Sword Expert Reacts To The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Watch a sword expert react to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. How realistic is the Battle of the Pelennor Fields? We got sword expert Matt Easton to look at the most iconic battle of the War of the Ring, from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, and break down this massive battle between The Witch King and Gondor, Rohan's armies.
Matt shares his expertise on siege and sword warfare, as he breaks down just how realistic this city siege is, to the use of war elephants and a whole lot more!
From dealing with cavalry and infantry units to sidestepping Fellbeasts and Nazgul attacks, Matt breaks down these exciting Peter Jackson fight scenes! In this detailed The Lord of the Rings reaction video, prepare to learn all about realism in The Lord of the Rings, and whether Tolkien's fantasy sieges are as true to life as a real siege.
Matt Easton is a Historical European Martial Artist (HEMA), Antique Arms Dealer, and owner of the fencing club Schola Gladiatoria.
#IGN #LordOfTheRings #LotR

[@IGN]

A massive thank you to Matt Easton, of scholagladiatoria, for helping us with these Lord of the Rings Expert Reacts videos! Want to see more from Matt? Check out his channel here: kzbin.info/door/t14YOvYhd5FCGCwcjhrOdA

[@cmdrzdenek-joerg5628]

Regarding the flail - there is a section about this item on the extra materials. Peter Jackson wanted it to be huge. The prop makers had to rebuild it like 3 times until it was big enough for the director. And when the actor playing the Witch King saw it, he was shocked. Everyone was in awe from the size but his comment was "It's too damn heavy". So your objections are spot on, but this look was the directors aim and target :)

[@PalleRasmussen]

@@cmdrzdenek-joerg5628 so basically the same mess that PJ made of the story...

[@nathanwinning8331]

Fun Fact: When Aragorn is fighting that troll at The Black Gate, he was filmed fighting Sauron in his physical form. After the film was done shooting, Peter Jackson decided it would be best if we didn't see Sauron in physical form at all. So they digitally replaced him with the troll that's now in the final cut of the movie.

[@uzakhaas]

If only we had directors like Peter Jackson today, who cared about source material so much

[@Crocthunder]

@@uzakhaas You realize the estate hates him right. They didnt want him to do more because they feel he did not capture it

[@bobross8585]

@@uzakhaas LOL what?

[@pawemarsza9515]

@@Crocthunder that's why they sold the rights to Amazon who gets Tolkien themes so well... Oh, wait

[@luisar5755]

Jackson said the REAL full cut is 8.5 days long.. DAYS, not hours..

[@mcarpen89]

Fun fact about the flail: the prop team made several versions of the flail and they kept getting told to make it bigger, so finally they made the most absurdly oversized flail they could manage, and they were told it was perfect. So the flail size was a very deliberate creative decision, so much so that it occupied the prop team for much longer than normal.

[@Chalkie219]

IIRC they made the ludicrously big one thinking they'd surely be told it was too big, then Peter Jackson asked them to make it even bigger

[@ForgottenHonor0]

In fact, it was so large that in the scene where the Witch King starts to raise it up and we get a close up of it, it was so heavy an assistant had to lay down on his back and help lift it up from below the camera!

[@8rynjar]

Yeah Peter kept saying make it bigger :D

[@sassyviking6003]

Yea, that flail always bothered me. It is comically, cartoonishly big. It kind of takes you out of it.

[@_E.J_]

@@sassyviking6003 so a giant flail in a world with giant elephants, orcs, elves, dragons, magic….took you out of it? 😂

[@mattpeterson7603]

The which king’s strongest character trait is hubris. He went in thinking he, as an undead wraith, was impervious to all attacks. This changes his mentality and informs his choice of weapons. Instead of a well balanced weapon, he goes for a weapon of terror to demoralize and intimidate his opponent.

[@thodan467]

He used a mace in the book

[@kobarsos82]

@@thodan467 Mace is too different from a flail though. especially when it comes to how easy it is handled compared to a flail. but indeed the problem is this flail looked too huge in the movie. more than it should honestly.

[@thodan467]

@@kobarsos82 that does not change that in the book he used a nace

[@Omnilatent]

His biggest weapon is actually fear. That's why Gandalf is basically his main enemy: Gandalf inspires and kindles the hearts of those around him (due to his Ring of Power)

[@NickSibz]

this

[@SnakeMan448]

Bernard Hill, who plays King Théoden, was the one who came up with the idea of tapping the spears with his sword. It was most likely just to look cool.

[@Randoman590]

It's a hell of a moment to call back to when they sing songs of that day.

[@JohnVikingFilms]

Fun fact about the Witch King's flail, in the behind the scenes they had a decent sized weapon for him. However PJ kept wanting them to make it bigger. So big the actor couldn't lift it and it took two people to lift it.

[@Blokewood3]

Even the designer of the flail was embarrassed to bring it on set!

[@Lasmelan]

Which really fits, since the Nazgul aren't portrayed as amazing fighters but they terrify and instill despair in their enemies. Plus, the guy thought he was immortal and could afford to get cocky that way. :D

[@b.kogotmay]

@@Lasmelan q p

[@sokandueler9578]

All that time making a massive practical prop, and it ended up having to be digital.

[@aahyana]

Peter Jackson having fun spinning the giant prop is one of my favourite videos ever. So sweet.

[@MrCovi2955]

Not saying this as an excuse for the Witch King's weapon, but I'd always gotten the impression that the flail was as large and unwieldy as it was because it was more of a terror weapon than a dueling weapon. Just as the shriek of the Witch King could turn men running. It likely wasn't intended to be used in single combat. More of a crowd control (like Sauron's mace) and/or "make them run away" weapon. But crap happens in battle and suddenly he's left without a ride and just has to deal with it. And then Eowyn doesn't flee like she's supposed to in the face of it.

[@yourmajestythegoldentoilet6744]

On another hand, Witch King literally held a wonderful sword in a different hand that was very much available for use.

