The Water of Life
Dec. 5th, 2016 11:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wallace_trustThis is a painting I did a couple of years ago. I have always loved that little scene where the hobbits find water in Mordor. This scene used different proportions for the characters; I was trying to get them to look a bit like a pygmy race. They have evolved in my mind through perhaps a dozen different forms each, but even though Tolkien's description is vague, I have always seen roughly the same face for Frodo. Sam, 'not so much.' :) In my mind his skin is definitely Harfoot brown, rather than the Fallohide-style white which is popularly portrayed, but despite his strong personality, his face always remains somewhat indistinct to me.
I have long been fascinated by what appears to be a kind of selective racism where portrayals of Sam are concerned. Why is it that popular illustrations seem to consistently pick up on things like the swarthiness of the Haradrim, and yet almost always miss the fact that Sam is a brown-skinned hobbit? Are people uncomfortable with the idea that Frodo has a brown-skinned servant, due to the awful history of real-world slavery? If so, we must remember that Sam was a hired hand, and certainly no slave. Or do people subconsciously prefer Sam to be white?
Whatever the answer (and I would dearly like to find out) I have always seen in Tolkien's story a strong wish for all races to get along with one another. This is perhaps most clearly illustrated by the friendship of Legolas and Gimli as well as the romance of Aragorn and Arwen, but in my opinion Frodo and Sam are also exemplary of this idea, as well as being a dream of the upper and lower classes finding friendship and common ground.
I have long been fascinated by what appears to be a kind of selective racism where portrayals of Sam are concerned. Why is it that popular illustrations seem to consistently pick up on things like the swarthiness of the Haradrim, and yet almost always miss the fact that Sam is a brown-skinned hobbit? Are people uncomfortable with the idea that Frodo has a brown-skinned servant, due to the awful history of real-world slavery? If so, we must remember that Sam was a hired hand, and certainly no slave. Or do people subconsciously prefer Sam to be white?
Whatever the answer (and I would dearly like to find out) I have always seen in Tolkien's story a strong wish for all races to get along with one another. This is perhaps most clearly illustrated by the friendship of Legolas and Gimli as well as the romance of Aragorn and Arwen, but in my opinion Frodo and Sam are also exemplary of this idea, as well as being a dream of the upper and lower classes finding friendship and common ground.