Sword Expert Reacts To The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

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Watch a sword expert react to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. How realistic are the LotR fights? We got sword expert Matt Easton to look at these Lord of the Rings battles and break down these sword fights as he shares his Fellowship of the Ring reaction! Matt shares his sword-fighting expert opinion on how realistic Aragorn and his fighting style is, Legolas and his love for using arrows to stab, and so much more.
From the opening Fellowship of the Ring scene featuring the Battle of Dagorlad, to Aragorn vs the Nazgul at Weathertop, and more, 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 duels are as true to life as a real sword fight.
Matt Easton is a Historical European Martial Artist (HEMA), Antique Arms Dealer, and owner of the fencing club Schola Gladiatoria.
00:00 - Intro
00:33 - Battle of Dagorlad
07:01 - Weathertop Ambush
11:16 - Training With Boromir
13:30 - Skirmish at Amon Hen
25:30 - Final Thoughts
#IGN #LordOfTheRings #LotR

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21 май 2024

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Комментарии : 1,6 тыс.

@scholagladiatoria Год назад

I had a lot of fun re-watching this and digging deep into the analysis. Great editing Jesse!

@classicslover Год назад

Helmets do not protect people from concussions. If you wrap a paint spray can in 5 feet of bubble wrap, the bead inside will STILL rattle. Same with your brain in a helmet. Even an armored helmet won't save you from a concussion. Helmets only protect against cosmetic injury. American Football players have helmets and a great many concussions. Hockey players have helmets and a great many concussions. Motorcycle riders have helmets and concussions. People can and have died from concussions.

@neverlistentome Год назад

Hard to apply real life standards of archery and swordsmanship to magical beings (elves)

@classicslover Год назад

@@neverlistentome Exactly. Questions of..."is it historically accurate" "were they using the wrong swords" etc make no sense. This is a FANTASY world. So the question of why was there no spurting blood when Aragorn cut off the arm of Lurtz or when he cut off the head of Lurtz boils down to: Who ever said Lurtz had blood? Seems to me they were made of some kind of mud.

@LordInter Год назад

the stunt man picked up a real knife, not a prop one, and threw it, he was really batting aside a real knife 😊

@Supadrumma441 Год назад

Fun fact, when the Urak Hai actor threw that dagger at Aragorn, the skin prosthetic was blocking his vision and he accidentally threw the knife at Viggo Mortensen and he batted it aside and that is the take they used for the movie.

@IAmGRX Год назад

That batting of the thrown dagger was 100 percent real. It kind of got away from the guy playing the Uruk Hai and was off target. It went straight to Viggo Mortensen who grabbed his sword and batted it away in a purely reflexive defensive manner. Of course you have to keep THAT on screen!!! So yeah, that's fully authentic.

@bacul165 Год назад

But do you know what happened when Viggo kicked the helmet ;)

@gilgameshricardo3867 Год назад

@@bacul165 🤫

@bavariancarenthusiast2722 Год назад

@@bacul165 yeah this is legend! His shout of agony was real too - no acting - or extremely unplanned authentic acting ;)

@Galhamon Год назад

Listening to Peter Jackson talk about this in the Appendices is amazing, he just gushes about the whole exchange. Even remarking that there was no folly work for the dagger on sword hit and was in fact the actual sound of it happening.

@Wien1938 Год назад

"Pain is temporary. Film is forever." Peter Jackson. ;)

@adamuffoletto7869 Год назад

The fact that Aragorn had a dagger in the first place was 100% Viggo Mortenson being deeply in character all the time. He went to the prop designers and said, "Aragorn is a Ranger who lives in the wild and hunts for his dinner. He needs a dagger otherwise he'd be skinning rabbits with his sword."

@notfeedynotlazy Год назад

Can confirm. In the book, when they leave Rivendel and the narration describes the gear and weapons of each Fellowship member, the _very first_ thing is Aragorn being _specifically_ stated to carry "Andúril but no other weapon". Viggo Mortenson insisted that to be ignored _[EDIT: Or conveniently interpreted as "this knife is not a weapon but a tool"]_ for the reason you rightly mention.

@WarriorVII Год назад

@@notfeedynotlazy But that wouldn't even be an issue then because all Aragorn would have had at that point would be his sword and a small knife/dagger for hunting/skinning. So yes, his only weapon was his sword. It's not until Lothlorien that he is gifted the elven dagger from Celeborn, which is clearly more of a last resort weapon than a tool (though could no doubt serve both uses).

@tmdelacrush Год назад

@@notfeedynotlazy just dropped in to say that the utility knife you're referring to, while correct, is different from the elven hunting knife he received from Celeborn

@hellofromhokkaido690 Год назад

The little dagger built into his scabbard, yes. But the dagger in that scene was the gift from Galadriel (EDIT: Celeborn) though. Different daggers.

@Shifty51991 Год назад

@@notfeedynotlazy knife/dagger isn't a weapon it's a tool....

@santiagopm88 Год назад

Not only was Mary and Piping playfully wrestling Boromir adorable, it was brilliant because it humanized Boromir. He is also the one speaking up for the Hobbits as they struggle through the snow in the mountain pass. He at heart, wants to protect the vulnerable. Which makes his downfall all the more tragic because it is caused by that same desire to protect the vulnerable (ie save the people of Gondor using the Ring). They turn what could have been a flat, hateable character into a tragic one, and the audience genuinely grieves for him

@ringofasho7721 Год назад

He was always my favorite

@darklighter66 Год назад

Give them a moment for pity's sake!

@hi-im-kerri Год назад

@@darklighter66 Absolutely the best line read from Sean Bean ever.

