The Lord of the Ringsis seeing several new properties in the span of a few months:Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game, andThe Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, an animated movie set some centuries before the events of the War of the Ring.
Both of these new properties share something beyond their narrative world: their diversion in art style. While most ofThe Lord of the Ringsproperties since Peter Jackson’sThe Lord of the Ringsmovies have attempted realism, bothTales of the ShireandThe War of the Rohirrimhave adopted very distinct art styles that are different from one another. Animation isn’t new toThe Lord of the Rings, but these two releases break a trend that’s been affecting the depiction ofThe Lord of the Ringssince the release of the movies that made Tolkien’s world mainstream.
The Value of Tales of the Shire’s Art Style
AsTales of the ShireandThe War of the Rohirrimare a video game and an animated movie respectively, they should be approached with different art styles, but unfortunately this isn’t a given.The Lord of the Ringsvideo games have had a tendency to be adapted with a realistic art style, which doesn’t often translate well, as seen in theGollumgame, where a stylized and simplistic art style would have looked better and have been a better adaptation for the developer’s budget and timeframe.
Tales of the Shire’s simple art style is both colorful and charming. It’s completely different from the art style in the Peter Jackson movies, but it’s alsodifferent toThe Lord of the Ringsmoviesthat came before it. Instead, it bears more similarities to other cozy games such asAnimal Crossing, with a bright and vibrant color palette, very simple character models, and textures that are more akin to a simple painting than anything attempting to be realistic.
This is deeply appropriate for the genre and tone, and matches the atmosphere of the Shire far more than a realistic style could. The models of the hobbits and other characters are depicted as cute, and the feeling of safety and warmth of the Shire is foremost in the game.
A Completely Different Take on The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrimisn’t a cozy game, and is instead a war movie, but animation is a medium and does not inform the genre of the story it depicts. Animation is a great medium for depicting epic scenes, and costs far less to depict than a live action would while looking better with the same budget.
While there are many in-world art stylesThe Lord of the Ringsthat would be incredible if translated as an animated art style,The War of the Rohirrimis very distinctly stylized as anime, especially in its depiction of its characters, but the clothing and architecture of the world remain true to Rohan’s as described by Tolkien, achieving a pleasing blend ofThe Lord of the Ringsstyle in an anime world.
New media forThe Lord of the Ringsshould continue the trend of embracing animation and experimenting with different art styles, especially as CGI in movies becomes easier to spot. Rather than attempting hyper-realism through CGI, a move in the other direction with beautiful animation and art thatbrings Tolkien’s world to lifeshould be considered, and these two endeavors may be the first steps towards that.
