In the early days of Middle-earth, as the evil of Melkor begins to infect the lands
of Valinor, the elves of Feanor become restless.
Led by their master, these Noldor begin to forge great weaponry - not only swords, but
also spears and axes - weapons that would be used by great heroes of Middle-earth for
ages to come.
Today, on Nerd of the Rings, we are talking about the great axes and other brutal weapons
in the history of Middle-earth.
While axes would no doubt become synonymous with the dwarves of Middle-earth, men and
elves have long histories with these weapons as well.
Not only did the Noldor create axes to combat the threat of Morgoth while in Valinor, but
far off in Beleriand, axes would become a main weapon of the Sindar.
In Doriath, King Thingol traded with the dwarves to obtain many great swords, spears, and axes.
These axes would actually be the main weapon of the march wardens of his realm.
Elsewhere in the first age, the men of Hithlum were known for wielding axes as well.
One of these men was Hurin of Dor-lomin, who has quite possibly the most epic of all deeds
with an axe in the entire History of Middle-earth:
Last of all Hurin stood alone.
Then he cast aside his shield, and wielded an axe two-handed; and it is sung that the
axe smoked in the black blood of the troll-guard of Gothmog until it withered, and each time
that he slew Hurin cried: 'Aure entuluva!
Day shall come again!'
Seventy times he uttered that cry; Finally, Hurin is buried under the bodies
of his slain enemies and taken captive, but his deed would live on for his incredible
fighting and bravery.
Another of the great axe-wielders of the First Age is Hurin's nephew, Tuor.
Tuor’s story is one greatly deserving of his own video, but for now we will stick to
his weapon.
Tuor’s axe is one of the few with a name, which we find in the pages of The Book of
Lost Tales Part Two.
Its name is Dramborleg, meaning “thudder-sharp” because it smote both heavy as a club and
cleft as a sword.
In this same book, it states that Tuor fights with Dramborleg in the Fall of Gondolin, using
it to kill three balrogs and the lord of the orcs.
We should note this was not the most recently published version of the story, thus these
details are a bit of a grey area on what could be considered canon.
We find out in Unfinished Tales that, like the sword of Thingol and the bow of bregor,
Dramborleg comes to be an heirloom of Numenor, passed through his line until it is lost when
Numenor is destroyed by the sea.
The Numenoreans not only received the axe of Tuor, but also the knowledge of crafting
weapons from their elven allies.
However, unlike their use of bow and arrow, they would use axes not for battle, but for
trees.
You see, around the 7th century of the Second Age, the Numenoreans began a large-scale deforestation
of Minhiriath, leading the men of that region to become openly hostile toward these Ship
Kings.
Their descendants, and their grudge toward the men of the west, would live on in the
Dunlendings.
Axes also make an appearance in one of my personal favorite monuments in all of Middle-earth
- the Argonath.
While in the Peter Jackson adaptations, the Argonath shows Elendil and Isildur holding
swords - the Argonath actually were great statues of Isildur and his brother Anarion
and they held axes in their right hands, while raising their left in gestures of defiance
to the enemies of Gondor.
Now, before we get to the stout-hearted dwarves, let’s mention a couple of weapons that,
while not axes, are other close-combat weapons worth mentioning.
The first comes in the Book of Lost Tales, where we find an earlier version of the Fall
of Gondolin.
In this story, Rog is a lord and blacksmith of Gondolin.
He is the leader of one of the houses of Gondolin - the House of the Hammer of Wrath.
It is said that he used a long-handed mace and that his words of passion inspired his
kindred to slay a number of balrogs - creatures who had never before been slain by elves or
men.
He and his men would be trapped and slain in the downfall of the city.
Speaking of balrogs, they along with orcs were also known to have used axes in war.
Gothmog, the Lord of Balrogs, used a black axe according to The Silmarillion.
The most famous mace in Middle-earth was Grond - the Hammer of the Underworld.
This mace belonged to Morgoth himself.
In his duel with Fingolfin, it is said that each time Grond struck the ground it shook
the land like a bolt of thunder and created great pits from which smoke and fire erupted.
It should be noted that the Grond of the Third Age - the great battering ram used at Minas
Tirith - is an entirely different device, merely named after the mace of Sauron’s
former master.
In the film adaptations, Sauron is given a mace to wield, likely in honor of Morgoth’s
Grond.
However, in the books, it is never specified what - if any - weapon Sauron uses, aside
from his own dark magic and The One Ring.
In Sauron’s fight during the Last Alliance, we find another noteworthy weapon that doesn’t
really fit into any of our previous video categories - Aeglos, the spear of King Gil-galad
- the High King of the Noldor who led the elves in the battle of the last alliance.
Aeglos, which means “snow-point” or “icicle”, is greatly feared by the orcs of Mordor and
is instrumental in helping Gil-galad and Elendil to throw down Sauron at the end of the Second
Age.
We come to it at last, the mighty dwarves of Middle-earth and their great axes.
This race is so synonymous with the axe that it is referenced in their great battle cry:
Baruk Khazâd!
Khazâd ai-mênu!
Which translates to Axes of the Dwarves!
The Dwarves are upon you!
In the First Age, we know the Dwarves of Belegost bore axes, including their lord, Azaghal.
Azaghal and his people fought in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad and faced off with the great dragon
Glaurung.
There, they surround Glaurung and we are told that even the dragon’s scales are not strong
enough to shield him from the blows of the dwarven axes.
Enraged at this, Glaurung strikes down the Lord of Belegost, who drives a knife into
Glaurung’s belly with his last breath, causing the dragon to flee.
As the dwarves carry Azaghal from the field of battle, much like a funeral procession,
they pay no attention to their foes - but no foe would dare attack the fearsome dwarves.
Also in the early days of Middle-earth, Durin the First is believed to have owned a great
axe that was an heirloom of his line.
The axe is lost in 1981 TA, when the dwarves wake the balrog, leading them to abandon Khazad-dum.
Centuries later, in 2989, Balin leads a successful expedition to recolonize Moria - where they
find Durin’s Axe among many other treasures of their people.
However, the axe would be lost again in 2994, when the colony is destroyed and Balin slain.
Every great conflict involving dwarves naturally included the use of axes, such as the War
of Dwarves and Orcs and The Battle of Five Armies - both of which feature the red axe
of Dain Ironfoot.
In the Battle of Azanulbizar, Dain uses his axe to hew the head off Azog.
Later in the Third Age, during the War of the Ring, Easterlings are sent to the area
of the Lonely Mountain by Sauron.
Dain, now King of Erebor and 250 years old, fights in the Battle of Dale, wielding his
axe once again - defending the body of King Brand before he also falls to the enemy.
Speaking of the Easterlings, they were also known to wield axes in the Battle of Pelennor
Fields, where they are among the most effective of the Witch-King’s forces.
Finally, we can’t talk axes without bringing up Gimli son of Gloin - the dwarf hero of
the War of the Ring.
In the book, we are told Gimli carries a broad-bladed axe.
WIth his axe, Gimli fights valiantly against the enemies of the Free Peoples - from the
Chamber of Mazarbul, to the ambush at Amon Hen, to besting his archer friend in their
contest at Helm’s Deep, and beyond.
Now that we’ve completed this series on famous weapons in Middle-earth, what other
topics would you like to see covered here on the channel!
Comment below.