Weyworth Keep

[Garmadon]

One of Sir Uridius Dratiphe's Mitgardian seats, Weyworth Keep is situated at the head of one of the many sources of the great Adeler River, and, like Uridius' Keep, was built into the snow-clad mountain itself!

Within the huge wooden doors, standing to protect the Keep from any assault, life goes on as usual - one of the younger castle-dwellers feeds the horses in the stables, and the others go on with their normal activity as well.

A young fisherman looks for a catch out by the waterfall to help out with their suppers...

And a couple of forestmen sneak around the corner of the tower (just because there's always someone or another who likes sneaking around, you know!  )

Dressed in the colours of Weyworth Keep, the guards keep a sharp lookout for any stray Algus, or any visitors coming to see Sir Uridius.

 

There is more to Weyworth Keep, though, than meets the eye!  I had a lot of fun building the snow-covered mountain with a large removable section behind the castle to give access to the full interior behind:

 

A few Interior Shots:

Sir Uridius Dratiphe himself, who has been staying at Weyworth for some time recently:

 

And a squire wanders about leisurely above:

 

While the castle smith works away trying to get a straight sword out of this piece of iron!  Poor guy... 

 

Down the other corridor:

 

And a couple more pictures of the interior:

 

A last overview:

 

My largest, and quite possibly my favorite, build yet, this took about two months to completely build, but it was destroyed remarkably shortly after photography (and about 24 hours later no two pieces of the build were still attached, except Sir Uridius himself) for all that!    If the peacefulness of it isn't enough for you, there are some pictures of it under siege for the Colossal Battle Contest (but most certainly not built for GoH!) on my photostream.  Glad to finally be posting something here again, and I'm very happy to finally have a proper castle in Mitgardia as well! 

Thanks a lot for viewing, C&C are most certainly welcome! 

[The Maestro]

Great work Garmadon, The mountain and castle walls are incredible but the inside is where the real treasure is. There is just enough foliage to make it look natural  although a tree or two may have been nice . Once a gain I just want to say how great the interior is, it blew me away  Great moc, I can't wait for more 

[en_zoo]

As I said on Flickr - great MOC and awesome interiors! (I love the fact that you have a removable section)

[Henjin_Quilones]

This is an excellent build! Wow, just wow. The exterior looks great, with nicely detailed stone walls and well-executed round towers, and the scenery complements it well. I was struck by the various different hues of green that you used and how it made the grassy area just that much better-looking than if it were all one color. The waterfall, too is nice, if a bit too regular and uniform for my taste. I can see why Kai's minichallenge build got taken apart so quickly...

 

My favorite part, however, as others have said, is the interior, and specifically the spiral staircase. That is the best. For such a small space inside you sure made the castle seem spacious and city-like. Wonderful build. 

[Brandon Stark]

Wow, that is stunning, just stunning. The keeping is splendid, I love the buildings inside too, and the rockwork is excellent, one of the things I like is how you made the top snow-covered. The waterfall is also marvelous, and the foliage is great. 

[TitusV]

Tough I'm not fond of the waterfall, I have to say that I absolutely love the keep, and everything that goes with it! The interior is just awesome! Keep (  ) it up!

[Legofin2012]

A very impressive and imposing keep! The snow covered mountain looks great, and the perfectly executed interior like the others have said, best part of the build! I also understand the struggle of not having a build complete for longer than 24h after photos 

[Blufiji]

Very cozy looking castle. I like the spiral wooden staircase and the tightness of the buildings.

[Kai NRG]

Fantastic MOC Garmadon, that snow on top is really eye-catching and I love the interior!   The round towers also look really smooth and the bright colors you've used for the landscape are great!

[Mpyromaxos]

Very nice creation! I like especially the waterfall from the snowed mountain, and the interior rooms and stairs! 

[soccerkid6]

Great to see you back in Mitgardia again! The interior details are my favorite part for sure: I like the drapes you included in the blue house, the spiral staircase, and the balcony on the dark green house

I think a little more elevation change in the front section of the landscape would make the build pop even more, rather than having the pretty flat grass jump straight to a sheer cliff. Keep up the good work

[Garmadon]

Thanks all! 

