Film Locations
Movie locations
Deer Park Heights has been the location for several movies and numerous advertisements, most famously Peter Jackson’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, ‘Wolverine’, Walt Disney movie’s ‘The Rescue’ and more recently ‘Pete’s Dragon’. The significant film locations for the Lord of the Rings were mostly for the second film, ‘The Two Towers’. See where these locations are below.
An excellent publication on Lord of the Rings locations by Ian Brodie can be purchased here.
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BUT IN THE END IT’S ONLY A PASSING THING THIS SHADOW; EVEN DARKNESS MUST PASS
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the rings
Lord of the Rings
RIDER OF ROHAN | THE TWO TOWERS
LOTR 03
LOTR 03 is the first LOTR site you will find up Deer Park Heights. Just past the third cattle stop, you will see the green sign. Park safely off the side of the road and head towards the double gate. Through the gate, 120m on the left is the rock wall where Hama (a Rider of Rohan) sees and is killed by the warg scout.
LOTR 04
Turn left at the second feeding station (Frankton lookout) and head down the hill to find location LOTR 4. Hike up the hill to find where Legolas comes to the rescue, kills the warg and returns to the Rohans to warn them off the impending danger. The woman and children are left to continue to Helms deep, and the men move on to battle with the wargs.
LEGOLAS KILLS THE WARG | THE TWO TOWERS
PATHS OF THE DEAD | THE TWO TOWERS
LOTR 07
Continue backup up the road, and you will find yourself at location LOTR 7. They filmed the exit from the Paths of the Dead for The Return of the King. From here, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli see the corsair ships come in on the river.
LOTR 02
This part of the movie involved the Rohan refugees journey from Edoras to Helms Deep and their battle with the wargs and Orcs. The first scene was the beginning of the trek LOTR 1 with the Rohans moving around the eastern side of the mountain tarn. They camp by the second tarn LOTR 2 where there is a humorous moment when Gimli falls off his horse.
REFUGEE CAMP | THE TWO TOWERS
LEGOLAS SPOTS WARGS | THE TWO TOWERS
LOTR 05
At location LORT 5, Legolas spots the wargs in the distance and fires arrows at them. From behind him, Rohan soldiers came over the ridge and Legolas leaps on to a horse.
LOTR 06
LOTR 6 is where you will find Aragorn’s cliff. They ride into the battle of the wargs and Aragorn gets dragged over the cliff. In a later scene in the movie, the Rohans look over the cliff at Location 6 to look for Aragorn. The Kawarau River is superimposed under the cliffs.
WARG ATTACK & ARAGORN'S CLIFF | THE TWO TOWERS
RIDING TO MINAS TIRITH | RETURN OF THE KING
LOTR 01
Near the top of Deer Park Heights on the walking track, you will find Location LOTR1. A beautiful mountain tarn where in the second movie, several scenes show the people of Rohan braving the road from Edoras to Helm’s Deep. One of these scenes leads to location LOTR 2 where Gimli falls off his horse.
LOTR 03
RIDER OF ROHAN | THE TWO TOWERS
LOTR 03 is the first LOTR site you will find up Deer Park Heights. Just past the third cattle stop, you will see the green sign. Park safely off the side of the road and head towards the double gate. Through the gate, 120m on the left is the rock wall where Hama (a Rider of Rohan) sees and is killed by the warg scout.
LOTR 04
LEGOLAS KILLS THE WARG | THE TWO TOWERS
Turn left at the second feeding station (Frankton lookout) and head down the hill to find location LOTR 4. Hike up the hill to find where Legolas comes to the rescue, kills the warg and returns to the Rohans to warn them off the impending danger. The woman and children are left to continue to Helms deep, and the men move on to battle with the wargs.
LOTR 07
PATHS OF THE DEAD | THE TWO TOWERS
Continue backup up the road, and you will find yourself at location #7. They filmed the exit from the Paths of the Dead for The Return of the King. From here, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli see the corsair ships come in on the river.
LOTR 02
REFUGEE CAMP | THE TWO TOWERS
This part of the movie involved the Rohan refugees journey from Edoras to Helms Deep and their battle with the wargs and Orcs. The first scene was the beginning of the trek LOTR 1 with the Rohans moving around the eastern side of the mountain tarn. They camp by the second tarn LOTR 2 where there is a humorous moment when Gimli falls off his horse.
LOTR 05
LEGOLAS SPOTS WARGS | THE TWO TOWERS
At location LOTR 5, Legolas spots the wargs in the distance and fires arrows at them. From behind him, Rohan soldiers came over the ridge and Legolas leaps on to a horse.
L0TR 06
WARG ATTACK & ARAGORN'S CLIFF | THE TWO TOWERS
LOTR 6 is where you will find Aragorn’s cliff. They ride into the battle of the wargs and Aragorn gets dragged over the cliff. In a later scene in the movie, the Rohans look over the cliff at Location 6 to look for Aragorn. The Kawarau River is superimposed under the cliffs.
L0TR 01
RIDING TO MINAS TIRITH | THE TWO TOWERS
Near the top of Deer Park Heights on the walking track, you will find Location LOTR1. A beautiful mountain tarn where in the second movie, several scenes show the people of Rohan braving the road from Edoras to Helm’s Deep. One of these scenes leads to location LOTR 2 where Gimli falls off his horse.