100 Facts About Lord of the Rings

As we count down the days until Amazon releases its new Lord of the Rings series

you may be surprised to learn just how many stories have been told in Middle Earth over the years

From behind the scenes and creations of the books and movies, to the less popular musicals and video games

we'll be sharing all the secrets and trivia even the most hardcore fans may have missed

Today on Total Nerd Ranked, we're breaking down 100 things you probably didn't know about Lord of the Rings

John Ronald Rol Tolkien, more commonly known as J.R.R. Tolkien, published The Hobbit, the first book in the Middle Earth series in 1937

The Hobbit was originally finished years earlier and was originally intended as a fantasy story for Tolkien's children

Tolkien passed the book around to his literary colleagues, one of whom suggested publishing it

J.R.R. Tolkien spent many years prior to writing the book as a critic and translator of fantasy stories

especially the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf, which heavily influenced the Middle Earth series

After The Hobbit was published and became a hit, Tolkien was hired to write a sequel, which eventually became The Lord of the Rings, and it took him over ten years

The book's long production was in part due to Tolkien being called upon in World War II

raising his family, and working as a professor in several institutions throughout the 1940s

The Lord of the Rings was initially supposed to be more in the children's style of The Hobbit, but became darker and more serious during the writing process

in part due to Tolkien's experiences in both world wars and his desire to expand the lore of the series

The book was always intended to be one story, but was separated into three parts due to the high cost of printing in England at the time

The Lord of the Rings has sold over 150 million copies, while The Hobbit has sold over $100 million. The Lord of the Rings was initially released to a

mixed response from literary critics. The Lord of the Rings has been adapted many times into

other productions, including radio and stage plays, films, and television specials. Between 1955 and 1956, the BBC produced a 12-part adaptation, which Tolkien himself hated

Among the many unsuccessful attempts to adapt The Lord of the Rings into a live-action film

included one by The Beatles, with Stanley Kubrick directing. The band intended to make the story a

psychedelic epic featuring original songs they would create. Walt Disney, George Lucas, Steven

Spielberg, and Ridley Scott were all rumored to have tried to adapt the series at one point

The main issue thwarting many of the adaptation attempts was that the rights to the book were

changed many times, and the Tolkien family objected to several of the proposals. In the 1970s

three different animated versions of Tolkien's work were released in theaters and shown as TV

movies. The three aforementioned productions were released in the same chronological order as the

book series itself, though the middle of the three films were not affiliated with the other two. The middle entry, and most commercially successful of these movies, titled The Lord of the Rings

was an animated film covering the events of the first book and parts of the second, and was distributed by United Artists in 1978

In this adaptation, Anthony Daniels, best known as C-3PO, played the role of Legolas

The other two prominent adaptations, The Hobbit and The Return of the King, were animated television musicals made in 1977 and 1980 by Rankin Bass Productions and Topcraft Animation Topcraft Animation was restructured in the years following these releases and eventually became Studio Ghibli the famous Japanese animation studio

behind My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Ponyo, and others. Peter Jackson's adaptation started in 1995 when he and his partner Francis Walsh

were looking to make a new film in part to keep their special effects company in business

Jackson and Walsh pondered several original story ideas similar to The Lord of the Rings

but Jackson eventually decided to pursue the rights to make Lord of the Rings instead

Production on the three-part film series officially started in 1997 with a budget of $281 million

Peter Jackson initially put together a casting wishlist for the major characters, which included Cate Blanchett for Galadriel and Ian Holm for Bilbo, who later got the parts

Sean Connery declined to play Gandalf in the series, despite being offered a 15

cut of the film's profits, which ended up at over $400 million. Several other actors declined major roles, including Patrick Stewart for Gandalf

Liam Neeson for Boromir, and Nicolas Cage, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Russell Crowe for Aragorn

Hundreds of unknown English actors were considered for the lead role of Frodo Baggins

as Peter Jackson always envisioned the character to speak with an English accent, but didn't have anyone in mind specifically

