The ring of truth Richard Taylor is no mere backroom boy - he's the driving force behind the physicality of Middle-earth; the Hobbits are central to the story and its spirit; Hugo Weaving is Elrond, the elf lord who wanted the Ring destroyed; Barrie M. Osborne is the midwife producer: making The Lord of the Rings required more reality than fantasy and the making of Middle-Earth artefacts, not mere props, they tell Andrew L. Urban. [More]