Prisoner of Númenor Planning/Discussion Thread

[piosenniel]

About weapons . . .

Swords were not worn in Numenor:

Among the wrights of the Edain were weaponsmiths, and they had with the teaching of the Noldor acquired great skill in the forging of swords, of axe-blades, and of spearheads and knives. Swords the Guild of Weaponsmiths still made, for the preservation of the craft, though most of their labour was spent on the fashioning of tools for the uses of peace. The King and most of the great chieftains possessed swords as heirlooms of their fathers; and at times they would still give a sword as a gift to their heirs. A new sword was made for the King's Heir to be given to him on the day on which his title was conferred. But no man wore a sword in Numenor, and for long years few indeed were the weapons of warlike intent that were made in the land. Axes and spears and bows they had, and shooting with bows was a chief sport and pastime of the Numenoreans. In later days, in the wars upon Middle-earth, it was the bows of the Numenoreans that were most greatly feared. "The Men of the Sea", it was said, 'send before them a great cloud, as a rain turned to serpents, or a black hail tipped with steel'; and in those days the great cohorts of the King's Archers used bows made of hollow steel, with black-feathered arrows a full ell long from point to notch.

-- from Unfinished Tales, "A Description of Numenor"

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About height . . .

Actually Tolkien did give an indication in the UT (Unfinished Tales): Look HERE at this B-D thread.

For the actual reference see: Unfinished Tales, "Disaster of the Gladden Fields", 'Appendix - Numenorean Linear Measures'.

~*~ Pio