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ardafanonarch · 3 months

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Hi omg I love this thank you for doing it! I have seen a lot about what named sword did or didn't or might have belonged to whom - do we actually know the names of any First Age swords and who wielded them? (other than Eol's cursed pair).

Thank you!

[Anon, this one got so long that I have divided it into 3 parts so people can navigate more easily to weapons that most interest them. Thanks so much for sending this ask, I went down many rabbit holes researching and learned some new things myself.]

The Iron Gang: Anglachel-Gurthang, Anguirel, Angrist

Swords of the First Age, Part 1 of 3

Anglachel

Meaning: Uncertain. Possibly a combination of ang “iron”, lach “flame” and êl “star” (Eldamo). Sindarin.

Maker: Eöl

Owned/wielded by: Eöl, Thingol, Beleg, (Gwindor), Túrin

Notable for: forged from meteoritic iron; given as fee to Thingol for leave to dwell in Nan Elmoth; slaying Beleg

Fate: Reforged in Nargothrond as Gurthang

Then Beleg chose Anglachel; and that was a sword of great worth, and it was so named because it was made of iron that fell from heaven as a blazing star; it would cleave all earth-delved iron. One other sword only in Middle-earth was like to it. That sword does not enter into this tale, though it was made of the same ore by the same smith; and that smith was Eöl the Dark Elf, who took Aredhel Turgon’s sister to wife. He gave Anglachel to Thingol as fee, which he begrudged, for leave to dwell in Nan Elmoth; but its mate Anguirel he kept, until it was stolen from him by Maeglin, his son. The Silmarillion, ‘Of Túrin Turambar’

Discussion

Anglachel and its mate Anguirel are remarkable weapons. Not only because they were forged from “star iron”, against which the mere iron ores of Earth were no match, but also — certainly in the case of Anglachel and probably likewise with Anguirel — they seem to have possessed a sort of dark power, even sentience.

When Thingol gives Anglachel to Beleg, Melian says:

‘There is malice in this sword. The dark heart of the smith still dwells in it. It will not love the hand it serves; neither will it abide with you long.’

Melian’s words, as usual, prove prescient: Anglachel goes on to be the instrument of Beleg’s demise, wielded against him by Túrin as Beleg attempts to cut the fetters holding his friend captive. Gwindor then briefly carries Anglachel, until he and Túrin come to the Pool of Ivrin and Túrin is released of the madness of his grief over Beleg. Túrin notes that the blade has blackened and become blunt, and Gwindor remarks:

‘This is a strange blade, and unlike any that I have seen in Middle-earth. It mourns for Beleg even as you do.’ The Children of Húrin, Chapter 9: Death of Beleg

The implication seems to be that Anglachel has weathered unnaturally after losing its master.

Presumably because of this damage, Anglachel is reforged in Nargothrond. We do not know who specifically reforged the swords, but it is popular fanon that Celebrimbor, who remained in Nargothrond following his father’s expulsion, may have been involved. After reforging, Anglachel becomes Gurthang.

Gurthang (Anglachel reforged)

Meaning: Iron of Death. Sindarin.

Maker: Eöl, reforged by smiths of Nargothrond

Owned/wielded by: Túrin

Notable for: slaying Glaurung, Brandir, Túrin

Fate: Broken under Túrin’s body in his suicide. Shards buried with him.

The sword Anglachel was forged anew for him by the cunning smiths of Nargothrond, and though ever black its edges shone with pale fire. The Silmarillion, ‘Of Túrin Turambar’ Then they lifted up Túrin, and saw that his sword was broken asunder. So passed all that he possessed. The Children of Húrin, Chapter 13: The Death of Túrin

Discussion

Anglachel’s seeming-sentience is amplified by its reforging as Gurthang. In this incarnation, the weapon frequently flickers and flames as if it houses a fire of its own. Most notably, when Túrin prepares to take his own life, Gurthang speaks:

Then he drew forth his sword, and said: 'Hail Gurthang, iron of death, you alone now remain! But what lord or loyalty do you know, save the hand that wields you? From no blood will you shrink. Will you take Túrin Turambar? Will you slay me swiftly?' And from the blade rang a cold voice in answer: 'Yes, I will drink your blood, that I may forget the blood of Beleg my master, and the blood of Brandir slain unjustly. I will slay you swiftly.' Then Túrin set the hilts upon the ground, and cast himself upon the point of Gurthang, and the black blade took his life. The Children of Húrin, Chapter 13: The Death of Túrin

A Tangent: The Enigma of the Sentient Sword

There is no explanation in the legendarium for why or how Gurthang speaks, but a speaking sword is an enduring feature of Túrin’s story that goes all the way back to the earliest version, Turambar and the Foalókë (c. 1917-19, published in The History of Middle-earth Vol. 2: The Book of Lost Tales Part Two). So why did Gurthang speak, and why was this feature so dear to Tolkien? Well, here’s a passage on the death of the hero of the Tale of Kullervo in the Kalevala, a Finnish epic that Tolkien read as a teenager and which was a major inspiration behind the story of Túrin.

