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List of weapons and armour in Middle-earth

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The following list of weapons of Middle-earth includes all weaponry directly taken from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy legendarium.

Weapons of Middle-earth may be classified in a variety of ways:

  • By time of construction
  • By time of recorded use:

In Tolkien's writings, named weapons were constructed and recorded to be used at vastly different points throughout the History of Arda. For example, the sword Anglachel was forged and used during the First Age, during which it was reforged and finally broken. However, some weapons were constructed and were recorded to be used in different Ages. For example, the short sword Sting was forged in the First Age but was only recorded to be used in the Third.

  • By race of creator:

In Tolkien's writings, various weapons were constructed by Elves, Men, Dwarves or Orcs.

  • By genericity:

Weapons were used by nearly all of the races in the legendarium. However, certain weapons have specific names and, often, an important lineage. Weapons may be organized according to their status in this regard, separating generic weapon types from specific, named weapons.

Weapons are listed below according to genericity. Non-canonical items such as the sword Hadhafang are excluded.

Template:Spoiler

Specific weapons

All of the following are specific weapons referenced somewhere in Tolkien's legendarium. The English translation of each name is given first, followed by the original language of the name and a brief description of the weapon.

The spear that belonged to Gil-galad, king of the Noldorin Elves, who was slain during the War of the Last Alliance. In The Fellowship of the Ring it is also called a lance, suggesting that Gil-galad used it as such on horseback. The fate of Aeglos after the death of Gil-galad is never mentioned, and no further details about it have been made available.
The name of the sword reforged from the shards of Narsil in Third Age 3019 for the heir of Isildur, Aragorn. He carried the sword during his journey south as part of the Fellowship of the Ring and it featured prominently at several points in the story, where it was sometimes referred to as the Sword that was Broken. Narsil (broken and reforged) acts as a symbol of the kingship of Arnor and Gondor.
A sword forged by Eöl the Dark Elf. It was one of two swords Eöl forged out of a black meteorite: the other, Anguirel, he kept for himself. Eöl gave this sword to Thingol as payment for staying in his forest, Nan Elmoth. Thingol gave the sword in keeping to his subject Beleg. While Beleg was unbinding the unconscious Túrin, the sword slipped or fell and cut Túrin in his foot. Túrin then woke, and, not knowing Beleg in the dark, grabbed Anglachel and killed him. Túrin was then given the sword by Gwindor, where it was reforged and renamed Gurthang.
  • Anguriel: Iron of the Burning Star (Speculation) (Sindarin)
One of the two swords forged by Eöl the Dark Elf from an iron meteorite. The other, 'Anglachel, he gave to Thingol for leave to dwell in Nan Elmoth, but Anguirel he kept for himself. It was later stolen from Eöl by his son Maeglin, when he and his mother Aredhel fled Nan Elmoth for Gondolin. It was presumably lost in the Fall of Gondolin.
A knife made by the great weaponsmith Telchar of Nogrod, and borne by Curufin. It was so sharp and powerful that it could not be carried in a sheath, although when taken from Curufin by Beren, who used it to cut a magical Silmaril out of Morgoth's Iron Crown, the tip of the knife broke and cut Morgoth as Beren attempted to remove a second enchanted jewel.
A sword that belonged to Elu Thingol, King of Doriath and High King of the Sindar. It eventually passed into the hands of the Kings of Númenor, as an heirloom, and was eventually lost with Ar-Pharazôn, who was entombed on the shores of Aman.
  • Barrow-blades:
Daggers or short swords forged in Arnor in the mid Third Age. They are described as red in colour, with "flowing characters of Númenor" inscribed on them. They will not rust, so long as they are kept in their sheaths and all are "wrought with spells for the doom of Mordor". The Barrow-blades are found by the Hobbits in the barrow of a barrow-wight and given to them by Tom Bombadil. Frodo's sword breaks in the confrontation with the Nazgûl on the banks of the River near Rivendell and is replaced by Sting. Sam, Merry and Pippin keep their swords.
Merry's barrow-blade plays a major role in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields: being enchanted with the power to harm the Witch King himself by a weaponsmith of Arthedain long before, this particular blade breaks the spell protecting his undead flesh and pierces his knee when used against him by Merry, crippling him and thus giving the outmatched Éowyn the chance to kill him.
  • Black Arrow:
An heirloom of the house of Girion passed down to Bard. It was his last arrow remaining when Smaug attacked Laketown and, directed by a thrush, he shot it into Smaug's left breast (a weak spot in the dragon's armour), killing him. The Black Arrow was possibly forged by Thrór the Dwarf as King Under the Mountain. It is not known if it had any magical properties, but Bard said that he had successfully retrieved it every time he used it (like Beleg's arrow Dailir, see below).
An enchanted bow of black yew wood that belonged to Beleg Cúthalion. It was buried with him by Túrin and Gwindor after the unintentional slaying of Beleg at the hands of Túrin, his friend.
  • Dagmor: Slayer of Darkness (Speculation) (Sindarin)
A sword that belonged to Beren.
  • Dailir: Meaning unknown
An unerring, ever-returning arrow that belonged to Beleg Cúthalion. In the Lay of the Children of Húrin, Dailir is described as "that feather-pinioned / snaketonguéd shaft".
The great axe used by Tuor. Apparently, it moved of its own volition and clove five Balrogs to death during the Fall of Gondolin. After he sailed for the West, the axe was kept by his descendants and eventually became a royal heirloom of Númenor. It was lost in the Downfall of Númenor near the end of Second Age.
  • Durin's Axe:
A great heirloom of the Dwarves of Durin's folk. It was the axe of Durin I, the father of the Longbeard Dwarves. It remained in Khazad-dûm after it was deserted in the 1981 year of the Third Age. In 2989 T.A. it was found again by Balin's expedition, and lost again in 2994, when the Dwarf-colony was destroyed.
