THE MARTIAL ARTS OF MIDDLE EARTH
An Interview with Tony Wolf, Fighting Styles Designer for the Lord of the Rings
Motion Picture Trilogy
by Adrian Ko
with artistic renditions of the Lord of the Rings movie characters by David Sankey
August 8, 2002 · Article spans 4 pages
Preface
Having previously worked with director Peter Jackson (of Lord of the Rings) in
films such as Brain Dead (which was released in the U.S. as Dead Alive) and a
mockumentary called Forgotten Silver, Fighting Styles Designer Tony Wolf was
sought by Jackson to develop distinct fighting styles for each of the races of
Middle Earth.
From the sinister Orcs of Moria to the brave and fair Elves that resisted the
malevolent charge on the front lines, Tony Wolf's work is seen in the unique
fighting styles exhibited by each race to an almost anthropological depth. We are
proud to present you with this exclusive interview.
Note: this interview took place prior to the release of The Two Towers.
Interview
SFI: Tony, it's good to have you speak with us today. We realise that it's not
every day an opportunity to work on an epic like The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
lands in one's lap, as it were. We see an incredible scale of warfare in Fellowship
of the Ring, ranging from Aragorn fighting the Uruk-hai to a landscape of Orcs
charging a frontline formation of Elves. You are the film trilogy's Fighting Styles
Designer, which is perhaps the first time we've heard of such a title for a movie
that involves swords. How does that differ from the traditional role of a Fight
Choreographer or Fight Master?
TW: I had already worked with Peter [Jackson] on some other projects, and I
knew that he was interested in the idea of unique fighting styles. When I heard
that he would be directing LotR, I suggested that each of the Middle Earth
cultures should have its own idiosyncratic methods of fighting and of general
movement as well. That gelled with what he was thinking and it was my entry
into the project. Because the styles had to be established before individual fight
scenes could be choreographed, the Fighting Style Design process was largely
during pre-production, as distinct from scene-specific fight choreography.
SFI: Yes. Given the richness of Tolkien's mythology, it would imply that each
Middle Earth culture developed its own unique martial arts. We see this with their
languages and their music, so why not their fighting methodologies as well?
Would you describe your inspirations for the fighting arts for each of the
individual races... for example the styles of Men, Elves, Dwarves or even of the
Orcs and other enemies?
TW: We really had two main sources of inspiration — Tolkien's novels, and the
interpretation of his world and characters that was being collectively
"imagineered" by all the different production departments — props, costumes,
weaponry, conceptual art and so-on.
SFI: So your own conception of the fighting styles developed once you were
brought on board the project and not before?
TW: Yes, I wanted to start fresh. I re-read the trilogy before I came on board,
but the actual design didn't start until I knew how the rest of the production was
conceiving the various Middle Earth cultures.
SFI: Perhaps also benefiting from and contributing back to the artistic synergy in
pre-production?
TW: The design process was part of the pre-production, but synergy is a good
word for it. Lots of meetings, creative brainstorming, getting a feel for each
culture.
SFI: The end result, as we all see, is a very high level of creativity. For example,
in the opening scene of FotR, we see a furious charge of Orcs towards the armies
of Men and Elves, which was met by Elvish soldiers armed with polearms. This is
without a doubt one of the most eye-opening scenes for the beginning of any
film. Do tell us your thoughts on this battlefield warfare.
TW: I think that Peter wanted to create a sense of absolutely epic scale in that
sequence ... it reminded me of that fantastic opening shot in the original "Star
Wars," when a Star Destroyer passes over the camera, and just keeps on coming.
That upward slash was one of the first moves I designed for Elf swordplay. As I
recall, the image of the Elvish warriors performing a synchronised upward slash
was partly to demonstrate the total contrast between the Elves and the Orcs - the
former being magical, ultra-disciplined warriors and the latter being basically an
insane rabble.
SFI: That's interesting, Tony, because this not only succeeded visually but adds a
greater unspoken dimension to the film.
