The White Council

Re: Horse archery in ME

Tolkien and Inklings Discussion

[Snip]

: : Can you think of any reason as to why the Dunadain did not : : further their archery skill to a greater degree? As I suggested : : in my previous post archery would have been a great advantage : : when they went scouting etc. in small groups and it strikes me : : as strange that Tolkien did not have develop this skill : : further.

: I think Tolkien envisioned specialized troops for the larger cultures. Rohan fielded armies which consisted mostly of "generic Riders", but it did possess some companies of mounted archers and the local forces were able to contribute significant infantry companies to campaigns.

: One of the points of contention between us is whether the archers who marched to Minas Tirith were some sort of regular troops or merely a local lord's feudal soldiers. Classical armies (and I believe several Medieval armies, including post-Norman England's) used regional forces which specialized in specific types of weaponry. The Welsh bowmen and Swiss Pikes are two of the most renowned types of specialized regional soldiery. I think the Genoans also marketed companies of crossbowmen as mercenary forces highly prized by the French and Germans.

I tend to think that Tolkien used some classical army background when devising the armies of Rohan and Gondor. There are mounted cavalry, foot-soldiers and then of course archers. The point I'm trying to make is that when you look at classical armies (and I'd venture to say medieval ones aswell, though I may be wrong) crossbowmen and archers and such are an extremely important part of army yet in Tolkien's armies they seem to be few and far between, I don't think it's really that important...I just find it strange.

: The reservation I have about Aragorn's Rangers is that there were supposed to be so few of them. Could Halbarad really have assembled a specialized force in such haste? He says the 30 men he brought were "all of our kindred that could be gathered in haste". He implies he sent out a call for troops, took whomever showed up by a certain date, and left for Rohan. Or maybe he gathered them as he rode south from Rivendell.

No. I agree, he didn't have the time or the man-power to assemble specialised forces BUT that doesn't mean he couldn't have if he had more time.

: But though archery should certainly have served the Rangers well in certain circumstances, they could not possibly have survived by using archery as their primary method of warfare. I think the role-playing games have struck closer to the mark by making their Rangers almost special forces quality warriors (though they don't do as well as pure fighters, they are nonetheless usually good fighters to have along on campaigns).

I agree that they couldn't have survived using archery alone. Nevertheless, multi-talented warriors, being skilled with bow and sword alike would have been very advantagious.