Hildebrandt died on October 31, aged 85.
As “the Brothers Hildebrandt”, Greg Hildebrandt and his twin Tim were legends of fantasy and science-fiction art. They became famous with their work on the official 1976 J.R.R. Tolkien Calendar, at the time the best-selling calendar ever released, and the warm light of their vision of Middle-earth accompanied many subsequent Tolkien calendars and books. That vision influenced other artists, and their depiction of hobbits having extra-large feet—something not mentioned in the books—became the default even in Peter Jackson’s movies decades later.
The Brothers Hildebrandt were chosen to illustrate Star Wars based on the popularity of their calendar work, hired at the last minute to replace a pre-release poster for the movie’s 1977 release the studio were unhappy with. Given only 36 hours and reference images that did not include stills of Mark Hamill or Carrie Fisher, they nonetheless managed to create an image that continues being used to promote Star Wars today.
Beginning with the Urza’s Destiny expansion in 1999, the Brothers Hildebrandt illustrated over 100 Magic: The Gathering cards, either together or separately, and many of their early Lord of the Rings illustrations were brought back for the Tales of Middle-earth set. On his own Greg was responsible for cards like Aether Vial and Tooth and Nail, and new art of his was still appearing as recently as Ravnica: Clue Edition, released in February of this year.
Tim passed away in 2006 due to diabetes complications, and Greg died on October 31 due to a side effect of heart medication he was taking. His wife Jean broke the news in a Facebook post, writing, “The light has gone out in my life. At 12:36 pm this afternoon the love of my life, my best friend and soulmate passed away. Greg was 85 years young. He was the sweetest man I ever knew. We worked together for 45 years. We lived together for 33 of those years. We had a beautiful life we were blessed. Greg has been fighting for 5 months to regain his ability to breathe after a serious side effect of a heart medication. He fought very hard to win this battle but in the end he was just too weak. He passed away peacefully in my arms. He knew he was safe and he was loved and he will be missed terribly. I cannot imagine my life without him. He was my guy, yesterday, today, tomorrow and forever. You are my heart and it is broken!”
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