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TurnerMohan β Maedhros and Maglor
#elves #feanor #maedhros #maglor #noldor #silmarillion #tolkien
Published: 2015-01-01 08:17:45 +0000 UTC; Views: 10997; Favourites: 86; Downloads: 64
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there's little wonder in my mind as to why the sons of feanor, particular maedhros and maglor, are the great fan-favorites that they are. they were caught up in an oath which they didn't conceive, but which binds them and, again and again, compels them to evil. they know it, and can't stop it, and it tortures them. they are complex and tragic like few other characters in Tolkien's writing.the scene after the defeat of morgoth where maedhros, inevitably, inexorably, comes to maglor and demands his participation in one last bid to recover the silmarils is one of my favorites. I imagine the two haven't spoken or seen each other in years, since the slaughter at the havens. maedhros has turned from the beautiful, bold-hearted youth he was in valinor to a bitter, grasping creature, stalking over his brother's shoulder like a starved tiger, desperate and dangerous.Β Maglor as well has been whittled down over the centuries by guilt and sorrow; the quiet, contented young artist of the days of bliss replaced by an exhausted, soul-sick wretch. he knew maedhros would come for him, and argues against him with everything he has, but ultimately he is as much a prisoner of the oath as his brother, and there are no arguments that will hold weight against it. it's difficult for me to see what exactly the oath means to the brothers; i like to think, at this point, that some part of both of them may be operating on the belief (or the need to believe, however impossible) that the fulfillment of their oath will somehow release them (and their departed brothers) from their guilt over all the evil things they had to do to see it fulfilled. when the silmaril burns maedhros for the evil thing that he is, and he realizes there is no absolution and no peace at the end of their long, terrible task, he does himself in, leaving maglor, broken and alone, to wander in despair forever.
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Comments: 31
It's.. it's so emothional. In truth, I have no words to describe all my thoughts. Thank you for such wonderful work and personal opinion about fate of characters~
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Great mood here! Your pencil works are always a pleasure to admire!
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Yep, I think they are some of the greatest Tolkien's characters, undoubtely among my very favourite. The most worthy of the sons of Feanor... even better than their father, from a moral point of view. I don't have much relationship with the fandom but I think they deserve the appreciation they got.
It's always great to see an original choice of scenes depicted, as in your illustrations.
I still treasure a Ted Nasmith illustration poster with Maglor throwing the last Silmaril to the sea, by the way. I find it to be one of the most powerful scenes of The Silmarillion's ending, one which represents very well the process of decaying of the world and of all things fair that is one the cornerstones of the book's subtexts and of Tolkien's poetics in general.Β
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"even better than their father, from a moral point of view" that's not so hard
i agree, that's one of my favorite ted paintings, who i think in general has gotten kind of the short shift as the number three (by a wide margin) tolkien artist; he's done alot of great pieces, particuarly for the silmarillion, some of which i think actually beat out alan and john's work as being the definitive take on their subjects (like tuor reaching gondolin or the drowning of numenor)
Thanks, i always enjoy your comments
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It's not hard but some of Feanor's younger sons (like Curufin, Caranthir... sorry in case I'm wrong, consider that my memories of the book are not as clear as they used to be) have managed to do even worst: evil for the sake of evil and a power-hungry attitude that wasn't among the many flaws of their relatives (despite all the arrogance and hubris).
Maybe the third place is the right one for Nasmith but his work is not to be underestimate, some of his illustrations are the best depiction of certain JRRT images, indeed.
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Both the sketch and the text are heartbreaking. Really wonderful work. You always put so much emotion into your art.
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I love how your elves don't look like a bunch of teenagers! 
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that's one of my BIG beefs with a lot of fellow fan artists' work; the portrayal of the great warriors and kings of the elves as these anorexic teenage bishi-boy underwear models.
i'm really honored to hear that my art (many pieces of which will no doubt become more clear to you as you continue reading) will find it's way into your mental picture of the people and events of tolkien's great posthumous work. also if you're not familiar with their work already, i would also strongly recommend checking out the silmarillion-related artwork of elena kukanova, tuuliky, and meneldil-elda, three great artist here on deviant who have a way of really bringing tolkien's elven princes and princesses to life (you might want to hold off just to not spoil the book for yourself though 
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Sorry, but who can decide what is the best depiction? After all everyone has a different idea of the things and headcanons in his mind
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why be sorry about that? i very much agree.
