Experiencing The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Live In Concert (Sydney, October 2026).
OF ROOTS AND BEGINNINGS
I’ve written over the years about how my journey into Middle-earth began, quite unexpectedly, of an autumn evening in 2001.
I was a young college student back then, in a little city in India, watching MTV after classes, when Enya’s May It Be came on. I was drawn in by the music, the imagery, and the world I glimpsed in that little 3.5 minute video.
I could scarcely have imagined then how far that moment would take me.
A quarter of a century later, here I was in Sydney, listening to the same music that had stirred me all those years back, performed live now by The Metropolitan Orchestra, the Sydney Philharmonia Choir, the Sydney Children’s Choir, and a wonderful ensemble of vocal soloists.
As I sat in the darkened concert hall, I found myself travelling somewhere I hadn’t expected. Not merely back to the familiar lands of Middle-earth, but through the years of my own life, to people and places, friendships and memories, some now distant in both space and time.
For all my years loving these films and their music, the opportunity to experience The Lord of the Rings score performed live had somehow always eluded me. I had attended other Tolkien-inspired productions over the years of course, but never one in which Howard Shore’s magnificent original score was performed live to the very film for which it was written.
And so, despite knowing every familiar melody, every musical passage and lyric, and every moment of the film by heart, this was, in a very real sense for me, a first encounter with The Fellowship of the Ring all over again.
MEMORIES IN MUSIC
Howard Shore’s score has always been, for me, the soul of Peter Jackson’s films.
As most of us can attest from our own experiences, the music doesn’t merely accompany the story. It imparts a layer of something ancient and beautiful passing slowly through time, and beyond time.
There was the gentle, pastoral melody of the Shire, the melancholic strains of Rivendell, the ancient dread of Khazad-dûm, the haunting enchantment of Lothlórien, the alluring notes of the Ring, and so many moments.
Even after all these years, the music retained its power to thrill.
And, on this occasion, to remind…
As the Fellowship emerged from the Mines of Moria, broken by Gandalf’s Fall, I found myself recalling a conversation from many years ago with Aivale Cole, whose extraordinary voice gave that scene its heartbreaking lament in the original film. I had interviewed Aivale for TheOneRing.net as part of a series of interviews celebrating the music of the films. She had spoken of her excitement and nervousness recording with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and shared wonderful recollections of working with Howard Shore and Peter Jackson.
I remembered conversing with Miriam Stockley, whose ethereal voice accompanied the Fellowship into Lothlórien;with Hilary Summers, who sang the deeply moving Gilraen’s Song (featured in the Extended Edition of The Fellowship of the Ring); and with Sheila Chandra, whose haunting performance of The Breath of Life in The Two Towers gave voice to Arwen’s longing for Aragorn.
And then there was a most lovely interview with Plan 9 (David Donaldson, Stephen Roche, and Janet Roddick) who together with David Long, gave Middle-earth so much of its organic character. From the joyous festivities of Bilbo’s birthday party (remember the music for Frodo’s “chicken dance”?) to the haunting Elvish voices heard as Frodo and Sam watch the Wood-elves departing Middle-earth (featured in the Extended Edition of The Fellowship of the Ring), their compositions helped make Tolkien’s imaginary world feel wonderfully real.
Each of these lovely musicians had shared something deeply personal of their creative process behind the music that millions have since come to love.
I was fascinated by their accounts of how they imagined the musical traditions of Middle-earth’s different peoples, and how they each sought to give the different cultures their own distinctive musical identities.
CHANCE MEETINGS
My thoughts also wandered back to New York Comic Con in 2012, where I had the extraordinary pleasure of meeting Howard Shore himself.
I remember how special it felt to meet the composer whose music had accompanied so much of my own journey into Middle-earth.
I was too shy to speak to Howard Shore, though. As I shook his hand, I had the distinct impression he expected me to say something, but all I could manage was a sheepish smile. I couldn’t think of anything to say that would adequately express what his music had meant to me over the years. I can only hope, even after all these years, that my smile conveyed at least something.
I also had the pleasure of meeting Doug Adams that day.