@AuspexAO Год назад

A lot of people overlook the fact that Boromir is a much more natural leader of scared men (and Hobbits) at first than Aragorn. Aragorn probably learns quite a bit from watching him spar with the Hobbits and also in the way he sacrifices himself for them (despite being weak to the ring's influence). It is not often stated by fans, but Boromir's death is really when Aragorn starts on the path to kingship. We all like Aragorn and want to see him succeed, but what makes him great is that there's always this air of doubt around him that lasts up until the final movie. He's very human.

@floridafan561 Год назад

Boromir is even more likable with the extended versions of Two Towers and Return of the King.

@MrCovi2955 Год назад

"...Batting the dagger aside with the sword, completely believable and valid" Well, given that it was an accident on set, and Viggo Mortensen, who had been training in HEMA to make sure he was immersed in the part, pulled it off in real time, unplanned, in the moment. Yeah pretty believable.

@jamescheddar4896 Год назад

it was probably a lot more common than HEMA people claim.

@AFake_Human Год назад

It was not an accident, he was always supposed to hit the dagger. However they did it in their first take.

@dtice69 Год назад

@@AFake_Human it absolutely was an accident. The accident was that the stuntman playing Lurtz was supposed to intentionally miss (close) at which point Viggo would hit the dagger away and the audience would be none the wiser because of camera angles. Because of his makeup getting in the way of his vision, he accidentally threw it DIRECTLY at Viggo. Had Viggo missed, he would have had a dagger in his body.

@mihaimercenarul7467 Год назад

@@dtice69 no it wasn't

@Warland3r Год назад

@@dtice69 daggers also hit with the pointy end when the plot requires them to

@Lordovundead666 Год назад

Narsil can actually cut through metal (it's a magic sword) that's why he could cut trough Saurons gauntlets

@f0rth3l0v30fchr15t Год назад

It's still sharp 3,000 years later.

@thranduiloropherion7256 Год назад

Exactly. If the guy knew more of the history then it would explain some of his problems with bits of the film.

@Jake-cm9jj Год назад

Yeah several of his complaints don't take the supernatural elements in. Like when Aragorn hits Orcs on their armor and still kills them. He's a supernaturally strong person wielding magical blades most of the time.

@thranduiloropherion7256 Год назад

@@Jake-cm9jj Also, aside from their helmets, the Uruk hai are wearing leather armour so a sword could penetrate it.

@seanpoore2428 Год назад

But shouldn't saurons armor be of similar quality? It's SAURONS Armor after all.

@wackattackjack Год назад

Narsil was made by Telchar, a dwarf in the first age. The only other known weapon made by him was Angrist, which was a dagger that was capable of carving through solid iron. Beren and luthien used it to cut one of the silmarils from Morgoths crown. So lore wise Narsil was the perfect weapon to cut the ring off!

@Shinigasumi Год назад

EXCELLENT point. Narsil was not just a normal sword; it was the sword of Numenorian Kings, forged by the greatest dwarven weaponsmith of the First Age and was made of the same stuff that was able to cleave Morgoth's very armor/crown. It's why Anduril being return, and now being a dwarven sword reforged by an elven smith (Elrond was a very capable elven smith, iirc), to the last of the Numenorian Kings' line. It's not a normal weapon, in the slightest.

@josephwimerYoYoYo Год назад

Great observation, the dwarfs and elves actually competed in magic weapon forging. Both of them being too proud to admit the others superiority. Narsil being broken and re-forged by an elven smith makes it a magical hybrid.

@wackattackjack Год назад

It could be said too that Sauron wasn’t just fearful of Aragorn because he could unite the men of the west, he was also scared of Anduril itself. The sword was maybe a factor in how an elf and a man together were able to defeat Sauron in the first place, considering Sauron was the most powerful Maiar and had the ring at the time.

@nodiggity9472 Год назад

The Sword that keeps breaking.

@thomasprislacjr.4063 2 месяца назад

Yes, it basically was a lightsaber.

@papalaz4444244 Год назад

To be fair, the Numenorean swords the hobbits have are unlikely to break in training. They were made to fight wraiths, that's why Merry can stab the Witch King and really injure him. The Witch King hid those blades in the barrows with the barrow wights guarding them because the blades were a real danger to him. None of that is explained in the film, sadly LOL

@lynnm6413 Год назад

Well they were daggers for the men and not swords…only the Hobbits can use them as such

@papalaz4444244 Год назад

@@lynnm6413 thanks for 'explaining' that and finding a 'mistake' you could laboriously explain to all of us who knew that perferctly well.

@Richard_Nickerson Год назад

@@lynnm6413 Literally doesn't change the point

@AlyssMa7rin Год назад

@@lynnm6413 A Bastard Sword for me is a fuckin Greatsword for a child

@lynnm6413 Год назад

@@AlyssMa7rin that was exactly my point, thank you for reiterating it!

@Bilskirnir3124 Год назад

Aragon killing armored enemies with only his sword is sort of a problem the films created for themselves. In the books Aragorn recieved Anduril during the Council of Elrond. Anduril was noted to pierce mail or plate and and hew helms with flashes of light.

@pzza1097 Год назад

Next: mma fighter reacts to Dragon Ball Z.

@ShinRai1090 Год назад

Naah... Under qualified 🤣

@pzza1097 Год назад

@@ShinRai1090 sorry, reacts to yajirobe, yamcha, chaotzu, korin and chichi.

@ShinRai1090 Год назад

@@pzza1097 then 👍🏻😝...

@I9kieran94 Год назад

This comment hasn't had the credit it deserves 😂😂

@ricodiaz7636 Год назад

Or Baki grappler

@andrewhannam. Год назад

Not surprising about Aragorn as Bob Anderson claimed that Mortensen was "the best swordsman I've ever trained".

