Mythcon Talk: Frozen Fire and Iron of Death: Magical Weapons in "The Silmarillion," "A Song of Ice and Fire" and Other Fantasy Universes

Here is the talk I will be giving at Mythcon this weekend, including some of the PowerPoint pictures as well as photos of the minerals and meteorites being displayed in person.

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Frozen Fire and Iron of Death: Magical Weapons in The Silmarillion, A Song of Ice and Fire and Other Fantasy Universes

As we begin, I would like to make it clear that this talk is not to be considered an exhaustive study, but rather an overview of several interesting examples, along with some hopefully entertaining hands-on show and tell. I should also explain that we are going to set up some necessary scientific and historical background before plunging (pun very much intended) into a number of specific examples from fantasy media.

Humans’ ability to kill each other significantly improved about 3400 years ago with the first production of iron from ore, marking the onset of the Iron Age. To quote Douglas Adams out of context, “This made a lot of people very angry, and has been widely regarded as a bad idea." 

[Michael, meet the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. I think you have a lot in common]

The resulting quantum leap in weaponry was due to the fact that “iron, when alloyed with a bit of carbon, is harder, more durable, and holds a sharper edge than bronze”  (Spoerl, n.d.). It must have been accidentally discovered by one of our human ancestors that when iron is heated in a charcoal fire, the resulting slag can be hammered and worked into wrought iron that is both malleable and tough. The charcoal fire imparts up to about a tenth of a percent of carbon to the metal, just enough to give it the desired characteristics.

Many centuries later, it was found that at much higher temperatures (1500 degrees Fahrenheit or more), the iron absorbs more carbon (about 3 - 4%), reducing the melting point. The resulting cast iron can be used to mass-produce weapons, such as the crude orc weapons created by the minions of Saruman in The Lord of the Rings. 

 [Uruk-hai scimitar, courtesy of http://www.weaponreplica.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/uruk-hai-sword.jpg]

Cast iron is an inferior material for weapons, as it is hard and brittle and likely to crack or even shatter under a heavy blow. It also cannot be shaped with a hammer (Spoerl, n.d.).

Iron obviously played an important role in ancient and medieval civilizations, and it is not surprising that there are a number of superstitions surrounding this metal. For example, hanging an iron horseshoe on a door is thought to repel evil spirits (the source of the belief that a horseshoe is “lucky”), and placing an iron fence around a graveyard supposedly prevents the spirits from leaving the grounds. Another superstition states that witches can be prevented from entering one’s home by burying an iron knife under the doorway. (“The Lore of Iron”, 2007).  

On earth iron is usually found in the form of various iron oxides, including hematite, magnetite, goethite, and limonite. Magnetite is not only important as a major source of iron on earth, but because of its magnetic properties. Also known as ferrous-ferric oxide, Fe₃O₄, it is the most highly magnetic naturally occurring mineral found on earth (MacNamara, n.d.). As the samples of magnetite and hematite go around, feel free to use the magnet on both of them.

 [magnetite]

[hematite]

By contrast, in outer space, specifically in asteroids and pieces of asteroids that fall to earth as meteorites, iron occurs as an alloy with nickel. In terms of composition, meteorites are divisible into three main categories: irons (siderites) with 8-10% nickel content; stones (aerolites), comprised of rocky materials; and stony-irons (siderolites), which feature rocky minerals embedded in an iron-nickel matrix. As an aside, if you find a strange piece of iron in your backyard some time and want to know if it’s an iron meteorite, see if it is magnetic. If it is, it might (MIGHT) be a meteorite; if not, it’s a “meteor-wrong,” usually a piece of iron from an old foundry. Try this with the meteorite samples going around now. I routinely get brought at least one candidate meteorite every year. Only one has ever turned out to be the real-deal.

