ of part of the forest. Gone are the days where songbirds ruled the canopies, and here are the days ruled by lightning fast hunters, each beak thicker than the bark on the three’s or the weight of a door. 

Beetles large enough to ride and pull carts scuttle around too. Their exoskeleton is almost more sturdy than metal and their blood contains anti-venom components that keep them moving even after they’ve been stung or bitten by other animals. Their heads seem to have helmets now, and their tunnels underneath the forest rumble with their movements. 

Other creatures have to get bigger too, or become meaner. Harder to kill. Fish grow in size to become more difficult for birds to find, growing teeth of their own and a taste of any flesh that comes too close to their waters edge or passes too slowly over their waters. 

The wolves get taller, become faster runners with wide jaws and better muscled to clamp them down. Deer horns begin to stay year round, more pointed than seen anywhere else so serve as self defense. 

Greenwood is not a place of huge spiders. Greenwood is a place of huge, terrifying, and weird creatures.  The kind that should only find existence in nightmares, the kind that should never exist. The kind that even Eru would cringe when gazing upon them.