QUESTIONS AND INFORMATION
QUESTION: can I just say, I love how your tolkien ocs have specific professions? i don't know why, but it brings joy to my heart when fantasy characters have a specific occupation, specially if it's a more usual one, like some of your ocs have (like chronicler and jeweler)
​
ANSWER: Ever since I read the post about medieval jobs my view on my ocs and fantasy in general was forever changed. Like, as much as fantasy and even our society wants to make us forget, we only exist as a society because there’s people out there doing high labor, low paying jobs in the agricultural, textile and many other sectors. We couldn’t exist without all the people out there sewing clothes, making shoes, planting corn, making furniture, healing others and so on.
For example let’s take the LOTR fellowship. Most of the fellowship are more or less law enforces/police men to put it in modern terms. Aragorn works as a police man in Gondor and Eriador, same for Boromir but he’s more like a police chief. Gimli and Legolas are half politicians since they are royals in their respective kingdoms and half law enforcers since they make decisions and fight. Gandalf is more of a wildcard but when he transforms in Gandalf the White he takes more of a violent role when he fights at Helm’s Deep and Pelennor Field. And we are left with the four hobbits. I’m not sure if Frodo has a profession apart from writing. Merry and Pippin are once again high ranking officials so politicians since Pippin became the Thain of the Shire and Merry the Master of Buckland. We are left with dear Sam, who is a gardener. One of the reasons I like Sam so much is because just a simple gardener from the Shire helped save the entire world. (Not that the others didn’t.)
This is an element I feel like a lot of fantasy is missing. Like a lot of the heroes of fantasy are highly trained warriors or mages or thieves but I’m not seeing too often out there stories about how a simple baker or woodworker helped save the world.
In regards to my ocs, like the fellowship, half of them have law enforcers profiles: Maradan, Sidhen and Toram being rangers; Calnedon being a Gondorian guard, Lileyn being a Shieldmaiden and Adamanta Hornblower being a Bounder. But then you have people who have another profession and happen to fight: Duion is a messenger first and foremost but he fights to protect himself. Bron is a taxidermist and huntress but will fight to protect her village, Lothrin is an academician and diplomat but has fought numerous times for Eriador. And then you have the people who are not fighters at all: Astoeth who is a doctor, Melilot Hornblower who is an academician, Balna and Giznik who are artisans, Hav who is a politician and Njall who is a woodworker.
​
In the future I’d like the characters that I create to have more mundane roles. I’d really like to create a candlemaker dunadan who likes in Evendim, or a female noldor who works as a gardener in Rivendell, or a carpenter Hobbit and so on. There jobs are necessary, and I’m here to use my creative energy to fill in the gaps.