Ted Nasmith's Balrog Painting

[Beregond]

Is it not the best LOTR painting ever? Find it in the gallery section. Does anyone else like it? I think it portrays the Balrog perfectly.

[Falmon]

I'm not particularly fond of it myself. It is an exciting painting, well-done to be sure, but I'm not particularly fond of it. It is hard I think to really meet anyone's imagination of the Balrog of Mória.

I try to match the "picture" in my head to the description of the book as much as possible. The Balrog changes in the narrative, and he is not a spirit who needs a constant bodily form, so it must be hard to "accurately" illustrate him. At first he is a dark form, "of man shape maybe, yet greater" in the midst of a great darkness. Then as he jumps over the chasm, the darkness or "shadow" remains, but he becomes a creature of fire, with a fiery mane. His sword and whip are also of fire. Then when Gandalf confonts him and tells him "the Dark Fire will not avail you", the "fire in it seemed to die", but the darkness grew. The "shadow" or eminating darkness grew into the shape of two vast wings. So there are a few different changes the terrible spirit goes through, but in my opinion, none of them are really represented in Nasmith's painting. I don't like the medieval idea of the horns.


But art is art and if you nit-pick over "inaccuracies" as I am doing, you are looking at it for something it is not trying to be.

[PrinceImrahil]

I agree that it is hard to picture the Balrog but OMG I LOVE THIS PAINTING!!!
If you all want to buy a good book go buy Tolkien's World. Its a really good art books filled with great paintings inluding this one.