Thursday, February 17, 2011

Wielders of Mortal Knives


Those who Get Close and Personal

Fantasy Equal: Meriadoc Brandybuck
Favoured By the Race of: Halflings
Favoured By the Class of: Rogues
Damage Type: Piercing

Daggers and shortswords (and many exotic variations thereof) are the preferred weapons of rogues, assassins and scouts. Rogues move in on the enemy from the shadows. They conceal themselves from hostile eyes and sneak closer up until they’re able to deal a deathly blow.

To be efficient at sneaking, a rogue needs to be quiet, agile and nimble. Heavy and bulky weapons would make this feat much more difficult. Several light and sharp daggers would thus need to suffice. Managing to sneak right up to a foe would guarantee a kill in most cases. In other more tricky situations, the rogue may need to throw one of his daggers, which of course, requires much more skill and cunning.

The fantasy equal for this collection is the Hobbit, Meriadoc Brandybuck. He is one of four Hobbits that joined the Fellowship of the Ring in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. These Hobbits were never really classified as rogues, but due to their natural attunement to the arts of stealth and thievery, I personally would classify them as such. Hobbits were said to match Elves when it comes to their light-footedness and feats of dexterity. This statement is hard to believe once you see their overgrown feet, but that is how it is.

The four Hobbits encountered a ranger called Strider at the inn called The Prancing Pony. He was to guide them on a perilous journey to the realm of the Elves, Rivendell. The Hobbits were given a sturdy shortsword each. Three of them still used those very swords when the tale came to end.

Each of the Hobbits performed heroic deeds throughout the trilogy, much to the surprise of their larger comrades. Merry’s (shortened name for our fantasy equal) greatest feat was performed at the Pelennor Fields. Here Sauron sent forth a great army to destroy the people of Gondor. Sauron’s greatest warrior, the terrifying Witch King was about to destroy Eowyn, Shield Maiden and princess of Rohan. Merry, out of the blue, snuck up from behind him, and mortally wounded the Witch King by piercing his shortsword down his leg. Whilst the Witch King flinched from pain, Eowyn mustered the strength to deal the final blow and sent forth her long blade straight through his head. Merry thus not only saved Eowyn’s life, but dealt a massive blow to the ranks of the orc army by defeating one of its greatest leaders... all of this with a mere shortsword in the hand of a mere Hobbit.

Below you find fellow rogues and warriors who prefer the fast hitting action of wielding daggers and short swords; in some cases even one in each hand.


“Separated by Pippin and Gandalf's journey to Gondor, he swore fealty to
Théoden and became his esquire. Without permission from his liege, he rode to the Battle of the Pelennor Fields in the care of young Dernhelm. As the Riders of Rohan were attacked by the Nazgûl and Théoden was injured, Merry and Dernhelm faced the Witch King of Angmar alone. Here, Merry's companion was revealed to be Éowyn (he was already aware of the fact that it was Eoywn who also was not allow to go to battle and disguised herself as a man to enter Battle), White Lady of Rohan, niece to the King. Battling both fell beast and the Nazgûl alone, Éowyn was well assisted by Merry's crucial move: his sword, built for this very purpose, was one of the few weapons able to pierce the Ringwraith's form, at great expense to himself. This was enough to allow Éowyn to finish off the Witch King (or it may be that Merry's blow was the fatal one). Merry heard Théoden's last words, but was unnoticed by the honour escort of Riders and was found wandering the city by Pippin. He was saved by the healing of Aragorn and recovered fully.”

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