Trolls shouldn't take that long to kill. They should take about as long as it takes Aragorn, Boromir, Pippin, or any other member of the fellowship to whip out their sword and stab them in the vitals.
I made this post on another thread about trolls (the thread was questioning how big and tough they were really supposed to be).
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I think the movie troll was too large.
In order for Hurin to kill a bunch of trolls with his axe, their necks would have to be low enough for him to lop their heads off. (I'm assuming that's how he killed most of them because an axe blow to the body wouldn't necessarily kill a troll and the axe wouldn't go all the way through, it would get stuck in the troll, and while Hurin was trying to get it out all the other trolls would grab him)
The Silmarillion says that Hurin was not as tall as other members of his family (father, brother, son), but he was from a great house of men, so let's guestimate that he was 6'3". Also, in order to chop off a head, the axe from butt to blade needs to be as close to level as possible, cause if it's sticking up in the air the blade wouldn't cut very deep (tell me if you don't get what I mean and I'll explain it). So if Hurin were to stand on his tip-toes and hold his hands above his head and do a nice swing with the axe pointed up at no more than 30 degrees, the highest the neck could be would be a little less than 7 and 1/2 feet, meaning that the troll's total height would be anywhere from 9 to 9 and 1/2 feet.
In the movie the troll is definitely more than three feet taller than Aragorn. And remember, Aragorn is supposed to be tall, so he's probably at least 6'3" (probably more).
Therefore, the movie troll was OVERDONE!!!
(though it made for an awesome fight sequence!!!)
Anybody with a great blade and enough strength to stab (or swing in the case of an axe) is capable of killing a troll.
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And that 9 to 9 1/2 feet is the max for those trolls. They could've been shorter. In LOTR, the trolls in that battle before the black gate were described as being...
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Taller and broader than men, they were
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It didn't say they were giants that took two mortal warriors, an elf warrior, a dwarf warrior, four hobbits, and a wizard to kill.
Remember, in LOTR Pippin killed a troll all by himself, and he's no Hurin.
Trolls are tougher to kill than orcs, but they're not that tough.
[ June 23, 2003: Message edited by: the phantom ]