Mistress-Samwise: I believe it is a splendid avatar!
In regards to clarity, everything looks good; there does seem to be some grain around the outline of his face (particularly the shadow over his cheek), as well as in the background, but this grain is slight and difficult to notice. The text is very well done; I like the overlapping (particularly how the colors overlap), but I do think the white "to the" can be hard to pick out at a first glance.
With originality, I love the dual-colored border; I think it's a lot more interesting than a solid black border (or even a solid grey-ish border, as many of my avatars boast). As I mentioned before, the text is also quite original as well...I particularly like the calligraphy (much better than a bland "Times New Roman" or "Century").
Personally, I like the "washed out" feeling of the avatar...this is in reference to the greys, of course. There is a splendid contrast between background and foreground which really exploits this "washed out" quality in the best possible way.
Speaking of the background, that, too, is very well done. Many different shades at work; I like that. And, as aforementioned, the contrast is wonderful.
In all, the avatar looks (as I've said before) splendid. There's really nothing more to be said about that...
Clarity: 8/10
Originality: 8/10
Color: 10/10
Stature: 9/10
Personality: 7/10
Objective (weighted average): 8.4/10
Opinion (subjective): 9/10
Overall: 8.7
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Though I have changed my avatar (it is soon to be a new month, after all), I am still eager to see what people thought of my old Tolkien avatar (attached below), since I didn't get many ratings on it while it was up (part of this is due to my reluctance to post here, so it is my own fault)...
Therefore, I'd much appreciate it if both my current avatar and my Tolkien avatar might be rated by the next poster!