Playing on the Pelennor Fields

(written Tuesday, May 9)

Today the weather was very cold, with a heavy inversion cloud over the mountains that just refused to budge all day. We kept cosy by the heater all morning, but decided to brave the chill to visit Twizel in the afternoon. Along the way we enjoyed the brilliant fall colours glowing even on this dark day.


Once in Twizel, we found out about a special tour onto the private lands where the famous ride of the Rohirrim in LOTR: Return of the King was filmed, and decided to go for it despite the weather. Again we were the only guests on the tour, so we got individual attention from Vernon, our guide. Vernon is an obviously devoted fan of the books and films, and had dozens of anecdotes of the locals' experience during filming. The small town of Twizel (purpose built to house workers building the huge Waitaki Hydroelectric Dam system in the 1970's) was emptied by the casting call for orcs during the three weeks of filming in this area, and everyone played a role, including Vernon, who worked as a driver for the actors (not the stars, though). Vernon has a small DVD player in the 4-wheel drive vehicle we travelled in, and shows you a scene, then take you to exactly where it was filmed.

The icing on the cake, however, is the provision of props and costumes to allow you to act out several scenes. First we got to wave Rohan banners on the crest of the hill where the riders mustered (we also 'met' the horse that carried the local rider playing King Theoden's herald). Frank was especially impressed by the quality and surprising weight of the sword prop, which is an exact replica of the one used in the film.





Next, we had the great fun of acting out Eowyn's big moment, where she whips off her helmet, declares "I am no man...", and kills the witch king of Angmar. Naturally I got to be Eowyn, and I showed witch king Frank no mercy! We reconciled for the final photo, however, as you can see.


The final stop was the location of poor King Theoden's death, which we showed proper reverence by spreading his banner and raising his sword--you can see the classic tussock-covered expanse of 'the Pelennor Fields' spreading out into the distance.


I also purchased a bottle of "SobeRing Thought", the 1% alcohol brew concocted especially for the drinking game between Gimli and Legolas that's included in the extended version of the film. All good, if somewhat silly fun!

We are hoping that the clouds lift to allow us a good look at Mt. Cook tomorrow.