Áistan: Weapons

“In spite of the dangers of this far land bold men had of late been making their way back into it from the South, cutting down trees, and building themselves places to live in among the more pleasant woods in the valleys and along the river-shores. There were many of them, and they were brave and well-armed, and even the Wargs dared not attack them if there were many together, or in the bright day.” (TH 102).

“The Lord of the Eagles would not take them anywhere near where men lived. “They would shoot at us with their great bows of yew,” he said… (TH 110).

“…and I will give you some bows and arrows.”” (TH 132).

“To Legolas, [Galadriel] gave a bow such as the Galadhrim used, longer and stouter than the bows of Mirkwood…” (FotR 421-23).

Deciding what weapons would be appropriate for a Beorning has been a challenge. As can be seen from the passages above, although the Men of the Anduin are said to be “well-armed”, only bows are documented. While the Eagle’s quote brings to mind the longbow, the other two suggest that bows in the area were smaller (the second quote is from Beorn to Thorin’s Company—I don’t believe that longbows (on average 6.5’) would have been very easy for the dwarves to wield. Also note that the third quote says “bows of Mirkwood”, not “bows of Thranduil’s folk” or something similar. So I decided to compromise, and I have two bows available for my kit. My equivalent to the “great bows of yew” is a 66” osage selfbow I made a few years ago. This is my ‘at-home’ bow for defending my flocks of sheep from eagles, or my home from the odd Warg or goblin.

My ‘Mirkwood’ bow is a 48” hickory flatbow my father made me many years ago—the shorter length makes it much more manageable in the forest. This short bow has the tips decorated with pointy-eared ‘elvish’ faces. Both bows are strung with a linen bowstring.

For hunting, I carry my arrows in a heavy leather ‘stealth’ quiver made of alum/salt-tanned deerskin reinforced with an internal layer of cow rawhide. The top of the quiver contains a thick layer of semi-felted sheep fleece to muffle the rattle of arrows. While shooting I wear a deerskin bracer and a three-fingered archer’s glove, which is made of buckskin and the leather pads of my modern archer’s glove. It stays on my wrist with a length of milkweed cordage, which secures around a large deer-antler button. My arrows are hazel shafts, goose and turkey fletchings, and strap-iron broadheads. I also have a few unfletched hazel blunts for hunting small game—but not Mirkwood’s black squirrels--they taste terrible (TH 142)!.

In terms of edged weapons, many are known in Wilderland, but none in the area west of Mirkwood. However, I believe that the regional proximity of the Longbeard-controlled Iron Hills makes iron weapons much more likely than bronze. As a common Man, I would not expect to wield elite weapons like swords. Instead, I carry a simple ash spear. At the moment, my shorter spear shaft is topped with a oak ‘copy’ of an early Bronze Age (c.1600 BCE) spearhead found at Arreton Down (Isle of Wight), painted to approximate iron; I intend to forge something similar out of actual iron one of these months. Until then, this looks the part and definitely passes the ‘three-foot rule’:

I have found no references to armor of the Anduin cultural zone in my research. However, in an early version of the Muster of Rohan, a number of Men from Mirkwood were present at Edoras to supplement the ranks of the Rohirrim (HoME Vol8, Part 3 Ch II, ii.) While technically ‘non-canon’ due to the published version of Return of the King, it is still an intriguing notion, and I would not expect these men to have traveled several hundred miles wholly unprepared for war. Although none are mentioned in association with this area, I do have a simple wooden round shield (31" diameter, 1/2" thick) left over from my Anglo-Saxon days with which I could equip myself if ‘called up’ to defend a neighboring village or the like.