The Eastern Fantasy of... Lord of the Rings!
When we hear "Western Fantasy" the WETA designed Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings trilogy (and follow ups) come to mind. So here's a post going over the Eastern inspirations to WETA artists (with quotes citiation) and even JRR Tolkien when he was a college boy collecting manga. Let's start with the faction with East in their name, Easterlings of Rhun!
"EASTERLING Pencil Sketch Sourisak Chanpaseuth I really went off at a tangent for this one. I think it was just a wild idea at the time-a lot of movement, but I gave him the appearance of being like an assassin, a ninja. With a bit of a samurai look about him, too. -The Art of The Two Towers 2005"
"EASTERLING Color sketch Ben Wootten I came in after the initial round of drawings had been done, so there was already a direction that Pete liked. The heavy-lamed look, the buildup of lots of small lames. He liked the sharp shapes. And he liked the Eastern feel. So it was basically just exploring some of those options try some other shapes for the lames-and exploring the directions that Pete liked. Going through a lot of the Oriental books I noticed that indigo blue is a color they wear quite a lot. In the book the Easterlings are described as wearing gold and red, which are really easy colors to pick out high-lights on, so I just gave them another color that they might wear underneath their gold and reda pigment that might work well in a desert. -The Art of The Two Towers 2005"
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Early WETA Lord of the Rings Easterling concept art had them more like D&D chaotic savages or Magic: the Gathering Red barbarians, it was Sourisak Chanpaseuth who brought the cool human element to them. From Thailand, he grew up with East Asian and local media to design cool samurai ninja antagonists who proudly battle the westerlings.
Next is the silk robe clad, curved sword spinning, immortal elves of Middle Earth!
"Björn: How come the swords wielded by Arwen, Elrond and the other Elves are curved?
John Howe: Why not? It fits well with their style of combat, and it's very Art Nouveau. Did Professor Tolkien say they are all straight? Damn, I must have missed that bit!
B: True; Tolkien wasn’t that specific about the look of the Elven weapons. When you say it, I can see that Art Noveau formed the overall basis for Elven design. Reminds me very much of Victor Horta, if I’m not totally off the mark.
J: Hector Guimard*. The Elves are supposed to be far more sophisticated, beautiful and skilled than we can imagine as humans. There is an elegance of line in Art Nouveau that is unparalleled. Of course, Eastern weapons contributed quite a lot - imagine the Samurai with a totally 19th-century Jugendstil (German Art Noveau) culture. -The Men Behind the Swords in “The Lord of the Rings" *famous for Paris metro art noveau decor, was fascinated by Japonisme, Japanese art
https://www.foxtail.nu/bjorn/a_lotrinter.htm
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"ELVEN ARMY Color sketch Warren Mahy A very early Elven sword. We began with the idea that Elves used organic shapes, but this evolved as time went on because in battle you wouldn't want so much intricate jewelery adorning your weapon. I got great enjoyment from studying Asian weapons - not just Japanese ones as I think they tend to look a little bit more elegant; that would have been the kickoff point for this."
Takeda clan bamboo armor, Tlingit wooden armor
"ELVEN ARMY
Color sketch Ben Wootten "This was one of the first sketches done. I used a flowing look so that it looks like a dress of chain-mail, to give the idea of something graceful, something elegant. There was also an early idea of using laminated wood for the armor similar to an oriental theme, different material to represent a different philosophy and to make them quite different from human and Dwarven armors. There's almost a feather motif on the elbow, which is almost represented all the way through, it could be leaves, it could be feathers. And the broad leggings would give freedom of movement and grace and hopefully not inhibit the flow of the actors too much. -The Art of the Two Towers"
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"ELROND Conceptual sketch There are elements here of ancient Samurai and Grecian design, with a color palette drawn from Gil-galad's heraldry as described and drawn by Tolkien himself." -WETA Lord of the Rings lead artist Daniel Falconer
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The architecture of Lord of the Rings, Rivendell in particular, draws from real world and philosophical Eastern Inspiration:
"RIVENDELL Various design sketches Alan Lee “The top illustration is a drawing that was done specifically for the model-makers to show the foundations of Rivendell so that they could build all the rock work, and thus the buildings that would be sitting on top. I left them out because, quite simply, they’d be in the way and the people at Weta wouldn’t get a real idea of what the base should look like. The picture below is just an idea I had for the structures of Rivendell, this time utilizing a tower, and it’s not too dissimilar to some of the buildings we ended up with. They veer toward a cross between a Japanese temple and Frank Lloyd Wright. The idea of the building nestling among the trees, coexisting with nature, really appealed to me, all these trees being very organic within the stony surroundings. At the bottom of the page is the painting for Elrond’s Chamber. It’s not the final design, indeed it’s a very early one. It shows the battle between Isildur and Sauron. It doesn’t happen like this in the movie, so, as I painted the actual prop in the film, I was able to change it easily, to match what Peter shot.” -The Art of The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, Gary Russell 2002"
“Organic Architecture incorporated ancient Chinese philosophy. Wright and Lautner often quoted Lao Tzu, author of the Tao Te Ching, to explain how their spaces were the essence of the structure. “The reality of the building consisted not in the four walls and the roof but inhered in the space within.” -Transcendental Spaces: Frank Lloyd Wright and John Lautner Through My Lens
Elizabeth Daniels | Jan 9, 2022 (https://franklloydwright.org/transcendental-spaces/)"
“Japanese art and architecture really did have organic character. Their art was nearer to the earth and a more indigenous product of the natural condition of life... therefore more nearly modern as I saw it than any other European civilization alive or dead -https://www.wrightsjapan1905.org/clapat_ndk_portfolio/kyoto/founders-hall-one/ " ---- Interior decoration and style of Lord of the Rings also has Ottoman Empire inspirations.
