The Lord of the Rings (film)/Characters

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These are the Loads and Loads of Characters in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

For the original versions in the book by JRR Tolkien, see here. For characters in The Hobbit, go here.

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The Fellowship

Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood)

• Blue Eyes: Worthy of note as Elijah Wood is known for his huge, startlingly blue eyes. Despite rumours, Frodo did not wear contacts.
• Break the Cutie: He does not get better.
• Cool Sword: Sting, given to him by Bilbo.
• The Corruption: One of the major themes of the story.
• Determinator
• The Hero
• Hidden Depths: This applies to all the hobbits. Frodo in particular is very well educated.
• Hitchhiker Heroes
• Honor Before Reason
• Hobbit
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Laments that he wished the Ring had never come to him at one point (before he's anywhere near his darkest hour), prompting Gandalf to respond that all who live to see such times wish this, and that all he has to do is decide what to do with the time that is given to him.
• The Messiah: Shares this role with Aragorn.
• Messianic Archetype: Though he differs from most in that he is flawed and fallible.
• Named Weapons: The aforementioned Sting.
• The Not Love Interest: For Sam.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners
• Parental Abandonment: His parents drowned in the Brandywine River.
• The Power of Friendship:
• Power Trio: Frodo represents the Ego
• Pretty Boy: For the movies at least, he's young and beautiful; in the books, hobbits are more friendly-looking than handsome.
• The Quest
• Tender Tears
• Thou Shalt Not Kill
• Turn the Other Cheek: Towards both Gollum/Smeagol and Saruman
• Weapon of Choice: An elven dagger, named Sting.
• You Can't Go Home Again: Frodo realises at the end of his quest that he is irreversibly changed.

Samwise "Sam" Gamgee (Sean Astin)

• Audience Surrogate: Along with the other hobbits.
• Badass Normal
• Battle Gardener
• Cool Sword: When he wields Sting in Frodo's defence.
• Deep Sleep
• Determinator: "Come on, Mr. Frodo. I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you!"
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Did a hobbit just kick the crap out of a Giant Spider? Hell yes.
• The Everyman
• Frying Pan of Doom: Sam uses this to whack some goblins in Moria.
• Happily Married: At the very end.
• Hidden Depths
• Hobbit
• Honor Before Reason
• Hollywood Pudgy: Sure he's heavier than the skinny waif that is Frodo, but he's hardly as fat as Gollum says.
• I Just Want to Be Normal
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Just about the only character in the story who the Ring cannot tempt.
• Jumped At the Call: Indeed, Gandalf gave him the call seeing how eager he was.
• The Not Love Interest: For Frodo.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners
• The Power of Friendship
• Freudian Trio: Samwise represents the Superego.
• Took a Level In Badass: Went from a timid gardener who had never wandered further than a few miles from home to maiming giant spiders and beating orcs in a fight.
  • Lampshaded when he's beating up goblins with a frying pan in Moria, about halfway between the two: "I think I'm getting the hang of this!"
• The Reliable One
• Sidekick: Ascended to hero.
• Simpleminded Wisdom: Sam is protected by the power of just a little hobbit common-sense.
• Team Chef
• Tender Tears: More prominent in the movie adaptation, though.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill
• Undying Loyalty: Sam almost defines this trope.

Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck (Dominic Monaghan)

• Audience Surrogate
• Badass Normal
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: The Witch King of Angmar vs a Hobbit. Merry (teamed up with Éowyn) won.
  • Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: He, along with Éowyn (who also literally breaks her arm), nearly dies from contact with the Witch King.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Pippin.
• Hidden Depths
• Intergenerational Friendship: With King Théoden and Éowyn.
• Hobbit
• Honor Before Reason
• I Just Want to Be Special: When the battle lines are forming, he is dismissed as being unable to fight. But when it goes down, he's the first to march into an Army.
• Jumped At the Call
• Let's Get Dangerous
• The McCoy: When convincing the Ents to fight.
• The Fool: Together with Pippin; their personalities are less distinct in the movies.
• The Straight Man: When he and Pippin are left alone, Merry is shown to be very capable and sensible, even wise, at times.
• Those Two Guys: With Pippin.
• Took a Level In Badass: The first film showed him as a troublemaker and general nuisance. The third had him facing down the armies of Mordor without the slightest hesitation or fear.
• Trickster Archetype: With Pippin, especially since Merry is the one who starts trouble.

Peregrin "Pippin" Took (Billy Boyd)

• Audience Surrogate
• Badass Normal
• Big Eater: Even more than most hobbits are.
• Break the Cutie
• Constantly Curious
• The Fool: Being the youngest and most impressionable of the bunch, he is more prone to foolishness than his companions.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Merry.
• Hidden Depths
• Hobbit
• Honor Before Reason
• Jumped At the Call
• Let's Get Dangerous
• Odd Friendship: Once he's brought to Gondor, he befriends both Faramir and Beregond.
• Plucky Comic Relief
• Those Two Guys: With Merry.
• Took a Level In Badass: From foolish young Took to Troll-slayer.
• Trickster Archetype: An innocent version, with Merry, though this toned down as they make their transition to badasses.

