Unlike what most fans of The Lord of the Ringsbelieve, Sauron didn’t ramp up his search for the One Ring during the late Third Age (around the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings). It’s recently been made quite clear that the Lord of the Rings villain had been quietly seeking and hunting the ring much earlier.

During the War of the Rohirrim, the most recent anime adaptation of Tolkien’s world, two orcs wander near Helm’s Deep in search for the One Ring. The scene is not that prominent in the film’s overarching story, and many could have brushed it over. Yet, what the scene does is give the viewer that extra bit of context in terms of the timeline and the big picture that would eventually lead all the peoples of Middle-Earth into their greatest battles.

The Significance of the War of the Rohirrim

Tension Spreads Across Middle-Earth

The War of the Rohirrim took place during one of Rohan’s darkest periods in the Third Age. At its core, the conflict pitted Rohan, led by the legendary King Helm Hammerhand, against the forces of the Dunlendings who invaded from the west under the leadership of a man named Wulf. On top of all that, all of this occurred during Middle-Earth’s Long Winter, a severe cold season that lasted for an entire year, destroying crops, and making survival almost impossible.

Helm’s Deep is named after King Helm Hammerhand, who was renowned for his superhuman physical strength and battle knowledge.

While the War of the Rohirrim primarily focused on that regional struggle, it occurred against a backdrop of a much broader tension that was spreading across Middle-Earth. At the time, Gondor was grappling with threats against its borders, ominous whispers and movements stirred in Mirkwood, and all signs pointed towards Sauron’s quiet resurgence. Though Rohan was preoccupied with its immediate survival, the turmoil in their kingdom meant they couldn’t deal with whatever was happening beyond their horizons.

Ultimately, the battle in The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim forged Rohan’s culture and tested its people’s resolve at a pivotal moment in the kingdom’s history. By rising from this war with great sacrifice, Rohan established its identity and that it could one day play a decisive role in Middle-Earth. Remember, without Rohan and Eowyn, the War of the Ring could have been lost.

Sauron Was Searching for the One Ring All Along

The War of the Rohirrim Helped Keep Rohan Distracted

By the end of the Second Age (now being adapted in Amazon Prime’s The Rings of Power), Sauron had suffered a devastating defeat when the One Ring was cut from his hand during the War of the Last Alliance. This loss forced him into a diminished spirit, wandering the land without being able to do much of anything. Yet, even in that state, he never abandoned his thirst to recover the Ring. Sauron merely bided his time and sought a way to restore his physical body.

What Sauron did during that time was build a stronghold in the south of Mirkwood, in a place called Dol Guldur and disguise himself as a Necromancer. At the end of War of the Rohirrim, Hera mentions she received a letter from Gandalf, who wants to talk to her about her witnessing of the orcs, and asks for her aid in investigating these dark movements. Fearing his exposure, Sauron hid even deeper but never once let go of his plans to find the Ring.

Keeping that in mind, the earlier scene between the two orcs in the snowy mountains in Helm’s Deep, then makes absolute sense and is more crucial to the larger story at play. While Sauron sent his orcs to hunt for the Ring, Smeagol, not yet transformed into Gollum, murdered Deagol and took the Ring after Deagol found it in the River Anduin.

Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan, who played Pippin and Merry respectively in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy, made a cameo in War of the Rohirrim as the two orcs that were hunting the one ring.

Pulling back from the regional conflict at the center of War of the Rohirrim, it’s quite fascinating to see all the pieces moving towards the ultimate War of the Ring. With the chaos occurring in Helm’s Deep between Rohan and the Dunlendings, and Gondor defending its borders, Sauron’s position in Dol Guldur gave him the perfect vantage point to orchestrate all this chaos and keep the peoples of Middle-Earth occupied while he searched for his precious Ring and a way to restore his physical body.