@evenstar1608 Год назад

The dedication and passion of the casts and crew were top notch.

@You0nlyLiveonce Год назад

He was made to be a warrior

@jasethomas5198 Год назад

Viggo is awesome

@FlynLatif Год назад

And he filmed the Weathertop scene on his first day at work without ever having handled a sword before. At one point he got suspicions raised by local police because he was taking his sword everywhere with him off set, even grocery shopping, so that it would be a part of him.

@cocodojo Год назад

@@FlynLatif The man is an absolute legend. Still, it'd be kinda awkward explaining to the police that it's not a sword, rather a very shiny and pointy walking stick because he's got a spot of trouble walking due to a work related injury to the toes. 🤔

@Shinigasumi Год назад

Only guy in Fellowship who used a shield was Boromir; and in the book he uses it in the final fight until it had too many arrows stuck in it to wield as a shield properly. This is what lead the Uruk Hai to simply sit back and shoot him with arrows, because of how dangerous he was (he had killed something like, 20 or 30 of them by that point, lol, by himself). Fellowship was an excellent movie.

@AlyssMa7rin Год назад

Honestly my biggest Gripe about the bit with Sauron, was Peter deciding not to show Gil-Galad and Elendil duelling Sauron like in the Books

@nathanaustin6901 Год назад

Agreed. That duel would have been epic! Also Sauron lost the duel (kinda since all three of the combatants die)

@1Plebeian Год назад

The burning of Gil-Galad part was considered too extreme for theater and regular dueling considered too tame. They captured the gist of Sauron's menace with a different approach.

@createdforthemoment6740 Год назад

Epic, but it was the beginning of an era. They had to show alot of information to set up the movies without getting bogged down in the details. It does take an hour to get underway already, no need to set up an Elf king who's dead within 30 seconds too

@QuinchGaming Год назад

Apparently John Rhys Davies (who played Gimli) couldn't see very well past his prosthetics & hated stunt practice so when you're saying "he's hitting with a heavy two headed axe" he actually WAS hitting the poor stunt guys....hard...with that (albeit a stunt blunted) Axe as he was essentially half blind and literally throwing his axe about like a mad dwarf!

@joshuawiedenbeck6944 Год назад

He was allergic to the prosthetics so he couldn't see very well due to a combination of the prosthetics and his face reacting to them.

@NumbGeek Год назад

My man was using reckless attack the whole movie

@konkwistador3121 Год назад

Well, Gimli gets boost to heavy attacks at level 10 not without reason.

@horsemumbler1 Год назад

@@joshuawiedenbeck6944 It wasn't an allergy, as is commonly thought. As he explained recently in an interview: The problem was that every time those prosthetics are taken off, the layer of skin they were applied to comes off with them. The skin around the eyes is extremely thin, so after nit very long there just isn't any skin left, so he'd have to wait for his skin to grow back, then it would get ripped off again as soon as he had enough for the prosthetics to get applied to.

@joshuawiedenbeck6944 Год назад

@@horsemumbler1 Well that sounds terrible.

@johnnysailtimbers7334 Год назад

Interesting thing about the Numenorean bows (them being the men in the beginning) was that they were actually famous for their steel bows and it was said that only the strongest of the Numenorean could wield them. Considering they averaged 2 meters in height that is kind of a small ballista 😅😅😅.

@AlyssMa7rin Год назад

Numenorean Hollowsteel Bows that fired some of the most skillfully crafted Arrows in Middle Earth Also, The Numenorean Steelforging being by itself a Magical art at that point in time, as most of those Troops probably came *from* Numenor before the Fall

@Lorrdd Год назад

Numenoreans themselves were not mere humans either.

@thodan467 Год назад

@@Lorrdd they were Humans

@wolfgangkranek376 Год назад

Obviously Tolkiens "arda" has less gravity then our earth. That's why arrows fly further, Dragons can fly and huge creatures like the Balrog (who also can fly?) and the flying thingies of the Nazgul do exist.

@wolfgangkranek376 Год назад

@@thodan467 pimped up Humans

@Gawlakman Год назад

The sword master who trained him said Viggo Mortensen was the best student he ever had.

@robbob5302 Год назад

Kissing up to the star never hurts

@kivimik Год назад

@@robbob5302 Maybe, but if that sword master was Bob Anderson, that does command some respect.

@Shifty51991 3 месяца назад

@@robbob5302Bob Anderson doesn't need to kiss up to anyone bud lmfao

@benjaminjane93 Год назад

The advanced armor also sells the point that middle earth is in decline culturally speaking in the third age. Elrond says himself essentially that these conflicts are just a pale repeat of the war he and his kind fought against Morgoth. So the Noldori and men of Arnor are in rather advanced armor signifying that they are the last of the great old kingdoms. And then some thousand years later there has been little advancement in that area.

@mindstalk Год назад

However, in Tolkien's texts, pretty much all armor is mail, no matter the era. The only exceptions are Sam's dead Haradrim in "overlapping brazen plates", and whatever Eol's galvorn armor was.

@8rynjar Год назад

Depends on wich culture you mean. Men are thriving all over the place. If the armor is the bemchmark for culture, then we have also been in steady decline since the middle ages with tshirts now and whatnot

@nathanaustin6901 Год назад

The battle in the beginning of the Fellowship of the Ring is in the second age not the third.

@benjaminjane93 Год назад

@@nathanaustin6901 So when you read the line 'The advanced armor also sells the point that middle earth is in decline culturally speaking in the third age' do you see the word 'advanced' and think it applies to the concept of 'cultural decline'? Or. Did you not notice that it was a juxtaposition?

@alittlebitgone Год назад

@@benjaminjane93 It's not, because the armour he was commenting on was from flashbacks to thousands of years before LotR.

