Anyone trying to evaluate a fantasy film based on its realism might quickly find themselves in despair. Works like ‘The Lord of the Rings’ are deeply rooted in their own fantasy world, which makes them seem particularly real and vivid. But to what extent have the fantastic battles oriented themselves towards reality?
Which scene is being discussed? Historian and expert in ancient warfare Roel Konijnendijk evaluates in an Insider video the ‘Battle of the Pelennor’ from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – the largest and most important battle of the Ring War.
In the historian’s evaluation, he addresses various moments of the battle and explains how realistic they are compared to similar ancient warfare. While it should not be ignored that the historian is a fan of the film, he also has some critical points that call the realism into question.
Realism is not everything
Theoden, the king of Rohan, rallies the Rohirrim for battle and strikes his sword against the spears of the cavalrymen. The historian has often been asked whether ancient or medieval leaders actually did this, but Bernard Hill, the actor for Theoden, came up with it himself.
Even if this scene is not historically accurate, it is still effective, as Konijnendijk explains: ‘He thought it would be a cool thing, so he did it. It works so well that you almost wish it was real.’
The speed and force of the cavalry is effective, but less realistic
In the film, the cavalry begins galloping at high speed towards the enemy army to enhance the drama along with epic music and hoof sounds. While the density of the horses is depicted quite realistically, the speed is not entirely accurate.
Instead, cavalry units have gradually increased their speed from a moderate pace as they approached the enemy. If they even reached a gallop, it was only in the last meters before reaching the opponents.
Whether horses were really ready to charge into enemies has long been a controversial hypothesis. Some say that the force of impact was more of an illusion, as riders tried to ride through gaps and break formations.
However, a second theory suggests that horses could indeed be trained to run into solid objects and thus into troops. This would emphasize the realism of the scene.
The realistic effect of the cavalry is finally seen when the orcs begin to dissolve their formation a bit uncertainly. This allowed the cavalry to roll over the monsters more easily.
The attack on the Oliphaunts makes sense, but attacking the rider does not
War elephants were a very threatening and effective method of warfare, as armies that had never seen such animals were absolutely terrified and overwhelmed. The simplest and probably best method against these elephants at the time was simply to avoid them.
The historian explains that this would be rather difficult due to the density of the Oliphaunts in ‘The Lord of the Rings.’ For this reason, the second-best course of action, which can also be seen in the film, had to be taken: constant bombardment using light infantry with archers.
What makes the expert smile is the focus on the rider of an Oliphaunt being shot by a spear: ‘I guess you could try to take them out this way, but the problem is not the fact that a rider controls the elephant, but that an elephant is coming at you. You want to ensure that the animal either runs harmlessly past you or turns back.’
Overall, the expert rates the Battle of the Pelennor at 8 out of 10 points. Some aspects are more realistic than expected, while others were created freely for dramatic effect.
He adds that it is difficult to quantify with a number, as it is fantasy, but The Return of the King will always be great. How other experts rate the realism of The Lord of the Rings can be learned in the following article, which relates to the weapons and armor of the works: Expert explains how realistic the weapons and armor in The Lord of the Rings are
