It is a drama born from a character not mentioned in ‘Lord of the Rings.’

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The Lord of the Rings: Battle of Rohan is the story of a character that has never been told before. The original story is an episode about Helm, the Hammer-Hand King of the House of Eorl, written in The Lord of the Rings Supplement. It was made into a film in a straightforward style of animation.

The production style of this work, which combines the advantages of 3DCG and hand-drawn art, is unique. It is one answer to the current situation where the mismatch between “required quality” and “human resources” is prominent. Still, I have talked about it elsewhere, so in this article, I would like to focus on how the drama of this work was told—the Kingdom of Rohan. Lord Freka, who owns a vast territory near the River Ardon, appears at King Helm’s council. Haughty Freka and Helm do not trust him. Freka urges Helm to marry his son Ulf to Helm’s daughter.

The story begins here. The “Helm’s daughter,” whose name is not even mentioned in the original work, is Hela, the main character of The Battle of Rohan. He expands on the characters, who are only slightly described, and weaves a new story based on the original description. The description in the “Supplement” belongs to history in “The Lord of the Rings.”

This approach to dramatization is similar to the film “Barabbas,” which is based on a novel, and the manga and anime film “Arion.” “Barabbas” is the story of a thief released in place of Jesus Christ, mentioned only briefly in the Bible. “Arion” is a story that interprets Greek mythology as a historical tale, with the son of Poseidon (who is said to be a horse in mythology) as the viewpoint character. Both highlight characters not necessary in the original legends and make a big story emerge from them. Here is one such character.

The story unfolds very simply. Freka insists that her son Ulf be married to Hera. However, Helm realizes that Freka aims to usurp Rohan and refuses the proposal. As a result, Helm and Freka end up fighting a fistfight outside the palace. As his nickname Hammerhand (pronounced Hammerhand in the dub) suggests, Helm kills Freka with a single blow from his mighty fist. Wolf vows revenge, disappears, and soon gathers his forces and plans to launch a war against Rohan. In the battle, Hela’s two brothers lose their lives, and the fate of the people of Rohan is ultimately left to Hela.

The main character, Hela, is portrayed through her relationships with three characters. The first is her father, Helm. Although Hela loves her father, she watches over him with concern for his high self-esteem and strong fighting spirit. Her feelings are expressed in the look she gives her cousin Frearaf when she arrives late to the duel between Helm and Freka at the story’s beginning, saying, “Can’t you stop it now?” She is also intelligent, and with Frearlaf, she advises Helm to be cautious regarding the war with the Wolves. However, Helm confronts the Wolves’ army head-on, putting Rohan in danger.

The critical scene in the relationship between Helm and Hela is when Helm kneels before her at the film’s end. There, Helm admits his mistake in the battle with the Wolves. Helm wanted to protect Hela, but she had already grown into a “brave, wise, and strong girl.” The performance of a strong king kneeling before his daughter and the resulting gap in his gaze (the difference in the height of his head in the frame) visually impress upon us that Hela is no longer someone who needs to be protected by Helm. After hearing his words, Hela crouches down to match Helm’s gaze.

This performance is an expression of Hela’s love for her father. After this scene depicting the father’s remorse and the daughter’s love, Helm prepares himself for death and entrusts the fate of the people of Rohan to Hela. When Helm’s hand is shown in close-up as he is stranded, an image of him holding a hammer that he does not have is inserted, which is probably the creator’s image of “Helm lived as a hammerhand and died as a hammerhand.” Compared to Helm’s father, Olwyn, the maid is Hela’s spiritual mother. This is not because Olwyn cares for Hela like a mother.

The critical thing about Olwyn and Hela is the scene where Helm and his friends go out to fight the wolves and talk to Hela, who is left behind. Here, Olwyn tells Hela about an episode when no men were left, and women fought with shields. At the movie’s beginning, it is said that “there are no more left,” implying that Olwyn is one of the forgotten “shieldmaidens.” Olwyn’s feelings are then passed on to Hela. At the final battle with Wolf, the male soldiers are working to help the people of Rohan escape, so Hela challenges Wolf to a duel alone.

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