Elfhelm

Over two battles at the Fords of the River Isen, he had managed to kill Théoden's son, Théodred, and to claim the strategically important fords themselves.

The Rohirrim who had been defeated there were scattered, although a significant number, up to perhaps a thousand, stayed under the command of Grimbold and Elfhelm.

You may remember them from the last video.

To tie this into the wider narrative, by this point, Gandalf had freed Théoden from his bondage to Gríma and was now darting around Western Rohan at ludicrous speed on Shadowfax trying to rally the defenses of the realm.

He met these survivors of the two battles of the Fords of Isen, instructed Elfhelm to bury the dead, then head back to fortify Edoras because Théoden and what remained of the forces there had just left there.

Grimbold and his forces he sent to the Hornburg to report to Erkenbrand, the new commander of the Westmark.

We'll pick up on them later because they will play an important role in the battle.

Contrary to the film, Théoden here was leading a group of soldiers, not the weak and vulnerable of Rohan.

At which point, the cavalry arrived, quite literally.

Elfhelm and a reserve force from Edoras arrived from the east and immediately charged, catching Saruman's army unawares.

The east bank was retaken, and Elfhelm pushed on to that island, where he arrived just in time to hear Théodred's final words and see his final breath.

And at that, with the battle still in the balance, Saruman's forces suddenly and unexpectedly retreated back to Isengard.

It seems that Saruman's orders had not been to secure the Fords right then, but simply to kill Théodred, then retreat.

At which point, Erkenbrand, who was at the Hornburg, assumed control of the defence of the Westmark.

He moved swiftly into action, dispatching riders to Edoras seeking more troops, which was ignored by Grima, who was now in complete control of Théoden, gathered stores of food and able-bodied men to defend Helm's Deep, and gave command of the forces near the Isen to Grimbold until he could get there.

Grimbold therefore dug in on the east bank of the Isen, while Elfhelm, with his reserve force, headed further east.

My three heroes were Eomir as my leader on mounted armored horse.

Then I've got Theodred on Brego and Elfhelm on horse as well.

I like having all those three attack heroes.

And then Elfhelm having a march and the defense makes him much better than a captain choice.

And then I've got just like battle line of throwing spears, banner, 12 cav, 14 bows, 12 throwing weapons.

It's a really balanced mobile list that I feel like checks a lot of the boxes that I'm looking for.

I thought maybe the odds might be there, but I think I only took one, or I took the rider off from the shooting, which was a big help.

Yeah, that's true.