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Narsil was a longsword wielded by King Elendil during the War of the Last Alliance, and used by his son, Isildur, to cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand during the final battle of that war, being shattered in the process. It consequently was known as the Sword that was Broken.

It was later reforged into Andúril, and would become the sword of Aragorn II Elessar.

History

The sword was forged during the First Age by the famed Dwarven-smith Telchar of Nogrod; its knife mate was Angrist.

Second Age

The sword was presumably taken to Númenor, where it eventually became the property of the Lords of Andúnië. Nothing is known of Narsil's owners in this time, save that the sword eventually passed to Elendil of Andúnië.

War of the Last Alliance

During the final battle between the Last Alliance and Mordor, Narsil broke into two pieces when Elendil and Gil-galad fought Sauron themselves and were slain. Taking up the handle-shard of Narsil after his father's defeat, Isildur cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand, defeating him.

Isildur took the shards home with him. Shortly before he was killed in the second year of the Third Age in the Disaster of the Gladden Fields, Isildur gave the shards to his squire Ohtar and commanded him to escape if he could. Ohtar did so and took the shards to Rivendell, where they passed to the next king, Isildur's son, Valandil.[2]

Third Age

The shards of Narsil were passed down as an heirloom by the heirs of Isildur among the Dúnedain of the North. The sword's last owner was Aragorn, son of Arathorn.[3]

War of the Ring

Before the Fellowship of the Ring departed Rivendell on the Quest of the Ring, the shards of Narsil were re-forged by the Elves into Andúril, which Aragorn carried into the Battle of the Pelennor Fields and the Battle of the Black Gate.

Etymology

In Quenya, Narsil means "Red and white flame", from nár ("fire) and thil ("white flame").[4] It symbolizes the Sun and Moon, the "chief heavenly lights, as enemies of darkness".[5]

Other versions of the legendarium

In other writings, Narsil was named Branding, after it was reforged into Andúril.[6]

Portrayal in adaptations

Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings

In the The Lord of the Rings (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.

The Lord of the Rings film trilogy

Sword narsil

The shards of Narsil on display in Rivendell

In The Lord of the Rings film trilogy 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.

Bilbo narsil

Bilbo coming upon the shards while in Rivendell

In a scene from the extended version (which also appears in the book), Aragorn challenges Sauron by contacting him via the palantír of Orthanc and showing him "the sword of Elendil" re-forged.

Comedian Stephen Colbert owns the sword model used for Andúril as seen used by Aragorn.

The Hobbit film trilogy

Narsil briefly appears in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition.

Translations

Foreign Language Translated name
Amharic ኛርሲል
Arabic نارسيل
Armenian Նարսիլ
Belarusian Cyrillic Нарсіль
Bengali নারশীল
Bulgarian Cyrillic Нарсил
Catalan Nàrsil
Chinese (Hong Kong) 納希爾聖劍
Chinese (Mandarin) 纳熙尔
Georgian ნარსილი
Greek Ναρσιλ
Gujarati નરસીલ
Hebrew נארסיל
Hindi णर्सिल
Japanese ナルシール
Kazakh Нарсіл (Cyrillic) ?
Korean 나르실
Kyrgyz Cyrillic Нарсил
Macedonian Cyrillic Нарсил
Marathi नरसील
Mongolian Cyrillic Нарсил
Nepalese नार्सिल
Persian نارسیل
Punjabi ਨਅਰਸਿਲ
Russian Нарсил
Serbian Нарсил (Cyrillic) Narsil (Latin)
Sinhalese නර්සිල්
Tajik Cyrillic Нарсил
Tamil நர்ஸில்
Telugu నర్సిల్
Ukrainian Cyrillic Нарсіл
Urdu نآرسال
Uzbek Нарсил (Cyrillic) Narsil (Latin)
Yiddish נאַרסיל


References

  1. The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, Book Three, Chapter VI: "The King of the Golden Hall"
  2. 2.0 2.1 The Silmarillion, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age
  3. The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book Two, Chapter II: "The Council of Elrond"
  4. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. V: The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Three: "The Etymologies"
  5. The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, 347 To Richard Jeffery
  6. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. VIII: The War of the Ring, Part Three: Minas Tirith, IX: "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields", Notes
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