10 Most Underrated Lord Of The Rings Characters

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings may be the world’s most famous fantasy, but it still has some underrated characters. The novel, released in three parts between 1954 and 1955, introduced the world to the famous Fellowship of the Ring characters. These rapidly became archetypes of high fantasy leading roles, informing generations of writers for years to come and leading to franchises like Dungeons & Dragons, which are heavily based on Tolkien’s work. And yet, some of the books’ most influential characters still don’t get enough attention in the fandom, book clubs, and adaptations.

Some of the Fellowship of the Ring and many of the supporting characters of LotR deserve more recognition for being total heroes, or otherwise, some of literature’s best villains. Peter Jackson’s Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogies brought Tolkien’s story to a global audience, where it had only had niche popularity before. The Lord of the Rings went from a story with a cult following to a worldwide phenomenon, whereby some characters got changed from their book counterparts, and others were glorified beyond their original story. Meanwhile, some underrated LotR characters never even made it to the screen.

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10

Glorfindel

Standout Moments: The Fellowship Of The Ring

Glorfindel is one of the best characters in The Lord of the Rings, but he never made it to the movies. This standout character was a key feature of the first part of LotR, The Fellowship of the Ring. J.R.R. Tolkien conceived Glorfindel as an Elf hero to rival champions like Aragorn and Legolas, so it was a shame he got left out of Peter Jackson’s movies. Arwen actually ended up taking his place. Peter Jackson wanted audiences to bond with Arwen, as Aragorn’s love interest, so he amplified her role.

Tolkienian Age	Event Marking The Start	Years	Total Length In Solar Years
Before time	Indeterminate	Indeterminate	Indeterminate
Days before Days	Ainur entered Eä	1 – 3,500 Valian Years	33,537
Pre-First Age Years of the Trees (Y.T.)	Yavanna created the Two Trees	Y.T. 1 – 1050	10,061
First Age (F.A.)	Elves awoke in Cuiviénen	Y.T. 1050 – Y.T. 1500, F.A. 1 – 590	4,902
Second Age (S.A.)	War of Wrath ended	S.A. 1 – 3441	3,441
Third Age (T.A.)	Last Alliance defeated Sauron	T.A. 1 – 3021	3,021
Fourth Age (Fo.A)	Elven-rings left Middle-earth	Fo.A 1 – unknown	Unknown

Arwen rescued Frodo at the Ford of Bruinen in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring movie, driving off the Nazgûl. But this role fell to Glorfindel in Tolkien’s book, who was already a bona fide legend, even before the Third Age. Glorfindel died fighting a Balrog in the Sack of Gondolin in the First Age, and was one of the only two Elves to be revived early in The Lord of the Rings, which was testament to his unique standing as a totally underrated LotR character.

9

Ungoliant

Standout Moments: The Silmarillion

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Ungoliant is a supervillain in The Lord of the Rings, representing one of the franchise’s underused and underrated characters. This primordial demonic being spawned Shelob, giving birth to one of Lord of the Rings’ most evil female villains. Shelob had a human form in the Middle-earth: Shadow of War video game, speaking to her powerful and mysterious heritage. Ungoliant and Shelob were far more than just giant spiders. Ungoliant could have been a Maiar or some other kind of ancient creature.

Ungoliant nearly defeated Morgoth in single combat.

She chose the form of a giant spider in The Silmarillion, indicating that she could have changed forms, which only Maiar were known to be able to do in Lord of the Rings. Ungoliant was clearly one of the more powerful Maiar, and there were some “well nigh as great” as the 15 Valar in The Lord of the Rings (The Silmarillion). Morgoth couldn’t have destroyed the Two Trees without Ungoliant. After this, Ungoliant nearly defeated Morgoth in single combat, only having to flee as he called the Balrogs to help him.

8

Samwise Gamgee

Standout Moments: The Lord Of The Rings

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Samwise Gamgee is easily the top hero of The Lord of the Rings, but Frodo and Aragorn get far more credit. There are many ways Sam was different in The Lord of the Rings books, but one of them was that he got more of a chance to show his full nature. The Sam of the books would never have left Frodo’s side. Even when he thought Frodo was dead, he stuck to him like glue, following the Orcs that picked him up.

