Defenders of Helm's Deep- Legolas

"[...Y]ou comfort me, Gimli, and I am glad to have you standing nigh with your stout legs and your hard axe."

Legolas, Helm's Deep

If I had to choose a single race in LotR to be my favorite, I'd have to choose the Elves. They're such a folk of contrasts- mixing beauty and childlike joy with an extreme melancholia and sensitivity. I read a good deal of Celtic literature, and Tolkien captured my vision of the Sidhe so well and yet made it his own; fitting perfectly with his professed desire to create "a mythology for England".

Legolas, along with his comrade Gimli serve the Fellowship (in particular Aragorn) as a sort of solid base. No matter what befalls the rest of the company, the Elf and Dwarf are there to aid. This makes perfect sense in Tolkien's greater cosmology as well- Hobbits, Men and even Wizards are the center of the Third Age, and it is theirs to sort out. The Elves and Dwarves have already made their peace with Middle-Earth, and have begun already to forsake it.

Now on to the figure! Yet again, it's from Games Workshop's Defender's of Helm's Deep pack. As with Aragorn, I've sought to portray a transitioning Legolas. He's got his traveling gear and clothes on, but has supplemented it with armor and a short sword from Theoden's armory.

The quiver is directly based on an Alan Lee painting, and I'm very happy with both that and the hair. The cloak is actually the same highlight color as the stone, simply with more blue tones underneath it. The similarity evokes the camouflaging cloaks of Lorien well.

The face has no washes on it, except for a light coat around the eyes. I'm trying to balance definition as opposed to the Elf''s fair skin, and I',m not quite sure I've succeeded. I'll go back and tinker with it later once I've given myself some time to approach it with more critical eyes.

Defenders of Helm's Deep- Aragorn

"Come!' said Aragorn. 'This is the hour when we draw swords together."

 Every time I reread LotR (ten times now!), it astounds me how much depth Tolkien packed into his characterizations (an excellent example is Merry and Pippin's growth throughout the books). There are also moments where more central characters fade into the background, like Aragorn's role at the battle of Helm's Deep. For the most part, he's very careful to avoid the center stage- always deferring to Theoden or Eomer. At the same time, this is the first we see of Aragorn in his element as king. It is the hour Anduril is first drawn and declared openly, that he claims his birthright as the bearer of Narsil reforged (and at extension the heir to Gondor's throne); and takes up the mantle of leader of men. Most telling is his talk with Saruman's army right before dawn, which culminated in this revelation of his power-

"So great a power and royalty was revealed in Aragorn, as he stood there alone [....] that many of the wild men paused[.]"

To cause this victorious, heckling army to reconsider its attack is remarkable. Again, it's the first time Aragorn reveals himself as something other than Strider to a large amount of people, and the result is telling of future encounters.

That look of emerging power is one I tried to capture in miniature. As with my previous Aragorn, I didn't paint the beard sculpted on the figure.This is per the books, and Tolkien's express statement (in Letters) that the Dunedain do not grow facial hair as part of their Elven heritage. I'm not quite sure how I like it on the sculpt, sometimes it looks good and weather-beaten (as he is 87 during the War of the Ring), at others too Neanderthal.

I like the outfit worn by this sculpt, it shows the transition between Ranger and King well. He's still clad in the rusty greens and browns from the Fellowship, but layered with greaves and mail from Theoden's armory. I wanted the clothes under the armor to look very weathered, and dropping the base colors to a darker tone did the trick. This would also work well as a Pelennor Fields Aragorn, and I look forward to playing the Dunedain (featured in my second post!) lead by him.

The finished miniatures has a certain Leatherstocking feeling to it, especially with the knife and boots- this suits Aragorn well to me. Also, as seen in the above picture, he wears the ring of Barahir, the sole remaining legacy of Beren One-Hand!

Anduril goes to war! The Blade that was Broken shines again!

Defenders of Helm's Deep- Eowyn

"Too often have I heard of duty,' she cried. 'But am I not of the house of Eorl, a shieldmaiden and not a drynurse?"