@thranduiloropherion7256 Год назад

To be honest, he cant say they broke formation right away, because it is showing snapshots of a seven year siege. But he did compliment it quite a bit.

@jacobsampsonis7782 Год назад

Exactly. It just cut away to a later time in the battle. This is all an intro scene that can't run too long. But still did a nice job

@FunkMonk-zy5jq Год назад

This same battle lasted for SEVEN YEARS?

@Puma5 Год назад

@@FunkMonk-zy5jq No, the invasion of Mordor and subsequent siege of Barad-Dur by the armies of the Last Alliance lasted seven years in total. The battle depicted was at the very end in the last year, when Sauron finally showed himself at Mt Doom.

@FunkMonk-zy5jq Год назад

@@Puma5 that's fuckin' gnarly, bro

@jimmybobby4824 Год назад

Lmao that’s not an excuse. Pitch battles weren’t fought like a mosh pit of 1v1 duels.

@blackleague212 Год назад

2:24 The arrow flying by Agent Smiths face in this clip will never get old! Christ that was close, his hair should get an acting credit for this scene

@redshirt49 Год назад

Narsil is an enchanted weapon, imbued to be so sharp it can even cut magic and never lose its sharpness. Hence why Aragorn can use it against ghosts and why Isildur could use it to cut Sauron, who is by the way not a physical being but a spirit. His physical form is essentially an illusion, so the appearance of his armor is irrelevant. It was his magic that made him durable, not his armor. That's basically just for show.

@Decrepit_biker Год назад

The Numenoreans were incredibly advanced compared to "lesser" men. For instance even after the fall they creates walls and stonework that could not be replicated by the time of the Lord of the rings. Also the batting aside of the dagger was kind of for real, the Lutz actor had actually misthrown the dagger and it was actually heading for Vigo. He actually swung and hit it and deflected the dagger. Obviously purely by chance!

@thodan467 Год назад

same goes for dwarves and elves, the world was losing the old arts and lore

@muenchhausenmusic Год назад

Was gonna comment that, about the advanced Numenorean technology

@anaussie213 Год назад

With the help of the dwarves Aragorn was able to restore some level of the numenorian stone craft for a time.

@Mister_Mag00 Год назад

thye were also on average like 6'6, isildurs father was like 7 feet tall

@geechyguy3441 Год назад

That bit about the dagger alone should be enough to unvalidate this guy

@MrCiris989 Год назад

Fun fact: that part where he throws the dagger and he swipes it away, that was a accident. He was supposed to throw it, they were going to cut and swap it out not so dealy prop. It could have ended badly if his reflexes didn't kick in to block it.

@brotherhogan6880 Год назад

Was basically about to comment this, such a brilliant scene either way

@Chimera_Photography Год назад

And then there’s the scene after Aragorn thinks the hobbits have been killed by the orcs, when he kicks the helmet and let’s out a cry of grief? Yeah, that was broken toes. Not toe, *toes* . Ow…

@ForgeofAule Год назад

It realistically wouldn't have done much damage because it would have been blunt

@nickclark18 Год назад

@@ForgeofAule let... me test that theory on YOU if your so sure

@niall_sanderson Год назад

@@ForgeofAule That knife wouldn't have embedded itself in Viggo's face, but it could have very easily broken his nose and/or given him a wicked concussion

@def1ghi Год назад

That small moment when Boromir grabs the Orc ax is awesome! Love your stuff.

@jacobsampsonis7782 Год назад

Never really occurred to me until he just pointed it out

@poria1990 Год назад

22:33 fun fact...and it is a known one. the stunt actor for Lurtz in this scene could not see very well and was supposed to throw the knife over Viggo's head but ended up throwing it directly into his face and viggo legit deflected a blow that could have killed him.

@benjaminodonnell258 Год назад

As for the bows, there is a passage in the Book of Lost Tales (the one describing the Battle of the Gladden Fields where Isuldur died) that describes Numenorean warbows as being made of some secret metal process, giant and were thought of as immensely fearsome even by the elves...

@cocodojo Год назад

The bows were also hollow inside, which is kinda amazing feat for the time since these were essentially steel bows they're trying to bend to get almost as close to the ranges that the elves were capable of with their special wooden bows.

@davidwright7193 Год назад

The power of a bow is limited by the strength of the archer. The material of the bow alters how much energy it stores and how efficient it is but the amount of energy is limited by the force of the draw and it’s distance. The draw length is limited to ~ 1m (a cloth yard is a kenning for arrow) and even war bows matched to the archer have draw weights topping out at 100kg giving a maximum energy of about 1kJ. The English longbow and the Mongol composite bows are about the theoretical best a bow can be

@benjaminodonnell258 Год назад

@@davidwright7193 The Numenoreans at the end of the Second Age averaged over seven foot tall, they were literally superhumans. The men of Middle Earth kept trying to worship them as gods (and the "Black Numenoreans" let them).

@evenstar1608 Год назад

The deflecting dagger is beautiful bec it is a true action, not on script.

@adamduncan123456 Год назад

Viggo said it was all accidental and they put it in the final cut

@Richard_Nickerson Год назад

It actually was a planned stunt, but with the intention of it being faked. The throw was off, so it had to be done for real instead, as natural reflex. So, it IS in the script, but it was intended to be CGI or something instead.

@ryanwall1470 Год назад

The quality of their swords are on a whole other level though compared to real life

@ianthegodking Год назад

The sword was not mere steel, that sword was Narsil and was forged during the First Age by the Dwarven smith Telchar, the most renowned weaponsmith of Nogrod. Telchar was taught by Gamil Zirak himself (called "The Old") whose creations where so outstanding beautiful and powerful that they where part of the treasure of Elu Thingol the first Elven King. The magic embed in Narsil by the Dwarven smith Telchar was literally the ability to cut through any armor or flesh. Narsil reforged and renamed Andúril, the Flame of the West

@nodiggity9472 Год назад

Valyrian steel.

