Shawn Speakman
CREATOR
19 days ago
Project Update: The Forging of the Sword Lumiere
Hi Everyone,
How many of you have seen The Lord of the Rings movies directed by Peter Jackson?
A great many of you, I bet. If you are like me, you've seen them hundreds of times. And love them. From the faithfulness of the adaptation to its adult themes to its acting performances, dialog, and CGI. Jackson and his team managed to produce Tolkien movies that will withstand the test of time.
About a decade ago, when friend and author Terry Brooks began writing the climax story for his Shannara series, I wrote swordsmith Peter Lyon with a question. Peter produced the weapons used in The Lord of the Rings movies, and I asked him if the original Hildebrandt Bros. design for the Sword of Shannara could be produced as a congratulatory gift to Terry. While Peter informed me that the Hildebrandt design would be very difficult to produce and I decided on a different gift for Terry, Peter and I became online and email friends.
Then two years ago, when I was writing The King-Killing Queen, I received that book's cover art from artist Magali Villeneuve and absolutely fell in love with it. I also loved her design of the sword Lumiere so much that I forwarded it to Peter, hoping it was something that could be forged.
Peter wrote me back, asked some clarifying questions, and then accepted the project. He doesn't do a lot of commission work as Weta Workshop keeps him quite busy, so I was absolutely befuddled to learn The Lord of the Rings swordsmith would be forging a sword based on an idea I created.
Here is the Magali Villeneuve cover that inspired Peter's hand-drawn designs for Lumiere:
How many of you have seen The Lord of the Rings movies directed by Peter Jackson?
A great many of you, I bet. If you are like me, you've seen them hundreds of times. And love them. From the faithfulness of the adaptation to its adult themes to its acting performances, dialog, and CGI. Jackson and his team managed to produce Tolkien movies that will withstand the test of time.
About a decade ago, when friend and author Terry Brooks began writing the climax story for his Shannara series, I wrote swordsmith Peter Lyon with a question. Peter produced the weapons used in The Lord of the Rings movies, and I asked him if the original Hildebrandt Bros. design for the Sword of Shannara could be produced as a congratulatory gift to Terry. While Peter informed me that the Hildebrandt design would be very difficult to produce and I decided on a different gift for Terry, Peter and I became online and email friends.
Then two years ago, when I was writing The King-Killing Queen, I received that book's cover art from artist Magali Villeneuve and absolutely fell in love with it. I also loved her design of the sword Lumiere so much that I forwarded it to Peter, hoping it was something that could be forged.
Peter wrote me back, asked some clarifying questions, and then accepted the project. He doesn't do a lot of commission work as Weta Workshop keeps him quite busy, so I was absolutely befuddled to learn The Lord of the Rings swordsmith would be forging a sword based on an idea I created.
Here is the Magali Villeneuve cover that inspired Peter's hand-drawn designs for Lumiere:
To view over a dozen photos of Peter's work as he forged and put together Lumiere, be sure to follow this BackerKit project. And if you already follow it, the photos should be below!
If you have any questions, I'd love to answer them. This process was super fun! A big thank you to Peter for his work and professionalism!
With Magic,
Shawn Speakman
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