Best lord of the rings characters

Aragorn wins 65% of its duels and tops The Lord of the Rings ranking ahead of Gandalf.

Aragorn leads with 1354 ELO points after 264 duels, but the margin between rank 1 and rank 2 narrows to just 42 points, with Gandalf close behind at 1312 ELO. Both share identical 65% win rates despite different duel counts, showing consistent dominance at the top. The sharpest divide appears lower in the ranking: 51 ELO points separate Legolas from Samwise Gamgee at ranks 3 and 4. Legolas holds third place with 1301 ELO across 278 duels and a 56% win rate, while Samwise follows with 1250 ELO. Gimli rounds out the top 5 at 1213 ELO with a 52% win rate across 302 duels, the highest duel count among the leading contenders.

At the bottom, the hobbits struggle to gain favor. Frodo Baggins sits at rank 7 with 1109 ELO and a 38% win rate, while Peregrin "Pippin" Took manages 44% at rank 8. Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck closes the ranking at rank 9 with 1032 ELO and just 35% of duels won. The ringbearer's position reveals a community preference for warriors and wizards over burden-bearers. The ranking draws from 3214 duels contributed by 171 players across 9 contenders, updated on 10 October 2026. Head to VAINKEURZ to cast your vote and shift the Fellowship hierarchy.

Updated on October 10, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →