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Okay, the Secret Files for Wall the Heart.

You might already know this was a spite-motivated tumblr discourse fic, because there was one or two people on my dash who were disowning Thingol as a terrible king and way worse bigot than the Noldor (ie Fëanorians) because of the line about Thingol disliking Beren’s Northern Sindarin accent because Northern Sindar weren’t trusted, the Fëanorians used that accent, etc… This idea of Thingol as a hermit king who did nothing during the entire Silmarilion, just hid in his Girdled Kingdom and let the Noldor do all the fighting, ungrateful, etc… It pissed me off. Enough to take my headcanon and make a fic, and then for my long airing out of grievances and footnote explanations to be so long as to warrant a second chapter. Which I feel even now is a bit extreme and overboard but I won’t shorten it.

Because Goddammit, Elu Thingol and the Sindar of Doriath DID fight Morgoth. They were fighting a long battle before the Noldor ever showed up, and Thingol would still be fighting orcs when they got close to his border even up to the year before Beren stumbled into the Girdle. It’s like Americans saying they did all the fighting and ignoring the French and British and other allies during WWI (or WWII). The Noldor were coming in just after Thingol suffered heavy losses and his remaining allies are in a long siege.

Also, that the Girdle just went up right before the Noldor arrive. It was a recent thing.

Denethor’s death needs more fandom love and attention. You could just as easily do a quasi-slash angsty fic about Thingol trying to reach Denethor in time and then fruitlessly avenging his death in the vein of those Maedhros and Fingon Nirnaeth and aftermath fanworks.

It wasn’t mentioned in this fic, but one of Denethor’s son who died would have been causally intended to be betrothed to Lúthien. The two families were suggesting the idea, and the two of them were friendly if not in love yet. Thus another layer of tragedy.

SF, especially the military SF and space opera stuff, loves the mind controlled double agent trope. I don’t think Vorkosigan ever used it outright, but it’s one of those tropes that both SF and Fantasy love and therefore I wanted to use. And the Silmarilion version from the quotes might just be that Morgoth was so overwhelming powerful that captured elves gave into despair and decided since Morgoth’s victory was inevitable, to pull a Quisling instead of a more magical mind control with the subject unawares. That seems a little more Tolkien. Either way, I left the situation behind Eredhon’s actions purposefully vague as to leave it up for interpretation, and because the mystery worked better for Thingol and the story.

It was very awkward to write this fic before I had a name for Eredhon or his son.

Ducks are a subtle motif for the original village of Elwë and his people.

Sindarin books would not be bond in the same style as books in Valinor, at least until the Noldor arrived, and would use scrolls. The image of Thingol attacking someone with a scroll as an impromptu weapon is funny.

“Yes, Eöl, you were right,” Thingol says testily.

This ↑ was (intended to be) the funniest line in the fic, because of the implication that this would be the only time ever that Thingol (or anyone) would say that line. I like a softer than canon Eöl, and heavens knows I probably turned off a few readers by inserting him into the story, but I like his purpose in this narrative. And adding to the tragedy that this sense that Elmo and Linkwinen, as his grandparents, are the only two elves that make any effort to understand and interact with him, and without them there and faced with the Girdle forcing him to be hemmed in with thousands of people of mutual dislike and setting off more than one case of agoraphobia and PSTD, he decamps to Nan Elmoth, stews in bitterness and mental issues with no one to curtail him, and in a few hundred years there we go~

Galathil and Celeborn are too young in this fic. *pulls face*

many may characters, but definitely the three brothers princely come to mind :’)

Ai, brother, let us set under the gentle shadow of the tree and feel the breeze against our cheek, for it carries the scent of the ocean which we cannot see but is only a league or two at most from this river bank at which we sit. And let us ponder the marvelous voluminousness of our Queen Melian’s great big tits.

@anghraine tagged me in the post-a-bit-of-something-you’re-working-on meme!

The arrow arced like a comet over the plains. Wind screamed in agony in its passage, shrill and short, and air rippled out like water from the impact. Earth liquefied under the arrowhead, and the impaled shadow-shape writhed like a spineless deep-sea creature brought to the surface before it dissolved into the ground. Faint wisps of steam rose from the crater around the embedded arrow. A tuft of matte-black fur lingered around the arrowhead before disappearing with a foul odor,

though no elf was close enough to behold this.

Last sentence

@lordnelson100 tagged me, so even if I don’t tag others via name, again any mutual wanting to continue this wip meme, feel free. And for a shred of context, here’s three sentences for the entire paragraph, because that last sentence is about to undergo some overhaul.