Doug had spent years painstakingly exploring and documenting the score’s intricate themes, musical architecture, and lyrics.
His book The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films, now in its 16th year of publication, illuminates the extraordinary musical world Shore created. It is still, to me, a masterpiece in itself, and in my opinion, a must-have for any fan of these films and its music, whether serious or casual.
My many conversations and encounters with these remarkable people had become part of my own history with Middle-earth, just as surely as the films themselves had.
And, back then, we were celebrating the 10th anniversary of the films.
Now, somehow, we are celebrating their 25th!
Where did all those years go?
THE VOICES THAT CARRY US HOME
Returning to the The Fellowship of the Ring In Concert, a special word must be said for the singers who gave voice to Middle-earth that evening.
While the various choirs lent Shore’s music its grandeur, the solo performances brought a human intimacy to the immensity of it all.
I have always found something particularly poignant about hearing In Dreams sung by a child.
I remember listening to the original recording by Edward Ross all those years ago, when he himself was just a boy. His voice, so pure and wistful, became inseparable from the ending of The Fellowship of the Ring and from my memories of discovering the films.
I found myself wondering where Edward Ross might be now, what paths his life has taken, and whether he knows how many people still carry that song, and his voice, in their memories?
Hearing another young voice sing those familiar notes a quarter of a century later had me pondering… here was this young singer before me in a concert hall, who certainly hadn’t even been born when the original film was released. And yet, there she stood, a little person on a grand stage, giving voice to the same song that had resonated with an entire generation before her.
Perhaps that is one of the loveliest things about the timelessness of these scores… the voices change, the years pass, but the music remains, finding new singers and new listeners, laden with memories as people pass through it.
TheOneRing.net: A FELLOWSHIP OF OUR OWN
The music brought back more than memories of just the films. It reminded me of my years spent on TheOneRing.net since the early 2000s.
Of late nights spent on its forums having long conversations about Tolkien’s works, and friendships forged with people across the world whom I might never have otherwise met.
Of attending New York Comic Con with fellow TORn staffers, sharing in the excitement of being surrounded by people who understood why these stories mattered so deeply to us.
Of the laughter, the discussions, the arguments, the conventions, the anticipation of new films, and the wonderful sense of belonging to a community drawn together by a love of Middle-earth that never needed to be explained.
That is what TheOneRing.net has always meant to me. A fellowship, bound not by a quest, but by the stories we love and the friendships we’ve made along the way.
Some of those friendships have endured. Others belong to different chapters of life, separated now by distance, circumstance, or simply the passage of time. And yet, all are always just a melody away.
How fortunate we are that, every now and then, a familiar melody can bring us home to one another again, even if only in spirit!
ROADS GO EVER ON…
There were so many moments when the music transported me back to a younger version of myself – of ourselves – when so much of life still lay ahead of us, full of possibilities we could scarcely have imagined. And here we are now, living in that very future, even if it isn’t exactly how we imagined it to be.
I wonder if perhaps, as we grow older, we become more conscious of the distance between the people we once were, the people we imagined ourselves to be, and the people we actually have become?
When Enya’s May It Be finally filled the hall, I thought again of that autumn evening in 2001, of the young teen watching MTV, unaware that a song was about to open a door to an extraordinary world.
How strange to think that he and I are, in some ways, still the same person. Small and insignificant, and content to be so.
So much has changed since then. Homes, countries, friendships. The very shape of life itself.
And yet some things have remained remarkably constant. The music. The stories. The memories.
As the final notes of the music faded, I found myself reflecting on how many roads we all must have travelled since the first time we heard these scores.
Tolkien wrote it almost a century ago, and I have learned now that it is a simple truth indeed… roads do go ever on.
Middle-earth collectors have another exciting project to keep their eyes on! SYZYGY FORGE are creating The Helm of the Witch-king of Angmar, based on the legendary design created by Tolkien artist and conceptual designer John Howe. The helm is the latest release in Syzygy’s John Howe Collection, giving fans the opportunity to bring one of the most intimidating designs associated with the Lord of the Nazgûl into their collections.
