Shad is right about it being a Warbow here is a statement from Tolkien himself about Legolas "He was tall as a young tree, lithe, immensely strong, able swiftly to draw a great war-bow and shoot down a Nazgul, endowed with the tremendous vitality of Elvish bodies, so hard and resistant to hurt that he went only in light shoes over rock or through snow, the most tireless of all the Fellowship"

Legolas was using the Bow of Lothlorien which was given to him by Galadriel, and Tolkien even states that the bow was stronger and more powerful than the bow he carried from Mirkwood. It was an Elven Warbow.

So glad that Kramer could finally join you guys on set. I hope to see you guys work together more...and yeah a 5 hour long debate on LoTR is accurate...don't ask me how I know.

I remember in the second Narnia movie, during the castle night battle, Susan THROWS an arrow instead of shooting it, and it impales an armored Talmorian soldier. You guys should test THROWING arrows

The constant Shad smack talking from off camera is amazing. Also great to see Kramer physically with the crew. His knowledge and personality mixes so well with every one.

Keep in mind you are stabbing a stationary target but Legolas stabs a charging target so he has to put much less force into the thrust and need only maintain grip to prevent slipping, the enemy impales itself.

Kramer casually walking into the group might just make this my favorite Shadiversity video ever. That's quite the miles it took him to get there, love that you were able to make it happen.

legolas did pull almost by himself (hard to tell, in two towers,helms deep battle) both Aragorn and Gimli up the wall.

Shad is right! In the official companion book to the movies, The Lord Of The Rings Weapons of Warfare it gives clear detail about the bows which Legolas uses. His Lothlorien bow (which he has during the fight at amon hen) was "68 inches high when strung and could send an arrow 400 yards with great accuracy... There was some quality to the mallorn wood bow that kept its draw at around 150 pounds" it also mentions that the arrows were "about 40 inches long and slightly thinner than the Mirkwood arrows in order to keep the weight down; their green-gold flights were of Turkey feathers which has been trimmed into a diamond shape, their shafts dyed sage green and their long sleeved steel tips were of the mallorn leaf design that ensured maximum wound size and damage. Because of the high poundage, the nocks were reinforced with either bone or a special kind of flint found only in the Silverlode."

I feel like Legolas did the move not because it was a GOOD idea, but because he had already pulled the arrow out and was planning to shoot it, but realized he had an opponent that needed an emergency forever nap in front of him so he used what he had and it worked, then he resumed his regularly scheduled plan.

It was wonderful that Kramer appeared in the flesh. Elves don't often show themselves to humans these days. Legolas was cream of the crop, elven royalty wielding legendary equipment. What was merely plausible for you was easy for him...

Kramer is an excellent addition to the show. Great episode!

Kramer is a nice addition to the group both here and on the knights watch channel

Shads last 5 shots were pretty perfect. Really great video... To me; this is proven. An elf with natural superstrength, the keenest eye for stabbing and aiming and endless hours of muscle memory for knocking; totally possible.

Just the topic alone was a treat. Seeing Kramer is Icing on the cake. Glad to have you all together.

Judging by how everyone can slice through Uruk 'iron' armor, the uruk has the physical consistency of a light cream cheese anyway.

Im really excited to see y'all doing Legolas shield sliding down the stairs while shooting trick. Easiest recreation I can think is get a sled and go down a hill in the Shadlands trying to shoot while staying standing, might need someone to pull you if it doesnt slide, or wet the grass so it slides better, OH! or roll out some slick water slides, skip the shield and just try to stay standing and get off a couple arrows, all sound fun. I do not expect any of you to remotely succeed at this task but it will be REALLY FUNNY to watch you try lol.

Tolkien said himself, "He was tall as a young tree, lithe, immensely strong, able swiftly to draw a *great war-bow* and shoot down a Nazgûl..." Which is the only information we have, which I'd say essentially confirms that Legolas is using a stupidly powerful bow for a normal person. In the movies (of course, Tolkien was referring to the books, but the movies are essentially using the same stats, so I'd say it works for the argument), he shoots with some visible resistance, so I'd like to say he shoots a bow that is mostly unusable for a normal person, but about medium level for an exceptional elf, as Legolas is probably one of the strongest of elves, if not the strongest of his time, when it comes to using a bow at least.

Thing you guys aren't considering is the Uruk-hai's running momentum would, yes impale the neck on the arrow more easily but it would also carry forward and knock the arrow out of Legolas's hand. Unless Legolas is so strong he can literally pick up an Uruk with one hand. Which is pretty funny.

This is actually hilarious cause the last video was Tolkien themed and I just wrapped up watching the films myself

The fact that Legoas has literally thousands of years of practice with a bow... SOOOOOO, I feel that he can do whatever technique he wants and be nearly perfect with it. He absolutely can do the warbow draw in terms of strength.

