Archer
From the One Wiki to Rule Them All, the Lord of the Rings Encyclopedia.
An Archer is a soldier whose primary weapons are a bow and arrows. There are several types of archers in The Lord of the Rings.
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[edit] Lórien Archers
The Elven archers from Lórien use large bows of mallorn wood strung with Elf hair; their arrows were almost four feet long and usually made of ash with a tip made of gold and shaped like a mallorn leaf. They used a spiral method of fletching (attaching feathers to the arrow shaft), thus making their arrows more accurate, up to a quarter mile.
[edit] Gondorian Archer
The Gondorian army contains units of archers who use a longbow. The bows are made of heartwood, about 68 inches tall. The arrows are about 28 inches long with four-inch steel tips. They're accurate up to 200 yards. The longbowmen of the army wear their quiver (the case that holds the arrows) on their hips rather than on their backs like most archers, such as Legolas and Haldir.
[edit] Ithilien Archers
The Rangers of Ithilien were primarily archers. They used a simple longbow, often made of yew, up to 80 inches in length. Their arrows averaged about 28 inches in length with a steel tip with consistent accuracy up to 200 yards.
[edit] Rohirrim Archers
Rohan included archers in its militia. They used shortbows, possibly because they fought mounted on horses and a longer bow might get in the way. The shortbows were much less powerful than those used by their allies, having a range of only 125 yards. Their arrows were unique in having a cutout in the heads; this cut down on weight & the amount of metal used while still allowing the arrowheads to have a larger surface area, which would cause a larger wound. Another unique aspect of the arrows was that they were fletched with leather.
- Note- Information comes from "The Lord of the Rings Weapons and Warfare" book by Chris Smith.