[@saldiven2009]

It was a weapon selected solely because it looked cool in the movie. In reality, long chained flails like that are more of a danger to the person wielding it than to anybody they're trying to hit with it.

[@QualityPen]

@@saldiven2009 Agreed. Very ill-conceived weapon.

[@NomadBale]

Plus he also has his sword in his right hand

[@ScathingMobile]

That was my impression as well. People also forget the context. The Witch King was believed to be unkillable due to the prophesy and it's common interpretation. A significant part of his and his Nazgul's intimidation comes from the fear they generate as much as their toughness and martial skill. If you don't think you can be killed and you want to scare the everloving crap out of everyone, do you choose a nimble weapon that makes precise wounds on your enemy but can also (pointlessly to you) defend...or do you wield something that no-one with any fear for their own mortality would try to fight with and will squish any opponent who gets hit with it like hitting an overripe tomato with a bat?

[@Thomas.Wright]

In the book, the weapon the Witch-King used was a mace rather than a flail. But Jackson wanted to distinguish the Witch-King from Sauron from the introduction of FOTR. And a mace makes more sense, because he did use it to break her shield.

[@Herbert_Eder]

It always bothered me that when the Rohirrim get ready for battle and Theoden gives his speech, there is an awful lot of lances (which is great!) but when they start riding and then crash into the Orcs, all the lances seem to have magically disappeared and replaced with swords and axes. Would not the lances be the right weapon when attacking infantry full frontal?

[@davidhimmelfahrt3732]

Yes, you are right.

[@christophlade7796]

Simple If you look close. Many of the Rohirrim are armed with Longaxes or Swords from the begining and many outhers throw them what makes Sense. If a Rider rames a Spear into an Orc, it is very hard to pull the Weapon Out and when the Horses slow down a Spear is Not very useful to kill Enemies left or rigth of them.

[@Nerobyrne]

Yeah that realy annoyed me as well

[@FlinnGaidin]

@@christophlade7796 charge with the lance and then switch to your sidearm when it's no longer effective or lost/broken.

[@thisdude9363]

@@christophlade7796 Its called carrying multiple lances, which cavalry regularly did.

[@jimmyt4598]

The giant flail duscussion reminds me of an episode of Stargate SG-1 when O'Neill compares the staff weapon to a P-90. The staff was a weapon of terror, meant to intimidate the enemy. The P-90 is a weapon of war, meant to kill the enemy. The giant flail is quite ludicrous compared to the trusty sword.

[@MegaZeta]

The real problem with that _Stargate SG-1_ scene is that no military with sci-fi levels of technology would ever accept the extremely poor accuracy of that sci-fi weapon. Forget grouping; it can’t put three out of three in a _gigantic log._ Which would be fine if the show hadn’t specifically tried to be a gun nerd about it.

[@The1ronWolf_]

Wasn't expecting to see a Stargate comment but I'm pleasantly surprised

[@JayGriffinblaze]

@@MegaZeta Doesn't matter if you're subjugating planets full of Bronze Age humans.

[@edoardoprevelato6577]

13:00 they allowed themselves to be sorrounded because they had to lure every last orc in the area to them in order to give Frodo and Sam a chance to slip into the mountain unseen. There is a deleted scene before the battle where Aragorn walks up to the Gate and calls out Sauron for a face off.

[@ryanhamstra49]

Is he watching the theatrical instead of the extended versions? It seems like a lot of comments are ignoring the extended versions….

[@MrEMVme]

No doubt deleted because PJ went a route that seems to imply that Sauron never had a physical form during the events of the third age.

[@TheCrispmister]

The books are different, they position themselves on 3 separate hilltops in defensive positions with marshland between them and the enemy. They still have the sense to take proper defensive positions, because they need to give Frodo as much time as possible. Letting yourself be surrounded never makes any sense.

[@9308323]

Luring of enemy's army and not getting yourself surrounded are not mutually exclusive. In fact, the latter is really the only way to accomplish the former in this context. If you're already surrounded, the opponent would no longer need to dedicate their forces to eliminating yours.

[@NestedQuantifier]

That's the dumbest thing I've heard. What? Just stand there and wait for them to surround you?

[@leoderiviere1685]

How does he dare understimating the strength of Aragorn, son of Arathorn, heir of Isildur Elendil's son of gondor...

[@johnevergreen8019]

He still has limitations…

[@adamgrimsley6455]

And a man has to know his limitations

[@daddada2984]

Aragon has Plot armor. Hahaha

[@BradBrassman]

Men are weak.

[@cyril4046]

He barely won against Lurtz.

[@jackychen6261]

Fun thing about the Witch King’s flail is actually that they made it that big purely for cinematic reasons. Peter just kept demanding it to be bigger so it hammers home Eowyn’s fear for it the moment it appears on screen. In fact it was so big the actor playing the Witch King could barely swing it

[@squamish4244]

_"So passed the sword of the Barrow-downs, work of Westernesse. But glad would he have been to know its fate who wrought it slowly long ago in the North-kingdom when the Dúnedain were young, and chief among their foes was the dread realm of Angmar and its sorcerer king. No other blade, not though mightier hands had wielded it, would have dealt that foe a wound so bitter, cleaving the undead flesh, breaking the spell that knit his unseen sinews to his will."_

[@seanpoore2428]

Theoden with the spears: It's motivational!! Think of how pumped you'd be if on the eve of battle Your king takes his legendary sword and taps YOUR spear as if to bless it. Also the orcs are breaking and running as they're being charged into so it's a little more forgivable

[@PolishGod1234]

Plus orcs are much smaller and lighter than men, so they get send flying easier

[@1Plebeian]

The amount of wars that were won on a motivational & emotional basis is way too many. It's a geek thing to get caught up in only the technology of the fight. (Technology definitely wins most fights)

[@conchobar1987]

Just a small Detail about the Horses fighting elephants Thing in the Indian Manuskript. The horse is Not rearing but in a terre-a-terre movement a very collected canter, the usual "Battle-gait" for Horses, using a compketely different muscle compkex then the one for rearing. A rearing Horse is extremely unstable while a collected one is not

[@SaulOhio]

The Witch King's using that crazy weapon was probably just a result of his ego. Knowing his history, plus the prophesy that no man could kill him, he chose his weapon more like a mall ninja would than someone looking for something practical.

