"These are indeed strange days..."

but I also absolutely believe that later on, Éomer "I would gladly learn better" Éadig becomes Gimli's favourite Man in the world simply based on the fact of how much time he spends correcting Rohirrim's superstitions about Galadriel and spreading Good News About Gal in Rohan.

This one literally came to me in a dream, where Lothíriel of Dol-Amroth was genderfluid and led a double life as her father's spymaster and the captain of a corsair ship during the War of the Ring, and they got to be an absolute badass.

The very model of a refined and demure princess

POV: you are a corsair of Umbar who fucked around and found out

Lothíriel Queen, spouse to Éomer Éadig

— inspired by the fanon take that Faramir is a trans woman. (Can anyone explain to me where that one came from, by the way? I like it, but I’m kind of curious who came up with it and how. I can see it from the standpoint of Eowyn and Faramir both embodying masculinity and femininity to varying degrees, and Eowyn being gender nonconforming). At any rate, Faramir is secretly trying on Éowyn’s dresses. She catches him, and contrary to Faramir’s expectation, she does not reject him. Instead, she is curious and sort of drawn to him in his new guise.

Here's a little teaser from the next chapter of my ongoing Éomer x Lothíriel story, Once More the Moon and the Earth (links: ff.net / ao3)

For context, in this story they meet immediately after the Battle of Pelennor fields and seek comfort in one another, but are not reunited until after the war is over. For reasons explained in the story, that reunion is really not without mixed feelings, and things are building up to something.

The chapter quoted below still needs some work done, but altogether I am very excited to share it!

Anger rushed through her like a flash of lightning. How had he found out about Meluion? Then almost immediately she knew the answer: when the King had not been able to get her to talk to him, he had sought out one of her brothers. Which one of them had betrayed that information? And what warped version had they fed him? Her voice came out almost as a scream. "You don't get to talk about him!" "I think I do, because I'm the man you used to feel better about your grief!" "And do you suppose I believe for one minute that you didn't use me to feel better about something?" For a moment, they both stared at one another in fury. But he was the one who spoke first.

I mean, Rohirrim and their ancestors never took part in the events of the First and Second Ages, and only beccome players during the Third Age. Entire centuries have gone by without them being involved in the grand drama of Middle-earth. One may assume they've heard something about the wars of Beleriand and Númenor the Valar and such - they do hold Oromë in reverence and believe that he brought the ancestors of mearas to Middle-earth - but it's very possible that they have a more or less different idea of how the history of the world has gone down until the War of the Ring than Lothíriel's people in Dol Amroth do.

Sure, they've learnt what they would from Gondor during the alliance between the two kingdoms, but it's bound to be somewhat different from what Gondorians believe. I expect it's some version of their previous knowledge combined or supplemented with what they've heard from their allies. I mean, people don't tend to change their whole worldview at once, they're more likely to add new information to their existing understanding as far as it complements it. Rohirrim's conception of the Elves (and the Golden Wood in particular) seems to attest to this. For them, the Elvish folk has become something strange and dangerous. One may ask: what other things about the history of Middle-earth have altered in their understanding?

And then there's of course the nature of the history of Middle-earth as adapted and translated texts. Gondorians probably have access to very different sources than what Bilbo, the progenitor of the Red Book of Westmarch, did in Rivendell. Dol Amroth might even have more close records of Númenor's history, because the city was established before the Downfall.

Battles of Love Requited - chapter 2

Éomer returns to Minas Tirith, impatient to meet his bride

I think he wouldn't particularly understand what Éowyn sees in someone like Faramir.

I haven´t drawn Lóthiriel before, so I took a lot of inspiration from your design of her :)

Somewhere early in their relationship