'Lord of the Rings' gets anime makeover with 'War of the Rohirrim'

No elves, dwarves, or hobbits in sight: "The Lord of the Rings" returns to the big screen this month with a new Japanese anime-style movie about the warring men of J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional universe. Out in theaters December 13, "The War of the Rohirrim" is a prequel that takes place nearly two centuries before Peter Jackson's original Oscar-winning films, which were themselves adapted from Tolkien's fantasy books.

But unlike the first "Lord of the Rings" movies -- or the disappointing "The Hobbit" films that followed -- there are no magical rings or all-powerful Dark Lords this time.

"You look at the original trilogy, you're talking hobbits and elves and dwarves and monsters," director Kenji Kamiyama told a recent press conference. The new film is instead "rooted in human drama and emotion... greed and power," said the Japanese artist, who has previously worked on animated versions of "Star Wars" and "Blade Runner."

Hollywood studio Warner Bros. announced in 2021 that the next "Rings" film would be an anime—a distinctively Japanese visual style and genre that has exploded in popularity in the West in recent years. Filmmakers scoured the vast, invented histories that Tolkien wrote as footnotes for his beloved novels. They soon homed in on a brief description of a civil war between a king and a rebellious nobleman.

"It wasn't a case of, 'we've got the story, what form of animation are we going to tell it in?'" said producer Philippa Boyens, who also co-wrote the "Lord of the Rings" and "Hobbit" trilogies. "It was the opposite way around. Something about this particular story felt intrinsically right for that great tradition of Japanese filmmaking, which is anime."

That tradition means themes such as honor, loyalty, hubris -- and a fearsome female protagonist in the ilk of Studio Ghibli's famous "Princess Mononoke."

'Boss girl'

"The War of the Rohirrim" is set in Rohan, the kingdom of horse-riding, Viking-looking warriors featured prominently in Jackson's 2002 movie "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers."

The animated movie revisits key locations from that film -- such as the epic battleground fortress of Helm's Deep -- and is narrated by Miranda Otto, who played a heroic female Rohan warrior, Eowyn, in Jackson's trilogy. The plot begins with ambitious Lord Freca plotting to marry his son to Hera, the daughter of the king of Rohan.

When the proud monarch contemptuously spurns the offer, Freca mounts a revolutionary challenge to the throne but is fatally struck down. Sent into exile, his son cultivates a massive rebellion that will unleash catastrophic war on the entire kingdom.

Although she is central to the conflict, Tolkien did not even bother to give the princess a name in his lengthy historical footnotes. But Boyens was fascinated by the idea of expanding this mysterious character, who witnesses and links the new film's various heroes, villains, and battles.

"We didn't want her to be some warrior princess, superhero, boss girl," said Boyens. "We wanted her to feel real. She's full of curiosity; she makes mistakes." Jackson himself served as an executive producer for the new film but "stepped back" from day-to-day involvement, encouraging Kamiyama to put his anime stamp on the film, according to Boyens.

"Elements of the live-action (films) creep into the world," she said. But they "crept in very beautifully around the edge." "Story-wise, we wanted to stay true to the Tolkien universe... but at the same time, we wanted to stay true to what we do best- just to make anime," agreed Kamiyama.