Gawain and the Green Knight

Discussion of personal LEGO Castle creations
Post Reply
User avatar
Athos
Councilor of the Realm
Posts: 4262
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2004 4:33 am
Location: Nevada
Contact:

Gawain and the Green Knight

Post by Athos »

Hey all,

Ever since they released the KK2 figures, I've been wanting to do a "Gawain and the Green Knight" MOC. I'm quite surprised no one beat me to it...

For those unfamiliar with the story, here is a brief synopsis of the opening scene:

The Green Knight appears at Camelot and offers a challege to the knights. He will let the challenger use his mighty axe and strike one blow at his neck. The only caveat is that in return he gets to return the blow. Gawain accepts the challenge, after all the other knights refuse. He strikes off the Knight's head. The Knight then picks up his head and placed it back on to his body...

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Athos ... awain3.jpg

The whole gallery (plus some other various vignettes): http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=121980

Hope you like it,
Steve
[url=http://www.johnny-thunder.blogspot.com/]Travel with Johnny Thunder![/url]
User avatar
eNiGMa
Justiciar
Posts: 1842
Joined: Tue May 03, 2005 10:43 pm
Location: Taylorsville, Utah
Contact:

Post by eNiGMa »

Freaky. I've never heard this story before; is it a lesser-known legend, or an original story? Either way, it's way interesting. Gawain looks freaked out....
Nathan Cunningham
[url=http://sly-pig.blogspot.com]Blog[/url] | [url=https://www.facebook.com/nathan.cunningham.9]Facebook[/url] | [url=http://sly-pig.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html]MOCs[/url]
DarkDotDotDotMan
Laborer
Posts: 101
Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2005 8:43 pm
Location: Being beaten the local guards...

Post by DarkDotDotDotMan »

WHOA! That's awesome and amazing! Makes me wanna go and read this story! I wanna see the creations when the folder's open!
User avatar
Formendacil
Knight Templar
Knight Templar
Posts: 4162
Joined: Wed May 05, 2004 7:22 pm
Location: Ashland, MA
Contact:

Post by Formendacil »

eNiGMa wrote:Freaky. I've never heard this story before; is it a lesser-known legend, or an original story? Either way, it's way interesting. Gawain looks freaked out....
It's an original story, one of the legends concerning King Arthur's court.

(And on a Tolkien-related note, the Middle-English text was translated, directly, to Modern English by the good professor! :D )

Looks great, Athos, and I have to agree that it's amazing that no one used Rascus to make a Green Knight (in the Arthurian context) before.

Great job, although I somehow don't see Gawaine shrieking in terror like that...
User avatar
TheOrk
Master
Posts: 1755
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2004 12:39 am
Location: Canada

Post by TheOrk »

Good job Athos! It's really good. I have seen pictures of the Green Knight before and it never occured to me to use a Rascus armour to make one.

Also, does anybody know where I can find a copy of the story or something? Thanks!
Avatar by Graynar
User avatar
Bruce N H
Precentor of the Scriptorium
Posts: 6311
Joined: Mon Sep 15, 2003 9:11 pm
Location: Middle Zealand
Contact:

Post by Bruce N H »

Hey,

Great vig, Steve. It's up on the blog. Arthur does seem a little cheery, though.

Others: Here is the text.

I've actually got a volume of Tolkien's translations of this, the Pearl, and Sir Orfeo (hmm, here it is) sitting on my desk to read, all I've read so far is the intro. I'll have your vig in mind as I read it.

Bruce
[url=http://comicbricks.blogspot.com/]ComicBricks[/url] [url=http://godbricks.blogspot.com/]GodBricks[/url] [url=http://microbricks.blogspot.com/]MicroBricks[/url] [url=http://minilandbricks.blogspot.com/]MinilandBricks[/url] [url=http://scibricks.blogspot.com/]SciBricks[/url] [url=http://vignettebricks.blogspot.com/]VignetteBricks[/url] [url=http://www.classic-castle.com/bricktales/]Brick Tales[/url]
User avatar
Jim
Apprentice
Posts: 166
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2004 12:29 am
Location: Houston

Post by Jim »

That's really nice Steve. This story is one of my favorites, and the nervous "holy #@%!" look on Gawain's face is priceless! Everyone has comes to a point where they have to face up to the consequences of their actions, and that feeling in the pit of your stomach is universal.

Got to go read it again...cya

Jim
User avatar
lil Jon
Merchant
Posts: 1248
Joined: Tue Jul 20, 2004 5:38 am
Location: Top Bunk
Contact:

Post by lil Jon »

I've heard of the story, read it and I've seen an old movie. Your vig looks just like the scene from the movie. Have you seen the movie?

Good job!
It's a Christmas Miracle!
User avatar
architect
Baron von Ellermann
Posts: 3708
Joined: Mon Sep 08, 2003 5:10 pm
Location: Saint Louis, MO USA
Contact:

Post by architect »

I love it! What a great job of telling part of this story. Your Arthur looks vaguely similar to mine :wink: I need to work on my Arthur stories more...

Ben
User avatar
Rubberchickenknight
Squire
Posts: 626
Joined: Sun Apr 18, 2004 8:49 am
Location: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Post by Rubberchickenknight »

i've read it before in a book of Arthur legends(not the one translated by Tolkien)
That green knight looks just like i imagined, except gawain's expression is not what i thought.
"When you are wrestling for possession of a sword, the man with the handle always wins." - Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash
User avatar
Sir Terrance
Councilor
Posts: 1149
Joined: Sun Feb 01, 2004 2:07 am
Location: Alberta, Canada
Contact:

Post by Sir Terrance »

Looks great! I have heard of the legend before but never did know what happened. I'll have to read it sometimes soon...

~Chris Perron
Check out my Brickshelf gallery here:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?m=thebrickbin
User avatar
Mr. D
Councilor
Posts: 1029
Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2004 1:55 pm
Location: PA, U.S.

Post by Mr. D »

Athos,
Great job! Actually, we read through "Gawain and the Green Knight" in liturature class this last school year; right after the KKII sets came out. I immediately thought of using the new green parts to build a scene like this one, but couldn't quite bring myself to actually by a KKII set. I'm still not sure if I want to, especially with the Vikings coming on. :D

I have a few little issues with your Green Knight, however. The legend says that the Knight beard was "like a bush over his breast hanging" and that his hair was "sharp shorn to an edge just short of his elbows". In otherwords, the hair and beard on your fig are too short. :D

Also, about the story, the Green Knight did not place the head back on his body, but picked it up and held it by the hair for the rest of the scene.

Nevertheless, a great Vignette.

D-Man
Post Reply