And in the darkness bind them
.
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The classic poem from The Lord of the Rings. I think this graphic evokes the brooding feeling of the poem pretty well. The emphasis I place on certain lines and words is entirely my own reading. This really has to be viewed full screen at 1200×900; the smaller versions cannot do it justice since the shadings of black and grey disappear when the image is reduced.
This is one of my favourite images, and is also the most popular one I have designed. I designed it to evoke the feeling that the Ring Poem inspired in me, and in this I have been very successful; what I did not expect is that I managed to also evoke the feelings of many other people about that poem.
I don’t know where the idea of the three shapes emerging came from, but it was very persistent, even though early versions didn’t quite capture what I wanted. With perseverance, I managed to bring it out as I intended and the result is this very striking motif of emergence from darkness, which naturally complements the poem.