DURIN IV & ANNATAR THE LORD OF THE RINGS: Rings Of Power — 2.03

Rings of Power meme dump part 9!

me: oh yay Andor is back what's going on gang

Andor: undocumented immigrants are facing sexual violence every day. left wing infighting will get everyone killed. rich people buying back things stolen by colonists is still an act of colonialism.

me: right so just a light season then

This. They hate all of us, we're not any better to them.

There's also a bit of... I think unintentional support of other queerphobia when people say stuff about how asexuals aren't doing anything. As the post discussed, we are seen as a threat to a lot of people, but I think the intent when aspecs say this is more like "we're not hurting anybody/doing anything wrong". But the thing is... Neither are trans people or gay people or other queer identities. When people say stuff like that, it's almost agreeing like "I can see why you don't like them, but we're different".

So there are several issues. I do think a lot of it comes from people not really knowing aphobia exists or even within our community not understanding how strong it is in some groups.

tbh I really dislike how aphobia tends to be discussed whenever there's some kind of incident that makes it visible to general society. The most common response seems to be some variation of "why would anyone hate asexual/aromantic people, they aren't even doing anything" and it just always sits wrong with me. It paints such a passive picture of our existence and feels like a comment influenced by the level of invisibility that aspec people have in society. Why would you be annoyed by someone who is practically invisible? Just go back to ignoring their existence, it's easy!

But despite the invisibility, aspec people are actually doing quite a lot of things that will piss off queerphobic, right-wing and religious people (and hell, even left-wing people). And the most obvious point is that we are actively not performing heterosexuality the way they want us to. People who's entire world view is "cis men and women should be in monogamous, heterosexual marriage and have (white) babies" are not going to lean back and say "oh but those asexuals and aromantics are fine". They will also hate our guts, and they will come up with all sorts of reasons, including insinuating we're all secretly into bestiality, or mentally ill, or not human, or attention seeking children. It's just plain old queerphobia, and like all queerphobia, there's no inherent logic to it which you can worm your way out of by "not doing anything".

And like, there's a lot more that aspec people do which people hate. Raising awareness about amatonormativity? People feel attacked, they hate it. Asexual people having sex? Or not having sex? People hate it! Aromantic people being in (seemingly) romantic relationships? People fucking hate it! Aromantic people having sex? Ohh people hate that!!

I guess the existence of aphobia can be confusing when you haven't spent much time thinking about asexuality and aromanticism, but in the end, these are identities that aren't heteronormative and they will be hit with the same or similar bigotry as any other queer identity. I just get tired of this response after seeing it recycled for 10 years without ever seeming to go any further.

Part: 245/?

That's awesome 😂 It really is so perfect!

Rings of Power meme dump part 2!

I honestly have no concrete opinion right now, I like letting all versions exist simultaneously for the most part. But other than the usual son or Fingon or Orodreth, some others I've heard, ranked on outlandishness:

Lalwen's son

Glorfindel's kid, where Glorfindel is in turn Lalwen's son

Son of Caranthir (sometimes +Haleth)

A random kid Círdan found in the trash and said "yeah, I can work with this"

Finduilas in disguise

Actually Círdan's kid somehow, not Noldorin at all, they're running a con

Either Eluréd or Elurín in disguise. Or both depending on the day.

A Maia who got bored

Two dwarves in a trench coat

The ambiguity is so funny I love it.

PLEASE send me ur who-is-gil-galad theories i am losing my absolute mind rn

Character Thoughts - Elwing

I don’t think that Elwing throwing herself into the ocean had anything to do with possessiveness about the Silmaril. For me, it recalls two other scenes in Tolkien’s work.

One is Frodo’s defiance at the Ford of Bruinen: “By Elbereth and Lúthien the Fair, you shall have neither the Ring nor me!” A desperate defiance against evil when you’re at the end of your rope and the end of your strength (and retreat to water, and unexpected rescue).

And the other, even more strongly, is the Fall of Fingolfin. She’s just lost a desperate battle; she sees everything she knows and loves and has built falling into ruin and fire; she can’t stop any of it. But she can fight the people who did this to her, and she can hurt them, even if it kills her. She can’t outright duel Maedhros (he’s been probably the greatest swordsman in Beleriand for ten times longer than she’s been alive; that would quite possibly be a more unequal fight than the Duel of Fingolfin and Morgoth), but she still has a way to hurt him. You don’t get the Silmaril, and you don’t get to kill me. You don’t get to win.

The central thought underlying it is not ‘mine’; it is ‘fuck you’.

It is not about her keeping the Silmaril; it is about the Fëanorians not getting it.

I don’t think she knows just how well she’s succeeding at hurting them - everything in her life tells her the Fëanorians are monsters as bad as or worse than anything from Angband, not beings capable of remorse - but she knows she’s denying them the one thing they want. And Maedhros and Maglor are left knowing that the worst thing they’ve ever done was, as far as their goals are concerned, completely pointless.

She’s not ‘abandoning her children’. She’s already lost her children. She has no way to save them. She has no reason to believe they would be spared, whatever she did. The twins are of no use to the Fëanorians. The Fëanorians have already shown themselves willing to murder children, her brothers, that actually did have value as hostages. If Elwing handed over the Silmaril there’s no reason for her to believe they wouldn’t just kill her and her children for spite.

It can’t be emphasized enough that the Fëanorians are the monsters of Elwing’s life. Angband is a distant name and a threat. The murderers of Elwing’s father, her mother, her brothers, the twice-destroyers of her home, are the Fëanorians. They are her Morgoth.

crane wives album covers i did for a class last year! hoping to get the other ones done before beyond beyond beyond comes out

He's sweet 🥺🧡

Late 1st Age Noldor: We've made a king :)

Círdan: You've ruined a perfectly good child is what you did. Look at him. He has anxiety.