When I was five years old, my very orderly family hid a precise number of colored eggs for each child. I was having some trouble finding that last pink egg, and my well-meaning (or smarty-pants) relatives started pointing towards the crook of a small oak tree. My pride was on the line, and I absolutely refused to “find” that final egg. However, candy will always get the better of me; I went out the next day, snatched the egg, and sincerely enjoyed the slightly melted chocolate inside.
If you detected a bit of yourself in that story – Beware! I am about to tell you the exact location of Tolkien Easter eggs in products like DVDs, games, and websites. But I’d say it’s worth a look, especially if you need help finding that last egg, or if you enjoy morsels of sweet geeky goodness, or if you just want to revel in the fact that you’ve already discovered most of them.
The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition DVDs
This first DVD Easter egg is found on Disc 1 of The Fellowship of the Ring. Go to the “Select a Scene” Menu and jump to the final set to find Scene 27: The Council of Elrond. Highlight that scene and press the “Down” arrow on your remote. An image of The Ring will appear; click “Enter” and enjoy an alternative version of the Council of Elrond scene featuring Jack Black and Sarah Michelle Gellar.
The Easter egg on The Two Towers can also be found by going to the “Select a Scene” Menu on Disc 1. Find the last scene, which is Scene 30: Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit. Just like last time, highlight the scene and press the “Down” arrow. When The Ring appears, click on it to watch Andy Serkis’ acceptance speech for MTV’s Best Virtual Performance Award.
The Return of the King DVD set has two Easter eggs! The first one can be found in the same way as on the previous two movies. You know the drill…Disc 1, “Select a Scene,” final scene (Scene 36: The Siege of Gondor), highlight, press “Down,” ring appears, and Voilà! Savor your technological prowess and be entertained by Hans Jensen’s interview with Elijah Wood.
The second Easter egg can be found on Disc 2. Upon inserting the disc, click “Main Menu” and from there go to “Select a Scene.” Go to the last scene, which is technically part of the credits, and highlight Scene 78: Fan Club Credits. Click “Down” and click on The Ring when it appears. In this clip, Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn try to convince Peter Jackson to do a sequel to The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
Video Games
I really don’t want to have the Easter egg vs. allusions semantic debate with you guys, so I will just say that here are some cool Tolkien-related observations from some of your favorite video games.
Photo: Erodov.com
According to the Elder Scrolls: Skyrim Wiki, there is a white tree in Whiterun that may be a reference to the White Tree of Gondor. The tree is called the Gildergreen and is grown from the oldest living thing in Skyrim, but is failing. On the quest “Battle for Whiterun,” you can find the character Hadvar or Ralof by the city wall after the battle. He hints at Legolas and Gimli’s rivalry when he says, “I’m pretty sure I killed more than you. I was counting.”
During the quest “A Night to Remember” the character Moira sounds a lot like Gollum as she refers to her wedding ring as “My precious.” Another “Ring” reference is made by the broken steel sword handle found in Angarvunde, reminiscent of Narsil. It is in an open chest with the remnants of a severed hand and a ring that suggest Sauron after he was defeated near Gwathló in the Second Age.
Did you ever play NetHack? This game was first released in 1987, and makes a number of references to the writings of Tolkien. Even on the website for the game, you are beckoned to “Click Friend and Enter.” The game includes two swords taken directly from The Hobbit—Orcist and Sting. By engraving the name Elbereth on a square, you can prevent most monsters from attacking you.
In Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, the Ring of Varda is dropped and its description is “Golden ring to rule over all.” Other items include Glamdring, the Black Sword Mormegil, Gram, and Gurthang.
In Dreamfall, Crow tells Zoë that he was “sidekick of the year,” but says “some fat, short guy” stole the title from him. “All he did was carry someone up a mountain.” Sound like Sam to you?
There are SO MANY more! I want to know about the Tolkien references you’ve found. Please leave a comment with your favorites!
Other Websites
Our friends over at RoadtotheShire.com have at least one Easter egg on their website. If you click on the (what I can only assume is) upside-down torso and legs sticking out of the mountain, Bilbo and Frodo put on birthday hats! I asked Beri, Olo, and Toad if there were more items to be unlocked, but I couldn’t get a straight answer. I guess I’ll keep looking!
The staff favorite has to be the Easter egg on Google Maps. We did a story about it in December, but I’ll refresh your memory. Go to Google Maps and click on “Get Directions.” Set your starting point as “The Shire” and your final destination as “Mordor.” Click on the pedestrian graphic to get walking directions. Google is kind enough to point out that “One does not simple walk into Mordor.” Sadly, this no longer works if you add stops like “The Prancing Pony” or “The Mines of Moria” along the way.
Got more Easter eggs? Please leave them in the comments!
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