Middle Earth is definitely popular once again since Amazon will be hosting the upcoming Lord of the Rings show that is set to run for multiple seasons, and now Warner Bros. will be taking on The War of the Rohirrim, which will tell the tale of Helm Hammerhand, former king of Rohan and namesake of Helm’s Deep. Many fans are likely to get excited about this since the Battle of Helm’s Deep in The Two Towers was by far one of the best battle scenes in the entire trilogy, not to mention one of the largest since the scene was stacked from end to end with combatants. Even better, the Battle of Helm’s Deep, brief as it was, turned out to be one of the more important victories for humanity since it was one of the last strongholds in Rohan that could have withstood such a force. But the story that will take place will be set 250 years before the events of the LOTR apparently, and as stated will take an in-depth look at Helm Hammerhand in an animated form.
Another reason that fans are likely going to be ready to see this is that for a long time now, much of what Tolkien wrote is still in the books and hasn’t been given a great representation on the big screen. A lot of people have been content to read and imagine what it would all be like, but seeing something on the screen tends to satisfy many fans that want to see something, anything, so long as it’s close enough to what Tolkien intended. There are plenty of people that have gone online complaining about the looks of certain characters and how some parts of the story didn’t feel right, but as with anything, a transfer to a different medium is going to change a lot of things around. Simply getting to see the story play out in a way that’s easily understood and can cater to pretty much everyone, from the superfans on down to those that just became interested in the story since they saw the commercials, is far better than to simply create a niche fairy tale that depends heavily on the most loyal members of a fanbase.
That’s why this upcoming show is bound to be something that will cling to the overall idea of the LOTR franchise but will still be its own creation since well over 200 years in the past it feels safe to say that some things will be different and some will be the same. It shouldn’t have to be said, but it does feel that someone will, at some point, bring up the idea of diversity and the supposed lack of it in the story. This is an argument that is bound to keep happening since like it or not, the LOTR trilogy was written by Tolkien in a manner that reflects his experiences and therefore is bound to show what he thought needed to be put into the story. Plus, if the story is based on European nations then there are bound to be a few representations that might show some diversity, but not quite as much. The funny thing is that if the same argument is made for a movie such as Black Panther, those bringing up the need for diversity suddenly become very defensive and have a supposedly perfect answer for everything.
But getting back to the point, the story will be set in Rohan apparently and it’s a hope that will follow the tenets of the world that Tolkien set up to start with, meaning that if it is diverse it will have a reason to be so, and won’t sacrifice the integrity of the story simply to satisfy the woke crowd that loves to dip their opinion into everything. But learning more about Helm Hammerhand might actually broaden the overall story just a bit since it would be interesting to learn how Helm’s Deep came to be and why, and it’s bound to be fun to learn more about Rohan before the time of Theoden.
At this point, one has to wonder how far this story is going to be taken in either direction since it’s very easy to imagine that it will keep going so long as there’s interest and so long as there are people that are willing to watch and learn more about the world Tolkien created. One has to admit that the author did a great service to those that would come after him by taking the time to detail such a rich and vibrant tale that would eventually be picked up by those that can’t resist a good fantasy story. The War of the Rohirrim is bound to be another fine addition to this franchise, and it’s not likely to be the last.
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