The White Council

Re: Do we know who made Merry's sword?

Tolkien and Inklings Discussion

: ??? could you elaborate a bit. As I recall, the Witch King set : up his realm in Angmar 1300, at that stage there were precious : few Sindar in Eriador outside Imladris. The only major Elven : realm before Sauron forged the Ring (came to power) was : Eregion, and the Nazgūl did not exist yet (at least not as : wraiths) then.

There were actually a lot of Sindar in Eriador at one time or another. It's not clear when they left, but one can get the impression that a huge number of Elves began leaving Middle-earth after Sauron declared himself openly in Mordor at the end of the Third Age.

Where did these Elves live? My guess is in lands near Rivendell, but possibly also in the lands west of the Trollshaws and possibly around the Emyn Uial. In fact, as I've argued lately that the Dunedain probably didn't live around the lake later in the Third Age, it makes sense to suggest that the Elves may have reclaimed those lands.

: So what is your point, the W K did other things, probably : elsewhere in Middle-earth in the timespan between these two : points- at least that has always been my understanding. Have I : forgotten something? I am rather good at that (the Maggot- : Bombadil connection), but do seem to recall something with : Celeborn and Galadriel living at lake Nenuial at some point???

In one of the rejected histories Celeborn and Galadriel dwelt there with many Sindar and Nandor early in the Second Age.

I would guess that the barrow-blades were made in the late 14th century, or perhaps just before the war of 1409 in which the last prince of Cardolan perished. The Dunedain seem to have understood who the real enemy was by that time but Cardolan, now just a subject state of Arthedain (as it would appear), was too weak to mount its own offensive. Nonetheless, it may be that last prince commissioned the forging of the barrow-blades and similar weapons for the last need, but he and his men were overtaken in their camp.

The swords, according to Aragorn, were made for the "bane of Mordor", not just for the bane of the Witch-king. They probably would have been deadly against many sorts of creatures. We might be able to infer from the tradition of Malbeth the Seer (who lived some centuries later) and the magic inherent in the barrow-blades that Arnor retained some of the ancient lore that Gondor lost, at least in the areas of "magic" and "lore".

I've never really considered these implications before.