Jeff “Joker” Moreau + Pilot Jokes

“6) Tolkien’s hero was average, and needed help, and failed. This is the place where most fantasy authors, who love to simultaneously call themselves Tolkien’s heirs and blame him for a lot of what’s wrong with modern fantasy, err the worst. It’s hard to look at Frodo and see him as someone extra-special. The hints in the books that a higher power did choose him are so quiet as to be unnoticeable. And he wouldn’t have made it as far as he did without his companions. And he doesn’t keep from falling into temptation. A lot of modern fantasy heroes are completely opposite from this. They start out extraordinary, and they stay that way. Other characters are there to train them, or be shallow antagonists and love interests and worshippers, not actually help them. And they don’t fail. (Damn it, I want to see more corrupted fantasy heroes.) It’s not fair to blame Tolkien for the disease that fantasy writers have inflicted on themselves. […] Fantasy could use more ordinary people who are afraid and don’t know what the hell they’re doing, but volunteer for the Quest anyway. It’s misinterpretation of Tolkien that’s the problem, not Tolkien himself.”

—

“Tolkien Cliches,” Limyaael

(via mithtransdir)

The whole point of The Lord Of The Rings… like, the WHOLE POINT… is that it is ultimately the hobbits who save the world. The small, vulnerable, ordinary people who aren’t great warriors or heroes.

Specifically, Sam. Sam saves the world. All of it. The ultimate success of the great quest is 100% due to a fat little gardener who likes to cook and never wanted to go on an adventure but who did it because he wasn’t going to let his beloved Frodo go off alone. Frodo is the only one truly able to handle the ring long enough to get it into Mordor - and it nearly kills him and permanently emotionally damages him - but Sam is the one who takes care of Frodo that whole time. Who makes him eat. Who finds him water. Who watches over him while he sleeps.

Sam is the one who fights off Shelob.

Sam is the one who takes the Ring when he thinks Frodo is dead.

Sam is the one who strolls into Orc Central and saves Frodo by sheer determination and killing any orc who crosses him. (SAM THE GARDENER GOES AND KILLS AN ACTUAL ORC TO GET FRODO SOME CLOTHES LET’S JUST THINK ABOUT THAT). And then Sam just takes off the Ring and gives it back which is supposed to be freaking impossible and he barely even hesitates.

Sam literally carries Frodo on the last leg of the journey. On his back. He’s half-starved, dying slowly of dehydration, but he carries Frodo up the goddamn mountain and Gollum may get credit for accidentally destroying the ring but Sam was the one who got them all there.

Sam saved the world.

And let’s not forget Pippin and Merry, who get damselled out of the story (the orcs have carried them off! We must make a Heroic Run To Save Them!) and then rescue themselves, recruit the Terrifying Ancient Powers through being genuinely nice and sincere, and overthrow Saruman before the ‘real’ heroes even get there.

Let’s not forget Pippin single-handedly saving what’s left of Gondor - and Faramir - by understanding that there is a time for obeying orders and a time for realizing that the boss is bugfuck nuts and we need to get help right now.

Let’s not forget Merry sticking his sword into the terrifying, profoundly evil horror that has chased him all over his world because his friend is fighting it and he’s gonna help, dammit and that’s how the most powerful Ringwraith goes down to a suicidally depressed woman and a scared little hobbit.

Everything the others do, the kings and princes and great heroes and all? They buy time.  They distract the bad guys. They keep the armies occupied. That is what kings and great leaders are for - they do the big picture stuff.

But it is ultimately the hobbits who bring down every villain. Every one. And I believe that that is 100% on purpose. Tolkien was a soldier in WWI. His son fought in WWII. (And a lot of The Lord Of The Rings was written in letters to him while he did it.)