@edoardoprevelato6577 Год назад

Narsil is imbued with magic. The sword itself dates back to the first era. A couple of fingers covered by steel are basically butter to it

@batteredwarrior Год назад

But didn't stop Sauron breaking it with his foot. 🤣

@edoardoprevelato6577 Год назад

@@batteredwarrior yes, but even after the time past between the Last Alliance and "present" LotR, which is about three millennia, the sword fragments retained their sharpness.

@irEyERWO Год назад

@@batteredwarrior Yes, but Sauron is a Maiar, still a bit stronger than men or elves

@dstreetz91 Год назад

Yeah Maiar were basically demigods in the Tolkien-verse IIRC. Not on the level of Ilúvatar, but still immensely powerful. Like if Sauron used his full power as a maiar no one could stop him except other divine beings. Same with Gandalf being a maia, it's just his mission was to guide, not win the war by himself, which he could do if he used his full power.

@edoardoprevelato6577 Год назад

@@irEyERWO Sauron is indeed stronger than men, but he never was physically that great (unvaliant, Tolkien dubbed him), and then he traded off a lot of his power to make the ring. In his mind, the chance to take control of all races was worth it. He never expected humans and elves to team up, nor for Narsil to be effective against him.

@the_Brumeister Год назад

In the book Isildur cuts the finger off after he, his dad Elendil, and high king Gil-galad work as a trio at felling Sauron. Much different combat styles would have been employed.

@Karras353 Год назад

It’s fair to expect much of LotR to make sense in a historical context, since it clearly draws a lot of inspiration from history. But it’s equally important when assessing this to be aware of the more fantastical elements of the material. Or just the material in general. The hobbits were not supposed to be heavily armed. They were not warriors and the fellowship (that formed a little later) was explicitly not a war party. Though it was kind of silly just how lethal they could be with a frying pan or a thrown rock. Aragorn was likely not trying to stab the wring wraiths. Most swords could not hurt them and the consequences for successfully stabbing one (even with a weapon that was effective) were quite serious. Admittedly some aspects were less well explained in the movies though.

@TorianTammas Год назад

Hobits have no reach as they are small, so they are dead whenever they meet anyone taller who can fight. But hey it is fantasy where nothing has to make sense.

@sauronpwbr9283 Год назад

The fact that the fights in Fellowship of the Ring are so historically accurate in general is fantastic! Peter Jackson really nailed it...

@rowangalloway393 Год назад

To be fair, the numenorean and Elvish bows have ranges of between 300-500m. They are also a lot taller than the average person in reality so they can wield a lot larger weapons.

@ReasonAboveEverything Год назад

In Tolkien's lore elves are shorter than men.

@haywire3482 Год назад

@@ReasonAboveEverything While yes, the elves at Dagorlad would be, on average, shorter than their Dunedain (From Numenor) counterparts, it's worth remembering that those are Dunedain, and are a far cry from average men. The Nature of Middle Earth (p.195) typically puts elven men at a minimum of 6'6", which is very tall. Compared to Boromir, who was of High Numenorean Lineage at 6'4". Really, it comes down to whether we're talking Sindar, Noldor, Dunedain or more 'average' men.

@thodan467 Год назад

@@ReasonAboveEverything show me

@TankGuy3 Год назад

That and Numenoreans used a special bow literally made of a hollow steel tube.

@jvsjoranjvs Год назад

@@ReasonAboveEverything numenorians are not average man.

@aesir1ases64 Год назад

Great analysis, LOTR is an eternal masterpiece. Its incredible they matched a great storytelling with amazing aesthestics that please both casual fans or Tolkien and hardcore fans, but also pleased people that wanted more "realism" and those who wanted less. Very interesting balance and the prove how you can portray Tolkien's amazing work with some degree of fidelity but also changing and adapting much to a modern audience but still preserving the core themes. They have set the footprint for success to Amazon, but unfortunately it doesnt seem they got it.

@AnnekeOosterink Год назад

When watching elves fight, you have to remember that Legolas is well over 2000 years old (depending on who you ask) and he's basically a baby, he's one of the youngest elves. Most of the elves are thousands of years old and have spent that time training, working on their skills or being in active combat. Legolas has centuries of experience using his bow and arrows. He's always going to be better than any human ever. Apart from all elves being way way way more experienced than any human could ever hope to achieve, they have more advantages. Elves have much better senses, so their hearing and sight are much better, and their weapons are much better. Both because the craftsman who made them has millennia of experience making the weapons, and because elvish (and dwarvish too) weapons are kind of magic. So things like, "a regular arrow would probably break, and you'd have to be very lucky to ever be able to do that move if it doesn't break" don't really apply here.

@ChrisSmith-tr4lg Год назад

I'm with you up until the last sentence: an arrow is just a stick with a pointy end. Admittedly the pointy bit might be better because it's elvish, but the elves having better sticks as well seems a bit much...

@LiamDerWandrer Год назад

@@ChrisSmith-tr4lg Living, magical wood and mithril arrows both are facts. Magic against breaking and for hitting true are facts as well. At least in Arda and according to Toliken. So yes, they DO in fact "have better sticks"...

@KrushKrills Год назад

Keep in mind Isildur & Elendil are from a race of supermen (the numenoreans), and are the 2 strongest alive of that race, plus the sword is magical.. same with the range & lethality of the elves or mens bows..

