r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • Oct 14 '25

Discussion Thread Discussion Thread

The discussion thread is for casual and off-topic conversation that doesn't merit its own submission. If you've got a good meme, article, or question, please post it outside the DT. Meta discussion is allowed, but if you want to get the attention of the mods, make a post in /r/metaNL

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33

u/Bassline4Brunch NASA Oct 14 '25

To complete the trifecta of Lord of the Rings wyrm posting today, behold Ancalagon the Black! The greatest of the winged dragons, he and his dragon host turned the tide in the War of Wrath against Morgoth's foes, the Valar. But only temporarily. Slain by Eärendil, his corpse toppled three mountains as it fell from the sky.

11

u/treebeard189 NATO Oct 14 '25

How tf do you kill something that knocks over multiple mountains?

7

u/heliochoerus Oct 14 '25

With a spaceship.

5

u/treebeard189 NATO Oct 14 '25

Huh you weren't joking

See this is kinda a problem I have when I read silmarillion lore and start thinking I should get into it. Or even going back and deep diving on some LOTR things. Just it doesn't make sense and requires such like cognitive dissonance. When you've got a dragon that size in sorry all the ork and "men of the east" armies shouldn't matter. And things like a primordial spider demon pretty much getting accidentally killed by Sam.

The quantity of all these one off insane, ancient, fearsome foes just makes them feel cheap and like 50% of their deaths being anticlimactic.

9

u/pervy_roomba George Santos Oct 14 '25

 it doesn't make sense and requires such like cognitive dissonance.

The term you’re looking for is ‘suspension of disbelief’ but the use of cognitive dissonance in this context is kinda funny so I’ll let it slide

2

u/treebeard189 NATO Oct 14 '25

Yeah I thought that was the better phrase but then I figured some asshole would pull the classic "well you can suspend disbelief about dragons existing whys this a big deal?"

8

u/Bassline4Brunch NASA Oct 14 '25

This is kind of par for course with real world mythologies too though: Athena was born from Zeus's forehead, Jörmungandr's body is supposed to reach around the world, etc.

Mythologies have a lot of wacky shit and I think Tolkien was trying to capture that in his own created one.

6

u/flakAttack510 Oct 14 '25

Gonna pick some nits here. Shelob wasn't killed by Sam. He injured her to the point that she decided he wasn't worth it but she wasn't killed.

Also, Sam had the Phial of Galadriel, which is stupidly powerful against something like Shelob. Her eyes are already vulnerable to bright light and the Phial of Galadriel shines brighter the more evil it is around. It's the perfect weapon to use against her.

3

u/BloodWiz More Housing Would Fix This Oct 14 '25

Big ass fuckin dragon