Post-holiday doldrums getting you down? Your family driving you crazy this holiday season? Or did you just have a lovely holiday, and are looking for the perfect treat to top it all off? Don’t care about the holiday season one way or another? Well, we at Sansûkh Productions have the perfect thing to send in the new year.
In short, we are thrilled to announce that this year, @determamfidd did us the honor of writing four holiday themed vignettes and allowing us to release them to you, our beautiful audience, at the same time the text version is posted (those of you who would rather read the fics first, we have a link to the text below). We are so grateful to both her and the cast members who were able to set aside their time this holiday to record lines on (very) short notice. We are so incredibly thankful for all of you, and wish you all the best in this upcoming year.
So, without further ado, you may find the podfic of Midwinter in the following places:
Click here for streaming/download link for the MP3 file.
Click here for streaming/download link for M4b file.
See below the cut for the cast list and full attribution.
Note: I had to go home for the holiday, and I recorded the credits at the last second before I left (while sporting a 100 degree fever). Consequently, I was obliged to re-record some sections on my phone (since I couldn’t bring my mic with me), so you’ll notice some sound discrepancies in the quality during the credits. My sincerest apologies for this, particularly to those folks whose names I failed to pronounce initially. >.< I’ll fix the file when I get back to my apartment, but in the meantime we thought it best to release the chapter in a timely manner. -HD
HERE IT IS HERE IT IS OH MY GOD THIS IS IT AND I AM NOT CALM
(reaction and a lot of flailing under the cut!)
okay – first off, that music is beautiful.
I love your voice, Ricky, your voice is like a salted caramel coffee poured into each ear ❤ As always, your delivery is so nuanced and intelligent and sensitive and clear. Oh whoa, ilu.
OH MY GOODNESS HD, HD AS LAEROPHEN BE STILL MY HEART, HOW MUCH PERFECTION??? HOW? Sardonic and long-suffering, and yet so so so LOVING.
Tiny Legolas! oh my god, OH WOW – you are amazing, @apalatablevastness, so incredibly versatile!!! ALSO ADORABLE OH WOW. “is this how it is?” = my heart exploded.
and you are the perfect mismatched siblings, so sweet and loving despite all that time and dissimilarity and oh my goodness th e dance the d ance HD you have slain me deaded
I would like to apologise for the line, “even the doughtiest Dwarves could not undo such devastation overnight” – that had to be a bit of a tongue-twister, SORRY RICKY YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU
oooooh sound effect for fire, OOOOH
Oh Dis, @grimminsanity your amazing mithril voice. Oh, you only have to speak a few words as Dis, and I am sniffling. You are a wonder.
FRERIN YOU ARE A JOY AND A TREASURE. SUNSHINE DWARF FOREVER ❤
Cully, once again you reduce me to a quivering freaking mess. YOUR GIMLI IS THE BEST, BEST, BEST, AND i LOVE YOU AND HIM. SO VERY MUCH. (also, so much sibling snark, help, i love the pair of you together faaaaar too much, there must be MORE)
GIMRISSSSSSSSSS ❤ Nota, bless you forever, your voice is delicious, and you sibling-bicker like a genius. So much fire and sass!
AUGH @the-dragongirl, your Mizim!!!!! That is one in-charge Dwarrowdam! And you, STEPPING UP TO THE PLATE LIKE A PRO, YOU FAB FAB PERSON!
Ohhhhhhh, gdi, Oin and Gloin together – @balinisballin and @gremlinloquacious, you are delightful and dwarvish perfection itself, I laughed aloud at your opening lines!!! (ALSO the ‘Elves charge like maddened pigs’ line – HALP TOO FUNNY)
FLUUUUUUKE, YOUR BALIN ❤ You have tripled my need to hug you until you squeak. You’re amazing!
(ahdglajshdgfalsjdhfgaksjhda FRERIN THE WORLD LOVES YOU TOO, YOU UTTER STAR)
Excuse me, Battlepig. EXCUSE ME. YOU. ARE. AMAZING. How dare you. How DARE you be such utter spot-on incredibleness. I am gasping at hearing you as Dain. GASPING. You’re stupendous, just in that first line. Holy hannah, I am floored.
Riza, your voice is so warm and friendly and gorgeous and BOFUR. SO BOFUR, the MOST BOFURISH. It’s like getting an aural hug!
AVIIIIIIIII! Avi, you are the most wonderful Stonehelm! THERE YOU ARE, BUTTERKNIFE, IT IS WONDERFUL TO HEAR YOU AT LAST!
ohhhhh the humming, ohhhhh the humming, shivers, shivers everywhere, my spine is all a-quiver
AUGH GULLS, GULLS IN MINAS TIRITH AUGH – how amazing is this soundscaping???? EEEEEE
@cagethesongbird – your Boromir!!! I am now UNCONTROLLABLY excited to hear you read his older self – you are completely tone-perfect, brave and proud and oh, it is AMAZING, you are so so brilliant! And you capture his wounded youthful pride and his complete devotion so utterly well, I am bowled over and in awe of you. the description of the Yestare celebrations!!! oh my GOD *bows down to you* Captain of the White Tower, I am so SO happy to hear you at last!
