mithen

There was a thing going around on Tumblr with a short dialogue:

Me, before seeing The Hobbit: Well, I won't be shipping anyone from this.
Me, after seeing The Hobbit: [nervous sweat] I am so fucked.

That's pretty much me, although it took me three viewings of the movie (in two weeks!) to get there. The main reason, of course, was this majestic doofus:



Now, if you read Tolkien's book as a kid, you might be thinking, "That's funny, I don't remember Thorin Oakenshield striking me as a handsome, noble, brooding hero with a tragic backstory." That's because Tolkien's take on Thorin and dwarves in general was much closer to this:

There it is: dwarves are not heroes, but calculating folk with a great idea of the value of money; some are tricky and treacherous and pretty bad lots; some are not, but are decent enough people like Thorin and Company, if you don't expect too much.

This is one of the most awesome changes Jackson made to the movies, in my humble opinion. Tolkien based his dwarves on Jews--their language is based on Semitic roots, and he gave them traits he associated with being Jewish. That is to say, greedy and petty. Now, the evolution of dwarves through Tolkien's works is actually really fascinating: they start off as the worst of inhuman stereotypes in the early Silmarillion, become moderately sympathetic but not heroic characters in Hobbit, and by the time we get to Gimli (who is much less comedic in the books than in the movies) and the Appendices, we've got a race that has potential for great deeds and great tragedy. At this point he actually went BACK and added a much more interesting and sympathetic origin story for dwarves to the beginning of the Silmarillion, and so we come full circle.

Jackson has stayed true to the basic idea of the Jews as a base for dwarvish culture and history, but has decided to highlight themes that Tolkien didn't focus on (although they're there): the bitter grief of the diaspora, the grim endurance of serving others in a strange land, the passionate and burning commitment to regaining a homeland. As a result, Thorin HAD to be more than the pompous, greedy blowhard of the books. He had to be a heroic figure who's willing sacrifice everything (even risking the madness that he knows gold might trigger in him) to unite his people and give them a home once more.

To be fair, and very interestingly, one has the impression that Tolkien dimly saw these possibilities in Thorin and didn't (perhaps, because of his own prejudices and blinkers, couldn't) follow through on them. Because book!Thorin still somehow connects with Beorn to the point where, when he falls in battle, Beorn goes into full-berserker mode and slaughters a massive number of goblins to reach his body and carry him from the battlefield (then returning and routing pretty much the entire goblin army). After his death, the elves and humans not only give back the Arkenstone to be buried with him, the Elvenking returns Orcrist to him (forged in Gondolin! Wielded by an elf of legend! Slayer of a balrog!) to rest with him forever in the darkness. There are hints of this grandeur in the text, when Thorin reveals himself in Laketown ("Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror King under the Mountain!" said the dwarf in a loud voice, and he looked it, in spite of his torn clothes and draggled hood. The gold gleamed on his neck and waist: his eyes were dark and deep.) and most especially when he emerges from the mountain to fight:

Suddenly there was a great shout, and from the Gate came a trumpet call. They had forgotten Thorin! Part of the wall, moved by levers, fell outward with a crash into the pool. Out leapt the King under the Mountain, and his companions followed him. Hood and cloak were gone; they were in shining armour, and red light leapt from their eyes. In the gloom the great dwarf gleamed like gold in a dying fire.

*swoons*

But on the whole Tolkien seems to have been unable to understand how amazing Thorin could be as a character. Jackson found all the hints that Thorin was awesome, welded them together, cast Richard Armitage, and BAM, we have a character that's 100% swoonworthy.

But one character does not a ship make! So what's the appeal of "Bagginshield" as opposed to Thorin/Dwalin or Thorin/Thranduil (both of which are pretty compelling as well)?

Well, a lot of it is the "opposite but complementary" theme, and a lot of it is the "two loners who find each other" theme. But I can tell you the exact, the precise moment I started shipping these two (and it's not the hug!)

I came out of my first viewing of the movie understanding intellectually why people might ship them, but it hadn't set its hooks in my heart at that point. The key thing for me was when, at the second viewing, I was listening to Ian Holm's Bilbo talking about his adventures. "Ah, Frodo," he says, "Erebor.". And there's a depth of love and longing in his voice that completely took me aback, because book!Bilbo pretty cordially hates Erebor. So why, why, why does movie!Bilbo love it so much? What's different in this world? Well, the answer is all the dwarves (in the book mostly a set of interchangeable nuisances) and most obviously Thorin himself.

