The Call Centre ( AO3 )
Pippin, original orc character, Merry, Galadriel; modern AU; comedy; 3k words, one-shot
Where I Live ( AO3 )
Lotho Sackville-Baggins, Lobelia, Camellia, Odovacar Bolger, Vigo Boffin; music AU; slice of life; request; 8.5k words, three-shot
Jazz ( AO3 )
Melkor, Eru, Ainur; extended metaphor regarding the AinulindalĂŤ; 500 words, one-shot
Bob the Cave-troll ( AO3 )
Cave-troll from the Battle of Balinâs Tomb; dark comedy; 945 words; one-shot
Non-LotR works
Elegy ( AO3 )
Historical fiction; Edwardian composers and classical musicians; gen; time travel; 45k words, 11 chapters (slow-updating WIP)
The Jane Clinic ( AO3 )
The Walking Dead; Rick Grimes/OFC; exploration of reproductive choices in the apocalypse; smut; 35k words, 14 chapters (complete)
A Song of Ice and Lions ( AO3 )
Crossover: A Song of Ice and Fire, Song of the Lioness; Jon Snow/Alanna Trebond; rivals to lovers; gender disguise; 18.5k words, 9 chapters (complete)
The Yellow Pagoda Tree ( AO3 )
Firefly: OMC//OMC; pre-canon, worldbuilding, rebellion; in-progress
The Azure Silk Tunic ( AO3 )
Crossover: Pirates of the Caribbean, classical music RPF; Jack Sparrow & cellist Mischa Maisky; 17th century Bologna; 1.3k words, one-shot
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âThere was aâ a school, yeah. A government-sponsored academy. We had never even heard of it but it had the most exciting program, the most challenging. We could have sent her anywhere; we had the money, but she wanted to go. She wanted to learn. She was fourteen.â
âHow'd you do it?â
âMoney. And... and luck.â
This is that tale; that tale of money and luck.
Money. And, and luckâand preparation. The sacrifice of those who freed River Tam.
Read The Yellow Pagoda Tree on AO3
Rating:Â General Audiences
Archive Warnings:Â No Archive Warnings Apply
Status: In-Progress (part one of a two-part series)
Category:Â M/M
Relationship:Â OMC/ OMC, Simon Tam/OMC
Genre:Â Action, romance
Additional characters:Â Original male characters, original female characters, Simon Tam, River Tam
Tags:Â Pre-canon, worldbuilding, Osiris, rebellion, minor character death, Les MisĂŠrables references
I'm terrifically sorry I didnât fully appreciate my obsession with National Theatreâs The Importance of Being Earnest (and, more specifically, Hugh Skinnerâs portrayal of Jack Worthing) until the entire thing was put behind a paywall and only clips became available. Here are some stupid, shit-quality gifs I made in penance.
(And yes, of course anyone can âstealâ them!)
I'm also unabashedly sorry (contradiction where?) for stealing these from flailingwings' video because it was the only other place I could find video now:
(I usually follow a Pratchett-esque approach to punctuation, but Skinner's performance truly calls for multiple exclamation points!!!)
(Further, I'm sorry for being so lazy that I will only make the lowest quality gifs. We millenials are used to shit quality in this regard.)
Tolkien, The Return of the King, âThe Houses of Healingâ:
At the doors of the Houses many were already gathered to see Aragorn, and they followed after him; and when at last he had supped, men came and prayed that he would heal their kinsmen or their friends whose lives were in peril through hurt or wound, or who lay under the Black Shadow. And Aragorn arose and went out, and he sent for the sons of Elrond, and together they laboured far into the night.
JĂźnger, Storm of Steel, âLes Epargeâ:
Close by was a dressing-station, a dugout covered with branches. Here I spent the night among a crowd of other wounded. A worn-out doctor stood in the midst of groaning men, bandaging, injecting, and giving directions in a quiet voice. I pulled the cloak of one of the dead over me and fell into a deep sleep, disturbed by strange and feverish dreams. I woke once in the middle of the night and saw the doctor still at work by the light of a lantern.
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Jon has finally met his match in a new recruit to Castle Black. Will his pride come between them, or will the rising tide lift all ships?
(In which only one character from The Song of the Lioness is crammed into the ASOIAF universe, making easy reading for those familiar with GRRMâs world.)
Read A Song of Ice and Lions on AO3
Rating:Â General Audiences
Archive Warnings:Â No Archive Warnings Apply
Word Count:Â 18.5k
Chapters:Â 9
Status: Completed
Category:Â M/F
Relationship:Â Jon Snow/Alanna Trebond
Genre:Â Enemies to lovers, romance
Additional characters:Â Pypar, Grenn, Samwell Tarly, Alliser Thorne
Tags:Â POV Jon Snow, Castle Black, gender disguise, military training
(I briefly deleted this fic because the number of bot comments was i n s a n e. I've decided to reupload it, but backdated far in the past as an experiment to see whether that limits how many bot comments it gets. So far, so good.)