So Glad Kramer got to be here for this!! Also Legolas is definitely a fighter with 20 dex and sharpshooter!

Legolas' original bow was the "Bow of Mirkwood", which was compact and very lightweight. Like Shad said, he gets an upgrade from Galadriel in the form of the "Bow of Galadhrim". It was larger and far more powerful than the Mirkwood Bow.

I absolutely love the collab! Y'all are amazing. I love you guys!

Big fan of the usual trio of Shad, Nate and Tyranth but Kramer fits so well its always great to have him involved specially in person like this.

Friggin Kramer made it down under!?!!!!!! Y'all know the next couple are going to be amazing!!

The competitiveness is quite fun. Im hoping you guys are able to do some more videos with kramer before he heads back

Glad that the filming went well with Kramer :)

Shad. Back quivers aren't for drawing and knocking, they're for carrying extra arrows to reload your side quiver.

I would LOVE to see more Lord of the Rings related videos!

Still crazy to know, that Danish archer Lars Andersen, got a faster rate of fire than movie Legolas with movie magic :D I know that Lars might not be using a superbow, but neither did Orlando Bloom :O

Shad became the raging out of control drunk of the show so gradually, I never even noticed.

Awesome to see Kramer on set with you guys.

i love how shad allways makes his own sound effects i bet he made "shwing" sounds playing with sticks as a kid

I laughed SO HARD when that arrow snapped. Imagine that actually happening in the movie!

Great video with Kramer. And is it just me or has Shad's health improved since he visited real castles?

He starts off using his own elven arrows. He later replaced them with orc arrows scavenged from various battles

Good to see Kramer finally arrived from is long quest and being with the team

So great to see Kramer, also I believe elves had average strength seeing as Boromir was physically the strongest member of the fellowship

Hey Shad! Can you try throwing an arrow a short distance to an enemy like Susan from Prince Caspian? It’s blink and you miss it in the final battle but I’m wondering about the realism and battle effectiveness. @Shadiversity

According to a quote attributed to Tolkien by word of mouth: _"He was tall as a young tree, lithe, immensely strong, able swiftly to draw a great war-bow and shoot down a Nazgûl, endowed with the tremendous vitality of Elvish bodies, so hard and resistant to hurt that he went only in light shoes over rock or through snow, the most tireless of all the Fellowship."_

Even if the Elves aren't naturally stronger, it still stands to reason that Legolas, as old and famed as he is, would have significantly trained every possible movement he would need for drawing a bow from any given angle and on any draw weight within his capabilities. Plus, along with the elven occular precision, they have an equally high degree of precision in their movements. Otherwise they wouldn't be able to move as quietly as they do. Their strength, at minimum, will be from decades of dedicated training with levels of focus far beyond the other races. And even among them, Legolas is lauded as a genius, iirc.

Yeah, no, Legolas is freakishly strong. He managed to pull up a combined weight of dangling Aragorn and Gimly, all the way up the Hornburg's wall. Both are big boys (+ gear) and Legolas just pulled them up without struggling much. Actually, he did it using the same muscle group he uses for shooting the bows, which means it's a great measure. Aragorn and Gimly each would weight about 100kg (Including weapons, clothes and armour). It means, Legolas comfortably pulled 200kg, which is 440lbs. Heaviest warbow poundage is about 240lbs, which is half of what he casually did by pulling those beefcakes up the wall. Conclusion: Legolas is an absolute unit.

Kramer raises an interesting point about the strength of elves compared to humans in Lord of the Rings, while elves that reached Valinor seem capable of insane feats of strength, such as Feanor who took a whole troop of balrogs to go down, Fingon who fought the lord of the Balrogs solo (but lost eventually), and Glorfindel (the first) who also soloed a Balrog and killed it (admittedly, at the cost of his own life), but you don't see any feats like that performed by Sylvan elves, and the fact that humans like Turin, Hurin, and Beren were viewed as notable heroes of the wars in Beleriand suggests that they were comparatively quite strong too. Elves=deft/resilient/quick/untiring... strong? depends.

Legolas was an exceptionally strong Elf, but Elves in general were no stronger than Men; they even tended to have less brute physical strength. See Children of Hurin, wherein Turin Turambar is said to have the grace of an Elf and the strength of a Man, and even Elven warriors flee from him in terror.

Also, how far away was that goblin Legolas shot when in the mines, in Fellowship?? Wouldn't he need a powerful bow to make the shot and have it be as deadly as it was??

"... and then loads it like a Chad on the proper side of the bow and sshoots it!" ^^I see what you did there.

