Who would you want to fight alongside in Rohan's army and why?

[KL70]

Who would you want to fight alongside in Rohan's army and please say why, for each person's name.

 

[Bosko Took]

I'd sidle up to anyone Tolkien wanted in the next chapter, and stick to them like glue!

 

[Rivendell_librarian]

Being Merry sat in front of Eowyn would satisfy a personal fantasy.

 

[herlig9]

Grima Wormtongue. To spy on the guy.
Always liked a espionage game.

 

[Idril Celebrindal]

Whoever the guy who fought at the very back of the army was. Seems like the safest place to be.

 

[Tar-Elenion]

Whoever the guy who fought at the very back of the army was. Seems like the safest place to be.

Until the cavalry, in a flanking manouvre, charges in and smashes into the rear...

 

[Ent]

Until the cavalry, in a flanking manouvre, charges in and smashes into the rear...

I recall, when watching Gettysburg, (1993) at a point where the Confederate troops are being shelled while standing on the edges of the trees, Martin Sheen (as Robert E. Lee) makes the astute observation:
.. "One place is just as safe as another." (or "...just as good as another." The sapwood fails a bit on the exact phrasing.)

Seems applicable here - though there is some truth to being in the back in many cases. And with the Orc armies of course, they had no cavalry to do a flanking maneuver.

It was WAY back in the day when the Kings and Lords actually led their troops into battle.
It was well back in the day when they started 'bringing up the rear' instead, because it really was safer.
And it was a fair time ago when they were at least on sight, but didn't actually join in at all. (The American civil war was such a case., the lesser officers joining in, but the greater staying back in relative safety.)
Now, they don't even leave their offices or headquarters. They just send the ships, planes, bombs, drones, and grunts in to die.

The Ents always kept in mind - Treebeard led the way! There was no hesitation in him whatsoever.

(note: the quote above COULD be by Robert Duvall in Gods and Generals, 2003, instead. But I do see Sheen saying it in my aging mind. Now I fear I'll need to watch them both again.)

 

[Tar-Elenion]

Seems applicable here - though there is some truth to being in the back in many cases. And with the Orc armies of course, they had no cavalry to do a flanking maneuver.

"and a great pack of the dreadful Orcish wolfriders, feared by horses"
Battles of the Fords of Isen

"Then they often got the Wargs to help and shared the plunder with them. Sometimes they rode on wolves like men do on horses."
Out of the Frying Pan Into the Fire

"The Goblins are upon you! Bolg of the North is coming, O Dain! whose father you slew in Moria. Behold! the bats are above his army like a sea of locusts. They ride upon wolves and Wargs are in their train!”
The Clouds Burst

 

[Ent]

"and a great pack of the dreadful Orcish wolfriders, feared by horses"
Battles of the Fords of Isen

"Then they often got the Wargs to help and shared the plunder with them. Sometimes they rode on wolves like men do on horses."
Out of the Frying Pan Into the Fire

"The Goblins are upon you! Bolg of the North is coming, O Dain! whose father you slew in Moria. Behold! the bats are above his army like a sea of locusts. They ride upon wolves and Wargs are in their train!”
The Clouds Burst

Ah, 'tis true 'tis true. I forgot about the Wargs. And don't recall reading about them at Gondor, in which Rohan's army would have participated. I just seem to remember the packs of Orcs doing a bunch of running - except in The Hobbit.

I wonder if they coordinated and handled themselves as a cavalry, or if they were just a bunch of undiscsciplined creatures.

I must do more research on this matter..

 

[Idril Celebrindal]

Until the cavalry, in a flanking manouvre, charges in and smashes into the rear...

Good point. Then I'd want to fight next to whoever the guy right in the middle of the army was

 

[Elthir]

Do armies have cheerleaders?

Maybe they might be saferer, for
a while anyway, on the sidelines?

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

I wonder if they coordinated and handled themselves as a cavalry, or if they were just a bunch of undiscsciplined creatures.

There's a note by Tolkien on the line quoted by @Tar-Elenion from "The Battle of the Fords of Isen" in UT, on the Orcish wolfriders:

They were very swift and skilled in avoiding ordered men in close array, being used mostly to destroy isolated groups or to hunt down fugitives; but at need they would pass with reckless ferocity through any gaps in companies of horsemen, slashing at the bellies of the horses.

So not undisciplined, as they are "skilled", but operating like traditional light, rather than heavy, cavalry.

 

[Ent]

So very unlikely they would do a flanking maneuver, operating as a coordinated unit attacking the massed army from the rear.

And their skill and swiftness seems to be in AVOIDING direct contact with ordered men in close array, picking on the weaker, isolated folk and fugitives.

Not even quite up to light cavalry standards it seems to me.
Only fear would have driven them into a situation where they were engaging others, looking for 'gaps' in the companies of horsemen, and engaging with the horses, rather than the men themselves.

There is much contained in such a picture drawn by Tolkien. Much indeed.

 

[Trackz]

Who would you want to fight alongside in Rohan's army and please say why, for each person's name.

I'd just pull a reverse Eowyn and pretend to be a women so I got to stay home while all those other guys do the fighting, I'm a lover not a fighter (Translated: I'm a coward)

 

[Vardarianna]

Who would you want to fight alongside in Rohan's army and please say why, for each person's name.

I would fight beside Theodred at the Fords of Isen to the last.
Why? Because of all the Rohirrim characters, he did a lot in a short time and fell in battle. Was always intrigued about Theodred son of Theoden.

I would ride into battle along side Dernhelm, being disguised myself.
Why? We women have to stick together. The concept mentioned in the War of the Rohirrim movie of an order of shieldmaidens is an intriguing bit of fan-fiction I'd like to explore more.

 

[Beleg_Cúthalion]

I would fight by the side of Eowyn. I think I would have a better chance of survival.