'The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim' and What It Can Teach Screenwriters

This article will include spoilers for Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings books began in 1937 with the first publication of The Hobbit. It continued in the 1950s with the publication of the The Lord of the Rings trilogy and has become a part of the cultural zeitgeist ever since then. It went into overdrive with the release of Peter Jackson’s filmed adaptations, starting with 2001’s Fellowship of the Ring and wrapping up with 2003’s Best Picture winning Return of the King. This seasons animated The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim expands on the mythology and characters first introduced in the middle installment of that trilogy, 2002’s The Two Towers. It goes back in time 200 years before Bilbo Baggins acquired the titular ring and tells the story of the Riders of Rohan and the family of Helm Hammerhand (voiced by Brian Cox) and the mythology surrounding the fabled stronghold of Helm’s Deep and the horse riders’ conflict with the hated hill people. Miranda Otto reprises her role of Éowyn from the Peter Jackson films as the narrator of this tale, looking back on it in hindsight.

The film’s story is original, only based on characters from The Lord of the Rings, and originated with the Academy Award winning writer of the original The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Phillipa Boyens, alongside screenwriters Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews. Addiss and Matthews worked on the script as well as Phoebe Gittins & Arty Papageorgiou. It’s a beautiful addition to the canon and adds wonderful mythology to the world and offers lessons for anyone tackling these sorts of fantastical stories in their own work.

Lean into the Medium

Too often, people confuse animation as a genre of film, but it’s merely a medium for telling stories. The filmmakers leaned into this, getting away with conceits, ideas, and transitions that audiences have an easier time swallowing because of the medium, but would have definitely rebelled against if they were seen in a live-action medium. Part of that comes from the fact that the story is framed as a fairy tale or legend, we suspend our disbelief because we’re tuned into the nature of that framing. There’s a scene where Helm Hammerhand is punching foes off of the ramp leading up to the Hornberg and in live action it would have seemed absolutely ridiculous, but it seems absolutely rapturous and, frankly, badass in animation.

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The other thing they did was lean into the idea that in 2D animation, there is a more unlimited budget than there is in live action. In live action, it would likely cost an astronomical amount to create a sequence where an undead, zombified Oliphaunt chases down a character (Héra, voiced by Gaia Wise) through the woods, and then is consumed by a Watcher in the Water in a tense struggle. In Fellowship of the Ring, they shot the sequence with the Watcher in the Woods in the lake outside the Mines of Moria at night and barely showed it, likely to minimize the effects and to save money. Here, they’re able to show it completely.

Leaning into the medium and budget that you’re working with is going to maximize the effect you’re able to have on the audience by giving them everything you possibly can.

Bear in mind how your script is going to end up in the final form and you’re going to be able to craft scenes more suited to it.

Framing Devices

The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim is framed around the character of Éowyn telling a story from the legends of her people. A little known story, and she talks about how Héra, the main character, won’t be found in the songs or history books, but how she changed the course of history for Rohan.

Mirroring Lady Galadriel’s narration of The Lord of the Rings films, Éowyn is able set the scene and offer vital exposition without taking us out of the story or dragging it down. Part of the reason this works in this particular genre is that we’re accustomed to fairy tales and fantasy stories having this sort of introduction. It might not work as well in a different genre where we’re not so used to this sort of device. In more modern or contemporary pieces it might feel a little bit more out of place. In science fiction or adventure stories, it feels like we’re more accustomed to the opening crawl, from Star Wars to Blade Runner, they very quickly bring us up to speed on the state of the world and then drop us into the deep end of the world. This is common in historical fiction stories as well. Gladiator II is a recent example.

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The screenwriters of War of the Rohirrim use the narration and voice over to maximum effect, though. Instead of relegating it to the start and finish of the story, they used her narration to bridge transitions in the story. By having Éowyn as a tool in their storytelling box they were able to create efficiencies in the script and clear up any other exposition issues or even skip time and space without disorienting the audience. It’s also a useful tool for the writers in post-production, able to make cuts or trims in the narrative and bridge those gaps with a single voice-over session. If you’re going to use a framing device, understand all of its potential uses and put them to work to your advantage.

Adding Context with Prequels

One of my favorite things about War of the Rohirrim is how it’s able to add gravitas to the later installments of The Lord of the Rings. As the story unfolds and we learn more of the story of Helm Hammerhand, Héra, and the fabled Helm’s Deep, it adds layers of gravitas to the Battle of Helm’s Deep in The Two Towers. Granted, part of that is in the use of music, sound effects, and set-pieces being repeated between the films, but in the script itself, there are story beats that add so much context that it will give an astute viewer chills just connecting the dots. 

First, Saruman preys on the shared history between the people of Rohan and the people living in the hills, sent into the hills to scratch their living off rocks. When they so eagerly agree to burn Rohan to the ground, it’s very much taken for granted, but now we’re able to see the burning conflict that lies underneath that Saruman is exploiting, adding a much deeper context to the story. 

Then, as Helm Hammerhand takes on all the qualities of a wraith, attacking like a monster from the shadows, blowing his horn to strike fear in the hearts of his enemies, we’re treated to a legend being born. We see how this terrifies the people from the hills, further playing into that conflict Saruman exploits and adding to the legend of Helm’s Deep itself. More than anything, the sound of Hammerhand’s horn blowing in concert with this legend adds so much gravitas to the moment where Gimli blows the horn of the Hornberg, sounding it in the deep once more before the last ride of Theoden in The Two Towers. 

It was already an emotional moment in the film, but knowing the history and legend behind it adds so much more context and weight to it. It also makes a thoughtful viewer wonder what the Uruk-hai might be thinking about as they hear the horn sound.

If you’re working with a story that is a prequel, think about how you can add context to add strength to future moments.

Overall

Though the story offers much smaller stakes than the The Lord of the Rings trilogy, really few stories in that world could offer any larger stakes. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth exploring stories from its treasured history and this was a perfect story for the chosen medium. It was well-written, emotional, and expanded the lore beyond what we’ve seen in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings. The fact that Warner Brothers and the Tolkien estate trusted this team to expand the lore in this format showed how much the folks behind the Peter Jackson films know the essence of what makes Tolkien’s work great and can add to it and make it feel just as relevant and magical as anything Tolkien created himself.

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It’s crafted beautifully and I’d love to see more installments like this. Though I wouldn’t mind if this team created more original work, I would love to see some of the more classic tales adapted into this medium. Could you imagine if they took this animation style and adapted the story of Beren and Luthien into it? Or the Fall of Gondolin? Or the War of Wrath? There are so many that would be great and could fit beautifully into the canon Peter Jackson created.

Hopefully, we’ll still get to see more.

As for screenwriters out there, there’s always something worth studying in these films, especially since they remain the gold standard for the genre. Whether it’s the way the dialogue is wrought, able to contain subtext and reveal exposition all at the same time, or whether it’s how they’re so unconventionally structured, but classically structured all at the same time, spend time with it. This one is a winner.

The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim is in wide release everywhere.

You can find out more about Bryan Young at his website.