Heget's Blatherings

• Tutu is a recreation of the pendant Ahiru/Duck wears when transformed into Princess Tutu, over a stylized view of her tutu complete with the accessories. The colors come directly from it.
• Kraehe is Rue’s alter-ego as the Raven Princess/Odile figure. So I took the tutu-like element of the central circle, made it black and mimicked a tulle under-layer, and added on top the red to symbolize the raven’s blood. Still the hint of her true nature in the bit of white flowers (or swan feathers?). For who is to say Odile’s love is impure?
• When I created the swan sigil for crocordile, I looked at several art nouveau swans as inspiration and knew I wanted to recreate another of the designs for a second sigil. It's the same base and colors as the first Tutu device, with yellow swans for the yellow duck that becomes a girl becomes a ballet-themed savior becomes a swan. Brainstorming how to incorporate some of the PT characters, I came up with the idea of Ahiru as a Maia of Ossë and Uinen who lives in the Bay of Alqualondë as a duck or swan, and who upon seeing the sad and damaged souls of those returning after the War of Wrath, in particular the white-haired soldier with amnesia, the knight too afraid to pick up his pen, and the elven maiden that fears no one would love her, wishes to help them heal. She takes upon an elven form to interact with them, mostly through the healing power of dance. Her costume in the series was heavily based on that of Princess Odette from Swan Lake, hence the name for this swan-motif sigil.

• The first is my OC, Ilsë, of which I have written about predominantly in this fic here. She is the oldest daughter of Elmo, born in Cuiviénen during the period when her uncle Elwë first goes to Valinor, and was named for the same starry silver hair. When the Teleri are sundered between those that wish to keep looking for the missing Elwë and those that chose to follow Olwë onto Valinor, Ilsë leaves behind her parents and two younger siblings. In Valinor she becomes Olwë’s right hand, one of the foremost captains of the swan-ships, a woman who delights in the sea and teaching the younger elves how to sail. They are both precious to her, and her grief is cold and terrible and only partly assuaged when Elwing comes and convinces Ilsë to return the land of her birth and the family she had forsaken. Her device uses the colors of her father and uncle, the aqua on black and grays, instead of Olwë’s lighter beachy palette. The flowers, though in that Sinda turquoise, has the stylized shape of red spider lilies, which especially in Chinese and Japanese culture are strongly associated with death and cemeteries, and many legends attached to them about separation or meeting someone you will never meet again. They’re also called hurricane lilies for they tend to bloom after heavy rainfall. Thus the symbolism couldn’t be more perfect for Ilsë. The center holds a compass rose for nautical navigation and the points around it initially were waves but ended up more like shark fins. Which, again, make them perfect for Ilsë.
• The second Teleri OC belongs rightfully not to me but to crocordile, as she requested a sigil for her character that attempts to recreate the famed Swan-ships which hold a sacred cornerstone to the people of Alqualondë and which were stolen and destroyed. While she never succeeds in recreating an exact replica of the beauty that was lost, she is still highly respected for her shipbuilding and her skill and love of sailing the deep ocean. Beluwen loves Ossë’s swans, and like my Ilsë sails to Beleriand during the War of Wrath. Thus her sigil needed swans above all. I used some art nouveau panels for inspiration and added hints of ripples and reeds. The color scheme coordinates with one of the earlier Teleri sigils I made, the colors soft and cool and evocative of the sea.

• Andreth, a Wise-woman of Dorthonion, sister of Lord Bregor and thus great-aunt to Beren, Belegund, and Baragund, beloved of Aegnor and friend of Finrod Felagund, one half of the philosophical debate about mortality and triumph of good over evil in Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth. The first Edain/Elf love story and one which remains unrequited, with discussion of flames and moths and burning of therefore. I purposefully avoided all moth and flame motifs as the obvious cliche, and went with floral symbolism. The long-lived wisteria is a symbol of longevity, of love lost but also perseverance over time, of somber contemplation, of unrequited love (Fuji Musume). Aside from the pale purples of the wisteria blossoms, the greens, golds, and whites are the same as from both Aegnor’s sigil and the Bëor. I especially wanted white as that was the color worn by Edain wise-women, preservers of tribal history. As one of my favorite characters and half of an OTP, Andreth deserved her own sigil. And once I remembered that Edain heraldry needed only vertical symmetry, fitting the wisteria motif was far less painful.
• Edhellos - or in Quenya Eldalotë - is one of those usually unnamed wives of elven characters that have almost nothing written about them, only in this case Tolkien did provide a name. Edhellos is the wife of Angrod, and thus in versions where Orodreth is Angrod’s son instead of older brother she would be the mother of the last King of Nargothrond. Though we have no characterization for her, we assume she was Noldor and married Angrod long before the Darkening, and it is telling that her name has a Sindarin version, which implies she followed her husband to Beleriand and lived with him in Dorthonion. I like to include her in stories about the Bëorians and their elven lords, and she’s another quiet and obscure favorite for me to write. Her name means ‘Elf-flower’, which gave me the clearest permission to make a floral device. For a while now I’ve wanted to make a device with irises (as something more than fleur-de-lis), and as they are among other things a symbol of martial valor, it works for an elf living close to the Enemy and willing to bring the fight to him. The sigil itself hearkens back to the clean geometric shapes of Angrod with the heavy black outlines.
• For kaywinnet​, I made a sigil using forget-me-not flowers of another Edain woman and one that is also one of my favorites going back to my first read-through of The Silmarillion. Rían, the daughter of Belegund and mother of Tuor, she who loved flowers and to make songs and gave her son into the keeping of Annael before she went to the Hill of the Slain in search of her husband Hour and died of grief. Tragic and true love, we both agreed the delicate and small wildflower of the appropriately named forget-me-not was perfect for Rían - plus the color and shape mimicked the Bëor sigil. The frame is the same shape as the sigils for her cousin Morwen.

