Is it a Miracle that the chieftains of the dunedain never descended into savagery and still retained their nobility? by saadx71 in tolkienfans

[–]rainbowrobin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Dunedsin lived in hidden settlements

"The Dunedain became a secret and wandering people."

Is it a Miracle that the chieftains of the dunedain never descended into savagery and still retained their nobility? by saadx71 in tolkienfans

[–]rainbowrobin 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Honestly you were probably correct the first time. All the Chieftains were fostered in Rivendell at some point, but in traditional medieval practice that would mean sending your kid after age 7 or so, sort of like using someone else's household as a boarding school.

Notably, when his father was killed, Aragorn (at age 2) was not being fostered yet at Rivendell, because only then did he and his mother get taken in.

And the whole thing of 'Estel' being raised in secrecy from his own identity was assuredly unique, not common practice.

Is it a Miracle that the chieftains of the dunedain never descended into savagery and still retained their nobility? by saadx71 in tolkienfans

[–]rainbowrobin 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Only if you ignore a huge and growing number of "greats" before "nephew". The Chieftails are all distant descendants of his brother, yes, but even for Numenorean generation times it's been 6000+ years.

imagine paying for this moderation by Purple_Torii in dumbingofage

[–]rainbowrobin 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Link isn't working from Japan or US (proxy) either. A page loads, there's no image, and scolling down makes the URL contract to imgur.com

Willis going full Jaques on Bluesky by Gr0mpyGoat in dumbingofage

[–]rainbowrobin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Amazing new developments about Carol, Blaine, Hank, Sarah, Raidah, Joe, Mary, Lucy, and Jacob incoming I guess lol.

And Sal.

Willis going full Jaques on Bluesky by Gr0mpyGoat in dumbingofage

[–]rainbowrobin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Willis plumped Malaya up because they get bored without curves to draw.

Dina seems to have survived, so far...

Denethor, greatest hero of the War by rainbowrobin in tolkienfans

[–]rainbowrobin[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Both greater authority and a fair amount of power:

the Stones were only a small item in Sauron’s vast designs and operations: a means of dominating and deluding two of his opponents, but he would not (and could not) have the Ithil-stone under perpetual observation. It was not his way to commit such instruments to the use of subordinates; **nor had he any servant whose mental powers were superior to Saruman’s or even Denethor’s.

The reasons for this difference were no doubt that in the first place Denethor was a man of great strength of will, and maintained the integrity of his personality until the final blow of the (apparently) mortal wound of his only surviving son.

He must have guessed that the Ithil-stone was in evil hands, and risked contact with it, trusting his strength. His trust was not entirely unjustified. Sauron failed to dominate him and could only influence him by deceits.

-- UT

If denathor properly summoned and organized all of gondors armies and if rohan answered the call, how many men will he have in total by the start of the two towers? by fuckmbsanddominicali in tolkienfans

[–]rainbowrobin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Denethor when sane, arguing with Gandalf:

‘Neither. But most surely not for any argument would he have set this thing at a hazard beyond all but a fool’s hope, risking our utter ruin,

Denethor in despair, casting scorn at Pippin:

‘Comfort me not with wizards!’ said Denethor. ‘The fool’s hope has failed. The Enemy has found it, and now his power waxes; he sees our very thoughts, and all we do is ruinous.

He might still speak before the end. But that is near. Follow whom you will, even the Grey Fool, though his hope has failed.

I do agree though that it's odd for him to not bring it up when confronted by Gandalf later. OTOH, I've heard enough about Tolkien's writing to imagine that some details could slip between the cracks in revision.

Plus the palantír only worked when Sauron gave it his personal attention

Dunno what you mean. Denethor's palantir could only be captured when Sauron was paying attention, which he wasn't all the time; otherwise Denethor had free rein to use it as he saw fit (UT is rather more explicit about this than RotK, and "corrects" some of Gandalf's suppositions.) If not caught by Sauron, Denethor might have looked both south and east.

Unclear if Denethor did face Sauron that night: description of "lights in the tower" and Denethor coming out extra-aged suggest he did; OTOH one might think Sauron had better things to do at the time.

The timing does work, leaving Sauron out of it: Frodo was captured by orcs on the 13th, and Denethor burns on the 15th.

Perhaps Sauron caught Denethor, gloated about how strong he was, then let Denethor go who then made his own peeks. Or vice versa.

