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TurnerMohan — Galadriel in Aman
#galadriel #nerwen #tolkien #elves #silmarillion
Published: 2015-02-13 04:11:49 +0000 UTC; Views: 15366; Favourites: 137; Downloads: 91
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who knew Finarfin, the quietest and most ineffectual of Finwe's sons, had a lioness like Galadriel in him. the Man-Maiden as she is called (a little sexist-ly on the elves' part; the "mannish" traits attributed to her are physical and mental greatness) is kind of the secret weapon of the house of Finarfin; six feet four inches tall, strong, brave, smart, emotionally astute, morally centered, and apart from Maglor (still m.i.a. as of the late third age) the only one of her generation to actually survive the end of the elder days, after which she continued for another six thousand plus years to use her wisdom and her strength to aid the people of middle-earth against the servants of evil, and during which time (aided in large part by bearing one of the three rings) she grows in power until she is basically the big guns on the light side, east of the sea. She's intimidating in her greatness.i've been doing a lot of mostly concept centered work lately on the Noldor in Valinor, trying to map out what their culture might look and feel like, and a take on the mighty daughter of Finarfin in her youth - said to be the second greatest of all the house of finwe behind feanor which, considering the roster, is really something - seemed an appropriate subject through which to present some of my concepts. My inspirations for the elves in Valinor tend to fall on the more antique side of things; roman, greek and even a good deal of egyptian, as opposed to the more sylvan, celtic/nordic feel of the sindar (whose language and cultural stylings the noldor in beleriand largely adopt, while of course maintaining, here and there, the trappings of their own heritage) Valinor being not only a warmer environment than the north-east of middle-earth but also loftier in tone, and the story of the elves' time there seems bigger and more classical or even old-testament biblical in nature (great beings living in bliss among the gods, turned astray by evil, murdering their kin, banished from paradise) so a look and feel that we associate as having that greater age and grandeur seems fitting (also the noldor especially are friends with aule and his people, which encourages a picture of them as being lavishly ornamented in my mind)
Galadriel at this time is remarked to be both a great athlete and thinker among the noldor. it was fun to depict her in a way that might convincingly age (both herself and in the style of her attire) into the more classic image of late-third-age galadriel in pre-Raphaelite robes, while offering a picture of the beauty and majesty of the noldor princess in her youth, a young demigoddess. as with her cousins, i like to depict the noldor, prior to the kinslaying, as bearing weapons, even if only for hunting, or a javelin for sport as in this case: there is a physical hunger for adventure and violence in them which, prodded by the evil of morgoth, erupts into bloodshed at alqualonde. Galadriel however takes no part in this, being a creature not only of tremendous power but of a strong moral compass; she is the great champion of all good people in later ages, however humble, but despite this she has no personal understanding of weakness or inadequacy; she was born superior and remains so every day of her god-knows-how-long life.
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Comments: 34
Thank you for this picture and, moreover, the incredibly thoughtful description you're giving here above !
Would love to see you working on our community project, the Ninth Age, as we are fleshing out that new universe.
www.the-ninth-age.com
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Her brother Finrod was just as wise and just as badass. After 12 days of torture, he almost defeats a much younger, more powerful Sauron in a song of magic while shackled in a dungeon. He saves Beren. HIs kingdom was strong. He was the first Elf lord to befriend men. His influence in the Tolkien Universe continued to Aragorn, who wore the Ring of Barahir which Finrod gave his sire 6500 years or so prior.
It is odd that Finarfin gets such a bad rap by having common sense. Feanor was mentally unstable...he cared more about avenging his dead father and those little jewels than for the lives of his own sons or people. Fingolfin, the mightiest Elf in combat, seems to be more of a big, brave jock Elf than a wise lord.
Finarfin...and his children...cared for their people. Though culturally a Noldor, the spiritual power and wisdom of Galadriel and Finrod no doubt came from their Vanyar blood.
