Coincidence?

[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.