The Lord of the Rings: The Ride of the Rohirrim’ Trailer Breakdown

The first trailer has been released for ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’, the new Middle-earth anime which will be releasing in December this year.

This is the first movie set in Middle-earth since ‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’, which was released a decade ago in 2014. As this is also produced by Warner Bros., the studio that made Peter Jackson’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, it allows them to adopt the same look as those movies, unlike Amazon’s ‘Rings of Power’ series, which has had to go for a completely new aesthetic. 

This connection is made full use of, as the trailer opens with a clip from ‘The Two Towers’ movie, which shows Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli riding to Edoras, with a voiceover from Miranda Otto, who played Eowyn in the live-action films. It then merges into the anime style of ‘Ride of the Rohirrim, and it’s clear that there’s been an effort made to make this fit in with the established look and feel of Peter Jackson’s movies, with the Golden Hall of Edoras and other features matching their original sets.

The story is set two hundred years before the events of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy and follows Helm Hammerhand, king of Rohan, and his family as they lead their kingdom to war. Helm’s daughter Hera has a prominent role in the movie, she is not named in Tolkien’s work, though it is mentioned that Helm had a daughter. Her father, meanwhile, is a famous figure in Rohan’s history, building the fortress of Helm’s Deep which is the scene of a huge battle against the Uruk-hai in ‘The Two Towers’.

As with most of Tolkien’s writing outside of ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘LOTR’, there isn’t a direct narrative story that can be adapted, as a lot of what’s shown in the film is only mentioned in the author’s notes, meaning the script writers need to build up on some of the elements included.

There are a lot of small references shown in the trailer, though what their importance will be isn’t clear, including a large elephant-like creature known as a Mumak, giant eagles, and what looks similar to The Watcher in the Water, all beings featured in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ books and movies. Also, while it’s not shown in the English language trailer, there is a brief shot of Saruman the White in the Japanese version. He was a major villain in ‘Rings’, who started out as a good wizard before turning to Sauron’s side later.

It will be interesting to see how this movie works out, and whether or not its anime style can be made to work within the setting of Middle-earth. It’s clear from the trailer that there are highly-stylized character designs, and several exaggerated fight scenes, as are common to this art style.

The film is directed by Kenji Kamiyama, while several figures from the New Line trilogy are also involved. Philippa Boyens serves as producer, while Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh are both credited as executive producers.

‘The Lord of the Rings: The Ride of the Rohirrim’ will premiere in theatres on 13 December, 2024.