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Been watching the extended blu-ray version of LotR and I noticed this symbol on the back cover. Don't think I've seen this whilst watching the films, anyone know what it represents?

enter image description here

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    It's the Irish Film Classification Office logo, indicating that the film isn't suitable for those under 12.
    – Valorum
    Commented Oct 24, 2016 at 13:49
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    @Valorum, huh, I thought that was the running time in hours...
    – user35594
    Commented Oct 24, 2016 at 20:28
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    Pfft. You casual. I expect you only watched the theatrical versions, not the Directors cuts.
    – Valorum
    Commented Oct 24, 2016 at 20:37

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It's a depiction of the badge of the House of Elrond from the LotR films.

This art piece depicting the badge comes from Weta Workshop designer Daniel Falconer.

enter image description here Image courtesy of The Lord of the Rings: The Art of The Fellowship of the Ring

ELVEN INSIGNIA - Daniel Falconer

These badges were used to represent the various Elven armies that might appear in the Second Age sequences. Gil-galad's was a slight reworking of the one Tolkien himself created, and similarly the Houses of both Elrond and Galadriel borrowed elements from his concepts for their respective fathers, Eärendil and Finarfin.

The other designs were entirely Dan's inventions, although clearly in keeping with the others. The designs were intended to appear on the breasts of the Elres' armor and were also incorporated by the art department for use in their Elven banners.

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    I've taken the liberty of adding in the actual panel that your image comes from (complete with the signature that was cropped out), along with a quote from the LOTR artbook.
    – Valorum
    Commented Oct 24, 2016 at 14:02
  • Brilliant stuff, many thanks for the answer!
    – user35594
    Commented Oct 24, 2016 at 20:26
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They're designed after the fashion of Tolkien's Elven insignia, but the overall shapes are wrong- The badge for an Elvish house is supposed to be in the shape of a square. Personal badges are a bit different. A man's badge is in the shape of a lozenge (a square tipped 45 degrees on its side), and a woman's badge is circular. The badge they made for Galadriel is almost accurate, but as they intended for it to represent her army rather than Galadriel herself, it should be in the shape of a square.

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    Interesting, but not an answer to the question asked
    – Valorum
    Commented Dec 18, 2019 at 7:23
  • Do you have a canon source for those rules?
    – MKHC
    Commented Dec 18, 2019 at 9:43
  • Are you basing this on something that Tolkien wrote, or that one of his approved illustrators presented?
    – KorvinStarmast
    Commented Dec 18, 2019 at 14:12

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