Another detail that I really like about Aragorn's costume is that after Boromir's death, Aragorn wears Boromir's bracers as a token of his vow to protect Gondor. It always makes me emotional.
I don't recall this being in the books but I heard somewhere that Viggo specifically asked to do it, so that despite Boromir's death, Viggo would bring Boromir through to the end of the series. I thought it was a nice touch, and honestly didn't even notice it until years later.
I also love how Aragorn essentially picks up his armour from all over the lands of Middle Earth he will unite under his rule. The bracers from Boromir, the maille from Rohan then more armour from Gondor itself. It adds to the story and it also follows the progression from Ranger to King.
Not just the hard-boiled look. He's a ranger, someone who survives in the wild, sneaks around on forest paths. Armor would be an obstacle there. You can't be quiet, fast, sneaky in proper armor. So him not wearing a full plate was an absolute no-brainer.
@zbroman z you have videos from Metatron debunking the "full plate heavily hampers movement" meme. Bottom line, you can actually still run, crouch, jump and maneuver in full plate. However this is still a drain on your stamina, and yes it is noisy. It still makes sense for a ranger to have a lighter armour that is quiet and doesn't make their occupational long treks across the wild more arduous than it needs to be. But Aragorn picking up more armour as endurance/mobility becomes less of an issue and combat more of an inevitability is also internally consistent.
When the LotR actors were interviewed, I remember one of them saying there were embroideries on the inside of the armor that would never make it to the screen, but it helped him getting into the role. The fact that they went the extra mile to include that shows they do no such thing as half-assing. Sheer thoughtfulness, respect, passion, and knowledge radiating from the costume designer, Ngila Dickson.
Ah, kinda like stuff seen in the behind the scenes from the Harry Potter movies, entire books and posters that are there simply to immerse the BACKGROUND characters. Insane detail. I dont even like Harry Potter.
As a an absolute nut for the Peter Jackson trilogy, I can tell you that it was Bernard Hill, who played King Theodan of Rohan. The inside of his breastplate was decorated with embroidered horses in tradition with the Rohan aesthetic. Even the buildings on the set, specially the lavish stables are riddled with carved horse imagery. I binge watched all the extended version appendices and various commentary tracks multiple times while recovering from wisdom tooth surgery in high school, definitely locked a vast amount of trivial details into my brain, lol.
Also, the fact that so many of the costumes in those movies were hand crafted pieces made out of legitimate materials makes it really hard to look at all the spray painted 3D printed bs in the show (that they supposedly spent so much money on) and convince yourself it’s taking place in the same universe.
@@lazycatchphrase8148 It's really actually a mystery where they spent the money on. The actors and writers are making small salaries. I think it should legit be investigated for money laundering.
Another storytelling element I felt the elves have long hair helped with, was their fighting acumen. It IS wildly impractical to fight with your long hair down, but the elves were so graceful and skilled that it was never a problem. It always signaled to me that they were able to deal with it in a way men/dwarves could not.
@@akechijubeimitsuhide I'm 100% behind that. It'd be a massive blow to their psyche to have their hair cut off by their enemies, and, in Gwindor's case, it would further underline why nobody recognised him.
Same. To me it was always a sign of the indescribable magic of the elves. Yes there's distinct elven magic such as seeing into the future and speaking in thought, but there's also the constant unearthliness of the elves which lets them walk around without bending a single blade of grass, seeing further than any man or dwarf, or lop off orc heads without spitting their own flapping hair out of their mouths.
THANK YOU FOR THIS. This is the difference between Jackson honoring Tolkien as a huge fan of the Lore!! I am an opera singer and performer. Costume CAN be everything especially in story telling. Beautiful video essay. BRAVO!!
I have watched Lord of the Rings many times and I never once thought the actors were wearing "costumes" or even that they were acting. I know both of these thing were true, but I never thought about it. With Rings of Power it is obvious they are acting and they are wearing costumes.
When he started mentioning Aragorn’s clothes, I could barely even really remember any individual aspects of his outfit, cause it all goes together so well. And it doesn’t draw attention to itself. He’s just wearing what a ranger would wear. If you look closely you do see little details that might hint to his heritage, but they don’t stick out. They aren’t meant to. Aragorn was a mysterious character people called Strider because they didn’t even know who he was.
Also: a good technique is to apply some weathering and/or discolouring. The costumes should look lived-in. The fabrics from "The rings of power" look like they just came out from the weaving machine, and look cheap. It looks like it's the first time these characters wear their clothes. Sorry for my english, I am italian.
You are absolutely right!! Too many films and movies look like cheap Halloween store “one night throwaway” costumes. No, give us costumes that would last for 300 years if put into a tomb that would tell us about the people who wore them, not costumes that last 300 years because they got thrown away and immediately buried by candy wrappers!!
That's what George Lucas did with R2-D2 -- after the costume was built, all shiny and new, he told them to roll it around in some rocky dirt so it wouldn't be so shiny and new, but look real.
Costume designer for LOTR said that they kept dying fabrics over and over again just to make them look old and worn by slowly adding the “dirt” color The true talent shows in love and care to what they do
the fact that all elves have long hair also makes it soooo easy for the audience to categorize them as elves just from a super quick glance, so I think it also serves the narrative in that way. All the groups kind of have very good visual signifiers imo, the hobbits are small, the humans look more ragged, worn and well, human, and the elves have their hair and ears
"The more realistic you make Tolkiens elves, the less they feel like elves and the more they feel like regular people that just happen to have pointy ears." That was such a good point! I could never really pinpoint or put into words why the elves from The Shannara chronicles on Amazon Prime never felt like elves, but felt kind of wrong to me, but that's exactly it! They are far too regular looking, like humans with pointy ears. Which is such a shame, because in the book, they are described to be looing quite distinct.
Yep, they have a human like appearance but they have a divine, regal aura and their movements are very light, swift and calculated which is almost creepy to a normal man of middle earth. I also hate how the Men of Numenor look worse than the Gondorians in LoTR when they're supposed to be human in all but name. They have an almost elvish appearance themselves, they're tall, beautiful, fair but with dark hair, strong and also very regal. They're literally the descendants of elves who chose the mortal life.
I have many issues with Rings of Power, but the Elves are absolutely tragic. They could’ve done something truly incredible and beautiful with the the technology and resources, not to mention budget at their disposal. Really dropped the ball and then kicked it into an open manhole on this one.
@@normis6620 Celebrimbor is especially egregious, no matter how good the actor might be. Also it’s obvious that aging up Celebrimbor and Gil-Galad is just so they can have “young” Galadriel opposed by older men who want to take her agency away
In Harry Potter Alan Rickman, who played Severus Snape, insisted on the longer sleeve length instead of normal suit length. He said there's a lot of difference between a cuff that ends short and one that is longer. All the buttons are about his character being very emotionally buttoned down.
Not just Alan Rickman, but most of the 'teaching staff' actors refused to let their characters wardrobes be changed significantly when the second director came on for Prisoner of Azkaban, insisting that the teachers would wear robes, even if the students were depicted in more casual clothes more frequently from that movie onward.
Emotional details that convey the character and their story, without having to be put into scripted dialogue or exposition. Very astute by Alan Rickman
In Brazil, we often use the term "cospobre", which means a cosplay made of very cheap material and little effort. The costumes of ROP look like cospobre.
@@JadeOhara posso ter pegado meio pesado com o cospobre 😅. Mas o fato é que capricharam bem pouco no figurino dos personagens. O pano dourado da roupa do Gil-Galad parece tecido barato e a armadura de madeira (!!!) do elfo Despacito lá parece eva pintado.
@@diegoborges3716 Se a galera não cancelar a série, eu acho que eles tem total potencial de fazer melhor na segunda temporada, pois dá pra ver que eles tiveram sim muito cuidado com tudo, principalmente os efeitos especiais. Embora pareça que eles gastaram muito, talvez eles tenham sacrificado as fantasias pra favorecer os cenários. Isso é normal de acontecer. Não é o ideal, ainda mais vindo de uma empresa tão grande, mas acontece.
I think one of the things that makes Aragorn's whole look believable - he looks like he's been sleeping in the woods for weeks at a time. His hair isn't perfectly coifed. It looks like he's run his fingers through it a couple of times and when he stands next to Legolas who looks like he's walked out of a salon fresh as a daisy it adds to the Human/Elf dynamic, especially when Boromir has the same aesthetic as Aragorn just with higher quality fabrics 9like someone buying the brand name outdoors stuff). Gimli looks comfortable even though he looks like he's wearing more armour and heavier layers (granted the beared helps) Frodo and the rest of the hobbits, even when wearing armour towards the end of the films still look hobitish just in the clothing from how thin and light it looks but not quite elvish levels of floating. If you just take the outfits and shove them on faceless mannequins you can easily point to each one and say human, dwarf, hobbit, elf, etc (orcs are easy we don't count them). I think that its because the costume designers also took alot of inspiration from the designs done by John Howe and Alan Lee who did some absolutely beautiful concept sketches in terms of landscape, archecture and even armour designs. Love this video, well thought and very well explained (makes me want to sit for what I know would be an hour long fangirl gushing over concept art, set, character and costume design conversation with you) :D
yes, this. legolas always looks impossibly perfect under crappy conditions relative to his companions, who only came close to matching that when they’re bathed and dressed in cities. and that’s the point of elves and why they have the elevated mystique that they have. in my culture there’s also a concept of a forest otherworldly people we call ‘bunian’ and this elusive folk is also described as shining with light, impossibly beautiful, cultured and advanced, and time passes differently in their world, but they are also terrifying if they turn on you. so disappointed that these people think that tolkien elves is ‘just another race’ as though it’s about different human ethnicities. total failure to comprehend the nature of myths and faerie arcehtypes in cultures.
" If you just take the outfits and shove them on faceless mannequins you can easily point to each one and say human, dwarf, hobbit, elf, etc (orcs are easy we don't count them)." This is true, in fact. They took the costumes and whatnot on a tour of museums in the U.S. after the movies concluded, and I got to see them on mannequins. They were truly splendid, so detailed that you could look at them forever and still miss all the little bits and bobs relevant to their cultures. (Also, the sculpture they made of Boromir in his funeral boat looked so real, I thought for a minute it was Sean Bean pranking us all!)
That whole ethereal elf trope that became common to fantasy was in many ways inspired by Tolkien's elves. Hence, why would ROP change one of the signature things about Tolkien's work: the ethereal, otherworldly beautiful elf
And it's not only the hair. I think most of the actors do a good acting job, but they don't look like an elf because of their facial looks. Sorry but no elf was lloking ethereal to mee. There were human mens in the series who had more the look of that
Tolkien did not specifically say Aragorn had a bow but considering the Rangers were avid hunters and Strider himself mentioned his ability to hunt for food on the way to Rivendell in the book implies he had a hunting bow of some kind. It would also make sense a paramilitary guerilla force like the Rangers would have some kind of ranged weapons.
Wanted to say, a hunting bow is not the bestly bestest for war. You need not mention in the book, that aragorn carried his special soup spoon with him everywhere he went. So maybe the logic went that he need not mention in great detail, how aragorn got his rabbit snacks every couple of days.
Yes. And I thought of it more from the Ranger perspective. A man that roams the wild would have all the essentials for survival. A bow for at least hunting small game could be the difference between life and death. “Strider” having a short bow entirely makes sense in our world, and is canonically sound.
@@zubbworks The Mongols used their composite bows for both hunting and war. I see the rangers as ambush fighters. In hit and run attacks in forests you don't need long range longbows, which are impractical in a dense forest anyway.
Tolkien specifically said the only weapon carried by Aragorn was Anduril. But short bows were a thing even in medieval periods so that doesn't bother me as much as this video harps on "not a longbow"
It's not the folks designing the costumes, it's the folks telling them what costumes to design. I shall point my fingers toward the showrunners, and scowl!
Always point upwards in the decision hierarchy. It's like how it surprisingly rarely the actors fault their roles are portrayed poorly. It usually boils down to poor direction or script. Although the actor's skill certainly has influence. As an example I like to take Anakin from the SW prequels and compare his scenes where he has to say the lines written with a straight face, and the scenes where he can just act without talking. I mean, an actor like Christopher Lee could probably even make talking about coarse sand work, but while Hayden Christensen can give a good emotional performance, he just can't handle those garbage lines. Most actors can't.
One design point that irked me about Rings of Power is that the designers used shades of blue for everything in Numenor because it was a seafaring kingdom. Like, what is this? Last Airbender? Bionicle? If anything, they would have had numerous, bright colours to show that being a well-travelled seafaring nation grants you access to so many resources to use for dying and painting.
Not really, symbolic colour has always existed for cultures and blue may very well be that. It seems blue might also be a uniform color .Just because u are a seafring nation doesn't u have access to all sort of colours. The Norse didn't wear all sorts of colors. In Medieval Europe colourful out fits exist in plenty. If you were rich. The Rich loved colours. But average joe ? I
@@Giagantusblue as a colour for seafaring peoples' clothes would be goofy as hell. Imagine you're wearing a blue tunic because you're so proud that you're a person of the sea and then you somehow fall off the ship. Goodluck getting people to spot you in the water. I do agree with the theme color bit tho. Rohan had a green color scheme, Gondor had grey and black, Dol Amroth has white and blue, etc etc
I once went to a small con to help out a few friends (setting up tables, etc). Got a free ticket to roam around all day, I mostly spent my time observing people's costumes, I had never been on an event like that before, so I was quite intruiged. All of them were pretty decent to my untrained eyes, some were more on the funny side, some people obviously went the extra mile in quality, some did cool group themes. Then this guy comes in. He looked like he just stepped out from the latest LOTR movie, like he accidentally wandered off set when they were shooting the Siege of Gondor and somehow ended up there: the armor perfect to the last detail, long dark hair, pleasant features, piercing blue eyes, and the stature and the confidence of someone who knows how to move around in it. I swear, never ever seen any costume that looked just like the real thing in real life, except that one. It was so surreal I stared at him for solid two minutes because I couldn't believe my eyes, best theory I have that he was an actual side actor (although I live on the other side of the planet) who somehow took his costume with him back home. I was too shy to chat him up and I regret it. Years later and I still want to know HOW.
The work of LOTR costumer Ngila Dickson and her team was nothing short of genius. At every turn, they considered what story the clothes would tell about each character. I've seen no indication of that attention to detail in the Rings of Power. Consider, for instance, Young Galadriel's hairstyle, which is long, loose, and ostensibly "correct" for elves. However, it consistently looks dull, greyish, and frizzy even though Galadriel is canonically supposed to have THE most beautiful hair in the world. "Galadriel" means "maiden crowned with gleaming hair" in Sindarin and her hair was a deep and radiant gold, shot with silver, said to have ensnared the light of the Two Trees and inspired the creation of the Silmarils. The main argument I see by RoP apologists is "She's a warrior fighting for her life! She doesn't have time to style her hair since she's focused on survival." Leaving aside the fact that Silmarillion Galadriel had no role in the battles of the First and Second Ages, Galadriel is one of the most powerful beings in Arda. Viewers expect an immortal, unearthly, and magical being to look the part and don't want a "relatable", humanized elf with a constant bad hair day. Why is it that Peter Jackson's Galadriel hairstyling from two decades ago looks fitting and timeless, while this looks bad from the get-go? And just look at any other character: Arwen and Éowyn both wear excellent hairstyles for combat that are hardly "flawless", but that are character-appropriate and advance the story.
yup, no shade to the actress but when I saw the first stills I couldn't see Galadriel in her _at all_. I'm fine with a braid that got messy in a fight and with less styling (it's an earlier era and the characters are much younger and, dare I say it, immature than in the 3rd age, so I don't think they need to carry themselves with as much dignity), but the hair itself should be better, not just generic blond, and the actors who play elves should have something, well, _elvish_ about them (yeah, I know, easy to say!)
Excellent comment. The Vanya rarely ever show up in the story at all, since they are practically perfect and flawless in every way. I scarcely recall Galadriel doing anything exceptional until The War of the Ring. When you mentioned Arwen & Éowyn it really made me realise how individuality unique their entire costume was. Just take Arwen’s riding costume that you only see in FotR and never again. It’s beautiful, elegant but also believable. You see it for maybe 10 minutes in the entire trilogy, or the extensive work that went into King Theoden’s breast plate detailing the entire history of Rohan that never made it on screen, but the costume designers wanted to add that in (knowing it wouldn’t make it on screen) just for Bernard Hill to see, and enhance his performance. It’s unbelievable that RoP think shoving some leaves on a Hobbit’s head is such a ‘detail’ or that Galadriel should look more “grounded in reality” as a warrior, it’s a foul disgrace.
Yes! One can even argue Galadriel's legendary hair is the reason why Feanor went mad crazy because it's the spark that made him create the silmarils, and then all hell broke loose for the Noldor. Too simplistic, but it's fun to think about.
@@ryanjmay Absolutely! Ngila Dickson said that in the process of designing Arwen's riding costume, the goal was to tell the audience that Arwen had a great deal of empathy for the mortal world and a foot in both realms, so to speak. The fabrics, colors, and sleeves all have elegant elven designs with naturalistic motifs, but the riding outfit is still extremely practical and grounded in the world of Men, rather than an otherworldly, ethereal Elven gown. You see this same design philosophy in her burgundy "battle dress" that she wore at Helm's Deep (unfortunately, these scenes were all cut from the final film) and the extremely intricate "battle braids" that she had (google "Arwen braids" and you should be able to find that hairstyle). At every moment the costumers sought to tell us about Arwen's character and motives through her clothes: she is immortal but loves both a mortal man and the world of Middle-Earth. She exhibits ethereal grace and holds important status as the daughter of Elrond and granddaughter of Galadriel, but she is powerful in her own right and chooses practical clothes for any combative tasks at hand. Unfortunately for the Rings of Power show, it seems that they simply chose the cheapest generic fantasy wigs they could for Galadriel, then said "when she's in her warrior armor, she would braid her hair back for practicality" (the most surface-level characterization and storytelling) and chose a side braid because they didn't know how to do anything else.
@@AW-uv3cb They are younger, yes, but we are talking about Galadriel. She is literally older than the Sun. In the Second Age she is already old. Like, 4000years old. Shouldnt be THAT much of a differnce for her between the Second and Third age. Even Elrond is a thousand years old
Viggo Mortensen was the one who insisted on Aragorn having a bow. He also personally cut holes in his costume and sewed patches in place to give his costume a much more “lived-in” feel.
He also turned some heads and nearly got in trouble a few times because he insisted on carrying his sword everywhere he went. Even to places like restaurants and cafes.
Gil-Galad's sideburns were shaved because he's a warrior and it's more practical. This is a people who can walk on top of a snowdrift and leave no footprint. This is a race that can literally live forever. But, by all means, we must make sure that their hair is believable. Long sideburns on a warrior might endanger our suspension of disbelief.
If strand of hair around face are long like Elrond have in LOTR movie it always can be put around ear and pin at back of head. This way also Elf can accentuate their pointy ears. Also braids on long hair look amazing and are battle and work practical. Celebrimbor could have complicated and beautiful braids because he works in forge and long lose hair is dangerous and impractical.
@@SeleneSalvatore Don't forget Legolas. His hair was always braided back using the hair at the temple. Then the very fine braids used to tie back his hair. As a master of the bow, it was emminently practical, keeping the hair from his face and from in front of his shoulder. But then, in the Hobbit movies his father, King Thranduil seldom held his hair back, only occasionally wearing a thin filet. For some strange elven reason, his hair always fell right back into place. Even after turning a summersault off of his fallen 'elk'. But then, he was a very old elf and a king.
@@Theeight8b Medieval helmets have many layers. Linen cap on top of your hair, then padded hood that was made like gambeson that protects your head and neck on top of this the outer most layer was metal helmet some times with chainmail.
@@SeleneSalvatore This is exactly what i'm meant. You can hide all your hair under helmet, under hood and etc, and it's really plausable to think, that warrior elf, who lead army - bears helmet in battle. There no need to "shaved undersides" or whatever other explanation. Damn, just look at Legolas in PJ movies, he always have some way to remove hair from, you know, his face, while he is in the fight or shooting someone\something
I have a diploma in costume cutting and construction and I just wanna say this is fantastic. The costumes serve the story and the character, always. And I love that you bring up believability, and does it make sense WITHIN the world. Bernadette Banner has a video on the costumes and "historical accuracy" of Game of Thrones and it's fantastic. Basically, every costume makes total sense within the world of GOT, making them believable.
I showed some pictures of elves from both The LORT Trilogy, and Rings of power to my friend who knows nothing about Tolkein or high fantasy or anything like that, and she immediately latched on to the Peter Jackson Elves look like elves and the Rings of Power Elves look like generic white people with pointy ears.
Everything about the elves in Rings of Power is bizarre. From the choice of casting to the weird hair, and even some of their ears look really strange in the new promotional footage - like really thick on top so they look swollen. And yeah again the ridiculous short hairstyles 1) will date the show immensely very quickly and 2) would have required a fair amount of daily hairspray to maintain lol Edit: not to mention the fact that Celebrimbor is being acted by a man who looks visibly very old, despite the fact that elves don't age the way humans do and his character is the same age (or younger than) Galadriel!
