#galadhremmin

omg. aklso not mega pj!numenor dhgfjhdgf nooooo

okay let's do both starting with miriel

How I feel about this character

I like her! there's a lot of little details about her that are great, and for however much I might mourn that her narrative story is cut so short, there's something I find very interesting in the fact that you can make a very solid argument for post-natal depression as part of her story. she's a pretty harrowing look into matters of mental illness in elves and in valinor as well, as well as one of those mother characters in the legendarium that imo inherit something from Tolkien's own mother (and his mother's death, as well). cool, 10/10, I dig her.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

I'm gonna be big boring and say Finwe (and I do actually ship it), but also Indis if you spin it right, and Finwe/Indis/Miriel? the poly three-way is something I would like to read, or even write, but it's hard to do it in a way that I find satisfactory, primarily because some of the pivotal metaphysical conflicts of the laws and customs are centered around them and solving those is harder than simply working through interpersonal relationships. a challenge for another time.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Vaire and Nienna are up there, then if we are counting the obvious familial relationships also Feanor, and the platonic Indis relationship is also interesting.

My unpopular opinion about this character

I'm not sure I have any opinion that can be considered unpopular? I don't think there's any discourse around her that would warrant the definition. I have some strictly in-universe thoughts that I would like to loudly share with people of Arda who seem beyond incapable of letting this woman choose and keep the names she wants and her personhood seemingly co-opted for this and then that; and that's like, beyond the Therinde/Serinde thing, though of course it's related, but I'm referring to the Fíriel name primarily, which? "the one who died"? come tf on guys. but like I said, that's a bone to pick with the elves, not really an opinion per se.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

okay, hear this. she returns to life after Finwe's death, but before the kinslaying at Alqualonde, and leaves Vaire's halls. a story I want to read.

and now Marat under the cut

Ok but @galadhremmin are you somehow reading my drafts because

thanks! I wanted to talk about weird things today!

nosferatu: what do you fear most? had my eowyn moment with this question last friday where i was explaining all the things i wasn't afraid of, even failure, because you can try again, and the priest asked: 'what /are/ you afraid of?' with that exact aragorn tone of voice. and i was like 'being alone forever' and she was like 'you just told me you know how fortunate you are to have such good friends, what do you mean by being alone?' but they all live in different countries. and i am very aware that i have good friends! and i'm lucky there! but they all live in different countries. and i've lived alone for over four years now, and i hate it. and i'm terrified of the idea of coming home to no one forever. and waiting for hours just to be able to talk to someone for a few little texts back and forth. and talking on the phone with someone a couple times a month. and having to make plans for every single thing alone. i've done everything alone. all i've ever really wanted is a family. what if i never get it?

the babadook: have you ever felt like you were being watched?

yes! and i've spotted many animals trying to figure out just what exactly it was that was watching me >:)

other times it's like i felt i was being watched and i was like hmm i wonder what that's about but i do live in a "haunted" house built above an underground lake. makes me really wonder about low frequencies causing fears/feelings of being watched because i lived in a "haunted" house with that whole and then i heard footsteps and moving and something touched me deal but i really don't believe in ghosts all that much

and other times i still feel that i'm being watched and i'm talking to the person watching me who doesn't really "exist' and sharing information and getting information that i should! not! know! and drs are like hmm here's some anti-pychotics but that didn't stop it so idk what's up with that but it does make me wonder about alternate dimensions! and such~

many thoughts on this, not many clear answers.

Thank you!! many thoughts...

12.You can save one kingdom from destruction, which do you choose?

I’m tempted to say Doriath solely out of my attachment to Nimloth, and because I feel like in the cases of Gondolin and Nargothrond they might have a) been unsavable because of doom, or b) not needed to be saved from destruction if their kings had just made better decisions, whereas Doriath’s fate had maybe more to do with the oath of Fëanor than the doom of the Noldor, and feels less inevitable? And Dior didn’t deserve to die for Thingol’s mistakes? (Perhaps the way to save Doriath is actually to Deal With Thingol earlier and prevent all the Silmaril-related fallout...) Possibly the answer is really if you didn’t have monarchies run by particularly hardheaded and/or doomed kings, maybe you wouldn’t invite so much destruction. Or maybe if you didn’t have monarchies....

21. Would you have followed Fëanor from Valinor to Middle-earth?

Hi!! Thank you so much for playing. :)

11. What kingdom would you want to live in?

Doriath. But, like, with the guest-elves / with the laiquendi in ossiriand. Or just screw kingdoms and hang with the nandor East of the mountains for a while. The kingdoms just had...so many problems. 😆

25. You get to have a conversation with J.R.R. Tolkien. What would you want to talk about?

I do feel way better today, thank gods, and as for the book, I went through the first essay and I feel like it taught me more about real life astronomy, the cosmic microwave background, and the heat death of the universe than about the music of the spheres itself, but... it was pretty nice. some cool historical framing re: Tolkien’s own life and beliefs, some extremely unwanted Narnia reminders ( @fatalism-and-villainy it’s been a long time since I read any Narnia whatsoever but this essay reminded me how the Song of Aslan, when attacked by figures of evil like Jadis, the attack just sort of bounces off him? which bores me. and it also irritates me for how uncomplicated it makes things in this world’s theology, and anyway I just don’t like it), and the three themes of the Music likened to the phases of the universe aka light/radiation, matter, and “dark energy”.

Oh LOVE the faramir elrond angst interaction idea

Thank you! I do like the idea of them getting along—just in a more complicated way than it’s sometimes envisioned. They have Númenor angst! They have different perspectives on past and present Gondor! But they’re also both kind and compassionate and I think would always be eager for new information.