Young Warrior (Húrin)

<sub>“Galdor and Hareth had two sons, Húrin and Huor. Húrin was by three years the elder, but he was shorter in stature than other men of his kin; in this he took after his mother's people, but in all else he was like Hador his grandfather, fair of face and golden-haired, strong in body and fiery of mood. But the fire in him burned steadily, and he had great endurance of will. Of all Men of the North he knew most of the counsels of the Noldor.”

-- J. R. R. Tolkien: Unfinished Tales, Narn i Hîn Húrin, The Childhood of Túrin</sub>


This was a pencil drawing that I started doodling in a meeting a couple of weeks ago with no idea what it would turn into.. I just started to draw a face study, decided to make it male, then a warrior.. and this happened. I didn’t plan it to be a portrait initially, but after detailing the face I thought he fit my image of young Húrin, so I finished the drawing with this thought in mind.

Húrin was the greatest warrior among mortal Men, his strength in arms matched only by his unbreakable will that earned him the epessë Thalion, Steadfast. Cursed by Morgoth, his fate, and that of his family, became the most tragic tale among the Edain in the Elder Days.

He is shown here a couple of years after his return from Gondolin, before he had married Morwen or taken up the lordship of Dor-lómin and the House of Hador at the death of his father. It could be around FA 460, which would make him some twenty years old – not yet come to full manhood, but already a fighter hardened by many battles. He leans on his trusty axe and wears a fine coat of dwarf-mail.

HB and 5B pencils + the usual Photoshop deal.