Gandalf (Ian McKellen)

• Authority Equals Asskicking
• Badass
  • Badass Beard
  • Badass Long Hair
  • Badass Grandpa: Takes the guise of an old man when he comes to Middle-earth.
• Bearer of Bad News: Wormtongue names him 'Lathspell'; "ill news is an ill guest."
• Big Good
• But Now I Must Go: In The Hobbit, as well as the Fellowship of the Ring.
• Came Back Strong: As Gandalf the White, the head of his Order.
• The Chessmaster
• Cool Old Guy: To the hobbits, before they learn of his Hidden Depths.
• Cool Sword: Glamdring, which he found during The Hobbit. Not detailed in the film, but since Jackson is filming that book also...
• Deadpan Snarker
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Old guy vs. Balrog. Old guy wins...
  • Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu:...but dies from the ordeal. (Don't worry, he gets better.)
• Doting Grandfather: Towards the younger Heroes and Warriors in the band.
• Dying Moment of Awesome:You Shall Not Pass
• Eccentric Mentor
• Famous Last Words: You Shall Not Pass, but technically "Fly, you fools."
• Good Is Not Nice: Beats up the head of state of Gondor.
• Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Definitely Good Smoking. When he's relaxing he'll usually get out his pipe and start making smoke rings.
• Herald
• Heroic Sacrifice: In Moria to save the rest of the Fellowship.
  • Harbinger of Impending Doom: Implied by his critics to be this.
• Iconic Characters: Up there with Merlin in some circles.
• Large Ham
• Man in White: After he comes back stronger.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard
  • He Got Better.
• Nice Hat
• The Obi-Wan
• Older Than They Look
• Our Angels Are Different: The Wizards are really angels disguised as elderly humans.
• Really Older Than Arda
• Robe and Wizard Hat: One of the most memorable.
• The Strategist
• Taking You with Me: He and the Balrog both die in their fight, but only he returns to life.
• Weapon of Choice: Staff and Sword.
• You Shall Not Pass: Trope Namer

Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen)

• Authority Equals Asskicking
• Badass Normal
• Big Damn Heroes
• The Captain: Of the Rangers of the North, and of the Fellowship after Gandalf's passage. Also serves as one to the army and navy of Gondor as 'Thorongil'.
• Cool Sword: Anduril, reforged from the shards of Narsil, an ancient heirloom of his line.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: He must have the Enemy overthrown before he can become king and marry Arwen.
• Engagement Challenge: As above.
• Mr. Fanservice: At least in the films.
• Heroic Lineage
• Honor Before Reason
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Refused to follow his destiny for many years. Of course in the third film, he embraces it wholeheartedly.
• Iconic Characters
• King Incognito.
• Duty First, Love Second: Towards Arwen.
• The Medic: He has Healing Hands and other special healing powers due to his lineage.
• Memento MacGuffin: The Ring of Barahir. Not explained in the films but he is shown wearing it as an Easter Egg or Mythology Gag for readers.
• Named Weapons: Andúril, "Flame of the West".
• Older Than They Look: Thanks to Numenorean descent, he is at his prime at 87.
• Older Sidekick
• Perma-Stubble: Film version.
• Really Seven Hundred Years Old - Well, eighty-seven, anyway.
• Requisite Royal Regalia
  • Crown of Gondor
  • Ring of Barahir
  • The-Sword-that-was-Broken
• Rightful King Returns: Of course.
• Royal Blood: The purest now left.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something
• Shut Up and Save Me
• Supporting Leader: Former Trope Namer.
• Walking the Earth
• Warrior Prince
• Weapon of Choice: Sword.

Legolas (Orlando Bloom)

• The Archer
• Bishounen: In the movie, oh so very much.
• Blue Oni: In the Peter Jackson film.
• Captain Obvious: "A diversion." So Named in Legolas: The Very Special Diaries, thus becoming Trope Codifier.
• Elves vs. Dwarves: Averted, eventually.
• The Fair Folk
• Hair of Gold
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Gimli
• Iconic Characters: Made even more so by Orlando Bloom's portrayal in the film version
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Regular in the original, taken a ridiculous level in the PJ films.
• Odd Friendship: With Gimli.
• Oh Crap: The only time he ever appears scared in the trilogy is at the mention of the Balrog.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something
• The Smart Guy
• The Stoic
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Gimli. The fact that Legolas' father kept Gimli's father captive in The Hobbit doesn't help.
• Warrior Prince
• Weapon of Choice: Bow and long knives.

Gimli (John Rhys-Davies)

• An Axe to Grind: Has about five in the films.
• Badass
  • Badass Beard
• The Big Guy
• Body Count Competition: Ur Example, with Legolas.
• Courtly Love: To Galadriel.
• Elves vs. Dwarves: Initially, but subverted when he becomes friendly with Legolas and admires Galadriel's beauty.
• Fiery Redhead
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Legolas.
• Iconic Characters
• Jumped At the Call: He is usually the most eager to enter a battle and always has a fighting spirit.
• Odd Friendship: With Legolas.
• Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Trope Codifier.
• Red Oni: In the Peter Jackson film.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something
• Violent Glaswegian: In the film.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Legolas.
• Weapon of Choice: Axe.

