CH. 14 Bard's Black Arrow

[Desi Baggins]

We are told that the Black Arrow has never failed so it must have been recovered serveral times in the past. We also know that Bard received it from his father and he from old. Then there is the statement: If ever you from the forges of the true King under the Mountain...

So I ask what can we find out about the History of the Black Arrow? Was it made Under the Mountain and who made it? Is there any tale of any other deeds that the arrow did not fail on?

[Andorinha]

Desi, I have looked through the index of H. Carpenter's "Letters of JRRT" and I can find no mention of a Black Arrow, nor any tales regarding the deeds of Bard before he slew the Dragon. Nor does the annotated Hobbit have anything to add to the passage found in the text.

In LotR we have the "Red Arrow" that was passed from Gondor to Rohan as a special sign that war was at hand and the Rohirrim should come to the aid of Minas Tirith, but that is all I can come up with. Bard's arrow seems to be a personal token, perhaps the last of a set made by the Dwarves for one of the Warriors of Dale, possibly in Bard's own line of ancestors. But other than this heirloom status, Bard, never one for words, tells us very little. Of course it is fitting that a Dwarf made point, owned by the descendants of Girion of Dale, should be the direct cause of the Dragon's death.

[Stormrider]

When reading this chapter, I guess I missed the line about the Black Arrow being made "Under the Mountain."

It just does not strike me as something the Dwarves would make. They were stone, ore, and gem workers not shaft and feather makers. I can see them forging armor and heavy metal weapons, but an arrow? It just does not seem like a Dwarvish thing to do!

[Stormrider]

After the thrush spoke to Bard and said where the open spot was on Smaug's breast, Bard said:

"Arrow! Black Arrow! I have saved you to the last. You have never failed me and always I have recovered you. I had you from my father and he from of old. If ever you came from the forges of the true king under the Mountain, go now and speed well!"

Thinking more on this topic, I think the tip of the arrow (or the whole shaft?) could have been made out of some kind of metal found while the Dwarves were mining so it could have been forged from under the mountain. What kind of metal would be black and especially lucky? From Bard's comment, it seems the Black Arrow has given him and his father and father's father luck when they used it. It would have had to have been strong enough not to break on impact so that is why I think it may have been the arrow head and the shaft that were forged out of some ore.

[Andorinha]

Didn't Eol, the Dark Elf, have access to a black metal, meteoric in origin if I'm remembering this correctly? Maybe the dwarves got hold of some similar material?

A full-metal arrow (barb and shaft) would probably be too heavy to have much useful flight; but if some form of mithril were used, the shaft might be like some of the hollow, light-weight, aluminum arrows of our own times?

No real data from Tolkien to determine this, but it was just my feeling that only the head of the arrow was metal, the rest would have a wooden shaft and feathers from a bird for fletching. The Native Americans, even in pre-Columbian times, always tried to recover arrowheads, and sometimes really ancient stone points were still being used a thousand years after their original manufacture. They just kept replacing the shaft and feathers as needed... I got the feeling this is what Bard and his grandfather did with the dwarf-made arrowhead, but Tolkien does not give us much information here upon which to make a valid decision.

[Andorinha]

RE Stormrider's: "It would have had to have been strong enough not to break on impact so that is why I think it may have been the arrow head and the shaft that were forged out of some ore." (my emphasis)

Yeah, but then this arrow went into the softest part of Smaug, his belly, and into precisely the one "unarmored" spot, the "bare patch" on his breast that Bilbo noticed, and the thrush then passed this knowledge on to Bard. So, maybe a regular shaft would still hold up?

Still, a light-weight "meteor-mithril" alloy shaft may have been possible for the Third Age dwarves...

[Stormrider]

I was thinking strong enough so it could be retrieved many times over the many years that the family used the arrow. But I like the idea of a meteor-mithril arrow and shaft! I guess the meteor qualities would have turned it black.