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AbePapakhian — Elendil's Tomb
Published: 2015-06-15 12:08:25 +0000 UTC; Views: 5361; Favourites: 116; Downloads: 0
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Description
A more elaborate viewing of a scene of Isildur at his father's grave. 16x22 approx. pencil on paperRelated content
Comments: 9
Your drawing is very epic, and detailed. Keep up the good work.
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Very nice sketch but... "there is no tomb for Elendil" (Unfinished Tales III, The Northmen and the Wainriders) except a single stone carved with the letters "LNDL" on the Halfirien.
I love the drawing anyway, the clothes and buildings are really well done It could be Anarion's grave ? The younger brother of Isildur who ruled Gondor with him and perished during the siege of Barad-dûr : surely the loss of his brother was as important for Isildur than the loss of hi dad.
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As I said this is a more elaborate version. I wanted to show a much more formal and ornate setting for his grave. More in line with what I expected from an ancient culture rather than a mound with flowers on it.
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Sorry, I did not understand you that way, though for Tolkien a mound seem to be a glorious grave as well : Fingolfin got one as well. I also have the feeling that Elendil's body was not recovered (for some reason : may be Sauron's grasp burnt him). Thanks for the explanation anyway.
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Master Abe, please allow me to congratulate you once again for producing a very fine image; it truly does speak volumes concerning the Ancient Pride and dignity of Numenor, as well as standing as a fantastic image in its own right.
If I might suggest a plausible explanation for the relative simplicity of Elendil's tomb, my guess is that by asking for burial in such a style he was making a break with the past - taking great care to mark himself out as very different from the often Death-obsessed Numenoreans of old, those King's Men who had so persecuted The Faithful and their new subjects on the Mainland (frequently for the sake of seizing riches that could be thrown into their tomb, in the accepted and fiercely-resented Pharaonic manner).
On another level burial in a mound ripe with grass as green as emerald and rich with flowers permits Elendil to remain tied into the Cycle of Life and Death, allowing him to accept Death on a symbolic level and perhaps allow some small part of himself to live on in the life that grows all about his final resting place and in the life that vegetation nourishes (which seem to me to be very much in keeping with the philosophy of The Faithful).
Additionally a hill at the physical heart of his kingdom would seem to recall something of the Meneltarma, the Pillar of Heaven itself on Old Numenor - the very foundation of the Ancient Island Kingdom and the Spiritual Heart of The Faithful.
Having said all that, this image still strikes me as too wonderful to lose from the canon of Middle-Earth; perhaps we might take it to represent the Funerary Monument of some other distinguished scion of the House of the Elendili on Numenor itself? (Perhaps Isildur is here to borrow strength from an ancestor before launching his courageous expedition to the White Tree).
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meanwhile, none of this actually happened, so anyone can draw it as they please.
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I did not intend to imply anything else and was in fact looking to rationalise the back-story behind this image rather than ridicule it (quite frankly there is nothing in the quality of the scholarship underpinning Mr Papakhian's pictures which merits anything less than the highest praise, so far as I am concerned).
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I really like your take on the cultures of Middle-earth. You have been a great help for me in trying to get rid of the movie imagery in my mind and you have inspired my own imagination. It would be great to see some takes on Gondorian/Arnorian culture, like architecture of Weathertop, Fornost, Annúminas, or Pelargir.
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