Boromir (Sean Bean)

• Adaptation Dye Job
• Annoying Arrows
• Anti-Hero: Type III
• Badass Normal
• The Big Guy
• Boisterous Bruiser
• Broken Ace: He was a proud, gallant warrior but the pressure put on him by his father eroded his common sense and he never thought Sauron could be beaten which fed his obsession with The Ring.
• Cool Big Bro
• Dying Moment of Awesome: No matter how many arrows are shot into him, he does not give up.
• Famous Last Words: "I would have followed you, my brother... my captain... my king."
  • Tear Jerker
  • It Has Been an Honor
• Foil
  • The Lancer
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: He's the opposite of his brother Faramir.
• Heroic Sacrifice
• Honor Before Reason
• My God, What Have I Done?
• Posthumous Character: Even though he died early on, his background and character is explored by the other characters.
• Psychic Dreams for Everyone
• Men Don't Cry: The hell they don't.
• Redemption Equals Death
• Royals Who Actually Do Something
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Boromir is the manly in this pair.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Sean Bean's delivery of the line "They have a cave troll" in the movie is all over this trope.
• Tragic Hero
• Warrior Prince
• Weapon of Choice: Sword and shield.

Men

Théoden (Bernard Hill)

• Badass Grandpa
• Battle Cry
• Big Damn Heroes
• Dying as Yourself
• Foil: To Denethor. Where Denethor went mad from grief from Boromir's death, Theoden managed to pull himself out of his despair and find the courage to save the day. He's also a lot more noble than the more devious Denethor.
• He's Back
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Merry.
• Locked Out of the Loop
• Named Weapons
• Oh Crap: When the Oliphaunts arrive. "BRING IT DOWN BRING IT DOWN BRING IT DOWN!"
• Parental Substitute: To Éowyn and Éomer.
  • And oddly enough to Merry, apparently, even though Merry's father Saradoc is alive and well. At least Merry claims Théoden was as a father to him.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: As all Rohirrim are.
• Redemption Equals Death: He seems to think so. He's very hard on himself about his failures until he finds the courage to come to Gondor's aid. As he's dying, he smiles knowing that he's earned his place in the halls of his fathers.
• Rousing Speech
• Royals Who Actually Do Something

Éowyn (Miranda Otto)

• Action Girl
• Badass Normal
• Badass Princess
• Beta Couple: With Faramir.
• Big Damn Heroes
• Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends: Ends up with Faramir after learning that Aragorn does not feel the same way toward her.
• Death Seeker
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Goes up against the Witch King of Angmar and, with Merry's help, defeats him.
  • Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: She literally broke her arm in the struggle, but she also nearly died from contact with the Witch King.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!
• Everything's Better with Princesses
• Go Through Me
• Hair of Gold
• Hot Chick with a Sword
• Lady of War
• Loving a Shadow: Aragorn's response to her is the Trope Namer.
• Meaningful Name: "Horse-joy".
• No Man of Woman Born: One of most famous examples of this.
• Parental Abandonment: Orphaned at a young age, raised by her uncle.
• Pair the Spares / Hooked Up Afterwards: With Faramir.
• Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: "I am no man!"
• Proud Warrior Race Girl
• Rebellious Princess
• Royals Who Actually Do Something
• Second Love
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man
• Sweet Polly Oliver

Éomer (Karl Urban)

• Big Brother Instinct: Towards Éowyn, his sister.
• Composite Character: He is combined with Erkenbrand, who provided soldiers for the relief of Helm's Deep.
• Demoted to Extra: More or less just there to fight in the movies.
• Hot-Blooded
• Meaningful Name: "Horse-famous."
• Parental Abandonment: Orphaned at a young age, raised by his uncle.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy
• Reasonable Authority Figure
• Royals Who Actually Do Something
• Screaming Warrior
  • Howl of Sorrow: As seen after his shocking discovery that Eowyn is laying, apparently dead, amongst the bodies after the Battle of Pelennor Fields.
• Warrior Prince

Denethor (John Noble)

Denethor is the Steward of Gondor, ruling from Minas Tirith in the absence of the King. He is used to being in charge, and does not like the idea of having to give up power to the rightful heir to the throne.

