Tag: headcanony things

Thorin Stonehelm and Thira going through his old baby toys with Bomfris and it is very bittersweet because on one hand, Thira gets to embarrass the awkward butterknife with all these great stories of when he was adorable and small, but also sad because, well. There is a lot of crying into Thorin’s old piggy blanket (which is kind of gross anyway). Especially when they find Dain’s stash of “in case I die while you’re young” letters – because Dain knows what it’s like to lose parents too soon.

I was all

“AWWWWWW”

Then the mention of letters.. happened. And I was all

*sad kitten noises*

re: your answer about Ones & having ace Balin & aroace Nori and Dori, that makes me so happy. can there be a character in Sansukh who is aro and not ace, too? since ace =/= aro

I’m glad, Nonnie! I am pretty passionate about having a range of people, and I try to make the ace characters all very different and all full of life. 

(btw Frerin is totally akoiromantic)

There certainly can be an aro character who is not ace! Dang, I really need to do better on this front. I will do some more reading, and respectfully ask people about their experiences. Hopefully some of my aro friends will have a moment to share their hopes for representation (and their pet peeves) with me. 

(btw, that is an open invitation, too. If you yourself would like to talk to me about this, Nonnie, I would be hugely honoured and grateful. You can remain on anon, and I will not publish publically. But there’s no obligation at all: please don’t feel pressured, either!) 

I have an idea of who the character could be already. Bear with me: they’ll appear!

So, quick question: In Sansukh, which of the dwarves of the Company (save Dori) are without their ones? Because i remember Balin was interested in an asexual relationship, and all Nori said was that he “prefers to take care of it on his own,” implying that he is somewhere on the asexual scale as well. But nowhere is there confirmation that they have no Ones, and are, essentially, “solitaries”

Okay, here’s a thing though: No soulmates in Sansukh.

Here’s why. 

The fanon term ‘One’ has been widely used in the Hobbit fandom to describe a fated, pre-ordained, pre-destined match between two people, chosen for them by a third party (usually Aule), without any input from those involved. Often it’s implied that these people were destined for each other from birth or even before, which for me is an uncomfortable thought. Babies can’t choose, it’s not their choice, it’s someone else’s choice. I don’t find that romantic: I consider it more along the lines of an arranged marriage. I got creeped out by the lack of free will and lack of choice implied in this arrangement. And so I use the term sliiiightly differently.

Tolkien says (I’m paraphrasing, but still) that a Dwarf will only love once. If they can’t be with the one they love, then they devote their life to their work instead. So I use the term ‘One’ to mean “one that this Dwarf loves.”

So, there’s no real reason for there to be confirmation of fated Ones or no Ones. People are either romantic or not, sexual or not, and this informs their attractions and decisions in love, just as for any person in our own world. Free will, baby. 

Many amazing and engaging fics use the term ‘One’ to mean pre-selected soulmate, and I have enjoyed those stories, and even recced them. I am not casting aspersions upon those stories or those writers. I am trying to explain my thought process, and what led me to steer clear of a widely-known fanon notion.

Balin is homoromantic ace, btw, and was in a past relationship with Nali which failed (but they remain friends). Nori is aroace, as is Dori. The other Aces of the Company in my fic are our friends Oin and Fili. 

(YES I MADE UP MY MIND, HE IS DEMIROMANTIC ACE.)

So Laerophen tells Gimizh some stories of Legolas being a silly little kid, figuring what’s the harm, the odds of them meeting are so slim…. as it happens, they all end up in the Mountain because Life Happens. Gimizh (bless his little mischief heart) asks Legolas if it’s true that he once wrapped up a baby bird in Kind Thranduil’s favorite robe, only for the bird to poop all over it … in front of the whole family. Legolas gave Laerophen such a stink-eye. Gloin laughed and laughed.

Brother, I will kill you.

(Baased on a True Story) Once Gimizh got into Gimris’ coffee. And of course this wasn’t some really light everyday coffee, this is “9 pm and I have to go to an unexpected medical emergency” coffee, brewed with faaaar too many beans per the amount of water, no cream, and half the sugar bowl tossed in for good measure. Gimizh was still awake – and twitching – when Gimris got back late the next morning, having delivered a baby who was Not Supposed to Arrive then.

omfg Nonnie, dear lord that would have been… an experience. In fact, it sounds like it would have been several Experiences put together. O.O 

GIMIZH ON ROCKET-FUEL COFFEE SOUNDS ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING THOUGH

Dori makes the cutest little soft dolls for babies and tiny kids. Some are rag dolls and some are knitted, and they’re all adorable. He has some generic patterns but will often make the doll up to resemble a kid’s family member. So, for example, baby Balin had a Balin Fundinul rag doll. (There might be plans for a Bombur one for Thorin 3/Bonfris kid in Dori’s office. Dori has made several of these since Bombur has several grandkids)

Ohhhhhhh :’) What a lovely notion, Nonnie. 

Gimizh totally has a sheet of rewards for jobs and stuff. Some are easily obtainable – putting his clothes away without being asked is worth one cookie. Some are challenging – do all homework without complaining for a week, 5 cookies. Some are very, very difficult for a little dwarfling, such as not getting caught stealing cookies from Barur for a whole week – 10 cookies!!!

AWWWWWW

one day, Gimizh. One day, Barur will not catch you… but it is not this day! (THAT DWARROW HAS EYES ON THE BACK OF HIS HEAD, IT ISN’T FAAAAIR)

Hey! I was just wondering why you chose to make Narvi female? I’m not criticising you – I can no longer think of her as anything but female after Sansukh :P – but the LOTR appendices state that Dis was the only female dwarf whose name was shared in their histories, and that was because of the bravery of Fili and Kili. So, I was wondering – since Narvi is named, shouldn’t that mean that she was male according to Tolkien? Eh, just curious :P

I’m glad you like the notion, Nonnie! Here’s where I mention how the idea struck me. There is no gender-indicative pronoun used for Narvi in LOTR – though there may be one used elsewhere, i can’t remember and don’t really care, and here’s why:

I love Middle-Earth, and Tolkien’s incredible work, and especially Dwarves, okay, but I try always to be aware and acknowledge that Tolkien himself held catholic and patriarchal ideas about the place of women, and he was particularly repressive/dismissive when describing the place of women in his fantasy Dwarf society. As amazing as his achievements are, Tolkien failed women and girls back then. He absolutely failed to give equal – or even sufficient – representation. Women characters with spoken lines in LOTR can barely even be counted on two hands. There are NONE IN THE HOBBIT AT ALL. I can try and do something to change that: that’s the fun thing about transformative fanfic.

I am pretty sure if you re-read the above message you sent to me, you could pick out at least three reasons why I would write Narvi as a woman – not least of which is that there are quite enough men in this bloody universe already.

And so, yeah… I don’t really care if she ‘should’ be yet another man. She’s a woman to me – an impatient, sardonic, slightly haughty, incomparably genius black woman.  

And tbh, my dearest Professor Tolkien, fuck the idea that women only matter to history because of the actions of their sons.