One of Infinity War's major surprises was the part played by Peter Dinklage. The Game of Thrones star was known to be joining the massive cast of the crossover, but his exact role was kept under wraps until the movie premiered. We eventually found out he was playing Eitri, master of the forge of Nidavellir. Eitri is the last survivor of his people, the rest having been wiped out by Thanos after they created the Infinity Gauntlet for him. Thor must convince him to make one last weapon in the hopes of thwarting the Mad Titan.
The creation of Stormbreaker marks a major turning point in Thor's character arc. Now that he's lost the hammer that represented his Asgardian birthright, he must create a weapon of his own, and he needs to rely on his new friendships to do it. Groot, who is a sullen, angsty teen tree for most of the movie, sacrifices a limb to make the mighty axe's handle.
"The original scene in the script just said 'Groot helps Eitri,' giving me a lot of freedom to come up with something interesting and unique," revealed concept artist John Straub. Straub imagined a scene in which Groot formed a sort of exoskeleton and acted as Eitri's arms. Anthony Francisco, meanwhile, offered up a take on Eitri that was somewhat more aged and austere than the disheveled survivor Dinklage became in the finished film.
