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The final image in my Beowulf series entitled The End of a Legend. This one depicts the final battle between Beowulf and the dragon. Unlike his previous battles this one takes place years later after Beowulf is made king. A dragon begins to terrify Beowulf's land setting fire to all he sees. Beowulf with a group of thanes then faces off against the dragon. When the battle begins all of Beowulf's men except for Wiglaf abandon him. At the end of the fight Beowulf and the dragon both lie dead and Wiglaf sees to him. Wiglaf being Beowulf's only relative becomes the next king.

To contrast with my other pieces I wanted this one to depict the end of the battle, the aftermath of the carnage. I thought a nice way to show this was through the use of an above view so we could see the crows looking down upon the feast before them. I thought this quite appropriate as crows are very symbolic of death.

With the design of the dragon I wanted to keep with the same mammalian and aquatic fusion that Grendel and his mother had. I decided to give him a mane down his whole neck. I figured that any creature who lives in such a cold environment would need to have some form of warmth. He has the similar fin nature to his ear that Grendel and his mother does, but the main aquatic feature I gave him was to base his design off an eel.

I was really proud of how this piece turned out, I hope all of you enjoy it as well.


PART 1 [link] PART 2 [link]

© J. Edwin Stevens/level20artist
DO NOT USE

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Submitted on
July 2, 2010
Image Size
273 KB
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558×800
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6,659 (1 today)
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:iconakitku:
*akitku Jan 16, 2012  Hobbyist Traditional Artist
Amazing! Its absolutley epic.
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:iconlevel20artist:
~Level20Artist Feb 28, 2012  Professional Digital Artist
Thank you so very much.
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:iconautomnal-glimpse:
~automnal-glimpse Aug 3, 2011  Hobbyist General Artist
Wooah, this is really epic ! *O*
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:iconlevel20artist:
~Level20Artist Aug 5, 2011  Professional Digital Artist
Thank you so much. I always like it when my stuff can look epic. =)
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:iconautomnal-glimpse:
~automnal-glimpse Aug 5, 2011  Hobbyist General Artist
You're very welcome :D
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:iconulurnaga:
Not familiar with the story behind this, but the picture and the title itself is so...powerful! Really, really AMAZING work!!
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:iconlevel20artist:
~Level20Artist May 16, 2011  Professional Digital Artist
Thank you so very much. Yeah this is just the ending of the legend of Beowulf. The end of the final battle. Could classical fantasy.

But I am so glad you like it again thanks so much.
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:iconhrwilliams:
Man, I totally missed the dragon the first time I saw this. The whole story's here! Too awesome.
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:iconlevel20artist:
~Level20Artist Mar 2, 2011  Professional Digital Artist
HAHA yeah I have stared at it so long that all I see is the dragon. But thank you so much I am so glad you like it.
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