Weapon & Armor systems; Tactical Styles in Middle Earth

Hmm... we could make that rod of gorthu a weapon, a combat rod of sorts too...

It says that gorthu held dorthonion with fire and sword... doesn't say he wielded a sword by himself... but we could give him a sword, as a sidearm.

If we did i wonder... would his sword be a bent blade/ scimitar/curved sword/ sickle sword weapon like the orcs used? Morgoth had a sword too... but in that version of the story it was one of the weapons of the valar or noldor which he and his helpers stole... i guess sauron could as well use a captured noldo or vala weapon? Just ideas anyway...
 
Last edited:
I agree with Nick that it doesn’t seem like a weapon is something he needs or focuses on at this point. A hammer would work, if we don’t feel an individual choice is important. He could use a stolen weapon later. Could he take Ringil after the death of Fingolfin?
 
Rod and sidesword i would like. The rod as a tool and possible weapon -if he needs one as well as a sign of him being a ruler and legate... as a status icon.

Maybe more like a sceptre or slim mace?

Sword maybe a shorter weapon, like a sidearm, or even a ceremonial blade?
 
I can't imagine Morgoth or Sauron taking Ringil. Didn't the Orcs discard Merry and Pippin's blades? I think the really evil creatures can't handle, or hate to touch, blessed weapons.
 
Faelivrin said:
I can't imagine Morgoth or Sauron taking Ringil. Didn't the Orcs discard Merry and Pippin's blades? I think the really evil creatures can't handle, or hate to touch, blessed weapons.
Click to expand...
Didn’t stop the trolls from taking Glamdring and Orcrist.
 
That's a good point. The Orcs (or whatever) also piled the dead of the Nirnaeth and their weapons into the Hill of the Slain.

Maybe they just hate to wield blessed weapons?
 
Orcs are something different i believe... those blades kill orcs.. they might kill trolls and undead too, but we know both did kind of hord such artifacts... for whatever pupose. But the ainur... shouldn't they be able to use and corrupt such artifacts? I mean... they took the silmarils and the rings and many other stuff too...
 
Last edited:
You both have good points.

Maybe I just have an aesthetic aversion to Ringil being wielded by the Enemy. I would rather that it gets broken, and/or picked up by Thorondor.
 
I think your objections are really valid and I don’t feel like I have any good counter argument. I think my idea was that Ringil could be reforged again, and that it would be perverted by Sauron. It’s not something I need to press for in our story - but it is an interesting subject, I think.
 
Yes in a way it feels weird for sauron to wield a feanorian sword... i really can't exactly say why...

Perhaps sauron could use something like a forerunner of the later morgul blades instead? But i don't know what kind of power we give his weapons... he's not the necromancer yet, is he?
 
Thinking of it i would prefer him not to wield a larger blade. He's more the kind of sorcerer and commander, not one who seems to prefer to fight in the first way. He's different from the balrogs...
 
Haerangil said:
Thinking of it i would prefer him not to wield a larger blade. He's more the kind of sorcerer and commander, not one who seems to prefer to fight in the first way. He's different from the balrogs...
Click to expand...

Don’t necessarily want him to be like Ebony Maw/ Squidward in Infinity War, though.
 
He would be able to make his own weapons, yeah.

Haerangil said:
Perhaps sauron could use something like a forerunner of the later morgul blades instead? But i don't know what kind of power we give his weapons... he's not the necromancer yet, is he?
Click to expand...
That raises the question of when, and where, he first turned people into wraiths. Was he experimenting on doing that for years or centuries before he turned 9 Men into Ringwraiths? Or were those the first wraiths, changed as an eventual side-effect of the rings lengthening their lives, and Sauron then tried to re-create the effect to get more wraiths?

I also wonder what would happen, in Arda, if Sauron ripped out somebody's soul and tried to replace it with something. It's done in the Wheel of Time (creating Grey Men) but I suspect that in Arda the victim would just be a useless corpse. But... could a human or elven corpse really be reanimated by a demon, like in LotRO? Would there be any advantage to doing that? Tolkien did say it's possible to possess a living person, and then force their own soul out: this is specifically something Sauron did, and taught his followers to "achieve". I wonder if that's what Barrow-Wights are.

I don't think possession would be initiated by a weapon, though. Unless the weapon was a demon disguised as a talking weapon, that gained entry by persuading its wielder it was their friend and wanted to give them advice or make them a better fighter by "sharing its skills". That's a concept depicted by Mercedes Lackey in her Valdemar series (the sword is named Need), and it works out OK as long as the sword is 1. benevolent, and 2. not capable of permanently possessing its wielder. But if somebody let a demon sword "share its skills" with their body, then they'd be possessed. Most Elves and well-educated Edain would hopefully not fall for it, but ignorant or gullible people might.
 
Are they? Sauron seems to get out for a good long while. Not to mention, one has to consider the possibility of their craft being passed on.

Also, one gets the distinct feeling that most of the equipping of armies takes place there in Angband.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top