I disagree with a lot of things said in this video and consider the movie a pretty faithful adaptation of Tolkien's lore. There are, of course, some significant changes and additions, but overall it is comparable with the PJ LotR movies. I think the idea of Helm as a "solitary figure" is completely wrong. The chapter where this story is presented is called "The House of Eorl" and is a tale of the ruling dynasty of Rohan. Helm's story started with the "private matter" of marriage proposal to Helm's daughter and continued due to Wulf wanting to revenge the death of his father. Deaths of Helm's sons are narratively important and the eventual savior of Rohan is Helm's nephew. So the story of Helm already is a "family drama" in Tolkien's writings. And it is not a modern influence by any means - such stories about complicated and often bloody relationships between families are common in Norse sagas.

I think your version is a lot for faithful to the original story. Having a goal to set it like dark tragedy like Gladiator (and even the Children of Hurin) is the right choice. I think having Helm’s daughter actually have a role, but one that makes sense and isn’t crafted for the sake of pushing some ideal, is far better too. I like the idea of her being a sheildmaiden but only for the sake of it being a cultural part of Rohan, not because she needs to be uplifted in any manner to shine over men. Your version is better because she knows and lives up to her role as the daughter of the king and not a “rebellious free spirit” that exist just to defy the status quo. It’d make sense for all princesses of Rohan to be trained in such a way. Like I said, as a cultural part of Rohan. I wouldn’t mind her being part of a fight, leading a sortie or whatnot, perhaps defending the wall, but as part of her people and not as some I’ll places desire to shine. I like the change of her name from Hera (because that’s way to Greek) and while the name Fryda works, I think it might be better to have her name begin with an H like the rest of her family. I think that’s what they were going for in the movie. Unless it was decided to give Helm’s wife a name and that began with an F. Then it’d be perfect for Helm’s daughter to be named Fryda. Most importantly I’d want the audience to feel the desperation of the Rohirrim and the effects of the long winter. It was far to brief in the movie. I wanted to feel like the harshness and length of the winter was getting to me too.

Increíble ❤❤❤❤❤

I sure enjoy your version better.

3. About the plot: 3.1. I think that we need more exposition before the arrival of Freca to Edoras. The good option may be to start with a visit of Helm's children to Freca's stronghold at the source of Adorn. This scene may establish the close relationships among Helm's children, show a friendship between Helm's daughter and Wulf (and maybe also some prejudice towards him from Haleth and Hama) and demonstrate how wealthy, powerful and proud Freca is. This also gives us a chance to visit a new location, since all the other important locations were already shown in LotR movies. Also during that scene Helm's daughter may overhear how Freca plots against the king, thus providing more reasons for Helm to distrust Freca and reject his marriage proposal. 3.2. Haleth was killed in Edoras, not at the Fords of Isen. I assume he stayed in Edoras, protecting the capital and the royal family, while Helm and Hama rode to battle. I think that the scene when Helm orders both Haleth and his sister to stay in Edoras, despite both of them want to join the army and participate in the battle is very important, since it shows the difference between personal wishes and the duty of a leader (and also demonstrates that the reason why Helm doesn't want his daughter to join is not sexism). Later Haleth's heroic last stand in Meduseld should give his sister and other people of Edoras enough time to escape. 3.3. The evacuation from Edoras to Hornburg (both in the movie and in your script) is stupid beyond believe. Hornburg is situated to the west of Edoras, the invading army of Dunlendings is marching from the west, thus the evacuating people have to go through enemy army to reach Hornburg. Helm's army retreated to Hornburg after the defeat at the Fords of Isen since it was the nearest fortress. People of Edoras fled to Dunharrow, which is situated in the mountains south of Edoras. Frealaf should be the leader of refugees, protecting his mother, wife and son. I assume that Helm did somehow get tidings of Haleth's death, so it is possible that Helm's daughter alone on her fast horse (possibly one of the mearas) was able to reach Hornburg and sneak inside, but for a column of refugees on foot this is completely impossible. 3.4. You do not explain how Frealaf was able to find out about the situation in Hornburg while staying in Dunharrow. I also think that the movie idea of Frealaf wearing the armor of Helm Hammerhand is very good. So I think that Helm's daughter should decide to go from Hornburg to Dunharrow to ask Frealaf for help (of course she has to know that Frealaf was in Dunharrow to do that). This extremely dangerous journey, during winter and across territory occupied by the enemy should be a very important part of the movie. Eventually with the help of the Eagles (who always come to help in such desperate situations in Tolkien's stories) Helm's daughter should reach Dunharrow and tell Frealaf that a significant part of Wulf's army is still sieging Hornburg and thus the attack on Edoras is not hopeless. 3.5. Frealaf attacked Edoras from Dunharrow, with a small company of desperate men. No reinforcements from Gondor were able to help him at that point. The help from Gondor came later. The attack from Dunharrow to relieve Hornburg is also completely impossible due to geographical reasons. I think Frealaf and his men (and Helm's daughter, since the situation is desperate enough that everyone who could use a sword is accepted to join) should attack Edoras and slay Wulf before riding to the aid of besieged Hornburg. Making Wulf a complete coward also is not a good idea, since it diminishes the threat he presented to Rohan. I think that a duel between Helm's daughter and Wulf is a good idea, since it provides a climactic end to the whole story started from the marriage proposal, but if you want to stay closer to the lore then maybe Wulf while losing orders his men to attack and then is slain by Frealaf who is trying to save his cousin. 3.6. The death of Wulf doesn't mean the end of the war. The Easterlings are still raiding the Wold, Hornburg is still under siege and Isengard is still occupied by the enemy. But since Rohirrim are able to gather their forces and the help from Gondor finally arrives, while the enemies are now leaderless and dispersed, the final battles should be easier (although still providing opportunities to show Frealaf as a good warrior and military leader).The coronation of Frealaf, marriage of Helm's daughter and Erkenwald and arrival of Saruman also should be included in the movie, since they conclude the plotlines of the movie and provide ties to future events.

