These books have been a favorite of mine since my mom introduced me and my brothers to them back in the home school days. Since then, I've tried to visualize them countless times.
In 2009, I came across a picture of a Hross drawn by an old acquaintance, Luke Shea. I had recently published a picture of a drawing of a Sorn, and I promptly set out to challenge Luke to a contest to draw a Pfifltrigg. I saw one of his sketches, and drew a finalized one of my own, but somehow I never got around to making it public before I misplaced it and never found it again.
Then, in early 2015, I remembered the old contest, and decided to re-do the Pfifltrigg, only this time... in 3D!!! Since I had just gotten back into sculpting and was pleased with how my recent projects (a tyrannosaurus and an octopus) had turned out, I thought I would give it a try. I decided to sculpt the other two Hnau as well. In the next few months, I also did some sketches of scenes from the book, and even wrote a paper on the language they speak for a linguistics class I was in. Now, you can finally see the finished product!
The Hrossa are the otter-like people who live in the Handramit, the hospitable river valleys of Malacandra. They are fishers and storytellers, with bombastic personalities. They are the first race that the protagonist, Ransom, falls in with and gets to know really well. He lives with them for a while, and eventually joins their village in hunting a Hnakra, an aquatic predator.
Once I decided I wanted to make all three Hnau, I had to pick a definitive design for the Hross. I was able to vaguely picture it in my head, well enough to imagine the story, but had never settled on a way to draw them that I was satisfied with.
Luke's Hross surprised me at first, as I had never imagined it being so curvy. However, as I did my research, I realized that not only did his Hross look awesome, but it was very much in line with Lewis's description! The creatures of Malacandra are often described with attention to their unearthly height. Since Malacandra only has a third the gravity of earth, the creatures grow to unearthly heights. Thus, it only makes sense that an anthropomorphic otter living in a third the gravity of earth would be pretty slender and curvy. Ransom recalls their heads bobbing above his own "like tulips." I decided to use Luke's design as a base for my sculpture, though I still took a bit of creative liberty with it.
The Seroni are the first race Ransom sees after arriving on Malacandra. They are the scientists and philosophers of the planet. They live in caves on the Harandra, the highlands where the atmosphere is thin. They are described as being two or three times as tall as a human, and upon close inspection, one can see that they are covered in feathers.
This model is about 15 inches tall. I was dubious about whether it could stand up on its own, but its wire skeleton has held it up pretty well!
Initially,
their semi-humanoid look ("Ghouls on stilts") is even more terrifying
than any of the Wellsian alien nightmares that Ransom's imagination has come up
with. However, he later befriends one and finds that their intentions,
and their appearance, are not so sinister as he initially thinks.
I
tried to reflect this in its design, giving it a face that would look
ghoulish at first impression, but could also appear wise or even
comical.
They have seven-fingered hands. I chose to make two of those fingers into thumbs (Even though the book uses the word "fanning," which to me implies that most of the fingers are set in a row). At first, I thought I might give it xenomorph-style hands, with a thumb set on either side of the fingers. Instead, I set the thumbs on the same side, something I haven't seen done before, and which I think is a little bit more unnerving. As innocent as the Seroni may be, I think it's good to maintain some small measure of the irreconcilably alien about them.
The Pfifltriggi are the artists and inventors of Malacandra. They live in expansive "jungles" where Malacandra's oceans used to be. They are the most unearthly looking of the three Hnau, and for this reason, Ransom reflect that he is glad that there are not the first Malacandrians he meets.
The Pfifltriggi are described as having a thin, pointed nose, and at other times, a tapir-like snout. Their arms rest on a sort of "psuedo-foot" at the elbow, helping them to steady their hands while they work. Now that I've sculpted it, I realize that I've made the forearms so much longer than the upper arms that the Pfifltrigg would have trouble scratching its head. This is a source of irritation to me, as it probably would be to them. Maybe they can put their long legs to use?
Speaking of the legs, Lewis never describes them as being particularly long, as he does with the arms. He simply say that the body is "unmistakably that of a frog," and that the creature is able to leap incredible distances. Of course, leaping incredible distances on Mars doesn't require exceptionally long legs (as John Carter proved), and Lewis never mentions long legs, despite mentioning long arms. However, I wanted the Pfifltrigg's appearance to be in keeping with the vertical "El Greco on crack" vibe of the other Malacandrians, so I gave it long legs and a high, arched back. I suppose I wanted to give it a cricket vibe, since Ransom keeps mentioning how it's reminiscent of an insect. Besides, it's possible that Ransom doesn't mention the creature being particularly tall only because he is used to everything being tall by the time he meets one.
Besides, even if the Pfifltriggi aren't meant to be this tall, I think they would approve of being depicted in this way. When ransom meets one, it carves a portrait of him that turns out to be an exaggerated caricature, nearly as wide as it is tall. The sculptor explains that future generations would not believe how short and squat a human was, but might be willing to believe it halfway. Thus, if you depict something with exaggerated features, people will end up with a somewhat accurate mental image.
While I like how this one turned out, I must say I also really like this artist's interpretation.
The Pfifltriggi are the most alien in appearance, and even lay eggs, yet I find them to be the most human of the three. They are the only race on the planet that wears clothes, and are the only ones that can make any sense of the practice of smoking, when Devine tries to teach it to them. It's said that their sense of humor "excels in abuse." The fact that they can understand practices that would be considered vices back on Earth, even when vice is not even a concept on their planet, makes them somehow endearing. Kind of like a sweet old lady that swears like a sailor, or a toddler that loves playing with empty beer bottles. The idea that a being can have a playful and mischievous personality, while being totally innocent, echoes Lewis's depiction of Heaven at the end of "The Last Battle," and is one that I find really compelling.
Here is my sculpture of one of the Eldila, the angelic beings that govern the Hnau. Their form is barely perceptible in our dimension.
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| actual size |
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| revised sizes |
If I were to do this project over again, I would actually make the size difference between the races even more extreme! The Seroni are big enough to carry humans on their shoulders, while the Hrossa are either 8 or 10 feet tall ( I can't remember. I think the Black Hrossa Ransom lives with are 8 feet, while the Crested Hrossa are 10 feet). The Pfifltriggi are described as smaller than a human, but my model would be almost as tall as the Sorn if it stretched out! But I'm not such a perfectionist to do it over again, unless I decide to turn them into stop-motion puppets in the future...
I was touched by this philosophy. It reminds me to be grateful for all the good I've been given. When a fictional martian otter says things that stick with you, you know you've found an imaginary world worth remembering.
These beings are so imaginative. It was hard to visualize them while reading the novel (the landscape was even more difficult). But you've done an excellent job with these models. This is how I will picture them next time I read the book.
ReplyDeleteWhy thank you!
DeleteVery neat. Glad you did this.
ReplyDeleteAmazing job, Dave. I always thought what a treat it would be to see a graphic novel or movie version of this book but upon multiple times reading it. However, its descriptions are barely conceived in my imagination and often different from the last interpretation. If you ever get around to making a Hnakra... it would be well within your talents. Cheers!
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