#Glamdring

[vertigoartgore]

Lord of the Rings's Gandalf the grey by artist Matías Bergara.

[azalearanger]

I woke up this morning thinking about how crazy it must have been for Elrond when Gandalf pulls up with Thorin&Co to Rivendell with nothing other than great-grandpa Turgon's sword. The sword that he (speculatively) died with in Gondolin. Like how-- what are the chances that this sword makes it out of the valley, across Beleriand, over the Ered Luin, and into a troll cave the the company just happens to stumble across.

Can you imagine how crazy it would have been for Glorfindel???? I haven't read the hobbit in a while so idk if my guy Glorfindel was back and in Rivendell at this point but omg if he was, and he saw the sword of his king and its mate right before his very eyes, an age after he saw Gondolin fall... yeah think about that

[mithrandirl]

THE LORD OF THE RINGS (1978) dir. Ralph Bakshi

[whiteladyofithilien]

"don't the great tales ever end?"

The endless carry over from the ancient history of Middle Earth (Silmarillion etc) to the last place Tolkien brings us in the story of the lands is always mind-blowing. You always find something new that's actually very old and some other connection to the past.

The fact that Frodo and Sam using the phial of Galadriel to fight Shelob is just a continuation of the story of the Silmarils. For Shelob's mother was Ungoliant who poisoned the trees, the trees whose light was held in the Silmarils. The light that ended up in the sky on Earendil's ship. The light of Earendil that is in the phial used to ward off the child of the monster that slew the trees.

The sword that smites the Balrog of Moria is found by chance in a troll hoard. But it was forged in Gondolin when Balrogs were much more of a concern. Any lesser sword would have failed to slay the Balrog.

Just like any lesser dagger than Sting would have failed to wound Shelob and cut through her webs.

There's dozens of moments like this throughout the works of Tolkien where the pattern of history in his world weaves in an essential piece from the past of his world. The great tales never truly end.

[dr3amfl0wer]

The origins of Sting

aka the headcannon I thought about while I was dying from boredom at work today

They find those swords in the Hobbit, in the Troll’s cave. Glamdring, Orcrist, and a tiny blade which Bilbo later calls Sting, and gives it to Frodo.

It is a known fact that Glamdring belonged to Turgon, King of Gondolin - Elrond’s grandfather.

But, if you think a little further from that, he had a son. Ëarendil, who was only 6-7 the time Gondolin fell. Which means, he was a kid, just a small child. And therefore, him, a small child needed a weapon equally small. One that the Dwarves and grown Elves might call a letter-opener.

But Bilbo is a Hobbit, he is small, and he calls it Sting after he uses it against the giant spiders of Mirkwood.

And he has no idea Sting is something more, something more legendary, until he meets Lord Glorfindel in Elrond’s house, after leaving the Shire forever.

And then, the twice born Balrog Slayer, mighty Elf lord tells the Hobbit a story, about a small Elven child - Ëarendil, Father of Lord Elrond of Rivendell.

The same Ëarendil who later sails to Valinor to convince the Valar to fight against Morgoth, the same Ëarendil who forever carries the Evening Star in the sky.

Bilbo has no idea how mighty his sword was until then.

And then don’t forget about Orcrist, Thorin’s sword, who was once Glorfindel’s. But that headcannon is for later, for I can’t explain it yet, because it hasn’t born in my mind yet - but it will, eventually.

[aragornsrockcollection]

If we consider that Glamdring was made for Turgon… who is in the running for Tallest Elf, a title with steep competition that must put him at 8ft+… well, I’m not a weapon expert, but Glamdring must be long as hell?

And Gandalf is tall… but we’re never told that he in his Istari form is freakishly tall amongst men.

So I kind of wonder… was it a shortsword for Turgon, or does Gandalf wielding it just look slightly comical?

Anime style huge sword on an old man.

[ozimiri]

Glamdring and Orcrist in the Hobbit Trilogy

Rewatching the Hobbit movies again, and I noticed something fascinating about Orcrist & Glamdring, the swords that Gandalf & the company find in the troll hoard.

Elrond identifies the sword Gandalf carries as Glamdring, the sword of the King of Gondolin, Turgon son of Nolofinwe. Turgon is Elrond's grandfather: Turgon's daughter Idril Celebrindal is mother to Eärendil, Elrond's father.

And after that, he hands it back. He and Gandalf don't say anything to each other about how it technically belonged to Elrond's grandfather. Elrond has a hefty claim on that sword through family inheritance alone, yet he says nothing about it.

Meanwhile this little shit:

Legolas. Honey. You are actually the only elvish prince in all of Middle-Earth who has zero claim to that sword.