TW: I think everyone involved in the production was going for that "unspoken
dimension." The idea was that we were not creating fantasy in the traditional
sense, as a sort of anything-goes milieu, but rather producing historical epics that
happened in Middle Earth. That concept imposed a healthy creative discipline.
SFI: What martial arts styles did you draw from in developing the fighting arts of
the Elves? And are there other examples we see in FOTR?
TW: The design process was not really a matter of borrowing techniques from
real-world fighting styles. Having determined a series of very specific "key points"
about a given character type's posture, weapons, armour, tactics and so-on, the
techniques essentially created themselves.
SFI: What key points did you define for the Elves, and what other examples of
techniques arose from those points?
TW: It's great that martial arts-oriented viewers seem to latch on to the Elves.
Basically, the Elves were beautiful. Every aspect of their culture reflected a
refined sense of aesthetic beauty and wonderment. They were completely attuned
to their environments. It followed that, as warriors, they would be superbly
balanced — grounded from the waist down, light and free from the waist up.
Although they were capable of linear movement, their style was based on a
spiraling action — circular, gliding footwork patterns, deflections rather than
blocks, slices rather than thrusts or strikes. Also, because they are immortal,
they've spent decades or even centuries perfecting their martial arts — they can
do things that human swordmasters could only dream of.
SFI: You know, what you've just said is highly reflective of their own artwork.
Some Elvish art bears resemblance to the Viking Urnes style, which seems to
convey an unceasing graceful flow... nothing blocky, nothing abrupt — everything
is orderly but organic, not forced and artificial, but very harmonious with nature.
In the film, the Elves certainly appeared to have fought with the same approach
as they have towards their art.
TW: That's a very apt parallel. There's a connection with Art Nouveau as well, I
think. The shape of the Elf sword exactly follows the "line of beauty."
SFI: Even their stately poise before their upward cut, Tony?
TW: Yes. Having established their essential "aesthetic," everything else followed
— posture, transitions between postures, gait, gestural motifs, specific combat
techniques and tactics. The same held for all of the different cultural fighting
styles. This is true for the Orcs as well.
SFI: Now you must also have created a style of fighting characteristic to the
more chaotic and undisciplined Orcs. The Orcs were bred long ago from mutilated
Elves. Their walk and their fighting seem angular, jabbing and twisted. Perhaps
this utter lack of grace in fighting and movement signifies their "fall from grace"?
TW: The Orcs were extraordinarily diverse, but they all shared a set of common
referents — as you noted, the idea of being twisted, off-center, and warped in
every sense. My over-riding concept for their fighting styles was that they
basically stole and "cannibalised" techniques from more refined and skilful
warriors, in the same way as they (the Orcs) came by their weapons and armour.
Orcish combat is like a grotesque parody of skilled disciplined combat.
SFI: There is definitely a very comprehensive approach to character design, it
seems. So tell us what were the factors that led to the fighting styles of the race
of Men?
TW: We haven't seen the Gondorians, Rohirrim, etc. in mass combat yet, so I'm
afraid I can't talk about their styles in any detail. (The Two Towers had not been
released yet at the time of this interview. —ed.) For the benefit of the historical
swordsmanship crowd, though, we did make extensive reference to certain of the
old combat manuals, and part of the design process included full-contact
sparring. That's not to say that we were attempting to present the historical
styles per se, but they were used as reference.
SFI: So perhaps not the Gondorians, but the Men who fought alongside the
elves? And did they fight in formation with those Elves at the beginning of the
movie?
TW: I wasn't directly involved in those scenes.
SFI: No problem. But could we ask the same question regarding Aragorn?
TW: The fighting styles were designed for cultures rather than individuals.
Aragorn's fighting style draws from the designed style, but it's essentially his own
thing, a reflection of his personality and the situations he has to face.
SFI: I see. The reason why I asked is that Aragorn apparently speaks Elvish
(Quenya). I had wondered as a result of what you said earlier if Aragorn might
have gleaned from the Elves' martial arts during his time with them.
