My sister was the one who discovered the answer to this elusive question! She was perusing Craig-Parker.net and had been looking through the photo galleries. We were surprised to find one particular out-take picture from the scenes in Lothlorien from "The Fellowship of the Ring."
It showed him in these gigantic metal platform shoes!!! Don't believe me?? Just look to the picture at the right! And the only thing I can guess about the apparent chubbyness is that they gave him costumes with lots of layers that wrapped around him to broaden his slight shoulders and torso.
Well, that mystery now solved, we can all rest a little easier! No?