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Maybe someone likes: "the portrayal of the great warriors and kings of the elves as these anorexic teenage bishi-boy underwear models". Β Β
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Thanks for the suggestions, Turner! Actually Elena's depiction of Nessa is stuck as my mental image of the deer-loving dancing queen!
Truly it is your art that inspired me to read the Silmarillion along with your views that it is Tolkien's alternate history for the world! Also thanks for the spoiler warning!
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Your own take on the Quenta Silmarillion continues apace to fine and interesting scenes.
The decision to steal the two remaining silmarils now in the care of Eonwe was the last attempt to fulfill the Oath, and the one that finally used the nemesis of the jewels themselves to punish the brothers for the hubris of their father and themselves. Despite their just punishment, Tolkien made the two surviving brothers sympathetic in their despair because they were the last, and the most likable, and had given up everything to please the shade of their father and fulfill his Oath. At the same time though the reader could understand that if the brothers had been more honest with themselves and truly wise, they would have abandoned the scheme and sued the Valar for forgiveness and the lifting of their oath. But things would be as they must.... Your illustration has some of that paradoxical description to it, especially compared with your past illustrations of both brothers.
The Japanese story-image returns as well, with strong heroes at the point of despair again, yet determined to do their best once more, for the honor of family and self, and a perceived final victory over the great villain. Maedhros as the dynamic active character and Maglor as the passive reactive character seem to use the Japanese period film scene structure very well. (You also use a particular Japanese detail in reminding us of Maedhros's maimed arm and its related meaning by deliberately not showing it.
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i don't know if being honest with themselves or wise, as you say, would have helped them at this late point. thye wouldn't have killed eonwe's guards, and madhros wouldn't have plunged to his death, and possibly the brothers would recieve some healing in valinor, but i don't know that the valar would ever be able to fully heal them as the valar, as maedhros points out, could not release them from the oath (or so it seems) as it was sworn to illuvatar, and they did, really stupidly, call everlasting darkness upon themselves if they should fail to recover the silmarils. i tend to think that that "everlasting darkness" is not some promise of future doom but is what they have been living in since swearing the oath and especially since the first kinslaying at alqualonde (that "darkness"Β - which i interperate as a kind of darkness of the soul, being wracked by guilt and unable to find any peace in life - has no doubt intensified with the subsequent two kinslayings) which is why maglor's arguments that they should just give it up, reasonable and moral as they are, cant really hold any emotinal weight or resonance even for him. it's hard to say if it's the oath itself and the fact that they havent fulfilled it, or all the evil things they have done to try and fulfill it, that eats away at their souls (it's one of these kind of catch 22's you see all the time in legends, like how in "macbeth" it's quite possibly macbeth's reactions to the weird sister's prophecies that makes them come true) but in any event, i kind of feel like why maglor's arguments don't disuade maedhros, and cant even keep him himself from going along - and couldn't stop himself from participating in the sack of doriath or the havens - is because really they both feel the pull of their oath and the need to fulfill it; if there's a silmaril near at hand that can maybe be gotten and spare them the agony they live in, ultimately they have to go for it.
