Many Mithril Pages @ Faerylands

Very interesting comment and annotation Master Arthadan.... there is a lot of truth in it.... but perhaps Chris Tubb likes horses that have bridles... Only one horse without bridle is MS460 Eorl and Felarof....

the creativity of the artist.... If you consider the vignette "passing of elessar" with a stone carving of Elessar king,  this stone carving does not exist either in the books. Elessar dying scene is well documented.
but Chris' answer was that sometimes, for sculpting purpose the sculptor has to derive from the original... for the beauty of the final result... Indeed in the case of Glorfindel horse that is not "justified"... but once a reference is made, the continuity for further release of the same character has to be respected throughout all the range... (some exception like Radagast do indeed apply...)

I don't see a single derived product of Tolkien that can do 100% justice to all the books universe. Unlike Star Wars which is Primarily a visual creation , Tolkien did not "design" and put everything into images so all designers, sculpters and painters have their own way to render the universe... and this is admitted

Nobody's perfect

Arthadan wrote:

Here we differ, Master Elf. Something branded as official should be faithful to the books and the creativity of the artists should be restricted to the many grey areas we have in Tolkien descriptions when it comes to clothing and equipment. In the Mithril introduction they say so ("It has been our intention to faithfully recreate the characters from these works"), but in my opinion they have relied more on secondary sources (such Angus McBride illustrations for ICE) than in serious research of the books. And continuing to give us a flawed interpretation of a character once they know it's wrong only because they did it once... well, as we say here "everybody makes mistakes but only the wise amend them."

I know what you mean Master Arthadan, and I agree with your approach to priorities in making derivative products (of whatever sort) of the books. For the Mithril range however, it is as it is with other priorities than those you explain above. IMO it is moot to blame the company or the artist for their views as they are the ones to decide what is done and how it is done. And beside any differences in interpretation, the craftsmanship skills of Chris are beyond any criticism IMHO. The easiest way to avoid issues with your vision is not to purchase anything you deem not fitting. In addition, looking to other companies is worthwhile since for some topics they might (IMHO they do indeed) offer better solutions for an approach orientated closer to the books.
Personally, I greatly enjoy to look at different companies and take from them what I deem appropriate and mix them with other companies' products to get the best end result. I don't care what is printed on labels or packaging boxes. I evaluate the content and then decide what this mini could best represent. Here the label is a first help or guide but in no way mandatory. And this is what you should then print or write on your dioramas or minis without caring what the issuing company names it
For example, personally I deem some minis from GW much better suited to Tolkien's descriptions than the Mithril ones, so I use them for this purpose and either don't buy the Mithril version or re-label it as something else.

Cheers
Tolwen

i am in the same case as you are arthadan as I discoevered mithril at the same time I first Began reading the LOTR..

anyway when I read 'our intention is to be as faithfull as possible...' I do not read "we ARE strictly faithfull... it would have been hard since they had a partnership with ICE at first and the range was made for MERP before anything else... it gives a "style" then you are free to like and enjoy the style... or not indeed

In my case I decided I really did like the "style" even if sometimes inaccurate.. the same way I prefer Nasmith work and don't like a lot of John Howe work... personnal preference... no matter the accuracy

You're forgetting the oldest, Heritage:

Big scale (54mm?)

25 mm

Last edited by Arthadan (Sun, Nov4 2012 11:03pm)

You're welcome, Master Mornedhel!