Gondolin was a Noldor city, and Turgon was a Noldor king of the line of Finwe. Legolas and Thranduil are Grey-elves, and as far as we know, they have no family connections to the Noldor. In fact the line of Thranduil is notable for being one of the only lines of elven royalty still in power who were never majority or partially Noldor. (Unless Legolas's dead mother was Noldo--but even so, it seems weird that she would be and this would have zero impact on Legolas, until the moment he sees a shiny and suddenly it's essential to his identity.)

And it's not as though Legolas doesn't know what it is. He identifies it on sight as being from Gondolin, and of Noldor make: "Echannen i·vegil hen vi·nGondolin - magannen nan·Gelydh."

I know that it's an elven sword being carried around by a bunch of dwarves. Legolas does have more ties to it than Thorin. But not that much more, and not anything close to Elrond.

It speaks to the themes of greed, worthiness, and legacy that are wrapped up in these films. As soon as Legolas sees that sword, it lights something in him that makes him suspicious of Thorin and the company--he desires it. Meanwhile Elrond has an actual claim on it, yet he doesn't voice that. He doesn't need it - for his own identity, or for his own use. It shows how much growing Legolas has to do, and how much Elrond has been through.

(P.S. - it also fascinates me that Glamdring is the famous sword that's shown, because Turgon wasn't exactly known for his fighting during the first age. He literally took all of his people and hid in Gondolin. He fought in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, but he wasn't involved in the harrying of Morgoth and his forces to any serious extent before that or after. So why this sword? Why it, and not Maedhros or Fingon or Finrod's swords?)

[ardafanonarch]

The Others: Ringil, Dagmor, Glamdring, Orcrist, Sting

Swords of the First Age, Part 3 of 3

[This is a continuation of the response to this ask]

Ringil

Meaning: From ringe- “cold”. Quenya. (Eldamo).

Maker: Unknown

Owned/wielded by: Fingolfin

Notable for: wounding Morgoth seven times and hewing his foot.

Fate: Unknown.

But Fingolfin gleamed beneath it as a star; for his mail was overlaid with silver, and his blue shield was set with crystals; and he drew his sword Ringil, that glittered like ice. The Silmarillion, ‘Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin’

Discussion

We don’t know a lot about Ringil besides its epic, climactic moment. Who made it? Was it brought from Valinor or made in Beleriand? Did it somehow survive Fingolfin’s fall? Lots of room for the imagination to roam.

Dagmor

Meaning: Uncertain. Possibly “Slayer of Darkness”, combining dag- “slay” and môr “darkness”. Sindarin. (Eldamo).

Maker: Unknown

Owned/wielded by: Beren

Fate: Unknown

Danger he sought and death pursued, and thus escaped the doom he wooed, and deeds of breathless daring wrought alone, of which the rumour brought new hope to many a broken man. They whispered 'Beren,' and began in secret swords to whet, and soft by shrouded hearths at evening oft songs they would sing of Beren's bow, of Dagmor his sword… Lay of Leithian Recommenced, 503-12

This is the only mention of Beren’s sword’s name.

From the Trolls' Lair

There were lots of clothes, too, hanging on the walls—too small for trolls, I am afraid they belonged to victims—and among them were several swords of various makes, shapes, and sizes. Two caught their eyes particularly, because of their beautiful scabbards and jewelled hilts. Gandalf and Thorin each took one of these; and Bilbo took a knife in a leather sheath. It would have made only a tiny pocket-knife for a troll, but it was as good as a short sword for the hobbit. The Hobbit, Chapter 2: Roast Mutton Elrond knew all about runes of every kind. That day he looked at the swords they had brought from the trolls' lair, and he said: ‘These are not troll make. They are old swords, very old swords of the High Elves of the West, my kin. They were made in Gondolin for the Goblin wars. They must have come from a dragon's hoard or goblin plunder, for dragons and goblins destroyed that city many ages ago. This, Thorin, the runes name Orcrist, the Goblin cleaver in the ancient tongue of Gondolin; it was a famous blade. This, Gandalf, was Glamdring, Foehammer that the king of Gondolin once wore. The Hobbit, Chapter 3: A Short Rest

Glamdring

Meaning: Foehammer. Sindarin. Called Beater by the goblins.

Maker: Elves of Gondolin

Notable for: slaying the Great Goblin.

Owned/wielded by: Turgon, Gandalf

Fate: Unknown

Discussion

Glamdring is a significant First Age weapon for having been the sword of Turgon, though no mention of it is made in the “Silmarillion” legends, as with the other “Troll’s lair” blades. (Tolkien never returned to edit or rewrite the narrative version of the story of the fall of Gondolin — other than the unfinished ‘Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin’, which ends with Tuor’s arrival to the Hidden City — after the publication of The Hobbit; he may have intended to incorporate Glamdring and Orcrist into the legends and never got around to it.)