Kullervo, Kalervo's offspring, Grasped the sharpened sword he carried, Looked upon the sword and turned it, And he questioned it and asked it, And he asked the sword's opinion, If it was disposed to slay him, To devour his guilty body, And his evil blood to swallow. Understood the sword his meaning, Understood the hero's question, And it answered him as follows: "Wherefore at thy heart's desire Should I not thy flesh devour, And drink up thy blood so evil? I who guiltless flesh have eaten, Drank the blood of those who sinned not?" Kalevala, Rune XXXVI, translated by W.F. Kirby (1907)

Very familiar, isn’t it? The existence of a talking sword in-universe provides opportunity for all sorts of imaginative explanations, but the influence of Kullervo offers, I think, a compelling Doylist one.

Finally, it’s common to read interpretations where Anglachel and Anguirel exhibit the same properties as Gurthang. But there’s not, to the best of my knowledge, explicit canonical evidence that “speech” was an ability these two swords had from the time of their forging by Eöl. (I was also fascinated to find, during research for this post, that Anglachel and Anguirel were probably not always black. I made a separate post about it.)

Anguirel

Meaning: Uncertain. Possibly a combination of Sindarin ang “iron”, (unattested) uir “fiery” (or Noldorin uir “eternity”), and êl “star” (Eldamo).

Maker: Eöl

Owned/wielded by: Eöl, Maeglin

Fate: Unknown; presumably lost in the fall of Gondolin

Discussion

Compared to Anglachel, we know little of the history of its mate Anguirel, save that it was stolen from Eöl by Maeglin, presumably at the time Maeglin left Nan Elmoth for Gondolin.

Angrist (knife)

Meaning: Iron Cleaver. Sindarin.

Maker: Telchar of Nogrod

Owned/wielded by: Curufin, Beren

Fate: Breaks in Beren’s attempt to cut a second Silmaril from Morgoth’s crown.

Then Beren did Curufin release; but took his horse and coat of mail, and took his knife there gleaming pale, hanging sheathless, wrought of steel. No flesh could leeches ever heal that point had pierced; for long ago the dwarves had made it, singing slow enchantments, where their hammers fell in Nogrod, ringing like a bell. Iron as tender wood it cleft, and sundered mail like woollen weft. But other hands its haft now held; its master lay by mortal felled. The Lay of Leithian, 3051-3063

Then Lúthien rising forbade the slaying of Curufin; but Beren despoiled him of his gear and weapons, and took his knife, Angrist. That knife was made by Telchar of Nogrod, and hung sheathless by his side; iron it would cleave as if it were green wood. The Silmarillion, ‘Of Beren and Lúthien’

Discussion

Although of a different maker (and of unknown metallic composition), Angrist has interesting similarities with Anglachel and Anguirel. Besides the initial ang- element, all three blades are noted for an ability to cut through iron, and both Anglachel and Angrist end up “turning against” their masters as a pivotal moment: Angrist by breaking as Beren tries to cut a second Silmaril from Morgoth’s crown, and Anglachel by being the instrument of Beleg's death. As Eöl is also noted to have learned from the Dwarves, some fans have imagined these three blades may have been forged from the same meteoritic iron, or at least to share some of the same “enchantment”.

Note that the quote from Lay of Leithian does not explicitly apply to Angrist, which is a name for Curufin’s knife that Tolkien first used in the 1937 Quenta Silmarillion.

Part 2 | Part 3

#weapons #anglachel #gurthang #anguirel #angrist #the children of hurin #the lay of leithian #kalevala #turin turambar #beleg #eol #maeglin #curufin #anon

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legitimatesatanspawn · 7 months

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Since you made the mistake of allowing me to ask you questions, here I am! Who, in your opinion, was the more unlucky between Hurin and Turin?

Oh god who had it worse? I hate comparing suffering but honestly they both had it really bad.

