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TurnerMohan β Trapped in Nan Elmoth
Published: 2014-03-29 03:46:50 +0000 UTC; Views: 12792; Favourites: 242; Downloads: 95
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I've had this exact composition in my head for years, and finally, encouraged by Elena Kukanova's beautiful rendition of the same scene , I decided to bite the bullet and get it down on paper (also provided a nice reprieve from dragons)The scene where Aredhel, lost in Nan Elmoth and separated form her escorts, is forced deeper and deeper into the forest by Eol's magic is one of my favorite scenes in The Silmarillion, simultaneously fairy tale-like and chilling, and, like much of the Lay of Leithien, it feels like Tolkien's attempt to effectively create the original, archetypal version of the princess fairy tale tropes that have come down through the ages, in this case specifically the "abducted princess;" Eol's ensnarement and rape (basically) of the virginal "white lady of the noldor" - youngest member of Finwe's house, and remarked earlier to have never accepted a suitor - seems like a sexual retaliation for the kinslaying, motivated in equal parts by hatred and lust. Eol the Dark Elf is, in my humble opinion, one of Tolkien's best portrayals of what an immortal being could be like. I always saw him (though one of the Sindar) as a very great, formidable elf, not only far older than Aredhel, but far more powerful (and Aredhel, as I see her , ain't no pushover either) he doesn't just live in Nan Elmoth, he is it's master, and like Tom Bombadil, wields near-absolute power within its borders. I imagine him in his cave, watching the noldorian princess through a thousand eyes of scurrying creatures, the boughs of trees, like tendrils of his mind, closing in to catch her, blocking her escape, while she herself, lost in some hypnotic dream, is drawn inexorably to his doors. Peter Weir's beautiful, unearthly film "Picnic at Hanging Rock" was a big inspiration here, along with several of Gary Oldman and Wynona Ryder's scenes from "Bram Stoker's Dracula."
Part of the Weekly Tolkien Sketchblog (also I got the White Lady's colors right this time around! Hurray for reading!)
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Comments: 36
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Magical. Literally. Thank you for illustrating one of my favourite scenes in the Silmarillion in such an original way.
I can totally see your take on Eol as a supernatural being here. What I see is that he's meditating, he's almost like an evil Buddha (complete with seclusion in forest) using powers unseen to snare the cheeky indomitable Lady of the Noldor to his door. I can almost hear a soporific hummmmm, an energy spell in the silence of the forest.
Her lack of face: a very interesting way to portray why she ended up with Eol, she lost her personality, her "face", her normal self for a while.
The branches all around her, I see it as a subtle sexual innuendo, it's like he's enveloping her with a thousand arms which will lead her to his arms. They are everywhere, almost touching her, there is no escape.
The position of the eyes above her luminous form and the difference in scale: you are showing that he is in charge here, a theme that continues in the story, he simply has to be in charge always and this leads to their undoing and their death; here he is talking directly to her mind without her realizing it.
Eol for me is one of the most intriguing characters in the Silm (personal soft spot for problematic relationships in fiction because friction is fun) and this is a re-edited comment because I'm treading dangerous ground, but Tolkien is to me ambiguous about Aredhel's consent or lack thereof in the novel and that opens a boatload of possibilities. Here we have not the archetypal predator who will abduct a pretty lady with violence (exactly like your Celegorm does in the cover you are working on with Luthien) but a strange loner demi-god with magical powers, who molds exotic unheard of metals into incredible swords and armour. He has a sort of savage nobility and, if I may say, "gets" Aredhel in a way that her own folk do not: he tells Turgon in their cringeworthy exchange in Gondolin that she will sicken again if kept locked up anyway. Before he throws that javelin he's already wounded everyone on sight with just a few eerily well aimed comments. He has balls of steel: he unflinchingly takes down the king a notch or two telling him he does not care about his "secrets" (in one sentence dismissing Turgon's whole life-work to his face while standing alone surrounded by guards), tells him to keep his damn sister but give him back his son...what can I say, he is truly terrifying and a sure match for Aredhel's ballsiness. I see their relationship as a clash of two very very big personalities who may have seen a similar strength in one another, a sort of yin and yang, light and dark, not so much as a "poor innocent lady who got raped in a dark wood" etc etc. That's why I liked your faceless depiction of her; together they can never coexist for long, like day and night if one is mighty the other has to submit.
