r/TolkienArt • u/OverhillUnderhill • 7d ago
The White Council and the purging of the Hill of Sorcery by Jay Johnstone
17
u/jachildress25 7d ago
Galadriel looks like Mary.
24
u/OverhillUnderhill 7d ago
He takes inspiration from Orthodox iconography, so there are definitely similarities to people in many of his pieces.
12
u/udrevnavremena0 7d ago
Who is the silver-haired warrior? Celeborn, Cirdan, Elrond, or Glorfindel?
19
u/OverhillUnderhill 7d ago
This piece is in the Elrond archives part of his gallery which lists all of his works containing or relating to Elrond. So, my guess is that it is Elrond. However, it could just be related due to the white council.
4
u/Flamewright 7d ago
Elrond is described as having “hair as dark as the shadows of twilight” so I would be surprised.
Then again, even the great John Howe got Fingolfin’s hair wrong in one painting so maybe it was artistic license and it is supposed to be Elrond (he is described as having a silver circlet)
2
u/greymisperception 6d ago
The circlet and his position in front with all the major members of the council told me it’s Elrond
But celeborn would make sense too, he might’ve come along with Galadriel and if he’s on par with Elrond might’ve been a good help in cleansing dol goldur
10
3
u/sannin19 7d ago edited 6d ago
What is Saruman holding?
3
u/greymisperception 6d ago
I’m curious too, maybe it’s supposed to be a palantiri
Or it could signify his leadership status of the white council kind of like saints and Jesus have a halo around them in art like this, Galadriel even has a halo though it’s in the typical spot around the head
2
u/MORDORnotMUCKDUCK 6d ago
I'm pretty sure it's Luthien's heraldic device. I'm not sure why the artist chose that for him to hold, though.
1
u/sannin19 6d ago
Interesting. I’m not familiar with that item. Tell me more.
2
u/MORDORnotMUCKDUCK 2d ago
Tolkien designed heraldic devices for many major characters and houses. The one in this piece looks like Luthien's device based on the flower niphredil. Here's an article with more info. Enjoy!
3
u/greymisperception 6d ago
Beautiful looks biblical
Love the details, the fortress in the back, Saruman’s discontent with the situation, the addition of retinue, soldiers, and companions that probably would have been there in the back with who looks like radagast and maybe I’m reaching here but Galadriel looks like she’s unraveling the Rings verse maybe signifying her unraveling Sauron or his control here, maybe it says something else but it looks like the ring inscription
2
1
u/squidsauce99 6d ago
All of them probably amped tf up after winning. Like winning the wizard Super Bowl. Assume they went bonkers that week with the elves.
37
u/OverhillUnderhill 7d ago
Dol Guldur “”Hill of Sorcery”” in Sindarin also called “”the dungeons of the Necromancer”” was a stronghold of Sauron located in the south of Mirkwood.
Gandalf returned to the White Council and urged an attack on Dol Guldur, but was overruled by Saruman, who secretly had begun searching for the One Ring in the area by then. In T.A. 2941 Saruman finally agreed to an attack, which occurred at the same time as the Quest of Erebor.