While Turin had the ability to travel among companions and find joy and ultimately had a terrible end, Hurin had to watch the whole thing and then live with the knowledge. We also don't know what Hurin endured alongside all that since he was trapped in Morgoth's castle and that place was compared to Hell on earth but explicitly run by the setting's hateful Lucifer.

But even if it was just imprisonment and suffering, Hurin was still a prisoner in Morgoth's grasp to know no peace or gentle grace. For decades.

Turin's deal was also a heavy mix of curses shoved onto him as well as his own arrogance and pride.

Much like Denethor when he psychically wrestled every time to use the Palantir against whatever poisonous shadow Sauron cast on the scrying tools, Hurin only saw what Morgoth's own powers allowed or maybe even reshaped. A twisted form of Sight that meant that much like someone depressed or cynical, Hurin only saw the worst things or saw things in the worst light. Which is why when he finally saw Thingol, he judged the elf harshly for what happened to their son and his daughter. (I say their son because Thingol may have treated Turin as his own son.)

On the flipside his greatest suffering was watching someone else suffer. His son and surviving daughter, unable to help them, unable to warn them... and in the aftermath forced to live with the knowledge.

Turin had moments of joy and the ability to choose freely what his actions were but everything was always brought to ruin.

I really can't choose who had it worse. Constant misery versus gradual horror. But if forced to, I'd have to go with Turin because he lived it.

For anyone who's like "who the hell are you talking about? Hurin? Turin? Are they dwarves since the Hobbit's dwarves had all those rhyming names?":

By the way trigger warnings for three counts of suicide and two unknowing incest. Everything else is setting typical violence and betrayals. Turin's story is a mix of Sigurd the Volsung, Beowulf, Oedipus, and Kullervo.

Hurin is one of the famous human heroes of the First Age. Hurin is also one of Elrond's great grand uncles through his half-elf father Earendil. Earendil is also the father of Elros who is the first Numenorian king (long story there) and by the way is Aragorn's ancestor (with about 6300 years between the birth of Elros's first son and Aragorn so there's a lot of time there). Half-Elves are able to choose whether they want to live life as an elf or life life as a human. Both choices have their ups and downs but the biggest thing is choosing long life over the unknown of what happens after humans die. As far as I can remember, no one is told what happens to humanity. Not even Mandos (the Valar Archangel God of the Dead), or if he does he keeps silent on the matter. This is part of why Arwen is able to choose to remain with Aragorn and why her choice hits Elrond so hard: because not only is this Luthien all over again but his own brother made the same choice just as Elrond chose like their father to be an elf for other reasons.

Earendil by the way is the "Evening Star's" pilot because of a lot of reasons. The light is from the silmaril on his fancy crown as he drives the enchanted ship. It's THAT bright. How the hell he sees with it on I don't know. It's bright enough to be mistaken for Venus for goodness sake.

Turin is Hurin's son and honestly the person who I would've loved to see a grim edgy AAA action game about instead of the wonderful then mess that the Shadow of Mordor/War games are. Of course, considering his life, it makes sense that he was skipped over for it. Because there were some really nasty bits in it. As hinted in the trigger warning.

Turin's life basically has him picking up cursed objects left and right and being an unlucky SoB. Like the family heirloom helmet? Turns out it's magic and nopes away any attempt to kill its wearer at least through a head-based deathblow. Swords break and arrows deflect. Which admittedly is good, but it won't be the only thing.

His mom sent him off for his safety, he was adopted by Luthien's father Thingol (could do worse than a hidden kingdom's king, honestly)… but one of Thingol's counselors hated him for being an outsider. Maybe also for being a human I'm not sure but the guy was a Grade A prick. Saeros would not let up on Turin and kept provoking him and trying to get him killed, which just caused an escalation in embarrassment and pain on his side… until the elf was forced to run buckass naked through the forest and fell to his death.

Apparently other people hated Turin too because Turin got booted out before Thingol could stop it. I like to think that Thingol was waiting for the right time to bring him back when things calm down but elves hold on to grudges like nobody's business (dwarves do too, as to mortal men, so its not like anyone's automatically in the right here).

By the way I've touched on Thingol and Luthien before here for those just dropping in.

So, like you do, Turin runs across a band of outlaws and tells them his name is something that basically means the Wronged One or the Betrayed. The bandits were quick to follow him because they liked how strong he was and then went along with his leadership after he killed their old boss for trying to do what outlaws often do. So instead of going around robbing people and doing horrible things to people, Turin used the group to hunt orcs.