@@LivingAnachronism As someone with the LotR knowledge of your average viewer, even in this video, where you were clearly talking about RoP, when you showed that Roman-like pic I didn't even connect that it was from RoP until you actually pointed it out later in the video. It just looks so much like a lazy generic Roman-ish thing I didn't even thing twice about it.
@@Vexarax they really did make Celebrimbor, the master smith, forger of near deific artifacts which are wielded by the most powerful men and women to exist, look like some random white guy. This is like in Shamalan's movie where Fire Lord Ozai was played by the most average Indian man you could think of and was presented in a way that most people completely missed that he was the Fire Lord.
7:38 that's a great point. They probably saw all of the behind-the-scenes footage of LotR costume design and really wanted to show that they could imitate that level of detail...without any of the thought BEHIND those details. A perfect example is Aragorn wearing Boromir's bracers after Boromir dies. Not a minute detail, but something some people might have missed. It not only represents Aragorn honoring Boromir and his sacrifice, but also him becoming open to his obligation as king of Gondor.
Have you missed the black elf armor? That was made to look like ents? Well, that's definitely ridiculous detail. Amazon is such an ass. The opening scene with reference to the Ainur creating through music and Melkor dissonance. Very bad opening. Amazon should know better! Only bad points to Amazon.
@@danielchilds8327 that is highly unlikely with the last episode (6). The end of the episode is flawed on all levels. First the episode should have rolled with "the end". There is no way the people in the village will survive that for at least 3-4 different reasons alone. Then, the end and how they got there, is already overlooking dozens of details. Why didnt see anybody the hole in the ground? Why have such mechanism in place at all? Just nock the blocking stone out with a hammer or something. Why did Adar trust they guy, that claimed allegiance to sauron and then him. To do this? Why didnt he give it to an ork? How is it possible the elves in the tower didnt see "the tunnel". There are many more but you can get what I am pointing out. They have no attention to detail it is more like they think o look shiny! Or this will look cool.
@@darkrevan2 Didnt have to bother with the message. Basically picked up on all that while watching the last episode. Ep 6 was perhaps the one episode with serious plot development and it was filled with all the bullshit you mentioned. Im convinced 6th graders couldve done a better job writing this show Thanks for the time you put into your message though
The thing that totally throws me in that horrid RoP abomination, is how frikkin' *dirty* those 'harfoots' are!! These are supposed to be proto-hobbits!! Even the poorest hobbit would be utterly disgraced if she and her clothes were that filthy!! Heck, there are still hunter-gatherer tribes here on Earth who keep themselves spotlessly clean! Why this obsession with dirt?!
Agreed. The hobbits have always been depicted as a very comely, clean and organized race. Look at how shocked Bilbo was when the dwarves ransacked his house and made a mess. You don't have to look like a troll under a bridge to be depicted as a nomadic people. It's honestly a little racist and demeaning to actual nomadic people
It is the same as that Medieval people are mostly dirty peasants often covered in mud. The people who live in the leftovers of the Roman empire often kept using Roman bathhouses, administrative buildings etc. They also took pride in cleanliness, sometimes being clean was not good enough so they'd make themselves look whiter with often unhealthy Medieval make-up. I believe this Hollywood obsession with dirty people from the past is because it is cheaper to make
Also the show runners said they aRe nomads that follow the crops. Nomads don’t have crops, they follow herds that move. Crop stay in one place why would they need to move around if their food stays put?? 😭
Good costume design: 1. Made with love 2. Made to look used 3. Looking as if they are serving their purpose 4. Respect the original material 😊 Respect Tolkien, boycott Amazon 😊
These studios need to hire people with talent, not some friends kid to do the job. Fashion and interior design, car design is the same as it's been for 25 years because these industries hire someones well connected child with no eye for design or talent. Now this nepotism has entered books, films, and tv
So gonna make a comparison myself here, what I loved about Aragorn's ranger costume is that that it was meant to make him look inconspicuous and blend in and make him almost look like a vagrant to keep people at bay, by stark comparison Galadriel hunter outfit or whatever it was when she was climbing the ice was off and it made no sense, who in their right mind would be wearing metal gauntlets climbing ice, its like the costume designer took a look at a fantasy game and was like elves should wear this or something.
The hobbits themselves are also much later than medieval, they have things like buttons and waist coats and time pieces. I like how they didn't try to limit their fantasy by wanting to be "realistic." As you said with the elves, sure it could make sense to have shorter hair for battle/hunting but they are specifically described to be elegant and beautiful, not practical. The "fantasy" works better when you don't try too hard to be logical with the real world. Internal logic is enough
@@damagingthebrand7387 um... But, that's what ROP haters said everywhere on social media that Tolkien based everything on medieval and north Europe "culture". So, which it is...?
@@XiuFeanaro6 Because other commenters do not use the correct verbage is not my fault. Tolkien said he was creating a story(ies) based on pre-medieval mythic tales of the Celts, Finns, North Germans and Norse. But, he also said he was writing a story not a history.
Long hair was also prevalent in medieval times, especially amongst the wealthy and royalty. Often a status symbol. Makes perfect sense to use l9ng hair to signify regality, timelessness, and beauty
As far as we know, Viking men had long hair, and their women went to battle, too. Long hair isn't necessarily a problem if you know how to work with it.
Some great observations. From my perspective I need my 'costume' to look good and actually be practical because I need to function physically on a horse whilst wearing it and use weapons. Clothing or armour that doesn't function can be dangerous!
Thank you! I generally prefer to refer to costumes as "garb" or just "clothes" but "costume" is an easier to understand entry point. That is how Peter Jackson's team viewed their designs as well. It really shows! I've loved you videos on real armor, and used your full harness video as research for the leather breast plate I made, to try and get the right functional and historical shape! I learned about costume armor the hard way, have a gorget that doesn't attach properly, and it chokes me when I raise my arms!
This is a point of consideration that it seems a lot of fantasy illustrators don’t take into account. There is so much fantasy armor out there that warriors cannot fight in, weapons that have points of failure built into their design, clothing that is not at all suitable for “dungeon crawling” in, and so on.
@@batou1976 That's why it was so awesome that John Howe worked with Peter Jackson's team, because he has actually worn a lot of historical armor and understands it's function, and as an artist can create a new form that fits within middle earth. John Howe is "working" on the rings of power, but given how they treated Tom Shippey, how Howard Shore is barely involved other than his name, and how they ghosted Peter Jackson himself, I don't know how much influence John Howe really had. Doesn't look like a lot, based on the Numenorean armor. Breastplates are far too long.
@@LivingAnachronism Yeah, I think it’s pretty clear From everything we’ve seen about rings of power, and from commentary from the people involved themselves, that no one involved with this production has any respect for Tolkien himself or the team that worked on the film adaptations. They are simply callously using Tolkien’s name to advance their own viewpoint and make money for themselves. I remember back in the day how awesome I thought it was hearing about John Howe’s work on the movies and his involvement in historical reenactment and armored combat and the way it would inform weapons and armor design in the movies. As someone who loves both fantasy and the real middle ages, I like to see functionality in my fantasy.
Note: a armored Numenorean would not be able to ride a horse, they we’re like 7-9 feet, so a armored numenorean would crush a horse under their weight.
something I remember about Aragorn's equipment, he has a small knife in the scabbard. Never have seen it, but it made sense he would have that a knife meant to help with cooking or skinning.
A lot of the replicas have that included. It's a nice historical touch. Tod Cutler has a great video on cutlery sets. Medieval people like sets of things.
As a costumer myself, this video will be super helpful for explaining to young/new directors why we can’t just go for their personal favorite looks. Thanks for creating this, and hitting the nail in the head!
Aragorn's costume gives us a real sense of how he lives. His clothes are well worn, but not tattered. It feels like he's been living rough in the wilds for a long time, but takes care of his gear, maintaining it in good condition. He's disciplined, respectful, he's not wasteful, and there's a quiet pride to him that isn't vanity.
Its almost like when they were preparing to make the Lord of the Rings movies, they asked professionals "What type of things might a ranger like Strider use? How would he carry these things? What about a bow what would that look like?" And then listened. The non-literal anachronistic look of Arragorn's costume also works subtly to place in our mind a picture of Aragorn as a man of Enlightenment. Whereas ROP said "what looks cool? What else can we find? Let's put apple seeds in Hobbits hair because that is not at all impractical for a rural folk to do while they wander."
The costumers and cast also worked very closely. There is an intelligence and wisdom to the knowledge and effort the cast brought to the table and it clearly shows in the end result. Much of that is what I am trying to learn on the channel, so as an actor myself, if I get to be in a fantasy work, I am able to have some experience and knowledge to pull from.
@@LivingAnachronism Going on campouts and cosplaying at faires--actually DOING the do, and not just idly imagining it--teaches you what works, what's lacking, what's excessive. It's so obvious these ROP people are just going off of hot air and the Message, and not relevant experience.
@@GeraltofRivia22 The more I think about "nomadic farmers" the more that sounds like a metaphor of Wokeism -- they invade lands/IPs, and use them in predatory ways, and then move on to the next IP to drain and destroy (or as they say, "subvert").
@@texasbeast239 this is exactly viggo mortensons approach, the guy wore his costume and swords even off set and doing errands to get used to doing practical things so it didn’t look awkward on camera.
Something I noticed from the books after having read them recently is that Tolkien never actually mentions anybody wearing plate armour. Whenever he mentions armour, it's always helmets and mail, which makes me think he actually intended everyone to look like 9th or 10th century versions of themselves. When I watched the movie though, the plate armour used was so believable that I never actually noticed that anachronism.
I think part of it was needing to differentiate the different peoples on screen. Perhaps my mind and scope are limited, but there is only so much you can do with chainmail. Though I have seen this used, almost to dismiss the Jackson trilogy in some forums. And this is where I have noticed a bit of cognitive dissonance, because some people (not you, my friend) will defend RoP by saying "adaptations are always different" then pivot to attacking the PJ Trilogy based on the introduction of plate armor. But RoP is using scale and plate too, Jackson's just looked better.
@@LivingAnachronism Definitely, and that's where what you said in the video about believability vd realism comes in. I'm sure there are ways to accessorise mail, but plate armour is far more distinctive and varied (and it looks really cool so I'll always give a pass for well executed plate).
Well, of course. He wanted for it to feel ancient, like Beowulf or such. Anglo Saxons and such. When you see Breastplates and other Platemails, that's approx 14th century(iirc), not ~10th.
@@LivingAnachronism I definitely agree on the idea that the Gondorians got plate armour to differentiate them from the Rohirrim. It definitely conveys the idea that Gondor is the richer, more advanced of the two realms. I have noticed a lot of defenders of RoP try to discredit the Jackson trilogy and then call critics of RoP hypocrites for not also criticising said trilogy. This conveniently ignores the fact that the Jackson trilogy got pretty heavy criticism at the time. The difference is that Jackson and his team didn't try to smear the critics and actually listened to their criticism. As an example, Jackson originally planned to have Arwen fight at the Battle of the Hornburg. But outcry from fans convinced him to scrap the idea.
There is one place that plate is mentioned, where Imrahil checks that Eowyn is breathing by holding his burnished vambrace to her mouth. But that’s the only place I’ve seen it
This is something I noticed when the Peter Jackson movies first came out. Most fantasy themed movies/shows are not done nearly as well, and the attention and talent that went into that trilogy stands tall among most other examples. It’s a high bar, but can be achievable with a team that is given the time and care that it took. The rings of power just looks cheap in comparison.
Agreed. It is a masterpiece, and given the current state of the film industry, it is unlikely to be repeated, but that doesn't mean that no one could do it. It set the bar. And all things will (and should) be compared to it. Richard Taylor (Chief Creative Supervisor for LOTR) said to his team "If you couldn't rise to the highest level of enthusiasm, passion and professionalism and grasp this task as if it was the most important thing that you have ever taken on in your life, you weren't worthy of the task."
@@LivingAnachronism Historical accuracy and aside, I absolutely love the costuming in Black Sails. That show set a high bar all around for production quality in television.
I truly think that the PJ films are a unique case in pretty much all of movie history. The way it was produced and filmed was unique for the time and it is unlikely to ever be repeated. They had an outrageous amount of pre-production time and they filmed all 3 films at the same time, allowing for the design of each film to be flawlessly cohesive. They honestly ruined fantasy adaptations for me by age 10, but that's not the point. They will always be the standard but I doubt that there will ever be a fantasy series that can match it purely because of the unique circumstances.
@@LivingAnachronism I expect the ROP costume design team will cite the mythology of the Downfall of Atlantis which notably influenced Tolkien too in his writings, for their Classical Grecian / Minoan "inspiration" in raiding the prop set of "Spartacus". Tolkien wrote of Númenor as Atlantis in several of his letters.
@@simonhandy962 He also specified that the tone of Middle Earth should be reticent to the air and climb of the hither parts of Europe: not Italy or, the Aegean, still less the East."
9:55 - Aragorn is a Ranger who is depicted as hunting in the wilds. Not just foraging, hunting - he wasn't running at boars with a sword to hunt it; he had a bow, anyone in his position would, but the book was smart enough not to detail absolutely everything about the character that wasn't relevant to whatever chapter the character was in. Instead, Tolkien painted with broad strokes and added the detail in as it became relevant.
THis is further shown by Aragorns disbelief about Frodo surviving the wound from the troll, he say's "that spear would have skewered a wild boar" showing he's clearly experienced hunting with multiple weapons
one point regarding Aragorn - his bow IS actually very similar to a number of bows depicted in medieval artwork. The longbow gets all the attention, but shorter bows were very prevalent.
As someone who's heavily read tolkien's work from silmarillion, histories of middle earth, etc, there IS a lot of evidence that tolkien imagined his elves with long hair. its mentioned over and over again, usually as the first detail we learn about the character. in general tolkien has very limited character descriptions, usually the most we get is Long Beautiful Hair (and its color), eye color, and height (tall). In fact one of my biggest problems with ROP and this is kind of petty, but it really bothers me, is the appearances of Elrond and Celebrimbor in this show. we KNOW what elrond looked like, and we know what Celebrimbor's father and grandfather looked like so we can say reasonably what Celebrimbor looked like, and i just don't understand why they wouldnt just give the actors wigs......
This. I can get past Elves and Dwarves of color (especially the Dwarves, as there are groups of Dwarves that we never see in LotR or The Silmarillion). I understand that they need to appeal to a wider audience. However, I cannot get past their casting choice for Elrond. He's still a white dude. It would not have cost them extra to find someone who looks a little closer to Tolkien's description. Instead they got Young Ned Stark, who is okay looking but hardy beautiful. Elrond's looks are just as important in the story as Galadriel's; they show his lineage from Luthien Tinuviel.
@@LauraJdogmom I actually really appreciate the elves and dwarves of color tbh, I don't think it's counter textual and I almost wish they included more actors of color in major roles (I was really hoping for Ismael Cruz Cordova as Gil-Galad.... he has such a regal face....). But I definitely agree with you about Elrond. hes supposed to look like luthien!!
What's even funnier is that Elrond is actually one of the very few characters that have a detailed despcription. Unlike, say, Merry or Legolas, we know exactly what he looked like. And yet they picked an actor who doesn't even have the same hair color and refused to give him a wig. Why?
@@angelayang1850 Exactly. My issues with Rings of Power go way beyond diverse casting. It's their lack of attention to details of all kinds. Nobody pronounces "Galadriel" correctly; they say "Galadhriel." She wears a Star of Feanor on her armor. They screwed up the timeline for no discernible reason. Arondir has a bearded "Green Man" face on his armor. Disa has no beard. And Dark Lord only knows what else.
@@superficialtamarind I can understand representation and all that, but in a situation where the setting is based off a white country, in a ‘mythical retelling’ of European history as was Tolkien’s original idea, and in a story without colored characters in the race of elves, why change this? It’d be like a bollywood movie about ancient buddhist history having white men being a large part of their ancestors, it is simply not true to the story.
The biggest and most glaring problem with ROP is that the show runners tried to make Middle Earth look too much like the real world, which, thereby, makes it essentially *not* Middle Earth at all. If you do something like that to Middle Earth then it's lost everything that Tolkien put into its creation that made it so unique and enchanting.
That's the crux of it. There is no right solution. (Sticking to the movies, it's been a while since I did the books) Yes, his characters were all essentially white. But the story was also written as a northern European mythology. So that kinda tracks. i don't have any more of a problem w it than black panther being an afrocentric story. I don't want white wakandans to "balance it out" even if that's not in the story. And I get it, I'm multiracial, no reason for not including us. But it could be done so much better. There's so much unexplored territory. Like faramir wondering about the guy he killed on the Oliphant. How did he get there? What did he want? Don't take established stuff and make a shallow show of inclusion by mucking about w it. Take all the rest of middle earth and make good stories of it. Give the east as rich a backstory as the west, get to know the people. That would be a hell of a lot better (and more progressive) than just saying "here's a brown elf".
@@blackc1479 Totally agree. The East was always left as a mystery. They were just thrown in there as "the bad guys" to a large extent. Would be really interesting, like you said, to see how they came under the influence of Sauron. Surely they were not always under his sway.
I've played as an elf several times in Dnd and the ONLY time one had short hair, was when I was playing a young elf monk. I figured his youth paired with that I played him as a true monastic monk, made him having short hair (or rather no hair as he was bald) make sense. He was only 50years old, seen as mature by humans, but to an elf, he's little more than a child. In Dnd, Elves are considered to be adults at around 80-90, by Elf standard he was akin to a 11-13 year old (prime rebellious phase). So his relative youth paired with his religious beliefs, meant that his hair (or lack there of) actually SERVED his story. It wasn't short for the sake of being short.
@@LivingAnachronism Overly thought out some might say lol. But I like to think of little details like this as I'm an artist and I LARP. So tying character appearance to their backstory is something that I'm fond of for character design, as I'm usually going to either draw it, or wear it. As you well know, you can tell a surprising amount of story in costume alone if you just put thought into it.
@@RainMakeR_Workshop That's because the culture is the monk, not the elf, unlike with LotR, where the elf is the culture. It's not overly thought out; it's just right. You know what makes your character your character, and you show that.
@@AnotherDuck I liked to think of it as also being in that rebellious phase. In my head, though shaving the head was “part” of the monastic traditions, it wasn’t *mandatory* , especially for Elves. I imagine most of his fellow Elven monks kept their hair as part of their heritage. At around 90-100 or so, I imagine he grew it back to respect his cultural heritage, but I picture him going for that shaved back and sides look with the head on top eventually being very long. To me it’s the halfway point between his Elven heritage and his monastic traditions. Showing his maturity.
Great video, just FYI, the hunting bow used by Aragorn in the trilogy is pretty much correct for a hunting bow of medieval Europe. Perhaps a touch on the short side for the actor's ease of carry, but quite accurate. The reason a longbow is call that, is because it is LONG. It is a weapon of war rather than a tool, but there were many bows of smaller size used in everyday life, and so within that range Aragorn's bow should be considered accurate to the context of Europe rather than an anachronism drawn from North American history.
Tolkien actually discusses at length the elves’ feeling about their hair. And the reasons. They just never bothered to research it and see what he thought. They flat didn’t care.
Comes from only having rights to the appendices. That's barebones stuff, so they just took some barebones ideas and expanced on them however they saw fit. Pity so little of the billion dollars spent on the show went into actually making it good.
@@empirate100 To be fair, that doesn't limit them when it comes to character design. They can still make them look accurate to the Books. They are only limited in terms of the Story, and what can happen in it. They just flat out didn't do any research and the Showrunners even straight up admitted, that they didn't care about Tolkien, because according to them "He was an old white dude living in the 18th Century." They straight up never tried to be accurate. It was always going to be a Fan-Fiction, whete they "modernize" the Story and "make it more inclusive for the modern audience."
So many elves in the silm or otherwise have fin- in their name. that means hair, and JRRT included 'flowing hair' 'great plaits braided with gold' (in the case of fingon), the epesse 'russandol' pretty clearly shows that elves took great pride in their hair and considered it a thing of beauty. Having rights to the appendices doesn't cover character design so it feels silly not to give the elves long, gorgeous hair especially wiht a 500 mil budget
@@swara4704 But all must be sacrificed on the altar of “relevance” in modernity. Or at least the concept of relevance as seen by the few but wealthy media moguls. I was so offended by the trailer showing the twisted story of little “Galadriel” being bullied by the other “elf children”, and then the insipid meaningless advice given her bur brother “Finrod of the buzz cut”, that I erased the whole Amazon project from my mind. The writers dragged the whole story down to the level of American politics and middle school playgrounds. “Relevance”.
