POST FROM THE DEVIL ORDERS TAKEOUT

Delivery Fangirl [4]: 9-hour Hobbit Marathon and Blind Thranduil

Delivery Fangirl is an original blog feature on The Devil Orders Takeout, featuring questions from my favourite books and movies, preferred headcanons, and the importance of diversity.

Well, the long-standing Middle-earth trilogies are finally both over. That only means one thing ... hello marathon!

I decided to rewatch Hobbit first, because let's save the best for last. Also, chronology. I sort of hate Peter Jackson right now. However! I stayed awake thanks to a headcanon by aiffe on Tumblr: Thranduil is blind. (Or at least partially so.) She admits that it's based in movie-verse only, but I ventured forth into this marathon with this idea in mind.

(Although really, it would have been more productive to spot the Thorin/Bilbo moments.)

Thranduil tilts his head constantly, like he's listening ... even when no one's actually talking. Picking up on ambient noise to place his surroundings?
And when he's in a conversation, he looks out into space instead of at the people he's actually talking to. Or decapitating.
Elven weapons seem to mainly be bow-and-arrow, throwing knives, a spear or two—all long range weapons. While some do have longswords, even superboy Legolas isn't too good with a sword against Bolg. Thranduil is killer with a sword, a skill one might wrangle with a few millennia and no/partial eyesight.

Thranduil even manages to hear Invisible!Bilbo twice, when Gandalf specifically chose him for a hobbit's lighter step. Although elves may have better hearing, no other elf really notices Bilbo.
And there is no way anyone can see from that burnt eye we glimpse in Desolation. Thranduil may at least not have perfect vision, or even hiding his other eye with a glamour as well.
That about wraps it up! There are a few moments when the headcanon doesn't hold up, I grant you, but can be handwaved partial vision rather than complete lack thereof. At the very least, this headcanon got me thinking about how much unlimited awesome blind characters can achieve — a story idea for another time!

Do you agree with this headcanon? Who has tried to marathon Hobbit and/or LOTR?


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 Disclaimer: This movie of course belongs to Tolkien estates, Peter Jackson, etc., etc., and not me. I place my URL on the images only to claim credit for curating these images.
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22 comments:

  1. Rcubed24 May 2015 at 01:43

    Oh my gargoyles...I never really thought about that until now, but it makes a lot of sense!

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    1. Alyssa Carlier24 May 2015 at 16:15

      That was completely my reaction when I saw these too. BUT IT'S JUST SO WONDERFUL.

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  2. Heather24 May 2015 at 13:57

    :D I LOVE THE HEADCANON. I think Headcanons in general are fun (as long as they make sense. SOME PEOPLE'S SHIPS MAKE NO SENSE TO ME. LIKE LITERALLY.) I agree to all the sense-making things, and I think the evidence for this one is great. I have not tried to marathon LOTR or Hobbit (I still need to watch the third one of those, dangit) but I have watched the extended versions of LOTR many times, so I'm at least qualified in that regard. XD

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    1. Alyssa Carlier24 May 2015 at 16:17

      I'M GLAD YOU LOVE IT. I think the Harry Potter fandom has the craziest ships -- seriously, if I read ONE MORE Harry/Snape, Hermione/Snape, or Harry/Voldemort fic I will murder people. That's exactly why I marathoned all those 9 hours -- to see if it was just a "fun idea", or a legit point with legit evidence. And THERE IS SOME.

      Oh my, the extended versions? You're so qualified.

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  3. Unknown24 May 2015 at 16:08

    THIS HEADCANON IS AWESOME. :D It makes me want to create a character who is blind, but badass like Thranduil. The only thing I would tweak about this headcanon is the glamour part. I read another headcanon (headcanons ftw) that suggested that Burnt Thranduil was just Thranduil losing control of himself and manipulating his "magic" to reflect his mood. But maybe the person who created that headcanon was just afraid that Thranduil wasn't really pretty underneath that fabulous blond hair. xD

    I've marathoned LOTR many times, but now that BotFA is out, I can start marathoning the Hobbit trilogy.

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    1. Alyssa Carlier24 May 2015 at 16:22

      I'M GLAD YOU THINK SO. (This page has a lot of caps, ahaha.) And that is so great because the point of Delivery Fangirl is also to promote diverse representation! (Actually, that's pretty much half the point of this blog. *points at description*)

      That's a really cool headcanon, too. Although it is true Lee Pace has a little eldritch beauty, and paired with that hair ... *sighs* It's important, I think, to remember that no matter how gorgeous a character, they can still be flawed.

      Oh wow, that's really impressive. Enjoy your (extended?) marathons!

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  4. jodie24 May 2015 at 19:39

    THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST HEADCANONS I'VE HEARD. It's right up there with the Harry Potter is Immortal theory (look it up, it's actually quite interesting). :) Great post!

