themodernmaccabee:

nightbringer24:

purlturtle:

khantoelessar:

brunhiddensmusings:

orwellsunderpants:

socialmaya:

[image description: tweet by Netchimen’s Reverie that reads “Tolkien describing places that are evil: no trees grow there” /end description]

This is doubtless because of his experience of the trenches in the Great War.

Like, this is what things looked like to soldiers who fought in that war (image in black and white of a solitary soldier walking across a muddy wasteland pocked with puddles):

Here’s Delville Wood, the site of a battle in 1916 (sepia image of a wasteland dotted with broken and dead trees):

Here’s an image from the Battle of the Somme, in which Tolkien participated (image of soldiers standing above and inside a trench or earthwork in a grey wasteland; smoke from artillery is on the horizon)

So yeah: no trees = evil was Tolkien’s own direct lived experience. It’s precisely why Mordor and the wastelands around it look like they do in his books.

the plateau of gorgoroth, the heartland of mordor, is described as being scarred by countless pits dug by orcs

the true seat of evil is full of foxholes and trenches

There’s a lesson to be learned here.

I hope Tolkien would be happy to learn that a hundred years on, trees grow again here:

From The Atlantic.

I think that Tolkien would be very happy to see that.

The trees have reclaimed the land in which hell had been brought

love-the-last-of-us:

“This isn’t the tragic suicide at the end of the play. I’m old, I’m satisfied and you were my purpose”

inneskeeper:

Hey you can cry OK? I am taking my pocket knife and I’m cutting my peach in half and handing you the bigger half. The world is full of things that are worth crying over and it can be exhausting trying to listen to everyone saying don’t cry. And it can be worse trying not to cry because you don’t want bad things to win. Sometimes you gotta just let yourself cry while eating a peach half someone wanted to give you because it was sweet and those things are also in the world too.

lum1natriiix:

first vs. last meal together

kelasparmakfanclub:

[committed set of individuals- were constantly saying things like “Great job!” and “Stunning” and “Castellan, you are unique!” and had a vexing habit of using slang that made him feel old. Commentators on the ‘casts sometimes muttered phrases like “new Golden Age imminent,” and his popularity was high. And sometimes, sometimes Kelas Parmak said, “That was well done, Elim,” and Garak would smile and be content.]