kit carrying options

[boyofthebush209]

I am wondering if anybody carries there kit like Aragorn does

ex.
http://s641.photobucket.com/user/filigo ... k.jpg.html



it looks to me like he was a oiled leather cover for his wool blanket
then his quiver on top

[Peter Remling]

Several of the rangers here use a blanket, attached to their quiver. Their other gear is rolled up in their blancket and attached to the quiver. Greg has one of the nicest ones set up that way.

[Manveruon]

I'm also going to try a similar method for some of my gear. I tried to pattern my quiver after Strider's for this express purpose.

[boyofthebush209]

thanks for the help I might try that!

[Greg]

What Aragorn does for the Fellowship's trek from Rivendell through to Rauros in the films is a bedroll/blanketrole of the sort described in the original Boy Scout Manual from way back when. You fold your blanket once over your gear, roll it all into a long sausage, tie it together, and then bend it into a horseshoe shape and loop this over one shoulder, tying the two ends together at your hip. It's very versatile...I've carried gear like this before. You can get a great view of this roll right after they leave moria, when Aragorn runs up to the camera, and pauses with a half-smile looking at the approaching borders of Lorien. The problem is, in the films, his roll is relatively thin...it's clearly not actually carrying much, nor is it made of a full-size blanket or tarp. A truly full-size blanketrole of this sort sits on the shoulder and rises up nearly to eye level...it gets in the way, inhibits your head's movement, and isn't easy to wield a sword with one. That's why I decided that strapping it directly to the quiver would be a better option for me.

In addition to that blanketrole, he also has a small pack/blanket of some sort rolled together and hanging on a strap or tumpline that's holding some other stuff, which is loosely dangled around his quiver, etc. That's the brown one in that picture you're seeing. In addition to my quiver and the roll strapped to it, carry a small snapsack, which is a tube of cloth tied shut at both ends, with gear inside it. Between the two, I can easily carry anything needed...if you need more than you can fit in those two places, you're probably not packing very light.

This doesn't show the horseshoe roll, but it gives you a good idea of how things sit. The quiver should be snug to your body, and the other should be a little bit more loose, so you can easily dump it if need be to access gear or lighten yourself for a fight. The quiver shouldn't move much when you do...you should be able to sprint, and do bottle cutting/shoot your bow, etc. without it bouncing around.

Hope that helps!

[Manveruon]

This may be somewhat random, but has anyone here wondered at all why Strider carries his quiver slung over his left shoulder? He clearly shoots and fights right-handed, so this seems a bit strange.

[Peter Remling]

This may be somewhat random, but has anyone here wondered at all why Strider carries his quiver slung over his left shoulder? He clearly shoots and fights right-handed, so this seems a bit strange.

It is odd. I hadn't noticed because of all the reverse images PJ had, particularly in TT. Outside Fangorn, Aragon is wearing his sword on his right side. Not impossible as you know, wearing a sword all day on one side is a literal pain, so altering hips isn't out of the question. In the same scene however Legolas is shown with his quiver on the wrong shoulder which with his three strap quiver system is impossible.

Later Frodo is flanked by two Rangers after meeting Faromir. Frodo cloak is flipped and both the rangers have their swords scabbarded to suggest they are left handed. Again both scenarios together indicate a reverse image.

I looked up Strider images from the movie and there is one that suggests a possible and some what believable reason for him to carry the quiver over his left shoulder. In a still from Moria, facing the Orcs in the initial chamber, Aragorn is shown with his bow drawn and another arrow in his left hand at the ready. If Aragorn uses his bow for fighting and is used to holding extra arrows in his off hand, it would be fairly simple to draw a few while the bow is in his left hand.

Hold the bow in your left hand, reach over shoulder with the bow, grab and come back to the original position. With practice, I can see it being faster than reaching over my right shoulder, drawing several arrows, tranferring them to my left hand then notching the first arrow.

I think I'll have to grab a quiver, string a bow and find out. If it looks promising, I'll post back.

Gregs' been into speed shooting for a while, so hopefully he'll chime in.

[Manveruon]

Brilliant Peter! I hadn't thought of that at all, but I bet you're right!
This little detail has been vexing me for years, haha. I appreciate the perspective! I wonder if that's their reasoning behind it in the films, or if they just weren't thinking about it that hard when they devised his "look." I would be surprised if that were the case though, as Viggo was adamant about functionality with regard to his costume and kit. Rumor has it he even had the the by-knife specifically added to the sword scabbard, because it bothered him that Strider didn't carry a utility knife.