Tacholdir has his writings and Arodreth has merrily assigned himself as personal steward and gardener for Lady Alphen. She will either throw him out of her house on his ear or finally shove him into her bed, or perhaps both. Old Mother Swan and Old Father Bull are as constant as tides

@anghraine tagged me for the last sentence WIP meme, so anyone who has not even been tagged by our mutual mutuals, I give you an excuse to participate in this meme too if you so wish.

Ingwë did not speak to the ones he walked beside, but he never slowed his steps to fall to the last position or deviate from their path. He did not join in with the traveling chants, but he was with his tribe and participated in the Great Hunt.

Once you get this you have to say 5 nice things about yourself publicly then send this to your 10 favorite followers/mutuals. Non-negotiable, positivity is cool~

So maybe I’ll have to redo with without the qualifiers for real positivity

My reading skills are excellent – a rather large vocabulary, very fast, good if not great memory for remembering plots and characters and odd facts if not exact dates. The memory that allowed my to coast through almost all of my education, including college, with very little studying. And I love to read as a hobby.
Though I might feel them as atrophied and amatuerish at times- I CAN draw and paint, and I have a solid grounding of basic artistic skills and concepts. Like- knowing the basic proportions to draw a person’s face and how to shade for lightning or dimentionally isn’t an universal skill, even if I often forgot it isn’t. I can draw plants and animals and people are hard to draw so I’m too hard on myself. And I am good at compositions.
I am honest. I won’t always share my opinions out of fear -usually fear of hurting someone else- but I rarely, almost never, can lie to someone’s face. My standards of honesty are -’never lie to anyone, about anything’ and because I don’t do that 100% of the time and do practice small lies by omission, I don’t automatically think of myself as an honest person, but like, holy shit, I am. I’d feel guilty going on anon to send a neutral ask or praise, so straight up, y’all, I could never send anon hate to someone. There is no version of heget in this universe’s timeline that could. And even if I won’t share my personal name online and other facts- I am brutally sincere about my fandom preferences and if I like someone or not. I live in fear of being unintentionally two-faced. Even if I’m not most dependable, I think I can qualify as someone you can trust, and I would be happy if that is the reputation that my demeanor has earned.
My humor is sarcastic but I don’t go out of my way to be offensive or garish in my humor or attack others. And I don’t go overboard on bad puns – but I appreciate them. And y’all must think I’m funny, too.
I am petite and very skinny and my hair has naturally lovely curls. I never have to stress about trying to lose weight.

Tell me good things abouuuut Aes Sedai

A fantasy universe (mainstream, very popular, author is an old straight white dude btw) where the formal institutions of magic -until late in the plot- are solely women. All the Gandalf and Saruman figures are ladies. Often much other women. Often unmarried and have no regrets about that lack of husband or children. That they divided themselves into factions based on these qualities- what ambitions do I have: pure knowledge? using diplomacy? ambitious politics maneuvering? pure logic? (this one especially for a fuck you at women aren’t in STEM fields) war? fighting a little more narrowly focused on the #1 magic danger to the world (men w/ magic)? Based on goals more than personalities, and that these aren’t gender stereotype limited.

That all the most important political maneuvering – the stuff that would be the cardinals and popes in the equivalent pre-1700s European history when it was the scheming and influence of said cardinals that were as important if not moreso than the actual kings and princes- these are all held by women. And that the groups that come in conflict with them on the magically scale really aren’t the Black Tower male magic wielders but the other groups of women. The majority of the magical big guns are ladies. For all the bitching about gender issues in WoT, that this is the foundation and that the Aes Sedai are so central to multiple plots and so incredibly varied – aren’t just regulated to one narrative corner like Bene Gesserit or hedge witches. The political maneuvering inside their groups- the factional infighting, the schism, the Black Ajah conspiracy, the apprentice-journeyman-master parallel and how structured it is, the internal ranking via strength and how it is different in other non-Aes Sedai groups.

Yeah, especially the wide variety of characters for Aes Sedai .

salty asks #27 gooo

27. Least shippable character?

Ohh. interesting because could go either of a few ways- which character in fandom doesn’t get any ships, just doesn’t read as interested in romantic relationships, or has a lot of a ships but I have zero interest in shipping said character because I don’t like that character?

For instance, Star Wars: Luke Skywalker reads as ace to me, but if pressed, I am more open to semi-crack shipping him with Han or Lando (Luke/Lando I think has unexplored opportunities). Lando is rarely considered in fandom shipping compared to the other major characters. I don’t ship Palpatine with anyone nor think it feasible. And while he’s a big cornerstone of Sequel Series ship wars, I hate Kylo Ren/Ben Solo and his character and the decisions writing around him -and I haven’t even seen The Last Jedi- so there’s not a single ship I want to ship him in. (Unless through him on the trash fire with Kyp Durron and post-Vong Jacen Solo and let them be that unappealing character types and arcs together)

Silm – Eru Ilúvatar for least shippable.;p And Ulmo.

