FRODO LIVES!!!

A Bridgerton translation into Dramione.

Summary: “Men are sheep. Where one goes, the rest soon follow” – Rita Skeeter’s Society Papers, 30 April 1813.

After enduring two seasons in wizarding London, Hermione Granger is no longer naïve enough to believe she will be able to marry for love. But is it really too much to hope for a husband for whom she at least has some affection?

Her brother’s old school friend, Draco Malfoy – the new Duke of Wiltshire – has no intention of marrying, however, newly returned to England, he finds himself the target of many marriage-minded society mothers who remain convinced that reformed rakes make the best husbands.

To deflect their attention, the handsome hell-raiser proposes to Hermione that they pretend an attachment. In return, his attention to her will ensure she becomes belle of London society with suitors beating a path to her door.

There’s just one problem… Hermione is now in danger of falling for a man who has no intention of making their charade a reality.

“The meaning of this scene was really about Queen Anne’s jealousy of my character and of all the characters who are dancing because she’s crippled by gout and in a wheelchair; it became about the emotions on Olivia Colman’s extraordinary face.” -Rachel Weisz

Most movies are so afraid of being “cheesy” that whenever they say something like “friendship is the most powerful force in the world” they quickly undercut it with a joke to show We Don’t Really Believe That! ;)  Even Disney films nowadays have the characters mock their own movie’s tropes (”if you start singing, I’m gonna throw up!”) It’s like winking at the camera: “See, audience? We know this is ridiculous! We’re in on the joke!”

But Lord of the Rings is just 12.5 hours of friendship and love being the most powerful forces in the world, played straight. Characters have conversations about how much their home and family and friends mean to them, how hope is eternal, how there is so much in the world that’s worth living for…. and the film doesn’t apologize for that. There’s no winking at the audience about How Cheesy and Silly All This Is; it’s just. Completely in earnest.