For that statement to have any motivating value, it must matter that these men are soldiers of Gondor. In contrast to the society of Westeros, which holds the smallfolk (who make up their infantry) in unveiled contempt, GandalfвЂ™s declaration to the gate guard that they remember they are вЂњSoldiers of GondorвЂќ who will thus stand their ground at all costs implies considerable social investment in these men. The government seems to be strongly centralized under the stewards. The Lord of the Rings films provide only hints of the political structure of the Kingdom of Gondor, but what we see suggests a society far more likely to be able to put together this sort of army. Westeros) is they do neither, instead constructing a political system where the commoners who evidently make up the most important part of the army have neither a political voice, political stake or meaningful integration into the structures of state power.) The issue with many fantasy worlds, (e.g.

(Aside: Just so there is no confusion вЂ“ there are actually a number of ways a society can be organized to get large numbers of commoners into the army as well-trained infantry, not all of which require giving those commoners a political voice, but all of which require integrating them into political structures (for instance, into administrative and tax structures). The army simply did not reflect the society which supposedly spawned it. While we were repeatedly told that structure of Westerlands society under the Lannisters was based in the considerable power of individual families (in a nested system of vassalage), these men were absent in the actual organization of the army, which instead favored disciplined masses of well-trained peasants (who were themselves completely left out of the structures of power in society). To return briefly to the last kit review, this was one of the failures of the Lannister army concept. They cannot help but replicate these systems. Armies almost always deeply reflect the peacetime organization of their societies, replicating structures of power, class divisions, gender expectations, racial or citizenship categories, and so on. One lesson I drill into my students when teaching military topics is relevant here: every army is a battlefield instantiation of the society that created it. One area where the concept of the Infantryman of Gondor fairs much better is how this military system relates to the society that spawns it. WeвЂ™ll talk about how well that style of armor is recreated in the films in a moment. Historical BasisДЄs with the Lannister infantry, the closest parallel to the general equipment of the Gondor heavy infantryman (distinct here from the lighter rangers, who we may discuss at another time) are late medieval or early modern infantrymen armored with the almain rivet (discussed in more detail here).

Then weвЂ™ll look at armor, weapons, and other equipment. If this is your first kit review: how this works is that weвЂ™re first going to look at the possible historical models for the overall kit (the historical basis), which will give us some grounds for comparison.

Compared to the Lannister armor from last time, GondorвЂ™s kit actually borrows slightly less of its concept from historical exemplars, but makes up for it with a much more capable execution.ДЄs a special bonus, because I love Tolkien, weвЂ™ll also briefly compare the armor of the film to what is described in the books at the end. Today weвЂ™re looking at the Gondor Heavy Infantry from Peter JacksonвЂ™s adaptation of Return of the King. This is actually a neat kit review to pick up with after the last one, since this is essentially a more successful effort to construct a fantasy panoply for a plate-armored common infantryman.

Lord of the rings gondor soldier