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Philip Fox La Follette, 34th President of the United States.
Administration:
Vice President: Michael A. Musmanno
Secretary of Peace: Douglas MacArthur (1951-1952 (interim)), Clarence Dill (1952-1953)
Secretary of State: Douglas MacArthur (1949-1951 (Department placed under Peace))
Secretary of War: Ralph Immell (1949-1951 (Department placed under Peace))
Secretary of the Navy: Francis P. Matthews (1949-1951 (Department placed under Peace))
Secretary of the Air Force: Charles Lindbergh (1949-1951 (Department placed under Peace))
Secretary of Production: Ralph Immell (1952-1953)
Secretary of the Treasury: Rexford Tugwell (1949-1951 (resigned to assume office as Governor of New York)), Harold Lord Varney (1951 (interim)), Ralph Immell (1951-1952 (department placed under Production))
Secretary of the Interior: Mildred H. McAfee (1949-1952 (department placed under Production))
Secretary of Energy: Floyd Dominy (1950-1952 (department placed under Production))
Secretary of Agriculture: Gerald Nye (1949-1952 (department placed under Production))
Secretary of Labor: George Meany (1949-1952 (department placed under Production))
Secretary of Science and Technology: Karl T. Compton (1949-1952 (department placed under Production))
Secretary of Prosperity: Francois Duvalier (1952-1953)
Attorney General: David Lilienthal (1949-1952 (department placed under Prosperity))
Secretary of Health: Francois Duvalier (1949-1952 (department placed under Prosperity))
Postmaster General: Gerald T. Boileau (1949-1952 (department placed under Prosperity))
Secretary of Education: Sara Gibson Blanding (1949-1952 (department placed under Prosperity)
President La Follette would announce a major reorganization of cabinet departments following his 1951 impeachment, uniting the Air Force, Navy, War, and State Departments into one grand “Department of Peace,” despite opposition from both military leadership and Secretary of State MacArthur, who would depart from the Administration at the commencement of 1952 and be replaced by Farmer-Labor doyen Clarence Dill. The President has framed the move as embodying the national seal of an eagle carrying both arrows and an olive branch, while promoting centralization to improve efficiency while avoiding involving the United States in entangling alliances, an effort that has led to the end of the effort to unite American allies on both sides of the Pacific into a mutual defense pact. First Lady Isen La Follette, personally notably introverted, has been brought before the public as the chief public campaigner for the Department of Peace.
With the centralization of foreign and military policy in full swing at the executive level despite the opposition of Congress, the spring of 1952 would see a second round of mass centralization, with longtime ally Ralph Immell appointed as the head of a new Department of Production, devised by Texas’s Lyndon B. Johnson, to supervise the old Treasury, Interior, Energy, Agriculture, Labor, and Science and Technology Departments, while Dr. Francois Duvalier has been appointed to lead the centralization of the Justice, Health, Education, and Post Office Departments into a united Department of Prosperity and Human Services, commonly referred to only by the former. As in the case of the Department of Peace, the former departments are slated to remain at a sub-cabinet level, and the efforts of opposition forces have successfully left the proposed integrations largely on paper for the time being.
On the level of sub-cabinet departments, the Bureau of Investigation has been merged with the Office of Strategic Services to form the National Security Agency (NSA), an intelligence agency combining the foreign and domestic. Meanwhile, an executive order would begin the National Aeronautics and Space Administration with former President Charles Lindbergh appointed as its first head, however, Lindbergh would soon be dismissed as a part of the executive’s compromise with congress’s impeachers, with businessman Howard Hughes taking his place.
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Opposition Representative Richard Nixon shakes hands with Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie during the Emperor's visit to the United States, where President La Follette would emphasize American support for non-communist anti-colonial movements.
Foreign Policy:
-President La Follette has found rare common ground with the opposition on matters of foreign policy towards the Soviet Union, echoing Arthur Vandenberg’s declaration that “politics ends at the water’s edge.” The Administration has secured funding for the rebuilding of Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, and Korea under social democratic anti-communist governments, with President La Follette describing the initiatives as building an “iron curtain” against communism.
-President La Follette’s term would see the death of two of the world’s premier foreign leaders: Marshall Philippe Petain of France and Chinese General Feng Yuxiang. President La Follette would visit Paris in 1951 for the funeral of Petain after nearly four decades in power, having hailed the French publicly as future allies in the battle with communism. Yet, already suspicious of the new government of Petain protege Charles De Gaulle after the leaking of America’s role in Smedley Butler’s assassination by Ambassador Gaston-Henry Haye, La Follette would find himself increasingly disenchanted with the French, with private reports indicating his horror at the mass deportation of Flemish, Germans, and Catalans into the French Congo from areas in Europe newly annexed into France.
-However, the President would nonetheless side with the French-supported Roman Legion rebelling against Greece in 1951, marking the creation of the Republic of the Pindus as the first state for the Aromanian people in world history. However, the new state has been accused of engaging in the ethnic cleansing of the Greek population.
-Meanwhile, touring China after the death of Feng Yuxiang, La Follette would become increasingly worried about the possible alignment of the nation towards the Soviet Union and controversially refuse to return the island of Taiwan to China until the election of a successor to Feng. With Communist leader Zhou Enlai rising in popularity and an election planned, American support would be thrown behind former warlord Yan Xishan, who would be selected President by the National Assembly in January of 1951 and promptly announce an indefinite delay on elections. Despite rising tensions with China’s Bolshevik-backed Communist Party, La Follette would sign a treaty of return in February of 1952 relinquishing Taiwan to Chinese control. However, after six decades of intense Japanization under colonial authorities, Taiwan has found itself culturally isolated from the rest of China, speaking almost entirely Japanese and Hokkien rather than Mandarin.
-A similar issue has emerged on the formerly Japanese territories of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. Owing to their close location to the Soviet Union, La Follette has authorized it as the site of dozens of American nuclear tests throughout his term and refused to cede sovereignty, with China, Japan, and Russia all harboring alternate claims to the islands.
-The President has impounded funds from the 1950 and 1951 budgets passed by Congress to distribute for the reconstruction of American allies and occupied regions in the Third Pacific War, enacting the MacArthur Plan without the authorization of Congress and repeating to Chinese Premier Yan Xishan his famous remark that “vermin are infesting and polluting democratic organizations and the government itself.”
-Working with the Latin American and East Asian nations in the American sphere of influence in the aftermath of the Franco-British Conflict, the President has moved the United States into the new Parliament of Nations headquartered in Rome, sending New Hampshire Progressive Senator Robert P. Bass as the first United States Representative to the largely powerless global body intended to facilitate global cooperation. Notably, however, the La Follette Administration has resisted efforts to include communist-aligned nations into the fold despite the membership of many French-aligned authoritarian regimes and absolute monarchies such as the Ethiopian Empire or the Caliphate.
-1951 would see the formalization of the Treaty of San Diego, officially ending the United States occupation of Japan, and with it La Follette's rule by decree of the islands, while maintaining an American military presence on the island chain and transferring to American control the Ryukyu Islands, Iwo Jima, Samoa, and the Japanese stake in the Nicaraguan Canal shared with Argentina, where former Milford W. Howard associate Harold Lord Varney has been appointed as High Commissioner.
-President La Follette held a summit with Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, and Madagascar Prime Minister Joseph Raseta in 1951 to commemorate the longstanding American support for independent nations in Africa, hosting, among others, independence activists Seretse Khama of Botswana, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, and Hastings Banda of Nyasaland. Further, American jazz artist Andy Razaf has taken the throne as King of Madagascar following the lack of an heir apparent to deceased Queen Marie-Louise, however, unfamiliar with the island of his ancestors, the newly-crowned Andriamanantena I has been sidelined by Prime Minister Raseta.
-With rumors of Lazar Kaganovich planning Bolshevik expansion into Central Asia abounding, President La Follette and Secretary of Peace Dill would issue a joint statement in January of 1952 promising American opposition “by any means necessary” to “one more inch” of Bolshevik expansion, with Dill describing Kaganovich’s policy towards France and the United States as “trying to play both sides against the middle.”
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Destiny launches off the coast of Puerto Rico, inaugurating a new era in human history,
Domestic Policy:
-”Our attainments in space are a major element in the competition between the Soviet system and our own, they are part of the battle,” so would declare James E. Webb, Deputy Administrator of NASA, on October 4th, 1951, mere weeks after the failure of the impeachment of President La Follette, as he, former President Lindbergh, and gasping crowds of onlookers watched Destiny take flight, the first manmade satellite in human history to orbit the Earth. President La Follette would tout the achievement as the administration having begun the conquest of “the final frontier.”
-Working with Japanese scientists in the aftermath of the occupation, space policy has reached the fore as La Follette launches an aggressive series of follow-up satellites, beginning with Lewis and Clark and most recently including Stagecoach. However, rumors hold that the French have begun construction on their own site for space rocket launches.
-Staring down the barrel of Speaker Joseph McCarthy’s aggression and Senator Estes Kefauver’s investigation into the assassination of Smedley Butler, La Follette turned away from Congress in 1949 to fulfill his promise to “win the peace.” Acting first in April of 1949 shortly after the arrest of John L. Lewis, La Follette would issue Executive Orders 15092 and 15093, authorizing the building of an interstate highway system and national system of hydroelectric plants to be overseen by General Lucius D. Clay and the Army Corps of Engineers under the supervision of the Department of the Interior for the former and Department of Science and Technology for the latter, while authorizing the creation of a new Department of Energy, operating entirely on impounded funds and largely focusing on research on the utilization of nuclear energy.
-In the latter effort, the President has found the support of prominent opposition financier Lewis Strauss, who has nonetheless argued that the development of nuclear energy is hampered by New State bureaucratic centralization.
-Opposition politician Joseph Alioto has criticized the interstate highway system, pointing to the funding of La Follette’s campaign by the Firestone Tire Company and arguing that road dependent companies have colluded to impede the further expansion of rail infrastructure.
-Most controversially would be Executive Order 15097, issued in June of 1951 and seen as largely the brainchild of Secretary of the Treasury Rexford Tugwell, declaring the complete and total nationalization of the healthcare industry and authorizing the establishment of a National Healthcare Service (NHS) in the United States under the Department of Health. Although implementation has been plagued by legal challenges and billions in funding from healthcare providers to opposition candidates, the President has utilized impounded funds to subsidize healthcare for the elderly and impoverished.
-Executive Order 15102 in December of 1951 would establish under the Department of Labor an employers’ syndicate led by former General Electric CEO Gerald Swope called the Business Council, leading to denunciations from across Farmer-Labor despite the low participation in the attempted employers’ union.
-However, the 1946 executive orders declaring a national moratoria on the payment of mortgages and enacting wage and price controls were ended soon after the 1948 election.
-In the face of a rapidly growing economy, La Follette has worked with new Federal Reserve Chairman Bernard Baruch to digress on the expansionist monetary policy that characterized his first term, with interest rates quadrupling to 15% in an effort that has successfully brought inflation from 13% to a mere 3% annually. Unemployment has fallen to 3.2% as the GDP as a whole has grown nearly 9% over La Follette’s second term, an economic boom fueled by mass exportation to Europe and newly decolonized nations elsewhere. While the President has continued to voice support for the nationalization of the Federal Reserve, the issue has remained on the backburner.