TW: That was actually discussed. I think the consensus was that although he's an
exceptionally skilled warrior, he's only human, and Elvish swordplay only really
works for Elves. I imagine that he would have gleaned something from them,
though — maybe some techniques or tactics, maybe more in the nature of
emotional focus. The Elves can meditate in the midst of carnage.
SFI: So, on the opposite end of the spectrum of races of beings of Middle Earth,
what were the defining points of how Dwarves fight? They mostly use axes and
hammers, right? (Perhaps with exception to Thorin wielding the sword Orcrist,
but that was in The Hobbit.)
TW: I wasn't involved in designing Gimli's style, only those that were employed
by the cultures we see in mass battle — Elves, Orcs, Moria Orcs, Uruk-hai, etc.
SFI: I see, you were responsible for developing an entire culture's style rather
than that of an individual character. Given this, we see Saruman develop an army
of Uruk-hai for the Dark Lord. Were the Uruk-hai more refined or deadly in their
approach to war than the regular Orcs?
TW: They were much more dangerous! Individually, Orcs are no big threat —
they're sword fodder, only dangerous en masse. A single Uruk is a force to be
reckoned with.
SFI: In what way?
TW: Sheer size, strength, ferocity, armour. They were conceived as lethal
instinctive fighters ... not formally trained, but essentially born to kill.
SFI: Was there anything specific to the pre-production treatement of the Urukhai that makes their style stand out from the Orcs?
TW: The Uruk-hai were super-Orcs ... really treated as a different culture, from
the fighting style design point of view.
SFI: So they had more complex maneuvers? More ferocity and strength? Greater
technique? I recall Lurtz — the head Uruk-hai — fought Aragorn in the film. Lurtz
had quite a propensity for pain.
TW: I'd say that they were capable of more complex maneuvers, although their
style was actually very direct — smash and bash, as compared to the Orcs'
baboon/hyena motif of backpedalling and sneak attacks.
SFI: Given the sheer immensity of the Orc armies, many of them must have
been animated as Computer Graphics characters. Where there specific incidents
where the fighting style had to be reproduced by actors in motion capture suits
before they could be realized on film in the form of CG characters?
TW: In general, the closest action to the camera is live, and the background is
CGI, but it gets very complicated. I should probably explain a bit about how mocap works.
SFI: Please do.
TW: Basically, a motion capture performer wears a black costume fitted with
photo-reflective "markers" at key positions. S/he performs in a special studio with
a series of cameras connected to a computer system. The cameras only record
the reflective markers, so what the computer encodes resembles a moving,
human shaped constellation of stars. This 3-D pattern can then be "dressed" by
artists to create a digital stunt double, or multiplied to create an army or
enhanced in a variety of ways. We also used motion-captured data to "train"
artificially intelligent digital warriors who moved and fought independently,
making their own decisions and fighting without any human direction.
SFI: Astounding. Given the scale of warfare we'll see in The Two Towers, perhaps
we'll see the results of these AI characters on the battlefield on King Theoden's
lands. So in your mind, Tony, what was your greatest challenge in pre-production
for the film trilogy?
TW: The single greatest challenge was that, although most people seemed to
think that "Fighting Styles Design" was a cool idea, no-one had actually done it
before.
SFI: Really?
TW: I had to invent how the job was done even as I was doing it ... tricky.
SFI: Is that normally the role of a Fight Choreographer?
TW: As a fight choreographer, I would generally spend a lot of time on the style
design process, but the scale and scope of that task for LotR was unusual.
SFI: So what aspect about no one ever having done Fight Style Design
exclusively makes it so much of a challenge? Was it the sheer scale of work
involved beyond choreography?
TW: Partly juggling between designing the styles as models or templates, which
different production departments could modify according to their own needs, and
also being very specific about key points to maintain continuity. Also, yes, the
sheer variety of styles and the requirement that each should be organic to the
different races, which meant that they needed to contrast to some degree. Each
culture had its own sub-styles as well, based on different weapon combinations
and so on.
SFI: How many different styles did you develop altogether?
