Man Cuts Off Nose, Splits Tongue To Look Like Orc From The Lord Of The Rings

A Brazilian tattoo artist has undergone a significant physical transformation, involving cutting off his nose and splitting his tongue, to make his appearance resemble an Orc from The Lord of the Rings.

Fernando Franco de Oliveira told Canada's CTV News that he spent 10 years covering his body with tattoos and having multiple surgeries--which also included orc-like ears--to change his body to more closely resemble the descriptions of "skull imagery" and The Lord of the Rings.

"De Oliveira began by stretching out his ear lobes; then injecting ink into his eyes turning them black; adding horns to his head; replacing his teeth with vampire dentures; and even splitting his tongue in half," CTV News reported. "He eventually covered his facial tattoos by dying his skin blue and had his ears re-shaped to resemble those of an orc – a race of monstrous humanoids who represent the corrupted versions of elves and men in J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Lord of the Rings."

De Oliveira said the most "life-impacting" body modification he made was to his nose, which he had surgically removed. "It's still very painful because when I take a shower a lot of water goes into my nose," he said.

He's not done yet, either, as De Oliveira said he wants to remove more skin from his face and slim down his jaw line to look more like a skull. He also wants to put horns on his head.

"Everybody--most people in the world --they're all alike. They're the same. And I wanted to be different. I want to stick out," he said.

The Fellowship of the Ring celebrates its 20th anniversary this year after its theatrical debut in December 2001. The franchise remains popular, with Amazon currently filming a big-budget Lord of the Rings TV show in New Zealand, and a new animated movie is in production.

Outside of film and TV, Daedalic is making a Lord of the Rings game focused on Gollum, while Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford recently revealed that he pitched Lord of the Rings video games before going on to make Borderlands.