Inspired by The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien.

Created especially for the Tolkien art exhibition: ‘Evil in the Shining Light’, Bank Street Arts, Sheffield, through September 2015.
Acrylics on paper, digital colouring, 11.5 x 8″ Frame element by Stephen Clulow on Flickr.

 Sauron as prisoner of, then advisor to, Ar-Pharazôn

Sauron being fair and flattering as the hostage of Ar-Pharazôn, last great king of Númenor before the fall.
A fall engineered entirely by Sauron in fact, for by cunning he rose from prisoner to most-trusted advisor of the proud king, and convinced him to offer blood and lives to exiled Morgoth. (The smoke of their sacrifices can be seen through the window.)
Then as Ar-Pharazôn felt the weight of old age and death come upon him he listened to Sauron’s promise of life everlasting in Valinor, and how a brave man might take it for himself if he would only sail West to claim it…

Buildings of Númenor adorn the top left and right corners. Embedded in the frame to the left is the shining isle of the Valar to the left, Númenor’s holy mountain Meneltarma to the right. The Eye of Sauron overlooks all above and death awaits below.