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    1. Alyssa Carlier24 May 2015 at 23:16

      I'M GLAD YOU THINK SO. Is it the one where the prophesy means that they can only die at the hand of the other, and Harry sacrificed his death and will never see his family again? That one was fab :)

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  5. Anonymous24 May 2015 at 20:59

    Wow! That is actually really interesting. I never thought of it that way before, and I honestly have no idea how people even come up with head canons like that. Your marathon sounds awesome! My friends and I were toying around with the idea of marathoning all six movies, because we are crazy like that. I don't know if it will actually happen, but maybe?

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    1. Alyssa Carlier24 May 2015 at 23:17

      I'm glad you've enjoyed it, although I didn't quite come up with it, merely susbtantiated it a little. You should check out the WMG pages on TV Tropes :)

      Oh. Wow. Wow wow wow. That is pretty crazy. Best of luck if you do make it happen!

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  6. Precious @ Clockwork Desires25 May 2015 at 11:29

    It's weird because I never really thought about this until now, but it actually makes a lot of sense. I've never marathoned movies before, but I often do it with tv shows (although I call it binge-watching) and it's a lot of fun (but it sucks when your legs turn to jelly after sitting for so long). x.x

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    1. Alyssa Carlier25 May 2015 at 20:39

      Headcanons are fun like that; I'm glad it makes sense to you! I don't often marathon movies either, only for mega-long series like Star Wars and LOTR -- I suppose I'll have to do a Marvel one sometime. I take mini-breaks to prance around my room and pretend I'm one of the characters XD

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  7. CG @ Paper Fury26 May 2015 at 17:26

    OH WOW. AND YES. Although I haven't seen the last movie yet (I know! I know! BAD FAN, CAIT, BAD FAN.) but when I do I'm going to watch very hard for this because that's insanely interesting... The head tilts for sure though, yes. But it seems so sad that Thanduril might not be able to admire his own fabulousness and beautiful hair. I feel so sad for him.

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    1. Alyssa Carlier27 May 2015 at 17:21

      I KNOW. IT'S A FABULOUS HEADCANON. You should absolutely see the last movie, because DRAGON. I think I'm going to spend my LOTR marathon watching Legolas -- only fitting, I think.

      That is rather sad, although I suppose elf hair feels beautiful as well.

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  8. Chloe 27 May 2015 at 02:50

    What a terribly interesting head canon.... I will have to think deeply on this (it also gives me the perfect excuse to go back and re-watch this trilogy)
    And on the topic of Thanduril, it still cracks me up that Orlando Bloom is technically older then the actor for Thanduril!! XD

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    1. Alyssa Carlier27 May 2015 at 17:22

      Do let me know what you think after watching it! It deserves to be rewatched, even though it so longs.

      OH YES. That is true. Have you watched the outtakes? Those are the BEST.

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  9. Vlora29 May 2015 at 21:30

    Oh INTERESTING. I love headcanons that put a totally different spin on the source material, but still have some roots in canon. Especially if it brings more diverse representation with it.

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    1. Alyssa Carlier2 June 2015 at 15:55

      I'm glad you enjoyed it! That's my favourite type of headcanon -- and diversity is SO important. Although this doesn't mean we can slack on the source material, it's great to see fans are considering representation as well.

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  10. Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity1 June 2015 at 09:58

    I totally support this headcanon, because I thought that the way he heard Bilbo, and also looked around was pretty quirky. So I am all down for this explanation!

    As for marathoning, I have never tried. Mainly because the third Hobbit movie hasn't released on DVD here yet (I think). I would looooove to marathon the Hobbit movies and then the Lord of the Rings movies because I love them all so much. I would be a bit of a sobbing heartbroken mess by the end of them all, though XD

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    1. Alyssa Carlier2 June 2015 at 15:56

      I'm not sure 'quirky' is the right word to describe Thranduil. "Fabulous", perhaps?

      Oh, that's a shame -- but marathoning all six movies would be really difficult. Time-wise, of course, and also the minor issue of running out of tissues. ;)

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  11. topaz winters4 June 2015 at 14:35

    Oh my gosh, this is incredibly interesting - I must admit, the thought of Thranduil being blind never even crossed my mind. But now that you mention it, I think it's really the Invisible!Bilbo moments that stand out to me. The whole head-tilt thing might just be one of his odd little character quirks, but the super hearing can't be a coincidence.

    Hm. Now I'm wondering whether I've missed other things. This is an issue.

    I know what to do!

    *runs off to marathon the films*

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    1. Alyssa Carlier4 June 2015 at 16:13

      I was SO excited when I saw that headcanon, I immediately decided on writing this post. And yep, most of the rest is just supporting evidence, but the cornerstone is the reveal of the actual eye and the super-hearing.

      This is a fabulous idea, Topaz! Here's some takeout to make sure you last through it :D

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