Hadhafang

Hadhafang as designed by The Noble Collection

Hadhafang is a sword used by Arwen used in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movies. The sword and its history are not part of the original story, but were invented for the movies. In the books, Arwen is never seen in combat. Since her character was given an action scene in the movie version, it was deemed necessary to give her a weapon and to provide the weapon with a back story like many of the fictional weapons described in the original novel.

According to the movie trilogy's official publicity material, Hadhafang (whose name is a newly-coined Sindarin word meaning "Throng-cleaver"), once belonged to the Elven Princess Idril, who wed a mortal man and bore Eärendil, the father of Elrond, who in turn was father to Arwen. Before Arwen's birth, Elrond wielded Hadhafang at the end of the second age of Middle-earth, during the Last Alliance of Elves and Men in the great battle against Sauron on the slopes of Mount Doom.

Later his daughter, Arwen, used Hadhafang when she aided Frodo in his escape from the Ringwraiths. Inscribed on the blade are runes in Sindarin that say:

Aen estar Hadhafang i chathol hen, thand arod dan i thang an i arwen
("This blade is called Hadhafang, a noble defense against the enemy throng for a noble maiden")

Like all of the props used in the Lord of the Rings movies, Hadhafang was manufactured by Weta Workshop.