A forged for the Elven King Turgon in the First Age. For several thousand years it went missing, until Gandalf (and company) found it (along with Sting and Orcrist) in the trolls' cave in The Hobbit and claimed it for himself. He continued to use Glamdring through the events of The Lord of the Rings. Glamdring was most likely taken to the Undying Lands by Gandalf at the end of the Third Age.
(1) In the First Age, Grond was the great mace of Morgoth Bauglír, the first Dark Lord, who wielded it when he fought with Fingolfin, High King of the Noldor. With every blow from the hammer that struck the ground, a crater was formed "from whence smoke and fire darted". Morgoth managed to kill the High King, but not without receiving seven wounds himself. (nine, if counting the foot and face). The mace was also known as the Hammer of the Underworld.
(2) During the War of the Ring in the Third Age, the name was used for a great battering ram. A hundred feet long with a head shaped like a snarling wolf, it was used in the siege of Minas Tirith. Aided by spells laid on it by the Witch-king of Angmar, and the spells cast upon it during its forging in Mordor, Grond destroyed the formidable gate of Minas Tirith in just three blows.
The name of Anglachel after being re-forged by the expert smithies at Nargothrond. It was re-named by Túrin, who began to wield it after the death of Beleg. The orcs and elves called the weapon, and Túrin, Mormegil, which means Black Sword. When Túrin discovered that his wife Nienor was in fact his sister and that she had killed herself, in despair he fell upon his sword. The fate of Gurthang after the death of Túrin is unknown.
A sword that belonged to Éomer. It was borne by him at the Battle of the Hornburg, and presumably at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields and the Battle of the Morannon.
A sword that belonged to Théoden. He had entrusted the blade to Gríma Wormtongue for "safekeeping", but Gríma hid it away and allowed it to rust. When Gandalf restored Théoden to power, the sword was renewed as well.
  • Morgul-blade:
A magical poisoned dagger used by the Nazgûl. At Weathertop, during his journey to Rivendell with the One Ring, the Hobbit Frodo Baggins was stabbed with a Morgul-blade by the Witch-king of Angmar. A fragment of the blade remained within the wound, working its way toward his heart and threatening to turn Frodo into a wraith. Elrond was able to remove the shard and heal the wound, but each year on the anniversary of his stabbing Frodo became seriously ill. Only his eventual departure to Eldamar offered a permanent cure. Athelas (or kingsfoil) is known to slow the poisonous effect of the Morgul-blade. This remedy is also known to heal other Mordor-associated illnesses, like the Black Breath of the Ringwraiths. Another victim of a Morgul-blade was Boromir, the eleventh Steward of Gondor (not the Boromir of Frodo's company). He eventually died of his wound but did not become a wraith.
The sword of King Elendil of the Dúnedain. It was forged during the First Age by the Dwarf Telchar, making it a cousin to the blade Angrist which cut a Silmaril from the crown of Morgoth. The name contains the elements nar "fire" and thil "white light", referring to the Sun and Moon. Elendil used Narsil in the Siege of Barad-dûr and, being slain in combat with Sauron, fell over it and broke it. His son Isildur took it up and used its shard to cut the One Ring from the hand of Sauron. Isildur took the shards home with him. After Isildur was killed in 2 T.A., the shards were rescued by Ohtar, esquire of Isildur. He took them to Rivendell, where Isildur's youngest son Valandil was fostered. The Shards of Narsil were one of the heirlooms of the Kings of Arnor, and after the Northern Kingdom was destroyed they remained an heirloom of the Rangers of the North, although it was not reforged until the War of the Ring.
A noted sword of the Dwarf-lord Thorin Oakenshield from The Hobbit. It was crafted by the Elves of Gondolin. Like Sting and Glamdring, the blade could detect the presence of Orcs and warn its bearer by glowing blue. In The Hobbit, Thorin is mortally wounded at the Battle of Five Armies. After his death Orcrist is placed upon Thorin's tomb and that it "gleamed ever in the dark if foes approached".
  • Red Arrow:
An arrow used by Gondor to summon its allies in time of need. Its flights were black and its barbs were made of steel, and it took its name from a mark of red painted on the arrow's tip, standing for blood to show the situation was serious. The black flights resembled those found on the arrows of Orcs. First mention of the Red Arrow is when Borondir of Gondor and five other messengers rode north along Anduin to seek out Gondor's old allies, the Éothéod, when Gondor was being overrun by Easterlings, in 2509 T.A.. Borondir was the only survivor, and presented the Red Arrow to the Éothéod King Eorl the Young. Later it became a summons for the Rohirrim. The Red Arrow was presented to Rohan by Hirgon in the War of the Ring, and Théoden King rode out with the Muster of Rohan to the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
  • Ringil: Cold Glint (Speculation) (Sindarin)
The sword of Fingolfin, High-King of the Noldor. It bit with chilling cold, and glittered like blue ice. Fingolfin wielded it to great effect against Morgoth, wounding him seven times and hewing Morgoth's right foot. However, Fingolfin was eventually slain by Morgoth.
An Elvish knife made in Gondolin in the First Age. Sting was used as a sword by Bilbo, who found it in a troll-hoard together with Glamdring and Orcrist. Bilbo gave Sting to Frodo just before the Fellowship of the Ring sets off from Rivendell. It has the ability to detect the presence of Orcs, which causes the weapon to glow blue. Gollum is afraid of Sting. This fear helped Bilbo when confronting Gollum under the mountain in The Hobbit. It also helps Frodo to tame Gollum (temporarily) in The Lord of the Rings. Additionally, Sting appears to have some special property against the webs of giant spiders like Shelob. Frodo mentions that there were webs of spiders in Gondolin, and when he cuts Shelob's webs with it, they seem to melt at its touch, whereas Sam found it nearly impossible to cut them with his Barrow-blade.
In The Fellowship of the Ring, the Witch-king of Angmar wields a normal sword, as do his fellow Ringwraiths, as well as the Morgul-blade with which he stabs Frodo. In The Return of the King, his sword bursts into flame during his confrontation with Gandalf at the Gate of Minas Tirith. In his duel with Éowyn, he uses a mace.

