At first she thinks the grilled fish is the bluefish she is used to, the heavy fishy flavor wafting off the golden crust, but when her hosts cut into the fish and start to pull apart pieces of the cooked flesh, nimbly avoiding the bones, she sees it is not so. There is a loaf of bread, yet in shape and texture it looks nothing like any bread she knows or has kneaded. Another grilled fish, crusted in a thick layer of charred salt and smelling faintly of some sweet cooking liquor, is dropped into the center of the banquet table, the head and tail hanging over the edges of the massive yet delicate serving platter. The platter is a soft white, with the imprint of feathers along the rim, of a delicate ceramic that she vaguely remembers. She has not seen an object so fine and delicate for a long time. The meals, when she had been fortunate enough to have dishes on which to eat them, have been on wooden platters or the thick reddish brown of mortal make. In recent memory it has been her fingers greedily pulling apart hastily boiled small fish that either her husband or she had caught. Infrequent meals those had been, often spoiled by stomachs wracked by worry. The rich scent of garlic and lemon pulls her out of memories, and she looks up to see the next dish being uncovered. A lid is being removed from yet another fish dish, this time a giant and also unrecognizable specimen that has been obviously seasoned and steamed in its own juices. The surrounding broth smells fragrant, and her host uses a ladle to scoop some of it into a small bowl and set it before her. A piece of soft bread is placed next to the bowl. “Eat this first,” the queen says, the small crown of silver shells and mother-of-pearl above her sad face glimmering with the same wet luster as her eyes. “It shall not overtax your stomach.” As she speaks, her husband is uncovering yet another dish of what looks to be fried squid and brightly-colored vegetables with delight. Yet still more dishes are being brought, and she feels overwhelmed. This was not to be any large feast, just an intimate meal for newly reunited family, and yet she is overwhelmed by the bounty of food. She thinks back to the excitement of a pot of eel stew. The last dish she notices before the tears overwhelm is a platter of round crab cakes. They look exactly like the ones she used to make for her family, even the small cup of cream dipping sauce, though she served hers in a cleaned clam shell and this one is in a porcelain cup made to mimic the shell shape. She remembers breaking a cake apart with her fingers and feeding a piece to her son as she held him on her lap, his brother greedily reaching for a second serving and dipping his fingers into the sauce to lick it clean. The memory destroys what remained of her appetite. She sobs. There are warm arms around her, two sets, holding her tight, a hand stroking her hair, a man’s soft low voice whispering smoothing words to her, promising her she is safe, that he will protect her, a woman telling her that she has permission to cry, she can show weakness, that she is loved. In her most distant memories the woman recalls parents who had once done this for her. Elwing weeps and thanks them for the meal.
Tag: meme replies
🔥 + television, 🔥 + silmarillion, 🔥 + sims
[breathes in deep for long rants]
television: I watch perhaps five shows total, and online if I can. Meh tv. And meh most BBC shows. Formulaic Korean drama shows, even suffering through cultural and literal translations and that I still can’t pronouce any of the names, are more interesting for me to watch than US or British equivalents. At least their same exact love triangle character types and even the amnesia plots don’t tire my patience the way every American lawyer/cop crime drama or Friends/Coupling singles-living-in-big-city or sitcom family character types do. Watched a few episodes of Doctor Who, didn’t see the overwhelming appeal. Will never watch Sherlock– the main actor is unattractive and a big turn-off.
silmarillion: Maedhros is awful and unattractive. Fingon is very uninspiring. Fëanor is a fascist. All are boring characters. Neither Thingol nor Mandos was harsh enough to the Noldor. Celegorm has black hair (which he dyed various colors and all were obviously fake), and Huan leaving him was Huan’s redemption moment. As plot tokens – which is all they really are- the Silmarils as written are lacking. I like LaCE.
sims: The lack of clean sharp textures for Sims 3 is worse than the “pudding-face” aesthetic and a ridiculous flaw in the technology. I neither had and never will be interested in Sims 4. Sims 2- the Maxis Match trend was okay for objects and good for building, but why on earth did anyone like the style for hair textures? Too many green plumb-bobs. The ghosts are awful and we didn’t need more types and more focus on them.
🔥roleplaying!
I don’t find it interesting. Something about the format bugs me. It feels like poorly-written round-robin fic, which I pretty much strongly dislike anyway.
oo ➰ I’m on my phone and I don’t have the symbol hahahha
‘Cause they will run you down, down ‘til the dark
Yes and they will run you down, down ‘til you fall
And they will run you down, down ‘til you go
Yeah so you can’t crawl no more
(Way Down We Go – Kaleo)
∞!
I know I’ll wither so peel away the bark
‘Cause nothing grows when it is dark
or
Making waves in pitch black sand
Feel the salt dance on my hands
(Crystals – Of Monsters and Men)
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.
