Last Thursday, I went with friends to see The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. All of us who went to see it were there for a variety of reasons; I am a big fan of The Lord of the Rings franchise, especially the Peter Jackson films. My other friends were a mix of enjoying The Lord of the Rings or enjoying anime projects.

While I have seen quite a bit of debate as to whether The War of the Rohirrim counts as an anime, I think it partially falls into that category due to the chosen animation style. After seeing the film, I wrestled with two essential questions: Is this film good, and does it fit well within the standards of Peter Jackson’s six other Lord of the Rings films? So grab your popcorn bucket hammer and fake wooden stein, and let’s dive in.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is an original tale that tells the story of Hera, the daughter of the King, Helm Hammerhand of Rohan. When a dispute results in the death of a lord, civil war erupts in Rohan, a war which will test the strength of Hera and her family. I say an original tale because there is not a lot of lore written about the characters that The War of the Rohirrim focuses on. Due to this, a lot of the details are either brand new or taken from Peter Jackson’s live-action movies. 

One of the ways that the film reels in the Peter Jackson vibes is through the background art and the look of various locations. Many backgrounds and settings tend to seem like they are design drawings from The Lord of the Rings trilogy. While this definitely brings familiarity to the film, it also serves as an unusual collaboration between it and the look of the characters and creatures in Jackson’s adaptations. They are made to look much closer to that of traditional anime films, so there were times when my eyes felt like they were being tricked somehow. 

The tricking of the eyes was most apparent to me when the editing and animation of the characters were unusual. There were times when there would be a long pause between characters talking or a series of short pauses that seemed unnatural. Other times, characters would have movements that wouldn’t make sense based on what was happening in the scene.

I am curious to see if this is because the pauses are from a version of the film in another language, and they didn’t edit them out during the English voicing of it. I will have to find that out. That being said, there are also plenty of times when The War of the Rohirrim sells you into the idea that this tale, told in anime form, can fit within the world of Middle-earth that Peter Jackson brought to life through the fantastic action sequences and landscape shots.

As for the story, The War of the Rohirrim definitely seems like a tale told around a campfire. It is not nearly as grand as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, or as wide-ranging as The Hobbit trilogy turned into. However, it is nice to have it focus on a specific region within Middle-earth with no world-ending threat to contend with.

Two relationships carry The War of the Rohirrim: The first is between Hera and Helm, while the other is between Hera and Wulf. Both characters are important to the upbringing of Hera and the whole plot revolves around her. She isn’t the reason for the war happening, but she is the one who has to deal with the consequences and find a way to help her people through it. 

At the end of the day, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is an interesting look at Middle-earth at a time that we are not familiar with. With all of the current Tolkien movies and show adaptations that are out, I would say that The War of the Rohirrim is better than The Rings of Power (both seasons) and the second Hobbit film.

That puts it in an interesting spot that will make it loved by some and hated by others. As a film in general, The War of the Rohirrim is a good film that just needed a tad bit longer in the editing room. If you plan to see The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, do not expect to see the next great fantasy film to knock your socks off. Just expect to have a good time with a tale of war and family.

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The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

7

Score

7.0/10

Pros

• Great Development of Primary Characters
• Good Audio
• Nostalgic Music

Cons

• Unusual Animation Choices
• Missing Minor Character Development