Bernard Hill’s Best Moment as Théoden Showed the Human Heart of a King

Bernard Hill , whosadly clear awaythis retiring weekend , is a part of some ofthe bang-up momentsin the Lord of the Rings movie . As Théoden , his lines are endlessly quotable , often memeable , and he is give way some of the best work in the trilogy bind to its legendary battles like Helm ’s Deep and the charge of the Rohirrim at Minas Tirith . But there ’s one view that absolutely encapsulates what made Hill ’s public presentation so incredible : one with neither audio nor frenzy , but full of Hill ’s humanness .

Shortly after Théoden is roused from being dominate by the will of Saruman and his lackey Grima Wormtounge inThe Two Towers , we see him react to the tragic news that his son , Théodred , was toss off 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 continue the most important instant of it all in what came after : Gandalf coming across the still - recovering King as he watched over his Logos ’s burial mound .

Every case in Lord of the Rings , to some extent , speak with a fantastic , amatory structure to their sentence , just as they did in Tolkien ’s original books , but Théoden is especially think of for his ornate words — in his greatest bit like the legendary language he gives at Pelennor athletic field , or as the last of Helm ’s Deeps shielder cod out to face the Uruk - Hai . It ’s here , in this setting too—“alas that these evil days should be mine … that I should live , to see the last Clarence Shepard Day Jr. of my house . ” But what always made Hill ’s performance glow in these film is n’t just the exercising weight he put into those lyrical word of honor , but the warmth of them . There ’s always a hazard with such fantastical dialogue that it can come across as stilted , or even cold — dialog that read well on the page , but said out loud does n’t sound like something a person would say . But Hill portray Théoden in this moment and in multitudinous others with a humanity that gives such emotion to every Good Book : here his weariness , his grief , his desperation for the weight of the human race he lives in and his love for his boy , lingering in every moment .

Screenshot: New Line Cinema

But it ’s in the plainest line of all — as Théoden reflects on the mercilessness of a parent having to bury their child — that he opt to decay . There is no bully roar , no wail , nothing grand to reflect the great grief he feels . Alfred Hawthorne play the moment , buckling into sobs as he falls to his knees , with a lifelessness . He ’s almost silent — you may scarcely hear as he pant for breath between sobs . It falls to Ian McKellan ’s Gandalf to clean up the verse , comforting Théoden with the wise words of the Istari , but Théoden himself ? There is no poetic tycoon in this moment , just a humanity , a father eat by heartache for his fallen son .

For all the layers and tune we often associate with Hill ’s performance , it ’s this one small moment — one where he barely has to speak — that still reminds us what made Théoden such a compelling lineament in the first place .

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