List of original characters in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy

This article is about the characters from The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. For characters from the novel by J. R. R. Tolkien, see The Lord of the Rings.

This is a list of original characters of note found in Peter Jackson's film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

Brego

Brego The horse belonged to Éowyn's cousin, King Théoden's son, Théodred, who had just been killed in a battle with Orcs. Aragorn speaks to Brego in Sindarin to quiet him. Aragorn says to Éowyn, "Turn this fellow free. He has seen enough of war." This first scene between Aragorn and Brego appears only in the extended version of The Two Towers.

Later, on the march to Helm's Deep, Aragorn is injured fighting Orcs on Wargs, falls off a cliff into a river, and is carried downstream. Brego then comes to the wounded Aragorn and lies down on the beach next to him so Aragorn can climb onto its back. He carries him the rest of the way to Helm's Deep. This side story does not exist in the book. Aragorn rides Brego in the charge out of Helm's Deep and to the Rohirrim camp at Dunharrow, but Brego runs away as he refused to enter the Paths of the Dead. It is unclear if the horse Aragorn rides to the Black Gate is Brego, though it has similar colouration.

Brego is largely played by a bay Dutch Warmblood stallion named Uraeus. Before his movie career, Uraeus was an FEI dressage star. Ridden by his then-owner Lockie Richards, he won New Zealand National Dressage titles. Like Viggo Mortensen, who plays Aragorn, who was brought on board to replace a previously cast actor after the filming had already began, Uraeus was brought out of semi-retirement to replace the horse previously cast as Brego, who turned out to not be adequate. At the end of the trilogy's filming, Mortensen had created such a strong bond with Uraeus that Richards agreed to sell the horse to him. Uraeus remains in New Zealand, looked after by Jane Abbott, one of the riding doubles who works on Peter Jackson’s films.

Uraeus had also a movie double, a horse named Brownie who was trained for the scene where Brego finds Aragorn injured on a river bank, rolls him over and lies down so that Aragorn can scramble onto his back.

Éothain and Freda

Éothain (played by Sam Comery) and Freda (played by Olivia Tennet) are young Rohirrim. They are sent by their mother Morwen to alert Théoden that the "Wild Men" are raging through Rohan, burning villages. Éothain and Freda are kept at Edoras until they are reunited with their mother just before the battle at Helm's Deep. Éothain is named after a character in the book, one of Éomer's riders.

Figwit

Main article: Figwit

Figwit is the fan-derived name for an Elf extra (played by Bret McKenzie) who first appears at the Council of Elrond, and later on the path to the Grey Havens. Figwit (or McKenzie, rather) has his own fan following.

Gothmog

Main article: Gothmog (Third Age)

Gothmog is a prominent Orc leader in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. He is played by Lawrence Makoare.

He is nominally based upon a character of the same name from the book, the lieutenant of Minas Morgul about whom very little is known, including his race. The film Gothmog is original in the sense that he is interpreted as a hideously deformed Orc whose role is much expanded from the book. In the film he receives considerable screentime as compared to one sentence in the book.

Haleth

Haleth (played by Calum Gittins) son of Háma was among the boys who fought in the battle of Helm's Deep. His father was a member of the King's guard and doorward of Meduseld, who had been earlier killed by a Warg. Aragorn has a short inspirational talk with the boy. In the book, Háma is killed at Helm's Deep, and it is not mentioned if he has family. Tolkien uses the name Haleth for two characters of different sexes: a son of King Helm Hammerhand, who appears in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, and a warrior-matriarch of the Edain in the First Age, who appears in The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.

Irolas

Irolas informing Denethor about the apparent death of Faramir.

Irolas (played by Ian Hughes) is an officer of Minas Tirith who appears after Faramir retreats from Osgiliath. He fights in the Battle of Minas Tirith. His name is derived from a variation of the name of the canonical Iorlas, an uncle of Bergil, a Gondorian boy whom Pippin befriends. This character was originally going to be Beregond, Bergil's father, who also befriends Pippin and is instrumental in saving Faramir from Denethor's funeral pyre, but according to the DVD commentary the role was so reduced that they felt it wasn't worth officially naming him "Beregond".

Lurtz

Lurtz is the first of Saruman's Uruk-hai to be bred, and is their leader at the time of the attack on the Fellowship of the Ring at Amon Hen. He slays Boromir in battle, piercing him in the torso with three arrows (in the book, Boromir is slain by "many arrows"). After fatally wounding Boromir, he engages in a sword fight with Aragorn and is killed when Aragorn decapitates him.

Like Gothmog, he was played by New Zealand actor Lawrence Makoare. Makoare did not require padding underneath his costume because he was big enough already, unlike other people who played Uruk-hai and Isengard Orcs.^{[citation needed]}

Lurtz's name is never spoken aloud in the film, and is only known from the credits and merchandise. However, in the extended release of the film, his name is spoken aloud by Saruman upon his birth.

Madril

Madril (played by John Bach) is one of the Rangers of Ithilien who appears in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. He serves as an advisor and second-in-command to Faramir during his missions to Ithilien and Osgiliath, playing a role vaguely similar to the characters of Mablung and Damrod from the books. In The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Madril is injured while retreating from Osgiliath, and ultimately killed by Gothmog while the rest of the Gondorians retreat to Minas Tirith. Madril's name has no Sindarin meaning since it is a transposition of the middle letters of Mardil Voronwë, the first ruling Steward of Gondor.

Morwen

Morwen (played by Robyn Malcolm) is the mother of Freda and Éothain. She shares her name with two canonical characters — Morwen, the wife of Húrin and mother of Túrin and Nienor, and Morwen Steelsheen, a Gondorian woman who married Thengel of Rohan and became the mother of Théoden.

Sharku

Sharku

Sharku was the orc captain's of Saruman's Warg Riders. He is played by the actor Jed Brophy. In the film, he and his fellow riders were unleashed by Saruman to attack the Rohirrim of Edoras while they were journeying to Helm's Deep. The Warg rider attack (as well as most of the circumstances and its aftermath) is an invention by the scriptwriters. In the book, Sharkû is a name used for Saruman himself by his servants, meaning "old man". It is modified to "Sharkey" by his minions when they take over the Shire.

External links

• Brego Details about the horse Brego in Lord of the Rings and in the Peter Jackson’s films.
• Brego in the New Zealand Herald Article about Uraeus, the horse who played Brego in Peter Jackson’s films.