Came for a shad vid, stayed for kramer love ❤😂 Love the ninja turtle team you guys make 😉

Legolas uses 2 bows in the books. I don't think its stated if the first bow is a war bow or just a hunting bow, but the second one is definitely a war bow. He gets the second bow in Lothlorien, and would have been using it in the scene where he stabs and then shoots. As for Legolas' strength; he is incredibly strong. He's shown pulling at least 600lbs up the wall of Helmsdeep with ease in the second movie.

It’s always a great joy to see a new Shadiversity video, Ill watch this after my chemistry test

Love seeing you guys bring Kramer on and do these videos together - thanks - great entertainment AND learning.

So glad to see Kramer join you guys! I hope both the channels continue to grow. Thanks for the great video

With the stabby part we have to take into consideration that a heavy weight champion wrestler sized uruk runs into the arrow at full speed. So you don't need much stabbing power I think, just good aim to find a soft spot

Oh cool. Been looking forward to the vids of Shad, Nate and Tyranth with Kramer. Looking forward to what other vids you make, both here on Shadiversity and over on Living Anachronism.

Kramer!!!!! I’ve been waiting for this moment since Shad first promoted Kramer’s channel. That is where I found his work. I appreciate both of these channels a lot. This team up is a treat. You know how little kids get super excited to have a guest to their house and they can barely contain themselves like an excited dog? You know how it’s almost annoying to everyone else who actually lives at the house? Shad is definitely giving off those excited little kid vibes in this video. Shad seems like one of those rare celebrities who gets star struck by people less famous than he is just because he knows and respects the new kid’s work. Got to love those sorts of people.

there was an official movie book that came out around the time of the LotR trilogy called weaponry of middle earth, here is a quote from it "When the Fellowship was forged Legolas carried with him a standard Mirkwood bow, or so it appeared. In appearance it was made of dark wood, carved in the style of Númenorean longbows and fashioned with a pattern of golden leaves. It was thought that Legolas made this bow himself in his youth and was made for firing from within tree canopies. When strung, this bow stood at 60 inches and could easily fire an arrow with great force across a 250-yard reach. The arrows of Mirkwood were stained to match the coloring of the bow and were sturdy. They were 30 inches long and pointed with narrow tips that were designed to pierce both armour and flesh. In Lórien, Legolas was given a bow blessed by the Lady Galadriel; it was carved from a single piece of mallorn heartwood. This bow was paler than his other, and was carved so it appeared to have leaves and vines climbing over it. When the Lorien bow was strung it measured 68 inches and could send an arrow 400 yards with great accuracy. The string of this bow was rumored to contain a single strand of the Lady Galadriel’s hair. The arrows of Lórien were 40 inches long and thinner in make than the Mirkwood arrows. The arrows were dyed green and their tips were crafted into the shape of the mallorn leaves, which greatly increased the damage inflicted on a target. The Lórien quiver was crafted from wood and covered with leather and was crafted with the design of a peacock. This quiver held two dozen arrows and was belted across Legolas’ shoulders and torso ensuring that it did not move during travelling or battle." The main thing is that evles have insane levels of accuracy, poise and strength and Legolas as a paragon of elves racial characteristics would be aware of things like small variation in angle and relative movement of Legolas, the arrow and the target.

I hope Kramer can stick around for a while...it was getting tiring having you guys searching for him in your adventures and never finding him!

So, I rewatched, and he's actually grasping over the Fletching when he stabs. The Urukai runs into it, with the arrow going into its mouth from the look of it. He then draws it out white knocking at the same time, saving some time. Also, looking at it, I'm pretty sure it's a Hunting Bow. It makes sense considering Elves are super human, he wouldnt need as heavy a draw.

An early bird may get the worm, but if you just skip sleep, you'll also get the worm.

I gasped a bit seeing Kramer walk on screen... I thought he'd been eternally 'lost in the woods'! Excellent collab!

Kramer! So glad that you could make it

This is probably my favorite video in a while! Can somebody explain why we are expecting that elves would use a lower poundage bow? Didn’t quite get that part. We also have to remember the “life or death” factor. Adrenaline has helped me do some pretty lightning fast stuff in the moment, and I’m not even an athlete. I don’t know if elves have something that passes for adrenaline, but if it does, I’ll bet it’s pretty insane. Might help account for speed, strength and accuracy

This video was awesome, not just for the topic, but the banter and the playfulness of everyone put a big smile on my face.

I missed this video, glad you sent the short highlighting it!

I've literally just been on a J.R.R. Tolkien binge and then this drops. LETSGO!

Hunting bow, like you said, Shad, in the archery in the trees video, that it is incredibly hard to fire in different positions from the usually stance leaning forward. Even though legolas has semi superstrength the way he uses it does not scream warbow user. Even when Joe Gibbs uses much lighter weight bows he does the classic warbow stance. And hunting bows are just better in the wild, as the Comanches show us.

