Hestiaschätzeken reads Tolkien

Just One Word … Artwork (April Day 3)

Tuor son of Huor

Selected paintings by Ted Nasmith illustrating Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion

Tower of the Moon

Ulmo, Lord of the Waters

Morgoth and the High King of the Noldor

Illuin, Lamp of the Valar

Password into Moria

Tuor Discovers Gondolin

The Shadow of Sauron

This piece has been a while in the making, and on my mind even longer. The sketch originated on a class trip in April, and since then, I’ve tried to see the colours for this – which only worked when I decided not to make it a thunderstorm lighting scene.

Watercolour and gouache on Canson Montval, 19,5 x 28 cm.

There’s a time lapse video of the process up on Patreon.

I feel like I’ve mentioned that I love the story of Túrin before, but I don’t really talk about it too much. But so many things about it are important to me - I think that Túrin is a beautifully tragic hero, and I love many of the supporting characters. However, I also think it’s an incredibly important story for the Silmarillion as a whole, rather than just an elaborate sidenote. It is, in my opinion, critical to understanding the meaning and tragedy of the Silmarillion.

The Children of Húrin is thematically a close-up version of the larger story of the Silmarillion - it contains the same Doom motif, and the same tragic structure, but with a more detailed and coherent story. Therefore, it gives us a more intimate view of the tragedy at work in the story. Due to the way the Silmarillion is narrated, one can sometimes feel removed from the struggles of the Noldor and the hopelessness that gradually falls upon them. 

But through the figure of Túrin, we see these kinds of forces up close. We see firsthand, when we are shown the fate of the House of Hador after the Nirnaeth, the cultural destruction wrought by war and conquest. We see the way grief and misfortune can tear a family apart and drive a man to suicide. The curse does add a magical element to the story, but overall, the Children of Húrin is the most starkly realistic and least fantastic portion of the Silmarillion, and it makes the tragedy enmeshed in the story even more apparent and heart-rending.

I also think there’s something significant about the fact that the Children of Húrin is the only story in the Silmarillion to focus primarily on Men. Its direction of our attention from the Noldor-centrism of the Silmarillion, and its portrayal of the enslavement of the Edain after the Nirnaeth, serve as a reminder that there are a thousand other tragedies occurring as a result of the war against Morgoth that are not recorded, not sung of, not remembered. It is proof that the devastation of the war has touched far and wide, and that Túrin is nowhere near its only victim. 

The Arkenstone for the The Hobbit Read-Along Bingo squares for week 6 and Battle of the Five Armies card.

Trying my hand at some landscape sketches. Here’s Eglarest and Lammoth, from the Silmarillion.

COH doodles

1.Lalaith

2.Hurin, Morwen