Product Description

A detailed tour through all of the major and minor conflicts that occur during the three parts of "The Lord of the Rings" movie trilogy is provided in this volume. Battles, armour, weaponry, cultures and creatures are all covered and explained, together with photographs and illustrations and battle plans. The furious pace of the films means that the viewer barely has time to enjoy the visual spectacle of one particular action scene before they are hurtled headlong into another conflict. This volume provides all the background that is absent from the films, taking the reader on a detailed tour through all of the major and minor conflicts that occur during the three parts of "The Lord of the Rings" movie trilogy. It explains the history behind each battle and examines the strategy used by both forces. Each of the major conflicts - The Last Alliance of Elves and Men, the Mines of Moria, Helm's Deep and the climactic battle of the Pelennor Fields at Minas Tirith - are illustrated by a battle plan that reveals exactly how the battle was fought. The book also describes in detail each of the many different races and armies that appear in the trilogy: Men, Elves, Dwarves, all the different races of Orcs, and the various allies of both the Fellowship and Mordor. Each are discussed at length - how they fight, why they are fighting, what armour they wear and what weapons they use. These enable the reader to get as close to a marauding Orc as they could ever wish, without suffering the consequences. All of the above is illustrated with scenes from all three films together with close-up photography of all the swords, axes and other weapons and armour, plus digital and conceptual imagery.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #216496 in Books
• Published on: 2003-11-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 218 pages

About the Author
Chris Smith has worked in bookselling and publishing, specialising in the fantasy genre, and has worked with authors as diverse as Robin Hobb and Stephen King. He has been the Tolkien editor at HarperCollins for five years, and he brings together his knowledge of Tolkien's works and the relationships he has developed with the Lord of the Rings filmmakers to write this new book.

Customer Reviews

One of the best movie books on LOTR
This book is a perfect give for your LOTR addict, but hey, LOTRs fans you might not want to wait till someone gives this to you! This is simply worth every penny! Outside of the films, if someone asked me which was THE best LOTR gift to give or receive for LOTR fans, I would hands down recommend this wonderful book. It is just loaded with so much background, answers so many details, that I cannot image doing without this book in my LOTR collection.

As one who collects swords and knives, loves fencing and enjoys all sorts of books on weaponry and a hopeless LOTRs addict, this is one gem of a book. It is not thin volume, but a jam-packed book loaded with 100s of photos, maps & artwork and a forward by Christopher Lee.

217 pages of high quality pages covering every aspect of the rings. It starts with the history of the War of the Ring, the last alliance of Elves and Men, covers the Dead Marshes, with chapters on ever main character in all three films, going into the armour and the weapons they used. At the end is a glossary for quick reference.

There is not enough praise for this book. It is just likely THE BEST collectors item for the Rings and if you don't have one you are missing a wonderful item for your collection.

Warfair
"Not another 'Lord of the Rings' tie-in book!" you may be groaning. In the wake of the hit movie trilogy, there have been plenty of books of photos and Middle-Earth info -- some good, some bad, some just blah. But don't start shunning the book displays just yet: "Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare" has plenty of good information yet.

It handles the more militaristic aspects of the "Lord of the Rings" films: Loads of swords, arrows (like the giant uruk-hai crossbows called "sappers"), shields and armor. There are also the more unusual allies that our heroes pick up (the unstoppable dead army of Dunharrow), battle plans (a step-by-step examination of the Pelennor Fields battle), unconventional weapons (the mumakil or "oliphaunts"), and sinister fortresses (the Black Gate).

There's also relevant biographical info about certain people like Elrond, Eowyn, Faramir, Eomer and Aragorn, and it stretches back to the first film with its stuff about Weathertop and Isildur. And, as a bonus, the extremely articulate Christopher Lee (the amazing actor behind Saruman) writes a brief but bright foreword, in which he talks about his love for myth and fantasy, the Tolkien books, the movies, and finally about what he hopes "Weapons and Warfare" will offer to the readers.

Admit it -- even the most peaceful person gets a little thrill when watching a hero felling a dozen evil beasties with a big legendary sword. There's something intensely exciting about swords, arrows and all medieval warfare, however bloody and freaky it may be. "Lord of the Rings" has an extra bonus: There's not only the multiple human civilizations (Gondorians, Rohirrim, Easterlings, Haradrim), but also Elves, Orcs, and Uruk-hai, as well as the ancient Numenorean civilization. More to love!

The only problem with the book is simple: those seeking information about how the authentic weapons, armor and war formations were created will be disappointed. So if you want to know about how they made all those weapons at Weta, how they managed to plan all those battles, you're out of luck. And if you're a book purist, you will be equally out of luck -- it sticks close by the films.

Even people who aren't fans of military history may be intrigued by the level of detail and richness in the "Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare." And, of course, Rings fans should check this out pronto.

Superb Movie tie-in book
The book has brilliant presentation and contains superb pictures of all the weapons and armour used by the different characters in the Lord of the Rings films. It also contains lots of information based on Tolkien's writing about why the different groups have different types of equipment. The reason this book does not get 5 stars is that some of the information given in the book on the origins of the weapons is wrong and shows some poor research of Tolkien's other writings about Middle Earth such as The Sillmarillion. However this book is very readable and the pictures are superb and it is well worth the money. However as a final note I would reccomend it only for a true Lord of the Rings fan who has read the book as well as seen the films.