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LOTR Movies : Characters & Actors - The Council of Elrond

First I took a look at the 22 people attending the Council of Elrond. To keep track of them all, I grouped them together by race and seating. Those groups were lettered A-H starting with Frodo (who is grouped with Gandalf) and going clockwise. Within each group, I gave them numbers running from 1-22, again starting with Frodo and going clockwise. It was my goal to document the minor characters played by extras. I did not give the major characters any attention other than marking their spots in the circle.

Included in this Album are Dwarves who arrived in Rivendell with Gimli but did not attend the Council.

Below is what I know about these characters.

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A : Hobbit & Istari

A1-Frodo

character name derived from the book

portrayed by Elijah Wood
A2-Gandalf

character name derived from the book

portrayed by Ian McKellen

 
B : Four Elves

B3-Saelbeth

character name derived from Decipher CCG card*

portrayed by Matt Appleton : Weta Workshop - standby armour & weapons technician

not mentioned in credits but Appleton signs autographs for that character

B4-Silinde

character name derived from Decipher CCG card*

portrayed by Sam Kelly : Wellington based actor & director

not mentioned in credits but Kelly signs autographs for that character

from 2004 blog entry : "His name's Sam Kelly, looks a bit like Orlando Bloom, which is why I suppose he was cast to PLAY AN ELF IN LORD OF THE RINGS. He played one of the blonde-locked elves at Rivendell at the Council of Elrond. He had a speaking part but it was cut from the movie. [...] He played an Uruk-Hai at Helm's Deep, and was in the coronation scene briefly."

B5-Legolas

character name derived from the book

portrayed by Orlando Bloom

B6-Galdor

character name derived from Decipher CCG card*

portrayed by Nathan Clark : a Wellington based graphic designer who answered a call for extras

not mentioned in credits

from web article : "Nathan’s role was as a featured extra, his main scene being the Council of Elrond where he played a 3,000 year old High Elf."
C : Two Men

C7-Ottar

character name derived from Decipher CCG card*

actor unknown

C8-Dasron

character name derived from Decipher CCG card*

actor unknown
D : Four Dwarves

D9-Thorin-III

character name derived from Decipher CCG card*

actor unknown

D10-Thrarin

character name derived from Decipher CCG card*

actor unknown

D11-Gimli

character name derived from the book

portrayed by John Rhys-Davies

D12-Farin

character name derived from Decipher CCG card*

actor unknown

Fror

  

Whenever wide shots of the Dwarves at the Council were taken, the actor depicting Gimli is almost always John Rhys-Davies' size double, Brett Beattie. Decipher used an image of Brett in his portrayal of Gimli on a card and named it 'Fror'. This character is dressed and made up the same as Gimli but one can tell from the face that it is Bret and not John.
E : Four Men

E13-Erland

character name derived from Decipher CCG card*

portrayed by Ray Henwood - prominent Wellington based stage and screen actor

not mentioned in credits but Henwood signs autographs for that character and lists it in various bios

E14-Boromir

character name derived from the book

portrayed by Sean Bean

E15-Hugin

character name derived from Decipher CCG card*

actor unknown

E16-Jarnsmid

character name derived from Decipher CCG card*

actor unknown
F : Two Elves

F17-Unnamed Elf
actor unknown

F18-Aegnor / 'Figwit' / 'Melpomaen'

character name, Aegnor, derived from Decipher CCG card*

the character was initially dubbed by fans as ‘Figwit’: Frodo is Great Who is That? In fanfiction, he is sometimes called Melpomaen, a rough translation of the elements "fig" (melpo in Qenya) and "wit" (maen in Noldorin)

portrayed by Bret McKenzie - a New Zealand musician, actor, producer, writer and comedian best known for being half of the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords with Jemaine Clement. Bret's father, Peter McKenzie, portrays Elendil in the prologue of FOTR. And Bret's brother, Justin, portrays another Elf attending the Council ('Faelon').

Bret was not credited in FOTR but was credited for the role of 'Elf Escort' in ROTK.
G : One Man

G19-Aragorn

character name derived from the book

portrayed by Viggo Mortensen
H : Three Elves
H20-‘Faelon’

possibly portrayed by Justin McKenzie - the brother of Bret McKenzie who plays Aegnor, also present at the Council of Elrond. In a USA Today article, Bret said Justin was an elf "for one second" but does not identify the scene. Assorted fan sites identify him as being in the Council of Elrond. I can't find stronger confirmation as to what scene he was in.

not mentioned in credits

the name of 'Faelon' is fan generated - supposedly the Sindarin translation of ‘Justin’

H21-Elrond

character name derived from the book

portrayed by Hugo Weaving
H22-Erestor

character name derived from Decipher CCG card*

portrayed by Jonathan Harding - a member of the movies' production crew as production assistant and runner. Jonathan also played a Lorien Elf named Dinendal.

not mentioned in credits

LOTR Movies : Characters & Actors - Dwarves at Rivendell but not at Council

When Gimli arrives at Rivendell (before the Council starts) you can see one other Dwarf traveling with him. The Dwarf is identified on a Decipher Card as Gloin (Gimli's father). But there are three other Dwarves depicted on various Decipher Cards that all seem to be located in Rivendell.

It's my belief that they were all intended to be part of the traveling party of Dwarves. Whether those Dwarves not seen in the movie were in an earlier cut or whether these cards were staged after the movies were filmed by Weta is not known. I'm guessing it was was from footage that was filmed and not used.

The names name/designation on the Decipher cards are:

Dwarf Guard / Dwarven Warrior

both cards depict same Dwarf in same pose

actor unknown
Dwarven Escort

actor unknown
Gloin

depicted on two different cards with different but very similar poses

actor unknown

Grimir

depicted on two different cards with different but fairly similar poses

actor unknown
  Decipher Collectible Card Game (CCG) is a collectible card game that involves large quantities of cards depicting various characters, objects, locations, attributes and events. Many of the cards for the LOTR CCG used characters seen in the movie and most of those cards identify the characters by a 'name'. I don't know who decided on these names. Most of these character names (for bit roles) are not included in the movies' credits. Was it just Decipher people? Did Weta name them (they were involved to some extent in the production of images for the cards)? Did the writers of the movie (Peter, Philippa and Fran) have some say in on how characters (unnamed in the movie's credits) were named? I don't know. Additionally, there have been some discrepancies in names between the cards and the movies. Therefore, I think it's important to understand that any name provided by a Decipher Card can only be given limited credence.