Tolkienite Military Fiction

[jason taylor]

Normally when we are not doing myths and legends we are doing Hobbits. But suppose we set a Weber type military fiction in the Tolkien world.

For instance: War of the Dwarves and Orcs: that is a fascinating setting with all the tools described in the "Practical Underground Weapons" except for grenades (good guys don't use gunpowder in Tolkien) which could be replaced by magic.

Raid on Umbar: this is Aragorn's incognito attack on Umbar

Bandobras' repulse of the orcs (this allows us to have Hobbits be scary dudes for a change)

Theoden's supply system (this is just satire, it'd be nice to know what poor probie got stuck with that job because Eowyn went AWOL to go Nazgul hunting).

[Apollonian]

Somewhere on the internet there is a fanfic of Glenn Cook's Black Company in service to Sauron during and through the end of the War of the Ring. I think it's very close to what you're describing here.

[thorr-kan]

Originally Posted by Apollonian

Somewhere on the internet there is a fanfic of Glenn Cook's Black Company in service to Sauron during and through the end of the War of the Ring. I think it's very close to what you're describing here.

Beat me to it.

Link should be available through TVTropes, under the Black Company's fanfic recommendations:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.p...heBlackCompany

No affiliation. For educational purposes only. Caveat emptor. Void where prohibited.

[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

good guys don't use gunpowder in Tolkien

It's implied that the Númenóreans did, though whether they counted as "good guys" by the time this was true is an open question.

[Irish Wolf]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow

It's implied that the Númenóreans did, though whether they counted as "good guys" by the time this was true is an open question.

Honestly, for most of the history of Middle-Earth I don't think it was a question of "good guys don't use gunpowder" so much as the idea that the secret of making it had been lost in the fall of Numenor, and Saruman either rediscovering it or getting it directly from Sauron (who probably learned it while "advising" the Numenorean kings). The idea of a bomb planted by sappers seemed to take the Rohirrim entirely by surprise.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Irish Wolf

Honestly, for most of the history of Middle-Earth I don't think it was a question of "good guys don't use gunpowder" so much as the idea that the secret of making it had been lost in the fall of Numenor.

There's a bit of inconsistency because Gandalf was known to provide fireworks in the Shire, with descriptions that are very much consistent with them being conventional gunpowder-based fireworks (though they could have been magic). However, we don't have any evidence for them rejecting the use of gunpowder as a weapon, or being aware of the possibility of it being used as a weapon.

[jason taylor]

Of course Dwarves can use Naphtha to make an "Azog Cocktail" for clearing rooms in any case.

[jason taylor]

Light magic seems to be more an elven thing than a Dwarf. However Narsil glowed when orcs were near so they probably know how to do it too. Anything that can light caverns (as well as orc-detectors) would be welcome as battle magic.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

Bandobras' repulse of the orcs (this allows us to have Hobbits be scary dudes for a change)

Even the coddled Hobbits of The Lord of the Rings are scary dudes when the situation warrants it (and they have appropriate leadership). Frodo drove off a troll (with one of the Fellowship quipping the troll would likely quake in fear if he ever heard the word "Shire" again), while Merry, Pippin, and Sam each killed a number of orcs (many of those after Merry and Pippin in the forest were holding back due to Saruman's orders to bring them in intact, but they all killed orcs who were fully committed to taking them out in Moria). Merry helped take out the Witchking, Pippin killed a troll, and IIRC the orcs of Mordor mistook Sam for a powerful - and wrathful - Elf-Lord when he attacked them to rescue Frodo. And the Hobbits of Hobbiton made short work of the Saruman's half-orcs and readily drove out Saruman and Wormtongue (killing the latter after he had killed the former) once they had some leadership.

But yeah, watching old Bullroarer leading the Hobbits to crush an army of goblins (and invent the game of golf in the process) would be fun.

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

Normally when we are not doing myths and legends we are doing Hobbits. But suppose we set a Weber type military fiction in the Tolkien world.

For instance: War of the Dwarves and Orcs: that is a fascinating setting with all the tools described in the "Practical Underground Weapons" except for grenades (good guys don't use gunpowder in Tolkien) which could be replaced by magic.

Raid on Umbar: this is Aragorn's incognito attack on Umbar

Bandobras' repulse of the orcs (this allows us to have Hobbits be scary dudes for a change)

The Hobbits maintain that they sent a force of archers to assist the last King of Arthedain at the battle where the North Kingdom finally fell. That's a story that could be interesting. Also, archery would be a very natural way for physically smaller and weaker people to make themselves felt on the battlefield, and Hobbit dexterity and skill with missile weapons would make them effective.