LOTR: Two Towers Question (SPOILERS)

[Guest Brush with Greatness]

Alright, what was the deal with them blowing up the wall there at Helm's Deep?

 

I mean, if they have explosives, then they should in all likelihood have gunpowder and if they have gunpowder why no guns?

 

Was it the same in the book or what?

 

That part really bothered me. And the answer to the question better not be some wizard shit.

[The Dames 0]

There were bombs, but they were extremely hard to make and very crude. Back then, they didn't have guns...

 

Dames

[Guest Downhome]

Or we could just say it was made from something we have no fucking idea about, like something that doesn't even exist. It is fantasy ya know, so suspend your belief.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

Maybe that orc was from Palestine...

[Guest TUS_02]

The best part of that scene was that there were hundreds of orcs standing around with torches, yet they wait until the olympic running Urak-hai with with the WHITE TORCH OF DOOM ran to it.

[Guest Lord of The Curry]

The fire is called the Devilry of Orthanc, and it's basically the grain/pebble type stuff we see Saruman pouring into the stone jar before the battle of Helms Deep.

[Guest cabbageboy]

Yeah I just figured it was a special powder Christopher Lee conjured up specifically for the wall. He probably didn't find it feasible to give every one of his 10,000 "shit monsters" (as my dad calls em) a bomb or primitive gun.

[Guest Mattdotcom]

If you pay attention to details, when Saruman is pouring the powder, Gríma is watching him do it with a candle. He gets closer and Saruman stops him and pushes him back.

 

Reminded me of Army of Darkness. Peter Jackson is a big fan of the Evil Dead series, thus explaining one of his early movies (guess which one...). I also thought the ghosts in the swamp resembled Deadites.

[Guest Grand Slam]

Well, to start with, the existance of gunpowder does not automatically mean you have guns. A gun is a very specific application of technology, almost like saying if you had copper wire, you could have a computer.

 

Also, if you look at the grain size it is huge. Far too large to do anything but explode, and if you know anything about guns, the gunpowder doesn't explode so much as burn really, really fast.

 

Besides, remember that way back in the 7th century, they had Greek Fir, which science has been trying (and failing) to reproduce ever since.

 

Metaphorically, it is a great "industry v. nature" symbol.

[Guest EQ]

There were bombs, but they were extremely hard to make and very crude. Back then, they didn't have guns...

Back then? It's not like this shit took place years ago man... In the fantasy world of Middle Earth, there could have been guns...

 

j00 would never know!

[The Dames 0]

There were bombs, but they were extremely hard to make and very crude.  Back then, they didn't have guns...

Back then? It's not like this shit took place years ago man...

 

From what I was told, this all takes place B.C. Either way, in Tolkien's world, there were no guns.

 

Dames