The Green Knight’s helm is a mod project I undertook awhile back while paying homage to a childhood adventure. An unwitting quest that went awry, and then concluded nearly two decades later by the conversion of universal oddities. For this project to come about, some really strange temporal twists were traveled both by me, and our brave knight’s helm, and it would be life changing.
This project was be my first opportunity to use Black 3.0 paint, and I was very pleased with how well it absorbed all visible light upon a metallic surface. I used it to give the illusion of depth into the helm when I painted it. The horns were silicone molded, and all the gold details done with Gapka gold paint.
The Story of The Green Knight’s Escape… and Capture.
Rewind to 1990, my nine year old self had just recently delved into the wondrous Time Life series “Enchanted World” which was available in its entirety at my local library, with growing fondness for Arthurian legend. One tale that particularly caught my attention was in the “Giants and Ogres” volume, “The Tests of the Green Knight“) (p. 68), which was accompanied by artwork depicting the Green Knight done by artist Alicia Austin.
I was in the midst of reading this very book and consuming the imagery when my parents took me with them to a local flee market. As they shopped, I wandered about aimlessly looking at all the odds-and-ends; and there it was. A knight’s helm. I immediately chased my folks down and ask if I could have it. They weren’t keen on spending $15 for it, so I left, dejected and helm-less.
I would excitedly join them any time they went to the flee market in the following months, each time racing to find the helm, and again being denied. Eventually, the tactic worked, they acquiesced, and I had my very own knights helm. In actuality it was an vintage ice bucket, the top of helm would lift to reveal the ice bin inside. I didn’t mind that it wasn’t a “real” helm… now I also had a “secret compartment“!
Being a kid, my imagination often got the better of me. Not long after acquiring it, I had the helm set on the concrete culvert of the ditch in front of our house, and was delved deep into my quest! I had become obsessed with Arthurian lore, and my Dad had made me a rather elaborate silvered wooden sword that I carried about nearly non-stop. Coming around the bend, near the castle wall… there he was! The Green Knight! Unwilling to charge forth with my sword right off, I grabbed a few large rocks from the nearby gravel pile and began chucking them. *ting* *ting* **ding**… the stones struck true, landing two small dents and a larger on the left side of the skullcap. I then charged with my sword held high!
Before I could lop of the giant’s head like Sir Gawain, I was heralded by distant cries. Lunch was ready. I was hungry. And so, I dashed off to eat, content that I would return soon to slay the verdant knight.
Only… when I did return, the knight was nowhere to be found. Being left sitting squarely at the edge of the street upon the concrete embankment, someone had lifted it. It was gone, as were my hopes of slaying the Green Knight.
I was devastated, and I think seeing how it affected me also upset my parents, because on that very same day in the mail I received a promotion sent by Nintendo Power magazine for a free video game with subscription. The envelope had a fiery green dragon, and inside was a poster showing game art with a knight standing bravely before said dragon.
It kind of felt like fate, and I think on some level my folk’s agreed, because when I asked if I could get a subscription and the game, they uncharacteristically agreed without hesitation. The price was exactly the same as was the cost of the helm, $15. As an aside, getting that free copy of Dragon Warrior would be the experience that would drive me to want to get into computers and make games as well as directly leading to me discovering tabletop roleplaying games. I often refer to it as the pivotal moment my life’s paths really began.
Had the Green Knight not escaped that day, that moment would have almost assuredly not happened.
It gets stranger. Fast-forward fifteen years… As a young adult, I was between jobs and working freelance to help a friend with a web development project. It was for the local antique mall. As part of the job I needed to meet with the owner and discuss categories for the sections of the website. Being punctual, I arrive several minutes early.
I was wandering about this massive antique shop when the owner arrived and met up with me. As we talked we continued to walk around as I perused (I suppose simply because that’s what I was doing when he arrived). As we discussed the website, I suddenly stopped in my tracks. High on to top of a tall antique cabinet was a knights helm… it was the exact same design as I remembered from so long ago.
I guess the shop owner noticed my distraction, and turned to follow my gaze. I chuckled and excused myself and said, “I might want to buy that.”
“That old thing? It’s an champaign bucket.” he quipped, and I replied on a whim, “What do you think the odds are the side facing the wall has two small dings and a big dent in up the side?” With his eyebrow piqued, he reached up and turned it… it wasn’t just a knight’s helm… it was the knight’s helm. There were the three vertical dings from the stones throne as a kid: two tiny and one larger.
I answered his curious gaze by explaining in brevity the story of my connection to it, and with a laugh, the owner reached up, took the helm in hand, and gifted it to me. “It’s yours anyway, right?” he suggested. I couldn’t argue. So, once more, the green knight and I had been reunited.
Over the next decade or so, it would remain with me through several moves, ever perched atop one of my bookshelves, just another odd display piece in my homes. That is until mid-2021 when I saw a trailer for Lowery’s “The Green Knight” movie, and it stirred old memories.
Sitting in my office that night, I glanced up at the top of my bookshelf at the helm and thought in apostrophe, “It’s been nigh thirty one years since you lost your head. It’s time we realize your true identity, Sir Knight.”
As an interesting side note, while writing this article, I was searching for information about Alicia Austin, the artist who created the Green Knight artwork that prompted my original interest in the story as a kid. Turns out, she is from a little town named Providence, Kentucky, which, ironically, is a fifteen-minute drive from where the entirety of my Green Knight quest unfolded so many years ago.