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Qitian — Of Eldamar...
Published: 2008-04-15 20:47:53 +0000 UTC; Views: 1398; Favourites: 28; Downloads: 20
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This one is rather old. And has a looong story.It goes like this:
A few years ago, the German LotR publishers had the idea of publishing a "medieval Bible style" edition of the Lord of the Rings. Pseudo-celtic script, pseudo-medieval illuminations. Insanely expensive and, completely incomprehensibly, in the "new" translation (where Sam calls Frodo "boss" and similar horrors).
Back then I thought, "Well, if it's Bible style, it should be the old translation." Or none at all. Or the Silmarillion really.
And then I thought, Ok, nobody is going to do a pseudo-medieval illuminated Silmarillion, in any language or translation.
And then I thought, So you have to do it yourself.
Christmas 2003 my boyfriend gave me a thick empty book (and a really beautiful letter on the symbolic meaning of an empty book at the beginning of a relationship). Since then I have begun to copy the Silmarillion into it. Yes, by hand. With some Quenya bits whenever there are Quenya translations of the texts. And totally non-medieval but fantasy style instead.
That was a bit over four years ago, and by now I have reached the Of Beleriand and its Realms chapter - about half-way through. By now I am vaguely frustrated by some of the rather lousy art I did on earlier chapters. If I could, I'd start over, but there's so much work in it and I hardly even have the time to go on that starting over would be insane. So I guess I'll plod on and just pretend that Pengoloð or whoever got a new illustrator in between.
This one, however, is a chapter heading I am mostly happy with. Two years later, too.
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Comments: 38
AAH I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE IDEA OF A PSEUDO-MEDIEVAL, ILLUMINATED, HANDWRITTEN SILMARILLION! *squeals in delight* O_O
We wants it, we wants it, my precious!
What you're doing is so wonderful, I love the painting!
It's a pity that probably no one will ever publish such an edition of the Silmarillion, really ...
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Actually I think I recall that there's been talk about officially publishing the [link] >"Lindisfarne Silmarillion", though I can't find it.
Certainly looks more professional than my version. >_>
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Wow, that's absolutely gorgeous! O_O (arr, there are Tolkien fans everywhere x] )
I really really hope they'll publish it sometime! (Although it'll be awfully expensive..)
Perhaps yours is less professional, but nonetheless - having a hand-written Silmarillion illustrated by yourself must be awesome!
By the way, the way you painted this is very evocative of Tolkien's own paintings, especially the ship... do you know his picture of Taniquetil?
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I probably wouldn't be able to afford it - I'd just love to admire it from afar! (And be happy that so much fannish effort gets appreciated.)
It would be awesome if I finally finished it, or at least got on with it. I've been stuck at "Of Beleriand and its Realms" for five or so years by now.
I know Tolkien said he couldn't paint to save his life, but I'll still take that as a compliment! Yes, I know that picture, and I actually used it as inspiration for this one (or, in fact, anything that had mountains in it). It seems to show
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Nor would I, probably. But it would be just great to know that it exists and perhaps even to have a look at it in a bookshop with our mortal eyes! O_O
It's so great to see how many people put so much (and in this case really extraordinarily much) effort and passion into creating art about Tolkien's work.
Oh, damn. 
He may have said that, but I think he was just being modest 
But who knows, perhaps he just meant that he never got the opportunity of being blackmailed by robbers into painting a picture if he didn't want to die...
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The problem is, alas, a lack of motivation. See, it's an enormous effort - first I have to do the frame for each bloody page, and then I have to copy all that text by hand, and only THEN do I get to the fun part, i.e., the next picture!
Also, at this point I'm quite unhappy with many of the old chapter pictures. Although it often doesn't feel like it, in direct comparison even I notice that I've vastly improved since I started that project. So I'm kind of ashamed of the old, "lousy" stuff, and hesitant to put yet more (better) effort into it...
There's a reason I've put only this one (I think?) picture from that book here on dA. This is the only one I still like, and all the rest is crap for some reason or other!