2. About the characters: I think that limiting the number of characters to the bare minimum is a bad idea. Lack of secondary characters turn an epic story that shaped the fate of entire kingdoms into a petty drama. 2.1. First of all, we have several characters mentioned by Tolkien that both you and the authors of the movie excluded from the plot for some reasons. One of such characters is Hild, mother of Frealaf. Considering that Frealaf was remembered as Hildeson, I think it is quite possible that Hild was active during early years of Frealaf's reign (you can compare her to Queen Estrid of Denmark, mother of king Sweyn Estridsson). As a character she presents an opportunity to portray a different type of woman - not a brave young princess, but a wise motherly figure. Her relationships with her son and her niece might be pretty interesting. Beren, the steward of Gondor, and Beregond, his son and a great captain, should also be mentioned in the movie. Beregond should arrive to Rohan with a Gondorian army near the end of the movie to help defeating Dunlendings sieging Hornburg and taking Isengard. 2.2. Secondly, there is a couple of Rohirric characters that are unnamed by Tolkien, but may be important to the plot as well. Firstly, the wife of Frealaf and future queen of Rohan. Brytta, son of Frealaf, was born in 2752 TA, 6 years prior to the Wulf's invasion, so Frealaf was married during the war. His wife (let's call her Bertha) could portray another aspect of femininity - a young mother, protector of her children and encourager of her husband. Considering that many important events of the story happen in Hornburg, another important character should be the Lord of Hornburg and an ancestor of Erkenbrand (let's call him Erkenwald, one of names Tolkien used for Erkenbrand in his drafts). I consider Erkenbrand a descendant of Helm through Helm's daughter, so there would be a romantic subplot between Erkenwald and Helm's daughter - she may tend his wounds during the siege, their growing love should contrast the despair of Helm and provide them with hope, and their marriage at the end should explain the future fate of Helm's daughter as the Lady of Hornburg. 2.3. Lastly, there should be more named (or at least recognizable) characters on the side of the enemies. Enemies shouldn't look as an amorphous horde of indistinguishable characters. I think there should be an old Dunlending chieftain, who remembered the tales about Rohirrim coming from the North, conquering Dunlendings and driving them away from Caenardon, and thus could explain the reasons for hatred Dunlendings feel towards Rohhirim from their own point of view, providing more depth to the story. He should not trust Wulf (who is half-Rohirric) initially, but later he would acknowledge Wulf's authority after Wulf proves himself as a viable leader in a war against Rohan. The Captain of Corsairs is another important character, since Corsairs provided crucial support for Dunlendings. He should be a smart strategist and tactician, who understands what opportunities an alliance with Dunlendings would provide and is able to incorporate Haradrim troops into Dunlending army, but he should also be greedy and ruthless, more interested in loot and slaves then in establishing Wulf as a king of Rohan. The Khan of Easterlings should be the most cruel and savage among all of the enemies of Rohan, wanting only murder and destruction (since Sauron from Dol Guldur was able to influence Balchoth Easterlings more directly). The ability of Wulf to create an alliance of such different leaders and peoples should show his diplomatic abilities and that this alliance was a great threat to Rohan, while eventual squabbles among the evil leaders should be one of the reasons of their defeat.

