Thread: The Way We War
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Old 03-20-2009, 10:22 AM   #56
Farael
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
 
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Join Date: Nov 2005
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Well, the topic has shifted away from Bezerkers (spelling?) but forgive me if I bring this up again.

As far as I know, we don't have any dwarven-centric stories except perhaps for the Hobbit (which was mostly hobbit-centric). However, what DO we know about dwarves?

-They mastered metalworking and fine crafting
-They were very long-winded and formal (think about Thorin's speech!)
-They COULD be greedy and haughty, but then this behaviour was increased by Sauron's rings, so it was perhaps not their NATURE

From the crafting I'd say they are a very technologically advanced people. However, you can't craft fine things if you are prone to fits of rage. They were clearly detail-oriented and patient. From their manner of speech I'd say there is further clue they were patient. Theoden, a masterful speaker of Rohan, has a far more... direct way of expressing himself than Thorin. Heck, HE would be a great Berzerker!

Furthermore, we have indications that the rings that Sauron gave the dwarves made them more prone to greed, which could be the reason why some of the dwarves we hear of (mostly ring owners or sons of ring owners) were rash.

Now, from a militaristic perspective. I am certainly not an expert on medieval fighting, but wouldn't fighting with a pole-arm require GREATER coordination than a shorter weapon?

You see, if you have a short weapon that can be retrieved easily after a swing, and a weapon that does not throw you off-balance or expose you greatly, you can afford to look after yourself. However, the longer a weapon is the harder it is to set up for another strike thus I'd expect the more you need to work with the people near you!

So while the image of a dwarf going insane swinging his axe in a great round circle is very enticing, I'd expect that fighting with heavy weapons was done more in formation than as individuals. They all group together and present you with a "wall of axes". If you get close by yourself you'll get chopped to pieces. If you rush them in formation they'll chop up your first line, and by the time the second line is ready to step up they've recovered their weapon.

Conversely, if you had a dwarf by himself, you approach him with two people and he's done for, because while he kills one the other has a wide open target.

So there's my ramble in the matter, i don't think that dwarven psychology or choice of weaponry really supports the idea of the lone, battle-raged dwarf.




As for the example of the thirteen dwarves rushing out of the Lonely Mountain, I'm a fairly mild-mannered individual, but if you siege me for a week or two and then start a battle with my cousin, I don't think I will be too composed when I try to chop your head off with my axe. Not to mention that thirteen dwarves can hardly make a "formation". Their best bet then was to punch a hole through the enemy and get to the OTHER dwarves so they would not be isolated!
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