Despite being from one of the smallest races in Middle-earth, here’s how Gimli was still the tallest member of The Fellowship of the Ring.
Members of The Fellowship of the Ring might not have spent that much screen time together across all three Lord of the Rings movies, but the tallest member of the group was evident from the first scene.
The tallest Fellowship of the Ring member isn’t who you think
The Fellowship of the Ring consisted of nine members: one wizard (Gandalf), one Elf (Legolas), one Dwarf (Gimli), two men (Aragorn and Boromir), and four Hobbits (Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin).
In the movie trilogy, Gandalf, Legolas, Boromir, and Aragorn tower over their fellow Fellowship members; however, when it came to the actors portraying them, that’s a much different story.
It turns out that the tallest member of the group was nonother than Gimli’s actor, the iconic John Rhys-Davies!
That’s right, despite playing a Dwarf in the film adaptations, Rhys-Davies was indeed the tallest member of The Fellowship of the Ring:
- Gimli – 135 cm (4’5”); John Rhys-Davies – 185 cm (6’1”)
- Gandalf – 168 cm (5’6”); Ian McKellen – 180 cm (5’11”)
- Legolas – 185 cm (6’1”); Orlando Bloom – 180 cm (5’11”)
- Boromir – 185 cm (6’1”); Sean Bean – 180 cm (5’11”)
- Aragorn – 188 cm (6’2”); Viggo Mortensen – 180 cm (5’11”)
- Sam – 112 cm (3’8); Sean Astin – 170 cm (5’7”)
- Merry – 109 cm (3’7”); Bolly Boyd – 170 cm (5’7”)
- Pippin – 112 cm (3’8”); Dominic Monoghan – 170 cm (5’7”)
- Frodo – 124 cm (4’1”); Elijah Wood – 168cm (5’6”)
Interestingly, there are some slight differences to the original books here due to the nature of producing live-action films, for example, Aragorn is said to be 6’6” in Tolkien’s text, but this would not have been feasible in the big-screen adaptation.
It’s also worth noting that whilst Gimli/John Rhys-Davies may have been the tallest member of The Fellowship of the Ring, he wasn’t actually the tallest actor cast in The Lord of the Rings. That record went to Christopher Lee’s Saruman standing at 6’4.5”, followed by Hugo Weaving’s Elrond at 6’2”, and then Sala Baker’s Sauron just slightly over 6’1”.
Rhys-Davies was also the only member from The Lord of the Rings team not to get the iconic cast tattoo after shooting was completed – his stunt double filled in thankfully, rounding out the nine heroes.
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