Young Thorin holding the piece of oak tree trunk he used as a shield in battle, leading to his being called Thorin Oakenshield. But what did he do with that piece of mighty oak?
The topic came up in a previous Thorin post http://thearmitageeffect.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/he-earned-it/
When I got my little Thorin, one of his accessories, in addition to Orcrist and his Dwarven sword, was a piece that attached to his forearm. I regret to say I have mislaid said accessory somewhere in this room. It’s somewhere with mini Lego Thorin’s sword. My missing Thorin accessory relates to the chunk of wood he used in a terrible battle.
Little Thorin with his special vambrace on his Orcrist sword arm.
I remembered reading in the The Hobbit Chronicles: Art & Design from Weta Workshop (such an absolutely beautiful book) about Richard’s ideas for that trusty piece of hardwood.
Here’s what Richard said:
I thought it would be nice to bring something from the past into what is happening now; he might have kept and nurtured this chunk of oak that had saved his life and perhaps honed it into something else. I made a sketch of it, like a branch that had been hollowed to become something like a vambrace* with prongs, which I showed to Peter and he liked the idea of it.
Richard Taylor picked it up and we went through a development of the idea. It briefly had a fist-like end with nails on it, but it started to look Orcish so we pulled back from that to keep a Dwarfish feel.
*vambraces: forearm guards that are tubular or guttural defenses for the forearms, usually worn as a part of a suit of armor.
And that is the story behind the actor’s (and artist’s and filmmaker’s) vision for what happened to the oak tree that gave our oak-hard hero his name.
Now, if I can only find those errant weapons. Probably under a stack of books somewhere . . .
I just threw this one in because it’s so delicious. That is all.
Related articles
- If you haven’t purchased it yet – you’ll want to. (thearmitageeffect.wordpress.com)
- Thorin Oakenshield: Tolkien’s Inimitable Hero (thearmitageeffect.wordpress.com)
- The critics have spoken: “Epically cool” Armitage “impressive” in role (thearmitageeffect.wordpress.com)
- Thorin Oakenshield: A Warrior In the Norse Vein (thearmitageeffect.wordpress.com)
- Tolkien’s Antithetical Heroes: Thorin Oakenshield & Boromir of Gondor (thearmitageeffect.wordpress.com)
I love seeing all these nuances..it really fleshes the film out and makes me realize just how much goes into making a film like this. Didn’t Thorin lose that in the last battle with the Pale Orc – life imitating art Chez Fedora?
I have enjoyed my Chronicles book, it really allows me to glimpse how much work and attention to detail by a legion of talented folks is behind a production like The Hobbit. All the drawings and descriptions of the gear each dwarf carried, for example. Really cool. Yes, I think you are right about the loss of his oak vambrace. Clearly life imitating art.
Delicious is always good. You don’t suppose the felines have made off with Thorin’s stuff, do you?
It’s entirely possible a felonious feline made off with the swag. One never knows . . . and with Mr. Armitage, delicious is always a really strong possibility.
You know how I feel about that “delicious” picture – now I shall wander round the house in a daze dreaming of Thorin and imagining him smiling at me like that!
Yes, I do.
And don’t we all wish we’d be worthy of such a dazzling grin! 