Eowyn, The Return of the King

I'd imagine it'll come as a shock to my more constant readers, but I'm very much a purist when it comes to LotR. Due to this, I'll preface this post with a disclaimer-

Eowyn was not at Helm's Deep! She had already departed for Dunharrow. Not even in the Jackson films did she fight in the battle, she stayed with the refugees in the caves. 

Now, I must admit, I can understand completely why GW added Eowyn to the Helm's Deep pack- it makes for an awesome miniature, and means they didn't have to wait for RotK to make one.

And this miniature was a joy to paint. The dress, in particular made for a pleasant experience. I'm very pleased with the results. The sleeves seemed to need some detailing, and folds on both of them made for excellent decorations.

Aside from the sleeves, there's not a lot of detailing. The simpler (and, for me brighter) colors make her stand out from my hordes of earth-toned rangers and orcs.

It can be difficult to tell, but I've also been messing with my skin tones. Thus far, all of the Helm's Deep set have featured subtly different skin- Gamling received heavy washes (even a careful red wash around the eyes) over a darker than normal base, Theoden got my typical colors and the upcoming Aragorn has a paler face, halfway between Theoden and the fair-skinned Eowyn.

Defenders of Helm's Deep- Theoden

"The end will not be long,' said the king. 'But I will not end here, taken like an old badger in a trap.... When dawn comes, I will bid men sound Helm's horn, and I will ride forth."

Theoden, Son of Thengel, King of Rohan! Saved by Gandalf from the poison of Wormtongue to lead his people in the War of the Ring, he perished aiding his allies on the Pelennor Fields. As with my recent Gamling, this figure is from Games Workshop's excellent Defenders of Helm's Deep pack.

I was already on a roll painting Rohirrim armor, and the practice gained from Gamling stood me in good stead painting his liege. I like the darker, engraved look of the armor from the film, but not the full brown color on the breastplate. As before, dark washes were used to achieve a similar but still metallic effect.

I also added a fair amount of enamel inlay in and around the armor's brasswork. This is most notable on the shoulder, which I felt needed more detailing than the plain metal. Gloss varnish was applied over the inlay, which accounts for the sheen in the photograph.

I'm also very pleased with the pale hair. I had originally intended to paint it a tone closer to Bernard Hill's hair from the films, but the dirty white better befits the aged Theoden.

Forth Eorlingas!

Defender's of Helm's Deep- Gamling the Old

"If they come bargaining for our goods at Helm's Gate, they shall pay a high price[.]"

-Gamling, The Two Towers

 Since I was a child I've been fascinated with castles and sieges. It should come as no surprise that the battle at Helm's Deep has always been one of my favorite moments in The Lord of the Rings. It has such wonderful moments- Aragorn's talk with the Uruk-Hai, Legolas and Gimli's friendly rivalry, and the incredible (and unexpected!) explosion of the Deeping Wall. For a while now I've eyed the GW Heroes of Helm's Deep set on shelves, and I finally treated myself to it a couple weeks back.

The first finished model from the set is Gamling, a more obscure character featured both in the book and in the Jackson films. He's described as an old man (who notably knows Dunlending), chief of the watchers on Helm's Dyke. Bob Foster's Guide to Middle-Earth postulates him as Erkenbrand's lieutenant, and that fits from his role as head of the Westfold garrison.

I chose him for a painting contest at my local comic/games store; specifically for the variety of detail on the sculpt. I'm very pleased with how he turned out, especially with the darker tones on the armor and face. The paints on the armor are the same as on lighter toned armor like my Elrond, but the color as been vastly changed by dark brown washes and even some bronze drybrushing.

Originally, I was going to paint an elaborate knotwork pattern (similar to that seen in the film) on his cloak. A triangular design inspired by the Viking digs in York caught my eye, and I decided to use that as a prototype instead. I also used a darker color than usual as a base for the hair, and it made the strands really stand out.

Helm! Helm goes to war!