Average(?)

And because it's so difficult to find good yuri fan content as everyone is obsessed with yaoi, I thought "what if I just genderbent a ship I already know and love?" BUT!! I can't find anything for it (not for a lack of trying ofc)

I've literally scoured tags, filters on AO3, and Pinterest for any fanfiction of them. I've seen some lovely sapphic drarry fanart but I need reading content too 😭

So if you have any fem!drarry, genderbend au, sapphic drarry, etc content that's specifically fanfiction to share,, PLEASE DO I AM BEGGING

I don't ship Frodo and Sam. I really just can't see it.

*Just to be clear, you can ship whoever you want within the realm of reason, I just want to share my confusion on the conclusion a lot of people have gotten to since I can't personally find that perspective*

I haven't read Lotr yet, but so much of this shipping context is derived from the films so I think I'm safe to say that they (the actors and writing) don't at all act with romantic subtext.

Throughout all of the films Frodo and Sam's relationship is very much that of close friends who bond differently during the journey due to dependency on each other and hardships.

Sam is the closest person to Frodo through this intense burden and psychological/moral turmoil. Sam carries our boy to the mountain because he's been with Frodo the entire journey from start to end, and has seen the toll it has taken on him. He carries Frodo with an air of camaraderie, loyalty, care, and emotional strength.

Anyhow, the fact that Sam and Frodo don't exist in a romantic context together is cinematically supported, and I can't find it at all in the way that the actors portrayed them or even in dialogue.

Personally (and you can metaphorically sue me for this if you want) i have one specific friendship of my own that I very much see in Frodo and Sam when I watch The Lord of the rings trilogy, and this is my lifelong friend and platonic soulmate. We tried to see if dating was for us since everyone said we should and it didn't feel right on either side (this was middle school, mind you, and now we're in college).

I see our friendship and our type of platonic love in Frodo and Sam because of the sheer amount of obvious love for one another present without any romantic influence between the two.

And, I also see the crowd calling for queer romance just because of two same gendered friends with a deep bond. To me it looks like people have blatantly ignored a prime example of positive and strong friendship between two men in favor of the ever present gay-ship fandom fodder. It also is concerning as I see women primarily vouching for this ship specifically.

Mind you, I am a queer woman, and I have a multitude of queer ships that I'm a fan of, including mlm (like merthur, which is my personal favorite). I just can't see what others are seeing when it comes down to Sam and Frodo's relationship type.

Frodo loves Sam, and Sam loves Frodo, this much isn't even up for discussion, but it's important to distinguish between the love you share with a friend and the love you feel for a romantic partner.

It's very clear that Sam loves Rosie, as we Begin the trilogy with Sam admiring Rosie from afar and Frodo encouraging him to be a little bit more brave. We end this series with Sam marrying Rosie and Frodo is happy for him. Frodo himself is depressed because of how the journey changed him and his perspective of the life he once had, which is unrelated to the fact that Sam found happiness and he couldn't after the shared journey.

Again this is just an opinion, and also kind of a vent post in a way. I really just don't understand how this conclusion is so popular. People are bound to get to a conclusion of shipping two characters that don't really mix in a fandom, I know that to be very true. It's just strange that this one is so popular, since it's got such little usable context to support the ship with.

Okay so I've been scouring the web for a place to buy chainmail armor or really just any armor atp with practically no success. I want vv badly to get myself a classic set of chainmail armor and I NEED to know (please T—T) where all of these lovely cosplayers are finding theirs.

That being said, I'm poor (but willing to save and spend), a full time college student with a near full time job, a primary caretaker, I have an insanely small amount of free time and energy, and I'm also not talented in textile design or able to craft anything on my own. :D

I don't have any experience in cosplay design or the like and I WANT to purchase from someone who specializes in costume and armor design because I want to fund talented people instead of indebting myself for a poorer result.

1) after you were content (for well over a year and a half atp) with leaving your place in their life for the sake of healthy growth away from an uneasy one sided and unrequited infatuation of your own making, so that you might find your own love one far off day, and so that you could sit back in the audience, as opposed to being apart of their life, as a spectator who often leaves the theatre during the performance

2) And while you don't get hit with those intense feelings of love, you still feel a deep ache in your heart because you never forgot the place they will always have in your soul, and you knew that you never would anyhow

3) But while you have moved on from secretly loving them from a safe distance, that you ensured was there as a safety rail so as to not impose on them, you don't understand fully how you feel about the surprise, almost reconciling encounter

4) and you know that you didn't even want an opportunity to be with them or to love them like that again because they are happy and in love with someone, and you know that you are genuinely fulfilled by knowing they are happy, especially because it's without you

And yet.... It's a strange feeling that I can't recognize as my own. I'm almost content and simultaneously unsettled, peaceful and afraid, reminiscent and willing to forget, happy and still something else that can't be placed. It's almost like reading the resolution of a coming of age story where they didn't end up together, but the story between these two characters didn't end in a sad way, but in a diverging path way.