Mîm: 30-Day Character Study - Artwork by Artano

Fanwork Information

Summary:

Artwork created for prompts for the 30-Day Character Study Challenge.

Major Characters: Mîm

Major Relationships:

Genre: General

Type: Drawble/Finished Sketch, Drawing/Painting, Landscape, Word Art

Challenges: 30-Day Character Study, Jubilee

Rating: General

Warnings:

Posted on 2 January 2025 Updated on 2 January 2025

Day 10: What's in a Name?

The prompt for this day encourages one to research the meaning of one's chosen character's name and reflect on the implications of the meaning.  Since "Mîm" has no known definition as far as I am aware, I chose to respond to this prompt by drawing his name, with several references to events and places that occurred throughout his life.

Drawing featuring Mîm's name in stylized Anglo-saxon runes set against Tarn Aeluin as a background

Chapter End Notes

This drawing features Mîm's name in Anglo-saxon runes, as Tolkien used in The Hobbit.  From left to right, the tiger lily is a reference to "The Complaint of Mîm the Dwarf", where it says:

"If only I could forgive, I might still catch the shape of one leaf at least, of one flower with dew on it as it shone in the spring by Tarn Aeluin when I was young, and the skill first ran down into my fingers."

The knife is also a nod to this writing, which features it prominently, as is the background, which shows Tarn Aeluin.  Finally, the red flowers represent seregon, the flower found at the top of Amon Rûdh, his home when Túrin discovered him.

 

Comments

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This is lovely! I find it almost unbearably sad that Mim was such a tender person and that other people's misperception and/or utter disregard of him and his race and their feelings or even rightful claims they may have had, turned him into the mean and bitter person he became.