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TurnerMohan β Two Kings
#dwarves #elvesfantasy #middleearth #thehobbit #thranduil #tolkien #thorinoakenshield #thorinthranduil
Published: 2018-10-21 03:35:30 +0000 UTC; Views: 14172; Favourites: 305; Downloads: 58
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Thorin is brought before Thranduil, the ElvenKing of Mirkwoodit's funny to think that Professor Tolkien's long-percolating and for the most part deadly-serious mythology of Elves and Men had its debut in the public eye with 'the Hobbit,' a childrens' story taking place in the same world as Turin Turambar, Luthien and the Jewels of Feanor, but many thousand years later, and centered around niether elves nor men, but a creature seemingly designed as a child's audience-proxy. A smaller and tonally much lighter work, only vague hints are given of the scope and grandeur of the world little Bilbo goes adventuring through; swords originally from the ancient city of Gondolin, a mention of the history of the division between the high elves of the west and the dark elves of the woods, and a borrowing of many vague plot points, character types, locations, etc. It gives 'the Hobbit' an immediate sense of a distinct and consistent world, much moreso than, say 'The Wind in the Willows,' but at the same time it's fun to remember that, for the readership of 1937, 'Middle-Earth' (a name that is never used in 'the Hobbit') and the entire Epic High Fantasy genre it spawned, with its well established tropes and taxonomy of fantasy races, didn't exist yet. The dwarves, trolls, giants, skin-changers, and elves we encounter are not yet so strictly the Middle-Earth versions of themselves, rather we are brought along with Bilbo on what feels like a tour of the highlights of Germanic mythology. I tried keeping that in mind when drawing these two; that Thranduil and Thorin could just as easily be kings of, respectively, the "Dokkalfar" and the "Dvergar" as of Tolkien's Eldar and Khazad.
Disclaimer: The world of fanart being what it is, this is probably the most loveless image an online search for "Thorin and Thranduil" will yield. I'm sorry/you're welcome, depending on how you feel about that.
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Comments: 35
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I love how you've captured the nature of both kings, both unyielding in their own ways. I also appreciate Thorin depicted as visibly dwarfish, rather than a handsome human that's slightly vertically challenged. From this picture, I can convincingly see battles or wars fought from the opposition between two foes. They both have a sense of dignity and gravity. Β
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I'm grateful for this. Thorin II was over 200 years old when he crossed paths with Thranduil. No disrespect to Richard Armitage, but he was a poor choice to represent such a venerable king of dwarves. Your realization of him is closer, I think, to the author's vision.
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This is wonderful. I fully appreciate the wildness and danger inherent in this illustration. I fully agree with Tolkien that the βdokalfur β more refers to an intrinsically pure wildness than anything to do with absolutely any sort of evil. Nature might be deadly dangerous as well as beautiful.
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theres an ambiguity to "the fair folk" in ancient mythology, and it's something that seems to show up more in tolkien's early work on his miythology "the silmarillion" lays and, yeah in 'the hobbit' too. the elves become a little more "perfect" in the lord of the rings, and in his later revisions to his tales of the first age, and honestly theres a lot I like about both angles.
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Beautiful work. Reminds me of Alan Lee's sketches, but without the drawn-out proportions to the figures.
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I actually do blush when someone compares my work to Alan Lee's. Thank you
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Then I will second that! The texture and lighting is indeed reminiscent of Alan Lee, and it's amazing that your image has depth and texture despite using comparatively low contrast. Amazing like always.Β
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I haven't used DA for many years now (Lord above some of the follies of youth the internet can preserve). However I am glad I made this account all those years ago to leave a little comment here. I read Tolkien in my formative years which inspired me but I missed the deeper understanding. Coming to know the sources from which Tolkien drew inspiration on now and coming to respective the poetry used in both I have to appreciate attempts by artists such as yourself to draw on similar wellsprings of inspiration. You divorce yourself from the dogma and orthodoxy spawned by the movies or even other projects such as LOTRO or One Ring. In a world flooded with interpretations you find your own voice that is distinct but still respectful to the core piece.Β
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a comment like yours is just a delight to read, and very validating! thank you
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I like that you've made your own version of them
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A very beautiful drawing, and I think it's really one of the best interpretation of the characters I've seen.
