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45 Precious Facts About ‘The Lord of the Rings’

Facts that you’d never throw into Mount Doom

45 Precious Facts About ‘The Lord of the Rings’

October 27, 2024

Join us on a little journey, will you? We had to say “little” because it’s a Lord of the Rings journey, and we didn’t want to scare you off. This won’t be a 1,779-mile trek (yeah, we looked into it). Time-wise, this won’t even take as long as one of the movies.

But hey, if you want to take that much time with these eye-popping LOTR facts, we’d be totally flattered!

45

CRACKED.COM THE LORD OF THE RINGS THE HOBBIT THE WITCH-KING WAS RESHOT. During initial test screenings, audiences couldn't tell the Witch-king apart from Sauron. Apparently Peter Jackson agreed, because he reshot the character's scenes with a whole new design. — Source: Screen Rant

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CRACKED.COM THE LORD OF THE RINGS lan Holm played Frodo long before the films were made. Holm was Frodo Baggins in a 1981 BBC Radio 4 dramatization of the books. This performance factored into Peter Jackson's decision to cast him as Bilbo. — Source: Mental Floss

43

THE LORD OF THE RINGS THE HOBBIT GANDALF'S HEAD BUMP WAS AN ACCIDENT (OR WAS IT?). Peter Jackson recalls the bump as a real accident he chose to leave in. According to lan McKellen, though, it was an intentional move - he just didn't tell Jackson he planned to do that. CRACKED.COM — Source: Screen Rant

42

All of the chainmail in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy was made by hand, link by link. The main characters wore lightweight chainmail, designed specifically for the films, that was 1/5th the weight of steel so the actors didn't suffer fa- tigue. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Lord of the Rings Behind-the-Scenes / YouTube

41

PLANT-BASED FICTIONAL CHARACTERS THE LORD OF THE RINGS TREEBEARD One of the oldest living beings in Middle-earth is a literal force of nature, a welcomed ally for the Fellowship's quest. CRACKED.COM — The Lord of the Rings Wiki

40

New Line Cinema gambled their entire company on the success of the 'Lord of The Rings' franchise. CRACKED.COM They committed to all three films for more than $270 million up front in the early 2000s, and now Amazon is producing the 'Rings of Power' series for a reported $1 billion. — NY Times

39

Fantasy movies coor An iconic shot has a long history. In 1987, illustrator John Howe borrowed the shot of the Hobbits hiding from the Black Rider from Ralph Bakshi's 1978 movie. Peter Jackson was in turn inspired by Howe's painting for his own take. The Lord of the Rings CRACKED.COM — Source: Wikipedia

38

Tolkien in another language. IMSAMAMTIXMOYEIDMMASAMSRM The Fellowship of the Ring BEENO THEE PIRS'T PART oF THE LORD OF THE RINGS CRACKED RY COM The Lord Of The Rings books were just an excuse for linguist J.R.R. Tolkien to flex his fantastical language crafting, and he took every opportunity to decorate — Source: Bibliocrunch

37

In the entire Lord of the Rings film trilogy, no two female characters ever speak to each other. This is not counting one line between unnamed extras, one of which was an adolescent girl. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Film School Rejects

36

Sauron is a giant void. THE LORD OF THE RINGS CRACKED.COM Sauron is widely known as one big, fiery evil eye, but the books describe him as a window into nothing, resembling the predatorial eyes of a snake. — Screenrant / Polygon

35

The Lord of the Rings The orcs' black mouths were done with mouthwash. As orcs are supposed to have black blood, they couldn't go around with normal human pink mouths. So the actors swished black licorice mouthwash between takes. CRACKED.COM — Screen Rant

34

The Lord of the Rings BE ARAGORN CRACKED.COM Peter Jackson decided, four days into filming and after several months of training, that Stuart Townsend was too young for the role. Не eventualy landed on Viggo Mortensen (after considering Russell Crowe and Daniel Day-Lewis). — Source: 15 Actors Who Had To Be Replaced Mid-Production: First Episode / Last Episode

33

THE LORD OF THE RINGS THE HOBBIT SEAN BEAN WAS READING HIS MONOLOGUE OFF HIS CROTCH. Peter Jackson and co-writer Philippa Boyens wrote the scene the night before, so Bean had to read off a crib sheet. On his crotch. One does not simply look away from Sean Bean's crotch. CRACKED.COM — Source: 20 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The 'Lord Of The Rings' And 'Hobbit' Movies

32

CRACKED.COM THE LORD OF THE RINGS THE HOBBIT CHRISTOPHER LEE WAS A HUGE TOLKIEN FANBOY. The movie legend campaigned for a Tolkien-related part for decades, accepting fantasy roles just to get the point across. Even more, he's the only actor in the saga to have actually met J. R. R. Tolkien. — Source: 20 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The 'Lord Of The Rings' And 'Hobbit' Movies

