Thoughts as to why . . .

[atgxtg]

I understand that the Two weapon action require a primary and a secondary weapon skill, but it will be difficult to explain, why a person with Cultural "Swords" skill cannot use a sword and a short sword utilizing the same Cultural sword skill for both...
And if I insist on two different skills, the player will then split the sword from the Cultural skill with the next rank and thereby gain a primary Sword skill and a secondary Cultural sword skill.

Any comments?

Yeah, it looks like a rule that exists just to ensure that somebody has to use two different skills. Obviously, paired Short Swords is just as possible to fight with as, say, Long Sword and Long-halfted axe. Probably much easier to do, too. As far a splitting cultural skills goes, it is probably just too easy to get a good skill score with the secondary weapon. There could also be some issues with some of the cultural virtues and rewards, which would make the ability to use two of the same weapon more powerful for some heroes than others.

One possible "fix" to allow for the use of two of the same weapon would be to treat the use of a weapon in the off hand as a separate skill. But, if you did that, it would logically make sense to require the same for other weapons.

[cuthalion]

Labelling you all as egregious thread de-raillers.

This thread specifically not about 2-weapon fighting itself--but about the epigraph to the combat task!

Having said that . . .

...we did it just to see Jon's reaction to it...

. . . this is funny. Poor Jon. Hope he is coping--many of us are with him in spirit.

At worst, it's a very slight blemish on a beautifully faithful realization of Tolkien's world and what an RPG can be.

Still, I'm still scratching my head over the epigraph . . .

[Arthur Fisher]

As a fencer, student of history and lover of Tolkien, in that order, I've always really hated the idea of dual wielding. I was pretty happy to have it not in the game.

But you give the people what they want. Begrudgingly. At a huge penalty. And you throw some shade in there for good measure.
So while I think that epigraph is clearly shade, they couldn't have really added anything else, because there aren't really good examples of dual wielding in Tolkien. So I'm not sure what else they could have put there.
Given the limited options, and the general unwillingness to add it, I think the epigraph is pretty appropriate.

[mica]

Balrogs dual wielded...

In its right hand was a blade like a stabbing tongue of fire; in its left it held a whip of many thongs...

[Earendil]

Balrogs dual wielded...

In its right hand was a blade like a stabbing tongue of fire; in its left it held a whip of many thongs...

The Witch-King did too:

"In one hand he held a long sword, and in the other a knife..." (Of course, it's the knife that he stabs Frodo with.)

Clearly, dual wielding is a tactic of the Enemy and should give you shadow points!

[cuthalion]

Balrogs dual wielded...

In its right hand was a blade like a stabbing tongue of fire; in its left it held a whip of many thongs...

Nice!!! That would have been the best epigraph ever!

[jamesrbrown]

In that same passage in Chapter 11: A Knife in the Dark, from The Fellowship of the Ring, Strider also wields a flaming brand of wood in either hand.