The Tolkien scholar Michael Drout states that Jackson's film version of Éomer's helmet is plainly based on the Sutton Hoo helmet, "the single most iconic image of Anglo-Saxon culture". Tolkien, he notes, had denied that the Riders of Rohan were actually the Anglo-Saxons, though he had made them speak the Mercian dialect of that language. In a book, Drout states, there can be ambiguity about visual images which are always partly in the reader's imagination; but a film inevitably reduces that useful ambiguity. Éomer's crest of horsetail, and the riders' flaxen hair give the impression of "continental Gothic" rather than Anglo-Saxons, but the film collapses that ambiguity. Drout further contrasts Jackson's presentation of Éomer in close-up in his elaborate helmet (scene 11 of The Two Towers), with the later scene of an Easterling soldier whose helmet covers his face. Drout writes that this carries the suggestion of "veiling and Orientalism", whereas Éomer's face can be seen between his cheek-guards, making him seem more open and less threatening.
The Tolkien scholar Michael Drout states that Jackson's film version of Éomer's helmet is plainly based on the Sutton Hoo helmet, "the single most iconic image of Anglo-Saxon culture". Tolkien, he notes, had denied that the Riders of Rohan were actually the Anglo-Saxons, though he had made them speak the Mercian dialect of that language. In a book, Drout states, there can be ambiguity about visual images which are always partly in the reader's imagination; but a film inevitably reduces that useful ambiguity. Éomer's crest of horsetail, and the riders' flaxen hair give the impression of "continental Gothic" rather than Anglo-Saxons, but the film collapses that ambiguity. Drout further contrasts Jackson's presentation of Éomer in close-up in his elaborate helmet (scene 11 of The Two Towers), with the later scene of an Easterling soldier whose helmet covers his face. Drout writes that this carries the suggestion of "veiling and Orientalism", whereas Éomer's face can be seen between his cheek-guards, making him seem more open and less threatening.