# Gandalf the White illustration provenance Last updated: 2026-08-30 ## Disclosure The artwork in this folder supports an unofficial, personal, non-commercial fan project. The illustrations are interpretive fan artwork and are not official Tolkien artwork or film stills. `journey-04.webp` through `journey-18.webp` were created with Codex's built-in OpenAI image-generation capability on 2026-08-30. The outputs were converted locally from PNG to WebP with FFmpeg (`libwebp`, quality 82, compression level 6) for responsive website delivery. ## Preserved opening artwork The three opening files were already present and were explicitly approved for continued use. They were used as visual references only and were left byte-for-byte unchanged. Their earlier creation details were not reconstructed. | File | Scene | SHA-256 | | --- | --- | --- | | `scene-01.png` | Awakening on Zirakzigil | `476fed5649af2a648bab323d457e477bc8a739e8110c8eb4ebf2bc721f10abd4` | | `scene-02.png` | Gwaihir Bears Him South | `475c1787dc292dc4b10137a3019c96e9a9e4623a206bebd0556e1074acd7c4b8` | | `scene-03.png` | Clothed in White | `ccc57dafd82eee466a74d74ae5dd478d9b89d428a65d9fd19c3e4141dd635bf7` | ## Reference-image roles For every new scene, the three preserved images were supplied only as style and recurring-character references: - Image 1 established Gandalf's weathered face, natural hair and beard, tactile materials, and cool mountain atmosphere. - Image 2 established Gwaihir, the cinematic scale, and the grounded photorealistic treatment. - Image 3 established Gandalf's white clothing, pale staff, warm light, and renewed appearance. The prompts explicitly prohibited copying their compositions or recreating film stills and requested original character designs without identifiable actor likenesses. ## Shared generation prompt The following shared prompt preceded each scene-specific request: > Use case: illustration-story. Asset type: curated journey scene for a parchment-themed interactive atlas. Input images: Images 1–3 are style and recurring-character references only; do not copy their compositions. Preserve the same weathered elderly Gandalf face, long natural white hair and beard, grounded proportions, tactile fabric detail, atmospheric light, and cinematic photorealistic storybook realism. Gandalf wears layered, travel-worn ivory-white robes and carries the same pale leaf-tipped staff. Keep all character designs original and do not resemble identifiable actors. Composition/framing: wide landscape 16:10, strong readable story beat, suitable for a responsive website panel. Style/medium: cinematic photorealistic fantasy illustration with natural faces, richly textured cloth and environments, and a restrained painterly or historical color grade. Constraints: no text, letters, runes, logos, borders, frames, collage, watermark, modern objects, film-still recreation, or gore. ## Scene-specific prompts ### `journey-04.webp` — The Windlord's Errand > Gwaihir, the immense noble brown eagle from Image 2, bears Gandalf the White south from golden Lothlórien toward ancient Fangorn. Show Gandalf alert and restored upon the eagle's back, one hand steadying his pale staff, with the golden wood receding behind and the vast dark-green forest ahead. Late-afternoon light breaks through storm clouds; the journey feels swift, purposeful, and newly hopeful. Do not add other people or eagles. ### `journey-05.webp` — The Contest at Amon Hen > In the shadowed depths of Fangorn, Gandalf the White stands utterly still upon a mossy rise, gripping his staff as he wages a silent contest of will across a great distance. A narrow shaft of white light surrounds him; far beyond the trees and mountains, suggest the menace of Sauron only through a vast red-black storm front and a searching beam in the clouds—no literal giant eye and no laser duel. The mood is inward, tense, spiritual, and restrained. Gandalf is the only visible person. ### `journey-06.webp` — The Forest Reunion > Beneath colossal ancient trees in Fangorn, Gandalf the White reveals himself to three astonished companions: an original dark-haired weathered ranger in practical travel leathers, a fair-haired woodland elf with a bow, and a broad bearded dwarf with an axe. Gandalf stands in a clear shaft of white sunlight with a gentle, knowing expression; the companions' grief changes into recognition and wonder. Full figures, natural spacing, forest mist and moss, intimate