This is a stunning piece, which will be available in two different scales; and there are a number of other incredible items, such a coins, plaques, and signed prints, on offer as well. The Helms are very limited – you won’t want to delay on this one! The connection to John Howe’s original design makes this an especially interesting release for fans of the visual history of Middle-earth.
Check out the full details here; if the 1:1 scale Helm of the Witch-king is calling to you, you’ll need to move quickly! After all, the Nine may be patient—but collectors rarely are!
Longtime Wētā Workshop designer Daniel Falconer presented a treasure trove of thoughts, images, and lore to a gathering of MegaCon Tolkien fans in Orlando this past weekend.
Falconer’s presentation was entitled, “WETA: Delving too Deep? A Tolkien Nerd’s Stories Designing for the Lord of the Rings films,” – but let me tell you, fellow nerds, Falconer delved the PERFECT amount.
The panel was the first time that Wētā Workshop had ever attended MegaCon Orlando, and provided a rare chance for fans of the Lord of the Rings books and movies alike to look at details from the artwork that touched upon all of the history embedded in the appendices of Return of the King.
The design work of these movies has always been some of the most fascinating parts of the production, not just because fans were provided a glimpse behind the scenes via the DVD Extras, but also because it has always been clear that the artists were bent on creating close to the same historic resonances that Tolkien infused into his works.
Falconer asked that we not share photos of any of his slides and I will abide with his request, but I’ll attempt to describe some of the fantastic details as best I can.
The Nine
For example, one of the opening slides that Falconer showed was an extremely important but not often dwelt upon detail: What did the Nine Rings for Mortal Men actually look like?
The Nine actually had two different designs, Falconer said. For the living kings, the rings had a red stone encircled by a spiked crown, and the likeness of each king engraved onto the side of their ring. But the rings changed when they became wraiths, with the design becoming both harsher and simpler. The kings’ engraved likenesses turned from faces to skulls. “But this change is never seen because the wraiths are too bright to show the detail of their rings,” Falconer concluded.
Details like this just kill me. Get ready for some more…
Sting
Falconer said that he was just thrilled when his design for Sting made it onto the screen. The inscription on the blade was done by David Salo, who wrote out the Elvish for “Sting is my name, and I am the spiders’ bane.”
Of course, this caused a bit of a continuity concern for The Hobbit, Falconer said, because Sting would not have the inscription on it BEFORE Bilbo named it Sting. So the design for Sting does not have the inscription when Bilbo finds it. Falconer’s head canon is that Bilbo had the inscription added to the blade during his stay in Rivendell, before Frodo joins him.
Glamdring
Glamdring also caused a few continuity issues, Falconer said, because Gandalf loses his sword and staff at Isengard, but of course he has to have his famous sword for the rest of the films. So the sword that Gandalf carries to Orthanc is a different sword, with a design based on a longsword that John Howe brought with him to New Zealand, with the idea that Gandalf had left Glamdring in the care of Elrond during his trip to visit Saruman.
“It was interesting seeing John talk his way through customs with that longsword,” Falconer said.
Gandalf’s Staffs
It never occurred to me that Gandalf’s staff changes so often during The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Of course it changes when he becomes Gandalf the White, but Falconer revealed just how many times Gandalf has to replace his staff: six!
First is the staff that Gandalf uses to inscribe his initials onto the door of Bilbo’s house. He loses it at some point in The Hobbit movies, and Radagast provides Gandalf with his own staff before the Battle of Five Armies. The staff from Battle of Five Armies gets a few rough pointy bits knocked off before Fellowship of the Ring, and that is what Gandalf uses until he visits Saruman in Orthanc.
He loses that staff in Orthanc along with his unnamed “first sword,” and another staff is made in Rivendell before they set out on their quest.
Finally, Gandalf becomes The White and has a staff that is designed around the shape of flame – because he bears Narya, the ring of fire. But he loses this when he confronts the Witch King, and has to make himself one more staff before the end of Return of the King.
Other Wizard Staffs
Falconer showed us the design for the two blue wizards that were initially going to be in the prologue of Fellowship of the Ring, before they were cut. The designs were much more astrological and Eastern looking than the staffs of Gandalf, Radagast, or Saruman.
