Forging Fantasy: Wētā’s Peter Lyon on Crafting Iconic Swords for Hollywood

I got into medieval re-enactment at university in Palmerston North, but couldn’t get much equipment (no internet in the 80s!), so when I moved to Wellington I started making equipment and building up a workshop.

People started asking me to make swords & armor, the money from that funded more equipment, and in 1994 I decided to work at it full time.

The next few years were a struggle, but I built the skills and met Richard Taylor ¹ while he was working on the Hercules TV series; ² in 1998 he called me to work on LOTR.

Not a sword, but Sauron’s mace. The hero mace was metal but would be impossibly heavy, so it was aluminum, so it was a learning curve. Complex components, etching all over it, but very satisfying to make. The head had 6 flanges, so I had to make the core, TIG weld on the flanges and smooth the welds to blend the shape, then sort out the etch with templates and liquid mask. Then the biggest acid bath I have ever done because it was so tricky. The other parts were similarly complex. All up, it was about 200 hours of work, and it is still on display at Wētā.

Most of the design work was done before I saw the design, but my contributions there were suggesting it be a 2-handed sword just to be impressive, and make the etches in the blade large enough to read—the designers were showing small etches that would be hard to read. I think Ben Wootten ⁴ did the design on Narsil/Andúril ⁵ . I liked that it was unique in its details yet a classic medieval-type of cruciform sword.

The designer (not me) drew on the shape of Sting and modified that as a starting point.

The large-scale (actor scale) version was hard work, big & heavy, so I did the blade grinding in bursts of work. As I was shaping the handguard, I saw it as being the shape of a raptor’s claw, so I followed that mental image.

Well, I didn’t make all those weapons and armor, Wētā did! My role was to lead the work on the hero sword, ⁷ and work on some oversized parts and aluminum swords. It is essential to understand that no one person does all the work on any single item on a production like this, it is all a large and complex team effort.
On Mulan’s sword, the design was set, but within those constraints, I worked to make the sword as practical and maintainable as possible, so for example, the blade thins towards the tip to still be stiff but as light as possible. Also, the hilt is held together with two bamboo shims, which allow it to be dismantled if maintenance is needed—it was a mirror-finish blade.

A lot. As well as allowing the workloads to be spread around different departments to avoid choke points, these technologies let us do things that would otherwise be uneconomical or even impossible.

3D printing—usually plastics for hilt masters, but complex metal parts can also be printed, and it is getting less expensive as the tech is more available and advanced..

CNC—a good example is the dwarf swords in The Hobbit. Precision cutting of geometric blade details that would otherwise be impractically expensive or just impossible to get accurate..

Laser engraving of metals—allows super precise cutting of designs that would be risky or nearly impossible using templates and acids.

I can’t think of a particular instance offhand, but collaboration can ensure the build proceeds smoothly through the multiple departments and skill sets needed on any item.

The authenticity comes from trying to make each sword design as a real sword, within the constraints of the design itself—constructed and finished to ‘look right.’ But safety on set is imperative as each prop is handled by multiple people, so very few swords are made sharp unless there is a specific need.

The steel swords are made to be the best weight and balance the design allows, but steel swords are kept for hero shots only. Fights are done with stunt versions (aluminum blades with urethane hilts) ^{8 that are less than half the weight, and background props are often painted urethane for mass production at reasonable costs.}

It feels great, but still a little unreal even after all these years. LOTR in particular—I knew it was going to be big, but I didn’t realize how it would become a cultural icon that has endured all these years.

Just as I was influenced by the swords of Conan the Barbarian, ⁹ other makers have been influenced by my work on LOTR and inspired by it—and that is awesome!

Even now, after 24 years, I am able to revisit the LOTR designs for the Master Swordsmith Collection. The only difference is using the extra skills I and my team have built to refine them even further.

Ironically, an exact replica built to the standards I could achieve 25 years ago wouldn’t stand muster to collectors today—the grind are a little imperfect and the symmetry was not always perfect; and where the originals were made as one-offs, we approach the collectibles as production-line pieces; this means waterjet-cut ¹¹ blades so each is identical, 3D modeling, bronze parts where the originals were hand-sculpted, and things like that so each collectible should look like another.

There is definitely less demand for steel swords, partly because they are so time-consuming and expensive; instead, there are more ‘hero’ quality aluminum weapons.

There will always be a need for hand-props, as even with CGI, it is still common to composite real actors and props into scenes.

The path into the film industry has always been hard, and especially so for traditional crafts. I am fortunate that it has become my living, but for most people, film work is one contract at a time. So don’t rely on the film industry alone—keep your own workshop going in the between times.

You may have to accept compromises—parts of your craft might have to be altered to fit the needs and schedules of a film shoot; likewise, you might be asked to apply your skills in unexpected ways. Put everything into the pieces you make, but at the end of the job, step away and accept that your work may not appear the way you expect it to, or even not at all.