Resident Vulcan

This is Father’s Day celebratory art btw….. 😖

for the first hour. then the player character finds themself facing something truly horrible, some torturous scenario with the painful deaths of millions on the line, that drives them to leave their farm, in absolute fear of capture and torment.

so they leave. and as their quest begins the gameplay loop is not rewarding. the player feels like they are constantly risking everything and barely surviving. maybe there's a long-term resource, call it Soul, that enemies can steal and that will end the game if it runs out, and which is basically impossible to perfectly defend at this stage in the game. so the player fights their way through the first act, constantly in fear that this fight could end it, leaving each fight relieved to be alive but kicking themself for how much Soul they lost.

eventually they succeed at their adventure and all, and get to come home and do the pastoral fantasy farming sim game loop. and the mechanics are as rewarding as they were the first time. but after dozens of hours of hard-fought, truly punishing battles, it doesn’t feel the same. the player got the game to play a farming sim, but the game isn't a farming sim to them anymore. it feels hollow. and after a little bit of play, the player probably turns the game off and does something else with their time.

Thanks! It was the books. Specifically the Mordor chapters with Sam and Frodo.

I just loved the Cirith Ungol part where Frodo is stabbed and paralyzed, then whipped by Snaga, and Sam just snaps. He hacks off Snaga's hand, sends him crashing down the hatch, and then runs straight to Frodo. He gathers him into his arms, pulls him against his breast, and they just sit there cuddling.

They're in the worst place in the whole world, and for that one moment it doesn't matter anymore. They find comfort in each other right there in the middle of Mordor in a torture Orc Tower.

I mean...

I'd never read anything like that before. I'd tried romance stories, but they never resonated with me.

This did.

The pain. The blood. The rawness of it. And then that overwhelming relief. The contrast between absolute terror and the safety of Sam's arms is just... aargh. The horror intensifies the comfort. All the fear, pain, and blood make that tenderness feel completely real.

And in a way, Sam saves himself when he saves Frodo. He's so consumed by self-doubt and low self-esteem, and Frodo becomes his salvation. They rescue each other. Not just once, but over and over again.

Sam saves Frodo physically.

Frodo saves Sam spiritually.

It's just... The best dynamic ever, really. Those 2 Mordor chapters are absolute whump galore to me.

she got angry and said "then they need to pick a different word". and so you need to pick a different word.

don't think this is exclusive to public spaces like the mall or the park or whatever either. she has a tablet and access to the internet, just the same as you do. she can read, write, and make her own decisions. she has a husband.

Shout out to that one tumblr post that was like: "You know it's not just trans people who ponder their gender, it's healthy for cis people to take a look inside and be like! Yep that's all good!" And I read this post and was like.... like what do you look at inside though T O T??? I asked my boyfriend how he knew he was a boy and he said he just felt this unexplainable intrinsic feeling he was a boy... and I'm like... I HAVE GENUINELY NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT WTF 😭😭😭!!!!!!!! So apparently its like. Normal for people to feel this inexplicable 'Gender' feeling or whatever,,, I feel like how asexual people feel when they discover people around them aren't making up the fact they experience sexual arousal T O T

Obviously all my sciency stuff is just speculation! But I'm the type of person who believe that everything has a rationale behind it, and like an adopted child who is curious about their biological parents, I just am just interested in my origins! The field of genetics still is mostly just like,,,, hmmm we think this whatever MIGHT be a contributing factor to a person turning out this way... maybe. If you are more interested in the topic I discussed, just look up 'Genetic Memories in Animals' and there should be some more stuff OuO!

Frodo (Maura in Westron) is from the Old English word "froda", which means "wise." Tolkien was a linguist and was very intentional about the names he chose/created for his stories. There's a lot to unpack about Frodo's name itself, to be sure. But it is not accidental that his name is connected with Sam's.

Half-wise, half Frodo. The one who waited by his bedside in Rivendell, the one who twice INSISTED on going to Mordor, the one who fought off Shelob and scores of orcs, the one who carried the Ring into Mordor itself, the one who carried Frodo up Mount Doom, the one who came back to the Shire and his family, the one who went to the Undying Lands.