REVIEW of War of the Rohirrim (spoilers)

Overview of Plot

The War of Rohirrim’s plot was well done and extremely book accurate which is so nice to see in an Middle-Earth adaptation. The movie starts out with Miranda Otto reprising her role as Eowyn to narrate the movie. Eowyn gets us back into the Middle-Earth mind set and sets up the time frame of the movie which is 183 years before the LotR. Eowyn also introduces us to one of the main characters, Hera, and how she was raised by a warrior king. Eowyn says do not look at the old songs for mention of her because there is none, and that is because in the original story she is just the unnamed daughter of Helm. The plot then ramps up into a brawl then a war. We saw all the lore monuments that we expected to see including the Brawl, the siege of the Hornburg, and the death of Helm; and in the end, a certain white wizard comes to take over Isengard. The plot flowed well even with the several time jumps which are hard to do but they all worked great.

Favorite Characters and Events

My top favorite character is Helm Hammerhand. His voice, played by Brain Cox, was great and what I imagined for his voice. The brawl scene and war council scene splendidly showed Helm’s arrogance and how he is not the best hero or king. The scene when he freezes to death fighting an army of Dunlendings was a stunning sequence where he somewhat redeems himself protecting his daughter and the gate.

Fréaláf was another great character. When he is scolded for making the wise plan of defense, he was outcast from the army even though his plan was a good one. To see him on the throne at the end was fitting and satisfying. Fréaláf at Dunharrow had great visuals; Dunharrow looked just like the stronghold from the original film despite this one being Anime.

I enjoyed the opening scenes and the visuals of the Hornburg; the ice and snow was cool (pun intended). I love how you did not immediately see Helm attack, and in a way, you felt the terror of the Dunlendings as the Wraith of Helm Hammerhand stalks you in the frozen night.

The two Orcs collecting rings was a fun original aspect. It worked well in the movie and did not contradict any lore. It made sense that Sauron, who desperately need his Ring back, would send out his orcs to collect rings in search of his or any other of the rings of power. It also makes sense how Sauron would not trust his orcs with the true knowledge of why they collected rings. And as a bonus, the orcs were ironically voiced by Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan (Merry and Pippin from the LotR films).

Least Favorite Characters and Events

I enjoyed all the characters very much—they all fit really well with the lore and the world of Middle-Earth. However, there was one character who looked more Anime than Middle-Earth in style. Hama, the son of Helm Hammerhand, had very Anime boyband style hair and also had earrings. This look didn’t fit with the rest of the Rohirrim.

One thing I did not like was the whole Eagle plot. In a way, it cheapens the role of the eagles in the other movies. If every time one thing goes wrong the eagles are always there, it shows people as helpless. Tolkien did not write his stories that way.

The battle outside of Edoras was not as impressive as in the LotT trilogy because you did not get to see the scale of the battle. This is probably just because it is harder to do that in an Anime film.

Also, in the end the movie shows Hera overpowering Wulf in their fight. Realistically, that could not happen. She is somehow really good at climbing really, really high mountains without any training? Then, she is proficient in jumping large distances to large distances? It was somewhat unbelievable.

Source Material

The movie was very lore accurate unlike some Amazon adaptations I have heard of. There were things they added (and almost every single one worked well), and there were no big lore cuts. I saw everything I wanted and expected to see lore-wise. I would venture to say this movie is more Lore accurate than the originals only because it has a lot less info to be true to. Despite this, I would still choose the originals over The War of the Rohirrim any day because Peter Jackson’s originals cannot be beat.

Overall Assessment

I really enjoyed the movie as a whole. It was so, so, so nice to get a good Tolkien adaptation after a gap of maybe 20 or more years. If the fact that it is anime bothers you, I encourage you to give it a shot. I have never liked Anime, but that was not a problem after the first 5 minutes. It was more Middle-Earth than Anime. I Give the War of the Rohirrim an 8 out of 10.

REVIEW of Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, by John Hendrix

The Mythmakers, by John Hendrix, is a new book in the graphic novel format telling the tale of the remarkable fellowship of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.

Story

The content and storyline is amazing. The narrators, Mr. Goodwizard and Mr. Lion, walk the reader through the meaning and development through the meaning and development of the words myth, fairy tale, and fantasy. The narrators also show the lives of Lewis and Tolkien and how they created their respected stories. It captures their friendship perfectly, showing the sympathy and fellowship they had with each other.

Art

The artwork and illustrations were high-quality. The cover looks stunning with the first-edition Hobbit background style and the four main characters of the book (Goodwizard, Lion, Tolkien, and Lewis). Throughout the book, the color theme is purple, yellow, and a dull blue, which look great when all together. Every character looks different, and it is really easy to tell them apart. Overall, I really enjoyed the art.

Favorite Part

I had many favorite scenes from the book. One is C.S. Lewis’ conversion on the Addison Walk on pages 90-95. Some others are the Inkling Meeting on 104-107 and the coin flip (Tolkien and Lewis’ wager on who would write space travel or time travel stories) on pages 109-111. SPOILER ALERT: The book’s ending shows the true friendship between Lewis and Tolkien, and how the rift between them was healed in the end. The last chapter in the book is called “The Shadowlands and the Gray Havens,” a title I really appreciated.

Least Favorite Part

I had high hopes for this book when I first learned of it, and The Mythmakers met those high hopes. The author, however, said in his note that there were more stories that he left out but wished he could have included. So, my least favorite part was that he didn’t do as many stories as he could have. An extended edition would be amazing, and I know many people would read it.

Conclusion

I give The Mythmakers a five out of five with its enthralling world, enchanting artwork, and entertaining story.

Greek Mythology in Narnia

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis were greatly influenced by the myths of classical Greece. The fauns, dryads, and Bacchus all appear in Lewis’ tales alongside Aslan and the Pevensie children.

Mr. Tumnus, the faun from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and all other Narnian fauns were inspired by Greek fauns and Pan the demigod. Both Narnian fauns and Greek fauns all share the same appearance, being half-man and half-goat. The upper half is a man’s body with goat horns sprouting from the head. The lower half is goat legs and hooves. Mr. Tumnus has a wooden flute just like Pan’s, yet another similarity between the two.

Another Greek inspiration are the nymphs and dryads. For those who do not know, the nymphs are Greek water spirits, and the dryads are Greek tree spirits. The Narnian nymphs and dryads are very similar to the Greek ones and appear throughout the Chronicles. Virtually everything is alive in Narnia, from talking animals to tree and river spirits.

Along with demigods and nymphs, one of the Greek gods himself makes an appearance in the books. In Prince Caspian, it describes a wild feast where a man riding a donkey “who was old and enormously fat” is passing out refreshments. The refreshments consist of wine and grapes. The man, who we later learn is Bacchus, is surrounded by wild dancing girls. Bacchus is Dionysius, the son of Zeus, the god of wine and revelry.

As seen above, the Greek myths greatly inspired the Chronicles of Narnia, and the books would not be the same without them.