“Then at last his gaze was held: wall upon wall, battlement upon battlement, black tower of adamant, he saw it: Barad-Dûr, Fortress of Sauron. All hope left him.”
—The Fellowship of the Ring
How do you follow-up one of the coolest environments you’ve ever produced? Well, you go ahead and produce one of the next most coolest environments of course! Shortly after Comic-Con 2011 senior model maker David Tremont began the momentous task of transforming the original model of Barad-Dûr for The Lord of the Rings into a collectible we could all own. Finally, after a year of slaving, fans of Middle-earth got to see the result at Comic-Con 2012 when Barad-Dûr was unveiled to the world.
Sauron began work on Barad-Dûr during Middle-earth’s Second Age, when he chose Mordor as the place his dominion over Middle-earth would begin. Barad-Dûr was finished in the year 1600 of the Second Age and during that period Sauron would go on to create The One Ring, which would only help to make the fortress even stronger. During the War of the Last Alliance fortress was destroyed with the exception of the foundations as they could not be destroyed as long as The Ring was around. In 2951 of the Third Age Barad-Dûr’s reconstruction was started, but it would not last when Gollum fell into the lava of Mt. Doom destroying the Ring and the fortress.
PACKAGING
The graphics on the front of the box for Barad-Dûr have kept virtually the same design we’ve seen with previous environments from Weta. On the front of the box a screencap of Mordor with an image of Barad-Dûr completes the scene. Of course, you also have the beautiful The Lord of the Rings logo in the upper right-hand corner with the name of the environment under the picture of Barad-Dûr. One side of the box contains images of Barad-Dûr while the other side features images of other Weta Workshop products. The back of the box contains a great picture of the environment along with a background story about the collectible.
SCULPTING
Over 1,500 hours were put into Barad-Dûr to ensure the collectible on your shelf matches what you saw during The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I believe fans, once they have a chance to see the detail in this piece, will agree all of those hours paid off in spades. David Tremont and his team made very sure every window, spike, tower, ledge, bridge, and rock is included on this piece. Gazing upon this collectible, you can almost imagine Sauron or any number of his minions looking out upon Mordor from any of the many ledges and balconies. It truly is a great representation of the model we saw on film. What’s even more amazing is because of the material used it allowed these details to be captured and safely arrive to our homes. Rivendell had its beautiful river running through it and Barad-Dûr has something similar with its lava river flowing from Mt. Doom into the cavern surrounding the fortress. Even the rock areas of Barad-Dûr are exceptionally realized with the plains of Gorgoth looking like a place you don’t ever want to visit. Like Rivendell, this collectible is an achievement for Weta in showing off the amazing talent of their artists.
PAINT
The paintwork on Barad-Dûr is fairly simple compared to say Rivendell, and much more in-line with that of Orthanc. It’s all black and the shading for the different levels in different places are all really well done. The color of the tower does not match the color of the rock within the piece. That was going to be the toughest part of the paint I think and they were able to create the proper level of separation. The lava looks really good and stands out like lava would with an all-black world of Mordor.
Overall
Barad-Dûr costs $700 but the level of detail you get and the size of this piece allows you to truly get value for money. This piece is a limited edition piece with only 1,000 of the fortress being produced. Barad-Dûr does not come with a flaming eye but if that is a potential issue for you all you have to do is download the iPhone or iPad app. Then you will have the eye of Sauron. Finally, I cannot implore you enough if you are a The Lord of the Rings collector to find a way to get this piece into your collection.
Also, if you’re truly interested in what it took to bring this collectible to life check out the three articles by David Tremont. In these articles he explains the ups and downs of making sure we got one of the best environments ever created.
Article One
Article Two
Article Three
SPECIFICATIONS
Barad-Dûr is limited to 1000 pieces world-wide.
Barad-Dûr’s specs are as followed: 20.9″ x 18.1″ x 12.2″ (H x W x D)
53 cm x 46 cm x 31 cm Weight: 22 lbs
PHOTOS
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Christmas brings to mind the timeless, poignant image of a mother cradling her newborn child.
At this rather apt time of year then, TORn’s music geeks are pleased to bring you an exclusive interview with Hilary Summers.
An alto hailing from Wales, UK, Hilary recorded “Gilraen’s Song” that plays over the scene where Aragorn kneels in reverence before his mother Gilraen’s memorial in Rivendell, and whose lyrics hark back to the words once spoken by Gilraen herself.
Little boy, little one, night is falling, come into my arms, let me hold you safe.
But still you run through the twilight, lost in your play, slaying demons in the shadows.
Little boy, little one, full of grace, full of joy, oh, my heart will break,
For I see it in your eyes… you are your father’s son, not your mother’s child.
Join us in this exclusive interview as we talk to Hilary about her experience recording the song for The Lord of the Rings.
Continue reading “TORn Christmas Exclusive: Interview With Hilary Summers”
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Today marks the final contest in the ‘contest extravaganza’ brought to us by our friends at The Noble Collection. The final collectible giveaway is a sterling silver version of The One Ring from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. The ring has been laser inscribed with the elvish writing that only fire can tell. The ring comes in a beautiful wooden box and sports a 20″ chain that will allow you to show it off as a proud fan of Middle-earth. You can grab this ring now from The Noble Collection for a stellar price of only $129, or you can enter the contest and try your luck. This final contest starts today and will run through December 28th at midnight PST.
