In defence of Arwen

I thought this was interesting, and went some way towards answering all those people who dislike Arwen because she does nothing more strenuous in the war of the rings than to send Aragorn a banner that she had made herself.

From the Viking Answer Lady’s webpage (which is just a wonderful thing in many ways)

A famous type of weaving that was used for protection was the Raven Banner: these banners were recorded to have been carried by Danes attacking Belgium and northern France in the 9th and 10th centuries, as well as to Vikings under Sigifrid in the British Isles in 878, and in the Icelandic manuscripts of the 12th and 13th century the Raven Banner is found connected with Sigurðr Hlöðvisson Dyri (the Stout), Earl of Orkney, or with King Harald of Norway. In all these accounts, the magical banner has the power to terrify foemen; the ground of the banner which at rest was seen to be a shimmering white turned black in battle, or else the figure of a huge black raven in flight appeared on the white fabric, which was seen to magically flap its wings. The magical banner is always woven by the mother or sister of the warrior in question, with the magic woven into the fabric as it was made to protect the son or brother. Victory was always assured to the man whom the banner was carried before, but the banner bearer was often doomed to fall in battle (Orkneyinga saga, ch. 6, 11, 14, 17; Njáls saga, ch. 157; Lukman, 135-150).

So probably it was all down to Arwen’s magical abilities that Aragorn won the battles at all.

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