Loving the content gentlemen, keep it up

Bow and arrow content here is really unique and love it everytime you guys post it. Good additions to the channel

Fingolfin fought Morgoth in 1-on-1 combat and almost won. I think elves have super-human strength, otherwise I'm not sure how he lasted as long as he did.

Legolas can do anything, even jumping while falling

love Shad's sound effects for stabbing Boromir

I legitimately laughed more during this video than I have at anything that's supposed to be a comedy in years. Kramer there with you guys is a phenomenal addition. Great video guys.

You should consider testing liquid fire hand siphons, though there'd be complications with identifying a formula and a siphon design. Legolas: Elven hunting bow, which is probably about a 150 pound draw, compared to an Elven war bow, which would be pushing 200+ pounds.

Considering legolas is above human strength and can do very precise strikes there is relatively little resistance to stab someone in the brain through the nose or eye socket. with some extra power, the arrow could go through the neck between two of the vertebrae severing the spinal cord, which would also be an instant kill shot

Shad asserted range combat dominance in this video xD Great video, horrible weather - Legolas knew what he was doing.

The insert clip of Shad with the spear was amazing 😂

Are any of you man enough to shoot an arrow through 12 axes like Ulysses?

Day unknown of asking for a video about the misconceptions of Medieval weddings and how they can be incorporated into stories. Also I want to know what the whole thing about bastard children is and why they were seen as bad.

All the best to you Shad and Co, I know this is a difficult time for you at the moment, So thanks for continuing to make awesome content for us! 👍

"What was that?" "That was... Shad Shut up!" LOL

Kramer is right about Elves not being physically stronger. They are however a bit taller, and a lot more experienced because they live for thousands of years.

I just love how you legit filmed in the rain!

Another great video, awesome when Kramer can join in. Really enjoy seeing you try fantasy stuff. As for realistic, did you see the move in Robin Hood (with Russell Crowe) where the archer stabs someone with his arrow then shoots it. I think the way that one was done is a more likely battlefield move. He had a grip right down by the head and was on the move to keep better distance. It happens sometime during the attack on the village where they were staying I want to say towards the end but it has been a while since I watched it. Anyway keep up the great work

Legolas is busy making toys with the other Elves at the North Pole.

The intro is honestly so badass 😂 awesome video too. Great work gents!

Seeing Kramer with you guys made my day thank you all much love to the shadiversity crew

I am glad to see Kramer finally found his way to you after getting lost.

You guys are such dorks but can't stop watching, great stuff.

Kramer together with these guys was a perfect combination. It's been a while since I laughed out loud because of a video, such funny banter. Would be awesome to see that happen more often, of only. Great job!

YOOOO! I am so glad to se Kramer there with you guys in person! Thats awsome!

Oh, in the D&D I play (1e/2e) Legolas is just an elf fighter with a bow specialization.

I love your intro so much. It's always so cool. Also shad is a beast with the 110 bl!

For clarification....in the movies, Legolas uses two different bows. The first one is the Mirkwood bow, the one we see him using in Moria. And it is considered to be less powerful then the bow he uses for the rest of the movies after arriving in Lothlorien. The bow given to him by Galadriel is described, by Tolkein, as a warbow. And in the movie, we're definitely seeing what looks to be a big sturdy powerful bow. I can understand the arguments of 'well he's firing it super fast, so it must be a lighter bow', but again, its a fantasy setting. You have a figure who has been alive for however many decades/centuries, with a physique that is greater then a normal human being's. I think that, given that condition, it'd be possible for him to do what he does even with a bow that would be considerably heavier and require greater force. Now yes, that is a kind of dumb defense, basically saying 'magic', but to be fair, you're trying to judge the capabilities of a fictional character from a race that doesn't exist in a setting with both creatures and characteristics that have not nor could be found on Earth. Some leeway in judging should be taken into account. That's like saying that technology in Star Wars can't exist because we don't have it. Yeah...we don't have it. YET. Doesn't mean we might not four hundred years from now. I mean heck, three hundred years ago, do you think anyone would think it'd be possible for hundreds of people to fly through the air on a daily basis, to travel beyond the limits of our planet, or that we'd be able to wipe out entire cities with a single weapon?

So happy to see Kramer here, too! Surprised you guys didn't grab a computer and look up info on Legolas first.....

Loved the level of shad's shadiness in this one do miss the o g videos but love the growth

I'm excited to see Kramer here! And great testing altogether, tho I think it'd be more accurate to have a bow of smth like 80lbs to represent one for super strength and such. Also I do side with Shad about Tyranth 'it's not stab it's a love touch!' xD

Great video guys Also so happy you finally found Kramer

The introduction of nearby Kramer (if anyone gets that reference we can be friends lol) made me unreasonably happy lol

Entertaining and informative. Thanks for the laughs.

Finally Kramer is back! Welcome aboard mate!