Bernard Hill, who this past weekend, is a part of some of the greatest moments in the Lord of the Rings movies. As Théoden, his lines are endlessly quotable, , and he is given some of the best work in the trilogy tied to its legendary battles like Helm’s Deep and the charge of the Rohirrim at Minas Tirith. But there’s one scene that perfectly encapsulates what made Hill’s performance so incredible: one with neither sound nor fury, but full of Hill’s humanity.
Shortly after Théoden is roused from being dominated by the will of Saruman and his lackey Grima Wormtounge in The Two Towers, we see him react to the tragic news that his son, Théodred, was killed by orc raiders while Théoden was ensorcelled by Isengard. While the extended edition of the film gave us Théodred’s actual funeral, the original film kept the most important moment of it all in what came after: Gandalf coming across the still-recovering King as he watched over his son’s burial mound. Every character in Lord of the Rings, to some extent, speaks with a fantastical, romantic structure to their sentences, just as they did in Tolkien’s original books, but Théoden is especially remembered for his flowery words—in his greatest moments like the legendary speech he gives at Pelennor fields, or as the last of Helm’s Deeps defenders ride out to face the Uruk-Hai.
It’s here, in this scene too—“alas that these evil days should be mine...
that I should live, to see the last days of my hou.