• Abusive Parents: Clearly favors Boromir over Faramir, and doesn't seem to care about Faramir until he seemingly dies.
• Adaptational Villainy: In the novel he starts off as a wise ruler dedicated to his people who personally has the beacons lit and the civilian population of Minas Tirith evacuated, though it's balanced out by his verbally abusive treatment of Faramir, though he does admit this later on. In the film he's a paranoid Jerkass from the start, sends Faramir on a suicide mission, and never really shows any redeeming qualities.
• Burn, Baby, Burn
• Anti-Hero: Type III before jumping off the slippery slope.
  • Type V at best in the film.
• The Chessmaster
• Despair Event Horizon: The counterattack failing, Faramir's apparent death and an extremely large invasion force at his doorstep.
• Driven to Suicide: And unfortunately is about to take his still living son with him.
• The Eeyore
• Fallen Hero
• Fatal Flaw : Pride and Despair.
• Flanderization: The movie plays up his madness and Jerkass-ness to a far greater extent than the book, so much so that if you weren't familiar with the original you wouldn't know he had any redeeming qualities.
• Foil: To Theoden. Where Theoden managed to pull himself out of his despair and find the courage to save the day, Denethor went mad from grief from Boromir's death. He's also a whole lot more devious than the noble Theoden.
• Jerkass: In the movie.
• He Who Fights Monsters: vs. Sauron, via the Palantir. Sauron looked back.
• Insufferable Genius
• It's All About Me
• Parental Favoritism
• Pride
• Prophetic Fallacy
• Regent for Life: "Word has reached my ears of this Aragorn son of Arathorn and I tell you now... I will not bow to some ranger from the north!"
• Sanity Slippage
• Self-Immolation
• Taking You with Me
• 24-Hour Armor: Seen as a symbol of his stubbornness and pride, but also redeeming values thereof.

Faramir (David Wenham)

• Badass Bookworm
• Beta Couple: With Éowyn.
• Break the Cutie: Especially in the movie. You can see how near the tears he was when his father says he wished he was dead instead for Boromir.
• The Captain: Of the Rangers of Ithilien, played straight.
• Earn Your Happy Ending
• Missing Mom
• Pair the Spares: With Éowyn.
• Psychic Dreams for Everyone
• Royals Who Actually Do Something
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Faramir is the sensitive one in this pair.
  • And being the sensitive one of the pair he is shown leading a commando team well behind enemy lines, holding troops together with nothing but charisma while the Nazgûl are hovering above him, and defeating a great warrior in single combat. From all of which you will infer, he is part of a Badass Family.
• Sibling Yin-Yang
• The Unfavorite
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In the film version, his capturing Smeagol after Frodo coaxes him out of the Forbidden Pool leads to him thinking Frodo betrayed him, and plotting to kill him and take back the Ring (in the book, Gollum had that one planned out already.)
• Warrior Poet
• Warrior Prince
• "Well Done, Son" Guy

Elves

Elrond (Hugo Weaving)

• Cultured Badass: A renowned loremaster, he also led Gil-galad's army against Sauron in the Second Age.
• Gray Eyes
• Healing Hands
• Heinz Hybrid
• Heroic Lineage
• Parental Substitute: For Aragorn, whom "he came to love as a son."
• Really Sixty-Five Hundred Years Old

Arwen (Liv Tyler)

• Action Girl: Film only. After what happened to her mom in the book, it's unlikely Elrond would allow it.
• Adaptational Badass: The film, likely due to some compositing with her predecessor, Luthien.
• Ascended Extra
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished
• Bittersweet Ending: She gives up her immortality to stay with Aragorn, but it's indicated that he eventually dies, and she follows him not long afterward.
• Composite Character: Takes over Glorfindel's role as the Elf who takes Frodo to Rivendell, and some aspects of Luthien.
• Everything's Better with Princesses
• Heroic Lineage
• Hero's Muse: She functions in this role for Aragorn: the driving force behind his striving to regain his crown is his love for Arwen and the fact that he can only marry her once he is king.
• The High Queen
• The Lady's Favour: Wove a flag for Aragorn; gave him the Elfstone via Galadriel.
• Mayfly-December Romance
• My Girl Back Home
• No Ontological Inertia / Ill Girl: Film only, as a consequence of her choice of mortality.
• Really Twenty-Seven Hundred Years Old
• World's Most Beautiful Woman: Literally (after Luthien died).

Galadriel (Cate Blanchett)

• Beware the Nice Ones
• Big Good
• Deus Exit Machina
• Dream Weaver
• The Dulcinea Effect
• Fisher King: Over Lothlorien.
• Hair of Gold: Actually silver and gold in the books.
• Hidden Depths
• The High Queen
• God Save Us From the Queen: Galadriel's temptation.
• Good Counterpart
• The Lady's Favour: Three golden hairs from her head. Which is more than Feanor got, incidentally...
  • It May Help You on Your Quest
• Large Ham: "You offer it to me freely? I do not deny that my heart has greatly desired this... In place of a dark lord you would have a QUEEN! NOT DARK, BUT BEAUTIFUL, AND TERRIBLE AS THE DAWN! TREACHEROUS AS THE SEA! STRONGER THAN THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE EARTH! ALL SHALL LOVE ME, AND DESPAIR!"
• Leave Your Quest Test
• One-Winged Angel: Film only.
• Psychic Powers
• The Final Temptation
• Spirit Advisor
• Really Very Old: Galadriel was born in the Year of the Trees 1362, before the Sun, the Moon, and the waking of Man. A moderate estimate of Galadriel's age is 10,000 years old.
• Time Abyss

