This is probably the most obscure piece of Tolkien illustration you'll ever see.
From Wikipedia:
Queen Berúthiel is a minor fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium.
Berúthiel was first mentioned in Unfinished Tales. She was of Black Númenórean origin, from "the inland city", somewhere south of Umbar. Her marriage to Tarannon Falastur is believed to have been arranged for political reasons. She is described by Tolkien as being "nefarious, solitary and loveless", and she and Falastur never had any children. Eventually, Falastur separated from her and sent her into exile, at which point she returned to her original home.
Berúthiel was most notorious for her catsin particular, her use of them as spies. This is described in the Unfinished Tales:
"She had nine black cats and one white, her slaves, with whom she conversed, or read their memories, setting them to discover all the dark secrets of Gondor,...setting the white cat to spy upon the black, and tormenting them. No man in Gondor dared touch them; all were afraid of them, and cursed when they saw them pass."
It may well have been her continual intrigues that led Falastur to expel her. Her name was removed from the Books of the Kings (but not from the memory of Men), and Falastur had her sent out to sea in a ship with her cats:
"The ship was last seen flying past Umbar under a sickle moon, with a cat at the masthead and another as a figure-head on the prow."
In an interview Tolkien had in 1966 he added the following information on her:
Well, Berúthiel went back to live in the inland city, and went to the bad (or returned to it she was a Black Númenórean in origin, I guess). She was one of these people who loathe cats, but cats will jump on them and follow them about you know how sometimes they pursue people who hate them? I have a friend like that. I'm afraid she took to torturing them for amusement, but she kept some and used them: trained them to go on evil errands by night, to spy on her enemies or terrify them.
Later references:
In The Lord of the Rings, Aragorn uses Berúthiel's cats as a byword for navigation in the dar:
Gandalf is surer of finding the way home in a blind night than the cats of Queen Berúthiel.
This suggests that Berúthiel and her cats have passed into popular legend by the time of the War of the Ring.
I tried to do some sort of art noveau - old illustration atmosphere, and generally like how this turned out.
Pose inspiration -
[link] -
Submitted to the Black Cat contest -
[link]
`anmari has been spreading her infectious positivity throughout our community for over 6 years. Throughout this time Ana has been at the core of all things devious, passionately developing an eclectic gallery, helping organise devmeets, participating in chat events and also recently completed dedicating her time as a Community Volunteer. We are absolutely delighted to bestow the Deviousness Award for May 2013 to `anmari, congratulations! Read More
Sta.sh
I love her small story. Sounds like all those scary old tales about ghosts or witches that are told by some old woman sitting in front of a fire before going to bed, you know what I mean ?
Also, thanks for the interview quote, I've never seen it before.
From the FAQ:
Q: Why did you invite me twice?
Because I really liked two different pieces of yours that I saw in two different places, and I don't have a photographic memory to remind me who I've already invited.