(Wētā, if you’re reading this, a 25th anniversary “Concept Art of The Fellowship of the Ring” book should definitely contain all of these unused bits of concept art. Please!)
A Look Around Rivendell
Falconer then took us through all of the wonderful historic frescos and objects that Elrond (“A pack rat,” Falconer said) kept around Rivendell.
Sauron’s Missing Ring
Falconer mentioned that Alan Lee painted the mural of Isildur battling Sauron at The Last Alliance for Fellowship of the Ring, but when the mural was brought back for The Hobbit, someone noticed that Sauron did not actually have the One Ring on his finger – Alan Lee painted it in just in time for filming it in The Hobbit, but if you look closely at this mural in Fellowship, it’s still missing.
(As an aside, Falconer said that Rivendell in general had a kind of “Elven magic,” very little set continuity, but somehow it all worked.)
Celebrimbor
Celebrimbor the ring-forger is presented in a that shows him forging one of the Three Rings. But another of the murals in Rivendell resembles the ruins of Celebrimbor’s great Second Age city, Ost-in-Edhel in Eregion, which the Fellowship walks through before encountering the Crebain.
“I asked Alan Lee whether the painting was of Ost-in-Edhel, and he said, ‘Could be,’ so I never really had it verified,” Falconer said.
Gil-galad
Elrond also carefully kept and displayed the shield of Gil-galad after his death at the Last Alliance. Gil-galad’s crest, as drawn by Tolkien, shows a number of four-pointed white stars on a field of blue; the artists took inspiration from this and created livery and a shield that mirrored the crest.
“Elrond also has Gil-galad’s crown on display, but he must not have been thinking too hard about it, because it’s upside down,” Falconer said, showing a picture of Mark Ferguson’s Gil-galad wearing the crown in the other direction.
Aeglos, “Snow-tip” in Sindarin Elvish, the spear of Gil-galad, was designed by Falconer’s colleague at WĒTĀ whose name I was unable to catch (“Incidentally the best man at my wedding,” Falconer said). The inscription on the blade is:
Gil-galad wields a well-made spear
The Orc will fear my point of ice
When he sees me, in fear of death
He will know my name:
Aeglos
Aragorn’s hunting knife is made to echo the design of Aeglos, and has a portion of this inscription on it too.
Arwen (and Idril’s) sword, Hadhafang
Also on display in Rivendell is the sword that was originally designed for Arwen. Here is where my own inner Tolkien geek felt a wash of joy: the sword was designed to be an heirloom from Gondolin, specifically from the princess of that realm, Idril.
Here’s the history: Turgon son of Fingolfin was king of Beleriand’s hidden city of Gondolin. His daughter was Idril Celebrindal. She is better known in Lord of the Rings as Elrond’s grandmother, however. She married the human Tuor and had one son, Ëarendil, who eventually bore the Silmaril on his airship Vingilot; but before that, Ëarendil married Elwing of Doriath and became the dad of Elrond and Elros.
And somehow, Elrond preserved his grandmother’s sword through the third Kinslaying at Sirion, his kidnapping by the sons of Fëanor, the War of Wrath, the drowning of his entire birth country of Beleriand, and finally through a long journey East toward Middle-earth, where he eventually uses it in several battles including the Last Alliance — before he gives it to his daughter.
The inscription on the sword reads, “This blade is called Hadhafang, a noble defense against the enemy throng for a noble lady.” If this inscription was put there by Idril, she had more foresight than just building a secret tunnel out of Gondolin, because “noble lady” translates directly to the word “AR-WEN.”
Amazing, learning this detail alone justified my entire con experience!
Two figures on a boat
Given that this Rivendell mural displayed TWO figures on a boat instead of ONE figure and a BIRD on a boat, I can assume that this is Idril and Tuor aboard the boat Eärramë, off to vanish into the West. I did not get to verify this with Falconer, however.
The Scepter of Annúminas
Why does Aragorn wear a wingéd helm during his coronation instead of a crown? It’s because there isn’t a crown.