To enter, simply fill out this FORM.
NB: One entry per person per email for this contest. Alas entry is for US residents only. Good luck!
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It is widely known that the novel called The Hobbit is supposed to be the journal, or autobiography of Bilbo Baggins, and his recollections of his adventures with Gandalf and the Company of Dwarves. In the beginning of both The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, Bilbo is seen writing his story. That book is then passed along to Frodo to include his grand adventure, The Lord of the Rings, and then finally given to Sam to finish. But where does this love of storytelling come from?
Again, in the FOTR in the chapter called “Concerning Hobbits” not only does Bilbo describe every little detail of just what is a Hobbit, but he mentions their love of genealogy, biographies, nature studies and maps. And while it is made clear Hobbits do not like going on Adventures, they are not opposed to listening to stories of adventure. Later on in FOTR, in Rivendell, there is a Hall of Fire, where songs are sung and stories told and thus, it becomes clear that Elves love storytelling as well. And finally, in The Hobbit during the Unexpected Party, the Dwarves sing their own songs tell some tales of their own history. It is clear that while Professor Tolkien is telling us a tale, to make each culture richer and seem more real, he is giving them individualized stories of their own within his greater story.
Continue reading “Telling Tall Tales in the Hobbit: Just how was Golf invented anyhow?”
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The question of Tom Bombadil is one of the longest-running debates in Tolkien’s Middle-earth. Of all the possible answers that have been thrown around, the suggestion that he could be Aule the smith — and Goldberry therefore Yavanna — seems to have unusual tenacity. Steuard Jensen, maintainer of the The Tolkien Newsgroups FAQ, explains in this detailed essay why it is a flawed theory.
This essay is an extension of his original essay What is Tom Bombadil? that specifically addresses the flaws in the Aule theory.
As Jensen himself writes:
In my full essay “What is Tom Bombadil”, I categorize the idea that he is the Vala Aule as a “theory with fatal flaws”. Although I believe my arguments there to be more than sufficient, many readers have considered them too brief and dismissive and claim instead that Gene Hargrove’s detailed and well written essay “Who is Tom Bombadil?” makes a compelling case that I have not refuted.
I have a great deal of respect for Hargrove’s writing; indeed, the desire to improve on his conclusions while doing justice to the quality of his article was one of my own motives in exploring the topic. I intentionally did not frame any portion of my essay explicitly as a refutation of his article because that felt far more negative and adversarial than I wanted to be. But as his flawed theory has continued to be very popular in the ten years since my essay appeared, it seems to be worth confronting the claim that Bombadil is Aule in detail. I will begin by collecting all of my arguments against it in one place (many taken directly from my full essay), and then I will address Hargrove’s arguments in its favor.
Essay: Why Bombadil cannot be Aule
If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.
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Ringer Owain alerted us to a great deal at the Warner Bros. Shop site: they’re now offering the Lord of the Rings Trilogy Extended Edition at 40% off the regular price. The deluxe 15-disc set includes 9 special features DVDs with over 26 hours of behind-the-moviemaking material including the rare Costa Botes documentaries. The sale price of $65.85 compared to the original price of $119.98 is a great deal. If you don’t own the extended edition blu-ray set yet, this would be a great time to buy, or throw out a few hints for your holiday wish list!
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How do you follow-up one of the coolest environments you’ve ever produced? Well, you go ahead and produce one of the next most coolest environments of course! Shortly after Comic-Con 2011 senior model maker David Tremont began the momentous task of transforming the original model of Barad-Dûr for The Lord of the Rings into a collectible we could all own. Finally, after a year of slaving, fans of Middle-earth got to see the result at Comic-Con 2012 when Barad-Dûr was unveiled to the world.
Over 1,500 hours were put into Barad-Dûr to ensure the collectible on your shelf matches what you saw during The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I believe fans, once they have a chance to see the detail in this piece, will agree all of those hours paid off in spades. David Tremont and his team made very sure every window, spike, tower, ledge, bridge, and rock is included on this piece. Gazing upon this collectible, you can almost imagine Sauron or any number of his minions looking out upon Mordor from any of the many ledges and balconies. It truly is a great representation of the model we saw on film. What’s even more amazing is because of the material used it allowed these details to be captured and safely arrive to our homes. Rivendell had its beautiful river running through it and Barad-Dûr has something similar with its lava river flowing from Mt. Doom into the cavern surrounding the fortress. Even the rock areas of Barad-Dûr are exceptionally realized with the plains of Gorgoth looking like a place you don’t ever want to visit. Like Rivendell, this collectible is an achievement for Weta in showing off the amazing talent of their artists.
Barad-Dûr costs $700 but the level of detail you get and the size of this piece allows you to truly get value for money. This piece is a limited edition piece with only 1,000 of the fortress being produced. Barad-Dûr does not come with a flaming eye but if that is a potential issue for you all you have to do is download the iPhone or iPad app. Then you will have the eye of Sauron. Finally, I cannot implore you enough if you are a The Lord of the Rings collector to find a way to get this piece into your collection.
