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1. Who directed The Fellowship of the Ring?
Peter Jackson
Jackson, a New Zealander best known until then for splatter comedies and Heavenly Creatures, shot all three films back to back in his home country. He also pops up in Bree as the carrot-chewing villager the hobbits pass in the rain.
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2. Who plays Frodo Baggins?
Elijah Wood
Wood, an American child actor, won the part with a homemade audition tape, shot in costume in the woods with a friend holding the camera and his best attempt at an English accent. He was one of the first actors cast and was eighteen when filming began.
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3. Who plays Gandalf?
Ian McKellen
McKellen earned a supporting actor Oscar nomination for the part, which Sean Connery had turned down. Christopher Lee is in the film too, as Saruman, and was the only member of the cast who had actually met Tolkien.
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4. What appears on the Ring after Gandalf pulls it from the fire at Bag End?
Lines of fiery writing
The letters are Elvish but the language is the Black Speech of Mordor, which Gandalf will not utter in the Shire. He translates instead: 'One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.'
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5. Which birthday is Bilbo celebrating at the start?
His 111th
Eleventy-one, in hobbit counting, and Bilbo marks it with a speech, a vanishing act courtesy of the Ring and a quiet exit from the Shire. Ian Holm, who plays him, had been Frodo in the BBC radio version of the book two decades earlier.
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6. What is Frodo's home region called?
The Shire
Hobbiton was built on a sheep farm near Matamata on New Zealand's North Island, with gardens planted a year ahead so they would look lived in. Gondor and Rohan are the kingdoms of men that dominate the sequels, and Mordor is where the Ring has to go.
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7. What name does Aragorn use when the hobbits meet him in Bree?
Strider
Strider is the Rangers' name for Aragorn, the heir to Gondor's throne, and Viggo Mortensen took the part late, after Stuart Townsend was dropped days before shooting. Stormcrow is a name thrown at Gandalf, and Thorin is the dwarf king of The Hobbit.
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8. What is the inn in Bree called?
The Prancing Pony
Barliman Butterbur, the innkeeper, tells the hobbits that the stranger in the corner is called Strider, and the Ringwraiths shred the empty beds there that night. The Green Dragon, the Golden Perch and the Ivy Bush are all inns back in the Shire.
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9. Who takes the wounded Frodo toward Rivendell in the film?
Arwen
In the book the rescuer is the elf lord Glorfindel, who puts Frodo on his horse for the dash to the ford. The film hands the ride to Liv Tyler's Arwen, who then calls up the flood that sweeps the Ringwraiths away; Tauriel was invented for The Hobbit films.
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10. How many members make up the Fellowship?
Nine
Nine walkers to set against the nine Ringwraiths: four hobbits, two men, an elf, a dwarf and a wizard. The nine actors marked the end of the shoot with matching tattoos of the Elvish word for nine; John Rhys-Davies sent his stunt double instead.
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11. Who plays Boromir?
Sean Bean
Bean's Boromir falls at the end of this film, shot full of arrows by the Uruk-hai while defending Merry and Pippin. His fear of flying was such that for the mountain scenes he hiked up to the location in full costume while the others took the helicopter.
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12. What is the name of the mines the group enters?
Moria
Moria is the ancient dwarf kingdom of Khazad-dûm, where Gimli expects a welcome from his cousin Balin and finds a tomb instead. Its doors open to the Elvish word for friend, the solution to the riddle on the archway that Frodo works out while Gandalf fumes.
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13. What creature does Gandalf face on the bridge?
A Balrog
Gandalf breaks the bridge of Khazad-dûm under the Balrog, but its whip catches his ankle and drags him into the chasm with a final 'Fly, you fools.' The cave troll turns up earlier, in Balin's tomb, and the Nazgûl are the Black Riders of the first half.
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14. What does Frodo's sword Sting do near orcs?
It glows blue
Bilbo found the blade in a troll hoard on his own adventure and named it Sting after using it on the spiders of Mirkwood. It is an Elvish knife, sword-sized only in a hobbit's hand, and he passes it to Frodo in Rivendell along with his old mithril shirt.
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15. Which singer performs May It Be over the end credits?
Enya
Enya wrote the song with her regular collaborators Nicky and Roma Ryan, and it was nominated for the best song Oscar, losing to Randy Newman's number from Monsters, Inc. She also composed and sang Aníron, the Aragorn and Arwen theme heard in Rivendell.