As the only weapon known to have been in Gandalf’s possession in his last standoff with Dúrin’s Bane, Glamdring may have dealt the death blow to the Balrog. It is not known whether Gandalf took Glamdring to the Undying Lands when he departed or left it in Middle-earth.

Orcrist

Meaning: Goblin Cleaver. Sindarin. Called Biter by the goblins.

Maker: Elves of Gondolin

Owned by: Unknown; Thorin Oakenshield (taken from him in Mirkwood)

Fate: Placed by Thranduil on Thorin’s tomb.

It had killed hundreds of goblins in its time, when the fair elves of Gondolin hunted them in the hills or did battle before their walls. They had called it Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver, but thegoblins called it simply Biter. They hated it and hated worse any one that carried it. The Hobbit, Chapter 4: Over Hill and Under Hill Upon his tomb the Elvenking then laid Orcrist, the elvish sword that had been taken from Thorin in captivity. It is said in songs that it gleamed ever in the dark if foes approached, and the fortress of the dwarves could not be taken by surprise. The Hobbit, Chapter 18: The Return Journey

Discussion

Though Elrond says Orcrist was a “famous blade” he does not say to whom it belonged. As Gondolin had no shortage of great warriors and other nobles, there is ample opportunity for the imagination to run wild.

Sting (dagger)

Meaning: Any previous name unknown; named by Bilbo after he killed a spider of Mirkwood.

Maker: Presumably also Elves of Gondolin.

Owned by: Unknown; Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee

Notable for: slaying Shelob.

Fate: Unknown.

Somehow the killing of the giant spider, all alone by himself in the dark without the help of the wizard or the dwarves or of anyone else, made a great difference to Mr. Baggins. He felt a different person, and much fiercer and bolder in spite of an empty stomach, as he wiped his sword on the grass and put it back into its sheath. “I will give you a name,” he said to it, “and I shall call you Sting.” The Hobbit, Chapter 8: Flies and Spider

Discussion

Sting, as a dagger, may not have been an especially significant weapon in the First Age, though of course one can always imagine tales for it involving well-known canonical characters! As with Glamdring, we do not know whether Sam took it with him when he sailed or not.

Finally: Elrond surmises that the “Troll’s lair” weapons survived through multiple plunderings over the Ages — but it’s not a sure thing. There’s room to invent other histories for these blades.

Tangent: Glowing Blue

The ability to glow blue in the presence of Orcs seems to have been a feature unique to these three Gondolin-forged blades. Whether or not other Elven weapons had this ability is unknown, though it’s not implausible that they would possess this or other “magical” properties. For those who enjoy coming up with explanations, the “science” behind the blue glow is also left to the imagination.

Research

Note that these websites contain some inaccuracies and incomplete citations and were used to help with finding quotations.

The Tolkien Forum: Weapons

Wikipedia: List of weapons and armour in Middle-earth

Elven Swords by Iain Norman (This one is an interesting and well-researched essay comparing the sword designs in the Jackson films to Tolkien’s canon; accurate info to the best of my knowledge)

Tolkien Gateway

Part 1 | Part 2

[krokonoko]

Tsareena uses Charm! It's very effective against Ceruledge! (she/her for both)

[yakave]

“Aragorn, king in exile”

Redesign for Aragorn, son of Arathorn, after leaving the country of Lorien, together with the main weapons of the fellowship of the ring.

[figjelly]

This basket has held so many contented kitties

[simpleman193]

And maybe a sword 🗡

[superdorf1]

Sword of the day (1/21/2025): Glamdring

The original prop by WETA Workshop, used in the Peter Jackson LOTR movies. There are no words in my mind for this sword. Or rather, there are too many words, and they're not the right ones. I'm not sure how to talk about Glamdring. I can tell you lots of things about it, of course. It's the sword Gandalf uses in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It is of elven make, once borne by Turgon king of Gondolin. It glows blue in the presence of orcs, who so fear it that they still remember its nickname ("Beater") many centuries after Turgon's death. Gandalf finds it in a troll cave, recognizing its great age and power despite its squalid surroundings. He learns from Elrond the sword's name ("Foehammer" in the common tongue), and carries it with him in all his travels thereafter - even into the depths of Moria. But that's not what I want to talk about. Not exactly, anyway. I read Tolkien's books religiously growing up. They were the loom on which my imagination took shape; they were the standard on which I based my conceptions of beauty and noble conduct. The Peter Jackson movies provided a natural extension for my mind's eye, giving concrete images and voices (God, the music!) to things once held only in half-pictured thought. (Not only in thought, I suppose. The copy of Lord of the Rings I had was illustrated by the late Alan Lee - his ethereal watercolors will forever be Middle-Earth to me. Even now I think of a foggy November morning, pale and grey over half-submerged reeds and grasping poplar branches, as "Tolkien weather".)

