Silmarillion Sigil Set 44

[heget]

Disclaimer: Here is a blend of Original Tolkien creations (aka my best efforts at recreating the author’s drawing), modifications on the original, and designs completely from cloth. Previous Entries can be found under the sigil tag. Please credit if use.

In order:

Andreth, Edhellos, Rían 

Notes:

Yes, I'm reposting these once more. Because if people in the Silmarillion/Tolkien fandom continue to use them, I want nice official links to them. And so another crosspost from tumblr project is born.

Three of my favorite ladies from Dorthonion, where I work off the theme of flowers and coordinating with the sigils for the House of Bëor and the sons of Finarfin. All are mentioned in Tolkien’s work, though only Rían appears by name in the published Silmarillion.

• Andreth, a Wise-woman of Dorthonion, sister of Lord Bregor and thus great-aunt to Beren, Belegund, and Baragund, beloved of Aegnor and friend of Finrod Felagund, one half of the philosophical debate about mortality and triumph of good over evil in Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth. The first Edain/Elf love story and one which remains unrequited, with discussion of flames and moths and burning of therefore. I purposefully avoided all moth and flame motifs as the obvious cliche, and went with floral symbolism. The long-lived wisteria is a symbol of longevity, of love lost but also perseverance over time, of somber contemplation, of unrequited love (Fuji Musume). Aside from the pale purples of the wisteria blossoms, the greens, golds, and whites are the same as from both Aegnor’s sigil and the Bëor. I especially wanted white as that was the color worn by Edain wise-women, preservers of tribal history. As one of my favorite characters and half of an OTP, Andreth deserved her own sigil. And once I remembered that Edain heraldry needed only vertical symmetry, fitting the wisteria motif was far less painful.
• Edhellos - or in Quenya Eldalotë - is one of those usually unnamed wives of elven characters that have almost nothing written about them, only in this case Tolkien did provide a name. Edhellos is the wife of Angrod, and thus in versions where Orodreth is Angrod’s son instead of older brother she would be the mother of the last King of Nargothrond. Though we have no characterization for her, we assume she was Noldor and married Angrod long before the Darkening, and it is telling that her name has a Sindarin version, which implies she followed her husband to Beleriand and lived with him in Dorthonion. I like to include her in stories about the Bëorians and their elven lords, and she’s another quiet and obscure favorite for me to write. Her name means ‘Elf-flower’, which gave me the clearest permission to make a floral device. For a while now I’ve wanted to make a device with irises (as something more than fleur-de-lis), and as they are among other things a symbol of martial valor, it works for an elf living close to the Enemy and willing to bring the fight to him. The sigil itself hearkens back to the clean geometric shapes of Angrod with the heavy black outlines.
• For kaywinnet​, I made a sigil using forget-me-not flowers of another Edain woman and one that is also one of my favorites going back to my first read-through of The Silmarillion. Rían, the daughter of Belegund and mother of Tuor, she who loved flowers and to make songs and gave her son into the keeping of Annael before she went to the Hill of the Slain in search of her husband Hour and died of grief. Tragic and true love, we both agreed the delicate and small wildflower of the appropriately named forget-me-not was perfect for Rían - plus the color and shape mimicked the Bëor sigil. The frame is the same shape as the sigils for her cousin Morwen.