Warner Bros. Pictures
You should stop right here if you haven’t yet watched “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,” as this article is laden with major spoilers.
The universe of Middle-earth is taking on a larger life. “Rings of Power” brought one of the most profound tragedies in the legendarium to light with the downfall of Celebrimbor and the forging of the Nine Rings of Power. There’s also the eagerly anticipated “Hunt for Gollum” film that promises to fill in some missing pieces of the story.
This is why “The War of the Rohirrim” stands out. It marks the first animated venture into Middle-earth since the 1980 Rankin/Bass “The Return of the King.” The film is technically a prequel, akin to “Rings of Power,” but instead of unfolding the backstory of a major event, it focuses on a significant but not earth-shattering chapter in the history of Rohan. The film mainly answers the question, “Why is the Hornburg also known as ‘Helm’s Deep?'” rather than indulging in a trivia of cameos and references like “Rings of Power” did while revealing Gandalf’s origin.
The uniqueness of “War of the Rohirrim” lies in the fact that even without any prior knowledge of Peter Jackson’s trilogies, you can still appreciate this animated fantasy epic about a princess’s transformation into a warrior and a leader amidst a war with hill tribes. The film packs all the elements you would expect from a “Lord of the Rings” movie — fantastical creatures, rousing speeches, last-minute cavalry ex machina appearing at sunset to save the day, long-drawn-out sieges with thrilling action, and yes, even rings.
Despite being weighed down by constant callbacks to dialogue lines from Peter Jackson’s trilogy, “The War of the Rohirrim” does not heavily feature cameos or guest appearances, save for Christopher Lee’s Saruman that fits in the movie’s context. However, there are two cameos by our favorite hobbit actors, which you might have overlooked if you were too engrossed in thinking about second breakfast.
Yes, you heard it right. Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan make fleeting appearances in the film!
Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan make a comeback in Lord of the Rings
New Line Cinema
Since the release of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, Boyd and Monaghan have kept themselves busy by hosting a fun podcast, attending conventions together, and working on an upcoming travel show.
Their cameos occur during the film’s second half when the people of Rohan seek refuge in the Hornburg. Héra encounters two orcs — Shank (Boyd), and Wrot (Monaghan) — out in the snow, scavenging rings from dead bodies. As it turns out, Treebeard was right. They were little orcs all along.
This sort of comical yet cool easter egg is the kind of thing that animation makes possible. Instead of unnecessarily bringing back Legolas in “The Hobbit,” this cameo pays homage to the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy by bringing back two beloved actors who have continued to be the face of the cast for the past two decades. Plus, instead of forcing them to reprise their roles in a way that wouldn’t make sense or even having them play other roles with heavy makeup that would be distracting, having them just voice two minor roles is unobtrusive. To the layman, these orcs are simply two more characters voiced by actors that not everyone will recognize.
Now, the appearance of two little orcs in “The War of the Rohirrim” is interesting, but what they are doing near the Hornburg is amusing and intriguing at the same time. Wrot is seen collecting rings from dead Hill Tribesmen and dropping them into a bag already teeming with them. “What does Mordor want with rings?” Wrot wonders.
This raises some hilarious possibilities. At this point in time, about 200 years before the War of the Ring, Gollum has been in possession of the ring for centuries. Meanwhile, Sauron, as the Necromancer of Dol Guldur, has spent about a thousand years or so amassing his forces again. The only thing he needs now is his ring, so naturally, he would dispatch his forces to look for it.
The orcs’ mission is as tedious as it gets
Warner Bros. Pictures
However, sending his armies and The Nine to look for a Hobbit and slaying anything they come across is one thing, but sending random orcs to different corners of Middle-earth with the sole instruction to collect as many golden rings as possible is a whole different ball game. It’s highly unlikely they have any description of what the One Ring looks like because Sauron wouldn’t want an orc to be aware of what they have and put it on. So, the orcs simply gather every single piece of jewelry they find and throw them into bags, disregarding their quality, material, or style.
Just imagine the number of orcs that must be spread across the lands, stealing random rings from an unsuspecting innkeeper in Bree, a minor lord of Eregion, or perhaps even some random kid with a make-believe ring made out of a piece of string? There must be a severe shortage of rings all over Middle-earth with people randomly discovering that their jewelry collections have been mysteriously purloined and no one has any clue why.
And then, what happens to all those rings? There must be millions of rings arriving in massive carts in Mordor, with another battalion of orcs (who, let’s not forget, are people too) saddled with the colossal task of sorting through every single ring, categorizing them (we all know the orcs of Mordor are excellent at organization), and then testing each ring to find the One before presenting them to the Dark Lord.
Or, perhaps (and this is a lot funnier), Sauron doesn’t allow them to test the rings, so he himself has to try on every single ring on his finger (if he even has one) to see if it’s the right one — every second of every day for decades and then centuries at a time. It’s not easy being a former disciple of Aulë.
Credit: www.slashfilm.com
