Middle-earth just got a little steamier. Dominic Monaghan—Peter Jackson’s forever-cheeky Merry Brandybuck—decided to bless Instagram with a throwback that looks like it was ripped straight from the hobbit-loving corners of LOTR fanfic.
The photo, taken during the 2001–2003 filming years, shows Monaghan shirtless and lounging in bed alongside Billy Boyd, who played Peregrin “Pippin” Took, and Orlando Bloom, who rose to fame as Legolas, in bed together.
The caption itself?
Let’s just say it had the chaotic energy of Frodo trying to write Elvish after downing a few too many at Bilbo’s birthday party:
“Longgggg nighttssss in sydneyyyy with the boys. So tired we missed the first act of Madame butterfly at the Sydney opera house. Shameful.”
LOTR nerds, this is the One Caption to Rule Them All.
You can view the post below, which honestly feels like a deleted scene from the extended edition (and yes, I’d watch it at .75x speed):
Proof that fellowship comes in many forms—sometimes shirtless, sometimes in bed.
Of course, Monaghan and Boyd have always been game when it comes to indulging LOTR shippers. Both have openly cheered on the gay Hobbit fan fiction community that insists Merry and Pippin weren’t just first cousins in arms.
Monaghan told PinkNews:
“In the books they’re great friends, almost slightly related as family. If people who love that world want to create their own ideas of the relationships, that’s up to them. That’s a beautiful thing.”
Translation: all that hobbit-on-hobbit fic you hid on LiveJournal? Turns out the boys would’ve bookmarked it.
It makes sense they’re still ride-or-die nearly 25 years later. After all, this cast basically lived in New Zealand for over a year while filming, and when you share prosthetic feet and eleven-hour table reads, you form a bond. That bond now translates into conventions, podcasts, and apparently, group sleepovers worth immortalizing on Instagram.
The bromance also survives the trivia gauntlet.
At C2E2, Monaghan instantly guessed Boyd’s favorite movie—Gregory’s Girl—before hedging on his favorite show:
“His favorite TV show… he can be a little bit slippery with this. Because he likes The West Wing, Grey’s Anatomy, and he likes Star Trek. I’m gonna say if he was having to choose one of them… West Wing?”
Not exactly Gandalf-level wisdom—more like Pippin guessing at second breakfast.
You can view the interview below:
- YouTubePopverse/YouTube
Fans immediately declared it “the true Fellowship of the Bed,” and the internet lost its lembas bread:
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And in case you were worried that Monaghan has nothing else going on besides posting thirst traps with hobbits, think again.
He’s starring alongside Jacqueline Bisset and Dermot Mulroney in the Western Last Dollar, headlining The Librarians: The Next Chapter in 2025, globe-trotting in the food-and-travel show Billy and Dom Eat the World, voicing a character in the animated epic The War of the Rohirrim, and appearing in the feature film Long Shadows.
You can view the trailer for Billy and Dom Eat the World here:
- YouTube@Flavour Network/YouTube
So yes—he’s busy. But apparently, never too busy to break the internet with a nostalgic, shirtless Hobbit slumber party.
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