Aeglos

Aeglos
Background Information
Owner(s)	Gil-galad
Appearances
Books	The Silmarillion
Films	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

This article is about the the weapon'. For the plant, see Aeglos (plant) '.

"Against Aeglos the spear of Gil-galad none could stand..."

—J.R.R. Tolkien

Aeglos or Aiglos was the famed glaive of Gil-galad.

History

Aeglos was the weapon of the last High King of the Ñoldor Gil-galad, and it was used during the War of the Last Alliance. It was greatly feared by the enemies, but was eventually broken after Gil-galad's death on SA 3431.

Etymology

Gil-galad in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.

Aeglos means "snow-point" or "icicle." The element aeg means "point" from ayak meaning "sharp, pointed". The element los means "snow". There are two variant spellings of this spear's name, Aiglos and Aeglos (though they are pronounced in the same way, and would be written identically in Elvish characters). Aiglos is the spelling in most earlier editions of The Lord of the Rings, but has been adjusted in more recent editions to Aeglos. It was called such because when orcs saw this spear, they would recognize it by its reputation as a weapon, which would bring a cold death to them.

Appearances in the Books and Films

In the books

• The Silmarillion
• The Fellowship of the Ring (novel)

In the films

• The Fellowship of the Ring (film)

Portrayal in adaptations

The Lord of the Rings film trilogy

Mark Ferguson portrays Gil-galad holding the spear Aeglos in the 2001 film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

In The Lord of the Rings film trilogy by Peter Jackson, Gil-galad, portrayed by Mark Ferguson, appears very briefly in the first film during the opening prologue sequence a few moments before Sauron enters the battle. He is never mentioned by name in any of the films, although he is mentioned in the behind the scenes documentaries included with the Extended Edition DVD of The Fellowship of the Ring.

Aeglos was the name of the spear that belonged to Gil-galad, the High King of the Ñoldor, who was slain during the War of the Last Alliance. In The Fellowship of the Ring, it was also called a lance, suggesting that Gil-galad used it as such on horseback. It stood nine feet high; the blade was recurved and almost two feet long and in the movie, it was etched in brass filigree. The spear must surely have been in Gil-galad's possession for some time before the Battle of Dagorlad, and may well have dated back to the First Age or even before, but Tolkien never wrote about it.

The blade bears the following Elvish inscription:

Gil-galad ech vae vaegannen matha
Aith heleg nín i orch gostatha
Nin cíniel na nguruthos
Hon ess nín istatha:

Aeglos

Gil-galad wields a well-made spear
The Orc will fear my point of ice
When he sees me, in fear of death
He will know my name: Aeglos

Translations around the World

Foreign Language	Translated name
Amharic	ዓአግሎስ
Arabic	إيعلوس ?
Armenian	Աեգլոս
Belarusian	Аеглос
Bengali	আএগ্লস
Bulgarian	Аеглос
Georgian	აეგლოს
Greek	Αεγλος
Gujarati	આએગ્લોસ
Hindi	आएग्लोस
Kazakh	Аеглос
Kurdish	ئه‌گلۆس ?
Kyrgyz	Аэглос
Macedonian	Аеглос
Mongolian	Аеглос
Nepali	आएग्लोस
Pashto	آېګلوس
Persian	اهگلوس
Russian	Аэглос
Sanskrit	आएग्लोस्
Serbian	Аеглос (Cyrillic) Aeglos (Latinised)
Sinhala	ආඑග්ලොස්
Tamil	ஆஎக்லொஸ்
Tajik	Аеглос
Telugu	ఆఎగ్లొస
Tigrinya	ዓአግሎስ
Ukrainian	Аеґлос
Uyghur	ئەگلوس
Uzbek	Аеглос (Cyrillic) Aeglos (Latinised)
Yiddish	ײַעגלאָס

External links

• Aeglos at Tolkien Gateway
• Aiglos Elvish inscriptions