On 10/7/2016 at 0:25 AM, The Maestro said:

Great work Garmadon, The mountain and castle walls are incredible but the inside is where the real treasure is. There is just enough foliage to make it look natural  although a tree or two may have been nice . Once a gain I just want to say how great the interior is, it blew me away  Great moc, I can't wait for more 

Thanks, Maestro!   Getting the interior to all fit together just right and be view-able from pretty much every angle was definitely the most tricky and time-consuming part, and I'm really glad that it turned out well!  About the trees (or the lack thereof! ) - one of my most definite ideas going into this was to have no trees, as just about all of my brown slopes were tied up in a ship which I didn't want to total more than necessary before it was finished!   I definitely hope to have time to build more for GoH soon!  Thanks again!

On 10/7/2016 at 6:45 AM, en_zoo said:

As I said on Flickr - great MOC and awesome interiors! (I love the fact that you have a removable section)

Thanks en_zoo!  That removable section definitely made things way easier when it came to photography! 

On 10/7/2016 at 10:39 AM, Henjin_Quilones said:

This is an excellent build! Wow, just wow. The exterior looks great, with nicely detailed stone walls and well-executed round towers, and the scenery complements it well. I was struck by the various different hues of green that you used and how it made the grassy area just that much better-looking than if it were all one color. The waterfall, too is nice, if a bit too regular and uniform for my taste. I can see why Kai's minichallenge build got taken apart so quickly...

 

My favorite part, however, as others have said, is the interior, and specifically the spiral staircase. That is the best. For such a small space inside you sure made the castle seem spacious and city-like. Wonderful build. 

Thank you!  I really love that lighter green and used just about every piece I (and Kai, for that matter!  ) had in that color here!  Ha, ha, yes, that mountain was pretty parts consuming!  I tend to agree that a few more splashes and variation towards the edges of the waterfall would have been great, but it can be quite difficult to get LEGO parts to look like a fluid substance like water!  

That staircase was one of the first interior parts that I came up with (in time, even, to steal it out of this build to use it in a small BoBS build while I was building this!), and I'm glad I was able to get the interior to look large and spacious!  Thanks! 

On 10/7/2016 at 1:16 PM, Brandon Stark said:

Wow, that is stunning, just stunning. The keeping is splendid, I love the buildings inside too, and the rockwork is excellent, one of the things I like is how you made the top snow-covered. The waterfall is also marvelous, and the foliage is great. 

Thanks!  Snow can actually be somewhat difficult to build sometimes (like when you are running out of every single white piece!   I really need to build up my white collection a bit!), but in the end it can be very rewarding and add a lot to the color-scheme of a build!  Thank you! 

On 10/7/2016 at 4:56 PM, Legofin2012 said:

A very impressive and imposing keep! The snow covered mountain looks great, and the perfectly executed interior like the others have said, best part of the build! I also understand the struggle of not having a build complete for longer than 24h after photos 

Thanks a lot, Legofin, I'm glad everyone enjoys the interiors!  And I was quite relieved to finally destroy this thing by the time I was finished, as it just about took up the whole of my desk! 

On 10/7/2016 at 5:10 PM, Blufiji said:

Very cozy looking castle. I like the spiral wooden staircase and the tightness of the buildings.

Thanks a lot Blufiji!  The angles of all the buildings and making them fit together was a bit of a pain sometimes, but I really like the aspect of it in the end as well!  Thanks! 

On 10/7/2016 at 5:30 PM, Kai NRG said:

Fantastic MOC Garmadon, that snow on top is really eye-catching and I love the interior!   The round towers also look really smooth and the bright colors you've used for the landscape are great!

Thanks a lot Kai!  I hoped the snow would finish off the color-scheme well, and of course it was a requisite for Mitgardia!   Thanks!

On 10/7/2016 at 10:19 PM, Mpyromaxos said:

Very nice creation! I like especially the waterfall from the snowed mountain, and the interior rooms and stairs! 

Thanks Mpyromaxos! 

On 10/8/2016 at 8:06 AM, soccerkid6 said:

Great to see you back in Mitgardia again! The interior details are my favorite part for sure: I like the drapes you included in the blue house, the spiral staircase, and the balcony on the dark green house

I think a little more elevation change in the front section of the landscape would make the build pop even more, rather than having the pretty flat grass jump straight to a sheer cliff. Keep up the good work

Great to be back building here!   Thanks a lot SK, those were some of my personal favorite sections and details as well!  Good point about the sudden change in elevation! - I had thought of that a little as I was building, but the castle walls were a bit in the way for making it much more gradual.  I'll definitely keep that in mind next time, though, thanks! 

