Hestiaschätzeken reads Tolkien

Christina, 20+, German. Tolkien nerd for 13 years now. This is my sideblog for the Tolkien-readalongs. So far I've read LotR, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion as well as The Unfinished Tales once. I'm a proud member of Team Edain. Live fast and die awesome!

[velutluna]

Just One Word … Artwork (April Day 3)

beautiful Silmarillion artwork made by @hardactofollow​ during the Silmarillion Read-Along last year   ♥ ♥ ♥

[hedonistbyheart]

Tuor son of Huor

Tolkien’s most literal fairy tale prince<3

[eomer]

My concept of Erkenbrand. Captain of the Westfold of Rohan. And his bad tempered steed. 

[sense8gif]

I miss my dog.

[ooblium-deactivated20160106]

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

The Wrath of the Ents

[goldseven-deactivated20190916]

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.

(For just $1 a month, you get access to these vids, plus other stuff – take a look!)

[fatalism-and-villainy]

Why I Love the Children of Húrin: A Manifesto

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. 

Essentially, the manner in which the Children of Húrin focuses on one family to show the effects of the war is essential to fully appreciating the tragedy of the Silmarillion as a whole, and it’s the subconscious understanding of that that has made me appreciate the story so much.

[teamedain]

Wonderfully put. The Narn is far from being a favourite of mine (in fact I find it the hardest part to read of the entire Legendarium) but I can’t argue that it isn’t one of the most important stories of the First Age - thematically, plotwise, and in Tolkien’s own mind, going by the sheer number of times he retold it. 

[theoldforbiddenplace]

Uldor - just about to earn the epithet he’s been generally known by ever since the 5th great battle of Beleriand… (I prefer the coloured version but let’s just include the earlier B&W one as well…)

[hestiaschaetzekenreadstolkien]

Everyone, please meet Klaus Ensikat’s Hobbit illustrations from the 2nd German edition published in 1974. These creepy-cute, fairy tale-like and renaissance-ish drawings shaped my first imagination about Middle because I read the Hobbit before LotR hit the theatres. I will never be over frog!Gollum and butterfly-winged Smaug.

If you want to see more of these beauties check out this link.

Click the pics for more information.

[hestiaschaetzekenreadstolkien]

Silmarillion feels in the Hobbit

For the first time ever (might be because I’ve never read the Hobbit only a few months after the Sil) I noticed the part in “Flies and Spiders” that tells us some things about Elves and their background and I got quite some Sil feels.

I found the different choice of words very interesting though.

Faerie = Valinor

Light-elves = Vanyar

Deep-elves = Noldor

Sea-elves = Teleri

Did he ever use these descriptions somewhere else? Are they used somewhere in the HoMe?

He also tells the story that resembles Thingol’s strife with the dwarves a lot even though it sounds like the narrator is talking about the current Mirkwood king. I suppose he wanted to keep everything as uncomplicated as possible and also the Hobbit was never supposed to become a part of his universe, I think?

On a sidenote: I also noticed for the first time that the first chapter of the Hobbit and LotR have kind of matching, but opposed titles.

“An Unexpected Party” vs. “A Long-expected Party”

(”A Long-expected party” can be found in my Hobbit edition right at the end which is why I noticed this.)

?

[the-cookie-navy]

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

The prompt that I was looking forward the most is finally done! It’s an origami sphere made from acetate paper, a ton of nail polish and filled with a led strip for the glow.

[mapsburgh]

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

Drawing this made me come up with all sorts of headcanons about Eglarest, since the story never goes there in any detail. In my version it’s a wooden cliffside settlement connected by a system of gangways and ladders, with fields and pastures on the clifftop. The main entrance is a long ramp through a cleft in the rock, whose upper end is guarded by a giant statue of Ulmo.

[synchronyshattered]

“The sons of my father’s daughter.”

-Thorin ‘Why use two words when you can use six’ Oakenshield about Fili and Kili. (Seriously, “my nephews” would have done just fine.)

[hestiaschaetzekenreadstolkien]

Team Baggins Fandom Scarves

I always loved the fandom scarves remusjohnslupin did for Team Edain during the Sil readalong, so I tried my best using thestars-thethemoon‘s tutorial to create something for Team Baggins or Hobbit lovers in general. Special thanks to westemnets for creating the Baggins badge.

Unfortunately I’m terribly late with these, but real life kept me quite busy. 

Instructions and more under the cut.

Check out Baelor’s post for instructions how to put them on your blog. It’s easier than it looks, I think.

I’d appreciate it if you like or reblog this post when using.

[askmiddlearth]

I was wondering if there's any information about population sizes in Beleriand among different ethnic/racial groups and civilizations! Thanks very much!

Population. The bane of many a Tolkien fan, as the professor was awfully shy about those numbers. There are some people that have done incredible work estimating population sizes based on what few comments and details we’re given, multiplying and adding and assuming. I am awed by these people, because my brain just doesn’t work that way. Too many numbers. The best of these for the First Age is (in my opinion) Stephen Wigmore, whose breakdown of First Age populations you can find here (it’s in two parts, the first is the elves, and the second part has men, dwarves, etc.)

[synchronyshattered]

Climbing trees in Mirkwood

Bilbo is the natural choice, of course, because he had absolutely zero trouble with climbing trees in that whole incident with the wargs and goblins… I mean, yeah, there’s the logic about needing to send the lightest so they can scale the top branches, but, guys, really? Were all the dwarves really that heavy, even after weeks of next to no food? Or had Fili and Kili just already fulfilled their quotas of shit jobs for this leg of the journey?

[tosquinha]

COH doodles

1.Lalaith

2.Hurin, Morwen

3.Hurin, Morgoth