Elrond keeps the actual indicator of Aragorn’s kingship, the Scepter of Annúminas, at Rivendell because he’s the keeper of all the important Dunedaín artifacts until there’s a king of unified Gondor and Arnor again. He brings it to Aragorn upon the midsummer wedding of Aragorn and Arwen.
Elrond’s Telescope
This detail slew me. “Elrond has a telescope because his father is a star,” Falconer said. The telescope was a gorgeous and graceful fall of art nouveau lines, decorated with a small paean to Varda, or Elbereth, the Valar who created the stars.
Gimliand the Caves of Aglarond
Falconer showed us concept art of the Caves of Aglarond beneath Helm’s Deep. He said that one of the original endings to Return of the King showed Gimli’s life post-quest, as the lord of Aglarond. The art department created a jeweler’s glass for him to use while at work on the gems of these caves.
“But we had plenty of endings already,” Falconer said.
Falconer also showed us details of the Book of Mazarbul from the Mines of Moria, based on Tolkien’s own drawing of the cover. Incidentally, Tolkien wanted his own illustration of it to be in Fellowship of the Ring, but it proved to be too costly for Unwin & Allen to publish.
Edoras
Falconer showed close-ups of the hangings from around Meduseld. The hangings are scenes from the history of the Horse-lords. (If you are at all interested, this history is nicely summarized in Unfinished Tales Part II: Chapter 3.)
I noticed Scatha the Worm fighting Fram, and Eorl the Young pledging his friendship to Cirion the Steward of Gondor, among other moments.
Knights of Dol Amroth
We got to see some of the original concept art for the Knights of Dol Amroth. These were not used in the movies, but the banner (a swan and a ship, argent, on a blue field) shows up at the Battle of Pelennor Field.
“These were some of the first pen-and-ink drawings we did in the days before Photoshop, and we’d all played Dungeons and Dragons, so the designs were straight out of the rulebook from the 80s,” Falconer said.
“Elves are Art Nouveau, Dwarves are Art Deco”
You’ve probably seen the meme around the internet that proclaims that the way to tell the difference between the Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles are via their Tolkien race.
I asked Falconer if he was aware that Wētā actually set the agenda for this meme.
“I have seen that meme, but for a little while, Elves were going to be Art Deco with lots of angles and points. And even before that, we took inspiration from Moorish design,” Falconer said.
“So when did the trend toward Art Nouveau begin for the Elves?”
“Probably when Alan Lee designed those columns.”
So there you have it.
Please return
There was a lot more to Falconer’s panel — about the continuity of Gollum, different types of Ents, and the shape of the Fell Beasts — but I think I’d better just leave us all wanting to see it again.
We’ll get to see everyone from Wētā over here again soon, right?!
Back in the middle of March we began our annual tournament of Middle-earth March Madness: with this year’s theme being The Art of Middle-earth. Three weeks and thousands of votes later, the Grand Champion 2025 has been decided.
Here’s how the bracket looked this year:
Down to the last battle
The Final
Alan Lee’s Edoras faced Turner Mohan‘s Lúthien and Morgoth; a very familiar scene from a well-known artist, and a First Age scene from a lesser-known artist. Both are stunning works, filled with shadows and light; but starkly contrasting. One is a landscape with no figures; the other shows two figures with no discernible landscape.
EdorasLúthien and Morgoth
Their journeys to the final battle were also very different. The closest fight Edoras had to face was against Donato Giancola’s Walls of Moria, which claimed 45% of the vote. In the rest of the matchups, Alan Lee’s piece won by margins in the 70s and 80s percentage-wise. Mohan’s piece, on the other hand, only ever won by numbers in the 50s; in the second round, only ONE vote separated Lúthien and Morgoth from its competitor, Angelo Montanini‘s Radagast the Magician. A beautiful piece and a very worthy competitor, nonetheless Lúthien and Morgoth had to fight harder to make it to the final.
