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North of Gondor lies Rohan - called Riddermark by it's inhabitants. The ancient people of Rohan, the Rohirrim are known for breeding 'magnificent' horses and are often called 'Horse-lords.' The Riders of the Mark are based on descriptions of Anglo-Saxons and the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf was a heavy influence to The Lord of the Rings story. The name Rohan comes from a famous family in France - it was a name that Tolkien liked. Born in 2991, Eomer is the Third Marshal of the Riddermark. After he and his sister Eowyn were orphaned as young children, their uncle, King Theoden raised them as if they were his own. Karl was born on June 7, 1972 in Wellington, New Zealand. His first acting role was when he was 8 years old, having a line on a television show. He did not act again until after high school. Karl was offered a role in the New Zealand drama Shortland Street as he was preparing to attend Victoria University and appeared on the show for one season. After attending University for a year, he left to pursue his acting career. Other film and television roles include Shark In the Park, Once in Chunuck Bay and White Fang, however he is probably most recognized for his role as Caesar on Xena and as Cupid on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. After the death of Theoden, Eomer was crowned King of Rohan and reigned for 65 years. He became friends with Aragorn and often visited Gondor. Eomer eventually married Lothiriel and the two had a son named Elfwine the Fair who ruled as king after him.
Out of doubt, out of dark to the day's rising I came singing in the sun, sword unleashing. To hope's end I rode and to heart's breaking: Now for wrath, now for ruin and a red nightfall! ~Eomer's Song.
"I had a very limited amount of horse-riding experience
before this production. The key that I used to get into the character
of Eomer, the foundation that I laid, was Eomer's ability as a horseman.
He's written as a consummate horseman. So as a result, I invested
a lot of time getting to a level of competence and
The above photo of Karl was actually taken by Viggo Mortensen. c/o The Quintessential LOTR Site
On working with Peter Jackson: "We were shooting down
in Edoras for a week, and there were these grassy plains that we were shooting
as our backdrop. Then we come to work one day and it's covered in snow.
I would have seen a
On the anticipation of waiting for the second film to come to theaters: "I felt no different than I guess any average audience member who saw the first film and loved it and was anticipating and looking forward to the second one. The only difference is, of course, I'm IN the second one."
"When we ran out of blond, blue-eyed extras for the men of Rohan, we would have to cast brown-skinned, brown-haired, brown-eyed Maori boys, stick wigs on them and try to hide them away in the background! We nicknamed them 'the Bro-han'!" ~Miranda Rivers, Extras Casting Co-ordinator. On Middle-earth rivalries: "There was great pride involved in being men of Rohan or Gondor and the Uruk-hai had a definite, if good-natured, rivalry with the Elves whom they derisively referred to as 'Cupcakes'!" Approximately 20,000 extras were hired for the trilogy.
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Karl Urban ~ Eomer.
excellence
I felt this character needed to be. The horse wranglers were fantastic.
They said, "Look, if you can get to this level, then you can do it.
You can do it all." I managed to get to the state where I was
allowed to do my own horse riding. I think some of the most enjoyable
moments I had working on the shoot were down at Edoras, in that glacial valley,
parallel mountains running down either side. It's a shot that's in
the third film, it's where all the - it must have been 150 horse riders,
all in formation, in a large column. And at the head of it there's
King Theoden, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and myself, and we're riding out.
It was just spectacular. I mean, what a job. It's the feel
of the ground; it's the sound of these horses, these 150 aught horses
riding out in formation. It's just an extraordinary experience."
lesser director actually not able to cope with it, but he
was truly unflappable. He just said, 'OK, look, we're going to set
the camera up here, this is our first shot, we're going to bring the horses
in from there, so we'll melt the snow here, then we'll turn the camera around-'
And I was thinking, 'Wait a minute, did you just say, melt the snow?'
And there we are, ten minutes later, there are ten guys standing there
with these industrial heaters gently melting the snow. These big gas
heaters with flames and they melt in these 20, 30 meter radius. Of
course by 10 o'clock the snow had melted in the sun throughout the valley
and we continued. I think part of his ideology was certainly, and it
permeated the whole production, was Adapt and overcome."
"Viggo was such an inspiration to the younger cast members on
this film, just the way he threw himself into his work. His dedication,
his passion, his commitment. The younger cast members were, in some
way, trying to be like him, following him around. He was the embodiment
of Aragorn. I just think he's a really professional actor and one that
you could learn so much off just by watching. I watched Viggo and Miranda
do a scene and he would come in and do just the slightest difference of
inflection on each take. Like, 'Night changes many thoughts. Night
changes many thoughts. Night changes many thoughts.' He would
do this take after take, and not only was he exploring the scene, he was
giving his director the luxury of choice."
A lot of the leading actors such as Orlando Bloom and Karl Urban
became good enough riders to be able to do a lot of their own riding scenes.
Viggo Mortensen was already an experienced rider and did almost all
of his own riding.