(Again, I apologise for my MS paint-level skill in graphic design, but at least it ain't AI, ammirite?! Photo credit to Daniel Diesenreither, provided via Unsplash.)
Book reviewers: Authors, you canât just call your capital city âThe Capitalâ! Thatâs lazy worldbuilding!
Meanwhile, in real life:Â
Tokyo. It sounds like an âexoticâ and unique proper noun, yeah? That is, until you translate the name. âTouâ (ćą) means âeastâ, and âkyouâ (亏) means âcapitalâ. The name of Japanâs largest cityâits capital city in the eastâliterally means just that.
Side note: Prior to the 17th century, when Tokyo was established as Japanâs capital, the city was referred to by the name Edo (ćąć¸), which translates to âbay entranceâ or âestuaryâ. Three guesses as to why...
But âeast capitalâ is at least a little bit more creative than just âThe Capitalâ, right?! Weâve gotta at least give it some points for that, right?! Well, letâs talk about Kyoto, which was Japanâs capital before it shifted to Tokyo. Thereâs a reason Kyoto shares the same kanji âkyouâ (亏) with Tokyoâand if you guessed thatâs because âKyotoâ literally translates into âCapital Cityâ, youâd be correct!
With an affectionate sigh (due to its extensive etymology and oft-changing names), letâs look to Korea.
The easiest name to explain is Seoul (ěě¸), which is a native Korean word literally translating to âCapital Cityâ. It is believed to be derived from Seorabeol (ěëźë˛) which originally referred to Gyeongju, Koreaâs capital during the Silla Dynasty.
Throughout the Joseon Dynasty, Seoul was occasionally referred to as âGyeongseongâ (경ěą), which is a Sino-Korean word also meaning âCapital Cityâ. This was the name by which Seoul was called during the Japanese occupation, as well, since Gyeongseong was the Korean version of the Japanese name Keijou (亏ĺ, âCapital Cityâ).
Bonus Korean capital name: During the Goryeo Dynasty, Pyeongyang was called âSeogyeongâ (ě경), which means âWestern Capitalâ.(Pyeongyang literally means âflat landâ becaaaaause⌠the area is flat AF! Surprise!)
Now for China. Beijing (ĺ亏) and Nanjing (ĺ亏) mean ânorthern capitalâ and âsouthern capitalâ respectively, and the Mandarin name for Tokyo (Dongjing, ä¸äşŹ) means âeastern capitalâ.
Astana (ĐŃŃана) in Kazakh means âcapital cityâ. Additionally, very briefly in the early 20th century, Kazakhstanâs capital lay in the south-central region and was called Kzyl-Orda (ŇŃСŃĐť ĐžŃда), meaning âred capitalâ.
After gaining independence in 1911, Mongoliaâs capital was referred to as Niislel KhĂźree (ĐиКŃĐťŃĐť ĐĽŇŻŃŃŃ, âcapital campâ).
During multiple periods in history, Cambodiaâs capital was Angkor, which is a vernacular form of the Sanskrit word ânagaraâ (नŕ¤ŕ¤°) which means âcapitalâ.
As for Australia, my understanding is that âCanberraâ is an Aboriginal word which translates to âmeeting placeâ and linguistically serves the same purpose as âcapitalâ.
These are just a few of the worldâs capitals that are literally named some variant of âcapital cityâ in their native tongues. Many more are named after geographical features, such as Algiers (which references the four islands found off the cityâs cape) or Bukhansan (ëśíě°), another historic name for Seoul which means âmountains north of Han (Great) Riverâ.
Turns out, humans tend to be really fucking uncreative when it comes to naming things. Proper nounsâand location names in particularâhave historically been descriptive and functional. They sound exotic or unique to us now due to linguistic drift or because theyâre in a foreign language, but at one point in time (or to speakers of the language of origin) they were/are quite âboringâ and uninventive.
If an author chooses not to create an entirely new language for their fictional world (which is understandable; not all authors are Tolkien, and even he drew heavily from Finnish and Welshâas well as Greek and Latinâwhen constructing Quenya and Sindarin... to make no mention of his simply using Old English as a stand-in for Rohirric) it would make perfect sense for many of their new worldâs names to be rendered in modern English, as Tolkien did for Westron. In such circumstance, these names would reasonably still bear the mark of their inspiration: whether that be their designation as the capital, or their surrounding geographical features.