 

[Iron meteorite]

[Stony-iron meteorite]

[Stony meteorite]

Humans have long had a love/hate relationship with rocks falling from outer space, not surprising considering that we now know a 10 km wide asteroid probably did in the dinosaurs. Some ancient cultures worshipped specific meteorites, such as the Needle of Cybele in Rome, and the Pallas meteorite revered by the Tartars (Farrington, 1900). Other peoples considered meteorites to be evil omens. For example, among the Swiss a fall of meteorites was thought to be an omen of impending war (Burke, 1986). Meteorite showers also appear in the Old and New Testament. In the Book of Joshua (10:2), “the Lord cast down great stones from Heaven” upon the Amorites, killing many of them. Although sometimes translated as “hailstones,” at least one astronomical author of Tolkien’s time, William Pickering of Harvard, openly interpreted this event as referring to a meteorite storm (Pickering, 1919). Similarly, in Revelation 6:13 “the stars of heaven fell unto earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.” In a later verse (8:10), “there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of rivers.”

Aside from these supernatural beliefs, there have been significant and culturally important uses of meteoritic iron in some parts of the world, including in the construction of weapons. For example, the Prambanan meteorite of Indonesia was used to manufacture a number of blades circa 1800, including “superbly fashioned kris daggers” (Bevan and De Laeter, 2002, p. 17). A decade later, James Sowerby forged a sword from a meteorite taken from Cape of Good Hope, which was presented to Czar Alexander of Russia (Burke, 1986). But crude weapons made from meteorites go back millennia, for example in Northwest Greenland.

[James Sowerby's gift to Czar Alexander. Courtesy of http://royalsocietypublishing.org/content/roynotesrec/67/4/387/F2.large.jpg?width=800&height=600]

Here at least 50 tons of iron meteorite fragments fell to earth about 10,000 ago. The native Inuits used pieces of the meteorite fall to make knives, hooks, and other blades (Buchwald, 1992). The three largest pieces, dubbed the Tent or Ahnighito, the Woman, and the Dog, have been on display at New York’s American Museum of Natural History since 1904.

[Ahnighito. Courtesy of http://www.amnh.org/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/amnh/images/exhibitions/permanent-exhibitions/earth-and-planetary-sciences-halls/hall-of-meteorites2/]

One reason for the desire to fashion meteorites into blades, besides their rarity and hence value, is a very specific crystalline pattern only found in iron meteorites. This Widmanstätten pattern is due to the extremely slow cooling of two molten iron-nickel alloys, taenite and kamacite, inside large asteroidal parent bodies. The two alloys have differing amounts of nickel, and different resistances to etching by acid, thus resulting in the distinctive pattern when acid is applied. Feel free to ogle the sample going around now. 

 [Widmanstätten pattern in an iron meteorite slab]

Given their rarity and beauty, it is not surprising that meteoritic weapons have legends associated with them,. For example, some say that Attila the Hun “and other devastating conquerors had swords from heaven” (Rickard, 1941, p. 55). Such blades were said to have the ability to slay dragons (Cashen, 1998). Given these historical and cultural references, we should not be surprised to find that one of the most famous, and unfortunate, swords in Tolkien’s Middle-earth tales was composed of meteoritic iron.

Among the many tales that form J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium, perhaps none is more tragic than that of Túrin Turambar. Featuring incest, murder, and suicide, Tolkien himself noted that the life of this largely flawed hero draws upon similar elements in the lives of the legendary “Sigurd the Volsung, Oedipus, and the Finnish Kullervo” (Carpenter, 2000, p. 150). One of the main characters in this tale is neither human nor elf, but instead an inanimate object, namely a curious talking sword named Anglachel, made from meteoritic iron.

Anglachel was forged by Eöl, the mysterious Dark Elf, husband of Aredhel, Turgon’s sister, and father of Maeglin. It was made of “iron that fell from heaven as a blazing star; it would cleave all earth-delved iron. One other sword only in Middle-earth was like to it. That sword does not enter into this tale, though it was made of the same ore by the same smith…” (Tolkien, 2001, p. 241). Eöl reluctantly gave Anglachel to Thingol, King of Doriath, for permission to live in Nan Elmoth, keeping Anguirel, the other meteoritic sword, for his own use until it was stolen by his son. The sword was presumably lost when Maeglin was (quite deservingly) tossed from the walls of Gondolin by Tuor, his body said to strike the “rocky slopes of Amon Gwareth thrice ere it pitched into the flames below” (Tolkien, 2001, p. 243). Ouch! In contrast to the fiery fate of its brother blade, Anglachel found its end in blood. Beleg, faithful friend of Túrin, chose the sword from Thingol’s armory as payment for acting as a liason between the then outlaw and the elvish king. But Thingol’s wife, Melian, with the insight of one of the Maiar, warned that the sword had “malice” and that the “dark heart of the smith still dwells in it. It will not love the hand it serves; neither will it abide with you long” (Tolkien, 2001, p. 241).

