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What is the connection between The War of the Rohirrim and the Lord of the Rings movies?

Posted on by angelo
What is the connection between The War of the Rohirrim and the Lord of the Rings movies?

Lord of the Rings fans are in for a real Hobbit-worthy treat in 2024. Not only is Rings of Power returning for a second season on Prime Video, but a new animated film is hitting theaters in December. That film is The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim, and we just saw the first trailer.

How exactly does The War of the Rohirrim fit into the Middle-earth timeline? Will we see any familiar characters from the films make an appearance? Here’s everything you need to know about the latest addition to the Lord of the Rings saga.

Helm Hammerhand and his family

The War of the Rohirrim takes place 183 years before the Lord of the Rings trilogy and thousands of years after the events of The Rings of Power. It is a time of relative peace for Middle-earth, albeit an uneasy peace. Sauron still lives and begins to slowly re-establish his grip on power and seek out the elusive One Ring. The trailer hints at this in its final scene, where a treasure hunter is seen gathering rings in the service of Mordor. Unfortunately for Sauron, the One Ring is still firmly in the clutches of Gollum deep in the Misty Mountains.

In this early period of Middle-earth’s Third Age, man has more to fear from his fellow man than from the orcs of Mordor. The War of the Rohirrim focuses on Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox) and his family. Helm is the King of Rohan. The nickname “Hammerhand” comes from the fact that his strength and prowess in unarmed combat are legendary. He is sort of Middle-earth’s version of the Fellowship character Kickpuncher – his punches are just as powerful. You can see him in the trailer.

Tolkien used the appendices of the Lord of the Rings novels to flesh out the characters of Helm and his two sons, Háma and Haleth. Helm is revealed to have presided over Rohan during a prolonged conflict with the race of men known as the Dunlendings (the franchise’s answer to Game of Thrones’ Wildlings, in a way). Helm is established as the ninth ruler of Rohan and the last of the original line of kings.

However, the film focuses specifically on a character barely mentioned in Tolkien’s writings: his daughter. She is not even named in the original appendices, but she appears to be the central protagonist of The War of the Rohirrim. Her name is Hera (Gaia the Wise). Far from Tolkien’s typical female characters, Hera is a rebellious tomboy who takes it upon herself to save her kingdom when the specter of war looms.

“In the appendices where the story is taken from, you have these male characters that are drawn in a pretty interesting way, and then this young female character whose name is never mentioned — and that was really interesting to me.” Producer Philippa Boyens said in an interview with People Magazine:“We know that Helm has a daughter and that she played a central role in the conflict that occurred. But myself and especially the writer Phoebe Gittins were drawn to her. We could feel the weight of being this nameless girl, which immediately piqued our curiosity: Who was she? How did she live?”

With The War of the Rohirrim taking place nearly two centuries before the Lord of the Rings films, fans shouldn’t expect to see familiar characters like Bernard Hill’s King Théoden or Brad Dourif’s Grima Wormtongue. However, the new film does feature an important connection to the future of Rohan. Miranda Otto will reprise the role of Éowyn and narrate the film. The idea is for The War of the Rohirrim to be told through oral tradition, a legend passed down through generations of Rohan’s citizens.

The Villain of the Rohirrim War

The Rohirrim War is unique in the franchise in that it’s a film about the war between the human races. There are no Dark Lords looming over the battlefield (though we can’t guarantee that Sauron isn’t manipulating the conflict to weaken a potential threat). Helm and his people aren’t fighting orcs or Uruk-Hai. This is a man-against-man story, and the “villain” is unusually sympathetic.

As seen in the trailer, the conflict begins when a Dunland noble named Freca (Shaun Dooley) attempts to arrange a marriage between Hera and her son Wulf (Luke Pasqualino). Despite their shared history, the independent Hera has no interest in being part of a political marriage. And when it becomes clear that Freca covets the throne of Rohan, Helm calls it off. This leads to a fight between the two leaders, leading Helm to live up to his Hammerhand nickname and kill Freca with a single punch.

