The Last Stand of Dain

"At the same time as the great armies besieged Minas Tirith a host of the allies of Sauron that had long threatened the borders of King Brand crossed the River Carnen, and Brand was driven back to Dale. There he had the aid of the Dwarves of Erebor; and there was a great battle at the Mountain's feet. It lasted three days, but in the end both King Brand and King Dain Ironfoot were slain, and the Easterlings had the victory. But they could not take the Gate, and many, both Dwarves and Men, took refuge in Erebor, and there withstood a seige.

'I grieved at the fall of Thorin,' said Gandalf; 'and now we hear that Dain has fallen, fighting in Dale again, even while we fought here. I should call that a heavy loss, if it was not a wonder rather that in his great age he could still wield his axe as mightily as they say that he did, standing over the body of King Brand before the Gate of Erebor until the darkness fell."

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Another one. This was actually a good distance along already when I posted the Thorin picture, just because I hung on to the Thorin one for so long.

So again, Dain is a cool guy, but most of his awesome moments are off-screen. We met him here, if you remember. [link] He's about 252 here, and just chopping up Easterlings left and right.

A few notes on the picture. The 'Easterlings' are pretty obviously supposed to be Oriental, there's only so much to the 'East' of Middle-Earth. As Sam's reflection proves in "The Two Towers," the issue is not so much that the Easterlings (and Haradrim) are evil, so much as their nations are allied with Sauron's. So maybe just their leaders are evil.

Also, it's not dark out. Well, Dain hasn't fallen yet. Mostly I just didn't want to draw a night scene (I always feel as though I need to add a bunch of shadows if I do). I'm not terribly happy with the sky... maybe I should have made it red... but it works.

I really wish I could have given you a better look at Dain's armor. It's rather unclear here, with the rock wall behind him and King Brand underneath. I was hoping it would be better. I really liked the design, and it actually looked pretty practical... more so than Thorin's outlandish crown, really. Maybe I'll draw it out and post it up here later.

Anyway. Next up is a VERY important picture from the history of the dwarves. And the elves.

The Dwarves of Belegost: [link]

The King Under the Mountain: [link]

The Fall of Azog: [link]

Alas! My Axe is Notched: [link]

Thorin "Oakenshield": [link]

The Ruin of Doriath: [link]

The Orcs are Behind the Wall!: [link]

A Chance Meeting: [link]

Baruk Khazad!: [link]

I Say Neither Yea nor Nay: [link]

The Undying Lands: [link]