-An executive order in January of 1952 has set the new national minimum wage to $7.00 an hour from a previous $3.25, causing mass business outcry despite the President’s argument that the increase is necessary to guarantee a “living wage” after post-war inflation. The Department of Justice has been authorized to prosecute offenders, however, critics have argued that businesses aligned with the President’s political opposition have been unfairly targeted.
-Rufus B. von KleinSmid of the Un-American Activities Board, appointed by the President to monitor journalism for seditious content, would attempt to suppress the release of an account by actress Frances Farmer of her forced confinement to a mental institution in 1948, where she was sterilized under La Follette’s Executive Order 14768 from 1946, authorizing the mass sterilization of the mentally ill and those with “criminal tendencies.” Further investigations into the ramifications of the order have led to staggering revelations of up to 200,000 sterilizations performed annually since 1946, largely under duress, on Americans in prison and mental institutions as well as former criminals. The President has defended the policy while authorizing a Department of Justice investigation into abuses by low level doctors.
-The President would support the prosecution of a half dozen prison wardens accused of citing Executive Order 14767, establishing cooperatives for prisoners to work without pay on natural beautification projects, to turn prisoners into de facto slave laborers working 18 hour shifts as contract labor on farms. While the President has argued that the system itself has brought boons to the environment and American agriculture, critics have claimed that abuse remains widespread.
-While delaying and, in some cases, entirely pausing the implementation of his executive orders in the wake of the promises of moderation amidst the impeachment trial that rescued his presidency from the brink of collapse, fascist Blackshirts and radical Mormon Destroying Angels have become increasingly violent in the months since impeachment, with headlines telling tales of opposition presses raided and armed men watching poll stations. Another conspiracy theory has held that the death of Committee for the Preservation of the Republic chairman Thomas Schall in a motor accident over the winter of 1951 was the result of an intentional Blackshirt hit-and-run.
-While many have blamed the fiery speeches of Vice President Musmanno for encouraging Blackshirts, President La Follette and his brother in the Senate have fiercely denounced all violence on behalf of their movement, appealing to supporters for calm as they call for the speedy prosecution of the allegedly Blackshirt bombthrowers that took the life of elderly comedian Will Rogers. Nonetheless, fear of political violence has led to the cancellation of the 1952 Progressive-Federalist presidential primary in favor of a convention held in tandem with the Liberty League under the auspices of the Committee for the Preservation of the Republic.
-Meanwhile, Washington Senate candidate Marion Zioncheck would throw himself off a building while campaigning to succeed Clarence Dill. In a coma, Zioncheck’s supporters have accused the administration alternately of reigniting his documented mental health issues and being behind the attempted murder themselves.
-September 14, 1951, the height of Blackshirt violence in Philadelphia, St. Louis, and New York City, has been labeled the “Knight of the Long Knives” by opposition critic Styles Bridges. Vice President Musmanno has stood alone in the administration in defending the actions publicly despite condemnation from President La Follette that has carried into the authorization of NSA prosecutions of Blackshirt perpetrators. Representative Richard Nixon, the lead impeachment manager in the La Follette trial, has credited J. Edgar Hoover with the investigations rather than La Follette and accused the administration of only condoning them under pressure from his brother.
-”People of America, wake up!” The last words of House Minority Leader Eduardo Chibas, broadcast into a million homes seconds before his suicide on live radio, has fueled the creation of local opposition organizing groups calling themselves “Wide-Awakes” and aiming to bridge opposition interests against the La Follette Administration.
-The President has made a half a dozen speeches across the nation under the banner of his loyal National Progressives of America calling for the ratification of a 20th Amendment to shift to the president the powers of Congress, restricting the republic’s legislative branch to a mere veto power, while arguing that the need for a strong legislature would be replaced with a 21st Amendment establishing a process for national referendums. Although not passed by Congress, several state legislatures, including those of Alabama and Washington, have passed resolutions indicating a willingness to ratify the amendment.
-The President further floated the concept of reforming the legislature into a “Chamber of Corporations” balancing representatives from the General Trades Union and Business Council.
-With the arrest of CIO leaders John L. Lewis and Tony Boyle, leadership of the nation’s chief opposition union has fallen to Walter Reuther and Jimmy Hoffa, representing the left and right of the organization. With widespread prosecutions against members and supporters such as Fulgencio Batista, however, Reuther and Hoffa have found themselves fighting to prevent the CIO’s collapse. Nonetheless, the CIO would hold a 1950 celebration of the life of former Vice President Lena Morrow Lewis, with President Alf Landon hailing her role in the opposition and using the funeral as a means to rally anti-La Follette sentiment.
-Following a career in national politics spanning nearly seven decades, former President William Randolph Hearst would stop the presses for a final time on August 14th of 1951, passing away at the age of 88 in his castle in San Simeon, California. Having been alternately king and kingmaker in American politics for a half century, Hearst’s funeral would leave the streets around the Grace Cathedral full for blocks, with his son and heir William Randolph Hearst Jr. managing proceedings. Yet, in light of Hearst’s turn to the opposition and support for Fulgencio Batista, President La Follette would be notably absent from the funeral of the man who once coronated him the Farmer-Labor Party’s nominee for the presidency.
-President La Follette would push for the statehood of the territory of Tannenbaum, initially in a tandem effort with Territorial Representative Ernest Gruening’s push for Jewish colonization of the region as an alternative to the increasingly violent Palestine. However, with public sentiment against statehood riled up by Father Charles Coughlin in a campaign tinged by anti-semitism, Senator Henrik Shipstead would filibuster the statehood bill, prompting the Administration to declare a moratoria on statehood efforts and a reconsideration of whether statehood stands in line with national security interest.
-At the urging of singer turned Tennessee Governor Roy Acuff, a group of anti-La Follette Hollywood stars have formed The Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, including Jane Russell, Ronald Reagan, Zasu Pitts, Gloria Swanson, June Allyson, Pat Buttram, Orson Welles, and Shirley Temple.
-Senator John Horne Blackmore has proposed an additional tax on chain stores to encourage the development of small business, while he, former New York Governor Ezra Pound, and publisher James Laughlin have called for the revival of the American social credit movement.
-Alabama and Illinois have established themselves as the fastest growing states in the nation, demonstrating success in Single Taxer Paul Douglas’s new “Illinois Model” as well as the continued prosperity of Alabama in the wake of Milford W. Howard’s fascist “Alabama Model” that has inspired emulation globally.
-Farmer-Laborite Maine Senator Benjamin Bubar’s investigation of Hollywood has led to the firing or blacklisting of several dozen actors on charges of alleged homosexuality, with the Administration attempting to tie the issue to support for the President’s political opposition, citing the blacklisting of Greta Garbo and Tennessee Williams as precedent for the firing of longtime members of the foreign service on charges of possible homosexual activities.
-Notable inventions and scientific breakthroughs during President La Follette’s term include the discovery of DNA by scientist Rosalind Franklin; the hydrogen bomb, newly tested on the island of Sakhalin; the first successful kidney transplant; and a revolutionary new vaccine for polio invented by University of Alabama doctor Jonas Salk.
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In John L. Lewis's stead, dynamic young Jimmy Hoffa has led the independent labor movement.
The Supreme Court:
-Justice Thomas C. O’Brien, appointed in 1939 as a part of President Lindbergh’s takeover of the court, would die in November of 1951 at the age of 64. With the Presidency still reeling from impeachment, La Follette would nominate Michigan Supreme Court Justice Evo DeConcini to the position. However, the hostile Senate would overwhelmingly refuse to confirm the appointment, with Progressive-Federalist Leader George Pritchard vowing to oppose any La Follette nominee. With neither side budging, the position has remained vacant.
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Map of the world as of 1952.
World Events:
-After 9 years of prolonged conflict, the Franco-British War would conclude in August of 1950 with the Treaty of Amsterdam signed by Marshal Petain and British Prime Minister Oliver Baldwin, largely ceding French colonies to the British Empire, with the exception of the Congo, on the time table for independence, and Guiana and Algeria, incorporated directly into metropolitan France. Meanwhile, French dominion has been de facto recognized over most of Western Europe, with the west bank of the Rhine, Catalonia, Luxembourg, and Belgium directly incorporated into France while Germany has been divided into a series of puppet states.
-Although the Spanish Republic has survived, the French-influenced, Catholic monarchist CEDA led by José María Valiente Soriano has received significant funding in challenging Prime Minister Jose Ortega y Gasset, with a similar situation emerging in Italy following the democratization of the nation by former dictator Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, who has been succeeded by the pro-French Achille Lauro.
-Alongside the neutral Netherlands, Portugal has stood outside of the French bloc, as fascist leader Francisco Rolão Preto has held onto power while courting the support of both Bolshevik Russia and the United States, explicitly citing Milford W. Howard as his model for rule.
-In what the French government has labeled “le épuration de la frontière,” (the border purification), a forced exodus has occurred from newly annexed territories, driving millions from their communities and largely to French Africa, where the government has resettled hundreds of thousands each of Catalans, Germans, Greeks, Flemish Belgians, Italians, and the Occitan as French settlers claim their former homes.
-Meanwhile, the international process of decolonization has sped up rapidly, with a proposal by Choudhary Rahmat Ali being adopted by the British to partition the former Raj and form the states of India and Pakistan, alongside a Christian state in the far east.
-Mexican Prime Minister Manuel Gomez Morin has emerged as the primary center of power in the Empire after the crowning of 8 year old Maximiliano II as Emperor.
-Under the leadership of Prime Minister George Drew, the Progressive-Conservatives have won yet another Canadian election, yet the rise of the Social Credit Party in Quebec has driven them to status as the nation’s official opposition. Drew has hosted an Anglo-American Summit alongside President La Follette and Newfoundland Prime Minister Joey Smallwood.
-With Bolshevik Russia as the senior partner, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics has been established as an alliance between Russia and its satellite states in Kazakhstan and the Caucasus.
-The Hashemite Caliphate has experienced increased unrest in both Palestine, where radical Jewish and Muslim militias have clashed, and the majority Christian regions of Mount Lebanon and newly annexed Nubia, where order has been nearly impossible to enforce.
-Following the death of Jorge Carlos Mariategui after two decades at the helm of Peru, Jorge del Prado Chavez has succeeded him, shifting the nation further towards Bolshevik Russia and ending all possibility of Peru entering a Pacific defense pact.
-The National Party’s oppressive regime of white rule in South Africa has been used as a model by a growing movement for a white minority government among the displaced, largely German white population in the French Congo, slated for independence within the decade.
-Social Democrat Mohammed Mossadegh has been elected President of the Republic of Iran, bringing the Georgist nation closer to Bolshevik Russia geopolitically as a counterweight to fiercely pro-British Caliph Abdullah and pro- French Turkish President Celâl Bayar.
-Greek dictator Konstantinos Logothetopoulos would be deposed in a 1952 revolution following the successful secession of the Aromanians, with communist Markos Vafeiadis leading a Provisional Democratic People’s Government with Bolshevik support. However, prominent author Nikos Kazantzakis has emerged at the fore of an anti-Vafeiadis protest movement for democratic socialism influenced by Georges Sorel.
-Adopted throughout the Habsburg Realm, Soviet Union, and among many Jews in Palestine and Europeans in the Congo, the Esperanto language has gained nearly 50,000,000 speakers and become the official language of diplomacy for the newly founded Republic of Korea.
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Bolshevik Russia's \"Iron Lazar\" Kaganovich.
