¿Dónde está Gandalf durante la Guerra de los Rohirrim?

Conocido por películas, videojuegos, proyectos de animación y, por supuesto, libros, el El señor de los anillos la franquicia ahora está dando el salto al medio del anime. El Señor de los Anillos: La Guerra de los Rohirrim cuenta la historia de un gran conflicto que ocurrió entre los acontecimientos de El hobbit y el principal El señor de los anillos películas. Así, muchos fans pueden preguntarse si cierto mago blanco estará presente en la película de anime.

Gandalf el Blanco es quizás el personaje más emblemático del mundo. El señor de los anillos épico, especialmente después de que Sir Ian McKellen lo interpretara hábilmente en las adaptaciones de los libros de Peter Jackson. Involucrado en muchos de los eventos de la serie, aunque sea detrás de escena. A pesar de su importancia, parece no tener ningún papel o presencia en los próximos El señor de los anillos película de anime.

¿De qué trata la nueva película anime de El Señor de los Anillos?

La Guerra de los Rohirrim se centrará en Rohan y el Abismo de Helm

Announced in June 2021 as part of the 20th anniversary of the live-action The Lord of the Rings movies, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is a new project that acts as a prequel to those films. It also takes place before the events of The Hobbit, but it functions differently than that book and its set of movie adaptations. Those were more direct prequels to the main Lord of the Rings saga, with Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit being the uncle/cousin of Frodo in the main story. Instead, The War of the Rohirrim is a more standalone prequel that takes place 183 years before Frodo sets off on his journey. The story is centered on Helm Hammerhand, the king of Rohan, as well as his somewhat rebellious daughter Hèra, who fights alongside her father in battle during a somewhat tumultuous era in the long history of the world of Middle-earth. The main enemies of Rohan are Wulf and the Dunlendings, who are mere humans, the former of whom has a grudge against the kingdom of Rohan.

The anime movie is directed by Kenji Kamiyama, who also worked on Warner Bros. Animation’s Blade Runner: Black Lotus and was also behind such cyberpunk classics as Patlabor and Ghost in the Shell. The movie was admittedly made to retain the film rights for Warner Bros. Discovery, with this maintenance requiring the production of a new Lord of the Rings movie. It’s not a total cashgrab, however, as the script is derived from notes made by Peter Jackson concerning the history of Middle Earth. To this end, the aesthetics are specifically based on the Jackson movies, as opposed to another iteration of the franchise such as the Ralph Bakshi’s animated adaptations from decades prior. Likewise, Miranda Otto returns to voice Éowyn, the shieldmaiden of Rohan that she had portrayed in the live-action films. Given all that seems to line up with what audiences expect, the seeming absence of Gandalf is particularly interesting.

Gandalf Is One of the Most Important Parts of The Lord of the Rings

Gandalf Has Been Around in Middle Earth Even Before the Events of The Hobbit

First appearing in the text of the property in The Hobbit, the legendary Gandalf the Grey is a wise and powerful wizard. One of the almost god-like Maiar, he’s an immortal being whose spirits can far exceed any death tempered to his body. Likewise, he bears the ring Narya and uses it for all manner of fire-based magic, which is particularly useful for both entertainment purposes (as seen in the fireworks he creates for events in The Shire) and more offensive capacities in combat. He was the last of the wizards to come to Middle-earth in the Third Age. Namely due to his possession of Narya, he was resented by Saruman, who was the leader of their Order of wizards. This made sense, as Saruman increasingly overstepped his role of simply advising the races underneath him instead of outright trying to dominate them.

Long before meeting with the adult Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf has several adventures of his own. He manipulated the events of Bilbo’s journey, though he largely refrained from more overt actions. The same was the case with the journey of the Fellowship of the Ring in the main story of the Lord of the Rings saga, though Gandalf took a more active role there. One of his most pivotal moments was when he sacrificed himself to fight off the threat of the Balrog as the rest of the party escaped. Though his body died, he was subsequently reborn as Gandalf the White. By the end of the story, the wizard departs Middle-earth along with Frodo, Bilbo, Elrond Half-elven and Galadriel. This was seemingly the end of Gandalf’s story and was already portrayed in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Thus, those who’ve never read the books might wonder what else the new anime film could adapt.

What Gandalf Did In Between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings

Gandalf Curiously Watched Over the Inhabitants of the Shire

The Lord of the Rings is set roughly 60 years after the conclusion of the Battle of the Five Armies, which concluded the story of The Hobbit. On the other hand, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is set 183 years before the main movies, and thus about 123 years before The Hobbit. Given that Gandalf had come to Middle-earth long before he ever made a close ally to several hobbits, he’s definitely alive during the events of the new anime fantasy movie. Nevertheless, Gandalf will likely have no role or presence in the film due to his being elsewhere at the time of its events, at least if canon is kept with the source material. After all, the reign of King Helm Hammerhand ends on T.A. 2759, which coincides with a time when a certain wizard was off observing the resilience of perhaps his favorite race. The infamous Long Winter of Middle-earth began in T.A. 2758, with the War of the Rohirrim beginning not too long afterward.

Much as Sauron was able to use the situation to his advantage, the war was the result of the Corsairs taking advantage of this and backing the Dunlendings and Easterlings to attack Rohan. During this time period, Gandalf was still traversing Middle-earth and observing the humble creatures known as the Hobbits. Though they suffered greatly in the Long Winter in their home of the Shire, they stood by each other no matter what, with their resilience impressing the wandering wizard. Thus, this is what Gandalf would have been doing at the time of The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, meaning that he’s almost guaranteed to be completely absent from its story. While this is disappointing for fans who might have wanted to hear Ian McKellen voice the character once more, it matches up with the canon and lore that J.R.R. Tolkien created so many decades ago.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim hits theaters on December 13, 2024.