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TurnerMohan — Azaghal
#azaghal #dwarves #silmarillion #tolkiensilmarillion
Published: 2015-07-02 15:54:04 +0000 UTC; Views: 20626; Favourites: 325; Downloads: 162
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Description
Azaghal charges through the firestorm to do battle with the great worm Glaurung in the closing hours of the Ninaerth Aronediad, a scene I'd love to render one day in bright oranges (another check on the long to-do list). It's impossible as a dwarf enthusiast not to be taken with the great lord of Belegost in the elder days, a renowned warrior of his people from a heroic age when dwarves would face dragons head on in the open field instead of merely hiding from them.Having gifted his great helm to Maedhros (from whence it finds it's way to the house of Hador) it seemed to me that Azaghal needed a new helmet. The dwarven artisans at this time (like their warriors) are at the height of their skill and confidence, and not inclined to look backward or simply make another copy of the dragon-helm. I figured he would take to the field at the Ninaerth Arnoediad in a new helm even more bold-face and aggressive than the dragon-helm had been; his war mask a roaring fury in etched steel and polished gold, crowned with a high, bristling crest and proudly displaying the real teeth, claws and horns of dragons killed in the mountains, taking the "f*** you" to the brood of glaurung that his earlier helm with it's mocking golden crest had represented and amping it up a few steps (millennia later Fram the northman presents the teeth of the felled worm Scatha to the dwarves in lieu of their treasure, claiming "Jewels such as these you will not match in your treasuries, for they are hard to come by." The dwarves of that time take it as an insult, but I think a great hero like Azaghal would have appreciated the truth of Fram's words, and the value of such ornaments)
My friend Artigas and I have been doing a lot of cross-pollination on the armament of the dwarves of Beleriand this last year (if you're not already familiar with his gallery it's a must for dwarf-fans) this design surely owes a lot to his own take on the Dragon Helm of dor-lomin . the dwarves, especially of Azaghal's ancient time, are warriors of that wooly primeval variety; proud and fearsome, and it seems fitting to make them more extravagant in their armor than they later became. there's really nothing un-formidable about the so called "stunted people" despite their short stature; at probably around two hundred pounds at four and a half feet, strong as an ox, armored like a tank and skilled from centuries of fighting, I wouldn't think there's any man, even of Beor or Hador's people, who would want to tussle with this guy.
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Comments: 27
Amazing design. 
Bearing in mind that Tolkien intended Middle Earth's armour technology to be strictly maille armour based for the most part, do you think the Dwarves would be an exception?
I've always pictured the later Númenorians, Gondorians, Wainriders, Haradrim and the men of Dale using both maille AND Lemmelar amongst their Elite.
I've also thought about how the Dwarves could have been the early pioneers of plate armour that is almost at a 15th century level of advancement by the time of the Third Age but Lemmelar is also heavily utilised like your other Dwarvern designs.
I remember reading something about certain Orcs being armoured in steel plate before certain Elves even used steel? Not sure about that one but I read it in the Tolkien illustrated encyclopaedia.
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Dude it's so freaking awesome! You made it both highly detailed, fancy looking like iron man helmet and still dwarvish and authentic, you didn't overdo it with fancy shapes, the design is freaking perfect! I love it! Also it's a great prototype of Turin's helmet. I don't find horns very suitable for dwarven folk, i see it more as a barbarian cliche, but in this case it looks awesome! With my obsession of creating one perfect vision of middle earth cultures' visual appearance i'm Just jealous about this concept so badly! Great work!
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If you want to see the wounding of Glaurung, go to the gallery of Artigas, their is an image there that I believe does the moment justice.
BTW the way you drew his head looks a tad to large for his body.
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Apparently you already know about Artigas. Huh.
#foot -in-digital-mouth
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Yeah, we've met (in person actually
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I'm just sitting here, with my blacksmith friend. We both have jaws droped on the ground. We spent whole day in workshop and now we want to throw away all our work and do this. Amazing work..
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Ha ha, that's about as good a compliment as i could hope to receive! I'm glad you both like it. I've spent a lot of time around medieval armor manufacture (i used to work for a renn fare armor maker) so I try with my armor designs to ensure that they'd be functional, not just cool looking drawings. Does your blacksmith have a website/ portfolio online? I wouldn't mind having a look at their stuff; I'd love to eventually see this piece made as a real, wearable helmet in steel and gold (or brass) if i could find the right artisan to do it.