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(Very long post...)
People have told me that they enjoy these sorts of comparisons between the English and Japanese versions of FEH's story and character writing, so I thought to make a post about Freyr and Freyja, who are some of my favourite characters from this game. This was sparked by discussions I've had with friends about how Freyja really feels about her brother. Though she's well known for her love for him, it seems some people adamantly contest whether her feelings are romantic and/or sexual in nature.
It may seem arbitrary, but I quite like taking a closer look at FEH OCs, who are commonly brushed off as shallow and inferior to "main series characters". This doubled with an interest in localization changes, which I enjoy sharing with those who may be unfamiliar with the original Japanese version of media like FEH, inspired me to investigate this topic. It's not rare for FEH's English version to change or tone things down, after all (and from what I can tell, Book IV was hit the hardest), so I wanted to really look into how differently the ENG and JP versions handle Freyja's infamous brother-loving tendencies.
While in my eyes, it's rather apparent that Freyja is yet another case of a long-held Fire Emblem tradition, this post is not intended for me to preach my own perspective. I will instead attempt to provide a balanced perspective and just do my best to compile anything that might provide insight into Freyja's feelings toward him, along with their relationship in general, and compare it with the Japanese version, especially if there are differences. Is it more explicit, confirmed, refuted, or otherwise? Without further ado, let us see.
(Disclaimer: I am not a native Japanese speaker, nor am I fluent in the language. Japanese and English are very different languages, so when translating, I will attempt to do so as faithfully as I can while making it flow more naturally in English.)
From Book IV's Story
(For the sake of efficiency, only the relevant parts of each interaction will be included.)
Freyja's first appearance (albeit without art) in the main story is in Book IV Chapter 4 - 5, where it is immediately established that she holds very strong feelings for her brother, wishing to have his affection and attention all to herself and being envious of mortals for receiving it instead of her.
[ENG] Freyja: It has been so long, Brother...and this is how you greet me, your beloved sister? Freyr: I will ask once more, Freyja... What are you doing here? Freyja: The world is just so dull without you, Brother. You should come to my world... Come with me, to Dökkálfheimr. [...] Freyr: Stop this, Freyja. Mortals should be given pleasant things... All living things deserve so much. Freyja: It's sickening how highly you think of them. Unfortunate such adoration only strengthens my resolve. [...] I alone am worthy of your love, your admiration...your gifts...ANY of it! I will not be made a FOOL by some pitiful beast that can barely manage to control its most base impulses! [...] I can think of no gift more suitable for those who would steal from me my brother's attentions... Suffering!
[JP Translated] Freyja: ...Long time no see, Brother. Freyr: Freyja... Why have you come here? Freyja: Because a world without you is dull, Brother. I will have you come to my world...to Dökkálfheimr. [...] Freyr: Stop this, Freyja. Mortals should live happy lives... Freyja: ...As always, you think of mortals. I am envious. [...] Aah, unforgivable. Unforgivable... To think my brother's love lies with humans... [...] It is time you receive your comeuppance for stealing my brother's heart, mortals...
She's a lot more animated in the English version, eh. The next relevant story segment is Chapter 9 - 3, where they speak with each other once more, and again Freyja expresses her jealousy:
[ENG] Freyja: Ever the stubborn one, Brother. Always concerned with the mortals, but never with me... But this necklace will surely change your mind...isn't that right?
[JP Translated] Freyja: ...You never change, Brother. Always [thinking about] mortals, and never me... Aah...aaah... But, if you wear this necklace...surely you will look at me... Right?
Minimal difference here. Next up is Chapter 9 - 5, which presents nothing we don't already know, but I thought to include it regardless.
[ENG] Freyja: Where is the fun in allowing you such an easy, painless end. Surely thieves who sought to steal my brother's heart deserve a proper amount of punishment...
[JP Translated] Freyja: But, hey. I won't allow you have such an easy ending. Not until after I tease the thieves who stole my brother's heart plenty more...
Next, we get to hear crucial information from Freyr in Chapter 10 - 1:
[ENG] Freyr: I comforted her... But soon she smiled for me alone. Then...having grown, she began to speak of never parting...of wanting to be ever in my gentle presence... [...] Before long, Freyja's beauty blossomed... Many sought to court her, but she allowed none to woo her... For this, too, I am no doubt to blame.
[JP Translated] Freyr: After I gave her words of consolation...my sister began to only show her smile to me. And then...she said that one day, when she grew up, she would like to [marry] someone who is compassionate like me... [...] Eventually, Freyja grew so beautiful that she could steal anyone's heart... Many people asked for her hand in marriage, but she didn't accept anyone's affections... I suppose that is also my sin...
This is one of the most damning pieces of evidence against Freyja's love for Freyr being non-romantic. However, for the sake of the argument, Freyr's words can be interpreted in two ways. On the one hand, Occam's Razor suggests that Freyja refusing courtship from others indicates that she's only interested in Freyr and no one else. On the other hand, it could be that because she was rejected by everyone except Freyr in her childhood, that trauma bred enough resentment within her to where she in turn rejects everyone but her brother, who always stood by her. They're not mutually exclusive by any means, but the first interpretation outright affirms the romantic nature of Freyja's love for Freyr, whereas the second focuses on how Freyja views people besides Freyr and leaves how she feels about him more vague.
As for Freyr's last line about it being his fault, it can also be read in two ways. Applying Occam's Razor again, Freyr could be saying that Freyja rejected everyone who sought to marry her because she wished to be with him instead. However, taking into consideration what we know about Freyr, he has a tendency to feel immense guilt, regretting turning children into álfar and apologizing for Freyja's antics on her behalf. One might see this as just another instance of him placing too much blame on himself. He is also merely speaking from his perspective and may very well not have a complete grasp on what Freyja thinks, so compared to evidence straight from the horse's (well, goat's) mouth, his words might not hold as much weight.
At the end of the same chapter, we get another important scene in the form of Freyr's death. In their final moments together, they exchange these words:
[ENG] Freyja: Brother, no! If you die, I— Are they...truly so dear to you as this? Freyr: Nothing has ever been more important...than you, Freyja. But as long as I am with you, the mortals will suffer...until you finally destroy them. I could not bear to see you become that... So, for your sake... Goodbye...Sister... Freyja: Brother... NOOOOO! [...] ...UuuuaaaAAAGGGHHH!! No... Not like this... This is not... This is not what I wanted... I just...wanted you to smile at me again, Brother... I just wanted to feel loved again... And now... All my hopes...all my...rrrraaaAAAGGGHHH!
[JP Translation] Freyja: Stop it, Brother! Without you, I...! Are mortals truly so...so important to you...? Freyr: To me...you, Freyja, are more important than anything. Perhaps because of what we work as gods...so long as I exist, you will bring calamity upon mortals...until you eventually destroy them all... I love you... And because I do, I do not wish to see you become that... So...for your sake...it is better that I disappear. Goodbye, Sister... ... Freyja: NOOOOO! Brother...Bro...ther... [...] Ah...aah...aaaaah... I didn't... I didn't...wish for this... I just...wanted you to look at me... I just wanted you to love me... And yet...aah...aaah...AAAAAAAAAAAH!
Both versions convey similar things, and it again doesn't establish anything we didn't know already. The next relevant moment comes in Chapter 11 - 3, after Freyja sends Plumeria to stop us:
[ENG] Freyja: Fight, little álfar... Fight to the death. Feel the pain of lost love—the pain I felt when my brother was taken from me...
[JP Translation] Freyja: Kill each other, álfar... You shall also feel the pain, the sorrow...that I felt when I lost my brother.
The word 'love' is only present in the English version here. Next comes before we fight her at the end of the chapter:
[ENG] Freyja: Do not worry. I will not end your lives right away. If I did, the pain...the loss...of my brother would— RrrraaaAAAGGGHHH! Brother! Why?! How could you! After everything! ...AAAHHH!
[JP Translated] Freyja: It's alright, I won't kill you right away. If I don't do that, the pain and grief...of losing my brother would... Aah...aah...AAAAH! Brother...why...AAAAAH!
Another scene with minimal differences between languages, though she's once again more dramatic in the English version. It isn't until Chapter 13 - 3 that Freyja's feelings toward Freyr are addressed again:
[ENG] Freyja: Triandra, tell m— ... ...Isn't that something. With my life, Triandra and Plumeria could... No. None of that matters. The only thing that matters is my brother. Him and him alone. None of that matters...
[JP Translated] Freyja: Triandra, wh... ... ...That's right. Because of my orders, Triandra...and Plumeria...are also... ...That doesn't matter. My brother is all that is precious to me, after all. ...Yes. That doesn't matter...
Yet again, they say functionally the same thing. Now, why did I include the bit about Triandra and Plumeria when they aren't relevant to this topic? Please humour me as I momentarily derail this dissertation to have a nerd moment. See how in the ENG version, Freyja mentions her life, whereas in the JP version, she talks about the commands she gave them. The Japanese word for 'order' is '命令' and the word for 'life' is '命'. Notice how the latter is present in the former? I believe this may have been an oversight by the translators who didn't see the second character of 'order' and thought Freyja said 'life', leading to the discrepancy between versions.
As some have noted, a similar mistake likely occurred in the translation of Book VII's Chapter 7 - 3, where the ENG version initially stated that Nerþuz is Freyr and Freyja's mother when she is supposed to be their aunt. The Japanese word for 'aunt' is '叔母', which incorporates the word for 'mother', '母', so the error could have sprung from overlooking the '叔'. As you may know, this was rectified in a later patch. However, the discrepancy in Freyja's aforementioned line remains untouched, likely because it still works (and serves as a healthy amount of foreshadowing for the finale).
Speaking of which, let's get back on track. At the end of Book IV, Freyja has these words to offer about her brother as she is about to enter her vegetative coma:
[ENG] Freyja: Triandra. Plumeria... I loved my brother—and only him. He was everything to me. I never loved you, because only my brother meant anything to me. [...] I never understood my brother, why he loved humans, why he would throw his life away... [...] I will never understand this. My brother alone meant anything to me, and yet, even still...with you two, here...now... You've made me...smile.
[JP Translated] Freyja: Hey, Triandra...Plumeria... I loved my brother...him alone. [He] was everything to me. I never loved you... Because to me, nothing but my brother held any value. [...] I was never able to understand my brother's heart... Why he cherished mortals... Why he would throw his life away for someone else... [...] ... ...I don't understand. Even though... Even though nothing matters to me besides my brother... ...I am glad...
Negligible difference here. And so ends what we can glean from Book IV of the main story.
From Paralogue 61: Summer's Dream
As far as I can recall, this is the only Paralogue with anything remotely relevant to this debate. Even then, it's only about Freyja's personal growth and not so much about their relationship:
[ENG] Freyja: [...] Perhaps if I wear the clothing of mortals, and learn more about their ways... There's a chance I will learn to understand my brother and his love for such creatures.
[JP Translated] Freyja: [...] If I wear the clothing of mortals, and learn about their ways...perhaps I will be able to understand my brother's heart.
Indeed, post-Book IV Freyja (story-wise) is much more mellow and open-minded due to her world no longer being limited to just her brother. She doesn't, to my knowledge, even talk about Freyr at all in Paralogue 83: Spring Eternal, or the entire Nihility & Dream Tempest Trials+ story. Seeing as no new insight can be gathered from supplementary story segments, let's just end this short section off with their little conversation at the end of the summer Paralogue for curiosity's sake:
[ENG] Plumeria: Dream-King Freyr, what do you think of Lady Freyja's new flower? It suits her well, don't you think? Freyr: Yes... It is...truly beautiful. Freyja: Oh, Brother, you are too kind...
[JP Translated] Plumeria: Lord Freyr, please look at Lady Freyja. Her flower ornament really suits her. Freyr: Yes, it's beautiful. Freyja: Brother...
The English version is a tad 'fluffier', so to speak. Nothing notable, but this is Freyja's last canon interaction with Freyr, so it may be remiss to exclude it.
From Unit Dialogue and Descriptions