Comparison is also something that probably plays into Tolkien's assessment of his painting skills. All the decent to good people seem to think they're rotten! Of course, that's because we have such high expectations of ourselves. People with less ambition (and taste 
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hey, I just found another individual version of the Silmarillion.. [link] I actually don't like the shape of the Trees that much, but the concept behind it (that the trees will tarnish while the sun and moon won't) is simply brilliant
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Oh, very clever indeed!
The only thing I'm not quite convinced by is the title, which strictly speaking just says "Of the Silmarils" -- the tale proper should be Quenta Silmarillion, not just Silmarillion, no matter what it's called in English. Then again, that would imply that the book only contains the Quenta, without the other stories contained in the real world book (Ainulindalë, Valaquenta, Akallabêth, what-have-you). So it's not like there's actually a "right" way to do this. But I still don't think this is the best wrong solution
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Yes, I've noticed that, too... just "Silmarillion" doesn't seem complete. I did a cover for my Silmarillion some years ago and, for the same reason, took "Quenta Silmarillion" rather than just "Silmarillion". But, as you've already pointed out, that would imply that it doesn't contain the other stories.. Well, my solution was that in the end I just added the titles of the other stories underneath. But I don't know if it's the best solution to have five titles for one book, either
And it's also the problem of whether it's possible at all in correct Quenya to leave out the "quenta".Most of the chapter titles (or is it even all of them?) in the Silmarillion just say "Of..." and not "The Tale of...", but the Quenya titles Valaquenta and Quenta Silmarillion both have a "quenta" in it, so.. I don't know whether it's because in Quenya you can't just leave out the "quenta" or because it's the title of a larger part of the book and so the more complete version was chosen.
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It's certainly a very historical solution! And actually, in my edition of the Silmarillion, the official title page reads: "QUENTA SILMARILLION (The History of the Silmarils) together with AINULINDALË (The Music of the Ainur) and VALAQUENTA (Account of the Valar) To which is appended AKALLABÊTH (The Downfall of Númenor) and OF THE RINGS OF POWER AND THE THIRD AGE". So there you go! (How very 17th century! XD)
That said: No idea whether it works in Quenya - my suspicion, though, would be yes. That's because I generally base my assumptions about Quenya on Latin (as I know no Finnish XD), and we certainly have Latin titles like De Bello Gallico with no Historia in front of it... ^^
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oh, and that idea of the German LotR publishers, it was just an idea, wasn't it? They never really did it, did they?
I adore the idea, although the awful new translation would be absolutely inappropriate. I really can't read my German LotR (new translation) anymore since I've bought an English copy and read it...
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Beautiful concept and work! I would be interested in seeing the others!
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Thank you! Most of them didn't turn out so well, I'm afraid. But perhaps I'll upload a few more when I find the time to make new scans.
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I think this is beautiful--and even if you're not completely happy with it, your book project sounds AMAZING.
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Thank you!
Oh, it definitely was a great project, in principle. I just wish I could do some things differently now.
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If you'll pardon my saying so, I think that's the way of all big projects. There's always something you'd like to change. 
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*laughs* Probably! Just like with the NaNoWriMo (if you're familiar with the concept?). You might write a better novel if you had more time and went back and edited every single paragraph to perfection... in theory. In reality, a project that forces you to just write as much as possible for a full month will at least get things done. (Although with NaNoWriMo at least you can go back and edit everything after November... which I can't with my book.
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I am familiar with NaNoWriMo, having participated twice. It's a blast, even though, yeah, my writing quality tends to be pretty awful. But there's always the nice little surprises too, where something really clicks. It's like a speed-draw for writing or something.
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I really love how your coloring is similar to the way Tolkien colored his paintings, and yet its different. It's really beautiful.
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Thank you!
Well, like Tolkien, I do not /actually/ know how to paint. I'm just dabbling around. That may account for the similarity, if it's there
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Oh, I've seen this picture, and some other from your book on Elfwood. But I didn't think these were yours... maybe beause your style has somewhat changed since then.
These illustrations are so wonderful, unique and true to the spirit of "The Silmarillion"! I've been fascinated by them at once, especially by your portraits of Valar.
By the way, one of the first Russian LOTR editions was with illustrations by Sergey Yukhimov in the style of ancient Irish illuminated manuscripts.
Like this: [link]
(the page is in Russian)
Not all tolkien fans here have appreciated this art....