American actor Elijah Wood won the role of Frodo by taping an audition without consulting the

production. He read various lines from the book with the help of an accent coach, and even rented a Hobbit costume to illustrate his commitment to getting the part

Andy Serkis originally auditioned only to voice Gollum. Peter Jackson was so impressed by his audition

that in addition to providing Gollum's voice, Serkis was also brought to set to shoot the character's movements in a motion capture suit

and was cast as Smeagol, the man who eventually became Gollum in flashbacks

Serkis also provided the voice of other characters, including the three orcs arguing with each other in The Two Towers

Christopher Lee, who played Saruman, was the only caster crew member to have ever met J.R.R. Tolkien in person

John Rhys Davies, who plays the dwarf Gimli, is the tallest actor in The Fellowship at 6'1"

Orlando Bloom was cast as Legolas two days before he finished drama school

Filming for all three movies took place simultaneously, with some scenes from later films filming before each film was wrapped

Printable photography for all three movies took place for over a year, from October 1999 to December 2000

Additional, or pickup scenes, were shot as needed once per year from 2001 to 2003

Stuart Townsend shot several scenes as Aragorn before he was replaced by Viggo Mortensen

since he looked too young for the part. Mortensen did all of his own stunts

and insisted on using a real steel sword. He broke two toes while filming the scene

where he kicks a helmet, and this take made it into the film. Mortensen also chipped a tooth while filming

fixed it at lunch, and then continued shooting the same day. The silent cameo made in the first film

by Flight of the Conchords' Brett McKenzie was informally named Figwit by fans

an acronym for Brodo is Great, Who is That? Figwit is now his character's credited name

by several outlets including IMDb When Bilbo drops the ring the floor is magnetic to prevent the ring from bouncing Andy Serkis based the character of Gollum off the mannerisms of heroin addicts Serkis would film his scenes twice

once in the shot in a motion capture suit, and once out of frame in case one worked better

for the special effects team. Over 19,000 costumes were created for the films

Hobbiton was created a year before filming began so that the location would look more lived in

Two versions of various sets were used to film the Hobbit actors and the rest of the Fellowship

to illustrate their height differences. This meant that The Hobbit actors rarely worked with actors like Ian McKellen

who later claimed he never shot any scenes with Elijah Wood. Peter Jackson gave the prop rings to Elijah Wood and Andy Serkis after production wrapped

each of whom initially thought they had the only one. Viggo Mortensen bought the horse he rode in the film

and had to periodically fly the horse back to New Zealand for reshoots. Mortensen also bought the horse used by Liv Tyler's stunt double, Jane Abbott

and gave it to Abbott as a gift. The Fellowship of the Ring premiered on December 19, 2001

The sequels, The Two Towers and Return of the King, were each released one day shy of a year later

on December 18, 2002, and December 17, 2003. Each movie peaked in the top five worldwide grosses of all time after being released

but have since lost these positions. The series is one of the best reviewed of all time

with all three films scoring above 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, and between an A- and A-plus on CinemaScore

Metacritic gave only one entry below a 90 rating. The Two Towers scored an 87

The series was nominated for 30 Academy Awards. All three Lord of the Rings films were nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards

with Return of the King winning in 2004. Return of the King was the first fantasy film and first threequel to win Best Picture

The Return of the King won all 11 Oscars it was nominated for, which is a record number of wins without a loss

All three films won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. Since the release of the films, many locations used for the shoots

have become major tourist attractions in New Zealand. The 40% rise in tourism in New Zealand from 2000 to 2006

is credited in large part to the Lord of the Rings films. Many sets had to be destroyed due to being built on public land

though Hobbiton has remained intact and is a popular destination. Over 15 Lord of the Rings video games were released following the success of the films

Production of The Hobbit was intended to start shortly after the release of Return of the King, but was delayed for years over legal disputes over the film rights

