This is a list of original characters of note found in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
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Brego
Brego is a horse ridden by Aragorn, apparently named after King Brego of Rohan, son of Eorl the Young. In the film The Two Towers, Aragorn first sees the horse in distress in the stables at Edoras, driven wild by the sight of war. 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 elvish and quiets 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. Brego is played by a bay warmblood stallion named Uraeus. Before his movie career, Uraeus had been a FEI dressage star. Ridden by his then owner, the late 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 which turned out not to be adequate. At the end of the trilogy's filming, Viggo Mortensen had created such a strong bond with Uraeus that Lockie agreed to sell the horse to him. Uraeus remains in New Zealand, looked after by Jane Abbott, one of the riding double 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 Aragorn can scramble on him.
Éothain and Freda
Éothain (played by Sam Comery) and Freda (played by Olivia Tennet) are young Rohirrim. They are sent by their mother Morwen (played by Robyn Malcolm) 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
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
Gothmog is a prominent Orc leader in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. He is played by New Zealand actor 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, vaguely porcine, one-eyed Orc who seems to suffer from some type of muscular dystrophy or palsy. The first character in Middle Earth named Gothmog was the first balrog, the "son of Morgoth", from The Silmarillion.
Though his exact rank was never stated, he served as the top Orc commander during the taking of Osgiliath, where he killed Faramir's wounded lieutenant, Madril, and at the siege of Minas Tirith, directing the use of catapults and siege towers as well as the battering ram Grond. However, he was caught up in the retreat when the Riders of Rohan fell upon the Orc army. In the Extended cut, Gothmog is seen attempting to kill Éowyn at The Battle of the Pelennor Fields, only to be hobbled by her. He later attempts to exact revenge as she lies injured after her encounter with the Witch-king of Angmar, only to be intercepted and killed by Aragorn and Gimli. "Gothmog" is also the name of one of the playable characters in the CRPG Dungeon Master. He is also a hero for Mordor in the The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II's expansion pack The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II - The Rise of the Witch-king.
Haleth
Haleth son of Háma was among the boys who fought in the battle of Helm's Deep. His father was the captain 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 (played by Ian Hughes) is an officer of Minas Tirith who appears after Faramir retreats from Osgiliath. His name is derived from the canonical Iorlas, an uncle of Bergil, a Gondorian boy whom Pippin befriends. Irolas has noticeably blond hair, which suggests that he might be descended from one of the Men of Rhovanion who emigrated to Gondor during the reign of Rómendacil II and after. 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 leads them into battle against 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 Uruk archers led by Uglúk). He then engages in a sword fight with Aragorn, who eventually 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. Lurtz's name is never spoken aloud in the film, and is only known from the credits and merchandise. The name "Lurtz" may have been derived by Jackson and his co-writers from the style of Tolkien's Orkish language, specifically the name Lugbúrz. He is one of the playable "heroes" in the computer game The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth and its sequel The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II Lurtz is also a playable Evil "hero" for The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-king.
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, wife of Húrin and mother of Túrin and Nienor, and Morwen Steelsheen, the Gondorian queen of Thengel and mother of Théoden. In the video game The Lord Of The Rings: The Third Age, Morwen is a warrior lady who stays behind to fight off the Wild Men so that her family, and the rest of her village would have a chance to escape. Morwen is also the name of a Shieldmaiden of Rohan in The Lord of the Rings: the Third Age and The Lord of the Rings: the Battle for Middle-earth II as a 'Create a Hero' unit.
Sharku
Appearing only in the film adaptation of The Two Towers, Sharku was a very old orc who was the captain of Saruman's Warg Riders. 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. Though many Rohirrim were slain, they were also all killed. However, Aragorn plunges over a cliff along with Sharku's Warg, and is presumed dead. Sharku is also one of the playable heroes in the computer game The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II. The Warg rider attack (as well as most of the circumstances and its aftermath) is an invention by the scriptwriters. In the book Sharkû (note diacritic û) 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.
Snaga
In Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Snaga is the proper name of an Orc who wants to eat Merry and Pippin. In Tolkien's book, two different Orcs from The Two Towers and The Return of the King are called Snaga. One of the book's appendices states that snaga was a derogatory term meaning "slave" instead of a name, applied by Uruk-hai to lesser orcs.
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.
