‘The Lord of the Rings: The Struggle of the Rohirrim’ overview: What if Éowyn received her personal film?

In relation to J.R.R. Tolkien variations, Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy is a tricky act to comply with. Look no additional than the Hobbit motion pictures, which floundered of their efforts to seize the unique movies’ success. Then there’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Energy, whose makes an attempt to cram all the pieces we love about Center-earth into too-short seasons make for unwieldy (if nonetheless enjoyable) TV.

Enter The Lord of the Rings: The Struggle of the Rohirrim, an anime prequel from director Kenji Kamiyama (Blade Runner: Black Lotus) that facilities on the legendary kingdom of Rohan, 183 years earlier than The Lord of the Rings. Whereas actually indebted to Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Struggle of the Rohirrim would not simply search to duplicate its predecessors’ system. As a substitute, it performs with tone and construction to forge a path that’s far bleaker. That path begins with the medium of anime, which affords a special approach into Tolkien on a visible and thematic degree.

Kamiyama and screenwriters Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou body The Struggle of the Rohirrim as a historic story instructed by The Lord of the Rings‘ Éowyn (Miranda Otto, returning in voiceover). Her voice acts as a bridge between the medium of reside motion and anime, with anime performing as a car for live-action Éowyn’s storytelling. Whereas we by no means see any reside motion scenes, the trace of them turns into the movie’s baseline actuality. Anime, with its heightened, stylized qualities, serves as a illustration of legend.

And actually, there isn’t a one higher to inform this legend than Éowyn, as Struggle of the Rohirrim‘s heroine Héra (voiced by Gaia Sensible) is basically Éowyn from 183 years up to now.

The Struggle of the Rohirrim is what you’d get for those who Éowyn had a solo movie.

Héra in “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.”
Credit score: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Photos

The Struggle of the Rohirrim is predicated on a brief part of Tolkien’s appendices, by which Héra is however an unnamed daughter. Nevertheless, in fleshing her out, the movie is ready to add new depth to the story, all whereas ensuring Héra is the sort of individual Éowyn would truly be telling a narrative about.

Like Éowyn, Héra is the daughter of a king of Rohan: the formidable Helm Hammerhand (voiced by Succession‘s Brian Cox). She’s additionally a headstrong rider and fierce fighter, one who aspires to be identical to the shieldmaidens of previous. It isn’t laborious to see Éowyn trying as much as her and utilizing her story to encourage the following era of shieldmaidens, years down the road.

That story kicks off in earnest when the Dunlending lord Freca (voiced by Shaun Dooley) proposes that Héra marry his son (and her childhood good friend) Wulf (voiced by Luke Pasqualino). But that marriage is the very last thing each Héra and Helm need. Actually, Helm sees the proposal as such an affront that he challenges Freca to a struggle. Right here, we see one other good thing about incorporating Héra additional into the story. Her presence and growth add new layers to Helm, as we get a greater sense of his relationship to his household. His protectiveness of Héra carries shades of Théoden’s personal protectiveness over Éowyn, however he has an added component of bloodthirsty bravado that carries over into his brawl with Freca.

That struggle is the primary of many skirmishes The Struggle of the Rohirrim has to supply, and it is as uncompromising as one may count on when a person named “Hammerhand” is concerned. All it takes is one mighty punch for Helm to kill Freca outright, however the feud between Helm’s household and Freca’s is way from over. Wulf, in his grief, vows revenge.

And revenge he’ll get! Years later, Wulf has amassed sufficient of a military that he can march on Rohan. Within the battle that follows, Helm, Héra, and the Rohirrim should retreat to the Hornburg stronghold, the place they will make one final stand to save lots of their individuals.

Sound acquainted? That is as a result of the story of Helm Hammerhand is mainly the prototype for The Two Towers‘ Battle of Helm’s Deep. In spite of everything, he is the explanation the Hornburg involves be often known as Helm’s Deep! But The Struggle of the Rohirrim isn’t any Helm’s Deep retread. It is a brutal, prolonged siege that pushes everybody concerned to new, determined limits.

The Struggle of the Rohirrim’s siege sequence is not simply Helm’s Deep 2.0.

Helm Hammerhand in “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.”
Credit score: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Photos

Whereas the battles within the Lord of the Rings trilogy are gargantuan undertakings, and unquestionably one of the best fantasy set items put to display, they are not notably prolonged affairs. The Battle of Helm’s Deep takes place over the course of 1 night time, whereas the Siege of Gondor and the Battle of Pelennor Fields final a number of days. The siege in The Struggle of the Rohirrim lasts a whole winter, and the movie makes certain you are feeling the affect of each a type of months spent within the chilly.

Inside the partitions of the Hornburg, the remaining individuals of Rohan are confronted day in, time out with their impending doom — particularly as Wulf’s military constructs a siege tower that might break their final protection. Issues are hardly higher exterior the partitions, although. Wulf’s encampment bears the brunt of the snowy components, forcing his personal individuals to contemplate whether or not this siege is absolutely value it. In fact, there is no query for Wulf, who stays resolute in his snarling, single-minded quest to tear Helm aside. However for everybody else concerned (together with the viewers), The Struggle of the Rohirrim‘s siege sequence is a tightly wound coil of dread. One facet has to interrupt — however which is able to it’s?

These psychological tensions solely proceed to rise when rumors unfold of a ghostly determine tearing via Wulf’s camp. Right here, The Struggle of the Rohirrim takes a flip into Gothic horror, with the hallowed halls of the Hornburg maybe being house to some larger supernatural forces. The result’s deliciously scary for a time, then surprisingly candy in its payoff.

The identical is true for the remainder of The Struggle of the Rohirrim, which takes us from the depths of Rohan’s despair to the heights of Héra’s hope for the long run. Her fervent perception that some good can nonetheless prosper in even the darkest of instances is unmistakably Tolkien in nature, linking The Struggle of the Rohirrim to the Jackson movies via greater than repeated areas and Easter eggs (some extra heavy-handed than others). Nevertheless, it is the methods by which The Struggle of the Rohirrim stands out from Jackson’s movies — like the usage of anime and the psychologically-focused siege sequence — that permits The Struggle of the Rohirrim to actually carve out its personal house in onscreen portrayals of Center-earth.

The Lord of the Rings: The Struggle of the Rohirrim opens in theaters Dec. 13.