Gosh your work makes me want to talk and talk!!
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This is probably one of my favourites in your gallery - I think it's a lot to do with the composition, which is simple yet still fully worked out and 'actualised', if that makes sense. The pencil work is a perfect mix of Howe and Lee, though I think the composition itself, especially with regard to the twisted branch/tree knot-work, leans more towards the latter. Are the eyes Eol's? If so I would perhaps have drawn them open to indicate his watchfulness (stalker-ish-ness if you like 
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I love this picture, especially the eyes of the forest, who look and wait, it's very cool and fully conveys the atmosphere and text ...
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thank you, that segment of the silmarillion is one of my favorites, just in terms of how it's written. the atmosphere of the text is what i was hoping to capture. i'm glad you think i succeeded.
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The Silmarillion is my favorite too, you talented work, which is very well illustrated text)
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You know it's at moments like this, having read through the notes posted by the creator of this image and realising that comparisons between Eol and Erik the Phantom are ENTIRELY valid that makes me wonder just where on Earth people willing to inflict The Phantom of the Opera on poor Christine in Unholy Matrimony are actually COMING from (Maybe I'm just old-fashioned, but men fully prepared to play Svengali with their intended do not strike me as the best husband material!).
Β On a slightly less crotchety note, I hope you'll like this rendition of Lord and Lady Nan Elmoth as much as you did that of the most excellent Ms. Kukanova, Master Mohan!Β
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This is an amazing pencil drawing. The layering, the atmosphere, and the lighting is all basically perfect. You do the source material justice, and I agree with your take on the sexual violence and control implicit in the whole episode.
Would you mind sharing the pencil hardnesses you used and the type of paper? Also, is this photographed or scanned?
Really nice work.
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thank you so much for the lovely comment.
i used different pencils on this one, all on the darker side, I think 4B 5B and 6B with some selective use of 7B. I scan my work, which is kind of brutal in terms of showing all the flaws and pencil marks, and I've found it's almost impossible to get those deep darks with a scanner (this piece is a lot darker in person)
looking at your gallery i really like the way your pencil work shows up. do you photograph yours? and what pencils do you usually use? I'm always curious
thanks again
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Sorry for the ridiculously delayed response; fate and work have kept me away from DA and drawing for a long time. And thanks for checking out my drawings!
Thanks for the info on the pencil hardness and how you digitize the drawings. That is some fairly dark lead! I have experimented with photographing, with limited success, but most of my stuff is scanned. Once I scan them they are always too light for me, so I use GIMP to tweak the levels, and pretty much make all of the darks darker, which strengthens the lines without giving them the rigidity that ink would. I sometimes make the midtones a bit darker too, especially if I like the color of the paper I use. I agree with how unforgiving scanning is, but those imperfections also highlight the suppleness and character that pencil can supply!
Once again, great work, I really admire it.
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Turner, I'm totally bought by the atmosohere you've created!! This piece looks like a dream, -> it's foggy and magically correct
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thank you Elena. As I mention, your version of this scene was mainly what inspired me to do this, so i'm very pleased that you find it appealing!
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Amazing composition. The kind of image that really tells a story! Would make a brilliant cover!
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This is haunting... It's really really close to what I had imagined while reading this part of her story. I love how Eol is some dark, overbearing, looming presence.
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why thank you! i'm glad to hear that my drawing fits the scene as another reader envisions it. Eol is pretty damn scary, start to finish
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you're welcome! And yeah, he's definitely scary...one of those guys who needs to be locked up for life! haha
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Β If you'll accept a final compliment, I must say that I think your rendition of this scene is if anything STRONGER that that of Miss Kukanova; beautiful as her piece is, it's a bit too romantic to really sell the idea that some wicked work is afoot (it looks more as if Eol is admiring The Lady Aredhel from afar than entrapping her in his realm); I will admit that her image works better as a prelude or perhaps a sequel to this one - perhaps as the 'kindly stranger' emerges to end the lonely wanderings of this lady in the eerie wild. . .
