Coincidence?

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Yes. Or why not to go with the simple, and in my opinion the best answer (of course just for myself, I am not forcing that on anybody), that it is simply an unknown substance. In other words, why do we have to always break the things to find out what they are... ( )

[Findegil]

Since the discussion has lost the swords of Eol fare behind, this might be out of place, but here it goes anyway: As fare as I remember the swords were not black to begin with. They were shiny steel as any other normal balde. Anglachel changed to the black colour only after the death of Beleg.

Respectfuly
Findegil

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

I don't see the connection at all, I am afraid. There is just no hints at all to the swords being connected to the Kaaba, obviously we all make weird association when reading the books and sometimes drift of in our own thoughts. . . but it is very unlikely that all of these where the intend of Tolkien.

Anyways is it not quite common in european folk lore that special storries are attached to black rocks?

In Kalundborg fjord there lies a black rock and the legend tells that it got it colour when Valdemar the Young, the son of King Valdemar (II) the Victorious, was accedentaly killed by an arrow during a hunt.
(He died right at the rock and it turned black from grief or something of the sort)

[Lindale]

Originally Posted by Findegil

Since the discussion has lost the swords of Eol fare behind, this might be out of place, but here it goes anyway: As fare as I remember the swords were not black to begin with. They were shiny steel as any other normal balde. Anglachel changed to the black colour only after the death of Beleg.

Respectfuly
Findegil

I beg your pardon, where was this mentioned? It was the black sword with the dark heart of its owner.

I can't recall this particular anime, but it had a meteorite and a black sword forged from it. Tolkien's influence perhaps, or are there other myths it might draw influence from?

With regards to black stones, I just want to mention in Chinese tradition jade is something very very precious; a jade is (unless I'm heavily mistaken) given to a child and the child must hold on to that jade. Jade changes color in time, and the color that will show after some years is used to predict the person's future, temperament, etc. I agree with Rune: JRRT may never have intended for the Kaaba to be related to his works.

[Alfirin]

Originally Posted by Lindale

I can't recall this particular anime, but it had a meteorite and a black sword forged from it. Tolkien's influence perhaps, or are there other myths it might draw influence from?
.

Your proably thinking of Avatar: the Last Airbender , Sokka's sword is made for a meteorite, and it is indeed black.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Findegil

Since the discussion has lost the swords of Eol fare behind, this might be out of place, but here it goes anyway: As fare as I remember the swords were not black to begin with. They were shiny steel as any other normal balde. Anglachel changed to the black colour only after the death of Beleg.

Respectfuly
Findegil

Anglachel was 'ever black' but 'its edges shone with pale fire' after it was reforged by the smiths of Nargothrond. This indicates that the sword was always black previous to its reforging, as the 'dark heart' of the smith who wrought it lay in it. In any case, it did not 'turn black' after Beleg's death. Whether the swords Anguirel and Anglachel were made of galvorn, the jet black metal devised by Eol for his armor, is up for conjecture; but it is interesting that the swords are said to be wrought of 'meteoric iron', and galvorn was a metal seemingly different than any other on earth (although never linked directly to meteoric iron in the text). In fact, the description of galvorn is nearly identical to mithril, save in color (jet black as opposed to silver):

...and he devised a metal as hard as the steel of the Dwarves, but so malleable that he could make it thin and supple; and yet it remained resistant to all blades and darts.

P.S. In regards to Tolkien and any influence from Islamic myth, I don't see it. I did a cursory glance through his Letters, and found nothing to substantiate such a link.

[HerenIstarion]

I do think it's just a coincidence

On a different trend (going off too)

why would Isildur carry a massive rock from Numenor when surely there were more important things to transport?

Well, within sight of oncoming catastrophe, one carries as much or as little as one can carry away. No knowing what other important things there might have been to better warrant transportation expenditures, it may have been simply considered work of art worth saving

[Findegil]

About the blade of Anglachel again: The first time that the blackness of the blade is mentioned is after the death of Beleg when Gwindor gives the Blade to Túrin in the Silmarillion:

And Gwindor gave the sword Anglachel into his hands, and Túrin knew that it was heavy and strong and had great power; but its blade was black and dull and its edges blunt. Then Gwindor said: 'This is a strange blade, and unlike any that I have seen in Middle-earth. It mourns for Beleg even as you do. But be comforted; for I return to Nargothrond of the house of Finarfin, and you shall come with me, and be healed and renewed.'

A black blade is not quiet nromal, so that I would expect to read about it in the first description when Anglachel was given to Beleg. Apart from that Gwindors reference to the mourning of the blade seems to include both, the blackness and the bluntness.
Considering this we have further on the follwoing:

The sword Anglachel was forged anew for him by cunning smiths of Nargothrond, and though ever black its edges shone with pale fire; and he named it Gurthang, Iron of Death.

In this circumstances for me 'though ever black' means that the smiths of Nargothrond could not mend the black, so they did mend the bluntness.

Respectfully
Findegil

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Findegil

About the blade of Anglachel again: The first time that the blackness of the blade is mentioned is after the death of Beleg when Gwindor gives the Blade to Túrin in the Silmarillion:
A black blade is not quiet nromal, so that I would expect to read about it in the first description when Anglachel was given to Beleg. Apart from that Gwindors reference to the mourning of the blade seems to include both, the blackness and the bluntness.
Considering this we have further on the follwoing:In this circumstances for me 'though ever black' means that the smiths of Nargothrond could not mend the black, so they did mend the bluntness.

Respectfully
Findegil

It is all a matter of circumstancial evidence, I suppose, and up for conjecture. When Gwindor says 'This is a strange blade, and unlike any that I have seen in Middle-earth,' he could be harkening back to the previous mention of the blade being made of meteoric material (hence 'unlike any that I have seen in Middle-earth'); therefore, there had to be some outward display of its alien nature. Also, there is Eol's penchant for black accoutrements (the armor he always wore was black), and the metal galvorn was unlike anything else in Middle-earth (but never directly attributed to meteors). The blackness of the blade is in line with Thingol's comment that the 'dark heart' of the smith who wrought it lay within it, and obviously a black blade would be an outward indicator of the evil within, and evidently it was otherworldly seeming well before Beleg was killed.

But again, and as with hundreds of other bits of Tolkien minutiae, we shall never get a definitive answer.