The Shadow Enters

In rode the Lord of the Nazgŭl. A great black shape against the fires beyond he loomed, grown to a vast menace of despair. In rode the Lord of the Nazgul, under the archway that no enemy ever yet had passed, and all fled before his face.
All save one. There waiting, silent and still before the Gate, sat Gandalf upon Shadowfax: Shadowfax who alone among the free horses of the earth endured the terror, unmoving, steadfast as a graven image in Rath Dinen.
“You cannot enter here,” said Gandalf, and the huge shadow halted. “Go back to the abyss prepared for you! Go back! Fall back into the nothingness that awaits you and your master. Go!”
The Black Rider flung back his hood, and behold! He had a kingly crown; and yet upon no head visible was it set. The red fires shone between it and the mantled shoulders vast and dark. From a mouth unseen came a deadly laughter.
“Old fool!” he said. “Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!” And with that he lifted high his sword, and flames ran down the blade.

Gandalf did not move. And in that very moment, away behind in some courtyard of the City, a cock crowed. Shrill and clear he crowed, recking nothing of wizardry and war, welcoming on the morning that in the sky far above the shadows of death was coming with the dawn.
And as if in answer there came from far away another note. Horns, horns, horns. In dark Mindolluin’s sides they dimly echoed. Great horns of the North wildly blowing. Rohan had come at last.

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This picture depicts one of my favourite scenes from my favourite book the Lord of the Rings by Tolkien ( all names, characters and text above taken from the Return of the King ). You won’t see this in the movie, however. A reason why I wanted to do this scene was that I was searching DeviantArt for pieces themed on this scene and managed to find only a handful. I took about 3 days, working in short intervals during the daytime and at night before sleeping. I drew this with pencils on a paper half the size of an A4 sheet, then photographed it.

Just so you know:
The sunlight is brighter than the fire of Mount Doom. This is to show that nature is mightier than man-made darkness. Um. That’s it.
The flames on the Nazgul’s blade are dark, almost black. I made them that way on purpose. Dark fire for dark purposes.
I wanted to show that shadow and darkness have entered the City after the Nazgul. Hence the dark road. You might also notice the curls of shadow at its edge.
I must also admit I cleaned up a few things in Photoshop first for this finished picture – two oil spots, and Shadowfax has gotten brighter.
Please comment, especially if you see any shortcomings. I know I need to improve a lot.

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