HOME | DD
aautio — WIP:Lords of Noldor: Findis
Published: 2007-09-03 13:46:14 +0000 UTC; Views: 8853; Favourites: 71; Downloads: 0
Redirect to original
Description
WORK IN PROGRESS: Findis, Daughter of Finwë”[The name] Findis was made by combining the names of her parents. Little is said of her in The Silmarillion. She did not go into exile, but went with her mother after the slaying of Finwë and they abode among the Vanyar in grief until such time as it seemed good to Manwë to restore Finwë to life [ - if he ever did so..].”
-- J. R. R. Tolkien: The Shibboleth of Fëanor; The names of Finwë's descendants (HoME XII: The Peoples of Middle-earth)
Character Background
Findis was Finwë’s eldest daughter and second child, the first from his second marriage to Indis of the Vanyar. Of Finwë’s daughters Findis was the “good girl” - she was the image of her mother and shared her kind, gentle and patient demeanour. When the other children of Finwë went abroad rebelling and causing trouble, she stayed obediently at home with her mother.. and missed all the “fun” of course..
Design Concept
I picture Findis as very tall (6'3" / 191 cm) and golden-haired, like her Vanyarin mother and her youngest brother Finarfin. Like the Vanyar (at least the way I see them), she would wear very plain and simple, traditional white dress, a palla-type cloak, no large ornaments or jewellery, and walk barefoot. I wanted her to look very serene and calm.. and as chaste as a nun.
The heraldic design is by me; inspired by Tolkien’s heraldry for Finwë and =elegaer ’s great design for Indis. The smaller design below her name is my idea for the emblem of the House of Finwë, based on Tolkien’s Finwë design.
---
This is a WIP character sketch for my “Lords of the Ñoldor ” project. It combines the scanned, not-yet-cleaned-up pencil lineart without shading or highlights, the current idea for the heraldic device(s) and the Tengwar inscription (I haven't decided yet whether I want to use the regular script or the cursive style, so I included both) to be used in the triptych. At some point I might finish it up as an individual character portrait but for now it’s just a WIP component.
Character drawn on regular copy paper, no references used. The original is quite small; she’s about 12 cm tall (that’s a bit under 5” for the measurement-impaired). I used a regular HB pencil that I try not to sharpen too much.. gives the line a nice thickness and more lively(=uneven) character. The size also keeps me from adding too many details, which would be lost anyway in the finished piece where the characters are fairly small.
The heraldic designs were drawn in AutoCAD, assembled in Photoshop.
It’s still WIP, so comments, ideas, suggestions, etc. are more than welcome!
WIP:Lords of Noldor: Triptych Layout
WIP:Lords of Noldor: Character Portraits
Related content
Comments: 52
I love the way you clothed her as I see Vanyar being very oriental folks and here her dress reminds me of combination of sari and some ancient dress, perfect combination of Noldorin and Vanyarin style. And the bare feet, fantastic idea
It's warm in my Valimar and people walk barefoot in Egyptian/Oriental clothes (or without them), while in Tirion they dress heavier in long robes with layers etc. I guess weather in my Valinor depends more on wishes of it's inhabitants than logic
BTW, I'm learning a lot details more about the characters by reading your descriptions, like for example that Indis was a musician, I skipped that info somehow in books (or never red that essay), very interesting and fitting to my vision of her.
You are great source of inspiration and knowledge, I keep my fingers crossed for this amazing project
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thank you, my friend!
I try to read all the material on any given character/event before making my decisions.. and i draw inspiration from various sources.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I absoloutely adore this one..she seems quite other-worldly-though i DO think her nose could have been more..grecian i suppose.
But i absoloutely adore this don't get me wrong
Keep drawing ok? ok.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thanks a lot!
