The actor who played Elrond in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ portrayed another role by talking to himself, but few people know about it

In the prologue of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, elves and humans face Sauron in a bloody battle for the survival of Middle-earth. Isildur, heir to the throne of Gondor, reacts to the murder of his father by cutting off the Dark Lord’s finger. In doing so, he obtains the One Ring, the enemy’s most powerful weapon, an artifact capable of controlling the other Rings of Power. The elf leader Elrond asks Isildur to destroy it in Mount Doom, in the same fires in which it was forged. Then, the human answers with a resounding “no.” The curious thing is that in Peter Jackson’s film, the words of Elrond and Isildur are spoken by the same actor, Hugo Weaving. So yes, in practice he is talking to himself.

Harry Sinclair was chosen by Jackson to play Isildur in The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King. The musician, director and singer only had one word in the script of the film, but does not say it in the final cut. The actor is a friend of the filmmaker and chose him because his physical appearance seemed suitable for the role. However, his way of saying “no” was unconvincing because it did not sound corrupt enough. So, it was decided that Hugo Weaving would dub it in the dubbing studio.

The ill-fated fate of Isildur

Isildur was destined to be king of Gondor, but was quickly corrupted by the One Ring. Despite his heroism, the artifact betrayed him and he was killed in an ambush. The One Ring was then lost for many years, until Sméagol found it, twisted its mind, and transformed it into the creature Gollum. The rest of the story is well known: Bilbo later found it, and it was passed on to Frodo Baggins, who was given the difficult task of destroying it in Mordor.

The forging of all the rings is told in ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’, the Amazon Prime Video series, which has garnered mixed reviews.

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