Riddermark Lord
LOTR:LCG Alt Art Steward of Gondor: Minas Tirith - by Ted Nasmith
Alt Art Notes, and the Black Wall of the First Level:
Illustration history:
This beautiful illustration of Minas Tirith by legendary Tolkien artist Ted Nasmith was titled "In Haste to the White City". It was the centerfold of the official 2004 Tolkien calendar. I bought that calendar solely for this image, as it took my breath away.
This is currently my favorite image of Minas Tirith, both for its accuracy (note the non-flat "ship's prow" on the top level), and beauty.
The (controversial?) Black Wall of the First Level:
It surprised me to learn that the first wall of Minas Tirith could actually be black. In my mind Minas Tirith was always "the White City", and every wall is white. However, the first wall color is the subject of much discussion among Tolkien scholars.
The city is described as having white walls when Pippin arrives with Gandalf at the very beginning of Chapter I "Minas Tirith", in The Return of the King.
The exact quote: "Even as Pippin gazed in wonder the walls passed from looming grey to white, blushing faintly in the dawn...." Note the word "walls" and "white" in this sentence. The reader (and I was one of them) is left with the impression that the entire City structure is white, from the topmost spire of the Tower of Ecthelion "glimmering like a spike of pearl and silver", to all seven walls reaching to the ground level.
This first impression stays with the viewer and why many believe the first wall is white. The all white walls in the movies also reinforce this perception.
However, the color of the first wall being white is contradicted by the text in Chapter IV "The Siege of Gondor".
The quote describing the black wall: "For the main wall of the City was of great height and marvellous thickness, built ere the power and craft of Númenor waned in exile; and its outward face was like to the Tower of Orthanc, hard and dark and smooth, unconquerable by steel or fire, unbreakable except by some convulsion that would rend the very earth on which it stood".
Orthanc is described in "The Road to Isengard" in The Two Towers as "A peak and isle of rock it was, black and gleaming hard...."
So the direct comparison to Orthanc, which is definitely a black wall, and the double confirmation of the word "dark" in the sentence, is pretty solid evidence that the first wall of Minas Tirith is, indeed, black.
LOTR:LCG Alt Art Steward of Gondor: Minas Tirith - by Ted Nasmith
Alt Art Notes, and the Black Wall of the First Level:
Illustration history:
This beautiful illustration of Minas Tirith by legendary Tolkien artist Ted Nasmith was titled "In Haste to the White City". It was the centerfold of the official 2004 Tolkien calendar. I bought that calendar solely for this image, as it took my breath away.
This is currently my favorite image of Minas Tirith, both for its accuracy (note the non-flat "ship's prow" on the top level), and beauty.
The (controversial?) Black Wall of the First Level:
It surprised me to learn that the first wall of Minas Tirith could actually be black. In my mind Minas Tirith was always "the White City", and every wall is white. However, the first wall color is the subject of much discussion among Tolkien scholars.
The city is described as having white walls when Pippin arrives with Gandalf at the very beginning of Chapter I "Minas Tirith", in The Return of the King.
The exact quote: "Even as Pippin gazed in wonder the walls passed from looming grey to white, blushing faintly in the dawn...." Note the word "walls" and "white" in this sentence. The reader (and I was one of them) is left with the impression that the entire City structure is white, from the topmost spire of the Tower of Ecthelion "glimmering like a spike of pearl and silver", to all seven walls reaching to the ground level.
This first impression stays with the viewer and why many believe the first wall is white. The all white walls in the movies also reinforce this perception.
However, the color of the first wall being white is contradicted by the text in Chapter IV "The Siege of Gondor".
The quote describing the black wall: "For the main wall of the City was of great height and marvellous thickness, built ere the power and craft of Númenor waned in exile; and its outward face was like to the Tower of Orthanc, hard and dark and smooth, unconquerable by steel or fire, unbreakable except by some convulsion that would rend the very earth on which it stood".
Orthanc is described in "The Road to Isengard" in The Two Towers as "A peak and isle of rock it was, black and gleaming hard...."
So the direct comparison to Orthanc, which is definitely a black wall, and the double confirmation of the word "dark" in the sentence, is pretty solid evidence that the first wall of Minas Tirith is, indeed, black.