I don't cosplay, but I'm a writer and I think everything about a character should tell a story about who they are. If my characters don't have a design I like, I find it harder to imagine them and therefore write about them. After watching this, I realize I've got some work to do to add more form and function to their clothing. WHY they wear what they do and what in the history of my world led to these styles being in fashion. And I agree about elves. They should have long hair. Not only is it aesthetically pleasing to me, long hair gives them an ethereal, otherworldly appearance.
I'm not 100% sure that was their inspiration, but there are definitely a lot of parallels. Even down to the way Viggo holds arrows in his bow hand for a quick reload and the type of draw he uses (looks like a 3 finger pinch grip, not the Mediterranean like Legolas) THOSE are good details!
To be fair, the English long-bow was very specifically a weapon of war and wouldn't necessarily be used for hunting. Theoretically it could be but it wouldn't be very practical for long journey or for someone who needs to travel fast and light. There were almost certainly shorter bows during that period which would have been used by a ranger/hunter architype, hence the designation of "long" bow.
@@lupuscorvus841 You are absolutely right. Long and short bows have been used by almost every single culture in the world and so have the easy modifications like recurves, gullwing bend, and sinew backing. Long bows are always shitier option for hunting. There are hundreds of medieval pictures of short bows some horn composite bows some simple one wood bows.
@@LivingAnachronism To me it looks very much like a medieval hunting shortbow too, not sure how right you are on the comanche influence on his bow. Otherwise great video though!
@@LivingAnachronismAFAIK, there a lot of hunting shortbow or nomadic bows at that times, but they are not so different from comanche or other culture shortbow. There not much ways you can make something for this purpose with tech that were available at that time.
The elves portrayed in Lord of the Rings felt otherworldly and untouchable, like works of art. There was an inherent grace and elegance to them. Meanwhile there is nothing about the elves in Rings of Power that gives me any feeling of that whatsoever. It's honestly so disappointing to see what Amazon has done with them.
I don't really know much about the lore of the LOTR series, but I think the hair is very important to the elves (from when Gimli asks Lady Galadriel for her hair). So it would make sense that Tolkien's elves would have long hair.
Thank you for pointing out the long hair thing. I was so angry at how generic and...mortal the Rings of Power elves look, no grace or timelessness, and the short hair was a big part of that. But I didn't have a way to explain it properly and my friends looked at me weird when I tried. It's a visual medium and the visuals are there to express things to the audience. Peter Jackson's version clearly shows the elves are almost otherworldly and majestic, obviously not human. You could take away the pointed ears and still know they're elves. Amazon's? Look like humans even with the ears.
Excellent! Yes, Peter Jackson's screen adaptations were exactly that, adaptations. Because the book doesn't describe ever single item you have some liberty to enhance and detail the gear, Improving it and making it more functional. Aragorns bow is a good example. But what Amazon is doing is not an adaptation. It's a total rewrite. Not even that. It's something else all together. Not that Peter Jackson didn't go to far in "improving" the Authors vision some times. But he actually had a love for the Books. Amazon does not.
Most of the changes PJ made were to make the story more suitable for a film trilogy rather than a long book split into three. Action, dialogue, descriptions, internal thoughts and reflections, and other aspects are very different between books and films. And pretty much all of those changes he made made the story hold up better in its new format. It's because it was always about how to tell Tolkien's story in the best way possible as a film, rather than to show his own adaptation on the big screen.
It reminds me of the Battleship (yes the guessing game) movie: Get a license (any license really), come up with the most generic plot utterly unrelated to the lore, slap a boatload of CGI on to mask it, cast one big name (doesn't need to be actors) to draw in the suckers.
Aragorn was a scout as well as a hunter. He would be both a swordsman and a bowman. He probably could even wield a spear just as well. Yes, elves should have long hair...period.
Well from the descriptions of the Rangers, both of the North and Rangers of Ithilien who were these 'special forces' of Gondor, experts scouts, guerilla tactics, recon force and almost a 'commandos' type soldiers :) it does make sense that he would have some skill in both weapons. "A little apart the Rangers of the North sat, silent, in an ordered company, armed with spear and bow and sword. They were clad in cloaks of dark grey, and their hoods were cast now over helm and head. Their horses were strong and of proud bearing, but rough-haired.... There was no gleam of stone or gold, nor any fair thing in all their gear and harness: nor did their riders bear any badge or token, save only that each cloak was pinned upon the left shoulder by a brooch of silver shaped like a rayed star...." ... "Two had spears in their hands with broad bright heads. Two had great bows, almost of their own height, and great quivers of long green-feathered arrows. All had swords at their sides, and were clad in green and brown of varied hues, as if the better to walk unseen in the glades of Ithilien. Green gauntlets covered their hands, and their faces were hooded and masked with green, except for their eyes...." The Two Towers, LoTR Book 4, Ch 4, Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
@@fantasywind3923 great quote! I just read that section of the passing of the grey company to my 10 year old kids tonight. They were so excited to hear the original story - they've seen the movies and recall the paths of the dead. But they'll soon understand the reason. Now they have a picture of the breadth of Aragorn's story, with his kin coming to find him and fight alongside.
I would say the first, most prominent way that Aragorn's costume looked better is that it didn't look _like a costume._ It looked like he actually wore that stuff out in the wilderness, waded through streams and walked along dusty roads. Even when he was in his more "dressed up" costumes for scenes at Rivendell and the like, it was designed in a way where it looked like it could be his actual clothes. It looked like something that he could actually wear off-set without it being weird, and the actor wore it like he had in fact done just that to get a feel for it. It looked real and natural. That's got to be the ideal in any case of costume design.
I think "Ethereal" is the main takeaway for LotR elves for me. They seem 'not of this world', and have zero qualms staying apart from it as much as possible and not mingling. So, with that said, any effort to make them feel more "human" should raise a red flag. Yes they have emotions, but it's buried deep beneath centuries of practiced grace and expressed less directly, at least that's my take on them.
Sewing and historical fashions are a passion of mine, Lord of the Rings was one of the films that helped me get interested in such a subject. And I also enjoyed watching the behind the scenes of the making of the costumes in it as well as other things that inspired my passion. All of them are in the 80s,90s or early 2000s, but now there seems to be an attitude of "modern audiences can't relate to characters who wear accurate costumes, they need to wear modified modern costumes."
I still can't believe that with the budget RoP has, they actually have one of their characters wearing an armour printed stretchy shirt under a poorly fitted breastplate. All of their costumes look cheap, especially compared to the extraordinary work that Ngila Dickson and Weta did for the trilogy.
@@LivingAnachronism Truly, the greatest costumes in cinema. Watching the LOTR behind the scenes on repeat as a kid definitely impacted me for the better, and I think about some aspect of it probably every day. The costumes, bigatures, props, everything, is just 😙👌
@@0oogabooga I have been rewatching the making of again (after having just watched it this spring) it literally brings tears to my eyes. Given how successful the makings ofs were, I would have pre released making ofs for the show to try and win people over. Perhaps logistically they couldn't. Or perhaps they didn't care to. But if there was anything worth while in them, it might have gone a long way, given the precedent.
@@LivingAnachronism LOTR in general makes me pretty emotional, and seeing all of the love that they poured into making everything for the films just gets me everytime. I marathoned the trilogy with some family less than a month ago, and we already started planning to watch it (and all the extras of course) again on September 2nd when the show airs. That's a good point about them releasing bts stuff to gain favor with the fans. Instead, they seem like they are repeatedly doing the exact opposite of what would be beneficial to them. It will be interesting to see if RoP becomes another "Only famous because of how big a flop it was" type thing.
I will admit, while I liked medieval fantasy before I saw LotR, I wasn't the biggest Tolkien fan. That came later. That said, when I saw that first movie it all felt, for lack of a better word, "perfect." It was like it was all so well put together that it sucked me right in and I lost myself in it. The costumes were right in line with that notion. It was all just right, and I didn't ever see something that pulled me out of the story. Good costumes not only should fit the character, but they should mesh so well that when you see it you immediately accept that is what they would wear. It's when someone can see a costume on a character and not really think about it is when it really works. At no point in those movies did I ever stop and think, "What... what is that... what is going on with that outfit!"
Very well said Clint. I say on the channel "Lord of the Rings always gets a pass" because the ratio of just how much they got right is so incalculably high, that even if I notice a minor thing (NEVER in regards to the costumes) it is so easy to look passed. Let it never be said that fans simply hate on things for the sake of it. I give good graces when they are earned. Cheers my friend!
Agreed, they got so much right, especially the right feel to things. That is why despite certain changes to the story, I can forgive it because it really was incredible how much care they put into it.
One thing I really love about Peter Jackson's costume design is the Gondor armour, they thought about the Second Age armour and how it would develop into the Third Age, where previously separate pieces of metal forming wing aesthetics would evolve into shaped wing shapes hammered into a single piece helmet for both better strength and more simplicity. It's an evolution that feels like a natural change.
Great info, well done. I wore the Aragorn costume (as one of Viggo’s doubles) for 18mths of principle photography on LOTR (as well as pickups) and can honestly say I was the envy of many other character players…….reason being it was so comfortable! 😁 Custom fitted boots and lots of suede. The ranger sword was slightly unwieldy but manageable for the most part. My favourite accessory was the bed-roll as it supported my back when seated! I’ll be adding plenty more details on my new channel soon. Cheers!
"Elves lived for thousands of years, so as they changed their hair length, they have had sometimes good and sometimes bad designers for clothes." ...would now say the people responsible for the show.
Any argument about "The elves live for thousands of years" should be met with the response that a) they are compressing the timeline, so thousands of years doesn't apply and b) even if they were telling the story with the proper time frame, that time frame needs to be scaled to the life span of the characters. 1000 years is nothing to the life of an elf. Why would they be changing their looks and styles in the equivalent of a couple of human weeks? The only answer can be a story driven one, which they have not given.
@@LivingAnachronism this applies doubly so because most of the main elves in the show are already thousands of years old at this point and fully mature. It's not like they're the equivalent of teenagers or something where that excuse of them changing their hair over time would hold a little water.
I will always love the fact that people seem to never stop finding stuff the LotR did amazing with. If it's Aragorn as the opposite of toxic masculinity or their amazing costume design, shown in this video! LotR is just a legend.
I have been straying away from looking at anything Rings of Power because it's all just...sad. And I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said in this video. You're always so well spoken and to the point. It's very much appreciated. I personally think another huge aspect of costume design in many contemporary fantasy worlds is cosplayers. I think people designing costumes for these shows and films have the thought of, to some extent, "People will make this for conventions and also even before said shows or films are released for free promotion, so it's good". Fantasy worlds, more often than not, don't look or feel like a solid, "real" thing anymore. At least when they're being put onto screen by the wrong people, I mean. And that is heartbreaking.
If you want to illustrate visual storytelling in Lord of the Rings, one need look no farther than the four Hobbits: Merry is very much the 'business casual' when it comes to Shire fashion, with a tangible "off the rack" feel to his clothing. Inherently practical (including voluminous pants legs to accommodate oversized Hobbit feet) and made of quality yet simple cloth. Sleeves are slightly baggy to accommodate movement (and comfort), ending in simple button cuffs, with a buttoned plain tab collar - off-white in color with a slightly darker buttoned vest; natural earthy colors which are easy to produce and maintain. His coat is full length, a dark muted brown-green in color. Very much "down-to-Earth" by most every criteria, as is Merry himself. Pippin is notably more casual (one might better say 'careless') in his attire - wearing a similar shirt though lacking a collar and usually with several buttons undone; for most of the movie, he is never seen wearing a vest. His coat isn't as well-made as Merry's, nor as long, with misshapen lapels and is missing buttons. It's never explicitly stated in the movies though it is apparent that he is of the lowest station among the four, simply doesn't care much about his appearance, or some combination thereof. Regardless his clothes are reflective of how he seldom gives much thought to, well, pretty much anything. Fool of a Took! Samwise is 'the practical one'. While his outfit is slightly better quality than Merry's, his fashion choices and how he wears it reflect his hard-working nature. The top button of his collared shirts are all missing and his vest, while more elaborate than Merry's, is always unbuttoned. He is the only one of the four whose coat lacks lapels, and also the only one whose shirt has fitted sleeves. All his clothes have a greenish hue to them, and he's also the only one to wear patterns - nearly always narrow vertical stripes. Despite the wear and tear, his clothes are well-maintained and one need look closely to notice the damage they have endured. Frodo is a Baggins (of Bag End) - as close as Hobbits come to having nobility, particularly following the escapades of his Uncle Bilbo. His shirts are the only ones with embroidery, his vests far more elaborate, and the only one with a lined coat (notice the contrasting lapels). Even through most of their journey, his outfit remains immaculate (though much of this can be attributed to Sam's attentiveness, seeing himself as Frodo's batman). In addition to connotating that Frodo is of considerably higher station than his fellow Hobbits, it is only within Mordor as they approach Mount Doom that his clothing degrades - further emphasizing the tremendous toll that carrying the One Ring it taking upon him. From this, one can readily see how their outfits - though they all come from Bag End - reflect not only their personalities, but also their respective roles in the story as it unfolds.
Pippin's outfit giving the impression that he is of the lowest station among the four is something that actually needs a bit more examination, because in fact, Pippin was of the HIGHEST station amongst the four. So what's being communicated by his "dressing down" that much? Pippin was the youngest child of Paladin II Took, the Thain of the Shire, one of the highest offices amongst Hobbits. (Pippin would, much later, become Thain himself.) Merry was Pippin's first cousin -- Paladin's sister was Merry's mother. Merry's father, Saradoc Brandybuck, was the Master of Buckland; so Merry himself (especially as an only child) was also of high social status. (And in general, the Tooks and the Brandybucks are two of the most powerful families in the Shire overall.) Samwise is the real "lowest station" of all of them. Frodo's situation is weird; first, because he is an orphan, and then second, because he was adopted by the childless Bilbo. The Baggins were respectable and wealthy, but not on the same level as the big, powerful families that held offices of the Shire. Bag End is like a mansion, in comparison to the rest of the hobbit holes in Hobbiton, but it was only built by Bilbo's father (in order to impress Belladonna Took, who became his wife). Frodo originally grew up mostly within Brandy Hall, as his mother was a younger sister of Merry's grandfather, and the Brandybucks were much more well-off than the branch of the Baggins family from which his father Drogo came. (Drogo and Bilbo were like... I think third cousins or something?) So Drogo was very willing to spend a lot of time in his rich wife's father's house (with its correspondingly well-stocked larder). Bilbo, meanwhile, was not particularly socially or politically powerful, in Shire terms. He was just very, very rich, on account of his share of the dragon's hoard (and the troll hoard) that he came home from his Adventure with. Being childless, adopting Frodo made Frodo Bilbo's heir. But in comparison with with much larger and more politically powerful families of the Tooks and Brandybucks, the Baggins were just... rich, and that's it. They weren't at all Shire "nobility", and in fact, Bilbo's adventures *counted against him* in Shire society. He was considered very weird and uncouth by most other Hobbits (although neither thing would stop other hobbits from taking advantage of his hospitality and riches, or desiring those riches. So here's what I'd suggest: the social standing goes Pippin > Merry > Frodo > Samwise. Frodo's elaborate and rich clothing is due to Bilbo having *so much money*, because of bringing home his share of the dragon's hoard. Bilbo wasn't reluctant to spend that money at all. The difference in dress between Pippin (son of one high-ranking Shire official) and Merry (son of another high-ranking Shire official) *could* be an indication of how seriously each takes their social position. Merry was the Master of Buckland's ONLY child, and since these positions were hereditary, you could understand him trying to dress a bit more "business casual", as you put it -- like, not TOO rich-looking, but presentable. Pippin, meanwhile, was the fourth child of the Thain. In the normal course of things, he probably wouldn't have expected to become Thain in turn; although, he had three older sisters, and I don't know whether the Hobbits placed great emphasis on the office of Thain being held by a male heir, or what. At any rate, I'd suggest that Pippin's marked casual dress is in line with the son of a very important family, who is perhaps rebelling a bit against the expectations put upon him. I think he's the youngest of the four, so maybe that plays into it.
@@gryphonvert Apologies if I misinterpreted something - it's been *ages* since I read the book and am vastly more acquainted with the movie(s). Primogeniture was the dominant 'regime' throughout much of history, so being the youngest would likely make Pippin "nobility in name only". In most cultures, younger sons were typically seen to be more burden than asset (unless all their older brothers suffered untimely ends). Hobbits didn't appear to consider gender in succession - Sam named his eldest daughter, Elanor, as his successor. So it would appear that Pippin, as the youngest, hadn't been expected to become prominent in the family lineage - as apparent in his behavior as in his wardrobe. (Or, as you suggested, he markedly rebelled against any such expectations.) At least prior to his adventures throughout Middle Earth. It may well have been both the prestige of his role in saving Middle Earth and how much his character had grown which contributed to him becoming Thane.
I love reading both of your detailed clothing analyses! It's been a long time since I read the books, so it was nice to brush up on the details, and ultimately your comments are additional proofs that the LotR production/costume departments were thorough enough to create costumes more accurate than the average movie-goer would even realize!
That whetstone is such a good touch. Even if you don't know anything else about the person carrying it, it tells you a lot. This is a person who relies on their tools being effective. They are willing to engage in difficult, tedius work to maintain that effectiveness. This person plans ahead. Meanwhile, the harfoots' appleseeds tell us...what? Nobody could extrapolate the actual answer from that alone, no one's looking at fruit detrutus and jumping to "burial rites".
Not to mention the characters openly contradict that idea since they leave behind anyone injured, sick, or shamed to die. The actions of the characters tell us quite clearly that they don't give a riff about their dead cause they inadvertently killed most of them. Not to mention, when would they have time to stop by or return to an orchard to bury a loved one if they're a migratory people who sheds all dead weight (pun intended) ASAP? It's the most pointless thing to point out as a "deliberate detail" cause it's not only pointless, but wildly wrong with what they established.
13:09 Gods.. seeing this shot of Éowyn and Faramir filled me with so much warmth, I couldn't help but smile stupidly. Even catching snippets of these movies shows what masterpieces they are.
What I'm hearing is "Long hair is sexy". I agree. No seriously, though, you're bringing up some great points here. I also watch Bernadette Banner, who does a lot of *historically accurate* old-style costume design and critiquing. This is stuff I love. Thank you, Kramer!
@@AnotherDuck I love it when you watch videos or channels that seemingly don't have a lot in common, and then it turns out that the creators follow each other too. Bernadette slays (in the most ladylike manner, of course)!
Long hair is literally sexy. It's an evolutionary marker of fertility and health. Humans can't help admiring long hair across every known culture throughout history.
I am so glad I am not the only one who has disdain for the Rings of Power. Maybe the movies had too much of an influence on me, as I LOVE everything about them, but I just cannot get behind the design choices of the Amazon show.
@@TexasDevin I have done this many times before, and every time been disappointed (example the Witcher on Netflix). There is more than enough to see the way that this is going.
Well from someone who took a lot of issue with many aspects of Jackson's adaptation, I, like you, cannot get behind anything Rings of Power has done, haha. I'm actually starting to respect Jackson's movies a lot more, the more I see of Rings of Power :)
What a cathartic talk on the problems with the rings of power costume design. You hit the nail on the head and vocalised exactly the thoughts I had swimming around in my brain whilst watching the show. Amazingly concise and articulate. Thanks for your insight!
Great point about the long haired Elves. I would also add that in the Tolkien's fantasy world Elves are a different race and everyone can tell it at one glance. Since we have all the races played by humans, we have to find other ways of making all the races really distinctly looking.
Myself I'm not a huge diehard dan of LOTR, but even i was outraged by the clear disregard for everything before Rings Of Power. This franchise will ve majorly hurt by this show, hopefully Amazon hears ppls feedback and adjusts. Great vid too!
They probably won't, but the solace I take, is that LOTR is not a franchise, it is a world, with many lore masters (of which I do NOT consider myself one). None the less, my hope is that this world will not be so easy to commercialize. But it has been done in the past, and their strategies have been proven to work.
I think the problem is, how do you adjust in a possible second season if you have done so much wrong in the first one? I mean a detail here and there (as in the Witcher, where the armour of the Nilfgaardians looked a lot better in season 2), but they seem to miss the point completely not only in the costume departement.
@@resathe6760 The Witcher season 2 was like 1 step forward and 6 steps back. They changed the armor, but with absolutely no story explanation why the first set existed, or why it was changed. Anyone watching the 2nd season might not even recognize Nilfgaard as Nilfgard. Then they made way more changes to the story, and attacked the fans using Jaskier as a mouthpiece in like the 4th episode. I have not idea how they can come back from a bad first season when their ego is more important than the story.
