magically ordinary

“You can always assume one thing about your clients; and that is that they are doing their best. Always assume everyone is doing their best. And if they’re having a day where their best just isn’t that great, or their best doesn’t look like your best, you have to be okay with that.”

“Bill The Pony” was a pony who lived during the Third Age. He is first mentioned in the story as being owned by Bill Ferny, later one of Sharkey’s henchman, and an all around despicable man. When the Hobbits were ready to leave the Prancing Pony on their quest to get to Rivendell, all of the horses in the stable were set free or stolen, probably by Bill’s gang. Without their ponies the Hobbits only had one option, Bill’s half starved animal, who they bought for three times his worth. They named the new pony “Bill” after his former owner. During the quest Bill not only regained his health but helped the Hobbits on their way to Rivendell. With the new care of Samwise and the aura of Rivendell, he was back to good health. He accompanied the Fellowship carrying supplies, shielding the hobbits from snow, and getting spooked by wolves, until the Gates of Moria, where Samwise was convinced to let him go back to Bree, as the mines would be too dangerous. Much to Samwise’s chagrin Bill was let go (Cue the Watcher in the Water), and feared to be dead from the perils of the wilderness. After the Great Quest was completed and the Hobbits had arrived at Bree on their way home, They found Bill The Pony healthy at the Prancing Pony. He became Samwise’s steed back to the Shire. They came to the Brandywine bridge, which was locked by Bill Ferny. After being scared by Merry’s threats, Ferny unlocked the gate, threw the keys at them, and began to flee. As he fled Bill The Pony kicked him in the rear. During the filming of the movies they used a Shetland Pony and an American Quarter horse (for scaling reasons). Note that hobbits and dwarves use ponies as steeds due to their height.

“'But you can’t leave poor old Bill behind in this forsaken place, Mr. Gandalf! ’ cried Sam, angry and distressed. `I won’t have it, and that’s flat. After he has come so far and all! ’

‘I am sorry, Sam,’ said the wizard. `But when the Door opens I do not think you will be able to drag your Bill inside, into the long dark of Moria. You will have to choose between Bill and your master.’

‘He’d follow Mr. Frodo into a dragon’s den, if I led him,’ protested Sam. `It’d be nothing short of murder to turn him loose with all these wolves about.’

‘It will be short of murder, I hope,’ said Gandalf. He laid his hand on the pony’s head, and spoke in a low voice. `Go with words of guard and guiding on you,’ he said. `You are a wise beast, and have learned much in Rivendell. Make your ways to places where you can find grass, and so come in time to Elrond’s house, or wherever you wish to go.”

i know every day until i die i’ll see people argue about “comic book accuracy”—there are so many versions of these heroes there is no one canon.

i am old enough to remember when people on message boards had ship wars about Smallville—different website message boards/forums that skewed heavily toward various ships. as a clana shipper, i wrote mostly on a clana web forum, but also posted things on ff.net (a habit i kept for some time). i used to get so many people trolling me in the comments about “comic book accuracy” & “he ends up with lois. get over it.” i was twelve so it bothered me to no end, & i ended up reading more about different superman storylines & it informed my writing, but it’s fanfiction so i do what i want, esp bc so many comic book writers did just that!

so i’m excited to see supergirl based off Woman of Tomorrow. but a lot of people are being weirdos in comments “finally a comic accurate Supergirl” in comparison to CW Supergirl. “she’s just a girl version of clark kent.”

again—i. have. hardly. watched. CW Supergirl.—but i disagree based on the hours of edits & fics i’ve consumed. all have a very clear through line with her character that works across the multiverses. CW kara was definitely written with the clark kent characterization in mind, as a way to appeal to more viewers. do we honestly think in 2015, the CW (a network with a teen drama focus) & viewers in a realm of entertainment KNOWN to have insane sexism, would have a show with female lead who is traumatized, angry, depressed, drinking, & i repeat ANGRY as a major part of the Arrowverse? they did a decent job of making these changes by showing her as a child, & of course—making her part of the danvers fam.

but what really tickles me (annoyingly) is that this comic book accuracy they are usually referring to is in reference to Woman of Tomorrow—y’all WoT came out in 2021. CW supergirl of course will not be accurate to comics that hadn’t even come out yet. (yeah yeah i know there’s other supergirl comics but the next DC studios movie is based on WoT.)