[@obsidiancrow450]

Hes the og dark souls boss

[@blizzardgaming7070]

And he also has a sword for when he faces a proper foe such as against Gandalf.

[@9308323]

Just because someone can't kill him doesn't mean that he can't be overwhelmed or captured. He really didn't think through that prophecy. It has so many loopholes, it basically meant nothing.😅

[@Arnaas13]

The battle at the black gate was a distraction. Sauron was meant to think that aragorn had been seduced by the ring and that the ring drove him to recklessly attack the gate.

[@adamhuskey5306]

Well said.

[@razvanefros411]

if they fought in a shell formation they would have lasted longer, should that have been necessary

[@NeoMark627]

Regardless of the intention of the battle, it was still a silly formation to choose. They could distract longer if they had a better formation.

[@skyrimnoopy]

@@NeoMark627 Its almost like it might be a fantasy movie or something......hmmmmmm.

[@agimpeterer7789]

@@skyrimnoopy It's almost as if Tolkien described the battle differently

[@toddellner5283]

Looking at the text of _The Return of the King_ , "tall Duinhir with his sons, Duilin and Derufin, and five hundred bowmen" managed to kill several of the mumakil. They had to get close enough to put arrows through the eyes. Duinhir, both sons, and most of the archers were trampled to death. Also the Men of the West were not "crazy" to let themselves be surrounded. It is clear from the text that they knew they had one job - to distract Sauron and be bait for the forces of Mordor. They had no chance of prevailing. The only hope was for Frodo and Samwise to destroy the Ring. If that happened Sauron would be defeated. If it didn't Sauron would be victorious and all the bravery and tactics would mean nothing. It was a feint, and the Armies of Middle Earth were there to be sacrificed.

[@DalekSquirrel]

If they were a distraction it makes more sense for them to try and remain alive as long as possible to buy more time, not get surrounded and die as fast as tactically possible.

[@partyboi8773]

Except that, in the books, Aragorn orders the men of Gondor and Rohan into a defensive position on the high ground of two slag-hills in front of the Black Gate, not just to charge willy-nilly or simply stand there and be encircled on all sides. Interpret it as you like, but Tolkien had a solid grasp of battle tactics and PJ had none.

[@sergarlantyrell7847]

@@partyboi8773 Not for Frodo then?

[@partyboi8773]

@@sergarlantyrell7847 Yes, it's for Frodo. But a diversion doesn't have to involve suicidal tactics.

[@Brendissimo1]

If you want to last as long as possible as a distriction, the last thing you'd want to do would be to get surrounded. If anything you'd want to lure the enemy into attacking you on a broad front on favorable terrain.

[@Uncle_T]

My issue when the orcs are shooting arrows is that they use the command "fire" which came into use for fire(!)arms, no fire involved in shooting arrows (unless it's a hollywood movie of course), so "shoot" or "loose" would be a better word.

[@v1e1r1g1e1]

Having done archery myself, you are SO right! There is nothing more irritating to me than to see historical (or quasi-historical / fantasy) films where arrows are being loosed to the command of ''fire!'' No-one fires an arrow, anymore than someone ''looses'' a bullet.

[@yurimolino5435]

That was luckily corrected, cause in the Italian dub they use the equivalent of "loose". Minor things but yeah, should be noted.

[@thodan467]

@@v1e1r1g1e1 but only if you use night arrows

[@v1e1r1g1e1]

@@thodan467 ''Night arrows""...? Ah yes. They would be what they used in ancient times. In these modern times we use bullets with headlamps.

[@anthonyplant6537]

@@v1e1r1g1e1 you mean like tracer bullets?

[@not-a-theist8251]

Love Matt's channel. Have been subscribed to him for years. Always fun to see him here

[@chasehedges6775]

The Return Of The King is a masterpiece

[@Ghxsty_ae]

🧓🏿

[@bighand1530]

Agreed

[@blackmage665]

but not perfect.

[@RichterBelmont2235]

@@blackmage665 Nothing is complete without flaws. And perfection doesn't existed.

[@aesir1ases64]

@@blackmage665 it is a close as it can get!

[@graysylvian]

The witch kings weapon doesn't need to be easy to use. It is a weapon of terror for an entity that thought itself invincible.

[@aesir1ases64]

exactly, the witch king beat others trough fear, that was his real weapon

[@harryhotspur4142]

HE F***D AROUND AND FOUND OUT.

[@NestedQuantifier]

A weapon of terror should be wieldy.

[@graysylvian]

@@NestedQuantifier It doesn't have to be wieldy, just terrifying.

[@serpent645]

There is a movie made in the 1950s, called "The Black Shield of Falworth". In this flick, much attention was dedicated to training, armor selection, sword fighting and jousting. I'd really like to get your take on this classic.

[@ryanslayton5694]

The witch king was at least implied to use the flail as more of a crowd control weapon, but either way he (to his knowledge) couldn’t die anyways, so why not double down on the fear factor

[@danielearley5062]

I'm now trying to imagine the Witch King doing modern crowd control at a football match, protest or parade. Could be interesting!

[@NestedQuantifier]

Because you want an effective weapon to kill people with.

[@BrettCaton]

The Witch-King was very fashion conscious, it's one of the things that people forget about him, he was perfectly willing to sacrifice functionality for looking cool, and it's not like he was going to die if it went wrong, the prophecy made it very clear ...

[@NestedQuantifier]

No, but he was going to be massively inconvenienced by carrying around a huge, heavy waste of space. There are ways to look cool without being a dumbass.