@@LivingAnachronism How was the first season of the Witcher bad? And yes, I agree that there was no explanation for the change in armour, but almost everyone who saw season one complained about the armour so I guess they just wanted to make a better one, even though it would have of course been better if there was an explanation for it (although I'm not sure what an explanation that could've been, that made sense, reasonably speaking). But I think everyone was able to recognize them with either Fringilla or Cahir present almost always, when Nilfgaardian soldiers were shown. I Can't talk about changes to the story with the Witcher because I haven't read the books or played the games. If you go in with a blank slate you surely are able to enjoy some storylines more as if you go in carrying certain expectations. I enjoyed season 2 but I also understand if book readers can't as much. I also don't have a problem with Jaskier being a mouthpiece as you called it (maybe for the same reason that I don't reas the book). I think the bigger problem is that he is not aging appropriately but honestly I love his character so much that I don't care that much if it means we see him all the way through the series.
Wow, I had no idea they had those little details in Aragorn's costume. Something I'd forget if you mentioned is that the costume also plays an important role for the actor themselves by allowing them to look or even feel like the character they are trying to portray. A good costume helps them with this transition into fantasy, Viggo asked for those modifications knowing they may never been seen by the audience, but that they would help me feel like who he needed to play. Another example of a costume helping the actor is Jim Carrey's the Grinch. That costume was famously uncomfortable and painful, and Jim Carrey channeled that discomfort and anger into his performance of the spiteful Grinch.
One possible explanation for Aragorn's more "modern" style is because Gandalf tasked him with watching over the Shire and surrounding lands. The hobbits' clothing always struck me as the least medieval style in the whole movie, with waistcoats and things like that. Whether to fit in more with the people in that area or just through the process of gradually taking on the characteristics and habits of the place you spend lots of time in, this could be why Aragorn wears that duster-garment.
Aragon's clothes are not modern at all. Nomadic peoples wore something similar already in the ninth century and earlier. In Central and Eastern Europe and cold parts of Asia.
Well since the Shire had been undisturbed and hidden from others for so long, it probably advanced much faster then the other parts of middle earth.Like there’s been no wars, no disasters, no attacks, no decline in ruler etc.So therefore, and since the hobbits love farming and beer, they were able to advance to what I’d consider based on all we see there at least 1700’s style.They wear clothing that fits the style of Georgian or victorian era, they have stoves, pans, mills, pubs, butchers, carts, ploughs, etc, which fits much more with a more modern world.After all the Elves are very in touch with nature and content with how things are so they wouldn’t need to change, Gondor and Rohan are old and besieged by conflict regularly so have had no real chance to develop, the Dwarves are able to build and craft whatever they need so they are also unlikely to need to change, the men of Eriador are scattered and constantly subject to trolls, orcs, and other foul beasts.Meanwhile Mirkwood has been largely abandoned by any men living there due to the orcs in the south and giant spiders.So the Shire is the only stable place where they have reason to modernise.
Aragorn is basically using a hunting bow, not a war bow. Viggo added so much to that character. The Whetstone and the small skinning knife on the outside of his sword scabbard are things he asked to be added to his costume because Strider the Ranger would need them.
> "Some people believe, that detail equals depth. But it doesn't". Damn, that's so well said. This is an important for wriners or fellow DMs to keep in mind so they would not fall into meaningless worldbulding abyss of fleshing out all the random things imaginable.
Just because longbows were historically used, particularly in combat and battles, doesn’t mean short bows weren’t historically accurate. There are plenty of examples of short hunting bows used by lay people like farmers and hunters because they were easier and cheaper to make and definitely more functional for daily use.
Actually, long bows were ubiquitous in part BECAUSE they were fairly cheap to make. Short recurve bows could exceed the average long bow in power and efficiency, but were much trickier to craft, and took alot more time and money as a result.
@@thodan467 Yes. Now I wonder how often recurve LONG bows were created in history, like the bow I've designed for a minotaur archer in the game I'm working on.
Thanks for the helpful commentary. A key element of success of a costume is if you don't notice it at all. Then it is just part of the character and it helpf builds the world. Good examples: Rohan costumes - functional and had Nordic themes that tied them all together, indicating a common culture that was distinct from Gondor Gondorian armor and costumes - elegant and indicated high culture LOTR Elves - as you noted, ethereal and other worldly. Clearly these were NOT humans Amazon RoP male dwarves - completely believable, and broadly similar to Jackson's dwarves. LOTR battle at the end of the 2nd Age in prologue - absolutely amazing. The armor of the elves, humans, orcs and especially Sauron told the tale almost all by themselves. Sauron's armor exuded malice and threat. These brief images and Blanchett's monologue shows that a few images and words are all that are needed to establish the tone and set up a complex backstory Bad examples: RoP Númenor court - looks like a court from a low-status Germanic robber baron and some weird Roman-looking costumes, which was and anachronism (where the RoP constume designers shooting for Byzantium? Ancient Rome?). Style is all over the place. This does NOT look like the highest human culture ever to exist. Moreover, this does NOT look like the progenitor for what we saw in Jackson's Gondor RoP Young Elrond - lots of swoopy draped cloth. This is not an elegant design I'd expect of the elves. Sloppy. Perhaps from a bargain basement costume designer? RoP Battle Galadriel's armor - instinctive dislike. This is NOT Galadriel but rather a generic warrior princess. Also, this was plate mail, whereas the Jackson elves at most had what appeared to be a form of chain or scale mail which is a LOT better for their style of fighting. Moreover, the Jackson armor from the prologue and 3rd Age was both beautiful and appeared functional, and screamed 'elven'. The same can't be said of Amazon RoP elven armor designs
Great examples. I'll add the costume design of the Uruks in PJ's Trilogy. Brutal, rough, unpolished, a race that cares nothing for the aesthetics of their weapons, only that they function. No armor on the backs because they do not retreat.
I agree with everything else, but just feel obliged to point out that RoP isn't trying to be a prequel to the Peter Jackson trilogy, and as such, the RoP Númenoreans not looking like precursors to Jackson's Gondor isn't a meaningful criticism.
I realized something while watching this video, specifically when you showed Aragorn and Theoden at the beginning. Obviously, I know these are real life actors playing fictional characters being filmed for a movie, but it kind of hit me that I never really considered that. I don't see Viggo Mortensen when Aragorn comes on screen, I see Aragorn. Same for all the other characters in Lord of The Rings. I can't say I feel as strongly or similarly for any other films, even my other favorites. I understand that it is the acting, script, world building... whatever you want to call it, but the costume design definitely plays a large role in this.
Completely agree. I think a huge part of it is just how grounded in reality it feels. I mean, when you look at modern movies, even the dreaded RoP, it's all so shiny and slick. Everything's perfectly in place, even when they're trying for "rugged," which just makes it feel fake. Like they're on a set instead of a living breathing world. But LoTR just has that "real" feel naturally, and I know so much of why is because everything *was* real, down to practical effects over CGI. But the clothes were weathered, the hair greasy and disheveled, and the combat felt real and weighty, not overly choreographed.
@@BelleMort6 I think that's because the had this idea that they would film it like they would have filmed a history documentary. That approach to thinking of it as real life vents just recreated on camera absolutely shines through.
Positively loved your “For Tolkien” video, and now I’m enjoying this talk on costumes as a writer and comic creator. Thanks for this great analysis on character clothing!
One important thing that has not been mentioned in this video are the colors. That is big difference between good and lazy costume desing. In LOTR you can see that most of the characters wear multiple colors at once and they change color of the costumes during the movies. Which is true mastership because it means that designer has not only fantasy to make form of the costume but also realy underestands basics of the craft. Making of costume, that has multiple colors that needs to be in harmony and needs to fit the character at the same time is much more complicated than making costume monochrome. If someone wears monochrome, like Aragorn, it makes sence in terms of practicality. But you can see that one he is not on the path, he also switches to the colors. Toned down, but colors. Amazon uses mostly monochrome designs. Which is not only lazy but also offensive to the viewer. They basically tell you this is white woman, this is gold one, here you have gold guy, white guy, black guy, homeless looking gray trio, gray quy, green guy... ets. Names are not important in this moment, because viewer is idiot that is not able to remember names and faces so lets just color them like Ludo pieces and they will stay in the same color for the rest of the all five planed seasons. Like most colorful design is gold woman with blue cloak with coper lining. Give money that amazon has to any LARPer or cosplayer that has a bit experience with costume making so they can buy expensive materials and they will bring you exactly same designs.
I just think that take is so short sighted and rude to the average viewer. Anyone who is unfamiliar with Tolkien very well could need a lot of visual cues and reminders as to which character is which. The language is dense and hard to repeat and remember. On top of that, we haven’t seen all five seasons. Are the costumes going to stay exactly the same? Or will they evolve as the audience becomes more familiar? There are lots of shows that emphasize character recognition early on and journey to more intense and detailed costuming as the shows go on. This show wasn’t made for people who can properly pronounce every elf and dwarf’s name and critique timeline changes, it was made for the average viewer.
Love everything about your analysis ! I’d also add a few things that are so evident, netflix/prime/any tv showrunners forget them every time : - quality fabrics : yes they are expensive but the way a 100% linen shirt falls perfectly vs polyester makes the few extra bucks on their enormous budget worth it, and also historical accuracy ofc - no oversaturated colors : back in the middle ages they used natural dyes that could not even begin to reach the amount of color saturation we have in clothes today, plus people used their clothes for a very long time so their color would fade even more through the years (so seeing a cast dressed in bright orange roman robes is just painful) - not trying to make stuff fashionable at any cost : cause we can appreciate middle age fashion perfectly fine, they don’t need to « modernize it for our time » the only thing it ensures is that in a few years it will look weird whereas middle age clothes will never look bad, we are striving for timelessness here not fashion week That was a long rant haha, i’m now ready to sign the « elves have long hair » petition
The people in medieval times though, loved their color. There is a brilliant Madder Red that was used up unto the 1930s because of it's brilliance, and mostly colorfastness. There are a few other such dies. Look at Hieronymous Bosch paintings and see the colors of the clothes the peasants are wearing. Generally the further south you go, the brighter the colors. Even dour Scotsmen had some color *though they loved their white shirts under their jackets.
@@ScottRuggels thanks for the discoveries ! Never heard of Hieronymous Bosch before (: I totally agree that they had brilliant dyes back then already, especially in countries like India ! I believe indigo and madder red were very popular in Europe ? Even though mostly richer people could afford them. I exaggerated a bit when talking about color saturation, what I meant to say was that you wouldn't find a traffic cone orange garment back then so it's more about the shade and less about the saturation I guess. Also I kind of look at it from a peasant/regular citizen perspective by default haha, and they usually couldn't afford very expensive dyes so they mostly wore greys and browns (from what I know, please correct me if I'm wrong !). Thanks for your input !
@@ScottRuggels I’m sure that Elin Abrahamsson has dyed some fabric madder red. In general, her clothes pallet is what I expect from historical accuracy. And she’s just so adorable.
A note about Aragorn's bow, there were plenty of short bows used in the European context, check out the archers in the Bayeaux tapestry or archers in later period hunting manuscripts for examples. But I do think the professor would have envisioned Aragorn with a long bow, given that the Rangers of Ithilien are described with them, as are the men of Morthond vale during the battle of Pelennor. Regarding the Rings of Power, the costuming feels cheap despite the richness of it.
From the shorter bows I've seen not just in europe, but asia as well, they all apear to be a sort of recurve. I admit my knowledge may be limited, but I believe Aragorn's bow in the films is a small D curve bow. And one of the bows that fits this description, is a bow used by the Comanche.
Of course. It's called "kitsch", I believe. Like when an actor / actress wears something super expensive(talking a gown that costs 50000$+), but still looks cheap. And then you have a 1000$ gown that's obviously cheaper, but looks and functions better. Kitsch is just /ugh, the worst!
I actually think Aragorn probably *did* carry a bow in the books, albeit not a master archer’s weapon and him not being that amazing of a shot. Three main reasons: 1) He tells the hobbits that he has “some skill as a hunter” - not a trapper, but a hunter. Can’t really hunt without a projectile weapon. 2) To the extent bows are associated with elves, he’s part elven, albeit only a tiny part. 3) While bows *seem* to be primarily associated with elves, they really aren’t - the elves also use swords, and men, hobbits, *and* dwarves are all recorded in the books using bows. The real reason people associate bows with elves is that Legolas uses one as his primary weapon, is noted as being a particularly good shot, and is given a really nice bow by Galadriel.
@@logicisuseful Agreed, I think it makes perfect sense for him. I meant rather that the design of the elvish bows is quite distinctive, and they probably didn't want to give Aragorn a bow that would look like an elvish bow. Though given the time he spent in Rivendell, I would have bought that too.
@@logicisuseful about the hunting thing, a projectile weapon is not strictly necessary. The spear was used for hunting, particularly for things like wild boar.
I have recently discovered your channel thanks to You Tube's recommended videos. Sometimes the algorithms can lead to surprising happy accidents. Living Anachronism has quickly become one of my favorite channels. I appreciate that you come at costumes designs and wear from a practical sense. Keep it up
There's so much to it though. The whole philosophy of LotR vs RoP is so different. In LotR there's good and evil, and a clear distinction at the surface: pretty elves and dirty orcs, Grima slithering around and Gondorian soldiers standing upright and broad shouldered. All of this reflected in casting, performance and costumes. But the one thing in LotR that changes this around is the Ring. Boromir is like all the other good guys, tall, amazing, super-duper-fantastic dude, until he's corrupted by the Ring. Even Galadriel and Gandalf are almost corrupted. And then there's RoP, where conniving politicians are shown in casting, performance and costume, to be 'upstanding citizens protecting the integrity of the people' or some nonsense. Nothing in their appearance reflects their evil intentions, and maybe they have none, but that's not the Tolkien way. That's very obviously GoT influence, where it would fit well (if it was done a bit better) but not in Middle Earth. You could argue that's simplistic, but it's only simple at surface level. It's more about people's own struggle between good and evil, and maintaining hope, instead of an accurate world. And in such a world, Numenoreans, gifted with longer life by the Valor of Valinor, descendants of Eldar and ancient Men of Beleriand, 6 foot tall with eyes as stars, master boat builders and rulers of all the seas, don't get beer bellies and beat up local competition in an alley. Fr this pissed me off
The love and passion you put into your videos is wonderful. It’s the same passion you see watching the crew on Jackson’s LoTR. that love and passion for story is what’s lacking for the rings of power crew.
I told my mom that Amazon bought all their costumes on Wish. I actually made the same comparison to the costumes at the Texas Renaissance Festival compared to the ROP costumes.
Amazing video! I am also an actor with a passion for costume design, love your perspective. It's so depressing to see such an important storytelling craft be cast aside in these multi million dollar productions. Thankfully it seems like education efforts are paying off, and audiences are starting to notice and want better.
This is making insanely good sense. It's great to see someone articulating so accurately and eloquently the innate bugbears that the LOTR fanbase has towards the RoP released content to date - thank you for the effort taken to do this video!
I love that you mentioned "internal consistency". That is what is very much missing from a lot of fantasy and sci-fi productions these days. Rule of Cool is only acceptable and cool because it happens rarely, if ever, but so many writers seem to rely on breaking their own rules and just throwing away stakes all the time.
What I most appreciated about Aragorn's costuming, as someone who only got through a fraction of the books is that it was grubby, well-worn, mostly seemed black in the lighting, and had cloaks capable of hiding him. The first time we encounter him, he's a trope we see a fair bit in fantasy--mysterious, potentially dangerous brooding guy hiding in shadows in a dark body-covering hooded cloak who turns out to be someone important and good who is simply hiding because he's more aware than most of how violent the current world can be.
wow, this is an EXCELLENT teaching and explanation of what costumes shouild do. Form and function. This is what Grace Randolph sometimes explains about fashion.
What I think is a perfect example of this is from the BBC series THE MUSKETEERS. In this show the look of the musketeers is not historically accurate at all, but closer in my opinion to western gunslingers. This works to set these characters apart from the rest of the cast and makes them easily recognizable to the audience
Beautiful catch with the Comanche Bow! And that addition by Jackson and co was brilliant. Historical accuracy matters only if you're filming, idk, Tudors or something, otherwise there is a rather simple question that needs answering when it comes to costumes: "Would this character in this specific setting / situation be wearing something like this?" (the answer is a resounding YES for Aragorn and wtf / who knows for RoP). Then go hog wild with a, basically, storyboard.
The Rings of Power costumes look like cheap stage costumes to me. My eyes instantly are drawn to the cheap polyester which breaks immersion. Monty Python used better costumes in the Holy Grail...
I'm designing characters for video games and I stumbled upon your videos. They are really informative and helpful. Thank you so much... No words can describe how grateful I am for these videos.
Elves having long hair is even more important in the context of a medieval fantasy setting, in medieval europe long hair flowing free was a sign of something wild / magical / divine / untouched by mortality. For elves to have such hairstyle in this context adds to the idea/feeling that they're not quite real, they're something other and they most definitely don't belong to the same realm as humans
The hair and makeup department found the typo, instead of giving the actors "Elvish hair" they gave them "Elvis hair".
Well said! 😊
Thank you so much for this. 😂
Costello or Presley?
This is perfect 😂
Hahaha!
Another detail that I really like about Aragorn's costume is that after Boromir's death, Aragorn wears Boromir's bracers as a token of his vow to protect Gondor. It always makes me emotional.
I never noticed that detail. Thank you for pointing that out.
That's called "looting the corpse to get better armor" XD
That's called "looting the corpse to get better armor" XD
And he wore them until the day he died 😢
I don't recall this being in the books but I heard somewhere that Viggo specifically asked to do it, so that despite Boromir's death, Viggo would bring Boromir through to the end of the series. I thought it was a nice touch, and honestly didn't even notice it until years later.
I just loved how Aragorn costume was mostly traveler rugs, not warrior armor.
It gave him that "hard-boiled" look.
I also love how Aragorn essentially picks up his armour from all over the lands of Middle Earth he will unite under his rule. The bracers from Boromir, the maille from Rohan then more armour from Gondor itself. It adds to the story and it also follows the progression from Ranger to King.
Not just the hard-boiled look. He's a ranger, someone who survives in the wild, sneaks around on forest paths. Armor would be an obstacle there. You can't be quiet, fast, sneaky in proper armor. So him not wearing a full plate was an absolute no-brainer.
@@MinqApoc He would still be fast in armor, it doesn't really slow you down at all. Sneaky and quiet though, yeah it would be detrimental.
@@burnttoast26 what are you talking about? Of course steel armour slows you down
@zbroman z you have videos from Metatron debunking the "full plate heavily hampers movement" meme. Bottom line, you can actually still run, crouch, jump and maneuver in full plate. However this is still a drain on your stamina, and yes it is noisy. It still makes sense for a ranger to have a lighter armour that is quiet and doesn't make their occupational long treks across the wild more arduous than it needs to be. But Aragorn picking up more armour as endurance/mobility becomes less of an issue and combat more of an inevitability is also internally consistent.
When the LotR actors were interviewed, I remember one of them saying there were embroideries on the inside of the armor that would never make it to the screen, but it helped him getting into the role. The fact that they went the extra mile to include that shows they do no such thing as half-assing. Sheer thoughtfulness, respect, passion, and knowledge radiating from the costume designer, Ngila Dickson.
Ah, kinda like stuff seen in the behind the scenes from the Harry Potter movies, entire books and posters that are there simply to immerse the BACKGROUND characters. Insane detail. I dont even like Harry Potter.
As a an absolute nut for the Peter Jackson trilogy, I can tell you that it was Bernard Hill, who played King Theodan of Rohan. The inside of his breastplate was decorated with embroidered horses in tradition with the Rohan aesthetic. Even the buildings on the set, specially the lavish stables are riddled with carved horse imagery. I binge watched all the extended version appendices and various commentary tracks multiple times while recovering from wisdom tooth surgery in high school, definitely locked a vast amount of trivial details into my brain, lol.
Also, the fact that so many of the costumes in those movies were hand crafted pieces made out of legitimate materials makes it really hard to look at all the spray painted 3D printed bs in the show (that they supposedly spent so much money on) and convince yourself it’s taking place in the same universe.
Guarantee you in RoP the sides of the sets that won't be filmed are probably not carved or painted at all.
@@lazycatchphrase8148 It's really actually a mystery where they spent the money on. The actors and writers are making small salaries. I think it should legit be investigated for money laundering.
Another storytelling element I felt the elves have long hair helped with, was their fighting acumen. It IS wildly impractical to fight with your long hair down, but the elves were so graceful and skilled that it was never a problem. It always signaled to me that they were able to deal with it in a way men/dwarves could not.
... Except for Glorfindel XD
The only elves I could see with short hair (at least until it grows out) are those who spent time as Morgoth's prisoners, such as Maedhros or Gwindor.
@@akechijubeimitsuhide I'm 100% behind that. It'd be a massive blow to their psyche to have their hair cut off by their enemies, and, in Gwindor's case, it would further underline why nobody recognised him.
Same. To me it was always a sign of the indescribable magic of the elves. Yes there's distinct elven magic such as seeing into the future and speaking in thought, but there's also the constant unearthliness of the elves which lets them walk around without bending a single blade of grass, seeing further than any man or dwarf, or lop off orc heads without spitting their own flapping hair out of their mouths.