True to Melian’s premonition, the sword betrayed Beleg by pricking Túrin’s foot while its well-intentioned owner tried to cut the then unconscious human’s bindings. Túrin was “aroused into a sudden wakefulness of rage and fear” and in his confusion killed Beleg with his own sword (Tolkien, 2001, p. 248).  After the death of its owner, Anglachel was said to be “black and dull and its edges blunt” and it was claimed that it “mourns for Beleg” (Tolkien, 2001, p. 250). In Nargothrond it was reforged for Túrin, and “though ever black its edges shone with pale fire; and he named it Gurthang, Iron of Death” (Tolkien, 2001, p. 251). Túrin took the name Mormegil (Black Sword), and after many adventures killed Glaurung the dragon with the blade. Meanwhile, his pregnant wife learned that she was actually his sister and committed suicide, and when Túrin discovered the truth, he murdered Brandir, the innocent bearer of that most unpleasant news. Unable to live with all that he had done, Túrin finally asked the sword to take his life, to which it answered in a “cold voice… ‘I will drink thy blood gladly, that so I may forget the blood of Beleg my master, and the blood of Brandir slain unjustly. I will slay thee swiftly’” (Tolkien, 2001, p. 271). Túrin then threw himself upon his sword, which broke beneath him, and both steel and soldier were buried together in a mound grave.

This strange sentient, talking sword is an obvious nod to one of the Professor’s favorite tales, the Kalevala.  By his own admission, he was “immensely attracted by something in the air” of the saga, to such an extent that the beginning of his tales of Middle-earth was “an attempt to reorganize some of the Kalevala, especially the tale of Kullervo the hapless into a form of my own” (Carpenter, 2000, p. 214). In the story of Kullervo we also see accidental incest between the hero and his sister, and a sword is asked if it “was disposed to slay him.” In response, the sword answers

Wherefore at thy heart’s desire

Should I not thy flesh devour;

And drink up thy blood so evil?

I who guiltless flesh have eaten,

Drunk the blood of those who sinned not? (Kirby, 1985, p. 481)

The strange appearance of Anglachel – “though ever black its edges shone with pale fire” – may be a nod to its meteoritic origin. During their fiery descent through the atmosphere, stony meteorites may acquire a blackish outer coating, called a fusion crust, although the meteorite as a whole is usually either grayish or metallic in appearance. A sample of a stony meteorite with a fusion crust is going around now. Tolkien may have erroneously thought the fusion crust to be a bulk property of meteorites, and used it to tie in the black color of the sword with its meteoritic origin. The shining edges of the sword are also reminiscent of a meteor streaking through the air.           

[Stony meteorite with dark fusion crust]

Other examples of meteoritic blades can be found in popular culture, all with magical properties. For example, in Andrzej Sapkowski’s Witcher series of novels (and wildly popular related video games) the eponymous main character Geralt the Witcher (a genetically engineered monster hunter) carries two swords. As he explains to the priestess Iola

Every witcher does. It’s said, spitefully, the silver one is for monsters and the iron for humans. But that’s wrong. As there are monsters which can be struck down only by a silver blade, so there are those for whom an iron blade is lethal. And, Iola, not just any iron, it must come from a meteorite… a falling star…. You’ve probably made a wish on one. Perhaps it was one more reason for you to believe in the gods. For me, a meteorite is nothing more than a bit of metal, primed by the sun and its fall, metal to make swords. (Sapkowski, 2007, pp. 145-6)

[Geralt's swords in the video game]

If you have never heard of this series, I highly recommend you give it a try. While only the first few volumes have been officially translated into English from Polish, the other works have been lovingly translated by fans and are freely available on the Internet (http://archive.today/DwokN).

