Merry's blade is destroyed during his attack on the Witch-king.īattle axes are especially favoured by Dwarves in Tolkien's writings Gimli uses the battle cry: Axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you! ( Khuzdul: Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!). Pippin Took made use of his dagger in the Battle of the Black Gate to slay a Troll-chief. Sam Gamgee left his beside Frodo in Cirith Ungol and later had it returned to him by Gandalf. He broke the blade when he fell from a horse, and left it behind in Rivendell, taking Bilbo's sword Sting instead. When the Nazgûl attacked Aragorn and the hobbits on Weathertop, Frodo slashed at one of them with his dagger but only damaged its cloak. The daggers had varying fates in The Lord of the Rings. One of these "Barrow-blades" – that given to Merry Brandybuck – proves instrumental in bringing about the death of the Witch-king. He gives them to Frodo Baggins and his Hobbit companions, for whom the daggers are effectively swords. Tom Bombadil recovers four magical daggers, forged by the Men of Westernesse to fight the powers of Angmar, from a tomb guarded by the Barrow-wight. Tolkien Encyclopedia, the weapon may owe something to the tradition of the " elf-shot" found in Old English medical texts and charms, where it denotes illnesses of presumed supernatural origin. Recurring ill effects from the wound contribute to Frodo's eventual departure to Valinor. The dark magic of the knife gravely affects Frodo's well-being, threatening to turn him into a wraith, especially because its detachable point migrated in Frodo's body for more than two weeks before it could be extracted, thus causing great damage. The Witch-king of Angmar, leader of the Nazgûl, used a magical dagger called a " Morgul-blade" to wound Frodo Baggins at Weathertop. There are some knives in Tolkien's fiction which do not have formal names, but nevertheless play important roles in the plot. įor The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Legolas possessed twin fighting knives carried in sheaths near his quiver. Shortly afterwards Saruman's throat was fatally cut with a knife borne by Wormtongue. In " The Scouring of the Shire", Saruman attempts to stab Frodo with a knife, but is foiled by the mithril shirt worn under his jacket. Weapons that were only knives or short swords for adult Men or Elves could function as formidable swords in the hands of Hobbits, a diminutive people. However, some individual knives are given more significance through naming (e.g. Knives are mentioned in Tolkien's works, sometimes as backup weapons-such as the unnamed long knife of Legolas the archer. Tolkien often mentions the use of shields together with one-handed swords. Both races have exceptions: Egalmoth of Gondolin used a curved sword and the Uruk-hai of Isengard used short, broad blades. Elves generally used straight swords while Orcs generally used curved swords. Tolkien writes that Elves and Dwarves produced the best swords (and other war gear) and that Elvish swords glowed blue in the presence of Orcs. Swords symbolized physical prowess in battle for Tolkien, following Northern European culture. Tolkien devised terms for specific types of weapons, such as lango (broad sword), eket, ecet (short sword), and lhang (cutlass, sword). pilindi (Hooker notes the similarity of the Latin pīlum, with cognates in the Old High German, Modern German, Old English, late Old Norse, and the Dutch. Bow: Noldorin Sindarin: peng also poetically cû ("arch"), Quenya: quinga.Axe: North Sindarin: hathol, Quenya: pelekko (Hooker notes the similarity of the Greek πέλεκυς pélekys: double-headed axe), Khuzdul: bark, pl.Dagger, knife: Noldorin Sindarin: sigil, Quenya: cirma, sicil.Sword: Noldorin Sindarin: magl, magol, North Sindarin magor, Quenya: makil, macil, Noldorin Sindarin: crist. Tolkien devised several constructed languages with terms for types of weapons. Īs in his sources, Tolkien's characters often gave names to their weapons, sometimes with runic inscriptions to show they are magical and have their own history and power. In Tolkien's writings, such Medieval weapons and armour are used by his fictional races, including Elves, Dwarves, Men, Hobbits, and Orcs. In this story, the Elves of Gondolin use the mail armour, swords, shields, spears, axes and bows of Northern European warfare. Tolkien established this relationship in The Fall of Gondolin, the first story in his legendarium to be written. His depiction of weapons and armour particularly reflect Northern European culture as seen in Beowulf and the Norse sagas. Tolkien modelled his fictional warfare on the Ancient and Early Medieval periods of history. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy writings, such as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. The Weapons and armour of Middle-earth are all those mentioned J.
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