i wish dwarves were real just because the folk metal they would produce would be completely unfathomable
BRUH
So, just got back from seeing Rogue One, and–
–it turns out I am deeply emotionally compromised by watching people stoically face oncoming death in the form of towering, horizon-obliterating waves! :’D Please tell me I wasn’t the only one having Numenor Feels.
VIKING LORE HELD THAT BOTH WEAVING AND SORCERY WERE WOMEN’S WORK, DITTO THE ORDERING OF THE HOUSE ACCOUNTS. MANY CULTURES HAVE HISTORICALLY LEFT ACCOUNTANCY TO WOMEN! MANY SOCIETIES HAVE ALSO LEFT FIBERCRAFT TO WOMEN BECAUSE IT IS TEDIOUS AND REPETITIVE BUT ALSO VERY NECESSARY. SEE ALSO: COOKING, CLEANING, BUDGETING, EMOTIONAL LABOR.
ANYWAY FIBERCRAFT, AS I HAVE DISCOVERED VIA LEARNING TO DO A WHOLE LOT OF IT, IS ALMOST ENTIRELY APPLIED MATHEMATICS EXCEPT FOR THE PART THAT’S ENGINEERING (WHICH IS ALSO MATHEMATICS). ONCE YOU LEARN EVEN THE BASICS OF KNITTING, SEWING, AND WEAVING, IT BECOMES ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE TO REALIZE MEN THINK WOMEN ARE BY VIRTUE OF THEIR SEX (these are of course sexist gender-essentialist men who are not cool with trans people) ILL-EQUIPPED TO DO MATH SOMEHOW. HOLY SHIT, HAVE YOU SEEN HEIRLOOM KNITTING PATTERNS? HAVE YOU SEEN THE FORETHOUGHT THAT GOES INTO WORKING A HARNESS LOOM? OH MY GOD.
THIS IS, THEN, WHERE PROGRAMMING (AND SORCERY) COMES IN. A PROGRAM IS “CODED INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE AUTOMATIC PERFORMANCE OF A PARTICULAR TASK”. WEAVING IS OFTEN A BINARY PATTERN: OVER/UNDER. PUNCH CARDS ON ADVANCED LOOMS CAN SET WHETHER THREADS GO OVER OR UNDER, AND SWITCHING THE CARDS AROUND YIELDS DIFFERENT PATTERNS OF CLOTH. A DUDE NAMED JAQUARD DEVELOPED EXTREMELY COMPLEX PUNCH CARDS THAT STARTED TO ENCODE HIGH VOLUMES OF INFORMATION FOR INCREASINGLY AUTOMATED LOOMS. A HUNDRED YEARS LATER WOMEN ARE USED AGAIN FOR THE ‘TEDIOUS BUT NECESSARY’ BUSINESS OF USING BINARY ON/OFF CARDS TO WRITE PROGRAMS FOR EARLY COMPUTERS.
WHERE SORCERY FITS INTO ALL THIS IS HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A WOMAN USE A CARD LOOM REALLY FAST? IT’S THE MOST INTIMIDATING SKILLSET OUTSIDE OF A RODEO. SHE 100% LOOKS LIKE SHE COULD MAKE YOUR BUTT FALL OFF IF YOU CROSSED HER. APPLIED MATHEMATICS / ENGINEERING IS BAFFLING TO WATCH FROM THE OUTSIDE, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO FIBERCRAFT. YOU CAN MANIFEST WITH YOUR MIND AND HANDS THIS HIGHER AND TRUER ARCANE PLANE OF EXISTENCE INTO A NICE SCARF AND KEEP YOUR HUSBAND ALIVE FOR THE WINTER. MAYBE IF HE CROSSES YOU YOU CAN ALSO MAKE HIS BUTT FALL OFF.
I TOTALLY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT MEN DO FIBERCRAFT TOO BUT THIS WAS SPECIFICALLY ABOUT THE INTERSECTIONS BETWEEN WOMEN, MATH, FIBERCRAFT, AND MAGIC, SO THERE YOU GO.
