# Why is the partner of Anglachel never really discussed?



## Tar - Palantir (Mar 21, 2005)

When i was reading i always wanted to know a bit more about the mate of Anglachel that Maeglin stole from Eol and although we are told that Maeglin was fell in battle the sword itself is never really discussed. Whilst there is obviously an evil will at work in the deeds concerning Turin why not the same sort of story with Maeglin? Was it because evil was at work in his heart already perhaps to which end the sword paled into insignificance?


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## Annaheru (Mar 22, 2005)

For an out of text explanation I can only speculate that Maeglin as a whole was not important enough as a character. Tolkien was more interested in critiquing his other characters. If JRR had lived longer he might have told us more about Maeglin, but I sorta doubt it: the Gondolin elves only participate in one battle, and there were far more important things to dwell on during that battle.

An internal explanation might be that the Elves (who recorded and preserved these stories) were so repulsed by Maeglin's love for his cousin that they were unwilling to speak of him more than was needed to outline the stories about Gondolin.

The sword itself, because it remained with Maeglin, would have remained obscure.


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## bauglir (Apr 4, 2005)

hey! i have never thought of that before. i think i will check it up untill tomorrow

edit: the only thing said about it in tolkienwiki is that it was called Anguriel http://www.thetolkienwiki.org/wiki.cgi?Anguirel


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## Gil-Galad (Apr 4, 2005)

Or maybe it influenced him too...but much later,falling in love with his Turgon's daughter,causing the Fall of Gondolin....

But as a whole I would agree,that most probably Tolkien had no time to develop this part of the story,in the direction we are thinking about now...

There might be something in HoMe,but I do not have them,so I am not able find or quote anything from there......


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## Alcuin (Apr 4, 2005)

_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.


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