Summary
- Bret McKenzie's cameo in The Lord of the Rings trilogy as an elf quickly gained a cult following among Tolkien fans, leading to his return in The Hobbit.
- McKenzie played three different elf characters in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, each with a separate role and appearance.
- The fans' enthusiastic reaction to McKenzie's character prompted Peter Jackson to not only acknowledge their nickname for him but also bring him back for The Hobbit, showing his dedication to fan satisfaction.
Despite being a small role in the The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Bret McKenzie Lord of the Rings role has earned a place in Tolkien legend leading to the Flight of the Conchords comedian returning for The Hobbit. Almost 20 years after Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring first hit theaters, the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies remain two of the most ambitious movie undertakings of all time, and given their sheer scale, it's no surprise that a few celebrity cameos, including Stephen Colbert and Jackson himself. However, the Bret McKenzie Lord of the Rings cameo is likely the most famous of all.
Outside of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, best known as one half of the Flight of the Conchords comedy duo, McKenzie has enjoyed a few small TV parts and provided music for the big screen Muppets releases, even winning an Oscar for his original song "Man or Muppet." McKenzie also has three Lord of the Rings credits to his name in The Fellowship of the Ring, The Return of the King and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. But while McKenzie's elf cameo wasn't intended to create a cult movement among Tolkien fans, that's exactly what happened.
Who Bret McKenzie Plays In Lord Of The Rings & The Hobbit
The first Bret McKenzie Lord of the Rings role was as an unnamed elf who can be seen at the Council of Elrond shortly after Frodo offers to take the Ring to Mordor. He later appears in The Return of the King as an elf escorting Arwen to the Undying Lands, given the one line "Lady Arwen, we cannot delay." In An Unexpected Journey, McKenzie plays a seemingly higher-ranking elf called Lindir who derives from Tolkien's books. Although it's not explicit in the movies, the actor himself has confirmed that he considers these portrayals separate characters due to their different costumes and ears.
It's not clear why Bret McKenzie was given the Lindir title for The Hobbit after going unnamed in The Lord of the Rings. Both Lindir and the unnamed elf are glimpsed in the same location, Rivendell, and since elves don't age like mortals, the different time periods wouldn't have been an issue either. It's possible that Jackson intended all three of McKenzie's appearances to be one single character, but only assigned him an official name for The Hobbit.
Bret McKenzie's LOTR Character Gained A Cult Following
Though the Bret McKenzie Lord of the Rings appearances were brief among the epic scope of Peter Jackson's movies, they did connect with audiences. The character has no lines and barely appears on screen, but McKenzie's elf rapidly developed a cult following as well as a nickname. After a Tolkien fan named Iris Hadad spotted McKenzie while watching the scene and exclaimed "Frodo Is Great... Who Is That?" which became used as inspiration to call him Figwit once discussion of McKenzie's role caught on among online fans.
Following his christening, Figwit became a keen source of intrigue among Lord of the Rings fans, somewhere between a Boba Fett-esque unknown man of mystery and an elven sex symbol. There was even a comedy documentary made which chronicled McKenzie's sudden fame among fans due to the small appearance. Made years before HBO's Flight of the Conchords series, the documentary Frodo Is Great... Who Is That also featured McKenzie's bandmate and collaborator Jemaine Clement as well as filmmaker Taika Waititi.
Why Bret McKenzie Was Brought Back
The fans' reaction to the Bret McKenzie Lord of the Rings role inspired Peter Jackson to expand his role in the mythology. After the Figwit phenomenon caught on, Jackson not only acknowledged the fans' name for McKenzie's character but brought him back for his third Middle-earth appearance in Jackson's first Hobbit movie. With a franchise as popular as Lord of the Rings, it seems likely that Jackson is made aware of endless wishes and demands from fans, many of which he could not possibly pull off. The fact that the Oscar-winning filmmaker went out of his way to acknowledge and continue this little obsession in the fandom makes for a fun little Easter egg.