Lord of the Rings followers starved for brand new content material have immediately been consuming very nicely. Not solely did The Rings of Power lately return for a second season on Prime Video, however there is a new Lord of the Rings film about to hit theaters. That film is The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, and it tells a model new story of battle in Middle-earth earlier than the movies.
How precisely does The War of the Rohirrim match into the timeline of Middle-earth? Will we see any acquainted characters from the flicks present up? Here’s every part you could know in regards to the newest addition to the Lord of the Rings saga.
Helm Hammerhand and His Family
The War of the Rohirrim takes place 183 years earlier than the Lord of the Rings trilogy and hundreds of years after the occasions of The Rings of Power. It’s a time of relative peace for Middle-earth, albeit an uneasy peace. Sauron nonetheless lives and is quietly starting to consolidate his grip on energy and hunt down the elusive One Ring. The War of the Rohirrim trailer alludes to this in its closing scene, the place we see a treasure hunter gathering rings in service of Mordor. Unfortunately for Sauron, the One Ring remains to be firmly in Gollum’s clutches deep throughout the Misty Mountains.
In this ancient times of Middle-earth’s Third Age, man has extra to concern from his fellow sort than the orcs of Mordor. The War of the Rohirrim focuses on Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox) and his household. Helm is the king of Rohan. The “Hammerhand” nickname comes from the truth that his power and prowess in unarmed fight are legendary. He’s mainly the Middle-earth model of Community character Kickpuncher – his punches are simply that robust. We see as a lot within the trailer.
Tolkien used the appendices within the Lord of the Rings novels to flesh out Helm and his two sons, Háma and Haleth. There we be taught that Helm presided over Rohan throughout a protracted battle with the race of males often called the Dunlendings (form of the franchise’s reply to the Wildlings from Game of Thrones). Helm is established because the ninth ruler of Rohan, and the final of the unique line of kings.
However, the film is particularly occupied with a personality solely barely alluded to in Tolkien’s writing, Helm’s daughter. She isn’t even named within the authentic appendices, however she’s truly the central protagonist of The War of the Rohirrim. Her identify is Hèra (Gaia Wise). A far cry from Tolkien’s typical feminine characters, Hèra is a rebellious tomboy who takes it upon herself to avoid wasting her kingdom when the specter of battle looms giant.
“In the appendices the place the story is drawn from, we get these fairly apparently drawn male characters, after which we get this younger feminine character who is rarely named — and that was actually fascinating to me,” producer Philippa Boyens stated in an interview with People Magazine. “We know Helm has a daughter, and we all know that she was central to the battle that occurred. But myself, and particularly screenwriter Phoebe Gittins, have been drawn to her. We might really feel the load of being that unnamed daughter, which instantly piqued our curiosity: Who was she? How did she stay?”
Because The War of the Rohirrim is about virtually two centuries earlier than the Lord of the Rings motion pictures, followers shouldn’t count on an look from acquainted characters like Bernard Hill’s King Théoden or Brad Dourif’s Grima Wormtongue. However, the brand new film does function one essential hyperlink to Rohan’s future. Miranda Otto will reprise the function of Éowyn as she narrates the movie. The concept is that The War of the Rohirrim is being introduced within the oral custom, a legend handed down via the generations of Rohan’s residents.
The Villain of War of the Rohirrim
The War of the Rohirrim is exclusive within the franchise in that it’s a film about battle between races of males. There’s no Dark Lord looming over the battlefield (although we are able to’t assure Sauron isn’t manipulating the battle to weaken a possible menace). Helm and his folks aren’t battling orcs or Uruk-Hai. This is a narrative about man vs. man, and the “villain” is unusually sympathetic.
As the trailer exhibits, the battle begins when a Dunland noble named Freca (Shaun Dooley) makes an attempt to rearrange a wedding between Hèra and his son Wulf (Luke Pasqualino). Despite their shared historical past collectively, the impartial Hèra has no real interest in being a part of a political marriage. And when it turns into clear that Freca covets the throne of Rohan, Helm calls the entire thing off. This results in a fistfight between the 2 rulers, leading to Helm residing as much as his Hammerhand moniker and killing Freca with a single punch.