So it is perhaps not a surprise that this year’s Grand Champion of Middle-earth March Madness is:
Staffer Madeye Gamgee shares his thoughts on the winner:
It has been a steady, even overwhelming Ride of the Rohirrim finally bringing the gritty endurance of the Lúthien/Morgoth faceoff to the end of its exciting underdog run! The most serious competition that Edoras faced during the tournament came against Donato Giancola’s The Walls of Moria, a 55/45 matchup; even while Mohan’s Lúthien and Morgoth escaped from two of its matchups with a combined total of six votes. This has been by far the most competitive contest across the entire field that I can remember over many years of Middle-earth March Madness — a testament to the wide appeal and high quality of every artist featured. Here’s hoping that prints of some of their works have found new homes! I know they have in mine! Did you find a new piece to hang on your wall?
Special thanks to artists Jerry VanderStelt, Ted Nasmith and Donato Giancola, who took the time to chat with us on livestreams, and to tell us about their work and their love of Tolkien. (You can see those conversations on our YouTube channel.) And of course thanks to all of YOU, who joined the fun and voted! See you for more Middle-earth March Madness next year!
We come to it at last: the great battle of our age – or at least of Middle-earth March Madness 2025: The Art of Middle-earth. Round Six is here – the final showdown, between the last two remaining works of art. But which piece will be crowned Grand Champion? There can be only one! Voting is open now!
Down to the last battle
Let’s take a look at how the Semi-finals played out:
The Horn of Boromir vs Edoras
Both of these paintings have proved very popular throughout the contest, winning fairly convincingly at each round. The love fans have for Peter Jackson’s movies perhaps inclines them to vote for art which reminds us of those films; and in addition, there is no denying that these are both extraordinary works. In this Final Four round, however, Matthew Stewart’s Boromir could not bring much opposition to the Golden Hall; Alan Lee’s masterpiece is through to the final, with almost three quarters of the vote.
Edoras by Alan Lee
Lúthien and Morgoth vs Gandalf at Your Service
In stark contrast to the other Semi-final, this was indeed a battle for the ages! Every time we checked on the latest tally, the lead had changed. Sometimes Turner Mohan led by 1%, and sometimes David Wenzel claimed back the thinnest margin. Clearly these two very different pieces have captured the imagination of voters! Finally, as the polls closed at midnight last night, the piece edging over the line – by a margin of just five votes! – was Mohan’s dark image. (This wasn’t the first narrow escape for this finalist, having survived an earlier round by a single vote. Is it the power of Morgoth or of Lúthien which keeps just managing to secure victory?)
Lúthien and Morgoth by Turner Mohan
And so – the Championship Round of Middle-earth March Madness 2025 is between Alan Lee’s Edoras and Turner Mohan’s Lúthien and Morgoth. Which will you choose? Voting is now open!
How does it work, you ask? Simple! Click on the button below. This will take you to the voting site, where you can view the entire bracket – including looking back at all 64 individual works in all their glory (and details of the artist), should you wish! Place your votes for Round Six: Championship!
Staffer Madeye Gamgee shares his thoughts on the Championship Round:
We have our Grand Championship matchup! We have ethereal Edoras, gleaming through its foggy backlit haze with glowing promise despite a menacing and dark mountainous backdrop. This piece has the pedigree of one of the most renowned and active Tolkien artists of our time, the incomparable Alan Lee. It is both haunting and familiar, firmly set in The Lord of the Rings lore when we first see the Golden Hall in The Two Towers.
And we have lesser known Turner Mohan, a fantasy illustrator from NYC who has largely worked in pencil and pen, and is beginning to work more and more in watercolors. He also dabbles in crafting medieval armor, which might explain Morgoth’s particularly imposing form in this piece. His Lúthien and Morgoth is rooted in Tolkien’s great First Age love story from The Silmarillion, the tale of Beren and Lúthien: their hopelessly herculean quest to wrest a Silmaril from Morgoth’s crown as the bride price demanded by the elf princess’s father. Just as Lúthien overcame impossible odds through her art of song, might the strength of Mohan’s muse prove similarly compelling to our voters?
Let the Madness come to an end and our 2025 winner be crowned, whether in golden light or a dark iron crown. It’s up to the fans to decide!
