Frodo: Please, what does it always mean, this... this "Aragorn"?
Elrond: That's his name. Aragorn, son of Arathorn.
Aragorn: I like "Strider."
Elrond: We named the *dog* "Strider".
A discussion of Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King. If you're a pervy hobbit fancier, this is the place for you.
Is Narsil/Anduril just unsheathed the whole time we see it? I mean, it's in Strider's (or Elendil's, or Isildur's) hands a lot, but do we see it drawn, ever?
Following on from Sean's comment about the Paths of the Dead and asking roleplayers what was on their horses and what they were carrying, I noticed on my third rewatch that the sheath for Anduril was on Brego at that point-- Aragorn was carrying Andruil, and there was definately a sheath that long on his horse as it left.
So he carried it unsheathed, and would have drawn it from the sheath attatched to Brego the second time he did so-- the first time in front of Elrond, using the length of both arms.
I've decided that I want Ian McKellan to do a movie with Victor Garber and Hugo Weaving.
Throw in Harvey Keitel? Please?
Speaking of McKellan's Richard III, did anyone else flash back to the ending of that when
Gollum was gleefully falling into the fires of Mt. Doom?
I keep wondering whether or not that was a sly little shout-out.
Is Narsil/Anduril just unsheathed the whole time we see it? I mean, it's in Strider's (or Elendil's, or Isildur's) hands a lot, but do we see it drawn, ever?
The five-foot length could include a foot of hilt, easily. It's also not unusual for long swords to be sheathed over the back....
Yes, five foot swords (for people who are not as tal as Elendil) are typically slung over the back, or on the side of your horse.
Throw in Harvey Keitel? Please?
Oh my yes.
Perhaps Narsil was 5 feet long, but Anduril lost a bit of height in the reforging? I can't remember ever seeing Aragorn unsheath it now.
Must rewatch.
So the sheath is on the horse, not the person. I can live with that. I'm thinking, though, that a 4-foot blade (assuming a foot of hilts) is still -- awfully long and unwieldy for someone on land, and not long enough to act like a jousting stick (what are those called?) or a polearm on a horse. So, one hopes, a sword more memorial than for getting dirty with.
(Still, it does make me laugh to think of a sword that all told come up to my chin. If you hung that sword on Strider's back, he'd be kicking it with every stride. Even Shaqille O'Neal Elendil would look kind of silly swinging around a sword the size of a full-grown woman.)
I'm thinking, though, that a 4-foot blade (assuming a foot of hilts) is still -- awfully long and unwieldy for someone on land,
I'm sure the weapon geeks have more detail, but the Scottish claymore was a bigass blade, wielded two handed (as was Anduril) and plenty devastating in battle. There's a particular technique used with two-handed blades which is different from one-handed sword-fighting.
I am Legolas and his anal-retentive attention to personal hygiene. It's a fair cop.
Well, that's part of why I'm bringing it up, because we talked about Claymores when TTT was in theatres, and Claymores are even longer -- like 6 or 7 feet, IIRC. The upshot of the conversation was, they're basically polearms in sword format, and aren't wielded like swords.
But Narsil/Anduril seems to be acting like a polearm (being really long, being sheathed on the horse instead of on the man), except when it isn't (being used just like a regular sword by a dismounted soldier). It's not quite long enough to be a polearm at 5 feet, but definitely long enough that if you wielded it like a sword from horseback, you'd decapitate your own horse in short order.
Which would be funny! But not textually appropriate.
