'One ring to rule them all. One ring to find them. One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.' In the conclusion of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, as armies mass for a final battle that will decide the fate of the world--and powerful, ancient forces of Light and Dark compete to determine the outcome--one member of the Fellowship of the Ring is revealed as the noble heir to the throne of the Kings of Men. Yet, the sole hope for triumph over evil lies with a brave hobbit, Frodo, who, accompanied only by his loyal friend Sam and the hideous, wretched Gollum, ventures deep into the very dark heart of Mordor on his seemingly impossible quest to destroy the Ring of Power.
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During the filming of the Rohirrim's charge, one rider actually fell off the back of his horse mid-shot. Every single horse charging behind him somehow missed or dodged him, and he walked away without a scratch.
That moment where Theoden reaches out to touch each of his soldiers' spears before the Pelennor Fields charge wasn't in the script. Bernard Hill came up with it himself, and it became one of the film's quietly powerful beats.
The sound designers built Shelob's shriek out of several unrelated recordings layered together, including a plastic alien toy, hissing steam, and an actual Tasmanian devil. Somehow it all blends into one nightmare noise.
John Noble's Denethor wears a sword on his belt for the entire film despite never once drawing it. The props department just gave it to him so he'd feel like part of the club alongside everyone else who actually fought.
The field chosen for the Battle of the Pelennor Fields turned out to be riddled with rabbit warrens. Before any horses could gallop across it, the whole terrain had to be swept and every hole filled in for safety.
Dominic Monaghan isn't much of a smoker, so before filming the scene of Merry and Pippin puffing away at Isengard, he'd drink milk beforehand just to keep from getting sick on camera.
Ian McKellen has openly admitted he walked off with Gandalf's staff once filming wrapped, and it now sits on display at The Grapes, the London pub he co-owns.
In the shot where Shelob stabs Frodo, the prop stinger actually caught Elijah Wood for real. He's said it was genuinely painful and left him in hospital for a few days afterwards.
An early plan had Sauron stepping out to physically fight Aragorn during the battle at the Black Gate. That sequence was scrapped and replaced with a troll, which is why the Extended Edition's Palantir scene still shows Sauron seated in solid form rather than just the fiery eye.
Among the hundreds of blades welded together to form the Iron Throne, one of them has a much older claim to fame. Look carefully and you can spot Glamdring, the sword used by Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings, hidden among the swords of vanquished kings and lords.
