Middle Earth Ranger Forum

So, I was browsing about on middleearthnews and read an interview with an artist, Turner Mohan. I was 80% on-board as he explained his approach to illustrating Middle-earth cultures, drawing inspiration from both real-world history and mythology. I clicked through his gallery and liked what I was seeing. His dwarves seem actually Dwarvish (unlike most of those in PJ's second trilogy, imho), and I love how all of his illustrations of the Eldar really seem to emphasize their above-average height.
But it was this picture that sold me:
From now on, this is my mental image of Second Age Numenoreans.
The 'karma' helmet is straight from Tolkien's illustration...and that bill fairly screams 'Trireme prow'. The leather chest armor doesn't look too 'fantastic', and the torso armor suggests boar's tusk helmets of Bronze Age Greece. The fringed skirt puts me in the mind of Egypt (with whom Tolkien associated the Numenoreans).
Basically, the whole ensemble looks like 'mythic pre-classical Mediterranean mother-culture'...which is to say, Numenor!
What do you all think? Are there any interpretations out there that you like better?

I REALLY like that! I have started steering towards Roman reenacting, and was thinking of ways to incorporate Roman kit into rangering. I have always felt that Tolkien was basing his ancient races and cultures on the real world, and this fits in with my thought better than P.J.'s images.

http://turnermohan.deviantart.com/art/H ... -454842466
There are a lot of Celtic, Germanic, and Roman influences here.

Thanks for this. What a great set of images. I agree- there's a sort of Minoan vibe to this that I love.

Turner is a friend of mine and a fellow Deviant Artist, He and I were talking about making some of the first Age Dwarven Helm designs which I think are fantastic (if a little confining) but hey, you don't need a lot of peek a boo space when you are looking into forges and dragonfire!
I have invited him to come check us out and I told him that he would have many admirers among our group beyond myself, I hope he does!

Thanks for the image Udwin. Been thinking about a light leather armor for my Ithilien Ranger impression and an adaptation of this seems like it might fit the bill. I've heard discussions either way as to whether they would have had it or if they had, how often they would have used it. The enemies of the Rangers certainly had it, whether they be Orc or Haradrim so even though Tolkien doesn't mention it, I believe there's a real good chance they had access to it.

That isn't leather armor. That is an early form of lamellar, the lames being laced together in strips against a leather or linen backing. It is an historical armor, Greek/Byzantine style. The Numenoreans drew from Greek and Egyptian as I recall, among other things. Going from that base image, scales, linothorax, and so on are all options since they all were coextant historically speaking.

But yeah, more or less, that would be a Second Age Numenorean soldier.

Eledhwen

I like the look of this Numenoreans, Especially the progression from early Minoan to renaissance Italic. I don't know, not quite what's in my mind's eye.

Not sure I could describe it though. My concept of the First Age Edain, is very germano-celtic barbarian (La-Tene meets Hengist?) who meet and are influenced by Kay Nieson-esque elves. I just don't get Egyptio-Minoan out of that mix. Also, I'm always intrigued by about Tolkien's flirting with industrialization at several points. I always imagine that would come through.

His armored dwarves are awesome they seem to be influenced by the best of the Games Workshop LOTR dwarves. With the exception of the horns I can totally go for this.

Excellent stuff.

The time elapsed from the Early Egyptian period referenced to the high middle-ages wouldn't be too far off from Time Elapsed from Early-to-mid 2nd age to Mid Third-age, so the technological and stylistic progression makes sense to me as well.

I'm with Caedmon...it's not what I pictured in my Mind's eye, but I like it, considering the sources. The helmet in particular, evokes somewhat of an Atlantean feel to it (doubly so since I just finished reading book 1 of Lawhead's Pendragon, which deals with the fall of Atlantis as predating and leading to the Arthurian legends) which is right in line with Numenor...very oceanic, without feeling "Crustacean-y." Too often when artists try to show seafaring or oceanic cultures, they wind up with oversized hermit crabs on their heads, and staves and swords of coral encrusted with gems and shells.

TACK-Y.

But this? Classy.

I LOVE HIS DWARVES. I'll note that a few of the helms have a PJ-feel to them, which isn't necessarily bad...I'd love to see what he'd do to interpret a Dwarven armored mask, though. Another PJ similarity I'm noticing is the armored upper sleeves, as seen in this one. Gimli had them, Thorin had more elaborate, almost coat-of-plates-ish upper sleeves...I'm sure there are others. That's one thing that's not really historical in the slightest (unless you compare it to an elbow-length gambeson under a jerkin, etc.) on the dwarves in the films that I consider pretty legitimate still, and very evocative of what a true dwarf would look like. I feel like the armored sleeves extending out from under the top layer could be considered an undocumented "Stylistic staple" of Armed Dwarf culture. I fully intend to work it into a Dwarven interpretation I've been tossing around in my head.

Since Tolkien himself drew the helmet image, and said he drew from the Greek and Egyptian cultures for the Numenoreans, the armor type doesn't surprise me, although I admit I did not expect the linothorax, really. More like breastplates or scale corselets and pteryges.

I think the Egyptian influence was more in their culture than gear. That is, their pre-Sauron social structure, their need to build huge monuments, their ''cult of the dead' so to speak. That sort of thing. The Egyptians were very socially cohesive despite the ups and downs of their dynasties...social cohesion meant everything to them..it is one of the reasons their culture lasted so long and despite invasions.

I think their gear was more Greek in influence, and Greek gear varied a lot since each city-state could and did exercise its own ideas on things. They were mariners, at least out of places like Corinth and Athens, and warriors like those out of Thespia and Sparta. The Numenorean nautiloid helm isn't far off some of the helms around at that time, generally made of bronze. The linothorax does make some sense...modern testing of reproductions has shown the stuff to behave much like kevlar. And for heavier armor, bronze breastplates and scales.

Their neighbors the Scythians and later, the Sarmatians, all used scale and lamellar armor.

Six of one, half dozen of the other.

I rather like this image of the Numenorean warrior. It doesn't hurt that I also like the Greek Hoplites and their armor, either. Ancient armors are a particular specialty of mine, from the crafting standpoint. Always have been.

Drat it all. As if I needed another project. *sigh* Linothorax, I have resisted building you for so long. Guess I'll have to do that now.

Eledhwen

I had to look it up.

Now you know why I am not making one anytime soon. LOL

Eledhwen

Sorry for the necropost, but I got my hands on a copy of Hammond and Scull's JRRT: Artist and Illustrator (interlibrary loan FTW!) and found a cool reference on the subject of the karma helmet and had to share:

"Some of his doodles, he decided, were not doodles but drawings of artefacts. Among the earliest of these was a Numenorean helmet or karma, dated March 1960. An inscription tells that it belonged to 'a captain of the Uinendili', and that its helm was 'made of overlapping enamelled plates of metal, the "fish crest" of leather embossed and colored'. (p189)

So there you go. If anyone was planning on a replica Numenorean helmet, those are your materials. I halfway wish I lived somewhere coastal, just so I could interpret a seafaring Second Age Man.

Cool. Completely practical, down-to-middle-earth materials, with a completely seafaring motif. Beats the heck out of trying to wear some sort of "coral armor" or other commonly named fantasy-materials that would fit the sailing culture.

I'm really glad you necro-posted, honestly, because I somehow missed this one the first time around. Turner Mohan is by far one of my favorite Tolkien artists around, and his DeviantArt account is a veritable treasure trove of beauty.