@InSanic13 Год назад

Right, but surely Sauron's gauntlets would be just as magical, if not even more so? It works well for a dramatic movie scene, but definitely makes more sense in the book when Sauron's body was already dead (or at least close to it, depending on the interpretation).

@AlyssMa7rin Год назад

@@InSanic13 That's why the book version works better, with him being defeated by the most powerful man alive at that time, and one of the most powerful Elves to have ever lived.

@dacianastilean-styles3895 Год назад

don't forget anarion, (though he makes no appearance in the film)

@thodan467 Год назад

they are from the Line of Melian, they are descendants of a Maiar

@shmekelfreckles8157 Год назад

@@InSanic13 well, the sword was made by the same guy who made a dagger used to cut silmarils out of Melkor’s crown and even was able to graze Melkor himself. And Melkor is much stronger than Sauron, a step higher in celestial beings hierarchy. And by the time of the final battle Sauron is not even in his true form, he’s just a shambling scarecrow powered by the One Ring.

@jolt06 Год назад

The Hobbits did not expect to fight and have no weapons to begin with.

@Pippis78 Год назад

The scene with Boromir and the hobbits training/playing around serves another purpose very smartly. It gives a glimpse that hobbits aren't as helpless as they first seem. They genuinely took Boromir to the ground. The Tookish blood took over Merry(?) when he got hurt.

@GreywolfRaventhorne Год назад

Matt Easton is one of my favorite youtubers. So glad you had him on your channel!

@simon-pierrelussier2775 Год назад

I'm disappointed by how often the quality of the steel is overlooked in those sorts of analysis. The orc steel, being produced at industrial scale by unskilled workers. It was probably comparable to the worst steel produced in human history. And those are put in comparison to swords, some magical, by master smiths with literally centuries of experience.

@kevinwells9751 Год назад

Given that we see them casting Uruk Hai blades out of molten iron they would have been laughably brittle, basically out there fighting with cast iron, so it really would have been worse than any actual sword steel anyone in history has ever used

@Freezer003 Год назад

Thumbnail: "It bothers me on so many levels!" Reality: "really quite well done. Magnificent!"

@alexanderzack3720 Год назад

alright.... you convinced me..... it´s time to watch lord of the rings again. and that scene where viggo hits the dagger was real and unplanned, making it even more special in my opinion. something the actor really did and was not cgi or scripted or camera tricked or anything like that

@josharnold4090 Год назад

This was a fun watch! It's great to see analysis of one of my favourite movies that is balanced; this was clearly not made simply to be critical and nitpicky, but it was also not made just to praise everything the filmmakers did. Many of the historically accurate details you pointed out simply go to show how much research was done before the filming!

@bgonzales817 Год назад

The dagger deflection is definitely accurate cause viggo actually did it lol

@leftyfourguns Год назад

All the actors' sword stunts and training in the LotR movies were handled by the legendary Bob Anderson. Apparently he said Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) was one of his finest students.

@ultimagameboy Год назад

A note about the armour in the beginning scene; these were like the 2nd Age Numenorians who sailed to Middle-Earth from Numenor, and were basically the most enlightened and advanced race of Men to ever have existed over the course of history in Tolkien's world. They came the closest to Elves in their mastery of arts and crafts - such as armour and weapons, which could explain somewhat as to why their armour seems so advanced compared to the average or what would be expected in the rest of the setting at that time.

@BanjoSick Год назад

It’s actually super inccutate. There is no plate mail in Middle Earth. Everybody is wearing chain mail. Tolkien didn’t want it in because it came to England via Normans, who Tolkien hated. He never dully accepted the defeat of the Anglo Saxons at Hastings.

@willmosse3684 Год назад

It actually makes sense to have the advanced armour in the battle at the beginning. In this world, the earlier age was more advanced, and technology and social organisation has been in decline for thousands of years by the time of the main story. That battle was 3,000 years earlier, when technology was in fact more advanced.

@paulperano9236 Год назад

The principal sword-smith at Weta is an old friend of mine. He knows his business and has a fairly comprehensive and well read library on weapons and armour at his home. Along with the several weapon/combat trainers from around the world there was a lot of effort put in to making the equipment and techniques ... reasonably believable. However Peter J was not in the business of making a combat documentary. Consequently artistic licence was used where it enhanced the scene with out making it look too ridiculous.

@alfred77 Год назад

You are forgetting that all the warriors featured in this clip are superhuman. It's elves and Numenoreans.

@paulvmarks Год назад

The steel bows of the Numenoreans are supposed to have a very great range, as do the bows of the elves - so these are not really medieval weapons, they are fantasy weapons. But that should be made clear in the film - for example bows of the men of the West should be made to look as if they are steel. But then the Numenoreans were also supposed to be much taller than than ordinary men, and orcs are supposed to be shorter than men - so the battle would look rather odd if shown that way (the Numenoreans would be fighting orcs who were barely half their height).

@nodiggity9472 Год назад

Crossbows had steel/iron wings, but for a bow, you'd need sprung steel, and Yew is better and far more practical.

@serenityvalley9409 Год назад

The fight between Aragorn and Uruk captain is hands down the coolest sword fight on screen. So well done and it's over in a matter of seconds which is crazy.

@Tomsgate101 Год назад

Matt Easton is always a treat to listen to. Great watch!

@kickerwhitelion7626 Год назад

To be fair Aragorn had 7 decades of training while the Uruk Hai are newborns so probably much worse with a sword.

@aS-df8zj Год назад

Great comment, dude

@nikolibolokov4521 Год назад

Yeh he mentioned that

@klodm.2064 Год назад

Tolkin played up the craftsmanship of elves and dwarves to be essentially magical, even though he doesn't use the word. It is completely expected from elven arrows to be able to do what Legolas did, from elven or dwarven blades to be able to cut through steel, etc. Even getting magically pulled out of a body if that's what the situation demands.