Sam was played by Sean Astin in The Lord of the Rings movies.

The Sam of the books may well have been more heroic than the Sam of the movies, but Peter Jackson’s Sam definitely ended up communicating the core facets of Tolkien’s character well. Even though Sam left Frodo in the movies, Jackson used this to set up a glorious return. Tolkien built Sam up to resemble the bat boys of WWI, reflecting his own experience of men committed to serving one officer at war. Tolkien saw these men as war’s unsung heroes, which is exactly what Sam is in LotR.

7

Pippin Took

Standout Moments: The Return Of The King

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Pippin Took is one of the most underrated characters in The Lord of the Rings. His role in the book was diminished for the screen, which made sense, in a way. Peter Jackson only had a limited number of hours for adapting a huge, sprawling story. To communicate its core themes – what was important – he focused attention on a few heroes, rather than spreading celebration out across various epic characters.

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Pippin was one of the characters that was excellent in the movies but more epic in the book. Pippin, played by Billy Boyd, provided excellent comic relief in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Boyd composed the song he sang to Denethor himself, and this was one of LotR’s most beautiful, expressive, and tragic scenes, invented wholly by Jackson. However, the Pippin of the books was wiser. His allegiance to Denethor was properly explained, and he seemed like a true hero, rather than a silly Hobbit with a good singing voice.

6

Merry Brandybuck

Standout Moments: The Return Of The King

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Merry Brandybuck is yet another underrated Hobbit in The Lord of the Rings. Samwise Gamgee is commonly held as an underrated character, but Merry and Pippin are less so. That is why both of these Hobbits are even more underrated than Sam. Merry, like Pippin, got a sore deal in Peter Jackson’s movies. Dominic Monaghan was comedy gold as Merry but had many more notes in the book.

Merry was not just a knight in the novel, but a wise judge of character.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s Merry was a verifiable knight in shining armor. This was portrayed, to a certain extent, in the movies. On the battlefield with Éowyn in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Merry slayed the Witch-king of Angmar. Merry was not just a knight in the novel, but a wise judge of character. His allegiance to Théoden showed that he could see past rough exteriors and into true nobility, bonding readers with both of them.

5

Tom Bombadil

Standout Moments: The Fellowship Of The Ring

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Lord of the Rings’ Tom Bombadil is without a doubt one of Tolkien’s best creations. Bombadil was sadly left out of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, despite being one of its key characters. This may have been for the best, since it preserved his mystery, but it did make Bombadil one of the story’s more unknown characters and certainly one of its most underrated.

Tom Bombadil was recently put into Amazon Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. This show adapts Lord of the Rings’ Second Age, so Tom Bombadil’s appearance in season 2 was a surprise. Tom’s original material delighted some fans and confused others, so he remains an underrated Lord of the Rings character. He is just as enigmatic as he was in the 1950s, and there is much more left to learn about him for many fans.

4

Morgoth

Standout Moments: The Silmarillion

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Morgoth is Lord of the Rings’ original villain, but Sauron gets all the glory. Sauron is widely recognized as literature’s greatest villain, having influenced books and movies since 1954. Sauron is the main character of The Rings of Power, cementing his status as Lord of the Rings’ premiere villain. But Sauron learned everything he knew from Morgoth, who was bad long before Sauron. Tolkien described Morgoth’s fall from grace in The Silmarillion, whereby he looked for the Flame Imperishable in the Void.

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Possessing this flame grants being the ability to create life in Lord of the Rings, but only Middle-earth’s God, the One Eru Ilúvatar, is able to use it. Morgoth was seeking Godhood itself and it foreshadowed further arrogance and tyranny. Morgoth corrupted Sauron and many other Maiar, seeking to control Middle-earth and destroy what he couldn’t control. But this villain’s supreme evil is little-known to many casual LotR fans, making him an underrated character.