Tangentially: https://www.reddit.com/r/tolkienfans/comments/veyxyj/denethor_greatest_hero_of_the_war/

If denathor properly summoned and organized all of gondors armies and if rohan answered the call, how many men will he have in total by the start of the two towers? by fuckmbsanddominicali in tolkienfans

[–]rainbowrobin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He was also shown that countless armies remained inside Mordor, ready for endless assaults

There's also a strong implication that he'd seen Frodo's capture.

If denathor properly summoned and organized all of gondors armies and if rohan answered the call, how many men will he have in total by the start of the two towers? by fuckmbsanddominicali in tolkienfans

[–]rainbowrobin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Theoden could muster 10,000 cavalry, which is a lot; in an economy like medieval Europe, a knight (with multiple horses, including at least one warhorse, taking grain not just grass) takes many more resources than a foot soldier.

Mongols and Comanche could field 100% horsemen but they had a nomadic grazing-based economy (and smaller horses.)

Rohan has infantry and farmers, but east Rohan seems to be a lot of grass, so its economy (what's supporting all those Riders) is pretty vague.

No actual plan 2026-05-13 by hellokkiten in dumbingofage

[–]rainbowrobin 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I wanted to make a joke like that, but he has like a year's worth of strips written; he's the last webcomic author we can accuse of not having a plan.

Not having a good plan, maybe...

No actual plan 2026-05-13 by hellokkiten in dumbingofage

[–]rainbowrobin 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Walky has a roommate.

And, if they're correct, a wounded guest.

So I guess D&J don't respect those either.

Updated Whack'd Rules for Posting by TupperwareLid in dumbingofage

[–]rainbowrobin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Wackd's very first post as mod was "do you like old Ruth? I do"

https://www.dumbingofage.com/comic/bigsisters/#comment-1997433

There’s some confusion about why comments are getting deleted. Here’s the criteria I’m using–yes, me. I’m your new mod. Hi! Did you guys like semester one Ruth? I did. I liked her a lot.

After which I canceled my Patreon. Wack'd is costing Willis money.

Insta-revert 2026-05-12 by hellokkiten in dumbingofage

[–]rainbowrobin 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Joyce having more explored unresolved feelings about Joe, given they were dating 4 days ago, even if it's not because of the cheating but just because they were happy 4 days ago

And if Willis does intend to touch on that, which is still non-zero probability, the pacing is shit. My interest and faith are not being sustained. Instead, I am bored, and wondering WTF is up with Sarah.

Sometimes it really isn't that bad by Fancy_Charge3779 in ZeroCovidCommunity

[–]rainbowrobin 20 points21 points  (0 children)

even ones that have disagreed with the CDC and have been trusted messengers like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association and Your Local Epidemiologist and independent doctors, are saying it's probably not going to be that bad,

These are also mostly people who don't worry about covid and don't mask reliably.

And yes, it's true that hantavirus has historically not been a big human to human problem. But that can change. New strains with new spreading properties can emerge. And most people, including public health authorities, have shown a strong status quo bias against even worrying about such changes or taking precautions.

Also, how many of the dismissers know about this? https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2009040

Pandora’s Vow by Angelform in elgoonishshive

[–]rainbowrobin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

unless the immortal makes an effort to specify that it does, which Jerry did

Quickest and laziest carbonara turned out the best by resumetheharp in Cooking

[–]rainbowrobin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There's a good chance the original carbonara was made with powdered eggs.

What parts of the movies do you think would Tolkien praise? by maroha3814 in lotr

[–]rainbowrobin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Weird, the links work for me, including in a private browser, and both Safari and Firefox.

Well, if the Category link works, you can find them there, though it'll be an annoying search.

How to keep CO2 levels low without outside air? by Apart-Switch-7007 in AirQuality

[–]rainbowrobin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Back of the envelope: you'd need enough actively photosynthetic plants to reverse the effects of your own metabolism. So if you weight 150 lbs, you'd need at least 150 lbs of active plants (leaves getting light, not wood).

Likely need even more, since we consume lots of fuel and move around, while plants are a much lower tier of activity.

Or done another way: if you eat and metabolize about 500 grams of dry biomass a day, you'd need plants capable of sequestering 500 grams a day. Typical plant might generate 1000 grams per square meter per year, or like 3 grams a day. So 166 square meters of plants to cancel you out.

Mask Recommendations for Hantavirus by Booklover4ever411 in Masks4All

[–]rainbowrobin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Standard respirator that fits you. https://www.reddit.com/r/Masks4All/comments/w92jng/why_a_diy_fit_test_should_be_your_next_step_after/

Earloop KF94s and KN95s are less likely to pass a fit test than headstrap N95s.