Nature’s Tale of Middle-earth

We have already shared here a bit of the creative works received in the first Quendi round this year, now let’s see the pictures! In this task competitors had to recreate a scene from the Third Age where people from at least three different races had a conversation recorded in the books. The scene had to be made of objects collected in nature: leaves, nuts, flowers, etc.

A quendi kategória idei első fordulójában a versenyzőknek a természetben gyűjtött levelekből, termésekből és egyebekből kellett összerakniuk egy olyan harmadkori, a könyvekben leírt jelenetet, ahol legalább három különböző nép képviselői beszélgettek egymással. Nagyon izgalmas megoldások születtek!

Pictures first, so you can guess the characters before reading the description :)

Alvelassë

“‘Look’ [Legolas] said. ‘The tree is glad of the fire!’ ” (LotR: The Two Towers)

The installation depicts the scene when the Three Hunters make camp at the edge of Fangorn and have a conversation about the Hobbits’ fate and lighting a fire beside sentient trees. From right to left: Aragorn with his sword, Andúril, Gimli and his indispensable axe, the old chestnut tree that may be a Huorn enjoying the fire, and Legolas with his bow and arrows noticing it.

As for the last 2 week everything near my place has been covered in snow, I ended up taking a picture of the figures inside and a separate one of a bush for the background forest, and later putting the two together.

Daeron Vardamir (Renzo Caimotto)

    

I represented the dialogue between Aragorn to Dead Men of Dunharrow at the Stone of Erech with Aragorn, Halbarad (with the banner of Aragorn) Legolas and Gimli make with acorns and the Oathbreakers make with the infructescences of vitalba to represented they like a ‘fog’ but with some other things like spears, shields and banners.

Fírimar (Galendae)

Scene chosen from The Hobbit (Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire): The Lord of the Eagles speaking with Gandalf and Bilbo on a wide shelf of rock after the eagles rescued Thorin’s Company from the goblins.

Hîrvenn (Dominik Kiss)

In this scene, the Company of the Ring can be seen, as they are led through the forests of Lórien by Haldír. The yellow, autumnish leaves on the ground stand in as the golden mallorn trees of Lórien. At the rear is Legolas, symbolized by a tall branch, due to his tall, agile elvish sature. The green leaf symbolizes his heritage of Mirkwood. Next, the two smaller, sturdier branches are Boromir and Aragorn in this order, due to their valiance and steadfastness. As can be seen though, the bottom half of Boromir’s branch is already a bit tinner and browner than the rest of the branch, this symbolizes how his resolve and determination is constantly being challenged by the temptation of The Ring, and foreshadows, how in the end, his willpower wanes, causing his demise. The four small pebbles are the hobbits (Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin). At first they might not be noticed, as they are of the smallest and humblest race, yet, like how a pebble being thrown into water can cause great ripples and change the state of the water, these four hobbits will also cause great change in the world, by destroying the Ring and liberating the Free People of Middle-Earth from the shadows of Sauron. And well, I messed up here(which I only realized at home), because the tallest branch(due to his wisdom and age) with the whitened/greyed out leaf was supposed to stand in for Mithrandir the Maia(also known as Gandalf the Grey), but since at this point of the story he is departed from the Company, just pretend he is not on the pictures, sorry… After the definitely not present Gandalf is Gimli, son of Glóin. He is a bigger rock, due to his sturdiness and the natural dwarven resilience of his. And at the front of the group is Haldír himself (with a tall branch for the same reason as Legolas), but marked with a golden leaf, due to his Lórien heritage.

Mirach (Eva Zahradníková)

A scene from the Hobbit: “That is how it came about that some two hours after his escape from the Gate, Bilbo was sitting beside a warm fire in front of a large tent, and there sat too, gazing curiously at him, both the Elvenking and Bard.” The Arkenstone is represented by a bit of ice.

OMA - Orc Magic Apprentices

We chose the scene when Merry and Pippin meet Treebeard in Fangorn Forest. We can see Merry and Pippin already sitting on Treebeard as well as a small squirrel (Hobbit, Ent, Animal).

SWG Beleriand

The photo depicts the conversation between Legolas, Gimli, Merry and Pippin in the garden of the Healing Halls of Gondor, after the Battle of the Pelennor Fields (Return of the King, chapter 9, The Last Debate) To represent Gimli, a rock was chosen, symbolizing the Dwarves' connection to mountains and gems. For the Hobbits I chose edible chestnuts, as Hobbits love food, a smaller, more wrinkled one for Merry who is still recovering from the Black Breath, the larger one for Pippin. Legolas is represented by a stick with leaves, signifying both his name (Greenleaf) as well as the Woodelves' connection to nature.

SWG Numenor

    

Oldman Willow, Tom Bombadil, and Goldberry on a summer scenario. In the first picture, I had forgotten to add Tom’s feather, but it is much better (the plants started to dry because of the hot weather in my country). Here are both.

VelikijSusl (Alexandra Chukharkina)

The scene shows conversation between Sam and Gandalf before the entrance to Moria, where pony Bill has to be released. Bill is already turned towards home way and Sam is hugging him goodbye. Gandalf is staying next to them, sad, but determined.

Zagar, Cû, agh Bark

    

We recreated the Unexpected Party from The Hobbit. On the pictures you can see Bilbo, Gandalf, and the thirteen Dwarves sitting around the table in Bag End (note the round windows). The table is made of sticks, and covered with a tablecloth made of ginkgo leaves painted white. The Dwarves are made of stones, with chestnuts as heads, and various pieces of plants used as beards. While in the book they leave their hooded cloaks in the hall, we chose to make them wear them around the table, as the different coloured hoods are their primary identification (along with different coloured beards, for some of them). The hoods are also made from dyed ginkgo leaves (except the yellow ones, which is their natural autumn colour). Bilbo is made from a pinecone, with a chestnut head, and no beard or hood. Gandalf is made of a glass bottle we found and painted. This choice of an unnatural object found in nature symbolizes that he is from outside of Middle-Earth. We did not draw faces on any of the characters to keep them a bit more abstract.

A selection of these photos is also published on the final inner colour page of the January 2024 issue of the Lassi Laurië.