Β ...
Β (Alright, one more thing but I'll whisper it: I keep thinking of Lady Aredhel as Ms. Jennifer Connelly and Eol as Mr David Bowie, for which you may blame the film Labyrinth!).
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I must agree with you; this piece is definitely darker and more menacing (and I love that about it).
As for your Labyrinth casting, now that you mention it, I totally agree! Their chemistry in Labyrinth has inspired many a moment in my writing (I enjoy painting occasionally but it is not my strong suit) and I can definitely see how she fits many a tolkenian woman, as TurnerMohan points out.
I came to dA looking for inspiration and after finding this piece I can see the plot bunnies starting to get away from me already.
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Β They will tend to do that unless you have a good sturdy shotgun, a keen eye and a hard heart!Β
Β I must say that it's nice to meet a fellow scribbler on deviantART (for I can draw a stickman, but nothing more well-rounded, except perhaps through words and not artwork) and even nicer to be agreed with!Β
Β I must say that while I rather prefer Master Mohan's rendition of this event, I also admire that of Ms. Kukanova who really is a master artist in her own right; in fact I regard the two renditions as complimentary, in that one can be said to show the moment when Eol the Smith decided to make the White Lady his bride while the other shows how he went about ensuring that she would fall into his power (although it seems that in the end she did not quite fall under his spell).
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wow that's pretty great fantasy casting in both cases. jennifer connelly in addition to being (i have always thought) one of hollywood's most beautiful actresses is a near perfect template for pretty much any tolkienian woman that isnt blonde (the height, the beorian color sheme, the subtle melancholy) and she has occured to me as a model for several different characters in his work; labyrinth-era jennifer connelley will undoubtedly find her way into any portrayal i do of young luthien (who I've always pictured as very young, basically like all those classic fairy tale princesses, who - i think we are usually lead to interparate - have just started menstruating) while older, more morose jennifer connelly is usually the picture in my head for morwen (it seems i am not alone on that one either)
incedentally, she and Bowie in Labyrinth share that kind of sexual tension that always seems to be lurking in the subtext of princess fairy tales (i go into great detail on this in the comments under thuringwethil and carcharoth, if it interests you) and their scenes, along with similar scenes in ridley scott's Legend, had a big influence on my thoughs about (and portrayal of) the scene between luthien and morgoth.
I think I do have a very strong composition here (as i say above it was certainly brewing for long enough) but I am in greatadmiration and envy of elena's (among other artists') technical skills, both in pencil and in paint, and i do think my "finished piece" efforts like this one would be better served if I was a better technical artist (I'm working on it
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Β We can ask no more of any artist and I suspect that not only have you progressed further than most ever will, you shall go farther than most ever will!Β Β
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I think that this is one of your most interesting compositions to date Master Mohan; I'd like to think that the precise identity of those distinctly creepy eyes in the background will remain forever ambiguous - do they belong to The Lady Nerdanel, blinded by a power greater even than hers or are they the material eyes of Eol, made immaterial as he puts forth his power to follow and frustrate her in order to fulfil his purpose?
Β
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considering that upon reading your comment I actually had to remind myself who Nerdanel was - so far was she from relevance to the scene at hand - I think you could rule her out as a possibility
the whole face is in there, if you look closely
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BLAST! I must apologise, it's been a long week and I would like any future readers to read 'White Lady of the Noldor' for the other. Β
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how many days have you taken to draw it ? ^_^
Β it's marvelous ! <3
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this one was pretty quick, i drew it yesterday, just trying to get used to "full page" compositions. i would have liked to give it more detail, next time.
thanks!
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i wish my level can reach like this ^^ great job <3
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Wow, that was really done very well! Β The brooding, watchful atmosphere of perpetually shadowed Nan Elmoth is just about perfect. The lighting contrast with Aredhel is also prominent.
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