#vrath

Hmmm this is a hard one. I love Glug and Mrs. Glug and Glug Jr., I love drum playing Uruk, I love scary Uruk that attacks Bronwyn because it was such a refreshing change from the Orcs in the Hobbit (both in terms of not being CGI and being actually threatening and scary in combat), and I have a super soft spot for the three Uruks that torment Arondir, Medhor, and Revion: Vrath, Lurka, and Magrot.

They were the first Uruks we met who had personalities, I love their designs, and of course I'm obsessed with the scene between Magrot and Adar. I also just learned that Robert Strange, our beloved Glug, also played Lurka, even more of a reason to love him.

Thelen stan #2 💜

Alright! Emigre Deep Lore Snippet: The Thelen Problem!

Thelen was actually supposed to be Dagmar's initial love interest.

Emigre was a simpler story then. It would have been a sweet office romance type thing, with minimal unnecessary sci-fi elements and no intrigue or sub-plots whatsoever. Or rather, there would have been those things, but they'd be in the background. Secondary. B-plots.

Obviously, that didn't happen.

As I've mentioned in my previous deep lore snippet, sometimes my characters have very different ideas as to how the story should go than I do. Writing them sometimes feels more like interviewing them, to be honest. So, when I was first preparing to write Emigre, I had a plan. Dagmar/Thelen was the goal, as the primary relationship for the eventual quad, and I had it all worked out. Only...

Only, Thelen kinda shrugged when I tried to write it and said, "Well... okay, but what about her?"

And I, the actual person theoretically in control of my brain, wondered, "Who?!"

And Thelen pointed to a rapidly forming, nameless blob of a half-formed character that I had previously been quite unaware of. Which is especially alarming given that I am supposed to be in charge here.

"Her," he said. "She's the one for me. Don't get me wrong, Dagmar's great. Absolutely would, you know? But just trust me on this. You'll understand when you get there."

Which, of course, meant that I now had no plan for Thelen outside of a nebulous 'you'll figure it out' promissory note. I kept writing anyway, periodically prodding the character-blob in the half-hearted hope that it would develop into something useful. It didn't.

To be honest, I was starting to make backup plans for Thelen to remain a bachelor forever when I hit that first, big hiatus.

And then, years later, @the-lady-general wrote The Sheriff of Kumari Square and the nameless blob finally, finally had a name and a budding personality. Now, at last, I could work this blob into the actual story and make plans!

It could be a meet-cute! It could be another office romance! It could be a will-they-won't-they flirt fest! It could be--

And instead of cooperating with the faintest notion of an easy b-plot romance scene, the former-blob now known as Vrath effectively rugby-tackled Thelen out of nowhere, screaming, "WHY ARE YOU SO FUCKING PRETTY?!"

from Jed’s son:

“He's hiding here somewhere." | Well aka. Bamboozled again | Vrath (Jed Brophy) | The Rings of Power | 01x04 “The Great Wave” |

Click HERE for a larger image with more detail!

She's all done! Vrath of Clan Tha'an, looking especially pretty! <3

Coming from a wealthy Clan, Vrath isn't afraid of a little ornamentation. She doesn't go in for crazy amounts of jewelry, but now and then on her days off she dresses up for the fun of it.

Say hello to Vrath! Vrath was created by @the-lady-general as part of a gift fic, and has since been adopted into the story properly!

I'm experimenting with grayscale shading and gradients this time, and I'm quite looking forward to seeing how she turns out!

Vrath's chitin map is a bit different from some of the others we've seen, owing to her Tha'an heritage. Andorians from Clan Tha'an tend to be lighter on chitin patterns overall, but what they do have is distinctive and readily identifiable at a glance. In particular, the chitin that forms around the eye is unusual in its expression, drawn more to points beneath the skin than the rolling, rounded edges seen in Sannev and Hrisvalar Clan members. Some folks have speculated that an ancient Tha'an took an Aenar woman to wife hundreds of years ago, but this is largely considered a malicious rumour rather than fact.

“Meet the Uruks” BAZUR, GRUGZÛK, LURKA (”DIGBY”), MAGROT,  VRATH, “FABIO”, “FURY(?)” (”unofficial names”)

Uruks in The Rings of Power   In the Nerd of the Rings interview (https://youtu.be/eDJ9SgAyjL4) the uruk cast talk about some of their orcs. They each played more (“at least two characters”) than the uruk we know the name of, some of them got a nickname from the cast. Most about the individual orcs is mentioned within the first 15 Minutes. How they portrayed them depended on aspects like what their job is (digger orcs or fighting orcs) and in general they “came from a basis of them trying to be more upright, not as crouchy than the ones we played in the third age.” Jed Brophy speaks more about them having a lot of talks regarding the physicality of the orcs with the movement coaches and about wanting to make them more upright. (e.g. as them trying to emulate their elven father, and because they are probably the first generation bred, rather than ones that were taken and tortured from elvendom, “if you give credence to what Tolkien was talking about.”) They talk about their physicality being not as broken as the one of the orcs that are seen in the Third Age. The way they approach playing different characters also revolves a lot around the different places of how they breathe and where they put the tension (~12:30) when moving etc.

