anghraine replied to your post:
Going to be another lowkey birthday this year

happy birthday!

Thank you!

I already had my big birthday celebration treat event thingie on Monday (had the day off) by meeting up with my mom and going to watch Crazy Rich Asians together (loved it), so today is a get home, nap until I remember to feed my dog and myself (making tacos, so technically a treat myself night), didn’t grab an individual cake this time- but a side effect of sister going back up to grad school equaled town that had stores that actually carried Entemann’s donuts. And I was literally crying as I ate them, because childhood food nostalgia is still that strong. So I’ll eat another one of those and count that as birthday cake. As said- it’s a lazy celebration day. And will involve more napping. Maybe I’ll play a favorite movie. Probably sleep instead.

anghraine replied to your post:
looking for good writing music

I also listen to a lot of video game soundtracks (and instrumental covers of them!). There’s also … hm, like pseudo-soundtracks? Audiomachine, instrumental tracks of Two Steps From Hell, Future World Music, Epic Score, Matias Puumala. Oh, and I like some Jennifer Thomas and Elijah Bassenbroek for more soothing background music.

My Problem with Audiomachine and Two Steps from Hell is that i listen to them regularly, so they are the ‘formulation of fic scenes and ideas’, not the innocuous background sounds to keep me from loosing focus while I write’ music :p

11, 12, 15

15: Do you know your characters’ MBTI personalities?

Uggh. As useful as the general concept of introvert/extrovert and all that is, honestly I find MBTI lists sit somewhere between Zodiac signs and Hogwarts House Sorting. And absolutely none of that was anything I had more than a cursory interest in. As a useful tool to start thinking about general personality concepts, sure. But do I bother to actually sit down and feel out a questionnaire-type outline of any character’s personality? *snort of laughter* Are there characters I can point to and say, this one feels like an introvert more, or is going to want to be nurturing, or prefers things regimented and orderly? Yeah, some.

Heledir is an introvert (in that he needs recharging after heavy social situations), ace, very invested in the gossipy romances of people around him, doesn’t mind chaos, so he appears to be more sensing and intuition. Edrahil and Finrod will have to be a foil. But to have this defined and adhere to that – nope.

11: Which character do you have the most in common with?

Confession – I also hate these ‘do you relate to your characters or not’ questions. Uh, off the top of my head, eldest daughter with mild emotional trauma who stays home instead of leaving her family far behind, who is if not ace then probably somewhere on the grey spectrum, who would prefer to stay in her library and listen to small concerts and write hundreds of popular children’s stories and romance novels – yeah, there’s both projection and wish fulfillment with Findis.

12: Which character do you have the least in common with?

Well, I’m often writing from the POV of male elves, ones that have fought wars and died and led armies and countries. One of those.

pathofajedi replied to your post “So Happy Birthday, Me~”

Happy birthday!! ��

allonsymiddleearth replied to your post “So Happy Birthday, Me~”

Happy birthday!!!

anghraine replied to your post “So Happy Birthday, Me~”

Happy birthday!

Aw, Thank you, guys! It was a relaxing low-key birthday – and I considered how fortunate I was with regards to Harvey as my biggest and best gift this year, so like that, it was a great birthday.

anghraine replied to your post :

Something I hadn’t admitted before, but because…

Heh, it’s okay! That’s near word for word what the OT gen felt about the PT (except not as obnoxious as they could be :P), so it’s not really surprising that a lot of the PT would feel it about the ST.

Yeah, it’s that as a child going into Star Wars it was framed with PT as one half, the part with all the mystery I was interested in, and the OT as just another half. And while I love much of the OT and parts of the the old EU (a very small part), as awful as parts of the PT are, it holds my affection above the OT if I have to separate them out. And some of my biggest complaints about TFA are actually that I see it having the same exact sins as badly written parts of the EU that I read, like those Kevin J Anderson novels that I was so delighted TFA booted them from canon. Sun-crusher and Kyp and *shudders*

But also I didn’t realize how much I …not dislike but … *conflicted feelings* about the NuTrek films by JJ Abrams until I watched Star Trek Beyond and how much that felt more like an update and expansion of Star Trek. (Just re-watched STB, hence these feelings).

I’m trying not to be obnoxious, because it isn’t so much hate as just a lot of apathy (which in an audience is worse) or hoping that so much of what I felt were gaping plot holes, poor world-crafting decisions, and/or lack of characterization is because they are saving them for the next films, trying to do what Episode V and VI did for IV. Give me a good excuse for Snoke, movie.

But the style and tonality disconnect i felt is weird, because the TV shows wouldn’t feel “off” to me in dialogue or visual choices.

