Page Layout 3

Well, it's Sunday, so time to post up this week's work. New pages are up at Fantasy Castle Books, with some new ebook reading features as well. I'll try to post at least one new page each week, given time and other obstacles.



This week's installment officially introduces us to Alberich, the instigator of the Curse. This page was not actually in my original outline or draft, at least not in this form. In Wagner's opera Alberich simply pops out into the Rhinemaids "lair", emerging from a crack in the rocks. No explanation is given, and it appears to be mere chance, although other authors and translators have given more or less believable explanations. One such laughable excuse was that Alberich actually knew about the Rhinegold and was only toying with the sirens to get at it. Not only is that directly in opposition to what Wagner specifically states, but it proves problematic on a number of other levels, not least of which is our need to empathize with his downtrodden state, which provides the real impetus for his later actions.



To that end, I had from the first intended to play much more on Alberich's infatuation with the Rhinemaids, and this scene is the ultimate result. My contention is that being a dwarf smith, Alberich would always be on the scout for ore to mine, and the gleam of distant gold would not long escape his eye. But here I give the real reason for his visit on this particular day, and that is entirely of my own devising: he is smitten with the loveliness of the river nymphs, which stirs something that is sorely missing in his own life. This leads us naturally in the direction we need to go, and provides more than ample motivation for what is to come.



I should mention here that in the writing of my finished draft I am deeply indebted to the genius of Oliver Huckel, whose 1907 poetic rendering is in my view among the very best.



It might also be mentioned that Alberich himself, and the scene of the gold's theft, is an amalgamation of several variant versions of what was apparently an old Teutonic folk tale. Very different takes on it appear in the Old Norse Eddas, the Icelandic Volsunga Saga, and to a lesser extent, the late Germanic Nibelungenlied. From the latter is drawn the characters of the Rhinemaids themselves, who do not appear elsewhere, and there not in connection with a treasure, though certainly with a river. I won't here go into the details of the various elements that make up the Alberich episode, as I've written more on that elsewhere, but suffice it to say that here is Wagner at his best, drawing diverse pieces together into a cohesive whole far greater than its parts.



As for the artwork itself, essentially I wanted to view the scene from Alberich's perspective, so it is more or less the same scene from the prior page, but darker, and more mysterious. This is closer to how I envisioned the set initially, and I may yet go back and remove much of the bright color from the preceding page, which now seems to me a bit too "tropical" and oceanic. It's difficult to find good digital models for underwater props that aren't ocean sets. But then, this isn't exactly the realm of reality, where dwarves can breathe underwater and sirens swim in a region of subaquatic ether. But, then, maybe that didn't bother you, so forget I mentioned it.