Ride of the Rohirrim at 15: how Lord of the Rings gave us cinema’s greatest cavalry charge Still breathtaking years later, the Ride of the Rohirrim is four minutes of pure exhilarating anticipation, emotion and spectacle

Six thousand riders against 200,000 orcs. A city ablaze, with an exhausted, daunted cavalry relief force mustering one mighty charge in a last-ditch bid to save it.

When it comes to action on the big screen, it’s safe to say that 2003’s Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King certainly delivered.

The epic conclusion to Peter Jackson’s record-breaking fantasy trilogy, based on the works of JRR Tolkien, celebrates its 15th anniversary this month.

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A decade-and-a-half on, you’d be hard-pressed to find a cinema-goer who doesn’t remember The Return of the King’s centrepiece cavalry assault with awed, spellbound fondness. And it remains a high-point of sword and spear battle scenes on the big screen.

From the moment those Rohan horns sound a resounding note of hope, to the bone-crunching crash into the lines of Mordor, the Ride of the Rohirrim is four minutes of pure, exhilarating anticipation and spectacle.

‘Ride now – ride for ruin, and the world’s ending!’

Peter Jackson’s masterful direction, the film’s shrewd editing, and everything else comes together so that the sequence tells an emotionally involving story in its own right.

Watch it here:

The entire scene, much like the film and the trilogy as a whole, is about triumph over adversity. Of good defeating evil, and never abandoning hope – even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

Theoden’s grim soliloquy at Helm’s Deep in The Two Towers, and inner monologue on the ride to Minas Tirith in this film, had already established him as accepting his doom. And “the doom of men”.

When he and his followers arrive over the crest of a hill, and see the city – much like Sauron’s eye – “wreathed in flame”, it might be supposed this would only deepen that despair.

And yet on the Pelennor Fields, in the face of the vast and formidable Mordor hordes, Theoden’s resigned acceptance shifts into something far more defiant, brave and heroic.

As he urges his soldiers to go “forth, and fear no darkness”, his speech to them becomes a formidable, shiver-inducing and apocalyptic call to arms.

“Ride now, ride now! Ride for ruin, and the world’s ending…DEEEEEEATH!”

Delivered so passionately by actor Bernard Hill, it is an incredible battle cry; readily taken up by the thousands at his back – and especially Eowyn and Merry, who have sneaked in to join the fight. As the camera focuses on Eowyn’s own mighty yell and raised arm, the entire scene, just for a moment, shifts to dizzying slow motion.

Into the storm

The charge itself, signaled again by a blast of horns and accompanied by the first romantic tones of the Rohan theme, is a sight to behold. And it carries through the thematic, emotional resonance quite powerfully.

With the music accompanying their steady building of pace, the army breaks from trot to canter, canter to gallop, wielding their swords, spears and axes readily and en masse, as they head towards a wall of halberds and pikes.

Then the orcs give the order to fire. We see riders cut down by arrows; evoking memories of Faramir’s force decimated at Osgiliath, earlier in the film.

But still Rohan’s warriors come. Still they ride. And in the face of overwhelming odds, tension begins to turn to triumph.

The orcs, previously so confident, begin to waver as the soldiers and their steeds approach. We see uncertainty and fear.

Then, quite wonderfully, their grotesque, leering leader’s satisfied grin transforms into a terrified look of shock as his face suddenly falls, and he realises – too late – that this is one charge he will not put a stop to.

We, and Theoden’s riders, know just at that moment that the tide has turned. And it is truly glorious.

When the cavalry finally thunders into Mordor’s ranks, we witness floundering enemies smashed and flung aside, hooves trampling over broken adversaries, and the entire mass of galloping warriors riding straight through the heart of the orc army like a hot knife through butter.

Captured magnificently by the still-impressive CG effects, and bolstered by key character close-ups, it is an extraordinary moment of spectacle, action and glory over adversity. A blistering yet moving microcosm of the entire trilogy’s good vs evil struggle, rendered in blood, battle-cries and bravery.

At the time the Rohan army arrived, all hope seemed lost. By the time their ride is done, a glimmer remains.

The music, and the real ride

Special mention must go to Howard Shore’s phenomenal score, which arguably reaches its peak in the trilogy here.

Much as Theoden himself is transformed, so too is the serene, majestic longing of the Celtic-tinged Rohan theme. Taking on and carrying a bombastic brass section befitting a headlong kamikaze stampede, it becomes one of the most rousing and thrilling pieces of classical music in modern cinema; making the audience themselves feel as though they are riding into the storm.

The filming of the scene was, itself, something to behold too.

250 horse-riders from around New Zealand were enlisted to help create the sequence. A mite shy of the 6,000 spears Theoden is depicted as leading, perhaps. But enough, as Eomer actor Karl Urban recalled, to make the ground literally shake as the armour-clad performers charged across the fields.

Theoden actor Bernard Hill, meanwhile, whipped the rest of the riders into such a frenzy that they “really thought they were doing it”.

Hill described creating the sequence as “phenomenal”.

“The Ride of the Rohirrim in terms of film, job experience, is number one.”

‘Unimaginable size and power’

Viewed in cinemas back in 2003, the Ride of the Rohirrim was the kind of jaw-dropping moment that induced sharp intakes of breath and open-mouthed wonder.

Writing about the “magnificent” Pelennor Fields battle in his review at the time, the renowned late critic Roger Ebert noted that he found himself “thinking of the visionary films of the silent era… with their desire to depict fantastic events of unimaginable size and power”.

Even now, it is the kind of scene fans will watch in isolation, again and again, just to recapture the cinematic magic. Clips of the sequence on YouTube have many millions of views, and now that the Lord of the Rings trilogy has also landed on Netflix UK, viewers have the chance to rekindle that flame all over again.

The very sound of those initial Rohan horns, as the army appears over the horizon, is still enough to induce a shudder of excitement.

15 years ago, spears were splintered. Shields were shaken. And we were treated to the greatest cavalry charge ever seen in cinema.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy, including Return of the King, is now on Netflix UK.

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