LOTR: War of the Rohirrim – Return to greatness

In less than two months, on December 13, 2024, Lord of the Rings fans will be treated to a brand new movie hitting cinemas. The film, which will be a Japanese anime-style movie, is set two hundred years before the events of the original Lord of the Rings trilogy. It is an origins tale of Helm Hammerhand, the namesake of Rohan’s Helm’s Deep (which appears in the second movie of the original trilogy). The film will focus on a war that occurred between Rohan and the Dunlendings (a tribe of “wildmen” that exist in the Lord of the Rings universe), with a huge battle occurring at Helm’s Deep. We have a trailer for the movie that has recently been released. It has generated a lot of debate.

Characters, lore, and creative license

The trailer seems to point toward the character Hera, the daughter of Helm Hammerhand, being the main character of the movie. While Tolkien only mentions Hera a few times in the Lord of the Rings and his other writings, she seems like a good character for the creators of War of the Rohirrim. The developers of War of the Rohirrim will have built storylines around her, and there is a lot that they can draw from, considering how many references we have to characters and culture from Rohan. Hera, being a woman of nobility from Rohan, has a few similarities to the beloved character Eowyn, from the original Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

Hera is a red-haired, young woman who seems to be both articulate and physically strong, meaning that she could be a good person to rely on when battle is the only option left. However, because of how terribly Galadriel has turned out as a character in Amazon’s Rings of Power, there seems to be some doubt as to using Hera as a main character in War of the Rohirrim among the Lord of the Rings fan base. Will Hera just be a stereotypical female protagonist whose inclusion panders to the ‘woke’ brigade?

The trailer looks epic and Hera seems to fit the Anime warrior princess role quite well. Galadriel was a terrible character for a few reasons. One, she was never believable as a warrior. Two, her snarls and anger didn’t seem to garner attention or respect. Three, her dialogue was never that great. I feel that with Hera, the anime style will mean that she is believable and an aesthetically attractive character. Some commentators have labeled her design (from what we can see from the trailer) as too anime-like and generic. However, I disagree with this and feel she fits in with the Lord of the Rings universe. Furthermore, with great legacy actors like Miranda Otto being involved (even though I know she doesn’t play Hera), I have hope that Hera will manage to capture some of the classic Lord of the Rings magic.

Style

The trailer uses some footage from the original trilogy. I’d like to think that the reason for that, is because they want to highlight the connection between the two productions, rather than it being because they haven’t got anything better from the new production to show. I thought the trailer was atmospheric and awe-inspiring. The watcher-in-the-water style creature was particularly impressive, and in this version of Lord of the Rings, we might be getting a more intimate look at the relationships between some of the lesser tribes of Lord of the Rings (the Dunlendings have never really been shown in any of the movies). Hera seems to be in a difficult position, in that those around her are arranging a marriage for her that she isn’t too keen on. It will be fascinating to see how this plays out, and whether a third agent becomes involved in the politics of Rohan (apart from the Dunlendings and people of Rohan).

The art style looks reminiscent of a lot of anime. I can see similarities to the Castlevania series, although, the War of the Rohirrim appears to be a lot less dark. The acclaimed Kenji Kamiyama is directing. He directed Anime such as Ghost in the Shell. Peter Jackson has been named as a producer. However, I’ve heard that he might not have been that involved in the project. His name might just be attached to the production to give it more credibility as a Lord of the Rings production, which I don’t think it needs since Philipa Boyens (of the original Lord of the Rings trilogy) is one of the writers.

A future cult classic?

This story lays out the legacy of the legendary Helm Hammerhand and has the potential to go down as a Lord of the Rings classic. It could unite the East and West through its art (considering the origins of the series is in the West, but the art form of anime is from the East). Miranda Otto, will return as Eowyn to narrate the story (presumably through a flashback) and with names like Boyens and Kamiyama being attached to the project it will hopefully do well at the box office. I enjoyed the trailer and can see how the film could be both epic and insightful into parts of Lord of the Rings lore that we don’t often hear about. Let’s hope the film doesn’t make the same mistakes as Amazon’s recent Lord of the Rings adaptation and that Hera is a thematically multi-dimensional character with good dialogue, unlike Rings of Power’s Galadriel.