- Alan Lee, "Twenty-first Hall of Moria". Illustration for Book II, Chapter IV, "A Journey in the Dark." But the movies. If you've watched them at any point, you know the drill: Gandalf faces up against the balrog on Durin's Bridge, a narrow strip of stone suspended above a chasm that looks like it goes down forever. He looks tiny against the demon he's facing, and terribly human. Sword and staff in hand, he strikes the bridge and shatters it with with one last blaze of light. The balrog catches his leg. Glamdring clatters into the abyss, and he falls.

It's at this point that the first movie leaves Gandalf behind, and we have to wait until the opening sequence of The Two Towers for more. The scene plays out as before, this time with sweeping shots of the mountain above. Again Gandalf shatters the bridge; again he falls into the abyss with his enemy - but this time, we follow him. (If you haven't seen this sequence, it's well worth a watch. Or a rewatch. It's a good scene.) The plunge into the abyss is dizzying, claustrophobic. Gandalf tumbles, plucking Glamdring out of the air as it falls with a metallic scream - he drives it into his opponent, wizard and demon writhing in a violent freefall - ...and suddenly the void opens to receive them.

How do you describe something beautiful to someone who hasn't experienced it - or worse, to someone who experienced the same thing you did, and didn't realize the beauty of it? How do you express in conversation a joy which to you is unspoken and self-evident, precious simply by nature? Looking back with a decade of extra vocabulary and life experience behind me, I might describe the moment as a star falling to earth, sacred and profane light joined in deadly union. I might point out that Gandalf and the Balrog are both Maiar, the in-world equivalent of an angel and a demon doing battle - or that Glamdring's last known place of service before Gandalf was in the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, a battle in which balrogs marched in numbers against the free peoples of Middle-Earth. I might even draw from my religious studies, comparing Gandalf's fall to the Incarnation or Christ's descent into Hades! I didn't have words for any of that when I first watched the movie. So I just cried.

Glamdring (WETA workshop) Length: 117 cm (46") Width: 26 cm (10 1/4") Depth: 4 cm (1 1/2") Weight: ~1-1.75 kg? (I couldn't find good numbers on this)

https://propstoreauction.com/lot-details/index/catalog/318/lot/95103

https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Glamdring

https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Nirnaeth_Arnoediad

[whiteladyofithilien]

Bilbo Baggins is really just out here tripping over ancient artifacts like banana peels. First we get the troll hoard. Then the one ring. Then the bloody arkenstone.

And here's the thing about the troll hoard... Without it Gandalf loses the battle in Moria. The fallen Maiar he fights is greater in power than him. His staff is destroyed by the Balrog. Any ordinary sword in Middle Earth would have been destroyed even more quickly. Anduril probably would have been destroyed. I mean bear in mind Narsil seems to have broken in the fight with Sauron (and correct me if I'm wrong but it broke kinda just because it fought Sauron). So Gandalf is in hand to hand combat with a Saruman power level Maiar from the sound of things. He needs a sword that's made to smite Balrogs. And what did he stumble upon on his adventures with Bilbo? Oh yeah a sword forged in Gondolin where fighting Balrogs was very front of mind.

I'm just saying Bilbo's ripple effect is insane. Very much like his relative Pippin. If you look at every event they set in motion it's quite mind blowing.

[thekingofwinterblog]

So one detail that is really, really sad about both the Hobbit and Lord of the rings, that is there from day one always hoovering over the narrative, but is never really explained, is the sad story of Sting, Glamdring and to a lesser extent Orcrist.

These weapons glow blue in the pressence of Orcs.

Its a detail that's never explained beyond the fact that it's because it's Elven weaponry from fallen Gondolin.

But we're never explained why only these out of all the elven made equipment in the franchise glows like this.

Clearly it was something unique to the Gondolinian smiths, and so you'd be forgiven for thinking on a first delving into the deeper legendarium, that it was snuffed out with the city itself, when Morgoth's forcea sacked it with Orcs, balrogs, dragons and early mechanical troop carriers.

A wonderous and in it's own way beautiful little bit of magic, lost to the world forever.

But no, that's not quite it.

While it was the sack of Gondolin that killed most of it's people, there was still hope for some sort of recovery for it's people, the true treasure of fair Gondolin that truly mattered...

But that hope was snuffed out by the sons of Feanor, when they assaulted the havens where the survivors of this genocide and many others had gathered and wiped almost all of them out.

In thw end, if there was any amongst them that knew the secret for how to make the blue glowing steel, it died here, where this attrocity took place and Elf killed elf on large scale for the third time, for the pettiest and most selfish of reasons.

Leaving Sting, Glamdring and Orcrist and those few other weapons from the city to survive as the last memorials to a dead and gone culture, the last children of a culture that Feanor's brood snuffed out in a slaughter.