Celeborn armour upgrade

LONG ARTIST’S COMMENT AHEAD…

Hello people, I hope you’re having a good time for Christmas and all of the celebrations at the end of the year.

I play waaaayyyy too much, I recently spent my nights leading the Sylvan faction in “Medieval Total War : third Age Mod” which is the best game EVER ! (the symbol on the little banner is not mine but comes from a Sub mod Gosh it looks so awesome ! )
Anyway, I found that it was a shame that only Legolas and Haldir (in this faction) actually had a personal look while all of the other elvish commanders looked the same (dark hair and golden armor like Elrond).

So I decided to correct this injustice and was planning to make some new battle illustrations but I needed to “upgrade” my armour design for Celeborn. Moreover, I just bought “LoTR : Weapons and Warfare” which is full of awesome ideas so I made a lot of doodles. (I only picked few drawings but I have other stuffs if you’re interested).

I’m gonna give you an explanation for this one because I made some research and had a quite constructed idea to find a good design for Celeborn’s armour and accessories.

First of all, I needed to gather different informations that I considered as useful = who is Celeborn :

-He is an elf from Tolkien’s Legendarium
-He’s a sindar * who originally came from Menegroth in Beleriand (ruled by Thingol and Melian).
-He married at the beginning of the 1rst Age Galadriel, a half Noldor half Teleri princess who adopted the sindarian way of life (that gives the Noldorin knowledge/craft with the Sindar style…close to nature and such).
-He is a very old elf (one of the oldest of Middle Earth along his wife).
-He’s ruling Lothlorien, a sylvan kingdom (and also adopted the Sylvan way of life, like living on trees).


_{*I like the version where he actually is a Sindar and not a Teleri from Aman like in the Unfinished Tales…because it explains better his staying in Middle Earth during the 4th Age and it made him be more different to Galadriel which is cool… (and it’s also the 1rst version I read)}


As you can see, I keep the axe with the “Foe of Morgoth” written on it. Again, it is a weapon that goes well with my dear Sindar Lord.
I used different design from PJ’s movies that I kinda changed depending on informations I have.
For the armour itself (chest), Celeborn being an old elf I wanted it to be close to the 2nd Age design but not totally because it was worn by Noldorin warriors. So I tried to make it be a little bit different, moreover, since he is a Lord (like King) he deserved something less common. I also added elvish patterns, very curvy and art-nouveau like so it can look like leaves or something natural (elvish) which fitted well with the idea I have of the Sinda…
Under the armour, he has a chainmail but made of scales (which is like the 3rd Age design in the Two Towers, it’s a good way to bring the character closer to the Sindar/Sylvan inspiration).
The gorget reminds me Gil galad in the Battle of Dagorlad at the beginning of the 1rst movie and I found cool the fact that it was a very recognizable think, that’s why I kept it for Celeborn and put the same pattern of his necklace but I may change it, perhaps I’ll put something like his emblem or heraldry.
The helmet is the demonstration of this duality, the Sindarin refinement of the Noldorin design which gave this result.I don’t like drawing characters with helmets, I feel like it prevents me from having fun with their features and faces but I think I’ll get used to it…I really liked this one with those curves…
For the rest, the drawing speaks for itself I guess...

Anyway, with all of those details, I hope it fits well with the characters and I did not miss the target. What do you think ? _{(if you had the courage to read xD)}