The anime team of “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” hesitated about returning to Middle-earth. Producer Philippa Boyens wanted to make sure they weren’t treading old paths.
The events of “The War of the Rohirrim” unfold 183 years before the “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Helm Hammerhand was a legendary king of Rohan, who defended his kingdom from the army of Dunland.
“One of the reasons I kept thinking about what our attempt to return to the world of Middle-earth could be was that we didn’t want it to involve Dark Lords or rings. It was meant to be a self-contained story, not necessarily with characters we already know, revolving around a new set of characters. I felt it should be a story that could stand alone in the form of animation. I’ve always loved the Rohirrim as a people, I find them fascinating,” explains Boyens.
The original storytelling was also aided by the animation form. The proposal to create an anime came from Warner Bros. The producer decided it could work and immediately recalled Helm’s story in that context.
“It seemed that the story would fit well into the tradition of great Japanese cinematic storytelling. Not just themes of honor, but also family, the sense that even heroes have significant flaws, in the case of Helm Hammerhand.”
Sources: GamesRadar, SFX