Fact: I Just Found Out All Nine Fellowship Actors Share the Same Secret
A quiet mark of their time in Middle-earth.
I’ve watched The Lord of the Rings films more times than I can count, but somehow I missed this incredible behind-the-scenes detail. All nine members of the Fellowship cast decided to mark their bond in a very permanent way — with matching tattoos.
After filming wrapped, the actors playing Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Frodo (Elijah Wood), Sam (Sean Astin), Merry (Dominic Monaghan), Pippin (Billy Boyd), Gandalf (Ian McKellen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), and Boromir (Sean Bean) went to a tattoo parlor in Wellington, New Zealand. There, they each got the word 'nine' inked in Elvish script — a nod to the nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring.
There’s even a small side note: John Rhys-Davies, who played Gimli, chose not to get the tattoo himself, but his stunt double, Brett Beattie, did it in his place. The rest of the cast all carry theirs proudly — as a private, lifelong reminder of their journey together.
It’s such a fitting tribute: a band of characters bound by an oath in the story, mirrored by the actors who brought them to life. And like the Fellowship itself, that mark is something they’ll carry forever.
