Hanging On

However much I might be sliding into the Sage aspect of things, I still manage to cling to the Ranger aspect. There is no reason that I should not; I am still healthy and hale enough to get about in the forests, to draw a bow, to hunt, etc. So long as I can do those things without being a danger to myself or to others, there is no reason not to continue.

Among other things, I am turning my attention back to the building of an 'eket'...a Númenorean shortsword. Isildur wore one. When he tried to flee the Gladden Fields ambush he discarded all of his gear except for his eket.

We have no idea what these blades may have looked like. The only description calls it a stabbing weapon of short stature. In the everyday world we have a lot of examples of short stabbing weapons. Now the eket is not a knife, so that's one thing. The best examples in the manifest world are the Gladius of the Romans, and the leaf shaped blade of the Celts. Some might argue arming swords, and they are short relative to other weapons, but beyond a certain point a blade is no longer a shortsword, stabbing oriented weapon simply because the length is not efficient at close quarters.

I have two of them under construction, to be honest. One is being made from an old Deepeeka Gladius from a whole lot of years ago. This one has the familiar rattail tang they used for so long so I may well decide to re-work that into a proper tang. I have removed the pommel, grip, and guard (obviously), and new ones are being designed. The scabbard that came with it I have completely deconstructed to just the wood halves...it will get a lining, a nice leather covering, some brass work, and a goodly bit of sea-related decoration. Master Tolkien clearly indicated the Númenoreans kept their sea-oriented life close to heart, even after the Akalabéth. Even the crown of the Sea Kings has gull wings and Gondor is full of such iconography.

The other one is a Celtic leaf blade by Kriss Cutlery. A very nice blade, I might add. I have not yet removed the pommel and such so I am not entirely certain I can as of yet. I may give it a go, or use a cheaper one. The thing is, I am not sure a leaf blade is quite right at this stage. I think early on, after Elves had taught men in the ways of weaponcrafting, their blades probably resembled Elven blades to some degree. I think, however, that at the height of their own culture this would be a lot less common and the influence of the Elves might have been more decorative than shape. By the Third Age I suspect their weapons looked much like manifest weapons do. Certainly the Gondorian spear as portrayed by Peter Jacksons' films looks much like a Yari in the length of blade and straightness...but it has the little wings at the base, more like a Norman or Frankish spear of the manifest. I think it quite lovely, and of all of the notions of PJ vis a vis weapons, this one and the Elven weapons he got closest to 'right'. If there is such a thing. I fully plan to make myself a good spearhead of this sort, with appropriate seabird designs.

So yes, at some point I will have a full set of Second Age weaponry....minus the bow since those were hollow steel and we do not know what they looked like. Some say they look like compounds but I recall no description of pulleys in them, so I doubt it.

Anyway, a good spear, a hand axe, and an eket, along with my bow. These are the weapons of a Númenorean Legionary of the Second Age...and they have survived down here into the 4th and beyond. Heirloom weapons, yes. They seem to have been quite common in the works of the Master, although few of them were actually magic I think, most of them being just superior workmanship.

As a Ranger I would carry the eket (if the law allowed, which it does not here), my bow (the composite one I nabbed from Far Harad), a good spear, and my knife, the axe being in the pack. All of these are generally small or slender and lightweight, excellent things for a Ranger. Even the axe would be more like a 'hawk than a proper axe...but only like a 'hawk, not an actual tomahawk. A good belt axe could work too, really.

Rangers wore no fair thing save one...and I plan to follow that for the most part. In this case I shall define 'fair thing' as something like brooches, pins, etc. I shall exclude tooling of leather, which is hard to see at anything other than close range. I shall eschew bright colors too, for the most part. However, the design I created for the Forandiri will be present. In at least one instance, its proper colors of black and white. Otherwise, just the tooling. The one fair thing will be my stainless Ranger Star. Probably with a black leather roundel behind and used as a cloak catch, much as described.

A helm..yes. Built around a Norman conical helm. Nasal, but no faceplate. I would love to have a Númenorean helmet of the Second Age..but we are speaking of a helm made to resemble the shell of a nautilus type creature...gorgeous, but beyond my ability to make without a good forge I can keep set up. So I will settle for something more 'primitive' and more likely of the Third Age...similar to the ones PJ has the Gondorians wearing in the early depictions of the defeat of Sauron. I absolutely disapprove of the barbutes and plate armor worn by them in the films in the latter parts. According to the books, only the Knights of Dol Amroth under Prince Imrahil wore full plate armor. Everyone else, including Aragorn as King, wore mail. There we go.

So yeah, busy on the Ranger front. New pics to come soon

Eledhwen