“That was my first time living away from home for any long period of time. And, looking back as a now-40-year-old, he’s amazed by how formative his years filming Rings actually were. Wood was a spritely 18 years old when he touched down in New Zealand to begin filming Rings. From remote mountain tops, to the middle of orc armies, to grueling hours of make-up, and local pubs after 16-hour days of shooting, the hobbits formed a real fellowship during those 16 months filming in New Zealand (three months longer than it took Frodo and Sam to walk the ring to Mordor and make it back home to the Shire). Together, they had been on a journey that began in 1999 and lasted through 438 days of filming (all three movies at once!) in New Zealand. “They’ve been texting each other in the morning, like ‘Let’s go get coffee.’ We haven’t really been able to hang out like this in 16 years probably.” “They’ve been going out to dinner and they’ll text me a photo of my seat at the dinner table without me in it, which is really, really sweet,” Wood tells me over Zoom from his home in LA. This month, they traveled to New York City for an upcoming anniversary event, but their Ring Bearer couldn't make it there in person, a fact that’s caused him not a little FOMO. Until now, as the most beloved fantasy series ever made celebrates its 20th anniversary. The hobbits have remained friends but they’ve rarely had the chance to get all four of them together in one place. But which Baggins is the greater riddler? Now that is a question only the audience can decide the answer to.“Yes, we call ourselves the hobbits,” Elijah Wood confirms before I can even ask if Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, and Dominic Monaghan really refer to themselves as “the Hobbits.” It’s a title they’ve embraced for 20 years now, since they first appeared as Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Pippin Took, and Merry Brandybuck, respectively, in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. And a good thing too, for both Bilbo and Frodo have gotten themselves out of very dangerous situations with their abilities to combine fun and inquisitiveness with quick, logical thinking in the face of pressure. However, in order to play riddles, there is a particular light-heartedness and humor that must accompany the problem-solving and intellectual thinking that goes into these pastimes, which is why the Hobbits make the perfect candidates. This is also true of both Aragorn and Boromir, who place particular emphasis on their roles as leaders, being descended from the Kings of the Argonath, and the ancient lines of Gondor. Although the presentation of elves differs from the books to films, they are shown throughout the movies as a particularly serious people. Many other races within the book seem to take things a lot more seriously than the Hobbits, as can be seen with Pippin being a classic example of comedy throughout the trilogy.
Frodo, however, is still focussed on the illuminated words on the wall, and is subsequently the one to crack the riddle ‘Speak Friend and Enter.’ He asks Gandalf what the elvish word for friend is, thus gaining them all passage inside, just in time to avoid an agonizing death at the hands of the Watcher in the Water. Merry and Pippin, who are the youngest members of the fellowship, throw rocks at the water, to entertain themselves, Legolas, Gimli, and Boromir search for another way in, and Aragorn helps Sam release Bill the Pony to go back home before they enter the long dark tunnels under the ground.
He issues many elvish phrases, commands the entrance to let them in, and eventually sits back, stumped and defeated whilst the others grow bored.
Much later on, in the Fellowship of the Ring, we see the 9 companions stuck outside the gates of the Mines of Moria, as Gandalf tries every which way he can think of to open the moonlit door. RELATED: How Denethor And Theoden Different, And How Are They The Same? They parry guessing games and tongue-twisters back and forth until Bilbo finally wins with the famous question ‘What have I got in my pocket?’ Not exactly a riddle, but then Gollum, who was once Smeagol, doesn’t completely play by the rules either.
60 years ago, in fact, because those who have watched The Hobbitfilms will know that he says this in reference to the game of riddles that Bilbo Baggins plays in a bid to stall the creature Gollum long enough to avoid being eaten and make his escape.
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