Gwaedhel-lance (S. "Oath-Sister")
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The Gwaedhil (S. "Oath-sisters"; sing. "Gwaedhel") are a pair of weapons which serve as visible tokens of the oath that Merro, the King of the Mountains, swore to Isildur upon the...
The Gwaedhil (S. "Oath-sisters"; sing. "Gwaedhel") are a pair of weapons which serve as visible tokens of the oath that Merro, the King of the Mountains, swore to Isildur upon the...
The Gwaedhil (S. "Oath-sisters"; sing. "Gwaedhel") are a pair of weapons which serve as visible tokens of the oath that Merro, the King of the Mountains, swore to Isildur upon the Covenant Stone of Erech. These arms—a sword and lance— were forged by the Elves of Tirith Aear, at Amroth's behest, as a gift to aid Elendil's sons in the securing of their newly-founded realm. Fashioned from meteoric iron that the Elves had found upon the heights of the White Mountains, the twin blades were woven with spells of strength to keep safe the words of faith and alliance which they commemorated.
When Merro's oath was spoken, Isildur presented the lance to the Morachd; but the sword he entrusted to Edhelion (who was then the Captain of the Faithful in Pelargir), appointing him the warden of the covenant stone at Erech. The Gwaedhel-sword remained in the possession of the princes of Belfalas until the time of Lothirion who, at King Tarannon's command, bestowed the blade upon his son Gundor, chosen to be Prince of Mornan in T.A. 831. Likewise, the Gwaedhel-lance was passed down from Merro to his son, and in turn to his grandson Morthec, who broke the oath in S.A. 3434.
The Oathbreaking caused the appearance and enchanted character of the weapons to change. Whereas in origin they had gleamed bright in the light of the sun, now their surfaces were blackened as the starless night. Formerly they had brought their wielders fortitude and strength of spirit, now their very presence exuded an aura of grim foreboding and brooding visions of some final reckoning that must one day be achieved. The Gwaedhel-lance followed Morthec into the Paths of the Dead, but the Gwaedhel-sword continued to be handed down from father to son in the line of Mornan's princes, until the time of the Kin-strife, when Prince Maeglin's rebellious son sided with the confederates and brought the blade with him into exile in Umbar in T.A. 1448.
The subsequent fate of the Gwaedhel-sword is not recorded in any of the histories, but it is said that Morthec Gruan wielded the Gwaedhel-lance when at last he was summoned to fulfill his oath by Aragorn. After defeating the Corsairs at Pelargir on Gwaeron 22, T.A. 3019, Morthec, released from his curse, broke the Gwaedhel-lance in two, and his lingering spirit departed from the world. No living man dared ever again to wield the either weapon after the fulfillment of the oath, but the hafts of the Gwaedhel-lance were carried with reverence to the pinnacle of Tirith Aear, and there surrendered to the keeping of Ulmo's realm.
During the time that the Gwaedhel-sword was in the possession of the princes of Mornan, its power over the Dead was drawn upon many times. When the folk of the Black Vale were troubled by the Oathbreakers (living or dead), the prince could be entreated to intervene; and by brandishing the blade with words of command, he held the power to evict the Cursed People (or their ghostly shades) from a given locale. Such banishments often involved lengthy negotiations with the Oathbreakers, whose terror was unable to daunt the bearer of the Gwaedhel-sword.