How Do You Envision Middle-Earth?

[Bill Ferny]

Rumil, I’m not sure about the panzertetcher, though I think I know what your talking about. I’ll have to do some quick research. The two blades at the top of this page were definitely modeled on the Roman gladius found at the Mainz dig.

I still think the elven panzertetcher/katana things 'feel' wrong, after all Glamdring, Narsil and Sting are supposed to be elven blades…

Excellent point! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

I think you mean King Alfred the Great (871-899) who was a military genus and used temporary earthwork fortifications to great effect. However, various other Anglo-Saxon kings utilized temporary earthwork fortifications that resembled similar constructs in Scandinavia. These defensive positions required, like the Roman castri, a large cadre of trained soldiers to defend, and such fortifications could not hold long against protracted sieges. None of these earthwork fortifications were intended as long lasting political and military centers, but were set in place and moved according to need. By 1066 most of the fortifications built and used from the sixth to tenth centuries were useless and forgotten. The Anglo-Saxons still depended on open engagement.

The Battle of Ulundi is a bit outside of my area of historical expertise, but you could very well be right. What was lacking from the battle as described in the UT was the feeling of the medieval, when both sides face off across a field, the mounted soldiers charge, the infantry charges. Medieval battles were usually decided in the course of a few hours, not days. The tactics used by both sides at the Fords of Isen resembled a more modern engagement, like the Battle of Ulundi of the late 19th century or those of WWI in the early 20th. Mention of WWI was simply a throw-away reference in light of Tolkien being a veteran of WWI.

Edoras was so downmarket…

I have to disagree with you on that one. I thought Edoras was one of the more authentic looking locales in the movie.

Here’s my newest “movie-pet-peeve”:



Aragorn or Oliver Cromwell?