THANK YOU FOR THIS. This is the difference between Jackson honoring Tolkien as a huge fan of the Lore!! I am an opera singer and performer. Costume CAN be everything especially in story telling. Beautiful video essay. BRAVO!!
Tolkien did heavily imply that elves have long hair, as their hair is what they use to string their bows.
True!
Good point
Wow, I didn't know that, cool.
I guess in the RoP version they use their butt hair😂
I guess the guy with the buzzcut has been stringing a LOT of bows... ;)
I have watched Lord of the Rings many times and I never once thought the actors were wearing "costumes" or even that they were acting. I know both of these thing were true, but I never thought about it. With Rings of Power it is obvious they are acting and they are wearing costumes.
Yeah same not even gandalf’s pointy hat took me out. He’s a wizard
When he started mentioning Aragorn’s clothes, I could barely even really remember any individual aspects of his outfit, cause it all goes together so well. And it doesn’t draw attention to itself. He’s just wearing what a ranger would wear. If you look closely you do see little details that might hint to his heritage, but they don’t stick out. They aren’t meant to. Aragorn was a mysterious character people called Strider because they didn’t even know who he was.
LOTR managed to make a grown men and women feels what it feels like to be told a fairy tale story before bed again.
thats what really sets apart a good movie and a bad one
Also: a good technique is to apply some weathering and/or discolouring. The costumes should look lived-in. The fabrics from "The rings of power" look like they just came out from the weaving machine, and look cheap. It looks like it's the first time these characters wear their clothes. Sorry for my english, I am italian.
Your English is very good 👍
You are absolutely right!! Too many films and movies look like cheap Halloween store “one night throwaway” costumes. No, give us costumes that would last for 300 years if put into a tomb that would tell us about the people who wore them, not costumes that last 300 years because they got thrown away and immediately buried by candy wrappers!!
That's what George Lucas did with R2-D2 -- after the costume was built, all shiny and new, he told them to roll it around in some rocky dirt so it wouldn't be so shiny and new, but look real.
Yeah the fabrics look plastic and stiff
Costume designer for LOTR said that they kept dying fabrics over and over again just to make them look old and worn by slowly adding the “dirt” color
The true talent shows in love and care to what they do
the fact that all elves have long hair also makes it soooo easy for the audience to categorize them as elves just from a super quick glance, so I think it also serves the narrative in that way. All the groups kind of have very good visual signifiers imo, the hobbits are small, the humans look more ragged, worn and well, human, and the elves have their hair and ears
And the dwarfs in the hobbit look like they should be dancing around snow white.
"The more realistic you make Tolkiens elves, the less they feel like elves and the more they feel like regular people that just happen to have pointy ears."
That was such a good point! I could never really pinpoint or put into words why the elves from The Shannara chronicles on Amazon Prime never felt like elves, but felt kind of wrong to me, but that's exactly it!
They are far too regular looking, like humans with pointy ears. Which is such a shame, because in the book, they are described to be looing quite distinct.
Yep, they have a human like appearance but they have a divine, regal aura and their movements are very light, swift and calculated which is almost creepy to a normal man of middle earth.
I also hate how the Men of Numenor look worse than the Gondorians in LoTR when they're supposed to be human in all but name. They have an almost elvish appearance themselves, they're tall, beautiful, fair but with dark hair, strong and also very regal. They're literally the descendants of elves who chose the mortal life.
I have many issues with Rings of Power, but the Elves are absolutely tragic. They could’ve done something truly incredible and beautiful with the the technology and resources, not to mention budget at their disposal. Really dropped the ball and then kicked it into an open manhole on this one.
The elves are absolutely too old. They look like humans with pointed ears
@@normis6620 Celebrimbor is especially egregious, no matter how good the actor might be. Also it’s obvious that aging up Celebrimbor and Gil-Galad is just so they can have “young” Galadriel opposed by older men who want to take her agency away
@@IUsedToBeAnAdventurerLikeYou they should have used his shadow of war/mordor design. His look in those games was so good
@@thebaron2277 right? Celebrimbor deserved better. Such a missed opportunity
@@IUsedToBeAnAdventurerLikeYou they did my boy dirty
In Harry Potter Alan Rickman, who played Severus Snape, insisted on the longer sleeve length instead of normal suit length. He said there's a lot of difference between a cuff that ends short and one that is longer. All the buttons are about his character being very emotionally buttoned down.
I didn't know that, thanks for sharing!
Not just Alan Rickman, but most of the 'teaching staff' actors refused to let their characters wardrobes be changed significantly when the second director came on for Prisoner of Azkaban, insisting that the teachers would wear robes, even if the students were depicted in more casual clothes more frequently from that movie onward.
Emotional details that convey the character and their story, without having to be put into scripted dialogue or exposition. Very astute by Alan Rickman
It also shows that he hides himself. Alan Rickman was a fantastic actor. RIP…
Thanks, hadn't realized. much appreciate it.
Harry Potter fan here
In Brazil, we often use the term "cospobre", which means a cosplay made of very cheap material and little effort. The costumes of ROP look like cospobre.
Brilliant definition!
Cospoor
😂 😂 😂 😂 Eu ri! Mas definitivamente existem cosplay bem ruins. Não é como se ROP tivesse fantasias de tnt.
@@JadeOhara posso ter pegado meio pesado com o cospobre 😅. Mas o fato é que capricharam bem pouco no figurino dos personagens. O pano dourado da roupa do Gil-Galad parece tecido barato e a armadura de madeira (!!!) do elfo Despacito lá parece eva pintado.
@@diegoborges3716 Se a galera não cancelar a série, eu acho que eles tem total potencial de fazer melhor na segunda temporada, pois dá pra ver que eles tiveram sim muito cuidado com tudo, principalmente os efeitos especiais. Embora pareça que eles gastaram muito, talvez eles tenham sacrificado as fantasias pra favorecer os cenários. Isso é normal de acontecer. Não é o ideal, ainda mais vindo de uma empresa tão grande, mas acontece.
I think one of the things that makes Aragorn's whole look believable - he looks like he's been sleeping in the woods for weeks at a time. His hair isn't perfectly coifed. It looks like he's run his fingers through it a couple of times and when he stands next to Legolas who looks like he's walked out of a salon fresh as a daisy it adds to the Human/Elf dynamic, especially when Boromir has the same aesthetic as Aragorn just with higher quality fabrics 9like someone buying the brand name outdoors stuff). Gimli looks comfortable even though he looks like he's wearing more armour and heavier layers (granted the beared helps) Frodo and the rest of the hobbits, even when wearing armour towards the end of the films still look hobitish just in the clothing from how thin and light it looks but not quite elvish levels of floating. If you just take the outfits and shove them on faceless mannequins you can easily point to each one and say human, dwarf, hobbit, elf, etc (orcs are easy we don't count them). I think that its because the costume designers also took alot of inspiration from the designs done by John Howe and Alan Lee who did some absolutely beautiful concept sketches in terms of landscape, archecture and even armour designs. Love this video, well thought and very well explained (makes me want to sit for what I know would be an hour long fangirl gushing over concept art, set, character and costume design conversation with you) :D
yes, this. legolas always looks impossibly perfect under crappy conditions relative to his companions, who only came close to matching that when they’re bathed and dressed in cities. and that’s the point of elves and why they have the elevated mystique that they have. in my culture there’s also a concept of a forest otherworldly people we call ‘bunian’ and this elusive folk is also described as shining with light, impossibly beautiful, cultured and advanced, and time passes differently in their world, but they are also terrifying if they turn on you.
so disappointed that these people think that tolkien elves is ‘just another race’ as though it’s about different human ethnicities. total failure to comprehend the nature of myths and faerie arcehtypes in cultures.
" If you just take the outfits and shove them on faceless mannequins you can easily point to each one and say human, dwarf, hobbit, elf, etc (orcs are easy we don't count them)."
This is true, in fact. They took the costumes and whatnot on a tour of museums in the U.S. after the movies concluded, and I got to see them on mannequins. They were truly splendid, so detailed that you could look at them forever and still miss all the little bits and bobs relevant to their cultures. (Also, the sculpture they made of Boromir in his funeral boat looked so real, I thought for a minute it was Sean Bean pranking us all!)
Because Viggo actualy slept next to Horses to give Aragorn authenticity. Thats dedication.
@@svetlanaandrasova6086
Not only horses.
For weeks, he literally took his costume and went camping in the forest, while wearing it.
That whole ethereal elf trope that became common to fantasy was in many ways inspired by Tolkien's elves. Hence, why would ROP change one of the signature things about Tolkien's work: the ethereal, otherworldly beautiful elf
And Tolkien himself was inspired by the national epics, the Edda and the Kalevala.
For the fairness and inclusion, obvi.
Yeah, because black people can never be ethereal, otherworldly or beautiful. Got it!
@@Adedero you said it yourself 🤷🏻♀️
And it's not only the hair. I think most of the actors do a good acting job, but they don't look like an elf because of their facial looks. Sorry but no elf was lloking ethereal to mee. There were human mens in the series who had more the look of that
Tolkien did not specifically say Aragorn had a bow but considering the Rangers were avid hunters and Strider himself mentioned his ability to hunt for food on the way to Rivendell in the book implies he had a hunting bow of some kind. It would also make sense a paramilitary guerilla force like the Rangers would have some kind of ranged weapons.
Wanted to say, a hunting bow is not the bestly bestest for war. You need not mention in the book, that aragorn carried his special soup spoon with him everywhere he went. So maybe the logic went that he need not mention in great detail, how aragorn got his rabbit snacks every couple of days.
Yes. And I thought of it more from the Ranger perspective. A man that roams the wild would have all the essentials for survival. A bow for at least hunting small game could be the difference between life and death. “Strider” having a short bow entirely makes sense in our world, and is canonically sound.
And, like the whetstone, Viggo Mortensen suggested that Aragorn have a bow, as that would explain how he could survive in the wilderness.
@@zubbworks The Mongols used their composite bows for both hunting and war. I see the rangers as ambush fighters. In hit and run attacks in forests you don't need long range longbows, which are impractical in a dense forest anyway.
Tolkien specifically said the only weapon carried by Aragorn was Anduril.
But short bows were a thing even in medieval periods so that doesn't bother me as much as this video harps on "not a longbow"
“But Peter Jackson added stuff too”
There’s a massive difference between giving Aragorn who is a ranger a bow and giving Aragorn a machine gun.
Great response to that type of remark!
Plus technically Aragorn doesn't, Strider does.
The movies would be over pretty fast if he had a machine gun 😂
@@beluris1445 well, he has no bullets, so it would just be a big metal bat XD
@@fdmfdmfdmfdmfdmfdm no need to get all technical, it would already come with bullets 😂
It's not the folks designing the costumes, it's the folks telling them what costumes to design. I shall point my fingers toward the showrunners, and scowl!
And "nih" and fart in their general direction!
Always point upwards in the decision hierarchy. It's like how it surprisingly rarely the actors fault their roles are portrayed poorly. It usually boils down to poor direction or script. Although the actor's skill certainly has influence. As an example I like to take Anakin from the SW prequels and compare his scenes where he has to say the lines written with a straight face, and the scenes where he can just act without talking. I mean, an actor like Christopher Lee could probably even make talking about coarse sand work, but while Hayden Christensen can give a good emotional performance, he just can't handle those garbage lines. Most actors can't.
@@texasbeast239 IT will be glorious when they smell IT!
Very important point, indeed
You say that as though most of the people involved in modern entertainment industry at most if not all léveles are highly progressive liberals.
One design point that irked me about Rings of Power is that the designers used shades of blue for everything in Numenor because it was a seafaring kingdom. Like, what is this? Last Airbender? Bionicle? If anything, they would have had numerous, bright colours to show that being a well-travelled seafaring nation grants you access to so many resources to use for dying and painting.
Great point
Thank you for mentioning Bionicle
Not really, symbolic colour has always existed for cultures and blue may very well be that. It seems blue might also be a uniform color .Just because u are a seafring nation doesn't u have access to all sort of colours. The Norse didn't wear all sorts of colors. In Medieval Europe colourful out fits exist in plenty. If you were rich. The Rich loved colours. But average joe ? I
@@Giagantusblue as a colour for seafaring peoples' clothes would be goofy as hell. Imagine you're wearing a blue tunic because you're so proud that you're a person of the sea and then you somehow fall off the ship. Goodluck getting people to spot you in the water.
I do agree with the theme color bit tho. Rohan had a green color scheme, Gondor had grey and black, Dol Amroth has white and blue, etc etc
@@Giagantus the norse did wear a lot of different colours tough
I once went to a small con to help out a few friends (setting up tables, etc). Got a free ticket to roam around all day, I mostly spent my time observing people's costumes, I had never been on an event like that before, so I was quite intruiged. All of them were pretty decent to my untrained eyes, some were more on the funny side, some people obviously went the extra mile in quality, some did cool group themes.
Then this guy comes in. He looked like he just stepped out from the latest LOTR movie, like he accidentally wandered off set when they were shooting the Siege of Gondor and somehow ended up there: the armor perfect to the last detail, long dark hair, pleasant features, piercing blue eyes, and the stature and the confidence of someone who knows how to move around in it. I swear, never ever seen any costume that looked just like the real thing in real life, except that one. It was so surreal I stared at him for solid two minutes because I couldn't believe my eyes, best theory I have that he was an actual side actor (although I live on the other side of the planet) who somehow took his costume with him back home.
I was too shy to chat him up and I regret it. Years later and I still want to know HOW.
The work of LOTR costumer Ngila Dickson and her team was nothing short of genius. At every turn, they considered what story the clothes would tell about each character. I've seen no indication of that attention to detail in the Rings of Power. Consider, for instance, Young Galadriel's hairstyle, which is long, loose, and ostensibly "correct" for elves. However, it consistently looks dull, greyish, and frizzy even though Galadriel is canonically supposed to have THE most beautiful hair in the world. "Galadriel" means "maiden crowned with gleaming hair" in Sindarin and her hair was a deep and radiant gold, shot with silver, said to have ensnared the light of the Two Trees and inspired the creation of the Silmarils. The main argument I see by RoP apologists is "She's a warrior fighting for her life! She doesn't have time to style her hair since she's focused on survival." Leaving aside the fact that Silmarillion Galadriel had no role in the battles of the First and Second Ages, Galadriel is one of the most powerful beings in Arda. Viewers expect an immortal, unearthly, and magical being to look the part and don't want a "relatable", humanized elf with a constant bad hair day. Why is it that Peter Jackson's Galadriel hairstyling from two decades ago looks fitting and timeless, while this looks bad from the get-go? And just look at any other character: Arwen and Éowyn both wear excellent hairstyles for combat that are hardly "flawless", but that are character-appropriate and advance the story.
yup, no shade to the actress but when I saw the first stills I couldn't see Galadriel in her _at all_. I'm fine with a braid that got messy in a fight and with less styling (it's an earlier era and the characters are much younger and, dare I say it, immature than in the 3rd age, so I don't think they need to carry themselves with as much dignity), but the hair itself should be better, not just generic blond, and the actors who play elves should have something, well, _elvish_ about them (yeah, I know, easy to say!)
Excellent comment. The Vanya rarely ever show up in the story at all, since they are practically perfect and flawless in every way.
I scarcely recall Galadriel doing anything exceptional until The War of the Ring.
When you mentioned Arwen & Éowyn it really made me realise how individuality unique their entire costume was. Just take Arwen’s riding costume that you only see in FotR and never again. It’s beautiful, elegant but also believable.
You see it for maybe 10 minutes in the entire trilogy, or the extensive work that went into King Theoden’s breast plate detailing the entire history of Rohan that never made it on screen, but the costume designers wanted to add that in (knowing it wouldn’t make it on screen) just for Bernard Hill to see, and enhance his performance.
It’s unbelievable that RoP think shoving some leaves on a Hobbit’s head is such a ‘detail’ or that Galadriel should look more “grounded in reality” as a warrior, it’s a foul disgrace.
Yes! One can even argue Galadriel's legendary hair is the reason why Feanor went mad crazy because it's the spark that made him create the silmarils, and then all hell broke loose for the Noldor. Too simplistic, but it's fun to think about.
@@ryanjmay Absolutely! Ngila Dickson said that in the process of designing Arwen's riding costume, the goal was to tell the audience that Arwen had a great deal of empathy for the mortal world and a foot in both realms, so to speak. The fabrics, colors, and sleeves all have elegant elven designs with naturalistic motifs, but the riding outfit is still extremely practical and grounded in the world of Men, rather than an otherworldly, ethereal Elven gown. You see this same design philosophy in her burgundy "battle dress" that she wore at Helm's Deep (unfortunately, these scenes were all cut from the final film) and the extremely intricate "battle braids" that she had (google "Arwen braids" and you should be able to find that hairstyle). At every moment the costumers sought to tell us about Arwen's character and motives through her clothes: she is immortal but loves both a mortal man and the world of Middle-Earth. She exhibits ethereal grace and holds important status as the daughter of Elrond and granddaughter of Galadriel, but she is powerful in her own right and chooses practical clothes for any combative tasks at hand. Unfortunately for the Rings of Power show, it seems that they simply chose the cheapest generic fantasy wigs they could for Galadriel, then said "when she's in her warrior armor, she would braid her hair back for practicality" (the most surface-level characterization and storytelling) and chose a side braid because they didn't know how to do anything else.
@@AW-uv3cb They are younger, yes, but we are talking about Galadriel. She is literally older than the Sun. In the Second Age she is already old. Like, 4000years old. Shouldnt be THAT much of a differnce for her between the Second and Third age.
Even Elrond is a thousand years old
Viggo Mortensen was the one who insisted on Aragorn having a bow. He also personally cut holes in his costume and sewed patches in place to give his costume a much more “lived-in” feel.
He also spent time actually camping out in costume to break it in.
@@erinwojcik4771dident he also wear his outfit and/or armor as much as possible even while not filming so he got used to it?
@@demoulius1529
Yes, yes he did.
Yes he did! It makes me love him even more
He also turned some heads and nearly got in trouble a few times because he insisted on carrying his sword everywhere he went. Even to places like restaurants and cafes.
Gil-Galad's sideburns were shaved because he's a warrior and it's more practical. This is a people who can walk on top of a snowdrift and leave no footprint. This is a race that can literally live forever. But, by all means, we must make sure that their hair is believable. Long sideburns on a warrior might endanger our suspension of disbelief.
If strand of hair around face are long like Elrond have in LOTR movie it always can be put around ear and pin at back of head. This way also Elf can accentuate their pointy ears. Also braids on long hair look amazing and are battle and work practical. Celebrimbor could have complicated and beautiful braids because he works in forge and long lose hair is dangerous and impractical.
@@SeleneSalvatore Don't forget Legolas. His hair was always braided back using the hair at the temple. Then the very fine braids used to tie back his hair. As a master of the bow, it was emminently practical, keeping the hair from his face and from in front of his shoulder. But then, in the Hobbit movies his father, King Thranduil seldom held his hair back, only occasionally wearing a thin filet. For some strange elven reason, his hair always fell right back into place. Even after turning a summersault off of his fallen 'elk'. But then, he was a very old elf and a king.
Just one word.
Helmets.
@@Theeight8b Medieval helmets have many layers. Linen cap on top of your hair, then padded hood that was made like gambeson that protects your head and neck on top of this the outer most layer was metal helmet some times with chainmail.
@@SeleneSalvatore This is exactly what i'm meant. You can hide all your hair under helmet, under hood and etc, and it's really plausable to think, that warrior elf, who lead army - bears helmet in battle. There no need to "shaved undersides" or whatever other explanation. Damn, just look at Legolas in PJ movies, he always have some way to remove hair from, you know, his face, while he is in the fight or shooting someone\something
In 'Laws and Customs among the Eldar' Tolkien does state that the Elves strongly favoured long hair as an indication of attractiveness.
I have a diploma in costume cutting and construction and I just wanna say this is fantastic. The costumes serve the story and the character, always. And I love that you bring up believability, and does it make sense WITHIN the world. Bernadette Banner has a video on the costumes and "historical accuracy" of Game of Thrones and it's fantastic. Basically, every costume makes total sense within the world of GOT, making them believable.
The costume also needs to hold interest in the viewer and these designs dont make that cut.
They arent rememberable and look like renfaire stock
I showed some pictures of elves from both The LORT Trilogy, and Rings of power to my friend who knows nothing about Tolkein or high fantasy or anything like that, and she immediately latched on to the Peter Jackson Elves look like elves and the Rings of Power Elves look like generic white people with pointy ears.
Most people I know who don't really know LOTR say RoP doesn't feel like LOTR when I show them.
Everything about the elves in Rings of Power is bizarre. From the choice of casting to the weird hair, and even some of their ears look really strange in the new promotional footage - like really thick on top so they look swollen.
And yeah again the ridiculous short hairstyles 1) will date the show immensely very quickly and 2) would have required a fair amount of daily hairspray to maintain lol
Edit: not to mention the fact that Celebrimbor is being acted by a man who looks visibly very old, despite the fact that elves don't age the way humans do and his character is the same age (or younger than) Galadriel!
