A LORD of the Rings superfan had his dream come true after meeting one of the main stars from the film franchise.

Matthew Pearson, from Crook, has been a Lord of the Rings fan since he saw the first of Peter Jackson’s trilogy back in 2001.

Mr Pearson has been collecting the memorabilia ever since and even went on a trip to New Zealand to see all the locations. When the chance to meet Elijah Wood who plays Frodo Baggins in the film at Liverpool comic-con, it was impossible to turn down.

Mr Pearson said: “I have never been to a comic-con before, I saw it on Facebook and saw that he was there. It is unusual to get a big star they usually just do the American conventions.

“I have never met any of the cast from Lord of the Rings, I have met some of the behind the scenes crew when I was in New Zealand, so this was a great opportunity. Frodo is one of my favourite characters.”

Liverpool comic-con is in its third year and has attracted a big cast of stars from Elijah Wood to Brian Blessed. The events, which happen up and down the county including Durham last month, are popular and many people dress up in ‘cosplay’ and buy memorabilia from various ‘fandoms’ such as Marvel, Star Wars and Disney.

The 34-year-old teaching assistant travelled with friend Claire Sanderson. They caught an early train from Durham to Liverpool. The long journey was made worth it for a chance of an autograph with the many stars at the convention. Mr Pearson had a plan to make it the one tattoo to rule them all and take pride of place on his sleeve.

“Just before I met him, I was getting nervous and with my disability we were right at the front of the queue. He was really down to earth, when I asked him to sign my arm he just said ‘sure no problem.’ I asked him about other projects he’s got going, he’s probably sick of being asked about Lord of the Rings. He would love to do a remake of Nightmare on Elm Street and has delved into producing as well as acting.

“We did it all in one day and got the train back about seven o’clock and we got home to Crook after half 10, it was exhausting but worth it, I did not want to risk it fading and couldn’t wait to get it tattooed the next day.”

To make sure the autograph did not rub off Mr Pearson experimented with writing on his arm. The next day he got it tattooed on his arm at Ink Time Mr Wolf in Crook. He is working towards a Lord of the Rings sleeve at Darkside Tattoos in Chester-le-Street by tattoo artists at Darkside, Karl Briggs and Crissy Pattison.

Mr Briggs said: “We are honoured to do art work that is so well deigned and intricate, the art work is perfect because the CGI in the film is perfect and we have Peter Jackson to thank for that.”

It is estimated that a full sleeve from shoulder to wrist would take about seven to ten hours of work a day and 70 hours in total. He has already got Smaug the dragon, Gollum and the Balrog as well as his son and daughters names in elvish.

Mr Pearson hopes to continue travelling to conventions and add other cast members to his tattoo sleeve.