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The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Unveils First Female Protagonist
The Lord of the Rings' anime movie debut will be the first in the franchise to feature a female lead character.
The Lord of the Rings: The Warner of the Rohirrim is set to make its theatrical anime debut later this year, featuring a female protagonist and breaking ground with its first female protagonist. The franchise is gearing up for a massive comeback with various new projects, including a new anime feature film based on a small story from the original canon, aiming to bring a full war break out.
Directed by Kenji Kamiyama, the new anime film tells the story of Helm Hammerhand, the ancient king of Rohan, after whom the fortress of Helm’s Deep is named.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will feature the franchise's first female protagonist
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will tell a story that takes place nearly 200 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings films, and will focus on a young woman named Hèra which is voiced by Gaia Wise and will be the first film in the franchise to do so with a female protagonist at the center.
As detailed during the film's panel during the Annecy International Animation Film Festival this year which was reported by The Wrap, the film will then explore a familial drama that explodes into a much larger conflict.
Gaia Wise said her character bears a stronger resemblance to the heroines of Hayao Miyazaki films like Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind than to classic Lord of the Rings heroines like Arwen and Eowyn.
“She would lay down her life for her people,” Wise told Entertainment Weekly. “Comparing her to Arwen and Eowyn, they’re already fully formed women. What I loved about Hèra is she’s fierce, she’s complex, she’s rebellious.”
Phillipa Boyens, who previously co-wrote the Lord of the Rings film trilogy said, “In the appendices where the story is drawn from, we get these quite interestingly drawn male characters, and then we get this young female character who is never named — and that was really interesting to me."
She added, “We know Helm has a daughter, and we know that she was central to the conflict that happened. But myself, and especially screenwriter Phoebe Gittins, were drawn to her. We could feel the weight of being that unnamed daughter, which immediately piqued our interest: Who was she? How did she live?”
A brief about The Lord of the Rings: The Warner of Rohirrim
Produced by New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Animation, The Lord of the Rings: The Warner of Rohirrim anime is a prequel to Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Starring Brian Cox, Gaia Wise, Luke Pasqualino, Miranda Otto, Laurence Ubong Williams, and Shaun Dooley, The War of the Rohirrim is set 183 years before the events of those films and tells the story of Helm Hammerhand (Cox), a legendary king of Rohan, and his family as they defend their kingdom against an army of Dunlendings.
Development was being fast-tracked by June 2021, when the film was officially announced, to prevent the studios from losing the film adaptation rights for Tolkien's novels. Kamiyama was involved by then, as were producer Philippa Boyens, who co-wrote the Lord of the Rings film trilogy and initial writers Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews.
Gittins and Papageorgiou re-wrote the script, which is based on details in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings covering the history of Rohan's rulers. Sola Entertainment provided the traditional 2D animation, taking visual inspiration from Jackson's films. The cast was revealed in June 2022, including Otto reprising her role as Éowyn from the film trilogy.
Stephen Gallagher was revealed to be composing the score for the film in February 2023. Gallagher was the music editor on the Hobbit film trilogy, working closely with composer Howard Shore, and his music for The War of the Rohirrim continues Shore's style including reprising the Rohan theme from the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Recording for the score took place with an orchestra at Angel Recording Studios in March 2024.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is scheduled to be released theatrically in the United States on December 13, 2024, by Warner Bros. Pictures.
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