Forged for a Giant Purpose
A weapon reminiscent of the size of Jörmungandr, the Leviathan Axe was forged for the giantess Laufey the Just. The Huldra Brothers, responsible for the creation of God-weapons like Mjölnir, imbued the axe with runes of power to aid Laufey in her quest to balance the injustices of the Aesir. Left to Kratos after her death, the Leviathan Axe is granted additional powers by each Huldra brother to reach it’s final Legendary status.
For this commission, I created a Leviathan Axe replica to aid a local dad on his quest to conquer the Gods.
“Infused with the screams of twenty frost trolls—give or take.”
— Sindri Huldra
Making the Leviathan Axe Replica
The Legendary Leviathan Axe is constructed on a PVC base, heat formed to match the iconic curved shape of the weapon. To give the hilt it’s exaggerated wood texture, I covered the PVC with hand sculpted Paperclay. The axe head was made using two layers of 6mm EVA foam, built to fit around and affix to the PVC hilt. The iconic carved runes on the blade were made by cutting the design in to the EVA by hand, and applying heat to create the deep groove. Additional foam details were first vectored in Adobe Illustrator, which I turned into stencils using my Cricut Maker. The intricate raised details were traced on to 1mm foam using the stencil, then hand cut and applied to the axe head. Vectored designs were also used to cut the gold vinyl details on the tang and butt. The axe top was created using a Worbla base, covered in a thin layer of Apoxie Sculpt. For the pommel, my client wanted the Epic “Wing of the Fallen” upgrade, which I sculpted by hand onto the PVC base using EVA foam clay. This was additionally detailed after sculpting with a heat tool, then sanded.
To recreate the two runic attack gems, I first cut four section of gold vinyl to use as the symbols within. Using a silicone mold I created from 18mm cabochons, I mixed a teal-blue dye into transparent resin, and inserted the gold vinyl pieces in to the resin before it set. These were cured in a pressure pot to ensure no bubbles were trapped inside as it cured.
To round out the Leviathan Axe replica, I cut and painted a 3oz veg-tanned leather strip to wrap around the hilt. Although the hilt in-game has a detailed metal design, the leather was a compromise my client and I decided on to save time and resources, as well as keep from potentially damaging the finish on a portion of the prop that would be heavily handled.
The Leviathan Axe replica was featured on Game Rant in November 2021. You can see a quick reel of the Leviathan Axe replica build progress on Instagram.
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