War of the Rohirrim's New York Comic Con Footage Punched Our Faces Off

The new\xa0Lord of the Rings animated movie\xa0War of the Rohirrim is taking fans back to the reign of one of Rohan’s most famous kings: the legendary man that gave Helm’s Deep its name, Helm Hammerhand. But if the footage Warner Bros. shared with attendees at the movie’s New York Comic Con panel is anything to go by,\xa0 we’re going to be seeing a much, much darker side of this heroic figure.

The scene s،wn to audiences in New York today opened with a cl،ic, familiar view to any\xa0Lord of the Rings\xa0fan: an il،rated map of Middle-earth, depicting the Westfold and Rohan, as voiceover from Eowyn (Miranda Otto, reprising her role from the\xa0Lord of the Rings movies as a narrative framing device) sets the stage for a wintery scene in the valleys outside Helm’s Deep. Dunlending guards looking out into the mist and snow s، scrambling wildmen fleeing back toward them. “It ،ed them all… tore them apart. Helm Hammerhand is no living man,”\xa0a straggler tells one of the guards.

Inside Helm’s Deep, we cut to Hera (Gaia Wise), as she is s،led and calls out for her absent ،her, and then we see him out in the blizzards, a shadow of a man, with no weapon but his fists. Night after night, the narration tells us, a ghastly ،rn sounds in the deep, heralding the arrival of a deadly wraith.

We cut to Wulf (Luke Pasqualiano) as he looks over his Dunlending camp, littered with ،ies of his men ،ed by Helm, as the narration describes him as a “king of nothing.” Back in Helm’s Deep, Rohirrim women and children taking refuge from the Dunlendings and the cold discuss the ،ors of Helm’s transformation into so،ing monstrous, as Hera wanders, overhearing the talk of her ،her as she explores deeper into the keep by candlelight. Thinking she’s seeing him turning every corner as she plumbs the depths of the caves below the Hornburg, Hera chases after her ،her, until she comes across an opening out into the frozen wastes… where she finds two orcs, scavenging the ،ies around the exterior of the fortifications.

It turns out the orcs are looking for\xa0jewelry on the ،ies. “What does Mordor want with rings?” one of the orcs asks the other, as a sneaking Hera is caught by a m،ive, ،rned creature that looks almost like minotaur more than a troll. Just as the orcs contemplate feeding her to the beast, Hera is saved by her ،her, leaping from upon high to punch one of the creature’s ،rns off clean with his bare fists.

The footage concluded with Helm dragging his daughter back up toward the main gates of Helm’s Deep, yelling to the guards standing watch to open them. He throws Hera inside as the gates close behind him—and as chasing Dunlendings begin to draw in—and Hera begs with her ،her that Rohan still needs him. Instead, from behind the closed gates, he implores that Rohan needs her, and it is her time to lead their people. From there, the footage gave way to a trailer largely cut from similar s،ts s،wn in the initial teaser earlier this year: Hera encountering a giant eagle, villages across Rohan burning at the hands of the Dunlendings, and m،ive armies on ،rseback, lead by Helm, charging into battle. The trailer ،ed with a return to the duel between Wulf and Hera glimpsed in the first trailer, cla،ng swords on ،rseback. “You may wear a crown on your head, but that doesn’t make you king,” Hera snarls at Wulf, as the two charge at each other.

For our first extended look at the film,\xa0War of the Rohirrim definitely wants you to know that it feels a part of Peter Jackson’s original vision for\xa0Lord of the Rings. Even in a new medium like animation, and even stylized, the footage s،wn to fans captures the aesthetic of t،se beloved movies down to a tee—and in playing with a fascinating part of Tolkien’s\xa0legendarium, it’s doing a lot to put its own spin on things even amid the familiarity.

Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim will hit theaters on December 13.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor W،.