In The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, arguably the most epic battle of the entire trilogy happens in the land of Rohan. During the battle of Helm’s Deep, the heroes of Middle-earth won their first major victory of the War of the Ring, fighting against the Orcs and the Dunlendings. But the origin of the “Helm” in Helm’s Deep and the machinations of the Dunlendings will be fully explored in a new anime feature film produced by Peter Jackson and directed by Kenji Kamiyama.
The movie is The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, which, unlike Rings of Power, is a prequel that takes place much closer to the actual timeframe of The Lord of the Rings. And, with this prequel anime film, it seems that we’re meant to interpret it as directly connected to the canon of the famous film trilogy.
The trailer for The War of the Rohirrim gives us the basic set-up for the story. We’re 200 years before The War of the Ring, so the Riders of Rohan as we know them aren’t quite solidified. But there is Helm Hammerhand (voiced by Brian Cox), who, in Tolkien lore, is someone with basically superpower fists. Helm’s Deep is still known as “Hornburg” at this point in the timeline, and voiceover narration from Miranda Otto — reprising her role from The Two Towers and The Return of the King as Éowyn — will basically tell the tale of how Helm’s Deep became what it is.
Although this prequel is set relatively close to the events of The Hobbit (or at least closer than Rings of Power), the trailer reveals what will likely be a somewhat self-contained tale. And, because the story is focused on Héra (Gaia Wise), the daughter of King Helm Hammerhand, we’re essentially getting an entirely new Lord of the Rings heroine, hitherto unknown in Middle-earth lore. As the trailer reveals, after a botched arranged marriage it is Héra who will lead the resistance against the Dunlending.
With the appearances from the famous massive Eagles and battles on an epic scale, it appears that Kamiyama is giving Lord of the Rings fans a kind of treat that we didn’t know we actually wanted. He’s pulled this off before with the tragically underrated Blade Runner: Black Lotus, and with the project added layers to a rich world without really messing with the original story.
So, it seems unlikely that The War of the Rohirrim will fundamentally change our knowledge of how magic and power work in Middle-earth. But what’s refreshing about this prequel movie is that’s clearly not the goal. Instead, it appears that The War of the Rohirrim will depict the beauty of Middle-earth in an entirely new style, allowing for a standalone epic in the midst of a much larger world.
