The Return of the King Weapons and Warfare (The Lord of the Rings) - Softcover

A detailed and fascinating tour through all of the major and minor conflicts that occur during the three parts of The Lord of the Rings Movie Trilogy. Battles, armour, weaponry, cultures and creatures: all are covered and explained, together with photos and illustrations and specially commissioned battle plans.

Winner of Tolkien’s Arda’s Book of the Year Award 2003

As the memorable experience of watching The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers shows, Peter Jackson’s epic movie trilogy is destined to become one of the most exciting action adventure series ever filmed. The only problem is that 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.

The Lord of the Rings: Weapons & Warfare will provide 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 – will be illustrated by a specially commissioned 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 will be discussed at length – how they fight, why they are fighting, what armour they wear and what weapons they use. These will enable the reader to get as close to a marauding Orc as they could ever wish, without suffering the consequences!

All of the above will be richly illustrated with exciting 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 produced by Weta Workshop.

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.