Extra Features – Behind the Scenes with Patrick and Isabel

Here are some pictures that inspired scenes from Her Warrior King. Enjoy!

This is a photograph of Trim Castle, which was used as the inspiration for Laochre fortress. It was also the setting for Braveheart. Trim was left as a national ruin, and it was my favorite of all the Irish castles. Parts of it were built in the 12th century, the same time period for the MacEgan Brothers series. Early castles would have been built of wood and later replaced with stone. Patrick was in the process of converting Laochre fortress into stone.

This is the type of chair I imagined would be in the Great Chamber, for Patrick to sit upon. Beside him are the X-shaped chairs for his brothers.

Medieval beds were much smaller than you might imagine. This bed was a few hundred years older than Patrick’s era, but it gives you an idea of the size a true bed might have been.

Here is a photograph I took in Dublin at the Archaeological Museum. These are the types of weapons Patrick and his men might have used.