The time has come for a new hero of Rohan to arise. In our world, the beloved shieldmaiden Éowyn rode into the hearts of viewers before her ancestor, Héra. But in the world of The Lord of the Rings, The War of the Rohirrim‘s Héra needed to be the kind of woman who would inspire Éowyn years later to become the warrior who stands up against the darkest of darknesses and declares, “I am no man.” And so the formation of Héra, the once nameless daughter of Helm Hammerhand, was integral to get right in The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. Helping to bring the incredible character to life is Gaia Wise, who voices Héra in The War of the Rohirrim.
Joining Nerdist for a chat in celebration of the film, Gaia Wise dove into how The War of the Rohirrim‘s Héra and Éowyn relate to one another, what Héra’s character brings to the world of The Lord of the Rings, and the freedom of evolving a lore-based character that previously didn’t even have a name. Check out our full conversation below.
Nerdist: So your character is an ancestor of Éowyn and another woman of Rohan. How do you feel Héra both sets up Éowyn and differs from her?
Gaia Wise: Well, I think Héra’s journey, especially in the story of The War of the Rohirrim, she starts a lot younger. I think there’s a lot less expected of her. She’s a younger princess. I think where they are quite similar is the fact that they are both incredibly courageous, tenacious women who see what is going on and don’t run and decide that they have to defend their people and defend their home.
And what do you think we learn about Rohan and its history through Héra in The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim?
Wise: I think you see probably quite how patriarchal it was. And there was always a bit of me in it where I went, “If you just listen to her, maybe…” I think you see the love that Helm Hammerand has for her. And you see the love that Héra has for her people, and that Helm has for the people, as well. But you see that times have changed and Héra understands the way in which one must govern is through kindness and compassion, not just brute strength and brute force.
You’ve mentioned before that Héra brings back the concept of a shieldmaiden of Rohan in The War of the Rohirrim. Can you talk a little bit more about that? Is it something she’s sort of read about but has kind of died away?
Wise: It’s something that she’s read about. It’s something that I think Héra sort of sees in the character of Olwyn. [Héra’s handmaiden and mentor] And Olwyn is also a shieldmaiden of Rohan. And so I think that she looks on them as being her ancestors and the people that she wants to live up to. And so I think she probably, at the beginning of the film, doesn’t really feel like she can and is probably quite scared to take on that responsibility. But then realizes that it was within her all along and that she can.
What does Héra add to the adapted world of The Lord of the Rings in The War of the Rohirrim?
Wise: I think Héra a new, incredibly strong female character, and her arc is different to the other women that we see in Tolkien because she starts off, I don’t want to say carefree, but not with too much on her shoulders and ends The War of the Rohirrim really having saved her people, not alone, but very much through her courage and through her tenacity, she’s managed to become a fully fledged princess.
What did you feel was the most unexpected part of Héra for you in The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim?
Wise: I think it was how strong Héra was. Even from the get-go, from the very beginning of the film, she sees the eagles, and she goes to them. She’s incredibly daring. And I think because she was daring, that meant that then finding her courage towards the end of the film when she is really fighting for everything, it was a lot easier because you could see that had been there all along.
And do you, as Héra, get to interact with anything exciting or any characters that are exciting from The Lord of the Rings world in The War of the Rohirrim?
Wise: Well, we’ve got the Mûmakil and the octopus creature, we’ve got that one as well. So yeah, I mean, she’s in the middle of a fight between those two creatures, which is terrifying. And I think that’s a proper fear for your life moment for her.
And do we see the Rings of Power at all in Héra’s story in The War of the Rohirrim? Do they feature in any meaningful way?
Wise: I’m not at liberty to stay right now… You’ll have to wait until the film.
Héra finds her roots in Tolkien’s writing, but she’s not very fleshed out. How much did you look to the lore to create Héra in The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, and how much was sort of evolved originally?
Wise: I didn’t look really to the lore at all. I know the story, and I knew about Helm, and I knew about Haleth and Háma. And that she’s unnamed. But that gave me so much freedom because I was just able to go, “Right, who do I want her to be?” Within the lore, and within listening to Philippa Boyens, and Arty Papageorgiou and Phoebe Gittins, and everyone else who knows The Lord of the Rings, who are walking lore encyclopedias. So I had a lot of freedom, and I could mess about with it. And if I ever did something, and I thought, well, that’s not quite right then I went down a different path. So the creative freedom I had was really wonderful.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim releases in theaters on December 13.
The post THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM’s Gaia Wise on Héra as a Shieldmaiden of Rohan and Her Connection with THE LORD OF THE RINGS’ Éowyn appeared first on Nerdist.
Source: Kiat Media
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