[fic recs][Lord of the Rings] Thundera Tiger
I know I've been pretty quiet for a while here. I've been pondering meaning of life stuff, figuring out things, etcetera ... well, okay, more like I've been reading. Lots and lots of fanfiction.
So. moonsheen, this is for you.
Lord of the Rings: Fic Recommendations
Once upon a time, in a land far far away time long past, I was actually hardcore in the Lord of the Rings fandom. I mean, like, SUPER-hardcore. I managed a website for LotR fanfiction, actually, for a while. But while the fandom at large was super-wanky, I had the great luck of falling in with the most awesome writers ever.
So, the common things you will note about the recs I am about to make:
1) They are mostly/entirely book-based. Sometimes they will make references to The Silmarillion, Letters, and Unfinished Tales.
2) They will mostly/all feature Legolas, Gimli, Aragorn, and/or Celeborn in some way. If you don't know who Celeborn is, I laugh at you. XD; They're my favorite characters in the LotR universe at large although I have a huge soft spot for Sam Gamgee and others, but as fanfic goes these are the guys I spend the most time reading about.
3) They are all 'gen', by which I really mean 'not slash'. Tolkien and ghei sexx0rz just don't really get along in my head. Sorry for those of you who may be hardcore Legolas/Aragorn fans.
Anything by Thundera Tiger
Thundera is probably - no, definitely - my favorite Lord of the Rings author online. Virtually all of her stories feature the Three Hunters (Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn) in some way, and they all share several things in common: they're well-written, interesting, and the characterization is superb. Some have long, involved plots; others are interesting one-shots. Nonetheless, if you ever feel like sitting down and reading some LotR fanfic, her ff.net profile is a great place to start.
95% of what is on her favorites list is also amazing.
In particular:
Beyond This World - A Legolas and Gimli fic set LONG after RotK in the Undying Lands. Baically, a tale of the ultimate end to the Fellowship.
Translation: this is the story about Gimli's death and what it does to Legolas. I read it this last week and basically cried my eyes out the whole way through it. It's incredibly sad but beautiful, and in the end, hopeful. An amazing read.
To understand the circumstances you need to be familiar with the appendices of Lord of the Rings.
While the Ring Went South - What happened after the Fellowship left Rivendell but before they came down off Caradhras? Behold the missing scenes.
It also has a sequel that is In Progress, During a Journey in the Dark, which is the Moria part of the story.
Translation: This is The Fellowship of the Ring with a lot less Tom Bombadil and a lot more laughs. Okay, yeah, it's kind of humor, but it's serious when it needs to be and Legolas is, for once in his pretty pretty princess life, not portrayed as an angel. In fact, on Caradhras he's downright annoying. This story makes me laugh aloud at times and balances all the characters nicely.
To understand this story you should know the events leading up to the formation of the Fellowship.
Of Elves and Dwarves and Late Night Philosophy - Against his better judgement, Aragorn attempts to direct a late night debate between Legolas and Gimli. How successful is he? I'll leave that for you to decide.
Translation: Legolas and Gimli at their semantic best. And what happens when Aragorn gets involved. It's an interesting question they're focusing their debate around, but it's more about how long Legolas and Gimli can manage to argue without deteriorating to insulting one another's ancestors.
To understand this story you just need to be generally familiar with the LotR mythos.
A Mirkwood Solstice - It's time for the Winter Solstice, and a few of Mirkwood's inhabitants are more than ready to celebrate. Unfortunately, elves are not among them. Featuring Mirkwood's royal family and some familiar faces out of Dol Guldur.
Translation: There was a challenge at a community that Thundera and I both wrote for, and it was to write about Middle-Earth celebrating the winter solstice (since they wouldn't have Christmas). Thundera took the idea and ran in the other direction with it. It's the longest night of the year, the winter solstice, so that's the most time an Orc can run wild in one night - and what better way to celebrate than to attack the Elves living to your north? This is a serious business story but there's not nearly enough good ones about the massive amount of pressure the Mirkwood Elves lived under for thousands of years, so this story rocks. Lots of OC's, lots of not evil!Thranduil (the Elvenking/Legolas' father), and lots of Legolas, of course.
To understand this story you need to be basically familiar with how Greenwood the Great became Mirkwood in the first place. In fact, you'll know the most if you've read The Hobbit, probably.
And finally,
Land of Light and Shadows - Eomer, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli journey south into Harad. Politics, abductions, assassinations, battles...life as usual. IN PROGRESS. (I HOPE.)
Translation: Harad is the deserts to the south of Gondor, and Aragorn goes to them to negociate terms of peace. He brings along some familiar faces ... and everything goes to hell. I mean, really, if it can goes wrong it probably goes wrong. With a massive number of OCs and some seriously hardcore politics going on, you really make your best bet to set aside an afternoon on this story. I don't mean to say this story has no action because it does - tons of it! I'd venture to say that this is Thundera's most ambitious project and she's carrying it off well.
Don't be angry at me when you get to the (current) end, please.
