ミルキーウエー☆彡

the earth was flat until some people pissed off god enough that he punched it round

the sun and moon used to be trees, but a big spider ate them

elves even being in middle-earth can be traced back to one (1) dude hating that people mispronounced his mom's name

sauron is a werewolf

elrond's biological parents are a star and a bird now

there's a sexy vampire lady

fighting a balrog barehanded is so cool it'll get you reincarnated right away even if there isn't a current big crisis going on (sorry gandalf, glorfindel just did it better)

satan got banned from heaven for playing his own music too loud

this one guy (Sauron’s boss) got so scared of the big spider that he screeched really loud and the rocks nearby echoed his screams for centuries

that is until the land got squelched and fell into the sea in a giant battle that destroyed the continent (as you do)

(some of the other) elves being in Middle-earth happened because the Valar invited them to their special land but the elves lost their king in a forest and didn’t want to leave him

the Minas Tirith that you know in LOTR isn’t the first Minas Tirith—Sauron conquered the other one, but then lost it again because of a girl and her dog

Sauron had beef with the dog even before meeting him

the dog could talk

eagles used to be even bigger (yes really)

the elf-dwarf feud can be traced back to a dispute over a necklace with a very shiny rock

Elrond: does it-

He pulled off playing a younger, dashing, more physically active version of his character really well in the Hobbit while he was actually like 20 years older LMAO

People can hate on my man Hugo but he was the only one who genuinely looked younger and more handsome somehow, all the others looked visibly older, even Cate who is so beautiful and aged extremely will did look older than in LOTR but he didn't. I need some respect for him

Man is theatrical as FUCK, makes unhinged faces every five seconds, and aland it very much works — Elrond being a weird little freak (affectionately) is imo an absolutely perfect portrayal: Also, canon Elrond is clearly quite eccentric, just in a different way to Gandalf! Aka Gandalf is the "take your meds, grandpa" brand of eccentric, while Elrond is the "the king of england likes to walk around with a rubber duck on his head but nobody says anything because he's the king of england" kind of eccentric.

And lest everyone forget, he fucking BODIED the Arwen storyline — that narrative could have so easily turned into a cliche "overprotective dad shows his daughter's prom date his gun collection" deal but the total mastery of microexpressions (to the point that to this day idk whether he's meant to be laughing or crying at the coronation) made it such a deeper, richer storyline, because you could see the slow war of attrition against his heart!

Basically, I wouldn't find Elrond as compelling a character as I do had he been played as an archetypal sage, instead of a guy who rightly looks fucking miserable 24/7 because he spent 6000 years saying "I told you so".

Also, I'm not going to contribute to elrond hairline discourse but imo if any elf was to develop male pattern baldness as a result of stress, it would be Elrond "Murphy's Law in action" Peredhel.

To Adar he gave children.

To Celebrimbor he facilitated the ability to create and cement a legacy.

For Galadriel, he not only gave her an army, but he was her ally, her friend, when she’d been all but abandoned by her own people.

Even that warg in 2x01, he feeds him and gains his trust.

But don’t you see that he did the same thing to us? As Halbrand in S1, he became who the audience wanted him to be—drawing us into the deception.

Who was (arguably) the most beloved character in LOTR? The most fascinating? The one the story started to swirl around despite Frodo and the ring being elsewhere?

Aragorn.

We ate that reluctant-lost-king-sexy-grimy-mystery hero shit UP.

He became who and what we wanted him to be. It pulled a thread from the original story tied directly to our nostalgic, gullible souls.

That’s why it was as much a gut punch for us as everyone else to realize who he was.

“Golden Leaves,” by Bear McCreary and Benjamin Walker, from The Rings of Power: Season 2 Original Series Soundtrack.

Sís laurië lassi taiter, yénin linwavandië. Anpalla Vai Ahtalëa, sí lantar Eldaniër. Eldalié! Eldalié! Hrívë túla helda ré úlassëa. Eldalié! Eldalié! I lassi lantar celumenna. (Cormar nelde aranin Eldaron.) Eldalié and’ amárielvë ambena solor. Sí néca riëmancan, viliën an Valinor. Eldalié! Eldalié! Hrívë túla helda ré úlassëa. Eldalié! Eldalié! I lassi lantar celumenna.

Here long the golden leaves have grown upon the branching years. For beyond the Sundering Seas now fall the Elven-tears.

O Elven-kind! O Elven-kind! The winter comes, a bare and leafless day. O Elven-kind! O Elven-kind! The leaves are falling in the stream.

(Three rings for the Elven kings.)

Elven-kind, long have we dwelt upon this Hither Shore. Now a fading crown I trade, to sail to Valinor.

Frodo Baggins, hero of the Shire, in need of healing but also excited to see Valinor and meet the legendary elves who live there, a gentle soul

Elrond Halfelven, as kind as a summer, looking forward to peace west of the sea, probably wants to go chill out in a cottage with his wife for the next thousand years

Which seems fine. And then we get to everyone else.

Gandalf, cheeky bastard who's gotten so used to being a weird old wizard in Middle-Earth that's he's forgotten what Maia are supposed to act like, will immediately cause problems

Bilbo Baggins, noted storyteller, definitely planning to break into Aule's halls to see his dwarf friends, will ask all the elves weird questions and then sing about their lives and deaths in front of them, will immediately cause problems

Galadriel, who came to Aman half for Celebrian and Elrond's sake and half to taunt all her cousins about being the only one of them to survive the First Age, enjoys causing problems, will immediately cause many problems

(Also, to be clear, these are not three isolated problem-causers, they absolutely spent the entire trip to Valinor actively planning to give Amanyar society and the Valar an aneurysm.)

I just love the idea of Elrond, now reunited with Celebrian, and Frodo happily having tea with Elwing and Earendil, with nothing to interrupt them but the gentle sounds of the tides.

Meanwhile Galariel, Bilbo, and Gandalf are collectively bullying Mandos into releasing Maglor Feanorian from the halls because:

Bilbo wants to read him his translation of the Noldolante, which is written as a cheery Hobbit drinking song

Elrond always complained about how Gandalf and Maglor were both insufferably vague about advice and Gandalf needs to make sure he's more infuriating than Maglor as a matter of his wizardly pride

However, I'd like to point out that in a medieval context, ring-gifting has been more broadly used as a representation of oaths and vows. This obviously is still applicable to marriage.

In medieval literature, however, it is frequently linked to the bond between a vassal and their liege lord. In many medieval text (like Culhwch and Olwen), we see a king giving their vassal a ring. The ring in this context is a symbol of the liege lord's protection and authority, and the vassal, in turn, wears it as a sign of their loyalty.

This was such a common trope that in Beowulf, Hrodgard is referred to as a "giver of rings" and his duties as lord are described as "dealing in rings".

Tolkien obviously would have been closely familiar with this, in fact, Sauron’s whole rings of power scheme and his persona as Annatar the "Lord of gifts" and later on the "Lord of the Rings" is ultimately a more sinister play on this medieval trope.

(There are also a plethora of academic writings examining medieval kingship and ring-giving in lotr that are absolutely fascinating, btw)

So, when we look at the various scenes in Rop where characters are exchanging rings, it is (to me at least) even more interesting to view those moments as an exchange of loyalty and trust, instead of a purely romantic gesture.

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