Guest of Honour: Lord of the Rings conceptual illustrator, John Howe In April 2005, we were honoured to have Lord of the Rings visionary illustrator, John Howe come for a visit. His personality was as delightful as his works. For more, please visit our events page. Weapons of the Nazgûl These Kingly blades were not maintained over the centuries, and though they appear rusty and pitted, their fine craftsmanship meant that they were still formidable weapons, even in their dilapidated state. The fact that these swords were wielded by creatures born of the dark lord may have imbued them with a destructive power seen nowhere else. (Two United Cutlery broadswords, and the 'to-scale' Kropserkel Morgul-knife). Accreditation to the Weapons and Warfare book by Chris Smith. The Morgul-knife or Morgul Blade Flesh biting blade: A hand forged, annealed and tempered 5160 spring steel representation of the fearful blade that inflicts a mortal wound, without the chance of survival. Aside from what remains of it on Weathertop, this blade can't be found anywhere else. Interest? Contact us here. The Witch King arm armor /

armour (arm harness assembly)



ROTK WitchKing arm armour assembly (pauldrons with a haute-piece to protect the neck from a side-ways attack, rerebrace, spiked spur like couter, and vambrace that features curved ridges that twist and flow into the ridges on the gauntlets). This assembly has a dragon's wing theme and covers the cuff section of the WitchKing gauntlets that are worn beneath. This fully articulated armour set is incredibly intricate, and is as menacing as it is beautiful ("beautifully elegant and intimidating" as described in the Weapons and Warfare book.)

Nazgûl COSTUME exploits

(left) The Kropserkel Nazgûl costume on guard at The Royal Ontario Museum's Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers exhibit (2001). (Below left) On set for a commercial for The Gathering of the Fellowship. "You wouldn't have change for a Shire penny would you? My steed isn't fond of concrete and my Fell Beast is in the shop." (below middle) The Nazgûl costume prior to it's first horseback appearance in the LOTR themed Medieval Times show in December 2003. ( below right ) Forced perspective: Be thankful that you don't wake up to a view like this.

Our earliest incarnation of the costume in 2001 is pictured below in a photo test at a local park. In addition to park enjoying pedestrians and cyclists, we actually noticed animals and insects fleeing our photo session zone. We are considering marketing a bug repellant based on this system later this year. If any of the images look familiar to you, it's because they've graced a great many product promotional materials as 'authentic' pictures of the original costumes used in production, not so, but we thank those for the guised compliment in the mistake.



WK Battle Arms with Gauntlets The WK battle arms (Pauldrons, rerebraces, couters, vambraces, and harness system) are shown here with the WK gauntlet set. WIthout the cloaks to conceal the details, you get an idea of what this armour set looks like on it's own. The leg armour attaches to a wide belt with garters for the cuisses. This holds the assembly up. Metal leg harnesses: "The Levis of Mordor" Witch King and Nazgûl versions Imagine what a symphony of metal would sound like. Hearing the approach of this full leg armour is as intimidating to hear as it is to see. Matching the gothic style of the gauntlets, this armour is formed in 16 gauge steel and is an intricate assembly of perfectly fitting laminations and components; feet (sabatons), shins (greaves), knees and upper thighs (cuisses). Shown above is the Witch King version of the legs. There are notable differences between the Witch King and Nazgûl versions of the leg armour; The Witch King's armour has a different knee fan or wing that splays on the outside of each leg, and a pointed and smooth sabaton (foot).

These details are depicted in the images below.



A comparative image with the Nazgûl (left) and the Witch King version leg armour (right).







What are all the fashionable wraiths wearing for footwear? How about some sporty looking, segmented and articulated metal sabatons, something you won't likely see in the Nike lineup this year. These are the standard Nazgûl version of the sabatons, with a carrion or reptilian like representation. Notice how the gothic theme is translated to the adjoining greave (ankle and shin armour). We haven't been asked if we want our shoes shined lately, at least not by someone who had a recent tetanus shot. A client requested a custom designed pair of wraith sabatons that feature talon like toes and a twin pronged spur. For more custom armour in this style, please check out our conceptual Nazgûl armour page here.

The Nazgûl version of the leg armour features a larger, splayed like platform from the knee cop (below).

The Witch King version of the leg armour features an ornate fan like platform from the knee cop (left).

The Cuisse and poleyn assembly permit a very decent range of motion (right). (left) Security gave me some difficulty at this event and it didn't take much persuading to show him who was truly in charge. Weathered upper leg armour showing all the points of articulation with a multitude of lames both above and below the knee. Longing for more armour? Check out our full conceptual Nazgûl Armour page here.

DUE CREDIT THE ORIGINAL TALENTS: Director Peter Jackson's vision realized by the talents of Richard Taylor / Tania Rodger of New Zealand's WETA workshop crew, and costume designer Ngila Dickson have collaborated in what has developed into an incredibly memorable group of villains for what is already an epic picture of grandiose proportions. We are so thankful that these people put all the effort they did into this incredible film. I knew at first sight that we'd have to pay tribute to these geniuses and commenced right away at fabricating as accurate a hero wraith costume we could muster for the collection. Despite what one would think about a costume based on dark flowing robes, this bit of wardrobe is much more than meets the eye in so many ways. Dickson was given the task of creating something evil literally of nothing and she's right to be proud of the end result. The intricate culmination of Dickson's multi-layered flowing wardrobe and WETA's armourers' realization of conceptual artist John Howe's design makes for an incredibly creepy and beautiful outfit. OUR REPLICA CONSTRUCTION: After an astonishing amount of study on every aspect of this costume from photographic references and visits to the touring exhibits, we managed to come up with an outfit we're finally quite pleased with. I hazard a guess at around 500 hours and counting were invested in this project. Here are some of the specifications of our version of the costume: Approximately 30 meters of material were assembled to pull this off. I'm 6'9" in this outfit as the hood is completely empty and I am covered by a one way black textile. Anyone looking into the hood will be horrified to see that there is nothing in there but pure, empty evil. The material is artificially distressed and frayed to look aged and well used. Naturally, the more it gets used, the better it looks. SFX: Initially, I went through the process of trying to emulate the horrific screeching sounds by way of hawk & loon calls from the naturalist society. Later I was introduced to an animal from New Zealand that I was convinced the Riders sounds were based on, an Elk bugle (click to hear the sound courtesy of Clive & Trich Seddon at Wildlife Sculptures) . I couldn't help but feel that it would be terrible to be camping in New Zealand and to hear these sounds in the wild. After reviewing the behind the scenes content on the extended DVDs, I was thrilled to hear that the mystery of the wraith screeches was revealed. Talented Producer/Screenwriter Fran Walsh provided the raw screeches while she had a horse throat with Peter's direction. The sound engineers manipulated her screams with synthesized effects and she is now immortalized in our nightmares for all time. In my opinion they couldn't have given a more horrific sound to these characters. I have since implemented an electronic sound sampling device that delivers sound from a shoulder mounted amplifier and speaker system when triggered by a switch. Scott Maple