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It has, hasn't it? Actually I keep wanting to take the old Elfwood stuff down because some of it is sooo embarrassing. But somehow I don't have the heart to do it.
Thank you for liking my old stuff, though!
I think the Sergey Yukhimov art is a really interesting idea! I can see how some fans haven't liked it all that much, because many people seem to look for "realistic" art rather than something stilized, intentionally off-perspective. But I like it! If Bilbo or Frodo or Sam had illustrated the Red Book, I imagine it might have looked just like that.
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Wow that sounds like such a wonderful project! The illustration is lovely; it captures the fantasy feel really well ^^
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Thank you so much! ^___^
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That is amazing. I could never do something like this. I've thought of doing something similar from time to time, but am always fairly sure i could never carry through with it. That's... amazing.
(Sam calling Frodo "boss"? xD)
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It's not amazing, it's insane!
(Yes. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. It's a modernised translation and it's PAINFUL.)
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(> <;;; It's true what they say, that it's always best in the original form. So much gets lost in translation!)
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(Oh definitely. The German translation of the Silmarillion doesn't even get close to the original, and it's not modernised. Although the Quenya and Sindarin "back-translations" on the web are precious.
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Oh my. I must read these someday. x)
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Wow! That's such a great idea! I don't think I'd have the skill to do it though. But you do! so I'm glad someone has done an illuminated Silmarillion.
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I don't have the skill either (although it doubtlessly has grown with the work
But yes, it is! Although I know that if I were to start again, I'd do a lot of things differently. I learned a lot about illumination and manuscript work I didn't know when I set out, for one. And I wouldn't use a completed book if I were to do it again. There are lots of pages I'd like to replace now, but I can't because it'd destroy the book. I have learned how to do bookbinding myself by now, so I should to the pages separately and bind the book when I'm done and satisfied. (At least I can be sure the book I used will suffice. Originally I'd planned to do only the Ainulindalë, Valaquenta and Quenta Silmarillion because I thought there might be no space for the rest, but by now I actually think I should add more random poetry and essays such as the Laws and Customs or the Shibboleth of Fëanor so the book gets filled up...)
But, well. I am halfway through now, I am NOT going to start over again.
Thank you so much!
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Yeah, it'd be great to see more of these pictures up here! And, oh my goodness, I haven't read either of those two books (Laws and Customs of the Eldar or the Shibboleth of Feanor) but I really want to! Especially Laws and cutoms. I haven't been able to get a hold of any of those books. It's making me sad. 
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I am actually copying the whole thing down, with an illustration for each chapter and an illumination for each paragraph. It IS so much work.
I finally managed to complete my collection of the History of Middle-earth, and those essays are so entertaining. Especially for me as a linguist and cultural anthropologist
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Oh my GOODNESS! 
Oh! You know what would be cool! 
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I am writing it in English because the German translation isn't all that great (I think). It's not bad, but it just doesn't have the power of the original. I'm using a kind of uncial script.
There are some parts of the Silm that have (unofficially) been translated "back", i.e. into Quenya and Sindarin, and I have copied part of that (where it was possible). It looks a lot better, of course. But I'm no friend of transcribing English or German into Tengwar, so I'm only using the Tengwar for the actual Elvish text. So even better than the LotR in Latin would be a LotR in Sindarin... but then, my Latin might just barely suffice for translation (if I go sloooowly), but my Sindarin definitely doesn't. Never had a chance to try and learn that yet...
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Personally I kind of like Quenya better, mostly because of the sound of the words and the way they are spelled (spelling is important to me, as a visual person, because the spelling really affects the character of the word I think). That's rather ironic too, that I like Quenya better, (even though it sounds like Spanish, in the way it rolls) than Sindarian. I suppose I'd have to listen to more Sindarian being spoken. I haven't gotten enough of the language to really tell though. So maybe I'll just say I'm undecided.
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Oh, actually I like Quenya better as well, but that might be because I learned some basic Quenya so it feels more familiar. And I have a thing for archaic languages. I like Latin better than Italian, too.
Sindarin is pretty enough though. Compared to other languages.
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Hehehe. Well, what can we say? Tolkien is just awesome.
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