War of the Rohirrim‘s New York Comic Con Footage Punched Our Faces Off

The new Lord of the Rings animated movie War of the Rohirrim is taking fans backmost to the reign of 1 of Rohan’s astir celebrated kings: the legendary antheral that gave Helm’s Deep its name, Helm Hammerhand. But if the footage Warner Bros. shared with attendees astatine the movie’s New York Comic Con sheet is thing to spell by,  we’re going to beryllium seeing a much, overmuch darker broadside of this heroic figure.

The country shown to audiences successful New York contiguous opened with a classic, acquainted presumption to any Lord of the Rings fan: an illustrated representation of Middle-earth, depicting the Westfold and Rohan, arsenic voiceover from Eowyn (Miranda Otto, reprising her relation from the Lord of the Rings movies arsenic a communicative framing device) sets the signifier for a wintery country successful the valleys extracurricular Helm’s Deep. Dunlending guards looking retired into the mist and snowfall spot scrambling wildmen fleeing backmost toward them. “It killed them all… tore them apart. Helm Hammerhand is no surviving man,” a straggler tells 1 of the guards.

Inside Helm’s Deep, we chopped to Hera (Gaia Wise), arsenic she is startled and calls retired for her absent father, and past we spot him retired successful the blizzards, a shadiness of a man, with nary limb but his fists. Night aft night, the narration tells us, a ghastly horn sounds successful the deep, heralding the accomplishment of a deadly wraith.

We chopped to Wulf (Luke Pasqualiano) arsenic helium looks implicit his Dunlending camp, littered with bodies of his men killed by Helm, arsenic the narration describes him arsenic a “king of nothing.” Back successful Helm’s Deep, Rohirrim women and children taking refuge from the Dunlendings and the acold sermon the rumors of Helm’s translation into thing monstrous, arsenic Hera wanders, overhearing the speech of her begetter arsenic she explores deeper into the support by candlelight. Thinking she’s seeing him turning each country arsenic she plumbs the depths of the caves beneath the Hornburg, Hera chases aft her father, until she comes crossed an opening retired into the frozen wastes… wherever she finds 2 orcs, scavenging the bodies astir the exterior of the fortifications.

It turns retired the orcs are looking for jewelry connected the bodies. “What does Mordor privation with rings?” 1 of the orcs asks the other, arsenic a sneaking Hera is caught by a massive, horned carnal that looks astir similar minotaur much than a troll. Just arsenic the orcs contemplate feeding her to the beast, Hera is saved by her father, leaping from upon precocious to punch 1 of the creature’s horns disconnected clean with his bare fists.

The footage concluded with Helm dragging his girl backmost up toward the main gates of Helm’s Deep, yelling to the guards lasting ticker to unfastened them. He throws Hera wrong arsenic the gates adjacent down him—and arsenic chasing Dunlendings statesman to gully in—and Hera begs with her begetter that Rohan inactive needs him. Instead, from down the closed gates, helium implores that Rohan needs her, and it is her clip to pb their people. From there, the footage gave mode to a trailer mostly chopped from akin shots shown successful the archetypal teaser earlier this year: Hera encountering a elephantine eagle, villages crossed Rohan burning astatine the hands of the Dunlendings, and monolithic armies connected horseback, pb by Helm, charging into battle. The trailer climaxed with a instrumentality to the duel betwixt Wulf and Hera glimpsed successful the archetypal trailer, clashing swords connected horseback. “You whitethorn deterioration a crown connected your head, but that doesn’t marque you king,” Hera snarls astatine Wulf, arsenic the 2 complaint astatine each other.

For our archetypal extended look astatine the film, War of the Rohirrim decidedly wants you to cognize that it feels a portion of Peter Jackson’s archetypal imaginativeness for Lord of the Rings. Even successful a caller mean similar animation, and adjacent stylized, the footage shown to fans captures the aesthetic of those beloved movies down to a tee—and successful playing with a fascinating portion of Tolkien’s legendarium, it’s doing a batch to enactment its ain rotation connected things adjacent amid the familiarity.

Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim volition deed theaters connected December 13.

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