Weapons in general

Swords

Among the Elves, the Noldor were famed for their swords. In some versions of the story of the Fall of Gondolin, Egalmoth, one of the captains of Gondolin, bore a curved sword alone of all the Noldor, which suggests Elven swords were normally envisioned as straight. Ecthelion's battalion bore long swords in the same story.

The Dwarves used swords as well. In The Hobbit Dain's troops bear short swords and shields as well as axes. Telchar the dwarf forged Narsil, the sword of Elendil and later Aragorn (as Andúril).

As described in Unfinished Tales, in addition to longer blades, the Númenóreans used a short sword called an eket. It was a stabbing weapon. Isildur threw all his weapons and armour away except his eket when escaping from an Orc-ambush at the Disaster of the Gladden Fields.

Common Orcs used curved or crooked swords (the word Tolkien uses is scimitars) while Saruman's Uruk-hai used short broad-bladed ones.

The Ringwraiths used steel swords.

Axes

Dáin's dwarves were described as wielding "two-handed mattocks".

The Sindar of the First Age were lightly armed in battle, and used axes as well.

The Orc-men at the Pelennor Fields used broad axes.

Bows

Elves were known to have used longbows (in the case of the Elves of Doriath and Lothlórien) and smaller bows (in the case of Legolas and the Elves of Mirkwood).

The human woodsmen in The Hobbit were said to use great yew bows, as did Saruman's Uruk-hai.