31

CRACKED.COM THE LORD OF THE RINGS THE HOBBIT THE WITCH-KING WAS RESHOT. During initial test screenings, audiences couldn't tell the Witch-king apart from Sauron. Apparently Peter Jackson agreed, because he reshot the character's scenes with a whole new design. — Source: 20 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The 'Lord Of The Rings' And 'Hobbit' Movies

30

CRACKED.COM THE HOBBIT THE LORD OF THE RINGS SMAUG LOST TWO LEGS BETWEEN MOVIES. The dragon's first, quick appearance in An Unexpected Journey was heavily modified later on, and he goes from being four-legged to a two-legged, wyvern-like form. — Source: 20 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The 'Lord Of The Rings' And 'Hobbit' Movies

29

THE LORD OF THE RINGS THE HOBBIT JAKE GYLLENHAAL AUDITIONED FOR FRODO. (НЕ SUCKED.) Gyllenhaal failed his audition hard, as he didn't even bother with an English accent. Не heard days later that his was one of the worst auditions for the part. CRACKED.COM — Source: 20 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The 'Lord Of The Rings' And 'Hobbit' Movies

28

THE LORD OF THE RINGS THE HOBBIT VIGGO MORTENSEN SLAYED HIS SON (AS AN ORC). The very first orc Aragorn kills in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields is played by his son Henry. It's like Vin Diesel always says - it's all about fambly. CRACKED.COM — Source: 20 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The 'Lord Of The Rings' And 'Hobbit' Movies

27

THE LORD OF THE RINGS THE HOBBIT STEPHEN COLBERT MAKES A CAMEO. Colbert't blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance is not as random as it might look like, as he's a huge Tolkien nerd. CRACKED.COM — Source: 20 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The 'Lord Of The Rings' And 'Hobbit' Movies

26

Sean Connery didn't understand a damn thing in the Lord of the Rings script. LORD THE OF THE RINGS The legendary actor declined the role of Gandalf in

25

MIDDLE-EARTH HARBORS LOVECRAFTIAN HORRORS. Ancient, nameless creatures that live deep underground are mentioned in passing in The Lord of the Rings. Gandalf sees them as he's fighting the Balrog, but he refuses to talk much about them later. GRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Details About Middle-Earth That Show How Deep Tolkien's Lore Goes

24

THE LORD OF THE RINGS THE HOBBIT HOBBITON WAS BUILT A FULL YEAR BEFORE FILMING. The producers wanted it to be truly lush and beautiful, so they gave the vegetation time to grow. We'd say they could have just green-screened it, but, erm, we all know what happens when Tolkien movies over-rely on CGI. CRACKED.COM — Source: 20 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The 'Lord Of The Rings' And 'Hobbit' Movies

23

THE LORD OF THE RINGS THE HOBBIT GOLLUM CHANGED. The little glimpses we get in The Fellowship of the Ring show a different, more animalistic Gollum. The character design was still not based on Andy Serkis' motion capture performance by then. CRACKED.COM — Source: 20 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The 'Lord Of The Rings' And 'Hobbit' Movies

22

CRACKED.COM THE LORD OF THE RINGS THE HOBBIT ANDY SERKIS PLAYED GOLLUM AS A JUNKIE. Serkis based Gollum's craving for his precious on actual drug-addicts going through withdrawal. Power, indeed, is addictive. — Source: 20 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The 'Lord Of The Rings' And 'Hobbit' Movies

21

HALF OF MIDDLE-EARTH FELL INTO THE OCEAN. adidas Like grenden Dr / mooncaina O معسل T - OF bekining and - INK FORLINDON 0 y Smart - Lune mountai ohshire OM 1 TOUR 0- B-RX hÄrlinbon COM adidas glinom - police as ns meinbyanne excgron del MANIC 900m 180 Anduma de g WHEN Lumlaghe gesgrices SunLand che opport Linis FAngokn would Minhikisch عجفه GM connect Le Y h enedwarch R O n un KING YOU Grinag يوضح ministed habers - ish mou - unch Joses سل Senses Lajour King Sokgoroch permich 9 Anfilia R m O & Choole un حقلة — Source: 15 Details About Middle-Earth That Show How Deep Tolkien's Lore Goes

20

MIDDLE-EARTH IS A MYTHIC PAST OF THE REAL WORLD. J. R. R Tolkien stated that locations in Middle-earth correspond to real places in Europe, with the Shire roughly coinciding with England, and Gondor with Greece and Italy. GRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Details About Middle-Earth That Show How Deep Tolkien's Lore Goes

19

ELVES CELEBRATE THE DAY THEIR PARENTS BOINKED. Elves don't have birthdays-they observe the day they were conceived instead. Then again, elf babies are harder to produce than human babies, so celebrations are in order when that happens. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Details About Middle-Earth That Show How Deep Tolkien's Lore Goes

18

CRACKED.COM DRAGONS COULD BE HUGE Think Smaug from The Hobbit is a big creature? Smaug is tiny compared to Ancalagon the Black, the largest dragon ever, who lived thousands of years before. His exact size is never given, but he's described to be as tall as a damn mountain. — Source: 15 Details About Middle-Earth That Show How Deep Tolkien's Lore Goes

