Figwit
Encyclopedia
Elf (Middle-earth)
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Elves are one of the races that inhabit a fictional Earth, often called Middle-earth, and set in the remote past. They appear in The Hobbit and in The Lord of the Rings, but their complex history is described more fully in The Silmarillion...
extra in Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
The Lord of the Rings is an epic film trilogy consisting of three fantasy adventure films based on the three-volume book of the same name by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King .The films were directed by Peter...
, played by actor and musician Bret McKenzie
Bret McKenzie
Bret Peter Tarrant McKenzie is a comedian, actor, musician and producer, best known for being one half of the Grammy Award winning musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords along with Jemaine Clement....
of Flight of the Conchords
Flight of the Conchords
Flight of the Conchords are a New Zealand-based comedy duo composed of Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. The duo's comedy and music became the basis of a BBC radio series and then an American television series, which premiered in 2007 on HBO, also called Flight of the Conchords.They were named...
fame. The name Figwit derives from an acronym for "Frodo
Frodo Baggins
Frodo Baggins is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium.He is the main protagonist of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. He was a hobbit of the Shire who inherited Sauron's Ring from Bilbo Baggins and undertook the quest to destroy it in the fires of Mount Doom...
is grea...who is THAT?!?" .
Background
Bret McKenzieBret McKenzie
Bret Peter Tarrant McKenzie is a comedian, actor, musician and producer, best known for being one half of the Grammy Award winning musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords along with Jemaine Clement....
, half of the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords
Flight of the Conchords
Flight of the Conchords are a New Zealand-based comedy duo composed of Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. The duo's comedy and music became the basis of a BBC radio series and then an American television series, which premiered in 2007 on HBO, also called Flight of the Conchords.They were named...
and a Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
native, first landed a small role as an extra
Extra (actor)
A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera or ballet production, who appears in a nonspeaking, nonsinging or nondancing capacity, usually in the background...
in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. He appears sitting two seats away from Aragorn
Aragorn
Aragorn II is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, one of the main protagonists of The Lord of the Rings. He is first introduced by the name Strider, which the hobbits continue to call him...
during the council in Rivendell
Rivendell
Rivendell is an Elven outpost in Middle-earth, a fictional realm created by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was established and ruled by Elrond in the Second Age of Middle-earth...
scene. When it is decided that the Ring
One Ring
The One Ring is a fictional artifact that appears as the central plot element in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy novels. It is described in an earlier story, The Hobbit , as a magic ring of invisibility. The sequel The Lord of the Rings describes its powers as being more encompassing than...
must be destroyed, Frodo offers to take the Ring to Mordor, and Elrond
Elrond
Elrond Half-elven is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He is introduced in The Hobbit, and plays a supporting role in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.-Character overview:...
proclaims the formation of the Fellowship of the Ring. The elf was dubbed "Figwit" by Tolkien fan
Tolkien fandom
Tolkien fandom is an international, informal community of fans of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially of the Middle-earth legendarium which includes The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion...
Iris Hadad; after seeing Frodo agree to take the ring, saying "I will take it", the film switches to a shot where Figwit can be seen standing on the far right, and Hadad's initial reaction was "Frodo is grea...who is THAT?!?" Later, Hadad corresponded with her university friend Sherry de Andres, and the two created the first Figwit fan website, www.figwitlives.net, calling him "Legolas
Legolas
Legolas is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, featured in The Lord of the Rings. He is an Elf of the Woodland Realm and one of nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring.- Literature :...
for the thinking woman".
McKenzie appeared as Figwit again in the third film, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a 2003 epic fantasy-drama film directed by Peter Jackson that is based on the second and third volumes of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings...
, where he was credited as "Elf Escort". He appears in the scene where Arwen
Arwen
Arwen Undómiel is a fictional character in J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium. She appears in his novel, The Lord of the Rings, usually published in three volumes. Arwen is one of the Half-elven who lived during the Third Age.-Literature:...
is leaving for the Grey Havens and has a vision of her future son, Eldarion
Eldarion
Eldarion Telcontar is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He was the only recorded son of Arwen and Aragorn, born in the Fourth Age. He became the Second High King of the Reunited Kingdom of Gondor and Arnor after his father died."Eldarion" means "Son of the...
, this time with two lines warning her to not delay and then exclaiming as she turns around. Director Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
stated in the DVD commentary for The Return of the King that Figwit was called back and given dialogue in the third film "just for fun for the fans" because "so much fuss has been made about him over the last couple of years".