[@adamb8317]

On the arrows, typically the horses would have a small breastplate guarding their vital area from the front, which would be incredibly hard to hit anyway. You hit a horse on the flanks or the shoulders with an arrow, it shouldn't stop it. You have to hit it square in the chest or neck

[@mrniceguylff1]

Little known fact. Elven swords in Tolkien have magical properties that amplify the weirder in battle. Gandalf’s sword Glamdring increases the force he strikes with. Sting can be effortlessly thrust into a wooden beam by an old hobbit. Anduril is clearly shown to have magical properties when Aragorn fight with the dead king. And he never shows this level of capability when fighting the troll in Fellowship. So it stands to reason that some property of Anduril might be what allows him to parry a troll.

[@aesir1ases64]

Indeed but he should be able to parry by himself, he is the greatest of his kind, descedant of a powerful lineage.

[@luisar5755]

Well, the ring melted in like 20 seconds, only very weak poor quality alloys do that ON THIS PLANET.. So their best metal its nothing against or best steel alloys..

[@rubz1390]

@@luisar5755 think it's more to do with the magical properties of the fires of mount Doom. Since the Ring couldn't be destroyed anywhere else.

[@ImReverseGiraffe]

@@rubz1390 exactly this. The other rings of power could be destroyed by dragon fire, but the one ring could only be destroyed by the fires of mount doom where it was made.

[@jonathonfrazier6622]

Glamdring doesn't hit with added force. It does glow blue around orcs though,, like Sting.. Also Anduril is a dwarvish sword. Wrought by Telcar. The elves just fixed it.

[@rainstand2772]

In the books the rhohirrim formed shieldwalls while on foot and it’s sad it wasn’t illustrated in the movies and therefore justify the shields being there

[@markussmedhus9717]

In the book the battle took all of half a page.

[@Rommel12]

But why wouldn't they use them on horseback?

[@GriffinPilgrim]

@@Rommel12 We must give a Doylist explanation and say that finding enough skilled horse riders in New Zealand was already tricky, finding enough riders who know how to control a horse without using reins would be impossible.

[@NestedQuantifier]

It doesn't justify the shields not being used here.

[@Verbose_Mode]

For parrying the troll, there is a reason it works: magic swords have much more authority than regular ones. One of the best showings is in The Hobbit is when the massive Goblin King tries to block a swing from a magic sword with his staff and gets sent flying backwards from the force of the blow (to the shock of the dwarf with the sword). They seem to magically put more "oomph" into the moment of contact.

[@GaldirEonai]

Horses just randomly tripping has had a huge influence on history, even. If a certain horse hadn't tripped and killed its rider, for example, the whole hundred years' war between england and france might either not have happened at all or looked very different...

[@yehudisfriedman8459]

About the craftsmanship: when they made the chainmail, they connected each ring by hand, and ended up wearing off their fingerprints

[@aesir1ases64]

now thats legendary effort!

[@NikozBG]

Dude, all chainmail historically was made by hand and even nowadays top-quality reproductions are made by hand and people are most certainly not wearing off their fingerprints doing it.

[@RayvenQ]

@@NikozBG @Nikolay Manev it was just two people that made a ridiculous amount of chainmail for the entire production, both metal chainmail for the hero armor and more commonly, plastic for extras made from a technique they developed for the movies. All day every day for two years, thats a lot to go through. Infact there is a video out there of them in which either one of them or Peter Jackson jokes theyre ready for a career as criminals because of it.

[@nubreed13]

@@RayvenQ they then developed a special injection molded chainmail that was plates in metal. They could make entire sheets of the stuff. It's still in production now but it's very expensive.

[@kageshira]

"they did the one thing that they shouldn't have done, allow themselves to be surrounded" Wasn't that entirely the point, they had to make Sauron feel so confident, to think he had the victory so at hand that he emptied Mordor for Frodo to go to Mt Doom safe?

[@andrewpaige1194]

Exactly

[@9308323]

That only goes so far. If Sauron is as intelligent as he's depicted in the lore, there's no way he'd commit his forces against opponents he's extremely sure he'd win against.

[@kageshira]

@@9308323 Sauron is really intelligent but he's also incapable of understanding self-sacrifice, altruism, selflessness, etc. He couldn't imagine that Aragorn would be ready to sacrifice himself to give time to Frodo, for him the only possible situation imaginable was that Aragorn had the ring and that's why he was facing him on his own land and his gates, because that's what Sauron would do in his case. Sauron couldn't also conceive someone wanting to destroy the ring and not use it either

[@9308323]

​@@kageshira That's...completely irrelevant to my reply though. Huh? My point is that if Sauron is as intelligent as he's depicted, he won't completely commit his army _if_ he's so assured of victory. There *has* to be a reason why he'd want to end the fight all at once by (of all things) committing his entire army to an "already defeated" opponent. Not to mentioned already surrounded.

[@kageshira]

@@9308323 Aragorn is the heir of the only mortal who managed to hurt him real bad to the point of never recovering completely (even in his spiritual form lacks a finger). Sauron completely believes Aragorn has the ring due the ruse with the palantir and Pippin (who he thinks is the current ring bearer snached by Saruman and later saved by Aragorn). He thinks they have the ring and intend to use it against him because that's what he would do, he can't envision anyone wanting to destroy the ultimate power. So yes he commits all his army to retrieve it from the place he's 120% percent sure is, Aragorn's hands and at the same time be sure Aragorn doesn't get to use it. Sauron is, as all Aule's maiar, really intelligent, knowledgeable and crafty but doesn't understand self-sacrifice, empathy, etc which is what makes him not realize he has to protect Mt Doom to avoid the fellowship to destroy the ring and becomes his ultimate demise.

[@mose717]

Eowyn had a shield. His name was Merry.

