In The Lord of the Rings there are plenty of elves whose names and stories we know. In one case, however, the fans of the movies were responsible for bringing an inconspicuous background character into the spotlight.
Which elf are we talking about? He was actually supposed to be just an insignificant extra in the background. But the character played by actor Bret McKenzie gained some popularity through the first film of The Lord of the Rings.
In The Fellowship of the Ring, the then unnamed elf can be seen during the scene of Elrond’s council. There, it is discussed how to deal with the One Ring. The aforementioned elf first sits next to Aragorn. Later, when Frodo volunteers to carry the ring to Mordor, the character stands at the edge of the debating characters.
Even back then, the very handsome but unfortunately silent elf caught the attention of some fans. He gained some popularity, leading director Peter Jackson to bring him back for the third film. There, the elf even gets to speak a whole sentence.
In the scene where Arwen sets out for the Grey Havens, she has a vision. Because of this, she stops, and the elf approaches her and notes that they cannot linger.
The fans’ love for the unknown and actually rather unimportant elf not only led to him getting a proper name – his actor was even allowed to return to Middle-earth some years later.
Bret McKenzie’s father, Peter McKenzie, also has a small role in The Lord of the Rings – he is seen as one of the strongest humans ever.
Frodo is cool, but…
What name did the elf receive? The community named the character “Figwit.” This is an abbreviation, using the initial letters of the words in a certain sentence.
This sentence in English is: “Frodo is great… who is that?” (Frodo is great… but who is that?).
Although Frodo was supposed to attract all the attention during the scene of Elrond’s council, it was Figwit who kept the fans engaged. In 2004, even a fan documentary was released, which can be seen today on YouTube.
This did not go unnoticed by Peter Jackson and other actors like Gandalf actor Ian McKellen. For part 3, the character was allowed to return with his own line of dialogue.
However, this was not the end of the time in Middle-earth for actor Bret McKenzie. When Peter Jackson released the first offshoot of his The Hobbit trilogy in 2012, McKenzie was back on board.
He played the elf Lindir, who welcomes Gandalf in Rivendell. In the making-of (via MiddleEarthUpdates on YouTube), the actor expresses his delight:
I was totally thrilled when I was asked if I wanted to come back for a role in the film.
Bret McKenzie
Although this appearance is also relatively short, fans of the actor must have been pleased to see him again.
By the way, apart from his appearances as an elf in the Middle-earth films, McKenzie is not an unknown person. Besides acting, he also works as a musician and won an Oscar in 2012 as the composer of the film The Muppets.
Did you already know the story of Figwit? Or has this elf never caught your attention? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. Some other characters are also only seen very briefly in the films, even though they are actually very important for the lore: A character from The Lord of the Rings possessed a ring and fought against Sauron – still, he was only allowed to appear for 33 seconds in the film
