What connects The Warfare of the Rohirrim to The Lord of the Rings?

For the primary time in ten years, the world of The Lord of the Rings can be returning to the large display screen in December with the discharge of The Lord of the Rings: The Warfare of the Rohirrim. The anime movie takes place over 100 years earlier than the occasions of The Lord of the Rings, and revolves round a portion of Rohan’s historical past.

Within the lead as much as the movie’s launch, you might surprise how precisely it connects to the broader Lord of the Rings franchise as seen on screens. Is The Warfare of the Rohirrim linked to Amazon’s The Rings of Power collection? Or is it linked to Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies? And the way does it join in any respect?

Placement in The Lord of the Rings timeline

Distance makes a distinction

The Lord of the Rings: The Warfare of the Rohirrim explicitly takes place in the identical continuity as Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings motion pictures. That is primarily resulting from authorized rights. However, there’s additionally some consideration to be given to Center Earth’s timeline.

The story takes place slightly below 200 years earlier than the occasions of Lord of the Rings and greater than 4,000 years after the occasions of The Rings of Energy. Due to this, it’s a lot simpler to attract a connection between the occasions of all the flicks than drawing any connections between The Warfare of the Rohirrim and The Rings of Energy.

However the timeline placements aren’t the one factor that makes it clear that The Warfare of the Rohirrim is extra intently linked to The Lord of the Rings motion pictures somewhat than The Rings of Energy. The opposite main situation comes right down to rights.

The only clarification is that Warner Brothers has the rights to make and distribute motion pictures based mostly off of The Lord of the Rings and its appendices. In the meantime, Amazon has those self same precise rights, however for the needs of TV. Due to this separation of rights, there’s actually no room for a connection between WB’s The Warfare of the Rohirrim and Amazon’s The Rings of Energy.

Nevertheless, it’s price noting that each The Warfare of the Rohirrim and The Rings of Energy are tailored from the appendices of Return of the King. Nothing past the scope of The Hobbit or the contents of The Lord of the Rings trilogy at present has any movie or TV rights on the desk. Not even the Silmarillion.

Connection to The Lord of the Rings motion pictures

The previous of Rohan

WB

With the connection to The Lord of the Rings in thoughts, what precisely varieties the connection within the story? The Warfare of the Rohirrim is ready to observe a number of the lifetime of Helm Hammerhand, King of Rohan, and his household. Significantly, the film appears to focus an excellent deal on Helm’s daughter, Hèra, who was unnamed within the books. Followers of The Lord of the Rings motion pictures will undoubtedly understand that Helm Hammerhand is, after all, the namesake of Helm’s Deep.

The story of the film will observe Helm and Rohan’s ongoing battle with the Dunlendings. The Dunlendings are a gaggle of untamed males. They had been beforehand seen in The Two Towers film. Within the film, they helped Saruman’s orcs raid varied villages of Rohan. The battle between the Dunlendings and Rohan throughout the context of The Warfare of the Rohirrim will flesh out their story, including layers to the battle. Their hatred for the folks of Rohan stems from real grievances, not simply from Saruman’s manipulation. And so they aren’t fairly simply barbarians.

The Dunlendings are a displaced folks. Traditionally, they as soon as inhabited the lands that Rohan now claims. When Eorl the Younger, the founding father of Rohan, acquired these lands as a present from Gondor, the Dunlendings had been pressured to maneuver. This created a festering resentment that may gas conflicts for generations, all the best way as much as the occasions of The Warfare of the Rohirrim.

In The Warfare of the Rohirrim, this battle between the Dunlendings and Rohan would be the primary focus. The film’s major battle appears to be incited from a Dunlending lord, Freca, asking to marry Hèra. The battle is ready off by Helm hanging Freca so exhausting that it kills him on the spot. The animosity attributable to this occasion carries all the best way into The Two Towers, when the Dunlendings in the end aspect with Saruman.

Returning characters and forged

One confirmed, others attainable

Warner Bros

On condition that The Warfare of the Rohirrim takes place over a century earlier than The Lord of the Rings, it’s extremely unlikely we’ll see any characters from the trilogy pop up in The Warfare of the Rohirrim. Sure, there are many elves that may’ve been alive throughout the occasions of the film, however The Warfare of the Rohirrim is primarily centered round a battle between races of males.

One other set of characters that would seem within the film are any of the wizards of Center Earth, reminiscent of Gandalf or Saruman. Both character cropping up in The Warfare of the Rohirrim wouldn’t be as odd as an elf discovering their manner into the battle. And, given Saruman’s future significance to the Dunlendings, it may very well be an fascinating name again (name ahead?) to have Saruman make an look.

Regardless of all of this, we do know of 1 returning character and forged member from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. However, they’re not fairly totally returning. Miranda Otto can be reprising the position of Éowyn in The Warfare of the Rohirrim, as she narrates the film’s occasions. Éowyn herself is the niece of Théoden, the King of Rohan throughout the occasions of The Lord of the Rings.

Via story significance and a casting connection, The Warfare of the Rohirrim is immediately linked to Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings motion pictures. Whereas the story offered gained’t be as sweepingly consequential because the occasions seen in different Lord of the Rings media, The Warfare of the Rohirrim nonetheless seems to be a wonderful film that can illuminate some context into the world of The Lord of the RIngs.