[@ranger178]

merry killed the witch king with his enchanted sword making him human and able to die

[@t.a6159]

So true..they complemented each other perfectly.

[@ilikeswords5877]

@@ranger178 well yes, but the killing was done by Eowyn, not Merry

[@ranger178]

@@ilikeswords5877 but her sword would have had no effect if merry had not stabbed him first so they both killed him

[@xiongpaolee]

Love these videos with Matt! Learning so much! 👏👏👏

[@stetsonhendrix9103]

I’m sure I’m not the only one to comment this, but the purpose of that final battle was to act as arrogant as possible to convince Sauron that Aragorn had the ring. So yes, they made major tactical flaws, but those were very purposeful.

[@notfeedynotlazy]

Very true.

[@TheCrispmister]

The books are different, they position themselves on 3 separate hilltops in defensive positions with marshland between them and the enemy. They still have the sense to take proper defensive positions, because they need to give Frodo as much time as possible. Letting yourself be surrounded never makes any sense.

[@barbarossarotbart]

About the Battle at the Black Gate: They even got surrounded in the novel. It was part of the plan, because the whole attack was a diversion.

[@partyboi8773]

No, in the novel, Aragorn arranges his forces on two hills so they have what high ground advantage they can get. He's never one to throw away lives needlessly, even if the battle is hopeless.

[@notfeedynotlazy]

@@partyboi8773 He arranges his forces AFTER he is surrounded (remember, he is surrounded, and he _knows_ it, even before the gates open, for the hills around him are chock-full of hidden Orcs, which are the ones charging at him in the battle proper), to be fair. The silly part of the movie is replacing his actually large-ish army of 6000 footmen and 1000 riders by a small bunch of soldiers...

[@justsomeguywatchingyoutube8104]

in the battle of the black gate they were actually trying to draw Sauron's forces away from Frodo and Sam

[@TheCrispmister]

The books are different, they position themselves on 3 separate hilltops in defensive positions with marshland between them and the enemy. They still have the sense to take proper defensive positions, because they need to give Frodo as much time as possible. Letting yourself be surrounded never makes any sense.

[@dy325214]

Man the Rohirrim Charge gives me chills everytime.

[@malthevinther2029]

Would be interesting to see Matt reacting to the Braveheart battle scenes, especially the horse charge at Stirling.

[@gandalfthewhite4245]

in the books Eowyn is insanelly strong, she cuts through the Fell Beasts neck with a single strike also Rohan horses are supposed to be much more powerful than real horses so yeah they should be able to both run through orc armies an tank several arrows, so its indeed a mistake on the movie when they fall by a single arrow

[@aesir1ases64]

Aragorn is also absurdly strong so he should be able to easily parry the troll's strike.

[@davidhimmelfahrt3732]

@@aesir1ases64 in the book? Do you have an example?

[@justsomeguywatchingyoutube8104]

@@davidhimmelfahrt3732 it was probably mentioned in one of of Tolkien letters or in a lore book

[@diegoandrade467]

It’s done to build up for the movie. The people watching the movie most likely aren’t the same ones who read the books.

[@Asterix958]

​@@justsomeguywatchingyoutube8104 even generic Gondor infantry block Olog-hai strikes with their shield but in the book, Trolls and Olog-hai is smaller.

[@RikestRik42]

So at the battle of the black gate, it's made clear in the books that they knew it was hopeless to win by force. The whole point was to draw Sauron's attention away from the mountain in order to give Frodo a chance.

[@awesomehpt8938]

They were trying to draw out the armies of Mordor and distract Sauron from Frodo and Sam. They let themselves be surrounded in order to do this.

[@HafdirTasare]

12:59 because they wanted to. They wanted to loure out all the armies of Mordor to give Frodo a chance. This was basicly just a suicide mission to buy Frodo time. And for that manner, at least they formed a circle... what they surely should not have done is, slit up the group and attack first, that destroys the whole purpose of a defensive circle.

[@thodan467]

and a shot to the Orodruin

[@Azhureus]

Regardless this is still the best trilogy ever made !

[@TheManOWrath]

Glad to see Mr. Easton in the mainstream!

[@amandstunts]

Sword Master for the LOTR trilogy was the legendary Bob Anderson

[@danburns4265]

From a dramatically logical standpoint, the witch king needs a weapon that physically hinders his ability to fight so eowyn actually stands a chance at surviving for more than five seconds. Give him just a sword and she dies instantly from the setup of that battle in the movie

[@Asterix958]

In the book, Witch King had a mace and knocked Eowyn instantly. Peter Jackson expanded fight scene for showing more fight scenes.

[@BlyatBlaster]

No, because it wasn’t Eowyn’s ability to fight that defeated the Witch King. When Merry stabbed him, using a Barrow Blade, it broke the enchantments on the Witch King. The Barrow Blades were Second Age weapons forged by the Men of Arnor in their wars with the Witch King. And they had specific “anti Witch King” spells laid upon them. Eowyn won because Merry had a sword that was specifically designed to kill the Witch King. Which allowed Eowyn to then deal the killing blow.

[@mindstalk]

@@BlyatBlaster Third Age. The Second Age ended shortly after the Downfall of Numenor and the founding of Arnor and Gondor.

[@skyrimnoopy]

@@mindstalk The Barrow downs existed before Númenor existed, it was created at some point in the First age. The barrow downs housed both the Dead of the Edain, and then afterwards, men of Númenor beginning in the second age. The men of Númenor settled the area early in the second age, again. Although at that point they were technically no longer Edain, but decedents of the Edain. So the blade could have been crafted from the second age and onwards.

[@mindstalk]

@@skyrimnoopy Not when the blade was explicitly made against the Witch-king of Angmar.

[@Vincorin]

You could argue that at the black gate Aragorn and his army actually got himself deliberately surrounded, as the intention of marching against Sauron was never to win the fight but to draw his army out and distract them from frodo. Letting themselves get surrounded would be a great way to convince Sauron to commit his whole army.

