Gratuitous Meme is Gratuitous

[caitri]

caitri.dreamwidth.org/359698.htmlShamelessly liberated from tocourtdisaster:

Pick a character I write, and I will give you the top five ideas/concepts/other I keep in mind while writing that character that I believe are essential to depicting them accurately.


Five Things About Bones

Five Things About Mal Reynolds

Five Things About Richard Castle
(Yes, I KNOW I've never written Castle fic, but when has that stopped me from anything, ever?)

Five Things About Willow
(Holy fuck, it's been ten years since I've written fannishly about Buffy. I...don't even know how I feel about that.)

Five Things About Simon Tam

Five Things About Éomer

Five Things About Jim Kirk

Comments

[tocourtdisaster.livejournal.com]

Have I mentioned lately that I love the way your mind works? So, could you tell me about your Eomer, please?

Five Things About Éomer 1/2

[caitri.livejournal.com]

1) He is a solitary man. Part of this is because he and his sister came to their Uncle’s house as children, and Théoden King was already pushing away his own son in his grief. Théodred was kind to them, but older and soon a Marshal himself. Thus he and Éowyn were all too often left to themselves, and the folk of the Mark are expected to grow up quickly. And, too, he was ever the elder, and the only son of his father, and it was his duty to see to his sister’s welfare, even above his own. When the War is over, he sees Éowyn with Faramir, and rejoices in her happiness, but he has the keep and the crown to see to, and doesn’t expect to find any for himself.

2) He thought he was going to die at Pelennor Fields. He thought the end was come, and finding his sister’s body on the field mere feet from that of his uncle merely seemed to confirm it. There are songs now of how he roused his men to battle fury in that last rout, of the spears he threw, but he doesn’t remember any of it. Sometimes he dreams of a feeling like ice in his stomach and burning behind his eyelids, and he knows he was thinking of Pelennor. But that’s all that battle glory has ever meant to him: nightmares and madness. He tried to explain it to Éowyn, once, but she didn’t believe him or affected not too. They call her Lady of the Shield-Arm now, but she never talks about the battle either, so maybe they aren’t as different as he has sometimes wondered.

3) War is all he has ever really known. He was fourteen when he went on his first patrol with the Riders, and for years the length and the breadth of Rohan was more of a home to him than the keep or the Golden Hall. Even after he is crowned King, he rides with his men to weed out the last pox of the land. He is more comfortable by far with a sword and a spear than sitting at court. He is thankful King Elessar is of the same mind, as is Prince Faramir—though of course he, born and bred in the White City, can also be very formal and reserved. Prince Imrahil is even more so. He thinks it must have to do with living behind stone walls all your life.

Five Things About Éomer 2/2

[caitri.livejournal.com]

4) Meeting Lothíriel the way he did was an accident. Everyone knows that. Falling in love with her was an accident, too. But some of the Gondorian gossips will tell you that his proposal to her was an accident, that he had no way of knowing that in Dol Amroth, a man gifting flowers to a maiden was tantamount to posting banns. (And it is true, that in Rohan such presents are simple things, because true wealth is counted in horses and grain.) But that is a lie. He knew exactly what he was doing when he picked them for her himself. She didn’t know that, though, and the flush of pleasure warring with embarrassment as she tried to explain it to him was pleasing, but not half as pleasing as when he asked her what sort of fool she thought the King of the Mark was, and he did know a thing about diplomacy, princess, and would she be so kind as to accept so that he might kiss her as he’d been longing to do these last several weeks? And then she finally understood, and he got his kiss, and later on the both of them got much more.

