There is only one Lord of the Ring...

This may seem a bit off to fans of the books and movies, but the other day we visited the creator of the One Ring, and contrary to what Gandalf would have us believe, the Ring maker lives in Nelson, not Mordor. The One Ring was forged not in the fiery depths at the heart of Mount Doom, but rather a small shop called Jens Hansen, comprising two corners of Trafalgar Square. Something tells me that wouldn't be the best place to go talking about destroying one of these rings though, as the real deal can cost upwards of a few thousand dollars, depending on the quality of the metal, the inscriptions, and how much of the Dark Lord's life-essence you want infused into the finished product.

 

The ring was one of fifteen prototypes developed by Jens Hansen (owner and namesake of the company) for Peter Jackson back when the movies were in pre-production. Obviously, as the ring plays such an important part in the books and movies, it had to be just right, and as a result took many tries to get the thing perfect (I wonder how many 'One Ring' prototypes Sauron tossed back into Mt. Doom before getting one right). 

Once a design was selected, Jens Hansen and co. developed over one hundred variations of the ring. Some were small, for hobbit sized fingers. Some were large, for Sauron sized gauntlets. Some were magnetic, to stick to the ground rather than bouncing away. The largest was almost a foot across, a heavy solid metal plated with gold to use in perspective shots and show reflections of characters on its surface.

With all that work, it's hard to believe the company did anything other than make One Ring knockoffs, but it was and still is a manufacturer of top quality rings and jewellery  Following the Lord of the Rings themes, they developed rings similar to those shown in the films, such as rings for Sir Ian McKellen and Viggo Mortensen (Gandalf and Aragorn), but they also had a wide range of other rings and necklaces manufactured right in the shop behind the counter

We then left Nelson and drove a few hours, reaching Christchurch in rush hour traffic. We moved inch by inch through the city and made it eventually to a Holiday Park right smack in the middle of the city. It was loud and smelly, but luckily we were able to arrange an Edoras pick-up the following morning, and the owners of the Holiday Park let us keep our campervan in their parking lot all day while we were on the tour, so it worked out okay. The planes, trains and automobile noises nearby did suck to try and sleep through though, a van is not the most soundproof of rooms.