Earlier today, I was contacted by David DelaGardelle of Mad Dwarf Workshop, who was kind enough to share the following pictures and details about the creation of the sword we saw being wielded by Heimdall in Marvel Studios' THOR. Below, I've included a few excerpts from the full behind-the-scenes report on how they crafted the impressive weapon, but highly recommend clicking HERE for even more details and images. Their Facebook page also contains loads of great pictures!
In November of 2009, Swordsmith David DelaGardelle and Metal Artisan Andy Davis of the Mad Dwarf Workshop were contacted by the production team working on bringing Marvel Comic’s legendary comic book Thor to the big screen. They were looking for swordsmith’s capable of crafting a huge, intricately detailed, legendary hero weapon for the formidable and powerful character, Heimdall. Without hesitation, we took on this incredible but difficult task in the short time the production team had given us. Setting out we had no idea just how much we would learn and just how much of a blessing and adventure the experience would be.
While we were only asked to create this one particular sword it was still the most challenging project we had ever undertaken as sword makers, up to this point. So we were happy to pour all of our energy and imagination into this one very prominent hero sword. The rest of the film’s weapons were beautifully crafted by none other than world renowned swordsmith and armourer: Tony Swatton and his skilled group at Sword and Stone in California.
Heimdall’s sword is not simply a mere war sword, instead it is an ancient and key that controls Heimdall’s technologically advanced observatory on the Bifrost bridge of Asgard. It opens and closes portals to other worlds and dimensions in which the hero’s fight in the film. Being both a sword and a key, the guard serves the double purpose of obviously protecting its wielder, and also serving as extending handle bars to turn the key once its placed into its keyhole.
The guard and pommel were cast out of hollowed polished bronze for the hero steel swords, and colored lightweight aluminum for the stunt versions. Norse knotwork was carved into the fittings and into the figured Mahogany grips by hand on each copy of the sword. The knotwork is a reflective nod back to the original Norse mythology and cultural-history the comics were based off of, while still keeping a modern vibe of an unknown advanced civilization. The knotwork is also reflective of the patterns seen inside the walls of Heimdall’s observatory and in the architecture and décor of the city of Asgard itself. In total, the sword stood at 5 ½ feet long from tip to pommel, and the hero steel and bronze versions weighed close to 10 pounds each.
In the end, Heimdall’s sword turned out to be a sword we would have never dreamed of crafting ourselves. We are beyond thankful for being blessed to have worked on such a creatively stimulating and challenging project that pushed our skills further as young swordsmith’s who are still learning this craft in a traditional context.
We're honored to have played a small role in this incredible film, and we hope that our work somehow reflectes back to the traditional and historical elements of swordsmithing amidst the incredible visual scope of this modern epic.
In the grand scheme of things, this may seem like a small part of such a big movie, but I for one find this a fascinating insight into the hard work and dedication of the people behind-the-scenes who help make the likes of
Thor look as amazing as possible. Just like Mjolnir and the other impressive props featured, Heimdall's sword really stood out as a truly epic piece of craftmanship...now if only I could afford to ask them to make me one!
As I've said above, it's well worth heading on over to
Mad Dwarf Workshop to learn even more about how Heimdall's sword was created as well as their other work, and thanks again to them for getting in touch and sharing all of this with us here at CBM.
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