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In The Lord of the Rings movies, a lot of the humor comes from noble Gimli having... well, not a great time. From getting tossed to foisted by his beard to winded on the plains of Rohan, the son of Gloin went through a lot of discomfort, usually for comedic effect. Behind the scenes, though, the actor who played Gimli had a pretty notable advantage as opposed to the rest of the cast: that is, a hand-delivered La-Z-Boy reserved for him on set.

This little behind-the-scenes tidbit doesn't come from Rhys Davies at all, but from one of his costars, Aragorn actor Viggo Mortensen. Along with Sean Bean, Mortensen had sat down with Empire Magazine for a deep dive into The Fellowship of the Ring's history on this, the 25th anniversary of its theatrical debit. And it was during this chat that Mortensen revealed Rhys Davies to be Lord of the Chairs.

"I also remember during that first day of work," recounts the Hidalgo actor, "We were like, Where's John [Rhys-Davies]?' And then suddenly this helicopter comes up with a huge net holding a giant La-Z-Boy recliner and they put it on the set. It was in his contract." 

You heard right, folks - not only did Rhys Davies sign on to portray Gimli with the provision he have a La-Z-Boy in the studio, but that he'd have it wherever they were filming. I'm sure there's a joke here about the chair being something of a burden to take up a mountain, but I'm not clever enough to make it.

"We all had a stool or something," continued Mortensen, laughing, "And he had a La-Z-Boy recliner! I think it was because his costume was so heavy, I don't know what his excuse was. Everywhere we went, no matter how hard the terrain was, if it had to come in a helicopter, so be it: he had this big La-Z-Boy chair."

All this to say, next time you watch The Lord of the Rings and feel a little bad for what Gimli's going through, remember that he has a little piece of the Gray Havens reserved only for him, waiting just off camera. 

The Lord of the Rings is streaming on HBO Max.

Whether you're Shirefolk, Elven, Dwarven, or something else, there's a good reason to love Lord of the Rings. We do! With that in mind, we have a dragon's horde of goodies for you:

• Lord of the Rings reading guide 
• Lord of the Rings watch guide
• The Lord of the Rings reunion panel you can watch 
• The OG Hobbit actors stay in touch every day on a groupchat 
• The true message of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, according to Gimli himself - John Rhys-Davies.