KEN KEN KEN MY KING! *wibbles all over you* AUGH AUGH YOUR ARAGORN, HELP, I HAVE A PROBLEM, IT IS TOO AMAZING, my heart is trying its damndest to BREAK over all that noble weariness, all that conflicted sorrow and longing to belong, all that heaviness and wisdom… AUGH AUGH AUGH also you should always speak in Elvish bc hot damn
folding. paper. folding. paper. The attention to detail in the sound design, the creasing paper and the soft whoosh of the wind around the tower – I just need to love on that for a few seconds <33333
Oh my goodness Ricky, you can hear how much FUN you are having with the Hobbity exposition!!! SO PRIM, SO TWEE, OH HOBBITS ❤
asldjgfsjaldhfgalsjdfga FROOD! My dear Antipodean Hobbit, how I adore you (and your beautiful accent!!!) you are absotively, posilutely GORGEOUS. And oh, your understatement is SO PERFECTLY FRODO – his unassuming bravery, his cheekiness, his unspoken baggage when it comes to being packed off in Brandy Hall, and his unconscious defence of Rorimac, and aargh, my heart, you are a gem beyond compare. (Also I snickered far,far too loudly at ‘you’re not serious.’ bwaaahahahahahaha, THE MOST STRAYAN OF DELIVERIES, my dearest Frood!) ❤
And itty bitty teeny MERRY! oh my god, you’re completely PRECIOUS I AM GONNA SQUEAL, you will destroy me with pure concentrated ADORABLE! I actually let out a squeak at ‘SHOVE OVER!’ and oh help me @ “I’m invited to the Party, but not the adventure. D’you think Mr. Bilbo might take me to see Dwarves and that?” YOU ARE ILLEGALLY CUTE. I ARREST YOU IN THE NAME OF MY SANITY. ‘Aooowwwww but MUM!’ = I EXPLODED.
Once again, @themadmanwithablog, you make me lightheaded with how wonderful you are – your humour, your warmth, your exasperation and intelligence and briskness and beautiful voice! I was smiling like a loon at every single one of Bilb’s lines, they were all utterly wonderful. Special mention HAS to go to ‘Yes, of course you do, I remember you advising against it quite well indeed.’ *Standing ovation* Bravo!
EEE PARTY MUSIC PARTY HOBBITS
holy heck, @strongenhelm – I am now convinced you are either Sir Ian McKellen himself, or you’re holding him hostage. YOUR VOICE, YOUR VOICE, GOOD GRAVY. From the first word, I can SEE GANDALF in that moment, the millennia weighing on him, all his weary humour and care. And I adore the little laugh on ‘approve’ awww. Your timing is stupendous, whoaaaa, I am flattened in awe. SERIOUSLY.
oh noooo no that can’t be the end already NO AARGH I LOVED IT I LOVE YOU ALL THANK YOU SO MUCH. I have ascended and am now a being 100% composed of sheer admiration for all of you. You astound me. Thank you.
The different peoples of Middle-Earth have their own ways of farewelling the old year and greeting the new. Each race has its own rich customs and traditions to mark the winter solstice and the longest night of the year. Each is as distinct and unique as snow is to fire.
ohgod, um. I do have an answer to this, but yeah. It is dark.
This will be expounded upon in the fic itself to some degree later on, but if you want to be spoiled it’s under the cut. And it’s not very nice, sorry.
It was Thrain. Easily.
For most Dwarves who awake in the Halls, they have a moment or two of adjustment, of taking-stock. We see that in close detail in both chapter one of Sansukh, and in Endurance. In both cases, Thorin and later Dain have a period of grace in which they process what is around them before they return to their more recent memories. I rationalise this as Mahal trying to ease them into their new circumstances as best he can.
There’s also the circumstances in which each Dwarf died. Hrera and Fris were TERRIFIED, but they knew their end was upon them the minute Smaug trapped them and cut off their escape. Thorin had basically accepted his death as inevitable, as had Dain. Fili died trying to protect his brother, Kili died trying to avenge his: I can’t see either of them being conflicted about those choices.
Thror would feel guilty about his death, of course (as does Balin). Khazad-dum ever tempts their pride, and they were so foolish, so blind… but it is done now. Many of Balins’ Dwarves who tried to retake Moria were still caught up in their last fight, actually, but they soon settle. The calm stasis of the Halls is in fact there for a reason: it actually helps them heal.
(Oin had a fairly stupendously horrific entry into the Halls, actually. He still has sweating-nightmares of the flash of teeth, the stink of something wet and rotten, the snap of his own bones…)
But Thrain, though. Thrain was tortured by SAURON for nine years. Sauron the Deceiver, the Lord of Nightmares, the master of phantoms, the Shadow himself. Remember, “his dominion was torment.”
Thrain had no idea of knowing what was real, and what was not. Thrain had been living in induced hallucinations, over and over and over, insensate at times, violent at others, drifting in and out of the horror-scape Sauron created to try and coax his secrets out of him. He has seen his family a million times, only to discover that they are nothing but cruel visions, a taunt, a torture. Thrain does not trust safety. He does not trust his own Maker.
