"World Leopard Day"
"World Leopard Day"
2022
Leopard (Panthera pardus)
I've always found leopards to be underrated. They may not be the biggest, or the most imposing, but they may be the most elegant, and they certainly are the most adaptable of the big cats.
More Posts from Dartxo
"Éowyn"
2022
"All your words are but to say: you are a woman, and your part is in the house. But when the men have died in battle and honour, you have leave to be burned in the house, for the men will need it no more. But I am of the House of Eorl, and not a serving-woman. I can ride and wield blade, and I do not fear either pain or death."
-"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King", by J.R.R. Tolkien
"Antarctic Terror"
2022
Southern Giant Petrel (Macronectes giganteus)
A very bloody Giant Petrel. One of the most intimidating birds in the world, I think.
"Orangutan"
2022
Bornean Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus)
"Treebeard"
2022
They found that they were looking at a most extraordinary face.
-"The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers", by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Ents are probably the most delightful of Tolkien's creations, and of all of Middle-earth's creatures, the ones I wish were real the most. The wild spaces of this Earth could use with guardians as committed, wise, and formidable as they.
"Battle of the Maiar"
2022
"Long time I fell. Long I fell, and he fell with me."
-"The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers", by J.R.R. Tolkien
Without question or doubt, my favorite scene in The Two Towers is the opening: the flashback to Gandalf's fall at the Bridge of Khazad-dûm, his plunge beyond the furthest depths of the mines of the dwarves and into the very foundations of the earth, all whilst locked in a fierce battle to the death with the Balrog of Morgoth.
I challenge anyone who has read the novel if they say they imagined something near as grand and epic as the duel we saw on the screen. Everything about this sequence is perfect: from the way Gandalf grabs his sword in midair, to the way the chasm lights up as he catches up to the Balrog, giving the impression as if he were falling into a fiery hell; the phenomenal chorus, the enormous underground lake that opens up at the end of their fall that makes the Balrog appear like a little speck of fire in the darkness.
It's a great clash of powers at the heart of the Earth itself, a battle worthy of the legends of the Elder Days. And as far as I'm concerned, the greatest, most epic duel ever put to screen.