~King Elessar
P.S.Not complete yet,give me some time to rest.
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Three hot new reproductions of swords and knives from New Line Cinema's The Return of the King are now available from United Cutlery,with several other reproductions in the wings for 2004.
At press time, The Return of the King, the final installment in the Lord of the Rings trilogy,was slated to debut at theaters Dec.17.
The trio of new reproductions includes this issue's cover piece, Anduril:Sword of King Elessar; the Fighting Knives of Legolas; and the Elven Knife of Strider.All are based on pieces created for and used in The Return of the King by the New Line Cinema design teamt at the WETA workshop in New Zealand.
Anduril
Of the three new reproduction blades, Kit Rae of United Cutlery (UC) said Anduril promises to be the headliner among Lord of the Rings (LOTR) aficionados.
"This is the most anticipated LOTR sword among collectors from what we've heard, even though Anduril is basically the same sword as Narsil, only with an etched Elvish inscription on the blade," he observed.UC also offers repros of Narsil,a limited edition of the Shards of Narsil, and a miniature Shards of Narsil with statue from the Rivendel scene in The Fellowship of the Ring.
With the only difference between Narsil and Anduril being the blade etch, one might not think the demand for Anduril would be the greater of the two, but Rae said it is."We have more back orders on it than any of the others," he observed.
"The Narsil/Anduril swords are the most popular swords in the UC/LOTR line, second to Sting," Rae continued. "I think this is due to the rich history and meaning behind the sword, in both the books and the films, and John Howe's very elegant design."
Richard Taylor, head of the New Line Cinema design team at WETA workshop, was the art director for all the actual swords used in the movie.The swords were made by Peter Lyon, using traditional sword-making methods, including forged blades.Ben Wooten assisted Howe in the designing of Narsil/Anduril
Inspired by the sword used by Strider in The Return of the King, UC's repro of Anduril will come in a serial-numbered limited edition of 5,000.At press time,Rae said over 2,500 had been pre-ordered.
Fighting Knives of Legolas
The Fighting Knives of Legolas are based on the two pieces carried by Legolas Greenleaf, the Elf chosen to represent his people in The Fellowship of the Ring. An e xp ert archer,Legolas is also a master of Elven Fighting Knives, two of which he carries in sheats on either side of his quiver.
Rae said that the average movie viewer probably isn't aware of Legolas's knives due to the speed and constant motion in which he uses them. LOTR aficionados,however,are.
"If you freeze-frame the action, it's incredible to see what he does with these knives," Rae confided "A large group of collectors really want these knives.They know the scenes intimately in these films"
Daniel Falconer of the WETA workshop designed the actual knives that appear in the movie.Long,sleek affairs, the repros of Legolas's knives are embelished in Elven vine designs on both blade and handles.Rae said UC considered calling the knives short swords due to their extensive overall lenghts-22 3/8 inches each- but the fighting knives appellation won out in the end.
Elven Knife of Strider
UC's reproduction of Strider's Elven Knife came about in part due to the great demand generated for it in the Internet.
"Even though the [the Elven Knife] had only a brief appearance in The Fellowship of the Ring, we had many requests to make it," Rae said. An image of the knife circulated on the Internet helped raised demand even more."Without that demand, we probably wouldn't have made it," Rae noted.
The actual Elven Knife of Strider that appears in the movie was designed by Falconer, who was also responsible for many of the Elven knives in the film, as well as Sting.
The curved Elven Knife was given to Strider by Galadriel, the Elf Queen, in a restored scene from the extended version of The Fellowship of the Ring, which was slated to debut in December just before the release of The Return of the King. The knife proved a valuable asset to Strider in the Battle of Helms Deep and in his encounter with Lurtz, leader of the Uruk-hai. The blade includes an engraving in the Elven language that translates as "Foe of Morgoth's realm," which also appears on UC's reproduction.
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