Book Review: The Art of The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

February 25th 2025

I don’t need to introduce you to The Lord of the Rings, it’s arguably the most famous series in the fantasy genre. It’s known the world over, first for the books from Tolkien, then for the award-winning movies. So, let’s talk about the art instead, because with the release of The War of the Rohirrim, we have more art to dive into and some can be seen presented in this new book.

The Art of The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, from HarperCollins, is a showcase of the art that helped create the anime movie. It was released February 18th in the US and February 27th in the UK and other regions. But, does it deliver the goods, especially for a series with a long and rich history of art and incredible artists?

My reviews are broken down into 5 points; build quality, content, credits, use of space and value. I’ll give breakdowns for each and my thoughts on them. You can also find a flip through preview and page photos below.

The Art of The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim cover

Build Quality

The book comes with a hardcover and 256 pages, the binding feels strong and the paper is high quality. It’s a good size too, 10.27 x 11.66 inches (30.1cm x 26cm), allowing for a good amount of content. It’s what I have come to expect from an artbook, so this is all good so far.

I have one issue though, which some people will understand, depending on where you live. HarperCollins does not shrink wrap the book, which has caused the issue seen in the image below. If, like me, you live somewhere that is cold and damp outside (and sometimes inside), then you may recognise the wavy effect on the pages. This is a humidity issue, caused by the pages absorbing moisture from the air and can be a pain to rectify, if it can be. I live in the UK and books don’t like it here, but shrink wrapping stops this from happening during transportation and storage. It’s not ideal to use plastic of course, but this is part of the reason why a lot of artbooks use it. Mine isn't too bad considering it's winter, but on a colder day I have received much worse.

Content

This book covers a lot in both its text and its art, offering a range of concepts at different stages and in different styles, with deep insights into the movie.

To start with the art, you will quickly notice the wide variety of styles. You read early on that the concept artists were told to create concept art as if it were a live action movie. They naturally used artists that worked on the previous movies, like Daniel Falconer (who also wrote and compiled the art for the book) and also legends in the field, Alan Lee and John Howe, both having illustrated Tolkien’s books and also worked on The Lord of the Rings movies as chief conceptual designers. This also means that Weta Workshop are again working on the series, as becomes useful when using the old movie material for refences.

Using these artists creates a mix of hand sketches, digital art and the use of 3D, making this book a highlight of how different methods and styles work toward the same goal. It’s not often that the art can vary this much in one book and it’s great to see. Alan Lee for example, uses hand drawn sketches, but art from the team at Weta Workshop utilise more modern methods with digital art techniques.

Then of course, there is the anime style, as this is an anime movie after all. The concept artists were told not to worry about the medium, as the team in Japan would translate their work so it can be used for animation. This was done by Sola Digital Arts and their work is featured throughout too. Seeing anime art sharing pages with more realistic concept art and Alan Lee sketches is very odd, but also very cool. This also means that you can visually see how changes are made from the more detailed concept art, to what you see on screen. Sacrifices in complexity have to made for budget and time in animation, but seeing where this is done is much better than just reading about it.

As expected, there is art for the characters, settings, weapons, animals, animations, storyboards and more. It covers everything you could want and expect, shown in the order of the movie. This isn’t unusual, it’s just elevated by the talent of the artists and their diverse work. What I also really liked though, was the inclusion of art and photos from The Lord of the Rings movies. These were used as references, so the designs would be in keeping with that world, as it is a part of the same continuity, just set 200 years earlier.

The book is also text heavy, more so than a lot of artbooks, but it doesn’t dominate the pages and strikes a nice balance. They didn't take the approach of simply commenting on the art, it talks about finding the teams and artists, the movie characters and story, limitations they had and more. Fans that like the ins and outs of production will enjoy reading this.

There are comments from the people that worked on the movie on every page. The writers and producers provide information on character motivations and story decisions, with the artists giving details on the art and designs. The director, Kenji Kamiyama, also provides a lot of insights too. This of course all makes sense, but often artbooks lean toward text for either the art or the story, this however, does both very well.

Credits

Credits are done by using initials on each page, with a brief image description and a number. That number is also found in the corner of the art, so you know which it is for. A page early on in the book lists the contributors, this is used to find the people the initials are for, as they are noted next to their full names.

It’s not my favourite method of doing credits, as it requires memorising the full names for the initials or flipping back and forth if you want to keep checking. It’s also far from the worst, as it allows you to find out who did which specific art piece, unlike in a lot of other books. I’d rather the full names were noted instead though.

Use of Space

No complaints here as there is no space wasted, nothing is being used as filler or too small to see. It’s mentioned early on that there is enough art to fill multiple books from the teams, but I like what they included and how they spaced it out. When there is little to say about layouts and space, it’s because they did it right!

Value

This has a full retail price of $50/ £40, which is expected for a movie artbook. I have no problem with this, because for the size and volume of content, you will be getting your moneys worth. This of course doesn’t take into account any discounts you may find online. I use Amazon for my reviews to stay consistent and shortly after release in the US, and on pre-order in the UK, it is already discounted. So, there’s a good chance you can get this for around $40/ £35 or less on sale or by shopping around.

Verdict

If you are fan of the movie and wanting deep insights and art, you can’t go wrong here. You learn a lot about the making of the anime and the amount of art certainly doesn’t disappoint. I really like the variety of styles that is mixed together throughout and found interesting information that added to my appreciation of both the movie and the people involved. A couple of minor complaints aside, I would feel comfortable recommending this to The Lord of the Rings fans!

For those interested, you can order The Art of The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim here and check out a book preview video from the YouTube channel;

Buy Here (UK)

Buy Here (US)