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Finarfin led the Valinorian Noldor host in the decades-long War of Wrath. I wouldn't really describe that as ineffectual.
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Finarfin plays the long game. His name doesnt shine the way feanor of fingolfin's do, but ages after beleriand sinks beneath the sea he's still ruling the noldor in aman. He does not however have the "effect" on the history of the noldor that his older brothers can claim
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Please don't mistake me ...
… I genuinely love Galadriel a la Blanchett
… but Uma Thurman really does have a face fit for Aman.
I believe that I've already made my case with the very strongest evidence to hand, but Ms. Thurman making a spray of peacock feathers look like a Crowning Glory rather than a sartorial disaster has to be seen to be believed!
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I tend not to think that a fictional character should look exactly like any actor or actress in particular (a.k.a. actor X as character Y). Of course inspiration may be drawn from the actors what comes to looks and attitude, but in the end they're their own people, and want that to be seen first and foremost, along with the artists' own imaginations.
For example, I for one feel refreshed to see Legolas who is portrayed as other than platinum blonde Orlando Bloom.
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I quite agree; something that has repeatedly occurred to me is the idea that a fictional character (when illustrated) should resemble the actor or actress who plays them no more than a well-cast actor or an actress might themselves bear a physical resemblance to some character from History whom they have been chosen to play.
Which is to say that while there should be a physical resemblance (in some cases a very strong resemblance indeed), the characters should be distinct individuals in and of themselves - a delicate balance which in my opinion Master Mohan continues to strike with consistent skill.
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I can hardly take my eyes off this your lady whenever she fills my view-screen, which means that so far as I am concerned you have captured the essence of the Lady Galadriel PERFECTLY.
No wonder Professor Tolkien used her so sparingly; otherwise the entire Tale of Middle-Earth would turn into 'The Lady Galadriel' and neither THE LORD OF THE RINGS nor THE HOBBIT!
Concerning visual influences on The Lady Galadriel, I have to admit that Uma Thurman keeps filling my minds eye when considering The Lady of Lothlorien, possibly because she too is very tall and very fair indeed!
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yeah uma thurman is the right species for galadriel (along with charlize theron, rachel hunter, lana clarkson, cate blanchette and others) fucking nordic aliens.
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To be technically accurate ----ing BEAUTIFUL Nordic Aliens!
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Really great image of the young Galadriel, it shows a lot of the youth and dynamism she must've had in the pre-Silmarillion years.
Galadriel is Tolkien's greatest female character, based on both Norse goddesses like Sif and the Catholic version of Mary. She's the sum of female power as understood in Teutonic Europe of the Dark Ages: subtle and magical, at once tactful and playful, using her power to protect and nurture her realm, seductive yet chaste, godlike yet approachable. (To paraphrase Dolan's review.)
When we meet her in FOTR, she's almost impossibly ancient: if she were alive in our world, and today was the last day of her reign, she would've been there in Neolithic times and seen the beginnings of agriculture. By human standards, Galadriel's almost godlike, wise and ancient even by Elvish standards, and LOTR gets this across pretty well. So this is a really good depiction of what Galadriel would've looked like in her younger years, all energetic and slender-limbed, more of a young huntress (think the goddess Diana) than a wise queen.
(Tolkien's Eldar are a rare example of successful twentieth-century sublime. They've got nothing in common with the Sidhe from Celtic legend or the Victorian "fairies in the garden." And, like all the precious things in Middle-Earth, they are already on the decline, fading away to make room for "the age of men", washed away by the ravages of entropy. Galadriel is the main showcase of this: her line that history is an endless process of "fighting the long defeat" is one of LOTR's saddest.)
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Your skill in Tolkien-art is peerless; and adding your thoughts in relation to the books and lore makes it even more especial, and valued by fellow Tolkien-appreciators like me.
Very well done indeed.
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I'm delighted to hear you think so LotROLaurelin, expect more like it!