17

CRACKED.COM THE LORD OF THE RINGS THE HOBBIT RON PERLMAN WAS ALMOST SMAUG. Back when The Hobbit was supposed to be directed by Guillermo del Toro, Perlman was to voice the big dragon. No disrespect to Benedict Cumberbatch, but come on, it's Ron Perlman. — Source: ScreenCrush/YouTube
More: 5 Amazing 'Lord of the Rings' Movies We'll Never See

16

THE LORD OF THE RINGS THE HOBBIT THE ORIGINAL PLAN WAS A SINGLE HOBBIT + LOTR TRILOGY. Back in 1995, Peter Jackson's idea was to shoot The Hobbit as one movie, and The Lord of the Rings for part two and three. So apparently, we were close to having a good Hobbit movie. CRACKED.COM — Source: ScreenCrush/YouTube

15

CRACKED.COM THE LORD OF THE RINGS THE HOBBIT FRODO WAS A MURDERER. A scene was actually shot where Frodo simply pushed Gollum into the lava. Damn. Then Peter Jackson realized that wasn't very Tolkien-like, and reshot the scene. — Source: Mental Floss

14

Roles Almost Played by Nicolas Cage ARAGORN The Lord of the Rings Peter Jackson wanted Nicolas Cage as Aragorn, but Cage couldn't see himself spending three years away from home, so he had to turn it down. CRACKED.COM — Source: Newsweek

13

The Lord of the Rings

CRACKED.COM Behind the scenes The Lord of the Rings To capture the Hobbits' size, forced perspective was used whenever they were in scenes with other actors. — Source: TXFilmProfessor/YouTube

12

WEREWOLVES AND VAMPIRES LIVE IN MIDDLE-EARTH. Once upon a time, long before The Lord of the Rings, Sauron was lord of the werewolves, and lived in a place literally called Isle of Werewolves. Не also had a vampiric servant. — Sources: The One Wiki to Rule Them All/Werewolves, The One Wiki to Rule Them All/Vampires

11

HOBBITS ARE NEWCOMERS. Middle-earth has a long story, spanning many thousands of years-but Hobbits have only been around for two or three millennia before The Lord of the Rings. No one is sure where they came from. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Details About Middle-Earth That Show How Deep Tolkien's Lore Goes

10

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogies were shot in the exact same number of days: 266. IKOH THE DIRECTOR ORGENE LORD OF THE EINGE LOGY Then why are they so different? According to The Hobbit's behind-the- scenes documentary: There was incredible planning (on Lord of the Rings), there were three and a half years of pre-production before we rolled the cameras. Peter never got a chance to prep (The Hobbit Trilogy)....with little, possibly no preparation, we jumped straight into doing pre-viz. CRACKED.COM — Source: 22 Hollywood (Revealing) Statistics

9

THE LORD OF THE RINGS THE HOBBIT ANDY SERKIS DIDN'T JUST PLAY GOLLUM. A big contribution he did to the Hobbit trilogy was directing the second unit for the three movies. That's... that's actually cool. CRACKED.COM — Source: 20 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The 'Lord Of The Rings' And 'Hobbit' Movies

8

FRODO BAGGINS CIRACKED Lord of the Rings began as an even sillier sequel to The Hobbit about Bilbo Baggins' nephew. Imagine a thousand-page novel about Bingo Bolger-Baggins! — Source: J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography

7

A Big Helping Of Little-Known About Movies (And Other Stuff)Viggo Mortensen got a black eye while learning to surf on the Lord of the Rings set. — Source: Entertainment Weekly

6

THE LORD OF THE RINGS THE HOBBIT THE BAG END SET WAS BUILT TWICE. A hobbit-size set was made for lan McKellen (with little people standing in for hobbits), and one much bigger for Elijah Wood and lan Holm (walking around a 7-foot-4-tall Gandalf). CRACKED.COM — Source: 20 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The 'Lord Of The Rings' And 'Hobbit' Movies

5

CRACKED.COM THE LORD OF THE RINGS THE HOBBIT BOLG WAS MUCH COOLER. The orc leader is fully CGI, but we have photos of the original, physical version, which did a much better job of not looking like Zack Snyder's Doomsday. — Source: 20 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The 'Lord Of The Rings' And 'Hobbit' Movies

4

The arrival of Doomsday, in Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice Looks just like the cave troll scene from Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship 01 The Ring

3

Gold rings of many sizes were used for closeup shots in LORD THE OF RINGS THE Here is one of them

2

Carn The Lost Here ol ERED MITHRIN WAS thue Witrh realm Anmar In the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Frodo and Sam walk 1,779 miles from Hobbiton to Mt. Do

1

In The Lord of the L Rings, Boromir wears unique bracers with the symbol of Gondor's White Tree. After Boromir dies, Aragorn takes his bracers, wears

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