restore Aragorn as King. Both Kings lead their peoples to victory. The sword's magical scabbard, too, which the Elf-queen Galadriel gives to Aragorn as he leaves Lothlórien with the words "The blade that is drawn from this sheath shall not be stained or broken even in defeat", parallels Excalibur's sheath, which guarantees that its wearer "shall never lose no blood, be ye never so sore wounded". The elven scabbard describes the sword it was made for: The theme of the sword that was broken is found in various places in Norse mythology. Burdge and Burke write that Tyrfing, like Narsil, was Dwarf-forged, in its case by Dvalin and Durin. They made Tyrfing shine like fire; Andúril shines like Sun and Moon. Sigurd's sword Gram, too, was remade, by the Dwarf-smith Regin; Sigurd's father Sigmund's dying wish was for his sword to be reforged; and flames leapt from Gram's edges. Aragorn's sword thus combines the natures of the Norse sword Gram and the Arthurian Excalibur. The reforged and renamed Narsil / Andúril pair has a parallel, too, within Tolkien's legendarium. The hero of the First Age, Túrin's sword, is similarly renamed: Anglachel becomes Gurthang. The Tolkien scholars K. S. Whetter and Andrew McDonald call these weapons almost "living personalities"; Croft notes that at the end, Gurthang actually speaks to Túrin. However, while the reforging of Andúril symbolizes the remaking of Middle-earth and the transformation of Aragorn from Ranger to King, the mere renaming of Gurthang fails to change its "essentially malefic" nature. Like the flawed hero Túrin, who likewise takes on different names, its character cannot be changed by giving it a new name. In contrast, Aragorn's sword represents the true hero. Notes References Primary This list identifies each item's location in Tolkien's writings. Secondary Sources Middle-earth weapons Themes of The Lord of the Rings