follow up to this 

Point of order.

King of Horses ran 450 fucking miles at almost entirely a gallop, without more than a few minutes rest, in 4 nights and basically was like "wait why are we stopping?" when Gandalf took him into the city and he ended up in a stable.

This was not his top speed, nor did it push any limits on his endurance.

for @glitterlessgold , based on this post

I originally planned to mix it up more on the vibes between the two editions (partly so I myself could keep them straight and didn't gift the couples copies with the wrong names), but.... these marble print fabrics are just too powerful, I couldn't say no. I did enough differentiating with the titling and endpapers, it all worked out!

And, naturally, they both needed some edge illustration to take it to the next level!!

So, the green set. I found this gorgeous black and white paper a couple weeks ago at my local art store, and it was SO striking that I grabbed a couple sheets. I was worried at first that it was going to be too busy with the marbled fabric on the cover, but couldn't find anything else that sparked joy, and... i shouldn't have stressed so much, the combo is fantastic. I should trust the maximalist voices in my head! For this one I drew the scene from osgiliath, looking out at minas tirith

After THAT, i was looking to draw something that specifically wasn't More Buildings 😂 I had a pretty magenta paper I've been sitting on that harmonized surprisingly well with the minor colors in the blue fabric. I originally had my eye on a matching leather, but backed away to the same warm navy hide I used for the guestbook, which really gave the whole thing some nice dignity. And the opposite of drawing buildings is drawing CREATURES, so i went absolutely ham on balrog cross-hatching

Both these sets were a ton of fun and came out deliciously! And finished drying two whole days before the wedding! I got PLANY of time 🤣 But truly, I'm not very good at repeating myself, so it means a lot to me that I can be this many lords of the rings deep and still be finding new ways to delight myself. I had a lot of fun with these sets!!

This came to me in a dream

Eärendil through the years

There are hobbits who recoil in genteel horror when some innocent little baby hobbit gardener proudly says they planted kingsfoil in the herb garden because it smells nice.

The houses of healing at Minas Tirith do not challenge the king about having it in their medicinal gardens, but they do side eye him very hard.

First: YES athelas is absolutely mint family, not just because of the good smell text clues but because Tolkien probably based it on field woundwort (Stachys arvensis) which 1) as you might guess from the name was used for treating wounds, 2) commonly grows specifically along Roman roads in the same way and for the same reason that athelas grows along Númenorean roads, and 3) is also in the mint family (but does not smell good; one can imagine Tolkien learning this lore and going okay but what if it was Better)