I finished my portrayal of Fili, Durin’s lion and heir of the King Under the Mountain a few days ago. The portrait took me a few weeks, since it was my first full digital painting I’ve ever created.
From the first time I’ve seen AUJ I wanted to draw Fili, but I always shied away from his majestic lion hair. But now I felt confident enough to do it and it turned out to be more of the funnier things to do. It’s quite a challenge to keep it blonde, because I tend to shade too much. So it was also good for my learning process in order to get better.
Fili was always dear to my heart because Dean O’Gorman played him so well. If the viewer pays attention to the characters he/she could see an amazing character-development in Fili. From the over-excited, singing young dwarf in Bag-end to the fighter with multiple weapons to the future king, who dares to object the opinion of his uncle and king Thorin. I loved how he rushed down the stairs in Erebor in „The Battle of the Five Armies“ as he heard of Thorin’s dragonsickness. It was pretty clear to me that the lionheart couldn’t be spoiled by all the riches. The look on his face was pure disbelief, disgust and bewilderment (as was on the faces of Òin, Bofur and Kili at this moment).
To be honest, I was a little disappointed that he didn’t get his moment in the last movie. I think it was great that Kili tried to stand up against his uncle, but I missed a similar scene for Fili, since I felt that there had to be something like that because of his reaction when he saw the dragonsick Thorin for the first time. Also, I wasn’t, like many, not really pleased with the way he died. He didn’t get a fight in the Theatrical Edition. So I am hoping the best for the EE – not only because of Fili, but because of all of the dwarves. Less elf, more dwarf! Du bekar! *boldly crosses her arms*