Now let's see what information our playable units can provide us with. The amount of dialogue other characters have commenting on Freyr and Freyja's relationship is quite sparse, so this will nearly all be from Freyr and Freyja's various playable iterations. I will tackle all relevant lines starting with Base Freyja's voice lines:
[ENG] "Ah! Unforgivable! You're not Freyr."
[JP Translated] "Ah?! U-unacceptable... Only my brother is permitted to touch me."
Japanese is more on the nose with this one, but it's nothing compared to this next line:
[ENG] "The love my brother and I feel is deeper than most siblings..."
[JP Translated] "My brother and I require a deeper love between us, different than that of a sibling bond."
It's a pretty clunky line to translate, but I tried to retain as much detail and nuance as possible. The most literal translation I can come up with is "For me and my brother, not the bond between siblings, but a deeper love, is needed." This is another pretty incriminating line, so to speak, since she specifies that what she feels they require is not the love between brother and sister. As for what she could possibly be referring to...come to what conclusions you will.
Now let's quickly run through her remaining relevant voice lines:
[ENG] "Since the day Freyr rebuffed me, I have made the realm of nightmares my home." "Why, Freyr? My love for you... Why?" "You resemble him not one iota. So tell me...why do I care?"
[JP Translated] "Since the day my brother rejected me...I have resided in the realm of nightmares." "Aah, Brother...even though I love you so..." "You are someone who is nothing like my brother... Yet, why..."
Nothing much of note. Next, Base Freyja's castle quotes:
[ENG] "I detest mortals... If not for them, I would still be at my brother's side." "When I was young, I was tormented for the way I looked. Only my brother was ever kind to me... Only he showed me love." "You've interrupted my reminiscence. What is it that you want?"
[JP Translated] "I hate humans... They stole my brother's heart, after all..." "When I was young, unsightly as a pig...only my brother treated me kindly... Back then, I..." "What business do you have with me? I am preoccupied with being immersed in memories of my brother."
Quite a few liberties were taken with the ENG lines, but it's not as if much new information is revealed in them either way.
Now then, Base Freyja is the only Freyja alt that has Freyr referenced in her unit description. And lo and behold, she actually has two of them! ...In the English version, at least. It curiously differs between her enemy incarnation in the main story maps and her playable form, while the Japanese description remains consistent:
[ENG] "Queen of Dökkálfheimr, realm of nightmares. Loves her older brother Freyr dearly, raging with bitter jealousy at his care for lesser mortal creatures." (Enemy) "The queen of Dökkálfheimr, the nightmare realm. Her love for her brother Freyr drives her to wish she could stay with him no matter the cost." (Playable)
[JP Translated] "Queen of Dökkálfheimr, the realm of nightmares. Loves her brother Freyr and wishes to have all of him to herself."
It's cool how all three address different aspects of her feelings: her desire to be by his side, her possessiveness of him, and the jealousy she feels toward others. All of it stems from her love for him which, incestuous in nature or not, is evidently very unhealthy. Now let's move onto Summer Freyja's voice lines:
[ENG] "You brought me to the beach alongside my dear brother... So, you can be sensible." "I hope to enjoy the sun and sea here with my brother. *sigh* It has been so long since we've had such time together..."
[JP Translated] "[You brought] me and my brother to the sea...how considerate of you." "I want to have innocent fun with my brother again, just like when we were young..."
Like Base Freyja's castle lines, while the lines are slightly distinct between languages, they don't really provide additional insight. Freyja is being sincere and just wants to spend time with Freyr at the beach, absent any untoward intentions she may or may not have in other scenarios, so I'd say at best it's not proving anything in either direction. Next are her castle lines:
[ENG] "The steady rhythm of the waves reminds me of my gentle brother's comforting voice." "The summer sunlight glittering over the water's surface brings visions of my brother's smile to my mind..."
[JP Translated] "The gentle sound of the waves somehow reminds me of my brother's voice." "The sparkling rays of the summer sun... They surely befit my brother's smile."
Another instance where the ENG version is a bit 'fluffier', but still nothing noteworthy. Now, this is only barely relevant and also not helpful, but I'll include this line at the end of her 5 Star Lvl. 40 conversation for good measure:
[ENG] "[...] But for now, in this moment...let me sink into a dream of summer love and reflect on those days now long past."
[JP Translated] "[...] Right now, in this moment...I shall immerse myself in a dream of summer love, while recalling my brother's voice..."
She only directly references Freyr in the JP version. Now, to take a look at Spring Karla, for whom Freyja acts as a backpack and thereby gains additional dialogue. Here are the only voiced lines related to Freyr:
[ENG] Karla: Lady Freyja, did something also happen between you and your brother? Freyja: Yes. Though my experience is not one you could comprehend. Because no matter if decades or even centuries pass...the distance between us can grow no smaller.
[JP Translated] Karla: Lady Freyja, did something also happen between you and your brother? Freyja: It's not something a human like you can understand. Even if decades or centuries pass...the distance between me and my brother grows no smaller.
Nothing of note. Then there's this castle line, which doesn't offer any new information, but it's the only other line about Freyr:
[ENG] Freyja: I cannot forgive the mortals that took my brother from me. However...I will not hold it against the children enjoying this festival.
[JP Translated] Freyja: I will not forgive the mortals that stole my brother from me. However...I will not have the children enjoying the festival shoulder the blame.
That's all from Spring Karla. Now, Eitr's a tricky case, since she 1. has laser-guided amnesia, and 2. may be a manifestation of Freyja from a time before she would have developed her unhealthy obsession with her brother (seeing as she has the nose mark, she's still on the younger side). However, for completeness' sake, I'll at least include the one time where she does reference Freyr (albeit indirectly):
[ENG] "I...had a dream I...wanted to tell you about. It was a scary one, but... someone was there to save me. I don't remember their face, but they were very kind..."
[JP Translated] "[...] You see, I...had a dream. It was a very scary dream...but someone saved me. I don't remember their face, but they were a very kind person..."
As expected, it's exceedingly unhelpful and probably not admissible in court to boot, but there it is. Now then, let's turn our attention to the other party in this relationship. Here is Base Freyr's only relevant voiced line:
[ENG] "Oh, Freyja... Though I love you, I...I cannot..."
[JP Translated] "Freyja...I love you. But, that is..."
You cannot what, Freyr? That is what, Freyr? Alas, the man trails off before giving any possibly useful information. Perhaps these are the words he spoke back when he rebuffed her, but due to not finishing his sentence, we have been deprived of crucial evidence. His only other Freyja-related line is this castle quote:
[ENG] "My sister, Freyja, is...precious to me. It is my love for her that drives me to stop her from harming mortals..."
[JP Translated] "My sister Freyja is irreplaceable to me. That is precisely why I do not with to see her subject mortals to disaster..."
It's similar to what he says on his deathbed, so it's nothing we've never heard before. Moving on, besides commenting on her presence at the beach, his Summer alt only really addresses Freyja once in this voice line:
[ENG] "How long has it been since you were so untroubled, Freyja..."
[JP Translated] "Freyja... How long has it been since I last saw you smile so innocently..."
This is not to mean that Freyja now smiles at him non-innocently... In this context, it seems to me that he's talking about how unburdened and carefree Freyja is while at the beach, like a child, and he's reminiscing about how she used to be when she was young and not weighed down by as much baggage. Nothing to see here. To end off this section, Attuned Peony is, to my knowledge, the only other unit who comments on Freyr and Freyja's relationship, and even then she doesn't have much to say:
[ENG] "If anything can happen in dreams, then King Freyr and Lady Freyja may still one day find peace once more..."
[JP Translated] "If it's in a dream...surely Lord Freyr and Lady Freyja will be able to make amends (get along again).
Sometimes I wonder just how much or little the fairies know about their lieges' relationship, seeing how they barely address it, if at all. Plumeria especially I imagine would feel quite conflicted if she knew the master she served and adored held untoward desires for her brother, being the game's resident prude extraordinaire, yet she offers no input on the matter. Some take this as an indication that Freyja's feelings aren't romantic/sexual in nature, because surely Plumeria would have much to say if it indeed was, but I'm not certain that suffices as evidence, per se.
From Meet the Heroes
Now comes time to look at the Meet the Heroes entries of the sibling duo's playable versions. Starting with Base Freyja's, which by far goes into the most depth:
[ENG] "[...] Freyja was once a compassionate goddess who treasured love in all its forms. However, a childhood of ridicule left her heartbroken, making her brother Freyr her only source of affection. When Freyr chose to put the mortal world before her whims, Freyja was inconsolable, so she took to living in the realm of nightmares. Envious of Freyr’s love for the mortals, she used her own love to control them, all so Freyr’s smile would be for her alone. And that’s how Freyja came to be the queen of the realm of nightmares. Do you think that things between her and Freyr can ever be the same again?"
[JP Translated] "[...] Freyja was once the Goddess of Love who enjoyed loving and being loved by others. However, she loves her brother Freyr to the point where it exceeds the feelings siblings hold towards one another. Heartbroken after Freyr rejected those feelings, she came to live in the nightmare realm. She began to control the mortals her brother loved using her own love, wanting him to look at her... That's how Freyja came to reign as queen over the realm of nightmares. Please make amends with Freyr someday!"
Unsurprisingly (to me, at least), the Japanese version emphasizes the fact that Freyja's love for Freyr goes beyond sibling affection once again while the English version dances around it. The straightforward reading of this excerpt would be that Freyr didn't reciprocate that kind of love, which led to their falling out and long-time separation. Makes a lot of sense to me, but do share alternative interpretations if you have them. Let's see this section of Summer Freyja's entry now:
[ENG] "She also brought a really cute goat-shaped floatie along with her! Is it just me, or do I see a bit of Freyr in it? Those two really are inseparable!"
[JP Translated] "Her cute goat-shaped floatie seems to be modelled after her brother Freyr. Fitting for Freyja as a big brother's girl (like a daddy's girl or mama's boy)!"
If anything, the fact that the accompanying art for this segment depicts her kissing the floatie is more noteworthy, but it feels kind of disingenuous to use that as evidence of anything, haha. The only other entry with even vaguely useful content is Summer Freyr's:
[ENG] "[...] And what’s that in his hand? Why, it’s a cool, refreshing pineapple juice! I see it has two straws, so he must be meaning to share it with his sister, Freyja! Freyr typically looks calm and serene, but I think I can see a little smile on his face. I hope he and Freyja have a wonderful time at the beach!"
[JP Translated] "[...] The pineapple juice he holds in his hand looks delicious! I hear it has two straws so he can drink it together with his sister Freyja! Freyr is always calm, but he seems to be having more fun than usual. Please enjoy the summer sea to the fullest with Freyja!"
Just like with the floatie kiss, I don't think the fact they intend to share the same drink by using two straws is indicative of one thing or another. Merely a fun little detail.
From the Illustrations Book
Last but not least comes the currently Japanese-exclusive art book, namely the second volume, which covers Book IV (and V, but we're not talking about that right now). Naturally, as a resident Book IV fanatic, I am in possession of a copy. While it's called an illustrations book, it in fact includes things like plot and character summaries and valuable extra lore that you cannot find anywhere else. In the future, I intend to translate the notable parts of the Book IV-dedicated section for those who don't have the art book and/or cannot read Japanese, But for now, all I will include is this excerpt from the overview of the plot line "Freyja's reckless behaviour and jealousy towards humans because she desperately wanted her brother":
https://preview.redd.it/ccqtny1gnh0d1.png?width=657&format=png&auto=webp&s=43387c435f5cedcdcf537e86152a6a920537ef90
The underlined text (フレイヤは兄フロージに対して血縁者以上の感情を抱き) restates that "Freyja holds feelings for Freyr that exceed [what one feels toward] blood relatives". Once more the Japanese version is very eager to highlight this fact. Whether this art book will eventually be translated into English remains to be seen, but I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being slightly sanitized and less forward with the incestuous undertones (or overtones, depending on your view).
And thus concludes what I have for you all today. I hope this was informative and enjoyable for those who have taken the time to read. Thank you, and please keep things civil in the comments!

