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Things of Middle-earth

Sam's Sword

Type: Weapons

Other Names:
Barrow-blade
nasty cruel steel
sword of the Barrow-downs

Description:

Tom went up to the mound, and looked through the treasures. ...

For each of the hobbits he chose a dagger, long, leaf-shaped, and keen, of marvellous workmanship, damasked with serpent-forms in red and gold. They gleamed as he drew them from their black sheaths, wrought of some strange metal, light and strong, and set with many fiery stones. Whether by some virtue in these sheaths or because of the spell that lay on the mound, the blades seemed untouched by time, unrusted, sharp, glittering in the sun.

'Old knives are long enough as swords for hobbit-people,' he said. 'Sharp blades are good to have, if Shire-folk go walking, east, south, or far away into dark and danger.' Then he told them that these blades were forged many long years ago by Men of Westernesse: they were foes of the Dark Lord, but they were overcome by the evil king of Carn Dûm in the Land of Angmar. ...

Their new weapons they hung on their leather belts under their jackets, feeling them very awkward, and wondering if they would be of any use. Fighting had not before occurred to any of them as one of the adventures in which their flight would land them.

The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 1, Ch 8, Fog on the Barrow-downs

Sam plainly was beginning to have doubts again about Strider; but while [the hobbits] were talking he returned, appearing suddenly out of the shadows. They started, and Sam drew his sword and stood over Frodo; but Strider knelt down swiftly at his side.

'I am not a Black Rider, Sam,' he said gently, 'nor in league with them.'

The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 1, Ch 12, Flight to the Ford

Out from the water a long sinuous tentacle had crawled; it was pale-green and luminous and wet. Its fingered end had hold of Frodo's foot and was dragging him into the water. Sam on his knees was now slashing at it with a knife.

The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 2, Ch 4, A Journey in the Dark

The affray was sharp, but the orcs were dismayed by the fierceness of the defence. ... When thirteen had fallen the rest fled shrieking, leaving the defenders unharmed, except for Sam who had a scratch along the scalp. A quick duck had saved him; and he had felled his orc: a sturdy thrust with his Barrow-blade. A fire was smouldering in his brown eyes that would have made Ted Sandyman step backwards, if he had seen it.

The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 2, Ch 5, The Bridge of Khazad-dûm

They had not gone more than a few yards when from behind them came a sound...: a gurgling, bubbling noise, and a long venomous hiss. ...

'It's a trap!' said Sam, and he laid his hand upon the hilt of his sword; and as he did so, he thought of the darkness of the barrow whence it came. 'I wish old Tom was near us now!' he thought.

The Two Towers, LoTR Book 4, Ch 9, Shelob's Lair

Holding aloft the Phial Frodo looked and before him he saw a greyness which the radiance of the star-glass did not pierce and did not illuminate.... Across the width and height of the tunnel a vast web was spun, orderly as the web of some huge spider, but denser-woven and far greater, and each thread was as thick as rope.

Sam laughed grimly. 'Cobwebs!' he said. 'Is that all? Cobwebs! But what a spider! Have at 'em, down with 'em!'

In a fury he hewed at them with his sword, but the thread that he struck did not break. It gave a little and then sprang back like a plucked bowstring, turning the blade and tossing up both sword and arm. Three times Sam struck with all his force, and at last one single cord of all the countless cords snapped and twisted, curling and whipping through the air. One end of it lashed Sam's hand, and he cried out in pain....

The Two Towers, LoTR Book 4, Ch 9, Shelob's Lair

'Got him!' hissed Gollum in his ear. 'At last, my precious, we've got him, yes, the nassty hobbit. We takes this one. She'll get the other. O yes, Shelob will get him, not Sméagol....' ...

Fury at the treachery, and desperation at the delay when his master was in deadly peril, gave to Sam a sudden violence and strength ... Sam ducked and lunged forward again, trying to tear away from the grip on his neck. His sword was still in his hand, and on his left arm, hanging by its thong, was Faramir's staff. Desperately he tried to turn and stab his enemy. But Gollum was too quick. His long right arm shot out, and he grabbed Sam's wrist: his fingers were like a vice; ... relentlessly he bent the hand down..., till with a cry of pain Sam released the sword and it fell to the ground....

The Two Towers, LoTR Book 4, Ch 9, Shelob's Lair

Sam sprang in, inside the arches of [Shelob's] legs, and with a quick upthrust of his other hand stabbed at the clustered eyes upon her lowered head. One great eye went dark.

The Two Towers, LoTR Book 4, Ch 10, The Choices of Master Samwise

Then at last [Sam] began to weep; and going to Frodo he composed his body, and folded his cold hands upon his breast, and wrapped his cloak about him; and he laid his own sword at one side, and the staff that Faramir had given at the other.

'If I'm to go on,' he said, 'then I must take your sword, by your leave, Mr. Frodo, but I'll put this one to lie by you, as it lay by the old king in the barrow....'

The Two Towers, LoTR Book 4, Ch 10, The Choices of Master Samwise

'So!' said the Messenger. 'Then thou art the spokesman, old greybeard? ... [Thou] shalt see what comes to him who sets his foolish webs before the feet of Sauron the Great. I have tokens that I was bidden to show to thee....' ...

[To] the wonder and dismay of all the Captains he held up first the short sword that Sam had carried, and next a grey cloak with an elven-brooch, and last the coat of mithril-mail that Frodo had worn wrapped in his tattered garments.

The Return of the King, LoTR Book 5, Ch 10, The Black Gate Opens

Contributors: Elena Tiriel 30Jun06, 3Jul06, 11Aug06

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