Quote:
Originally Posted by Rumil
I always wondered if Aiglos was more of a lance, I could imagine Gil-Galad on a splendidly caparisoned charger weilding a rather special spear, probably with a bue and white (or silver/mithril) pennon. I guess you might say this theory would fall down if he couldn't get his horse up Mount Doom, but there you go.
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If I remember correctly Elves don't use saddles, & if this is the case with G-G he wouldn't have been able to use a lance ('cos any impact would have thrown him over his horse's rear end, having nothing to hold him on) - you need a saddle &, specifically, stirrups to use one. Also, Anglo-Saxon warriors for instance even up to Hastings didn't fight on horseback, merely using then to get to the battleground & then fighting on foot (This is a major difference between the A-S & the Rohirrim) so you can't assume that just because a warrior rides into battle that he fights on horseback.
All that said, Tolkien does state that G-G had a 'lance' ('His sword was long, his lance was keen') but whether this 'lance' was Aiglos or not is another question.