Did some work on a piece of real-life Tolkien Scholarship I am trying to work on and I just had to share some notes that I jotted down that made me go absolutely feral and want to tear paint off walls with my teeth:

Note here: some reflection on the symbolism of Lothlórien itself? Lothlórien is a space that you do not emerge from “unchanged,” a space of mystery to the rest of Middle-earth - even Legolas doesn’t seem to be quite sure whether there are still elves there or not, and so it is regarded with wonder and suspicion by others from other kingdoms. It is significant that they become friends here, in this space of privacy, in this space where reality feels slowed down and time passes differently (especially since time is such a feature of their future, with their mortal/immortal friendship). It is also significant that this wood is where Arwen and Aragorn - Tolkien’s explicit het love story, also interspecies - pledged themselves to one another. It is the place where their journeys leave their expected paths and begin to diverge to follow one another (“two roads diverged in a yellow wood” and they followed each other onto the one less traveled by I am going to LOSE IT)

(yes I am writing Real Actual Tolkien Scholarship on how Legolas and Gimli are in love, I'm not even kidding)

me, revising an old piece of academic writing: *adds a sarcastic comment*