The demon Gnarl in the episode 7.03 Same Time, Same Place, is very similar to the Lord of the Rings character Gollum. Jane Espenson confirmed that this was intentional in a post at the Bronze Beta:
“Collect the money on the bet. There was some Gollum in the history of Gnarl.”
In 5.18 Intervention, Xander says that Buffy called Glory’s minions “hobbits with leprosy”. He’s referring to J.R.R. Tolkien’s creatures from his book The Hobbit and the trilogy the Lord of the Rings. Hobbits are like men, but are much smaller, with large hairy feet. They are home-loving and enjoy food, parties and smoking pipes. Glory later calls Spike “Precious”, which is fitting as the Lord of the Rings character Gollum refers to the One Ring as “my precious”.
In 6.11 Gone, Warren says to Jonathan, “Oh, cheer up, Frodo”. Frodo Baggins is a character from Lord of the Rings. In 7.22 Chosen, the scenes of the thousands of CGI Turok-Han in the Hellmouth was clearly influenced by the scenes in the Mines of Moria in the Lord of the Rings movie The Fellowship of the Ring.
In 5.11 Damage, Andrew reacts to Spike’s reappearance by comparing it to Gandalf’s resurrection in The Fellowship of the Ring (”more beautiful than ever”) before weeping on Spike’s shoulder and whispering “Frodo, he’s alive.”
In 5.21 Power Play, Gunn calls Drogyn “Aragorn.” Aragorn is the name of a long-haired character in The Lord of the Rings, played in the movie version by actor Viggo Mortensen.
Related episodes: 5.11 Damage, 5.18 Intervention, 5.21 Power Play, 6.11 Gone, 7.03 Same Time, Same Place, 7.22 Chosen
Comments on this trivia
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glumplum on July 25th, 2005 at 7:34 pm
Spike has struck me as a kind of Gollum/Smeagol character. I mean, there have been numerous times when Buffy could have/should have killed him, but something stopped her, just like Frodo in Lord of the Rings. Gollum is the one who actually caused the One Ring to be cast into Mount Doom, ending Sauron, and Spike is the one who brought the Hellmouth to an end. I just like the parallels, what with Buffy being the Chosen One (and alone because of this) and Frodo being a Ringbearer (and, again, alone because of this). I know I’m probably reading way too much into this and am exposing myself as an ubergeek, but I just thought it was nifty. Also, Spike is waaaaaay hotter than Gollum.
Puja on August 5th, 2005 at 2:00 am
When Andrew makes his entrance into Angel 5×11 Damage, he reacts to Spike’s reappearance with high geekdom by comparing it to Gandalf’s resurrection “more beautiful than ever” before weeping on Spike’s shoulder and whispering “Frodo, he’s alive.”
So, more LotR.
Seddah on December 22nd, 2005 at 9:58 am
“I know I
Culf on September 15th, 2006 at 2:27 am
Warren calls Jonathan Frodo because, Jonathan, like Frodo, is very short (but still adorable!) I know, you all knew that, but I figured it should have been mentioned in the trivia section.
Wynter on December 26th, 2006 at 11:50 pm
Could it also be said that Andrew’s comment in Damage, about Spike’s “Viggo Mortenson pectorals” are also a reference to Lord of the Rings? Or do you think that’s just a general reference to Viggo Mortenson? I’m unsure, I’ll leave it to TPTB (Jess) to work it out!
alwaysthebest on May 12th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
LOTR is also referenced in the Angel episode The magic Bullet. The speech is said to seem like a prologue to a movie about magic dwarfs. Gunn explains that were Hobbits.