10 On-Set Injuries You Won’t Believe Actors Worked Through

5. Viggo Mortensen - Broken Toes - Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Ring

Aragorn is probably one of the toughest characters in Lord of the Rings (if not all literature, ever), but Viggo Mortensen proved to be only slightly more breakable than his Middle Earth counterpart. Weird accidents and injuries were hardly uncommon on the set of the Tolkien epic, with Sean Astin getting a shard of glass through his foot, Orlando Bloom breaking a couple ribs, and many stunt people putting their bodies on the line with physical performances that ended up doing some damage. But Mortensen's injury is probably the most interesting, because it's the one that makes it into the film. After the hobbits have been taken, Aragorn kicks a steel Orc helmet in frustration -- which caused Mortensen to break two of his toes. Rather than ruining the take, he turned his pain into a scream of rage and fell to his knees, which fit the character perfectly and created a great moment in the film. Channeling his character's strength and determination, Mortensen didn't delay filming, choosing instead to work through the pain, even filming scenes where he had to run days after his injury.