Weapons and armour of Middle-earth are those of J. R. R. Tolkiens Middle-earth fantasy writings, such as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.Tolkien modelled his fictional warfare on the Ancient and Early Medieval periods of history. His depiction of weapons and armour particularly reflect the Northern European culture of Beowulf, the Norse sagas and similar works. Tolkien established this relationship in The Fall of Gondolin, the first story in his legendarium to be written. In this story, the Elves of Gondolin use the mail armour, swords, shields, spears, axes and bows of Northern European warfare. In Tolkiens writings, these kinds of weapons and armour are used by his fictional races, including Elves, Dwarves, Men, Hobbits, and Orcs.As in his sources, Tolkiens weapons are often named, sometimes with runic inions to show they are magical and have their own history and power

SwordsSwords symbolized physical prowess in battle for Tolkien, following Northern European culture. Tolkien writes that Elves and Dwarves produced the best swords (and other war gear) and that Elvish swords glowed blue in the presence of Orcs. Elves generally used straight swords while Orcs generally used curved swords. Both races have exceptions: Egalmoth of Gondolin used a curved sword and the Uruk-hai of Isengard used short, broad blades. Tolkien often mentions the use of shields together with (one-handed) swords.In The Lord of the Rings film trilogy most Elvish swords are curved but some named swords are interpreted as two-handed longswords. The films also embellished upon Tolkiens deions of swords (and other weapons) by making up inions for these items.^[

KnivesKnives are mentioned in Tolkiens works, sometimes as backup weapons—such as the unnamed long knife of Legolas the archer. However, some individual knives are given more significance through naming (e.g. Sting, see below). Weapons that were only knives or short swords for adult Men or Elves could function as formidable swords in the hands of Hobbits, a diminutive people.In The Scouring of the Shire, Saruman attempts to stab Frodo with a knife, but is foiled by the mithril shirt worn under his jacket. Shortly afterwards Sarumans throat was fatally cut with a knife borne by Wormtongue.For The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Aragorn was gifted with an Elven hunting knife which he held onto at least till the Battle of the Black Gate. Boromirs costume design included throwing knives, and Legolas possessed twin fighting knives carried in sheaths near his quiver.^[

Morgul-bladesThe Witch-king of Angmar, leader of the Nazgûl, used a magical dagger called a Morgul-blade to wound Frodo Baggins at Weathertop. The dark magic of the knife gravely affects Frodos well-being, threatening to turn him into a wraith, especially because its detachable point migrated in Frodos body for more than two weeks before it could be extracted, thus causing great damage. Recurring ill effects from the wound contribute to Frodos eventual departure to Valinor. According to the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia, the weapon may owe something to the tradition of the elf-shot found in Old English medical texts and charms, where it denotes illnesses of presumed supernatural origin.^[8


Barrow-bladesFour magical daggers, which had been forged by the Men of Westernesse to fight the powers of Mordor, are recovered from a tomb in the Barrow-downs by Tom Bombadil. He gives them to Frodo Baggins and his Hobbit companions, for whom the daggers are effectively swords. One of these Barrow-blades – that given to Merry Brandybuck – proves instrumental in bringing about the death of the Witch-king.The daggers had varying fates in The Lord of the Rings. When the Nazgûl attacked Aragorn and the hobbits on Weathertop, Frodo slashed at one of them with his dagger but only damaged its cloak. He broke the blade when he fell from a horse, and left it behind in Rivendell, taking Bilbos sword Sting instead. Sam Gamgee left his beside Frodo in Cirith Ungol and later had it returned to him by Gandalf. Pippin Took made use of his dagger in the Battle of the Black Gate to slay a Troll-chief. Merrys blade is destroyed during his attack on the Witch-king.

AxesBattle axes are especially favoured by Dwarves in Tolkiens writings; they famously used the battle cry: Axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you! (Khuzdul: Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!). For The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Gimli the Dwarf was assigned various axes of different makes during the course of the films.The use of battle axes in other races tended to be more exceptional. The Sindarin Elves of Doriath favoured axes as weapons during the First Age. Other notable axe-bearers were Tuor (the wielder of Dramborleg), the Men of the White Mountains who marched to the defence of Minas Tirith in The Lord of the Rings, and a contingent of Easterlings among the besiegers of Minas Tirith.

Bows and arrowsBows of different sizes and construction are featured in Tolkiens works. Elves of Lothlórien, Men, and Uruk-hai used longbows, while Elves of Mirkwood and Orcs of Mordor used smaller ones. These bows are said to be made of wood, horn and even steel.The most famous bowman in Tolkiens stories of the First Age of Middle-earth is the Elf Beleg; his bow was named Belthronding, and his arrow Dailir. Infamously Curufin, a lord of the Noldor, attempts to shoot the Elf-princess Lúthien with the bow of his brother Celegorm. His first arrow is intercepted by Huan; Beren attempts to intercept the second shot, and is wounded.In The Lord of the Rings, set in the late Third Age, a bow is the main weapon of Legolas, the Elf-member of the Fellowship of the Ring. When the Fellowship meet Galadriel, she gives Legolas a new bow. He later uses it to shoot all the way across the great river Anduin and bring down an airborne Nazgûl.The films of The Lord of the Rings assign a bow to Aragorn and crossbows to the Uruk-hai. However, in Tolkiens writings Aragorn is armed only with the sword Andúril (below), and crossbows are nowhere mentioned.Sometimes individual arrows are given special mention in Tolkiens works. In The Hobbit, the Black Arrow was a royal heirloom used by Bard the Bowman to kill the dragon Smaug. In The Lord of the Rings, the Red Arrow was a token used by Gondor to summon its allies in time of need. In the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, the Red Arrow is omitted and its role is conflated with the Beacons of Gondor.Hobbits shot well with the bow. The Shire sent archers to the battles of the Fall of Arnor.
ArmourBody armour in Tolkiens fiction is mainly in the form of mail or scale shirts, in keeping with Ancient and Early Middle periods of history. In contrast, the Lord of the Rings film trilogy features plate armour suits in the style of the High and Late Middle periods. These kinds of plate armour are not found in Tolkiens writings, but plate does appear in the form of individual pieces such as vambraces (forearm guards) or greaves (leg and shin guards). As with other items of war, Elves and Dwarves produced the best armour. The mail shirt forged by Dwarves from the fictional metal mithril appears in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, worn in turn by the protagonists Bilbo and Frodo Baggins.HelmetsBattle helmets are commonly used by virtually all races in Tolkiens writings. The Rohirrim were partly modeled on the Anglo-Saxons, who wore elaborate helmets; Éomers helmet had a long white horse-tail. The Crown of Gondor was a jewelled battle-helmet; Aragorn received it at his coronation. Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee use Orc-helmets as part of their disguise in Mordor.In the First Age, Dwarves made dragon-helms, which were said to protect against Dragons. The most famous of these was the Dragon-helm of Dor-lómin.The Second Age was dominated by Númenor. The Númenórean helmet, the karma, reached particularly elaborate forms. Those of the Uinendili, a guild of mariners, were made of overlapping plates of metal, the fish-crest of leather embossed and coloured. Tolkiens coloured drawing of the karma of a Uinendili captain features on the cover of Unfinished Tales.