Other Main Characters

Gollum, originally Smeagol (Andy Serkis)

• Cain and Abel
• Grey and Gray Morality
• Hero Antagonist: Possibly.
• Reformed but Rejected: In the Jackson films, Sam never completely trusts him even when he's loyal to Frodo. When he begins plotting in earnest, though...
  • Actually, in the extended edition there's a scene toward the end of The Two Towers where Sam does apparently start to trust Gollum in earnest, saying that he's being "very decent". And it's just before Gollum decides to go back to plotting Frodo and Sam's deaths, making this a case of Dramatic Irony, and making Sam's fury upon overhearing Gollum's scheming later even more understandable.
• Breakout Character: Was essentially a One-Scene Wonder in The Hobbit. Here, he's a (if not the) big attraction.
• Iconic Characters: Even people who haven't seen the book or film are familiar with Gollum, if only through Popcultural Osmosis or his role as childhood Nightmare Fuel in The Hobbit.
• Man Child / Psychopathic Manchild
• The Corruption
• The Dark Side
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds
• The Determinator
• Heel Face Door Slam
• Heel Face Revolving Door
• Trademark Favourite Food: Fisssh.
• Serkis Folk: Trope Codifier (in the Jackson-films)
• Sympathy for the Devil: And how.
• Accidental Hero
• Anti-Hero: Becomes a Type IV in The Two Towers before slipping back to his old ways.
• Hobbit
• Spanner in the Works: "Even Gollum may have something yet to do..."
• This Is Your Brain on Evil
• Invisible Jerkass
• Famous Last Words: "Precious!"
• I'm Melting
• Gollum Made Me Do It: Trope Namer.
• Love Makes You Crazy
• Sympathetic Murderer
• Split Personality
• Catch Phrase: "My Precioussss", "Gollum, Gollum!"
• Cower Power
• Really Five Hundred Years Old
• Foil
  • Shadow Archetype: Gollum is a shadow to both Bilbo and Frodo. He is to some extent a shadow to Sam.
• Sanity Slippage
• Not So Different: From a hobbit once, or from Frodo under the power of the Ring.
• Monster Sob Story
• Starring Special Effects
• Verbal Tic: "My Precioussss", "Gollum, Gollum!"
  • Verbal Tic Name
• Freudian Trio: Gollum represents the Id.
• Anti-Villain: Type II.
• Tragic Villain
• Chronic Villainy
• Was Once A Hobbit: The prologue of Return of the King shows us his gradual corruption by the Ring from a normal Hobbit into the creature Gollum. This was done at the insistence of Andy Serkis, who wanted viewers to see there really was an actor behind Gollum.

Treebeard (John Rhys-Davies)

• Badass Grandpa
• Beware the Nice Ones: Gentle and kindly most of the time. Can tear up stone like tissue paper when protecting his forest. Pippin even Lampshades it.
• Constantly Curious
• Gaias Revenge
• Green Aesop
• Heroic Neutral
• Hidden Depths
• Overly Long Name: His real name is the story of his life, according to him. Like most Ents, he is therefore Only Known By His Nickname.
• Plant Person
• Time Abyss: Perhaps the third-oldest physical creature (Maiar don't count) in Middle-Earth. Cirdan, having awoken with the first generation of Elves at Cuivienen way back in the Years of the Trees, is older still, and Tom Bombadil is older than the world.
• Verbal Tic: Hmm, don't be hasty, now...
• When Trees Attack

The Forces of Evil

Sauron (Sala Baker)

