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Thread: Use of Mûmakil in Battle


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I don't have much time to write this, but right now I have to write an essay on the use of elephants in warfare, specifically with the Indians, Romans, and Carthaginians. Whilst researching, I was shocked to read about "towers or castles containing warriors" located on the backs of especially large beasts, complete with iron-tipped tusks and steel spears attached to their tusks. They also had skin that was highly resistant to arrows. I hope you can see my point by now. From what I've read so far, the M’makil we see in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields in RotK employed elephants almost identical to these I've been researching. They even had the leaders that 'drove' them, called mahouts. I don't remember how much these beasts were described in the books, though both Peter Jackson and J.R.R. Tolkien seem to have gotten inspiration from the ancient Romans and Carthaginians, not to mention the Indians. I was shocked when I started my research. More on this later; I have no time to type.

P.S.: I wasn't sure where to put this; I thought the Movies thread would suffice since we certainly see much of what these beasts can do in RotK.
I'm sure the Carthiginian elephants didn't have self-obsessed little elves sliding down their trunks though. Shaking Head Smilie
Tolkien was a wise man. He based a lot of what he wrote on actual things that did exist. I dought that the similarities were coincidence.
The only thing I noticed that differed from our ancient times was that Middle-earth was more conducive to Oliphaunt growth than Asia and Africa. Even the Wooly Mammoths of North America were very much smaller than Peter Jackson's great towering M’makil monsters.
Anyway, it seemed quite unrealistic and lame that Eowyn could take down an animal of such huge proportions with just two cuts in his/her upperlegs. Such a huge beast wouldn't even feel that, i've said it before : it's like trying to kill a whale (or a plesiosaurus if we want to stay in PJ's universe) with a needle.
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Anyway, it seemed quite unrealistic and lame that Eowyn could take down an animal of such huge proportions with just two cuts in his/her upperlegs. Such a huge beast wouldn't even feel that, i've said it before : it's like trying to kill a whale (or a plesiosaurus if we want to stay in PJ's universe) with a needle.
Well if your sword is sharp enough and your stroke is strong enough you might hamstring the poor beastie to its knees, but you certainly wouldn't kill it. For this size creature I think a chainsaw might be needed. The Society to Prevent Cruelty to Dumb Critters and Amalgamated Association of Sentimentalists would frown on anyone doing this to any animal, real or computer generated.