Unless you live in a troll cave, you have at least heard of George R. R. Martin’s epic ongoing series of novels A Song of Ice and Fire, upon which the HBO series Game of Thrones is based.  In Martin’s massive Secondary World there are a series of weapons with mythical properties, only one of which is known to be meteoritic in origin. Dawn, the great ancestral broadsword of the House Dayne, is said to be “forged from the heart of a fallen star” and its bearer, Ser Arthur Dayne, is called the Sword of the Morning (Martin, 2011a, p. 332). The blade, said to be “as pale as milkglass, alive with light,” is the source of the name of the Dayne family castle, Starfall, and the family coat of arms, which features a white sword and a meteor (Martin, 2011c, p. 425).

Another class of legendary swords and daggers figures prominently in Martin’s saga, Valyrian steel blades. At this point we should stop to ask, what exactly is steel? I’m very glad you asked. Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon, with other trace elements added depending on the type of steel (and its intended uses). It generally has between 0.2 – 1.5% carbon, which makes it harder than wrought iron but not as brittle as cast iron. Until the mid-1800s steel was a luxury, since there was no known way to control the carbon content so precisely (Spoerl, n.d.).

In Martin’s world Valyrian steel is said to be lighter, stronger and sharper than ordinary steel; ancient weapons made from this material are much coveted and are held as treasured heirlooms by the families fortunate enough to possess them. While the art of creating Valyrian steel has been lost, there still exists a handful of smiths who can reforge the material. For example, after Ned Stark loses his head (certainly not a spoiler if you know that he was portrayed by Sean Bean in the tv series), his oversized Valyrian steel sword, Ice, is reforged into two average sized blades, Widow’s Wail and Oathkeeper.

In correspondence with fans, Martin explained that Valyrian steel “has magical properties, and magic plays a role in its forging” (Martin, 2002). In the same correspondence he explained that the “closest real life analog is Damascus steel.” The famed Damascus steel weapons are known for the swirling patterns in their blades, and can be subdivided into pattern-welded and wootz. The pattern-welded blades were made by “forge welding alternating sheets of high- and low-carbon steels. This composite was then folded and forge-welded together,” with the process repeated until there were a large number of layers (Verhoeven et al., 1998). Both types were developed at some point before 500 AD, and originated in India. The art of making such swords was lost circa 1800. The name Damascus steel comes from the fact that this city was where Western Europeans first came into contact with these weapons (Verhoeven et al., 1998). In the early 20^th century it was determined that wootz steel blades have bands of clustered cementine (Fe₃C) that appear white when the steel is polished and etched. Modern studies and experiments with replicating the pattern have determined that a variety of other impurities, the most important of which appear to be vanadium and to a lesser extent molybdenum, are important in creating the distinctive patterns. Verhoevan et al. (1998) argue that it is not only the actual process (a closely guarded secret) that was lost, but the source of the wootz iron ingots (in southern India near Hyderabad). The properties of Damascus steel blades are still studied by metallurgists and chemists today, and they have not revealed all of their secrets. Pseudo-Damascus blades of high carbon content have been manufactured that exhibit a pattern similar to that of true Damascus steel and are commercially available (Sanderson, 2006).

[Damascus wootz blades. Courtesy of Verhoevan et al. (1998)]

Martin does indeed describe Valyrian steel weapons in similar terms to Damascus steel. For example, in the first novel Ned Stark is polishing Ice “to a dark glow.” His wife

could see the rippling deep within the steel, where the metal had been folded back on itself a hundred times in the forgery. Catelyn had no love for swords, but she could not deny that Ice had its own beauty. It had been forged in Valyria, before the Doom had come to the Old Freehold, when the ironsmiths had worked their metal with spells as well as hammers. Four hundred years it was, and as sharp as the day it was forged. (Martin, 2011c, p. 24)

For you superfans, the Valryian Steel website (http://www.valyriansteel.com) sells licensed weapon replicas from the book and tv series. Their version of Ice comes in both “Damascus steel” (pictured here) and standard steel versions. Remember that here “Damascus steel” means a high carbon content, patterned blade that mimics the historical Damascus steel.