• The Abyss Gazes Also
• Authority Equals Asskicking
• Big Bad: In the Second and Third Ages. In the First Age, he was The Dragon to Morgoth.
• Black Speech: Sauron at one time made an artificial language as a way to communicate across his empire and his allies earlier in the backstory. Thousands of years after being killed in the final battle of the Last Alliance and getting a new form, only the Nazgûl remembered how to speak it. It fell out of favor with everyone else.
• Chessmaster: Used disguises and clever tactical planning to make the Elves create the Rings, and to later undermine Númenor until its downfall.
• Dark Is Evil
• The Dragon: In his backstory, he was The Dragon to Morgoth's Big Bad.
• The Dreaded
• Eldritch Abomination
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: One of the reasons the whole gambit works. Sauron believes that anyone who possesses the ring would wish to use it for themselves leaving them susceptible to his corruption. Its too late when he realizes that someone intends to destroy it.
  • He turns out correct in the end, as nobody actually has the resolve to destroy it willingly, and it gets undone pretty much by an accident.
• Evil Genius: He's one of the smartest beings in Middle-Earth from the very beginning.
• Evil Sorcerer: As the Necromancer.
• Evil Overlord: The Trope Codifier for modern fantasy.
• Evil Tower of Ominousness: Barad-dûr, the Dark Tower.
• Face Heel Turn: Originally, Sauron was an angelic being and servant of Aulë, the godlike patron of craftsmen and maker of the physical aspect of the Earth; this is how he became such a master at creating items of power. However, he was corrupted by the first Dark Lord, Morgoth, with promises of power.
• Fallen Angel
  • Heel Face Turn: He did this at the end of the First Age, when he truly reformed and want to help rebuild Middle-Earth...
  • Heel Face Revolving Door: ...but the corruption from Morgoth was too great, and he couldn't resist the temptation to use the reconstruction to conquer.
• Faceless Eye: Peter Jackson interprets the "Eye of Sauron" literally, and depicts Sauron as a flaming all-seeing Giant Eye of Doom sitting at the top of Barad-dûr.
• Fantastic Racism: Sauron has made destroying the Númenóreans one of his major goals.
• Fate Worse Than Death
• Fisher King: The destruction of the Ring removes Sauron from the world, leading to his many minions becoming confused, and the Dark Tower collapses. In the movies, the land of Mordor itself crumbles.
• Foil
  • Shadow Archetype: Sauron is both a shadow to Gandalf and Galadriel.
• Fountain of Expies: After the publication of The Lord of the Rings, it became de rigueur for the villain in a fantasy story to be a manipulative, rarely-seen Evil Overlord who lives in a dark tower in an evil realm, employs various horrible creatures to do his work, and is dependent on an artefact of his making for power and survival.
• Keystone Army: Raised and lost several.
• I Surrender, Suckers
• Large and In Charge: In the movie he appears to be a good 15 feet tall, at least.
• Load-Bearing Boss: His malign will was functioning as his Evil Tower of Ominousness' foundation, not to mention the primary motivating force of his armies.
• Mind Rape: His specialty. "Thy flesh shall be devoured and thy shriveled mind left naked to the Lidless Eye."
• Name's the Same: No, he is not that pterodactyl guy from X-Men (who actually named himself after him!)
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: "Sauron" is Quenya for "abomination". His less-often-seen Sindarin name, Gorthaur, means "terrible dread".
• Obviously Evil
• Orcus on His Throne: He never engages anyone in physical battle after his previous defeat. Though this isn't to say that he's inactive. His Eye is always on the move, as are his servants.
• Out-Gambitted: He Out Gambits everyone, and then is in turn Out-Gambitted by Gandalf. See Unwitting Pawn below.
• Red Eye Take Warning
• Take Over the World: Sauron wants world domination, a smaller and more practical goal than Morgoth's desire to remake the universe in his image.
• Tin Tyrant: Whenever we actually see Sauron in the films, he's fully covered in plate armor.
• Ultimate Evil
• Unwitting Pawn: Marching up to the Black Gate was a trap and he walked right into it.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Before his physical body was destroyed in the fall of Númenor.
  • Even afterwards he's implied to still possess the ability, though he never really gets a chance to use it--he just can't conceal his true nature any more, meaning it's no longer useful as a disguise.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: His goal was once to establish order in Middle-Earth.

The One Ring

• Amplifier Artifact
• Artifact of Attraction
• Artifact of Doom
• Brown Note
• Compelling Voice
• The Corruption
• Clingy MacGuffin
• Happy Fun Ball
• Hate Plague
• Invisibility Cloak: Wearing the Ring makes you invisible in the normal world, but you become visible in the Wraith-World, where you can be seen by Sauron and his Ringwraiths.
• Lust Object
• Magic A Is Magic A
• Nigh Invulnerability
• Ring of Power: THE Ring of Power.
• Soul Jar
• This Is Your Brain on Evil: Several people have compared its effects to those of drug addiction.

Saruman (Christopher Lee)

• Affably Evil: He's quite charming and incredibly charismatic - at least until you make him seriously angry.
• Authority Equals Asskicking
• Big Bad Wannabe
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: In the films.
• Break the Haughty
• Compelling Voice: Especially when played by Christopher Lee.
  • Most Wonderful Sound
• Dragon with an Agenda
• Evil Counterpart: To Gandalf. He even says that he is what Saruman should have been.
• Evil Old Folks
• Evil Sorcerer
• Face Heel Turn
• Fallen Hero
• Foil
  • The Rival: To Gandalf.
  • Shadow Archetype: After his Face Heel Turn, he's this to Gandalf.
• Green-Eyed Monster: He's jealous of Gandalf, and has been secretly having agents follow him, and imitating him- smoking pipe-weed, for instance. Unfinished Tales reveals that he's been jealous of Gandalf at least since they set sail from Valinor for Middle-Earth, probably even before that.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Saruman became too obsessed with using the powers of the Ring against Sauron.
• Insufferable Genius
• I Want Them Alive: And unspoiled.
• Karmic Death
• Keystone Army: More in the films than in the book.
• Light Is Not Good
• Mage Tower
• Manipulative Bastard
• Non-Elemental: Saruman's specialty.
• Not So Different
• One-Man Industrial Revolution: A Green Aesop.
• Our Angels Are Different: The Wizards are really angels disguised as elderly humans.
• Spikes of Villainy: His dark tower, Orthanc, is crowned with four spikes, and his staff also has four spikes at the top.
• The Starscream
• Smug Snake: He thinks he is a Magnificent Bastard but he really can't manage it.
• Treacherous Advisor
• Villainous Breakdown: Théoden and Gandalf goad him into one, thereby revealing his true nature and breaking the power of his hypnotic voice.
• Visionary Villain
• You Can't Make an Omelette: Discussed. "He who breaks a thing to discover what it is has left the path of wisdom."