And hey, look, The Lord Of The Rings is about ordinary people - farmers, scholars, and so on - who get pulled into a war not of their making but who have to fight not only because their own home is in danger but so is everyone’s. And they’re small and scared but they do the best they can for as long as they can and that is what actually saves the world. Not great heroes and pre-destined kings. Ordinary people, doing extraordinary things because they want the world to be safe for ordinary people, the ones they know and the ones they don’t.

Ordinary people matter. They can save the world without being great heroes or kings or whatever. And that is really important and I get so upset when people miss that because Aragorn and Legolas and Gimli and Gandalf and all the others are great characters and all but they are ultimately a hobbit delivery system.

It is ordinary people doing their best who really change the world, and continue doing so after the war is over because they have to go home and rebuild and they do.

If nothing else, I have to reblog this for the phrase “hobbit delivery system.” So accurate it hurts.

(via elenilote)

What I love too is how even the foretold king and the assorted great heroes themselves all come to recognize that their main (and by the end, only) role is to distract Sauron. To the point that by the end they’re all gathered up before the black gates of Mordor in order to keep his attention focused on them, with only the hope - not the certainty - that they can buy Frodo whatever remaining time he needs, if he’s even still alive.

One thing the movies left out but has always been such a key part of the books for me was how when the hobbits returned home, they found that home had been changed too. The war touched everywhere. Even with all they did in far-off lands to protect the Shire, the Shire had still been damaged, both property and lives destroyed, and it wasn’t an easy or simplistically happy homecoming. They had to fight yet another battle (granted a much smaller one) to save their neighbours, and then spent years in rebuilding.

(via garrusscars)

In many ways, the entire POINT is that homecoming. A quest, an adventure, is defined by the return home, and the realization that not only have YOU changed, so has your home.

(via mymyriadmusings)

“My friends, you bow to no one.”

(via sorrelchestnut)

@daisyfornost

(via roselightfairy)

if anyone is need of a long, entertaining adventure with a hero who never set out to be a hero but was just TRYING TO DIG A TUNNEL DAMMIT, Ursula Vernon’s Digger and its delightful wombat heroine might be up your alley. 

(via beatrice-otter)

this is all so good and important i only have to add as i am contractually obligated to do that gollum didn’t “accidentally” destroy the Ring, frodo’s geas took effect and kicked his ass when gollum broke his word, so the credit for that goes back to Frodo again who absolutely anticipated he would do so and set up the geas for just that reason

Super-quick guide to reading the Vorkosigan Saga in order

We’re gonna call this the first of many, many “why you should be reading the Vorkosigan saga” posts I’ll be making. For any new initiates, the Vorkosigan Saga is a series of sci-fi novels by Lois McMaster Bujold. While they can be broadly classified as “space opera”, they also take pretty significant detours into the political thriller, romantic comedy, horror, speculative fiction, mystery, and military drama genres. It’s very much hard sci-fi, with remarkably deep thought given to world-building and technology (like BSG, this is a universe where humanity is the only race, and so all the monsters are of our own making), but it doesn’t use its rich setting as an excuse to skimp on the incredibly deep characterization or ruthlessly clever plotting. Oh man, let me tell you, the characterization in these stories is absolutely fearless. Some of what Bujold puts her main characters through is the equivalent of taking away all of Tony Stark’s money and technology and resources halfway through Iron Man and, instead of having him angst until things get back to normal, taking that opportunity to use the logical shifts in characterization as a means to explore a new type of superhero story. Gah. 

Also remarkably for sci-fi, the main characters are rarely your typical square-jawed heroes–I mean, the leading man for the majority of this action-adventure series (despite what some of the truly awful cover art would have you believe) is all of four-foot-nine with brittle bones. 

Okay. I’ll gush more later, but for now: where to get started? After all, there are 15 novels and 4 novellas, and chances are most bookstores will have various compilation volumes that collect stories together based more on theme or publication date than on chronological order. While you can make your way through in any order you please–Bujold took pains to ensure that a new reader could jump in anywhere–the careful progression of characterization lends itself best to a chronological approach. Oh, and I should mention that this isn’t one of those series where the quality declines sharply over time–the latest books are some of my favourites in the entire series.