[MassEditor]

Quite the imposing keep and cliff face here! Definitely my new favorite from you Garm, there are so many details to appreciate here. Reminds me much of a Mitgardian version of The Streets of Barqa. You found some really interesting angles and shots in this build. And the depictions of life are wonderful (love all those little details, especially the spiral stairs and the sword holder!).

I have to agree with SK about a little more elevation and terrain features in front of the cliff would add to the realism. Also, the area where the waterfall hits the river should be pretty chaotic, lots of whitewater and such. The transition there is a little too sudden, know what I mean? Some more clear trans pieces around the base of the waterfall could give a nice whitewater effect. Also, the cliff face is very impressive but could have benefited from a little more variation. Maybe parts where the rocks jutted out from the cliff face, and placing the slope bricks more perpendicular to one another, would add to the cliff.

Overall, however, this is a fantastic build and it's obvious you put a lot of work and attention to detail into it. Very fine work my friend.

Haha, also, you are like me - once a build is finished and photographed, it's off to the scrap heap!

[BrickCurve]

Wow, amazing castle, rock work and waterfall, my favourite build from you yet!

The only thing I would add would be some more 1 x 2 plates and some flower stems in the grass landscaping, it looks a little thin at the moment.

[Captain Braunsfeld]

So nice, so lovely - so playable!

(if it had not been destroyed, that is.)

 

[LittleJohn]

Fantastic build, Garmadon! The landscaping is excellent, I especially like the transition from rock to snow on the top of the mountain
My favorite parts of the build are probably the interior details though; the spiral staircase was a great idea, and there are some very nice furniture designs

[Puvel]

Lovely build!

The slight variety in colours of the rocks and vegetation looks great, the interior is nice and clean, especially those stairs stand out

[Garmadon]

On 10/14/2016 at 9:58 AM, MassEditor said:

Quite the imposing keep and cliff face here! Definitely my new favorite from you Garm, there are so many details to appreciate here. Reminds me much of a Mitgardian version of The Streets of Barqa. You found some really interesting angles and shots in this build. And the depictions of life are wonderful (love all those little details, especially the spiral stairs and the sword holder!).

I have to agree with SK about a little more elevation and terrain features in front of the cliff would add to the realism. Also, the area where the waterfall hits the river should be pretty chaotic, lots of whitewater and such. The transition there is a little too sudden, know what I mean? Some more clear trans pieces around the base of the waterfall could give a nice whitewater effect. Also, the cliff face is very impressive but could have benefited from a little more variation. Maybe parts where the rocks jutted out from the cliff face, and placing the slope bricks more perpendicular to one another, would add to the cliff.

Overall, however, this is a fantastic build and it's obvious you put a lot of work and attention to detail into it. Very fine work my friend.

Haha, also, you are like me - once a build is finished and photographed, it's off to the scrap heap!

Thanks a lot, MassEditor, that's definitely some high praise!   The sword holder was a last minute addition, and was based off a similar device in an old Indiana Jones set.  Ah, yes, I certainly have to agree about the bottom of the waterfall not being nearly large or chaotic enough! - but the fact is, using the scattered stud technique makes it really difficult to mix the trans-clear and trans-light-blue without looking very odd... but I'll definitely be thinking of that next time I build a waterfall!  Good advice on the cliff face as well, although I generally prefer my rocks a bit less bizarre than most of the builders out there!   Ha, ha, thanks!

On 10/16/2016 at 6:37 PM, BrickCurve said:

Wow, amazing castle, rock work and waterfall, my favourite build from you yet!

The only thing I would add would be some more 1 x 2 plates and some flower stems in the grass landscaping, it looks a little thin at the moment.

Thanks BrickCurve!  Unfortunately, LEGO hardly makes very many pieces in the lighter green color, and I really wanted it to come out in the landscaping, so I had to reduce the normal green foliage to a little less than might have been good otherwise... thanks anyhow! 

On 10/18/2016 at 2:51 PM, Captain Braunsfeld said:

So nice, so lovely - so playable!

(if it had not been destroyed, that is.)

 

 Thanks Captain B!  Unfortunately, most of my builds can't afford to stay around too long! 

On 10/23/2016 at 9:07 AM, LittleJohn said:

Fantastic build, Garmadon! The landscaping is excellent, I especially like the transition from rock to snow on the top of the mountain
My favorite parts of the build are probably the interior details though; the spiral staircase was a great idea, and there are some very nice furniture designs

Thanks a lot, LJ, glad you like it!   The transition from snow to rock was one of the weakest points in my Uridius' Keep build a while back (which is still one of my own personal favorite builds), and I certainly wanted to improve on that here!  Thanks, I enjoyed working with those stairs a lot!  