But.. what do you mean by a Grecian nose.. a huge beak-like windsplitter?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
No-i'mn thinking of the wrong term....staighter and long, it look button-y right now...sorry abotu swamping you with my mindless drivel btw
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I'm being totally unreasonsable (as usual) aren't I?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
nah.. I like hearing people's opinions.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
yay! So i can keep bugging you?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
WOO! Someone else who believes in the lost kindred of the house of Finwë! Ah I can't wait till you draw the others! Draw Finrun! He's my fave! Heh when I told my fellow Feanorian-fanatic friends about the lost sons (and daughters) they snorted and scorned me and said it was probably just someones fan-fiction creation, but I knew it was actually written somewhere!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
It's definitely written somewhere! 
The only real changes to the 1977 Silmarillion are the addition of Findis, Lalwen (daughters of Finwë ) and Argon (son of Fingolfin), and the relegation of Orodreth to the third generation (-->son of Angrod instead of Finarfin).
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
So Finrun doesn't exist then? I read on a wikipedia article that the daughters were Findis and Finvain and that there was another son known as Finrun who was actually younger than Finarfin and born some years after the whole Silmaril business (its possible I suppose) And I never heard the Orodreth thing. But I did read that he had two sons Orodlin and Hal......something......I forget his name. And they were the brothers of Finduilas. Eh well JRRT changed his mind so bloody mind no wonder the genetics are all confused.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Well, let’s say he doesn’t exist in “My Canon..” 
Finrún Felageómor is an Old English name that Tolkien gave to Finwë's fourth son (who doesn't appear anywhere else) in a genealogical table that was part of The Quenta from 1930 (see HoME IV). That's the same table that gives Ordred(Orodreth) the two sons, Ordhelm and Ordláf – but all these names are Old English 'translations,' not any actual Elvish language. Another table connected with the Earliest Annals of Beleriand from the 1930s gives Orodreth the sons Halmir>>Haldir and Orodlin (HoME V). In any case, that's old stuff.. the whole genealogy (and many other fundamental aspects of the stories) went through several major upheavals after that.
Names given for Finwë's daughters are among others Findis, Finvain, Faniel, Irimë, Írien, Lalwen in the many variations of the genealogies. Some tables give three of them, but the final word in Shibboleth (HoME XII) is two: Findis and Írien Lalwen(dë ).
The whole Orodreth deal (as well as Gil-galad, since they're kind of interconnected) is a lot more confusing and went through many changes.. I'm not sure if I want to go through all the details..
👍: 0 ⏩: 2
I always assumed Finrun was a Sindarinization of the usual Finda/Findë beginning plus Runya 'red flame'. I guess thats me told
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
You see? That is what I was taking about - you are walking canon info
I really wish Argon was included in the Silmarillion. I am not sure if that was a fan fic, someone's idea on boards or I've red it somewhere - can't find that now - but I remeber that he did something similar to Fëanor and chased orc attacking the host of Fingolfin in Losgar longer than others, like he didn't want orcs to flee and when he chased them alone they surrounded him and killed. But maybe it's some fiction for this info is nowhere in the Shibboleth.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
No, it's not fan fiction, it's from the author's notes to the addendum of the Shibboleth. 
The Sindarized name Argon became popular among the exiles later on, and they gave the name to their children to honour Arakáno's noble sacrifice, but he was himself never actually known by this name, since he died before the names were translated and Sindarin was adopted as an everyday language.
👍: 0 ⏩: 2
And here all I dig from HoME about him (and older variant of his face) [link]
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yes, that's just the excerpt. There is a note number somewhere on those lines, and if you look it up at the end of the chapter you'll find the short description of the battle in it.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Then this is truth, great! Maybe it was in Vinyar Tengwar then, there an appendix to the Shibboleth of Fëanor has been issued.
My Arakáno - I prefer Quenya name - is here, but it's experiment with symmetrical image which caused some unpleasant conversation with someone who judges without reading descriptions and I lost heart to it, but I should finish it one day since I really like that face and the whole idea: [link] I'm trying to give him Greek clothes here as he pays visit to Vanyar.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Interesting to see your take on him.. he looks fittingly strong. You are quite right to use the Q. name as it was what he actually was called, but I usually use the (technically incorrect) 'Argon' when referring to him, because all the other names are commonly used in their Sindarin form as well, and it just feels linguistically wrong to me to use one name in another language in the same context. (like giving a list of Biblical names in English but leaving one in its Latin form.. Does that make sense?)
