Silmarillion has a whole chapter devoted to Maeglin. He’s quite an important person in
Beleriand. His mother, Aredhel, was the sister of
Turgon, King of
Gondolin. His father Eöl is more mysterious, and by design. Eöl is called the Dark
Elf. He lived in Nan Elmoth, which was outside the
Girdle of Melian, where
Thingol met Melian
ages before, and while he is generally spoken of as a
Sindar (Teleri), he is also referred to as a descendent of one of the
Noldor who stayed behind.* From “
Turin Turambar” in
Silmarillion, when Beleg took
Anglachel with him to join
Turin at Amon Rûdh:
Then Beleg chose Anglachel; and that was a
sword of great worth, and it was so named because it was made of iron that fell from heaven as a blazing star; it would cleave all earth-delved iron. One other sword only in
Middle-earth was like to it. That sword does not enter into this tale, though it was made of the same ore by the same smith; and that smith was Eöl the Dark Elf, who took Aredhel Turgon’s sister to wife. He gave Anglachel to Thingol as a fee, which he begrudged, for leave to dwell in Nan Elmoth; but its mate Anguirel he kept, until it was stolen from him by Maeglin, his son.
But as Thingol turned the hit of Anglachel towards Beleg, Melian looked at the blade; and she said: ‘There is malice in this sword. The dark heart of the smith still dwells in it. It will not love the hand it serves; neither will it abide with you long.’
It was typical in ancient times to make
swords in pairs for wealthy patrons (such as
kings), since the
weapons often broke during combat, which could be an embarrassing and fatal event for the owner. Anglachel is the mate (secondary sword) to Anguirel, which was Eöl’s personal
weapon. Compare this to
Glamdring and
Orcrist, the weapons of Turgon himself which
Thorin & Co. recovered from
the trolls in
The Hobbit. Glamdring was the primary sword, and Orcrist the backup blade; but other than that, we may assume that they were otherwise identical in craft. Moreover the two swords Anguirel and Anglachel were forged from meteoritic iron, endowing them in real tradition with magical properties. A number of weapons in real history are derived from meteoritic iron. A Google search using the three terms sword meteoritic iron will bring up about 500 links.
Compare
Tolkien’s description of Eöl’s smithcraft to an explanation from the
Geology Department at University of California at Davis,
Iron is a common element in the earth's crust, but it almost always occurs as a compound: it is very rarely to find it naturally as metallic iron. Occasionally an iron meteorite will fall from space, to provide a "magical" source of the metal. Such rare occurrences allowed a few smiths to discover the valuable properties of iron, because meteoritic iron was used to make swords and
daggers (including Tutankhamen's). Aztec chiefs had iron
knives made from meteoritic iron, again prized more highly than gold.
Consider this also from the
Department of Physics at Ohio State (Upon reflection, I must presume this was offered tongue-in-cheek, but the point is well-made, so to speak.):
Finite-element mechanics simulations of cutting through a modern carburized blade led to a conceptual design for radical surface-hardening technologies to achieve this ambitious sword-cutting objective. We also were guided by the unlikelihood that anyone would face supernatural
evil armed only with
technology. This led to an additional design parameter, which market surveys indicated would constitute an important attribute in a collectible dragonslaying sword: The sword should be made from material of heavenly origin, namely, meteoritic iron. This is a technical feature with historical and legendary precedent (including the Excalibur legend).
Meteoritic iron is of extraordinary interest today as evidence of the history and environment of the inner solar system. Historically, it is important in the history of the discovery and employment of iron weapons and tools, and of course, something that fell from the sky, the home of the gods, must have been magical in the minds of superstitious folk. It is also something with which Tolkien would have been familiar in his philological work.
As for Maeglin and his father’s sword, Tolkien remarks in “Of Maeglin”,
Thus all seemed well with the fortunes of Maeglin, who had risen to be mighty among the princes of the Noldor, and greatest save one in the most renowned of their
realms. … [Maeglin] loved the beauty of Idril and desired her without hope. The Eldar wedded not with kin so near… It seemed to [Idril] a thing strange and crooked in him, as indeed the Eldar ever since have deemed it: an evil fruit of the Kinslaying, whereby the shadow of the curse of
Mandos fell upon the last hope of the Noldor.
Later in “Of
Tuor and the
Fall of Gondolin”, the end of Maeglin and presumably of Anguirel is told:
Tuor fought with Maeglin on the
walls, and cast him far out, and his body as it fell smote the rocky slopes of Amon Gwareth thrice ere it pitched into the flames below.
Perhaps the sword was salvaged from the wreck of Gondolin, as were Glamdring and Orcrist, but it is also possible that the fall from the cliff – the same one upon which Maeglin ‘s father Eöl died – broke the sword.
* This version of the story, at variance with the other tellings of the tale, appears in JRR Tolkien’s Note 9 of "Quendi and Eldar" in
War of the Jewels, and has been dated 1959-1960. “Eöl was a
Mornedhel, and is said to have belonged to the Second Clan (whose representatives among the Eldar were the
Ñoldor).” Later, Tolkien apparently returned to the idea that Eöl was one of the “high kindred” of the Teleri.