Hmm. Zahn’s Star Wars novels felt like “Star Wars but not quite” to me, with story choices and the dialogue quirks giving that vibe. That those books had to be one parallel universe over from main canon SW. Which I think that might be where TFA has to be for me.

I know RO felt like a more coherently plotted and cohesively shot movie to me, opposite of what you felt. Even if plot was requiring Episode IV, which isn’t ‘cohesive stand alone film’. But idk. it’s all subjective feelings

anghraine replied to your post:
anghraine replied to your post:
…

Denethor doesn’t have a beard! (At least, not a mentioned one!) And yeah, BEARDS AS CLASS SYMBOL LOL

Must be a mis-remembered line (because I know I was thinking “wait that can’t be right”). And yeah, beards as a class symbol but in a mixed way because native Gondorian citizens are still going to look down on the influx of brand new Northmen settlers and entrepreneurs (some who will be wealthy, some dirt-poor looking for all the no-empty land). The carpetbaggers would be the other very obvious parallel, and closer to this situation than the influx of Norman nobility after 1066. (That I’m using Japanese history instead of English/European as my inspiration is an affront to Tolkien’s universal underpinning, I know.) So maybe having obviously fake beards/sideburns-comb-downs to fake it are seen as more refined (and time intensive and expensive to yes obviously this) is seen as higher class than a natural beard or completely clean-shaven. Or could be a ridiculed fad. idk

Male hair-length, to be honest, I’m still trying to pin down. Long hair (a la Faramir as you’ve eloquently and repeated argued) was as much a late-Third Age Dúnedain choice for men as much as it was for elves. Short hair for men I’ve decided was a mid to late Númenorean look, and thus to wear your hair long as a man was to profess Faithful ideology (until it became unsafe to do so, thus hair shorter than earlobe length was seen as Númenorean). Castamir seeped himself in Faithful iconography. Trousers and certain motifs and color choices and cuts would be the sign of Northmen. To have light hair, to dye and bleach hair- that would be a trend started in Eldacar’s grandfather’s day.

Still, to go back to the Meiji era- men stopped wearing their hair in the traditional samurai cut. None of the characters in RuroKen do- most have the very Western/modern hair, except our hero with his long low loose ponytail. Which in the Vagabond Gondor universe is a holdover from being raised and trained by an old Noldor elf. Businessmen, the police officer, and government officials in Western-style suits. Thus the parallel must be a more ‘barbarian’ cut for men’s tunics and robes. Which, Byzantine parallels, I’m kosher. 🙂

(None of the main or secondary characters in RuroKen have facial hair except Okubo, so that still fits with Tolkien. And having Eldacar’s royal court have a passion for beards means Okubo can keep his whiskers.)

anghraine replied to your post:
In the Meiji Era years immediately after the…

KINSTRIFE GONDOR IS BACK!!! (also, now I’m imagining Gondorians plastering fake sideburns to their jaws, lol)

It doesn’t go away, it just hibernates. But it’s attached to RuroKen (as the glorified re-write of said manga in the Tolkien setting), and that’s a fandom love that is so deep in my psyche nothing will remove it. So yeah, you sort of need to wait until the Kenshin feelings well up in me again and then I start feeling guilty about not writing this fic idea… Though if I re-watch the RuroKen live-action movie again and tell myself I don’t need to have a perfect memory/recreation for everything Gondorian, I could write something. Also, that post about Pippin’s Westron reminded me again of the hilarity that is Himura Kenshin’s very antiquated in-universe and extremely humble method of speech – that unless he is reverting to behavior modes from during the war, his personal pronoun is sessha – very archaic, literally ‘this clumsy one’. Thus I wonder if, aside from a formal/informal you divide of which Pippin is ignorant of to Denethor’s amusement, if there would be other levels of formality, and if a Quenya or Sindarin form would be seen as more formal, less, as pretentious or if a way to capture that excessive and self-effacing mannerism that characterizes Kenshin/our elf-raised red-haired Northman.