I also don’t ship Haleth.

10, 11, 12?

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

For the Silmarillion? Despite my avowed disinterest in the fandom hyper-focus on Noldor in Tirion during the time of the Two Trees, which because I no longer activity seek Silmarillion content outside of myself and my small corner, it probably not as popular anymore for all I know … in the Silmarillion it’s the Second Age stuff. Númenor? Drown the place. Eregion and all that Celebrimbor and Annatar story? Snore.

Okay, If I go into DC Comics where there are definite arcs and an absolute MINEFIELD of bad writing and butchered characterizations to choose, well, that excess of riches means that I’ve been trying to avoid reading the known worst-of-the-worst.

I didn’t like most of Morrison’s Batman Incorporated, with the exception of Stephanie’s chapter. Just, ew no. I guess I’m not a Morrison fan. The Court of Owls still sounds stupid; most Illuminati conspiracy theory secret society plots do. Battle for the Cowl is infamously bad.

But hey, Star Wars! There’s one where I read a lot of bad stories until it got to DelRey and Vong and beyond bad. For Clone Wars, when they brought back Maul, I was done. But the Mortis Arc I disliked and don’t understand why it was so loved. But with the Bantam Era EU I waiver between the Jedi Academy trilogy awfulness and Zahn’s technically better written trilogy but I actually hate it more for creating all of Zahn’s pet characters and canonizing that Dark Horse comic arc and Mara Jade’s ‘Grey Jedi’ bullshit, Thrawn the Villain Gary Stu, Karde bad puns more original pet characters propped up by the author, Luuke, etc… There was a book where the main villain was the return of the one-armed wampa-eater yeti thing, but at least it wasn’t treated in fandom as awesome as Zahn’s works.

11. Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

I love and defend Elwing and Indis and have since my first read-through, and it pains me that they are unpopular and outright villainized (in ways that often hint at underlying misogyny) in areas of the fandom. I strongly sympathized with them from the get-go. Also Eöl the asshole genius who is on the wrong side of the fandom’s imperialistic sympathies.

Jason Todd has a large and sympathetic fandom nowadays, hooray. Jessica Cruz is definitely popular in the DC fandom, though I wish Simon Baz got more love because I like the two of them together. Plus Simon with his very relateable ‘i don’t really want to live on this terrible earth’ and his white mage girl style powers of healing and seer-prophecy while having that aggressive fighter dude personality is entertaining – let him become the support character deep inside him as he cheers on Jessica and helps her overcome her anxieties to become the tank that protects him.

12. Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

Silm fandom- so those two lines about the Bór are the most intriguing part of the Fifth Battle, am I right? Yes?

…Vanyar and Sindar anything.

The fact that the freaking ‘Lay of Leithian’ feels like it isn’t popular in the Simarillion online fandom is just bizarre.

Okay, here’s a great answer: Attack of the Clones is the most enjoyable Star Wars film for me to watch. Romance, Obi Wan being a detective, political machinations but not too much, wide range of locales.

even though I know at least some of the answer to #22 I’m asking anyway because reading your rants NEVER GETS OLD. Also #18 only because I have no idea what the reasoning behind that question even IS so I’m curious about your take on it.

22. Popular character you hate?

Oh gods. Rand al’Thor is a fucking bigamist, and his chapters from around book four start to become nearly unreadable. Why should I care about his deteriorating mental state when he is written as this asshole who’s overwhelming sexist-coded guilt complex isn’t interesting? Oh the weight of prophecies and being the messiah of the world~ Bleuch. You’re why I don’t like Chosen One main protag figures. I hate his shacking up with Min -who is the ‘not like other girls, I’m enlightened unfeminine and cool’ that I really don’t like.

…Oh, you wanted that other popular character heget hate rant? ~~Kylo Ren is boring~~ Okay, okay. Look, Fëanor is not a champion of free will. Fëanor is a champion of HIS ability to control his autonomy and fate, and he wants subservience from others. Why else to make his sons and then have them reaffirm that Oath? His disgusting xenophobia should be called out more; the rally in Tirion during the Darkening am I blind here to be the only one that sees the parallels to a fascist rally and coup d’etat? Like, hell, that scene is so grossing unsettling. It makes my skin crawl.

18. Does not shipping something ‘popular’ mean you’re in denial and/or biased?

I think it’s asking if something feels a sense of smug superiority for not following the popular trend. Hipster mindset.

Look, shipping is based off a person’s subjective feelings, and pretending it’s not and is motivated by rational thought or purity or progressive values is an ugly fandom problem. Do i not ship popular ships? Yes. Because I am biased; everyone is.