Sunday 20 September 2015

Galadriel - Lady of Lórien

My take on Galadriel - using a 60mm "forest" resin base from Micro Art Studio,
to give her that Lorien Forest feeling.

For more than 4 years a moving box, filled to the brim with the wonderful world of GW’s Lord of The Rings plastic and metal minis, have been sitting in my attic waiting for the day when I would find like-minded project companions to game with. Over the summer fellow club-members Jonas and Michael happily confessed to having the same Tolkien compulsion and indeed a similar dormant collection at home – so after a talk about who would paint what, a project was finally born.

The Lady of Light - Galadriel.

For those of you familiar with Tolkien’s wonderful world of Middle-Earth and it’s many inhabitants, the cover photo will have given away what faction I’m painting – the elves. I decided to cover both Lórien and Mirkwood, incorporating some of the new fantastically crisp miniatures from GW’s The Hobbit collection. 

Forest of Lorien, ruled by Galadriel and Celeborn.

The single most fantastic thing about Tolkien’s work is probably his rich cabinet of characters, races and their long line of descend all carefully described in one man’s fables (the info is so extensive it has its own Wiki-universe), inspired as he was by Norse and Celtic mythology. So with all this rich material on the elves, I’ll be posting a bit of their background here as the project goes forward. First off – the Lady of Lórien. The lady of the Galadhrim and the Lady of light – Galadriel.



GALADRIEL

According to the legends she was born in Valinor during the mystical time before The First Age known as the Years of the Trees. She was the only daughter of mighty Finarfin, prince of Noldor and Eärwen. As she became a young adult, her fascination for Middle-Earth grew, mostly thanks to her uncle Fëanor, who told her about its wonders. She felt drawn to it, desiring to find a place there to rule.

Galadriel as portrayed by Kate Blanchett in Peter Jackson's movies.

As she journeyed across the Great Ocean to Middle-Earth, her three brothers joined her, as she set out to accomplish her dream of creating a realm of her own. Arriving to Middle-Earth, she spends the First Age at the court of Thingol in Menegroth. To her great sorrow, all three of her brothers were killed in the many wars during the First Age. Galadriel herself played an insignificant role in the wars and the final defeat of Morgoth.

A view of the fantastic base from Micro Art Studio.
The level of details were just astounding!

At the dawn of the Second Age, Galadriel and her spouse Celeborn were given a small fiefdom to rule under the great Gil-Galad, High King of Noldor. There they had a daughter, Celebrían – who later would be mother to the more well-known Arwen, through her marriage to Elrond of Rivendell.

They then moved east, to rule a territory west of the Misty Mountains. They called it Eregion. It prospered under their wise rule, and trade relations were established with the Dwarves in Moria. They then left Eregion, passing the task of ruling the flourishing territory to Celebrimbor, prince of the House of Fëanor.

A complete map of Middle-Earth with Lorien placed to the east of the Misty Mountains,
between the larger forests of Fangorn and Mirkwood.

Galadriel and Celeborn once again moved east, this time over the Misty Mountains, through the mines of Khazad-dûm. On the other side of the mountains, in the wast forest, they took rule over the lands of Lothlórien. It is now the Rings of Power come into play, as they were created under the guidance of the Maia (Great Spirit) Annatar. Galadriel suspected Annatar to have a hidden agenda, and her instincts proved her right, as Annatar turned out to be none other than Sauron. His plan being to rule Middle-Earth through the magic and power of the rings. The rings were hidden, three of them among the Elves.

Lorien.

Galadriel is wearing the powerful ring Nenya, also known as The White Ring or the Ring of Water. Nenya is one of the Rings of Power, of which three were entrusted to the Elves of Middle-Earth. In the tales, Nenya is said to have been crafted of Mithril Silver and a white stone of Adamant.

A scene from the Peter Jackson movies, 
that probably inspired the GW miniature.

At the end of The Second Age, Sauron was finally defeated during the War of the Last Alliance, Isildur managing to cut of his finger and separate the dark lord from the One Ring. In an attempt to stem future tides of Evil, Galadriel then formed the White Council, incorporating some of the most powerful wizards and characters of good in Middle-Earth. At this point in the legends, the three movies of the Hobbit then begin as we see the dawn of the Third Age. I warmly recommend the movies to anyone who haven't seen them yet!

More Elves to come – Thank you very much for reading!

34 comments:

  1. Superb painting as always! I really like your whites/off-whites. The base was a great choice as well – your excellent painting really shows off all the small details.