Here’s a recommended reading order, based on the internal chronology:

1. Shards of Honor (also published in the omnibus “Cordelia’s Honor”)

2. Barrayar (also published in the omnibus “Cordelia’s Honor”)

These first two books are essentially one self-contained story. The writing’s a little shakier than a lot of what follows, IMO, but the second half of Barrayar is some of my favourite stuff in the entire series, and Cordelia is absolutely marvellous.

3. The Warrior’s Apprentice (also published in the omnibus “Young Miles”)

There’s a fairly significant time gap between this book and the first two, and a different protagonist, so you can think of this one as a second jumping-off point for the series–I started with this one and eventually worked my way back to the first two without any trouble following. It all boils down to whether you want to know more about the past than the main character does–either way, it’s a fantastic read and remains one of my favourite books in the series.

4. “Mountains of Mourning” novella (also published in the omnibus “Young Miles”)

5. The Vor Game (also published in the omnibus “Young Miles”)

6. Cetaganda (also published in the omnibus “Miles, Mystery, and Mayhem”)

7. “Labyrinth” novella (also published in the omnibus “Miles, Mystery, and Mayhem”, as well as “Miles, Mutants, and Microbes”, for some reason)

8. “Borders of Infinity” novella (also published in the omnibus “Miles Errant”)

I frickin’ love this story okay.

9. Brothers in Arms (also published in the omnibus “Miles Errant”)

10. Mirror Dance (also published in the omnibus “Miles Errant”)

11. Memory (I think this one was only ever published as a standalone)

One of my all-time favourite novels, period.

12. Komarr (also published in the omnibus “Miles in Love”)

13. A Civil Campaign (also published in the omnibus “Miles in Love”)

If the incredibly dark books mid-series start getting you down, let me assure you that this one is frequently laugh-until-you-cry funny.

14. “Winterfair Gifts” novella (also published in the omnibus “Miles in Love”)

15. Diplomatic Immunity (also published in the omnibus “Miles, Mutants, and Microbes”)

16. Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance

Latest book to be published, haven’t read it yet, heard good things!

17. Cryoburn

There are also two novels which influence the main plotline a little more obliquely and are more background reading than anything else, and that's Falling Free (takes place long before the main series, should probably be read before Diplomatic Immunity) and Ethan of Athos (essentially a side-plot taking place approximately between Cetaganda and “Labyrinth”).

Phew. Okay. There you go. Have fun! If you want to try before you buy, even the smallish libraries I’ve been to will generally have the omnibus editions on the shelves. If you really can’t find these books anywhere, drop me an ask and I’ll see if I can help out.

The full set at last! 

These days everyone’s all about sparkly vampires and tyrannical dictatorships trying to make you get with cute boys, and I’m just over here with my 90s YA heroine, who hangs out with marmosets and egg-laying mammals and rides dinosaur skeletons over tyrannical dictatorships before breakfast. 

I really wanted to stick a tubby little duck-billed platypus into the final cover - and I still might. Don’t tempt me!

Twitter

“By the world I was taken By storm I was tossed But I told myself that love’s never lost.”

- Love’s Never Lost from A Man of No Importance 

I was feeling a bit nostalgic about campaign 2, so I thought I’d draw a little something

My original playthrough girls

getting inspired to create stuff is honestly the meaning of life. like i found a great story and now i wanna make a cool story too. literally could there be any better feeling

Great work by Vlad Ricean “Gangs of Westeros”

A short comic I made about my experiences as a seasonal worker, and the way places change you.

I am very impressed by this person's art

May the Force Be With Her - Created by Jacob Sparks

Prints available for sale on Society6.

On twitter my little angels wanted me to draw BNHA so here they are!! （´꒳`人）

Lately i was feeling like my art was very stuck so I tried new lines and new painting!!