On December 13th, 2024, the new anime based on The Lord of the Rings, called War of Rohirrim, is set to be released. After the crazy disappointment following the Amazon Prime Rings of Power (a show following Galadriel a few thousands years before the events of the original series), I am extremely torn over whether or not to be excited for this movie.
On one hand, I do think that the trailer and animation look beautiful. While I’m not 100% sure if the style suits the Lord of the Rings universe, I do think that the setting stays true to the original and captures what it needs to.
Along with this, Peter Jackson is working as the executive producer of this movie, which gives me hope. If you don’t know, Peter Jackson is the director of the original Lord of the Rings movies (minus the 1978 animated film) and, in my opinion, did an extremely good job at adapting such complex books to screen. I am HOPING that this is a good sign for the upcoming anime.
However, I have some qualms. Firstly, I find it interesting who they chose as the main character for this film. Tolkien originally made it so that the daughter of Helm Hammerhead was unnamed and didn’t play much of a role in the war or the plot. I think she got, like, one line mentioning her in the appendices? This film, though, brings her to life and makes her the central character. I don’t think this is necessarily bad, but I’m curious how they’ll pull it off without much source media to go on.
I also do think there’s a chance that this is simply a money grab using the popularity of Lord of the Rings to get fans interested. Along with this, anime as a medium has become more popular in the last few years, and it’s possible that they’re jumping on that as well.
I don’t have high hopes for this movie, but I really want it to be good. In my opinion, I think they should just leave off the adaptations, and let the books and original movies speak for themselves. Tolkien himself was extremely critical of movie adaptations, and I think that in itself should be a deterrent. After spending so much time creating a universe so unbelievably complex, it makes sense he would be against anything which simplifies or detracts from his work.
But who knows! I will definitely be writing a review once I watch it in December, so you can come back to see my opinion next month lol.
War of Rohirrim will be released on 13th December. If you want to make up your own mind, definitely check it out 🙂