The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is a 2024 anime fantasy film directed by Kenji Kamiyama from a screenplay by Jeffrey Addiss & Will Matthews and Phoebe Gittins & Arty Papageorgiou, based on characters created by J. R. R. Tolkien. Set around 200 years before Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003) and The Hobbit (2012–2014) film trilogies, it tells the story of legendary Rohan king Helm Hammerhand. When the neighboring Dunlendings propose a marriage to his daughter Héra, Helm unintentionally kills their leader and starts a war. The film stars Brian Cox as Helm and Gaia Wise as Héra, alongside Luke Pasqualino, Laurence Ubong Williams, Lorraine Ashbourne, and Miranda Otto.
The film was announced in June 2021 and development was fast-tracked to prevent New Line Cinema from losing the film adaptation rights for Tolkien's novels. Kamiyama was involved by then, as were producer Philippa Boyens—who co-wrote Jackson's films—and writers Addiss and Matthews. Gittins and Papageorgiou re-wrote the script, which is based on details in the appendices of Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955) covering the history of Rohan's rulers. They chose to focus on Helm's daughter, who is unnamed in the appendices. Sola Entertainment provided the traditional 2D animation, taking inspiration from Jackson's films. The main cast was revealed in June 2022, including Miranda Otto reprising her role from Jackson's trilogy as Éowyn, who narrates the film. Jackson and his trilogy co-writer Fran Walsh were credited as executive producers by June 2024.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim premiered on 3 December 2024, and was released theatrically by Warner Bros. Pictures in international markets from 5 December and in the United States on 13 December. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $20.7 million worldwide against a $30 million production budget.
Plot Éowyn narrates the story of Héra, a would-be shieldmaiden of Rohan and the daughter of King Helm Hammerhand who lived around 200 years before Bilbo Baggins finds the One Ring.
Freca, a Dunlending lord, comes to King Helm's hall with his son Wulf, Héra's childhood friend. Freca is upset that Héra is to be married to a lord of Gondor and tries to force marriage between Wulf and Héra, in order to usurp Rohan's throne. Wulf wishes to marry Héra, but she is uninterested in marrying anyone. Helm and Freca begin a fist-fight outside the hall, during which Helm unintentionally kills Freca with a single blow, earning him the nickname "Hammerhand".
Wulf, devastated, vows revenge, leaves and is not heard of for years. One day, Héra and her part-Dunlending cousin Fréaláf encounter a dead Southron warrior, a tamer of mûmakil. The warrior's mûmak, rabid, appears and attacks; Héra disposes of it by luring it to a forest lake where it is eaten by a Watcher in the Water. Targg, one of Freca's generals, follows and kidnaps her. She is taken to Wulf's stronghold at Isengard and discovers that Wulf has become High Lord of the Dunlendings, a host of hill-tribe rebels. Héra asks Wulf if he would reconsider his attack on Rohan if she agreed to wed him. However, Wulf interprets the offer as contempt for him. Héra is rescued by Fréaláf and her aunt Olwyn.
Wulf invades Rohan. Helm thinks Fréaláf is a coward for wishing to evacuate Edoras to Dunharrow fortress, and casts him out. Helm prepares for battle after Lord Thorne promises to raise men, but Héra discovers that Thorne is a traitor; he tries to kill her, but Héra and her horse kill him. As battle ensues, Héra evacuates Edoras to the Hornburg upon realizing her father has been betrayed and his army is outnumbered. Wulf kills Helm's son Haleth in battle, then captures Haleth's brother Hama and murders him in front of Helm, who offered to die in his place. Wulf begins a siege of the Hornburg which lasts the winter, and builds an enormous siege-tower.
Helm, wounded and grief-stricken, sneaks out at night by a secret passage to kill Wulf's forces using only his fists. While searching for Helm during one of his night raids, and helping him kill a troll, Héra chances upon two orcs from Mordor who are taking rings from the dead, as instructed by their master. Helm leads Héra back to the Hornburg's gates. When Wulf and his forces pursue them, Helm remains behind to cover Héra's escape and dies fighting, frozen standing up, knees unbent.
Héra sends an eagle bearing Helm's armour to Fréaláf for help and, dressed in a beautiful old bridal dress, rides onto the siege-tower bridge that Wulf has just lowered to invade the Hornburg, and challenges him to combat, to distract him and his army from the Rohirrim escaping via the secret passage. She defeats Wulf and demands his surrender. Targg, who had counselled Wulf to call off the siege, agrees with her, but Wulf murders him. Fréaláf arrives with his men and uses Helm's horn and armour to scare the Dunlendings into believing Helm has returned from the grave, sending them fleeing. Wulf attacks Héra, but she chokes him to death with a shield, ending the war.