As described in Unfinished Tales, the Númenóreans used a type of bow called the steelbow, which was hollow and made of steel, as its name implies. It was much feared by their enemies.

Hobbits apparently also used bows, as is seen at the end of The Return of the King, where they kill Wormtongue.

Spears

Spears were common in Middle-earth.

The Vanyar were famous for their spears.

The Rangers of the Grey Company bore spears in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.

The Elves of Mirkwood also bore spears in the Battle of the Five Armies.

The Riders of Rohan were famed for their skill as horsemen, and used spears as lances.

Saruman used pikemen in the Battles of the Fords of Isen.

Armour

The denizens of Middle-earth tended to use mainly chain mail or scale armour.

The Dwarves are said to make chain mail of exceptionally high quality. Frodo's 'mithril' shirt was made by them. Dain's Dwarves also made metal hose for their legs, and kept secret the way it was made.

Orcs wear poor-quality ring mail with large rings having few links.Template:ME-fact Gimli encounters an Orc at Helm's Deep who wears an iron collar for defense against strokes to the neck.

The Haradrim used armour with "overlapping brazen plates", suggesting lamellar armour to some, together with steel helmets.

See also

  • Hadhafang - named sword invented for the New Line films
  • lhang - generic sword invented for the New Line films

External links

Notes and references

  1. The Silmarillion. pp. 313
  2. The Fellowship of the Ring, pp. 256; The Silmarillion, pp. 294; Unfinished Tales, pp 148, 417
  3. Return of the King. pp. 437
  4. Prominently mentioned: The Fellowship of the Ring, pp. 290, 338-9, 391; The Two Towers, pp 36, 104, 115, 139; The Return of the King, pp. 123, 158, 245
  5. Speculation based on The Lost Road and Other Writings. Further speculation provided by Robert Ireland's Tolkien Dictionary.
  6. The Silmarillion, pp 201-2, 206-10, 316; Unfinished Tales, 148, 419
  7. Or, alternately, Iron of the Stone Star. Speculation based on The Lost Road and Other Writings. Further speculation provided by Robert Ireland's Tolkien Dictionary.
  8. The Silmarillion, pp. 202
  9. The Silmarillion. pp. 316
  10. The Silmarillion, pp. 177, 181
  11. The Silmarillion. pp. 317
  12. The Silmarillion, pp. 201; Unfinished Tales, pp. 171
  13. The Fellowship of the Ring, pp. 157, 290-291
  14. The Return of the King, pp. 117
  15. The Hobbit, pp. 262
  16. The Lost Road. pp. 388
  17. The Silmarillion, 208, 320; The Lays of Beleriand, pp. 26, 117, 127
  18. http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/lambengolmor/message/972
  19. The Lays of Beleriand, pp. 344, 350
  20. The Lays of Beleriand, pp. 42, 45, 53, 55
  21. Unfinished Tales. pp. 172; The Book of Lost Tales (vol. 2), "The Fall of Gondolin"
  22. Unfinished Tales. pp. 172
  23. The Fellowship of the Ring, pp. 336
  24. The Hobbit. pp. 62
  25. The Hobbit, pp. 53; The Fellowship of the Ring, pp. 293, 324; The Two Towers, pp. 115; The Return of the King, pp. 272; Unfinished Tales, pp. 54
  26. The Lost Road
  27. The Silmarillion, pp. 154, 333
  28. The Return of the King, pp. 102
  29. Unfinished Tales. pp. 443
  30. Unfinished Tales, pp. 110, 126, 128,135,137,140-3,145
  31. Tolkien Dictionary
  32. The Two Towers, pp. 139
  33. Tolkien Dictionary
  34. The Two Towers, pp. 123
  35. The Fellowship of the Ring, pp. 208, 210; The Return of the King, pp. 333
  36. Return of the King. pp. 438; Further information in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
  37. The Silmarillion, pp. 294-5, 343; Unfinished Tales, pp. 272, 275; The Fellowship of the Ring, pp. 256-7; The Return of the King, pp. 123
  38. The Hobbit. pp. 62
  39. The Hobbit, pp. 53, 303
  40. The Return of the King, pp. 72; Unfinished Tales, pp. 364, 411
  41. Tolkien Dictionary
  42. The Silmarillion, pp. 153-4, 347
  43. The Hobbit, pp. 53, 83, 167, etc.;The Fellowship of the Ring, pp 23, 290; The Two Towers, pp 221, The Return of the King, pp. 173, 204
  44. The Fellowship of the Ring, pp. 208; The Return of the King, pp. 103, 117

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