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    1. Thank you kindly Jonas - they whites are the same as I used for the Robotech project. GW colors starting with Celestra Grey, midtone of Ulthuan Grey and then highlighting with Ceramite White. I'll bring them for our coming painting session, then you can try out the triad if you want. They produce a "cold" white.

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  2. Very nice it's always difficult to get the white shades right, spot on nice base

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    1. Thanks Stephen, really appreciate the visit and the comment! That base was something else to paint. Its not the last time I've used those Micro Art Studio accessories.

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  3. Amazing paint job on the Lady of Lórien, she seems to be surnatural,...and this forest type base is just awesome, I can smell wet wood from France...waiting for elves!

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    1. Merci Phil - yeah I really liked the scenes from the movies when they went through the deep forest of Lorien, but also Mirkwood in the new Hobbit trilogy. I'm thinking about adding an Ent also, to represent Fangorn Forest :0)

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  4. Lovely lady, and the scenic base is wonderful!

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    1. Cheers Dean - it was fun doing finally getting started with this long overdue LotR project. The GW minis are really nice to work on!

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  5. Absolutely delightful. the base does her proud.

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    1. Thanks Michael, yeah imagine her on a standard flocked base - not really the same forceful presence. She is after all an elvish queen and mighty sorcerer, so I thought that Micro Art Studio resin base could help set the scene!

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  6. Beautiful! Looking forward to see some Middle Earth miniatures on your blogs. Any specific ruleset that you have in mind?
    /Mattias

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    1. Thanks Mattias - it was really nice to finally enter the world of Tolkien on my painting desk. Like I've mentioned above, the GW range is quite nice to work on, especially the new plastics for The Hobbit. We have some specific rules in mind, but I'll get back to that later as the project evolves.

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  7. Thats fantastic Soren, wonderful colours and standard of painting!

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    1. Cheers Chris, a lot could be ascribed to that base, it really lifts up a single mini to become the mighty Elvish Queen leader she is suppose to be.

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  8. Fantastic job on Galadriel. I have the same problem as you did, huge collection of lovely LotR minis with no hope of being painted anytime soon. Someday though...

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    1. Thanks a lot Jason :0) - when you get there, I'm sure you'll find it just as refreshing as me. I was lucky though, if Jonas and Michael at my local gaming club had not been up for painting other factions, my minis might still have been sleeping in my attic!

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    1. Cheers Jon, something different from the normal historical stuff, but very nice minis to work on. Happy you stopped by for a comment, thanks!

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  10. Great paint job and I like the background story!

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    1. Thank you very much Werner, it nice to know someone takes the time to read my ramblings :0)

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  11. Great paint job and I like the background story!

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  12. Amazingly done as allways and Tolkien beats all.

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    1. Cheers, and I can only agree. The universe he created is something extraordinary and incredibly well documented in meticulous detail in his work. He is a master!

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    1. Cheers Scott, and thanks for stopping by for a read and a comment - really appreciate it!

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  14. Haha...so you could not keep our secret project secret anymore matey;) Now you really set the pressure on me and Jonas to get our forces ready to whip some elfs :)

    Lovely paint work and the base really lift the minis, what size is it for the base?

    Looking forward to see more of your hoast :)

    Best regards Michael

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    1. Weeeeell, no :0) Sorry, but I had to kick it off. I've been painting Elves for quite some time now. Still have that Ent left to do, that model is HUGE. I've based Galadriel on a Command base, so 60mm. She will probably be fielded with plenty of magic in her backpack! I've got Legolas and Haldir also coming up, so plenty more to come buddy, and thanks for the nice comment on the mini and base :0)

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    2. Seems like you ans Jonas hade some evil plan to make ajoint action against my poor dark forces... ;)

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  15. Well this is unexpected! I've been of fan of Tolkien since I was a kid. Really lovely painting and the basing is excellent!

    Christopher

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    1. Yeah, I thought is was time for something new here on the blog after all the 15mm WW2 - glad you liked to switch to LotR. Like you I'm a long time fan!

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  16. Your figure looks better than the original - B r a v o !!
    Peter

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    1. Thank you very kindly Peter! Using this kind of excessive resin base was an experiment, so I'm happy you liked the outcome!

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  17. As always your work is simply stunning. You definitely managed to capture the spirit of the character perfectly. The game and itself never really appealed to me but your interpretation of Galadriel almost made me think of doing 'just a few for fun'...

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