Part 1 of this posting came about after I had seen this in a toy catalogue—

It’s clearly based on Jackson’s Sauron

as seen at the moment when Isildur cuts the Ring from Sauron’s hand, as Elrond tells the council:

“ ‘I beheld the last combat on the slopes of Orodruin, where Gil-galad died, and Elendil fell, and Narsil broke beneath him; but Sauron himself was overthrown, and Isildur cut the Ring from his hand with the hilt-shard of his father’s sword, and took it for his own.’ “  (The Fellowship of the Ring, Book Two, Chapter 2, “The Council of Elrond”)

There is no description of how Sauron was dressed or armed, so it was up to the film’s designers to create their own image of him and it’s clear that their idea was all about spikiness—perhaps also, by his helmet, suggesting kingly aspirations?—but it made me wonder what JRRT had in mind, if not for Sauron, for his minions–

no, not those—that is, for his various followers—as well as for his opponents, and, in the first part of this posting, I had a look at those opponents, using evidence from Tolkien’s letters and The Lord of the Rings as my basis.

Now, I want to see what those same sources might tell us about his view of Sauron—and Saruman’s—forces.

Beginning at the top, there are the Nazgul.  When we first see them and hear about them, they are cloaked—

(J.G. Jones—you can read about him here)

but, on Weathertop, Frodo puts on the Ring and sees

“…upon their grey hairs were helms of silver; in their haggard hands swords of steel…The third was taller than the others:  his hair was long and gleaming and on his helm was a crown…” (The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Chapter 11, “A Knife in the Dark”)

Because, wearing the Ring, Frodo can see

“In their white faces burned keen and merciless eyes…”

presumably, the Lord of the Nazgul—and perhaps the others—wore open-faced helmets, like this one—

(Denis Gordeev)

And we can learn a little more about this last, the Lord of the Nazgul, when Eowyn and Merry destroy him—

“A crown of steel he bore…Merry had stabbed him from behind, shearing through the black mantle, and passing up beneath the hauberk…”  (The Return of the King, Book Five, Chapter 6, “The Battle of the Pelennor Fields”)

He doesn’t appear to be wearing his helmet here, but he is wearing a long chain mail garment, a hauberk

and perhaps we can assume that his fellow Nazgul wore the same?  He’s clearly not wearing armor on his legs, which is how Merry can attack the back of his knee

(Ted Nasmith)

and, with no helmet, Eowyn

“…drove her sword between crown and mantle, as the great shoulders bowed before her.”

As for the Orcs, the film designers have them in what look like a combination of medieval and Renaissance and maybe Samurai odds and ends—

so, what does JRRT have to say about them?

They carry swords and have some armor—as are described when Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli are preparing to send Boromir off—

“Quickly they searched the bodies of the Orcs, gathering their swords and cloven helmets and shields into a heap.”

Aragorn, however, is quick to recognize that all of the Orcs are not the same—

“There were four goblin-soldiers of greater stature, swart, slant-eyed, with thick legs and large hands.  They were armed with short broad-bladed swords, not with the curved scimitars usual with Orcs; and they had bows of yew, in length and shape like the bows of Men.  Upon their shields they bore a strange device:  a small white hand in the centre of a black field; and on the front of their iron helms was set an S-rune, wrought of some white metal.”  (The Two Towers, Book Three, Chapter 1, “The Departure of Boromir”)

As well, at least some wear mail—as we learn from the moment when Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli come upon the pyre of Orcs slain by the Rohirrim—

“Beside it was a great pile of helms and mail, cloven shields , and broken swords, bows and darts and other gear of war.”  (The Two Towers, Book Three, Chapter 2, “The Riders of Rohan”)

We know from the text that these would have been the “gear of war” of both Sauron’s and Saruman’s Orcs, as the two troops were uneasily combined, but we can confirm the gear of Sauron’s orcs from a later description, when, in the Tower of Cirith Ungol, Sam and Frodo are dressing up as Orcs—

“There were long hairy breeches of some unclean beast-fell, and a tunic of dirty leather….Over the tunic went a coat of stout ring-mail, short for a full-sized orc, too long for Frodo and heavy.  About it he clasped a belt, at which there hung a short sheath holding a broad-bladed stabbing-sword.  Sam had brought several orc-helmets.  One of them fitted Frodo well enough, a black cap with iron rim, and iron hoops covered with leather upon which the Evil Eye was painted in red above the beaklike nose-guard.”  (The Return of the King, Book Six, Chapter 1, “The Tower of Cirith Ungol”)

(Alan Lee)

(Denis Gordeev)

And, finally, there are Sauron’s allies from the east and from the south.  In the Jackson film, the easterners look like this—

whose helmets vaguely remind me of a combination of elements of certain Japanese foot soldier and Samurai helmets—

JRRT doesn’t appear to have given us a very clear description of the Easterners, other than to write:

“But here and there [Frodo] caught the gleam of spears and helmets…” (The Two Towers. Book Four, Chapter 3, “The Black Gate is Closed”)

About those from the south, however, he gives us a more detailed description and a pathetic one, about a warrior killed by Faramir’s men in ambush:

“Then suddenly straight over the rim of their sheltering bank, a man fell, crashing through the slender trees, nearly on top of [Frodo and Sam].  He came to rest in the fern a few feet away, face downward, green arrow-feathers sticking from his neck below a golden collar.  His scarlet robes were tattered, his corselet of overlapping brazen plates was rent and hewn, his black plaits of hair braided with gold were drenched in blood.  His brown hand still clutched the hilt of a broken sword…

…[Sam] wondered what the man’s name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil of heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.”  (The Two Towers, Book Four, Chapter 4, “Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit”)

We don’t know if this man was wearing a helmet or carrying a shield, but he is wearing armor—this “corselet” is what is called “lamellar armor”, and looks rather like fish scales—

In this description, I’ll conclude this brief look at how Tolkien might have imagined his various warriors dressed, but, at the same time, that last bit of description makes me wonder—was this how JRRT thought, when he saw his first battlefield casualty? 

If so, it shows his emotional complexity in that he can write about glorious cavalry charges on the one hand,

(Denis Gordeev)

but have Sam express a melancholy, compassionate thought, on the other.

As always, thanks for reading.

Stay well,

Remember that November 11^th is the 108^th anniversary of the Armistice which brought the Great War (World War One) and its monstrous slaughter close to its close—

And remember, as well, that, as ever, there’s

MTCIDC

O