The Duel of Morgoth and Fingolfin


”Then Morgoth hurled aloft Grond, the Hammer of the Underworld, and swung it down like a bolt of thunder. But Fingolfin sprang aside, and Grond rent a mighty pit in the earth, whence smoke and fire darted. Many times Morgoth essayed to smite him, and each time Fingolfin leaped away, as a lightning shoots from under a dark cloud; and he wounded Morgoth with seven wounds, and seven times Morgoth gave a cry of anguish, whereat the hosts of Angband fell upon their faces in dismay, and the cries echoed in the Northlands.”

- J. R. R. Tolkien: The Silmarillion, chapter 18: Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin


This is the second incarnation of this Silmarillion illustration.. sepia tone with a brown paper background done in Photoshop (Thank you for the idea and help, Ana! ). For the description I'll quote myself below:

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One of the most memorable moments from the Silmarillion and one of my favourites, even if reading it always makes me sad..

While making these Tolkien illustrations I don’t want to see any references but rather delve into my mind and try to find my own view.. still, it’s plain to see I’m heavily influenced by everything I’ve seen before.. In particular, I remember having a Tolkien calendar illustrated by Ted Naismith (or something like that) a long time ago (might’ve been the calendar of the centenary year of ’92, but can’t remberber for certain. There’s this image of Fingolfin’s challenge and Morgoth is wearing a shirt that’s made of something that lookes like black dragonscales. I haven’t seen the pic in years, and I didn’t want to look it up now.. but that’s something that my mind goes back to every time I think of this scene.

So I think my Morgoth owes a lot to that painting. I wanted to draw his face, because I think just a helmet or something would be too anonymous and could not really contain the true evil he characterises. I picture him as a kind of a giant vampire lord with both elven and orcish features. His equipment I wanted to make fitting for his self-proclaimed status as the King of the World – finely decorated but looking kind of evil.. like I really wanted Grond to look like something that’s bound to hurt if you get in it’s path!

Fingolfin wears what I imagine elven armour looked like: light, intricate plate over a fine scale mail haubergon.

B/W version here: [link]

EDIT: Better scan, new paper background