You have until 6pm ET on Tuesday April 8th to vote in Round Six; that evening on TORn Tuesday we’ll look back over the whole Middle-earth March Madness contest, and reveal the winner. It’s your last chance to make your vote counts – rally the troops! Vote now!
Two weeks after Middle-earth March Madness 2025: The Art of Middle-earth began, we have reached Round Five – the Final Four. Each regional bracket has a winner; now the Semi-final will decide which two masterpieces go through to face off in the Grand Final. Voting is open now!
Final Four – how the bracket looks
Let’s take a look at each bracket winner:
Landscapes
Donato Giancola’s Walls of Moria went toe to toe with Alan Lee’s Edoras. These are two incredible paintings of landmark locations in Middle-earth – how to choose between them? In the end, the Golden Hall was the one which drew the most votes: Edoras is through with three-fifths of the vote.
Edoras by Alan Lee
Story Moments
This was another close battle, as Matthew Stewart’s The Horn of Boromir took on Ted Nasmith’s The Kinslaying at Alqualondë. That’s a familiar scene from The Lord of the Rings (and with strong echoes of Peter Jackson’s movie) vs a First Age scene – perhaps a less familiar tale to many? Or a dark, gritty battle scene vs a beautiful, starlit, ethereal, but on close inspection equally (or even more) gruesome depiction of slaughter. How did you vote? Ultimately, The Horn of Boromir claimed 54% of the vote; so two familiar sights (and sites!) for movie lovers will meet in the first Semi-final pairing: The Horn of Boromir vs Edoras.
The Horn of Boromir by Matthew Stewart
Portraits
Two VERY different artworks met in the final of this bracket: Anna Lee’s serene and blissful Goldberry vs Turner Mohan’s striking, dark Lúthien and Morgoth. I know which one I’d rather have on my wall! BUT there is something mesmerising and extraordinary about Mohan’s smokey black work, with a tiny, luminous Lúthien boldy facing a giant foe. It won the heart of fans, but not by much; the final vote tally was 56% to Mohan.
Lúthien and Morgoth by Turner Mohan
Groups/Montages
Once again, the closest battle was in this region, where two idyllic Shire scenes fought it out. David Wenzel’s Gandalf at Your Service features two very well-known characters – Gandalf and Bilbo; whereas in Soni Alcorn-Hender’s Little Rivers of the Shire we don’t know who the two Hobbits are. Perhaps they are Halflings we know and love; or perhaps they are peripheral characters: children who once cheered Gandalf’s fireworks, or regulars at The Green Dragon. Either way, it’s a beautiful scene which draws the viewer in. I think we’d all like to visit either of these illustrations; and it was clearly hard for voters to make a choice. The victory in the end went to David Wenzel, 52% to 48%; making our second Semi-final pairing Lúthien and Morgoth vs Gandalf at Your Service.
Gandalf at Your Service by David Wenzel
Only two of these magnificent pieces can go through to the final; how will you make your choices? Vote now!
How does it work, you ask? Simple! Click on the button below. This will take you to the voting site, where you can view the entire bracket, and also view individual works in all their glory (and details of the artist). Place your votes for Round Five: Final Four!
Staffer Madeye Gamgee shares his thoughts on the Final Four:
So, in the Final Four, we have an all Lord of the Rings semifinal, putting an epic and glowing Edoras against a gritty and highly detailed last stand from Boromir. The second match features the sharp contrast between the bright, Hobbity Shire scene featuring Bilbo being wooed toward adventure by Gandalf, versus the dark depths of Angband and Lúthien’s desperate confrontation with mighty Morgoth.
The Final Four is a study in the dark versus light contrasts that so vividly embody the breadth and depths of Tolkien’s subcreation. Think Bilbo and Gollum and their riddle game, Éowyn versus the Witch-king, Denethor’s pyre in the inner sanctum of the White City, or the beauty and horror of Alqualondë that Ted Nasmith so beautifully captured. It is fitting that these artistic tensions are so fully present with our four finalists.
You have until the end of the day Friday April 4th to vote in Round Five; on Saturday 5th we’ll start the Championship Round! So place those votes!
