LOTR War of the Rohirrim
A Few Thoughts on War of the Rohirrim
Spoilers ahead.
I liked this movie. This statement will not make me any new friends among Tolkien fans, but I have to be honest: I really enjoyed this movie.
I must admit, at first, I bought into all the hate about this film. I believed all the comments about Héra being just another insufferable girl boss or strong female character “à la Hollywood” that has already become a stereotype after only a few short years. Turns out Héra is none of these—at least not in the “in your face” kind of way that has almost become a Hollywood trademark nowadays. I found her to be an interesting character, both endearing and relatable.
Sure, she does come off as a bit “bossy” at times and she shows some of the traits of the Hollywood 90 lb waif, who is at once smarter than the men surrounding her and able to fight off 200 lb warrior men. However, in this context, isn’t that what we should expect? She is the daughter of Helm Hammerhand, one of the strongest characters in Tolkien lore. A man who could kill large, powerful men with a single punch, or who could fight off armed soldiers with nothing but his fists. It is only normal that his daughter—in the same right as his sons—would inherit some of his traits and attributes.
As for the “obvious lesbian undertones” that some are seeing in the movie, Héra does have a close relationship with Olwyn, the retired shield maiden who now serves as Héra’s guardian. Olwyn obviously also trained Héra to be a warrior. I see a strong, respectful and even loving relationship between the two, but Olwyn appears more like a mother and role model to Héra than a secret lesbian lover. Some even went as far as saying that Olwyn sported a lesbian hairstyle. Olwyn feels more like a matriarchal figure than anything else. Some critics were quick to decry the scene where Héra kisses Olwyn as a strong hint of a lesbian relationship, yet she gives the same peck on the cheek to her brother in another scene. If there is a hint of a lesbian relationship between Héra and Olwyn, it’s subtle—and in any event, there is nothing wrong with that. Héra does say at one point in the film that she would marry no man. Whether this means she is a lesbian or just wants to be free, it does not really matter as far as the story is concerned.
Sure, we’re all getting tired of the boss girl trend. A string of movies that have failed to earn good returns at the box office is proof of that. But I see Héra as a step in the right direction. She will still irritate a number of more conservative moviegoers or diehard fans of Tolkien. She’s still a far cry from the most successful strong female characters (Carrie Fisher’s Leia Organa, Red Sonja, Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley, etc.) we’ve come to love, but I see a lot of Miranda Otto’s Éowyn in Héra, and that is a very, very good thing.
Rohirrim society is obviously strongly patriarchal. Women like Héra (and Éowyn) would have had to fight for recognition in such an environment. We know, historically, that this is no mean feat. Early in the movie, Héra relates part of the history of the Shield Maiden of Rohan; how women took up arms to defend their people when they were no men left to fight. Despite the high deeds of the shield maiden, Lord Thorne (played by Jude Akuwudike) is quick to mention that the banner of the Shield Maiden should be retired. “They’re all gone,” he says, to which Héra replies, “not all of them” (meaning Olwyn). This is a strong scene in the film that underlines how hard it is in any society (even today’s) for women to get recognition for their accomplishments.
So, I understand how Héra feels. And I see her story arc as an interesting one. One of the telltale signs of a girl boss is that they do not grow; they are Marie Sues from the get-go. They start off strong and finish strong. They can do no wrong. They are better than most (if not all) men around them. They do not evolve, change or improve. The Héra we see riding off into the sunset at the end of War of the Rohirrim is not the same woman we first saw at the beginning of the movie. She grew. She went through some changes. She evolved. She had an interesting development arc. This is the sign of a well-developed character, and this is what is at the center of a well-crafted tale. I’d like to see her further adventures, either in novels or more animated films or a TV series, but this is unlikely to happen now due to the movie’s box office performance.
Many of the supporting characters felt a bit too one-dimensional, including the antagonist, Wulf. I like Luke Pasqualino; I was impressed with his performance as a young William Adama in Battlestar Galactica Blood & Chrome released in 2012. The movie, meant as a pilot for a spinoff Battlestar Galactica series, was not picked up by the network, but Pasqualino made a very convincing young Adama (these were some tough shoes to fill following Edward James Olmos’s performance in Battlestar Galactica). He’s a great actor and his performance in War of the Rohirrim shows he’s acquired more acting chops over the past few years. I just wish the script had given him more to work with.
