Description from original post (created 2012-02-12 07:21):
General:
A Barrow-wight is a mythical creature that appears in Lord of the Rings.
Most often the Barrow-wight came on the unwary traveller in the guise of a dark phantom whose eyes were luminous and cold. The voice of the figure was at once horrible and hypnotic; its skeletal hand had a touch like ice and a grip like the iron jaws of a trap. Once under the spell of the Undead, the victim had no will of his own. In this way the Barrow-wights drew the living into the treasure tombs of the downs. A dismal choir of tortured souls could be heard inside the Barrow as, in the green half-light, the Barrow-wight laid his victim on a stone altar and bound him in chains of gold. He draped him in pale cloth and precious jewellery of the ancient dead, and with a sacrificial sword ended them.
~Taken from the LotR wikia.
Motivation and Decision
When this month's skin contest poll came up and it was clear that the 'Mythological Characters and Beasts' theme would win, I didn't have a clue what I wanted to make...
In desperation, I found a website with a large list of mythological creatures. I thought that I had been saved and started going down the whole list (3088 creatures!). After I had searched through about 1000 creatures I had about 50 ideas I thought could possibly work... I'd had enough of the list and proceeded to sort out the creatures that I didn't really feel like doing in my own little list.
I was left with 8 creatures (Harpy, Baba Yaga, Domovoi, Gremlin, Imp, Chupacabra, Jackalope, Jack O' Lantern, Banshee) that I could make, but not a single one that made me obsessed with the idea of making a skin of it (most important condition).
So, I had to start thinking of other ways to come up with a skin idea... I thought about different things I liked... Cooking, cocktails, hot girls, parties, physics, reading, LotR... Exactly then it dawned on me, I just had to make the skin based on a creature from LotR.
I quickly found a LotR wiki and went through the (surprisingly) short list of Middle-earth beasts. The ones that caught my eye were the Balrogs and the Barrow-wights. I gathered material on both and then went to PMC to look whether any previous skins of these creatures existed. I was dismayed at the hideous Balrog skins, but since I couldn't do anything about it, I proceeded to delete the Balrog from my list.
The Reference Picture
For those that say it's not legit for the contest
"The concept of a burial mound housing evil spirits was not a new one created by Tolkien. The Barrow-wights themselves are based on a similar creature in Germanic Mythology known in Norse as Draugar (the singular being Draugr)."
~Taken from http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Barrow-wights.
Recognition
I spent about 4-5 hours on this skin and would really appreciate to get some views and diamonds! :]
The Barrow-wight is in the top 100 Mythological Creatures Skin Contest submissions! I'd like to give a big thanks to everyone that viewed this skin and gave it a diamond! :D