[@TheCrispmister]

The books are different, they position themselves on 3 separate hilltops in defensive positions with marshland between them and the enemy. They still have the sense to take proper defensive positions, because they need to give Frodo as much time as possible. Letting yourself be surrounded never makes any sense.

[@joeallen2259]

One of those films where they just nailed it. They made a fantasy movie feel like a historic drama.

[@volrath77]

The battle at the Black Gate was actually intended as a diversion. It may not be a smart thing to do, allowing themselves to be surrounded but it was mentioned that they want to keep the big bad guy's gaze on them.

[@pathindsley]

Of note, Eowyn doesn't actually cut the fellbeast's head off. She only gets about two-thirds of the way through and the weight of the head rips the rest of the way when it tries to rear up.

[@9308323]

Her sword looked like it bounced back not even a tenth of the way, honestly. Which makes perfect sense. Those hides are thick AF. What doesn't make sense is that it actually affected the creature. It's like seeing a person falling unconscious because of a papercut to their fingertips.

[@GriffinPilgrim]

@@9308323 It looked to me like she got at least to the bone. In terms of real creatures it likely would have died or at least passed out from the pain but not have it's head fly off. Then again it's an unnatural monstrosity created by a mad demigod with a taste for the gothic, who the hell knows how it's biology works?

[@Belphegorite]

@@9308323 I've seen a person fall unconscious because of a papercut on their finger. Some people just really cannot handle the sight of even a tiny amount of blood.

[@Adam_okaay]

Calling Matt Easton an expert is like calling my unit small, it's both accurate and obvious but still ends up feeling like a vast understatement.

[@benjaminholcomb9478]

Wow. Had us in the first half, not gonna lie

[@nath9091]

Yes and partially no. HEMA is heavily focussed around duelling manuscripts therefore emphasising sword types not the actual main battlefield weapons of polearms. Matt's major focus is also later duelling weapons in 17C to 19C swords which were not primary battlefield weapons apart from cavalry. Frankly Gondor should be using a lot more polearms especially with monstrous entities being a thing and as orcs aren't that well known for ranged units.

[@kugelblitz7948]

Interestingly, in the game The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth the Rohirrim cavalry units would slow down after trampling enemy infantry and even fight from horseback. More elite or upgraded infantry that took the charge could even survive (albeit with low health and/or temporarily unable to fight).

[@aenorist2431]

13:00 Because the objective was not to win a fight or even survive, the objective was to hold Saurons attention. They got themselves surrounded because that takes time, probably also because it prevents their troops running away.

[@kuroiuzu9754]

lotr is visually amazing to watch

[@bighand1530]

Indeed

[@WimRijksen]

Why did they let themselves get surrounded at The Black Gate? Because they wanted Sauron to concentrate all his forces on them, so Frodo could reach Mount Doom without being seen and stopped. That is also why they didn't fly the eagles to Mt Doom. It was a stealth mission. Small silent hobbits to get the real job done while a big army bought them time.

[@scottwallbank4794]

Also its stated in the books that the eagles aren't willing to openly oppose Sauron and get involved at the start of the war. They are like the elves in that they leave middle earth at the end of the third age.

[@mindstalk]

@@scottwallbank4794 No, it's not stated.

[@Swiftbow]

The eagles would have been either intercepted by the Nazgul or shot down. Taking the eagles to Mordor WOULD have been the most efficient way to deliver the Ring to Sauron, though.

[@WimRijksen]

@@Swiftbow It might have been efficient but not effective, as you described. So they would have utilised the least amount of their resources to reach zero percent of their target. The books and movies would have been shorter but not better.

[@hrotha]

The problem with this is that sensible tactics would have achieved exactly the same thing, and for a longer time

[@camelcasee]

In the behind the scenes videos the actor/stuntman who played The Witchking remarked how heavy and awkward the flail prop was to use, it kept getting caught on his cloak.

[@v1k1ng80]

The flail is quite clearly not supposed to be a real weapon, rather a tool of intimidation. When hunting Frodo he was just using a fairly normal sword, as there he was just trying to be effective. in this battle, he is the commander, aswell as air support along with the other nazgul. Though his main objective was most likely to scare of the defenders. He could not die until stabbed with a magic blade, and so his armor was just for intimidation, along with his flail. Now, usually that is what the fell beasts are for, but would he happen to be on foot, he would still need to be scary. He thought he was in no real danger, so he tried to use that to his advantage, by being a psychological weapon.

[@chevalliert]

Regarding the weapon used by the witch king, would you say it was too big to flail? 😂

[@woodtroll3279]

The last army of men at the black gate let themselves be surrounded because they needed to empty out Mordor. Their objective wasn’t to win the battle but to give Frodo and Sam the best chance at succeeding, even at the cost of their own lives.

[@HighHurdleDude]

That doesn’t mean they needed to just let themselves be surrounded and then run head long into the enemy when surrounded.

[@woodtroll3279]

@@HighHurdleDude Sure. But ‘tis more epic this way.

[@camthur5050]

When you are an nigh-immortal undead who can swing that weapon all day, a flail like that is fine. You might dodge it for a while, but eventually that thing is gonna turn you into a red streak on the ground. Imagine what that thing would do against a group of people. It would be nasty.

[@anonymone453]

13:30 Yall ever notice that when they show up to the black gate they all have horses, then the horses disappear because Peter Jackson wanted the army to run at the gate on foot

[@pwns247]

The battle of Helms Deep is EASILY one of the best battle scenes of all time!

[@danielnightingale1505]

The reason the which King has such a large weapon is it would be easy to kill many combatants quickly. He didn't use defence because there were few weapons (the dagger being one of them) that could even hurt him.