Top 5 OCs? :)
Assuming a disqualification for any original fiction setting and fudging rules on fusion’ed characters and textual ghosts:
- Faron – the Falathrim elf of Nargothrond and later long captive of Angband (Implied Faelindis as #1.5)
- Ravennë – High Queen of All Eldar, Queen of the Vanyar, Ingwë’s equal
- Bortë – First Queen of Númenor (cheating because it’s really the concept of her history and her immediate recent family generations)
- Ilsë – Admiral of Alqualondë (her mother Linkwinen almost wins this spot)
- Arodreth – I love all the ten OCs and backstories for Finrod and Beren’s companions, but old Arodreth was the first and best pathos. Another day I might say Fân or Heledir. Or Tacholdir the pin-maker. Change my answer! Tacholdir!
@heckofabecca requested #2 (the first day of a favorite book) for the voice meme. I finally got around to recording this – except as you can tell from the audio I’m congested and my throat is sore and hopefully the reason for this is my very persistent sinuses and not something more serious.
Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal, which is one of my favorite (and well-written) Discworld novels, and the prologue which is actually the first page and a half so I’m cheating and going over the meme. But the imagery is sublime and has so many of my favorite story elements.
C E L E B O R N
C: Can they swim well?
Very well. Not every Sindar is a great swimmer, though they love rivers and ponds even if no longer enamored of the sea. And Celeborn is someone who loves to boat, so he’d’ve have practice swimming in the rivers.
E: How are they with children?
Definitely. Celeborn for best dad. He’s patient and supportive, the dad to sits and play tea parties and it’s a gut thing, but I feel Celebrían was closer to her dad than mom. I’m not sure which parent was the disciplinarian.
L: What is their favourite board game?
Oooh, do we have any info on board games in Tolkien? I think there’s a chess metaphor in the books, but I’m not sure. So I wonder what ancient board games would fit in the universe. Would a mancala-like game be popular or something involving black and white pieces on a square board that could be as simple as checkers/draughts, the roman game of latrones, or as complex as go? Before the arrival of Morgoth’s feel wolves and monsters and later orcs, there wouldn’t be the need of a military tactics training game, so the board game model would be gambling/collecting stones/passing the other person in the model of a backgammon-like game. Which fits in nicely with the Royal Game of Ur, and isn’t that an elf-like artifact? Afterwards (and I have to believe one of these games was part of the initial strong cultural exchange between the dwarves and the elves of Doriath) such a draughts/chess game would have been very popular for princes during the First Age, and Celeborn would have played. I’m sure Galadriel introduced him to Amanyar board games and repeatedly and soundly beat him at most of them, but i can imagine him holding his own and beating her as well, fueling her interest and her competitiveness driving her to spend time with him, growing their romance. Patolli doesn’t seem like his thing. …wow i’m overthinking this without giving a definitive answer.
B: Do they have any allergies?
I don’t think elves did? Except for sensitivity to Melkor/Sauron’s evil.
O: What would it take to break them, inside and out?
Depends on how broken he was at any point in canon. but he did survive the destruction of his home -repeated. He survived the deaths of his parents, grandparents, king and great-uncle, the deaths of his cousins, his niece, his great-nephews, his home sacked twice,his king again, losing the continent of his birth and long deep attachment, being overthrown in a political coup over the land and new home he had established, having that destroyed by Sauron again, his wife living centuries under strain and the fear of losing her, losing his daughter*, etc… and still he rebuilds and endures and moves on. Only Círdan of all the elves possibly can claim to have endured and survived more than Celeborn, and no one has lost more. If he broke during any of those moments, or repeatedly, he recovered as to have hope of victory in during the War of the Ring three ages later. I don’t think even the possibility of Galadriel seizing the One Ring and going Dark Mistress of All would permanently break Celeborn inside and out.
*Not even bringing up if Amroth was Celeborn’s son or just quasi-adopted and loved as one, or here he goes to the list.
R: What are their hands like?
Large, very handsome, but scarred. Calluses from the bowstring and centuries of wielding the ax. long fingers, nails short and neat,tries and fails to clean all the dirt from under them. Doesn’t wear rings.
N: What do they usually eat for breakfast?
Whatever is normal elven breakfast- I imagine honey is part of it.
Melian!
OTP: Thingol/Melian (unbreakable)
BrOTP: I want her to have great and supportive relationships with her handmaidens and the women of Doriath (like little Nellas). That she was close to Lúthien. A familial feeling to her and Estë, Irmo, Vána
OT3: nah
NOTP: I don’t see Melian in much of anything ‘ship-wise, except I will say I can’t see her relationship with Galadriel as romantic
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