To understand this story you just need to know who the major players are and what they do. General knowledge of the LotR universe helps too.
More to come~!
So. moonsheen, this is for you.
Lord of the Rings: Fic Recommendations
Once upon a time, in a land far far away time long past, I was actually hardcore in the Lord of the Rings fandom. I mean, like, SUPER-hardcore. I managed a website for LotR fanfiction, actually, for a while. But while the fandom at large was super-wanky, I had the great luck of falling in with the most awesome writers ever.
So, the common things you will note about the recs I am about to make:
1) They are mostly/entirely book-based. Sometimes they will make references to The Silmarillion, Letters, and Unfinished Tales.
2) They will mostly/all feature Legolas, Gimli, Aragorn, and/or Celeborn in some way. If you don't know who Celeborn is, I laugh at you. XD; They're my favorite characters in the LotR universe at large although I have a huge soft spot for Sam Gamgee and others, but as fanfic goes these are the guys I spend the most time reading about.
3) They are all 'gen', by which I really mean 'not slash'. Tolkien and ghei sexx0rz just don't really get along in my head. Sorry for those of you who may be hardcore Legolas/Aragorn fans.
Anything by Thundera Tiger
Thundera is probably - no, definitely - my favorite Lord of the Rings author online. Virtually all of her stories feature the Three Hunters (Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn) in some way, and they all share several things in common: they're well-written, interesting, and the characterization is superb. Some have long, involved plots; others are interesting one-shots. Nonetheless, if you ever feel like sitting down and reading some LotR fanfic, her ff.net profile is a great place to start.
95% of what is on her favorites list is also amazing.
In particular:
Beyond This World - A Legolas and Gimli fic set LONG after RotK in the Undying Lands. Baically, a tale of the ultimate end to the Fellowship.
Translation: this is the story about Gimli's death and what it does to Legolas. I read it this last week and basically cried my eyes out the whole way through it. It's incredibly sad but beautiful, and in the end, hopeful. An amazing read.
To understand the circumstances you need to be familiar with the appendices of Lord of the Rings.
While the Ring Went South - What happened after the Fellowship left Rivendell but before they came down off Caradhras? Behold the missing scenes.
It also has a sequel that is In Progress, During a Journey in the Dark, which is the Moria part of the story.
Translation: This is The Fellowship of the Ring with a lot less Tom Bombadil and a lot more laughs. Okay, yeah, it's kind of humor, but it's serious when it needs to be and Legolas is, for once in his pretty pretty princess life, not portrayed as an angel. In fact, on Caradhras he's downright annoying. This story makes me laugh aloud at times and balances all the characters nicely.
To understand this story you should know the events leading up to the formation of the Fellowship.
Of Elves and Dwarves and Late Night Philosophy - Against his better judgement, Aragorn attempts to direct a late night debate between Legolas and Gimli. How successful is he? I'll leave that for you to decide.
Translation: Legolas and Gimli at their semantic best. And what happens when Aragorn gets involved. It's an interesting question they're focusing their debate around, but it's more about how long Legolas and Gimli can manage to argue without deteriorating to insulting one another's ancestors.
To understand this story you just need to be generally familiar with the LotR mythos.
A Mirkwood Solstice - It's time for the Winter Solstice, and a few of Mirkwood's inhabitants are more than ready to celebrate. Unfortunately, elves are not among them. Featuring Mirkwood's royal family and some familiar faces out of Dol Guldur.
Translation: There was a challenge at a community that Thundera and I both wrote for, and it was to write about Middle-Earth celebrating the winter solstice (since they wouldn't have Christmas). Thundera took the idea and ran in the other direction with it. It's the longest night of the year, the winter solstice, so that's the most time an Orc can run wild in one night - and what better way to celebrate than to attack the Elves living to your north? This is a serious business story but there's not nearly enough good ones about the massive amount of pressure the Mirkwood Elves lived under for thousands of years, so this story rocks. Lots of OC's, lots of not evil!Thranduil (the Elvenking/Legolas' father), and lots of Legolas, of course.
To understand this story you need to be basically familiar with how Greenwood the Great became Mirkwood in the first place. In fact, you'll know the most if you've read The Hobbit, probably.
And finally,
Land of Light and Shadows - Eomer, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli journey south into Harad. Politics, abductions, assassinations, battles...life as usual. IN PROGRESS. (I HOPE.)
Translation: Harad is the deserts to the south of Gondor, and Aragorn goes to them to negociate terms of peace. He brings along some familiar faces ... and everything goes to hell. I mean, really, if it can goes wrong it probably goes wrong. With a massive number of OCs and some seriously hardcore politics going on, you really make your best bet to set aside an afternoon on this story. I don't mean to say this story has no action because it does - tons of it! I'd venture to say that this is Thundera's most ambitious project and she's carrying it off well.
Don't be angry at me when you get to the (current) end, please.
To understand this story you just need to know who the major players are and what they do. General knowledge of the LotR universe helps too.
More to come~!