The Meiji mix of Western and traditionally Japanese styles is such a neat part of the era, and something I wouldn’t want to loose in any crossover/fusion. And hey, enough fics focusing on Númenor having their styles aping the elves with fake pointy-ears looks or such, so turnabout is fair play. And medieval trends going back and forth on hair length and facial hair is truth, plus it’s amusing, you have to admit, what with Tolkien’s statements about pure-blood Dúnedain like Aragorn being naturally clean-shaven (yet doesn’t Denethor have a beard? tres confused, am heget)

another because I do what I want (:P)— “a lion to frighten the wolves”

Well, looking past my distaste over how very Lannister a title that sounds (Unlike the rest of my dash I dislike all of them as much as I dislike all the Targs) and going by the symbolism of outlaw/wolf’s-head and a lion as a young too-bold hero, this sounds like a Túrin surrounded by the outlaws shaming them into fighting against outlaws and orcs. Except it’s me, so it’d probably be a Tuor versus Lorgan’s occupied Dor-lómin. And hey, it’s sort of interesting that Tuor was acting as an outlaw helping people there during the time that Túrin was conflicted and worried about his people.

Okay, what this quote would really be is in the section of the hodgepodge original universe loosely based on Batfam characters, because the central conflicts are between a Kingmaker/ninja nobleman whose iconography is tied to a black lion and his squires/sons, one of which is the birth-son of a wolf-themed mercenary and via death and magical resurrection gets some very literal coyote/wolf imagery.

sing, muse, the rage of achilles

Hitting me with the Iliad when I hate it and never bothered to read through it yet have always liked the Odyssey (of my meager collection of “actual classics” on my physical bookshelf, it sits, but with less pride or affection than Gilgamesh. Let it be know heget is a ho for Gilgamesh)

So the bitter long war waged by assholes operating on pride, obligations to fellow tribal prices, more ego and pride, misjudgment, and a heroic glory ethic that I’m far more comfortable analyzing and contrasting it to Christian ideals of immortalization and glory when it’s in Beowulf as opposed to Ancient Greek…yeah that’s the damned Noldor of the First Age, and circa or post the Fifth Battle.

And the theme of assholes sacking and destroying a beautiful civilization is the Destruction of Doriath, Elwing as the Trojan Women but especially Aeneas…

Achilles is awful so if I was writing a silm fic titled after Achilles I know the only character that feels that same feeling of ‘he’s a hero but frankly isn’t someone I’d call heroic and yeah no fuck that bastard’ is maybe Maedhros. But this meme is “What Fic Would I Write?”

…so Achilles in his tent and my bizarre attachment to writing about/centered around Nargothrond without actually exploring everything Children of Húrin means if this was a fic from me, it’s probably be about Doriath and Nargothrnd’s token participation in the Union of Maedhros. Because fuck adding to the pile of Maedhros and/or Fingon centered around the Nirnaeth stories. Maybe something about Gwindor. (There’s a demand then for a followup where Gelmir’s presentation and death is combined with Hector, title quote and so on).

Though to be very honest, if I brainstormed long enough, I’d find a way to twist this into a story about Uldor. …Yes.

Castamir or Fingon }:)

Oh honey, this is so easy.

Castamir by huge leagues.

Which character is actually interesting? Which character has a more compelling story? Which character overall comes across as more competent in scheming and political leadership and ruling?

Castamir as part of the most interesting period of pre-Ring Gondorian history. Who stands with his cousin until his well-planned and executed betrayal, steals the throne using the popular support of the people of Gondor, rules for years making more enemies, that you could write a Shakespearean tragedy so easily about the whole thing, and then Eldacar returning in the one Return of the King for Gondor I have zero problems with – that Castamir and all his triumphs and cruelties and mistakes are so very real to history. The parallels to not just ancient Roman, but anything. The playing on Númenorean purity – and how such blood purity fears were proved by history to be wrong. How this leads into Gondor’s problems with Umbar. How this echoes down into Faramir and Eowyn. Exciting meta and great story setting potential!

Fingon has the tag bland beige wallpaper boy for a reason, and one of the reasons I like Gil-galad as his son is that it gives Fingon a great accomplishment of being at least the sperm donor to a great king and an excuse to pull into the narrative the OCs of the Sindarin ex-rulers of Mithrim. Fingon is the too-brash lesser son of a great man who when you read between the lines was not trusted to rule over his own territory (said territory gifted to the Edain). He’s Takeda Katsuyori to Fingolfin’s Takeda Shingen. Quite frankly I don’t get too upset at the idea of Maedhros stuck hanging off the side of Thangorodrim for all of the First Age. Fingon’s greatest feat = meh. ~~So much M/M fic and art it would have spared us.~~ Fandom puts him on a pedestal I see very little reason to have earned it. He wasn’t the one to make alliances and bring kingdoms together – that was Finrod and to a much lesser extent Maedhros. Fingon is a kin-slayer and I never saw on-page signals of his repentance for it. Yes, Castamir is also a Kin-slayer, but the text treats him as vile for it and he pays for it. I will always like a good villain admired as a villain over a lackluster hero who inspires boredom.