• Beleg Cúthalion was easy to make a device when I decided to focus on the fact that his famous bow, Belthronding, of which he is named is made of black yew. Thus the red yew ‘fruit’ and four fronds of yew pine leaves. The curved outline evokes a black re-curved bow without being too blatant. All three devices carry over the Doriath-standard black, gray, and silver in order to incorporate its banners.
• With Mablung I used the evergreen and muted blue-green colors from accents in Elwing, Nimloth, and other relatives of Elu Thingol. The central design comes directly from Tolkien’s sigil for Queen Melian. As Mablung was chief of the March-wardens of Doriath and both a personal attendant, bodyguard, and most trusted messenger, diplomat, and representative for Thingol and Melian, he’s entitled to it. The rest of the sigil is clearly dominated by the set of large axes. Mablung weilded an ax as a weapon - as did the dwarves of which Doriath had trade and cultural exchange, the Haladim who fought along side the March-wardens, and other heroes in the Silmarillion like Tuor and Húrin. And the curving shape does hearken to a gibbous moon.
• For Daeron I had to include the calligraphic lines that appear in Saeros’s sigil but in Menegroth’s blacks and grays instead of Ossiriand greens. Then I repeated the niphredil motifs that appear in both of Lúthien’s sigils because Daeron is obsessed with her (or in older versions is just her older brother and thus not romantically linked). I also included a Cirth symbol (the one for d as the first letter of his name, echoing the g for Gandalf). Daeron is the inventor of the Cirth or Dwarvish Runes. As the inventor of a written language and the premier lore-master of an entire civilization, it was important enough to highlight on his heraldic device. He’s also the foremost elven musician to ever live, but that’s harder to put on a sigil.

• The greens are pale aspens and sea-foam, which can be a color of the Teleri (Falmari or otherwise). But the rest of the sigil are gold-lined leaves on white, which is Vanyar. Not just the gold on white, but the use of iris-like leaf clusters. So it is the sigil of a high-ranking Vanyar noble. Perhaps one that fought in the War of Wrath and worked closely with the Teleri navy that transported them (which the two groups had limited connect before the War of Wrath but would have a very close working relationship during the 50 years at the end of the First Age). In fact, it is quite easy to imagine an OC Vanya general falling in love and marrying on of the Teleri captains that worked logistics to supply and transfer the troops of the Army of the Valar that defeat Morgoth and usher in the Second Age. The second sigil has darker blues in a sun-ray pattern and fits the feminine circle as opposed to the masculine diagonal lozenge. Thus one of the most interesting families of the Second to Third Age, the blonde mariners that speak in a soft slow sing-song Quenya as they visit ports in Númenor and bring back the lays of Beleriand- the widely popular Lay of Leithian and Narn i Hurin and stories of the Edain. And then I was stumped at what to call the pair of sigils, which others can attest to. In the end I went with a terrible pun, so they are Sea Leafing 01 and 02.

• Kamon Blue. It’s blue. The design is a straight copy of a roundel fleuron, and it has eight points and can fit in a circle so it would work for a noble lady, probably Noldor. Simple, clean, monochromatic, also vaguely like a kamon. Which, yeah, the elven heraldric devices Tolkien created seem as much like Japanese mon as they do European coat-of-arms.

