The Fanmarillion

12/13/2024

Oof, the War of the Rohirrim dropped 10 percentage points on rotten tomatoes between last night and tonight. It opens to the public TODAY, and it's sitting at a 55% rotten launch score. Is this an anime in America thing? Or is it something deeper?

I'll do a write-up as soon as I see it.

12/12/2024

The War of the Rohirrim anime is joining the Lord of the Rings family of media this week.

Today's topic: What's the story behind Helm Hammerhand's showstopper name?

It's not a gasp-worthy tale; he simply prefers hand-to-hand combat over swordplay. ...WHOSE HANDS? Helm's hands. Helm is known for a particularly infamous punch, featured in multiple WOR trailers, so I'm 100% confident this will be part of your War of the Rohirrim viewing experience. A superstition arose that if he used no weapon, then no weapon could touch him in kind. This turned out to be true, as Helm is ultimately conquered by weather, not man.

Art for King Helm (including a statue at Helm's Deep from The Two Towers film) serves us imagery of a mammoth-like man, reflective of his powerful legacy and his impact on Rohan's culture. He's described in the legendarium as resembling a snow troll when out in a blizzard. To give this icon a booming voice to match, the team brought in gravitas extraordinaire... actor Brian Cox (Succession).

Helm might be a nazgul in the Shadow of War game, but pay that no mind. Naz!Helm will not be part of the film. This was just game developer fanfiction.

12/11/2024

The War of the Rohirrim anime is joining the Lord of the Rings family of media this week.

Today's topic: What's the connection to the Jackson series?

This is a prequel centered around the struggles of famous Rohan citizens--specifically, the ancestors of King Theoden, sourced from the LOTR appendices (The House of Eorl).

Unlike Rings of Power's marketing, the War of the Rohirrim's ads are THICK with references to Peter Jackson, going so far as to name him in giant text. Why/how is that? Welp, for starters, this project comes to us from Newline Cinema and Wingnut Films (LOTR's pedigree). And, Jackson's camp was partially involved. Philippa Boyens is War of the Rohirrim's producer. If you don't know the name, she was a key screenwriter on Jackson's Tolkien projects. Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson were allegedly used as "sounding boards" during development and were credited as additional executive producers by the time the film's advertising ramped up.

And, if you've seen some of the early trailers, they open with expansive views of very familiar landscapes, sometimes even direct clips from LOTR and the words "PETER JACKSON" in comically large text. As a sister project at New Line Cinema, War of the Rohirrim, I believe, is free to do so and take direct LOTR artistic influence on this film's design--something else Rings of Power's team couldn't fully do. The influence is certainly noted -- anime Rohan is a near identical match to the Jackson LOTR designs.

Even WETA Workshop is involved, designing much of the concepts for the animators!

And finally, I personally think it's an attempt to keep War of the Rohirrim disconnected entirely from the widely panned Rings of Power. Agree or disagree with that reputation, there's no denying ROP is a spicy product to tie your ship to right now, particularly with the pressures of a theatrical release.

12/11/2024

The War of the Rohirrim anime is joining the Lord of the Rings family of media this week.

Today's topic: Who is the heroine, Héra?

We don't know for sure. She's new. What I glean is that she's a combination of two OG characters from the LOTR appendices (subsection on The House of Eorl): Helm Hammerhand's unnamed daughter and his nephew Fréaláf (who becomes the next king after Helm). The trailer suggests to me that she has the unnamed daughter's role in Act 1, then performs, or joins in with, Fréaláf's role for the remainder.

King Helm Hammerhand has an unnamed daughter, who Dunlending warlord Freca demands Helm marry off to his own son, Wulf, in order to join their houses. In my previous post I described the long-running enmity between Rohan and the Dunlendings. That's coming to a head, and Freca is determined to acquire a level of legitimacy that will further his claim on Rohan lands. Having his son marry Helm Hammerhand's daughter seems like the move. You can guess how someone named Helm Hammerhand handles that demand.... Helm immediately executes Freca in a fit of rage.

The now orphaned Wulf takes this turn of events as well as you'd expect for a warlord's son. The ensuing war collects a high death toll and climaxes at the aptly named (after this story) Helm's Deep fortress. But not before Wulf accepts dark influence that bolsters his forces and raises the stakes against our Rohan heroes. We may even see the siege of Isengard as part of this animated tale.

12/08/2024

The War of the Rohirrim anime is joining the Lord of the Rings family of media this week.

Today's topic: Who are the villains?

The Dunlendings are the people of Dunland, also referred to as The Wild Men of Dunland. You might remember them from The Two Towers film. Saruman recruited them by stoking old grievances and turning their minds to vengeance. Saruman says, "The horsemen took your lands. They drove your people into the hills to scratch a living off rocks."

What Saruman's referring to is the founding of Rohan, 500 years before the War of the Ring. Eorl responded to a call for aid from the Steward of Gondor, bringing a host of riders that turned the tide of battle in Gondor's favor. As a gift for his help, Eorl received Calenardhon, aka The Mark, aka Rohan, making him the first King of Rohan (Theoden's ancestor). But there was a sticking point. People already lived there -- you guessed it, the "Wild Men". Fun fact: the "army of the dead" in Return of the King were also related to these people.

It's possible that the Dunlending's Two Towers film depiction heavily leaned into the "wild" epithet because Peter Jacksons' design team combined the Dunlendings with the "Drúedain" of Drúadan Forest, led by Ghân-buri-Ghân in the novels who were indeed wild -- like a tribe of today that shuns outside socialization. Judging from the War of the Rohirrim trailer, I suspect the anime creators opted for more of a nomadic warlord aesthetic for the Dunlendings this time.

So, back to the history: Eorl's people took up residence in The Mark and built the society you saw in The Two Towers, relegating the natives out to Dunland over time. This led to eras of skirmishes along the borders. By the time of Helm Hammerhand's reign (voiced by Brian Cox), this territorial feuding had escalated to war. According to IMDB's character listings, we will meet the Dunlending lord Freca and his son Wulf, who are the main antagonists in the war that culminates in Helm Hammerhand's last stand at the thereafter named Helm's Deep.

12/05/2024

We're two months out from the season finale & have no confirmation ROP season 3 will happen, much less filming soon.

This is the death knell, right? Should we expect a cancelation announcement circa Christmas? What are your thoughts?

12/05/2024

What are you doing with your ROP drought?

Me? I'm channeling my best Lady Yasmina at my bf when he offers to pour beestings and watch the Twilight Saga

11/28/2024

Happy Thanksgiving to the Americans. Wishing you a feast worthy of Adar's war tent, free of the trappings of discussing Sauron's transgressions 🍗🍠🥕🍞

11/20/2024