Middle Earth Ranger Forum

It's not often I've seen the Snapsack depicted in Middle earth art outside of this forum, so I thought I'd share it here

https://www.deviantart.com/aegeri/art/T ... -878658605

and it struck me how similar this gear carry method is to what I had at the weekend (viewtopic.php?p=49957#p49957), the only difference being the painting shows the straps over alternate shoulders instead of the same side

Very cool!
The resemblance is uncanny.

It's interesting watching artists and reenactors/LARPers/cosplayers sort of mutually inspire each other over time.

A couple years ago I went down a research rabbit trail, looking at mass-market fantasy art on the one hand, and the evolution of real outdoor stuff on the other.

My very favorite insight of that was seeing how much the adventurer's packs of 1980's dungeons and dragons art looked like leather versions of the boy scout packs of the 1950's and '60s.
Obviously there's some differences - but "great big square box with rectangular side gussets" was the American standard for ages.


Even in fantasy, we populate the mundane part of the world with what we know.

Hah! How cool! I agree, Elleth, it’s always fascinating to see art imitating life, imitating art, imitating... etc.

It's always nice when artists do their research and give a nod to real-world practicality and experience!