it baffles me how círdan is mentioned 26 times in the silmarillion, which is more times than several popular silm characters, and somehow he has like 5 fans 💔
lebanese inspired arwen with a gambaz dress, silver tantour, and a veil. the evenstar (not to scale obviously) is shaped like an iris sofarana, a flower endemic to lebanon.
i js want to say that your Mediterranean elves give me indescribable joy. like yippee-ing and kicking my feet every time u post a new masterpiece kinda joy🙏🙏 I'd love to hear any n all notes on your character designs/headcanons if you'd be open to sharing them :DD
aw thank you i’m so happy to hear that 💖 i’ve grown super passionate about mediterranean elves and definitely want to draw more in the future.
i’m honestly terrible at keeping track of my ideas or headcanons. i used to share them more often but i got weird comments so i stopped. i also forget to write them down (😩) even though i spend months researching for character designs. i had the idea for lebanese arwen two years ago and it took me an entire year of reading and looking at references before i was satisfied with my design for her. i’m still not satisfied though. i think i can always improve!
regardless, i have lots of future ideas i am excited for. i’m going to work on some dwarves inspired by central asia and the caucuses mountains again, scythian rohirrim, and eventually more swana elves. i also have an italian renaissance vision for númenor i want to come back to.
i’m going to take my time with projects though because i get frustrated when i force myself to draw. i want to do the characters and the reference points justice, if that makes sense.
i’ll leave a list of some of my other hcs or ideas under the cut if you would like to read them :)
- i like putting “foreshadowing” in clothing to connect the characters with one story. my children of húrin characters wear dragon/wyrm motifs on their clothes, for example.
- elros and elrond are fraternal twins. elros looks like their father and elrond like their mother. i also associate spring with elros and autumn with elrond.
- goldberry loves insects, primarily dock spiders, dragonflies, and blue butterflies. i think of swamps, mangrove forests, and pale purple, green, and cornflower blue when designing her. she’s one of the first tolkien characters i started drawing so she’s very special to me <3
- each member of fingolfin’s house has their own shade of blue. fingon’s is bright sky blue, aredhel’s is a twilight color, and turgon wears teal. the slight purple in his dress connects him to maeglin. gil-galad wears the same sapphire color as fingolfin. i haven’t picked a color or design for argon yet :(
- fingolfin also has a birthmark that’s shared by aredhel, fingon, and gil-galad.
- gil-galad is fingon’s son, but his mother was previously married to orodreth, so finduilas is his older half sister. he didn’t get to spend much time with either fathers, so he considers círdan a closer father figure. gil’s hair also goes fully white after the fall of númenor!
- uinen is mostly inspired by seaweed and the atlantic ocean. ossë is inspired by lava rocks and the indian ocean, and ulmo is sea foam and pacific ocean inspired. i haven’t made up my mind on salmar yet. (ossë’s redesign is still a wip please bear with me)
- sinda elves of greenwood dress the same as the avari, except the sindar wear partially or fully oxidized bronze armor (to blend in with the forest) and the avari do not wear armor. their clothing features lots of animal and plant motifs.
- galadriel looks exactly like her mother. her hair color waxes and wanes between gold and silver.
- círdan has cuiviénen era tattoos. it’s primarily a falathrim tradition since they learned it from ulmo, but some older generations of falmari or sinda elves, or elves with close telerin relationships, will have them. eärendil, elwing, elros, and 4th age maglor have a few after spending time with círdan.
- sauron/mairon is a little ancient mesopotamian and sumerian inspired. lots of eyes and gold. i just haven’t updated his design yet. soon…
- celegorm was born with dark hair but his hair paled to white as he aged, which is a gift/trait associated with oromë’s followers. tilion has the same gift! his hair changes color with the moon phases. black = new moon, white = full moon, and so on.
- celebrimbor, curufin, nerdanel, and mahtan all wear glasses. nerdanel invented them. i’m still working on all of their designs… but yes.
- lastly, i wanted the three rings to be wholly unique and fitting for their bearers, even if celebrimbor did not have the original three bearers in mind.
vilya’s gem is designed as a diamond to reference tolkien’s illustration of gil-galad’s heraldic device. the sapphire is split into three gems to symbolize its connection to the other two rings.
narya’s ruby resembles swirling lava. i chose bronze for the metal band because it’s a more ancient material. it’s also a material that is more susceptible to oxidation, but with narya’s preservation powers, it stays untarnished.
nenya is shaped like galadriel’s mirror (or vice versa). the gem is a white star sapphire, which reflects light in a six-pointed star (an asterism). i chose interweaving branches of gold over a mithril band to recall laurelin and telperion of valinor.
since the resource lists i've put together in the past seemed to have helped some of you, i thought i'd pull together some initiatives and programs supporting people in lebanon. hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes, often after already having suffered earlier displacements and losses, in just a little over a week. if you have funds to spare, now is a vital time to contribute towards organizations and mutual aid projects like these.
makhzoumi foundation - providing food and water assistance, medical care, psychosocial support, and other necessities
lebanon emergency relief - providing food, baby supplies, medication, sleep and hygiene necessities, and financial assistance
lebanese food bank - runs food and water security initiatives across the country
basmeh & zeitooneh - running various educational and psychosocial programs, providing food and water packages, shelter and sleeping supplies, and hygiene products
lebanese red cross - provides medical care, supplies for hospitals, search and rescue operations, and necessities for displaced people
lebanon solidarity collective - works with other grassroots networks to provide food, necessities, medical care, and financial assistance; runs additional long-term bioremediation projects
voices of the unseen - coalition of organizations working to provide food, clean water, hygiene products, weather-appropriate clothing, and medical supplies
islamic help's lebanon appeal - runs clinics and shelters, as well as providing water, food, hygiene products, and winter supplies
anera - provides food, water, hygiene supplies, shelter and weather necessities, and medical care, as well as running agricultural programs
baitulmaal - operates a mobile clinic and provides food, water, shelter, and hygiene supplies
azahir - providing meals, sleeping supplies, baby and hygiene products, medical care, and pyschosocial support with a focus on children and families
jibal - coordinates community kitchens and food supply for shelters
foodblessed lebanon - providing meals and non-perishable food parcels
egna legna besidet - providing support for displaced migrant workers, including food, health supplies, clothing, and financial assistance
nation station - a Beirut-based community kitchen (provides about 1,000 meals daily)
beit aam - community space in Beirut currently serving as a hub for volunteer workers and supply gathering
queer mutual aid lebanon - providing housing and financial assistance to queer and trans people
if you're able, please consider supporting one or more of these initiatives. bombardment and displacement are circumstances no one should have to endure—if you are blessed with safety and comfort right now, don't forget those whose lives and lands are under threat. any small thing you can do is better than doing nothing.
snowghoul
germansingergirl
2087
stormborns
amandla
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