One Rings Of Power Actor Has Appeared In Every Live-Action Tolkien Adaptation — But You May Not Recognize Him
When it comes to the most entertaining Easter eggs and tidbits sprinkled throughout "The Lord of the Rings," there are a handful of time-honored traditions that fans have passed down and made sure to turn into endearing memes. Did you know that Viggo Mortensen broke his toe after kicking a helmet? How about the fact that Sir Christopher Lee was the only cast member to actually know J.R.R. Tolkien? Oh, and then there are all the various cameos by director Peter Jackson throughout the trilogy.
But even the most knowledgeable viewers may have missed a specific fun fact that has linked every single live-action Tolkien adaptation together. Of all the talent that have participated in various Middle-earth stories over the last two decades, only a sole individual has left their fingerprints on each and every one on-camera. (To be fair, behind-the-scenes individuals like composer Howard Shore and concept artist John Howe have contributed to all three major adaptations since 2001, as well.) No, it's not mo-cap actor extraordinaire Andy Serkis or even director Peter Jackson, whom Amazon initially asked to consult but ultimately backtracked on.
Instead, while many may not have immediately recognized his face at the time, millions of viewers have certainly witnessed actor Jed Brophy's work several times over throughout "The Lord of the Rings," "The Hobbit," and now "The Rings of Power."
Master of Middle-earth
Good things come to those who always pay close attention to the ending credits. After the last few episodes of "The Rings of Power," viewers have started to clue in to the fact that Jed Brophy has been brought back yet again.
Brophy's path to becoming a recurring presence in Middle-earth is a long and entertaining one.
The New Zealand native first got on director Peter Jackson's radar with his role in 1994's "Heavenly Creatures" and has remained a constant stalwart in the filmmaker's movies ever since. When Jackson managed to land the prize of a lifetime with "The Lord of the Rings," he made sure to bring Brophy along for the ride with an uncredited performance as a Ringwraith in "The Fellowship of the Ring." After that, the actor found himself piling on the makeup and prosthetics for multiple roles in Tolkien's fantasy world. "The Two Towers" expanded his role even more, allowing him to give dual performances: first as the memorable orc Sharku, who narrowly escaped taking "a little tumble off the cliff" with Aragorn during the warg attack set piece, and again as the org Snaga, who had the honor of uttering the line, "Yeah, why can't we have some meat?" that led to one of the biggest memes of the trilogy.
He's since played elves, the dwarf Nori in "The Hobbit" trilogy, and finally landed the role of one of the lead orcs named Vrath in "The Rings of Power," running the labor camp that imprisoned the elf Arondir. You could even say this tradition runs in the family, as well. In "The Return of the King," Brophy's young son Sadwyn portrayed Aragorn and Arwen's child in a vision of the future.
It simply wouldn't be a Middle-earth adaptation without involving Jed Brophy in some capacity.