Good morning everyone, AcA here and I have a brief (haha) update for you this morning. I felt it was pressing to give everyone an idea of what I am seeing and feeling headed into the next epoch of space weather. What a ride AR3663/3664 were? Long before most of you showed up for the biggest storm in decades, AR3663 was trying to get there, only to be usurped by AR3664 stealing the show. Well AR3664 has now departed, and the sunspot situation is complex, but not as intense as before it left. There are certainly more spots and active regions, but we are missing one with significant complexity and size like AR3664. As a result, we can probably expect a quieter stretch of space...
Something wild just happened. Something that has happened numerous times since I have started this. Call it stupid, tell me I am ate up, call it woo woo, I don't care. I don't call it anything, I juste note its occurence. As I am writing this brief little snippet, X-Ray spikes, and topped out at X2.99. For the last 10 days, when I have seen magnitudes like that, I automatically go to AR3664, or went to I should say, but AR3664 is gone...so what AR is responsible? I can barely see the leading edge of the plage, but it must be respectable.
That is the beauty. Nobody knows. It is not visible and as a result has not received a numeral yet and we have zero real idea of what it looks like. However, we can extract 3 key details from this information.

• The sun is still very active - X flaring continued overnight with an X3.3 overnight and this most recent X2.99~ from a new contender.
• Something imposing is hiding behind the limb, and will be rotating into view, and appears that it will be X capable off jump street.
• The flare topped out at X2.99, but based on the signature, I would not be surprised if the actual flare magnitude is north of that. THis often happens when flares occur so far on the limb they are occulted by the sun. It affects our probes ability to measure it.
• The radio emission from this flare was over 1000 km/s. Wowzers

