The Dwarves Delved Too Greedily and Too Deep

Hello!

First WIP post of the year, hooray! Many LOTR and WF proxies from this WIP will be kept off patreon because of the Angry Company. But community members can still access the WIPs as mentioned in previous posts.  Just to be thorough, community members will receive an email with the access information as well.

Let's start off with a monster all LOTR fans are familiar with, the Balrog!

Famously depicted in the Fellowship of the Ring, Balrogs are towering behemoths of flame and shadow. Historically, they were Maiar who sided with Morgoth and were among his most feared servants. Most know the Balrog called Durin's Bane which laid waste to the mines of Moria. As Saruman put it, The dwaves delved too greedily and too deep, disturbing the Balrog and causing their own demise.

So I discovered a couple of interesting tidbits while researching the Balrog. Despite their immense power, Balrogs can't fly even though a lot of art depict them with fiery wings. I guess that explains why it never even tried to fly back up when Gandalf destroyed the bridge. 😅

Also, the cinematic version of the Balrog is quite different from the book version. A LOTR fan in the community pointed me in the direction of a more accurate book portrayal as seen in this image and video. Apparently the book version Balrog didn't have horns nor wings. This surprised me as I always just assumed the movie version had lore accurate details but then again it's been quite awhile since I read Fellowship of the Ring. Anyways, the community member thought it would be cool to see a book version so I tried experimenting with that as well. LOTR book experts, does this look right to you? 😄

Next up is the Verminlord which are towering, demonic, rat-like beings. They embody the decay, cunning, and immense power of the Skaven god, the Horned Rat. Physically, Verminlords are terrifying figures with razor claws, devilish weapons, and warpstone embedded in their flesh. When summoned, Verminlords act as powerful leaders and sorcerers. They are apparently the most numerous of the Greater Daemons within the Realms of Chaos which I guess makes sense since there are so many Skaven running around.

Visually, they are supposed to be massive rats with leprous skin, sharp teeth, and a wicked set of horned heads which I really like. These are the visual traits I tried to include in my version. Verminlords do seem to come with quite an assortment of weapons so I'll try and add more versions later this month. For now, I'll try and add in a few head variations.

Next up, I'll be creating some original fantasy characters. This month I decided to try some characters I've never done before. Keeping it secret for now but I will say it's sort of a two for one. 🤫 Reveal in the next WIP, stay tuned!