When Does War of the Rohirrim Take Place on the Lord of the Rings Timeline?

Upcoming anime The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim tells an epic tale set long before Peter Jackson’s live-action trilogy. So, when exactly does War of the Rohirrim take place on the Lord of the Rings timeline, and does it fit with J.R.R. Tolkien’s original canon?

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When The War of the Rohirrim Takes Place on the Lord of the Rings Timeline

According to Warner Bros. Pictures’ official synopsis, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim “[is] set 183 years before the events of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy.” By extension, this means the anime unfolds 123 years before the three Hobbit movies, as well. Even so, War of the Rohirrim is still rooted firmly in Middle-earth’s Third Age, rather than the Second Age setting depicted in Amazon MGM Studios’ The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series.

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What year in the Third Age, exactly? That’s a little tricky to calculate, since (in the books, at least), The Lord of the Rings trilogy’s main narrative spans almost 20 years. Frodo receives the One Ring in TA 3001, but doesn’t set out on his quest until 3018! However, Jackson’s film adaptations condense things considerably, and seemingly run from TA 3018 to TA 3021 (tops). So, assuming the big screen version of The Fellowship of the Ring is set in TA 3018, then War of the Rohirrim is set in TA 2835.

Does War of the Rohirrim’s Setting Line Up With Tolkien’s Chronology?

Nope! According to Tolkien’s OG Lord of the Rings lore, War of the Rohirrim‘s big Rohan/Dunlendings dust-up kicks off much earlier, in TA 2758. Heck, War of the Rohirrim‘s protagonist, Helm Hammerhand, is dead by TA 2759 in the books – 76 years before the anime supposedly takes place! These discrepancies presumably explain why several outlets initially reported War of the Rohirrim‘s setting as decades earlier than the date supplied by Warner Bros.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim charges into cinemas on Dec. 13, 2024.