"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" poster by artist Aaron Horkey, for Mondo

Check out this beautiful poster for Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings," created by artist Aaron Horkey for Mondo, the collectible art boutique arm of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. The print kicks off a series that will include all LOTR films, with work by multiple artists. I really want one, but alas, the poster was only available at last night's Drafthouse screening in Austin, TX. Here's an online gallery of Horkey's illustration work. Gorgeous stuff. He's from Minnesota, and from the sound of his bio, he's a happy mutant:

Key personality traits include debilitating social ineptitude and a perverse attention to detail. Also, believes himself to have been born 100 years too late. Enjoys desolation, megafauna and transplanting sumacs. Currently ensconced in a bucolic whistle stop just west of the Mississippi, he whiles away the hours writing of himself in the third person, staring at his chore list and cultivating ulcers.

• [corydodt]

  It is gorgeous, but.. was there an epic battle between an ent and a nazgul that I’m not remembering?

  • [Nizaris]

     That’s an eagle and a Nazgul, and it happens in the final battle. :)

    • [corydodt]

      Oh wow, didn’t even see the eagle.

      • [ǝɔʎoſ ʇʇɐW]

         Try reading the book.  Still say Jack Black as Tom Bombadil would have been EPIC.

        • [corydodt]

          I know about the damn eagle battle, whippersnapper. I probably read that book before you were born.

          I didn’t see the eagle. In the painting. Not sure how I missed it now.

  • [Andrea]

     Took me a minute, but I think it’s an Eagle vs. a Fell Beast, Battle of the Black Gate. I think we only hear about it in flashback (“The Field of Cormallen”, possibly?), how the Eagles showed up in the battle and took out the Nazgul, just before the Ring was destroyed.

    • [michael b]

      …over what I’m guessing is the 3rd White Tree of Gondor.  LOTR geek time.

      • [Antinous / Moderator]

        That is so not what the flowers of Telperion/Galathilion/Nimloth look like.

    • [Antinous / Moderator]

      the Eagles showed up in the battle and took out the Nazgul, just before the Ring was destroyed.

      The Nazgul were caught in a pyroclastic event.  The eagles were attacking the orcs, who are famously aetophobic (?).

  • [chris coreline]

     Its symbolic, The Nazgul is Sauron, the Eagle is the unified free peoples, the tree is the Numinorian legacy and the single flower is the destiny of Aragorn.

    also, why arn’t all these words in the default dictionary for spell checking in firefox… deeface D:

• [awjt]

  It could be a three-legged mole fighting a used diaper… IOW, doesn’t matter if it’s arted-up like this guy does it! Holey Moley, that’s talent.  WANT.

• [Xeni Jardin]

  BUNCH OF FUCKING NERDS UP IN THIS THREAD LOL

• [Geoduck]

  More accurately, the Eagles showed up just the Nazguls left the battlefield and went zooming off towards Mount Doom to try and keep the Ring from being destroyed. Still a nice picture..

• [fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

  We need an epic metal guitar riff in this thread, please…

• [Mister44]

  Gawd I hate Mondo. Their posters are too nice that you want all of them, but so limited that unless you watch it all day to order them when they go onsale, they are sold out.

  • [benher]

    I agree. I have yet to successfully order a print (esp. something from Aaron) since they are usually snapped up within a week. Good for them though.

    • [oswarez]

      Within a week? Try minutes.

• [rocketpjs]

  Mondo isn’t so bad if you sign up to their twitter feed when you want a poster.

  This one is being sold in their B&M gallery – sometimes they sell leftovers at a random time online.  Twitter is the only way to catch them (they don’t announce them any other ways).

  That said, great unicorn farts would I love that poster.