• Brandy-lily. Narrow lilies in brandy and crimson, with light yellow green stalks and leaves, and some matching stars (no, not just something for the Fëanorian eight-point star on the doors of Moria -which doesn’t even match the eight-point star on Fëonar’s sigil. Stars of every style and point from 4 to 16 fit across the board for every single tribe. They are all the Eldar who love the stars: Vanyar, Noldor, Teleri, Sindar, Silvan, even Avari). The floral structure is something that fits with the other non-royal Vanyar sigils - the monks and farmers and soldiers I have made. Though these Minyar monks, I have the feeling, know how to party hard. Someone has to be the monks that (re-)invent champagne.

• Tar-Míriel who should have been the fourth Queen. For her sigil I had a simple design goal. I took Elros’s sigil, which is a simplification of the Númenórean sigil nightmare, and leeched away all color. Partly because of Tar-Mírel’s connection to the White Tree Nimloth, but also as a call-forward to the flag of Gondor with white on black. Also she grew up and then suffered through Númenor’s decline and darkest days. Not a lot of color nor joy. Some of the shapes are the thin-throat lilies coming down from Idril, but most come from the Númenor sigil itself. Nothing of Sauron or Ar-Pharazôn the Golden - in fact now that I check it has the same palette as the Valar.

• Voronwë was the other request that I felt comfortable to execute- as I had already made Aranwë, based off of Lalwen. Which comes from a mildly popuar fanon that Aranwë was either Lalwen’s son or husband to expand Voronwë’s comment in one draft that he was a lord of the House of Finwë. Which honestly could just mean Voronwë and his family were sworn to the service of the royal family - which he was as a vassal of Turgon. Still, having Aranwë show a connection to Lalwen via the sigils was a fun idea, of which I explain away as Aranwë being Lalwen’s steward or first ranking noble supporter. Thus Vornowë’s high position among the Noldor. Of course on his Sindarian mother’s side he is possible kin to Círdan. And Voronwë’s most important deeds as as sailor and then friend and guide to Tuor, and sailor again. So the golden antler-like shapes of his father (but only 4), but on the blues of the ocean like Eärendil.

The Follower Request Hour!

• For priimitives: a sigil following her design and guidelines for an OC family. Colorful and fun, with the central motif of a Dandelion.
• For princeofmenegroth: a canon character. Saeros needed his own sigil, so I used the same set of olive greens from what ended up for the Nandor, with touches of grey for the moon, as Saeros’s father was named Ithilbor. The leaves are stylized beech leaves, to match the forests of Neldoreth and the columns of Menegroth. Plus one of Daeron’s epithets was ‘prince of beech and elm’, and Saeros was a good friend of Daeron.
• For anghraine: Okay, human characters in the Third Age would not have this style of heraldry, but I made an exception (and our Wastonian answer can be that Legolas and Faramir drew this up for her as a gift). So here is Eowyn in her role as the Lady of Ithilien. Round sigil for female, and yes it has radial symmetry instead of the only vertical of mortals, but then the Bëor also had both lines of symmetry, so I’m not too concerned. Emerald field with gold and silver to suggest the shape of a shield, for her famous deed. Around the border are stylized white horse heads for Rohan, though the stars and floral spikes are for Gondor and Ithilien.
• For rabababe: The other elven sigil connected to Ithilien in the Fourth Age would be Legolas himself, so I just took the Mirkwood sigil I use for Thranduil and his son and father, simplified the design and lightened the colors, and added some stars for association with Gondor and its Dúnedain.
• For berthelien: She asked for something with water lilies, and I was glad to comply. Especially as I use art nouveau flower designs for my sigils, especially those belonging to Sindarian characters. The Water Lilies work well for any of the Teleri, and the strong geometric element, the central pale yellow flower and white base, both can also work for the Noldor or Vanyar respectively. I did two variations- the second one could work for a male character if the 'points’ of the lily pad leaves are retained.
• For yavieriel: We’ve talked about our different OCs for Mahtan’s family, and how we both had the idea of one of his female descendants marrying a Vanya and combining both song and smith-craft in blissful harmony. So here is the sigil for one of Mahtan’s granddaughters, who loves beauty and craft and peace. If I have a Noldo OC of Catelyn Stark, then her younger sister is the other nieceof Nerdanel, Lissë, the 'Lysa’ who in this universe marries someone that loves her above all others, who doesn’t lose any children or stand in her sister’s shadow. Who is quiet happy in her home high in the Pelóri Mountains. The design itself starts with the devices for Mahtan, but more russets and oranges and softer flowers.

What the fuck is this? No, you do not do this to me. That center would have been bad enough, not to mention the color gradient rainbow, but the rest of it? (Okay, anyone getting the feeling the 4 designs in the corner are actually their one circular devices, maybe for different regions of Númenor?) But bullshit on me recreating this any time soon for Elros.

I knew that sigil would be a pain, but-