rosemary and time

we were just as smart then as we are now

thoughts without Blorbo: oh my god I was so cringe in seventh grade why did I do that

I've not had time to pull together anything of my own for @tolkiengenweek so I thought I would tip a hat to some of my favorite fics by others. Here are some of my top pics.

On the Nature of Fire and What Lets the Light Pass Through by @rosemary-andtime. Fantastic Gandalf and Pippin fics that give Pippin the depth he deserves.

The fire's toll by @arrivisting. Heartbreaking and gorgeous Nerdanel and Amrod, after he Returns. A perpetual fave.

Golden Light by @cycas. A delightfully complex Fingolfin and Hador, through the years.

angels would not condescend by @crownlessliestheking. In which Feanor's heresies start with math.

One Who Holds by Adlanth. A young Elrond has an exchange with Lorgan's granddaughter, as the end of Beleriand draws near.

Heart and Head by @cycas. Celegorm and Nimloth get to know each other after being reborn.

Idylls of the Queen by Anna_Wing. Spectacularly creative exploration of Gondor and environs in the time of Arwen (and Aragorn), post LOTR. So many goodies in this series!

Abiding His Time by @from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras. Gwindor survives, in Angband.

The Dance by @perchingpasserine. Elwing and Nimloth, after everything.

slip the surly bonds of earth by @hobbitwrangler. Gandalf and Finduilas of Dol Amroth and some might-have-beens.

Little Crab on the Big Stage by @thescrapwitch. My favorite of this delightful series in which Aman comes to terms with Crablor, and vice versa.

King Ozymandias

rendered in stone with a

strident decree.

Says our dear traveller

(unsentimentally)

"All that remains is his

1) says situation is terrible, disgraceful, prior administrations were grossly negligent to let it get this bad

2) says he has a plan to fix it better than it's ever been fixed before and for much less money

3) charges in blindly, does not wait for permits or Congressional approval, fires any experts telling him to slow down and wait

4) green sludge. gas prices through the roof. inflation out of control. a war that isn't a war but sure looks like a war and smells like a war and has no end. parasites in our produce. flu outbreaks in the army. screwworm. maternal mortality. unemployment. skyrocketing health care premiums. dead ducklings. dead kids.

5) announce this is actually way more complicated than anybody could ever possibly have guessed and nobody knew

6) blame democrats. holler sabotage.

7) leave much richer than he was to begin with.

Algaegate is important because that cycle played out very quickly, very visibly, and very comically. We're wired as humans to see patterns, but those patterns can be hard to clock when they show up over months or years in contexts that are too painful or stressful to watch closely. But this happened SO FAST and so front-and-center that a whole bunch of people have just been exposed to this pattern who never clocked it before, this pattern that is playing out over every national and international stage with him and his cronies at the center of it.

"Oh him? That my emotional support hobbit."

"Uh huh. And what he got?"

"That's my hobbit's emotional support hobbit."

"And I suppose those two are also emotional support hobbits as well?"

"No, of course not. Those two are my emotional distress hobbits."

".....?"