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Unlike his brothers, Finarfin couldn't or wouldn't stop the world to have his time in the sun. He repented and turned back, and was spared the Ban, but he never had any adventures. It was left to his children to make a mark for his House in Middle-Earth, and boy did they ever! 
Your Classical stylings for the Eldar in their early days look very interesting, especially as the stylings blend into Numenor, whose people were instructed by the High Elves and imitated them before making the style their own. The pose looks like it is intended for a sculpture to put in her parents' house, or maybe give to Grandfather Finwe and Grandmother Indis as a gift. The "man-maiden" part definitely comes through, but it is not butch like Atlanta or "sporty girl" like a contemporary image of Aredhel might look. She has a pose of strength, poise, and determination which have a masculine energy, but a feminine cast that takes away the hard edges of the Noldor heroes. It's the foretelling of the crownless queen who will desire to see more of Middle-Earth than Beleriand, bid Frodo see his destiny in her mirror, but also give Sam a mallorn seed. The biggest departure from the latter-day image is the tightly braided hair carefully put out of harm's way, instead of it being a performance issue. After all, her chief feature (and source of her Sindarin name) is her long hair like golden thread, comparable to Syf or Bottacelli's Venus, hair so bright and beautiful that Feanor desires to use it in his peerless crafting. But for right now, female vanity is put aside. The other girls may decide to look pretty and catch the men's eyes and kind words while they fall short of the mark, but not her! The pose suggests Galadriel is not conceding the game at hand but intends to do her best, and if some of her brothers and cousins get beaten, too bad!!
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Yes indeed it was an idea of mine that the dunedain of numenor (having been synthesized as a culture during their time at cirdan's havens living among the refugee elves, and living in a warmer climate) would have taken quite a lot from the dress and cultural stylings of the noldor, especially during their early days when voyagers to and from tol erresea were still a common occurrence (i kind of like the idea that in its earliest origin the by now infamous "karma" might have come from something worn by the teleri) her garment here was based mostly on egyptian dresses/ tunics, but trying to tread the line between those and greek models (a look and feel close to the late bronze age "sea people" - phoenecians and mycenians, albeit stretched out, less gaudily colored and superhumanly elegant - is what i tend to see for the noldor and especially the teleri in aman, galadriel being half telerin herself i dont think she'd be apprehensive about wearing the dress of her mother's people) another influence - as you can probably pick up on, were those greek and roman statues of women in an athletic context; they're almost always dressed (unlike the men) and usually in these light, short kind of tunics (those were also what motivated me drawing her hair bunned back)
Galadriel herself i think should really be an imposing figure; a big, tall mesomorph, not afraid or shy (or unable) to one-up her brothers or cousins in a mental or physical contest. actually a partial influence on my portrayal of galadriel at this age was the portrayal of katniss in the "hunger games" movies. the way that jennifer lawrence carries herself with power, authority and gravitas alongside her fit but kind of childish-by-comparison love interests.
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With Galadriel (and some other strong heroines) Tolkien gives us the female ruler who can project "hard" power, like a male ruler. The usual female "soft" power is present and can be used, but Galadriel has that charisma which draws attention and respect, and makes her speeches worth heeding. She reminds me a lot of historical ladies who were born to power, understood it, and used it as well as a man, like Eleanor of Aquitaine, Ethelflaeda of Mercia, and Elizabeth Tudor. I think that's why he has the Trees-era Galadriel be active and able to keep pace with her male peers both in the physical and the mental sense. As you have show, Tolkien is working on the idea of a woman who was part of the circle of leaders before all the men were gone. Among the Noldor men of her generation, Galadriel is the only princess who can stand among the princes (heroes one and all), man-tall and man-strong, speaking and taking action that gets her respect instead of being dismissed out of hand. Celeborn comes across in Lorien as her subordinate officer rather than her heart's delight and lifelong partner, and he's almost literally been around forever in Middle-Earth. 
