Anyone who has already seen the third episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Prime Video * is now surely wondering who the mysterious villain Adar is. Or enjoy a corrected orc trait. But did you also notice that in the episode a Actor who appeared in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogy appears?
Lord of the Rings triumph: Actor Jed Brophy has made it into all seven live-action movies
The actor who has managed to snag performances in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, all three Hobbit films and now Amazon’s The Rings of Power series is the New Zealander Jed Brophy. Didn’t you notice that? Well, that’s not surprising, because as a master of transformation, the actor had sometimes bigger and sometimes smaller roles and always disappeared behind (orc) make-up. This is how he looks without a mask:
© Dark Horse Films
Lord of the Rings actor Jed Brophy (here in Blue Moon)
Who exactly did Jed Brophy play in the Lord of the Rings movies? We show you his performances in detail:
In Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Jed Brophy played a ring wraith and an elf
Everyone has to start small, and so Jed Brophy made his debut in Peter Jackson’s first journey to Middle-earth The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in non-speaking roles, where he sometimes wasn’t even allowed to show his face: as the Black Rider, one of the Nazgûlhe made life difficult for Frodo, and when wandering Elbe he moved (in the Extended Edition*) to the west.
©Warner
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Jed Brophy as Nazgûl and Elf
In Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Jed Brophy played two orcs
In The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Jed Brophy was then allowed to switch races and slip into an orc skin. Of course he was hardly recognizable behind the mask. So it wasn’t a problem that he was playing two different orcs: the warg rider Sharkû and the fellow kidnapper Snaga, who suggests eating Merry and Pippin. – He also mimes another one in the Extended Cut * Riders of Rohan.
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The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – Jed Brophy as Sharkû, Snaga and Rohir
In Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Jed Brophy played his third orc
At the end of the trilogy, the New Zealand actor was allowed to expand his orc repertoire even more. Even though his character doesn’t have a specific name, he’s called “Featured Orc,” that is important orcwho not only stands around in the background: he inspects Frodo and Sam in Mordor and also plays the Armorer of the Witch-king from Angmar.
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The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Jed Brophy as Orc
Jed Brophy played the dwarf Nori in The Hobbit trilogy
Jed Brophy then became even more important in Peter Jackson’s next Middle-earth trilogy: In The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, he had his most famous and recognizable Lord of the Rings appearance to date: Because he played here Nori one of the 13 dwarfswho accompanies Bilbo to the Lonely Mountain.
©Warner
The Hobbit 1-3: Jed Brophy as Nori
Jed Brophy plays Orc Vrath in Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series The Rings of Power
Anyone who has followed Jed Brophy’s Middle-earth career will have rejoiced in episode 3 of The Rings of Power: for here the actor returned to Tolkien’s realm. Again he was allowed one orc play: His creature is named Vrath and resides in the prisoner’s lair where Arondir (unsuccessfully) rebels.
©Amazon
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – Jed Brophy as Vrath
The New Zealander has quietly created his very own Tolkien niche. Only a few others managed to make the leap from the film trilogies to the Amazon series in front of the camera. His colleague Peter Tait, for example, played the orc Shagrat in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and can now be seen as southerner Tredwill. But no one can boast as many appearances in the Lord of the Rings universe as Jed Brophy with his 20+ year involvement in Middle-earth.
Is the Lord of the Rings series already a triumph after episode 1 & 2?
After more than 4 years of preparation and endless trailers, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is finally here. But are the first hours of the fantasy project good? In the podcast we let our enthusiasm run free – but we also criticize the series.
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Narrative clarity, attention to detail and the effort put into it can already be seen in episodes 1 and 2. The potential for another Middle-earth triumph after Peter Jackson’s revered Tolkien trilogy is undoubtedly there.
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Are you happy with Jed Brophy about his Middle-earth presence in all Lord of the Rings movies?