The Lord of the Rings Films Quietly Made a Massive Change to Aragorn’s Sword (& for Good Reason)

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Along with the One Ring and the Eye of Sauron, one of the most memorable sights from Peter Jackson’s film trilogy is the broken sword, Narsil. We first see a whole Narsil in the opening of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. King Elendil used it when fighting Sauron during the War of the Last Alliance at the end of the Second Age of Middle-earth. After Elendil died, his son, Isildur, took up Narsil and tried to get revenge for his father. Sauron broke Narsil’s blade with his foot, but Isildur used the remaining, broken part to cut off Sauron’s fingers. This separated the Dark Lord from the One Ring, which was the source of his power, and destroyed his physical form.

This scene stayed pretty true to J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings book. There were some minor differences from the original story, like Narsil breaking before Isildur grabbed it, and the moment Isildur struck the final blow. However, Narsil’s importance during the Second Age remained largely consistent. Despite this, the films’ storyline significantly differed from the book when it came to the pieces of Narsil. While both the book and the films show the shards of Narsil being rebuilt into Andúril and given to Aragorn, a descendant of Isildur, the timing of these events and the reasons behind them were quite different. These changes stemmed from another significant alteration made by Jackson and his team to Aragorn’s backstory.

Narsil Had a Complicated Legacy in The Lord of the RingsFilms

In Peter Jackson’s films, the broken pieces of Narsil are first seen right before the Council of Elrond in The Fellowship of the Ring. These pieces were kept on display in Rivendell. Opposite the shards was an artwork showing Sauron’s loss in the War of the Last Alliance. The Elves greatly respected the Narsil fragments because of their role in defeating the greatest evil in Middle-earth. However, not everyone felt this way, as they also represented the kingdom of Gondor. The Stewards of Gondor, his ancestors, had governed without a king for nearly a thousand years, and he didn’t believe that needed to change. While Aragorn showed the broken sword more reverence, it also served as a reminder of his family’s past mistakes. Isildur was a hero, but his refusal to destroy the One Ring led to all the pain and suffering of the Third Age. Aragorn feared he might make the same error.

As a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings, I always found it interesting how Aragorn’s sword evolved. When the Fellowship first started their journey to destroy the One Ring, he actually left Isildur’s blade, Narsil, back in Rivendell! For most of the quest, he used just a regular, unnamed Ranger sword. It wasn’t until almost halfway through The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King that we see the pieces of Narsil again. Arwen really felt Aragorn would need it for what was coming. She convinced her father, Elrond, to have his smiths reforge the broken sword. They called the new blade Andúril, which means “Flame of the West.” Elrond personally rode to Dunharrow, where the Rohirrim were camped, and presented Andúril to Aragorn, telling him, “Put aside the Ranger. Become who you were born to be.” Andúril wasn’t just a beautiful sword; it allowed Aragorn to prove he was Isildur’s heir and break the curse that prevented the armies from aiding him. Interestingly, in Peter Jackson’s films, we only see Aragorn wielding Andúril during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields and the Battle of the Black Gate.

Aragorn Used Andúril More Often in The Lord of the Rings Novel

In the book, the broken pieces of Narsil weren’t stored in Rivendell. Instead, Aragorn carried them with him on his journeys. He even showed them to Frodo Baggins and the other hobbits at one point. Similar to the movie, the Rivendell smiths did reforge the shards into Andúril, but they did so immediately after the Council of Elrond, before the Fellowship began their quest. Furthermore, it was Aragorn, not Elrond, who gave the new sword the name Andúril. Aragorn wielded Andúril throughout his entire journey, and its exceptionally sharp blade proved invaluable. Tolkien emphasized Andúril’s strength in the chapter “The Bridge of Khazad-dûm” from The Fellowship of the Ring: “Even as the orc flung down the truncheon and swept out his scimitar, Andúril came down upon his helm. There was a flash like flame, and the helm burst asunder.”

Jackson purposefully postponed reforging Narsil to enhance Aragorn’s development as a character. In the book, Aragorn was largely unchanging from the beginning, as Elrond required this stability for him to be with Arwen. However, the films portrayed him as initially reluctant to accept his royal destiny, worried about repeating Isildur’s mistakes. Throughout the three movies, he evolved, learning to believe in himself and proving his leadership abilities. Because Andúril represented Aragorn’s link to Isildur, Jackson held off on giving him the sword until he completed this journey. When he received the reforged blade from Elrond at Dunharrow, he was, at last, prepared to.

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2025-10-02 16:07