Cool sword, bro - Legendary Swords in Middle-Earth's Troll Dens

Departing from our romp toward Moria, I wanted to visit one of my favorite lore tidbits.

In "The Hobbit" Bilbo and friends stumble upon a cache of weapons in the depths of a troll cave in the Trollshaws near Rivendell. These weapons are revealed to be of a superior make, with Gandalf himself taking a longsword as his weapon. Bilbo claims one of the blades as a "finder's fee" of sorts, and fearless leader Thorin Oakenshield gets the other.

"The Hobbit" emphasizes the importance of these weapons and their unique status in Middle-Earth, but it does not explain this importance. These weapons, Sting and Glamdring in particular, also play a huge part of the "Lord of the Rings" but are not expanded upon.

It's not until we start diving into the depths of Tolkien's unfinished notes and short stories that we see a broader picture.

In "The Hobbit", it's clear that the Orcs of the Misty Mountains know these weapons. They curse the blades, calling Glamdring "Beater" and Orcrist "Biter". These swords are remarkable enough to have their own place in the lore of the Orcs of the Misty Mountains but all Tolkien offers is their original names and that they originated in Gondolin during the First Age.

Gondolin. A nice place.

The Fall of Gondolin is one of the most well-known stories in "The Silmarillion" and other Unfinished Tales, and the swords play an important part of that story. Essentially, Gondolin was a hidden city of the Elves, one of the last free kingdoms in Beleriand and Morgoth had spent centuries trying to find and destroy it. Eventually, a traitor revealed the location and the hosts of Morgoth piled on the city and ransacked it. Interesting to note: Glorfindel was at Gondolin when it fell and died defending the fleeing population by slaying a balrog in single combat. The Valar loved this action so much, they sent him back to Middle-Earth.

Gondolin. No longer a nice place.

Glamdring's description matches that given to the sword of Turgon, King of the Elves of Gondolin, and although Tolkien never explicitly calls it out, it's pretty fair to say they are the same blade if the Orcs hold reverence and fear for the same blade after 6,500 years.

Ecthelion wields Orcrist against Gothmog.

Orcrist was the sword of Ecthelion, Captain of the Guard of Gondolin and one of the Elves who made the last stand in the center of the city to hold off the Balrogs and orcs from the fleeing civilians. Ecthelion fought Gothmog, the most powerful and leader of the Balrogs, in single combat, and died as he slew Gothmog in the royal fountain at the center of the city. 

From Royalty to Troll Lair

So Ecthelion and Turgon died and their swords were plundered by the victorious orcs. How did they get from Gondolin to the Trollshaws which is FAR away in the East?

I don't know.

Here is my conjecture which you are free to disagree with or add to as desired:

The weapons were taken into the East by the orcs as they migrated after Morgoth was defeated. They likely settled in the Grey Mountains (the mountain range just north of the Misty Mountains) or in the Misty Mountains themselves. Over the years, they warred greatly with the dwarves in these areas and eventually the Dwarves seized these weapons and used them against the orcs, rekindling the old names "Biter" and "Beater" as something to be feared.

Over time these weapons were passed down from father to son (likely from King to the new King and so forth - these are fantastic weapons after all) and after many centuries, a small group of dwarves, including perhaps a Prince or other nobility, were overtaken by trolls in Trollshaws and their cache hidden within the cave.

Conversely, the Dwarves had become surrounded by an orc party and they buried their own weapons knowing how important their weapons were to their people and not wanting them to fall back into Orc hands.

I like these options because men, dwarves, elves, or orcs who would've come across these weapons would be able to tell their quality even without knowledge of history. A longsword is not a common find, much less a finely jeweled one.

Therefore, it's reasonable to assume that whoever placed the blades there did so on purpose, or was oblivious to any value in the weapons.

To Slay a Balrog

It's also noteworthy that two of the three blades found in the Troll's cache are responsible for slaying two of the most famous Balrogs in the history of Middle-Earth.

Ecthelion, who wielded Orcrist, faced Gothmog, the most fearsome of all Morgoth's Balrogs during the Fall of Gondolin. Ecthelion was succesful and Gothmog was slain, although he himself perished in the process, losing Orcrist.

Turgon, King of Gondolin, wielded Glamdring during the battle but subsequently lost it. However, it is on Gandalf's hip that this weapon really impacts the story. Deep within Moria, as we'll see in a coming blog post, the Balrog Durin's Bane appears before the party to drive them out and destroy them. Gandalf defies him and they battle for days, eventually resulting in Gandalf slaying Durin's Bane.

Now, we don't know if Gandalf stabbed Durin's Bane or if he resorted to a Word of Command (Balrogs were once Maiar like Gandalf/Saruman/Sauron as well...) but the important thing is that Glamdring certainly played some part in the battle.

Conclusion

I don't think Tolkien really intended too much by these coincidences since The Hobbit was one of the earliest writings and it was NOT originally intended to be part of the same world as Lord of the Rings. 

Despite that, I think it is a lot of fun and fascinating to think about how these three swords go from the hands of mighty Elven warriors during the First Age to a dirty troll pit 6,500 years later. The additional connection of the two swords responsible for the deaths of the two most famous Balrogs is just icing on the cake.

Intentional or not, I clearly enjoy talking and writing about it.

What's your thought on how the swords got into the troll pit?