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Elves and Spears
Hello Mithadon,
My conclusion that Silvan armies were armed with bows and spears is based on the description of Thranduil's Army in the Hobbit. At the Battle of Five Armies he launched a charge of 1000 spearmen after a hail of arrows by his archers. Culturally it also makes sense, the Silvan elves were metal poor particularlythose with poor relations with the Dwarves (who in past ages seem to have been the producer of arms for the Elves of Doriath). The Silvan elves would require some close combat arm once their enemies closed from long range arrow exchanges and spears are a very economical weapon as far as metal since far more spears could be produced from a given amount of steel than swords. The Sindarin lords who emigrated to live among the Silvan Elves (as described in Unfinished Tales - Galadriel and Celeborn) in Greenwood were those that had the worst relations with the Noldor and furthermore wished to return to the more natural state so much that they abandoned their Sindarin speech and adopted the Silvan elf tongue. Since the Hobbit description of the Silvan elf spearmen is virtually the only other arm besides bows that they are associated with I think it cannot be ignored.
Unfinished Tales (Cirion and Eorl) describe that the Rohirrim inhabited the entire northern vales of Anduin before most of them moved south to occupy the gift of Rohan from Gondor. While their cousins the Woodmen of Greenwood were footmen due to their terrain the more open land of the Vales of Anduin that attracted the ancestors of the Rohirrim to emigrate from Rhovannion would require more mobility that these stay-behinds from the exodus of the Rohirrim would not have abandoned. They are more than related to the Rohirrim, they are virtually the same people and culture. Beorn himself was not one for riding horses. His description in the Hobbit makes it clear he himself had no such need (since in his bear shape he could travel far and fast)
Regards,
Jeff
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