LotR -- Book 5 - Chapter 08 - The Houses of Healing

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Hilde Bracegirdle

Formendacil, I do like the idea of Aragorn’s humility prompting him to remove the star, but it still strikes me as sad. Perhaps it is intended to, I don’t know. But the mention that Gandalf had to beg him to enter the city, and that he obeyed in order to help was very moving, although the practical side of me was wondering were Andúril was at the time, for it was said that he didn't have any tokens of his claim except the Elessar.

Perhaps Anduril remained in camp. Or, perhaps, Anduril cannot be considered an obvious token of his claim. After all, in its reforging, Narsil received quite a bit of redecoration that would differentiate it from its former self, in addition to being encased in a clearly non-Numenorean sheath from Lothlorien onwards.

Furthermore, in the eyes of the beholder, Anduril is pretty much just a sword. The Elendilmir is pretty much one-of-a-kind, as is the Elessar. The royal banner is also immediately recognisable as belonging to the king. But Anduril. Unless one had it pointed out to them that it was Narsil reforged, there is no reason to think that anybody would think it anything other than an ordinary sword. After all, I doubt if there was anything about its general look to immediately mark it out as Elendil's sword. I doubt that even Denethor or Imrahil would recognise it at a glance as Narsil reforged.

Of course, Aragorn might just have left it in camp...