Narsil

Narsil was the sword of Elendil, one of the great heirlooms of the Dúnedain, renowned as the blade that cut the One Ring from the hand of Sauron. Broken in that deed, it was preserved through the long ages and at last reforged as Andúril, the Flame of the West, the sword of King Aragorn.

Origins

Narsil was forged in the Elder Days by the Dwarf-smith Telchar of Nogrod, a maker of great renown. It came into the keeping of Elendil, lord of the Dúnedain of the realms in exile, and it shone with the light of the sun and the moon.

The breaking

At the end of the Second Age, in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, Elendil fell in battle with Sauron upon the slopes of Mount Doom, and Narsil was broken beneath him. His son Isildur took up the broken hilt-shard, and with the stub of the blade still set in it he cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand, casting down the Dark Lord's bodily form.

The shards preserved

The shards of Narsil were carried away as an heirloom of Isildur's line and kept by his descendants through all the ages of the North-kingdom and after its fall, passing at last to the Rangers of the North. For nearly three thousand years the sword that was broken was not remade, but its preservation was bound up with the hope of the return of the king.

Andúril

At the time of the War of the Ring, the Elves of Rivendell reforged the shards of Narsil for Aragorn, the heir of Isildur. The new sword was named Andúril, "Flame of the West", and upon its blade were set devices of the sun, the moon, and seven stars. Aragorn bore it through the war and carried it as a token of his right when he claimed the throne of the Reunited Kingdom.