Re: legolas fighting knives
Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:33 am
Hi guys,
This is far from being a new issue, as the Knives of Legolas are now at least a four-year old product, by my count, if not older. The subject of the coloured handles was discussed quite a few times on these forums back when the Knives were released, but unfortunately the threads don't seem to be around anymore, and the search engine is bugging out.
I will try to summarize it for you: the Knives of Legolas, as seen throughout most of the three movies, and in the LOTR Weapons and Warfare book by Chris Smith, do indeed appear to have white wooden handles. However, when UC received the WETA prop for design and production, they got a pair of knives that had the orangey (caramel) coloured handles. This was an e xp lanation that was offered to us by a representative of UC right here on these forums, though I can't remember for sure if it was Kit Rae or one of the others. Part of the e xp lanation also made mention of the fact the handles only appear white in the movies due to the lighting used during the shooting of certain scenes, and that in some other scenes, the handles appear much darker. Having watched the movies looking for this detail, I can confirm only that the handles do seem to shift in colour somewhat, but whether this is an effect of the lighting in the scenes or a different prop being used from scene to scene, is too difficult to say.
The problem comes, as you guys noticed, with the box art, which shows the white coloured handles. Apparently UC's marketing department created the artwork for the box from photos of the white knives before they even realized that the prop they were going to be working from had caramel handles. So there you have it: the box art was a mistake, and UC's claim is that due to lighting, the actual prop was darker in colour and only appears lighter in the movies. WETA issued them a movie prop with dark-coloured handles, and that is what they reproduced for sale to us.
Of course, as often happens with these things and when rabid fans are involved, conspiracy theories arose that the white handle knives really do exist and that UC chose to go with a darker colour for some unknown reason, or that several props of differing colours were used in filming, and that WETA sent the dark ones to UC, rather than the white ones. This is probably closer to the truth ( though only conjecture on my part,) since it was well known that many of the props used in the movies, especially the weapons, had different versions, some using different materials. Quite possibly WETA did make different coloured versions of the Knives of Legolas, but it is the white handles that we see most in the movies. Due to some oversight or possibly because the white-handled knives were no longer around, the caramel handle prop was sent to UC, and thus that is what they gave us.
That's all about that came out of it, and UC declined to comment any further. I think that in the intervening years, most collectors of this item have accepted the fact that we have caramel handles instead of white, and have learned to live with it. I know I have, and once I got over it, it's one of my show pieces that I love the most, despite any colour issues.
Hope that clears it up somewhat for you guys.
This is far from being a new issue, as the Knives of Legolas are now at least a four-year old product, by my count, if not older. The subject of the coloured handles was discussed quite a few times on these forums back when the Knives were released, but unfortunately the threads don't seem to be around anymore, and the search engine is bugging out.
I will try to summarize it for you: the Knives of Legolas, as seen throughout most of the three movies, and in the LOTR Weapons and Warfare book by Chris Smith, do indeed appear to have white wooden handles. However, when UC received the WETA prop for design and production, they got a pair of knives that had the orangey (caramel) coloured handles. This was an e xp lanation that was offered to us by a representative of UC right here on these forums, though I can't remember for sure if it was Kit Rae or one of the others. Part of the e xp lanation also made mention of the fact the handles only appear white in the movies due to the lighting used during the shooting of certain scenes, and that in some other scenes, the handles appear much darker. Having watched the movies looking for this detail, I can confirm only that the handles do seem to shift in colour somewhat, but whether this is an effect of the lighting in the scenes or a different prop being used from scene to scene, is too difficult to say.
The problem comes, as you guys noticed, with the box art, which shows the white coloured handles. Apparently UC's marketing department created the artwork for the box from photos of the white knives before they even realized that the prop they were going to be working from had caramel handles. So there you have it: the box art was a mistake, and UC's claim is that due to lighting, the actual prop was darker in colour and only appears lighter in the movies. WETA issued them a movie prop with dark-coloured handles, and that is what they reproduced for sale to us.
Of course, as often happens with these things and when rabid fans are involved, conspiracy theories arose that the white handle knives really do exist and that UC chose to go with a darker colour for some unknown reason, or that several props of differing colours were used in filming, and that WETA sent the dark ones to UC, rather than the white ones. This is probably closer to the truth ( though only conjecture on my part,) since it was well known that many of the props used in the movies, especially the weapons, had different versions, some using different materials. Quite possibly WETA did make different coloured versions of the Knives of Legolas, but it is the white handles that we see most in the movies. Due to some oversight or possibly because the white-handled knives were no longer around, the caramel handle prop was sent to UC, and thus that is what they gave us.
That's all about that came out of it, and UC declined to comment any further. I think that in the intervening years, most collectors of this item have accepted the fact that we have caramel handles instead of white, and have learned to live with it. I know I have, and once I got over it, it's one of my show pieces that I love the most, despite any colour issues.
Hope that clears it up somewhat for you guys.