I also enjoyed Lorraine Ashbourne’s performance as Olwyn. She felt very genuine in a role that could easily have slipped into a stereotype. I was glad they did not kill her off (like so many of the other secondary characters).
When it comes to the animation style, I must admit I am biased. I have been a big anime fan since the days of Leiji Matsumoto’s Captain Harlock. I am also an admirer of Shinji Aramaki and a number of other anime creators, including War of the Rohirrim’s director, Kenji Kamiyama (famed Ghost in the Shell director). Some people feel that the anime style felt wrong for a story set in Tolkien’s Middle Earth. For my part, I felt it added a very interesting tone to the movie. Obviously, it would have been a totally different movie if, for example, a more traditional (or Western) form of animation had been used, like that used in The Sword in the Stone, Secret of Nimh or anything Disney-esque. But the producers decided to go anime, and I like the end result.
There are some issues with the animation work. It seems at times inconsistent, and it felt like the animators did not know how to animate a horse. I read somewhere that horses are particularly difficult to animate. This feels strange, however, because I also read that the producers used rotoscoping animation to make the horses look more lifelike in this movie. Rotoscoping animation has come a long way since Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards. I’m glad it’s still being used, but the horses’ gait in War of the Rohirrim still feels off kilter.
The scenery is, for the most part, very appealing. At times, the paysage made me feel as if I was out in the open, breathing in Rohan’s fresh air and gazing at its blue sky for real. It is also highly reminiscent of the scenery in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Great Eagle were very well portrayed, and the appearance of such key characters in Tolkien lore only strengthened the feeling that this was indeed a tale of Middle Earth. Saruman’s cameo was also very welcomed. I understand some moviegoers do not like it when the likenesses of beloved actors who have died are used in new movies (I still remember the furor over the appearance of Carry Fisher’s and Peter Cushing’s CGI likenesses in Rogue One), but it felt great to hear Christopher Lee’s “voice” and see his (animated) likeness one more time in a Middle Earth context.
The fight scenes were satisfying, and I was relieved that they were not too full of the usual aerial fighting that is so rampant in some of the more hyper anime movies.
In short, is this a Middle Earth story? The answer is both “yes” and “no.” It’s up to fans to decide if this story belongs within Tolkien’s world of Middle Earth. When it comes to adaptations of revered literary works, a large number of the fanbase is offended by the liberties taken with the source material. I agree with them in many instances (for example, The Shannara Chronicles were an abomination—especially season 2). Unfortunately, when it comes to War of the Rohirrim, it feels like a large segment of the fanbase did not like the movie—or even the mere idea of this movie. As a result, the film will probably only be shown in theaters for a very short number of weeks. It’s also already available through streaming, while the movie is still playing in theaters, which is not a good sign. This makes me very sad because it feels like War of the Rohirrim was blacklisted even before it came out in theaters. For myself, I can’t wait for the DVD to come out; it will go on my shelf next to Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies, Ranking Bass’s Hobbit and Return of the King, and Ralph Bakshi’s Lord of the Rings. None of them are perfect, but they all allowed me to enjoy a little bit more of Middle Earth.
About the Author
Jules-Pierre Malartre Jules-Pierre Malartre currently lives in L’Île-Perrot, a small island west of Montreal (Quebec), which is as close to the Great White North that he will ever dare go, but still cold enough to save him from big-ass spiders, alien abductions, undead dinosaurs and tourists who find his French accent charming. In 2005, he quit a promising aerospace engineering career to go into freelance writing, which was a very, very bad idea according to his mother. Since then, he has become considerably poorer, but he has grown much happier. Along the way, he adopted cats—lots of cats! When he is not writing technical manuals, newspaper articles, press releases or blogs on anything from comic books to yoga, he is busy working on his first novel, a semi-autobiographical fictional account of his life that dares to ask the question, “where did God go wrong with me anyway?” His first short story, “The Rest Was Easy,” was published by the online literary magazine Amarillo Bay in 2013. The five people who read it liked it. He’s well aware that it took him over a decade to publish another one, so he’d really appreciate it if you'd cut him some slack about it! He loves coffee, cats and reading, mostly because those three things go very well together.