TW: I can't remember offhand ... I think it was eight different cultural styles, and
a variety of sub-styles.
SFI: Tony, there are various people who watch and have voiced their opinions on
the fighting. Many have said the fight scenes are simply astounding. Some
practitioners of historical swordsmanship have pointed out that Aragorn's fighting
was very large arcs and swings that could tire out a warrior. How "real" were you
trying to get the fighting styles? And regarding Aragorn, were his highly
pronounced arcs in fighting for dramatic effect, or was that done by the
choreographer rather?
TW: I'm glad people enjoyed the action. I want to stress that my role here was to
contribute the fighting styles as templates. Individual performers,
choreographers, directors and editors created the specific choreography. You
could compare fighting style design to conceptual artwork, in that it was handed
off to other departments and each of them had their own "take" on the material.
SFI: How much of your style design was based on John Howe's weapons design,
or vice versa? Or did both co-develop as you both talked?
TW: John and I had a couple of get-togethers to discuss the styles. This was very
early on in pre-production, in 1998 I think. John is a very keen re-enactor and we
had some fun sessions with swords in hand.
SFI: Were the fighting styles you designed merely for reinforcing the characters
and the nature of their cultures, or do you see there potentially being some
martial effectiveness? For example, there is a fan-following of Jedi Knights from
the Star Wars phenomenon, that try to define a martial arts involving light sabers
based on some Japanese swordsmanship.
TW: I can very easily foresee a similar cult following for Elf swordplay, in
particular. I wanted all of the styles to be "believable" as battlefield fighting arts,
which is not to say that human fighters could necessarily employ Elvish
swordplay, for example. The Gondorian and Rohirrim fighting arts are reasonably
close to historical European models, though again, the intention was not to
present the historical truth of, say, Medieval German longsword fencing. Each
style had its own aesthetic, and some were better suited to certain physiques,
experience levels or temperaments.
SFI: How did the performers adapt to the fighting styles?
TW: The stunt people who were heavily into martial arts really enjoyed the Elvish
style. One of the stuntmen, for example, was a champion amateur wrestler and
had an ideal Orc physique — short and very powerful. The Elf style was best
suited to tall, slender performers with extensive dance or martial arts
backgrounds. It was a case-by-case thing.
SFI: Tony, your role in the film trilogy's pre-production is most unique. You have
a familiarity with the Tolkien mythos, and you have had significant exposure to
various martial arts styles. From an artistic standpoint, what in your background
and experience have helped you the most in this unique roll of Fighting Styles
Designer?
TW: That's complicated...!
SFI: (laughs). Sorry about that!
TW: It's a good question, just give me a moment. I suppose I have an
anthropological perspective on creating action. When I look at any martial art, or
movement system, I tend to see it as a unique combination or application of
certain fundamental principles. This is a system I developed for performance
combat, but it can be applied to anything from a specific martial art to a dance
style, or to un-codified movement. The ability to break the different source
materials down into neutral fundamentals, then re-construct them in a way that
fit the aesthetics of each culture ... does that make any sense?
SFI: Perfectly. It's almost like those who study cultural dance or art history.
TW: Yes, or ethnomusicology. It's also a matter of understanding the common
features as well as the distinctions between different systems. I love drawing
connections between these things — you can trace connections between prowrestling, Aikido, contact improvisation, swing dancing, chi sau, and so on
forever. My performance combat system isolates six fundamental principles,
which can be learned through exercises and games. These provide a neutral
foundation for teaching, learning, directing and performing literally any type of
fight scene. Then you start to notice that virtually every physical art, including
martial as well as performing arts, embodies these same principles, just recombining them in a unique way.
SFI: So there is a science behind the art!
TW: "Any sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic."
SFI: Splendid. Tony, on behalf of Sword Forum International and its readers, I'd
like to thank you for taking the time in sharing with us!
TW: Thank you.
Special Thanks
... to David Sankey of the UK for these wonderful inspired renderings of the Lord
of the Rings movie characters.
Photos of movie reproduction prop Elvish swords courtesy of United Cutlery.