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The King's Councelor

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Study for a painting 

"Thus Ar-Pharazon, King of the Land of the Star, grew to the mightiest tyrant that had yet been in the world since the reign of Morgoth, though in truth Sauron ruled all from behind the throne. But the years passed, and the King felt the shadow of death approach as his days lengthened; and he was filled with fear and wrath. Now came the hour that Sauron had prepared and long had awaited. And Sauron spoke to the King, saying that his strength was now so great that he might think to have his will in all things, and be subject to no command or ban."

--The Silmarillion

I always envisioned the above passage as a specific scene: we see the king in his gymnasium, badly winded after a (loosing) sparring match; he angrily dismisses his trainer and attendants and sits alone, feeling the weight of his age and the creeping loss of his strength, a wound to his great pride. enter Sauron, like a shark smelling blood in the water, ready to make his long-prepared sales pitch. It seemed fitting for Ar Pharazon (who I've always imagined as this great physical presence, like Henry VIII in his prime, and quite vain) to be frustrated and resentful at the loss of his prowess as a fighter and athlete, and fear it as the first sign of his own impending death.

Sauron fell into place easily, though it was hard to resist the impulse to armor up his clothing or to rely too heavily on the John Howeian aesthetic of straight, upward pointing spikes. The Akallabeth presents Sauron at his most formidable, orchestrating the destruction of Numenor and a sort of fall from grace for mankind, and doing it all without vast armies, just by power of persuasion, so armoring him felt wrong. this is his turn as the Priest of Morgoth. His dark robes and head piece have a little bit of everything in them, Arabic, Turkish, Cambodian, ancient Egyptian, African, medieval gothic, and just bit of HR Giger. I like the idea of him having this bone-white face, beautiful and unfathomable, like a living ancient greek statue.

Ar-Pharazon's pose took some doing to finally get right; tensed and angry, but also sagging and impotent in his anger. I wanted him to feel like an aged boxer, right at the tipping point when a man's strength begins to fail him (contrasted by sauron's consummate agelessness)

Another piece for the weekly tolkien sketchblog

See also:

Ar-Pharazon turnermohan.deviantart.com/art…
Sauron (1st age) turnermohan.deviantart.com/art…
Numenorean Queen turnermohan.deviantart.com/art…
Image size
2550x3385px 2.74 MB
Make
Canon
Model
Canon MX890 series Network
© 2013 - 2024 TurnerMohan
Comments63
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Anerea's avatar

Wow. Marvellous, this says so much, even before reading your headcanon. Thank you.