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Old 01-17-2008, 11:00 AM   #2
Thinlómien
Shady She-Penguin
 
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: In a far land beyond the Sea
Posts: 8,093
Thinlómien is wading through the Dead Marshes.Thinlómien is wading through the Dead Marshes.Thinlómien is wading through the Dead Marshes.Thinlómien is wading through the Dead Marshes.Thinlómien is wading through the Dead Marshes.Thinlómien is wading through the Dead Marshes.
I'm glad you managed to actually post this thread, Agan.

Quote:
Eventually we ended up with Melian and Thingol meeting in starlit Nan Elmoth and Eithel Ivrin where Túrin was healed of his madness, but the decisions weren't easy to make. The Middle-Earth itself is a paradise, in a way.
That is true. But I must say I chose Eithel Ivrin more because of artistic reasons than because of reasons that have something to do with my view of paradise in Arda. I just had the vision of the sun on the lake, small figures of Túrin and Gwindor at the front and the mountains and the blue sky at the background and as I was rather pleased with my sketch, I decided to do it.

My initial thought of Tolkienesque paradise painting was that there should be a drowning sailor who has managed to get to the Straight Path and is dying with the light of Valinor in his eyes... but I'm not ambitious enough to try to depict that, so I chose the scene at Eithel Ivrin.

Even though, I'm not sure if I would choose either of them as my real Arda paradise. Undying Lands are a bit too obvious and they have always left me a bit cold in all their perfection. Parts of them, though, could be a paradise. The dreamy woods and gardens of Lórien Agan mentioned get very close to one. Even though, I don't think any place could me my paradise if it was not close to the sea, so...

I actually see the Grey Havens as some sort of paradise. It's a peaceful city near the sea and surrounded by a wilderness, but more importantly, it is the place of leaving and coming to Middle-Earth, some kind of meeting point of joy and sorrow, of new and old and reflects the grief and longing of the Elves of Hither Lands very well. I really can't phrase it in any better way, so I hope you understood...
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