two towers arrow change

Praetorian13 · **Posted:** Thu Oct 07, 2010 10:01 pm

Of course I was still frustrated when they told the archers to "Fire!". "Loose" would have been more appropriate. Fire only came about after gunpowder/matchlock weapons were used!

agincourt777 · **Joined:** Sun Mar 07, 2010 3:27 pm **Posts:** 192

Quote:

Of course I was still frustrated when they told the archers to "Fire!". "Loose" would have been more appropriate. Fire only came about after gunpowder/matchlock weapons were used!

quite right. the term 'fire' was in reference to the discharge of matchlock muskets, which required a smouldering cord to ignite the gunpowder.

Also, if the poundages on the bows were as high as claimed in the weapons and warfare book, (150-200lbs; higher than that of a medieval warbow) holding them at draw for any length of time longer then 2 or 3 seconds would be impractical, if not impossible.

EDIT: I realise that it is a film and don't acually care about what would be 'historical' inaccuracies.

Praetorian13 · **Posted:** Fri Oct 08, 2010 8:00 pm

But since their prop bows were made of rubber they could hold them forever. It is hard to have the proper mix of "reality" and fantasy. I mean Legolas surfing on a shield down a staircase and the nose of the Mumakil pretty much took any belief in physics out of the LOTR movies But it looked so COOL!!!!
I run a D&D game for my kids and their friends. Often I have actual examples of the weapons they were using to let them feel what a [word deleted] sword or great axe or rapier feels like. Once we were discussing the practicality of holding a captive at "arrow point" while they were being interrogated, I had an old kiddie 15 lb pull bow. I had the fighter pull that back and hold it while we did the interrogation about 15 seconds later he gave up. I then reminded him that the +2 strength 16 bow he had was about 5x that hard to pull!

Of course I still have great respect for slingers I have only managed to bruise myself and almost replace a window (Behind me) with that weapon!

Eönwë · **Joined:** Tue Oct 05, 2010 10:07 pm **Posts:** 6

Praetorian13 wrote:

Of course I was still frustrated when they told the archers to "Fire!". "Loose" would have been more appropriate. Fire only came about after gunpowder/matchlock weapons were used!

Remember, though, the entire book/film is theoretically translated for us: in "reality", the characters spoke Westron rather than English, the hobbits had different names, etc. In the original, the term 'fire' would have been replaced with the Westron word for loosing an arrow; that was translated into 'fire' because 'fire' is the word familiar to modern English-speakers.
Or, wait, didn't Aragorn say that in Quenya? I can't recall whether it was in that or Westron.
Not that it matters: it's the same deal with both.

Eorltheyoung · **Posted:** Sat Oct 09, 2010 1:11 am

agincourt777 wrote:

Quote:

Of course I was still frustrated when they told the archers to "Fire!". "Loose" would have been more appropriate. Fire only came about after gunpowder/matchlock weapons were used!

quite right. the term 'fire' was in reference to the discharge of matchlock muskets, which required a smouldering cord to ignite the gunpowder.

Also, if the poundages on the bows were as high as claimed in the weapons and warfare book, (150-200lbs; higher than that of a medieval warbow) holding them at draw for any length of time longer then 2 or 3 seconds would be impractical, if not impossible.

EDIT: I realise that it is a film and don't acually care about what would be 'historical' inaccuracies.

The elves do have "superhuman" strength or if you prefer they are extremely stronger than mortal humans.

Edward7 · **Joined:** Thu Oct 20, 2011 8:51 am **Posts:** 1

I like this movie LOTR, it's my favorite movie.

Beowulf03809 · **Posted:** Thu Oct 20, 2011 1:19 pm

I think his arrow just goes so fast the color comes right off.

WayUnderTheMountain · **Posted:** Fri Oct 21, 2011 5:53 am

General Elessar wrote:

Maybe he was using arrows from somewhere other than his quiver? Also, in the books he has to refil his quiver several times; maybe he refilled it with white fletched arrows?

Why would you bother dyeing the fletches anyways?

One: So you can identify your own arrows after the battle. Truth is not all arrows are the same because not all archers are the same. Most arrows are around 26-28" long (rough guess) while some are smaller or larger (like my 33" arrows). It doesn't make too much of a difference to most archers because they use similar arrows but if you're the odd archer out then you have to try and find your own arrows each and every time because other arrows won't work nearly as well.

Two: I don't know about dying all three fletches but dying one out of the three allows you to properly notch the arrow so you are not scraping off a fletch with every shot.

two towers arrow change

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