Icon by @ThatSpookyAgent. Call me Tir or Julian. 37. He/They. Queer. Twitter: @tirlaeyn. ao3: tirlaeyn. 18+ Only. Star Trek. The X-Files. Sandman. IwtV. OMFD. Definitionless in this Strict Atmosphere.
So (according to the concept art book) as the Fellowship travels deeper into Middle Earth, the places they pass through become inspired by progressively older periods of history. The farther along you are in the story, the more ancient the design influences
We begin in The Shire: which feels so familiar because, with its tea-kettles and cozy fireplaces, it’s inspired by the relatively recent era of rural England in the 1800s
But when we leave Hobbiton, we also leave that familiar 1800s-England aesthetic behind and start going farther back in time.
Bree is based on late 1600s English architecture
Rohan is even farther back, based on old anglo-saxon era architecture (400s-700s? ce)
Gondor is way back, and no longer the familiar English or Anglo-Saxon: its design comes from classical Greek and Roman architecture
And far far FAR back is Mordor. It’s a land of tents and huts: prehistoric, primitive, primeval. Cavemen times
And the heart of Mordor is a barren lifeless hellscape of volcanic rock…like a relic from the ages when the world was still being formed, and life didn’t yet exist
And then they finally reach Mount Doom, which one artist described as
“where the ring was made, which represents, in a sense, the moment of creation itself”
something about needless tragedy when its effectively written and how it works SO well. boromir taking like seven arrows to the chest and continuing to fight and it doesnt save merry and pippin. the fact that merry and pippin were needlessly taken bc the uruks thought they had the ring, which they didnt. there are people in this war willingly sacrificing themselves to distract sauron from frodo and then there are people given no time to think through a plan, doing the best with the few seconds they have and dying with the hope that their actions will protect the people they love. and sometimes it doesnt. boromirs epic final stand did not actually matter, did not give the hobbits a chance to escape. but his final breaths were given with love nonetheless.
sometimes heroism is not in whether or not your actions actually save people, sometimes the glory is simply in the desperate and heartfelt trying
The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.
nothing has ever given me more serotonin than the rohirrim charging into the pelennor. in the books it was always the “and they sang as they slew” line. in the movies it was always the shot of the orcs backing away with fear on their faces and eomer yelling batshit murder as he grabs a spear. need this energy.
We loved the
gayfanfiction when it came out. When it came out! Like coming out of the closet! Omigosh. Anyhow, our instinct when the movie came out was to just love how the fans embraced the movie and the characters. And so, whatever people want to conceptualize with them is fine with us.
Damn I just realized that since the Rohirrim didn’t read or write (wise but unlearned, writing no books but singing many songs) that means Eowyn couldn’t read or write and since she marries Nerdboy McGee who loves reading and writing more than anything you can your bottom dollar one of the first thing that happens in their courtship/marriage is Faramir and Eowyn wholesome tutoring sessions in the Minas Tirith library (!)
#what would you do if we kissed in the minas tirith library [50 emojis]
I feel like it’d be an exchange; Faramir teaches Eowyn his love of books and writing and in return she teaches him the many, MANY, songs of the Rohirrim that have never been written anywhere.
I’m crying……….. because what if they co-author a book of Rohhirim folk tales and history together T_T
Also Faramir keeps trying to over-analyze everything like “Ah, I see, the horse keeps tripping because we all must stumble our way through the unpredictable nature of this world” and she’s like “No babe, the horse keeps tripping because it’s funny and this is a story used to cheer up frightened children.”
i love the idea of faramir being super excited about rohirric folk tales and very seriously looking eowyn in the eye and saying “if you don’t teach me these songs and we don’t write them down This Instant they’ll be lost forever” … passionate cultural preservation
meanwhile eowyn’s just fondly humouring him bc my dude we’ve been doing this memorising and singing thing forever it’ll be fine don’t worry
Shades of the Irish Renaissance
More world-building ideas.
OKAY, so my big (abandoned) LotR fanfic project was 100% about Éomer’s 3rd son going off to Gondor and coming home all “We’re gonna write EVERYTHING down”. His epithet was “Black-fingered” because: ink, and I forget what I named him, but anyway, I used the book that he wrote (Latter Days of the House of Éorl) as a reference frequently in other works, and IT CAUGHT ON, and that might be my greatest achievement in life.
You: Gandalf looks like a human because humans are the most common people in middle earth when he arrives.
Me (an intellectual): Gandalf and the other Istari were designed to look like a blend of the major peoples, which is why they’re bearded, agelessly wise immortals shorter than the average human but taller than most dwarves and hobbits. It is never clarified if they have ears. It just so happens that this reads as human.
“Oh, but Saruman is described as tall” you say. Great point. My counterpoint: he’s constantly wearing platform boots due to insecurity.
