Miranda Otto as Éowyn and Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS 2002 | dir. Peter Jackson

“Oh the men in lotr are so fantastic” ITS BECAUSE THE GUY WHO WROTE IT UNDERSTOOD MASCULINE VIRTUE (CATHOLIC)

“… it would ease my heart, if while the Sun yet shines, I could see you still.”

One of my favorite things about Tolkien's writing is that he has a very specific, recurring trope. For lack of a better term, I'm dubbing this the Tolkien Wife-Guy.

This is mainly obvious in the Silmarillion, but Tolkien loves to write couples where the man is a notable individual- nobility, commits a great deed, or both- but the wife is at least equally notable, if not more beloved or powerful. Manwe is the king of the Valar and Eru's main representative in Arda? Everyone loves Varda more, and Melkor fears her more than his own brother. Elu Thingol is the king of the Silvan Elves? His wife is Melian, whose Girdle is the magic that keeps Morgoth's forces at bay. Beren is a chief among the Edain, who befriends animals and survives one of the most nightmarish places in Beleriand? His wife is Luthien.

Even in Lord of the Rings we see this occur, though the couples are on more even footing. Tom Bombadil is... Tom Bombadil, but Goldberry is the River-daughter, and Tom adores her above everything else, and the hobbits are completely taken in with her when she's their host. Similarly, while Celeborn is a mighty lord among Elves, Galadriel is one of the only Noldor in Middle-earth who saw the Two Trees, and her hair inspired Feanor to make the Silmarils, not to mention her own accomplishments in the war against Morgoth. Aragorn is the king of Gondor and Arnor, but Arwen is the Evenstar of the Elves, the descendant of three(?) different royal Elven lines. And Faramir becomes the Steward of Gondor and is one of the noblest men alive, but Eowyn killed the Witch-king, so you know. She got the grander moment for the saga.

But with (most) of these couples, we never get the impression that the man views his wife as Less-Than, or as a junior partner. Thingol is the main exception to this in how he dismisses Melian's counsel, and that's made out to be his foolishness within the text. Otherwise, Manwe treats Varda as his co-ruler, Beren never tries to downplay Luthien's achievements, and I'm pretty sure most of Tom Bombadil's dialogue is about how gorgeous Goldberry is. It's really sweet.

All of these examples really testify to how much Tolkien loved his wife. People rightly point to Beren and Luthien as the prime example of that, but I think you can find it in these other couples too. Even though Edith is mainly known to history as Mrs. Tolkien, it's evident to me that Jirt saw her as a whole person worthy of admiration outside of being his wife.

As someone whose job basically boils down to getting unglamorous but necessary things done behind the scenes, I’d love for us to spare a moment of appreciation for some truly unsung heroes of LOTR: the folks who supplied and supported a whole damn army on the move with only a few day’s notice.

The people who stocked and raised all the tents. Whoever was keeping soldiers in dry socks and sharpened swords. The folks (not Éowyn) who cooked the stews each night and cleaned up all the food. The person who had to make all the arrangements for thousands of horses to be kept in any kind of organized fashion with no barn or stable. The unhappy soul who had to dig and maintain the latrines anywhere the army was camped.

Logistics aren’t sexy, but damn are they important. Without them, half your army has dysentery and the other half is contemplating desertion. So good on these people—the victory over Sauron belongs to them, too.

Processing existential anxiety one painting at a time.

I only recently watched LOTR for the first time and decided to make this painting as an homage to this awesome trilogy! :)

Ways I am like Bilbo Baggins:

Done with everyone's shit

Gay

Thank you.

Do you think that elves heightened senses would be similar to what we now consider sensory issues?For example keen hearing is useful but loud noises must be overwhelming, right? Or odd textures? Has Legolas ever struggled with having to leave a function or being unable to wear something or be somewhere because of heightened senses that cause distress in your universe? Love your work! Keep it up!

"enjoy your repulsive squishy fungus, im gonna go eat some river weed."

Haha truthfully I don't spend very much on practical application of this in elves, but you know who does and who has explored it a bunch? :) @roselightfairy - almost all five senses, I think!

IMO I think it would be all about sounds - like in modverse, a car alarm in the city would be enough to give an elf tinnitus for the rest of the week.

I think what’s great about the tolkien fandom is that not knowing all of canon is ok.

gigolas + touch requested by: anonymous

Geralt, Ciri and Roach from the old polish The Hexer series (as it is our very fav 🔥). Have u ever seen it? If not you really should 🤗

it is He

sauron is my beautiful boi <3

me: yeah when i read the book i didn’t ship thorin and bilbo but i can see it now!!! but i wouldn’t really call bagginshield my favo-

the 217 saved tiktok edits of them sitting on my phone: dear loooooord whenigettoheaveeeeen please let me bringmyMANNNN

Barad-dur by Rene Gross

merry & pippin !!!! quick sketch may or may not be entering my lotr era ...