Bow (weapon)
From the One Wiki to Rule Them All, the Lord of the Rings Encyclopedia.
A bow is a long-range weapon, made of wood, that fires arrows. The wood has a string attached at either end used to hold the arrow in place. The string is pulled back to fire the arrow. The best wood bends with the arrow.
Bows in Middle earth were chiefly used by the elves, but other peoples had archers such as the people of Gondor and Rohan, The Dúnedain, Dwarves, and even Hobbits. People who use these weapons are called Archers.
They are used by the Archers of the Elves, Orcs, Goblins, and Men for use in hunting or warfare. The Bow is used in all three The Lord of the Rings books/movies.
Elves were known to have used longbows (in the case of the Elves of Doriath and Lothlórien) which were as their name suggests, longer bows and shot farther and higher then any other types of bows.
The human woodsmen in The Hobbit were said to use great yew bows, as did Saruman's Uruk-hai.
As described in Unfinished Tales, the Númenoreans used a type of bow called the steelbow, which was hollow and made of steel, as its name implies. As it is made of steel, one can make a parallel to the medieval arbalest, which was a crossbow which used a steel bow. Like the arbalest, the Numenorian steelbow probably required much strength to pull, and thus perhaps a lower rate of fire. It was much feared by their enemies.
The bows of the elves tend to have curves to allow them to fire further and faster than an ordinary bow of lesser races could. Bows of the Rohirrim are short and are usually used on the charge whereas the bows of Gondor are large and used to halt the enemy's charge instead.
However, the enemies of the Free Peoples were not slow to realize the devastating potential of the bow and arrow. Sauron's Orcs appear to have some archers in their ranks, with their bows being crudely fashioned from the horn and blasted wood of volcanic Mordor. These, as suggested, were not particularly deadly weapons, for their range was short and their marksmen having woefully inaccurate aim; despite this, the arrows were tipped with filth and other foul poisons which fell many an Elf or Man.
The Haradrim also appear to be skilled archers, with their bowmen sniping several Rohirrim horsemen from the towers of the mumakil during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. A close-up picture of an Easterling reveals that even their shock troops carried quivers, denoting an archery-intensive civilization and army. The Variags of Khand may have also utilized bows, as they are the least mentioned of all of the peoples of Middle-earth.
[edit] Origin (Speculative)
As Oromë was a great hunter, he may have invented it or at the very least fathomed it for use as a weapon. But as the Elves were firstborn, it was they who invented it and mastered it and from there passed it on to men and then on to others.
[edit] Other Types of Bow Weapons
- The Crossbow- A similar weapon to the bow.