https://preview.redd.it/mg1mt1ugvl0d1.png?width=818&format=png&auto=webp&s=ebf33ff307f1bc8dde5b507717bd2a1b221077ee
EDIT 3:40 EST: ALthough I cannot personally get the updated coronagraph showing the CME from this bad boy, its quite impressive. As is the CME activity of the past few days in general. EXPLOSIVE. Here is a twitter link to the swl tweet showing the CME - https://twitter.com/_SpaceWeather_/status/1790688547042742406?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1790688547042742406%7Ctwgr%5E0d6db1ff31642a3570675540dc4fa5b8904272ab%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.spaceweatherlive.com%2Fen%2Fnews%2Fview%2F542%2F20240515-more-x-flares.html
Here is a link to the most recent C2 imagery but it only runs thru 5/13. Impressive none the less. This link is awesome because it shows you a side by side. These are some big booms. Certainly not rivaling the biggest ever or anything like that, but impressive anyway.
I do have a short video of a CME from yesterday because it is not included in the link above and its a doozy. Not aimed at us, dont worry, but these spots rotating in came to party.
https://reddit.com/link/1csobnd/video/fm8dqeku7n0d1/player
Also I did some digging and found out that the AR which fired off the X2.9 described in this update has a long history going back to 4/21/2022. Its numeral was AR13654, but will be different this go around. Our last glance at it was on 5/3 and it had decayed significantly. I wonder what it looks like now?
Buckle up folks. Now hopefully you have got the drift. There is no certainty here. I think many people are forgetting one key fact about this game. Its comprised of two words. Space & Weather. Space suggests its distant, massive, and on scales far bigger than a human. Weather suggests its an interconnected and dynamic system of more variables than we can track or understand. Our brightest minds, best models, and best computers, cannot tell you with any high degree of certainty whether it will storm 5-7 days from now, maybe not even rain. If that is the bar for terrestrial weather, than what is it for space weather? I give you my take. I give you my analysis. I hope I am right, and alot of you are here because I have had a pretty good track record so far. Do not think for one second that I don't know that track record could fall apart tomorrow. I need you to understand that. All I can say for sure is the watch continues and while these CMEs are not earth directed, the active regions making these big booms are rotating around and some will have their turn.
Internally though? That is a different story. My confidence is rising. My perception broadening and my understanding increasing. The beauty of space weather currently, is at some point you have to make a gut call. You read the same data as everyone else, and you make your prediction. The finer brush strokes don't always come out perfect, but the big picture is definitely coherent at this point.
OFFICIAL FORECAST - SUN
https://preview.redd.it/9bja58vvvl0d1.png?width=414&format=png&auto=webp&s=9bc0bf36701972c3c52f5e74e004db2bc937e34b
I expect a brief lull in activity affecting earth. Flaring may remain slightly elevated but we cannot escape the fact that AR3664 is out of the mix. The other groups are growing, but they are not growing exceptionally fast. That could change and we will keep close eyes on active regions. Here is a link to all SDO imagery with a few pointers
AIA 131 Teal - best for capturing the flash of flares.
AIA 171 Gold - best for capturing magnetic connections, overall activity, post arcade loops
AIA 211 Purple - best for capturing eruptivity during flares and dimming
AIA 193 Bronze - good for coronal holes esp, but a blend of 171 and 211 showing activity and a glimpse of eruptivity
AIA 304 Red - best for plasma filaments and prominences and eruptivity
The others are great too and have various specialities but the primary ones are above.
If existing active regions do intensify, the forecast will change. We cannot assume they will, although I think they will. The sun is active overall and is able to generate big flares from any location or sunspot group. Even though the existing are not huge gashes like AR3664, AR3664 had humble beginnings too. Even though the spots on the disk are compact, they are fairly intense. I believe the official forecast reflects this. Even with AR3664 off the disk and no longer listed, the M-Class chances are 75% (too low) and the X-Class chances are 40% (I agree). They are seeing the same thing.
OFFICIAL FORECAST -EARTH
WSA-ENLIL shows an atypical setup. There are some small CMEs in the pipe and we are passing through a solar wind enhancement. Not sure where it came from but the parker spiral action is carrying it to and through us. Nothing big out there right now though. CME production remains elevated, including several potential full and partial halo, but currently nothing substantial aimed directly at us. DONKI shows a minor impact in the coming days with max Kp3.
Our star has made its most prolific run yet over the past few weeks. Both generating massive geomagnetic storms on earth and massive flares. Yes, SC23 was more intense in every facet, but SC25 is not over. It has already far exceeded SC24 though and its not close. Get this little fact.
In SC24 there were approximately 48 X-Class flares in the entire cycle which spanned from 2008-2019. In the past 2 weeks have seen more than 25% of that total. In 2 weeks, we got 25% of the way to the entire total of the previous 11 year cycle. And that does not even count the years and months prior of SC25, just the last 2 weeks. I think Mr McIntosh can take a victory lap. He went against the grain, called this a big cycle in direct opposition to NOAA on the basis of his own theory. Bravo! Its not done. We are in solar maximum and that is clear, but what is not clear is just how max this max will be? Nobody can predict the future or what will happen tomorrow on the sun, but I can say that there has NEVER been a better time in all of our recorded civilization to get acquainted with and understand space weather. Not only because of the activity level, the tools available to everyone for free, but because we must be on watch. We are the watchers. If you are here, you know what is up. The rest of the world does not. They do not understand space weather and the think its impossible to do so. Too complicated. Well that is where you come in. Learn it. Understand it. Teach it. Its going to matter in the coming decades, and I would bet everything I own on that. Does that mean CE 2.0? Hell no. Don't immediate jump to extremes, but here is the simple facts. We hit extreme storm levels last weekend from not so extreme storms. It did not harm anything. No widespread damage, just some localized stuff. A transformer blew up in a city about 50 miles from me overnight. Don't see that often. Could it be coincidence it occurred as our earth is trying to process all of the excess energy and current coursing through it? Sure it could be, but I am paying attention. Seismic activity is sharply rising the past few days, with significant attention paid to the south pacific and the caribbean currently. Weather and cloud anomalies all over the place and in strange places. The link to cloud anomalies shows iridiscent clouds usually spotted in polar regions only, yet these are in Vietnam. Many other places too. Are you paying attention?
Coming Article Teaser and Open Letter
I am going to touch on my article that is in the works just a little bit. A teaser if you will because I think it needs to be discussed right now, but when I release it, you will need no less than an hour to read it. It will be comprehensive and supported. I am shooting from the hip here, but I do so from an informed standpoint, the same standpoint I want you to arrive at.
What does ALL of this mean? Should I be scared? Can I jump to conclusions about this? Stop it. One day at at time. We are not scientists here. Most of us have no degrees or letters behind our names. We come armed with logic and the powers of perception, ready to learn. We are in the observation stage. We are looking for signals, correlations, coincidences, anomalies, patterns, etc. We must all determine for ourselves the truth of the matter, with our own eyes, and it starts right here at solarmax.
Now let me get something straight. I am very excited about aurora chances and the study of this field. I have no reason to believe we are in imminent danger. I have no reason to believe that we are in imminent danger tomorrow, or any other time. I recognize that like many forces of nature and the cosmos, that the sun does have the ability to make life pretty hard here, as well as makes all life possible. I give it the respect it deserves, but I do not give it fear or panic. I give it logic and rationality. Logic and rationality tells me that something is up with our planet, and I am not sure its so easily explained by the current narrative. I see man made climate change used far and wide to excuse every development from earthquakes, length of day glitches, changing earths rotation, etc and who am I to argue? I have no degrees as I said. I am just a self taught dude who likes space.
But I would offer them a challenge. Find a way to attribute last weekends massive geomagnetic storm from some relatively low magnitude CMEs to climate change. Go ahead, I will wait. No one would argue that the CMEs from 2003 were stronger, yet the effects were nearly identical and anecdotally more intense. How did our Co2 do that? They will attribute it to starlink satellites or something else man made. ESA swarm mission will tell you that its only decreased 9% on average whatever the hell that means. How can that be, if its been weakening at absolutely positively no less than 5% per century on average with modern estimates much closer to 5% per DECADE. The average rate of loss is no longer reported and is a mystery and possibly a closely guarded secret. As a result, I have no numbers or figures I can give you that I can prove. I will offer you a challenge too though.
Look around. Do you see a pattern? Do you see an acceleration of "things"? Everyone does. Cant deny it. Climate change is a good candidate for it, but we must factor last weekends geomagnetic storm in as anecdotal evidence that something could be changing, quickly. Its not proof. We could not go to a court of law and establish it as fact without refute. Some could say the CMEs combined in an unusual way and it somehow drastically magnified the overall energy content into a single wave. Maybe that is true. I cant refute it with data.
But....we can watch for the next one. We will get another big storm? I dont know. But we will be watching. If we see another storm like last weekend from low end X-Class flares, that could change. Our argument could strengthen, but we must approach it scientifically and logically, even if we are not scientists. Immanuel Velikovsky said that the test of a theory should be the explanation that requires the least in the way of modification, qualifier, and assumption to arrive at a conclusion. Pardon my french, but fuck what the mainstream is telling you. I am not saying they are lying, but am I saying trust your eyes, your instincts. This is IN you. It is in us all.
Thank you for making SolarMax a top 12% space and astronomy subreddit. I am a modest and humble man, but we are doing good work here. I am moved and touched by all of the posts, comments, questions, articles, and observations. Someone made an excellent observation overnight about the possible sympathetic nature of the flaring yesterday on direct opposite sides of the sun that I had made myself, but not brought to your attention. I thought maybe the timelapse just made it look sympathetic, but evidently others noticed too. That is what this is all about. Again, I am an armchair analyst. I make no bones about that. I have no qualifications that I could point to that says I know what I am talking about. When I say self taught, I do not just mean this subject. I am self taught in life. I barely graduated high school. I was essentially guaranteed graduation because my high school could not wait to get rid of me. If you are looking for good grammar, punctuation, syntax, etc you will not find it here and ultimately qualified or not, the results and predictions will pan out and prove it or they wont. Either way I will not lie to myself about it. I have been preparing for this for months and I did not know why I was preparing, or why I felt making this sub was so important when so many resources already exist. I am going to ride that wave, but I expect you all to keep me accountable.
I am sorry this was longer than expected. I hope you can get the message and be an adult about it. I am not saying we are in trouble, but I am saying we need to be paying attention. If you want to freak out about it, I cant stop you. Arm yourself with knowledge, and you yourself will know, when or if it is time to freak out. Arm yourself with knowledge and you will not be swayed by twitter idiots and AI written articles which sensatonalize the topic and only give the worst case CE scenario because it sells. I realize now that its not practical to guide you through each event, that we will grow past that point, and as a result, you must teach yourself with the tools here and elsewhere. Not even just for yourself, but for the rest of the world who do not understand space weather and they need someone to trust. Why not you?
With love and respect,
AcA
EDIT: I forgot to include the link to heliobiology. In the comment section I listed the effects I have personally felt and observed. I noted that in the mainstream, the connection is still disrespected, even when acknowledged at the lowest levels. That can make it difficult to know what to believe on the topic so I say skip the part where you decide what to believe. Observe your feelings, those around you, and find the connection. Like solarmax, heliobiology burst on the scene not too long ago and is growing strong at the most relevant time possible. I found this article to be a good start if you have some time on your hands.
https://www.reddit.com/Heliobiology/comments/1cqfarh/solar_disturbances_affect_human_health/