5) In his later years he looks on his kingdom and he doesn’t quite recognize it. The generation of his sons and daughters have always known safety, have known that the patrols along Fangborn and Ithilien are for peacekeeping purposes rather than for hunting Orc. The songs sung by bards at the hearth are about people he has known, and sometimes about him—he knows he should find it glorious but he doesn’t. He doesn’t stop them singing because it makes everyone else feel joyous and drink deeply, but when it starts Lothíriel is soon with him, her hand on his arm and her voice in his ear, pointing out this or that and making him laugh, and soon enough the song is done and they’ve moved on to some Elvish patter instead, though there are few enough of those about as well—even Legolas’s colony in Ithilien shrinks year by year it seems. The Dwarves and Hobbits grow ever less eager to travel from their own lands, saving of course those left of the old Fellowship. Éomer supposes that the Age of Man has begun in truth. He knows not what it means, but then he looks around at the faces of his kith and kin, and he finds it does not trouble him o’ermuch, either.

Re: Five Things About Éomer 2/2

[anutty1.livejournal.com]

Oh, this exactly, is how I see Eomer. This was really poignant and I'm a little misty, nostalgic for the days when Lord of the Rings was my favorite thing EVER. Great job!

Re: Five Things About Éomer 2/2

[caitri.livejournal.com]

*squish* Thank you!!!

PS Leave a prompt and I'll be happy to write one for you, too!! :)

Re: Five Things About Éomer 2/2

[anutty1.livejournal.com]

Ridding Rohan of contemptible orcs? Easy! Riding to sure death on the Fields of Pelennor? Please, what else have you got? Listening to Faramir babble about how fair and bright and beautiful his little sister is and can he please have her hand in marriage? Eomer doesn't think he's man enough to handle this!!

Re: Five Things About Éomer 2/2

[caitri.livejournal.com]

LOL! Is that a prompt or a mission statement? ;)

Re: Five Things About Éomer 2/2

[anutty1.livejournal.com]

Er, mayhaps I got a little (too) happy thinking about how much Eomer loves his little sister, Eowyn? So, an actual prompt: The first time Eomer thought he may be able to handle being Eomer, King of the Riddermark.

Re: Five Things About Éomer 2/2

[caitri.livejournal.com]

Ask and ye shall receive: Witan Day (http://caitri.livejournal.com/360825.html#cutid1)

Re: Five Things About Éomer 2/2

[tocourtdisaster.livejournal.com]

Oh, bb, this is perfect. I think, though, that my favorite is number four because we get to see how snarky Eomer can be and it's so sweet because it's so obvious how much he loves her, even in so few words.

Re: Five Things About Éomer 2/2

[caitri.livejournal.com]

*squishes* Eomer TOTES has a snarky side, and Lothiriel is one of the only people who ever gets to see it. (lucky girl!)

Re: Five Things About Éomer 2/2

[tocourtdisaster.livejournal.com]

We will eventually get to see more of them together, right? Right? *puppy eyes*

Re: Five Things About Éomer 2/2

[caitri.livejournal.com]

Maaaaaaaybe? sorta? I'm actually trying to rewrite/enlarge That Which They Defend into original fic. I can send you the scraps I have, if you like, but they really are bits and pieces, though a lot of them are Eomer/Lothiriel (ie Karu/Liriel) oriented. :/

Re: Five Things About Éomer 2/2

[tocourtdisaster.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that sounds fascinating. I'd be interested in reading it, but if you want to wait until you've got something a little less piecey and more cohesive, that's cool. :)

Re: Five Things About Éomer 2/2

[caitri.livejournal.com]

Soooo you mean a year from now? ;)

Seriously, I am soooo nothing resembling linear the way I write. A draft literally does not look like a draft until it is over 3/4 done.

I'll actually go ahead and send it to you anyway. One of my resolutions this year was to write more original fic and I want to stick to that, but it's hard because it's harder to share and stuff.

Re: Five Things About Éomer 2/2

[tocourtdisaster.livejournal.com]

See, I'm the complete opposite; the first time I wrote a story out of order was my STBB, and I've been writing fanfic for well over a decade.

Send away! I am always willing to read something new, even if it more closely resembles as mess than a story. ;) You still have my e-mail, right?

Re: Five Things About Éomer 2/2

[caitri.livejournal.com]

I do indeed. I'm writing you the sort of overview summary thing now. ;)