#aiiiiii

what if we do it in a fully /r way now.

Disclaimer:

This is not “@”anybody, but rather a conglomeration of emotional responses to attitudes and unsolicited personal interactions I have had in the Tolkien fandom(s) over the past...20 years... And I have had a few recently that have sparked these feelings again, but that is not the point.

To be clear, all this is coming from someone who is, outwardly, most concerned with the 3rd & 4th Ages.

Also, I’m sorry this comes off as lecture-y. It is not meant to be.

Additionally, I absolutely support fandom discourse, conversation, and critique. I just don’t support people being asses about it. Big difference.

The assumption by some Silm fans that LotR & Hobbit fans can’t have extensive knowledge of tolkien lore? That makes me absolutely batty. Certainly, some lotr & TH fans don’t give a sheisse about the Silmarillion+ because it’s not relevant to their interaction with fandom for whatever reason but... What part of LotR is not enriched by exploring the rest of Tolkien’s work? What parts of truly believable late Age fic aren’t informed by the larger legendarium, or—at least—an appreciation of it?

Like, I can’t help that I prefer wood-elves to the Noldor (except for my bizarre and rapidly growing love for Gondolin but let’s ignore that for now, as I’m having an active identity crisis about it), and my fics certainly reflect that, but I can also talk your ear off re: silmarillion trauma-related meta for 6+ hours and still have more to say.

Because I’m part of the Silm fandom, I know most people in the Silm fandom don’t engage with lotr posts and blogs and fics and such in this way, because Tolkien is Tolkien is Tolkien...

But when people do? Especially when there hasn’t been any incorrectly cited lore, no question inherent in the fic or the comments or the post?

Well then it just comes across as wildly condescending.

And it just gets me heated up when I see it on tumblr, or have a post reblogged with the assumption that I know shit-all about tolkien just because I write about Legolas (god forbid) and that’s all just really annoying, because I’m not the kind of person whose going to hang you out to dry over being insufferable—I’m just going to suffer in silence or bitch to my LotR-leaning friends.

So basically, as a silm fan who, nevertheless, has her feet planted firmly in the Third Age, can we, like—as a fandom—not replicate the earlier wars of Beleriand in our fandoms? Because it’s exhausting. And immature. Critique is one thing—condescension or gatekeeping vaguely veiled with humor is entirely another.

People shouldn’t have to prove themselves to be part of fandom. Like, sure, prove yourself with respect if you expect to be treated like an expert on something but... Be kind about it.

I know many of us (myself included) just struggle with online interaction in general, social scripts, blah blah, and this is not about that, just to be clear. (And this whole rant can also be applied to book!fans’, like me, and their attitudes toward movie!fans, fwiw.)

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk, I’ve been holding this in for days and I just couldn’t anymore, lmao.

Me: sees this news article

Nostalgia: is feeling bittersweet emotions