[@kobarsos82]

indeed. not only that but those few daggers were long gone and forgotten in middle earth, their mere existence doubtful at that point. Merry literally had no idea what powers the dagger he had held. It was a real one in a million chance what happened there. Normally the witch king was completely invulnerable, its the kind of tricks Tolkien liked to pull off to surprise readers, hehe. :)

[@ranger178]

@@kobarsos82 in the book when they found the swords, he told the hobbits they were special swords

[@Swiftbow]

@@ranger178 Bombadil did say they were special, yes, but he never said "These are great for murdering Ringwraiths." Imagine if he had... Aragorn might have borrowed one at Weathertop and reduced the number of Nazgul right off the bat.

[@p_serdiuk]

The Rohirrim knew that Trolls would be a part of Sauron's army, so having some horse-drawn bolt throwers or scorpions or the like could improve the elephant fighting scenes a lot.

[@bookaufman9643]

If you look at the scene where the horses are riding in towards the orc Lance's you can see that some of the horses are being knocked over and are rolling or tumbling along with their riders and the orcs. It's just done very quickly. It's not in the initial shot but in the shots that follow.

[@ernonikkola1084]

The orc leader yells "fire" eventhough there are no firearms being shot.

[@aesir1ases64]

crimes against realism, simple as that

[@RobG001]

Looking forward to your thoughts on the "look like meat is back on the MENU boys) Lol

[@partyboi8773]

Yes: big pet peeve for me.

[@wlaba272]

About horses, you see Matt... arrows killed all the super fragile ones and that's why all the other left were those super overpowered beasts :D :D :D

[@merlin.peters]

Aragorn has a magical sword. So you can't just look at his actual strength. The sword might help him to not feel the impact of the troll's hits.

[@sea_triscuit7980]

Thank you for bringing that up. I've been shot several times by arrows and I'm still trotting along

[@hesterparnham-ellis6135]

The Witch-King was flailing to handle his flail! Ha

[@casaroli]

My only defense of the flail is: It’s just for intimidation. The witch king was, very likely one of the kings of Númenor, they were corrupted by the rings of power, he never thought he’d have to fight directly. He chose the biggest weapon he could reasonably wield to intimidate his enemies.

[@9308323]

"Reasonably wield" needs a lot of quotation marks. 😅 And the intimidation goes out the window the second he starts fighting directly.

[@bobo577]

Not one of the kings but possibly a lord of Numenor. Although it is possible the Witch-King wasn’t a Numenorean.

[@Endit91]

Aragorn after being surrounded. Exhalant now we can attack in all directions.

[@SevenStarsandSevenStones]

It brought me joy seeing Aragorn villano that troll's strike.

[@user-bx6wd1yb5s]

No comment on Supergolas Mumak scene?

[@hulkhogan4203]

In one of the episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, they had an exact replica of this sword heavily featured in a scene and thought nobody would notice.

[@davidhimmelfahrt3732]

Which sword?

[@hulkhogan4203]

@@davidhimmelfahrt3732 the one in the thumbnail.

[@HandleMyBallsYouTube]

Well as far as horses tripping and falling over goes this is how Theoden dies in the book, his horse literally falls on him which crushes him badly.

[@crookedpaths6612]

Takeaway: It’s not how big your weapon is; It’s how you use it that’s important.

[@jonathonfrazier6622]

Well let's just keep in mind this is a fantasy. Aragorn is over 7 feet tall and belongs to a race of super men with strength beyond what you can expect from men in real life. Also it's a dwarvish sword remade by elves so for all we know it may be magically light to the wielder whilst coming down heavy on the enemy.

[@AngmarCosplay]

Agreed. Anduril has many magical properties, so it wouldnt surprise me that dampening blows would be one

[@BlyatBlaster]

Aragorn is not over 7 ft. Isildur, Aragorn’s ancestor, was 7 ft tall. and Numenorean’s we’re on average taller than “lesser” Men. But after a few thousand years and mingling bloodlines with those “lesser” Men, Aragorn came in at about 6’6” according to Tolkien.

[@empoweredshemphoward]

All surviving weapons of the first age were pretty much enchanted, the craftsmanship was never matched so the likes of Glamdring, sting, and orcrist are one of a kind. Narsil was similar in the fact that the blade was never able to dull and was still sharp enough to cut the ring from sauron's hand and cut boromir an age later when he handled the hilt.

[@BlyatBlaster]

@@empoweredshemphoward being masterfully crafter by means lost to the Ages of Middle Earth isn’t the same thing as “enchanted.”

[@empoweredshemphoward]

@@BlyatBlaster on the contrary, narsil never went dull, sting, glamdring and orcrist were high elf weapons that would glow when orcs were near. Sounds enchanted to me...

[@no_i_dont_want_no_slugs]

they got surrounded at the Black Gate because they were intentionally offering themselves up as dinner, so to speak. it was always intended as a distraction, just to buy time for Frodo. all who knew about Frodo, likely believed they were going to the Gate to die.

[@Spielkalb-von-Sparta]

That's true, but they could've bought more time with a more clever battle tactic, couldn't they? Like closing a halve-circle around the gate to avoid being surrounded.

[@MikeD56034]

speaking for the horses with arrows, it looks to me that some of them at leaste merely reacted to the arrow hitting them and loosing track of their footing. similar to how when you are running and get hit by a fly in an unexpected place, you react and loose footing which may ( in the horses case) or may not cause one to trip and BAM...down on the ground.

[@Lalaafastroli]

In my opinion the bows were always overpowered in lotr. It kinda made everything seem so weak and fragile

[@GirlOfTheTardis]

I'd really like to know your thoughts on Aragorn's sword. That scene you showed briefly at the end of the video where he draws the reforged sword in the tent, its so long and wobbly I'm surprised you didn't say anything bad about it

[@politedog4959]

The sword was originally made for a man who stood 2,4m high, it would have been just a regular size longsword for Elendil. Also the wobble seems pretty standard for a sword, after all you want your sword be able to flex and bend and not break the first time it hits anything metal, like armor

[@BlyatBlaster]

Swords wobble. A rigid sword would be an absolutely awful idea because it wouldn’t have any flex when you struck something. You’d break it very easily.

