Anyone who tries to evaluate a fantasy film on their proximity to reality could begin to despair. Works like “The Lord of the Rings” are deeply anchored in their own fantasy world, which makes them look particularly real and alive. But how far have the fantastic fights oriented towards reality?
What scene is we talking about? Historian and expert in antique warfare Roel Konijnendijk evaluates the “Battle of the Pelennor” from the Lord of the Rings in a video of insider: the return of the king – the greatest and most important battle of the ring war.
In the historian’s evaluation, he goes into different moments of the battle and explains how realistic these are at comparable ancient war guides. The fact that the historian is a fan of the film must not be ignored, but he also has some critical points that question realism.
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Realism is not everything
Théoden, the King of Rohan, coordinates the Rohirirrim on the battle and lets his sword hit the lances of the cavalrymen. The historian has often been asked whether the ancient or medieval leader really did, but Bernard Hill, the actor of Théoden, came up with that.
Even if this scene is not historically correct, it is still effective, as Konijnendijk explains: “He thought it was a cool thing, so he did it. It works so well that you almost want it to be real. “
The speed and force of the cavalry is effective, but less realistic
In the film, the cavalry begins to start the opposing army at a high speed to strengthen the drama along with epic music and hoof noise. While the density of the horses is displayed quite realistically, the speed is not hit correctly.
Instead, cavalry from a moderate step has slowly become faster and faster as soon as they came close to the opponent. If you did it until the gallop at all, then only in front of your opponents on the last few meters.
Whether horses were really ready to dash into opponents had been a controversial hypothesis for a long time. Some say that the force of the impact was more of a kind of imagination, as the rider tried to ride gaps and open the formation.
A second theory, however, is that horses could very well train to run into solid objects and thus also troops. That would emphasize the realism of the scene.
The realistic effect of the cavalry can finally be seen when the orcs begin to solve their attitude a little undecided. So the cavalry was easier to roll over the monsters.
The attack on the Olifanten makes sense, rather less on the rider
War phrases were a very threatening and effective method of war, since armies that such animals have never seen were absolutely scared and overwhelmed. The simplest and presumably best method against these elephants was to just avoid them.
The historian explains that due to the density of the olifants, this would be rather difficult from “The Lord of the Rings”. This is exactly why the second best path had to be taken, which can also be seen in the film: the constant shelling through the use of light infantry with archers.
What makes the experts smile is the focus on the rider of an olifanten who is shot down by a lance: “I guess you can try to switch it off, but the problem is not the fact that a rider controls the elephant, but that an elephant meets you. So you want to ensure that the animal either runs harmlessly on you or reversed. “
Overall, the expert evaluates the battle on the Pelennor with 8 out of 10 points. Some things are more realistic than expected, some things are created for dramaturgy.
He adds that it is difficult to evaluate with a number because it is fantasy, but the king’s return would always be great. As other experts evaluate realism from the Lord of the Rings, you can find out in the following article, which refers to the weapons and armor of the works: Experts for the Middle Ages explain how realistic the weapons and armor in Lord of the Rings are