Chainmail

Chainmail is heavy first of all.  To make that suit of armor (above) took roughly 45,000 rings and weighs about 45 pounds (including the pants which are not pictured).  And guess what? It isn't even close to what they used in medieval times.  To make a battle worthy chain-mail suit, the rings were put together and then a rivet was driven through the overlapping ends to insure that the rings could not come open.  That means they had to put 45,000 rivets in every suit.  (And that is just a small suit.) And if they used the king-mail pattern, that means that they doubled each ring.  45,000 x 2 and a rivet was still driven through each ring. 

Impressed yet? Now let me tell you another awesome fact; In the battle in The Lord of the Rings, the orcs would have been crushed and the men would have won easily.  There wouldn't have been a major battle because it would have ended within a few short hours. 

Why?  Because the Orcs wore hardly anything and the men wore chain-mail suits.  Those suits (made the way they are portrayed) would have been unbreakable compared to the Orcs measly weapons. 

*Disclaimer: I have done extensive research on each of these weapons. I am aware that there are many different versions of each of these weapons. I am not trying to spread false information. If you know and can prove any information wrong, please let me know and I will fix my errors.  I have at least three references for all research on the weapons I will discuss through the challenge.