What the heck is The Rueful Axe?
The Rueful Axe is ” sort of ” a Deaedric artifact from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. I say ” sort of ” because it technically doesn’t count toward the “Oblivion Walker” achievement for the game, but it was created by Clavicus Vile originally and thus, it is technically a Daedric artifact. The story goes like this:
“A wizard named Sebastian Lort had a daughter who worshiped Hircine. When the daughter became a werewolf it drove Sebastian over the edge. He couldn’t stand to see his little girl take on such a bestial form. The wizard wished for the ability to end his daughter’s curse. Clavicus gave him an axe.”
– Barbas
The blade depicts two open-mouthed werewolves, and inflicts extra stamina damage to anyone hit. I felt it was the perfect finishing touch to my Ancient Nord Armor cosplay, since my Skyrim character is a Nord, and also a werewolf member of the companions.
Building the Axe
I carved the base out of insulation foam using a drimmel and LOTS of sandpaper, filled in the cracks with clay, then coated with elmer’s glue, gesso, and acrylic paint to finish it off. Man I make it sound easy, don’t I? Trust me, it took a lot of time and patience!
The handle is actually a broom stick I cut down to be a tad bit shorter. The finish on the broom handle itself was hardly anything to get excited about – just a plain sanded wood – so I actually covered up the visible parts with paper clay, and carved in my own wood grain texture for better effect.
The handle and the main portion of the axe actually come apart also for easier transportation, too! I used plastic male and female connectors – gluing one to the inside of the blade and the other to the end of the handle. I made sure to cover up the connection by adding the matching “wooden clay” look to the base portion, and covering the handle portion with the first section of worbla.
All of the “metal” pieces on the handle – at the base and near the the blade – are made of worbla. These were mostly left over scraps from my Nord Armor that I melted down together and created the new pieces with. Again, finished them with glue, gesso, and paint!
Having the axe finished and in my hands was quite a wonderful feeling! The whole thing is about 5′ tall from the very top most point to the opposite end, and only weighs about one pound… but let’s not tell my enemies, eh?
I’m already looking forward to the next prop build! Be on the look out for one coming soon 🙂