Lord of the Rings fans got more than they bargained for while touring New Zealand’s Hobbiton set recently. Ed Sheeran popped into The Green Dragon for a flagon of ale and to perform I See Fire – the song he recorded a decade ago for 2013’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
“Guests of our Evening Banquet Tour just had a visit from a very special guest,” the Lord of the Rings filming locations Hobbiton Tours Instagram account posted to their stories. “[Ed Sheeran] surprised fans in The Green Dragon Inn with a familiar tune.” In 2013, Sheeran discussed his love of Lord of the Rings, and particularly The Hobbit with Entertainment Weekly. His grandfather owns a rare first edition of the book.
Sheeran also spoke of the collaboration process with Peter Jackson; “I was there for three days, and at the end of every day he would come and listen to the song and give me notes. He knows what he wants, but he doesn’t pretend to be musical in any way. He let me go on with it, but he also knows his movie, so he would tell me something needs to be less energetic, or more relaxed, or whatever. He knows the colours and templates of what the song should be, rather than how the melody should go.”
Peter Jackson’s epic and ground-breaking Lord of the Rings trilogy was released between 2001-2003, and the most beloved Lord of the Rings characters, the hobbits (Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, and Dominic Monaghan) have been touring around comic cons and other fan events in the last year or so to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the trilogy.
A decade later, Jackson returned to Tolkien with The Hobbit trilogy, which was released between 2012-2014. And a decade after that, Prime Video secured the coveted rights to Tolkien’s work, and launched prequel series The Rings of Power.
Check out our guide to the best Rings of Power characters.