Another type of magical material that plays an ongoing role in Martin’s series is so-called dragonglass, what Martin’s maesters, or learned men, “call obsidian” (Martin, 2011a, p.  517) and understand is created from “the fires of the earth” rather than “made by dragons” as the “smallfolk like to say” (Martin, 2011d, p.  451).

Obsidian is a type of volcanic glass that is formed when silica-rich lava quickly cools upon exposure to the air or water and cannot form crystals (as in the case of chemically similar igneous rocks like rhyolite and granite). Most often it is found in black, glassy masses, or with brown streaks (called mahogany obsidian) mixed in. High-temperature quartz crystals called cristobalite can also pepper the sample, creating so-called Snowflake obsidian. Samples of all three types are being passed around.

[Obsidian]

[Mahogany obsidian]

[Snowflake obsidian]

Obsidian tends to form extremely sharp edges when broken, and since the Stone Age has been used to make “knives, arrow heads, spear points, scrapers and many other weapons and tools” (King, n.d.). Due to their sharpness, obsidian blades have long been used in ceremonial rites, including ritual circumcisions, with the finest examples found in Mesoamerica, specifically at Olmec and Maya sites (“Obsidian in the Maya World,” 2011). Modern surgeons have also had success using obsidian blades for microsurgery on animals and humans, so please be careful handling the obsidian shards now being passed around (Buck, 1982).

[Obsidian shards]

Obsidian is important to Martin’s Children of the Forest, an ancient and technologically simple species of sentient beings who inhabited the continent of Westeros thousands of years before the arrival of the first humans to its shores. As they “worked no metal… [i]n the place of swords they carried blades of obsidian” (Martin, 2011c, p. 737). In the past, during the so-called Age of Heroes, the Children gave the Night’s Watch on the Great Wall in the North “a hundred obsidian blades every year”(Martin, 2011b, p. 114). The significance of these crude blades was made clear when the rather Samwise Gamgee-like Samwell Tarly uses an obsidian blade to kill one of the terrifying “Others,” or White Walkers, north of the Wall.

Supernatural properties have been associated with obsidian for centuries. In Medieval times black obsidian was said to have the power to “drive out demons” and was used to make scrying mirrors that were used to communicate with spirits (Windred, 2014). The obsidian scrying mirror of famed Elizabethan astrologer John Dee is on display in the British Museum. He and medium Edward Kelly reportedly used it to communicate with “angels” using a secret language of letters and symbols (British Museum, n.d.). It is also interesting to note that the famous rapa nui statues on Easter Island have white coral eyes with obsidian or red coral centers (National Geographic, n.d.).

[John Dee's obsidian scrying mirror. Courtesy of http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/John_Dee%27s_Aztec_Scrying_Mirror.jpg]

One particular form of obsidian is closely related to legend, the so-called “Apache Tears.” These roundish globules of black obsidian are found in a grayish matrix of weathered and hydrated obsidian called perlite, and are found in Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico. You can see some of the perlite still clinging to the edges of the samples being passed around now.  According to legend, the warriors of the Pinal Apache tribe of Arizona were routed in a battle with the U.S. Cavalry. The twenty five warriors who survived the initial battle chose to throw themselves over the cliff of Big Picacho (now called Apache Leap Mountain) rather than be captured. The round, black stones that were later found in this area were said to be the solidified tears of the Apache women (“Apache Tears,” n.d.).

[Apache tears]

At this point in Martin’s fantasy world (through book 5 of the planned 7), dragonglass is the only known material that can kill “Others”, although there are ancient writings discovered by Samwell that speak of something called “dragonsteel,” which can supposedly be used to slay Others as well. Samwell and Jon Snow suspect this to be another allusion to dragonglass - or frozen fire, as the Valyrians termed it – although the truth of this belief awaits the remaining two promised volumes in the series, or the heat death of the universe, whichever comes first (Martin, 2011b, p. 115).

