The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is set just under 200 years before the events of Frodo Baggins’ story. It centers on Rohan’s King Helm Hammerhand and his conflict with the Dunlendings, which Tolkien outlined in some of his additional work and notes. The 2024 Lord of the Rings movie puts a unique spin on Helm’s story, focusing on his daughter Héra (who remained unnamed in Tolkien’s story) instead of the powerful king himself. This makes Éowyn’s return in War of the Rohirrim quite fitting since there are many similarities between these two female heroes.
Lord Of The Rings Star Miranda Otto Reprises Her Role As Éowyn In War Of The Rohirrim
Miranda Otto Played Éowyn In Peter Jackson’s Lord Of The Rings
Otto played Éowyn in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Her character was the niece of King Théoden and was eager to fight and defend her kingdom and people during the conflicts with Saruman and Sauron. Though she was forbidden from doing so, Éowyn snuck onto the battlefield at Pelennor Fields and successfully slew the Witch-king of Angmar, who was said to be unbeatable by any Man. Of course, as Éowyn pointed out in Return of the King, she isn’t one.
Otto’s performance in Lord of the Rings was definitely memorable. Her delivery of the line “I am no Man!” remains a highlight of Return of the King, and her passionate and somewhat wild portrayal of Lady Éowyn was right on the mark. The news that Otto would return to this beloved character in War of the Rohirrim was immediately exciting. However, the setting and the format of the 2024 movie made an on-screen or in-plot appearance from the actor impossible. Still, War of the Rohirrim managed to include Otto’s Éowyn beautifully, placing her as a sort of Easter egg while retroactively reinforcing her Lord of the Rings story.
Éowyn’s Role In War Of The Rohirrim Explained
Miranda Otto Reprises Her Role, This Time As The Narrator
Since War of the Rohirrim is set nearly 200 years before The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Éowyn couldn’t play an actual part in Helm Hammerhand and Héra’s story. Instead, Otto serves as the narrator telling the ancient tale, though credited as Éowyn rather than herself. It’s easy to imagine that her character is telling this story to her own children, who are raised in Gondor and would, therefore, need an education on their Rohirrim ancestry. Still, as Otto’s Éowyn mentions at the beginning of War of the Rohirrim, the story she tells isn’t one even Rohan remembers.
Éowyn is a remarkably fitting character to narrate War of the Rohirrim since she and the daughter of Helm Hammerhand share many similarities. They are both women of the royal family who are never meant to hold the throne or rule themselves. They are both sisters and daughters to Rohirrim men whom they love dearly but who don’t always respect their own strength. Finally, Éowyn and Héra are both characters who are desperate to fight for Rohan and are, perhaps, more qualified to do so than many of those they are surrounded by. There’s no question that Éowyn would be one of the few to know and repeat Héra’s story.
Both Éowyn and Héra lived through the two changes in Rohan’s line of kings. Rather than the crown passing from father to son, it shifted from uncle to nephew.
How Éowyn Is Connected To War Of The Rohirrim’s Story
War Of The Rohirrim Provides Context For Éowyn’s Role As Shieldmaiden
Éowyn isn’t a direct descendent of Héra or even Helm Hammerhand. Instead, Héra’s cousin, Fréaláf, who takes the Rohan throne at the end of War of the Rohirrim, would have been Éowyn’s several-times-great grandfather. Still, they are members of the same extended royal family of Rohan. The terrible war with the Dunlendings and the death of Helm Hammerhand is a legend that Éowyn would have heard time and time again as a child. However, as Otto’s character mentioned in War of the Rohirrim, the specifics of Héra’s story wouldn’t have been repeated by the masses in Rohan.
In The Lord of the Rings, Éowyn tells Aragorn that she is a Shieldmaiden of Rohan, stating that she is trained in combat with sword, shield, and other weapons.
In The Lord of the Rings, Éowyn tells Aragorn that she is a Shieldmaiden of Rohan, stating that she is trained in combat with sword, shield, and other weapons. It’s never stated precisely what this means, but War of the Rohirrim added more context. In the story, Héra explains that Shieldmaidens were women who rose together to fight after the men died in battle. They were nearly gone by Helm Hammerhand’s death, but Héra became a Shieldmaiden in War of the Rohirrim when she single-handedly defended Helm’s Deep against the Dunlendings.
It’s implied in War of the Rohirrim that, though Shieldmaidens were a dying breed, Héra changed this when she took on the role herself. It would be because of Héra that Éowyn becomes a Shieldmaiden nearly two centuries later, and because of her, the Lady of Rohan rode into battle and killed the Witch-king. Of course, Éowyn would be one of the few who know this, and she likely heard the details of Héra’s story from Gandalf the Grey, whom Héra rode off to meet at the end of War of the Rohirrim.
How War Of The Rohirrim’s Éowyn Compares To The Live-Action Lord Of The Rings Movies
Éowyn Is Unseen But Cohesive
Unfortunately, an animated (or live-action) version of Otto’s Éowyn never appeared on-screen in War of the Rohirrim. However, the character heard in the 2024 prequel is still cohesive with the one seen in Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies. Otto delivers another passionate performance, telling Héra’s story with evident admiration and excitement. This is clearly a woman who loves her kingdom and its history and recognizes the invisible impact Héra had on Rohan. Of course, this applies to Éowyn’s own story as well.
Tolkien’s works are all about in-world storytelling—passing on magnificent tales through books, scrolls, or word of mouth. Otto’s return to play Éowyn as a narrator is perfectly in keeping with this. It would be interesting to see how this same idea could be applied to other Lord of the Rings stories, perhaps with other actors reprising their roles from Jackson’s trilogy to narrate their animated tales. For now, however, Éowyn’s impactful return in War of the Rohirrim is enough of a treat.
