Small bunch of sketches, concept work ‘n‘ progress. Decided to post something before I cast myself into the void.
Still need to work on Varda.. I just can’t decide if I should make her bright as a star or as the nightsky above Cuiviénen. Beside my tough college time I wish you some good holidays and a happy new year! °˖ ✧◝(╹◡╹)◜✧˖ °
ok so I know that Gondolin was pretty much flattened (and then of course lost entirely beneath the seas along with west Beleriand) – but I guess this is a slightly AU, self-indulgent imagining on my part as a means to sketch a bit of pre-3rd Age Elvish architecture!
My favorite part of Elrond and Celebrian’s whole story is that one line: “and it was then that Elrond first saw Celebrían, and loved her, though he said nothing of it.“
probably because I can absolutely picture Elrond being the perfect host, welcoming Galadriel and Celebrian to Imladris, impeccably polite, guiding charming conversation at dinner and showing them to their rooms personally, ensuring they have everything they will need, only call—
and then making his way back to his own rooms where he collapses facedown on the bed, and whispers very quietly to himself
No, this is not “Can I touch your butt” in Elvish. This is “Can I touch your butt?” in English, transcribed using the letters of the Elvish alphabet. There is a difference.
In Elvish, the letters of the alphabet correspond to sounds, not to words. The above text spells it out using one symbol to represent one letter of the original English, which is incorrect:
c-a-n i t-o-u-c-h y-o-u-r b-u-t-t
If you really want to spell out an English phrase using the Elvish alphabet, you would do so phonetically, which would basically equate to one symbol per phoneme (sound):
c-a-n a-i t-u-ch y-o-r b-u-t
If you actually wanted to write “Can I touch your butt?” in Elvish, one (very rough) translation would be:
Annog nin daf pladan tele ci?
Which, in Sindarin Elvish, roughly translates to, “Would you give me permission to touch your rear?”
Written in tengwar (the Elvish alphabet), it would look like this:
The Dead Marshes are, frankly, really creepy. And a lot of the creepiness can’t be explained any more than just creepy magic stuff (as lame as that sounds.) In a way, I think the movie took a lot of the Dead Marshes descriptions too literally, because in the book it makes a bit more sense.
For example, the lights. In the movie they’re shown as literal flames burning over the water, but in the book, the description (from Sam’s point of view) is very different:
He first saw one with the corner of his left eye, a wisp of pale sheen that faded away; but others appeared soon after: some like dimly shining smoke, some like misty flames flickering slowly above unseen candles; here and there they twisted like ghostly sheets unfurled by hidden hands.
In the book they sound more to me like a sinister type of will-o-the-wisp (see the wiki page for an explanation of the phenomenon/folklore), and not so much literal, tangible flames. Either way, the only explanation we get is from Gollum, who when asked about the lights says “The tricksy lights. Candles of corpses, yes, yes. Don’t you heed them! Don’t look! Don’t follow them!” The description of “candles of corpses” is the best we get, and seem to tie the flames to something tangible, at least. Until we get a closer look at these corpses.
Soon after spotting the lights Sam gets a good look at the “faces in the water” On this topic Gollum’s explanation is a bit more helpful. First, he says that “You should not look in when the candles are lit”, implying that the faces are somehow temporary, based on the lights. Later on he explains that the bodies are those of the men, elves, and orcs who died in the Battle of the Last Alliance, and that the marshes have spread since then, and “swallowed up the graves.“
Sam argues that the bodies couldn’t have been there for thousands of years. He asks ”Is it some devilry hatched in the Dark Land?“ And Gollum answers:
“Who knows? Smeagol doesn’t know,” answered Gollum. “You cannot reach them. We tried once, yes, precious. I tried once; but you cannot reach them. Only shapes to see, perhaps, not to touch. No precious! All dead.”
So, my conclusion is that the bodies, and the flames, are more spiritual at this point than physical. Maybe it is some magic on Sauron’s part, or maybe these are spirits that ignored the call to the Halls of Mandos, who knows.
I can answer the question of who the elves are, though! In general, all the bodies are, like Gollum said, casualties of the Battle of Dagorlad at the end of the Second Age. But the elves we know specifically are the Silvan and Sindarin elves who charged prematurely (see this post for more details.) Even more specifically, the elves from Lorien. Their king, Amdir, died in the charge (along with Oropher), and in the Unfinished Tales we’re told that it’s his company of elves that Sam Frodo and Gollum travel through.
While in the book Frodo is mesmerized by the lights, he isn’t drawn into the water like he is in the movie. But my speculation, based on the importance the movie placed on that particular elf, is that it was supposed to be Amdir himself.
SOURCES: LOTR, The Unfinished Tales (“The History of Galadriel and Celeborn”)
Do you ever feel like you’re past the “fangirl” stage to the “fanmom” stage? Like you just look at your fave like “hey, you eating well? You taking care of yourself? Do you need some snacks for the award show, here I have some leftover brisket, you’ll need some protein”
Anon was wondering what Melkor would look like if he brushed his hair… And it just doesn’t happen because it is a Production and I don’t think brushes even exist in Utumno. Plus I’ve been making that stupid Ariel joke since forever and I’m just so hilarious
#what is a silmaril #and why does it #what’s the word #burn #log me off
Mashups and Exports 