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The Lady bowed her head, and she turned then to Boromir, and to him she gave a belt of gold; and to Merry and Pippin she gave small silver belts, each with a clasp wrought like a golden flower.
To Legolas she gave a bow such as the Galadhrim used, longer and stouter than the bows of Mirkwood, and strung with a string of elf-hair. With it went a quiver of arrows. ("LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring", Chapter VII, "FAREWELL TO LÓRIEN")

Now, I'm not an archery expert; but it's pretty obvious that an expert archer being given a bow that's quite different from the one he trained with all his life, with different draw strength, is NOT necessarily a good idea. Even if it's a better bow.

Did canon address this seeming issue of the gift in any way?

DVK-on-Ahch-To
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    Reject the edit, I approved. It was a mistake. – Vishvesh Dec 03 '15 at 06:24
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    The Lady knew what gifts were appropriate for each, aside from Gimli. By her giving Legolas the bow we can probably assume that he was capable of using it at least as well as the one he arrived with. – Xantec Dec 03 '15 at 06:49
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    A bow is a bow, is a bow... By your reasoning a person trained in firearms would be a shit shot if he was given a different gun to shoot?? She didnt give him a crossbow or a spear or some different thing that he couldnt use proficiently. She gave him a bow. You call Legolas an expert archer. Well... An expert would very quickly get a feel for the new weapon. That is why he is called an expert and not a novice. – Cherubel Dec 03 '15 at 08:18
  • I think it should take some time to get used to new weapon. But who knows Elves had super vision might not have mattered. – Vishvesh Dec 03 '15 at 10:20
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    “By your reasoning a person trained in firearms would be a shit shot if he was given a different gun to shoot??” Well, yeah, if you’ve shot small pistols for years and then you’re shooting a rifle, you probably won’t be that great. – Paul D. Waite Dec 03 '15 at 12:47
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    Legolas is nearly 3000 years old. Presumably he's practiced with more than one kind of bow in that time. – iayork Dec 03 '15 at 13:15
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    @Cherubel - if you ask any archery expert, different bow types (and especially draw strengths) are vastly different. It takes a LONG time to train an excellent archer on a specific bow. – DVK-on-Ahch-To Dec 03 '15 at 14:26
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    in the typical way of fantasy, weapon masters seem to always be able to use the weapons they find, have, or are given. Legolas as a bow master, of some thousands of years, i think will be able to manage using a different bow with little to no effort. – Himarm Dec 03 '15 at 14:28
  • @PaulD.Waite ... Comparing apples and oranges here dude. DVK is speaking about an archer expert. I used guns loosly. maybe it is just a grammar thing. Let me narrow it down so you dont misunderstand. A Pistol expert is a Pistol expert. no matter if you give him this or that model. the aiming/firing stance are same. the breathing techniques same. Yes some pistols have more recoil or are heavier but that is why an expert can figure that sht out coz all of it is so very, very similar as to make no difference to an expert. – Cherubel Dec 03 '15 at 14:40
  • I would probably be a terrible idea to change his bow just before a battle, but Legolas has days or week to get accostumed to his new and better +5 bow. – xDaizu Jun 16 '17 at 13:03

1 Answers1

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There is no canon matter discussing how this problem (and it appears it would be a problem) was addressed in the narrative.

I'm unaware of any writing describing what Tolkien knew about archery in general. He mentions the subject once, in the essay "On Fairy-stories", saying only, "I had and have a wholly unsatisfied desire to shoot well with a bow." One might infer from his use of the word well that he had some experience with a bow, but I have no confirmation of that. It seems at least possible, however, that he may have been aware of the possible difficulties in switching between bow types; whether or not this was the case, though, Tolkien never discussed a solution in the book, nor in any other writing that I'm aware of.

Speculating, one could guess that Legolas might have been "playing with his new toy" during the night hours while the Fellowship was camping. There was a week between him getting the bow and shooting the Nazgûl's mount (cf. Appendix B entries for 16 and 23 February 3019); perhaps this was enough time for Legolas to familiarize himself with the bow. Or perhaps he had had some experience with a long bow in another context.

Matt Gutting
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    He's certainly had a lot of time to practice with all sorts of different bows prior to the events in LotR. – Ellesedil Dec 03 '15 at 23:53