Hmm. My weapons book (regrettably, just for plain old normal earth), says that the claymore was only 4.5 to 5 feet long, and that the bigger ones found were probably ceremonial. I've read both versions though, from different sources, so the book could easily be wrong.

One thing about a lot of the longer swords was they had a Ricasso. That's where you leave the blade blunt for the first six or so inches above the hilt, or even cover it with leather, so that the weilder can grab on in front of the quillions for greater control. I remember being very happy that Wallace had one in Braveheart. It would have been a nice nod to Aragorn not being As big and strong as Elendil.

On a completely unrelated note, I feel a bizzare need to mention that everyone else's reliance on longswords and broadswords at the time was one of the things that made the Roman Legions so effective. They all carried the Gladius, which might be a sword, but might be a really pretentious dagger. The advantage in war is that all the 'barbarians' had to dress their lines very wide, leaving themselves room to swing without fouling the guy next to them, while the Romans stood shoulder to shoulder and stabbed at them. You could outnumber a Legion two to one or more, but when you came at them, they had more blades covering any given part of the line.

Now I get. I was possessed by Dark Powers who wanted the conversation nudged one more step towards 'Does size matter' jokes. Curses!

The quiz doesn't offer the option of being the One Ring and Its Unfortunate Tendency towards Armageddon. I feel cheated.

I am the very model of a (memfault) Numenorean. (Thanks to Nutty, I'm almost 100% sure.)

I got Haldir and his egocentrism. Legolas may be the prettiest, but I'm the snootiest!

Legolas may be the prettiest, but I'm the snootiest!

Dude, I hate to say it, but you're the Tori Spelling-est.

sheath for Anduril was on Brego at that point

It has a sword in it as it goes galloping away, so I assumed that was the sword Aragorn had been carrying with him up until he got Narsil.

I believe the Weapons and Warfare book discusses the harness for Narsil that enabled Aragorn (Viggo) to actually draw it while wearing it at his hip.

Eowyn's sword hung almost horizontally for a fast draw - there's a really cool photo of Eowyn ready to smite evil.

I am Elrond and his PMS! Fear me! Although my favorite quiz result is Faramir and his alien infestation.

I am the very model of a (memfault) Numenorean. (Thanks to Nutty, I'm almost 100% sure.)

"Third-Age," and wasn't it Jessimoon?

When I saw ROTK this Sunday with a friend, I leaned over to her when Brego goes galloping off and whispered, "Oh shit, my toothbrush!"

*goes to the Appendices*

Faramir is thirty-four when we meet him, and was born three years after Aragorn left Gondor.

Having seen RotK twice now, I feel I can say confidently that I would've been just as happy without about twenty minutes of battle scene. I was thinking about the Scouring, and how while I realize why it was left out I miss the insight it gave us into post-Mordor Frodo, and then I thought "but then I would've had to watch another battle scene" and absolutely quailed.

I also gained some sympathy for whoever it was - Nutty? - who said they were rooting for the much-more-sensible orcs. I definitely noticed more this time that the defenders of Minas Tirith were, er, not so bright. (And Denethor's guards are the worst guards ever. "Hey, it's a guy on a horse with a random short dude with him! That's cool.")

I just figured the guards recognized Gandalf--he had been to the city not too long before, searching for information about the Ring.

You know, I like the battle scenes in ROTK much more than I like Helm's Deep, which is the really interminable one for me. Sure, I could cut some of the Pelennor Fields without difficulty, but given the chance, I'd halve Helm's Deep and then halve it again. Or, alternatively, just use it as my pee-break time. I like the different levels of the Pelennor Fields battle: the orcs on the ground, the Rohirrim on horses, the Nazgul swooping over the city, the giant flaming battering ram, the army of green dead dudes arriving on the ships (though I wish their arrival didn't come right in the middle of the Eowyn vs. the Witch-King scene), the Oliphaunts trampling everything in their path. I especially like how the green dead dudes just totally clean up once they arrive, sweeping over the city like magic scrubbing bubbles.