I think your script is wrong on many levels and is not that batter compared to the script of the actual movie. 1. About the names: 1.1. Héra (with an acute, also written as Hēra, with macron, in a more modern spelling) is a reasonable Anglo-Saxon name which is good enough for a princess of Rohan. It comes either from "hēra", an Anglo-Saxon word that means "follower, servant" or from "hēre", an Anglo-Saxon word that means “dignity, majesty or greatness”. What is more important, it alliterates with the names of her father and her brothers, according to the naming customs of Rohirrim (Thengel - Theoden - Theodwyn - Theodred; Eomund - Eomer - Eowyn), while you suggest Fryda, which is not an Anglo-Saxon name (the correct spelling would be Fritha) and does not alliterate with Helm (but for some weird reason does alliterate with Frealaf). If you are so against the name Héra that you have to change it, at least change it into something like Hereswith or Heriburg, which are actual Anglo-Saxon feminine names that alliterate with Helm. 1.2. While the name Targg is pretty nonsensical and I do not like it at all, name Morcarn isn't any better. At least I can't find this name anywhere. Language of Dunlendins is represented by Welsh, as far as I understand, and thus Welsh (or at least Celtic) names are preferrable for Dunlendings. There are several good options, like Taran (thunder), Trechwr (victor), Talorg (a name of several Pictish kings) or Morcant. There is also an Anglo-Saxon name Morcar, but I do not think that Anglo-Saxon names fit for Dunlendings (unless you want to make this character of mixed blood, like Freca and Wulf themselves).

They should’ve expanded on Sarumans lore, insert him somehow, not evil but not caring either, and we could see him planting the worm tongue family into the kings court

Youd write it properly because you actually care about Tolkien

Theoden had me ready to die in a fictional war. All I’m saying.

This speech was given election night and courage of men truly shined. Trump & the real men defeated the demon Kamala and all the libtards Trump 2024 and beyond !!

I just got back from watching it and I completely agree with everything you said. Especially the nostalgia bait moments to the Peter Jackson trilogy. It's so jarring when they do stuff like that, because I'm trying to get immersed into the film I'm currently watching but they keep pulling me back out instead of letting the film shine on its own.

If Hera were less important and Frealaf were more important that's really the only major change. My issues are more with the mechanics of the movie like the animation, the lack of scale, and the subplots that don't go anywhere.

One point worth mentioning that you don't touch upon is that the Appendices are written as a historical annal, penned by Frodo. The version in the appendices are therefore a brief historical summary of an oral tradition, and likely based on whatever Merry picked up from the Rohirrim, while the movie portrays itself as a part of the living oral tradition. Tolkien doesn't delve into the specifics, because it is an annal, and therefore the fleshing out of the story aren't changes, but additions. Additionally, as others have pointed out, Helm's story could not have been told from his PoV, because he dies before the end of the tale. I disagree that the film tell's Hera's tale. Eowyn is telling Hera's tale, but the film tells Helm's tale from Hera's PoV. Tolkien's Helm is a tragic character, in the sense of the Tragedy genre, and the basis of a Tragedy is that the audience can see what will happen later on as a result of the Hero's actions, but not the character themselves. By making Hera the PoV character from which we see Helm's story, the film can provide us with information that Helm is not privy to, and therefore we can see his errors as errors, which he cannot be reasonably expected to see in the moment. From Helm's perspective, the tale would be Helm having a bunch of people come to him and make demands on how he should rule, based on little to no evidence, and Helm would rightfully tell them to get stuffed, and then random bad things happen. This would have been unsatisfying, whereas us knowing that helm is making mistakes as he makes them, allow us to see his Tragic tale unfold, and makes his final realizations, and the sacrifice he makes once has had them, more impactful, not less.

