The White Council

Elven and Dwarven Weapons and their Use

Tolkien and Inklings Discussion

: The thread about Glamdring and Orcrist got me wondering something. How could Thorin have wielded Orcrist? If it was a main battle sword designed for lords of the Noldor, wouldn't it have been too bulky for Thorin to have carried comfortably, much less used? Hobbits were supposed to be "a little shorter than Dwarves," yet a dagger sufficed for a short sword for Bilbo. I'd love some insight from some of you weaponry experts out there.

Glamdring and Orcrist were 'longswords' but not true 'two handers'. They probably came in at 36 to 42 inches. I picture Dwarves as being between 4 and 5 feet in height, with the males tending toward the upper end of that range. Dwarves were quite strong and Thorin would have hade no problem weilding it in the manner of a hand and a half sword (being able to use it in one hand for speed and reach or in both for power and precision, I also like to think that, given the seeming propensity Dwarves had for close combat, that Thorin would have used half sword techniques as well, [with one hand grasping the blade]. In deed the dwarves quite often used two handed weapons (axes, mattocks etc.). Real swords are suprisingly light, usually weighing three pounds or less. The Noldor ( the "Sword Elves") who made these swords commonly fought with sword and shield (see for example the combat of Fingolfin and Morgoth) so they were not the great swords and two hand swords of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance (although the Noldor way well have used two handers as well, JRRT in his linguistic works had words for such large swords). Even the large two hand swords are quite light. Those intended for use in actual combat generally weighed about six pounds or less. Personally I like to think that the Noldo long swords were intended for use in one hand (with a companion implement ie shield, buckler, dagger etc) but had a hilt long enough to grasp with a second hand when circumstance warranted.

It is interesting to note that the preferred weapons of the Sindar were axes (probably both long and (single) hand) and short bows. It is possible that the Sindarin and Dwarven systems of combat had some resemblence to each other. The Vanyar however preferred the spear (I like to think of their combat system as bearing some resemblance to the Greek who also preferred the spear).