The triptych project is of the Finwëans in Aman, so in it all names and inscriptions will be in quenya, naturally.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
once again your clothes amaze me...i think everything fits to her character well great job!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Was she born before of after Fingolfin? I should really check my book... :\
And I read that the silme should be a reversed one (forget the specific name) unless it has to do with a long vowel, or something of the like...? ._.;
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
She was the first child of Indis, so she was born before Fingolfin. And Finarfin was the youngest of Finwë’s children.
Hmm.. I think Silme nuquerna is only used if one needs to write a tehta over it.. since this is not the case here, I did’t see any reason to reverse it. That makes sense to me, but I might be mistaken.. I’ll check it.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Haha, finally, for once the daughter is older than the first son by someone. ^ ^' Hee.
I could be wrong, but what I know of Quenya tengwar I got from Council of Elrond; they have Elvish lessons on the site.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Heh, yes.. she gets to be the big sister!
I checked and I think I'm right about the tengwa.. Tolkien’s Namárië scroll for instance uses Silme (and Esse) when there are no tehtar above the tengwa, and Silme nuquerna (and Esse nuquerna) when there are.. exception being the "e" -tehta (acute accent), with which both variants are used -- most likely because the shape can be easily written above both.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Ok, that makes sense... It is rather difficult to write tehta above silme. I might've read it wrong, & have thus been writing things wrong. 
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
HA! What a great fan I am... I had no idea Finwë had any daughters XD But then again, I've only read The Silmarillion and LoTR.
Great drawing and concept
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Well, the published Silmarillion doesn’t mention his daughters, since they play no big part in any of the stories. They can be found in the material published in HoME, however.
Thanks!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
So you see Vanyar as wearing plain clothes, being calm and serene and going barefoot?
Well you're going to have to draw Ingwe now at some point! It will also be interesting
to see your take on Earwen and the Teleri
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
The Vanyar are just essentially people living in paradise.. they've got everything they could wish for and are content just wandering around the green fields of Valinor.. I see them as quite spiritual, in a way - like monks or pilgrims. Not very interested in temporal things or worldly possessions.. quite unlike the Noldor.
Ingwë.. I have never formed an absolutely clear image of him, but I might draw him at some point.
👍: 0 ⏩: 2
We really see them quote alike! At least in their spirit. My Vanyar specialise in history, they dance it to prise Eru and the Powers, like in ancient temples of India dancers danced for gods. It's their art which no Noldo nor Teler can repeat without years of practice. Though they practice for centuries so that might be more difficult. They would also immerse in ascetic practice and meditation in contrast to Noldor who would not stand Vanyarin way of life. Noldor live more in time while Vanyar leave behind time, looking at it in longer perspective and without rush... My piece of fanfiction
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Oh, I agree.. and India is a good comparison. Dance and song definitely sound to me as the Vanyarin art forms.. but just like you said, not just for merrymaking (like dance and music would be among the musical Teleri, Sindar and Wood Elves), more like a ritual to honour the One and the Valar.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
And what in your opinion are the Teleri like?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Hhmm.. let me think. If the Vanyar are the happy and somewhat passive ones who are content with what they’ve got and the Noldor are the restless and energetic ones, who strive for progress and innovation, the Teleri are somewhere in between.. somewhat melancholic in nature, artistically creative but slow to change. They love the sea and music, so they are sailors, fishermen, singers and musicians. And perhaps a bit more socially minded than the two other kindreds, who spend more time in either quiet meditation or striving for personal achievements.. these are just my personal impressions, of course.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Good one.
And what about the Falathrim, Laiquendi, Sindar and Nandor?
You've got me going now.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Argh. 