[Greg]

Pete, I had to pace around and think a bit before I had a good answer. I didn't put a quiver on, but I think I've got it.

I'm 100% convinced that the quiver is on the left shoulder to free up Viggo's right arm for swordplay, and nothing more. I recall from the Extended Edition Appendices (which, forgive me, I haven't seen in years) something about Viggo being very personally involved in the development of his garb and such for the film, so much that he slept in it, etc. and helped design the clothing for function. I'm positive that during this, he decided that having the weight of those straps over his right shoulder made swordplay more difficult, so he found out how much he'd be shooting his bow, and decided that he would just hold his spare arrows in his left hand rather than drawing out of it.

The trick in finding this is looking at the orientation of the arrows in his bow hand in that picture. If he were to reach up with his bow hand and draw the arrows out by the shaft with it, his left hand, as you suggest, the fletching should be pointing DOWN, and the tips up. It would be insanely awkward to reach up and draw arrows with that hand while holding even a small hunting bow but ending up with them facing down, with fletching up. So how do we explain this?

Movie magic, and nothing more. Aragorn never shot his bow again after moria, so it was easy to excuse so it'd be easier for him to swing his sword all the time, which was the primary focus anyway. There is no reason why anyone should ever have a back quiver which draws out of the top over any shoulder but the one which draws the string as well...it's just not efficient conservation of movement, nor does it feel natural.

Good questions, all around! Got me thinking after 11 pm...no easy feat.

[Ringulf]

I heartily agree!
though he is obviously a practiced hunter and bowman, Aragorn is first and formost a melee fighter within his role in the fellowship. He is not going to match Legolas for archery or Borimir with sword and board to do frontline fighting, but his bastard sword and Gimli's arsenal of axes are the meat of the melee damage in the party and I am sure he would make the use of his sword his first combat priority.

[Peter Remling]

Yep, it looks like Greg's right. I put on a bastard sword, strung my Horsebow, threw a quiver over my left shoulder and gave it a try. Not only were the arrows inverted out of the quiver but they came out in hand on the wrong side of the bow. When I tried to grab them so they'd come out fletchings up the bow string got in the way. Trying to get them on the correct side of the bow was damn near impossible.

The reason for putting on the sword was to see if it interfered with drawing the arrows, it didn't. The quiver I used placed the arrows high over my shoulder for an easy grasp, unlike Aragorn which are low, probably due to the weight of the blanket roll.

So in conclusion: it appears that the quiver was placed over the left shoulder for ease of using the right arm for swordplay and bow use took a secondary consideration.

Very interesting sidetrack from the original post.

[Greg]

The quiver I used placed the arrows high over my shoulder for an easy grasp, unlike Aragorn which are low, probably due to the weight of the blanket roll.

That's another thing...I refuse to wear/use a quiver that puts the arrows more than about 4" to the side from my head. Arrows sticking out way over the shoulder are hard to reach, and result in a Robin Hood: Men in Tights Training-sequence-scenario, dumping arrows on the ground and twisting wildly, trying to reach them. Economy of motion is everything. You should never have to look to grab your arrows. I can sort through field tips and broadheads without looking...broadheads add about 1/4" of length, so the high nocks are broadheads, and the shorts are field points/"bodkins".

[Greg]

He is not going to match Legolas for archery or Borimir with sword and board to do frontline fighting...

Too bad there wasn't as much book accuracy...he donned maille, a helm, and picked up a shield to fight at Helm's Deep. Would've been cool to see...I daresay the real book-accurate Aragorn could've gone toe-to-toe with Boromir, both bearing shields, and have come out on top. Experience is everything.

[BrianGrubbs]

Looking at Strider's kit from the movies, I think that the horseshoe roll you're talking about him using is actually just his cloak. I don't recall him ever having a cloak on in the early parts of the movie when that roll over his shoulder was visible. All his gear would have been in the (very small) roll hanging from his quiver. Now if we're talking book accuracy, on the trip from Bree to Rivendale, it makes a point of saying that Strider doesn't use a blanket, being comfortable with nothing more than his cloak.

Brian

[Mirimaran]

The roll is indeed just his cloak. I made the quiver a few years ago and mine does tend to want to slide a bit to the side to hand almost horizontal if it isn't held tight to the chest.

Ken