Following up the fifth part of his extensive set report from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Aint It Cool‘s Quint just posted the sixth segment entitled “Good Morning, Koro.”

It’s a very long (and very captivating) report, but we’ll start with the pictures. Enjoy, courtesy of AintItCool!

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Ohakune was our destination and was to serve as two locations within Middle Earth. One of these locations was up on Mount Ruapehu, which is the tallest mountain in the North Island and very sacred lands to the local Maori Iwi (tribes). They filmed quite a lot of the Mount Doom scenes in Lord of the Rings, such as Sam carrying Frodo up the cliffs, on other parts of the mountain, but this particular area was new ground for the production. That’s not to say that Ruapehu is Mt. Doom, which is a common misunderstanding amongst touring LOTR geeks.

It’s considered disrespectful to photograph the distinctive peaks of Ruapehu, so while they filmed much of the prologue battle and the slopes of Mt. Doom scenes on Ruapehu they had to digitally construct the imposing Middle Earth landmark out of a hodgepodge of other mountains, including active Hawaiian volcanoes.

The local Iwi (two tribes specifically, Ngati Uenuku and Ngati Rangi) granted permission to the production to film on this side of the mountain and to show the union of the tribes and the production they hosted a Powhiri. The production couldn’t force the cast and crew to go to this traditional event as it was on a day off, but they strongly urged everyone to go as the more people who showed the more respect would be shown to the Maori people who granted the crew permission to film on their lands.

They expected maybe 30-40 people and when I arrived at the Maungarongo Marae there was easily double that, including producer Zane Weiner and all the principal cast from Martin Freeman and Ian McKellen to all the dwarves. By the time the ceremony began there were 130 people from production there.

The hosts, Ngati Rangi, began with a haka, a sort of warrior dance made world-famous by the All Blacks Rugby team who perform it before every game. We, the visitors, weren’t allowed on the field (known as the Marae aitea) until after the haka when one of the warriors was sent out to distinguish whether us visiting movie types were friend or foe in a custom known as Tikanga. This man presented a rau (a fern) which was picked up by Zane, indicating that we came in peace and signified our two groups were met as friends and that we may enter the Marae aitea.

From here on out it was a series of speakers from both sides, which were kept separate, calling back and forth in turn, giving speeches that end in a song. The Ngati Rangi leaders each had a turn, speaking in Maori, which was translated for us by a liaison by the name of Turama Hawira.

We were all given a song to sing and in the parking lot went over it as a group. Since we were all visitors, in order to show respect to our hosts we all had to take part, including fat American reporters.

With the clouds slowly lifting off of Mt. Ruapehu in the background and bright sun shining down on us all the whole ceremony triggered some very serious spiritual buttons in me. I’m not a religious man, but there was an undeniable power here. The history behind the ritual, the sincerity of our hosts’ words and the obvious respect from the cast and crew all jumbled together into one heavy, focused atmosphere that was kind of amazing to experience.

Ian McKellen was the last person from the crew to speak and he gave a great speech talking about the journey this crew was undertaking and thanking them for letting us share their beautiful lands with the people of the world. “You could have easily told Gandalf the Grey ‘You shall not pass’ but you did not,” he said before reiterating his thanks for their cooperation and letting the filmmakers pass onto their property.

Remember I mentioned that each speech was followed by a song? After Sir Ian gave his speech all the actors playing dwarves stood up and sang one of the songs from The Hobbit, a particularly haunting baritone ballad called Misty Mountains (the very one from the newly released trailer).

The final part of the ceremony involved something called the hongi, where the visitors line up and walk past the iwi leaders, women and children, shake their hands and lean in to touch noses and foreheads. This invitation into each other’s personal space solidifies the union of our tribes and makes us no longer visitors, but tangata whenua (people of the land).

Walking down the line I must have done the hongi with a good 20 people, ranging from adorable kids to kindly old men and it’s not as awkward as I expected it to be. When touching noses with strangers that forces you to look them in the eye and consider them as more than what you take in at first glance. I was told afterwards that looking our hosts in the eye during the hongi was actually a sign of aggression, but they didn’t seem to take offense.

After all of us had completed the hongi, we gathered together and discussed some of the Maori mythology about the land and were told that we would have an iwi representative with us while the crew filmed “to protect the mountain from you and you from the mountain.” Remember that Ruapehu is an active volcano and the Maori believe there are good and bad spirits in the region that have to be respected in order to not upset the balance.

In addition to Turama Hawira being on hand at location we were asked to always say good morning to Koro (the Maori word for grandfather, referring to the mountain) when we arrived and good evening to Koro when we left as a sign of respect.

I can’t speak for everybody else, but I sure did. It’s hard not to get caught up by the majesty of this area and even though I don’t believe in exactly the same things that our hosts do I felt the power of the place.

The first location was at the Ohakune Beech Paddock, which wasn’t quite up the mountain, but just to be on the safe side I still turned to the mountain at the horizon and whispered a “Good morning, Koro.”

To read the full report, go to AICN!