I still sit sometimes and chuckle, thinking "When Ralph Bakshi started animating The Lord of the Rings in 1976, did he know what he was going to unleash on the world?" There was also the Rankin/Bass TV special, being developed concurrently, but its the Bakshi film that, in 1979, Peter Jackson saw, and this young Photoengraver would later direct six (!) live-action Tolkien films and, between himself and co-producer Philippa Boyens, are hard to work producing three more such films. Other adaptations since - namely, The Rings of Power (especially Season One) but also games from The Shadow of Mordor to Return to Moria - have at the very least taken cues from Jackson's films. All because a Kiwi photoengraver saw a cartoon....
But the relationship between these properties is not so clear-cut as it may seem. I ednumbered the similarities and dissimilarities between Jacksons' films and The Rings of Power elsewhere. Now I want to delve deeper into the similarities and dissimilarities between Jackson and previous adaptations of Tolkien.

The Rankin/Bass TV Specials

Side-by-side video comparisons between Jackson's films and the two Rankin/Bass TV Specials do not reveal any similarities that don't come from the fact that they're adapting the same books. This is an important point: Jackson is NOT trying to make some post-modern "collage" Hollywood film. He's only tipping his hat to those adaptations of Tolkien that he had seen growing up and that influenced him personally.¹
Due to copyright, the Rankin/Bass specials probably didn't air in New Zealand at all, and although it seems Jackson got a hold of the Rankin/Bass The Hobbit before embarking on The Lord of the Rings, he had not seen their Return of the King, certainly before 1999, and neither he nor his close collaborators have made comments about either of the two Specials. By contrast, the (American!) showrunners of The Rings of Power had referenced the Rankin/Bass Specials, and seemingly tipped their hat to it in a set design for season two.²

The Ralph Bakshi film

As I said, Jackson went to see the Bakshi film. He had enjoyed some of Bakshi's previous film, including the Tolkien-esque Wizards, released the previous year, and went to see his latest. At the time he hadn't read the books, making Bakshi's film his first exposure to Tolkien, but he does admit he "heard the name" of the book beforehand. His biography suggests he saw it in late 1978, when it first premiered, but surely it would have arrived at New Zealand in early 1979.³
The connection between the two films had been played up, unsurprisingly, by Ralph Bakshi himself. A leonine, grandiose man, Bakshi is anything but a reliable narrator. His own suggestion that he hadn't actually seen the films - only trailers, he claims - sounds believable enough and certainy understandable.⁴ But, then, if he didn't watch them, it makes his critique of them as deriviative of his films all the more dubious, even without actually looking at the specifics of what he said:

Look at his Lothlorien. Look at my backgrounds of Lothlorien. Take a look! He had much more to see than I did, and if you don't think he lifted it over and over again, you're wrong. I mean, how did he design a knife in Lord of the Rings? How did he design a sword? How did he design the dwarf with his axe? How did he design the fur around him? Why did Peter Jackson put fur around the dwarf? Because I put fur around the dwarf! Why would the dwarf have fur naturally? You see, I could give you a billion little things. I wish I had a movie to look at.⁵

These are truly some confused claims, for the most part. The most credible part here is the Hobbits hiding under the branch from the Ringwraiths, a shot composition later to also be replicated in season one of the Rings of Power, and which we'll get to later.
Another claim of Bakshi's that cannot be dismissed out of hand is that, however big or small a debt Jackson owes to his film, he said that Jackson didn't publically acknowledge the influence and felt that it was only appropriate to have welcomed him to visit the set or something: by comparison, Jackson invited Rick Baker, who played King Kong in the 1978 version, to cameo in his King Kong.⁶
Jackson actually did mention the Bakshi filming in passing in the making-ofs. Then again, he entirely fails to mention the radio serial, either. Ultimately, Jackson possibly in cahoots with New Line Cinema, must have felt it unwise to point to a previous adaptation that had only achieved mixed success, at the outset of his own enterprise. He did talk more about the Bakshi film, and more fondly, in the director's commentary to The Fellowship of the Ring and in a couple of later interviews, which are significant gestures, but he clearly wasn't going to trumpet the influence Bakshi's film had on him off of every rooftop.⁷
In his 2006 biography, Jackson actually briefly reviews the Bakshi film:

I liked the early part – it had some quaint sequences in Hobbiton, a creepy encounter with the Black Rider on the road, and a few quite good battle scenes – but then, about half way through, the storytelling became very disjointed and disorientating and I really didn’t understand what was going on. However, what it did do was to make me want to read the book – if only to find out what happened!⁸

This is a complementary but admittedly mixed review, and Jackson had made similar comments since, calling it "brave and ambitious" but consistently decrying the hokum of the film's second half.⁹ Now, it is true that artists can be influenced by a work of art in spite of themselves, but lets see if we can try and quantify the influence.
From the outset, in the audio commentary, Jackson remarks that "our film stylistically is very different and the design is different," which is apposite: Bakshi swore a debt to Howard Pyle, which certainly leaves its mark of the gorgeous natural bakcdrops, but a source closer at hand (especially considering his follow-up fantasy film, Fire and Ice) is the most popular fantasy illustrator of his day, Frank Frazetta: Bakshi's Witch King is practically ripped from Frazetta's famous "Dark Rider" illustration.¹⁰
Jackson's approach, however, was steeped in a kind of romantic realism that by and large eschewed the heightened work of Frazetta, opening a yawning stylistic gulf between his film and Bakshi's on a general level. Bakshi's Hobbit-holes have overhanging roofs that give the impression of fairies living under mushrooms (which they in fact had in his previous film, Wizards) and the interiors of Bag End are earthen, more of a rabbit-hole than Jackson's English countryside villa. There are some similarities, like the Hobbits having similarly-clipped pants, but its hard to say costume designer Ngilla Dickson had Bakshi in mind for that look.
There's the basic structure of the narrative: both films leave some of the same plot beats out - Tom Bombadil, most notably - both intercut the Frodo and Aragorn storylines throughout (as per the appendices rather than the body of the text), and both open with a prologue. However, many of these are common-sense approaches that, if one were to put 100 screenwriters in a room, a good 90 of which would choose to pursue: in fact, Sir John Boorman's earlier Lord of the Rings script had likewise intercut the stories and redacted many of the same episodes as both Bakshi and Jackson, and similar approaches were taken in the 1958 Morton Zimmerman treatment. Certainly, in the case of the choice to pursue a prologue, a precedent closer at hand exists in the form in the 1981 radio serial, a point made all the stronger by the fact that when Jackson first concieved of and sketched the prologue, he hadn't seen Bakshi's film in 20 years.¹¹
Bakshi did claim that New Line were screening his film repeatedly, but author Ian Nathan says that was never the case. Miramax did screen the film for Jackson in 1997, after he'd written the treatment. Jackson's treatment included Glorfindel and Erkenbrand, who in subsequent drafts are replaced by Arwen (Legolas in Bakshi's film) and Eomer, but still I find that it falls more into the realm of common-sense screenwriting decisions than anything that could be tied to Bakshi in a clear way, especially the latter which happens at the end of Bakshi film, a part of the film Jackson admits to have found incoherent.¹²
Rather, the place to look for similarities between the two projects is in the opening leg of The Fellowship of the Ring. Jackson actually, in the director's commentary, points out the shot of Odo Proudfoot calling "Proudfeet!" as a deliberate homage to Bakshi's shot, "which I thought was great." He doesn't acknowledge a couple - only a couple - of other shots that are quite similar: one is the evocative shot of the Ring tumbling over the rocks in Gollum's cave just before Bilbo finds it. Another still is an entire sequence of shots which misdirect us into thinking the Ringwraiths killed the Hobbits in their beds. Both are a little TOO similar to be waved away as coincidental.¹³
The Ringwraith shot is a more special case: It was nominally based off of a John Howe illustration, ostensibly of the Bakshi scene. But Jackson - who's quoted review of the Bakshi film mentions this scene - could hardly not notice the similarity to the Bakshi scene, especially since the scene doesn't at all play like this in the novel. What's more, the scene was first storyboared only shortly after Jackson say Bakshi's film for the second time, and shot not too long after that being that it was the first scene filmed. So its only fair to cite Bakshi as an influence on that shot.¹⁴
https://preview.redd.it/9mbqqm4zul0d1.png?width=550&format=png&auto=webp&s=a45cdd06543d70200e3eacf150f14d03d222203b
There are other bits and pieces: did Jackson have Bakshi in mind when he added a scene of Saruman rallying up the Uruk-hai before the siege of Helm's Deep? Its hard to say. An even more elusive case is made by Bakshi: "I'm glad Peter Jackson had a movie to look at—I never did. And certainly there's a lot to learn from watching any movie, both its mistakes and when it works." In other words, Bakshi here suggests his film influenced Jackson in terms of what NOT to do. To his credit, Jackson does remember that the design process for Treebeard was in part motivated by trying to divorce him from the Bakshi version, which both him and Dame Fran Walsh remember as being "like a walking carrot." But when we start getting into that level, it all becomes very tenuous. There were a lot of things about the fantasy genre in general - Conan the Barbarian and Willow are oft-cited by Jackson - that he tried to avoid.¹⁵
Ultimately, I have to judge that the similarities between the two versions amount to a handful of rather insignificant beats, all in the first hour of Fellowship of the Ring. To hyperbolically play up the similarities between the two projects is to give in to Bakshi's hyperbolic rhetoric.

