Hey, guys, so as promised, I’m gonna start making occasional theory videos
for upcoming Tolkien adaptations like Rings of Power and War of the Rohirrim.
With news of Miranda Otto returning as Eowyn to narrate War of the Rohirrim,
I’ve got some interesting thoughts on how that might play out, in addition to some story
theories so I’m going to try to put all those thoughts into a single theory video for next week.
But today, I wanted to talk about this black sword that we’ve seen now in 3 promo images for Rings of
Power. We’ll actually cover two theories today. First, what I think is the most popular theory,
and the one I immediately thought of when the posters were released,
and then I’ll present my new theory that I think is far more likely.
The first theory I saw on this blade, and what personally came to my mind as well,
was that this could be the hilt shard of Gurthang, the legendary black blade of Turin Turambar.
Gurthang plays a prominent role in Turin’s story which is told in the excellent Children of Hurin
book. Gurthang, previously known as Anglachel,
is one of a pair of black swords from the First Age. They are forged by Eol the Dark Elf
from a Meteorite. The blade of Anglachel is described as black, yet also had a glow to it.
It was said it could easily slice through iron and that it was imbued with the malice of it’s maker.
Not only that, but we also get the sense that this sword is sentient, as it would throughout
its existence be described as if it had feelings, emotions, and desires. For instance, Gwindor the
elf says the sword mourned for its former owner Beleg Strongbow, who was tragically killed with
it. Turin would wield it in the days after this accident, after it is reforged as Gurthang.
While Turin would win great renown in battle with Gurthang, after a lifetime of tragedy
and deeds gone awry, Turin asks the sword if it would take his own life. And the sword speaks
to Turin saying it would drink his blood gladly so it may forget the blood of Beleg its master.
Turin casts himself on the sword and the blade breaks asunder.
It is then buried with Turin beneath the stone of the hapless - a memorial to him and his sister.
Now as for this being the black sword in Rings of Power, there are a couple things that seem
to line up. Obviously the blade is black, and it appears to be broken. Another thing I
noticed on the poster was it kind of had a perhaps sea-damaged look to it, which could line up with
it washing ashore after the lands of Beleriand sink into the sea at the end of the First Age.
However, despite massive destruction of Beleriand, the place where Turin and Gurthang are buried
remains. This northern island of Tol Morwen - named after Turin’s mother who is also buried
there - is among three small portions of Beleriand that survive the destruction. This leads me to
believe that there wouldn’t be any reason for Gurthang to be missing from Turin’s burial site.
Another reason I don’t think this blade is Gurthang is a matter of practicality.
As cool as it may seem to have a Silmarillion blade in live action,
if you were to bring Gurthang into this story, you’d have to explain its significance for it
to resonate with fans. In essence, you’d have to explain a good deal about both Turin and Eol
in order for the significance of this blade to really land. Otherwise, it’s just a cameo that
doesn’t make much sense. I just don’t see them using the screentime it would take to explain
the significance of Gurthang to the audience. And if they aren’t going to do that, there’s
no real reason to include Gurthang in the story. And obviously, they would have to get the Tolkien
Estate’s permission to even use Gurthang, which I doubt would happen for something like this.
These same reasons could be used to rule out the second of the pair of black blades - Anguirel -
which was likely taken with Eol to Gondolin, but no other history of it is known of it.
Now this is where my new theory comes in. When it comes to guessing things about the show,
I think there will definitely be things that tie back to the First Age - the image of the two trees
and the recent promo featuring Nirnaeth Arnoediad art convey as much. However, I think there will
also be a lot of things intentionally tying into the Third Age and The Lord of the Rings.
Not only because that is the story that casual fans will be familiar with,
but also because that is the direction the story is moving toward.
And that is just part of the reason that I believe this is a Morgul blade.
Last month, showrunner Patrick McKay posed the question of wouldn’t it be interesting to
see the origin of the Witch-king. While posed as a question, I think this was pretty solid
confirmation that we will at some point, see the nine kings of men be given their rings of power
and gradually turn into the nazgul. As soon as the show was announced to cover the 2nd age,
I knew this was a possibility and honestly, I think it might be one of the cooler moments we
could see play out. We got a glimpse of Frodo as he was being pulled into the Unseen world
in Fellowship of the Ring, but this could give us the chance to see the same process play out
over a longer time - and for the characters in question to fully exist in the wraith world.
And speaking of Frodo’s near-wraith experience, I think that this blade from the show may have
a direct connection to the weapon used against Frodo. Now, naturally, when hearing the term
Morgul-blade, most fans will think of Minas Morgul, the home of the Witch-king. Since,
as we know from my recent video that Minas Morgul didn’t exist at this point in the second age,
you may wonder if this would rule out this possibly being a morgul blade.
While Morgul-knife and Minas Morgul share entomology, it’s worth noting that
it doesn’t explicitly state that morgul-knives originated in Minas Morgul, for the term “Morgul”
simply means “(dark) sorcery”. So it's possible that while they share a part of their names,
they don’t directly correlate to one another. Of course, depending on when they entered history,
they could be named for the city, but it’s not something that Tolkien spells out. I think this
ambiguity could be used by the show to perhaps give us a glimpse at the first ever Morgul Blade.
So an additional note I’m adding in because, as I was making this video, the badges for
this year’s San Diego Comic-con were revealed and they feature not only the Rings of Power,
but specifically this very sword. And while it’s just artwork, I couldn’t help but notice that
this blade seems to be longer in this art than in the images we’ve seen. Also, the blade looks like
it’s disappearing, much in the same manner as the morgul-blade Aragorn finds after Frodo is stabbed.
It also wouldn’t surprise me if this technology is created by Sauron rather than the witch king,
since we will likely see this blade before we are introduced to the witch-king even in his human
form. These promo images after all are rumored to be in some of the first episodes of season 1.
Knowing it’s their rings that turn the nine men to ringwraiths, and seeing that this
blade seems to have significance to the story, if this is indeed a morgul blade,
I’m thinking we will see somebody stabbed with it at some point and taken into the Unseen world.
I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling more and more confident in this theory.
Or at least I think it more likely than the Gurthang one. It seems like this blade
is getting an awful lot of attention to be just some random sword. I could be wrong,
but I’m hoping this is a way to creatively tie into something we know from Lord of the Rings.
So that’s my best guess on this blade and as always I’d love to hear what you guys
think in the comments. Have I convinced you this is more likely to be a morgul-blade?
Or are you on team Gurthang? Or do you have another theory completely?
Maybe you wanna get really crazy and combine the two - the shard of Gurthang with it’s sentient
power is made into the first ever Morgul-knife. Let me know what you think in the comments.
as always a huge thank you to all my patreon and youtube supporters who make this channel possible
and if you like the artwork be sure to check out the artist in the description
and we'll see you next time on nerd of the rings