I think the happiest moment of my life was when they started riding down those orcs like blades of grass...and people give me strange looks because I can't help but nod my head when I see a picture of Theoden. Sign of respect, doncha know?
Joined: Jul 2003 Gender: Male Posts: 39 Location: Westfold
Christain Fletcher: where to go for LotR « Result #2 on Jan 3, 2004, 4:11pm »
Christian Fletcher (http://www.christianfletcher.com/) is the man! First he came out with hilt upgrades for his leafblade to look like Glamdring, then he made his "Ranger" sword, a look-a-like version of Aragorn's sword, and a complimentory dagger! Then he made a line of "Reedemer" swords patterened after Boromir's blade. Now at long last we have the "Ranger King", Anduril! Limited to 15, and priced at a little over $800 - buy 'em while they last!
Why Buy CF? Simple: there are only two other makers of LotR swords from the movie: one is the official reproductions from Tiwan, and the other is the unofficail repros from India. Oddly enough, the craftsmanship on the India blades are better, and the ballance points are better. However, these blades are wall hangers. The blades are stainless steal, not heattreated and therfore very soft. The harmonic nodes are in the wrong places (due to being hilted by machine instead of by hand), the hilts on some are often made of seporate parts which are prone to fall off. And worst of all, I fear that they are the dreaded "rat-tail" tangs, and are likely to snap and become progectiles. Still, I like 'em on my wall, and for only $30 for the India copy, I'd go for it. There are a few bladesmiths that have made their own exact versions of the LotR blades, but only for themselves. The CF blades are works of art, and slightly modified so as not to infringe upon the rights of New Line. Heat-tempered steal with the right carbon amount, you can flex these blades to 140 degrees without them taking a bend. Although weighing a goodly amount, they are ground and set just right so that the ballance feels like nothing. They also have a full, wide tang, and on the Ranger King this tang is peened to the hilt (as apposed the threaded), so there is no fear of it breaking, or flying off. A sword to trust your life to, and also to play with *rumages through pocket for cash* (note: if anyone wants pics of the other swords mentioned, I can email some. I know he doesn't show the dagger on his site)
Joined: Jul 2003 Gender: Male Posts: 39 Location: Westfold
Re: Movies: New Arthur « Result #3 on Jan 3, 2004, 11:58am »
well, isn't that just corny? (bad pun intended) I think I've seen that stone (probably on the cover of some book), didn't remember it was from Tintagel... good show! So Arthur is STILL UP FOR GRABS!
Re: Movies: New Arthur « Result #4 on Jan 3, 2004, 1:43am »
Darn Roland.
Incidentally, I once watched a nifty programme on Tintagel. You know, those castle ruins on the coast of Cornwall that have been thought to be the ruins of Camelot. Anywho, it appears there was a stone found there, part of a well, engraved with some Saxon runes. When translated, it read "Artognou, father of a descendent of Coll, has had this built". They think perhaps Artognou might be Arthur.
Joined: Jul 2003 Gender: Male Posts: 39 Location: Westfold
Movies: New Arthur « Result #5 on Dec 31, 2003, 12:30pm »
As this is a movie forum, I thought I'd update everyone on a new movie that is coming out that actually looks pretty good, historical wise. http://kingarthur.movies.go.com/ is the main website for the newest King Arthur movie, which attempts to dig behind the usual myths from the Morte d' Arthur and find out who the real chap was. In this movie (staring Kiera Knightly from PoC as Guinivere! W00T!), Arthur is pictured as a Sarmatian general of Roman auxilleries around the Wall sometime after the withdrawal of the Romans from Britian. They are invaded by the Saxons (which is why I feel justified in placing this note in this forum), and he enlists the help of some strange Druidic clan of Britons (gotta have Merlin in here somewhere, and it also gives Kiera the chance to run around Xena style) to kick 'em out. How acurrate is this? Good and bad. This is going to be no "First Knight" movie with longswords and plate armor, no Morte d' Arthur stuff. That's about as authentic as the Chason de Roland is to the real Charlemange. The real Arthur could be one of two people: a British Roman Auxillery chieftain/general who stemmed the Saxon invasion in the all-too-famous battle of the Hill of Badonsward (this would date him as slightly post Roman empire). Or he could be a leader of Welsh during the Roman occupation. Not much is known about this fellow yet (except to the Welsh, of course), but they have recently "discovered" (Welsh: "we knew of it all along, why didn't you listen?") a romanic era castle in Wales that bears a phonetic resemblence to Camelot, and the name and stories of the Welsh fellow also seem to correspond with some of the more authentic tales. The real Arthur, it would seem, is still up for grabs. (I'm rooting for the Welsh) How authentic is the movie? First we must ask, who the heck are these "Sarmatian" warriors that are referred to throughout the movie? I have no clue. I had never even heard of them before. No, they are not a British clan, a quick 15 min of research shows them to be of a Nordic/Slavic origin, so their apperance in romanic Briton is debatible both ways. Apperantly the movie producers/historians picked these guys because "they worshiped swords stuck in the earth". The circumstances are correct (Saxon invasion of post romanic Briton), the groups of people might be correct (Woads? Sheesh. Sarmatians? Sheesh), the arms and armor are most certainly correct, to a point (yes, the Auxilleries conscripted by the Romans would have worn purely Roman armour, as they seem to do in the movie. Saxon invadors would have faced not British clansmen, dressed in animal skins and waving leaf-bladed swords, but Roman drilled and Roman disciplined and Roman equipped British Auxilleries), although the style of the sword Excaliber wielded by Arthur looks like a purely Hollywood invention to me. The names and characters are wrong, as they date from an early Provancial dialect, and not a post-romanic Briton origin. But hey, it's an Arthur movie, so we must find some way to fit in Lancelot, Merlin, Guinivere, Galahad, etc. (I would tend to disagree: if it's a Morte d' Arthur movie, make it one. If it's a Battle of Badonsward movie, make it one). But these nit-pickings aside, this looks to be a good movie: realistic battles, authentically clad warriors, and of course, our beloved Saxons (who unfortunately will be classified as the "bad guys", but hey, we can let ourselves be a little patriotic for the original Britons, even though the Saxons kicked butt and turned out to be some pretty good guys). A good looking movie, and I hope it's as good as the previews. Let us know if it comes out earlier in the UK, Theoda!
(oh, and I have no clue about the rating, that could make or break the movie)
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