The new armies of The Two Towers

Weta Workshop's RICHARD TAYLOR on the new movie's display of force.

The Uruk-Hai

"The march of the minions of Saruman, the coming of the Uruk-Hai to the world of Middle-earth is something that will take people's breath away: the fact that he has been able to tune this highly trained, specifically bred race of creatures whose sole task is to destroy mankind and bring the ring back to Saruman.

"The single-minded almost bestial force that is the Uruk-Hai we see at Helm's Deep will be a rich and awe-inspiring image to have. It's one of the great battles which has been committed to film."

The Rohan

"The race of the Rohan -- they ride on the Riddermark. They are in control of their lands. They ride light and they ride with the intention of keeping the lands free of any foe.

"The Rohan were enjoyable to create because we had the ability to really play out their culture through their costuming at a very high level in their armour and weapons.

"They ride horses, so they are very much of the horse culture and their whole lives exist around their ability to utilise horsecraft at a high level.

"I'm very pleased with the design work which we did on the Rohan and I think it will give a real feeling of a cultural inheritance in those characters.

"Just a helmet took a considerable amount of design. In the pursuit of realism, it was beaten out of plate steel, acid etched into steel, and had handworked leather. Then we finally took silicon moulds to replicate to create the stunt double version. So, a considerable amount of work for a single helmet.

"It's very much Norman/Saxon influenced -- we think that is what Tolkien visualised when he wrote the characters of the Rohan, so we in turn tried to get the Rohirrim [the Riders of Rohan] to be of a similar ilk. And it's an introduction to a whole pile of really rich new characters and actors who played out the parts so beautifully."

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