Barrow-Blades

The Barrow Blades or the Daggers of Westernesse are the daggers borne by the mighty hobbits. It originated from the Barrow-Downs, which was discovered and delivered to four Hobbits by Tom Bombadil. The four dagger-bearing Hobbits will form a significant part of the Fellowship.

The Barrow-Blades were workmanship at its best. It had a leaf-shaped blade. The daggers were blushed with red and gold colors depicting the shapes of serpents. The material was strange but light and sturdy, with fiery stones embedded within.

The blades were crafted in Middle-Earth by the smiths of Arthedain. It was wrought as daggers that were aimed to be used in the wars against Angmar. The daggers laid buried with the last prince of Cardolan, who died during the battle in TA 1409 in Tym Gorthad. The dagger reached the Hobbits when Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin, were caught and captivated by a Wight. They were saved by Tom Bombadil, after his victorious fight with the Wight. He killed the Wight and freed the Hobbits. Tom Bombadil rummaged the stored treasure, where he came across the four daggers.

Later, he handed them to the Hobbits after explaining them the history behind. The swords were intertwined with the Hobbits in the same way as they were with the Fellowship. These swords were designed for men as long daggers. Hence, it was handled like a sword by the Hobbits. After the confrontation of Nazgul at the Ford of Bruinen near Rivendell, Frodo lost his sword. He later got the Elvish sword, Sting, a gift from Bilbo as an exchange for the broken sword when they met again at Rivendell. But the swords of Sam, Merry, and Pippin remained safe. Uruk-Hai and Amon Hen imprisoned the Hobbits, Merry, and Pippin. Under captivity, their swords were disposed of. But Aragorn saved the swords and delivered the swords back to them after they met each other in their reunion in Isengard.

Merry's sword was enchanted with the power to destroy the with-king of Angmar by the smiths of Arthedain during its making. In the fight with the witch-king, Merry stabbed him in the leg with the sword. This broke the spell of the witch-king to move around and distracted the Nazguls. This allowed Eowyn to drive her sword into the veiled head. It was destined that the witch-king of Angmar won't fall in the hands of the man. In the end, he was slain by a woman and a Hobbit. In the Battle of the Black Gate, Pippin killed a Hill-Troll with the Burrow-Blade.

Hence, the sword was later known as troll's Bane. He also used it when the shire was attacked for the first time in the Scouring of the Shire. Sam killed his first Orc with his sword in the Skirmish at the Chamber of Mazarbul. Sam left his sword with Frodo, presuming him to be dead after they encountered Shelob, the deadly spider, and the offspring of Ungoliant. The sword was taken by Shangrat and was passed over to Barad-dur along with Frodo's Mithril Shirt. Gandalf later restored it from the Mouth of Sauron and handed it to Sam and Frodo.

Aragorn gives the Barrow-blades to the Hobbit in The Fellowship of the Ring, instead of Tom Bombadil. In the film, [1] Merry and Pippin will not recover their sword from the Orcs, unlike in the books. The swords will be lost forever among the skeleton of Orcs. Merry's sword will be replaced with a sword from Theoden. The story becomes confusing when Merry stabs the witch-king with his ordinary sword and still breaks the spell. There is no defined explanation of how it broke the spell combining the dead flesh with his wishes. It can be assumed that the witch-king is destroyed only in the physical form from the final blow of Eowyn (similar to the flood of Bruinen). In the Battle of Black Gate, he is recovering from the wound and dies when the ring is destroyed. Pippin gets a replacement to his sword from Denethor. But the owner of that sword is unclear as it can be either Faramir's or Boromir's.

As the clothes belonged to Faramir, it can be of Faramir's. Pippin worked under Denethor instead of Boromir, making him the owner of the sword. Denethor could have given Boromir's sword to burden Pippin with debt. Frodo's sword doesn't get damaged in the fight with Nazgul in the movie. He dropped the sword when the Nazgul threatened him, but there was no trail of the sword in the film. Bilbo gives him Sting as a gift, with no information about Frodo's dagger. Later, in the Quest of Ring, they do not take the swords with them. Hence, it is not sure whether it was left behind in Rivendell or if it was just lost in Weathertop. It might be in Weathertop as the sword is not shown in the movie after that.

1. ^The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.