I Was Out On A Ramble With One Of My Dogs Just Now, And It Really Was A Nice Ramble. Bit Of Trespassing,

nothing will ever live up to the moment when after devouring over 250 pages deeply immersed in the characters and story and after the emotions of the proposal I reached the very end of the letter that turns everything on its head only to find out that Mr Darcy's name is Fitzwilliam

Ive come up with the phrase "blorbo-in-law" which is a fictional character who isn't, like, YOUR blorbo from YOUR shows but it is your mutual's blorbo who you nevertheless have developed strong opinions about due to long term dash exposure

Is it obvious that they're in loooove? (not always)

I can't help it I stan their book dynamic

it's funny how often, in the queen's thief books, the sad and shocking twist is that the love was there all along. there's the big obvious one, of course, but it comes up again and again: Dite with his hopeless crush, Sejanus with his mocking cruelties, Relius with his abject devotion and Teleus with his stalwart loyalty, Attolia's ladies closing ranks around her, Sophos telling all his tale and bashfully leaving out how often and how wistfully he thought of Eddis. in other cases it grows silently and catches our narrator by surprise: Costis down the well, Pol on the cliffside.

and it doesn't save everyone. love is not always a gentle thing, and it's not always enough. the minister of war nearly strangled his son to death. Sejanus committed treason. Eddis went to war. but it's always there, unobtrusive as a shadow, pervasive as the sunlight.

I think sometimes of a quote from mwt saying she front-loads the trauma: the worst thing that is going to happen to the characters, emotionally, generally happens in the first few chapters. their world ends, their life shatters, they lose everything, they are alone and afraid with no allies and no hope. and then we rebuild. over the course of slow, painstaking pages, they regain their footing in the world, carve out a new self, discover a new perspective and a new strength. further ills befall, of course, and at the great climax everything seems bleak and dire once again, but it's still not the worst thing to happen to them. they face the dire moment bravely, afraid but not alone, certain now in who they are and how they will face the end if it comes.

I'm still mulling this over, I don't have a tidy knot to tie between these points, but they feel connected. something about the compassion woven through these stories, both for the characters and for the readers. something about how they're tales of intrigue and adventure, yes, but they're also stories about building something good, and about seeing the best in people even when their worst is horrific, and about love as an act of courage in a cruel world. love as an act of faith. love as the last thing left that might be able to save you.

Could somebody give me Dorothy L Sayers 101? I had never heard of her until joining tumblr, where you fine people seem to talk about her a lot 🙂 She sounds like some kind of hybrid of Agatha Christie and CS Lewis! Where should one start with her? And can one pick up any old Lord Peter Wimsey book from the library with no context, or do they need to be read in sequence?

B2MEM - "I will not bid the stars farewell, nor say the day is done."

@spring-into-arda (397 words)

There was a point where hoping that things might yet get better - or that at the very least they might endure as they currently were - was not, perhaps, sensible.

With the protections of the Valley breached and the enemy even now pounding at the last barricaded door to his halls, Elrond had to admit that this point might have been reached.

It was an almost unimportant thought, however. For one thing, it changed nothing; this was not an enemy they could surrender to. They would defeat it, or they would be destroyed; there was no other path to seek.

For another, he had spent an uncomfortable amount of his life at this point. Most of his childhood, certainly. And yet, time and again, the light had endured.

The light, he was certain, would again. If he himself would - Well, that mattered far less than those of his people gathered here with grim purpose behind the shuddering door. This hall had been meant for songs and feasting, but he was a child of the First Age and had built accordingly; it would hold a siege a while yet.

Most of those who had won to this redoubt were armed and ready, but there were injured among them, and he moved among those quickly now, giving what chance he could that they might stand ready when the time came.

His ring weighed heavily on his hand.

He had not leaned on it much. He had not dared. And now -

Now he must make his choice. Throw his will and his might into its blatant use - reveal beyond all doubts its presence, throw his will against Sauron’s - or take one last desperate measure to hide it, that at least those others who might still be fighting might have a better chance.

Both measures were likely doomed unless help came.

There was no help that might yet come.

And yet -

And yet.

How many times had he thought those words before?

The door shuddered.

Cracked.

He squeezed the hand of his last patient and stood, drawing his sword at long last.

“We stand!” he cried, the full power of his will weaving through the words.

“We stand!” his people echoed in a response that shook the timbers of the roof.

Splinters flew from the door.

Above the thunderous roars that followed, he could just hear one more impossibly powerful, impossibly familiar voice, ringing out in distant answer.

I like to think I'm funny.

The thing about Wentworth is. If Anne rejected him you know he'd go straight back to sea and take all the most reckless assignments cos life just ain't worth living without Anne in it. Sorry but Darcy would absolutely not throw his life away like that. He has Noblesse Oblige (bullshit) responsibilities. He has a kid sister he has to in loco parent. Knightley would probably marry Jane Fairfax lbr. Tilney would be just fine. The sense and sensibility crew are so yawn idk but we do know that colonel Brandon suffered heartbreak but p much got over it by being grumpy.

Wentworth is 100% a true romantic hero. Anne was absolutely right to spend 8 years pining.

A Fflam being fflamtastic is a new comic page worth a Tumblr.

I 100% adore the Lord of the Rings movies, but the fact is that the Arwen-Is-Dying-Because-Ring-Magic plotline makes zero sense by the lore (if I’m wrong please correct me I’d love to learn). Don’t get me wrong, it works great for the movie, brilliant, in fact, but it doesn’t really make much sense in book logic. Why would Arwen’s fate be tied to the Ring? If she’s mortal now she can’t Fade, and if she’s still Elvish there’s no reason why it should affect her more than anyone else.

BUT, I was watching the extended scene where Aragorn looks into the Palantir and Sauron speaks to him in Black Speech and shows him pictures of a dead Arwen and smashes the Evenstar (Which is a whole other The-Books-Call-Bullshit shebang), and I came up with my own in-universe explanation.

Sauron: *Chilling in Mordor*

An Orc of some kind: My Lord Mairon (Because THAT is what they would call him), the spies have come back from Rivendell.

Sauron: Show me.

Magic Evil Spy: *Shows Sauron the image of a mortal man of the race of Numenor making out with an Elf lady who looks suspiciously familiar…*

Sauron: OH HELL NO!

Evil Spy: Indeed, Master. The Heir of Isildur lives.

Sauron: Get rid of her, now.

Evil Spy: Right away, Mast- her?

Sauron: Yes! Yes yes yes, I don’t care what it takes, get her out of here.

Evil Spy: My Lord, but surely, Isildur’s heir-?

Sauron: Do not harm that man, you hear me? Do not lay a finger on him until she is taken care of.

Evil Spy:

Evil Spy: Are you sure-?

Sauron: Was there a dog?

Spy: A dog, Master?

Sauron: Yes, yes, a dog, a big one.

Spy: Not that I could see, no.

Sauron: Oh well thank Eru for that, at least.

Spy: Are you feeling ill, Master?

Sauron: No, and I’d like to keep it that way. Arwen annihilation is priority number one, ok? And don’t you lay a finger on her man until I say so, got it?

Spy: Alright then…

Sauron, still looking at the image: HE’S GOT THE RING OF FELAGUND!!!

Spy:

Sauron: KILL HER KILL HER KILL HER KILL HER KILL HER RIGHT NOW!