>>718059234
It can also just be a piece of metal strapped to the chest more than any properly made chest plate. Its hard to say without Tolkien to clarify. But then the end of the Third Age is also society pulling itself out of a dark age. Gloin mentions that the dwarves lost the knowledge on how to work metal like their ancestors could, but have improved in mining and construction. Surely the dwarves can manage making armor at least as good as the humans can, even in Gondor, so if they're pumping out plate armor from the shadow of what they used to be able to make, then you have to wonder what dwarf forges were producing that was so much better than plate armor.