It is surprising, given that this was my favourite Chapter when I first read the book, that I have relatively little to say on it.
As far as the depiction of the battle is concerned, I do think that
Aiwendil hit the nail on the head when he described it as a series of linked dramatic events (see his post #6 above). It is portrayed as a series of incidents, each involving the principal characters, linked by a general description of the battle's progress, in particular the development of the Orcs' assault. It struck me that this is similar to the way that a battle might be portrayed on film - as a series of encounters/incidents linked by overview shots of the battle. Tolkien's skill as a story-teller enables him to deploy this technique to marvellous effect in this Chapter.
Another theme that links the events of the battle, and indeed of the entire Chapter, and also parallels them is the weather. Rather than blathering on at length here about this, I will simply provide
this link to my post on
The Symbolic Significance of Weather.
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Originally Posted by Fordim
... there is just no way that one fighter can be so overwhelmingly good that he can wipe out that many opponents. And certainly not two: either the orcs are incompetent or Gimli and Legolas are getting a bit of 'help' from the author.
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Well, as others have noted, this is in keeping of the deeds of the great warriors of legend and myth. But I also think that an argument can be made out for its feasibility. It is entirely credible that Legolas would score 20 kills with his bow - 1 for each arrow in his quiver. It does require that he delivers a fatal wound with every shot, but then he
is an elf. He could then easily score a further 21 kills with his knives (as a nimble and lightly armoured Elf he has an advantage over Orcs in hand-to-hand combat) and with the arrows that he picks up on the field of battle. As for Gimli, he gets his chance when the Orcs break through and later in the Deep and the caves. I see no reason why he should not be able, on occasion, to kill 2 or 3 at a time with his axe, requiring only about 20 swings of it. He is less dextrous than Legolas, although more heavily armoured, but he would have had an advantage over Orcs "in the narrows" of the Deep. Theoden says that none can force an entrance there against determined men, so it clearly had impressive defensive capabilities. All-in-all, I don't see why skilled warriors such as Legolas and Gimli should not achieve the totals that they do against the likes of Orcs. And anyway, I like their "keeping tally", so there.
Finally, this Chapter contains one of the most (unintentionally) funny lines in the book:
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Aragorn and Legolas went now with Éomer in the van.
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I wonder who was driving?
