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The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

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Kennedy Unthank
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Movie Review

A couple of centuries before there ever was a Frodo Baggins, Helm Hammerhand was king of Rohan.

Long had the kings of Rohan sparred with the Wildmen of Dunland, who have despised the Rohirrim ever since Gondor stole their lands and gave the territory to the Rohirrim centuries ago.

But that is nothing King Helm cannot handle. The wildmen have no king and pose little genuine threat to his rule.

That’s when Lord Freca arrives in Edoras, the capital of Rohan. Over the years, Freca grew in power far to the west of Edoras—but he’d like more. That’s why he proposes that his son, Wulf, be married to Helm’s only daughter, Hera.

Helm knows Freca’s power-hungry ways, and he suspects that any such an alliance would only serve Freca’s desire to gain the throne for his own family. Helm insults Freca to his face, and the two come to blows. And with a single punch, Helm accidentally kills Freca then and there.

Wulf is furious, and after attempting to slay Helm, he’s banished from Rohan under threat of death.

Years go by. Wulf’s memory fades from thought.

That is, until Hera learns firsthand that Wulf’s been very busy, mustering the Wildmen’s hatred of Rohan into a fighting force. And if he has it his way, Hera will watch as he slays her brothers and father in front of her before taking the throne for himself.

Unless, of course, Hera can do something about it.


Positive Elements

Plenty of people give their lives to protect others here. In particular, we see many men (and a couple of women) face enemies so that the elderly, women and children have enough time to evacuate.

When all seems lost, Hera reminds people to hold onto hope. Despite the tragic odds, many of the Rohirrim cling to that hope, refusing to give in to despair.

Despite being publicly humiliated earlier in the film by an ally, a man continues to stay true to his loyalties and duty.

The film shows the dangers of letting vengeance overpower you.

Spiritual Elements

One of Manwë’s (an archangel-like being) mythical eagles plays into the plot of the film. There are rumors that someone has turned into a wraith. A character prays. Someone yells that he’ll “be d—ed before he would be defeated by a ghost.”

Sexual & Romantic Content

Hera is adamant that she is uninterested in marriage, stating that she has no plans to marry any man.

[Spoiler Warning] Near the end of the film, Hera chooses to ride out to adventure, and her longtime female friend chooses to join her in her travels. The film makes no indication that the two share romantic feelings, but some could potentially read a same-sex relationship into that choice.

Violent Content

Plenty of people, horses and Mûmakil (large war elephants) die in battle from sword and arrow alike. A couple of men are impaled by spears and swords, and one victim falls into a fire after being stabbed; someone’s hand is chopped off; another man takes an arrow through the head, and one person dies after an arrow pierces through his throat. Someone gets pierced by a pitchfork. Another character has his throat cut. A man freezes to death. A person chokes to death. Bodies litter a field.

Helm and Freca throw punches at each other, and Helm accidentally kills Freca with a hit to the head. Someone is choked before being released. While practicing with daggers, a young Hera accidentally cuts a friend’s face with her blade. Someone receives cuts across face and arm. A character gets kidnapped.

We see the decomposing body of a man, his skeleton partially exposed. We also see a dead horse in the same manner. We witness various Mûmakil being slain: one is eaten whole by a Watcher in the Water (large octopus-creature); another dies when a man slams his axe into its head multiple times. An ice troll gets stabbed in the eye with a spear, and someone bashes its head in multiple times with a rock. Two orcs die, too.

A few buildings and structures burn to the ground. We see evidence of cannibalism.

Crude or Profane Language

We hear one use of “d–n.”

Drug & Alcohol Content

None.

Other Noteworthy Elements

None.

Conclusion

Near the start of the film, Miranda Otto (who played Éowyn in Peter Jackson’s trilogy) narrates:

“By [Hera’s] hand, many great deeds were done. But do not look for them in the tales of song. There are none.”

That is technically true. There is very little written about the character in Tolkien’s works. All that is canonically known about her comes from “Appendix A: Annals of the Kings and Rulers” at the end of The Return of the King:

“To one of these councils Freca rode with many men, and he asked the hand of Helm’s daughter for his son Wulf. But Helm said: ‘You have grown big since you were last here; but it is mostly fat, I guess’; and men laughed at that, for Freca was wide in the belt.” (Emphasis mine.)

Perhaps the choice to focus the movie on Helm’s daughter is simply because she has so little written of her, the creators could write whatever they wanted without fear of Tolkien purists complaining about it. Still, far more is said about some of the other characters. But while much of that lore makes its way into The War of the Rohirrim’s two-hour-plus plot—some doesn’t (or is altered to make way for Hera’s story). So take that how you will.

As regards other aspects of the film, the score is passable, with direct nods to and motifs lifted straight from Howard Shore’s original composition. The animation is lovely but only if no one moves. When they do, its choppiness is revealed, and it’s immediately evident that the fluidity of the characters’ movements needs work.

And speaking of choppy, the main issue families may take with the film is, unsurprisingly, the violence of this war. While animated, a handful of moments can still get graphic, such as when someone takes an arrow through the throat or when a troll’s head gets smashed in with a rock.

In my opinion, The War of the Rohirrim comes across as a very average film. The plot is straightforward and enjoyable enough. But it’s a bit drawn out for my liking, and Hera seems quite impressive and heroic for someone who didn’t even get her name written down in history. But as Galadriel says in The Fellowship of the Ring, maybe this is one of those moments where “some things that should not have been forgotten were lost.”


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kennedy-unthank
Kennedy Unthank

Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”

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