Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop’s Balin and Dwalin Stautes

Undertaking to return to Erebor, the lost kingdom of the Dwarves, where in a Dragon lay waiting, Thorin Oakenshield seeks to gather a Company of able souls of diverse skills and unshakable conviction. As the heir to the stolen throne and upon whose shoulders the future of the line of Durin depends, Thorin Oakenshield feels keenly the threat of failure and what it will bring – a fiery death for himself and the loss of his people’s hope.

To that end, Thorin Oakenshield calls upon those whom he can trust above all others, and in none could his faith be more certain than Dwalin the Dwarf, his cousin and friend. Tall for a Dwarf and a warrior of renown among his kind, Dwalin the Dwarf has fought at Thorin Oakenshield’s side many times and the two spar regularly to hone each others skills. More like a brother than distant kin, Dwalin the Dwarf is loyal to the last hair in his beard and would willingly lay down his own life if it would save Thorin Oakenshield’s.In battle the scarred old warrior wields the mighty axes Ukhlat and Umraz, and a great hammer near as tall as he stands. Upon his arms and scalp are tattoos as angular and hard-edged in design as the Dwarf himself, and upon his brow is knitted a frown etched by years hardship. Yet Dwalin the Dwarf is not cheerless, for Dwarves feel all things deeply. Grudges he bears, but Dwalin the Dwarf also laughs loudest and with all his heart in times of mirth and celebration. No stronger second could Thorin Oakenshield have hoped for in his quest.

When Balin the Dwarf spoke in the great halls of Erebor, the wise would listen. The council of Fundin’s eldest son was much revered among the noble Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain and beyond, for he was clear-sighted, discerning and erudite. Even as a young Dwarf, Balin the Dwarf’s artful word-craft was equal to the jewellery of the finest Dwarven smith. A lord in his own right, Balin the Dwarf was brother of Dwalin, cousin to the King Under the Mountain and friend to Prince Thorin Oakenshield in the days of the Dwarf realm’s grandeur.

While the old Dwarf is long in beard, his gnarled hands have lost little of their strength over the years and his eyes are still as keen as a hawk’s. Upon his hip he wears a wickedly pointed Dwarven mace. Wrought in the smithies of Erebor lost, its edges are as sharp as any sword and its copper-hued faces blaze like fire in the sun.Weta continues the legacy of producing finely crafted, highly detailed 1/6 scale collectible polystone statues from Middle-earth. The essence of each character expertly captured in every piece.Dwalin the Dwarf was sculpted by Greg Tozer and Balin the dwarf by Lindsey Crummett.It takes approximately 400-500 hours to design, sculpt, model-make, mold and paint the prototype for each new character.Sculpted and created by the same artists and craftspeople who work on our movies, Balin and Dwalin join Thorin Oakenshield, Gandalf the Grey and Bilbo Baggins in Weta’s range of 1/6 scale characters from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.