Secrets from Behind the Scenes of Lord of the Rings

A series of novels written by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings has also been adapted into several movies. Image by Ash Willis.

Many thoughts come to mind when one thinks of the famous fantasy series, Lord of the Rings, including wizards, an all-powerful ring, hobbits, and orcs. But for some, the series holds many more secrets from behind the scenes. So what did the cast do behind the scenes of some of the most iconic and memorable scenes of the franchise?

1. Sean Bean’s fear of flying

While filming in New Zealand, a few scenes needed to be shot on top of mountains. This caused problems for Sean Bean, the actor portraying Boromir, who has a crippling fear of flying. According to ScreenRant, Bean used to be 2 hours late to filming as he walked up mountains in full armor, just to avoid a helicopter ride. However, there ended up being one scene in Fellowship of the Ring that Bean couldn’t escape flying from, filmed atop a remote snowy mountain only accessible by helicopter.

1. The female army of Rohan

In behind the scenes cuts of the movie, it was revealed by director Peter Jackson that most of the burly and bearded horse-riding men in the army of Rohan actually had to be women with beards. The women would get a beard glued to their faces before the filming of their scenes. The reason behind the bearded women? New Zealand remains home to a large number of very talented female equestrians, and they needed a lot of horse riders for these scenes. Viggo Mortensen, who played Aragorn, even began to fancy one of the riders before finding out her actual gender.

1. Injuries behind the scenes

During the filming of the movies, many of the cast received injuries, including Orlando Bloom, who played Legolas, who fell off a horse before the size double for Gimli fell on top of him, breaking one of his ribs. On top of this, Bloom still had to run with an injured Viggo across the plains of New Zealand to get running shots—with a broken rib. Another memorable injury happened to Sean Astin, who portrays the hobbit Sam. When filming the scene where Sam walks into the river after Frodo, Astin sliced his foot open on a large piece of glass. The glass practically impaled his foot, which called for Astin to be flown to the nearest hospital.

1. The tales of Viggo Mortensen

One of the most well-known pieces of Lord of the Rings trivia remains to be the fated scene in Two Towers. As Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli stand in front of a burning pile of orc bodies, Aragorn kicks a helmet towards the camera. In filming the scene four times, the final take stayed in the film, the scream of agony too real to ignore. The reason why it seemed so real: Viggo had apparently broken his toe on that final kick, screaming in pain during the shot. Another story surrounding Viggo would be the odd tradition he started with the cast and crew of the movies. Viggo would greet those he knew personally from set by headbutting them, going so far as to do it on the red carpet of the movie premiere. No matter where they ended up in the country, Viggo would greet them with a headbutt.

J.R.R. Tolkien's map of Middle-earth played a major role in the writing of the series. Image by Ash Willis.

No matter how one chooses to enjoy the Lord of the Rings franchise, one thing remains true; the stories from behind the scenes of the movies give the viewers new insights. Once learned, viewers can't see some of the scenes the same way again. Feel free to point these secrets out to new Lord of the Rings viewers while watching and rewatching these classic films.