On December 13, the The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim debuts in theaters! If you’re a big LOTR nerd, then you probably know where the story comes from, but if you’re not, you might be a little confused. Tolkien died in the 1970s, after all. Here are answers to the burning questions more casual fans have.
Where Does the Story Come From?
The story comes from the appendices in the Lord of the Rings. The appendices appear at the end of Return of the King and give more information about the genealogy and cultures found in Middle Earth. There is also more information about some of the narrative references made within the main trilogy, like the story of Aragorn and Arwen, which is shown in the film but is largely left out of the novels. Likewise, the family trees of the hobbits can also be found in the appendices.
The story of the War of the Rohirrim comes from the 'House of Eorl' section in Appendix A, where the history of the rulers of Rohan was detailed. The story is about the war of the Rohirrim against Dunlendings* and takes place 183 years before the main trilogy.
*The Dunlendings are the men from Dunland, a region west of the Misty Mountains who end up aligning with Saruman and Sauron.
Why Did They Choose to Make This Movie?
New Line Cinema, the production company behind the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit film franchises, decided to fast-track the film so they would not lose the film rights to Tolkien’s novels (Amazon bought the television rights in 2017).
Philipa Boyens, who co-wrote the Lord of the Rings trilogy film adaptations, insisted that the film focus on Rohan, as that was a culture that fans of the films would be familiar with. This particular story was selected because it stayed away from the main villain of Sauron and the story was well-suited for a film adaptation.
Are More Planned?
The War of the Rohirrim is an animated film, but another live-action film, Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, will be released in 2026. It will be directed by Gollum himself, Andy Serkis. At this time, no more animated films have been announced.
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