So you see there was a story there for me, and a destination--Thorin's deathbed, where he calls for Bilbo and clings to life so he may see him before he dies and apologize for everything; where Bilbo tells him it was an honor to travel with him and then creeps off to weep until his eyes are red and his voice hoarse. How will that destination look with THIS Thorin and THIS Bilbo and their relationship as it's evolving, I wondered. And, well, that was that. It's a beautiful, sad, closed story and its very finality ensured that I would want to give them as much happiness as I could!

pleasance asked me what I've done to improve my writing. IF I have improved at all (sometimes I read older things and wince, other times I'm frustrated because it seems better than what I'm writing now) I'd attribute it to a few things:

--I took very much to heart Ray Bradbury's advice that "quantity leads to quality," and decided early on I wasn't going to be embarrassed about the fact that a lot of the same themes crop up over and over again in my stories, because they're all fun rough drafts for the next story as far as I'm concerned. I try not to polish stories up too much (obviously check the spelling and punctuation, make sure they hang together at a basic level) or overthink them, I like to release them into the wild and learn from what people point out as liking or as not liking. I don't think you have to approach quantity the same way, though--I think it would also work fine to write 30,000 words, go over them with a fine-toothed comb, pick out the 3,000 that really work, and post one well-polished, careful, gorgeous story now and then. But you have to write a lot to produce a few sentences truly worth it all!

--I read a LOT, and from a lot of different places and genres. Right now I'm in the middle of reading a wrestling biography by Roddy Piper, "Oriental Mythology" by Joseph Campbell, and "The Diaries of Jane Somers," a novel by Doris Lessing about a British woman in the 1970s that's very naturalistic and low-key, touching on themes of aging, love, and purpose in life. Recently I've read a murder mystery set in post-WWI Britain, some naval adventure, a Regency romance (one of my favorite genres), a sprawling fantasy series, and a guide to more punchy writing style. I read a fair amount of fanfic as well! With all of them, especially the fanfic, I spend a lot of time noticing what worked for me and what disappointed me, wondering what I would have wanted different and what was perfect as it was. Which leads to...

--I steal a lot! Everything I read or watch I'm constantly thinking about whether I could use it in a story--not verbatim, of course, but is there a twist on my beloved amnesia trope that seemed to work well here? Is there situation of mistaken identity that might work with a pairing I love? There was a Regency romance I read where the hero came to confess his love to the heroine, but she thought he was in love with her younger sister, and so their communication became hilariously tangled ("I suspect you know why I'm here." "...yes." "You don't seem terribly excited about it." "It is an excellent match, of course; how could I protest?") And I laughed and sighed for them (and cheered when finally one of them broke down and got emotional) and thought, "Oh, a story where Clark shows up to tell Bruce he loves him and Bruce thinks Clark is in love with Dick!" I haven't written that one yet, but now I am reminded that I totally want to. I am, in short, a magpie of a writer, always looking for shiny things I can use in my own nest. Everything ties back in: do I make a horrible mistake in a meeting and want to die of shame? Maybe Clark could totally screw up in front of the League and have to deal with worrying Bruce thinks less of him. Do I have to edit a boring medical text? Maybe I can learn something that John or Sherlock can use. Long road trip? How would I describe the scenery, is it something Bilbo might see in his travels?

--I have a great beta and I got better at listening to him and not taking his suggestions to mean "I don't like your story." His strong point--plot--is my weak point, so in general listening to him leads inevitably to a more interesting story.

And I guess what I do most is keep trying to enjoy myself and not let it become a chore, because that's the only way to keep moving forward for me!

rileyc asked me about Ian Rutledge/Hamish McLeod, AKA My Detective/Ghost OTP. Ian Rutledge is the hero of a series of mysteries by mother and son writing team Charles Todd. Rutledge is a veteran of WWI and the mysteries are set in England shortly after the war, usually involving some angle about the repercussions of the Great War. The mysteries are decent but not always compelling: the draw for me is instead the relationship between Rutledge and the "voice in his head," the voice of a dead solder, Hamish McLeod.

We see early in the first book that Rutledge suffers from PTSD, specifically in the form of hearing Hamish's voice in his head, talking to him, usually berating him and calling him worthless. Rutledge knows intellectually that Hamish is dead and the voice is not really him, but it's so intense and real (it feels as if Hamish is always standing right behind him) that it still bothers him. Rutledge was Hamish's commanding officer in the trenches in France, and over the course of the first book we learn that Hamish "broke" one day when commanded to go over the top and charge enemy lines, refusing to lead his men into battle again. As a result, Hamish had to be shot for desertion of duty. Sick with pity and grief, Rutledge stayed up with Hamish all through the night before his execution, listening to Hamish talk endlessly about his home and childhood and life! memorizing every word (thus he has an uncanny knowledge of Hamish's voice and life). The next day, just as the firing squad fires, their camp is hit by German bombs. The shots go awry and Rutledge runs to the dying Hamish's side in the chaos. In panicked agonized sympathy, he shoots Hamish in the head just as a bomb lands and buries him in mud for hours. He only lives through it because Hamish's dead body shelters him--and then he spends hours trapped in the mud, entangled with Hamish's corpse. Not surprisingly, he ends up with crippling "shell shock" and at the beginning of the series it has taken him a year or so to even put himself together enough to function as a detective again in the post-war world.