3

Denethor

Standout Moments: The Return Of The King

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Tolkien’s Denethor was an elegant and tragic man, but Jackson’s Denethor was a disgraceful leader. Peter Jackson made Denethor into a masterpiece of a villain, and in this sense, he is valued well. However, the movies definitely undersold Denethor and his many credentials. He was a good man, a good leader, and a kind and tortured soul, despite not being the best of fathers.

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This incredible uniqueness and strength is what drew Pippin to Denethor in the book, proving Pippin as a solid connoisseur of humanity, despite never having left the Shire before the quest to destroy the One Ring. Denethor was starkly abusive in the movies, which is what made Faramir so deeply sympathetic. However, this involved distorting both Denethor and Pippin significantly, leaving Denethor’s heroism doomed to obscurity.

2

Théoden

Standout Moments: The Two Towers

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Théoden may be The Lord of the Rings’ biggest unsung hero. Like Denethor, Pippin, and Merry, Théoden was far more heroic in Tolkien’s novel than he was in Peter Jackson’s movie trilogies. The Lord of the Rings movies defined fantasy for good reason – they truly made each character shine. But in order to emphasize the superiority of Aragorn and Gandalf, the movies had to take it easy on portraying the other characters’ best moments.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers gave some of Théoden’s best lines to Aragorn. This really did help make Aragorn one of cinema’s best heroes. However, it meant that moviegoers missed out on a faithful adaptation of one of literature’s greatest heroes. Aragorn was always confident in the book, while he foundered in uncertainty for the first two movies. In the book, it was Théoden who had all this excellent character development, going from a challenged antihero to a true hero.

1

Faramir

Standout Moments: The Fellowship Of The Ring

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Faramir is probably The Lord of the Rings’ most underrated character. Brother to Boromir, this legend missed out on a space in the Fellowship of the Ring, although he was always far more worthy of it than Boromir. Boromir was a hero in his own way too, eventually sacrificing himself to save the Hobbits. But Faramir, despite being younger than Boromir, was years ahead of his brother, and wise far beyond his years.

Faramir seemed troublesome in The Lord of the Rings movies, even though he eventually redeemed himself. However, in the novel, Faramir was a hero from the start, and recognized as such by Frodo and Sam. He was not warlike, resisting violence and power. He was peaceful and gentle, too kind to have a man like Denethor for a father, who valued more bullish masculinity. For all that, it was his quiet wisdom that made him by far the better leader than either Boromir or Denethor. This underrated character completely deserved his happy ending in The Lord of the Rings.

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The Lord of the Rings is a multimedia franchise consisting of several movies and a TV show released by Amazon titled The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The franchise is based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s book series that began in 1954 with The Fellowship of the Ring. The Lord of the Rings saw mainstream popularity with Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies.

Movie(s)

The Lord of the Rings (1978)
, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

Created by

J.R.R. Tolkien

First Film

The Lord of the Rings (1978)

Cast

Norman Bird
, Anthony Daniels
, Elijah Wood
, Ian McKellen
, Liv Tyler
, Viggo Mortensen
, Sean Astin
, Cate Blanchett
, John Rhys-Davies
, Billy Boyd
, Dominic Monaghan
, Orlando Bloom
, Christopher Lee
, Hugo Weaving
, Sean Bean
, Ian Holm
, Andy Serkis
, Brad Dourif
, Karl Urban
, Martin Freeman
, Richard Armitage
, James Nesbitt
, Ken Stott
, Benedict Cumberbatch
, Evangeline Lilly
, Lee Pace
, Luke Evans
, Morfydd Clark
, Mike Wood
, Ismael Cruz Cordova
, Charlie Vickers
, Markella Kavenagh
, Megan Richards
, Sara Zwangobani
, Daniel Weyman
, Cynthia Addai-Robinson
, Lenny Henry
, Brian Cox
, Shaun Dooley
, Miranda Otto
, Bilal Hasna
, Benjamin Wainwright
, Luke Pasqualino
, Christopher Guard
, William Squire
, Michael Scholes
, John Hurt

TV Show(s)

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

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Source: https://dinhtienhoang.edu.vn
Category: Entertainment