Bethberry wrote:
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Why did the annals of the Men make no mention of the Hobbits? Oh, I bet they were there alright. At the battle. But maybe memory of them faded as contact dwindled or their importance to Men lessened as Men regain their strength. Like the contributions of women throughout history, that of the hobbits became invisible. (oh, the irony here. ) And good empiricists simply shrug that the evidence is not as fullsome as they would like.
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All this is true; and another point is this: Archers are not in general big-ticket items. We're all very fond of Legolas, and proud of his skill, but archers normally are not the focal point of the battle. Generals, sword-wielders, axe-weilders get all the glory. Eowyn wouldn't have gotten nearly as much glory if she had slain the Witch-King with an arrow from a battlement.
Archery is important, but not glamorous. I don't wonder that archers were forgotten. Especially little archers, probably dressed in green.