An oral tradition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Boyens says that bringing in Otto as narrator was not an immediate decision. Rather it was one that gradually emerged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She explains that \u00c9owyn eventually felt like the natural way into the bloody and grim tale from Rohan\u2019s past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHer voice was familiar,” she says. “And then I think it started to come easily for the writers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She hopes that it will also help locate the story for film fans who are unfamiliar with deeper cuts from Middle-earth\u2019s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet that was not the only reason — an oral tradition felt fitting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt’s also so fragmentary, what we are dealing with in terms of the source material. It’s little bits of references here and there \u2026 so the oral tradition felt kind of right. The oral tradition of her telling the tale, passing the tale on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She doesn\u2019t divulge to whom. But one guesses it is likely her grandson, Barahir. Tolkien not only names Barahir in The Lord of the Rings (solving any potential rights-access issues that would arise with her son, Elboron), he is also an in-world scholar and the author of The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n Helm Hammerhand: a complex and epic role<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Boyens says that both the film\u2019s director Kenji Kamiyama, and Warner Bros SVP and producer Jason DeMarco, were well aware of Brian Cox from his recent voice role in the English dub of Blade Runner: Black Lotus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey’re huge fans, of course,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWeirdly, years ago — and this is me aging myself — I tried to go and see Brian’s performance as Titus Andronicus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She describes how this 1987 run of the Shakespeare tragedy directed by Deborah Warner has attained a legendary status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was just one of those ones which was fresh and shocking,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd it [the Andronicus role] wasn’t a role — this is from Brian himself — that many of the other actors were interested in taking on. But he connected to it. I couldn’t get a ticket, but I had a couple of friends saw it who were just blown away. And they talked about the way in which his rage was fuelled by this grief. And the underlying horror that was in the storytelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd that kind of resonated with me when we were thinking about the Helm role. Because it just — it spans a lot of different emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She says the role — and the film — is about delving into Helm\u2019s choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd the mistakes he made as well. And then his acknowledgement of those mistakes. Was there an acknowledgement of those mistakes?\u201d she asks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At different points she notes Helm\u2019s hot-temperedness, and how he almost certainly under-estimated the Rohirrim lord, Wulf, who after he is outlawed leads the Dunlending invasion of Rohan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c[Yet], I saw the tales of him slipping out [of the Hornburg] during the siege and attacking the camp for his people as literally someone trying — even with their bare hands \u2013 to protect the people as the king should,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo he was a true manifestation of the king-protector.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Helm\u2019s heirs and the overthrow of Edoras<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The grim reality, though, is that Helm is unable to protect his children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His eldest son, Haleth, is slain when Edoras is overrun and taken by Wulf\u2019s forces while Helm is forced to take refuge in the Hornburg. We touch only briefly on Helm\u2019s other son but I conclude that his Hama\u2019s fate will remain the same tragedy that it is in Appendix A.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Boyens describes the first as a shocking and powerful moment. Powerful, perhaps, for readers, to finally see things they\u2019ve long envisaged through Tolkien\u2019s descriptions; shocking for film fans to see the unexpected — Edoras besieged and overthrown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the other hand, Tolkien leaves the fate of Helm\u2019s daughter unclear. In fact, he never names her even though Freca\u2019s bid for her hand in marriage for his son, Wulf, is a key catalyst for war. Boyens concedes that we simply do not know a lot about her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhere we turn to, very deliberately, is to \u00c6thelfl\u00e6d, the Lady of the Mercians<\/a>. Alfred the Great\u2019s daughter,\u201d Boyens says, and proceeds to provide a rapid-fire education on an era of British history that I\u2019d barely known of until now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe never ruled as a queen per se; she’s known as the Lady of Mercians. But she seems to step in when her people needed her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u00c6thelfl\u00e6d was also really ingenious, which comes into play in the script. [It] was an idea that Kamiyama had, and they (he and the writers) played with that. I can’t tell you too much about it. But it\u2019s about how you save your life when you have very little to work with?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a statement that seems to suggest that Helm\u2019s daughter \u2013 who they\u2019ve chosen to name H\u00e9ra \u2013 will play some key role after the fall of Edoras to Wulf, and the death of Haleth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd I really don\u2019t think that Professor Tolkien would hate this,\u201d Boyens says. \u201cBecause I always see him as a bit of a Mercian himself being from the Midlands.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n H<\/strong>\u00e9ra<\/strong>: so named as a nod to the Anglo-Saxon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Unsurprisingly, the name H\u00e9ra is chosen for alliterative effect: Helm, Haleth, Hama, H\u00e9ra. Yet Boyens reveals that wasn\u2019t initially the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSomeone suggested another name and I went: \u201cNope, it’s gotta start with \u201cH\u201d, sorry\u201d,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cActually, Fran Walsh named her. I told her we were stuck. It’s actually H\u00e9ra (I get a quick pronunciation lesson and discover the \u00e9 functions a little like the \u201cai\u201d in hair) — that’s why it has the accent. Not so much based on the Greek [goddess] Hera, but a nod to the Anglo-Saxon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd I like to think she wasn’t a character that [the writers] tried to create wholesale — pulling things out of thin air. H\u00e9ra is very much drawing from sources that fit with the storytelling that Tolkien himself is drawing on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In case you\u2019re wondering, Boyens confirms that neither Fran Walsh nor Peter Jackson have an official production role. It\u2019s more that, since they\u2019re long-time collaborators and have so much experience within Tolkien\u2019s Middle-earth, they\u2019re sometimes just a natural sounding board for ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI also want to give a shout out to Gaia Wise who voices H\u00e9ra. I think you guys are going fall in love with her. She is fantastic, she’s amazing. She just had such innate sense of who the character is and how to play her. She was great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe had a very natural sense of fiery-ness, but without it