Middle-Earth mythology receives a new addition with Kenji Kamiyama’s anime movie feature, Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim, which is acting as a retroactive expansion to the franchise, like Amazon Studio’s Rings of Power aimed to be, as the events of the movie take place two centuries before Peter Jackson’s live-action trilogy. The first thing about the movie that immediately grabs attention is the visual likeness to Studio Ghibli aesthetics. Although, as the movie progresses, the finer details appear to get jumbled up in haste, and as the plot unravels in its entirety, it becomes quite clear that Warner Bros. Studios were really desperate to keep the rights to the Middle-Earth adaptations and didn’t bother producing the movie as an organic whole. As a result, instead of getting a story about Middle-Earth, we have ended up with one that reminds viewers occasionally that the setting is somewhere within Tolkien’s legendarium.
Spoilers Ahead
Hera And Wulf: Caught Up In Rivalry
As previously mentioned, the events of War of the Rohirrim take place almost two centuries before the events in Peter Jackson’s trilogy of The Lord of the Rings movies, and the opening scene emphasizes this as Eowyn, the legendary shield maiden who slayed the Witch King during the Battle of Pelennor, reminisces about the legend of Hera—a brave warrior who had taken the status of shieldmaiden to its former glory. The movie focuses on Hera, daughter of Helm, king of Rohan, who is a free-spirited young girl who refuses to be bound by social expectations. Instead of marrying royalty for political convenience and settling down, Hera trains for combat, goes on adventures, and shows her bravery by feeding the Great Eagles. Helm is overprotective of his daughter and wants his sons, Hama and Haleth, to take the reins of Rohan in his absence, ignoring Hera’s pleas to entrust her with responsibilities of the kingdom in fear of putting her in danger. Helm wants to marry Hera off to the kingdom of Gondor to strengthen their political alliance—much to her dismay. Hera’s cousin, Frealaf, and aunt, Olwyn—a brave warrior and her mentor—share a strong bond with her and support her choice of life.Â
During a council meeting with the warlord of Rohan at Helm’s royal court, the lord of the Dunlendings wildmen, Freca, proposes that Helm have Hera married to his son, Wulf, and upon Helm’s refusal of the idea, a brutish Freca goes on to insult him, drawing Helm’s ire. Rohan always faced trouble from Dundenling, and Helm was aware of Freca’s true motivation of trying to get to the throne of Rohan through the proposed marriage—as a result,Helm refused him. Wulf and Hera used to be close friends while growing up, and even though a grown-up Wulf seems to have feelings for Hera, having a relationship with Wulf, or for that matter, any men in that regard, has never crossed Hera’s mind. Helm decides to answer Freca’s insult by inviting him to unarmed combat and accidentally ends up killing Freca with a single blow—earning the name Helm Hammerhand in the process. A grieving Wulf swears vengeance on Helm and gets banished from Rohan.
Siege of Hornburg: Why Was the Fortress Named Helm’s Deep?
Years go by, and Wulf is never heard of for quite a long while. On one occasion, while investigating mysterious animal deaths with Frealaf and Olwyn, Hera encounters a rabid Mumakil. To protect her cousin, Hera lures the Mumakil into a dark forest, where the creature is attacked and devoured by the cephalopod monstrosity, Watcher in the Water. Anyway, under Wulf’s command, Hera gets captured by Dundenling general Targg, who brings her to Wulf’s new seat, Isengard. Turns out, Wulf had been accumulating significant strength through these years and has managed to raise an army large enough to destroy Rohan’s capital, Edoras. Wulf states to Hera that he will spare Rohan from a terrible fate if Hera agrees to marry him, which Hera refuses, causing Wulf to lash out. However, Olwyn and Frealaf manage to sneak inside Isengard and rescue Hera in time, which enrages Wulf enough to call for a war against Rohan.
Upon returning, Frealaf, having an idea about the ground situation, advises Helm to take the people of Rohan, the Rohirrim, from Edoras to the stronghold of Hornburg to offer them security from the oncoming forces of Wulf and also to seek Gondor’s aid. However, a proud Helm feels insulted at this proposal, and holding Frealaf responsible for Hera’s abduction, ends up banishing him from Rohan. However, knowing the temperament of his uncle, Frealaf takes his armies to set base in Dunharrow, promising to offer his strength whenever the need arises.