While I liked the movie version (6/10 for me), I also like your version, and I appreciate how you add value to the discussion by sharing your own creative take.

GlorFidel was the most communistic of elfs. He lived in his own island, Cubanor, and ruled there with iron hand. American movies were strictly forbidden!

I got about 50 minutes into the film before turning it off from exhaustion. I was nodding off early into the film and fighting just passing out. The film is dull, bland, generic and doesnt feel like Tolkien at all. Say what you will about Rings of Power, but that in comparison is good after seeing this one.

I would of had Fryda being betrothed to either the Stewart of Gondor son or even another Prince of Gondor. So than Helm would even have a bigger reason to be against the marriage Freca purposed. After Helm loses the battle and is driven to Helm's Deep. Fryda with a red arrow would of been sent away to Gondor with a small company of men maybe like 20 men. Fryda's company gets ambushed during a snow storm by Druadan Forest. She manages to escape in the forest. She gets rescued by Woses, the Wild Men of the Woods. She would be nursed back by them. Against the advice of the Woses she continues her mission to deliver the red arrow in part of the winter. She does succeed in her task but she learns how Gondor is also under attack and can't send help till they finish driving out the Corsairs. You won't see her again till she crowns her cousin Frealaf King of Rohan.

So less lore changes than LOTR then 👍🏼

Just two words - Much better.

The majority of the fighting was down by men with heroic sacrifice, Hera was saved by a man/men on two occasions. I was worried it might be overly girl bossy but it definitely wasn't. She finally fought when she had no other choice. It was a good film, lore changes were on par with lotr I would say.

Hope someone who can, takes you up on this story line. Love it! It stays true to Tolkein's lore, entertaining and believable.

It should be done as a separate film, too important to leave out.

To everyone who is cheering in the comments section, as if this is a complete script and/or movie. First of all, I found the movie lacking, but didn't hate it. The name Hera kinda seemed a bit odd to me, as a greek, though it shares the same initial with the rest of her family, something that would look in place to a wider audience accustomed to (Eomund, Eomer, Eowyn and now Helm, Haleth, Hama), while Frida doesn't. As far as this vision of the adaptation is concerned, I always find it hard to judge this kind of videos, because they are short descriptions of a vision and always assume that every single scene realised would perfectly achieve its intended purpose of characterisation and storytelling, without ANY unintended consequences in the eyes and minds of the audiences. And if you're wandering "wtf is he talking about" I'll just use the example of Frodo in Jackson's trilogy. In their effort to show Frodo as someone who was facing insurmountable odds and not being born or prepared for such a quest, they made him look incompetent and a failure in the eyes of many people. The general idea for this adaptation also works well for wider themes like perseverance of a nation in the face of destruction, but I see very little detail for personal growth and protagonist character arcs, which imho are very important for the audience to connect to a story. And of course there's the last unquantifiable part of technical execution which we can't really judge on how it would have been of better or worse quality when examined frame by frame. The only true superiority I do acknowledge is faithfulness to the lore and to the time it's supposed to represent, as in medieval times

i turn on the sub and it says ...all that you hold dear all this scooter...so good

Very well done! I’d watch this!

I really enjoyed your version of Helm and company’s story. Just a couple tweaks I’d add: -After Frealaf has relieved the siege of the Hornburg he and Fryda devise a plan to take Wulf by surprise by having Fryda ride on Edoras at night with a group of soldiers to lure out Wulfs forces as a distraction. Meanwhile Frealaf leads a small group to take Wulfs head and then force the Dunlendings to surrender, as they’re now surrounded. So you can still involve Helms daughter in the last bit of action. -Have Fryda step aside for Frealaf because she has too much grief and pain from losing her father and brothers and leading the defence til the end of the siege has taken too much out of her, sort of a Frodo parallel of going through all that hardship can take it’s toll.