The Falathrim are like the Teleri.. perhaps the Teleri remain more classical, elegant and old-fashioned, while the Falathrim keep changing and developing, but at the same time being more rugged, practical, down-to-earth. The rest of the Sindar are not that fixated with the sea, being more fond of forests and starlight.. but they remain quite similar to the Teleri.
The Nandor, Including the Laegrim would be shy and quiet forest-dwellers, somewhat shorter and more slender than the Sindar/Teleri (and the Noldor, and especially Vanyar who would appear even taller and physically stronger). They would be social among their own group, and generally merrier in nature than the slightly melancholic Teleri/Sindar/Falathrim or the solemn and serious Noldor. Like the Vanyar, they would be closer to the “ primitive innocence” of the Elves, living in harmony with the land.
And my clothing ideas..
So the Vanyar wear simple classic clothes.. inspired mostly by Greeks and Romans. Silk, linen wool.. Traditional and old-fashioned. White and gold are the popular colours.
The Teleri of Aman would wear somewhat similar simple clothes, but generally more practical and decorative.. and silk robes as more formal wear. White, silver, grey, blue, green.. sea colours for them mostly.
The Noldor would wear more varied and complex stuff, mostly early Medieval style clothes (a lot of Norman influence, with some early Renaissance and even Japanese elements thrown in for flavour). Varied rich materials: silk, velvet, wool, fur.. Silver, gold and bright vibrant colours for them.
In Middle-earth, the Falathrim are a bit like the Teleri, but with some Viking influence.. warm and practical seafaring clothes for them. Linen, wool, leather.. in greys, with some silver and blues. The Sindar and especially the Laegrim and the rest of the Nandor are hunters and forest people, whose everyday clothes would be practical, and in natural colours: greys, greens and browns. Simple practical designs like those of the Viking Age/Early Medieval Europe, mostly leather, fur and wool. But the Sindar in Doriath would have finer clothes in brighter colours as well, to be worn in the Halls of Menegroth.
Again, this is all my way of seeing them.. it’s not based on any “facts” -- nor is it very thoroughly thought out.. I might yet get other ideas.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
That's all neat!
Don't forget the Avari!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Well, the rest of the Avari would be a lot like the Nandor.. but their clothes and customs would wary depending on what kind of area they lived in, I guess.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Beautiful - and I very much agree with your interpretation of her Vanyarin-ness (...) - the fact that she remained with Indis speaks for itself, I think... if she had inherited more Noldorin traits (mental more than physical) she would have gone abroad - the fact that few if any Vanyar joined the rebellion sounds like a sure proof that they weren't quite hotheaded enough to run off just like that, so the calmness and serenity are quite good ideas.
As for the "chaste as a nun" - personally, I think I'd picture her with more of a high-collared dress and less cleavage visible, but that's up to portrayal. Her chaste attitude certainly comes across in her facial expression and posture. Wonderful work once again, I don't think you'll cease to amaze me.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thank you!
Yes, the Vanyar didn't join the rebellion of the Ñoldor.. Elenwë wife of Turgon is the only one we know to have gone for certain, even Amárië the betrothed of Finrod "was not permitted to leave." I thought it would be fitting to make her Vanya-like and her sister Noldo-like in appearance too, as they seem to have been in mood and character.
Ah, you might be right.. I wasn't thinking about the whole cleavage thing. 
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I totally did not know that Finwe had any daughters. . . wow. Great job on the draping of the cloth. Very pretty.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thank you!
Tolkien had given Finwë 2-3 daughters in his genealogical trees, but they never had any role in his stories and CJRT left them out of the Silmarillion. In the late essay Shibboleth of Fëanor (in HoME XII) JRRT gives the number of daughters as 2 and gives their names as Findis and Írien Lalwendë (Lalwen).
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
oooh, this one's very pretty! Again, I love the way you do the clothes, so detailed (especially for a pencil sketch!). I also like the heraldic device, good job
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
| Next =>