A crowdfunding campaign for a set of luxury-themed Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring playing cards has rocketed to nearly $500,000.
The Kickstarter campaign was started by Jackson Robinson, an illustrator and playing card designer who says it has always been on his “bucket list” to create a series of card decks based on the Lord of the Rings (LOTR). “From my earliest memories, as an artist,” Robinson writes, “I have been drawn to and inspired by science fiction and fantasy stories. Out of all those stories The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien has been my absolute favorite story.”
Robinson hopes to eventually create three decks of cards, one for each novel in the LOTR trilogy, but this first deck will focus on characters and scenes from The Fellowship of the Ring. The officially licensed cards have a style that will be instantly recognizable to Tolkien fans, with a familiar use of flowing, sinuous fonts and rich, earthy colors. However, the artist has added his own flair and style to the illustrations, particularly the character designs. As Robinson explained, “Every aspect of this deck of cards is uniquely illustrated and designed with as much detail as possible to create a deck of cards that will be loved by Tolkien fans all over the world.”
The cards feature main characters from the novel as kings, queens and jacks. For example, Strider stars as the king, Arwen the queen and Samwise the jack in the suit of hearts. Meanwhile, the aces in each suit are reserved for powerful items from the book. The ace of diamonds, for example, is the staff of Gandalf, while the ace of hearts is Frodo’s luminous blade Sting. Elessar, the magical jewel also known as the Elfstone, which Arwen wore as a necklace in the films, is featured on the ace of clubs. Finally, the ace of spades — the most powerful card in a deck and also known as the death card — is, of course, the One Ring itself, glowing with power.
Robinson’s Kickstarter campaign had an original goal of just $20,000 and currently sits at around $426,000 with another nine days left in the campaign. The lowest pledge of $12 will reserve a single standard edition deck, while the highest tier of $575 or more buys the “Gandalf Collector’s Set,” which includes 12 standard decks, two Gilded Edition decks and two Legacy Edition decks. The cards will be made in the U.S. by The United States Playing Card Company and are “printed on FSC-certified paper derived from sustainable forests, vegetable-based inks, and starch-based laminates.”
The Fellowship of the Ring playing cards have an estimated delivery date of November 2022. Robinson’s FAQ says they “hope to launch our Two Towers deck sometime in the fall of 2022 and our Return of the King deck sometime in early 2023.” All of the decks will be available to purchase from the artist’s website, Kings Wild Project, after the Kickstarter campaign.
Source: Kickstarter
Read Next
About The Author
