J R R Tolkien: Of Tuor and his coming to Gondolin

(published in Unfinished Tales, where the quotes are taken from: all quotes are copyrighted by HarperCollins Publishers, London)

This is project is not finished yet. Some images are still missing. The watercolour-paintings are 40 x 30 cm in size.

 

The fostering of Tuor (2003)

"Therefore Annael led his small people to the caves of Androth, and there they lived a hard and wary life, until Tuor was sixteen years of age and was become strong and able to wield arms, the axe and bow of the Grey-elves; and his heart grew hot within him at the tale of the griefs of his people, and he wished to go forth and avenge them on the Orcs and Easterlings. But Annael forbade this."

 

 

 

 

Tuor's first view of the sea (2015)

 

 

 

 

Following the Swans (2006)

"Now Tuor journeyed south along the coast for full seven days, and each morning he was aroused by the rush of wings above him in the dawn, and each day the swans flew on as he followed after."

 

 

 

The Lord of the Waters (2003)

"Then Tuor bowed in reverence, for it seemed to him that he beheld a mighty king. A tall crown he wore like silver, from which his long hair fell down as foam glimmering in the dusk; and as he cast back the grey mantle that hung about him like a mist, behold! he was clad in a gleaming coat, close-fitted as the mail of a mighty fish, and in a kirtle of deep green that flashed and flickered with a sea-fire as he strode slowly towards the land. In the manner the Dweller of the Deep, whom the Noldor name Ulmo, Lord of Waters, showed himself to Tuor son of Huor of the House of Hador beneath Vinyamar."

 

 

 

Tuor and Voronwë (2003)

"Then he saw that the great waves in the night had ridden high upon the land, and had cast their crests above the cliff-tops, and weed and shingle-drift were flung even upon the terraces before the doors. And Tuor looked down from the lowest terrace and saw, leaning against its wall among the stones and the sea-wrack, an Elf, clad in a grey cloak sodden with the sea. Silent he sat, gazing beyond the ruin of the beaches out over the long ridges of the waves."

 

 

Tuor and Voronwë (2003)

(an alternative version which in the end I rejected, although I liked the seaweed better than in the earlier version)

Voronwë in Nan-tathren (2003)

(a first attempt at the scene, which I rejected in favour of the following image)

 

Voronwë in Nan-tathren (2003)

"Yes fairest of all are the willows of Nan-tathren, pale green, or silver in the wind, and the rustle of their innumerable leaves is a spell of music: day and night would flicker by uncounted, while still I stood knee-deep in grass and listened. There I was enchanted, and forgot the Sea in my heart."

 

 

 

Cousins (2003)

"Even as he spoke thus, they heard a cry in the woods, and they stood still as grey stones, listening. But the voice was a fair voice, though filled with grief, and it seemed that it called ever upon a name, as one that searches for another who is lost. And as they waited one came through the trees, and they saw that he was a tall Man, armed, clad in black, with a long sword drawn; and they wondered, for the blade of the sword also was black, but the edges shone bright and cold."

 

 

   

Tolkien

 

 

 

 

 

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