So, when Thrain arrives in the Halls, to him it is another hallucination. Mahal’s presence is a lie, a profane and obscene lie! To him, it is only Sauron once again wearing the guise and voice of Thrain’s own Maker, because there is nothing he holds sacred, nothing of his that Sauron cannot strip from him.
His family is a taunt, an insult. He does not believe it. He cannot believe it. He attacks them, and then retreats into corners, and cries and cries.
He stares at anything but his family. He will not answer when they speak to him. He shivers, because he is always cold. He was never warm, never. He lashes out and then he scurries back to cram himself into his corner again, trying make himself as small as possible, eyes white and wide and wild.
It takes an entire week for them to coax him out of the sepulchre-room he wakes in.
Fris stays with him constantly for the first few years. The first months utterly break her heart, and she weeps bitterly in private when he cannot see. Thrain will not look at her or answer her, he will not take anything from her hand.
But Fris is a Dwarf and she perseveres. His parents spend time sitting with him too. One day, he lets Hrera comb his hair. It feels like a bigger victory than anything else has ever been.
Slowly, fearfully, he begins to believe. Fris sing to him, all her old bawdy and silly songs, and she nearly breaks down when he begins to mumble along. He spends time with Mahal, grounding himself in that presence and that love. The slow, stable, cool healing of the Halls works its magic on him, over time. He devotes himself to caring after his family; his children, his beautiful Fris, his parents, his cousins. He starts crafting difficult, meticulous pieces in order to keep his focus on the here-and-now.
He still lapses at times.
He has to leave the pool of Gimlin-zaram if he is triggered, because his PTSD and panic attacks are just so extreme. He can hyperventilate or cry silently, he can turn violent, or dissociate to the point of complete nonverbal shutdown.
because Gimli will be coming home with the Book of Mazarbul. And ofc everyone will finally find out why the Moria colony has been silent, and that they’re dead, all of them. How they died twenty years ago, and nobody knew.
And Dori and Gloin and Dwalin will be mourning, and their families too, and Gimli, who has had time to come to terms with this (well, a bit, in-between fighting for his life/running across Middle-Earth/falling in love with dumb Elves) will hear a small voice pipe up with, “Who’s Oin?”
And oh, the look on Gloin’s face would hurt. Because Gimizh will never know the clever, funny, generous, boisterous, gruff old fellow who taught Gimli how to walk in a mine, how to play a jug, how to dress and clean a wound in the field.
Gimizh will never know the person who inspired his mother to become a healer.
(aaaaand on that note, Balin son of Dwalin will never meet the Dwarf he is named for. ohgod oh ouch)
MORIAAAAA GAH, the angst that never stops angsting. *cries into her beard*
In answer to your question: I think Dori would read it. I do. It has been twenty-five years, no word, not a sign. He would read it simply to find out what happened at long last – and then he would forever wish that he had not.
Óin being so in awe of Tauriel’s Elvish magic and basically being the platonic Gimli to her Legolas, following her around asking very kindly (if loudly) that she teach an old codger like him how to do that “glowy elf thing”.
And Tauriel–while juggling three Bardlings, a lovestruck Dwarven prince, and a grumpy – faced Elven prince–agrees with a smile and asks he teach her his Dwarven healing ways in exchange.
Oooh you made me think quite hard, Nonnie! They’re very different sorts of Dwarves, Haban and Dweris.
Haban is gregarious and chatty, Dweris is not. REALLY not. Haban enjoys the company of others, both as an observer and participator, and Dweris is a bit of a lone wolf. Haban is very streetwise and perceptive, excellent at haggling and at analysing others’ motive and character. Dweris doesn’t bother with that nonsense. At first, when they were thrown together, Haban tried to engage Dweris in conversation, and it all fell a bit flat. Dweris wondered what the hell to say a lot, and ended up humming noncommittally – or grunting for lack of words.
They do respect each other a lot, though. Haban is openly and frankly appreciative of Dweris’ vaunted fighting abilities. Dweris is amazingly kickass, after all. And Dweris is quietly very impressed by how Haban can see right to the core of a problem or argument – and has actually said aloud how astonishing an Axe-dancer Haban is. Four axes at once! That is incredible.
There’s also the shared experience they have for the manner of their passing. Both were Burned Dwarves of Azanulbizar. There’s a lot of fellow-understanding there, even if it is unsaid. Both of them left their children behind in the living world, half-grown. That engenders a lot of sympathy for each other.
Plus they both get irritated with their husbands’ brotherly bickering. Dweris’ method is to give Fundin the longest, most unimpressed look you can possibly imagine (the one Dwalin has inherited – remember the toilet in Laketown? That’s the look). Haban is more likely to say something along the lines of ‘SHUT UP, YOU PAIR OF CHILDREN, Mahal save me, no wonder Oin and Gloin squabble so, they got it from you two!’
If they share a beer or two in these later days, it’s probably in silence. Haban will say something aloud, not expecting an answer. Dweris will grunt in agreement. They will both take a sip and nod in unison. Haban will top up their glasses, and Dweris will fill her pipe.
Aw Yiss 