[@BlyatBlaster]

@@politedog4959 actually, the sword wasn’t made for Elendil. Narsil was a Dwarven made sword forged in Nogrod during (likely) the First Age. It then came to the elves of Beleriand before the War of Wrath and presumably made its way to either Elros, the first king of Numenor and was passed down to Elendil, or came to Elendil from maybe Gil-Galad.

[@GirlOfTheTardis]

Surely the length would make it very difficult to use in real life though?

[@memyshelfandeye318]

@@GirlOfTheTardis Nope, Matt handles such swords just fine. Go to this channel and watch.

[@stevehorton621]

Historical facts. North African warriors hunted elephants with swords on horseback. The technique was to gallop behind the beast, dismount, and hamstring it with a two handed sword. The killing stroke was delivered after it weakened a bit, by severing the trunk with the same weapon. Apparently there are a lot of blood vessels there. This was regarded as a great proof of courage, which it doubtless was, because a lot of people died trying it. Probably more than succeeded. Other fact quite a few elephants have been killed with bows. Granted, all of them were real elephants, not gigantic fantasy elephants.

[@zweihanderpancakes1855]

On the Black Gate attack army allowing themselves to be surrounded - they weren't going there to fight and win. They wanted to create as much of a distraction as possible, while giving their own lives in the process if necessary. The best way to do that was to make themselves an easy and appealing target, and allowing themselves to be surrounded, while disadvantaging them incredibly, also occupied as much of the enemy force as their force size could possibly manage for the duration of the fight, thus accomplishing their primary objective.

[@Hannah-kr8sd]

We absolutely need you to react to the Game of Thrones Battle for Winterfell in Season 8.... it would just be so satisfying to see the level of 'they did what?' from Matt!

[@drkinferno72]

Don’t forget, the witch king is a wraith

[@Kacpa2]

Troll fight is a bit iffy because it was meant to be Sauron in physical form fighting Aragorn and was much more closely matched visually, but they decided against and overlaid a troll with a sword over the footage instead.

[@dislikecounter5191]

One thing for narsil is the sword was meant for a much taller guy. Elendil was especially tall like 8ft. So makes sense if his sword is a bit too long

[@similaritiesendhere]

Fun Fact: Elendil was just short of 8ft tall, almost a foot and a half taller than Aragorn. King Thingol was 9ft tall. Narsil (Anduril) would've been a huge (unwieldy?) weapon.

[@FlinnGaidin]

Whatever the length and weight it'd been before, I'm sure Elrond's smiths would've forged it anew to a scale that suited Aragon.

[@garrenbrooks4778]

It would have been a Zweihander sized sword.

[@similaritiesendhere]

@@garrenbrooks4778In the movies it shows the Dunedain soldiers fighting with sword/shield during the Battle of the Last Alliance. Elendil using a two-handed grip was likely due to difficulties finding an 8ft tall actor.

[@cocodojo]

Elendil was known as Elendil the Tall and Narsil was probably closer to a bastard sword to him? For King Thingol, it was probably just about the right size for an arming sword though.

[@similaritiesendhere]

@@cocodojo Before Elendil was king he was just a Numenorean noble (knight). He likely fought using a sword and shield like everyone else in his armies. That's how formations work. Elendil was closer to Thingol's height than to Aragorn's. Only the movies show Elendil wielding Narsil like a two-handed great sword. If that were canon, Narsil's blade would be about 4ft long by itself. Aragorn would have to carry it on his back.

[@BigSexyWizard]

the witch kings real weapon is fear so thats why he carries a huge flail. it would be terrifying to fight that.

[@KusacUK]

Fear. Fear and surprise. And a ruthless efficiency. Etc.

[@MandoWookie]

It's also great for crowd control. It's unwieldy against a single target,(even for an undead super being), but to clear a wide swath in front of him it would do wonders, even just from getting people to back off, because no one wants to get hit with that thing.

[@josueneufeld6319]

In the book they are surrounded by the enemy, but there it makes sense, because they are on top of 2 hills, and consider the height an advantage they cannot lose

[@benmcdonald1898]

Some of his points are really insightfull and make so much sense when he pointa them out, some of them are just incorrect never mind pedantic but they are that as well lol

[@zakan4898]

In troll scene Aragorn just fight with Sauron (Sauron with sword) but Jackson decidet that this is a bad idea so just print sauron with troll model :P

[@davidhimmelfahrt3732]

Would have Aragorn managed to defend himself against Sauron?

[@zakan4898]

@@davidhimmelfahrt3732 with elvish sword againds sauron without ring? Ofcourse.

[@ranger178]

in books he just fought lieutenants of Mordor Sauron was back home watching on his TV

[@Mr_Zombie_Nerd]

aragorns sword was magic thats why he was able to fight the troll

[@BlyatBlaster]

Anduril isn’t magic.

[@Griede26]

AND, they made shields with 2 sling handles, so you could strap it to your forearm. alowing you to hold the sheild AND the reins.

[@pavelstrouf8998]

Scene of Aragorn fighting troll.. In the working version of the movie, he fought Sauron, so it doesn't work too well with the troll. In the end, they decided not to give the enemy a physical body and used troll instead.. It is possible to find this original scene on YT 🙂

[@cn8299]

He might be a sword expert to us but he's not a 87 year old Dúnedain with decades of battle experience against all sorts of unholy creatures and orcs.

[@scholagladiatoria]

I might be..........

[@mwont]

Wonder what will fights in Amazon's rings of power be like?

[@kamina9901]

Probably every race possible is going to fight in their designated "safe space" for inclusivity.

[@davidhimmelfahrt3732]

Horseshit like

[@mr.voidroy6869]

Probably like the hobbit unfortunately

[@logicplague2077]

💩

[@notfeedynotlazy]

who _actually_ cares?