On the passing on of Narsil

Unknown. Glaurung appears to be the only one mentioned until the Nirnaeth Arnoediad. Maybe that means there weren't others yet. Maybe there were but they were young and weak.
 
Well there's not much chance of common. We've got 7 balrogs to kill over what, 7-8 seasons or so? 2 will be in the same episode (or couple episodes) in Gondolin. Either 3 or 4 more will bite it in the War of Wrath. That gives us either 1 or 2 to kill over the course of all the rest of that time. If we give 1 to Aegnor, that might well be the only one. Or there could be 1 more.
 
If Narsil is Aegnor's sword, then we need both to get it into his hands, and to get it then to Eressea.

If Finrod receives it from the Dwarves and gives it to Aegnor, that raises the question of what his own sword is. Does he decide to give Aegnor a sword that's better than his own? Or does he have an equally awesome blade? Does Aegnor get it directly from the Dwarves instead?

After the Dagor Bragollach, Aegnor's sword (if it's Narsil) would be brought to Nargothrond. After the fall of Nargothrond, if Narsil is either Aegnor or Finrod's sword, it must be brought to Doriath, preferrably in the hands of a surviving captain (who would be the only high-rank survivor, besides Celebrimbor). I think it should not be captured by the Feanorians at Doriath, but should be taken to the Havens. There, it is passed to Gil-galad who lives with Cirdan on the Isle of Balar. Gil-galad already has a sword (and prefers his spear Aeglos) so he doesn't keep Narsil permanently, but it was his great-uncle's and so he is a fitting recipient. Having it pass through Gil-galad's hands sets up a nice parallel for when he fights alongside Elendil.

When the War of Wrath is over, Gil-galad opts to keep his own sword and spear, and give Narsil to Finarfin as a memorial of his son. But Finarfin doesn't regard a sword as a fitting memorial for a son whom he prefers to remember living at peace in Valinor before the Rebellion. So he gives it to the Eresseans, probably to Angrod after he returns to life (if we're assuming that Finrod's foreboding is correct and Aegnor himself refuses reincarnation). From Eressea it's given to a Lord of Andunie, possibly specifically so it can be used again against the Enemy when Sauron arises again.

(Which brings up the point that when we get to the story of Numenor, if we want we can give cameos to Elves who died, but came back to life, and then visit Numenor. Finrod is absolutely going to want to visit several times, and surely Turgon will want to meet Elros if he can, and Angrod and Fingon probably will want to visit, too, since they were all allies and friends with the Edain.)
 
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I think Aegnor might be the only extra balrog death that makes sense. Balrogs seem to only show up at the major battles, and I don't think we want to have more than one balrog die in any given battle (these should be climactic scenes, and they shouldn't happen too close together). Aegnor would cover the Dagor Bragollach, and we have Fingon's duel with Gothmog +1 in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, so don't think we add another balrog death there. (Even without Fingon/Gothmog, I think showing a balrog being killed at the Nirnaeth would detract from the sense of utter defeat that the elves suffer). Sending a balrog to the sack of Nargothrond seems unnecessary with Glaurung there. Besides Gondolin, I can't think of many other engagements with Morgoth's forces that would justify a balrog's presence.
 
I agree completely, Brian. Gondolin should remain special as the only place 2 Balrogs died in one battle, and nobody in the Nirnaeth should kill one.
 
Faelivrin said:
If Finrod receives it from the Dwarves and gives it to Aegnor, that raises the question of what his own sword is. Does he decide to give Aegnor a sword that's better than his own? Or does he have an equally awesome blade? Does Aegnor get it directly from the Dwarves instead?
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Does Narsil need to be a superior sword to what the other Noldor lords are carrying? Obviously it is an awesome sword because it was made by Telchar, but I don't have a problem with the idea that what is just one of a number of very high quality swords in the First Age will be far superior to anything made or available in the Second and Third. I don't know if we want Narsil to stand out from the very beginning. So maybe Finrod just thinks of it as another good sword, but he already has one that he likes better.
 
It can be an average First Age sword in principle.

But maybe not if it's used to slay a Balrog. Can it be average? Ecthelion used his probably un-magical helmet spike -- the important thing was the blessed fountain. Nobody designed his helmet spike to be a Balrog-slaying weapon.

So no, Narsil doesn't have to be a super-special sword. Glorfindel's and Turgon's are supposed to be special...

We have more leeway if the sword is special only due to who wielded it and what they did, not of its own nature. If we use blessed water (like Ecthelion did) then we don't need a weapon more magical than his diamond helmet spike.
 
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Faelivrin said:
It can be an average First Age sword in principle.

But maybe not if it's used to slay a Balrog. Can it be average? Ecthelion used his probably un-magical helmet spike -- the important thing was the blessed fountain. Nobody designed his helmet spike to be a Balrog-slaying weapon.

So no, Narsil doesn't have to be a super-special sword. Glorfindel's and Turgon's are supposed to be special...

We have more leeway if the sword is special only due to who wielded it and what they did, not of its own nature. If we use blessed water (like Ecthelion did) then we don't need a weapon more magical than his diamond helmet spike.
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Maybe Ecthelion wields Orcrist?...
 
I think it is in the Lost Tales version of the Fall of Gondolin, where the fight of Ecthelion and Gothmog is described, and in the end Ecthelion kills Gothmog by basically jumping on him, stabbing him with his helmet spike and plunging into the fountain.
 
We might even want them to be limited usable still, not enough that he can use his sword, but enough to grapple or at least help in coordinating his movements, because everything else (his arms swinging around completely useless or anything the like) will look like Monty Python.
 
The_Singing_Fox said:
We might even want them to be limited usable still, not enough that he can use his sword, but enough to grapple or at least help in coordinating his movements, because everything else (his arms swinging around completely useless or anything the like) will look like Monty Python.
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We could try having him stabbed in both shoulders, on top of several sword wounds to the torso. And maybe Gothmog stomps on his fingers or something like that, which considering Gothmog is a balrog, would burn them pretty badly.
 
Ange1e4e5 said:
We could try having him stabbed in both shoulders, on top of several sword wounds to the torso. And maybe Gothmog stomps on his fingers or something like that, which considering Gothmog is a balrog, would burn them pretty badly.
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Rather than risk the Monty Python act, could we have Gothmog ensnare him with a whip?
 
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