[ SECRET POST #3354 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3354 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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[Yu-Gi-Oh]


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09. [ warning for homophobia / transphobia / misogyny take your pick, people seem to be divided on this one ]













Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 009 secrets from Secret Submission Post #479.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Re: LoTR and Middle Earth

[(Anonymous)]

I imagine most immortal beings probably move from one interest or role to another rather than building an identity around a particular career or way of life or family cycle or any of those other human experiences that are based around a human lifespan with a human's life stages. I can see a lot of immortals spending a few decades becoming an expert in something, then moving to the next thing, then the next, going through huge alterations to certain aspects of their personality and character (but just as slow an incremental as humans if not slower -- their character development just isn't molded by a human's progressing stages of life so eventually the incremental changes add up to huge changes over the course of hundred of years of being an adult without becoming old. They're probably a bit like character from superhero comics in that way?) I can also imagine that immortal characters who don't have such "important" roles like "Ruler of such-and-such people" or "member of such-and-such a royal family" may probably wander around and reinvent themselves (temporarily or permanently) a lot.

And their family life is probably WAY different than humans' too, since their kids and grandkids and great-grandkids all spend just a tiny slice of their life having a parent/young child dynamic with them, and never progress to an adult/aging parent dynamic. Since, say, elves usually stay in Middle-Earth for thousands of years before sailing west and only take about a hundred years to reach adulthood and never really age except spiritually/emotionally, you would spend the vast majority of your life being the same "age" as your great-grandchildren -- 400 years isn't a very meaningful age gap for 4,000 year old people.

Re: LoTR and Middle Earth

[(Anonymous)]

I agree with some of this. But, I also like to think of them as even more alien. As in, they don't have a sense of reinvention but just *are*. Like, they can just be one with nature and appreciate the cycles of the season without doing anything. But, they're still engaged somehow. We would go crazy without ever doing something or just being still for years on end, but that's just normal for them. They can do the same routine forever and it's just soothing familiarity but they can also handle change at the drop of a hat too. I don't imagine them getting tired of doing the same things. It says they only grow weary of the things they build being worn down by time, so eventually it must get to them, but I like to think that there's a way of just living in the now that's a part of them. (I'm not articulating it very well but it's something I find fascinating).

I also am really fascinated by the interaction between generations. Like you said, being a child only lasts for a blink of the eye. But, I think there are different kinds of child/parent bonds that last forever. Like, Fingon stayed with Fingolfin until he died. Idril stayed with her dad. Thranduil with his dad. And so on and so forth. And for siblings; it says that most siblings are born really far apart so that the older ones are pretty much grown by the time younger siblings come around. It's weird to form sibling bonds without bonding as kids.

But I wonder sometimes if Tolkien gave this real thought. For instance, some of the elves seem so human. Why would Feanor fear his brother would be the heir when Finwe shouldn't ever die? (I can see him maybe fearing Fingolfin taking over the Crown Prince spot and favorite son, but it's not really framed like that). And why would Finrod say "nothing would endure that a son should inherit" - why would he think in those terms? He should rule whatever he has forever. And what exactly does Finwe get out of children that he wants to have so many so badly, and he can't wait for Miriel to get over death (since that's a thing for elves). The psychology of elves is fascinating.

Re: LoTR and Middle Earth

[(Anonymous)]

Well, that does remind me though, that I wonder how immortal -- but killable -- beings feel about dying a premature death by a fatal injury or illness. I can very easily imagine that the idea of dying of unnatural causes might be even worse and more paranoia-inducing for elves than for humans, because there's no sense of "well, everyone has to die sometime, woulda been nice to live until I got too old to stay alive anymore but it's not THAT big a difference either way so I might as well take this risk" for them. For them dying of unnatural causes would be EXTREMELY unnatural. Humans only lose a few decades of life at the most if they die prematurely, but elves may lose millennia.

TW: Suicide

[(Anonymous)]

*nodding*

Or a terrible injury. Like, being blinded. Or losing a limb.

I wonder if the view on suicide is different. Like, if you're perfectly healthy but maybe depressed, would suicide really change your circumstances? You KNOW you can be reborn eventually, so you'd just be depressed in Mandos instead for a little while.

On the other hand, if you've been blinded/etc. and you can't deal with it, you can kill yourself and be reborn in a brand new, healthy body after some wait-time. Do some elves think that's appropriate (especially as congenital deformities/illnesses/etc. are probably nonexistent)? Is there a culture around that where elves in general think that's an acceptable way to deal with that kind of trauma? Is Namo a-okay with that?

And if that was okay, is there a line? Like when Gwindor returned to Nargothrond, he was "aged" in a way by the trauma (and also mutilated, but I'm just talking about how he lost his beauty and youthfulness). Would it be considered okay to suicide to get his youth back? I figure he'd actually have to do some healing in Mandos for that to work, but for elves, who seem to value beauty so much, maybe that's a very reasonable thing to do? Maybe death sucks but since they live so long, losing a few millennia is actually no big thing.

And, if all that is okay and that's how they think, then what do they make of humans who have no idea where they go when they die? How do they deal with a lack of faith in humans when there's so much more uncertainty? Humans have never met Eru and almost none have met any Valar or Maiar. Those who do meet them will die and their heirs might keep the legend for a bit but it dies off. So, there's no tangible proof of Eru or his teachings for humans, and there's no certainty of what happens to them after death. That's got to be culture shock for elves. For humans, it makes sense to be skeptical, and belief is actually much harder. For elves, they have everything pretty neatly wrapped up for them. Do they see it from a human perspective or does it seem way too alien? And how does that play into the rise of Sauron among humans?