The Lord of the Rings: Old Companions – that’s how old Frodo, Gimli and Co.

• Hobbits, humans, a dwarf, an elf and a wizard form the community of the ring in “The Lord of the Rings”.
• In the film adaptations, these roles are of course played by actors whose actual age almost never matches the age of their characters.
• For example, did you know that Frodo in “The Fellowship of the Ring” is already 50 years old?

Time isn’t a big issue in Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” films. While JRR Tolkien didn’t hold back with descriptions in his books, in the adaptation a lot is left to the audience’s imagination. How old are the companions and how long have they been on the road? This is (almost) never mentioned in the films.

Nevertheless, an age can be determined for all members of the ring community, although in two cases we have to make do with an estimate. There are a few surprises, because in Middle-earth the different races usually don’t look their age!

Gandalf

Gandalf is undoubtedly the oldest member of the Ring’s entourage. How old exactly? That can only be estimated. In his Istari form, in which Gandalf meets us in “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings”, Gandalf is almost 2,000 years old, having assumed his current form in the year 1000 of the Third Age.

However, Gandalf initially existed as Maiar under the name Olórin and was created by Ilúvatar at the beginning of time. When Gandalf returned to Valinor after defeating Sauron, he was approximately 55,000 years old, counting his time as Olórin.

Gimli

Ilúvatar created the Ainur, the elves and the men, but not the dwarves. Here the Valar Aulë allowed himself a little too much and as punishment for his unauthorized creation the dwarves did not receive the eternal life of the elves. But they weren’t supposed to live as short as humans, so the average lifespan of dwarves was 200 to 300 years.

At 139 years old, Gimli is a middle-aged dwarf when we meet him in “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”. In the year 120 of the Fourth Age, Gimli sets off with Legolas towards Valinor, at which point he is 259 years old.