And to put a final cap on things with the Tolkien mention, even he wasnât above some linguistic âlazinessâ. Take, for example, the name of ThĂŠoden, King of the Rohirrim. In Old English, âĂžeodenâ means âchief of a peopleâ, ergo âKing ThĂŠodenâ literally means âKing Kingâ!
(Itâs doubly adorable when taking into consideration the fact that Tolkien frequently inverted title and name when conveying the Rohirrimâs perspective, and yet even backward âThĂŠoden Kingâ still means âKing Kingâ!)
I think there is a lot to criticise in the current state of fiction publishing, where expediency and simplicity seem to win out all too frequently over care, consideration, and complexity. But next time you hear a BookTokker complaining about how yet another romantasy author has named their capital city âThe Capitalâ, perhaps take a moment to ponder Tokyo, Gyeongseong or Astana.
Hello! Hello!
The LotR marathon hit too hard â 12 hours in the cinema with the extended editions really got me, and now Iâm hopping on the Merry x Ăowyn ship!
Art based on: <âĽâĽâĽ>
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Wonderful request by @willowthevampirewriter !! Aragorn reading to a cow <333 I read it wrong and thought it was a crow so now thereâs both a cow and a crow haha! Hope it works! here you go!
Perhaps a bit of inspiration for those writers who, like me, spend an inordinate amount of time agonising over the exactly perfect words to use. From Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield:
Newman, the Vaughansâ gardenerâpreviously a regular at the Red Lion, where every Friday night he sang till he was hoarseâhad now switched allegiance to the Swan and was trying his tongue at storytelling. He practiced on the regulars before trying his luck with the visitors in the summer room, and made the most of that aspect of the story only he had witnessed: the departure of Mrs. Vaughan from Buscot Lodge on hearing the news of the rescue of the child.
âI saw her myself, I did. She ran down to the boathouse quick as could be, and when she come out in her rowing boat, the little old one of hers, off she went, haring up the river . . . I never seen a boat move like it.â
ââHaring up the riverâ?â asked a farmhand.
âAye, and just a little slip of a girl, too! You wouldnât think a woman could row so fast.â
âBut . . . âharing,â you say?â
âThatâs right. Quick as a hare, it means.â
âI know what it means, all right. But you canât say she was âharing up the river.ââ
âWhyever not?â
âHave you ever seen a hare rowing a boat?â
There was a burst of laughter that bewildered the gardener and made him flustered. âA hare in a boat? Donât be daft!â
âThatâs why you canât say âshe went haring up the river.â If a hare canât hare up a river, how can Mrs. Vaughan? Think about it.â
âWhat am I meant to say, then?â
âYou have to think of some creature that do go swiftly up a river, and say that instead. Donât he?â
There was a round of nodding.
âWhat about an otter?â suggested a young bargeman. âThey donât hang about.â
Newman pulled a dubious face. âMrs. Vaughan went ottering up the river . . .â
The farmhand shook his head. âIt sounds no better.â
âIn fact, it sounds a bit worse . . .â
âWell, what am I supposed to say, then? If I canât say âharingâ and I canât say âotteringâ . . . ? Iâve got to say something.â
âTrue,â said the bargeman, and a trio of gravel diggers nodded. âThe man has to say something.â
They turned to Owen Albright, who shared his wisdom. âI reckon you have to find another way altogether. You could say, âShe rowed up the river, quick as could be . . .ââ
âBut he have already said that,â protested the farm hand. âShe ran down to the boathouse as quick as could be. She canât run quick as can be down to the boathouse and row quick as can be upriver.â
âShe did, though,â corrected Newman.
âNo!â
âShe did! I was there! I saw her with my own eyes!â
âAye, so it might have happened, but you canât tell it thus.â
âCanât tell it how it was? How dâyou make that out? Iâm starting to wish Iâd not told it at all now. Telling a thingâs harder than I ever knew.â
âThereâs an art to it,â Albright soothed. âYouâll get the hang of it.â
âIâve got to the age of thirty-seven just opening my mouth and letting the words out, and never had any trouble so far. Not till I came and sat down here. I donât know as I wants the hang of it. No, I shall go on by the old way: my words shall come as they like, and if I has her haring up the river, well, hare she must. Else I shanât say anything at all.â
There was an exchange of anxious looks across the table, and one of the gravel diggers spoke for them all: âLet the man speak. He was there.â
And Newman was allowed to continue, in words of his own devising, his account of Mrs. Vaughanâs departure from the house.
This is for my English project blenlebleblr basically a book review on the first lotr book!!! And i had the âbrilliantâ idea to draw the whole fellowship ahhhhhh ive never locked in so hard in my life
Aragorn at the dawn, above the broken gate of the Helm's Deep âĽ
(I am trying to learn drawing with a brush only...but I just don't have patience for it :D )
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