The faithful of Númenor are under attack on The Rings of Power. In the show’s season two finale a desperate Ar-Pharazôn declared his opponents traitors. The island’s rightful Queen refused to leave her people behind during their darkest hour, but Míriel sent Elendil off with something that will serve as an enduring symbol of Númenor’s true strength and devotion. She gave him the most famous sword in all of Middle-earth. Elendil now carries Narsil on The Rings of Power, the legendary sword that will one day be reforged for his descendant Aragorn to carry into battle against Sauron.
Pharazôn and his loyalists have declared war on their fellow Númenoreans by falsely declaring them enemies of the crown the new King stole. After his daughter tipped him off about his pending arrest, Elendil wanted to flee west with his Queen. She refused to run. Míriel told him her place is in the city while his fate lies elsewhere. We know what destiny awaits him, and clearly she does too, because she sent him off with a very important weapon. In The Rings of Power season two’s final episode, she gave him “The White Flame,” the longsword known as Narsil.
Little is known of Narsil’s origins and early history. The great dwarf smith Telchar forged it during “the deeps of time” in the First Age. At some point after the defeat of Morgoth it arrived in Númenor during the Second Age. As the The Rings of Power shows, Narsil eventually ended up in Elendil’s possession when he became the new Lord of the Andúnië.
The Lord of the Rings fans know what awaits both Elendil and his sword. (NOTE: If you don’t and would prefer to keep it that way stop reading now) Sometime in the future of The Rings of Power, Elendil will carry Narsil—a memory and symbol of Númenor’s faith in the Valar and the Andúnië’s standing among mortal men—into battle against Sauron. Elendil will wield Narsil into the War of the Last Alliance where he will face off against the Dark Lord.
Narsil, whose very name represents the Sun and Moon, will break in two during that fight. (Peter Jackson showed it breaking into many shards). But Elendil’s son will pick up both his father’s mantle and a part of Narsil to cut the One Ring from Sauron’s hand, something The Rings of Power will surely depict with great care. The broken pieces will then be passed down for generations to Isildur’s heirs, the Dúnedain of the North. Eventually, something we won’t see on The Rings of Power proper, since it takes place in the Third Age, Elrond will give the shards of Narsil to a young Aragorn, who will carry them with him until elves of Rivendell reforge it into the sword Andúril.
Aragorn will have Andúril with him when he departs with the Fellowship of the Ring. He will take it across Middle-earth as Sauron rules once more from Mordor. And he will carry it when the forces of good defeat the Dark Lord forever. Aragorn, the faithful and noble descendent of Elendil, will be the last one to ever wield it.
Did Queen Míriel see all of that when she looked into her palantír? Or did she merely see Elendil will literally carry the legacy of all that was good in Númenor? Only she knows that, but whatever she saw she ensured Narsil would forever be more than just a sword, on The Rings of Power and beyond. It would forever serve as a symbol of the light against the dark.
