Product Description

A full-colour photographic, encyclopaedic guide to the characters, places, landscapes, artefacts and costumes of the world of "The Fellowship of the Ring".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #453152 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 72 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Jude Fisher's Lord of the Rings Visual Companion is a real treat for Tolkien fans and brings readers up close to some of the amazing detail they will find in the big-screen version of this fantasy classic. Not just a straightforward movie guide, this is more of a Middle Earth encyclopaedia with information on the people and places that cinema-goers will be introduced. The text is informative and never presumes any level of knowledge, making this book more than accessible for Tolkien fans or those who have yet to discover his work. The pictures are full colour and quite simply superb, showcasing the movies epic scope and immense special effects. There is even a fold-out map of Middle Earth in the centre pages using shots from the movie to illustrate key locations, giving it a more realistic feel. Not an average movie tie-in book, Fisher's wonderful guide has been as lovingly put together as the movie itself and has "quality" stamped all over it. This is definitely one to add to your collection. --Jonathan Weir

Customer Reviews

The images are amazing!
If the look of this book is anything to go by the movie of Fellowship is going to be a real visual treat. Just look at the detail in some of these shots - the tiles on the roofs of the houses of Bree, all slightly skew-wiff and worn and spattered with bird droppings, or the fabulous carvings in Elrond's chamber, or the wear and tear in Aragorn's Ranger garb, or the gorgeous tooling on Legolas's quiver, the etched designs on Gimli's helmet, the G-rune worked into Gandalf's staff. And Bag End is extraordinary: you just want to move right in. Isengard's interior is all hard-edged, industrial-looking black metal and what seem to be some perverted form of electric lighting: exactly how you'd expect the corrupt wizard's stronghold to be. Christopher Lee as Saruman looks just right, too; in fact, looking through this book, you have to say that pretty much all the characters look spot on. I particularly like the casting of Sean Bean as Boromir and of Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn: neither of them obvious for the parts, but both subtle actors who can chameleon into their roles. All the hobbits appear very individual; and as for the Black Riders and the Orcs and Uruks: looks like a real treat as far as the monsters are concerned! They're obviously keeping the Balrog under wraps though.

The text is thorough and informative - a lot more accessible than Robert Foster's Guide to Middle-earth, though serving the same sort of purpose. A useful starting point for non-buffs, but a must-have for those of us who do know our way round the books, too. There are some interesting hints in the Visual Companion, since it's based on the movie and the scripts rather than the book, of where the divergences between the two occur. No mention as we've guessed and has been reported of Tom Bombadil or the barrow wight, for example. But judging from the 'History' section, it looks as if the movie will show some of the action from the Second Age - there's a fantastic shot of the Elvish army lined up against Sauron's forces at the Battle of Dagorlad. It would be great to see some big battle action in the first movie, given that we'll have to wait till Two Towers for all the Helm's Deep action.

It's really nicely produced, this book - large format, glossy, fantastically detailed, and with a sumptuous fold-out map of Middle-earth in the centre with snapshots showing many of the key locations, not just from the first movie but also, tantaslisingly, of Edoras and Barad-dur, too. A very superior movie tie-in book and a really nice addition to my collection.

LOTR innit?
If you are a fan of this film, buy it. If not don't bother. A great companion to an amazing film. Glossy pics, a map, more pics. I love it, so should you.

a must for the LOTR buff
Every single thing you could want about the movie, beautiful pictures, great narrative and descriptions of how various aspects were achieved. Any Lord of the Rings buff will want this.