Jed Brophy  VRATH  - Jed Brophy on twitter: “Meet Vrath . He’s a Scorpio and very handy in the garden. Likes quiet nights at home watching villages burning and chasing elves”  https://twitter.com/brophyjed/status/1569427731640877056  “FABIO” -  is the one with hair, starting the nampat chant, the one sniffing out Galadriel (~15:24) - and the modelling kind of guy; “Fabio is good at fighting, not injured yet, almost like an elf .. closer to elves in terms of uprightness in gait”  - In this context Jed mentions how a lot of how they portray the orcs and their backstory comes from the sculpt and how they look!  - Fabio the Uruk, #fabiotheorc, “the Uruk I named “Fabio”” gets mentioned in three of Jed´s Instagram posts. - Jed Brophy shared some great behind the scenes pictures (x)  of the uruk makeup.  https://www.instagram.com/p/CkETU-EDVet/?hl=de / https://twitter.com/BrophyJed/status/1584261382538608641 https://www.instagram.com/p/CjJTxIdB3lR/?hl=de /// https://www.instagram.com/p/CjcjgiLtVB7/?hl=de /// https://www.instagram.com/p/Cj58vY6Bs1Q/?hl=de /// https://www.instagram.com/p/CiTK838hFaZ/?hl=de /// https://www.instagram.com/p/CginH2IufpQ/?hl=de /// https://www.instagram.com/p/CgWDkBPu07P/?hl=de   Phil Grieve played BAZUR and another orc just mentioned as “OTHER ORC” that is bolder?balder?, in this context he mentions trying to stay on his feet, and having a reputation of slipping over and falling, there being a lot of obstacles on set; talks about costume, statue, physicality and “trying to be just an in charge kind of guy” for that orc.

[Unrelated gif of an uruk falling in 1x6 (bottom right corner)]

Luke Hawker  MAGROT  - Hawker mentions his scar, chipped away teeth and, how he had one of his shoulders always gnarled (also having a sore shoulder himself), with Magrot he was pushing forward from the chest and chin - has a thrakatul black speech line before the warg scene “FURY”(?) - can be seen at the treelines screaming when Arondir & Bronwyn escape  - played him much more aggressively through hips and back of leg muscles - was always angry and ready to murder and destroy - should be the same orc as the one he confirms as being him in an Instagram post  “PROLOGUE ORC” -  also plays an “ORC IN THE PROLOGUE” the one that got an arrow through the throat (~12:30) I´m guessing that one:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CiSG56WrXAA/  ///  https://www.instagram.com/p/CjjL3RPPctr/   ///   https://www.instagram.com/p/ChbCiE9v1kg/   ///  https://www.instagram.com/p/CfF5G11PhUW/

Robert Strange LURKA  - they say they were lucky they had a tall orc (but don´t go into why that´s lucky?) - For Lurka Strange tried to let the sculpt influence the physicality - but they don´t see the full makeup long before the shoot, there does not seem to be much time between the makeup test and the shooting - Lurka´s scar on the left side of his face and the cataract scarred contact lens meant that Strange let a tooth stick out on that side and did a limp on that side, as if this was a war wound or some kind of scuffle with a warg! - Instagram post: “Meet my first Orc baby: LURKA. He's a beast. Known fondly as DIGBY to me and the utterly astounding artists who birthed him”  https://www.instagram.com/p/CiX5fU6ohQ6/   ///  https://www.instagram.com/p/CjYZJMdIVTI/  ///  https://www.instagram.com/p/CipzycSI1h8/   Edward Clendon  was not in the interview but mentions on Instagram that he came in “at the last minute” to be part of the “awesome orc team.” His character is the “stunning beauty” GRUGZÛK. His name only gets mentioned in context with the scene where Adar burns his arm in the sun, and I was not sure if that´s the same uruk that can be seen in other scenes (e.g.. telling Adar they found what they were looking for while Adar watches the warg eat an arm) but the pictures on the post seem to confirm that.   https://www.instagram.com/p/CjONSQuvHNp/ Phil Grieve  has no specific orc post on Instagram but e.g. commented on Edward Clendon´s post: “Glad to have you on the team!”