Hera Rohirrim War Explained

The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim is a unique twist on traditional Middle-earth media. It’s been decades since we’ve gotten a Middle-earth adaptation in animated form. (You have to go back to the 70s and 80s Those old Ralph Bakshi and Rankin/Bass adaptations of “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” To find something similar.) “War of the Rohirrim” is also quite new in the sense that it comes in anime format. Although it’s technically a prequel to the live-action film “Two Towers,” this innovative spin-off gives it just as much excitement. Studio Ghibli feel As one of Peter Jackson.

While “The War of the Rohirrim” is new territory for Middle-earth adaptations, unlike Prime Video’s very different Second Age series “The Rings of Power,” the film’s story revolves around an ancient region — specifically, plains, fortresses, and strongholds. From Rohan. We see Helm’s Deep (albeit an earlier version of the castle) and the Rohirrim riding through the fields and fighting on foot.

But what about the movie’s hero? What about a woman who drives the plot forward for two hours straight? Hera, voiced by the talented Gaia Wise, may be the film’s main character, but what place does she have in JRR Tolkien’s lore? What did the writer say about her? It turns out he said very little. In fact, her name isn’t even in the source material.

Hera is the daughter of the Rohirriki King Helm Hammerhand. No, literally, in the source material, that’s her primary role: “Helm’s Daughter.” This is the only time it is briefly mentioned in the appendices to The Return of the King: “To one of these councils rode Fricka with many men, and asked for the hand of Helm’s daughter for his son Wolf.” This is the scene in which Fricka (voiced by Sean Dooley in the film) confronts Helm (Brian Cox), only to be taken outside and shown the working end of Helm’s fist. This leads to the infamous one-hit killing and, ultimately, to all-out war between the Rohirrim and the Dunlendings. And Hera? She is left out of the narrative after being briefly mentioned. It doesn’t even appear in the actual story. She never rides a horse, carries a sword, or faces her greatest enemy. At least, Tolkien never wrote that much. Sure, it’s in there somewhere, but after Wolfe comes to the forefront of the story, the men take center stage in the typically traditional historical format, marginalizing Helm’s daughter in the process.

Remember in the movie when Hera says to Wolf: “Our parents talk as if I were not in the room?” There is more subtext than just the heroine’s struggle within the story. It was an afterthought for the author as well.

So why choose Hèra to play the lead role in Warner Bros.’ Anime adaptation? Let’s count the ways. First, there’s the fact that focusing on Hèra is a nice, simple way to portray a strong female heroine on screen without straying too far from Tolkien’s texts (where main female characters are few and far between). Rohan is one of the areas of Tolkien’s world where women are particularly empowered, as evidenced by Éowyn (Which is brought back by Miranda Otto About the “War of the Rohirrim”). In fact, Tolkien wove the concept of the Shield Girl deep into the fabric of the Rohirric, giving Hera a cameo role as the ancestor of the battle-hardened, Nazgul-slaying heroine from “The Lord of the Rings.”

Beyond the natural cultural fit, Hera represents a unique character in Tolkien’s adaptations in the sense that although she’s technically from the original myth, the Oxford professor gives us absolutely nothing about her. We don’t even know her name. (Hera’s title is actually inspired by Hera Hjalmar, who played the lead role of Hester Shaw in Jackson’s Mortal Engines.) Everything else about Hera was set up for the movie. Is it inspired by other characters, like Eowyn? Sure, but it’s a rare combination of faithful and completely original canon.

Then there’s the fact that the story of King Helm Hammerhand and his family is a beautiful mixture of the known and the unknown. The story of the war with Wulf and the Dunlendings is less than three pages long as Tolkien wrote it. It provides a solid plot with some killer details, like killing Helm with a single punch and his prey stalking through the snow. While this is a good start, the drawn narrative leaves a lot of room for creative freedoms and artistic expression.

Jackson and company have big plans if the War for the Rohirrim goes well. Philippa Boyens, producer and Middle-earth alumnus, recently went on record saying they had another idea for it “Second movie” In anime format if all goes well. She indicated that they are trying to do so Viggo Mortensen is set to play Aragorn in the upcoming Gollum moviealso. Although these projects are still a long way off, there’s no doubt that this anime prequel served as a smart return point as Boyens, Jackson, and their crew end a decade-long hiatus in Middle-earth. It’s made in a low-budget medium and uses a perfect adaptive story that could reignite the appetite for a new wave of Jackson-style Middle-earth media to come.

“The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim” is now in theaters.