I just watched The Two Towers couple days ago (yes again) courtesy of the local TV channel and felt like watching it for the first time (again). I'm sure you would have too. Half-way through the show, I recalled that the Lord of The Rings Anduril Sword of Aragorn had a different story told in the original work by J. R. R. Tolkien compared to director Peter Jackson’s. So I did some research and found more interesting stuff.

In Tolkien’s original work, Narsil was the sword of King Elendil of the Dunedain. The language Quenya created by the brilliant Tolkien as a language spoken by the Elves translates Nar as “fire” and Sil as “white light”, which represents the Sun and Moon respectively. King Elendil used Narsil in the War of the Last Alliance against Sauron and perished in the siege of Baraddur.

This is where the motion picture adaptation begins to chart its own course at will. In the book, Narsil was broken in two beneath Elendil as he fell in the battle against Sauron. Peter Jackson however felt the scene needed more drama, so he had Sauron crush Narsil with his foot breaking the sword into multiple shards (I counted six). Later the story came together again when Elendil's son and heir to the throne Isildur used the hilt-shard of Narsil to severe the One Ring from the hand of Sauron. Sauron's spirit was supposedly vanquished until Isildur himself got corrupted by the One Ring and claimed it for his own.

In another instance the book tells of Aragorn, Isildur’s heir was already in possession of the broken Narsil when he met the Hobbits at the Prancing Pony in Bree. The two shards of Narsil was shortly reforged in Rivendell during the War of the Ring and renamed Anduril (Sindarin for "Flame of the West"). Since then Aragorn carried the Anduril sword in his journey south as a member of the Fellowship of the Ring. On the silver screen however, Narsil was kept on a pedestal in Rivendell ever since the War of the Last Alliance. In one scene of the first film, Boromir was shown knocking the hilt-shard off the pedestal which Aragorn later picked up and placed back onto the podium. It was only in the third film later on that Narsil made its appearance again, being reforged to Anduril after Arwen persuaded Elrond to have elven smiths reforge the shards. Guess the Anduril sword lost a lot of screen time it deserves.


According to John Howe the conceptual artist, the Anduril sword was designed with a hollow pommel. An inscription in Tengwar engraved inside the hollow pommel reads "Narsil essenya, macil meletya, telchar carnéron navrotessë" which translates to "Narsil is my name, a mighty sword, Telchar made me in Nogrod". Tengwar is a script that was invented by J.R.R. Tolkien. The word tengwar is Quenya for "letters", the singular is tengwa for "letter".


Runes were also added onto Anduril sword’s blade which read : "Anar Nányë Andúril i né Narsil i macil Elendilo. Lercuvanten i móli Mordórëo. Isil", translating to "Sun. I am Andúril who once was Narsil, sword of Elendil. The slaves of Mordor shall flee from me. Moon." While Tolkien did write that there were runes engraved on the blade, both the inscriptions were made up by the filmmakers.


Now that Anduril sword's history is clear, let's get to the precious item. If you are both a hard-core fan of LOTR and a sword collector, the stunning full-size replica of Anduril Sword of Aragorn by United Cutlery is a must to add to your collection. It has an overall length of 52.875”, blade length of 40.625” and thickness of 0.25”. The blade is made of tempered 420 J2 stainless steel with a false edge. Therefore it is good for decorative purposes only, not to be mistaken for a functional sword. The runes as shown in the film are inscribed on both sides of Anduril sword's blade. The cross-guard and pommel are solid metal with an antique silver-plated finish. Metal fittings are plated with 24-karat gold (who says sword is not a good investment?). The pommel also has the Tengwar inscription engraved on it while the grip is wrapped in genuine leather. The blade fits into the hilt by a rat-tail tang construction. A wooden display plaque with symbols of the Kingdom of Gondor and certificate of authenticity comes together with the movie sword.

The best-priced Anduril Movie Sword I could find at the time of this post was from BladeShop. The scabbard is not included but you can purchase the Anduril Scabbard by United Cutlery separately. Although United Cutlery LOTR reproductions are pricey, the quality make and resemblance are impressive. It's worth every penny for die-hard fans. Alternatively you can opt for a cheaper version from 247Swords which comes with back-strap leather sheath.

If you have bought the Anduril movie sword, start saving now. I have a premonition there will be more stunning swords you will crave for after the release of the prequel Hobbits. Can't wait.