i tend to see this as percolating in then sons of feanor throughout the five hundred or so years of the first age. it's pretty quiet atfirst because the silmarils are with morgoth and therefore basically impossible to recover, and also because (and i always saw this as a factor) a lot of the mightier of their peers who they might have to answer to for commiting further kinslayings, like fingolfin or finrod or turgon (or great friends they would not want to betray, like fingon was to maedhros) are still alive, but as that list grows shorter and shorter, and especially after one silmaril gets out into the world, the oath starts to pull on them more. i think fingolfin and fingon and the others would probably know the oath hadn't just gone away, and probably wonder, cautiously, what their alliances and friendships will be worth if the silmarils ever did come within the brothers' reach. it really seems to me about as close to gollum territory as we ever see elves get
that's a subtle refference, the japanese story-image (so subtle infact that i didn't even know it's what i was doing 
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This picture was the best character drama scene you've done since the Helm set, so once again the Japanese-style imagery was showing through. It was a very strong piece, and you had everything arranged so nicely! Kurosawa's genius was knowing when to let the underlying emotional torrent break through the proper facade of etiquette to make the big impact. (Not all Japanese directors have been so successful; the other ones who were chose different stories than him. That sort of story technique is played out in the Norse and Icelandic sagas and some of the Arthurian tales, where actions based on feelings inevitably trump those based on cunning or clear thought.) The same approach would be effective with the Noldor princes, who were often ruled by their hearts as much as their heads, pushed by passions that they instinctively followed, as a century or two of stored feelings had found an outlet and surged outward, pulling them along in its wake. Your chosen subjects Maedhros and Finrod really seem to push forward this idea as a developed theme. Now, both of them realize what is happening, and try to direct the feelings towards a reaction that is successful, unlike some of their kinsmen. But the impetus is there, and once it's understood then there is no mystery why Finrod throws aside his crown to help the son of his dear friend, or why Maedhros tries to win a battlefield decision against Morgoth first and only succumbs to leading an assault against other Free Peoples when it seems no other way of fulfilling the Oath exists.
One can sense the growing despair of Maedhros after the Battle of Unnumbered Tears as all options except raising the sword against friends and allies seem to fall away. It's Japanese in the sense that Maedhros unlike Macbeth does not suffer buyer's remorse over treachery, but regrets that giri to his father and oath have shredded his honor more than a disloyal refusal would have. Meaning to do the right thing, he has done more damage to the Free Peoples than anyone except maybe Maeglin, and he can hear Morgoth's mocking laughter in his mind. The silmarils as usual play their part, as the beguiling Arkenstone is a juvenile version of them; the unearthly holy beauty of the jewels seems to overwhelm rational thought in just about everyone, and Maedhros & Maglor feel it more than most. The only saving grace for Maglor is seen in your other picture, where Maglor spares the lives of Elros and Elrond and treats them as foster sons instead of hostages, putting aside dishonored pride and desire for a brief return to the days of camaraderie in Aman, when all the Noldor were one great kindred. In the end Maglor can release his purloined jewel, despite his heartbreak; Maedhros has no consolation or solace in the end except the despair that all the loss has been for nothing and he is forever unworthy. Buddhist and Christian mercy and forgiveness are absent from this tale; what remains is stern Old Testament and Old Norse judgement. (Confucian moral equivalence about serving a bad master as well as a good one has its usual outcome.)
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and this is why i look for your name in my messages like a kid at christmas 
i see the battle of unnumbered tears as a big personal turning point for maedhros; while the one silmaril was already out in the world and his more hotheaded brothers were talking about killing thingol to recover it, i sense he (to whom the same inclination, somewhere deep down, probably occurred almost immediately and was promptly squashed) was putting all his energy and his hope into a grand, final attack on morgoth. it was the big hurrah of the league of maedhros and it was a terrible, crushing failure; his dearest friend fingon - who saved him from morgoth even without knowing maedhros had tried to stand up for him at losgar - is dead, he and his father's realm in hithlum is destroyed, his friend and ally the dwarf lord azaghal is dead, the men who he put his hope and faith in betrayed him and murdered his people, he's driven out of his city at himring to wander the wilderness like a vagrant. it seems like once the possibility of defeating morgoth and winning the two silmarils from him is dashed, the pull of the silmaril in doriath, which he had probably tried to avoid thinking about beforehand, becomes impossible to resist. i can picture him alone on some bleak day standing before the hill of the slain, thinking about fingon buried somewhere in it, and his brothers appear out of nowhere, lead by the three C's, to convince him, against all maglor's desperate protests, to attack thingol's half-human heir, now that melian has departed; it' a really shameful move, one which i imagine celegorm and curufin are on board for for personal reasons almost as much as for the oath, but ultimately there's nothing they can do, one of the silmaril's they swore to recover is within reach, they have to go for it.
