New Weapon: Two-Handed Sword (and a new rule for longswords)

[Otaku-sempai]

The term great sword seems to be too controversial and too confusing. I've substituted two-handed sword for clarity.

[Otaku-sempai]

Except that lions are extinct in Europe by the Early Medieval Era which is the level of development Middle Earth is set in.Also on review I might allow maybe a claymore depending on how Cubicle 7 wants to handle the Southren Fiefdoms of Gondor but I would only allow that weapon for the men of Lamedon.

Sorry to take so long to respond to this. First, I would like to point out that the level of technology is not consistent throughout all of Middle-earth. Numenor seems to have been akin, roughly, to Renaissance Europe and the Era of Exploration. Artefacts and lore from that period would still have existed in Gondor, even though much was also lost. Other cultures found in Middle-earth would be Bronze-age (Dunlendings) or even Stone-age (Woses) ones.

Second, what have tech levels to do with flora and fauna? Tolkien estimated that the end of the Third Age would have been about 6000 years ago. I would think that this would be a much geater factor for considering what wildlife might be found in Middle-earth than the technological level of development of Gondor or Eriador.

[Rich H]

Holy Thread Necromancy Batman!

[Otaku-sempai]

I think that we should accept that Tolkien was probably using an archaic meaning for the term great sword that includes any blade from a hand-and-a-half and up. That seems consistant with the legendarium.

More than that, the term "great sword" had no particular meaning even as recently as in Tolkien's day!

Given that Isildur left behind his great sword and his shield at the Gladden Fields, it is reasonable to assume that his blade would have been considered to be a long sword in TOR. Is there any evidence that the Númenóreans or any of the Eldar might have ever crafted two-handed great swords?

[Arthur Fisher]

The term great sword seems to be too controversial and too confusing. I've substituted two-handed sword for clarity.

Or Zweihänder, if you will.
The Gallowglass of Scotland called it, a claidheamh-mòr; or claymore. Which roughly translates to "great sword."

[Otaku-sempai]

The term great sword seems to be too controversial and too confusing. I've substituted two-handed sword for clarity.

Or Zweihänder, if you will.
The Gallowglass of Scotland called it, a claidheamh-mòr; or claymore. Which roughly translates to "great sword."

Yes, but there are two usages for 'claymore' as a sword; and Zweihänder (or Doppelhänder or Beidhänder) doesn't work for me in the context of either Middle-earth or TOR.

[Arthur Fisher]

Yes, but there are two usages for 'claymore' as a sword; and Zweihänder (or Doppelhänder or Beidhänder) doesn't work for me in the context of either Middle-earth or TOR.

I reckoned. I was just giving some historical context for the weapon and showing some historical examples of it being called a great sword; in multiple languages.

The elves might call it a daer-megil or some such. My Sindarin is rusty.