Quote:
Originally Posted by Telchar
I stumpled on this old tread, and just wondered why nobody mentions the contradiction in:
So passed the the sword of the Barrow-downs, work of Westernesse (Westernesse is westron for Numenor) <u>with</u> ...who wrought it slowly long ago in the North-kingdom when the Dúnedain were young
Any comments?
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Yes, that sentence caught my eye recently when rereading this chapter (The Battle of the Pelennor Fields). Let's look at the full quote:
Quote:
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"So passed the sword of the Barrow-downs, work of Westernesse. But glad would he have been to know its fate who wrought it slowly long ago in the North-kingdom when the Dúnedain were young, and chief among their foes was the dread realm of Angmar and its sorcerer king. No other blade, not though mightier hands had wielded it, would have dealt that foe a wound so bitter, cleaving the undead flesh, breaking the spell that knit his unseen sinews to his will."
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This little sword was possibly enchanted to give a nice attack bonus against Nazgul!
What did Tolkien mean by "young"? Clearly the weapon was not forged at the founding of Numenor when the Dunedain were truly young, nor was it made at the founding of Arnor 1400 years before Angmar. Is this a mistake or some kind of convolution of ideas improperly expressed? Hard to believe the meticulous JRR would have done so.
Another interesting question arises about this blade from the Minas Tirith chapter:
Quote:
"‘Give me the weapon!’ he said.
Pippin lifted it and presented the hilt to him. ‘Whence came this?’ said Denethor. ‘Many, many years lie on it. Surely this is a blade wrought by our own kindred in the North in the deep past?’
‘It came out of the mounds that lie on the borders of my country ‘ said Pippin. "
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If the North-kingdom perished more than 1000 years beforehand (and was sundered from Gondor even earlier -with the brief exception of Firiel's marriage to Arvedui), then how is it that Denethor recognized this blade as an Arnorian relic?