Hamish is definitely dead throughout the series, this is not actually a ghost story. But his voice and presence are a constant accusing reality for Rutledge, who sympathized entirely with his exhaustion and disillusionment. Of course, there are also times (which increase as the series goes on) where the voice gives useful insights which help Rutledge unravel a case. There's even a dramatic moment where Rutledge feels like "Hamish" has taken control of his body after a gunshot wound to force him to keep moving and not die. And although the imaginary Hamish in Rutledge's mind is harsh and unforgiving, there is a fair amount of textual evidence that the real Hamish cared very much about Rutledge. When Rutledge meets Hamish's fiancée, Fiona, he learned that Hamish told her that he wanted to name any son they might have "Ian" after his commanding officer. And there are some beautiful moments where Hamish feels so real to Rutledge--there's one where someone shoots at Rutledge and the bullet goes past his shoulder, and Rutledge panics because it passes through the space where Hamish always seems to be, and what if he has gotten Hamish killed again?

So I'm terribly attracted to the pairing (yet another of the many pairings I have where one member kills the other!), especially without any sort of fixit. I love the idea of something happening between them in the trenches--or nothing but a repressed yearning. And I love the image of Rutledge haunted by an inaccurately hateful ghost when the reality was different. (I also suspect that very angsty Rutledge/Fiona might be in the future of the series, and this may well be my Incredibly Tragic OT3). Sadly, it is a fandom of four--I've only run into three other people I know who are into the series! *waves at rileyc* But if anyone ever reads it and wants to write me a moment of happiness snatched in the trenches (or the incredibly creepy ghost-voyeur masturbation porn I kind of want to write myself) I would be a happy happy fangirl...

Title: Clarity of Vision, Chapter 27
Relationship: Thorin/Bilbo
Characters: Bilbo Baggins, Thorin, Kili, Fili, Balin, Dwalin
Fandom: Hobbit
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2500
Story Summary: In a Middle-Earth where Erebor never fell, a shadow remains in the heart of the Lonely Mountain. Bilbo Baggins finds himself drawn reluctantly into a quest that will lead him across the continent--from Bree to Lake Evendim to the icy North and beyond--with a party of five dwarves searching for an artifact that will cure the ailing King Thrór.
Chapter Summary: The Line of Durin is reunited with Dís and plans are made, while Bilbo is reunited with an old friend as well.

( You heard Bounder Pott: the road to Bree is open! Your sister is there and if we hope to catch up to her, there's not a moment to lose. )

dhfunk asked about how I got into shipping Clark and Bruce! Ooooh, I can talk about that for a bit. :)

I don't remember why I decided to get into back into American comic books back in 2005, but I did. I hadn't been reading comics for a decade or so, and then I'd been reading only Marvel, but I decided I wanted to reconnect with the DC heroes of my early childhood, so I ordered The Dark Knight Returns, Kingdom Come, and the first three Superman/Batman trades. The first two were so bewildering that I almost gave up on the spot, and I didn't even know that trade paperbacks didn't necessarily stand alone, so I picked up "Absolute Power" first (the second of the Superman/Batman trades). An AU where Clark and Bruce were raised as brothers by super villains to rule the world isn't really the most accessible beginning point, but the story was filled with so much angst and bromance that I hardly noticed I had no idea what was going on.

Then I realized I was reading these trades in the wrong order, and I went back and read "Public Enemies." "Public Enemies" is really the best starting point for trying to get anyone hooked on S/B (either that or the Justice League animated series that was running at the same time would be my recommendations) because Loeb's writing is just luxuriously slashy and he adores how well-matched and complementary they are. I can actually tell you the exact panel that things clicked for me: Superman and Batman are back-to-back, facing down a few dozen of their worst foes all at once.



At this point I closed the comic book, found my husband, and said, "Do you think maybe Superman and Batman are a little bit...you know...slashy?"

And he said, "Wow, are you slow."

And I said, "So, would it offend you if I happened to write something slashing your childhood icons?"

And he rolled his eyes (he is a good enabler). And I was off and running!

