Torchwood-99

Hello, Anon! I am definitely a fan of the idea that the Rohirrim have lots of horse braiding practices! After all, why should they only braid their own hair!? Besides, the braiding of manes and tails has many practical purposes. It keeps long hair from getting tangled in tack and equipment or painfully caught on something in battle. It keeps a horse’s hair cleaner and free of knots. If you’re regularly evaluating horses, keeping the hair braided also gives you a better view of the form and musculature of the neck and rear legs. All good things!

There are also aesthetic reasons, of course. To my mind, the Rohirrim would see precise and well maintained braids as a key element of grooming and a marker of the high quality of care given by the owner. There may also have been particular styles that could tell you something qualitative about the horse — certain braids that signified a particular rank of the rider or that distinguished a war horse from a farm horse or that told you which horses on offer at the auction yard were from a particular breeder.

In terms of belief systems associated with horse braids, I’ve only ever had one general Rohan HC, and it’s kind of tied to real life folklore. Lots of real life cultures have a belief that when braids (or, at times, knots) appear in your horse’s hair without explanation, that’s a sign that a fairy or elf or some other magical creature has visited. Middle Earth doesn’t have fairies, per se, and its elves are very different than the elves of most folklore. But I like the idea that there is a belief in Rohan that an unexplained braid appearing in your horse’s hair is a sign that Oromë (Béma) has passed by to check on the heirs of the horses he originally gifted to the Rohirrim’s ancestors.

I hadn’t thought of the specific dynamic that you proposed, but I can certainly see letting someone braid your horse’s mane/tail coming to signify ongoing courtship! A horse is going to be uniquely treasured by a Rohirrim as a friend and companion, so to let someone else take care of your horse is an exercise in trust and not something that you’d allow just anyone to do! Or you could take the converse as well — being bold enough to braid the hair of another person’s horse could be seen as a sign of interest/an invitation to courtship by sort of test-running a level of familiarity that speaks to a desire for a closer relationship!

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

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.

We didn't see the Valkyries in a battlefield, and most likely they will be in one, cause the blood rite was a very specific situation, but we need to see them in action again as a unit. Not only Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie, but the other women too, cause that's whole point of the valkyries: to form a elite women army type of thing, very similar to the thirteen in TOG

So, I don't believe, for a second, that their significance to the plot has died. They will have more presence, it doesn't mean they will be the main group and the main plot, but they will have some of the spotlight too. Otherwise, it wouldn't make a lot of sense

Something sparked in Azriel’s chest, but he only nodded his thanks and left. He could picture it, though, as he ascended the stairs back to  the House proper. How Gwyn’s teal eyes might light upon seeing the necklace. For whatever reason… he could see it.  

But Azriel tucked away the thought, consciously erasing the slight smile it brought to his face. Buried the image down deep, where it glowed quietly. 

Nesta every night:

It makes me wonder if that's something we're building towards in the next book - a breakdown in Nessian because Cassian never vocalizes his true feelings for Nesta? If SJM went that direction, though, it still wouldn't make sense because Cassian's actions, more often than not, reflect that he feels shackled to Nesta.

So then all of this passes, she and Peeta are living together in District 12 in the Victor's Village, and they are finally allowed to choose how they want to live. After 15 years, she decides that she's ready to have kids. They can be raised in a safe environment with no Games, no threats. So the one choice she makes at the end is to keep their names from us, the audience. The one thing that gives us our identity before anything else. The one thing that, essentially, makes us who we are (also Suzanne is so meticulous with picking names throughout the series, so it would be special to Katniss and Peeta). She decides that that's only for her and her family to know.

We, who have literally seen every inch of her life from the reaping up until now, are being told that no, we don't get to see parts of her life without her permission anymore. And it always makes me so emotional. Like yes! Take back your life! Rest. Live. Love. But on YOUR terms and no one elses.