Understandably distraught, Wulf declares battle on Rohan and seeks vengeance for his slain father. In the movie, we’ll see Wulf rally his personal folks in addition to mercenaries from the Easterlings and Hardrim, constructing a military able to taking over what’s arguably probably the most spectacular combating power in Middle-earth at this level.
Again, Wulf is a novel villain for the franchise. Not solely is he human, however he’s much more well-intentioned than the evil wizards and battle-scarred orcs we’re used to seeing. He’s merely a son mourning his father. Hèra is clearly keen to battle in protection of her homeland, however successful this battle might rely extra on interesting to Wulf’s innate humanity and love than conquering the Dunlendings on the battlefield.
Speaking of the battlefield, The War of the Rohirrim will function the return of an iconic set piece from The Two Towers. We’ll as soon as once more see the fortress often called Helm’s Deep and be taught why it acquired that identify within the first place.
The Creatures of Middle-earth
This film could also be a couple of battle between males, however that doesn’t imply we gained’t be encountering among the extra fantastical creatures of Middle-earth.
The trailer exhibits a number of glimpses of the large eagles seen in each the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies. The eagles have confirmed instrumental in among the biggest battles of Middle-earth’s Third Age. The query is why they’re getting concerned now. Why do these infamously reclusive creatures care a couple of battle between rival factions of males? That might trace at a deeper darkness to the battle on this movie.
We additionally see a number of pictures of a Mûmakil, the big, elephant-like creatures seen in The Return of the King. The Mûmakil are primarily utilized by the Haradrim as beasts of battle, and so they’re terrifyingly efficient at that job. Can the soldiers of Rohan stand as much as these beasts with out assistance from an elven marksman like Legolas?
That stated, the Mûmakil gained’t be the principally terrifying monster seen in The War of the Rohirrim. The trailer features a shot of a Mûmakil being attacked and dragged underwater by a tentacled monster. This seems to be the identical species because the Watcher within the Water from The Fellowship of the Ring. That beast was guarding the waters outdoors the Mines of Moria. This in all probability isn’t the identical one, however merely an identical monster stalking one other physique of water in Middle-earth.
Will We See Any Familiar Lord of the Rings Characters?
As talked about, the time interval of The War of the Rohirrim makes it tough for lots of the acquainted faces from the Lord of the Rings trilogy to look. This is earlier than the time of Aragorn and Frodo. And whereas elven characters like Legolas, Elrond, and Galadriel are definitely alive on this period, they’ve little motive to change into concerned within the affairs of males at this particular time limit. Otto’s Éowyn might wind up being the one Lord of the Rings character to “seem” on this prequel.
Still, there’s room for different cameos, ought to the filmmakers want to embrace them. The elves won’t care about Rohan’s plight, however Ian McKellen’s Gandalf may. At this level within the timeline, Gandalf is retaining very busy roaming Middle-earth, righting wrongs, and serving to put together for the inevitable return of Sauron. He certainly is aware of {that a} weakened Rohan is unhealthy information for everybody.
McKellen himself lately forged doubt on the concept of reprising the Gandalf function in live-action, citing his age. But animation might be a very completely different story. And seeing Gandalf within the movie will surely add context to his relationship with the Rohirrim in The Two Towers.
We’ve additionally realized that Christopher Lee’s Saruman will play a small function within the movie. Though Lee handed away in 2015, The War of the Rohirrim is making use of archival dialogue from the Lord of the Rings motion pictures to deliver the character again. Based on the LotR appendices, we all know that Saruman took up residence in Isengard across the time of this battle, so the movie will seemingly add extra context to his relationship with Rohan.
Which Lord of the Rings character do you most need to see seem in The War of the Rohirrim? Cast your vote in our ballot and tell us your ideas within the feedback beneath:
For extra on this new film, take a look at IGN’s The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim evaluate and take a look at an unique 8-minute scene from the movie. In different The Lord of the Rings information, a brand new film installment titled The Hunt for Gollum was additionally introduced in May, and guarantees to ship an Andy Serkis-directed function centered on Sméagol in 2026.
Note: this text was initially printed on 8/22/2024 and up to date on 12/11/2024 with the most recent details about The War of the Rohirrim.
Jesse is a mild-mannered workers author for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your mental thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
