How War of the Rohirrim fits into Lord of the Rings lore

Shake away any doubts you may have about animated adaptations of JRR Tolkien’s works. The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim – based on JRR Tolkien’s history of Rohan, the land of horse lords and shield maidens – comes from a top team of Middle-Earth talent, and their dedication and skills have delivered an action-packed fantasy drama that only animation can deliver.

Despite the anime stylings, courtesy of director Kenji Kamiyama and Sola Digital Arts (Blade Runner: Black Lotus) War of the Rohirrim is from many of the same people who made Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the film was explicitly designed as an expansion of that version of Tolkien’s world.

That’s a difficult connection to put on a movie poster, or even in a TV commercial. So let’s unpack how War of the Rohirrim fits into the chronology of Tolkien, Jackson’s films and your movie watching time.

How long is War of the Rohirrim and does it have a post-credits scene?

WotR is surprisingly long for an animated film, clocking in at two hours and fourteen minutes. But if you don’t want to wait for the movie’s signature song, Paris Paloma’s ‘The Rider’ or the names of all the people who worked on the film, on the Howard Shore-inspired soundtrack, which you can skip once the credits start rolling.

The War of the Rohirrim has no post-credits or mid-credits scene, and no sequels are on the board to tease. Unless, of course, you count the already existing Peter Jackson Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogies, which follow this one, in the timeline. See below.

Is War of the Rohirrim a Peter Jackson movie?

Immediately? No. But spiritual, visual and intention? Yes.

The War of the Rohirrim is a rare theatrical release for Warner Bros. Animation – currently best known for regular releases of DC Comics adaptations such as Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths And Cheerful little Batman – but there’s Jackson Lord of the Rings DNA all over it. The scripts for Jackson’s films were co-written by him, his partner Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, and Jackson and Walsh have executive producer credits on The War of the Rohirrim. Boyens is even closer to the production, with a co-credit for the story and a producer title.

Boyens also recruited creative director Richard Taylor and artists Alan Lee and John Howe for the production, all mainstays of the Jackson Lord of the Rings design team. And Kamiyama’s crew benefited from full access to the Wētā Workshop archive of props and designs created for Jackson’s films.

“We didn’t want fans of live-action films to think it was different,” Kamiyama told Polygon, “or that this wasn’t something they were familiar with. (…) We wanted to make sure they feel like it’s connected, and this is a connected universe.”

Is War of the Rohirrim an original story?

The War of the Rohirrim is based on real Tolkien lore! Tolkien created many details about Middle-earth that provided information The Lord of the Rings but were not central to the books. When The return of the king was published in 1955, he added six appendices, each delving deeper into some of that world-building.

The first appendix of The return of the king contained a history of the horse-riding peoples of Rohan, with about two pages devoted to Helm Hammerhand, the last king of Rohan’s first dynasty. That is the story that Boyens and her team decided to continue with The War of the Rohirrimwith Helm’s unnamed daughter as the main character, Héra.

When does War of the Rohirrim take place in The Lord of the Rings?

The War of the Rohirrim takes place approximately 250 years before the events of The Lord of the Ringsduring the reign of Helm Hammerhand, king of Rohan. Or, to give you a different perspective on things: Helm’s Deep, the enormous mountain fortress where the climax of Peter Jackson’s The two towers takes place? That is named after Helm.

So you won’t see Éowyn, Théoden, Aragorn, or any of the hobbits The War of the Rohirrim. Still, there are a few cameos thrown in. Speaking of which…

(Ed. remark: Minor spoilers about a brief appearance of an old character in The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.)

Was that really Christopher Lee as Saruman?

Yes! Lee delivers a line as Saruman via an archival recording of the production of Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy, used with permission from his widow, Birgit Kroencke. And it’s not a random cameo either.

Saruman’s appearance here is taken directly from Tolkien’s writing, which states that Rohan’s long war raised concerns for the safety of the people as they recovered – concerns that were allayed when Gondor invited the wisest of the council of wizards to his residence. take in the long abandoned tower. of Orthanc on the western border of Rohan. Saruman was still there in Orthanc 250 years later when he finally revealed his secret, evil ambitions, as seen in The Company of the Ring (the book), and Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (the movie).

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is now available in wide theatrical release.