Telchar

The smith of Nogrod

Telchar was a Dwarf of Nogrod in the Blue Mountains, the city of the Firebeards, and he lived in the First Age, in the years when the Dwarves of the Ered Luin traded with Thingol of Doriath and with the Noldor. The histories say nothing of his birth or death or kin, but they preserve the name of his teacher, Gamil Zirak the Old, another smith of great fame, and they describe Telchar as the greatest of all Dwarvish craftsmen in metal, which among a people whose whole culture was metalwork is the highest praise they had.

His works

Three of Telchar's works survived into the stories. The first was Angrist, the knife that Curufin carried and that Beren took from him; it could cut iron as if it were wood, and Beren used it to cut the Silmaril from the crown of Morgoth, where it snapped when he tried for a second. The second was Narsil, the long sword that came in the end to Elendil, broke beneath him when he fell at the foot of Barad-dûr, and cut the Ring from Sauron's hand in Isildur's grip; it was reforged in Rivendell as Andúril and carried by Aragorn through the War of the Ring. The third was the Dragon-helm of Dor-lómin, a great helm of grey steel crowned with a gilded image of the dragon Glaurung, made for Azaghâl, Lord of Belegost. Azaghâl gave it to Maedhros, who gave it to Fingon, who gave it to Hador of Dor-lómin, and it passed down that house to Túrin, who wore it as an outlaw and at Nargothrond and made it the sign of his own war against Morgoth.

Legacy

Telchar's name was still a byword three ages later. Aragorn, showing the Sword that was Broken to the doorward of Edoras, named Telchar as its maker, expecting the name to be known, and it was the Dragon-helm that Túrin was remembered by in the Elder Days. Of the smith himself the record keeps only his fame, his city, and his master's name.

Unknown; he died at some time in the First Age, and only his works and his reputation survive.