Guillermo del Toro was set to direct the project, but left after years of production delays

The Hobbit was always conceived as a single standalone film, but when Jackson signed on to direct the project

he added many new elements that ultimately stretched the film into three parts

The Hobbit script borrowed elements unused from the Lord of the Rings books, added brand new elements such as Evangeline Lilly's character Tariel

but couldn't use anything from Tolkien's other publishings due to rights issues. Similar to the previous trilogy, the Hobbit films were shot simultaneously

with scenes from each movie overlapping at times. Martin Freeman initially passed on the role of Bilbo Baggins

but accepted after production was built more around his shooting schedule on Sherlock

Daniel Radcliffe Shia LaBeouf James McAvoy and Tobey Maguire were considered for Bilbo if Freeman was unable to accept the role Benedict Cumberbatch who played Sherlock Holmes in the same series was later cast as Smaug for the second Hobbit film Cumberbatch provided Smaug voice as well as motion capture of his face and upper body Elijah Wood Christopher

Lee, Cate Blanchett, and Orlando Bloom reprised their roles for The Hobbit, despite their characters

not appearing in The Hobbit book. Orlando Bloom is two years older than Lee Pace, who plays his

father King Thranduil. Ian McKellen and Cate Blanchett are the only actors among the lead

characters to appear in all six films. Peter Jackson and his children made cameo appearances

throughout the Hobbit film series, like they did in the original Lord of the Rings trilogy

Andy Serkis' children also made cameo appearances, as did Tolkien superfan Stephen Colbert and his

family members. Colbert also featured Smaug in an interview on the Colbert Report in 2014

with Benedict Cumberbatch voicing the character. The title of the third film was originally

announced as The Hobbit There and Back Again, before being changed to The Battle of the Five

armies. Peter Jackson intended for the films to be viewed at a new frame rate of 48 frames per

second, compared to the usual 24, but many theaters lacked the technology to do so. Many

moviegoers experienced nausea and migraines while viewing the film in the new frame rate

The Hobbit trilogy grossed a nearly identical box office gross to the original trilogy

both making $2.9 billion combined. All three Hobbit films garnered at least one Oscar nomination

bringing the total for Jackson's Middle-Earth series to 37. Watching the extended cut of all

six films would take over 20 hours. J.R.R. Tolkien died in 1973, leaving much of his writing

unpublished. Tolkien's son Christopher helped edit and publish many of his father's unfinished

writings in the years following his death. Among the works Christopher helped publish include

The Cimmerillion, Unfinished Tales, and The History of Middle-Earth. The Cimmerillion was

a collection of stories set in Middle-Earth at various times throughout the world's fictional history. J.R.R. Tolkien had intended to publish at the same time as Lord of the Rings, but struggled

to get an agreement for publication, as it was incomplete. Several stories in The Cimmerillion

were originally concepts for Lord of the Rings, until Tolkien settled on the final plot. Christopher

Tolkien also expanded many stories alluded to in The Cimmerillion into full-length titles

meaning J.R.R. Tolkien now has more posthumous publications than those he achieved during his

lifetime. George R.R. Martin, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, Orson Scott Card, and many other authors

have cited J.R.R. Tolkien as an influence on their own fantasy writing. Tolkien is often credited with

creating our modern conceptualization of orcs, which bear resemblance to ogres and similar

characters throughout literature. A biographical film, Tolkien, starring Nicholas Holt and Lily

Collins, was released in 2019 without the consultation of the Tolkien estate. Tolkien

received mixed reviews and grossed just $9 million. In 2017, Amazon purchased the global TV rights to

Lord of the Rings for $250 million. Amazon is planning to release a new original series based

on the Tolkien franchise, set as a prequel prior to Lord of the Rings. Production on the show was

originally halted due to the coronavirus pandemic, but was resumed in September 2020 in New Zealand

The first season of the series is due to debut sometime in 2021, and we'll have eight episodes streaming on Amazon Prime