Lord of The Rings Swords Reviewed

The Official Lord of The Rings Swords are produced by United Cutlery - and much as a generally disdain stainless steel ornamental swords, I have to admit - I have a soft spot for these beautiful replicas...

Maybe it's because I am an avid fan of the books, the movies and anything Tolkien that made be biased towards these swords.

Or maybe it's because, despite the fact that these swords are just ornaments, there was something quite "magical" about these replicas...

Naturally, since the Trilogy was released so long ago, interest in all things LoTR has faded leaving only the true hard core fans remaining (it really was quite crazy for a while, with so many vendors cashing in on replicas of the Lord of the Rings swords that it created quite an industry in both China and Pakistan making cheap knock offs at an incredible rate just to keep up with demand).

And at one stage in their wake, the company that produced the official replicas actually went under - only to be reborn again, and to re-acquire the license.

Essentially, now that the dust has finally settled - there are three choices for people looking to buy Lord of the Rings Swords – they can either get the cheap knock offs, the officially licensed swords OR the unofficial fully functional replicas from Darksword Armory...

While the unlicensed replicas go for a fair price of about $30 on average, and the licensed ones about $150 – they are worlds apart in terms of quality, and you DEFINITELY get what you pay for...

Let's take one of the most popular of all the Lord of the Rings Swords, Frodos Sting sword as an example.

Below is a pic of the licensed United Cutlery Sting, which you can pick up for $124.95 HERE at Kult of Athena - nicely assembled, rich wooden handle – hardwood display for wall mounting and authentic attention to detail.

The Official United Cutlery Sting

Now let's look at one of the cheap knock offs – rattly, loose and plastic handle, horrible blade that has nothing to do with the original...

A typical Sting unofficial knock-off..

Just nasty...

But what about the third option? Well, here is where it gets interesting...

Darksword Armory, who are themselves life long fans of the trilogy, have made a small range of FULLY FUNCTIONAL 'inspired by' Lord of the Rings Swords – mostly for their own gratification, but they also sell them to the general sword buying public. And while they are not always in stock, and quite a few models have been discontinued - over the years they have produced a functional Sting Sword, Witchking Sword, Anduril, Ranger Sword, Samwise sword and are working on several others that are not exact replicas of the movie swords, but certainly inspired by them and perhaps even closer to what is described in the BOOKS...!

Definitely worth a look, you can see some reviews of their fully functional Lord of the Rings Sword right here in the functional fantasy section of Sword Buyers Guide.com and below the most current version..

Enjoy!