Helm goes on to be the namesake for the valley of the Hornburg and its stronghold. Saruman the White is the new keeper of Isengard and offers friendship to Fréaláf, the new king. Héra, uninterested in ruling, goes off with Olwyn to seek adventure; her first is meeting Gandalf, who has questions about the orcs she saw hunting for rings. Éowyn concludes that Héra remained wild and free until the end of her days.
Voice cast
Brian Cox as Helm Hammerhand:The hot-tempered king of Rohan who attempts to protect his people. Director Kenji Kamiyama was intrigued by the story of Helm's lineage ending, seeing it as a lesson about responsibility and power. Gaia Wise as Héra:The tomboy-ish daughter of Helm who helps defend their people. Wise said the character was closer to the female heroes from Hayao Miyazaki's anime films such as Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) than Éowyn and Arwen, the "fully formed" female heroes in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Wise described Héra as rebellious and complicated. Luke Pasqualino as Wulf:The leader of the Dunlendings who seeks revenge against Rohan for the death of his father. Unlike previous antagonists in the franchise, Wulf is just a human rather than an evil wizard or dark lord. Producer Philippa Boyens felt this made him more interesting and more dangerous, and said the character was relevant to "a lot of the crises that we're facing today". Laurence Ubong Williams as Fréaláf Hildeson: Helm's nephew and successor to the throne of Rohan Lorraine Ashbourne as Olwyn Miranda Otto as Éowyn: A future shieldmaiden of Rohan who narrates the film
Additionally, the voice cast includes Yazdan Qafouri and Benjamin Wainwright as Helm's sons Hama and Haleth, respectively; Shaun Dooley as Wulf's father Freca, a Dunlending lord with Rohirric blood who attempts to claim the throne; Michael Wildman as General Targg; Jude Akuwudike as Lord Thorne; Bilal Hasna as Lief; and Janine Duvitski as Old Pennicruik. An archival recording of Christopher Lee was used for the voice of Saruman. Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan, who respectively played Pippin Took and Merry Brandybuck in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, provided the voices for the Orcs Shank and Wrot.
Production Development In June 2021, during 20th anniversary celebrations for the beginning of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003), film studio New Line Cinema announced that it was fast-tracking development of an anime prequel film with Warner Bros. Animation. This was intended to prevent New Line from losing the film adaptation rights for J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954–55) novels. The new film, titled The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, was being directed by Kenji Kamiyama and produced by Joseph Chou, both returning from Warner Bros.' anime television series Blade Runner: Black Lotus (2021–22). It is connected to the film trilogy's continuity, and co-writer Philippa Boyens returned from those films as a consultant and producer. She said an animated expansion of the franchise had been discussed for years before they settled on making an anime film. Jason DeMarco, Warner Bros.' senior vice president of anime, was also producing the film. Jackson and the film trilogy's other co-writer, Fran Walsh, were not officially involved, but Boyens used them as a sounding board for ideas, and they were being credited as executive producers by June 2024. Other executive producers include Sam Register, Carolyn Blackwood, and Toby Emmerich.
Writing
Several story ideas were suggested for the film, but Boyens insisted that they focus on the kingdom of Rohan as she felt that culture was best suited for the anime medium and would be familiar to viewers of Jackson's films. The War of the Rohirrim is set around 200 years before Bilbo Baggins finds the One Ring. It tells the story of Rohan king Helm Hammerhand who Tolkien mentions in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, specifically the "House of Eorl" section in Appendix A which details the history of Rohan's rulers. The producers chose to tell this story because its setting earlier in the timeline avoids the villain Sauron and the influence of the One Ring, and because they thought the intensity of the conflict and the way it escalates made it the right choice for a film adaptation. Boyens said it allowed them to tell a tragic story about the "wreckage of war", and examine ideas of honor, revenge, family, and resilience.
Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews were hired to write the initial screenplay. During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, Boyens asked her daughter Phoebe Gittins and Gittins's writing partner Arty Papageorgiou to re-write the script. Boyens referred to them as the franchise's "next generation". The pair, who were working on another project at the time, were hesitant to join the film because of the reverence for the source material and previous films held by themselves and other fans. They were convinced to join based on the other people working on the project, including many who worked on Jackson's films. This allowed them to focus on the storytelling and bringing the material closer to the styles of anime, Japanese cinema, and animation in general. Kamiyama wanted to include some details that did not fit within the initial script, including how to lay siege to a citadel. He worked with Gittins and Papageorgiou to put a focus on the darker, more claustrophobic, and horrific elements of the war rather than just large-scale battles. The director was also interested in the historical grievances that lead to the Dunlendings attacking Rohan.
The writers decided to introduce a narrator who would be telling the story as part of an oral tradition. The character Éowyn from the main events of The Lord of the Rings was chosen. Boyens said having a familiar voice in the film helped the writers with their work. She added that the narration gives context for fans of the previous films who are unfamiliar with Tolkien's wider Middle-earth history, and she felt framing the story as an oral tradition was fitting because it was being constructed based on fragments and references in the source material.