@@LivingAnachronism As someone with the LotR knowledge of your average viewer, even in this video, where you were clearly talking about RoP, when you showed that Roman-like pic I didn't even connect that it was from RoP until you actually pointed it out later in the video. It just looks so much like a lazy generic Roman-ish thing I didn't even thing twice about it.
@@Vexarax they really did make Celebrimbor, the master smith, forger of near deific artifacts which are wielded by the most powerful men and women to exist, look like some random white guy. This is like in Shamalan's movie where Fire Lord Ozai was played by the most average Indian man you could think of and was presented in a way that most people completely missed that he was the Fire Lord.
Vulcan? 🖖
😉
7:38 that's a great point. They probably saw all of the behind-the-scenes footage of LotR costume design and really wanted to show that they could imitate that level of detail...without any of the thought BEHIND those details. A perfect example is Aragorn wearing Boromir's bracers after Boromir dies. Not a minute detail, but something some people might have missed. It not only represents Aragorn honoring Boromir and his sacrifice, but also him becoming open to his obligation as king of Gondor.
I am one of those who missed that detail. Thank you for pointing it out.
Have you missed the black elf armor? That was made to look like ents? Well, that's definitely ridiculous detail. Amazon is such an ass. The opening scene with reference to the Ainur creating through music and Melkor dissonance. Very bad opening. Amazon should know better! Only bad points to Amazon.
isn't it too early to criticize that detail though? It seems incredibly likely that they will make the custom with the apple seeds relevant later on
@@danielchilds8327 that is highly unlikely with the last episode (6). The end of the episode is flawed on all levels. First the episode should have rolled with "the end". There is no way the people in the village will survive that for at least 3-4 different reasons alone.
Then, the end and how they got there, is already overlooking dozens of details. Why didnt see anybody the hole in the ground? Why have such mechanism in place at all? Just nock the blocking stone out with a hammer or something.
Why did Adar trust they guy, that claimed allegiance to sauron and then him. To do this? Why didnt he give it to an ork?
How is it possible the elves in the tower didnt see "the tunnel".
There are many more but you can get what I am pointing out. They have no attention to detail it is more like they think o look shiny! Or this will look cool.
@@darkrevan2 Didnt have to bother with the message. Basically picked up on all that while watching the last episode. Ep 6 was perhaps the one episode with serious plot development and it was filled with all the bullshit you mentioned. Im convinced 6th graders couldve done a better job writing this show
Thanks for the time you put into your message though
The thing that totally throws me in that horrid RoP abomination, is how frikkin' *dirty* those 'harfoots' are!! These are supposed to be proto-hobbits!! Even the poorest hobbit would be utterly disgraced if she and her clothes were that filthy!! Heck, there are still hunter-gatherer tribes here on Earth who keep themselves spotlessly clean! Why this obsession with dirt?!
Nothing about the Harfoots makes any sense to me
Agreed. The hobbits have always been depicted as a very comely, clean and organized race. Look at how shocked Bilbo was when the dwarves ransacked his house and made a mess. You don't have to look like a troll under a bridge to be depicted as a nomadic people. It's honestly a little racist and demeaning to actual nomadic people
It is the same as that Medieval people are mostly dirty peasants often covered in mud.
The people who live in the leftovers of the Roman empire often kept using Roman bathhouses, administrative buildings etc.
They also took pride in cleanliness, sometimes being clean was not good enough so they'd make themselves look whiter with often unhealthy Medieval make-up.
I believe this Hollywood obsession with dirty people from the past is because it is cheaper to make
I think the Harfoots are supposed to be Representation of the Homeless.
Also the show runners said they aRe nomads that follow the crops. Nomads don’t have crops, they follow herds that move. Crop stay in one place why would they need to move around if their food stays put?? 😭
Good costume design:
1. Made with love
2. Made to look used
3. Looking as if they are serving their purpose
4. Respect the original material
😊
Respect Tolkien, boycott Amazon 😊
Reject modernity
Return to beauty
These studios need to hire people with talent, not some friends kid to do the job.
Fashion and interior design, car design is the same as it's been for 25 years because these industries hire someones well connected child with no eye for design or talent.
Now this nepotism has entered books, films, and tv
Also, the stuff in the movies looks like one could wear it all day. It looks comfortable or in case of the armor at least practical.
So gonna make a comparison myself here, what I loved about Aragorn's ranger costume is that that it was meant to make him look inconspicuous and blend in and make him almost look like a vagrant to keep people at bay, by stark comparison Galadriel hunter outfit or whatever it was when she was climbing the ice was off and it made no sense, who in their right mind would be wearing metal gauntlets climbing ice, its like the costume designer took a look at a fantasy game and was like elves should wear this or something.
The hobbits themselves are also much later than medieval, they have things like buttons and waist coats and time pieces. I like how they didn't try to limit their fantasy by wanting to be "realistic." As you said with the elves, sure it could make sense to have shorter hair for battle/hunting but they are specifically described to be elegant and beautiful, not practical. The "fantasy" works better when you don't try too hard to be logical with the real world. Internal logic is enough
Exactly! You said that great. Tolkien was not recreating the northern European middle ages.
@@damagingthebrand7387 um... But, that's what ROP haters said everywhere on social media that Tolkien based everything on medieval and north Europe "culture". So, which it is...?
@@XiuFeanaro6 Because other commenters do not use the correct verbage is not my fault.
Tolkien said he was creating a story(ies) based on pre-medieval mythic tales of the Celts, Finns, North Germans and Norse.
But, he also said he was writing a story not a history.
Long hair was also prevalent in medieval times, especially amongst the wealthy and royalty. Often a status symbol. Makes perfect sense to use l9ng hair to signify regality, timelessness, and beauty
As far as we know, Viking men had long hair, and their women went to battle, too. Long hair isn't necessarily a problem if you know how to work with it.
Some great observations. From my perspective I need my 'costume' to look good and actually be practical because I need to function physically on a horse whilst wearing it and use weapons. Clothing or armour that doesn't function can be dangerous!
Thank you! I generally prefer to refer to costumes as "garb" or just "clothes" but "costume" is an easier to understand entry point. That is how Peter Jackson's team viewed their designs as well. It really shows! I've loved you videos on real armor, and used your full harness video as research for the leather breast plate I made, to try and get the right functional and historical shape! I learned about costume armor the hard way, have a gorget that doesn't attach properly, and it chokes me when I raise my arms!
This is a point of consideration that it seems a lot of fantasy illustrators don’t take into account. There is so much fantasy armor out there that warriors cannot fight in, weapons that have points of failure built into their design, clothing that is not at all suitable for “dungeon crawling” in, and so on.
@@batou1976 That's why it was so awesome that John Howe worked with Peter Jackson's team, because he has actually worn a lot of historical armor and understands it's function, and as an artist can create a new form that fits within middle earth. John Howe is "working" on the rings of power, but given how they treated Tom Shippey, how Howard Shore is barely involved other than his name, and how they ghosted Peter Jackson himself, I don't know how much influence John Howe really had. Doesn't look like a lot, based on the Numenorean armor. Breastplates are far too long.
@@LivingAnachronism Yeah, I think it’s pretty clear From everything we’ve seen about rings of power, and from commentary from the people involved themselves, that no one involved with this production has any respect for Tolkien himself or the team that worked on the film adaptations. They are simply callously using Tolkien’s name to advance their own viewpoint and make money for themselves. I remember back in the day how awesome I thought it was hearing about John Howe’s work on the movies and his involvement in historical reenactment and armored combat and the way it would inform weapons and armor design in the movies. As someone who loves both fantasy and the real middle ages, I like to see functionality in my fantasy.
Note: a armored Numenorean would not be able to ride a horse, they we’re like 7-9 feet, so a armored numenorean would crush a horse under their weight.
something I remember about Aragorn's equipment, he has a small knife in the scabbard. Never have seen it, but it made sense he would have that a knife meant to help with cooking or skinning.
A lot of the replicas have that included. It's a nice historical touch. Tod Cutler has a great video on cutlery sets. Medieval people like sets of things.
Yes, a small knife alongside his bigger one, which we see him use while defending Boromir in the Jackson saga.
As a costumer myself, this video will be super helpful for explaining to young/new directors why we can’t just go for their personal favorite looks.
Thanks for creating this, and hitting the nail in the head!
Aragorn's costume gives us a real sense of how he lives. His clothes are well worn, but not tattered. It feels like he's been living rough in the wilds for a long time, but takes care of his gear, maintaining it in good condition. He's disciplined, respectful, he's not wasteful, and there's a quiet pride to him that isn't vanity.
Its almost like when they were preparing to make the Lord of the Rings movies, they asked professionals "What type of things might a ranger like Strider use? How would he carry these things? What about a bow what would that look like?" And then listened. The non-literal anachronistic look of Arragorn's costume also works subtly to place in our mind a picture of Aragorn as a man of Enlightenment.
Whereas ROP said "what looks cool? What else can we find? Let's put apple seeds in Hobbits hair because that is not at all impractical for a rural folk to do while they wander."
The costumers and cast also worked very closely. There is an intelligence and wisdom to the knowledge and effort the cast brought to the table and it clearly shows in the end result. Much of that is what I am trying to learn on the channel, so as an actor myself, if I get to be in a fantasy work, I am able to have some experience and knowledge to pull from.
@@LivingAnachronism Going on campouts and cosplaying at faires--actually DOING the do, and not just idly imagining it--teaches you what works, what's lacking, what's excessive. It's so obvious these ROP people are just going off of hot air and the Message, and not relevant experience.
Also, the idea of nomadic farmers has to be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard.
@@GeraltofRivia22 The more I think about "nomadic farmers" the more that sounds like a metaphor of Wokeism -- they invade lands/IPs, and use them in predatory ways, and then move on to the next IP to drain and destroy (or as they say, "subvert").
@@texasbeast239 this is exactly viggo mortensons approach, the guy wore his costume and swords even off set and doing errands to get used to doing practical things so it didn’t look awkward on camera.
Something I noticed from the books after having read them recently is that Tolkien never actually mentions anybody wearing plate armour. Whenever he mentions armour, it's always helmets and mail, which makes me think he actually intended everyone to look like 9th or 10th century versions of themselves. When I watched the movie though, the plate armour used was so believable that I never actually noticed that anachronism.
I think part of it was needing to differentiate the different peoples on screen. Perhaps my mind and scope are limited, but there is only so much you can do with chainmail. Though I have seen this used, almost to dismiss the Jackson trilogy in some forums. And this is where I have noticed a bit of cognitive dissonance, because some people (not you, my friend) will defend RoP by saying "adaptations are always different" then pivot to attacking the PJ Trilogy based on the introduction of plate armor. But RoP is using scale and plate too, Jackson's just looked better.
@@LivingAnachronism Definitely, and that's where what you said in the video about believability vd realism comes in. I'm sure there are ways to accessorise mail, but plate armour is far more distinctive and varied (and it looks really cool so I'll always give a pass for well executed plate).
Well, of course. He wanted for it to feel ancient, like Beowulf or such. Anglo Saxons and such. When you see Breastplates and other Platemails, that's approx 14th century(iirc), not ~10th.
@@LivingAnachronism I definitely agree on the idea that the Gondorians got plate armour to differentiate them from the Rohirrim. It definitely conveys the idea that Gondor is the richer, more advanced of the two realms.
I have noticed a lot of defenders of RoP try to discredit the Jackson trilogy and then call critics of RoP hypocrites for not also criticising said trilogy. This conveniently ignores the fact that the Jackson trilogy got pretty heavy criticism at the time. The difference is that Jackson and his team didn't try to smear the critics and actually listened to their criticism. As an example, Jackson originally planned to have Arwen fight at the Battle of the Hornburg. But outcry from fans convinced him to scrap the idea.
There is one place that plate is mentioned, where Imrahil checks that Eowyn is breathing by holding his burnished vambrace to her mouth. But that’s the only place I’ve seen it
This is something I noticed when the Peter Jackson movies first came out. Most fantasy themed movies/shows are not done nearly as well, and the attention and talent that went into that trilogy stands tall among most other examples. It’s a high bar, but can be achievable with a team that is given the time and care that it took. The rings of power just looks cheap in comparison.
Agreed. It is a masterpiece, and given the current state of the film industry, it is unlikely to be repeated, but that doesn't mean that no one could do it. It set the bar. And all things will (and should) be compared to it. Richard Taylor (Chief Creative Supervisor for LOTR) said to his team "If you couldn't rise to the highest level of enthusiasm, passion and professionalism and grasp this task as if it was the most important thing that you have ever taken on in your life, you weren't worthy of the task."
@@LivingAnachronism Historical accuracy and aside, I absolutely love the costuming in Black Sails. That show set a high bar all around for production quality in television.
I truly think that the PJ films are a unique case in pretty much all of movie history. The way it was produced and filmed was unique for the time and it is unlikely to ever be repeated. They had an outrageous amount of pre-production time and they filmed all 3 films at the same time, allowing for the design of each film to be flawlessly cohesive.
They honestly ruined fantasy adaptations for me by age 10, but that's not the point. They will always be the standard but I doubt that there will ever be a fantasy series that can match it purely because of the unique circumstances.
@@LivingAnachronism I expect the ROP costume design team will cite the mythology of the Downfall of Atlantis which notably influenced Tolkien too in his writings, for their Classical Grecian / Minoan "inspiration" in raiding the prop set of "Spartacus". Tolkien wrote of Númenor as Atlantis in several of his letters.
@@simonhandy962 He also specified that the tone of Middle Earth should be reticent to the air and climb of the hither parts of Europe: not Italy or, the Aegean, still less the East."
9:55 - Aragorn is a Ranger who is depicted as hunting in the wilds. Not just foraging, hunting - he wasn't running at boars with a sword to hunt it; he had a bow, anyone in his position would, but the book was smart enough not to detail absolutely everything about the character that wasn't relevant to whatever chapter the character was in. Instead, Tolkien painted with broad strokes and added the detail in as it became relevant.
THis is further shown by Aragorns disbelief about Frodo surviving the wound from the troll, he say's "that spear would have skewered a wild boar" showing he's clearly experienced hunting with multiple weapons
one point regarding Aragorn - his bow IS actually very similar to a number of bows depicted in medieval artwork. The longbow gets all the attention, but shorter bows were very prevalent.
As someone who's heavily read tolkien's work from silmarillion, histories of middle earth, etc, there IS a lot of evidence that tolkien imagined his elves with long hair. its mentioned over and over again, usually as the first detail we learn about the character. in general tolkien has very limited character descriptions, usually the most we get is Long Beautiful Hair (and its color), eye color, and height (tall). In fact one of my biggest problems with ROP and this is kind of petty, but it really bothers me, is the appearances of Elrond and Celebrimbor in this show. we KNOW what elrond looked like, and we know what Celebrimbor's father and grandfather looked like so we can say reasonably what Celebrimbor looked like, and i just don't understand why they wouldnt just give the actors wigs......
This. I can get past Elves and Dwarves of color (especially the Dwarves, as there are groups of Dwarves that we never see in LotR or The Silmarillion). I understand that they need to appeal to a wider audience. However, I cannot get past their casting choice for Elrond. He's still a white dude. It would not have cost them extra to find someone who looks a little closer to Tolkien's description. Instead they got Young Ned Stark, who is okay looking but hardy beautiful. Elrond's looks are just as important in the story as Galadriel's; they show his lineage from Luthien Tinuviel.
@@LauraJdogmom I actually really appreciate the elves and dwarves of color tbh, I don't think it's counter textual and I almost wish they included more actors of color in major roles (I was really hoping for Ismael Cruz Cordova as Gil-Galad.... he has such a regal face....). But I definitely agree with you about Elrond. hes supposed to look like luthien!!
What's even funnier is that Elrond is actually one of the very few characters that have a detailed despcription. Unlike, say, Merry or Legolas, we know exactly what he looked like. And yet they picked an actor who doesn't even have the same hair color and refused to give him a wig. Why?
@@angelayang1850 Exactly. My issues with Rings of Power go way beyond diverse casting. It's their lack of attention to details of all kinds. Nobody pronounces "Galadriel" correctly; they say "Galadhriel." She wears a Star of Feanor on her armor. They screwed up the timeline for no discernible reason. Arondir has a bearded "Green Man" face on his armor. Disa has no beard. And Dark Lord only knows what else.
@@superficialtamarind I can understand representation and all that, but in a situation where the setting is based off a white country, in a ‘mythical retelling’ of European history as was Tolkien’s original idea, and in a story without colored characters in the race of elves, why change this? It’d be like a bollywood movie about ancient buddhist history having white men being a large part of their ancestors, it is simply not true to the story.
The biggest and most glaring problem with ROP is that the show runners tried to make Middle Earth look too much like the real world, which, thereby, makes it essentially *not* Middle Earth at all. If you do something like that to Middle Earth then it's lost everything that Tolkien put into its creation that made it so unique and enchanting.
you believe thought went into this production? I admire your optimism.
Yeah they are not doing Middle earth. Its just earth...
@@kristiankopera modern earth at that.
That's the crux of it. There is no right solution. (Sticking to the movies, it's been a while since I did the books)
Yes, his characters were all essentially white. But the story was also written as a northern European mythology. So that kinda tracks.
i don't have any more of a problem w it than black panther being an afrocentric story. I don't want white wakandans to "balance it out" even if that's not in the story.
And I get it, I'm multiracial, no reason for not including us. But it could be done so much better. There's so much unexplored territory. Like faramir wondering about the guy he killed on the Oliphant. How did he get there? What did he want?
Don't take established stuff and make a shallow show of inclusion by mucking about w it. Take all the rest of middle earth and make good stories of it.
Give the east as rich a backstory as the west, get to know the people. That would be a hell of a lot better (and more progressive) than just saying "here's a brown elf".
@@blackc1479 Totally agree. The East was always left as a mystery. They were just thrown in there as "the bad guys" to a large extent. Would be really interesting, like you said, to see how they came under the influence of Sauron. Surely they were not always under his sway.
I've played as an elf several times in Dnd and the ONLY time one had short hair, was when I was playing a young elf monk. I figured his youth paired with that I played him as a true monastic monk, made him having short hair (or rather no hair as he was bald) make sense. He was only 50years old, seen as mature by humans, but to an elf, he's little more than a child. In Dnd, Elves are considered to be adults at around 80-90, by Elf standard he was akin to a 11-13 year old (prime rebellious phase).
So his relative youth paired with his religious beliefs, meant that his hair (or lack there of) actually SERVED his story. It wasn't short for the sake of being short.
A well thought out design choice!
@@LivingAnachronism Overly thought out some might say lol. But I like to think of little details like this as I'm an artist and I LARP. So tying character appearance to their backstory is something that I'm fond of for character design, as I'm usually going to either draw it, or wear it. As you well know, you can tell a surprising amount of story in costume alone if you just put thought into it.
@@RainMakeR_Workshop That's because the culture is the monk, not the elf, unlike with LotR, where the elf is the culture. It's not overly thought out; it's just right. You know what makes your character your character, and you show that.
@@AnotherDuck I liked to think of it as also being in that rebellious phase. In my head, though shaving the head was “part” of the monastic traditions, it wasn’t *mandatory* , especially for Elves. I imagine most of his fellow Elven monks kept their hair as part of their heritage. At around 90-100 or so, I imagine he grew it back to respect his cultural heritage, but I picture him going for that shaved back and sides look with the head on top eventually being very long. To me it’s the halfway point between his Elven heritage and his monastic traditions. Showing his maturity.
@@RainMakeR_Workshop Yeah, it depends on how hard you lean into either culture. Someone rebellious would lean harder into the other culture.
Great video, just FYI, the hunting bow used by Aragorn in the trilogy is pretty much correct for a hunting bow of medieval Europe. Perhaps a touch on the short side for the actor's ease of carry, but quite accurate. The reason a longbow is call that, is because it is LONG. It is a weapon of war rather than a tool, but there were many bows of smaller size used in everyday life, and so within that range Aragorn's bow should be considered accurate to the context of Europe rather than an anachronism drawn from North American history.
Tolkien actually discusses at length the elves’ feeling about their hair. And the reasons. They just never bothered to research it and see what he thought. They flat didn’t care.
Comes from only having rights to the appendices. That's barebones stuff, so they just took some barebones ideas and expanced on them however they saw fit. Pity so little of the billion dollars spent on the show went into actually making it good.
@@empirate100
To be fair, that doesn't limit them when it comes to character design.
They can still make them look accurate to the Books.
They are only limited in terms of the Story, and what can happen in it.
They just flat out didn't do any research and the Showrunners even straight up admitted, that they didn't care about Tolkien, because according to them "He was an old white dude living in the 18th Century."
They straight up never tried to be accurate.
It was always going to be a Fan-Fiction, whete they "modernize" the Story and "make it more inclusive for the modern audience."
