The War of the Rohirrim Review
No Spoilers
Greetings Tolkien Poppers!
Like many fans of Middle-earth, this weekend I made my way to the movie theater to see The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. In the past five years, there has been a renewed investment in Tolkien media production: Amazon’s The Rings of Power series, the recently announced Animal Crossing-esque video game Tales of the Shire, the critically awful video game Gollum, and now, of course, The War of the Rohirrim. We have more coming with the official renewal of Season 3 of The Rings of Power and The Hunt for Gollum film from Peter Jackson’s universe. At the risk of shouting into the already stirring winds of media commentary, I am going to add my review to the storm. With all the rage bait and uncritical praise content out there, hopefully I can provide a genuine take that’s honest about my feelings, biases, and openness to changing my opinions later.
This will be a spoiler free review, but I will compare much of the narrative of the movie with what Tolkien wrote in the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings and his posthumously published writings Unfinished Tales. Fresh from my first viewing, I highly enjoyed the latest addition to the recent boom in Tolkien adaptations–more than most of the recent installments.
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Firstly, I think the animated medium of The War of the Rohirrim provides an opportunity to better translate some of the more fantastical elements of Tolkien’s legendarium than a live-action version can. Sometimes CGI and other forms of movie magic have the ability to take one out of the secondary world and break the suspension of disbelief because of their easily decipherable special effects. With animation, there’s less risk in breaking the spell of immersion because there is already a willingful suspension of disbelief. Throughout the movie, Helm’s legendary strength and the mythical beasts that make their appearance are presented and executed in a way that feels authentic to the overall adaptation of Peter Jackson’s version of Middle-earth.
The movie begins a little rocky. Miranda Otto, who plays Eowyn in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings gives a beautiful voiceover about the history of Rohan and shieldmaidens during the time period The War of the Rohirrim is set in. This is very reminiscent of Galadriel’s prologue in the Peter Jackson films and does an excellent job in setting the tone for the movie. During Otto’s voiceover, the screen shows Hera, the main protagonist, riding over the fields of Rohan. Hera and her horse are wonderfully animated in 2D, but the landscape that she is riding on is 3D, which is visually disjointing. This is part of a larger trend in anime where more CGI is being incorporated into the animation, whether as backgrounds, characters, or vehicles. I do not find this trend successful in improving upon the medium–especially when the 2D and 3D are superimposed upon one another. Knowing that the animation is hand drawn, the CGI landscape sort of shakes one out of the world because of the mismatched styles. Thankfully, the animation primarily remains in the hand drawn style for the rest of the movie. If there are other instances of their intersection, I was unable to notice.
Combining gorgeous animation, an epic score by composer Stephen Gallagher, incredible sound design, fantastic voice acting, and solid storytelling kept me enraptured through the entirety of the film. Now, like most adaptations, there are many creative freedoms taken, but I think most of them contribute positively to Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews, Philippa Boyens, and Kenji Kamiyama’s version of the story.
Hera, the daughter of Helm Hammerhand, the King of Rohan, who is unnamed in Appendix A of The Lord of the Rings (RoTK, 431) is asked for her hand in marriage by a Lord of both Rohirrim and Dunlending descent named Freca for his son Wulf. This is the domino that sets the conflict for the rest of the story and is what happens in the text. Although Helm’s daughter is not named in the text and there is no history written about Wulf, The War of the Rohirrim frames this conflict through the relationship between Hera and Wulf. Like much anime, conflict is carried by an historic rivalry and The War of the Rohirrim participates in that tradition by writing Hera and Wulf as childhood friends with a competitive relationship. Both Helm and Hera reject Freca and Wulf’s offer. Hera and Wulf’s relationship make this rejection and the reason for the war much more relatable and level up the stakes beyond physical loss of life. Love, both romantic and friendly, becomes fragile and takes its place in the vanguard of battle without being pigeonholed into something forced or trite.
There are a few invented characters for the movie. They are fleshed out well, are believable, and add substance to the narrative as well as the feeling of the film. On Rohan’s side, Olwyn is Hera’s guardian and embodies a governess role. Her commitment to support Hera and fight alongside her are admirable and her dry humor makes her devotion to defending Hera and Rohan that much more efficacious; Lief is a squire-like character that carries qualities of both Sam and Pippin: Sam in stature and attitude, Pippin in eagerness to serve those he feels a duty towards. Among the ranks of the Dunlendings is General Targg, who serves as a voice of reason for Wulf. His dedication to Wulf while wrestling with watching his new lord fall into moral failure makes him a figure that audiences can empathize with in their own negotiation of Wulf’s approach to war.
Helm Hammerhand, Wulf, and Hera are the three main characters of the film and their weight as such are felt throughout. Helm is hulking and proud and Brian Cox’s voice acting helps bring that to the fore. He is a legend within the history of Middle-earth and feels legendary. His alleged superhuman strength and abilities come through to an almost perfect degree, in my estimation. There is always room for different interpretations and variations of a character, but, especially because of the medium of anime, Helm feels like a warrior of myth. Additionally, although Helm is huge and bolstering, he is not given status as an unconditional hero to be embraced. He is very flawed and the war between Rohan and Wulf is largely his fault. This is true within the text and comes through in the movie.