I have to admit that I do not care that much about the LOTR movie apart from tackling the source at all, and less for The Hobbit movie, so I'm not really aware of current depictions and fanart.Β
As a side note, when you really go back to the origins in Tolkiens works, with Eriol the Mariner or the early depictions of Sauron, and the relation of Tolkien to his kids, I don't really see a contradiction, maybe rather a cult of seriousnes created around 'epic' fantasyΒ later when it was maligned as escapist and unsuitable for adults, to have some excuse for consuming it. Like for many, The Hobbit was my introduction to Tolkiens works, but to me it always felt like a story-tellers words, the same as fairy tales are. Creating brain-washing stuff for child audiences is a modern disease. Yikes... sorry for ranting
Good job!
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it's a rant i know well
thanks, glad you like it
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I love it! Itβs nice to see something different than the cliche depictions that imitate exactly how they look in the movie.
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thanks, i try to design from tolkien's books, not the movies (though those can cast a big shadow thats not always easy to get out from under)
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Yes, it's hard to picture this Thranduil prancing around and singing "La la la lally, down in the valley", isn't it!
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well it's not hard for me to picture him singing
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Singing, yes, and beautifully. But not silly jingle-rhymes.
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Β I'm an easy-going man when it comes to the Cinematic Trilogy built out of THE HOBBIT, but I remain profoundly sad that the Elven-King and Thorin Son of Thrain's little question-and-answer session didn't make it into the films - I suspect that Mr Armitage and Mr Pace could have sold the H--- out of that little tragicomic jewel of dwarvish pig-headedness & elvish frustration.Β Β
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I think the world is quite full of ThranduilxThorin content. A genuine depiction of those two won't hurt anybody. And "love" is the last thing this scene is supposed to inspire.
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I woulda thought so too, but maybe i'm just reading it wrong
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This is one of the reasons I love returning to the Hobbit, 30 years after I read it for the 1st time.
One could easily turn the story in a cartoon, what with its many comic situations and the charming character of a well-off, middle aged man suddenly out of his depths, not unlike, say, Dickens' Samuel Pickwick.
And yet while that kind of reworking may well cover the complete plot of the Hobbit, it wouldn't do the original story justice either. Even the Hobbit deserves serious illustrations, or rather illustrations which would attempt to capture this balance between a child's bedtime reading and the epic of the other Tolkien's writings. Not an easy task.
It was those hints of something much more ancient, serious, important, grown-up if you like, which made me on the one hand crave for more stories from that realm, and on the other hand turned my six- or seven-year-old imagination onΒ like nothing before and very little afterwards - because I could not stand knowing that there *are* other stories out there and I don't know what they are. (LotR was not available in my mother tongue back then - I grew up on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain.) I even remember being actually totally scared of the Necromancer, even though the term was onlyΒ mentioned once and very vaguely.
To stop blabbering about myself, I guess that what I wanted to write before I got all nostalgic was,
that I actually very much approve of this as an illustration (I refuse to call it fanart) for the Hobbit.
This, this *does* do justice to the Hobbit as integral part of JRRT's work. Thank you.
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If you told Tolkien when he first wrote The Hobbit that his children's book would be the beginning to modern High Fantasy, create a multimedia empire and spawn a trilogy of movies for that one book alone, he would probably punch you in the face.
But, here we are.
It's lovely work. And yes, it is nice for something loveless for a change.
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dont know if professor Tolkien was a big puncher but i get your point.
i dont like to stand in the way of love, but i think my fellow fan artists have said about all that needs to be said about these two
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