WIP:Lords of Noldor: 2 Queens

WORK IN PROGRESS: Míriel Þerindë and Indis of the Vanyar – the Two Queens of Finwë


<sub>”Míriel was the name of [Fëanor's] mother. Her hair was like silver; and she was slender as a white flower in the grass. Soft and sweet was her voice, and she sang as she worked, like rippling water, in music without words. For her hands were more skilled to make things fine and delicate than any other hands even among the Noldor. By her the craft of needles was devised; and if but one fragment of the broideries of Míriel were seen in Middle-earth it would be held dearer than a king's realm; for the richness of her devices and the fire of their colours were as manifold and as bright as the wealt of leaf and flower and wing in he fields of Yavanna. Therefore she was called Serinde.”

-- J. R. R. Tolkien: The Later Quenta Silmarillion (II): Of the Silmarils and the Darkening of Valinor, §3 (HoME X: Morgoth's Ring)


”It came to pass that after three years more [following the Statute of Mandos] Finwë took as second wife Indis the Fair. She was in all ways unlike Míriel. She was not of the Noldor but of the Vanyar, being the sister [sic] of Ingwë; and she was golden-haired and tall and exceedingly swift of foot. She did not labour with her hands, but made music and wove words into song; and there was ever light and mirth about her while the bliss of Aman lasted.”

-- J. R. R. Tolkien: The Later Quenta Silmarillion (II): Of the Silmarils and the Darkening of Valinor, §23 (HoME X: Morgoth's Ring)</sub>



Character Background

Míriel, Finwë's first wife, was a Ñoldo born in Aman. She was called Þerindë, seamstress, for her incredible skill in embroidery. Her skill of hand and passionate spirit she passed on to her only son, Fëanor. But his birth drained her of her life force and she faded and soon passed away, the first of the immortal Eldar to die in the bliss of Aman.

After Míriel died and did not wish to return, Finwë was grieved. The Valar allowed him to marry Indis of the Vanyar, who was said (in Shibboleth of Fëanor, which I choose to believe in this case) to be the daughter of King Ingwë's sister. She bore Finwë two sons and two daughters (again, according to the Shibboleth, older genealogies give three daughters), but his eldest ever remained Finwë's favourite. Nevertheless, Fëanor never truly accepted his father’s second marriage and was never friendly with the descendants of Indis.

Design Concept

Because Míriel and Indis are not descendants of Finwë (and because Míriel was already dead before most of the others were born) I didn't want to include them in person, and chose instead to depict the queens in the form of two marble busts.

I picture Míriel as a sombre, beautiful woman with the straight hair and proud features characteristic of the Ñoldor. She was said to be very slender and to have dark eyes and silver hair (quite unusual for a Noldo, the only other ones specifically mentioned with silver hair were the family of Elwë and Olwë of the Teleri.). She would wear fine jewellery and clothes in rich deep colours and be very much alike her only son. The shape behind her head is supposed to be some kind of an engraved halo-thingy made of polished silver.. I'm not completely sure of whether I should keep it or not.

My image of Indis is a tall and benevolent, classically beautiful woman wearing simple white raiment, with long flowing hair of gold braided in a crown braid decorated with flowers.

The heraldic designs are my interpretations of ones created for these two by the talented =elegaer, who has kindly agreed to collaborate with me on this project.

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This is a WIP character sketch for my “Lords of the Ñoldor” project. It combines the scanned, not-yet-cleaned-up pencil lineart without shading or highlights, the current idea for the heraldic device(s) and the Tengwar inscription (I haven't decided yet whether I want to use the regular script or the cursive style, so I included both) to be used in the triptych. At some point I might finish these up as individual character portraits but for now it’s just a WIP component.

Characters drawn on regular copy paper, no references used. The originals are quite small; each character is just about 8 cm tall. I drew them with a regular HB pencil that I try not to sharpen too much.. gives the line a nice thickness and more lively(=uneven) character. The size also keeps me from adding too many details, which would be lost anyway in the finished piece where the characters are fairly small.

The heraldic designs were drawn in AutoCAD, I looked at =elegaer’s designs for reference. Assembled in Photoshop. _{(--Hard to say what category this should go into, but let’s say traditional, since the pencil drawing is the main thing..)}

It’s still WIP, so comments, ideas, suggestions, etc. are more than welcome!


WIP:Lords of Noldor: Triptych Layout

WIP:Lords of Noldor: Character Portraits