Welcome to The Week in Tolkien Cosplay! Every Friday, we’ll be featuring some of our favorite Tolkien-inspired costumes. If you’d like to submit your costume, please send a clear photo and the following information to cosplay@theonering.net:
- Name (can be a nickname if you’d rather not have your secret identity revealed)
- Who you are cosplaying as
- Photographers name (if known)
- A short bio (such as: who made the costume, how long it took to make, and any other details about it you’d like to share)
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Name: Joanne Beck
Character: Uruk-Hai General
Photographer: Colin Del Hickman
Bio: I made all but the helmet out of metal, which took me several months to achieve as I had to learn as I went along, not just how to work the metal but also how to strap it. Quite the learning curve and I am glad that Weta Workshop were able to give me tips and advice on how they did it! A friend even donated his dreadlocks for this costume! I have been costuming for 13 years now, and I am delighted to finally have a The Lord Of The Rings costume after all this time.
Name: Kissed by Fire
Character: Theoden
Photographer: Photogeny
Bio: I’m french and doing costuming for almost 13 years, Theoden king was my dream costume and i’m glad that i succeeded to achieve him. I worked on it 9 months, I had a lot of leather work, foam work and above all Worbla moulding work on the scales. It was so long and I made so much mess everywhere but I really enjoyed it. It was a real challenge and i’m quite proud of the result, there would be a lot to improve but I’m quite satisfied.
Name: Sasha
Character: Thorin Oakenshield
Photographer: Myrddin Emrys Costuming
Bio: The costume took about 9 months on and off work in my free time to complete. All the metal armor tiles and buckles were hand sculpted and molded, and they are cast in resin. I hand embossed the velvet to get the right pattern. I ventilated the entire wig hairline, added in wefts, blended colors of hair, and hand textured it. The beard I shaped, colored, trimmed. I made a muscle suit that helps bulk me out and my boots also give me four extra inches around for my calves and four inches longer on my feet. It was a labor of love and I am glad it’s done. It’s not the most comfortable costume but I really love wearing it and seeing people’s reactions when I speak and they realize I am not a man.
Name: ICosplayInsanity
Character: Smaug the Chiefest and Greatest of Calamities
Photographer: Casey
Bio: This cosplay started as a costume for the opening night of The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, and since then, morphed into an ongoing costume I can work on between other costumes. The head is a modified pepakura template that was covered in cardboard and gauze to create a scale texture. The wings, tail and claws were all crafted by me. In later renditions after the second movie premier, I added 532 scales to the front as well as more color and horns to the head once more reference pictures were available. My favorite memory while wearing this costume was meeting new friends who are also avid fans of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit at the OneRing.net party.
Name: SilverFox /AlyTheKitten
Character: Fili and Kili (An Unexpected Journey)
Photographer: Marcella Fava
Bio: I have only been cosplaying for 3 years, and Fili was my first Tolkien cosplay. I now regularly cosplay with my group “La Quarta Era”, which is the biggest Tolkien cosplay group in Italy. The hardest part of the costume was making the moustache (I’ve re-done it 3 times) and my friends always try to make me laugh when I’m wearing it because they know it will just detach! My favourite part of my Fili cosplay, is that it lead me to know such amazing people and friends, especially AlyTheKitten, who you can see in the photo with me, who cosplays an amazing Kili. I think our cosplay made us close and now I’m happy to say I have a best friend, as well as a brother!