Tolkien illustrations

Jackson's first and, at the time, only copy of The Lord of the Rings was a tie-in to the Bakshi film. This would mean he hadn't gotten into the world of Tolkien illustrations until developing his own films, when he suggests he went on a detail-exhaustive search for Tolkien art. He had seen Tolkien's own illustrations, but decided that they're "not very helpful in terms of the lighting and the mood."¹⁶
The most acclaimed illustrators of the previous era of Tolkien were Pauline Bayens (whose Minas Tirith is reproduced in the Rankin/Bass Return of the King) and the Brothers Hildebrandt, whose bestial Balrog presents a precursor both to Bakshi's but also to the Minotaur-like Balrog of John Howe.¹⁷
Howe was one of a trifecta of Tolkien illustrators, along with Ted Nasmith and Alan Lee, to enjoy great vogue at the time when Jackson was developing his films. Of the three, Lee is often deemed the most celebrated and certainly made the biggest impact on Jackson, whose next copy of the book was to be an Alan Lee illustrated edition. But he also noticed Howe through is work on Tolkien calendars, and later also purchased some originals of Ted Nasmith. All three were approached to participate in concept design for the films, although Nasmith sadly had to decline.¹⁸
In many places, Jackson precisely copied designs of Lee's and Howe's existing paintings, and in some places carbon copied their lighting and composition for shots, as well as grading the films (before the advent of the latest remaster) somewhat along the lines established in their paintings. But the majority of Lee and Howe's work for Jackson was in producing NEW concept art to his specifications, and so its wrong to look at Jackson's films as being a part of the Lee-Howe ouevure, as such.

The 1981 Radio Serial

A less touted influence on Jackson's film is the superlative 1981 BBC radio serial. Where Jackson hadn't reread the book nor revisited Bakshi's film between 1979 and 1997, he had spent much of the that time listening on-and-off to a tape of the radio serial, usually while working in his garage on special effects.¹⁹
The most obvious similarity is the casting of Sir Ian Holm, who had voiced Frodo in the radio serial, as Bilbo. Holm was apparently at the top of Jackson's casting wishlist, partially for this reason. A particularly striking moment occurs when Holm's Frodo quotes Bilbo's "Its a dangerous business Frodo, going out your door: you step on to the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to", a line again given to Holm - now as Bilbo - in voiceover at the same spot in Jackson's film.²⁰
Again, many of the similar structural choices here are similar to Jackson, adding a prologue, contracting the early stages of Frodo's quest and intercutting the Aragorn and Frodo's stories throughout. Brian Sibley admits to have modelled his prologue on Bakshi's own, but Jackson is unlikely to have known it at the time, and when we start thinking in terms of second-hand influences we're again into very tenuous territory. Otherwise, the influence doesn't seem all too great, although Sibley remembers that Walsh, perhaps half-jokingly, told him "we stole your ending" in the way that they did the Grey Havens and then a quick segue to Sam's return home, basically along the lines of the book.²¹
A young, and already Tolkien-devotee, Sir Ian Holm recording Bilbo
Sibley had recruited his cast from the BBC's company of actors, which is also the troupe Bakshi turned to, meaning that Sibley ended-up with Bakshi's Boromir (Michael Graham Cox) and, notably, his Gollum (Peter Woodthorpe). In spite of Woodthorpe's evocative performance of Gollum's voice in both the Bakshi and Sibley versions, its influence on Andrew Serkis' performance of Gollum is nonexistent, as Serkis had developed the voice before having heard Woodthorpe rendition, having only read The Hobbit prior to being cast.²²

Other fantasy films

Jackson had seen pretty much all the fantasy films of the 1980s, and while they were important in terms of establishing the genre, they hadn't left much of an impression on Jackson. The most succesful - George Lucas' Star Wars - was more space-fantasy, undoubtedly impressed Jackson but didn't much influence his films: to this day, he professes to not be a huge Star Wars fan, in spite of the amiacable manner he and Lucas took with each other in later years, and admits that he sees the influence of Lucas more "in what he did for the industry, not in terms of the actual films that he made."²³
The first major high-fantasy film, Sir John Boorman's Excalibur, was a little closer to Jackson's heart, but isn't much of an influence on his films either. Its true that Jackson's films feature a lot of plate armour, but that's indebted primarily to John Howe's abiding love of late Medieval armour, and at any rate is quite different to the Enlightement-era suits of armour one finds in Boorman's film. Willow, produced by George Lucas, was a big shot to the arm of New Zealand's fledgling film industry, and like Star Wars is much indebted to The Hobbit, but left a bad impression on Jackson.²⁴
The Clockmaker's Cottage in Sir Ridley Scott's Legend
Two exceptions are to be cited; Ray Harryhousen's stop-motion fantasy films from the 1950s were huge favourites of Jackson's, although their more Graeco-Roman subject matters were a genre apart from Jackson's films. He is also a big fan of Sir Ridley Scott, and while he joins the consensus of deriding William Hjortsberg notorious screenplay, had taken some cues from his Legend (1986): there's something of the Clockmaker's cottage in Rhosgobel, and Jackson referenced some of the features of Tim Curry's devilish "Lord of Darkness" for the Wargs sinewy faces.²⁵

Other films

Jackson took influence from paintings of old battles and landscapes, but surely his biggest influences are other films: Zulu and Saving Private Ryan had been referenced for Helm's Deep, and there's a touch of Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line, which Jackson had watched before principal photography, to the atmospheric shots that close the Fellowship prologue. Jackson admitted to rewatching mostly Scorsese films while shooting, and certainly the energy of his moving cameras find a closer kin in Scorsese's films than in anyone else's. There's something of David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia to Jackson's intention to make living, breathing people out of his fantasy characters.²⁶
Surely the inspiration for the shot of Aragorn arriving at Helm's Deep
But there's one film that looms largest in Jackson's films, overshadowing any influence we're looked at so far: Mel Gibson's latest spectacular, Braveheart. Along with other films of this kind like Dances with Wolves and Rob Roy (Gladiator came too late to much influence Jackson's films) it is of crucial importance to the overall cinematic style of Jackson's films, having come out just as Jackson first started thinking of making an original fantasy film, and winning the academy award for Best Picture before any sustained work was done to develop The Lord of the Rings.²⁷

Footnotes

1. Matt Skuta, "The Hobbit Side-by-Side: Rankin/Bass ('77) & Peter Jackson ('12-'14)" and "Return of the King Side-by-Side: Rankin/Bass ('80) & Peter Jackson ('03)," YouTube, 15 February 2018.
2. The Rankin/Bass Specials were only made exploiting a loophole in the publication of Tolkien's books that temporarily made them public domain States-side, but meant that their airing was limited to the US, and subsequent a legal agreement with the Tolkien Estate, Canada. Jackson says he hadn't seen their Return of the King in an interview from late 1998. Eric Vespe, “ 20 QUESTIONS WITH PETER JACKSON – PART 2 Ain’t It Cool News,” , 30 December 1998.
3. Brian Sibley, Peter Jackson: A Filmmaker's Journey (London: Harper Collins, 2006), pp. 107-111.
4. Kyle, ""Legends of Film: Ralph Bakshi," Nashville Public Library, 29 April 2013.
5. Emru Townsend, "INTERVIEW: Ralph Bakshi", Frames Per Second, 2 July 2004.
6. Ken P., "Interview with Ralph Bakshi," IGN, May 25, 2004. Broadway, Clifford Q., "The Bakshi Interview: Uncloaking a Legacy". The One Ring, 20 April 2015.
7. Anonymous, "From Book to Script," and Peter Jackson et al, "Director's Commentary," both in Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (New Line: 2002). Also Anonymous, "Peter Jackson interview". Explorations (Barnes & Noble, November 2001). Peter Jackson interview at the Egyptian Theater, 6 February 2004.
8. Sibley, pp. 109 ff.
9. Director's Commentary.
10. Ned Raggett, "The Trouble With Ralph Bakshi’s The Lord Of The Rings & Other Tolkien Misadventures", The Quietus, 19 November 2018
11. Ian Nathan, Everything You Can Imagine: Peter Jackson and the Making of Middle-earth (London: HarperCollins, 2017), p. 138.
12. Peter Jackson et al, The Lord of the Rings, quoted in Sibley, pp. 109, 704, 751.
13. Director's Commentary.
14. Celedor, "10 Things You Know About The LOTR Movies (That Aren’t True)," TheOneRing, 11 June 2013.
15. "Interview with Ralph Bakshi."
16. Sibley, p. 738-744. Exeter College, Oxford, "Sir Peter Jackson in conversation: Exeter College Oxford Eighth Century Lecture Series", YouTube, 30 July 2015.
17. Howe admits to the influence of the Hildebrandts, and in turn his own bestial Balrog would influence those of Alan Lee and Ted Nasmith. This would be popularised by Jackson, and finally emulated by Rings of Power. John Howe, "First Thing's First," John-Howe, 6 January 2012.
18. "Sir Peter Jackson in conversation", Sibley, 738-744. The One Ring, "Peter Jackson MISSED OUT! Talking Tolkien with Renowned Artist Ted Nasmith," YouTube, 11 July 2023.
19. Nathan, p. 123, NB 1008.
20. Nathan, p. 258.
21. Nerd of the Rings, "Brian Sibley, writer, BBC's The Lord of the Rings (1981) - Interview," YouTube, 20 April 2021.
22. Nathan, pp. 621 ff
23. "Sir Peter Jackson in conversation"
24. “20 QUESTIONS WITH PETER JACKSON – PART 2"
25. Ibid.
26. Nathan, pp. 158, 393, 645.
27. u/Chen_Geller, "How Masterpieces beget Masterpieces: Braveheart and The Lord of the Rings," Reddit, 23 June 2021.

Conclusions

Any notion that Jackson's films are derivative of previous Tolkien adaptations - namely, Bakshi's - are very much hyperbolic, and stem more from adopting an inflated rhetoric taken by the likes of Bakshi. As an adaptation, Jackson's works are based soley on Tolkien's books, and merely tip their hat occasionally to previous adaptations - and not all previous adaptations, either. Cinematically, they draw rather from other sources: less from other adaptations of Tolkien or other fantasy film (Tolkien-esque or not) and more from historical epics, both from the 1960s but also and especially from the time in which Jackson first started developing his films.