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the female side of the noldor royal family (and friends) in galadriel's time seems to be herself, aredhel, turgon and angrod's wives elenwe and eldalote , finrod's lover amarie, and curufin's never-named wife, along with her own mother earwen, her aunt anaire, and her half-aunt nerdanel ad probably a lot of other high-ranking elven maidens we don't get to hear about. it does seem in that company (most of whom decided not to go to middle-earth) galadriel was likely a natural stand out; greater and more imposing than her peers, more of a natural-born, capable ruler in her own right, possessed of what queen elizabeth called "the heart and stomach of a king."
I always liked that galadiel might be said (and probably some of her feanorian half-cousins did say as much, in that respectful, diplomatic way of theirs') to have "married down." I wish we got to know more about celeborn beyond just being a "kinsman of thingol" though i'm not too crazy about the alternate where he starts out as Teleporno (awesome name tolkien) a prince of the teleri, and he and galadriel actually fight against the feanorean kinslayers and come to middle-earth in one of his own ships outside of the doom of mandos, but atleast that oe gives him some character and gusto. It'd be interesting to know a little more about the comparatively lowly sindar who, of an undoubted host of attempted suitors, won the hand of the great noldor princess (aredhel also married a kinsman of thingol, but under pretty different circumstances and to a very different outcome)
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It's hinted that Celeborn & Galadriel passed over the Blue Mountains before the First Age was over. I don't see any reason for them to do so before the first sacking of Doriath, unless she or Melian had the sort of vision of trouble that might necessitate making a refuge elsewhere. It's all wild-ass guessing, but I can't imagine either of them being in Doriath when the Sons of Feanor came to collect on Dior without getting involved. But Galadriel refused the pardon, and Tolkien says in different places that she wanted to see more of Middle Earth (alongside her Sinda man who had never crossed the Sea), and that she felt she hadn't earned a pardon yet. The establishment of Eregion & the city of Ost-en-Edhil seems like Galadriel's desire to see all the Free Peoples coming together as friends, made real by the efforts of Celebrimbor & Celeborn on her behalf.
I suppose Caranthir might sneer at Thingol & his folk as "dark elves" living in caves, but then again he was living down to expectations.
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I have to admit that I basically imagine Celeborn as Tarzan and leave things right there (mostly because it amuses me to imagine the Uncrowned Queen of the Elves marrying the King of the Swingers).
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As I mentionned earlier all elves-maiden (to my knowledge) have braided hair : Galadriel (in LotR), Arwen (ibid), Melian (in LT), and, the model of any elf-woman I believe, Varda.
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Tolkien was faithful to his cultural models, since long hair was a woman's pride, but prone to be a hassle in daily life or when the wind blew. Braid it up, coil it up, and put on a pretty head-dress. Having watched the Renfaire girls get ready on a September morn, I can attest that there is something to the making of an excellent braid. (I doubt Galadriel then put the braid under a hairnet and cap though.
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Very much agree, Galadriel was always my favorite of the Noldor. There was always a thought in my mind about how the orcs and other forces of darkness would view her. Perhaps in the same way the free people viewed Sauron, as a frightening and (hopefully) distant apperition.
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You and I think alike; i often like looking at the great princes (and the great princess) of the noldor through the eyes of the enemy orcs, to whom i think they would almost seem like the balrogs or sauron do the free people; these great champions of the other side, living legends older than time, each of them known to the orcs, their looks and traits memorized and taught generation after generation in the pits of angband (the goblins in the hobbit seem to receive glamdring and orcrist this way) by the time of the third age galadirel is long since the only one left from that age of great heroes, and as the world has "diminished," as this thing from the heroic long-past she is pretty well unparalleled in power and grandeur (except by something like sauron)
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I love it!! Athletic!Galadriel is severely underrated, in my opinion.
I love your comment as well, and absolutely agree 100% about the sexism of calling a strong, brave, intelligent and/or powerful woman "like a man" - because a woman can't be strong, courageous or powerful just by being a woman, it seems! (Nerdanel ('ner' associated to her "strength of body and mind, and the pursuit of crafts more commonly practised by men"), Nessa ('ner' associated to her "vigour and strength") and Emeldir ("the Man-hearted") experience the same thing :/ ).
