The Nine Have Returned!

Return of the Nazgûl

So after a looooong hiatus from painting, due to...well...life. I have gotten some inspiration and time to do some more work on my project. I didn't want to tax myself too much, and I wanted to finish a big chunk of models, so I settled on finishing the remaining 5 Nazgûl I had waiting on me. I'll get to painting in a bit, but first, a little bit about the history of the Nine.

The Nazgûl, or Ringwraiths (Sindarin: Uliari) were originally nine Kings of Men who were given rings of power by Sauron the Deceiver. They greedily took them (because men are like that) and were immediately enslaved to Sauron's will, as in crafting the nine rings he had secretly slaved them to the will of the One Ring. Essentially what happened was their souls were cursed to never die and eternally serve their master. You can read more about their goings on prior to the Lord of the Rings here.

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

I decided to use the same approach to the remaining 5 'wraiths I used with their 4 brethren I painted last fall. That is, 3 heavy coats of black wash, followed by a drybrush of codex grey. This time I went heavier on the codex grey drybrush, which I thought looked better (I actually went back and touched up the older guys too). I also painted another mounted Ringwraith and this time spent more time on the mount, which I think turned out really well. Unfortunately I couldn't find the other sculpts I needed for the 'wraiths so I have a few duplicates, but I would rather have them all painted and ready than have to wait for months for them to show up on eBay. In the future I plan to get all the named versions that GW has made just to have variety. I'll shut-up now and show you pictures, then give a more detailed color breakdown after.

Primer: Gray

Cloaks: 3 HEAVY coats of Nuln Oil wash, drybrush codex grey.

Metal Bits: Tin Bitz base, Boltgun metal drybrush.

Leather bits: Bestial Brown base, Balor Brown (snakebite leather) highlight.

Horse: Scorched Brown base, Doombull Brown (dark flesh) highlight.


Now here are some more pictures of the Nine in all their glory, as well as a shot of my three mounted fellows.

What to look forward to?

Well as I've officially started another stint of painting madness (probably followed by another few months of nothing...I jest, I jest) I am going to try to keep the flame burning, I just finished a wild few weeks of work, and various other life issues, so I should have time to paint (fingers crossed). I just primed the following models listed in my last post:

I also decided to go ahead and add the Amon-Hen versions of Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Boromir (dying Boromir actually) as they use virtually the same palate so I can save time by knocking them out now. I will actually be painting 3 Aragorns at once, so that will be....interesting. I almost decided to do the Heroes of the West versions as well, but I want to save those as I will have hopefully improved, or come up with better inspiration for them by the time I get to the RotK book (should be about the time I retire).

I am going to start with Gandalf, then the 3 Hunters and Boromir, followed by the alternate Hobbits I will be doing, then Arwen and Glorfindel. In between I may decide to paint some basic foot troops that I have already primed, some Warriors of Minas Tirith, Men of Rohan, and maybe some Moria Goblins.

Nerdy Postlude

I've been reading lots of Tolkien lately, most recently the Book of Lost Tales 1. And I gotta say, I think all the pre-history stuff is so much better than Lord of the Rings. I mean I think the Lord of the Rings is a masterpiece, but the epic feeling of age and power you get when reading about Turin slaying Glaurung, or about Fingolfin fighting THE FUCKING DEVIL hand-to-hand, is downright incredible. My current list of favorite characters is as follows:

- Galadriel: Most people don't realize how incredibly awesome she is. I wish Peter Jackson had included a scene of here tearing down Dol Guldur in the LOTR movies, because yes, she tore down a goddamn mountain by herself. Not to mention when Fëanor wanted to use the light of her hair to make the Silmarils, she told him to fuck off! Oh yeah, Fëanor then went on to basically cause the first world war of Arda because of some treasure, so he wasn't exactly someone you said no to. And another thing, Galadriel was on the earth before the fucking Sun and Moon were in the sky! How about that for some age and power!

- Turin Turambar: Ah the Master of Fate, Slayer of Glaurung. The ultimate tragedy. Basically a guy with super shitty luck, but a lot of badassery, and a really strong sword arm. You need to read the Children of Hurin to really understand why Turin is so awesome.

- Glorfindel: Most people who have read Fellowship of the Ring, know Glorfindel as the elf-lord who rescued Frodo in the Wild after being stabbed by the Witch King, and who sped him to safety in Rivendell, being one of the few who could ride openly against the Nine. That in itself is super badass, and its a shame that he was replaced in the movies by "whiny Arwen" (hereafter named). But what most don't know is that Glorfindel is actually so badass he is reincarnated! Thats right, he already died once. Originally he was Chief of the House of the Golden Flower, one of the noble houses of the Hidden City of Gondolin in the First Age. When Morgoth Bauglir decided to wipe Gondolin off the face of the earth with an army of Dragons, Balrogs and Orcs, it was guys like Glorfindel who simply shrugged, suited up, and started taking as many of the bastards with them as they could. Unfortunately things went south and Tuor (Elrond's granddaddy) fled with his son, Eärendil, and wife, Idril (daughter of King Turgon) through a mountain pass to safety. Well Glorfindel vowed to help them escape. Even more unfortunately they were pursued by a Balrog and ambushed in a pass. Glorfindel decided to stop running and after a running battle, managed to cast the Balrog from the mountain, being pulled to his death in the process. However his sacrifice let the other refugee's flee to safety, wherein Eärendil later helped bring about the fall of Morgoth. So yeah....Glorfindel rocks.

I am done for now, look for my next post in a week or two.

"Aure entuluva!"