being petulance defiance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n M\u00fbmakil, mercenaries and money<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While we\u2019re discussing events at Edoras, conversation inevitably veers toward the M\u00fbmakil that were prominent in the initial concept art released in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Boyens agrees with TORn\u2019s suggestions about why M\u00fbmakil might be present<\/a> at the siege of Edoras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA lot of your supposition was right in that article from our viewpoint,\u201d she says. She more or less adds only a single word to that: mercenaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think it works. I think it’s not against what you could infer from what we know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That might perplex some. But Tolkien Gateway seems to provide an element of support: the word \u201cVariag\u201d (as in the Variags of Khand<\/a>) is a Slavic word derived from the Norse<\/a> Varingar — “mercenary people”. \u00a0Moreover, Tolkien\u2019s notes to translators imagined the Corsairs<\/a> as \u201csimilar to the Mediterranean corsairs: sea-robbers with fortified bases\u201d. During the 16th<\/sup> Century, the Barbary Corsairs of the Mediterranean regularly used wealthy backers to finance their raids<\/a>, in turn paying them a share of the plunder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn order to understand the use of those [ideas],\u201d Boyens says, \u201cyou need to understand the character of Wulf and the position that Wulf is in — and had found himself in. And who he would be turning to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n At this point she pulls in another fact, mentioning the great wealth of Wulf\u2019s father, Freca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHis father was not an insignificant Lord of Rohan. He had indeed grown fat and prospered,\u201d she says, referencing Helm\u2019s comment in Appendix A about Freca\u2019s large waistline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Boyens doesn\u2019t expand any further, but my own guess is that The War of the Rohirrim will establish Wulf as the organising mind behind coordinated assaults on Gondor and Rohan, using resources wealth from his father to secure the assistance of Corsairs and Haradrim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Appendix A states:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Four years later (2758) great troubles came to Rohan, and no help could be sent from Gondor, for three fleets of the Corsairs attacked it and there was war on all its coasts. At the same time Rohan was again invaded from the East, and the Dunlendings seeing their chance came over the Isen and down from Isengard.<\/p> It was soon known that Wulf was their leader. They were in great force, for they were joined by enemies of Gondor that landed in the mouths of Lefnui and Isen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n A human struggle that becomes increasingly claustrophobic<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If this sounds like a very human — and political — struggle, Boyens concurs. I suggest the absence of elves, dwarves and hobbits makes it a very different tale to The Lord of the Rings that most know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She indicates that this was one of the reasons for choosing Helm\u2019s story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt’s not about the Ring, it’s not about the Dark Lord. All of that is very peripheral to the story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She says it\u2019s also the attraction of examining honour, revenge and familial ties — on both sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Helm, there\u2019s madness born of grief from the loss of the child. With Wulf, there\u2019s his relationship with his father, and with H\u00e9ra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe is his father’s son, but he has a different character. So he does actually offer [to wed] her and the writers asked: \u2018Why?\u2019 What was driving him? Was it just his father demanding that he do this? Was it his ambition? What was at play there?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even the historical grievances of the Dunlendings — that the lords of Gondor gave what the Dunlendings felt was their land to the Rohirrim — should come through in the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She says that all those things are in the Helm tale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen I talked to Kamiyama about it, it resonated with him. So that was the genesis,” she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd there’s a moment in the film, which is incredibly gut-wrenching and powerful where Wulf commits himself to a course of action he cannot turn away from. And once he does that, the story darkens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She says it was here that the screenwriters Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou really connected with Kamiyama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo, yes, it begins with these quite large-scale battles, but it actually becomes more intense and \u2026 claustrophobic,” Boyens says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd the nature of the film changes almost into a ghost story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs the siege takes hold, as the rumours of horror begin to spread. And I can give you a little tease and let you know that, although we said this isn’t about The Ring and this isn’t about the Dark Lord \u2026 there are the White Mountains and there are creatures [out there].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Somewhat to my relief she squashes speculation that she might be referring to the Dead of Erech. Instead, she suggests that orcs inhabited the area — a historically more agreeable inclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAlso, I can just add — and I thought it was, again, really interesting in the way that Kamiyama approached this — this was a long, cold winter that was hurting everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This suggests that there won\u2019t be space to see Gondor\u2019s own struggles. Gondor may come to the rescue in the end, but it seems the focus will be squarely on a life-and-death struggle within Rohan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She won\u2019t even confirm or deny the presence of Saruman the White in the film. We\u2019ll just have to wait and see.<\/p>\n\n\n A<\/strong>bout the author: <\/strong>Staffer Demosthenes has been involved with TheOneRing.net since 2001, serving first as an Associate News Editor, then as Chief News Editor during the making of the Hobbit films. Now he focuses on features and analysis.<\/em> The opinions in this article are his own and do not necessarily represent those of TheOneRing.net and other staff.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Executive Producer Philippa Boyens is pretty pleased with the casting for The Lord of the Rings: The War…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":113343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[65,331,22,3654,56,1287,74,75,498,392],"tags":[1011,3782,3855,3766,3871,3773,3765,3854,3777,3774,3781],"class_list":["post-113412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-walsh","category-greenbooks","category-headlines","category-interview","category-otto","category-new-line-cinema-production-studios","category-jackson","category-boyens","category-production-studios","category-warner-bros","tag-brian-cox","tag-freca","tag-gaia-wise","tag-helm-hammerhand","tag-hera","tag-jason-demarco","tag-kenji-kamiyama","tag-the-lord-of-the-rings-the-war-of-the-rohirrim","tag-the-war-of-the-rohirrim","tag-warner-bros-animation","tag-wulf"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t![\"Helm](\"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/FVS63uqWQAE1n8z-1024x596.jpg\")
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