Henneth Annûn Story Archive

In the Book of Lost Tales 2 there is a reference to "engines on the wall." My assumption is that these would be catapults. Anyone know if there was anything else that would be likely to be "engines?" If they were catapults, during the comparable time in Europe were these considered to need a special skill, or would this be something any commander was very familiar with?

Thanks,
Lyllyn

 

I recall that they were tossing mutilated heads into Minas Tirith with catapults during the seige. Here is a pair of great Trebuchet pages. One is a scientific analisys, the other is a place that sells them.

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/6461/trebuch.html

http://www.trebuchet.com/

 

Here is a pair of great Trebuchet pages. One is a scientific analisys, the other is a place that sells them.


Mike, you are a fountain of odd bits and pieces of information. Thanks!

Would they have had other 'engines' of war? Aside form the 'fire of orthanc' I don't recall anything else on those lines.

Lyllyn

 

Many useful links can be found here:
http://therionarms.com/links.shtml

including a link to this interesting website from Nova, about medieval sieges:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lostempires/trebuchet/

If you've got the right version of Flash, you can play their "destroy the castle" game. I have the wrong version and no patience for downloads, but it looks like it could actually be useful in determining what a catapult would really do under different circumstances.

I've heard siege towers referred to as "engines", but I'm not clear on why, exactly.

 

There was Grond, which was a battering ram. I think it was on a frame, so it could swing on chains. It was named after Morgoth's hammer if my memory is working today.

 

• Forums Home
• 1 Month of Posts
• FAQs

Forum Conferences

• Challenges
• General
• Members
• Resources
• Stories

A conference is a collection of forums.

Intended for: General Audience

This forum is open to all HASA members. It is read-only for the general public.

Membership on HASA is free and it takes only a few minutes to join. If you would like to participate, please click here.

If you are already a member, please log in to participate.

« Back to Research Questions

• Calendars of Middle-earth
• Concerning Pipe-weed