2024’s Lord of the Rings Movie Will Explore Part 1 of Middle-Earth Peter Jackson’s Trilogy Didn’t

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Explores the story of a group of characters who were barely in Peter Jackson The Lord of the Rings films. The upcoming animated film is a prequel to the previous cinematic adaptations of JRR Tolkien’s fantasy epic. The film delves into a conflict that erupted between Rohan and a rival group of humans long before the Fellowship made their journey across Middle-earth.

This is an exciting expansion of the Rohirrim, who played a vital role in the conflict against Sauron in Lord of the Rings. However, the film does not only show Rohan. The film’s antagonists are a minor community in other versions of the franchise, which so far lack much direct characterization. That’s set to change with this film, though is an exciting development For the franchise. The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim‘s story highlights the potential other directions the franchise should look forward to.

The War of the Rohirrim brings the Dunlendings into the spotlight

The Dunlendings have never gotten so much focus before

for the first time, Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is set to bring the Dunlendings to the forefront of the franchise. Dunlendings are a minor community of people in Middle-earth whose history can be traced back to the Second Age (the era that serves as a key focus of Prime Video’s Rings of power). In contrast to Gondor and Rohan, the Dunlendings are typically established as a more savage and villainous faction. The War of the Rohirrim Traces the conflict between the citizens of Rohan under King Helm Hammerhand and a large contingent of the Dunlendings.

Set almost two centuries before the events of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The War of the Rohirrim Focuses on the conflict between the Rohirrim and the Dunlendings after the unexpected death of their ruler, Freca. The war is escalated by Freka’s son Wulf, his former alliance with the Rohirrim princess Hèra adding a layer of tragedy to the whole affair. The character-driven central conflict is a great showcase for Dunlendings’ corner of the world. There is a lot of focus for the Dunlendings, who are typically only background players in Middle-earth epics.

How the Dunlendings acted in Peter Jackson’s LOTR trilogy

The Dunlendings are briefly in Peter Jackson Two towers

The Dunlendings appear in Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings Trilogy but in a very minor way. A short scene shows a tribe of Dunlendings being recruited by Saruman in The two towers. Swearing loyalty to the corrupt wizard and Sauron, the Dunlands carry out a series of raids against Rohan. Although there is a bit more focus on them in the extended editions, The Dunelendings only really serve as a minor enemy That besieged Rohan early in the film. The Dunlendings are one-note raiders, used to push the heroes into action and move along the Rohan plot of The two towers.

The Dunelendings played a similar role in the original novels As well, expand the forces of the villains during conflicts like the Siege of Helm’s Deep. This was one of the many changes Jackson made to the battle from the original books, fleshing out Saruman’s manipulations of the Dunlendings to trick them into fighting for his side. Like much of Middle-earth, JRR Tolkien’s later writings feature the world and various other communities, which is where the inspiration for The War of the Rohirrim comes from.

The War of the Rohirrim’s Dunlendings highlights the potential for more LOTR spin-offs

The Dunlendings getting focus proves that Middle-earth is still full of stories to mine for adaptation

Although there is a connection to the machinations of Sauron’s forces in the backstory that inspired The War of the RohirrimThe film seems to be leaning heavily into a more morally complex conflict between the Rohirrim and the Dunelendings. It’s a good reminder of the sheer scope of Tolkien’s worldWhich can justify many other stories in this creative sandbox. This is one of the most exciting aspects of The War of the RohirrimWhich shows a completely different approach to the source material as The Dunlendings than what has been attempted before.

The War of the Rohirrim is exciting because it is doing something interesting with underutilized corners of the setting. Instead of repeating the established story, War of the Rohirrims Dunlendings proves that the franchise can shift focus cinematically To explore new adventures. This even carries over to the format, with an animation style more familiar to fans of Kenji Kamiyama and Sola Entertainment that still feels connected to Jackson’s films. The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Proves that the franchise is more than just stories connected to the one ring.