Weapon Descriptions of Middle-earth
Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 3:06 pm
Hail Rangers!
Since the subject was brought up, I start the thread with the research I did last year on the barrow-blades that Tom Bombadil gave the hobbits in FOTR. Feel free to add, comment, and reply!
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Dagger of Westernesse
Descriptions
For each of the hobbits he chose a dagger, long, leaf-shaped, and keen, of marvellous workmanship, damasked with serpent-forms in red and gold. They gleamed as he drew them from their black sheaths, wrought of some strange metal, light and strong, and set with many fiery stones. Whether by some virtue in these sheaths or because of the spell that lay upon the mound, the blades seemed untouched by time, unrusted, sharp, glittering in the sun.
"Old knives are long enough as swords for hobbit-people", he said. "Sharp blades are good to have, if Shire-folk go walking, east, south, or far away into dark and danger." Then he told them that these blades were forged many long years ago by Men of Westernesse: they were foes of the Dark Lord, but they were overcome by the evil king of Carn Dum in the Land of Angmar.
"Few now remember them", Tom muttered, "yet some still go wandering, sons of forgotten kings, walking in loneliness, guarding from evil things folk that are heedless."
Fog on the Barrow-Downs, The Fellowship of the Ring, page 184 Ballentine edition
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"See!" cried Aragorn. "Here we find tolkens!" He picked out from the pile of grim weapons two knives, leaf-bladed, damasked in gold and red; and searching further he found also the sheaths, black, set with small red gems. "No orc-tools these!" he said. "They were borne by the hobbits. Doubtless the Orcs despoiled them, but feared to keep the knives, knowing them for what they are; work of Westernesse, wound about with spells for the bane of Mordor. Well, now, if they still live, our friends are weaponless. I will take these things, hoping against hope, to give them back."
The Departure of Boromir, The Two Towers, page 20 Ballentine edition
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"Here are some treasures that you let fall", said Aragorn. "You will be glad to have them back." He loosened his belt from under his cloak, and took from it the two sheathed knives.
"Well!" said Merry. "I never expected to see those again! I marked a few with mine, but Ugluk took them from us. How he glared! At first I thought he was going to stab me, but he threw the things away, as if they burned him."
Flotsam and Jetsam, The Two Towers, page 199 Ballentine edition
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...And behold! there lay his weapon, but the blade was smoking like a dry branch that has been thrust in a fire; and as he watched it, it writhed and withered and was consumed.
So passed the sword of the Barrow-downs, work of Westernesse. But glad would he have been to know its fate who wrought it slowly so long ago in the North-kingdom when the Dunedain were young, and chief among their foes was the dread realm of Angmar and its sorcerer king. No other blade, not though mightier hands had wielded it, would have dealt that foe a wound so bitter, cleaving the undead flesh, breaking the spell that knit his unseen sinews to his will.
The Battle of the Pelennor Fields, The Return of the King, page 131 Ballentine edition
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He drew his sword and looked at it, and the intertwining shapes of red and gold; and the flowing characters of Numenor glinted like fire upon the blade.
The Black Gate Opens, The Return of the King, page 186 Ballentine edition
Then Pippin stabbed upwards, and the written blade of Westernesse pierced through the hide and went deep into the vitals of the troll, and his black blood came rushing out.
The Black Gate Opens, The Return of the King, page 187 Ballentine edition
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Since the subject was brought up, I start the thread with the research I did last year on the barrow-blades that Tom Bombadil gave the hobbits in FOTR. Feel free to add, comment, and reply!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dagger of Westernesse
Descriptions
For each of the hobbits he chose a dagger, long, leaf-shaped, and keen, of marvellous workmanship, damasked with serpent-forms in red and gold. They gleamed as he drew them from their black sheaths, wrought of some strange metal, light and strong, and set with many fiery stones. Whether by some virtue in these sheaths or because of the spell that lay upon the mound, the blades seemed untouched by time, unrusted, sharp, glittering in the sun.
"Old knives are long enough as swords for hobbit-people", he said. "Sharp blades are good to have, if Shire-folk go walking, east, south, or far away into dark and danger." Then he told them that these blades were forged many long years ago by Men of Westernesse: they were foes of the Dark Lord, but they were overcome by the evil king of Carn Dum in the Land of Angmar.
"Few now remember them", Tom muttered, "yet some still go wandering, sons of forgotten kings, walking in loneliness, guarding from evil things folk that are heedless."
Fog on the Barrow-Downs, The Fellowship of the Ring, page 184 Ballentine edition
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"See!" cried Aragorn. "Here we find tolkens!" He picked out from the pile of grim weapons two knives, leaf-bladed, damasked in gold and red; and searching further he found also the sheaths, black, set with small red gems. "No orc-tools these!" he said. "They were borne by the hobbits. Doubtless the Orcs despoiled them, but feared to keep the knives, knowing them for what they are; work of Westernesse, wound about with spells for the bane of Mordor. Well, now, if they still live, our friends are weaponless. I will take these things, hoping against hope, to give them back."
The Departure of Boromir, The Two Towers, page 20 Ballentine edition
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Here are some treasures that you let fall", said Aragorn. "You will be glad to have them back." He loosened his belt from under his cloak, and took from it the two sheathed knives.
"Well!" said Merry. "I never expected to see those again! I marked a few with mine, but Ugluk took them from us. How he glared! At first I thought he was going to stab me, but he threw the things away, as if they burned him."
Flotsam and Jetsam, The Two Towers, page 199 Ballentine edition
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
...And behold! there lay his weapon, but the blade was smoking like a dry branch that has been thrust in a fire; and as he watched it, it writhed and withered and was consumed.
So passed the sword of the Barrow-downs, work of Westernesse. But glad would he have been to know its fate who wrought it slowly so long ago in the North-kingdom when the Dunedain were young, and chief among their foes was the dread realm of Angmar and its sorcerer king. No other blade, not though mightier hands had wielded it, would have dealt that foe a wound so bitter, cleaving the undead flesh, breaking the spell that knit his unseen sinews to his will.
The Battle of the Pelennor Fields, The Return of the King, page 131 Ballentine edition
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He drew his sword and looked at it, and the intertwining shapes of red and gold; and the flowing characters of Numenor glinted like fire upon the blade.
The Black Gate Opens, The Return of the King, page 186 Ballentine edition
Then Pippin stabbed upwards, and the written blade of Westernesse pierced through the hide and went deep into the vitals of the troll, and his black blood came rushing out.
The Black Gate Opens, The Return of the King, page 187 Ballentine edition
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