The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Reportedly a Bait and Switch

Movies

Another one bites the dust. The big Lord of the Rings release this year, outside of The Ring of Power’s second season, is The War of Rohirrim, an anime-style animated film based on an appendix in the Lord of the Rings book The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien. The movie “tells the story of Helm Hammerhand, a legendary king of Rohan, and his family as they defend their kingdom against an army of Dunlendings. Helm goes on to be the namesake for the stronghold Helm’s Deep.” But, according to a “ticket pertaining to the marketing efforts” of The War of Rohirrim obtained by The ArchCast, the film is a bait and switch, taking the story that once belonged to Helm Hammerhand and giving it to his daughter, who was a minor unnamed character in the book but is called Héra in the movie and will be the lead. You can see Arch’s video below for details:

You can set your watch to this kind of thing. That description of Héra sounds like every female protagonist from the last few years. What’s more infuriating than the changes are the marketing tactics and how deliberate they are. They’re admitting to using the familiar elements of a Lord of the Rings story to lure fans so they can pull the rug out from under them. It’s maddening that they talk like this, but it’s clear in a lot of the shows and movies we’ve seen lately. How many times have the elements fans wanted to see been jangled like keys, only for the final product to “subvert our expectations”? The promise of Luke Skywalker’s return masked the destruction of his character and the usurpation of his legacy. Indiana Jones’ final adventure was all about a feisty girlboss who stopped talking about how great she was just long enough to take over Indy’s movie. And here we are with Lord of the Rings… again.