Grí­ma Wormtongue (Brad Dourif)

• Dirty Coward
• The Dog Bites Back: Killing Saruman once he has had enough of his mistreatment.
• Evil Chancellor: To Théoden.
• Manipulative Bastard
• The Mole
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette
• Obviously Evil
• Oh Crap: Realizing that his men failed to confiscate Gandalf's staff.
• The Renfield: To Saruman, especially towards the end.
• Smug Snake
• Treacherous Advisor

The Witch-king of Angmar (Bret McIntyre / Lawrence Makoare, voice by Andy Serkis)

• Badass Boast: "Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!"
• Black Cloak
• Carry a Big Stick: Though it's a nasty-looking flail in the Movie.
• Casting a Shadow: Type 1.
• Dark Is Evil
• The Dragon
• The Dreaded
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": We just know him by his title.
• Evil Is Deathly Cold
• Evil Sorcerer
• The Faceless
• Flaming Sword
• Geas: It has been noted that while it is not referred to as such, the prophecy that he shall not fall by the hand of Man is functionally a geas.
• Giant Flyer: His later mount, the Fell Beast.
• Implacable Man: He and the other Nazgul can't be truly killed while the One Ring exists.
• I Have Many Names: Witch-king, Lord of the Nazgûl, High Nazgûl, Black Captain, Captain of Despair, Morgul-lord, etc.
• Large and In Charge: In the third film, he is played by 7-foot, 300-pound bodybuilder Lawrence Makoare, and wears a tall pointed helmet.
• Mysterious Past: His past was never fully revealed. We only get hints of who he used to be. Which is a lot more than we get of his lieutenant, Khamul the Black Easterling and the rest of the Nazgûl.
• The Necromancer: Junior level.
• The Necrocracy: Founded two, the country of Angmar and the city of Minas Morgul.
• No Man of Woman Born
• Not Afraid of You Anymore
• Prophecy Twist
• The Undead
• Weakened by the Light
• Weaksauce Weakness: Sunlight, fire, non-men.
• Was Once a Man

Orcs

• The Ageless: Like the Elves they were supposedly created from, but it isn't fully clear.
• Exclusively Evil
• Bad Boss: Any given orc in a position of power will probably be one of these
• Black Blood
• Blood Knight: All the Uruk-hai, but Ugluk stands out in particular.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Those orcs who aren't Blood Knights are really into this.
• Conservation of Ninjutsu: The Uruk-hai,
• Dirty Coward: "Standard" orcs, which is why whip-wielding superiors and/or Nazgûl stand behind them...
• Enemy Civil War: The only thing keeping the orcs held together is the will of Sauron. Whenver that slackens for whatever reason, they remember that they hate each other almost as much as they hate the other races and almost immediately go for each other's throats. Unless there are people of other races nearby, in which case different tribes of orcs will band together to kill them, then turn on each other.
• Evil Minions
• Evilly Affable: For the most part.
• Fantastic Racism: Against Elves, Men, and even other Orcs (there is a rivalry between the Orcs of Mordor, the 'Northerners' from the Misty Mountains who are used to running their own affairs, and Saruman's Uruk-hai).
• Half-Human Hybrid: The most likely origin of the Uruk-hai.
• I'm a Humanitarian: They're not very... selective in their diet, though unlike in the movies they generally don't eat each other if they can get anything else.
• Manipulative Bastard: Grishnakh.
• Mooks
  • Elite Mooks: Uruk-hai (Black Speech for "Orc-people").
  • Mook Lieutenant: Lurtz from the Fellowship film adaptation, Ugluk from The Two Towers, and Gothmog from the Return of the King film adaptation.
    • Gothmog also appears in the book, but it's never specified whether he is an orc or a human.
• No Cure for Evil: Averted. Orcish medicine is among the most advanced in Middle-Earth but it tends to be very painful and has heavy scarring.
• Our Orcs Are Different: Actually, to a degree they are, despite being the Trope Namer. Tolkien's actual orcs are much more advanced and intelligent, and not as physically powerful, than the crude barbarians Exclusively Evil orcs are generally portrayed as.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: Uruk-hai only. "Standard" orcs are sneaks and cowards.
• Smug Snake: Grishnakh.
• Torture Technician: Just about any orc with brains will be one of these.
• Was Once a Man: The origin that made it into the books is that they were once elves. This is only one possibility, though, and it kept changing right up until Tolkien's death--he didn't like the implications that had for their eternal souls, even though he did not want evil to be capable of independent creation, which would have conflicted with his Christianity.