In the forthcoming film version of The Hobbit, McKenzie has been cast as Lindir, an elf of Rivendell who appeared briefly in J.R.R. Tolkien's novel, The Fellowship of the Ring
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Fellowship of the Ring is the first of three volumes of the epic novel The Lord of the Rings by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It takes place in the fictional universe Middle-earth. It was originally published on July 29, 1954 in the United Kingdom...
. Whether Lindir and Figwit are the same character or simply share an actor is unknown.
Popularity
Though he only appeared for about three seconds in the first film, Figwit's popularity soon blossomed, with Hadad stating that "[the fan site] got a lot of emails from people who thought they were the only ones who had noticed that handsome, dark-haired elf". Figwit's physical appearance and demeanor are the source of much of his popularity: he has been noted for his "lithe and graceful" movement, "enigmatic broodiness", "haughty demeanor", and "pouty" looks. His fan website proclaims him "in a word, gorgeous. Or another, stunning... hypnotic... stupendous... captivating... take your pick."McKenzie has stated that the Figwit obsession is "weird", though he is "flattered". He has remarked that "it's so hilarious because it's been propelled by so little ... I'm famous for doing nothing."
In other media
Figwit does not appear in Tolkien's writings and was created exclusively for the films; thus there is little authentic information regarding him, save that he was an escort. The only "official" place where the name Figwit is used is on several ToppsTopps
The Topps Company, Inc., manufactures chewing gum, candy and collectibles. Based in New York, New York, Topps is best known as a leading producer of baseball cards, football cards, basketball cards, hockey cards and other sports and non-sports themed trading cards.-Company history:Topps itself was...
trading cards, including a The Return of the King series card, titled "Return to Rivendell", and an Authentic Autographs card featuring the signature of actor Bret McKenzie
Bret McKenzie
Bret Peter Tarrant McKenzie is a comedian, actor, musician and producer, best known for being one half of the Grammy Award winning musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords along with Jemaine Clement....
. In The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game
The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game
The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game is a collectible card game produced by Decipher, Inc. Released November 2001, it is based on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy and the J. R. R. Tolkien novel on which the films were based. Decipher also have the rights to The Hobbit novel...
he was assigned the name of Aegnor, one of Galadriel
Galadriel
Galadriel is a character created by J.R.R. Tolkien, appearing in his Middle-earth legendarium. She appears in The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales....
's brothers in The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion is a collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic works, edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay, who later became a noted fantasy writer. The Silmarillion, along with J. R. R...
. A Figwit action figure
Action figure
An action figure is a posable character figurine, made of plastic or other materials, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, video game, or television program. These action figures are usually marketed towards boys and male collectors...
was also created, though it was named "Elven Escort", as in the film.
Figwit has been a subject of poetry, art, and fiction. He is also a subject in slash
Slash fiction
Slash fiction is a genre of fan fiction that focuses on the depiction of romantic or sexual relationships between fictional characters of the same sex...
fan fiction
Fan fiction
Fan fiction is a broadly-defined term for fan labor regarding stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator...
, where he is named "Melpomaen", a rough, literal Elvish translation of "fig" and "wit", derived from melpo, the Quenya
Quenya
Quenya is a fictional language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and used in his Secondary world, often called Middle-earth.Quenya is one of the many Elvish languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called Quendi in Quenya. The tongue actually called Quenya was in origin the speech of two clans of Elves...
word for fruit (fig
Ficus
Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemiepiphyte in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The Common Fig Ficus is a genus of...
), and maen, the Noldorin
Sindarin
Sindarin is a fictional language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and used in his secondary world, often called Middle-earth.Sindarin is one of the many languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called the Eledhrim or Edhellim in Sindarin....
word for clever or skilled.
Documentary
In 2004, a 57-minute documentaryDocumentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
on the Figwit phenomenon was created by McKenzie's fiancée (and now wife) Hannah Clarke and friends Stan Alley and Nick Booth. Entitled Frodo Is Great... Who Is That?!!, it premiered at the Auckland International Film Festival on July 23. Meant to "[unravel] Bret's identity", it follows McKenzie to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where he meets the fans of his trademark pout and "elvish good looks", and features extensive interviews with fans behind various Figwit fan sites as well as with Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
, Barrie Osborne, Mark Ordesky
Mark Ordesky
Mark Lowell Ordesky is an American film producer and film studio executive. He is best known for executive producing the Oscar-winning The Lord of the Rings trilogy.- Personal life :...
, Ian McKellen
Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE is an English actor. He has received a Tony Award, two Academy Award nominations, and five Emmy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction...
, and other cast members. Booth stated that their film was "much more irreverent and strange" compared to other behind-the-scenes documentaries of the film trilogy, which were "very much driven around the production and the cast and Tolkien".