Durin bedhead probably expresses itself in a lot of ways. Gloin has a massive floof of beard. Wee Thorin’s mohawk looks even crazier, sticking up in all directions.

LOLOLOL!!

Oin resembling nothing quite so much as an English Sheepdog. Balin like a bag of feathers. Kili with half of it mashed against one side of his head, and the other half standing straight out. Fili like a haystack. Frerin like a (much smaller) haystack. Gimli recreating the Anna-wakes-up moment from Frozen.

😀

Re that Stonehelm naming post – maybe he got the first stone helm as a joke from Thira – like “here, son, try not to headbutt anything that hasn’t earned it” and it just adds to the mystique.

HAHAHAHAHAHA PERFECT

Sansukh dads doing paperwork with sleepy babies. I feel that Thror and Dwalin are especially bad for this.

AHHH YES.

I sort of think that the Stonehelm will continue in this vein, too!

I imagine Dori has made a few attempts to talk to Bofur and Gimris about Gimizh out of concern that he might go the, ah, “Nori route” in life. Just to try and save them some of his headaches later on.

idk, I don’t think Dori would be the sort of person to go and criticise another person’s parenting (I have a new appreciation for how insulting and judgemental people can be about the decisions we make for the good of our kids, lol). He’d more likely try to provide ~~the hellion~~ Gimizh with a good example, to my mind.

Besides, it might feel sort of… nostalgic? in a way? To be running after and grumbling about a red-haired menace with a nose for trickery. A little slice of a life long gone.

Sleepy Sansukh dads with sleepy babies. That is all.

You are trying to destroy me with cuteness, you have discovered my weakness and it is FLUFF.

(fun fact – when the Dwarfling was a tiny smushfaced newbie, she would curl up on my chest or on Mr Dets’ chest and sleep there. I’d wrap my dressing gown around us both and watch telly. It is probably the most peaceful time of my entire life ❤ )

Hi! So I was rereading Sansûkh (again) and I just paid a bit of attention to the Iron Hills song. I grew up in Central Australia but I moved a few years ago to a coastal city, and listening to it made me feel homesick in a way that not much else ever has. I just wanted to comment on the brilliance of your storytelling, and oh god the Dáin feelings that I’m having after that.

Ahhhhh, oh my gosh, Nonnie! Thank you, thank you SO much.

Reading your message made me get very emotional. The coast is such a different world, and yeah – the Iron Hills song holds a lot of my own feelings about the place I grew up (endless red earth and aching blue skies ahoy), and how I miss it. I’m very, very grateful that it touched you so and that all those feelings came through. *hugs you* I hope you carry a bit of that home with you, even if it’s just the memory of that stillness you get out there. There’s nothing quite like it, to me.

Fili and Kili are dancing wildly in a corner. They give Vili a black eye by accident.

Poor Vili – his sons are always giving him a wallop by accident!

Um okay but in that couples list did you just reveal that Baris and Bani actually will be getting together?? because I am full of joy right now 8D

That… may have been implied, yes 😀

So, what kind of shock are Stonehelm and Bomfris getting with their son being Durin? What kind of non spoilers reactions can you give us? If not, how did the other six sets of parents handle Durin?

I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler to say: A VERY BIG SHOCK INDEED.

And it won’t be the only shock in store!

what do you think would happen if Kili decided that since Mahal’s hands were tied, he should just go annoy every other Valar until they changed the system altogether?

*shrug* Dunno. Two major stumbling-blocks with the idea, though: 1. First Kili would have to find the other Valar. Manwe & Varda are up on top of Mt Taniquetil, Ulmo lives in the waters, Yavanna has her gardens, Lorien in… well, Lorien, and etc etc – they’re VERY spread out, all over the continent in fact.

And Kili is dead, stuck in the Halls of the Dwarven Dead, separate even from all other afterlives…

2. I doubt any of the other Valar would consider it. They’ve all seen what happens when one deliberately disobeys the plan of Eru Iluvatar, and they’ve all been loyal to the Song of Arda and Eru’s plan since the beginning (despite a few minor ~~AULE~~ hiccups).

That said, I do think that Kili’s powers of irritation might just be up to the task 🙂