The War of the Rohirrim’s Connection to the Original Trilogy, Explained

December 2023 marked the 20th anniversary of the theatrical release of Return of the King, the final installment of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Twenty years later, global audiences have yet to witness another series or franchise capable of causing a similar impact to Peter Jackson’s adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic lore. As far as any prediction in the film industry currently goes, it’s not expected to happen any time soon, either.

It was only natural to see fans bursting with joy as they learned that The Lord of the Rings would make a big return in 2024. In 2021, Warner Bros. announced the development of Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, an anime-style feature film directed by Kenji Kamiyama and with Philippa Boyens, co-writer of the original trilogy, as consulting advisor. The animated movie, expected to be released by Dec. 13, 2024, is set over 200 years before the original trilogy and serves as its direct prequel. But how exactly is it going to connect to the films?

The Lord of the Rings Is a Tale to Remember

Tolkien’s lore has already been revisited back and forth in many different periods. Considering the Middle-Earth time count, the events depicted in The Lord of the Rings start in the year 3001 of the Third Age, with Bilbo’s 111th birthday party. The War of the Ring, which is thoroughly shown in the trilogy, occurs between June 3018, with the formation of the Fellowship of the Ring, and November 3019, when Frodo and Sam successfully cast the One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom, in Mordor.

Then there is The Hobbit, which may be far better than you remember, and sees Bilbo narrating his exploits in the Quest of Erebor, along with Thorin Oakenshield and his loyal company of Dwarves. These events took place exactly 60 years before The Fellowship of the Ring, in 2941. Many events shown in The Hobbit series are mentioned in The Lord of the Rings, such as how Bilbo escaped from being eaten by orcs thanks to the sunlight that turned them into stone, and even how his “dreadful” neighbor tried to take his treasured spoons when everyone in The Shire thought he would never return.

Prime Video’s original series, The Rings of Power, the controversial show snubbed from the Emmys, goes a little further back to the past, a couple of thousand years before the original film trilogy. It is set in the Second Age and explains the origin of key elements of The Lord of the Rings, such as the forging of the One Ring and the other Rings of Power, distributed between the peoples of Middle Earth. It also shows Sauron’s rise to power and how Galadriel perceived the evil surrounding him before anyone else.

The Rohirrim’s Darkest Hour

With Hobbits, Dwarves, and Elves having their own tales properly told, now it is time for the Men of the West. As such, The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim will focus on the kingdom of Rohan, introduced in The Two Towers, which features one of the best battle scenes of all time. Known as the Horse-lords, the Rohirrim were among the first free peoples to stand against Isengard and Mordor. Led by King Théoden, Rohan rebuilt its former alliances with the Elves and Gondor and played a vital role in Sauron’s downfall.

The War of the Rohirrim will be narrated by Éowyn, with Miranda Otto back in the role. The story will take viewers back approximately 250 years before the War of the Ring and will depict the deeds of Helm Hammerhand, the ninth King of Rohan, and the enduring conflict between the Rohirrim and the Dunlendings, the vicious people who coveted the rich lands of Rohan.

The story should be taken mostly from the appendix of The Return of the King book, Annals of the Kings and Rulers. The material in question seems to make no allusion to Hobbits, Dwarves, or Elves, and even major elements like The One Ring and Sauron are only briefly mentioned. Again, the focus is the clash between two groups of Men and how it connects to the events depicted in The Lord of the Rings.

How The War of the Rohirrim Connects to Lord of the Rings

The War of the Rohirrim will likely be centered on King Helm Hammerhand, the ruler who became the namesake for the fortress of Helm’s Deep. As such, the anime will showcase his efforts during the Dunlendings’ siege, making a direct reference to lines from The Two Towers, like “Helm’s Deep has saved them (the Rohirrim) in the past”, or “no army ever breached the Deeping Wall”. Tolkien’s work is filled with references to glorious battles from the past, and actually seeing one of those happening should definitely be remarkable.

The Dunlendings are also briefly shown in The Two Towers. When Saruman starts mobilizing his forces against Rohan, he is shown gathering a bunch of barbarian-like warriors – those were the Dunlendings. They seemingly possess a strong hatred towards the Rohirrim, evidenced by how quickly they agreed to participate in Saruman’s move against the Horse-lords. The animation will probably display the dimensions of the events that led to such animosity between the two peoples.

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Another critical element mentioned in The Two Towers that can be further explored in The War of the Rohirrim is how Gondor left Rohan unattended when they needed the most – in that case, this very war. It is known that the Gondorians were dealing with their own troubles, having to defend themselves against the Corsairs of Umbar, therefore making them unable to send any help to the Rohirrim. Nevertheless, this event left a scar on the relationship between Rohan and Gondor, leading to King Théoden’s complete disbelief that Gondor would even consider assisting him during the War of the Ring.

As mentioned above, The War of the Rohirrim will be narrated by Éowyn, one of the best characters depicted in The Lord of the Rings films. Although it is still unknown whether she will be telling the story to someone specific or directly to the audience, it might set the ground to provide a more in-depth insight into her. Watching this story from Éowyn’s perspective will give an even more profound meaning to her line in The Two Towers: “The women of this country learned long ago: Those without swords can still die upon them.” The entire Lord of the Rings trilogy can be streamed on Max. The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will be released in theaters on Dec. 13, 2024.

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