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Oh I think she's pretty well "rated"
yeah the "man-maiden" is kind of a weird, off-putting title, although it's basically means "the tomboy," which i can see galadriel as being; not too afraid or shy (or unable) to one-up her brothers or cousins in a mental or physical contest, that was mainly why i wanted to portray her in an athletic context.
it's funny tolkien gives us many strong female characters, but is then often kind of chauvinistic in the way he talks about/criticizes them (especially if they're too "proud" and don't go the marriage-and-kids route like Haleth) that said Tolkien's love for galadriel as a character was always apparent, which is what encourages a very powerful picture of her in my mind (one i was only partly successful in translating to the page, imo)
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True, she gets a lot of (well-merited) fan love, it's just I haven't seen many depictions of athletic Galadriel in Valinor
I see what you mean, but I've always disliked the term 'tomboy' - it's basically also saying that a woman who's strong and deviates from the traditionally feminine roles of a male-dominated society is somehow not 'like a woman' and 'more like a man' :/
To be fair to Tolkien, though, although he has bouts of sexism in the treatment of some of his female characters (especially when he makes many of them sacrifice their initiative and individual dreams when they start a relationship with a man), I think it's remarkable (especially considering his time) that he has quite a handful of 3D strong and empowered women
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Tolkien was a conservative Catholic, so his idea of women's roles were colored by this. It's not surprising at all that Tolkien's descriptions of his female characters sound a bit sexist, like his description of Galadriel as a "man-maiden" for being physically strong.
Luthien is probably the author's favorite of his female characters, and if I remember right, was based on Tolkien's wife. She obviously has a lot of strength, yet isn't described as "mannish" at all. Luthien's powers are traditionally "feminine" powers - using sex appeal and magical spells to defeat her enemies, rather than going mano-a-mano with a sword. More like Queen Mab or the goddess Freya than a warrior-woman like Xena.
(What's funny is that Luthien is the archetypal "faerie princess" in many ways, but it's actually Beren who is the swooning damsel in distress. It's Luthien who takes down Sauron and Morgoth, while Beren mostly faints a lot and needs to be rescued.)
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Oh, Lúthien's my favourite alongside Galadriel, I just love how powerful and utterly fearless she is, and how she defies so many stereotypes. And yes, it's Lúthien who does most of the work, not Beren, which is refreshing or a change
As much as I critisize Tolkien's sexist flaws, I always do like to emphasize, though, that it's quite remarkable that he has some really empowered women - and that's taking into account not only his conservative religious background and his time, but also the context of the male-dominated fictional ancient societies he creates. Compared to, say, C. S. Lewis, his women are way more 3D and empowered in quite a lot of ways.
Also, if you don't mind me saying, I think that warrior-women and femininity aren't necessarily contradictory. After all, 'femininity' and 'masculinity' are societal constructs that rely heavily on cultural (and usually sexist) stereotypes. Galadriel, for example, is very strong and a fighter, but she's also proficient with magic and considered incredibly beautiful. There are men who rely heavily on magic instead of hand-to-hand combat, too. And most warrior-goddesses of ancient religions, like goddess Freya, or mythological figures like Irish queen Medb were also both strong warrior-women and beautiful women with sexual agency. So I guess one thing does not take back the other, and there's too much variety among women and men in order for such concepts as 'femininity' or 'masculinity' to be a realistic label
Sorry for the long comments
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the reversal of gender roles and who saves who in the tale of beren and luthien is so complete (even ending with her, in a sort of gender-reversed "orpheus and euridice," bringing him back from the underworld) that it seems like something out of the current "frozen" generation of disney princess stories. that's pretty surprising to me, coming from an old english academic who probably had some very conservative opinions about gender relations, but it's true; luthien and the dog basically do everything
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I agree
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