"This aesthetic had to be maintained in every aspect of the design process: in props, costumes.jewelry, hair,and makeup. Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, along with Peter, paid particular attention to making sure that everything associated with the Elves had that ethereal beauty. That beauty had to encompass strength as well. Tolkien's Elves are not sprites; they owe more to the Celtic tradition, in which their otherworldly nature is tempered by the occasional necessity to go into battle against invading mortals and monsters. While the armor and weapons were functional, there was never any doubt that the Elves should look at least as stylish wielding a sword as they would lounging on a divan*, reciting the Lay of Leithian. -Alan Lee Lord of the Rings sketchbook " Divan are West Asian (Turkish Ottoman Empire) floor couches. Ra Vincent's Rivendell Elf dinner table art has Turkish kilim bolster pillows (cylindrical) cushions on the floor. This aesthetic gets used in World of Warcraft's Blood Elf cities and is preceeded a century earlier by Lord Dunsany's fantasy novels where the British countryside hides fey Oriental cities. --- Even the way actors moved in combat and trekking across the wilderness has Eastern inspirations. Nichiren Buddhist Orlando Bloom has shared how his interest in Japanese Noh theater and Akira Kurosawa's samurai movies informed how he played the ageless elf warrior Legolas:
"At the time I was first cast as Legolas I had just finished three years of drama school training. Movement was a very big part of my training. I had actually spent time during drama school studying the movement of lizards at the London Zoo and I saw the movement and physicality of Legolas as very important to creating the character. There was a description in the books of Legolas running across snow while the rest of the Fellowship had to dig their way through. That lightness of foot, agility, his awareness and ability to hear and see things before anybody else, led me to consider what animal he might be. I felt that there was a feline quality to my understanding of his movement; the ability to pounce or stop on a dime; the idea of him having eyes in the back of his head, always bristling, ready for anything. I had also been watching the Kurosawa classic The Seven Samurai and studied Noh Theater at drama school, both of which had an influence. The attitude and economy of movement that great samurai exhibit was something that became a very useful way into the character for me. Orlando Bloom, Actor, Legolas"
---- The later Hobbit movies (Desolation of Smaug, Five Armies) continue this tradition with "Japanese emperor" inspirations for the elf king and kyudo archery clothing concepts for the elven archers.
"THRANDUIL Like our early explorations for the Mirkwood soldier armour Thranduil's early armour studies bore strong Eastern influences with lots of lacquered black wood, inlays of accent colours and even the idea of an impassive, sculptural half-mask that would slide down over his face in battle. I thought of him like a Japanese emperor and gave him a striking headdress/helmet and twin daggers at his hips; the mask would make him seem even more dispassionate and imposing. Paul Tobin, Weta Workshop Designer"
"Another idea that I drew came from the Stunt Co-ordinator who suggested pursuing a whip-chain idea. It's a very Asian weapon but could be quite cool and I imagined she might have worn it in her hair (below, left). Paul Tobin, Weta Workshop Designer"
"I love my sword. I don't want to brag, but I think I have the coolest sword in the movie and that's high praise because there are quite a few very famous swords in this story. Weta Workshop did an incredible job with my sword. It is carved out of one piece of metal. I stopped by the Workshop to watch it being made. It's a little two-handed katana-like blade, the size of my leg - an incredibly beautiful weapon. -Lee Pace, Actor, Thranduil" --- This covers some of WETA and Peter Jackson's Hollywood takes on Lord of the Rings? How about the man himself JRR Tolkien and Eastern fantasy influences? Like many western college students today, a young Tolkien collected Japanese manga (Ukiyo-e) in his dorm because Japonisme and Eastern influence on the Art Noveau movement was massively popular at the time. It was the later WW2 that disrupted Eastern pop culture's adaption in boomer west, but AKIRA, Macross, Ghibli, Pokemon, Final Fantasy soon made their way to the hinterlands. Here's an academic paper on the topic and how it influenced Tolkien's art: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265759942_Tolkien's_Japonisme_Prints_Dragons_and_a_Great_Wave ---- Tolkien also made fan-art of earlier Orientalist english fantasy. Tolkien's 1913 "Xanadu"* inspired by 18c poem "Kublai Khan" (Coleridge wrote high on opium) Tolkien scholars link this Oriental fantasy fanart to Lord of the Rings' Two Trees of Valinor "where the Elves awoke in Middle-earth" *Mongol Yuan dynasty capital and inspiration to English fantasy writers since Geoffrey Chaucer in the 1300's
I hit the image limit so the rest are quotes and links... "Biographer Humphrey Carpenter mentions that as an undergraduate at Oxford Tolkien bought Japanese prints for his rooms; but such prints were popular at the time..." "The figure of the beast, awkwardly foreshortened, has none of the sinuous grace of the other dragons Tolkien drew, but is unsurpassed in fierceness. Its unusual face recalls ceremonial masks from Africa, Asia, or Native American cultures.46"
"Biographer Humphrey Carpenter mentions that as an undergraduate at Oxford Tolkien bought Japanese prints for his rooms; but such prints wer