rather than theatrical. Exactly four people. ### `journey-07.webp` — The King Stands Again > Inside the timbered golden hall of Meduseld, Gandalf the White stands before an original elderly king of Rohan who is rising from a carved wooden throne and straightening with renewed courage. The king has long white-gold hair, a short beard, a weathered face, and simple dark red and green royal garments; an old sword is being returned to his hand. A pale, sinister counselor retreats into shadow at the side. Warm daylight pours through the doors and lifts the gloom. Focus on healing, dignity, and a kingdom awakening; no magical beams and no copied film composition. ### `journey-08.webp` — Riders in the Night > Gandalf the White rides the great silver-white horse Shadowfax at speed across moonlit grasslands near the Fords of Isen, his robes and beard streaming in the wind. Ahead and behind, a small band of scattered Rohirrim riders with practical horsehair-crested helmets and weathered green-brown gear rally to him from the darkness. Distant signal fires and broken spears mark a recent battle. Cold blue moonlight, urgent motion, low wide viewpoint, exact horse anatomy, no banners with writing. ### `journey-09.webp` — Dawn at the Hornburg > At first light above Helm's Deep, Gandalf the White on Shadowfax appears on a high western ridge beside an original gray-haired commander and a massed line of weary Rohirrim foot soldiers. Golden sunrise silhouettes them as they begin the downhill charge toward a dark enemy army below; the ancient stone fortress and valley fill the distance. Gandalf is the luminous focal figure but remains natural and human-scaled. Grand, hopeful, historically grounded battle tableau; no gore, no identifiable actors, no copied film shot. The first result gave the Hornburg an incorrect tiered-city form. The accepted version used this corrective edit: > Change only the incorrect fortress and its immediate geography in the background. Replace the tall, multi-tiered white city with the Hornburg at Helm's Deep: a low, weathered gray-stone stronghold tucked against sheer dark mountain cliffs, with one squat keep and horn tower, a long defensive Deeping Wall crossing the narrow valley, and the Deeping-coomb behind it. Preserve Gandalf, Shadowfax, the gray-haired commander, all soldiers, the dawn light, camera angle, composition, color grade, and every foreground detail exactly. Keep the enemy host in the valley below. No high white city, stacked circular tiers, or Minas Tirith. ### `journey-10.webp` — The Voice of Saruman > At the flooded circle of Isengard, Gandalf the White sits calmly on Shadowfax before the black stone tower of Orthanc. High on a low balcony stands Saruman: an original proud elderly wizard with long white hair and beard, wearing an iridescent robe whose muted colors shift in the light. Saruman's dark wooden staff has just snapped cleanly in two in his hands as Gandalf raises one open hand in judgment. A few witnesses stand at a respectful distance below. Somber overcast daylight, moral authority rather than explosive magic; exactly two wizards. ### `journey-11.webp` — The Palantír > At a cold night camp on the stony hill of Dol Baran, a small young Hobbit with curly chestnut hair kneels before a perfectly round black seeing-stone that glows from within with a deep red ember-like light. Gandalf the White has just reached him and pulls him protectively back from the orb, his face alarmed but controlled, pale staff lying nearby. Shadowfax waits beyond the small fire. The darkness around the stone feels watchful and immense; intimate composition, firelight and cold moonlight, no visible giant eye, no other people. ### `journey-12.webp` — A Race to Gondor > Gandalf the White rides the great silver-white Shadowfax at full gallop along the road through Anórien before dawn, with a small curly-haired Hobbit passenger held safely before him. A chain of beacon fires burns across successive mountain peaks behind them. Far ahead, the seven concentric stone levels of Minas Tirith rise against Mount Mindolluin beneath a gathering black sky. Show urgent speed, streaming white robes, sparks and wind, accurate horse anatomy, cool predawn blues against warm beacon fire; exactly two riders on one horse. ### `journey-13.webp` — The Dawnless Day > Beneath an unnatural black midday sky on the Pelennor, Gandalf the White gallops outward from Minas Tirith on Shadowfax and raises