Anduril - Flame of the West

Hey all,

As many of you know, I collect the Lord of the Rings movie sword replicas...and so does Helen. Between us, we own several of the swords already. We now share our collection as one, but if we were to distinguish between the two we would find in Helen's own collection:

Herugrim - the sword of King Theodin. This is Helen's favourite personal sword. It is the newest that she's purchased for herself, and it is also the one that stands out easily in her collection for several reasons. For one thing, it is not an Elven blade. It is made for the King of Rohan...and the warriors of Rohan fight from horse back. Its thick blade...as with many swords...has a fuller. The fuller is the groove that runs down the centre of the blade...metal that is taken out at the points of the blade where it is least needed...where there will be less contact than on a place such as the edge...in order to make the blade lighter. This blade is unique in that there is a double-fuller. The cross guard of the hilt is also interesting in that it is designed to represent that which the people of Rohan hold so dear. It is therefore carved in the shape of two horses heads, and is commonly described as being in the shape of a heart...something that many men might find to be 'girly' if they aren't feeling very secure. Yet consider how how horses were revered in Rohan and you can understand, holding their equine brethren so close to their hearts as they did, why the Rohirim might have forged the cross guard thusly.

The sword of Arwen. This long elven blade is unique in style and only a cunning and graceful warrior could have wielded it. It is remarkably heavy...heavier than it looks, and the weight is well and truly in the blade. It is likely for this very reason that the sword never sees any battle time on screen. It should also be noted that there is no mention of the sword in The Lord of the Rings books proper, but it is one of the most beautiful swords seen on screen and it is the perfect addition to any collection.

The fighting knives of Legolas. These 'white knives' were used by the elf along with his bow...though it should be noted that in the book Logolas carried but one long white knife, whilst in the movie trilogy he carried two. The knives are long and graceful, perfectly accentuating the long graceful body of an elf. With them, Legolas was truly a formidable foe in battle, and could not be stopped. In the official movie collection, the White Knives are among the few pieces that actually have a sharpened edge. Also sharpened are the sword of Arwen Aragorn's Elven knife.

Glamdring, "The Foe Hammer" - the sword of Gandalf. This sword was originally mentioned in "The Hobbit" when Gandalf accompanies Bilbo, Thorin & Company on their quest to reclaim their long-lost treasure. After being ambushed by trolls, Gandalf saves the party by bringing about the turning of the trolls into stone. These three stone trolls are seen again in "The Fellowship of the Ring" by Frodo and Company. After vanquishing the trolls, Gandalf & Thorin each discover a sword in the trolls' treasure keep, one of them being Glamdring. Gandalf carries Glamdring with him throughout the remainder of The Hobbit and throughout the entire The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

This brings us to Sting, the sword of Frodo. In the same treasure stash that Gandalf obtained Glamdring, Bilbo discovered a large dagger. For a hobbit, the dagger made more than enough of a short sword. Bilbo used the sword throughout his adventures with the dwarves, and after "stinging" spiders in Mirkwood Forest, Bilbo named the sword "Sting". Interestingly enough, these spiders are the spawn of Shelob...the giant spider that stung Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. Bilbo passed Sting on to his nephew Frodo when he began his quest from Rivendell to destroy the One Ring, and it remained with Frodo throughout the trilogy.

Then there are the Shards of Narsil. Quite possibly, this is the most important and most famous sword in The Lord of the Rings. Narsil was the sword of King Elendil...Aaragorn Elessar's forefather. During the second age, Elendil fought Sauron but was felled and his sword was broken. His son, Isildur, took up the broken hilt of his father's sword and used it to cut The One Ring
from the hand of Sauron, thus vanquishing Sauron if only temporarily. Sauron returns in The Hobbit as "the necromancer" and is fought by Gandalf and chased from Mirkwood Forest...though we hear no details of the battle. Sauron returns to his dark tower in Mordor where he regains his strength...therefore bringing Eledil's heir, Aragorn, out of hiding. Aragorn takes up his forefather's sword...has it reforged...and takes also his long-foretold return as King Elessar.

And if the Shards of Narsil aren't the most famous and most important sword in all of Middle-earth's history, then it is this - Andruil, "Flame of the West". From the broken Shards of Narsil this blade was forged...Narsil born anew, but with an even greater light shining in its blade. Aragorn wore this blade through the majority of The Lord of the Rings (if you go by the book standard) and used it well in battle...most notably in the battle before the Black Gates of Mordor.

All of that having been said, I thought I'd leave you with a few pics of my very own copy of Anduril, which Helen graciously and lovingly purchased for me as a wedding gift.

The overall length is 52-7/8", making this the second largest sword of all of the Lord of the Rings sword replicas produced...beaten by the sword of the Witchking by a mere 1-3/4". This additional length is made up of the ludicrously long hilt of said sword, however, and when it comes to the business-end of the weapon, Anduril still holds the crown with a whopping 40-5/8" compared to the Witchking's 39-3/4"...all according to UC's official stats.

It is becoming more rare to find these days, as United Cutlery, the company that makes these fine Lord of the Rings replicas, has declared bankruptcy. Don't get me wrong...there are countless thousands of copies of this sword that have been made...but this one is ours...our precious...and we loves it.

Questions? Comments?