How many in Battle of 5 Armies?

[Groin Redbeard]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

*shrugs* No references in any Tolkien book regarding Dwarves making plate. It just wasn't their bag.

I'm not so sure about that. If you take a close look at my avvie you can see that the artist, John Howe, saw Gimli as wearing plate body instead of mail.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Groin Redbeard

I'm not so sure about that. If you take a close look at my avvie you can see that the artist, John Howe, saw Gimli as wearing plate body instead of mail.

*shrugs again*

'The Great Plate Debate' has been argued on other fora (and perhaps buried here somewhere) for decades, costing countless lives and filling pages and pages with armorial minutiae.

Needless to say, the references to chain mail in Middle-earth are overwhelming; whereas the rarity of references to plate can be counted on the pudgy little fingers of a mithril-clad Hobbit.

As far as Gimli, please provide any reference to him wearing anything but mail, and I will gladly concede the point.