his pale staff, casting a clean white radiance that drives three distant winged Nazgûl upward. An original dark-haired young captain of Gondor and his exhausted mounted rangers retreat toward him across the field. The seven-tiered stone city and Mount Mindolluin stand behind Gandalf. Ash drifts like snow; the white light is protective, not explosive. Show hope entering dread, accurate horses, no giant eye. ### `journey-14.webp` — The Retreat from Osgiliath > On the ruined road between Osgiliath and Minas Tirith, Gandalf the White rides Shadowfax directly toward a battered rearguard of Gondorian soldiers withdrawing from burning river ruins. High overhead, huge shadowy winged creatures circle through smoke, causing horses and soldiers to falter; Gandalf's raised staff makes a quiet pool of white light in which they regain courage. Broken stone arches and the river city behind, defensive walls far ahead. Urgent, compassionate, windswept; make the fleeing soldiers the human focus, no giant eye. An unsupported civilian figure in the first result was replaced with this corrective edit: > Change only the unsupported civilian woman in the immediate foreground. Replace her with an exhausted but unwounded male Gondorian infantryman in the same practical dark plate-and-mail armor and cloak as the surrounding soldiers, stumbling forward while a fellow soldier supports him by the shoulder. Preserve Gandalf, Shadowfax, every other soldier, the winged threats, ruined Osgiliath, distant city walls, smoke, lighting, camera angle, composition, and color grade exactly. ### `journey-15.webp` — The White Wizard at the Gate > Inside the shattered Great Gate of Minas Tirith before dawn, Gandalf the White sits alone on steady Shadowfax amid fallen stones, facing the Lord of the Nazgûl beneath the broken arch. The enemy is an original towering spectral figure in ancient black armor and ragged robes, wearing a narrow iron crown above a void-like face and riding a massive black horse. Gandalf is calm, small, and unyielding, staff upright. Far beyond the gate, the first pale rim of sunrise appears and distant horns are implied by mounted silhouettes on the horizon. A rooster stands on a broken wall in the upper distance. Tense stillness rather than combat; no copied film composition. ### `journey-16.webp` — Fire in Rath Dínen > Inside the ancient stone House of Stewards by torchlight, Gandalf the White urgently lifts an unconscious but living young dark-haired Gondorian captain away from an unlit funeral bier while a very small curly-haired Hobbit and a loyal armored guard help. At the far end, an original elderly Steward in black robes stands apart in despair near a small brazier, clutching a dark round seeing-stone; firelight is beginning to flare behind him but no person is burning. White stone tombs, heavy shadows, smoke and orange light. Compassion and tragedy, exactly four living people, non-graphic. ### `journey-17.webp` — The Last Debate > On a battered stone terrace above the Pelennor after the battle, Gandalf the White speaks at the center of a small council of original captains: a dark-haired ranger-king in plain repaired armor, a young horse-lord in green, and a silver-haired prince in dark blue. Gandalf points east toward a distant ash-black mountain range and the faint outline of the Black Gate. Below the terrace, the modest Host of the West gathers for departure among tents and repaired banners. Clear cold morning after storm, sober resolve rather than victory; no maps or written symbols. ### `journey-18.webp` — Before the Black Gate > At the climax before the colossal black iron gates of the Morannon, Gandalf the White stands with his pale staff among the small encircled Host of the West on a broken slag hill. Beside him are the original dark-haired ranger-king and weary captains; all face outward as immense shadow armies close from every side. Above, several great brown Eagles led by Gwaihir dive through tearing storm clouds. In the far distance beyond the armies, Mount Doom erupts and the darkness begins to break with one shaft of dawn. Gandalf is hopeful but exhausted, human-scaled; epic wide tableau, no giant eye, no gore. ## Narrative chronology Scene dates and the route outline were cross-checked against the chronology for Third Age 3019 and the events summarized from Appendix B of *The Lord of the Rings*. The atlas prose is original summary writing rather than quoted source text.