Narsil

"...and the sword of Elendil filled Orcs and Men with fear, for it shone with the light of the sun and of the moon, and it was named Narsil."

- The Silmarillion, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age

Narsil was the powerful sword wielded by King Elendil of the Dúnedain, during the war between the Last Alliance of Elves and Men and Sauron of Mordor, at the end of the Second Age.



The sword was forged during the First Age by the Dwarven smith Telchar, the most renowned weaponsmith of Nogrod. The sword was thus a "cousin" to the knife Angrist, which Beren used to cut a Silmaril from the crown of Morgoth.

The sword's name is an amalgamation of the elvish words Anar ("sun") and Isil ("Moon").

With the passing of Narsil to the kings of Gondor and Arnor, the tradition of having a new sword forged for each successive king became unnecessary.

Narsil's most famous bearer was Elendil. During the final battle between the Last Alliance and Mordor, Narsil was shattered when Elendil and Gil-galad attempted to fight Sauron themselves, and both were slain. However, wielding the hilt of the blade, Isildur succeeded in cutting the One Ring from Sauron's hand, this defeating Mordor and bringing temporary peace to Middle-earth.

Isildur took the shards home with him. Shortly before Isildur was killed in the second year of the Third Age in the disaster at the Gladden Fields, the shards were rescued by Ohtar, squire of Isildur's oldest son. He took them to Imladris, where they passed to the next king, Isildur's son, Valandil.

The shards of Narsil were passed down as an heirloom by the heirs to the throne of Gondor among the Dúnedain of the North. The sword's last owner was Aragorn, son of Arathorn.

Before the Fellowship of the Ring departed Rivendell on the Quest of the Ring, the shards of Narsil were reforged by the elves into Andúril, which Aragorn carried throughout the Quest and the War of the Ring.



Film Adaptations
In the book the sword was broken in two, and still seems to be a serviceable weapon.

In the 1978 film by Ralph Bakshi, Aragorn uses the sword, which still has the longer part of the blade attached to the hilt, as his primary weapon, before it is reforged.

In the motion pictures directed by Peter Jackson, Narsil was not broken in two but into several parts (which were kept at Rivendell), and is not reforged into Andúril until the third film. Aragorn uses an ordinary sword during the first two films. Prior to the third film, his attitude towards the sword is a mix of reverence and reluctance. On the one hand, he carefully replaces the hilt on its pedestal after Boromir carelessly lets it drop to the floor, but he is reluctant to claim possession of it, as it represents the kingship of Gondor. It is not until the third film that Arwen persuades Elrond to have the sword re-forged by the elves, and Elrond in turn persuades Aragorn to accept it, as the symbol of kingship with which he can command obedience from the Army of the Dead.

In a scene from the extended version, Aragorn challenges Sauron by contacting him via Saruman's Palantír and showing him "the sword of Elendil" re-forged.