So many elves in the silm or otherwise have fin- in their name. that means hair, and JRRT included 'flowing hair' 'great plaits braided with gold' (in the case of fingon), the epesse 'russandol' pretty clearly shows that elves took great pride in their hair and considered it a thing of beauty. Having rights to the appendices doesn't cover character design so it feels silly not to give the elves long, gorgeous hair especially wiht a 500 mil budget
@@swara4704 But all must be sacrificed on the altar of “relevance” in modernity. Or at least the concept of relevance as seen by the few but wealthy media moguls. I was so offended by the trailer showing the twisted story of little “Galadriel” being bullied by the other “elf children”, and then the insipid meaningless advice given her bur brother “Finrod of the buzz cut”, that I erased the whole Amazon project from my mind. The writers dragged the whole story down to the level of American politics and middle school playgrounds. “Relevance”.
I don't cosplay, but I'm a writer and I think everything about a character should tell a story about who they are. If my characters don't have a design I like, I find it harder to imagine them and therefore write about them. After watching this, I realize I've got some work to do to add more form and function to their clothing. WHY they wear what they do and what in the history of my world led to these styles being in fashion.
And I agree about elves. They should have long hair. Not only is it aesthetically pleasing to me, long hair gives them an ethereal, otherworldly appearance.
Glad I could help, in my small way. Look forward to reading what you write one day. We need more works like this!
I've always felt that long hair for Elves is a great symbol of their immortality.
The Elves in Jackson's trilogy looked like an ancient, unchanging people, untouched by the world around them.
@@kendra_t whereas in Amazon's Version they look like Roman emperors 😂
Wow, I didn't knew that Aragorn's bow and quiver kit was inspired by the comanche. Very cool and practical!
I'm not 100% sure that was their inspiration, but there are definitely a lot of parallels. Even down to the way Viggo holds arrows in his bow hand for a quick reload and the type of draw he uses (looks like a 3 finger pinch grip, not the Mediterranean like Legolas) THOSE are good details!
To be fair, the English long-bow was very specifically a weapon of war and wouldn't necessarily be used for hunting. Theoretically it could be but it wouldn't be very practical for long journey or for someone who needs to travel fast and light. There were almost certainly shorter bows during that period which would have been used by a ranger/hunter architype, hence the designation of "long" bow.
@@lupuscorvus841 You are absolutely right. Long and short bows have been used by almost every single culture in the world and so have the easy modifications like recurves, gullwing bend, and sinew backing. Long bows are always shitier option for hunting. There are hundreds of medieval pictures of short bows some horn composite bows some simple one wood bows.
@@LivingAnachronism To me it looks very much like a medieval hunting shortbow too, not sure how right you are on the comanche influence on his bow. Otherwise great video though!
@@LivingAnachronismAFAIK, there a lot of hunting shortbow or nomadic bows at that times, but they are not so different from comanche or other culture shortbow. There not much ways you can make something for this purpose with tech that were available at that time.
I absolutely love Aragorns ranger outfit. It has been a favourite for a long time. I also love Faramir's outfit. So grounded in reality.
Agreed! I'll have a video coming out soon about costume details, and my personal costume takes a lot of inspiration from both!
Okay. Have you've been in contact with Ngila Dickson? She is a costume genius.
I own a copy of his coat.
The elves portrayed in Lord of the Rings felt otherworldly and untouchable, like works of art. There was an inherent grace and elegance to them. Meanwhile there is nothing about the elves in Rings of Power that gives me any feeling of that whatsoever. It's honestly so disappointing to see what Amazon has done with them.
I don't really know much about the lore of the LOTR series, but I think the hair is very important to the elves (from when Gimli asks Lady Galadriel for her hair). So it would make sense that Tolkien's elves would have long hair.
Thank you for pointing out the long hair thing. I was so angry at how generic and...mortal the Rings of Power elves look, no grace or timelessness, and the short hair was a big part of that. But I didn't have a way to explain it properly and my friends looked at me weird when I tried. It's a visual medium and the visuals are there to express things to the audience. Peter Jackson's version clearly shows the elves are almost otherworldly and majestic, obviously not human. You could take away the pointed ears and still know they're elves. Amazon's? Look like humans even with the ears.
Excellent! Yes, Peter Jackson's screen adaptations were exactly that, adaptations. Because the book doesn't describe ever single item you have some liberty to enhance and detail the gear, Improving it and making it more functional. Aragorns bow is a good example. But what Amazon is doing is not an adaptation. It's a total rewrite. Not even that. It's something else all together.
Not that Peter Jackson didn't go to far in "improving" the Authors vision some times. But he actually had a love for the Books. Amazon does not.
Most of the changes PJ made were to make the story more suitable for a film trilogy rather than a long book split into three. Action, dialogue, descriptions, internal thoughts and reflections, and other aspects are very different between books and films. And pretty much all of those changes he made made the story hold up better in its new format. It's because it was always about how to tell Tolkien's story in the best way possible as a film, rather than to show his own adaptation on the big screen.
Corners have been cut and it shows. Its an Amazon Basics project.
It reminds me of the Battleship (yes the guessing game) movie: Get a license (any license really), come up with the most generic plot utterly unrelated to the lore, slap a boatload of CGI on to mask it, cast one big name (doesn't need to be actors) to draw in the suckers.
@@mnk9073 exactly! *boatload of CGI* nice! 👌
It's "the novel Tolkien never wrote" according to the show runners.
Aragorn was a scout as well as a hunter. He would be both a swordsman and a bowman. He probably could even wield a spear just as well. Yes, elves should have long hair...period.
Also he was raised in Rivendell, among elves, the mere thought he wouldn’t be capable as an archer is laughable.
Well from the descriptions of the Rangers, both of the North and Rangers of Ithilien who were these 'special forces' of Gondor, experts scouts, guerilla tactics, recon force and almost a 'commandos' type soldiers :) it does make sense that he would have some skill in both weapons.
"A little apart the Rangers of the North sat, silent, in an ordered company, armed with spear and bow and sword. They were clad in cloaks of dark grey, and their hoods were cast now over helm and head. Their horses were strong and of proud bearing, but rough-haired.... There was no gleam of stone or gold, nor any fair thing in all their gear and harness: nor did their riders bear any badge or token, save only that each cloak was pinned upon the left shoulder by a brooch of silver shaped like a rayed star...."
...
"Two had spears in their hands with broad bright heads. Two had great bows, almost of their own height, and great quivers of long green-feathered arrows. All had swords at their sides, and were clad in green and brown of varied hues, as if the better to walk unseen in the glades of Ithilien. Green gauntlets covered their hands, and their faces were hooded and masked with green, except for their eyes...."
The Two Towers, LoTR Book 4, Ch 4, Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
Seeing how he fared against the cave-troll in Moria with a salvaged polearm, he definitely can wield a spear!
@@fantasywind3923 great quote! I just read that section of the passing of the grey company to my 10 year old kids tonight.
They were so excited to hear the original story - they've seen the movies and recall the paths of the dead. But they'll soon understand the reason.
Now they have a picture of the breadth of Aragorn's story, with his kin coming to find him and fight alongside.
I would say the first, most prominent way that Aragorn's costume looked better is that it didn't look _like a costume._ It looked like he actually wore that stuff out in the wilderness, waded through streams and walked along dusty roads. Even when he was in his more "dressed up" costumes for scenes at Rivendell and the like, it was designed in a way where it looked like it could be his actual clothes. It looked like something that he could actually wear off-set without it being weird, and the actor wore it like he had in fact done just that to get a feel for it. It looked real and natural.
That's got to be the ideal in any case of costume design.
I think "Ethereal" is the main takeaway for LotR elves for me.
They seem 'not of this world', and have zero qualms staying apart from it as much as possible and not mingling. So, with that said, any effort to make them feel more "human" should raise a red flag. Yes they have emotions, but it's buried deep beneath centuries of practiced grace and expressed less directly, at least that's my take on them.
Sewing and historical fashions are a passion of mine, Lord of the Rings was one of the films that helped me get interested in such a subject. And I also enjoyed watching the behind the scenes of the making of the costumes in it as well as other things that inspired my passion. All of them are in the 80s,90s or early 2000s, but now there seems to be an attitude of "modern audiences can't relate to characters who wear accurate costumes, they need to wear modified modern costumes."
There's an attitude of "people can only relate to people who superficially look like them".
@@GeraltofRivia22 That tells us who lack imagination and are narcissists.
Plus modern designers think dark academia is cool and trendy. It was 20 years ago
I still can't believe that with the budget RoP has, they actually have one of their characters wearing an armour printed stretchy shirt under a poorly fitted breastplate. All of their costumes look cheap, especially compared to the extraordinary work that Ngila Dickson and Weta did for the trilogy.
Ngila Dickson is a genius
@@LivingAnachronism Truly, the greatest costumes in cinema. Watching the LOTR behind the scenes on repeat as a kid definitely impacted me for the better, and I think about some aspect of it probably every day. The costumes, bigatures, props, everything, is just 😙👌
@@0oogabooga I have been rewatching the making of again (after having just watched it this spring) it literally brings tears to my eyes. Given how successful the makings ofs were, I would have pre released making ofs for the show to try and win people over. Perhaps logistically they couldn't. Or perhaps they didn't care to. But if there was anything worth while in them, it might have gone a long way, given the precedent.
@@LivingAnachronism LOTR in general makes me pretty emotional, and seeing all of the love that they poured into making everything for the films just gets me everytime. I marathoned the trilogy with some family less than a month ago, and we already started planning to watch it (and all the extras of course) again on September 2nd when the show airs. That's a good point about them releasing bts stuff to gain favor with the fans. Instead, they seem like they are repeatedly doing the exact opposite of what would be beneficial to them. It will be interesting to see if RoP becomes another "Only famous because of how big a flop it was" type thing.
@@0oogabooga I will be reading the books, and watching the PJ films on Sept 2nd as well. And encourage others to do this.
I will admit, while I liked medieval fantasy before I saw LotR, I wasn't the biggest Tolkien fan. That came later. That said, when I saw that first movie it all felt, for lack of a better word, "perfect." It was like it was all so well put together that it sucked me right in and I lost myself in it. The costumes were right in line with that notion. It was all just right, and I didn't ever see something that pulled me out of the story. Good costumes not only should fit the character, but they should mesh so well that when you see it you immediately accept that is what they would wear. It's when someone can see a costume on a character and not really think about it is when it really works. At no point in those movies did I ever stop and think, "What... what is that... what is going on with that outfit!"
Very well said Clint. I say on the channel "Lord of the Rings always gets a pass" because the ratio of just how much they got right is so incalculably high, that even if I notice a minor thing (NEVER in regards to the costumes) it is so easy to look passed. Let it never be said that fans simply hate on things for the sake of it. I give good graces when they are earned. Cheers my friend!
Agreed, they got so much right, especially the right feel to things. That is why despite certain changes to the story, I can forgive it because it really was incredible how much care they put into it.
Absolutely!
One thing I really love about Peter Jackson's costume design is the Gondor armour, they thought about the Second Age armour and how it would develop into the Third Age, where previously separate pieces of metal forming wing aesthetics would evolve into shaped wing shapes hammered into a single piece helmet for both better strength and more simplicity. It's an evolution that feels like a natural change.
You mean the armour that does nothing?
Great info, well done. I wore the Aragorn costume (as one of Viggo’s doubles) for 18mths of principle photography on LOTR (as well as pickups) and can honestly say I was the envy of many other character players…….reason being it was so comfortable! 😁 Custom fitted boots and lots of suede. The ranger sword was slightly unwieldy but manageable for the most part. My favourite accessory was the bed-roll as it supported my back when seated! I’ll be adding plenty more details on my new channel soon. Cheers!
Thats Sooo cool man
As a LOTR nerd im sooooo jelaous
"Elves lived for thousands of years, so as they changed their hair length, they have had sometimes good and sometimes bad designers for clothes." ...would now say the people responsible for the show.
Any argument about "The elves live for thousands of years" should be met with the response that a) they are compressing the timeline, so thousands of years doesn't apply and b) even if they were telling the story with the proper time frame, that time frame needs to be scaled to the life span of the characters. 1000 years is nothing to the life of an elf. Why would they be changing their looks and styles in the equivalent of a couple of human weeks? The only answer can be a story driven one, which they have not given.
@@LivingAnachronism this applies doubly so because most of the main elves in the show are already thousands of years old at this point and fully mature. It's not like they're the equivalent of teenagers or something where that excuse of them changing their hair over time would hold a little water.
I will always love the fact that people seem to never stop finding stuff the LotR did amazing with. If it's Aragorn as the opposite of toxic masculinity or their amazing costume design, shown in this video! LotR is just a legend.
I have been straying away from looking at anything Rings of Power because it's all just...sad. And I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said in this video. You're always so well spoken and to the point. It's very much appreciated. I personally think another huge aspect of costume design in many contemporary fantasy worlds is cosplayers. I think people designing costumes for these shows and films have the thought of, to some extent, "People will make this for conventions and also even before said shows or films are released for free promotion, so it's good".
Fantasy worlds, more often than not, don't look or feel like a solid, "real" thing anymore. At least when they're being put onto screen by the wrong people, I mean. And that is heartbreaking.
If you want to illustrate visual storytelling in Lord of the Rings, one need look no farther than the four Hobbits:
Merry is very much the 'business casual' when it comes to Shire fashion, with a tangible "off the rack" feel to his clothing. Inherently practical (including voluminous pants legs to accommodate oversized Hobbit feet) and made of quality yet simple cloth. Sleeves are slightly baggy to accommodate movement (and comfort), ending in simple button cuffs, with a buttoned plain tab collar - off-white in color with a slightly darker buttoned vest; natural earthy colors which are easy to produce and maintain. His coat is full length, a dark muted brown-green in color. Very much "down-to-Earth" by most every criteria, as is Merry himself.
Pippin is notably more casual (one might better say 'careless') in his attire - wearing a similar shirt though lacking a collar and usually with several buttons undone; for most of the movie, he is never seen wearing a vest. His coat isn't as well-made as Merry's, nor as long, with misshapen lapels and is missing buttons. It's never explicitly stated in the movies though it is apparent that he is of the lowest station among the four, simply doesn't care much about his appearance, or some combination thereof. Regardless his clothes are reflective of how he seldom gives much thought to, well, pretty much anything. Fool of a Took!
Samwise is 'the practical one'. While his outfit is slightly better quality than Merry's, his fashion choices and how he wears it reflect his hard-working nature. The top button of his collared shirts are all missing and his vest, while more elaborate than Merry's, is always unbuttoned. He is the only one of the four whose coat lacks lapels, and also the only one whose shirt has fitted sleeves. All his clothes have a greenish hue to them, and he's also the only one to wear patterns - nearly always narrow vertical stripes. Despite the wear and tear, his clothes are well-maintained and one need look closely to notice the damage they have endured.
Frodo is a Baggins (of Bag End) - as close as Hobbits come to having nobility, particularly following the escapades of his Uncle Bilbo. His shirts are the only ones with embroidery, his vests far more elaborate, and the only one with a lined coat (notice the contrasting lapels). Even through most of their journey, his outfit remains immaculate (though much of this can be attributed to Sam's attentiveness, seeing himself as Frodo's batman). In addition to connotating that Frodo is of considerably higher station than his fellow Hobbits, it is only within Mordor as they approach Mount Doom that his clothing degrades - further emphasizing the tremendous toll that carrying the One Ring it taking upon him.
From this, one can readily see how their outfits - though they all come from Bag End - reflect not only their personalities, but also their respective roles in the story as it unfolds.
Pippin's outfit giving the impression that he is of the lowest station among the four is something that actually needs a bit more examination, because in fact, Pippin was of the HIGHEST station amongst the four. So what's being communicated by his "dressing down" that much? Pippin was the youngest child of Paladin II Took, the Thain of the Shire, one of the highest offices amongst Hobbits. (Pippin would, much later, become Thain himself.) Merry was Pippin's first cousin -- Paladin's sister was Merry's mother. Merry's father, Saradoc Brandybuck, was the Master of Buckland; so Merry himself (especially as an only child) was also of high social status. (And in general, the Tooks and the Brandybucks are two of the most powerful families in the Shire overall.) Samwise is the real "lowest station" of all of them.
Frodo's situation is weird; first, because he is an orphan, and then second, because he was adopted by the childless Bilbo. The Baggins were respectable and wealthy, but not on the same level as the big, powerful families that held offices of the Shire. Bag End is like a mansion, in comparison to the rest of the hobbit holes in Hobbiton, but it was only built by Bilbo's father (in order to impress Belladonna Took, who became his wife). Frodo originally grew up mostly within Brandy Hall, as his mother was a younger sister of Merry's grandfather, and the Brandybucks were much more well-off than the branch of the Baggins family from which his father Drogo came. (Drogo and Bilbo were like... I think third cousins or something?) So Drogo was very willing to spend a lot of time in his rich wife's father's house (with its correspondingly well-stocked larder). Bilbo, meanwhile, was not particularly socially or politically powerful, in Shire terms. He was just very, very rich, on account of his share of the dragon's hoard (and the troll hoard) that he came home from his Adventure with.
Being childless, adopting Frodo made Frodo Bilbo's heir. But in comparison with with much larger and more politically powerful families of the Tooks and Brandybucks, the Baggins were just... rich, and that's it. They weren't at all Shire "nobility", and in fact, Bilbo's adventures *counted against him* in Shire society. He was considered very weird and uncouth by most other Hobbits (although neither thing would stop other hobbits from taking advantage of his hospitality and riches, or desiring those riches.
So here's what I'd suggest: the social standing goes Pippin > Merry > Frodo > Samwise. Frodo's elaborate and rich clothing is due to Bilbo having *so much money*, because of bringing home his share of the dragon's hoard. Bilbo wasn't reluctant to spend that money at all. The difference in dress between Pippin (son of one high-ranking Shire official) and Merry (son of another high-ranking Shire official) *could* be an indication of how seriously each takes their social position. Merry was the Master of Buckland's ONLY child, and since these positions were hereditary, you could understand him trying to dress a bit more "business casual", as you put it -- like, not TOO rich-looking, but presentable. Pippin, meanwhile, was the fourth child of the Thain. In the normal course of things, he probably wouldn't have expected to become Thain in turn; although, he had three older sisters, and I don't know whether the Hobbits placed great emphasis on the office of Thain being held by a male heir, or what. At any rate, I'd suggest that Pippin's marked casual dress is in line with the son of a very important family, who is perhaps rebelling a bit against the expectations put upon him. I think he's the youngest of the four, so maybe that plays into it.
@@gryphonvert Apologies if I misinterpreted something - it's been *ages* since I read the book and am vastly more acquainted with the movie(s).
Primogeniture was the dominant 'regime' throughout much of history, so being the youngest would likely make Pippin "nobility in name only". In most cultures, younger sons were typically seen to be more burden than asset (unless all their older brothers suffered untimely ends). Hobbits didn't appear to consider gender in succession - Sam named his eldest daughter, Elanor, as his successor.
So it would appear that Pippin, as the youngest, hadn't been expected to become prominent in the family lineage - as apparent in his behavior as in his wardrobe. (Or, as you suggested, he markedly rebelled against any such expectations.) At least prior to his adventures throughout Middle Earth. It may well have been both the prestige of his role in saving Middle Earth and how much his character had grown which contributed to him becoming Thane.
All of the hobbits' attire reflects their personalities perfectly!
I love reading both of your detailed clothing analyses! It's been a long time since I read the books, so it was nice to brush up on the details, and ultimately your comments are additional proofs that the LotR production/costume departments were thorough enough to create costumes more accurate than the average movie-goer would even realize!
That whetstone is such a good touch. Even if you don't know anything else about the person carrying it, it tells you a lot.
This is a person who relies on their tools being effective. They are willing to engage in difficult, tedius work to maintain that effectiveness.
This person plans ahead.
Meanwhile, the harfoots' appleseeds tell us...what? Nobody could extrapolate the actual answer from that alone, no one's looking at fruit detrutus and jumping to "burial rites".
Not to mention the characters openly contradict that idea since they leave behind anyone injured, sick, or shamed to die. The actions of the characters tell us quite clearly that they don't give a riff about their dead cause they inadvertently killed most of them. Not to mention, when would they have time to stop by or return to an orchard to bury a loved one if they're a migratory people who sheds all dead weight (pun intended) ASAP? It's the most pointless thing to point out as a "deliberate detail" cause it's not only pointless, but wildly wrong with what they established.
Lol, that last bit was hilarious.
And you’re absolutely correct.
13:09 Gods.. seeing this shot of Éowyn and Faramir filled me with so much warmth, I couldn't help but smile stupidly. Even catching snippets of these movies shows what masterpieces they are.
Editing videos where I get to use footage from the trilogy is always a joy, because I get to watch those scenes over and over again.
What I'm hearing is "Long hair is sexy". I agree. No seriously, though, you're bringing up some great points here. I also watch Bernadette Banner, who does a lot of *historically accurate* old-style costume design and critiquing. This is stuff I love. Thank you, Kramer!
Bernadette is awesomely snarky in some of her critiques.
