Thorin Oakenshield Costume – How To Dress Like a Dwarf

The Thorin Oakenshield costume was one of the most iconic and magnificent in the entire Hobbit movie series.

If you are looking to recreate an exact replica of Richard Armitage‘s costume as the King of the Mountain in The Hobbit Movie, these photographs of Thorin Oakenshield should give you all the inspiration and detail you need; whether you are hoarding your share of the treasure or making Midde Earth a merrier place with your fellow dwarves!

• Trying to put together an incredible cosplay for a ComicCon event, or an Armageddon show? These photos are the place to start.

Helping You Create a Hobbit Costume

As I travelled in search of Thorin on the Hobbit Costume Trail celebrating the launch of The Hobbit, I took pictures of ‘An Unexpected Journey’ costumes. I discovered that it not always easy to photograph the textures, colours and volume or ‘feel’ of a costume.

I hope to have captured some of the costume’s glory for you to see here and replicate of you are a keen cosplayer. This is the adult costume and there are kid’s versions available online for sale.

• While browsing for dwarf costume details I discovered a touching deleted scene involving Thorin and his travelling companions. What a shame it didn’t make the final cut.

A Brief Biography of A Dwarf Hero

Oakenshield, also known as Thorin II, was a proud Dwarf lord whose life was marked by both glory and loss.

Born into nobility within the Lonely Mountain kingdom of Erebor, his youth was shattered by the arrival of the dragon Smaug. The beast drove the Dwarves out, stealing their vast treasure and leaving Thorin’s homeland in ruin. Still young, Thorin became a leader in exile, taking the epithet “Oakenshield” after a battle where he used an oak branch as a makeshift weapon.

I have not been able to locate detailed Weta Workshop armour. There is a look at Thorin’s sword here on the Weta movie replica that might give you some insights.

Costume – Impressions

• STOP PRESS: I added details for one of the elf costumes with armour detail.

Thorin’s is a particularly opulent costume and having scored his autograph at the world premiere I was pleased to get up close to this costume. If you want to see a lot of the best detail we could capture, the images of the movie costume at the bottom of the post shows a wealth of detail. We love the detail of the coat too.

We hope that cosplayers and makers will appreciate the images of Thorin Oakenshield, even with no Richard Armitage wearing them.

Movie Costume Photo Details

Richard Armitage (Thorin) is 1.89 metres (6′ 2½”) tall and the costume created by Anne Maskrey and Bob Buck has a real presence with its luxurious fur/hair lined leather overcoat and embellished tunic beneath. The blue is a darker shade, not navy, enhanced with luxurious silver stitching.

Costume Detailing

The decoration carries on to the tunic beneath the leather coat. The leather is plain blue and has the look of being worn by a real person not afux distressed but actually lived in. This is a movie costume that has been worn, not an untouched exhibition piece and this gives it extra resonance to every cosplayer who wants to recreate it.

The sleeves are capped with armour inspired shoulder caps, worn here with a pair of magnificently tooled leather gauntlets. The overall impression is very dwarvish and chunky.

Much of the metalwork is individually made plates sewn on to the fabric, they look as though they have been hand-stamped with tools.

One of the glories of the costume is the superb Thorin Oakenshield belt buckle. I could not tell if it is metal (heavy) or a very convincing resin but it has a look that blends regal and dwarf artistry in the blocky design and large faux stone.

Small Costume Details

The superb boots look amazing too. Check this image of the metal toecap. The boots look like cowhide with a special dwarven embellishment on the toe cap!

YouTube Tutorial for Thorin’s Boots

Note: All of these photos were taken using autofocus on my basic camera. I still hope you can see enough detail to recreate the costume for your next cosplay event.