Lord Of The Rings: Is Viggo Mortensen's Son Really In The Movies?

Actors often land minor roles for their friends and family as a fun perk of working on a movie set. Early in 2023, Sophia Nomvete, who plays the Dwarven Princess Disa in "The Rings of Power," revealed via Instagram that her baby daughter had cameoed as a Harfoot child in Season 1 of Amazon Studios' show. "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" writer Philippa Boyens landed cameos for her daughter, Phoebe Gittins, in both trilogies — as a "cute Hobbit child" and "Prancing Pony wench," respectively.

It turns out that these two aren't the only ones to sneak their kids in to play uncredited characters on Middle-earth sets, either. Viggo Mortensen also landed a trio of roles for his young son while filming "The Lord of the Rings" 20 years ago. According to IMDb, Henry Mortensen played a Rohan boy recruit and a Pelennor Orc in "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King," respectively. 

In 2019, a popular Instagram fan page added a trio of pictures of Henry on set, both in costume and out of costume with his dad. The post also lists a third cameo in the form of Henry playing a Gondor soldier in the Black Gate sequence at the end of "The Return of the King." To top it off, it adds the morbidly fun piece of trivia that Henry is the first Orc Aragorn kills after arriving at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, quite possibly making him the only offspring of an actor to be slain in battle by their parent on screen and in costume.

As if Henry Mortensen's on-screen adolescent involvement in "The Lord of the Rings" weren't enough, the boy was also the one primarily responsible for his dad playing the role of Aragorn. After director Peter Jackson decided that the initial Aragorn actor, Stuart Townsend, was too young for the role, he put a call in to Viggo Mortensen to see if he'd take the part. It was the 11th hour, and filming was already beginning. Mortensen hesitated, and his son gave his father the push he needed to commit to the role.

A few years ago, Mortensen explained the story yet again during an appearance on "Live with Kelly and Ryan." "I'm a slow starter, and I'm very aware you have to be talked into most roles," Mortensen said. "... I hadn't read the books, and I was a last-minute replacement. They were already filming."

The American-Danish actor elaborated that his son, who was 11 at the time, asked him who he was playing, and he replied, "It's this guy. He's in the woods with the small people." His son responded, "In the woods with the small people? That guy becomes the king." Henry added, "You gotta do that," and the rest was history. At that point, the fact that Henry got to leverage his dad's involvement into being able to play multiple cameos simply became the cherry on top of his newfound claim to fame as the real-world son of Aragorn, son of Arathorn.