Within the history of Middle-earth, Rohan is not indigenous to its land. What was called Calenardhon by Gondor was the home of the Dunlendings. The people who were called Rohirrim by Gondor referred to themselves as Éothéod. Their migration from the realm of Rhovanion in the North to Rohan led to the occupation of a land already occupied by natives as well as colonized by Gondor. When orcs were ravaging the surrounding lands during the rule of Cirion, the steward of Gondor during Third Age (T.A.) 2489 - 2567, led a campaign to stop their invasion. In short, they were close to losing against the orcs when unlooked-for aid from the Éothéod, led by Eorl the Young, King of the Éothéod (RoTK, 428-430) arrived, bringing victory against the orcs. In T.A. 2510, because of Eorl’s valor, Cirion and Eorl swore oaths of alliance to one another and Cirion gave the land of Calenardhon to Rohan, which they then occupied from that point on (UT, 316-321). This history is important because Freca does not adhere to everything Helm Hammerhand does and commands–for good reason. Helm, while being a badass warrior king, is also a colonial overlord who disrespects an indigenous lord out of pride, which leads to the war.
Wulf is a likeable character at first. He seems to be following his father, who he clearly loves, more out of respect and taking advantage of an official avenue to possibly marry a person that he cares about than ambition. It’s immature and patriarchally boyish. The plot thickens and his privileged naïveté becomes possessive entitlement. This evolves into pure vengeance–another anime trope–and we get to witness Wulf transform into a manipulative and prideful Tolkienian villain. The War of the Rohirrim does an excellent job of portraying Wulf in a way where the audience can understand where he’s coming from, but also cringe at the evil he attempts to justify under the reality of being wronged.
The star of the movie, Hera, is a fantastic portrayal of an unnamed character in Tolkien’s legendarium. She embodies a hybrid of both Tolkienian heroism as well as that of the fictional anime bishōjo, which is:
“a female character in a manga, anime, video game, or light novel that belongs to a genre generally regarded as targeted at a male audience, such as science fiction or adventure fantasy…[and] are often characterized as not only strong and competent but also somewhat naive and innocent; they are magical beings enmeshed in their respective fantasy worlds, and there is an Alice-in-Wonderland quality about them capable of evoking fantasies about childhood and, more specifically, girlhood.”1
Without going too far off the trail, Kathryn Hemmann argues that “bishōjo can…serve as an empowering role model for readers, especially when the character type is used by female artists as a site of contention concerning discourse on female agency and sexuality.”2 Where sex is fairly absent in The War of the Rohirrim, Hera seems to be an empowering role model for the viewer. She stands up to her father when he is being rash, cares for others who are in need, and fights for herself when others attempt to limit, capture, or harm her. Like Éomer and Háma in The Lord of the Rings, Hera has the drive and follow through to do the right thing, even when negative repercussions are guaranteed. She is a noble hero that fights not for the glory or enjoyment of battle in and of itself, but alongside and for those that she lives with, i.e., the free peoples of Middle-earth.
Returning to the Peter Jackson The Lord of the Rings universe felt familiar in all the right ways as well as the wrong ones. Where there is deeply fleshed out characters and concise storytelling, negative racial aspects are also present. Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings films experienced this criticism upon their initial release3 and that criticism has continued to be explored through various fan and scholarly avenues.4 Although there are lore-accurate depictions of orcs, Dunlendings, and Wild Men in The War of the Rohirrim, it is weird that over the two decades where criticism surrounding race and Tolkien has grown and expanded its reach5 that Warner Brothers did not prioritize addressing that particular issue within Tolkien’s text as well as their film universe.
The War of the Rohirrim adds its name to the pool of Tolkien adaptations and makes a worthwhile contribution. With some of its issues regarding racial coding and some heavy reliance on The Lord of the Rings films in its writing, overall it establishes itself as a unique take on a story in the history of Middle-earth. Its source as well as original characters are moving, artistic landscapes breathtaking, and narrative framing enthralling. Audiences will benefit from its place in the pantheon of Tolkien media and The War of the Rohirrim is easily the greatest of the animated adaptations.
Hemmann, Kathryn. “Short Skirts and Superpowers: The Evolution of the Beautiful Fighting Girl.” U.S.-Japan Women’s Journal, no. 47, 2014, pp. 45–72. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26401943. Accessed 17 Dec. 2024. 46.
“Short Skirts and Superpowers.” 47.
Rearick, Anderson. “Why Is the Only Good Orc a Dead Orc? the Dark Face of Racism Examined in Tolkien’s World.” Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 50, no. 4. 2004. While there is much wrong and dismissive about the issue of race in Tolkien’s work in general in this article, it is an early piece that acknowledges the racist depictions of enemies in the Peter Jackson films–specifically the orcs–and engages with critics of the film.
See Fimi, Dimitra. “Revisiting Race in Tolkien’s Legendarium: Constructing Cultures and Ideologies in an Imaginary World.” dimitrafimi.com, 2 Dec. 2018. http://dimitrafimi.com/2018/12/02/revisiting-race-in-tolkiens-legendarium-constructing-cultures-and-ideologies-in-an-imaginary-world/.
See Fimi, Dimitra. Tolkien, Race, and Cultural History: From Fairies to Hobbits. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010; Mills, Charles W. “The Wretched of Middle-Earth: An Orkish Manifesto.” The Southern Journal of Philosophy, vol. 60, 2022, pp. 105–35, https://doi.org/10.1111/sjp.12477; Stuart, Robert. Tolkien, Race, and Racism in Middle-Earth. Palgrave Macmillan, 2023; Young, Helen. Race And Popular Fantasy Literature: Habits of Whiteness. Routledge, 2018.