Swords
My admiration for the skill and erudition of the Weta Workshop people keeps on expanding. Details, such as the beautiful marbled sword blades, are a delight to the historical heart. Why? Read the following paragraph from David Wilson's "The Anglo Saxons" (Pelican, 1971)
Some blades are 'pattern welded'. This method of twisting bands of iron together and beating the resulting plait into a thin blade which is then edged with hard steel adds flexibility to a weapon. The face of the sword is then polished and the marbled effect achieved must be responsible for such passages as the description in Beowulf: 'Upon him gleams the ancient heirloom, the hard, ring-patterned sword, treasure of the Heathobards.' Often, however, the blade is beaten out of one piece of metal and is unornamented.Such pattern welded blades are rare. They were an expensive and treasured item, handed down from father to son until they fell to pieces. Plain bladed swords were obviously easier and cheaper to make, therefore more common. The age and heritage of a blade added to its value and reputation and there was a tradition of naming particularly old and distinguished blades.
The swords of the Rohirrim seem to be based on earlier versions of the teutonic sword, the 'spatha', and initially had a simple hilt with a small 'cocked hat' pommel and rudimentary quillions (rather like Eowyn's). Early examples were about 75 cm long. As the technology developed the blade lengthened slightly and long, shallow indentations known as 'fullers' were ground into the sides of the blade which was sometimes engraved with inscriptions or patterns. At the same time the hilt became more intricate with projecting quillions (guards) and elaborately decorated pommels. This is like the (more advanced) Dunedain swords. The scabbard hung at the left hip from a baldric over the right shoulder.
The elven fighting knives would appear to be based on the scramasax, the weapon which gave the Saxons their name. This was a single edged fighting knife typically between 30 and 60 cm long. These knives were carried in a scabbard hung from the belt. They were often intricately decorated along the back edge of their grooved blades with inlaid copper silver and bronze wires. The hilts also were more elaborately decorated than those of the spatha, though they rarely had quillions, and usually only a small pommel. Scramasax blades, though, were straight!
On Bows
As an ex-archer, I really enjoyed the quality of the archery special effects in "Fellowship". Good as they were, I knew the arrows could not be real, because flying arrows are too dangerous - far more dangerous than swinging swords - but I worried about the bows being dry fired. As Weta discovered (apparently the hard way), bows are very energy efficient and wooden bow limbs tend to crack when there's no arrow to absorb most of the energy. The clever devils made them of rubber (see Brian Sibley's "The Making of the Movie Trilogy"). I'd still like to be reassured that in the pictures where Legolas draws and aims, but doesn't release, the arrow is fake. Believe me, you wouldn't get me to stand in front of someone with a full drawn bow!
All the elven bows are of the recurve type, the opposite curvature at the ends increasing the power of the bow for a given draw length. The Lorien bow has reinforced recurves, giving extra power. They are quite long, more suited to use on foot and probably a good compromise between a hunting and a war bow. This type of bow originated in the middle east, fitting in with Weta's slightly oriental culture for the elves. Aragorn's bow looks like a short straight-limbed hunting bow, the bow of a Ranger used to living rough and off the land. It wouldn't have the distance of Legolas' bow, but wouldn't catch on bushes and scrub so much and would be easier to use on horseback. (It looks like Legolas picks up a sword from the Rohirrim, as well as a horse.) From the pictures I've seen, the Gondorian bows are of the Longbow type, six foot plus of yew wood with "clothyard shafts", though I doubt Weta made them the typical 100-150 pounds draw weight of the Welsh longbow (imagine holding an adult suspended by a piece of string round three of your fingers). The Rohirrim, being horsemen, would use a shorter bow (probably recurve) like Saracen or Mongol bows. Lurtz's bow is a nasty looking piece of equipment - all power, a real killing bow!
The arrows are nice too, though there wasn't any need to make the plastic nocks (the notch at the back end) look like wood (As Weta apparently did) - they've been mass producing nocks from horn for a long time. Thousands of unused horn nocks were found in the wreck of the "Mary Rose". As with any projectile weapons, bows are only as good as the supply of arrows, so archers picked up any spent arrow they found on a battlefield which looked around the right length and weight. Also wooden arrows are never straight, so archers tended to have favourite shafts which they would try and find on the battlefield after they'd used them. Legolas did this in the book, but it's not emphasised in the film.
If you want a bit more history, try E. G. Heath "Archery: A Military History". Only one gripe: there's no way Orlando Bloom's imaginary arrows were clearing his back quiver when he was firing fast. :-)
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Background: The device of Idril Celebrindal, from the dust cover of 'The Silmarillion' (1977). Image used without permission.
Last update 11/12/02
Copyright © Susan H Law, 2002, and her licensors. All rights reserved.