Bernard Hill is dead. He played kings, captains and commanders, but in private he was very far from them

Last Saturday he was supposed to appear at Comic Con in Liverpool, but Bernard Hill’s visit was canceled at the last minute. On Sunday afternoon, sad news spread from Great Britain to the world – the actor died at the age of 79.

For almost 50 years of his professional career, due to his good looks and Shakespearean flair, he played the roles of noblemen, kings, leaders and captains. Since Sunday, however, there is at least one international group of people who are saying a special goodbye to him. They are fans of Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of “The Lord of the Rings”, in which Bernard Hill played the role of King Theoden, the leader of Rohan.

Bernard Hill – our Theoden – is dead

Although Bernard Hill played kings and leaders, he himself came from a family of miners and was no stranger to extremely hard work. He had to wait until he was forty for his first important, internationally noticed roles – only then, after years of playing smaller and larger roles in British productions, he appeared in the film “The Ghost and the Darkness”, where he starred alongside Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas. It was a breakthrough. Although his hero, Dr. Hawthorne, dies devoured by man-eating lions, a year later Bernard Hill becomes Captain Edward J. Smith, who went down with the Titanic. It was 1997, and Peter Jackson was already thinking hard about “The Lord of the Rings”. Bernard Hill appeared in his first plans when “The Ruler” was to consist of just one part.

The actor was considered for the role of Gandalf, but as time passed and subsequent conversations (especially with the rather troublesome Ian McKellen, who could not find any reasonable terms), Bernard Hill suddenly became Theoden. He was never fond of horses, and he was supposed to become the king of horsemen. Although he had already played leaders, he had little of the British “high society” – as Ian Nathan, author of the book “Peter Jackson and the making of Middle-Earth” recalls, when the shooting ended, “King Theoden” disappeared and turned into the charming, jovial Bernard Hill, who shared laughs with Viggo Mortensen and Orlando Bloom in one trailer.

The actor joined the crew with flying colors and was jokingly called “his highness”. When England beat Denmark at the soccer championship, he mocked Mortensen, a half-Danish, half-American, for days after the match. He laughed unabashedly at jokes about Pippin suffering from gas after eating too many lembas. After filming The Battle of Helm’s Deep, he and the rest of the crew proudly wore “I Survived Helm’s Deep” T-shirts – the production of these shots not only took a long time, but was also extremely demanding and tiring for everyone. Night photos in heavy rain from rain showerheads, ubiquitous mud in a quarry flooded with streams – it was a real challenge.

Additionally, the role required him to have at least decent horse riding skills. Théoden was, after all, the king of Rohan’s riders, and it was impossible for him to travel on foot. Bernard Hill did not give all the scenes to doubles, he tried to play his lines himself. As support, he received the calmest animal found in New Zealand stables – a horse with the sedate name “Depend” from the word “dependable” – the one you can rely on. The animal was absolutely insensitive to any situations that occurred on the set. Explosion? Depend won’t budge. Screaming through megaphones? Depend stoically observes his surroundings. “I got the calmest horse they could find,” Hill said. “It was that damned mare Viggo who ruined every shot,” he mocked the other king.

At the very end of the production, together with others, he tattooed an elvish symbol meaning the number “ten” – he did not belong to the real “team”, but he was an integral part of the team, and his Theoden went down in history.

It’s hard to imagine a world without Bernard Hill – to say he was full of life is an understatement. He is one of the funniest, smartest people I have ever been lucky enough to work with. His Theoden, King of Rohan, is loved by millions and this is a testament to his brilliance as an actor. And we will remember him as a deeply loyal and loving friend. Our hearts go out to his loved ones now. Farewell, brave warrior. On behalf of everyone involved in the production of the film trilogy – we will miss you very much – wrote Peter Jackson on social media.

The “young hobbits” – Elijah Wood, Sean Austin, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd – also said goodbye to him separately. But they weren’t the only ones who lost a teammate.

Fans say goodbye to Bernard Hill

This is especially visible when the news about the actor’s death spread around the world. The Internet was flooded with memories of how viewers perceived the role of Bernard Hill in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Although Hill did not receive any award for Theoden, viewers agree – we could not have dreamed of a better king of Rohan. We cried with him at his son’s grave. He showed the frustration of the lonely ruler, which could not be read in Tolkien’s highly hagiographic prose – together with him we asked where Gondor was when the West Rift fell. When he summoned his troops to the last stand on the fields of Pelennor, there was not a single person in the theater who did not follow him. Just give us a horse and a sword, and we will go to perdition and the end of the world.

Tens of thousands of people say goodbye to Hill mainly virtually. In the game “Lord of the Rings Online”, evening processions were organized in virtual Middle-earth, during which the role of the Briton is remembered. On social media, users post numerous recordings from the film and photos with the actor himself. Bernard Hill, although he didn’t necessarily understand the madness about “Titanic”, understood the fans of “The Lord of the Rings” perfectly. He was a frequent guest at fan rallies, willingly talked to “ordinary” people, patiently posed for photos and was happy when he saw cosplayers dressed as Theoden’s riders. For us, Jackson’s “followers”, an era has ended again. Although Ian Holm – Bilbo (died in 2020) and Christopher Lee – Saruman (2015) are no longer in the world, the death of Bernard Hill is particularly painful. We will miss him very much.