As you no doubt have seen in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, a lot of different weapons are used. Many among these weapons are swords, which are used throughout by Aragorn, Boromir, Gandalf (though he did mostly relied on his staff), and Frodo. After Galadriel gave her gifts to the fellowship, Merry and Pippin were also armed with daggers, Legolas carried a pair of knives, and Aragorn also had a knife given to him by Lord Celeborn.

Narsil and Anduril

The shards of Narsil, which were broken by Sauron in the battles with the Last Alliance, were taken and eventually reforged by the elves into Andúril.

The inscription on the pommel of Narsil is written in Quenya and says:

“Narsil essenya, macil meletya; Telchar carnéron Návarotesse”

which means “Narsil [is] my name, [a] mighty sword; Telchar made me in Nogrod”. The writing is Tengwar and the inscription is seen like this:

When the elves reforged the shards of Narsil into Andúril, they also put an inscription at the length of the blade:

“Nányë Andúril I né Narsil I macil Elendilo. Lercuvanten I móli Mordórëo. Isil”

“Sun. I am Anduril who once was Narsil, sword of Elendil. The slaves of Mordor shall flee from me. Moon”

This inscription is also in Quenya, but the writing is in Angerthas Eregion. While it is not said in the inscription, Andúril meant “Flame of the West”.

Gûd daedheloth

As I said earlier, Lord Celeborn also gave Aragorn a hunting knife called, “Gûd daedheloth” – “Foe of the Morgoth’s Realm”.

Now that we have looked at Aragorn’s weapons, let’s take a look at Gandalf’s Sword, Glamdring.

Glamdring

“Glamdring, Turgon aran Gondolin tortha gar a matha I vegil Glamdring gûd dae[dhe]lo[th], dam an Glamhoth”

“Glamdring, Turgon King [of] Gondolin wields, has and holds [the] sword Glamdring, Foe [of] Morgoth’s realm, hammer to [the] Din-horde”

To put the translation into simpler words: “Glamdring, Turgon, king of Gondolin, wields, has and holds the sword Glamdring, foe or Morgoth’s realm, hammer to the Orcs.”

Gandalf’s sword inscription is in Sindarin, and the writing is Cirth. We only see Gandalf using his sword rarely, but he does use it in Moria against the Balrog.

Sting

Now at last, we come to the ringbearer Frodo. His sword is Sting, given to him by Bilbo. The elves placed an inscription on the blade while he was in Rivendell. A great thing also comes with the sword, when orcs draw near, the sword glows blue for warning. This comes in extremely handy for Frodo.

“Maegnas aen estar nín – dagnir in yngyl im”

“[The] sharp-point I am called – [the] slayer of spiders I [am]”

The inscription literally means “Sting is my name, I am the spiders bane.” The inscription is in Sindarin, and the writing is Tengwar.

Hadhafang

So far we’ve covered the fellowship’s weapons. Lets take a look at Arwen’s sword.

“Aen estar Hadhafang I chathol hen, thand arod dan I thang an I Arwen.”

“[It is called Throng-cleaver this broadsword-blade, [a] defence noble against the [enemy] throng for [a] noble-lady.”

Then there was a last line, but it was dropped due to the lack of space:

“Idhril I hel en aran Gond Dolen”

“Idril, daughter of the king [of the] Hidden Rock [Gondolin]”

The inscription on Hadhafang comes from the story of how the Gondolindrim princess Idril wed a mortal man, Tuor, and bore him Eärendil, Elrond’s father, and Arwen’s grandfather. While that story is certainly present in the books, Hadhafang is not, and the idea that the sword was an ancestral heirloom of Elrond’s house was made up for the films. We see in the Fellowship of the Ring movie that Elrond wields this blade in the Last Alliance, and then in turn gives it to Arwen. The inscription is Sindarin, and the writing is Tengwar.

References

– Fellowship of the Word-Smiths
– Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Researched by Trishelle