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In J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings lore there were present the common types of weapons as bows, arrows, spears, axes, pikes, maces, swords, etc.

In high fantasy, swords have played a preponderant role. Particularly, in Tolkien's epic novel The Lord of the Rings, the word 'sword' appears 330 times in its three volumes: 87 in The Fellowship of the Ring, 125 in The Two Towers and 118 in The Return of the King, the most famous sword being Narsil, the Sword of Elendil.

I don't know why, but I have always thought that Sauron had a sword. I have been researching about it and even though LotR fandom tags the sword among Sauron's weapons, it doesn't describe or elaborate about it.

The only mention of the sword of Sauron is in the card game The Lord of the Rings by Fantasy Flight games where it is called the Black Sword of Sauron used by a captain named Sahír: a corsair enemy.

I have tried to detail in Peter Jackson's movies if Sauron uses a sword, and I think I've seen a sheath at his waist, but I am not sure. I only see is his mace.

I want to know if within Tolkien's legendarium Sauron has a sword.

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    As far as I know, the books contain no mention of Sauron using any particular weapon. The only time it is suggested that he engaged in any sort of personal combat is his fight with Elendil and Gil-galad.
    – chepner
    Commented Mar 12, 2022 at 14:42
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    Sauron was an exceptionally endowed Maia: he had whatever weapons or other tools he so desired.
    – Lexible
    Commented Mar 13, 2022 at 17:09
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    I thought one of the defining things about Sauron is that, unlike with Morgoth, violence and destruction aren't the real threat from him. Enslavement and control are the threat, and the Rings are his weapons.
    – Misha R
    Commented Dec 15, 2023 at 16:18
  • Maybe that’s all he actually wanted.
    – Paul D. Waite
    Commented Dec 15, 2023 at 18:57

2 Answers 2

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As far as the books go, I think the answer is simply "no".

The books, (LotR, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion) make no mention of Sauron using any weapon. Sauron fought Huan with tooth and claw, but no external weaponry. The Silmarillion says "he wrestled with Gil-galad and Elendil" but makes no mention of weaponry, and it would be odd to set aside a weapon to wrestle, still more to wrestle while holding a weapon and not even use it.

When swearing fealty, it is often a token of such to surrender your weapon to your lord, but in The Silmarillion no mention is made of this happening:

Then he sent forth heralds, and he commanded Sauron to come before him and swear to him fealty.

And Sauron came. Even from his mighty tower of Baraddur he came, and made no offer of battle. [...] Therefore he humbled himself before Ar-Pharazon and smoothed his tongue

Of course, absence of evidence is not proof of absence, but it would be natural for Ar-Pharazon to have accepted the handle of any weapon Sauron wielded.

Sauron was mighty in sorcery, so may not have needed any external weapons.

Googling (middle-earthcinematicuniverse.fandom.com) suggests he may have used a mace, but I find nothing to confirm that in the books, nor confirmation from other sites.

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  • It's just a faint glimmer of a memory, but the mace idea might be a Hildebrandt art thing.
    – DavidW
    Commented Dec 15, 2023 at 16:26
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    Wrestle might mean to struggle with (physically in this context) but not necessarily as in the sport of wrestling.
    – J W
    Commented Dec 15, 2023 at 16:50
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    @JW If Tolkien had meant that, I would think "fought", "struggled", or perhaps "strove against" would have been chosen instead. Recall that Tulkas was mightiest of the Ainur in wrestling, but it is said of Eönwë "his might in arms is surpassed by none".
    – Michael Foster
    Commented Dec 15, 2023 at 17:19
  • I suspect that "wrestling" is exactly what Sauron did. When you're a Maiar, mere metal is unlikely to be as potent as yourself. (Gandalf, who definitely used a sword, doesn't count, since he was embodied in a way that curbed most of his innate power.) Though by the end of the Third Age, Sauron was greatly diminished and may have felt that a weapon would have been useful.
    – Mark Olson
    Commented Dec 15, 2023 at 22:17
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    @MichaelFoster From the full text of that passage it is quite clear that at least Elendil had been fighting with a sword, because "Sauron ... wrestled with Gil-galad and Elendil, and they both were slain, and the sword of Elendil broke under him as he fell" (my emphasis). I assume that what Tolkien meant when he used "wrestling" here is close combat where the weaponized fight has deteriorated to a mix of strokes with weapons and grappling.
    – user169166
    Commented Dec 16, 2023 at 13:27
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In the Jackson Lord of the Rings movies, Sauron has an (unnamed) sword. You can see him using it in this deleted scene of his fight with Aragorn.

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Drew Hall of United Cutlery (makers of the licenced sword replicas for LOTR) posted a picture of the movie prop onto his Facebook page.

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and you can see the full sword in the WETA-licenced Sauron figurine.

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In the new The Rings of Power TV series, Sauron apparently has (or rather had) an enchanted sword. Its possession is a plot point

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And, as you've said, in the LotR Card Game, we learn that Sauron had an earlier sword that was somehow lost in the sinking of Númenor. A corsair captain named Sahír manages to recover it (and is corrupted by it) but ends up throwing himself, and the blade, into the sea at the end of the quest.

enter image description here

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    "In the Jackson Lord of the Rings movies, Sauron has an (unnamed) sword" sounds a bit misleading: Sauron would have had a sword if the director didn't change his mind, replacing him with a sword-wielding troll. This is not a "cut-because-the-movie-was-too-long-but-still-kinda-canon" deleted scene, it's a completely changed one.
    – lfurini
    Commented Mar 12, 2022 at 9:50
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    @lfurini - He's wearing the sword (sheathed) in a couple of scenes. This deleted scene is the only time you see him wielding it.
    – Valorum
    Commented Mar 12, 2022 at 9:57
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    @lfurini But I'm sure we can agree it was a very good decision to cut that.
    – Spencer
    Commented Mar 12, 2022 at 15:44
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    @lfurini - I actually think you're right. I'm re-watching the scenes in HD and I've also had a look at the set photos and hero armour that was exhibited by WETA and I can't see the scabbard. I thought it was on his hip in the opening scene but that's actually the inside lining on his cape (no capes!). I'm beginning to suspect that it was custom-made for the deleted scene
    – Valorum
    Commented Mar 13, 2022 at 9:56
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    That character from RoP is not Sauron, we now know, but Adar.
    – David Roberts
    Commented Dec 13, 2023 at 4:49

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