Swords

I think my favorites are Ondren and Raiqa... I like the way they linger on the tongue when I pronounce them....
 
I think that giving Fëanor the sword 'Gram' is a wonderful idea :) Excaliber might be a bit of a stretch, but I suppose a nod/homage to it is okay.

I would quibble on the translation a bit. Maybe it's Qenya and I just don't recognize it, but there is an issue with a sound-alike name:
raica ("k") adj. "crooked, bent, wrong" (RÁYAK, VT39:7), pl. raicar in LR:47 (read perhaps *raicë in LotR-style Quenya)

That would, of course, be a terrible name for a sword :p

I would translate wrath like so:
rúsë (þ) noun “wrath” (PE17:188)

Given the 'shibboleth' of Fëanor issue politicizing the transition from th to s in some cases, he would definitely retain the 'th' rather than the 's' in this word. So, if it's his sword, it would be Rúthë. Which...maybe doesn't sound as cool as Raiqa :p

An alternative is:
ormë (1) noun "haste, violence, wrath", "rushing" (GOR, KHOR)

It maybe sounds a little too close to Oromë?
 
According to Parf Edhellen, 'raiqua' means angry (so an adjective rather than a noun) in Quenya. Their source is the Mellonath Daeron group (whose wordlist I haven't actually found yet, so I haven't looked at it). I have to imagine that is the update from 'raiqi' in pre-1950's Qenya to LotR-style Quenya. I suspect that 'raiqi' is what was originally given in Parma Eldalamberon #22 (the actual source for this word), but I am not familiar with it myself. I'd rather see the upgrade than the old style, so that all the elvish has a....well....consistency to it, even if that's not really how languages work.

So is everyone okay with 'Raiqua' as the name for Fëanor's sword, being a nod to Gram (Sigurd's sword to kill the dragon Fafnir in the Volsunga Saga)? It is a broken-and-reforged sword in the story - being initially a gift of Odin, and later reforged by a dwarf [Regin].
 
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Howdy Sword naming masters,
Now I am not going to way in on the naming as I can barely do English most days (not good when you are English!) but on the look of the swords I have a thought (sort of).
I have come across something called twisted damascus steel I have never heard of it before but it looks wonderful.
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Now I know next to nothing about make swords and armour but just thought with would be brill in some of the named items that crop up like could we use it for Gil Galad's sheild which is meant to be starry (if I remember rightly).
 
"Damascus Steel" was a wonderful innovation that strengthened the structure of blades.

You wouldn't see it on a shield, however, since shields were not historically made of metal. They might be thinly clad in metal, as in the case of the Greeks, but it would not be thick enough to use the Damascus process.


I would certainly like the process to be involved in weapons manufacture by the time we get to the Nirnaeth Arnoediad.
 
"Damascus Steel" was a wonderful innovation that strengthened the structure of blades.

You wouldn't see it on a shield, however, since shields were not historically made of metal. They might be thinly clad in metal, as in the case of the Greeks, but it would not be thick enough to use the Damascus process.


I would certainly like the process to be involved in weapons manufacture by the time we get to the Nirnaeth Arnoediad.
So to digress into shields... what shapes are we going for? Kite-shaped? Round, like Boromir's?
 
"Damascus Steel" was a wonderful innovation that strengthened the structure of blades.

You wouldn't see it on a shield, however, since shields were not historically made of metal. They might be thinly clad in metal, as in the case of the Greeks, but it would not be thick enough to use the Damascus process.


I would certainly like the process to be involved in weapons manufacture by the time we get to the Nirnaeth Arnoediad.
Ok so wood for shield? See I know nothing I just go with whats on TV and films.
Maybe the Dwarf come up with it as they are some of the best in metal (unlike me :) )
 
Ok so wood for shield? See I know nothing I just go with whats on TV and films.
Maybe the Dwarf come up with it as they are some of the best in metal (unlike me :) )


Actually, I thought about this a bit last night. Mithril is probably light enough to make a shield from. However, if Bilbo's mail shirt's value is greater than that of the Shire, that of a shield of solid Mithril might be greater than that of Eriador. :)


So there the obstacle might be cost rather than weight.
 
i vote for large round and reverse teardrop shaped shields... such as tuors shield seems to imply.

as elves and dwarves both seem to know about very light metal alloys i wouldnt rule out metal covered shields.

some of tolkiens heraldry also might imply lonzenge forms. maybe there could have been similar to pictish bucklers.
 
The value of Bilbo's shirt of mithril rings is influenced by Moria being shut down and the sole source of mithril cut off. No one is producing any more, so all existing items are rare one-of-a-kind collectors items.

However, in its heyday, when Moria was more Khazad-dum than 'dark pit', they likely could produce many items that would have been impossible later. Gil-galad is the last High King of the Noldor - if anyone gets a fancy mithril shield, it's him. (Well, okay, technically Celebrimbor is in a better position to get one, but he doesn't get much of a heroic last stand in battle; he's taken in a raid and used as a banner afterwards, so Sauron was going for 'ignoble death' with him.)

Mithril has a lot of the same properties of aluminum (light weight, doesn't rust/corrode, shiny silver color), but is magically hard as steel. So, if we think of it as a metal that could be worked like aluminum, but not stay soft like aluminum, that should give us some ideas as to the possibilities.

Gil-galad's shield should be reminiscent of Fingolfin's, I think, if only because their fates are so similar.
 
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