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PART II: DIES IRAE
Another curious thing ... What I didn't know in 1982 (or rather had forgotten reading in The Holy Sword by Robert Payne), and which Tolkien may or may not have known, is that there were Islamic "Black Riders" in 8th Century Persia (Iran). They were the followers of the rebel leader Abu Muslim, who put a bloody end to the corrupt empire of the Umayyads in 747. "They flew the black banners of the Abbasids and wore black clothes, and saluted the banners known as 'the Cloud' and 'the Shadow.' The symbolism was deliberate: like clouds and shadows the armies of the Abbasids would pour out of Persia onto the plains of Iraq, and so to the coasts of Syria." (Payne, 1965, p. 165) All of which was repeated by ISIS - in slightly different order - in 2014. However, when I drew the Black Riders (from the first movie version of Lord of the Rings shown on TV) I didn't think of them as specifically representing either Palestinians or Israelis, neither Muslims, Jews nor Christians, but only the Spirit of War, which embraces all of these "Sons of the Book" with equal passion. |
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CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE AND STEP THROUGH THE DRAWINGS |