Naturally distraught, Wulf declares war on Rohan and seeks revenge for his murdered father. In the film, we’ll see Wulf rally his own people as well as mercenaries from the Easterlings and Hardrim, building an army capable of taking on what is arguably the most impressive fighting force in Middle-earth at that point.

Once again, Wulf is a unique villain in the franchise. Not only is he human, but he is far more well-intentioned than the evil sorcerers and battle-scarred orcs we are used to seeing. He is simply a son grieving for his father. Hera is clearly willing to fight to defend her homeland, but winning this battle may depend more on Wulf’s innate humanity and love than on conquering the Dunlendings on the battlefield.

Speaking of the battlefield, War of the Rohirrim will feature the return of an iconic element of The Two Towers. We’ll once again see the fortress known as Helm’s Deep and learn why it earned that name in the first place.

Creatures of Middle Earth

This film may be about a war between men, but that doesn’t mean we won’t encounter some of the most fantastical creatures of Middle-earth.

The trailer shows several glimpses of the giant eagles seen in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies. Eagles played a pivotal role in some of the greatest battles of Middle-earth’s Third Age. The question is, why are they getting involved now? Why do these infamous, reclusive creatures care about a war between rival factions of men? It may hint at a deeper darkness in this film’s conflict.

We also see several shots of Mûmakil, the gigantic elephant-like creatures seen in The Return of the King. Mûmakil are primarily used by the Haradrim as war beasts, and they are terribly effective at the job. Will the warriors of Rohan be able to stand up to these beasts without the help of an elven marksman like Legolas?

That said, the Mûmakil won’t be the most terrifying monster seen in War of the Rohirrim. The trailer includes an image of a Mûmakil being attacked and dragged underwater by a tentacled monster. It appears to be the same species as the Water Watcher from The Fellowship of the Ring. This beast was watching over the waters outside of Helm’s Deep. It’s likely not the same one, but simply a similar monster stalking another body of water in Middle-earth.

Will we see any familiar characters from Lord of the Rings?

As we’ve already mentioned, the time period of the Rohirrim War makes it difficult to see many familiar faces from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. This was before the time of Aragorn and Frodo. And while Elven characters like Legolas, Elrond, and Galadriel are certainly alive at this time, they have little reason to get involved in the affairs of men at this particular time. Éowyn, played by Otto, may well be the only Lord of the Rings character to “appear” in this prequel.

There is room for more appearances, though, if the filmmakers want to include them. It’s always possible that we could see one or more Middle-earth wizards. The elves may not care about Rohan’s fate, but Gandalf, played by Ian McKellen, might. At this point in the timeline, Gandalf is very busy traveling Middle-earth, righting wrongs, and helping prepare for Sauron’s inevitable return. He surely knows that a weakened Rohan is bad news for everyone.

McKellen himself recently question the idea of ​​reprising the role of Gandalf in live-action, due to his age. But animation might be a different story. And seeing Gandalf in the film would certainly add context to his relationship with the Rohirrim in The Two Towers.

It’s also possible that Saruman will appear, also tasked with keeping the peace in Middle-earth during this tumultuous time. In fact, Tolkien established that Saruman settled in Isengard shortly after the conflict between the Rohirrim and the Dunlendings, so the film could shed some light on this event.

Unfortunately, given that actor Christopher Lee passed away in 2015, Warners will have to recast the role. That may be a task for Corey Burton, who voiced Lee’s character Count Dooku in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. We’d love to see a slightly younger Saruman, before the days of openly supporting Sauron and plotting the end of humanity.

Which Lord of the Rings character would you like to see appear in War of the Rohirrim? Vote in our poll and let us know your thoughts in the comments below:

In other Lord of the Rings news, The Rings of Power is returning to Prime Video on August 29. On IGN Live, we had a deeper look at how The Rings of Power will continue its story with season 2. A new episode of the film entitled The Hunt for Gollum was also announced in May, and promises to release a feature film directed by Andy Serkis centered on Sméagol in 2026.

Jesse is a mild-mannered writer who works for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by follow @jschedeen on Twitter.