Wulf’s attack has terrible consequences, and King Helm’s lack of foresight costs the Rohirrim terribly. Following Lord Thorne betraying Helm, Edoras is burned and sacked, and Hama and Haleth breathe their last in combat in front of Helm and Hera, as the Rohirrim, along with their king and princess, are forced to take refuge in Hornburg. A vengeful Wulf won’t stop until Helm is brought to his knees, and he starts building a siege tower to breach the stronghold. An injured, bedridden Helm loses his fighting spirit in grief over the loss of his sons and the present predicament of his kingdom. Winter puts the Rohirrim under great duress as supplies run short, putting Hera in a critical situation as she needs to choose between saving her people or taking on Wulf—both are almost impossible in the present context.
However, unbeknownst to anyone, Helm had been venturing outside at night in the midst of a snowstorm and killing Wulf’s men one by one—this action of his, coupled with the presence of a couple of orcs and a troll nearby, creates a myth about Helm having become a dreadful, unkillable undead. Wulf’s forces gradually become frightened by the newly formed legend of an undead Helm, and already famished and exhausted, they are beginning to doubt Wulf’s leadership. In reality, Wulf doesn’t care about anything except revenge and continues to make false promises to his men about acquiring riches and resources from Hornburg after sacking the fortress. On one occasion, while looking for a missing Helm, Hera becomes aware of her father’s actions as he defends her by killing the orcs and the troll with his bare hands. Helm reveals that he is aware of the fact that he can not get rid of Wulf’s forces in this way on his own, but his desperation has resulted in him taking a tough decision. To take Hera to safety, Helm goes directly through the front entrance of the fortress, and noticing them, Wulf charges, taking his men along with him. Helm decides to stay behind to ensure Hera’s safety, and during his final interaction with his daughter, an emotionally distraught Helm reconciles with his daughter—entrusting her to protect the Rohirrim. Helm’s final stand is epic; he kills every single oncoming adversary throughout the night, and his war cries put mortal fear in Wulf’s heart, who dares not face him in direct combat. In the morning, Helm is discovered to be frozen to death in the midst of calling out his enemies; no one was able to make him bend the knee after all. Helm’s heroics result in Hornburg being renamed as Helm’s Deep. Centuries later, the Rohirrim will face Saruman’s orc army at this very place, with the Fellowship and Elven army assisting them in one of the most legendary battles in Middle-Earth history.
Who Became The New King of Rohan?
Despite Helm’s demise, Wulf remains adamant to bring ruin to Hornburg, as he hasn’t been able to take Hera’s rejection and will not rest until taking revenge upon her. Inspired by Olwyn’s confidence in her leadership, Hera concocts a plan as she takes help from the Great Eagle she used to feed to deliver a message with Helm’s armor and helmet to Frealaf. In secrecy, Hera asks Olwyn and surviving army generals to escort the Rohirrim to safety through the secrecy of an underground passage, while she, like a true leader, decides to draw Wulf’s attention to stall him as long as possible.
As the siege tower falls upon the walls of the fortress, Hera charges through on horseback, and hurting Wulf’s ego, challenges him to single combat—with the condition being he will have to spare the Rohirrim if she wins the duel. Hera manages to best Wulf, but the dishonorable Dundenling lord refuses to keep his word. His own general, Targg, refuses to follow Wulf’s command any longer, seeing what a cowardly, dishonorable person he has become, and Wulf kills him for his insubordination. However, as Wulf’s men infiltrate the fortress, Frealaf, accompanied by additional troops from Dunharrow, arrives to provide aid, donning Helm’s armor while doing so. Considering Helm himself to have returned from death to exact terrible vengeance, Wulf’s men scatter and flee in fear. Hera chose to spare Wulf’s life, who, in the face of imminent defeat, doesn’t let go of his devious instincts and attacks Hera relentlessly. At the end, Olwyn throws a shield to Hera, which she uses to strike Wulf to death. Adhering to Hera’s advice, Frealaf spares the fleeing Dundenlings, showing mercy and proving himself to be a worthy leader in the process. Rohan is saved at the end, and the demolished Edoras is built anew.
In War of the Rohirrim’s ending, Frealaf is crowned as the new king of Rohan, while Hera decides to pursue the life of an adventurer like she always wanted. In the final moments of the movie, Saruman is seen approaching the new king of Rohan and is revealed to have taken command of Isengard—this teases his future dastardly plan of betraying Rohan in years to come. On the other hand, Hera and Olwyn set their course towards the Istari known as Gandalf, who is willing to discuss with her about the Orcs she confronted in Hornburg. The Orcs were discussing something about rings and Mordor, which connects with Sauron’s vile presence and his dark forces at work. It seems if War of the Rohirrim proves to be successful at the box office, a sequel movie focusing on the involvement of Saruman and Galdalf in affairs of mortal men can get greenlit.
