Tolkien’s Middle Earth is home to many dangerous weapons that the movies only make a dent in showing us. I could write for weeks on end talking about the vast amount of weapons alone. Did you know that Gandalf’s sword, Glamdring, is potentially the strongest sword in the whole of Middle Earth? Well, he did use it to kill a Balrog which isn’t usually the easiest of tasks.
Today I’m going to take you through a list that will show you some of the most powerful weapons in Middle Earth.
See who also possesses each weapon along the way, with some fun facts about each weapon plus justification regarding their ranking.
10/10 Bow of the Galadhrim
The Bow of the Galadhrim is the bow that Galadriel gifts Legolas before his journey to Lothlórien with the fellowship.
Seen in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
This weapon is a mighty one at that, a very strong and efficient bow made by Galadriel’s people, the Elves. The bow is strung using Elf hair which judging by their life span and incredible health, is probably a good thing. If their bodies can last hundreds to thousands of years then surely their hair will be just as resilient.
Elves in Middle Earth, and many other franchises, are notable for being great at crafting the world’s most powerful weapons.
9/10 The Black Arrow
The Black Arrow is the arrow that Bard uses in the Hobbit to defeat the mighty dragon Smaug, also seen in the live-action trilogy.
This weapon has been ranked higher than Legolas’ bow as it is the arrow itself I am ranking. Bard didn’t really have much of a bow unless you count using his Son’s shoulder of course. The arrow is powerful though, it is known for being able to strike through a dragon’s hide. Definitely a worthy addition to this list.
8/10 The Palantir
The Palantir is the crystal ball that Saruman uses to keep in touch with Sauron while he works on his evil plan.
Did you know that this crystal ball is literally indestructible? The Palantir is also known to be loosely translated to “The Seeing Stones”, which sounds amazing.
Sauron would use the Palantir to show warped visions of the future to distill fear into his enemies. He believed that this would make it easier to defeat his foes, which in many instances it did. Saruman’s Palantir is not the only seeing stone either, there are 7 known Palantir in Middle Earth.
7/10 The Light of Eärendil
The Light of Eärendil is the gift that Galadriel gave to Frodo in Lord of the Rings, also seen in the Fellowship of the Ring movie.
This isn’t really a “weapon” of sorts but in its own way, it is considered a very useful asset during the war for Middle Earth. The light does have some healing qualities to it, it heals Frodo’s worries and lack of hope at one point. Sam also uses the light to scare off the Spider Shelob while saving Frodo.
This is a powerful weapon as it can be used to keep Sauron’s enemies hopeful and determined to end his reign.
6/10 Sting
I’m sure you all know Bilbo and Frodo Baggins’ sword ‘Sting’, but what else do you know about it?
The most popular fact about this sword is that it glows blue when orcs and goblins are nearby. Which has to be one of the handiest tricks to have during a war filled with orcs and goblins, right? Fun fact, Sting isn’t technically a sword… it is actually known as a dagger or a knife.
However, in the hands of a hobbit… it is pretty sword-like.
5/10 Morgul Blade
The Morgul Blade is the dagger that is plunged into Frodo by the Witch-King in Lord of the Rings.
This is a very dark and powerful weapon of Middle Earth, it is laced with dark and fatal poison. The poison-laced dagger was a nasty weapon that would leave anyone it left alive to die a slow and painful death anyway. This can be seen or read during Lord of the Rings as Frodo suffers from the poison quite severely.
4/10 Glamdring
The mighty sword ‘Glamdring’ that Gandalf possessed is most probably the most powerful sword in all of Middle Earth.
Gandalf even defeated a Balrog using this sword, although others have defeated Balrogs in the past, it isn’t the easiest of tasks. The sword has also been owned by some very interesting characters in Tolkien’s lore. Not to mention the large array of dangerous creatures it has defeated.
3/10 Fire of Orthanc
This is the fiery and explosive weapon forged by Saruman during Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, pretty dangerous stuff.
This has ranked quite high on the list due to the fact that weaponry like this didn’t really exist during the war for Middle Earth. Tolkien took a lot of inspiration from real-world wars when writing his Middle Earth world. Something to compare this to would be when mankind started creating large explosives to fight their enemies.
For an example of power though, the two factions fought for hours during the battle of helms deep. They fought over the large wall keeping everyone out of the city, which the Fire of Orthanc managed to blow through within seconds.
2/10 Anduril
This one was the easiest choice to make when ranking this high on the list, Anduril is the sword that belonged to Aragorn’s ancestors.
The sword was broken by Sauron when Aragorn’s ancestor Isildur used it to cut off Sauron’s fingers. That’s not why it ranks high though, something a lot of you reading will probably know why. Anduril possesses a very unique ability, one that Aragorn uses to aid him in battle.
The sword has a pact between Aragorn’s bloodline and an army of the dead, so to speak. A magical power between the sword and the Dead Men of Dunharrow was the reason that the ghosts even existed. Aragorn uses this to his favor to use the ghosts as allies in the war, which works perfectly.
1/10 The One Ring
The One Ring of Power, what everyone doesn’t want but can’t stop craving, is the whole reason behind the war in the first place.
I shouldn’t need to explain why this ring is number one on our list, but I will tell you this. The One Ring of Power is essentially the sole cause behind Sauron’s reign of terror, plus the war itself. Just look at what it did to Bilbo…
