Done if by Hand or Hew if by Sword?

[Pitchwife]

Originally Posted by alatar

Did Aragorn mean that the sword would not permit anyone's touch save one from his lineage, or did Aragorn mean to execute anyone that touched his sword?

Whichever, then the next question would be, why? Sure, I want to keep the kids out of my stuff, but if Aragorn meant the latter, why so severe a punishment?

Interesting question, alatar. There's something to be said for either possibility.
1. We don't know what spells old Telchar wrought into the blade, and the elven-smiths of Rivendell may have added some of their own. So it's entirely possible that there was some magic in the sword that would kill anybody trying to draw it except for its legitimate owner (or those authorized by him, taking into account the exceptions that Inzil points out). If so, I think we see here a blending of two ancient literary motifs that Tolkien must have been aware of:

• Arthur's Excalibur, which could only be drawn from its anvil/stone/whateveritwas by the rightful king. Aragorn is in a way a very Arthuresque figure - both ideal kings ascending to their heritage from a rather unglamorous incognito existence, and in both cases the sword is closely connected to their royal status.
• Tyrfing, the jinxed sword of Norse legend (also forged by Dwarves!), which demanded blood every time it was drawn and had a nasty habit of turning against its wielder if it couldn't get the desired nourishment otherwise (a motif exploited ad nauseam by Michael Moorcock in Elric's Stormbringer, and handled, in my opinion, much better by Poul Anderson in The Broken Sword [!]).

(There's something similar in Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain: the sword Dyrnwyn burned anybody who tried to draw it but those of royal blood; maybe he was influenced/inspired by Aragorn's words?)
2. As the sword was so closely connected to the kingship (possibly one of the regalia of Arnor), anybody who presumed to draw Elendil's sword may have been seen as claiming to be Elendil's heir - in other words, committing high treason under the laws of the old kingdom, a crime punishable by death in most monarchies of real world history. On the other hand, if there was indeed such a law, Aragorn surely was in no position to see it carried out at Théoden's court, and any attempt at self-justice by him would have proved disastrous - not to mention that it seems highly unlike him to inflict such severe punishment on somebody who didn't know what they were doing. But it certainly didn't hurt to put some respect into those guards - in so far I agree with Legate.

(x-ed with davem, who beat me to pointing out the Tyrfing connection - as could be expected)