Where does War of the Rohirrim fit in the Lord of the Rings timeline?

Fans of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings can return to the world as envisioned by the director through The War of the Rohirrim, the new animated movie helmed by legendary Japanese filmmaker Kenji Kamiyama.

The first trailer for the film has landed, giving viewers insight into a whole new story from JRR Tolkien's Middle Earth, one centred on the kingdom of Rohan and the origins of one of Lord of the Rings' most iconic battlegrounds — Helm's Deep. The teaser revealed much of what viewers can expect from the new film, including confirmation that the movie's focus will not be on Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox) but his daughter Héra (Gaia Wise).

What does the trailer for The War of the Rohirrim reveal?

The animation takes inspiration from a tale in Tolkien's appendices after the conclusion of The Return of the King, which details how a great war broke out in Rohan 200 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings. The war began after Helm Hammerhand refused a proposal of marriage between his daughter and Wulf, the son of a lord with Dunlendish blood.

For those in need of a reminder of Tolkien lore, the Dunlendings hailed from Dunland and were long-time enemies of Rohan. They appeared in Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movies as the oliphaunt-riding warriors who sided with Sauron during the War of the Ring.

The trailer for The War of the Rohirrim establishes this initial premise, showing the lord Freca (Shaun Dooley) entreating with Helm in the court of Edoras, and his son Wulf (Luke Paqualino) asks for Héra's hand in marriage. When this proposal is scorned Freca leaves in anger, but he then exchanges blows with Helm in anger over being disrespected — the fight is the catalyst for the titular war, as it results in Freca's death and leads Wulf to swear he will take revenge on Rohan.

Who is Héra, the protagonist of The War of the Rohirrim?

While little is known of Héra from Tolkien's work —she is only mentioned once in the appendices and not by name— the film is putting her at the forefront of the narrative. The trailer shows Héra embark on her own quest to save her kingdom, with the character proving to be an adept warrior much like Éowyn was in The Lord of the Rings.

Éowyn is the person narrating the tale, with Miranda Otto reprising her role for the film. As such, it seems fitting for the tale to focus so closely on Héra even if she is not named as a major player in the author's original telling of the War of the Rohirrim.

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What we also learn of Héra in the course of the trailer is that she and Wulf have a long history together as one brief moment shows the two play-fighting as children, and from what we see in the trailer the two will come to face one another in battle. The trailer also reveals how Helm entrusts his daughter with helping to save Rohan from its powerful enemies and tells her that she could "rule the world".

During her quest Héra is seen running away from an oliphaunt that appears to be corrupted, and as it rages towards her the creature is attacked by what appears to be the Watcher in the Water. The Kraken-like creature lurks in the lake near Moria and appeared in The Fellowship of The Ring, suggesting that Héra's journey will take her far afield in Middle Earth.

The origins of Helm's Deep

The trailer also shows glimpses of the war itself, battles which Tolkien wrote as brutal and bloody when Wulf leads the Dunlendings and other enemies of Gondor to overpower Rohan in the years after his father's death. The war famously leads to the riders of Rohan being driven back to the keep that would go on to be named Helm's Deep (which is the setting for The Two Tower's epic battle).

While they were driven back Helm and the Rohirrim held fast in Helm's Deep, working to fight off the enemy as they tried to lay siege to the keep just like Sauron's forces try to do years later.

During the siege of Helm's Deep a dark winter fell, and Tolkien wrote that Helm would secretly enter enemy camps to slay the men there. His attacks became so feared that whenever he sounded his horn to mark his coming into enemy camps many Dunlending warriors ran away in fear of his wrath.

The trailer for War of the Rohirrim does not reveal whether this aspect of Tolkien's work will be reimagined on the silver screen, but it could very well be included in the story.

Connections to The Lord of the Rings movies

In its final shot, the trailer features an orc coming across a ring before it wonders "what Mordor wants" with rings. The moment shows Sauron is secretly searching for the One Ring during this time period, linking the events of the movie even more closely with The Lord of the Rings.

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What the preview for the animation also wants to bring across, it seems, is the film's connection to Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies. The trailer includes a number of clips from the movies including Aragorn, Legolas and Gandalf's arrival in Rohan, as well as the first time viewers saw Éowyn in Edoras.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim premieres in cinemas on Friday, 13 December