His best friend Beleg was worried, got permission to go off, and tracked down where the bandits were later and joined them as Turin's subordinate. Although some of the members of the band weren't happy with this fancy ass stranger just making himself home there. One of the people least happy by this was Mim, a "petty dwarf" (not petty as in petty but he is that too but basically it's implied that the petty dwarves are descendants of dwarven exiles so…) because Beleg is an elf and good god there's so much bad blood between the two kinds you don't even know.

Mim barely put up with the outlaws because Turin offered him aid as apology for something. Mim would later sell them all out to Morgoth but in return for a promise that Turin would be spared. Then after Turin's death, Hurin would kill him for is part (however minor) in what happened to Turin but Mim would actually curse his treasure - including or maybe just the fancy necklace that was later combined with the Silmaril Thingol got Beren to get and would later play into Thingol's death so yes these things connect god help us.

But here's one of the fun things: Thingol gave Beleg the black sword Anglachel. This is important because unlike most swords, this one is not only meteoric iron but actually super cursed. It is with that sword that Turin unintentionally kills Beleg. The sword thirsts for blood in a way that no other should. By that metric it is a good sword. But… yeah. The sword had to be reforged as it actually mourned Beleg's death by turning chipped and dull so it became Gurthang.

Turin wielded the sword in battle and slew monsters with it, but it was also used to kill people too. I forget the full details but the dragon Glaurung pulled some Looney Tunes shit by telling Turin that his mother and sister were suffering. Instead of killing the dragon then and there, Turin dropped everything to go back to his original home of Dor-lomin and walked in on an empty house.

Just imagine it. Man runs from a battle field for about 150 miles only to walk in on an empty house.

Turin learns some stranger married a "kinswoman" (cousin? cousin to a sister-in-law to an uncle? I'm not sure) to claim his father's lands. Remember it's been about 25-27 years since Hurin was around so someone must've gone "oooh easy pickings". Turin learns through him that his mother isn't there, then kills the man in a rage like he's Hamlet shanking Claudius. Then runs back. To be fair the murder wasn't exactly of an innocent man since Brodda is said to have forced Aerin to marry him and also intended to have children with her but...

While Turin was running back to find the people he left behind to save his family, Aerin killed herself via fire (not an uncommon occurrence in the setting really), and the kin to Brodda ("Easterlings" who have been under Morgoth and Sauron's banner with the known lands of Middle Earth being one of the large pockets of resistance against them) used it to do even worse things to their people.

Turin believed that all this was what the evil fate would be and yes this is part of why I say he's arrogant and prideful, including the death of Finduilas (Gil-Galad's sister) because of his own foolishness. Considering Gil-Galad was fine with Elrond (at least we think it's the same Gil-Galad), I doubt that he holds his family responsible for his sister's death because I know there's a lot of other people who would. So Turin thinks that's the worst that can happen, that he's now the master of his own destiny.

You can probably hear Morgoth laughing.

But what I want to know is how the dragon - who he fought again years down the line - knew that the wife Turin took later was actually his younger sister (who he never met because his mom sent him away to Thingol) traumatized and possibly cursed into forgetting her past. ... Morgoth, probably Morgoth.

Yeah. Okay time to explain that.

Nienor, the surviving daughter of Hurin (because the other one died when she was 3 to one of Morgoth's attacks), had no memory of her life before meeting the band of orc hunters. She was found shivering in the dark, terrified and half-death from being unable to find any food in the wild. So she was named Ninel and the only peace she was able to find after dark was when pressed against Turin's side. Eventually they married and both found happiness in each other's arms. … But when Turin fought the dragon, it broke through the curse/trauma and made Nienor remember herself. With that horrible truth, Nienor threw herself and their unborn child off a cliff.

So that reveal combined with everything else in his life similarly drove Turin over the edge. He spoke to his sword basically going "in my hand you've killed without care for any but the hand that bears you, so seek my own heart's blood and end me quickly". And the damn sword spoke! Who knows if it's the first time or the last, but it spoke and basically said it wanted to wash out the blood of Beleg and the latest innocent man from its memory. So with that sword Turin killed himself.

As I said, Hurin later threw the fancy dwarven necklace (cursed by Mim) at Thingol's feet and stormed off. The necklace combined with the Silmaril led to the hidden kingdom being attacked and raided and ransacked because you do not send people to get Silmarils (Beren) and then expect to know peace especially not when there's at least one of Feanor's sons in the area who are oathsworn (cursed) to seek them out.

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