Lord of the Rings Swords

From LoveToKnow Sci-Fi

The Lord of the Rings' swords are some of the most famous fictional swords today.

Real Swords Have Names

Since days of old, important warriors bore important weapons; these weapons were unique to them, often forged under mysterious or magical circumstances, or came to the bearer in unusual, often magical ways. Even before Arthur plucked Excalibur from the hand of the Lady of the Lake, these weapons have been almost characters in their own right, with names, histories and legends associated with them. The Lord of the Rings mythos is no exception.

The Swords of the Troll Hoard

Several important swords were discovered by heroes in The Hobbit, the briefer 'prequel' to The Lord of the Rings.

Early on in Bilbo's adventure traveling with the twelve dwarves and the Wizard Gandalf, they run afoul of a trio of trolls, who pop all the dwarves in bags. They spend some time debating the best way to prepare dwarf for trollish consumption - sitting on them to squash them to jelly, mincing them fine and boiling them, and so on. Just when it appears they have agreed on a method, one of them seems to reopen the debate, and the argument begins again.

In reality, Gandalf, who had left the party and fortuitously returned, was immitating their voices to keep them occupied so they would not notice the approach of dawn, for trolls, 'as everyone knows', have to be underground during the daylight hours, since light turns them to stone.

The freed dwarves, Bilbo and Gandalf locate and search the trolls' den, and find three impressive blades, Glamdring, Orcrist and Sting. Gandalf appropriates Glamdring to be his own sword, and the leader of the dwarves, Thorin Oakenshield, takes Orcrist to be his own. Orcrist was laid on Thorin's tomb after the Battle of Five Armies and warns the defenders of the Lonely Mountain of pending attacks.

Sting

Bilbo selected one of the troll-hoard weapons himself. This was actually a long knife, but was proportionally 'sword-length' for a hobbit. It, along with Gandalf's and Thorin's swords, was made by the Elves of Gondolin before the Fall, although how these weapons ever survived and came to Middle Earth is unknown. Because the swords, including Bilbo's knife, were meant to battle Orcs, they were forged so that they glowed with a faint blue light whenever Orcs were near.

Bilbo used his sword against the giant spiders of the Misty Mountains, and so effective was it that he named it Sting. It is this sword that he passes down to Frodo when his nephew accepts the role of Ring Bearer at the Council of Elrond in the first volume of The Lord of the Rings.

Narsil and Anduril

Narsil was already an ancient sword when it was first deployed against Sauron before the events of The Lord of the Rings. Elendil, the founder of the kingdom of Gondor, was its bearer, and when he fell, Narsil broke beneath him. His son Isildur took the broken shards, and cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand, temporarily defeating him and causing him to flee from his body. The shards of Narsil became heirlooms of the House of Isildur, even in exile, and were handed down to Aragorn as he attained his adult years.

When the One Ring is revealed, Narsil is reforged by elven smiths and renamed Anduril, which Aragorn takes into battle against Sauron again.

Narsil means 'firelight' and Anduril means 'Flame of the West'.