The mo cap for Smaug is one of the silliest things I’ve seen from franchise and yet his scenes are some of my favorite

Loved it, this was the movie they should have made.

Me & my best friend, Sindarliving, love watching y'all's videos together ❤ I hope to see a video about the different languages of LOTR world 🌎

I might have Hera be a sidekick character to the main hero who is a male and not take everything from him, being captured and rescued by him at least once and not being the very things that define a Mary Sue. Even if I wanted a female as a main character for a Tolkien universe, she would not be a Mary Sue.

That was far more balanced

Video 338

I hope you all enjoyed the video! This’ll be the last time covering the War of the Rohirrim, but, I really enjoyed making this! So, if you like the idea of how I’d adapt other stories from Tolkiens world into movies, I’d love to make them! Just let me know 😁💚

This is it, this is all they had to do lol. This should have been Helm’s film/story. It truly baffles me and I don’t understand why or when film studios will just listen to us, the fans and realize that less really is more and all we want is simple, faithful, adaptations. It will go a long way, bring back quality over quantity and just stick to what was written. I understand that some changes may, and will have to be made but deviating so far from the path just ruins it

Why can't you do the story instead of this woke shit and lore changing!

The name Hera bothered me right from the start. Fryda is so much more in line with Tolkien's background for Rohan!

Yeah it's so much better And you even kept the unnamed daughter having a big role in the process

This sounds way better than what they did! It could be titled End of the first line of Eorl!

This already sounds better than The Guard

YES-far better and more ‘in the spirit of Tolkien! I’d buy that film!!

15:52 it's amazing how true fans and KZbinr make a better version to the movie. In my mind, this is the canon version to this movie. i love your Fryda version, and how you portrayed Frealaf as the true savior/hero. most specially, your depiction of helm Hammerhand's night raids and his eventual death is so epic and lore-accurate (as it should be).

Helms tale is a tragic tale it should end like it. Wulf killing Helm's son for revenge is justified for helm killing his father. But he goes overboard and doesn't leave after getting revenge. Your character Morcan should be the king of the dunlendings hoping to help Wolf defeat Helm and have wulf takeover and be indebted to morcan. Helm should be injured from a battle and dying hence him getting gaunt. His people dying from hunger, Helm gives away his rations and does the unthinkable he cannibalizes the dunlendings. He brings upon himself the curse of the draugir (undead, aka the wendigo) and continues in undeath and eats dunlendings using the curse to his advantage. Finally when he realizes that he has become a monster he begs the valar to release him of the curse. Helm must let go of his anger to release himself of the curse. Helm let's a dunlending war party pass him by overcoming his anger and the temptation to cannibalize them, breaking the cycle of violence and the curse; and helm is released from the curse. His spirit leaves his corpse and his corpse is left standing in the snow.

One correction: there is no "modern audience". There is the "general audience", a term which seems to have been all but forgotten. If you want to create a piece of entertainment that will appeal to a larger demographic, then you tailor it so that the "general audience" is more likely to attend. This "modern audience" doesn't exist, and is merely a buzzword for the woke left to acquire ESG points. Don't play into the hands of the society destroyers.

Love it

simple: drop the girl boss trope. You can still have Hera in the movie, but her role will be very limited because she was not important at all. If the daughter was really that important to Tolkien, he would've mentioned it, just like how he detailed Eowyn killing the Witch king, or Galadriel destroying Dol Guldur at the end of the War of the Rings. Also even the opening of the movie already doesn't make sense, saying - people wouldn't remember much about her or hear tales about her, despite literally 'leading the resistance' being the fastest rider, one of the best soldiers, and even killing Wulf by choking him with that shield. If she did all these great stuffs, would most people really stop talking about it? There would be rumors at the very least right? But there's none, because Tolkien didn't think of her as someone important! Doing this will achieve 2 things: stay true to Tolkien's work, and avoid modern Hollywood tropes. Btw, I love your 'Fryda' version. Also, the night raides would've been so epic. Maybe depict him as a terror in the night that picks off his enemies.

Easy. Kick mary sue girl boss to the side and let the ultra chad rohirrim do their thing. Movie leaps and bounds better! You're welcome

Your version sounds a lot better and more faithful to Tolkien's original story. I love to see a film like this.