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"Of the Ruin of Doriath" is the true low point of the entire mega-epic. An entire elf realm loses its capitol and its reason for existing in two senseless conflicts, and not one orc appears in all the pages. The Second Kin-Slaying for me was (and still continues to be) a special point of horror for me, since it showed just how callous and desperate the Sons of Feanor were getting, and how badly the Oath had twisted all their actions and desire. Dior was the grandson of Thingol & Melian and the son of Beren & Luthien, if ever a man of Middle-Earth was born under a good sign it was him, and he rallied the people of Doriath following the attack of the Dwarves and began again under humbler but hopeful circumstances. He bore the silmaril as a sign of hope and resistance, with an Elven queen at his side, and two sons and a daughter who ought to have been able to soften the hardest heart with their adorable charm. Truly this was to be the beginning of a dynasty to rule the hearts of Elves and Men together!
And then Feanor's brooding brood and their retainers showed up one dark and smashed the happy dream to pieces and ground the pieces underfoot in their greed and spite. And they didn't even get the silmaril either, since Elwing's nursemaid took it and her out the kitchen door and away to temporary safety elsewhere. I've never seen this deed illustrated, and I doubt I ever will, since anyone with any feeling (nearly all of and other such sites) instinctively recoils from commemorating such a base act of treachery and ill will. And yet, it's the sort of memory image behind the desperation of Maedhros and the reluctance of Maglor in your illustration here, and the visible weariness of both, and the desire to have all the innocent lives sacrificed count for something in the end. But as Tolkien never tired of repeating, the ends never justified the means, and anyone saying so was deluding themselves in a most dangerous fashion.
I like the power of your image of Maedhros standing before the Mound of the Slain. with the three C's in the fore of the brothers, come to request his leadership and aid against Doriath, and reminding him of the Oath and its inflexibly exclusive terms. You at least could definitely make a good picture of it, with a strong feeling of Wyrd. Probably won't get a lot of favorite tags for it though.Β Β I would like to see you do a portrait of the "brothers C" some time, since you could do some real justice to both the good and the bad in all of them. Β
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yeah, Dior is a special event in the history of the kindreds of elves and men, being the first hybrid between the two branches of the children of illuvatar, (and not only that but containing in his blood a seed of the ainur) i believe, as per the rules set out by manwe in some obscure passage that tolkien might not have been entirely certain about himself, Dior counts as a human and is a mortal, as would be his children with Nimloth, and even his mostly-elven daughter Elwing's children with the also-half-elven Earendil. I always wondered how long they were all set to live (as there isnt really a logical average between the roughly 75 year average human lifespan and "forever") the test is never made however, because of the bunch some end up being granted special dispensations to make their own choice like elrond and later his children, some are complete exceptions to the normal metaphysical rules like earendil and elwing, or as is the case with dior and his sons, they are killed long before they would have died naturally (all three directly or indirectly by the sons of feanor)
ofcourse it would be the sons of feanor; the "pure bloods" of the noldor royal family, proud, exclusionary, and (all-importantly) driven by this stupid oath that has caused nothing but loss for the noldor and was authored by a righteous asshole in a storm of blind greed and self-importance and is ultimately about nothing more profound than recovering jewels that the world can (and basically has) totally learned to live without (i often think about it that, though "marred" as they are, the sun and moon - yavanna's compromised but ultimately bigger and more beneficial to more people second take on the trees - once they rose into the heavens and lit up the world, essentially made feanor's silmarils obsolete to anyone except horders) ofcourse they would be the ones, with their old-hat stupid agenda, to harm this new, living, beautiful development.