On 10/25/2016 at 8:02 AM, Puvel said:

Lovely build!

The slight variety in colours of the rocks and vegetation looks great, the interior is nice and clean, especially those stairs stand out

Thank you, Puvel! 

[LordDan]

Excellent build Garmadon! I have looked at this several times, but I kept procrastinating on commenting until now. At first I was somewhat unsure about the rock face; I really liked the detailed texturing throughout but in my opinion when viewed overall it seemed almost like a flat background. However on reflection I kind of like it, I think it fits very well with the fantasy atmosphere you created with the vibrant castle and landscape versus having more chaotic rockwork for a more realistic/ grittier atmosphere.    

[The Architect]

Wow can't believe I did not see this earlier! What a great build, from the rockwork to the waterfall to the castle itself! Good stuff

[Tyndale]

Amazing, just amazing,

I was left awestruck to see how much you could squeeze in the interior.

I'm new myself and hope one day I can build like this. So sad it's destroyed. :(

Congratulations! Your builds are very inspiring!

So I am new and still have to make a minifigure background but I'm currently unsure how you can post pictures for a MOC build. If you can explain this it would help a lot!

Thanks

[Kai NRG]

55 minutes ago, Tyndale said:

...I'm currently unsure how you can post pictures for a MOC build. If you can explain this it would help a lot!

If you can isolate the image on a page, all you need to do is use the following code:

[img="URL"]

That should work no matter what hosting site you use.  However, if you use Flickr, it's handier to, once you have the picture's page opened, use the arrow - not the one pointing down, but the one pointing > .  Then be sure to go to the tab that says BBCode.  From there you can pick whichever size you prefer (max. for EB is 604 I think).  The last line of the code is unnecessary, but once you get familiar with the system you'll figure out how that works quickly enough!

[de Gothia]

Looks great! The snowy mountains gives a really good atmosphere! 

 

The castle itself is really good! The spiral stair as said by others but all the details you put into the minifigs are the favourite part for me! Their posings, their expressions... wow! :)

[Garmadon]

On 11/6/2016 at 6:43 PM, LordDan said:

Excellent build Garmadon! I have looked at this several times, but I kept procrastinating on commenting until now. At first I was somewhat unsure about the rock face; I really liked the detailed texturing throughout but in my opinion when viewed overall it seemed almost like a flat background. However on reflection I kind of like it, I think it fits very well with the fantasy atmosphere you created with the vibrant castle and landscape versus having more chaotic rockwork for a more realistic/ grittier atmosphere.    

Thanks LordDan!   Yes, unfortunately if you're not at a decent angle from the front, the mountain does tend to look a bit flat - but you're right about the fantasy type atmosphere I was going for!   Thanks!

On 11/9/2016 at 7:46 AM, The Architect said:

Wow can't believe I did not see this earlier! What a great build, from the rockwork to the waterfall to the castle itself! Good stuff

Thank you, The Architect!  Glad you liked it! 

On 11/10/2016 at 0:36 PM, Tyndale said:

Amazing, just amazing,

I was left awestruck to see how much you could squeeze in the interior.

I'm new myself and hope one day I can build like this. So sad it's destroyed. :(

Congratulations! Your builds are very inspiring!

So I am new and still have to make a minifigure background but I'm currently unsure how you can post pictures for a MOC build. If you can explain this it would help a lot!

Thanks

Thanks a lot, Tyndale, and great to see new members joining our great Guild!   Interiors can be complicated but they definitely pay off in the end, looking forward to seeing what you come up with!  And on the bright side, you know, the fact that it's destroyed means that I have some bricks left to build other builds with! 

Kai here and Sleg in the Mitgardian thread have done a good job explaining how to embed pictures into a post here on EB 

On 11/10/2016 at 1:46 PM, de Gothia said:

Looks great! The snowy mountains gives a really good atmosphere! 

 

The castle itself is really good! The spiral stair as said by others but all the details you put into the minifigs are the favourite part for me! Their posings, their expressions... wow! :)

Thanks dG!  Glad you like it, and getting all the small details and minifigure posing right is certainly one of the most important parts of any build!  Thanks again! 

[TheLordOfBricks]

Awesome job man! This is awesome! I like the castle, and the water is great! Keep it up!