Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim Will Be Darker Than You Think For One Reason
When "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" movies are brought up, they evoke images that are warm, cozy, exciting, adventurous, inspiring, and even sad. But rarely does Middle-earth cinema feel dark. Sure, there are evil elements, but Gandalf takes down the Balrog and Éowyn defeats the Witch-king. The good guys are victorious against endless Orc hordes. The Eagles save the day over and over again.
Despite the generally uplifting aspects of J.R.R. Tolkien's world, Warner Bros.' anime adventure "The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim" has the potential to be one of the darkest Middle-earth movies to date. And that's because it's going to focus on a struggle between humans.
To clear things up, humans do fight their own kind in "The Lord of the Rings." Sauron recruits Men from areas like Rhûn and Harad, east and south of Mordor, respectively, to fight in his armies. The Army of the Dead is also composed of the ghoulish souls of Humans, and the Nazgûl are technically human, too.
By and large, though, the bulk of the fighting takes place between different races. Groups of baddies like the Orcs, Trolls, and Wargs regularly square off against Elves, Men, Dwarves, and other distinctly different good guys. The bad guys are depicted as mindless cannon fodder, making each violent interaction easier to compartmentalize, ethically speaking. When Men do face off against each other, like during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, things immediately take on a more serious and heavy tone. And it's precisely that man vs. man slaughter that "The War of the Rohirrim" is likely going to need to steer into early and often.
The violent source material for The War of the Rohirrim
The darker feel of "The War of the Rohirrim" story is easy to spot in the source material. The narrative comes from a few pages tucked away in the appendices of "The Return of the King" where we get an outline of a fight between the Men of Rohan and the nearby Men of Dunland.
The Dunlendings are joined by other enemies of the Rohirrim from the south, west, and East. While these groups aren't detailed, that last direction is capitalized on purpose. The upper-case "East" refers to an area where, as one may surmise, other humans dwell. Additionally, the Men of Rohan have one primary hope for support. That, of course, comes from Gondor — yet another kingdom of Men. In other words, while there is potential for other creatures to get involved, the source material for "The War of the Rohirrim" centers on a struggle between Men.
Zooming into the details shows things quickly getting grisly. The king of Rohan, Helm Hammerhand, is a brutish warrior who strikes first and thinks afterward. He is depicted stalking through snow, killing men with his bare hands. There is also a severe famine during the conflict, adding another distressing degree of complexity to the fabric of the story.
From inter-human violence to starvation and angry acts of untamed aggression, "The War of the Rohirrim" has all of the ingredients to be the darkest chapter of Middle-earth to date. The fact that it will be packaged in an anime format is even more fascinating. How will director Kenji Kamiyama, returning Éowyn actress Miranda Otto, and the rest of the creative team handle this more sinister dimension of J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium? Only time will tell.