In the meantime, fans can purchase an officially licensed Night’s Watch Dragonglass Dagger set, complete with 5 obsidian arrowheads, fabric map of wildling territory “for taking on your next ranging” and a “letter from Jon Snow (written by GRRM) issuing your orders,” all for the low, low price of $220.00. The website warns that the obsidian “knife itself can be razor sharp” and should never be used in food preparation as “a shard could break off and be ingested and that would be a very bad thing necessitating medical attention” (“Night's Watch Dragonglass Dagger Set,” 2008).

[Courtesy of http://www.valyriansteel.com/shop/images/uploads/good-obsidian-sm.jpg]

The final magical sword of Martin’s series is another one-of-a-kind weapon. According to Melisandre, priestess of the Lord of Light, R’hllor, “it is written that there will come a day after the long summer when the stars bleed and the cold breath of darkness falls heavy on the world. In this dread hour a warrior shall draw from the fire a burning sword. A sword that shall be Lightbringer, the Red Sword of Heroes, and he who clasps it shall be Azor Ahai come again, and the darkness shall flee before him” (Martin, 2011a, p. 148). Not coincidentally, right after this proclamation, the priestess’ patron, Stannis Baratheon, pulls a flaming sword from the fire and is proclaimed by her to be Azor Ahai reborn. However, those in the know understand that it is a political ploy, a trick, by the priestess. The true Azor Ahai and Lightbringer will certainly be revealed later in the saga (if Martin every finishes it).

Part of the reason why fans are eager for (or, in some cases, perhaps dread) this eventual great reveal is the legend surrounding Lightbringer’s forging. According to the tale within the tale, Azor Ahai first attempted to forge a folded steel blade, but it shattered when plunged into water. The second blade proved “even finer than the first”, but shattered as well, when he plunged it into a lion’s heart to temper. Finally, he fashioned a third blade and plunged it through the beating heart of his beloved wife Nissa Nissa, and “her cry of anguish and ecstasy left a crack across the moon, but her blood and her soul and her strength and her courage all went into the steel” (Martin, 2011a, p. 155). Which character will play the role of Nissa Nissa to the new Azor Ahai? As they say, stay tuned.

Lastly, we turn to another type of unearthly blade, the so-called empyrean steel referenced in Dominion. For those of you not familiar with this recent Syfy production, the basic plotline picks up 25 years after the conclusion of the film Legion. The archangel Michael leads human survivors against the murderous army of his brother Gabriel and his battalion of lower angels. A blade made of this material is wielded by Furiad, one of the higher “Powers” aligned with Gabriel, and used to stab Michael and severely wound him. 

Michael later explains to his human lover, and lead scientist, Becca Thorn, that the empyrean steel should have killed him. 

She hides from him the fragment that had been broken off and left in his body, and analyzes it in her lab, finding it to be constructed of

Base metal: iron oxide (magnetite)
10.8% nickel
9.2% manganese
12.4% vanadium
67.6% unknown alloy (Dominion, “The Flood”, 1.4)

For this discussion we will forgive the faux pas that magnetite is technically a metal oxide and not a metal.  “Empyrean” refers to something belonging to or deriving from heaven. When used as a noun, it refers to the highest heaven, described as a realm of light and fire. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the term derives from the Greek empurios, em “in” and pur “fire.” This would suggest that an “empyrean blade” might be made of meteoritic metal. However, magnetite is not common in meteorites, and while the 10.8% nickel does align with the composition of iron meteorites, the manganese and vanadium levels are far too high (by several orders of magnitude). Interestingly, the elevated vanadium does bring to mind Damascus steel, but again is several orders of magnitude too high. Also, as previously noted, the iron-nickel alloy content of metallic meteorites is well-known and understood (Mason and Fleischer, 1979).

A number of important impurities are added to iron to make steel. Carbon is the most important of these, and is used to strengthen the iron. Manganese confers similar properties to the steel, while aluminum, copper, and chromium are used to enhance anticorrosive properties. Nickel and vanadium are added to improve toughness against fracture. The amounts of the impurities are generally very small, with the exception of special alloys used for particular purposes. For example, the “18-8” alloy of stainless steel contains 18% nickel and 8 % chromium (MIT Dept of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 1999). Given its composition, empyrean steel should be very fracture-proof and strong, which begs the question, why did a shard break off in the first place? 


