Which LotR Character and personality problem are you?

I'm Elrond and his PMS. Hee.

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.

Aragorn's sword is the biggest.

but the Scottish claymore was a bigass blade, wielded two handed (as was Anduril) and plenty devastating in battle.

The two-handed claymore was over six feet long, and typically weilded from horseback, although there were certainly very large Scotsmen who just liked have a big-honkin' steel shank in their hands on the ground.

In either case, It was a sword you took to war, not one you carried around with you, so drawing it from its sheath under conditions where speed and agility in doing it were important probably never came up very often. You would usually have drawn it long before you started swinging it in combat, and had it ready in your hand.

Aragorn's sword is the biggest.

must. resist. the. urge. to. comment.

Coffee and a bagel:

And I'm betting Anduril is another sword that would be drawn and in hand lang before combat was entered.

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).

In my Weapons and Warfare book it's noted that Narsil/Anduril was created for Elendil who was huge and strong enough to wield it one-handed, but that the grip was big enough for two hands and that's how Aragorn wielded it.

There's also a lot of talk about Aragorn's fighting style which is a cross between Elvish (where he was raised and trained) and Ranger (which is more Krav-efficient).

Does the book explain why Aragorn doesn't have a relationship with Faramir? They're both Rangers right? Or were they in different cub scout troops?

must. resist. the. urge. to. comment.

DH and I could not stop giggling when Elrond and Aragorn were admiring the sheer size of Anduril. We tried, but, well, not that mature.

In the books, capital-R Ranger usually means a tribe of northmen, who tend to keep to themselves, who are secretly replacing the brewed coffee with instant the Dunedain, i.e. the descendants of Numenor in the northern kingdom. (The northern kingdom itself having had a nervous breakdown 1500 years previously.)

Faramir's people are just like the northern rangers, in that they like becoming shades of green and sleeping in thickets, but they're not a secret tribe of anything and the word "ranger" describes their function rather than their being. Faramir happens to be a Numenorean throwback, but I'm sure plenty of Gondor's rangers were just regular folks who were short and had bad teeth and died long before their 210th birthdays.