There's a theme across this month, which is that I am notoriously slow to start shipping. I'm not resistant, I just...really need time to process texts and contemplate them before I commit my heart to a pairing, even if I can "see" it right away. It took three viewings of the Hobbit before Thorin/Bilbo "clicked" with me, and I didn't truly ship Sherlock/John until after I saw "Reichenbach Fall." So I tend to approach pairings cautiously, kind of kicking the tires and tapping the headlights before I am willing to actually sit down in the driver's seat. I think actually that reading The Dark Knight Returns and Kingdom Come helped in the long run, because they gave me two alternate visions of the "path" of Clark and Bruce's relationship. And that sense of a "path" is really important to me. So seeing two different possible futures for them together, and one possible alternate history for them, really helped cement my ability to ship them.  But it was watching them working together, how they trusted each other with their back, how they respected each other, that clinched the deal.  

Ilyena_Sylph asked about my favorite place to visit in Japan. That would have to be specifically Daitokuji Temple in Kyoto! Daitokuji is a compound of little tiny Buddhist temples, many of which have a beautiful little garden attached to them where you can sit on a sun-warmed wooden veranda and contemplate the meaning of life.

The most famous of them is Daisen-in, which has a beautifully austere rock garden that represents a river that loops around the temple before ending in a vast ocean (or perhaps a foggy mountain range):



Koto-in has an entrance walk through a maple grove before reaching a mossy garden.



Ryougen-in has a set of five very small rock gardens that focus on having especially dramatic "ripples" around the rocks.



I usually end up spending a couple of hours going from temple to temple when I visit;  it's not on the usual rotation of school tours, so it's often much more quiet and relaxing than the more well-known temples!

mishagirl asked about my opinions about the upcoming "Superman versus Batman" (I believe it's been stated that is not the title) movie. I haven't said much about it, mostly because my thoughts are so very conflicted, but I shall try to tease them out a bit here!

Well, I'm glad it's getting made at all, to begin with! Even if it's not good, I would never turn up my nose at more exposure for the pairing. Other scattered thoughts:

I'm not thrilled with Ben Affleck--not so much for his own sake, but because he's a solid 15 years older than Cavill and it sounds like he might be played even older. I greatly prefer Clark and Bruce to be played as similar in age and experience, in part because it upsets the delicate balance of their equality if one of them is much older. Both Cavill and Affleck are very good actors--I was very impressed with Cavill's Superman and I look forward to seeing his Clark--but the writing is important too. The fact that they keep stressing a Milleresque feeling to the project makes me uneasy, but I can take a fair amount of punchy-punchy and growling in the middle as long as it ends with at least respect between the two.

I have terribly mixed feelings about Diana being in it, although I think the casting of Gal Gadot looks excellent. I hate the idea of her being overshadowed by Clark and Bruce, and I dread seeing people ragging on Clark and Bruce's characters if they are allowed to shove her to the side, more or less. I really hope they don't go with any kind of romantic angle between any of them--not so much because it gets in the way of my slash OTP, but because canonically I'm much more a fan of Clark/Lois and Bruce/Selina. But I do hope the movie does well enough that DC gets their collective act together and makes a Wonder Woman movie or tv show!

In short: great (if slightly inexplicable in the case of Affleck) cast, nervous about the tone and direction, happy it's being made at all. :)

queen0fcups asked me to name some of my favorite non-fandom things! I went with five, and pretty much the first five things I could think of that make me happy:

( My favorite historical figure, favorite breed of cat, favorite flower, favorite hobby besides writing, and favorite recent purchase below the cut! )

Title: Make a Wish
Relationship: Clark/Bruce
Characters: Clark Kent, Lex Luthor, Selina Kyle, Jean-Paul Valley, Oliver Queen
Continuity: Heroes of the Squared Circle, a DC/pro wrestling fusion (click for notes and all chapters).
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Rating: PG
Word Count 2600
Summary: Clark gets a request that brightens his time apart from Bruce.

( Updates came now and then from Dick, usually just a quick picture: the neon welter of Tokyo; Bruce getting hugged by Guy Gardner; a huge bowl of ramen with Bruce's hand hovering over it, holding a pair of chopsticks. )

Batman Black & White #1, "Don't Know Where, Don't Know When":  Written by Chip KIDD;  art by Michael CHO

The Batman Black & White series is a set of books being released that have short non-continuity stories in black and white.  They're hit and miss, of course, but there are some real gems, like this sweet Silver Age story featuring a Robin/Superman teamup with some beautiful art.  It opens with Batman going missing (it turns out Joker used a teleportation ray on him and zapped him to places unknown), and Robin looking everywhere for him:

( Adorable young Robin and avuncular Superman below the cut! )