Jacqui's Doodle Spot

With not nearly enough jellyfish

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Totally Hair Barbie

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My tenth and last of the “Ladies of LOtR” is Rosie Cotton, Sam’s number one squeeze (other than Frodo) and the future Mrs. Gamgee. She patiently waited for him while he went on his quest and then had like a hundred babies with him. She was fun to draw and a satisfying last entry in this project!

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My ninth “Ladies of LOtR” is Mrs. Cotton, mother of Rosie and future mother-in-law to Sam Gamgee. Look, when I set out to draw every female character with dialogue in The Lord of the Rings—I hadn’t read the entirety of the novels. I was pretty sure it’d be about nine characters. But on page 1008 (in the second to last chapter), Mrs. Cotton makes a brief appearance with her one and only line ‘We’re keeping nicely, thank you,’ said Mrs. Cotton. ‘Or should be, if it weren’t for these thieving ruffians.’ And here we are. Much like Mrs. Maggot, she doesn’t really get much of a description. So I gave her a sweet, slightly frazzled mom look with a touch of gray and wrinkles.

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My eight “Ladies of LOtR” is Shelob the Great, last child of Ungoliant. Look out Middle-earth; because there is an ambitious and visionary monster spider on the scene and SHE isn’t taking a backseat to any man (of any species). This girl boss knows what she wants and wants what she knows (to eat people)! With her relentless hustle, Shelob climbed that Mordor ladder and to become one of Sauron’s most trusted and respected colleagues. When her ladyship is not devouring someone alive, she presides over a complex cave system as Cirith Ungol’s top executive security officer. Oh and she does this all as a single mom of many offspring (that she’s feasted on)! You go girl!

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My seventh “Ladies of LOtR” is Ioreth, Healer of the Houses of Healing. I hate how much the other characters roll their eyes at her. Yes, she talks a lot. But she’s a healthcare worker. That’s part of her job; making folks feel welcomed and comfortable. When you’re ailing from some fantasy medieval disease, wouldn’t you rather have a chatty sweet old granny taking care of you than someone cold and silent? Plus if she hadn’t been yapping away, Gandolf would have never had the idea to bring in Aragon to suggest kingsfoil. Ioreth rules.

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My sixth “Ladies of LOtR” is Éowyn, the Shieldmaiden of Rohan. Y’all, Éowyn rules! She’s gotta be the best written female character in the series. Driven by a desire for independence and a longing to prove her worth in a world dominated by men, she conceals her identity to fight in the Battle of Pelennor Fields and totally Marie Antoinette’d the Witch-King. No living man is she!

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My fifth “Ladies of LOtR” is Galadriel, Lady of Lórien. This one toke me awhile: over 15k strokes and about 47 hours! Although Galadriel’s presences and aura are quite detailed in the novels, her appearance is more vague and suggestive. She kind of powerfully beautiful and dignified? I wanted to strike a balance of youthfulness and noble without going too cute and sultry. I think I eventually got there.

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My fourth “Ladies of LOtR” is Arwen, the Lady of Rivendell. I knew her role was expanded in the movies but boy, she does not have much to do in these books. Other than look hot, get married and eventually die, her only real action in the story is to weave Aragorn’s standard. In fact her first dialogue doesn’t appear until after the ring is destroyed. Still she was very satisfying to draw.

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My third “Ladies of LOtR” is Mrs. Maggot, a queen among farmers’ wives. She’s and her husband, Farmer Maggot, live on a large turnip and mushroom farm along the East Road in the Shire. There’s not a lot of details of her in the book, but I imagined her having kindly granny vibes. She packs up a big basket of mushrooms for Frodo despite his past youthful fungus thievery.

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My second “Ladies of LOtR” is Lobelia Sackville-Baggins; Frodo’s distant cousin once removed. Is she an unpleasant bitter old shrew? Yes. Is she awful to Frodo because he was orphaned and then adopted by Bilbo, there for superseding her and her husband Otho in Bilbo’s will? Yes. Does she keep stealing Bilbo’s silverware? Yes and at one point his house.

But I kinda love her. She doesn’t take any crap from anybody. Lobelia’s like the only hobbit to stand up to Saruman! All with her umbrella! She’s an old bitty, but a tough old bitty.

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I read The Lord of the Rings for the first time this summer and it turns out ya’ll, IT’S REALLY GREAT! I was always too intimidated to read it, fearing it would be either too dense or boring. But it’s such a wonderful and exciting (and easy) read.

So I’m trying to draw all the female characters that have dialogue. This is not a criticism so much as an observation: there are not many. I started with Goldberry, who’s just a gorgeous river-daughter chilling out in the woods with her weird and jolly (and possible god) husband, Tom Bombadil.

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STOP THE PRESSES, Y’ALL! I had to scrambled the last couple days to get this one out under the wire. THIS is my favorite non-Disney mermaid!!! When I started this list for #mermay25 I was not yet aware of Helen Whelchel’s 1973 student film Mermaids starring the absolute LEGEND PAUL REUBENS!!! It was featured in Matt Wolf’s documentary Pee-Wee as Himself (stop whatever you’re doing and go watch it NOW, it is truly wonderful). Reubens explained he was channeling the future Mermaids star Cher! He looks so gorgeous. Happy MerMay!

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My fifth favorite non-Disney mermaid is Scarlett Johansson as DeeAnna Moran, an Esther Williams type actress, in Hail, Caesar! This is the third mermaid Johansson has played; Princess Mindy in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and Kunk the Mermaid on SNL

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Did you know the symbol of Warsaw is a mermaid wielding a sword and shield? She’s my forth favorite non-Disney mermaid. The legend goes a fresh water mermaid (or melusine) was a rescued by a fisherman from an evil rich merchant and vowed after that to defend the city and its people. It is incredibly cool and badass looking! The city is filled with plaques and statue of her in battle mode. She’s even on Warsaw’s coat of arms. Happy MerMay!

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My third favorite non-Disney mermaid(s) are the lovely performers of The Weeki Wachee Springs. Located in Florida, the natural spring is renowned for its crystal-clear waters and unique mermaid shows. Established in 1947, the attraction features live mermaid performances in an underwater theater. I went like a decade ago and it’s soooo much fun! I highly recommend it!

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For my second non-Disney mermaid I choose the fabulous Delores Delago the Toast of Chicago, Bette Midler’s mermaid lounge singer persona. Every concert she would perform an over the top campy selection of songs in a hopping around in fishtail. It was a hoot!

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For MerMay, I’m trying to draw my favorite non-Disney mermaids. And high up there is Rhys Darby as Stede Bonnet in the one episode of Our Flag Means Death when he’s a mermaid for like 10 seconds. Happy MerMay!