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It's always good when armor is functional. You can immediately tell the difference between just cool looking concept and idea that can actually really work. My friend (blacksmith) had portfolio here, on DA, but haven't updated it for long time so it'll be better if you look at his fb page: www.facebook.com/pages/Thoradi… I make lots of concept arts for him and you can see some of there. I hope i'll upload load of my latest concepts here soon, because i spent almost two weeks drawing helmets so i have lots to show 
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Amazing helmet design! It looks so exotic and fits very well with dwarven culture.
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A splendidly formidable figure Master Mohan! (I must say also that I heartily agree with your thoughts regarding the unwisdom of taking the dangers posed by Dwarves lightly - as Professor Tolkien himself makes explicit, "Worth is not measured in inches").
Quite frankly I may have under-sold my appreciation of this work of art; that helm cries Defiance more loudly than any war-cry (to the point where one begins to wonder if this great dwarf-king even bothered to spend his breath on anything but more hacking and hewing!).
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Incredible design ... very fitting for ancient dwarven king, I really like the mouth, metal protection of beard and overall expression of mask
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Glorious. There's nothing else that can describe it.
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This look is truly metal. I don't get into horned helms as much as I used to, but the overall image is M-E badass all the way. It's very much the Dwarven spirit of strength and tenacious battle-fury rendered in steel. It's very easy to imagine Azaghal here at the head of a swine-head formation of his household guard as they surge forwards through Morgoth's lesser dragon-kind and other beasties, making straight for the Golden Worm himself.
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horned helmets (of which i'm usually not a big fan) seem justifiable and favorable to me for atleast a few of the dwarven warriors of the elder days, back when they were this wooly "warlike people" of iron and copper, with this very ferocious outlook on life. as i mentioned in my notes on my earlier dwarven armor studies, i imagine the incorporating of horn/claws/teeth of dragons of glaurung's brood killed before the ninaerth (or, likely often enough, of sheep or cattle meant to represent those) would become a popular ornamentation to the hideous warmasks and armor of gabilgathol and tumunzahar (the proper khuzdul names of the dwarven cities have a way of setting their tone right i believe) you can probably spot many of my influences, which are varried - samurai helmets and warmasks, the sutton hoo helm, persian and mughal armors, ect - and which i think come together nicely and convincingly dwarvish. a thing i was also going for (in attempting to find, as i usually do with dwarves, some common lines between viking and semetic cultural influences (among scattered others)) was that this particular helmet of azaghal's with it's bristling crest and horns, gold ornamentation, and armored beard braids (which i can picture whipping around in battle) should evoke those babylonian llamasu with their implaccable, godly, horned (and always heavily and elaborately bearded) faces. it seemed a good influence for the dwarves. furthermore i expect that golden kartush above and eminating from the nosebar to be a common piece of dwarven heraldry, bigger and more elaborate in azaghal's case, displaying (in their block and abstract aesthetic) the devices of the broadbeams (or is it the firebeards?)
i imagine these harnesses (again, as i mentioned about my earlier 1st age dwarven armor studies) are basically fireproof, the metal worn over protective garments of primitive fireman's cloth and such developed for use in their forges (even the braids of azaghal's beard, under their metal plates, are probably wrapped tight in an asbestos cloth type material) so that these guys can really charge through dragonfire, perhaps even with things on the outside like their streaming crests expected to catch fire. my only complaint of my own work here is that i think that axe is a bit too small, short hafted, and not quite extravagent enough to match it's weilder. i ran out of paper on the left side otherwise i would have made it longer.
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The helm is sort of a tricked-out Sengoku Jidai-era kabuto done in the Sutton Hoo/Vendel fashion, so a certain amount of personalized awesomeness is present in the extravagance. The individualistic nature of ancient Dwarven war-gear seems to be a real match, much as the historical individual war-gear and flashy Frankish knock-offs of late Roman equipment of the Migration and Vendel periods gives way to the rather universal war-dress of the Bayeux Tapestry, which is mainly differentiated with the owner's paint scheme. Azaghal's army is different than the army of the Dwarf and Orc War in that respect. the latter-day Dwarves have been chased out of their holds too many times, and all their beautiful heirlooms and other blinged-out gear is held by dragons and Durin's Bane. (Judging by the description of Bilbo's mithril mail-shirt made for a prince you have been holding back some on the bling!
