Angband Costumes

Haerangil

Well-Known Member
ok. I#ve never before tried to design costumes, i don't know anything about it, but this should be a try.

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This is the Armour of Gothrog, Soldier of Angband. This could be one of many more or less faceless Soldiers at Morgoth's court.These Gothrogs would not be Orcs but lesser Maiar, they are spirits of Violence similar to Makar and Measse and they could possibly have once been Hunters of Orome or Followers of Tulkas whom Morgoth corrupted. I wanted faceless Warriors, redshirts one could kill off if one doesn't want to sacrifice one of the seven Balrogs, so here's a breed of lesser Warrior-demon. There would not be lots of them, not loegions or armies, but Morgoth would rather use these as his bodyguard than surround himself with stinking Orcs and Trolls. Sometimes Gothrog could also appear as a lesser Captain or general if Sauron or a Balrog or an Orc should not be used. They could even ride Horses (broken Variations of the Horses of the Valar) or use Chariots if we want to introduce such a thing for Morgoth's captains.

The Armour is more or less based on a mix of Roman Centurio and Crusader Knight. It's not very elabourate or beautiful, i hate horned helmets and other typical cheesy fantasy designs. The Soldier of Angband looks pretty plain and faceless, like he doesn't really have a persona or will on his own. He's completely dressed in black: black helmet, black tabard, black cloak, black ringmail, black ironboots, black shoulderpieces, black gauntlets, black weapons. A bit leather thrown in (he wears something like a lorica segmentata and belt with cingulum over his Tabard and chainmail). His armour is not beautiful but plain and functional. It's more or less a downgraded version of the Black Armour Morgoth or Sauron would have worn. I#ve tried different helmet designs, but I think these Soldiers of Angband would all look more or less the same, with little variation among them. The weapons are all historical models as I reject most of the typical oversized Fatasy-designs. They are typical weapons Tolkien mentions in connection with the dark Lords, Mace/Rod, Sword, Morningstar, Axe, Spear, Bow. I would also like a flail, but i didn't draw one yet.
The designs are also simple and functional and not very elaborate. The Shield is a simple Roundshield, Black Wood, leather and metal frame. No symbol. Morgoth#s heraldly is plain sable.
 
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A different Approach. Instead of sketching a costume I tried to imagine a random scene. These could be some of Morgoth's Courtiers at Angband, maybe his Chamberlain with scribes or clerks.They are lesser Maiar. Morgoth would surround himself with faceless bootlickers of this sort. I think of them as more or less featureless beaurocrats with little if any individuality.They all appear grey, gaunt and interchangeable. I like to think they once had been caretakers at Mandos or Vaires before they were converted by Melkor. Their overall appearance is plain and boring, and there is little place for grandeur for them at Angband, and even if they try to appear dignified they fail. Both sexes wear the same clothing, and their style is totally unsexy.I was inspired by the look of roman Monks, Cardinals and prelates, indeed they wear some sort of habit, tight tunics, and long , sometimes hooded mantles or cowls and scapulars and robes with upturned collars. They wear little adornment, and if they do then it's little more than a broad and long sash. They are dressed all in grey or black and carry books, scrolls or paper and quill.

As with the Soldiers of Angband I like the Idea of the Minions of Angband appearing plain, colorless and soulless.
 
http://forums.signumuniversity.org/index.php?media/cat-demons.105/full&d=1485609954
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A few Sketches for a possible concept of Tevildo's Thanes.



It#s really kind of hard to draw a cat-demon, either it looks too cute or it comes off too similar to Catwoman or the Thundercats..
I tried to avoid that and tried to go more into a demonic look, so i used deformed skulls and tried to add a few feline features.
I kind of would like it if they can never really be sen, just a shadowy form and cat-eyes... i would love if they could have some dark mist or unlight around them similar to the Balrogs.

I also asked myself what these little guys actually are good for, they are obviously lazy, they don't go to work and they are no great Warriors. So I came up with the idea that they would be shady spies and maybe assassins. Whenever something is spied out or somebody is murdered in a sneaky way those guys could be seen lurking somewhere, hidden in the background. So i tried some possible poses for demonic felines...
 
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I tried to sketch some of my ideas for the Orcs...

I think the first would be a later man-Orc while the lower would be an earlier Elf-Orc...

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These are two of my Ideas for Angbands Citizens...

the one on the left would be a beast-orc or animal orc, a slave with little intelligence and possibly no soul dressed in rags. I could imagine Morgoth's Captains driving these creatures into battle, but they would be mere war-slaves easily terrified and driven away after the first wave of attack.

The one on the right should be a Soldier-Orc, i think these also may not have souls. They have no intelligence and fight like robots, they are effective killing machines without fear but inferior to the Elves because Elves are more intelligent and have more prowess. This one is clad in ironboots, ringmail shirt and trousers, broad leather belt, breeches of some animal skin , long black coat, broadvrimmed helmet, iron gloves, Oval shield and broad edged spear. I believe they would be very uniform and little difference would be between them as they don't have any individuality.

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Two rough ideas i had...

the left could be a Boldog, Ogre or demon-Orc, a Maia who acts as an officer for Morgoth's Orcs but isn't truly an Orc himself. I was unhappy with the Greater Orcs in PJ s Movies, Azog, Bolg or Gothmog... I like that sort of Orc for later Ages
but I think of the Angband-Culture as a sort of early high-culture
so I thought of the Boldogs less barbaric and orcoish but more like officers in the Roman army. This one wears basically a downdressed version of the Warrior-demon attire i drew before...
iron boots, a long shirt of ringmail, above a black Tabard and a broad belt with some sort of Cingulum, shoulderpieces, an iron collar and iron gloves.

On the left is a hypothetical fallen Elf, a Kaukarelda or Thrall-Noldo or Capo.

I thought what might have happened to Maeglin had he stayed at Angband or to Gwindor if he hadn't escaped...

so this is basically a broken Elf, a collaborator, he's gaunt and bent and has wrinkled grey skin and thin hair. he wears ironboots, breeches of some animal hide, a sleeveless tunic or tabard and a long shirt of mail and leather or iron gloves and a black coat. he rests on a short staff and wears a whip opf many thongs to slash his underlings like the beastly animal-orcs...
 
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I gave Gothmog a try...

In order to actually SEE something it´s not entirely all black this time...

so he DOES wear armour of sorts, it´s actually very fine scale and splint, which i think should be standard for Elves of Aman and Ainur before chain...
he DOEs wear clothes made of some fabric and on the upper left I sketched some vague Ideas for patterns... I thought of a Flame-pattern and a three Peaks of Thangorodrim/Iron MTS peaks Pattern which could appear on the tissue or engraved on the metal

I wasn#t able to give much detail to the face and flames on this one, but i assume he does have the burned skin and remains of former wings , burning mane and everything wre´ve talked about...

not much detail on his weapons yet... a simple Blade, a burning Whip... vambraces/gauntlets , possibly with iron-claws of some sort attached
 
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