As we discovered in the season finale on Thursday (entitled “Beware Those Closest to You”), Becca was able to recreate the material and manufactured a vest that could prevent an angel from unfurling its wings, a sort of “angel chastity belt” as it were. 

The show could have gone the way of Game of Thrones and had the empyrean blade, like valyrian steel, completely magical in nature, although given its precise metallurgical composition it was a pretty clear sign that magic was not going to be a major factor in its construction.  Although show creator and producer Vaun Wilmott has stated that the mythology of Dominion will intentionally deviate in significant ways from both traditional theology and the canon of Legion, there are obvious alignments with both (Moore, 2014). For example, Furiad is said to be a Power, one of the higher angels of the “second sphere” who were “born to be warriors to keep the other angels in line” (Dominion, “Pilot,” 1.1). This aligns nicely with the description of the angelic hierarchy in St. Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica. Interestingly, the concept of the Empyrean as the highest level of heaven is an important part of the medieval geocentric cosmology (Lynn, 2000), and finds perhaps its most well-known usage in Dante’s Paradiso. Here it is the tenth level of heaven, the abode of God, a place out of time and space. It lies beyond of the nine levels of the Moon, five naked eye planets, sun, stars, and Primum Mobile, the abode of the angels and the last of the physical spheres (Stebbins, 1963).

[Dante enters the Empyrean. Engraving by Gustave Dore. Courtesy of http://s1.hubimg.com/u/4416220_f260.jpg]

While it would make some sense that an angel whose job it is to keep other angels in line has a weapon that comes from God himself, wouldn’t be easier to just have God smite the angels who get out of hand? But this would certainly be less effective storytelling, both in theology and fantasy fiction.

And so we acknowledge the important role these magical and mythical weapons play in “fleshing out” the mythology of some of our favorite Secondary Worlds.

Note: Some of this material previously appeared in "Swords and Sky Stones: Meteoric Iron in The Silmarillion." Mallorn: Journal of the Tolkien Society 44: 22-6, 2006.

References:

“Apache Tears” (N.d.). Accessed from http://www.gemtradenet.com.

Bevan, A., and De Laeter, J. (2002). Meteorites (Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution Press).

British Museum (N.d.). “Dr. Dee’s Mirror.” Accessed from http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/d/dr_dees_mirror.aspx).

Buchwald, Vagn Fabritius (1992). “On the Use of Iron by the Eskimos in Greenland.” Materials Characterization 29 no. 2:139-76.

Buck, Bruce A. (1982). “Ancient Technology in Contemporary Surgery.” Western Journal of Medicine 136 no. 3: 265-9.

Burke, J.G. (1986). Cosmic Debris (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press).

Carpenter, H. (ed.) (2000). The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin).

Cashen, K.R. (1998). “The Road to Damascus.” Accessed from http://swordforum.com/forge/roadtodamascus.html.

MIT Dept of Civil and Environmental Engineering (1999). “Chemical Composition of structural steels.” Accessed from http://web.mit.edu/1.51/www/pdf/chemical.pdf].

Farrington, O.C. (1900). “The Worship and Folk-lore of Meteorites.” Journal of American Folklore 13 no. 50: 199-208.

King, Hobart (N.d.). “Obsidian.” Accessed from http://geology.com/rocks/obsidian.html.

Kirby, W.F. (transl.) (1985). Kalevala (London: Athlone Press).

“The Lore of Iron.” (2007). Sacred Loop #58: 22-3.

Lynn, Michael R. (2000). “The Unmasking of the Medieval Christian Cosmos, 1500-1760: From Solid Heavens to Boundless Aether by W.G.L. Randles.” The Sixteenth Century Journal 31 no. 2: 481-3.

MacNamara, Greg (N.d.). “Iron Fact-ite.” Geological Society of Australia. Accessed from http://www.gsa.org.au/resources/factites/factitesIron.pdf.

Martin, George R.R. (2011a). A Clash of Kings (New York, NY: Bantam Books).

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