As an aside, a lady scholar at the British Museum said of the Sutton Hoo helm (presumably the replica made to showcase the original design) that when worn the size gives a feeling of personal power, protection and style. The advertisement of the natural-born leader is enhanced for the user and the observer, a subtlety lost on the modern student. She also said the mask visor acts as a resonator, amplifying and lowering the pitch of the wearer's voice. Apparently the East Anglian kings who wore it could project the samurai-style baritone gut-growl and be heard on both sides of the field!
I suppose there is some technical explanation for the Dwarves' fire resistance beyond their innate endurance, experience with heat, and the fact that they were wearing more armor per inch than even the Noldor princes and Edain leaders. I mostly put it down to the Firebeards braveiy toughing it out to show off, living up to their name (or earning it) in true old-style heroism. "Do ye call that hot, ye auld 'oorm?!? We made a muckle more heat in the furnace to forge this axe!!"
On the axe, I thought it was handy enough, and it still looked good as a secondary weapon. Most of the Norse fighting axes were of modest size in terms of haft and helve, since they had to be stowed under a rowing bench and do double service in chopping firewood and bolted doors too. The huge war axes of the 10th-12th centuries are impressive-looking, but of little utility except splitting heads on a battlefield or a breach in a wall. I suppose one could say that Azaghal has buried his war-axe to the entire width of the edge in a lesser drake's skull, but then before tugging it free he sees Glaurang through the smoke and flames, and he tugs out the close-in backup weapon from his belt.
"There's our real target, the golden worm himself! If he falls these troublesome beasts will leave and let us get things sorted out! Are you willing to face him with me?!!"
"AYE!!" from the re-forming line behind him.
"Baruk khazad!!"
"KHAZAD A-MEINU!!"
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Spectacular Turner! I love it! He is truly inspired and inspiring!!
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thank you my friend. As a beard guy, I'd hoped you'd get a kick out of this one
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Now that's a convincing version of the dwarven anti-dragon masks. B|
Also, I've always loved the dwarves-noldor relationship.
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thank you, the image of these dwarves wading through blasting orange walls of dragonfire like firemen while everyone else has to either run away or cook is tremendousely compelling to me, i may have to attempt it as a painting some day (famous last words i know, but the tremendous heat of the moment needs color to properly convey it, i think)
and yes i've always loved that the first age seems to have been this age of cooperation (to their mutual benefit) between the noldor and the dwarves, i guess that's what having this ultimate enemy and his forces a few days march away will do for people, but I always enjoyed azaghal's gesture in giving his own helm to maedhros in gratitude, and was curious to see what his artisans might come up with to replace it.
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Bring it on, my friend! 
And I agree about that part with Azaghal and Maedhros, it was one of my favourite surprises of the Unfinished Tales.
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This is quite good, Turner. So fierce, so wrathful, so powerful and imposing. It's a helmet you'll only don in war and war only, it's a fearsome piece only suited for the most brutal war. You seemingly mastered the geometrical design and this one is as good as Artiga's take on the dwarves equipment. The filigree and the engraved decoration is nice, denoting his status, while keeping the "I'm-a-fucking-badass" air to it. The axe is quite good as well, althought I wonder how would you depict his long knife/dagger. Also, how is the armor covering his chest? Mail and plate? Scales? Only mail/plate?
Truly nice, Turner. I'd always share your love towards Aüle's children!
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the combination of the armor being badass and at the same time a highly cultured work of art (as you mentioned about the engraving and fillegree, and as is the case with most historical armors) is something i really wanted to go for. the dwarves may consider themselves formidable in battle and be proud of it but they also consider themselves highly advanced and are equally proud of their skill in making things both beautiful and functional (really it seems like of all the free people of middle-earth, men are the only ones who would take any kind of pride in being "barbarians," and only because, as this infantile people so new into the world and having to stand alongside these far older and more sophisticated races, they basically have to) so you dont get them running into battle with exposed skin like conan; they're encased in maille and scale and combinations thereof from head to toe (and probably some pretty thick, and in these guys case, fireproof garments underneath) and would be pretty damn hard to hurt on the battlefield (this is one of the reasons i was not crazy about many of the "short sleeved" dwarven armors seen in the hobbit movies, it seems distinctly undwarvish)
i imagine azaghal here is wearing a plate/maille harness here, like you can see on his sleeves. maybe i'll have to do this armor as one of my full body, pen and ink costume plates.
as for the knife i imagine something long, thick-bladed and close to the ones artigas outfits his dwarven soldiers with, the kind of thing that looks like you could pretty well fuck up a dragon's underbelly with it.
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