‘DON’T TALK TO THE MEDIA ABOUT DIY HRT’

I have endured what no one on earth has ever done before

I put to my lips the hands of the man who killed my son.

So what's interesting to note is that Tolkien's elves all have a very deep relationship with nature, but especially so with water.

In the beginning, the very beginning, of the creation of Arda, the Ainur all joined voices and sand the world into existence, following the plans of Eru-Illuvitar. This was called the Music of the Ainur, which according to The Silmarillion, echoes of which can still be found in nature and specically in water:

"And it is said by the Eldar that in water there lives yet the echo of the Music of the Ainur more than in any substance else that is in the Earth; and many of the Children of Illuvatar hearken still unsated to the voices of the Sea, and yet know not for what they listen."

The very notes of creation remain still in water, but what does this have to do with Elves specifically? In The Silmarillion, Tolkien further wrote:

"Many waters flowed down thither from heights in the east, and the first sound that was heard by the Elves was the sound of water flowing, and the sound of water falling over stone."

Before anything else- the very first thing that Elves hear is the sound of water. For most of us, the very first sounds we hear as humans are probably the voices of our parents. So this is a very special relationship.

And then there is the Teleri, a specific race of Elves most known for their love of water and their close proximity to it. The Silmarillion says of the Teleri:

"... in water they had great delight, and those that came at last to the western shores were enamoured of the sea."

Even though Legolas is not Teleri, all Elves share a love of the Sea. Arguably this love is more metaphorical in the sense that the sea represents their way home to the Undying Lands, but this argument is equally defied by the fact there were Elves, primarily the Teleri, that stayed behind to remain in Middle Earth and elected to not continue on. Legolas is descended from such Elves, and the Sindarin have never seen the Undying Lands.

Like, compare this post by tumblr user wufflesvetinari, which makes an important point about Tolkien’s worldbuilding, and also lives in my head rent free:

and then these quotes from Jacob Geller’s “Every Zelda is the Darkest Zelda”

and his conclusions about the messages in Zelda games are thematically very similar to the through-lines about friendship and love in LOTR, and what a lot of authors miss about what makes a fantasy story personal and memorable:

In 1934-1936, trans brothers Mark and David Ferrow of Yarmouth, UK, both transitioned at age 13 with full parental support. Mark medically transitioned first in 1939 at 17 and his brother soon followed. “Though we have been girls, we have both felt men at heart,” Mark told a reporter. Their stories show that trans youth can grow up to be happy, celebrated adults.

AKHILLEUS MURDERS TROILOS ON TEMPLE STEPS

while a statue of apollo watches, and the god plans revenge

Sophocles: Selected Fragmentary Plays, A.H Sommerstein, D. Fitzpatrick, T. Talboy [Sophocles: Troilus]

Sophie, a 20-ish year old woman from a fantasy land where getting married at 16 or 17 does not seem to be unusual: Yes, this is a young man who is almost an adult.