The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim offers up an untold story in Middle-earth's history about the House of Helm Hammerhand
The new anime movie is out now in cinemas and like The Rings of Power, The War of the Rohirrim is based on the appendices at the end of JRR Tolkien's The Return of the King.
Like the Prime Video series, it takes place before the events of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but it's not so far in the distant past. The movie takes place 200 years before the War of the Ring, but if you're still a bit confused about how it all fits together, we're here to help.
Here's exactly when The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim takes place on the timeline, and how it connects to the events of the original movies.
When does The War of the Rohirrim take place?
Specifically, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim takes place 183 years before the events of The Hobbit.
As we see play out in the movie, Freca – a local lord of Rohan – was killed by Helm Hammerhand in the year 2754 of the Third Age, an era that started following the (first) defeat of Sauron at the end of the Second Age.
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(The Second Age is where The Rings of Power takes place, thousands of years before the events of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. To specifically state when is tricky, as the TV show has merged a lot of the events that, in the appendices, took place over hundreds of years.)
Back to The War of the Rohirrim, Freca's son Wulf invaded Rohan with an army of Dunlendings, seeking revenge for his father's death in 2758. This is the 183-year gap referred to as in 2941, Bilbo Baggins found the One Ring, kickstarting the events of The Hobbit.
We won't spoil exactly what happens when Wulf invades Rohan, but following the events of this war between Rohan and Dunland, Hornburg – a fortified gorge in the White Mountains – was renamed Helm's Deep in Helm Hammerhand's honour.
This is the only notable connection to the original movies, although The War of the Rohirrim is narrated by Éowyn, with Miranda Otto reprising her iconic role.
In the spirit of Otto's return, the movie also makes a notable change to the brief mention of the war between Rohan and Dunland in the appendices.
Originally, Helm's daughter was unnamed, but in the movie, she's called Hèra and plays a major role in the battle.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is out now in cinemas.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