@anaussie213 Год назад

Yeah also a highly skilled elf warrior like Legolas knowing the exact spot with the exact angle and pressure with the right timing to take out an enemy like that with the arrow is believable as well. Hard for a human sure but not for an elf.

@dstreetz91 Год назад

Yeah a human would have a hard time learning that in their lifetime, but Legolas in fellowship is over a thousand years old so he's had some practice.

@johljones Год назад

What’s crazy is lurtz throwing the dagger at Aragorn was real, and Vigo (Aragorn’s actor) deflected it like that in one take because it wasn’t actually meant to be straight at him. The dagger was supposed to be thrown at a tree but Lurtz’s actor got distracted and threw it at him. The props used in that scene were real metal equivalents of their weapons, and not the aluminum ones. So that reaction time and deflect was real and they decided to keep it in the film!

@ninjaphobos Год назад

The main canon reason that Aragorn uses the firebrand for offense and sword for defense against the wraiths on Weathertop is that he only has the shards of Narsil in the book. In the movies, he only puts his hand on the hilt of the sword in Bree when the Hobbits break in and he's hesitant to fight the wraiths in Bree, as well. It isn't revealed that he's carrying the shards until the fight on Weathertop. That would have made his fight scene even more badass (fighting off 5 wraiths with a firebrand and that 12-18 inch broken blade section), but Jackson didn't want Aragorn to be carrying around the shards because he wanted Aragorn's character arc to be going from hesitant, exiled leader to ascendant king. Book Aragorn and Movie Aragorn have substantially different personalities, although Jackson captured his motivation, goodness, and recognition of "mannish" weakness accurately.

@cryexgamez Год назад

DID YOU KNOW, that when Aragorn kicked the helmet he actually BROKE his toe?! You see, not many people know this, but that take where he broke his toe actually made it into the movie! Because his scream of agony felt the most real to Peter Jackson. Just a little ol' fact that nobody knows

@gliido Год назад

😂

@Carfilliot Год назад

No offence but stating that nobody knows this is far from the truth! Practically every LoTR fan has heard this story a thousand times by now.

@mrhuman5092 Год назад

@@Carfilliot that's the joke

@Florensbond Год назад

@@Carfilliot WOOOOOOOOOOSHHHH

@evenstar1608 Год назад

After 20 years, it has become now an urban legend. 😉🤣🤣

@ryangroom2959 Год назад

One little note about Aragorn batting the dagger away, the actor playing the orc was supposed to throw it into a tree near by but he had issues with visibility in his costume and accidentally threw the dagger directly at Viggo Mortensen for real, but Viggo is just a complete badass and batted it away instinctively and that is the take they used in the film.

@FireflyFanatic3 Год назад

It's wonderful to see an expert examine and critique choies made in film while also acknowledging that sometimes those choices are deliberate and have purpose, and that there's a level of artistic lisence which film as an artform must have.

@loicovis426 7 месяцев назад

Thank you a lot for the video! Great work!

@fuferito Год назад

What's often lost regarding these beginning scenes is that they are a narration by Galadriel of what happened thousands of years before, so the participants and the fighting will be described in very broad strokes, as these scenes accurately are. And, in such a brilliant way too.

@gallifreyarchives4434 Год назад

Now you have to do the other two movies.

@urseliusurgel4365 Год назад

The only mention of plate armour, other than helmets, in the entire LOTR book is when Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth uses a polished vambrace to find that Faramir is breathing (Faramir having been wounded when covering the retreat of the Gondorian forces from Osgiliath). Also Sauron's use of a mace fits with his former boss, Morgoth (the original Satan figure in Tolkien's oeuvre) using his mace 'Grond' - 'Hammer of the Underworld' when fighting the elf Fingolfin (the name Grond is also used for the battering ram used to break the gates of Minas Tirith).

@DazednConfused0 Год назад

Fun fact, when Aragorn knocked the dagger out of the air with his sword that wasn't CGI, he actually did that.

@beauxhargrove7722 Год назад

Keep in mind as you point out the problems of the weaknesses of steel that in Middle Earth, most of these swords were fortified with magic. Aragorn's sword, for example, is supposed to appear to be flaming according to the book.

@emmanuelwolfmusic410 Год назад

really enjoyed this one, 👌

@thevaleyard4501 Год назад

What’s crazy is Vigo actually batted that dagger to the side. The orc actor was supposed to Throw the dagger beside him but accidentally threw it at him.

@stege9979 Год назад

Much appreciating your expertise Sir!

@jhhh888 Год назад

Hands down the best movie ever made. Thanks for making me love it even more!

@fordcinco Год назад

jewelers react to the rings in the Lord of the rings.

@Inv1cto Год назад

xD imagine...

@agustinbarrio5522 Год назад

Great analysis!! Love it

@Bob_just_Bob Год назад

Fantastic, interesting video. Thanks for your insights Enjoyed it.

@Aki-kh2qe-StreetKidZZZ Год назад

23:20 the actor legit did that himself and what's best is that that dagger, it was real, they confused the fake one with real one and he legit did the deflection. Aragon's actor actually legit learned swordsmanship for the role

@batteredwarrior Год назад

Well, he learned screen combat, which isn't genuine swordsmanship.

@douglaspintor Год назад

to know that the best trilogy of all time is also accurate from the combat standpoint just make me love these movies even more

@EvolveE242 Год назад

Fun fact: Aragorn (actor) actually deflected the knife which was heavy replica and was never meant to be thrown directly at him but instead to the side far away from him but the Urukai actor threw it directly at him by mistake and Aragorn really did deflect the knife hence the scene we see. They used it.