it's true i've never seen (or atleast cant remeber) any depiction of the attack on doriath, though i've had a third-kinslaying composition in mind for some time now that i may try and execute, as part of my ongoing work on the sons of feanor (of whom the right number is not always certain in my mind, in the silm amrod and amras are present at the attack on sirion, but the generally accepted canon on the matter has amrod die at losgar, which leaves amras (who was never really developed as a character) as this poor shadow of a person. I think, speaking cinematically, the right time to kill them off (or what i would prefer) would be at the ninaerth arnoediad, maybe by ulfang's men (but until the silmarillion film rights come up that's not anyone's call but tolkien's
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At this point I would rather Tolkien Enterprises withhold film rights to The Silmarillion for, say, another 20-25 years. Until and unless Cecil B, De Mille can be restored to mortal flesh, there is no one in the current politically correct, morally-challenged, focus study-driven Hollywood I would trust with Tolkien's dearest work. That includes PJ, who despite his bona fides, had minimal involvement with the original production concept of The Hobbit trilogy (thanks to the lawsuit versus New Line) and who was obviously saddled with some studio "requests" during production. Not that there would be any shortage of people lining up to work on it (and you would have my vote for technical design and costume design
Having read the fragmentary story of Amrod getting fried at Losgar, I can well understand why Tolkien never included it in the published story. It is too much, even for Feanor at the peak of his fey vengeance ride. Amrod and Amras come across as a blank distinguished by their lack of individual distinction. Maedhros, Maglor, and the three C's all have distinct characteristics and get their individual moments, but the twins are always together, and always supporting cast without any real lines. They seem to have the problem that "youngest children" vibe, always overshadowed by the parents and older siblings. Maybe they might have developed more if Nerdanel hadn't thrown up her hands in surrender by then? Be that as it may, their deaths at Sirion-town indicate a final, futile commitment to a doomed cause.Β Β
I would be interested in a picture you made about the Third Kin-Slaying, if only because you do well when some sense of conflict is being represented.
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Β It really is fascinating to witness the difference between Maedhros as depicted here and in your portrait of his alongside his late, great Uncle Fingolfin - oddly enough he looks healthier here, but β¦ 'lesser' might be the best word for the change I see here, gone from a carefully-repaired bronze of beauty and greatness to a tarnished relic.
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well when we see him there he's very recently released from long years of torture, so even though he's kind of worn thin here, he's probably a little more hale than he was then
sometimes i like looking at the princes 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 of beleriand; these great champions of the other side, older than time, each of them known to the orcs, their looks and traits passed down generation after generation in the pits of angband (the goblins in the hobbit seem to receive glamdring and orcrist this way) i imagine maedhros would be a real bad one in their estimation; the really tall red-haired one with one hand who the master tortured hundreds of years ago, that's one you want to stay as far away from on the battlefield as possible.
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Β Excellent points all and it IS rather intriguing to speculate on how Orcs see their β¦ 'counterparts' may be the safest way to put it, given the complexities of theories associated with the origins of that Unfree People β¦ The Eldar.
Β One imagines that profanity fit to frighten a drunken sailor with Tourettes Syndrome would be unleashed, if nothing else; I wonder if Orcs of the Second and Third Ages would see the Eldar as something like the Nazgul, in terms of their immortality and powers, material and immaterial?Β
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the silmarillion takes place in a world and a time where the divine powers themselves are still active and visible in the world, literally gods walking amongst mere mortals (although truthfully the "gods" or the ainur, rarely interact with mortal men, except morgoth and his servants like sauron) and even below their level there seem to be vastly divergent hierarchies in terms of "loft" between peoples; when the men of beor's following - who presumably have run into woodelves before - see finrod for the first time they think he's one of the valar of the west they've heard stories about, and i'd imagine, to mortal men, he probably looks and seems the part. so when it comes to orcs regarding these elven enemies they're ceaselessly forced into battle with, i expect the great names among them - fingolfin and his sons, all the sons of feanor and finarfin, and even mighty warriors not of finwe's line like gwindor or glorfindel and ecthelion - are well known to the orcs of angband as practically these enemy demigods, they've been around forever, they've killed thousands of orcs and are all but impossible to kill themselves unless completely overwhelmed or confronted with one of morgoth's own demonic champions. i imagine the meeting of fingon and gothmog would be, to the orcs who witness it, like this battle of the gods, they all know who fingon is and ofcourse they know gothmog, he is their great champion, a living divine power on their side, and when he beats the light of fingon out of existence, it is for the orcs what the removal of a balrog is like for the elves; the snuffing out of this great, terrible foe.
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Β An excellent point very astutely argued; it is rather intriguing to see the mirror held up to the Heroes of the First Age and see how the Orcs would see such slayers of their kind.
Β It makes you wonder just how an Orc would react to seeing the ruin of Gothmog, who comes to a fairly spectacular end as I recall, if I recall correctly - dragged down with old Ecthelion of the Fountain into mutual death by drowning, despite the latter being seriously wounded in the arms (could he have used his legs to throttle the Captain-General of The Enemy, I wonder? Lord Ecthelion strikes me as the sort to go to the very limits of possibility in his execution of the Foe, especially with Death upon him).
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