@@AnotherDuck I love it when you watch videos or channels that seemingly don't have a lot in common, and then it turns out that the creators follow each other too. Bernadette slays (in the most ladylike manner, of course)!
As a man with long hair, I fully agree. Also, glad to see some fellow Bernadette fans here.
@@LoremasterYnTaris Long hair generally looks better on all people regardless of gender.
Long hair is literally sexy. It's an evolutionary marker of fertility and health. Humans can't help admiring long hair across every known culture throughout history.
I am so glad I am not the only one who has disdain for the Rings of Power. Maybe the movies had too much of an influence on me, as I LOVE everything about them, but I just cannot get behind the design choices of the Amazon show.
The Lord of the Rings has had an influence on us for a reason!
Give it a chance to succeed or fail on its own merit :)
@@TexasDevin I have done this many times before, and every time been disappointed (example the Witcher on Netflix). There is more than enough to see the way that this is going.
@@TexasDevin We already have.
Well from someone who took a lot of issue with many aspects of Jackson's adaptation, I, like you, cannot get behind anything Rings of Power has done, haha. I'm actually starting to respect Jackson's movies a lot more, the more I see of Rings of Power :)
What a cathartic talk on the problems with the rings of power costume design. You hit the nail on the head and vocalised exactly the thoughts I had swimming around in my brain whilst watching the show. Amazingly concise and articulate. Thanks for your insight!
Great point about the long haired Elves. I would also add that in the Tolkien's fantasy world Elves are a different race and everyone can tell it at one glance. Since we have all the races played by humans, we have to find other ways of making all the races really distinctly looking.
Myself I'm not a huge diehard dan of LOTR, but even i was outraged by the clear disregard for everything before Rings Of Power. This franchise will ve majorly hurt by this show, hopefully Amazon hears ppls feedback and adjusts. Great vid too!
They probably won't, but the solace I take, is that LOTR is not a franchise, it is a world, with many lore masters (of which I do NOT consider myself one). None the less, my hope is that this world will not be so easy to commercialize. But it has been done in the past, and their strategies have been proven to work.
I think the problem is, how do you adjust in a possible second season if you have done so much wrong in the first one? I mean a detail here and there (as in the Witcher, where the armour of the Nilfgaardians looked a lot better in season 2), but they seem to miss the point completely not only in the costume departement.
@@resathe6760 The Witcher season 2 was like 1 step forward and 6 steps back. They changed the armor, but with absolutely no story explanation why the first set existed, or why it was changed. Anyone watching the 2nd season might not even recognize Nilfgaard as Nilfgard. Then they made way more changes to the story, and attacked the fans using Jaskier as a mouthpiece in like the 4th episode. I have not idea how they can come back from a bad first season when their ego is more important than the story.
@@LivingAnachronism How was the first season of the Witcher bad? And yes, I agree that there was no explanation for the change in armour, but almost everyone who saw season one complained about the armour so I guess they just wanted to make a better one, even though it would have of course been better if there was an explanation for it (although I'm not sure what an explanation that could've been, that made sense, reasonably speaking). But I think everyone was able to recognize them with either Fringilla or Cahir present almost always, when Nilfgaardian soldiers were shown. I Can't talk about changes to the story with the Witcher because I haven't read the books or played the games. If you go in with a blank slate you surely are able to enjoy some storylines more as if you go in carrying certain expectations. I enjoyed season 2 but I also understand if book readers can't as much. I also don't have a problem with Jaskier being a mouthpiece as you called it (maybe for the same reason that I don't reas the book). I think the bigger problem is that he is not aging appropriately but honestly I love his character so much that I don't care that much if it means we see him all the way through the series.
@pyropulse Except none of us asked for rings of power
Wow, I had no idea they had those little details in Aragorn's costume. Something I'd forget if you mentioned is that the costume also plays an important role for the actor themselves by allowing them to look or even feel like the character they are trying to portray. A good costume helps them with this transition into fantasy, Viggo asked for those modifications knowing they may never been seen by the audience, but that they would help me feel like who he needed to play.
Another example of a costume helping the actor is Jim Carrey's the Grinch. That costume was famously uncomfortable and painful, and Jim Carrey channeled that discomfort and anger into his performance of the spiteful Grinch.
One possible explanation for Aragorn's more "modern" style is because Gandalf tasked him with watching over the Shire and surrounding lands. The hobbits' clothing always struck me as the least medieval style in the whole movie, with waistcoats and things like that. Whether to fit in more with the people in that area or just through the process of gradually taking on the characteristics and habits of the place you spend lots of time in, this could be why Aragorn wears that duster-garment.
The hobbits were also pretty proficient in bow hunting so maybe the smaller bows from the regional makers rubbed off of the Men as well.
Aragon's clothes are not modern at all. Nomadic peoples wore something similar already in the ninth century and earlier. In Central and Eastern Europe and cold parts of Asia.
Well since the Shire had been undisturbed and hidden from others for so long, it probably advanced much faster then the other parts of middle earth.Like there’s been no wars, no disasters, no attacks, no decline in ruler etc.So therefore, and since the hobbits love farming and beer, they were able to advance to what I’d consider based on all we see there at least 1700’s style.They wear clothing that fits the style of Georgian or victorian era, they have stoves, pans, mills, pubs, butchers, carts, ploughs, etc, which fits much more with a more modern world.After all the Elves are very in touch with nature and content with how things are so they wouldn’t need to change, Gondor and Rohan are old and besieged by conflict regularly so have had no real chance to develop, the Dwarves are able to build and craft whatever they need so they are also unlikely to need to change, the men of Eriador are scattered and constantly subject to trolls, orcs, and other foul beasts.Meanwhile Mirkwood has been largely abandoned by any men living there due to the orcs in the south and giant spiders.So the Shire is the only stable place where they have reason to modernise.
Aragorn is basically using a hunting bow, not a war bow. Viggo added so much to that character. The Whetstone and the small skinning knife on the outside of his sword scabbard are things he asked to be added to his costume because Strider the Ranger would need them.
@@richardcrowe3091 Yeah, that bow is more like a tool than a weapon. Even though it is a weapon too.
> "Some people believe, that detail equals depth. But it doesn't".
Damn, that's so well said. This is an important for wriners or fellow DMs to keep in mind so they would not fall into meaningless worldbulding abyss of fleshing out all the random things imaginable.
Tolkien did specify many times in his works that elves had long hair. I have a whole list of quotes that I used to combat the RoP defenders.
Just because longbows were historically used, particularly in combat and battles, doesn’t mean short bows weren’t historically accurate.
There are plenty of examples of short hunting bows used by lay people like farmers and hunters because they were easier and cheaper to make and definitely more functional for daily use.
Aye, I would mention some of Shad's vids on bows, in which he has pointed out the wonders of short and recurved bows.
Actually, long bows were ubiquitous in part BECAUSE they were fairly cheap to make. Short recurve bows could exceed the average long bow in power and efficiency, but were much trickier to craft, and took alot more time and money as a result.
@@khodexus4963 ua-cam.com/video/nKUmfwtiw0Y/v-deo.html
@@khodexus4963
and had some issues with damp weather, but short self nows did exist
@@thodan467 Yes. Now I wonder how often recurve LONG bows were created in history, like the bow I've designed for a minotaur archer in the game I'm working on.
Thanks for the helpful commentary.
A key element of success of a costume is if you don't notice it at all. Then it is just part of the character and it helpf builds the world.
Good examples:
Rohan costumes - functional and had Nordic themes that tied them all together, indicating a common culture that was distinct from Gondor
Gondorian armor and costumes - elegant and indicated high culture
LOTR Elves - as you noted, ethereal and other worldly. Clearly these were NOT humans
Amazon RoP male dwarves - completely believable, and broadly similar to Jackson's dwarves.
LOTR battle at the end of the 2nd Age in prologue - absolutely amazing. The armor of the elves, humans, orcs and especially Sauron told the tale almost all by themselves. Sauron's armor exuded malice and threat. These brief images and Blanchett's monologue shows that a few images and words are all that are needed to establish the tone and set up a complex backstory
Bad examples:
RoP Númenor court - looks like a court from a low-status Germanic robber baron and some weird Roman-looking costumes, which was and anachronism (where the RoP constume designers shooting for Byzantium? Ancient Rome?). Style is all over the place. This does NOT look like the highest human culture ever to exist. Moreover, this does NOT look like the progenitor for what we saw in Jackson's Gondor
RoP Young Elrond - lots of swoopy draped cloth. This is not an elegant design I'd expect of the elves. Sloppy. Perhaps from a bargain basement costume designer?
RoP Battle Galadriel's armor - instinctive dislike. This is NOT Galadriel but rather a generic warrior princess. Also, this was plate mail, whereas the Jackson elves at most had what appeared to be a form of chain or scale mail which is a LOT better for their style of fighting. Moreover, the Jackson armor from the prologue and 3rd Age was both beautiful and appeared functional, and screamed 'elven'. The same can't be said of Amazon RoP elven armor designs
Great examples. I'll add the costume design of the Uruks in PJ's Trilogy. Brutal, rough, unpolished, a race that cares nothing for the aesthetics of their weapons, only that they function. No armor on the backs because they do not retreat.
I agree with everything else, but just feel obliged to point out that RoP isn't trying to be a prequel to the Peter Jackson trilogy, and as such, the RoP Númenoreans not looking like precursors to Jackson's Gondor isn't a meaningful criticism.
I realized something while watching this video, specifically when you showed Aragorn and Theoden at the beginning. Obviously, I know these are real life actors playing fictional characters being filmed for a movie, but it kind of hit me that I never really considered that. I don't see Viggo Mortensen when Aragorn comes on screen, I see Aragorn. Same for all the other characters in Lord of The Rings. I can't say I feel as strongly or similarly for any other films, even my other favorites. I understand that it is the acting, script, world building... whatever you want to call it, but the costume design definitely plays a large role in this.
Completely agree. I think a huge part of it is just how grounded in reality it feels. I mean, when you look at modern movies, even the dreaded RoP, it's all so shiny and slick. Everything's perfectly in place, even when they're trying for "rugged," which just makes it feel fake. Like they're on a set instead of a living breathing world. But LoTR just has that "real" feel naturally, and I know so much of why is because everything *was* real, down to practical effects over CGI. But the clothes were weathered, the hair greasy and disheveled, and the combat felt real and weighty, not overly choreographed.
@@BelleMort6 I think that's because the had this idea that they would film it like they would have filmed a history documentary. That approach to thinking of it as real life vents just recreated on camera absolutely shines through.
As someone who does have the degree, you are SPOT ON!
Not that you need that validation at all 😊
Positively loved your “For Tolkien” video, and now I’m enjoying this talk on costumes as a writer and comic creator. Thanks for this great analysis on character clothing!
One important thing that has not been mentioned in this video are the colors. That is big difference between good and lazy costume desing. In LOTR you can see that most of the characters wear multiple colors at once and they change color of the costumes during the movies. Which is true mastership because it means that designer has not only fantasy to make form of the costume but also realy underestands basics of the craft. Making of costume, that has multiple colors that needs to be in harmony and needs to fit the character at the same time is much more complicated than making costume monochrome. If someone wears monochrome, like Aragorn, it makes sence in terms of practicality. But you can see that one he is not on the path, he also switches to the colors. Toned down, but colors.
Amazon uses mostly monochrome designs. Which is not only lazy but also offensive to the viewer. They basically tell you this is white woman, this is gold one, here you have gold guy, white guy, black guy, homeless looking gray trio, gray quy, green guy... ets. Names are not important in this moment, because viewer is idiot that is not able to remember names and faces so lets just color them like Ludo pieces and they will stay in the same color for the rest of the all five planed seasons. Like most colorful design is gold woman with blue cloak with coper lining. Give money that amazon has to any LARPer or cosplayer that has a bit experience with costume making so they can buy expensive materials and they will bring you exactly same designs.
I just think that take is so short sighted and rude to the average viewer. Anyone who is unfamiliar with Tolkien very well could need a lot of visual cues and reminders as to which character is which. The language is dense and hard to repeat and remember. On top of that, we haven’t seen all five seasons. Are the costumes going to stay exactly the same? Or will they evolve as the audience becomes more familiar? There are lots of shows that emphasize character recognition early on and journey to more intense and detailed costuming as the shows go on. This show wasn’t made for people who can properly pronounce every elf and dwarf’s name and critique timeline changes, it was made for the average viewer.
Love everything about your analysis ! I’d also add a few things that are so evident, netflix/prime/any tv showrunners forget them every time :
- quality fabrics : yes they are expensive but the way a 100% linen shirt falls perfectly vs polyester makes the few extra bucks on their enormous budget worth it, and also historical accuracy ofc
- no oversaturated colors : back in the middle ages they used natural dyes that could not even begin to reach the amount of color saturation we have in clothes today, plus people used their clothes for a very long time so their color would fade even more through the years (so seeing a cast dressed in bright orange roman robes is just painful)
- not trying to make stuff fashionable at any cost : cause we can appreciate middle age fashion perfectly fine, they don’t need to « modernize it for our time » the only thing it ensures is that in a few years it will look weird whereas middle age clothes will never look bad, we are striving for timelessness here not fashion week
That was a long rant haha, i’m now ready to sign the « elves have long hair » petition
The people in medieval times though, loved their color. There is a brilliant Madder Red that was used up unto the 1930s because of it's brilliance, and mostly colorfastness. There are a few other such dies. Look at Hieronymous Bosch paintings and see the colors of the clothes the peasants are wearing. Generally the further south you go, the brighter the colors. Even dour Scotsmen had some color *though they loved their white shirts under their jackets.
@@ScottRuggels thanks for the discoveries ! Never heard of Hieronymous Bosch before (:
I totally agree that they had brilliant dyes back then already, especially in countries like India ! I believe indigo and madder red were very popular in Europe ? Even though mostly richer people could afford them.
I exaggerated a bit when talking about color saturation, what I meant to say was that you wouldn't find a traffic cone orange garment back then so it's more about the shade and less about the saturation I guess. Also I kind of look at it from a peasant/regular citizen perspective by default haha, and they usually couldn't afford very expensive dyes so they mostly wore greys and browns (from what I know, please correct me if I'm wrong !).
Thanks for your input !
@@ScottRuggels I’m sure that Elin Abrahamsson has dyed some fabric madder red. In general, her clothes pallet is what I expect from historical accuracy. And she’s just so adorable.
A note about Aragorn's bow, there were plenty of short bows used in the European context, check out the archers in the Bayeaux tapestry or archers in later period hunting manuscripts for examples. But I do think the professor would have envisioned Aragorn with a long bow, given that the Rangers of Ithilien are described with them, as are the men of Morthond vale during the battle of Pelennor. Regarding the Rings of Power, the costuming feels cheap despite the richness of it.
From the shorter bows I've seen not just in europe, but asia as well, they all apear to be a sort of recurve. I admit my knowledge may be limited, but I believe Aragorn's bow in the films is a small D curve bow. And one of the bows that fits this description, is a bow used by the Comanche.
Of course. It's called "kitsch", I believe. Like when an actor / actress wears something super expensive(talking a gown that costs 50000$+), but still looks cheap. And then you have a 1000$ gown that's obviously cheaper, but looks and functions better.
Kitsch is just /ugh, the worst!
I actually think Aragorn probably *did* carry a bow in the books, albeit not a master archer’s weapon and him not being that amazing of a shot. Three main reasons: 1) He tells the hobbits that he has “some skill as a hunter” - not a trapper, but a hunter. Can’t really hunt without a projectile weapon. 2) To the extent bows are associated with elves, he’s part elven, albeit only a tiny part. 3) While bows *seem* to be primarily associated with elves, they really aren’t - the elves also use swords, and men, hobbits, *and* dwarves are all recorded in the books using bows. The real reason people associate bows with elves is that Legolas uses one as his primary weapon, is noted as being a particularly good shot, and is given a really nice bow by Galadriel.
@@logicisuseful Agreed, I think it makes perfect sense for him. I meant rather that the design of the elvish bows is quite distinctive, and they probably didn't want to give Aragorn a bow that would look like an elvish bow. Though given the time he spent in Rivendell, I would have bought that too.
@@logicisuseful about the hunting thing, a projectile weapon is not strictly necessary. The spear was used for hunting, particularly for things like wild boar.
I have recently discovered your channel thanks to You Tube's recommended videos. Sometimes the algorithms can lead to surprising happy accidents. Living Anachronism has quickly become one of my favorite channels. I appreciate that you come at costumes designs and wear from a practical sense. Keep it up
There's so much to it though. The whole philosophy of LotR vs RoP is so different. In LotR there's good and evil, and a clear distinction at the surface: pretty elves and dirty orcs, Grima slithering around and Gondorian soldiers standing upright and broad shouldered. All of this reflected in casting, performance and costumes. But the one thing in LotR that changes this around is the Ring. Boromir is like all the other good guys, tall, amazing, super-duper-fantastic dude, until he's corrupted by the Ring. Even Galadriel and Gandalf are almost corrupted. And then there's RoP, where conniving politicians are shown in casting, performance and costume, to be 'upstanding citizens protecting the integrity of the people' or some nonsense. Nothing in their appearance reflects their evil intentions, and maybe they have none, but that's not the Tolkien way. That's very obviously GoT influence, where it would fit well (if it was done a bit better) but not in Middle Earth. You could argue that's simplistic, but it's only simple at surface level. It's more about people's own struggle between good and evil, and maintaining hope, instead of an accurate world. And in such a world, Numenoreans, gifted with longer life by the Valor of Valinor, descendants of Eldar and ancient Men of Beleriand, 6 foot tall with eyes as stars, master boat builders and rulers of all the seas, don't get beer bellies and beat up local competition in an alley. Fr this pissed me off
The love and passion you put into your videos is wonderful. It’s the same passion you see watching the crew on Jackson’s LoTR. that love and passion for story is what’s lacking for the rings of power crew.
That is a high compliment, one I am almost reticent to accept, but I thank you none the less!
I told my mom that Amazon bought all their costumes on Wish.
I actually made the same comparison to the costumes at the Texas Renaissance Festival compared to the ROP costumes.
I appreciate a video like this. Like many other people, I can subconsciously recognize costumes that are "off" but I can't really identify why.
Amazing video! I am also an actor with a passion for costume design, love your perspective. It's so depressing to see such an important storytelling craft be cast aside in these multi million dollar productions. Thankfully it seems like education efforts are paying off, and audiences are starting to notice and want better.
This is making insanely good sense. It's great to see someone articulating so accurately and eloquently the innate bugbears that the LOTR fanbase has towards the RoP released content to date - thank you for the effort taken to do this video!
Yes! Understanding what is a good or bad costume is an innate thing! Thank you for saying that
I love that you mentioned "internal consistency". That is what is very much missing from a lot of fantasy and sci-fi productions these days. Rule of Cool is only acceptable and cool because it happens rarely, if ever, but so many writers seem to rely on breaking their own rules and just throwing away stakes all the time.
A rant about RoP’s inadequacy combined with an insightful and informative costuming guide? Yes please and thank you
Also highlighting PJ's trilogy, so people will always compare it to RoP and watch the true LOTR instead!
@@LivingAnachronism "There can be only one Lord of the Rings, and he does not share power!"
What I most appreciated about Aragorn's costuming, as someone who only got through a fraction of the books is that it was grubby, well-worn, mostly seemed black in the lighting, and had cloaks capable of hiding him. The first time we encounter him, he's a trope we see a fair bit in fantasy--mysterious, potentially dangerous brooding guy hiding in shadows in a dark body-covering hooded cloak who turns out to be someone important and good who is simply hiding because he's more aware than most of how violent the current world can be.
wow, this is an EXCELLENT teaching and explanation of what costumes shouild do. Form and function. This is what Grace Randolph sometimes explains about fashion.
What I think is a perfect example of this is from the BBC series THE MUSKETEERS. In this show the look of the musketeers is not historically accurate at all, but closer in my opinion to western gunslingers. This works to set these characters apart from the rest of the cast and makes them easily recognizable to the audience
Beautiful catch with the Comanche Bow! And that addition by Jackson and co was brilliant. Historical accuracy matters only if you're filming, idk, Tudors or something, otherwise there is a rather simple question that needs answering when it comes to costumes: "Would this character in this specific setting / situation be wearing something like this?" (the answer is a resounding YES for Aragorn and wtf / who knows for RoP). Then go hog wild with a, basically, storyboard.
The Rings of Power costumes look like cheap stage costumes to me. My eyes instantly are drawn to the cheap polyester which breaks immersion. Monty Python used better costumes in the Holy Grail...
So true!
I'm designing characters for video games and I stumbled upon your videos. They are really informative and helpful. Thank you so much... No words can describe how grateful I am for these videos.
Elves having long hair is even more important in the context of a medieval fantasy setting, in medieval europe long hair flowing free was a sign of something wild / magical / divine / untouched by mortality. For elves to have such hairstyle in this context adds to the idea/feeling that they're not quite real, they're something other and they most definitely don't belong to the same realm as humans