@ElroyMcDuff Год назад

That was great, thank you!

@seanpoore2428 Год назад

Also as far as arrows and orcs is concerned (this applies to stormtrooper armor vs blasters as well) just because we see someone get shot and go down does not at all mean that they're dead. Wounds Are a thing. A marine taking a bullet in the kevlar vest is likely to get hurt and go down even if they don't die

@Dack.howaboutyou Год назад

Also, in all the (admittedly probably not cannon) Star Wars RPG books, Stormtrooper armor gave very little protection against energy weapons; plenty against physical attacks... but not energy attacks after they stopped using the Mandalorian metal when someone came up with a weapon that could zap that material causing it to basically explode violently en-masse... shame too cause it works brilliantly against almost all damage... except that one weapon.

@joey_ramone_96 Год назад

and to be fair, the "one shot fall" has been in the movie industry for decades, in old western movies the minor characters would all die from a single shot, and main characters would only get wounded from the same single shot

@naufal8454 Год назад

Next: Sword expert react to dwarf throwing

@cosbusta Год назад

Wouldn't that be a dwarf expert?

@elementzero3379 Год назад

I'll always tune in for Matt Easton. 👍🏻

@jamesdominguez7685 Год назад

My favourite detail about the Aragorn/Lurtz fight is that after Viggo smacked the dagger aside with his sword, they went to reset for the next take and found the dagger embedded in a tree. Viggo hit it HARD.

@ryanangeli5897 Год назад

Aragorn batting away the dagger was completely real. The actor playing Lurtz couldn’t really see out of his prosthetics. He was supposed to throw the dagger slightly off to the side but threw it directly at Viggo, who did ACTUALLY deflect it. Happy accident!

@sanaanimeluva Год назад

Something you missed when you doubted some of what he did is that aragorn can do a lot more than a standard human because he isn't a human. Numerians look human but are basically like 50% better at everything than normal humans

@charlesjenkins2090 Год назад

Its amazing they actually thought to make the Witch King left handed to differentiate him as "more evil" than the others.

@AverageAwesomeDude Год назад

A lot of the equipment or technicalities are hand waved away by the sort of magic that exists in middle earth. For the most part the magic we see, especially the sort of elf magic a lot of characters benefit from, is that they make things better versions of themselves, like swords that cut through metal or never lose their edges, or arrows that never break and you will always find after the battle, even smaller things like rope that doesn’t unknot unless you want it too.

@JlocksJedi Год назад

It's worth noting in the training scene that there are no trees which would produce straight and durable enough sticks to practice with, therefore it makes sense that they have to resort to their weapons. They're shown to make the mistake result in the wrestling on the floor so it seems like it was noted to have been risky.

@spiritwarrior84 Год назад

one problem about comparing fantasy weapons with real world weapons is Fantasy weapons and armor are made of FANTASY metals and magic. Especially weapons and armor of light against weapons and armor of darkness. Can't really say how things in a fantasy world is supposed to work with real life things. XD

@vladline1882 Год назад

Definitely and it could be enchanted

@Zarl451 Год назад

Aragorn knocking Lurtz's dagger out of the air also gets it's "realism" from it not being CGI or a stunt - the actor playing Lurtz was meant to mime throwing the dagger, but his hands slipped and he really ended up flinging it at Viggo (who played Aragorn), who out of necessicity to avoid getting hit managed to bat it aside!

@MrDhen88 Год назад

Fun fact vigo actually blocked that dagger and it wasn’t a rubber prop, he also lost a tooth fighting on the stairs, and in the second film he broke his toe after kicking the small helmet and his scream of Agony was genuine. Hell of an actor

@phj223 Год назад

About the lack of blood spray after limbs and heads were lopped off, it was a requirement for the movies to get a PG-13 rating. :)

@goodcorwin627 Год назад

gotta love the ratings logic.

@TheStillWalkin Год назад

From a history perspective: how bad is an arrow to the knee? Asking for a friend

@WanderingWriter91 Год назад

That Weathertop scene was the first one he shot. He had to step in last second and had little to no training when he did the scene. Oh and that knife throw and him deflecting it... A complete accident from the guy playing Lurtz and totally unscripted. Viggo is just insane.

@marioclementebaeza703 Год назад

What you pointed out about the left handed fencers is so true, happens with all combat sports!

@ramdhanisingh2103 Год назад

*You must react to the entire trilogy!*

@kaycampbell364 Год назад

Yes I’d buy that dvd

@mickaleneduczech8373 Год назад

My own issue with the elfish bowmen in the beginning is the way they had 5 or 6 ranks loose arrows simultaneously. While it looks amazing, it results in the first rank of the charging mass each getting hit with multiple arrows while the ones behind charge on. If they had volleyed by ranks, they would have put fewer arrows into more orcs, incapacitating more before they got to hand to hand, and maybe blunting the charge.

@Wien1938 Год назад

Or that with plenty of shots, they could have mass volleyed like that for a while, but maybe what we're being shown is that the arrows (eventually) run out.

@haftashaft Год назад

Fun fact, when Aaragorn knocked the flying dagger away, that was real. The actor accidentally threw a real dagger at Viggo and he hit it out of the way.

@rickdaniels1789 Год назад

Excellent analysis.

@edsurtees Год назад

Do this again with The Two Towers and Return of the King!!! This was awesome!!

@Isambardify Год назад

"Isildur, son of the king, took up his father's warhammer and battered Saurons hands until they were just a mess of blood and gauntlet" - alternative fellowship intro

@Inv1cto Год назад

hmm yes. Having your hand crushed inside of a metal gauntlet would be extremely painful, also your fingers are being sandwiched between now misshapen pieces of steel... they'd probably have to amputate the whole thing