Éomer

It's why I'm here.

Are you the Eomer of...

Yeah, it's forsaken these lands.

You could say that.

And on the day this episode is released, November 2nd, the hobbits rouse the Shirefolk as they begin the process of freeing the Shire from Saruman's control.

This will become a holiday in Buckland each year, and the horn of the mark that was given to Merry by Eomer and Eowyn will be blown to commemorate the day.

And that's all for This Week in

Middle-Earth.

just objectively correct at this point.

And Aomer has to be one of the human cast.

Yeah.

He has to be a human, they have to be rats, and they cannot be attached to the saddles.

But, you know, when he announces himself to the Hobbits for who he really is, he says it at the Council of Elrond.

He says it to Aomer whenever he first meets him, like, I'm Aragorn, son of Arathorn, heir to the throne of Gondor.

That's me.

I've come to chew bubblegum and kick butt.

The paladins and you just all boo, trample over and just swing down.

Picture that scene at the end of the two towers where Eomer and Gandalf just fuck those Uruk-hai up.

That seriously is what it's like against these two little creatures.

Radiance is just full of light, and we're just, paladins, we're just head chopping them.

This is that encounter.

When they were some fifty paces off, Éomer cried in a loud voice, "'Halt! Halt! Who rides in Rohan?' The pursuers brought their steeds to a sudden stand.

A silence followed, and then in the moonlight a horseman could be seen dismounting and walking slowly forward.

His hand showed white as he held it up, palm outward in token of peace, but the king's men gripped their weapons.

"'Rohan! Rohan!' did you say.

"'That is a glad word.

We seek that land in haste from long afar.' "'You have found it,' said Éomer.

"'When you crossed the fords yonder, you entered it.

Now...

We've got somebody who's done an amazing thing in transition from Defenders of Pelennor into the Grief of Eomer, which is fantastic.

Love that idea that they had.

I think they had Eomer and Imrahil on day one with Ferdinand and Eowyn.

And then day two, they've got the Grief of Eomer, which is just chef's kiss, delightful theme.

But also, it's another army that does, A, it scales really well because it's just big heroes day one.

drop some heroes focus on the little heroes day two potentially depending on your the way you built it we've also got a few black gate lists six players taking the black gate so we've got a big troll chieftain on day one maybe with multiple trolls in fact I think one of them does and then day two you still have a troll chieftain and some magical support to be playing Contest of Champions with, which is certainly a potent combination.

And I think a couple of them have got...

I don't know.

I've played Eomer in Defenders, and the free hero combat is nice, but he kind of feels like a little, like, weak sauce without any extra bonuses to, like, bring him up.

Eomer also does have the lance, which is nice.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Instead, it was to weaken Rohan, so that when Saruman was ready to invade, the Rohirrim would be scattered, disorganised, and without clear leadership.

Diminishing Théoden's ability to think independently definitely helped with that, but Théoden had an equally capable son, Théodred, and nephew, Éomer, who could both step up and were both actively opposing Saruman's subtle preparations with the Dunlendings and Orcs.

So having Grima in place meant that he could sow dissension in the ruling family, taking more of the senior leadership out of the equation, ordering Eamon not to go hunting orcs, then ordering him arrested when he refused, for example.

Second, we need to remember that Saruman was still pretending to be one of the good guys until early in the main story.

Brad Dourif as Wormtongue.

Karl Urban as Eomer.

Andy Serkis as Gollum.

And in only the extended version, John Noble as Denethor and Sean Bean as Boromir.