Trolls

• All Trolls Are Different: Tolkien's trolls are giant-like monsters with rocky hides and beast-like intelligence. They permanently turn to stone when exposed to sunlight. The exceptions are Sauron's Olog-hai, more intelligent trolls that are immune to sunlight.
• Exclusively Evil: Though the standard Trolls (barring the trio from The Hobbit) are barely above animals in intelligence, it seems.
• Dumb Muscle
• Elite Mook: The Attack Trolls followed by the Olog-Hai.
• Evil Counterpart: Apparently intended as Morgoth's answer to the Ents, but nowhere near as strong or wise.
• Made of Iron: They die hard.
• Smash Mook

The Mouth of Sauron (Bruce Spence)

File:220px-Mouth of Sauron 4693.jpg

• Ass in Ambassador: After meeting with Aragorn, he essentially demands his surrender.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: From his dialogue, one gets the impression that he's the one in charge of actually doing this to people who have offended Sauron in some manner.
• Dirty Coward
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": 'His name is remembered in no tale for he himself had forgotten it, and he said "I am the Mouth of Sauron"'
• Evil Sorcerer
• Gross Up Close-Up: His teeth. Egads, his teeth...
• I Shall Taunt You: Pretty much his whole "negotiation" with Gandalf.
• Mouth of Sauron: Trope Namer
• Oh Crap: When Gandalf rejects his terms, he starts raving, but when the other representatives of the Free Folk give him a Death Glare, he turns tail and rides breakneck back to the Morannon. In the extended cut of the film, he taunts Aragorn and is swiftly decapitated.
• One-Scene Wonder
• Slasher Smile
• Smug Snake

Shelob

• Achilles' Heel: Her underside is not as tough as the rest of her body; when she gives up trying to paralyze Sam with her venom and decides to crush him, he shoves Sting into her guts.
  • The book emphasizes that unlike dragons, Shelob has no weak spots save for her eyes. Sam is only able to pierce her skin and tissue because she unwittingly slams on his blade with her own, massive strength.
• Casting a Shadow: Like her mother, she weaves webs of unlight that are perceptible to the Hobbits.
• Dragon with an Agenda: Sauron treats her as his pet. Shelob doesn't care.
• Eldritch Abomination: In spider-form, but an abomination nonetheless.
• Eye Scream: Sam stabs her in one eye with Sting during their fight.
• Giant Spider
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Of the "pure evil" variety. She was stated to be immune to the ring's temptations because power holds no interest for something that just wants to eat everything.
• Meaningful Name: "Lob" is an archaic word for "spider". She's female. "She-Lob".
• Nigh Invulnerable
• Omnicidal Maniac: Her ultimate goal seems to be to eat the whole planet. Mercifully, she's nowhere near accomplishing that.
• Primal Fear
• Shrug of God: Whether Sam killed her or not.
• Spiders Are Scary
• Time Abyss: She is said to have been around when the earth was born. Although that is moreso her ancestor Ungoliant.
• The Voiceless: The fact that she was able to work out a deal with Gollum implies she can speak, but she never does during her appearance in the text.
  • Or just that she understands speech, and relented her attack when Gollum begged for his life and promised to bring her tasty things to eat.
• Weakened by the Light

The Balrog

• Big Red Devil: He is effectively this on fire.
• Dark Is Evil
• Eldritch Abomination: At least, you could tell that Sauron's minions were warped versions of their original selves. This demon is one of many "that should not see the light of day".
  • Nightmare Fuel: and Gandalf and Saruman were right.
• Fallen Angel: Believe or not that demon who just snared and just happen to have a sword and whip, belonged to a race of hyper-intelligent warriors from hell that made the Ringwraiths look like pansies.
• Iconic Characters
• Knight of Cerebus: The story was already serious, but he upped the ante and paved the way for the Fellowship's breaking by bringing down Gandalf. (Of course, Gandalf got better.) It also introduced the epic one-on-one fights that would occur later in the story.
• Large and In Charge: Much larger than the orcs and trolls in Moria, and they seem to be almost as afraid of him as the Fellowship is. In the Peter Jackson films, Durin's Bane is nearly twenty feet tall.
• One-Scene Wonder: A lot of the people will remember the scene where Gandalf sacrifices himself in order to save the Fellowship from the beast.
• Playing with Fire: The movie makes it looks like he's literally a demon of flame.
  • And shadow.
• Rasputinian Death: Falls down a deep pit along with Gandalf, as they try to stab one another as they plummet down to the bottom. Once they land, they are immediately submerged, carried down the stream presumably, until they reached the base of a mountain, climb the Endless Stair to the peak of Celebdil, where they fought until Gandalf manages to pierce its heart, causing it to fall down to its death.
• Serious Business: Whether or not he's winged.
  • The Peter Jackson version seemed to split the difference by giving him intimidating skeletal-looking wings that can't be used for flight.
• Whip It Good: He uses a flaming whip in conjunction with a Flaming Sword.