You may have known this already, but the Apollo guidance computer’s core memory was literally woven strands of copper, and it was all done by hand, by a bunch of women. Because who else knows how to weave things?
*SLAMS HANDS ON TABLE* WOMEN’S WORK SENT MEN TO THE FUCKING MOON HOW IS THAT NOT MAGIC AS HELL
A piccy of Gandalf, when he was known as Olorin, before he came to Middle Earth.
I’ve drawn Olorin before but it got deleted in the great December purge. I was never very happy with how it turned out, so I decided to have another go at it. Started by digging out my copy of the Silmarillion, which says:
Wisest of the Maiar was Olorin. Though he loved the Elves, he walked among them unseen, or in form as one of them, and they did not know whence came the fair visions or the promptings of wisdom that he put into their hearts.
It also says that he liked to hang out in the forests of Valinor, so I figured that I’d do that most unusual of things and actually put a background in. Then I sketched the figure out, and took some inspiration for the face from pictures of Ian McKellen when he was young.
kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes on earth, has erupted continuously from its pu’u o’o vent since 1983, oozing one thousand degree fahrenheit lava at fifteen yards an hour across hawaii’s big island into the ocean. photos by (click pic) tom kualii, g. brad lewis, bruce omori, cj kale and nick selway
If I had not met Melkor… If he had taken no notice of me, and we had never spoken….
I suppose I would have continued on as I was in the beginning: Admirable-One of Aulë, first of smiths. I would be with him still, perhaps in Valinor, questioning not my duties, working in the Great Forge to complete my father’s designs.
Perhaps I’d invent things of my own. Perhaps not. Certainly, I would have to do so on my own time, never taking precedence over the work of the group.
Would I have seen Melkor in chains paraded through the city of bells, and thought it right and just? Would I have met Fëanor? Mahtan, Nerdanel, the great smiths of the Calaquendi? Would I have seen the Two Trees, bathed in their light, mourned for their destruction?
I’d be no different from a thousand other Maiar, whose stories are not told, whose love has moved no mountains nor made ripples through history.
Perhaps I’d have been happier, though poorer for it.
I know. And you know. But it has never once in its tiny life questioned that it was king of beasts, the scourge of man, the terror in the primordial darkness outside the cave waiting to prey on the unwary.
…I imagine the tale of Beren and Luthien would have looked much different from our point of view. But from the Pomeranians’ perspective, nothing would change. They wouldn’t alter a single line. Why would they? They obviously consider themselves born for the role.
After all these eons, are you finally considering it? With your help, I’d stand a chance at crossing into the West myself, and from there, we could storm the Gates of Night and free my Master at last! He’d make you king of all waters in Ulmo’s stead; he’d build up mountains whose only purpose would be to amuse you in their drowning! His gratitude would be fathomless!
And as for you and I…. Just imagine what would become of the armies that tried to stop us, crushed between the hammer of Mordor and the anvil of the Sea.
Then when all wars are won, won’t it be fun to go exploring together? If there were no ban on my entering the ocean, why, I could finally visit your kingdom! I wonder what is left of the wreck of Beleriand… I’ve heard there are volcanoes erupting on the ocean floor– underwater! More than half the world’s wonders are hidden from me, Ossë! My heart is bursting with curiosity!
And you– where would you go? I could show you the crystal caverns, filled with superheated water, where giant quartz pillars have been growing untouched since the making of Arda. Or the volcanic springs! Or the rainbowed geysers on the Plains of Gorgoroth! Or the ice fields of Forochel!
….Great Hells, I’m getting ahead of myself. Please, Cousin! Tell me that you’re just as thrilled by the possibilities as I am, or I’ll feel quite the fool.
(( OOC for a moment: Yes they do! :3 I really enjoy writing and drawing interactions between them, but in terms of running an Ask Blog, it’s difficult to arrange because I play both muses, and it’s weird to RP with yourself. XD ))
MisbehavingMaiar: Tumblr Archive 