The handle-shard of Narsil before it became Anduril
- "...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.
History
The sword was forged during the First Age by the Dwarven smith Telchar, the most renowned weaponsmith of Nogrod. It had considerable magic powers, as it was able to slice the flesh of the Dark Lord Sauron, its powers were enough to tear any kind of armor or flesh. 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 a portmanteau of the elvish words Anar ("Sun") and Isil ("Moon").
Elendil with Narsil during the Second Age War of the Ring
With the passing of Narsil to the Kings of Numenor, 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 fought Sauron themselves, and although they defeated him they died in the process. After Sauron's defeat, Isildur cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand.
Isildur took the shards home with him. Shortly before Isildur was killed in the second year of the Third Age in the Disaster of 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.
Aragorn holding Andúril, the blade Narsil reforged
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
The shards of Narsil on display in Rivendell.
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.
Bilbo coming upon the shards while in Rivendell
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.
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