As if we needed to count off reasons, right?
Anyway, I was just over enjoying Pinterest…obsessively pinning Doctor Who and Sherlock and Tolkien pins to my geeky fandom boards, when I noticed a trend…
I’ve pinned a lot of Thranduil and Thorin pins. Like, a LOT. Maybe because they’re two of my favorite film characters recently (talking just about the films here, people). They are so different from each other, but they’re both just. so. awesome. And they glory in their awesomeness in a way that is just sublime to watch….
Ahem.
Anyway, that’s when I realized it. If you needed one more reason to love Tarik/Shade in The Madness Method, it’s that he is like the perfect blend of Thorin badassery and Thranduil fabulosity. Sure, the hair colors are backwards, and Thorin/Thranduil are like…hundreds or thousands of years too old…and Thranduil is a bit colder than Tarik…and Thorin is a bit….shorter…than Shade…;-) But still, there are some qualities they share which may explain why I’m so in love with Th/Th…and why, if you love Th/Th, you may just love Tarik/Shade too.
So, what are the common qualities?
Tarik
Let’s take Prince Tarik. He’s kind of a bit like this:
He’s elegant…

He’s also suave and a bit of a heartthrob…the Cavnish ladies all love him or love to hate him, and the Cavnish gents all wish they were him…

He’s a bit of a rogue…

And he knows it.

He’s also just a bit arrogant, but who can blame him?

And a bit of a sass…

But behind the arrogance, behind the rogue, he’s really hiding a deep loneliness that he can’t let the world see…

And despite being all elegant and royal, he’s really not a wimp…

And he would do anything for the people he loves.

Shade
Then we have Shade, who is kind of Tarik’s Thorin-esque alter-ego…
Shade has his own kind of untouchable pride.

And you’re never quite sure what he’s thinking…

But he’s the king of badassery, and you kind of want to follow him just to see where he goes.

He’s also the fiercer fighter.

Even when his reality falls apart around him, he’s a survivor.

And you know that once he sets his mind on something, he’ll never stop,

He’s stern and fierce, but when you can get a smile out of him, it could turn the rain to sun.
But he’s got a terrible burden of his own. The fate of a kingdom…and the fate of his friends…depends on him.

So there you have it. If you like the strong, fierce, proud, stubborn warrior Thorin and the elegant, aloof, silently-suffering Thranduil, you will probably also fall in love with Shade/Tarik.
The End.
Okay, maybe this blog post was mostly an excuse to put a whole lot of Thorin/Thranduil gifs together in one place, but hey, it wasn’t just an excuse…;-)