News culture Aragorn’s sword is not only in the Lord of the Rings films… Fans will be surprised!

Culture news Aragorn’s sword isn’t just in the Lord of the Rings films… Fans are in for a surprise!

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Aragorn’s sword, a legendary weapon

Whatever the story of Heroic Fantasy, fans often remember the name, shape and legend associated with the most legendary weapons. We can think of Excalibur, surely the most famous of all swords, but also of the weapons of Game Of Thrones such as Needle (Arya’s sword), Grandclaw (Jon Snow’s) or Corvenin (the Tarly family’s). But if there is one work that multiplies the weapons of legend, it is The Lord of the Rings. Dard, Glamdring, Gúthwinë, Hadhafang, Narsil, all these names are far from being unknown to fans of Tolkien’s universe, but none are as famous as Andúril, Aragorn’s sword.

Central to the return of Aragorn as a character bringing hope for the future of Middle-earth and the race of Men, this sword is none other than the reforged version of Narsil, the sword of Elendil with which Isildur cut off Sauron’s finger, ending his reign before the events of Lord of the Rings. Also called the Flame of the West in high elf, this sword is as simple as it is recognizable to fans, and is often one of the most popular replicas that can be seen hanging on the walls of the most passionate. If you are one of those who regularly watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy, it would surely take you a fraction of a second to notice it among all the swords. Imagine that This is exactly what might happen to you if you go to the cinema in a few weeks…

When the sword chooses the wrong knight

If the Andúril sword is particularly legendary, the actor who carries it in Peter Jackson’s trilogy is just as legendary. Viggo Mortensen, who played Aragorn in the cinema more than 20 years ago, did not stop at this role and has had a busy career all this time. For example, we can note its role in The road in 2009 or the one he held in the excellent Captain Fantastic in 2016, not to mention his duet with Mahershala Ali in Green Book in 2018. Soon, you will even be able to discover his work as a director thanks to Until the End of the World, a western whose release date is set for May 1 in France. And believe it or not, This is precisely where you can see the Andúril sword again.

A few days ago, I had the chance to see the film Until the End of the World in preview at the UGC Les Halles cinema in Paris, all in the presence of Viggo Mortensen and Vicky Krieps, respectively director, actor and actress in the film. Since the film only comes out in two and a half weeks, I won’t insult you by revealing it to you, but I will still tell you about a detail that may please Lord of the Rings fans. As surprising as it may seem, this western directed by Viggo Mortensen offers a few scenes in the presence of a knight in medieval armor. Although we only see him for a few seconds in the film, it didn’t take much longer to notice that the sword hanging on his horse was familiar to me and for good reason: it was indeed Andúril, Aragorn’s sword in the Lord of the Rings.

Even though I was sure of myself, I thought I was hallucinating when I noticed it on the screen, especially since it never comes out of its sheath and only the hilt is visible to the viewer. But at the end of the film, while Viggo Mortensen and Vicky Krieps stayed a few extra minutes to respond to the audience’s comments and questions (in impeccable French, by the way), another Lord of the Rings fan took his chance and asked the director if the knight’s sword was indeed Aragorn’s, to which the person simply replied before the viewer even finished his question: “Yes !”

A wink that has its effect

Obviously, even if the film has absolutely nothing to do with Lord of the Rings, Viggo Mortensen and Vicky Krieps then took the time to explain some anecdotes surrounding the presence of this sword in At World’s End:

When I needed a sword for the knight, I was presented with several models. They were all drinkable, but I couldn’t decide on one of them, none caught my eye. So I said “I have a sword”. And I called Warner Bros. and Peter Jackson and asked them if I could use my sword in my movie. They said, “Are we going to see a lot of her on screen? Will we be able to recognize her?” And I said “No, it will just be a sword, a detail on a character, it will never be full screen. But someone will see her, for sure, someone will recognize her. But it will not be highlighted.” And they said ok, so I used it. – Viggo Mortensen (approximate transcription)

For her part, Vicky Krieps admitted to us that she is not a big fan of Lord of the Rings, and therefore did not originally know that this sword was special. When playing in his presence, however, she had a humorous moment with her equestrian coach:

At one point in the film, I’m in this armor and on this horse. During filming, my equestrian coach came up to me trembling and asked “Can I touch her?” and I didn’t know what he was talking about! So I asked him “The horse?” and he said “No, Aragorn’s sword!” And I didn’t even know who Aragorn was, so I didn’t understand right away! – Vicky Krieps (approximate transcription)

Apparently, even in the film crew, the presence of this sword managed to have its small effect. Of course, Andúril is only a wink in At World’s End, and the film has absolutely nothing to do with Aragorn or the Lord of the Rings since it is an entirely western what is most serious. If this type of film interests you or you are a fan of Viggo Mortensen, I still strongly advise you to go see it when it is released on May 1st. I personally really liked the structure of the narration, the photography and the music of the film, which was also composed by Viggo Mortensen himself. To get a first glimpse of the film, you can discover the trailer in our automatic player at the top of the article. If you want to rewatch the Lord of the Rings trilogy, on the other hand, you can do so on Amazon Prime Video.