Eldest
Inheritance Cycle
['the leatherstocking tales', 'royal chronicles', 'left behind series', 'septimus heap', 'philo vance', 'pes', 'wizardry', 'tomb raider series', 'battlefield series', 'street fighter', 'crash bandicoot series', 'zelda', 'moomin', 'littlebigplanet', 'dragonlance', 'crysis series', 'deptford trilogy', 'touhou', 'civilization series', 'cannes', 'the longest journey', 'nintendo wars', 'the boondocks', 'bikini bottom', 'executive car', 'eleventh air force', 'dc', 'kingdom hearts', 'wwf', 'superstar k', 'ea sports nascar series', 'ssx', 'alex rider', 'ganbare goemon', 'playstation', 'samurai warriors', 'tom ripley', 'sundance film festival', 'colin mcrae rally', 'the best american poetry series', 'grand national', 'the 39 clues', 'miss world', 'silly symphonies', 'culture series', 'luna programme', 'steve austin', 'ten avatars', 'metal gear', 'prose edda', 'vampire chronicles', 'moomins', 'toronto international film festival', 'professor layton series', 'prophetic books', 'science fiction', 'sprawl trilogy', 'burmese chronicles', 'project soul', 'playstation eye', 'mythago wood', 'lost', 'cherub', 'tales series', 'alex rider series', 'marcus didius falco', 'rayman series', 'berlin', 'biohazard', 'scrooge mcduck', 'christian bible', 'ape escape', 'metal slug series', 'national chronicle', 'halo series', 'drakengard series', 'torchwood', 'his dark materials', 'little house', 'seinfeld', 'silent hill', 'the foundation series', 'tap tap', 'busan international film festival', 'google', 'falco', 'simcity series', 'yakuza series', 'halloweentown series', 'bangkok international film festival', 'ballantine adult fantasy series', 'dynasty warriors', 'touhou project', 'fifa series', 'shinkansen', 'tokimeki memorial series', 'draenor', 'dragon slayer', 'pala']
Nægling
This article is about the sword in Beowulf, not to be confused with the blade used by Oromis in Eldest and Brisingr of the Inheritance Cycle. Nægling is the name of one of the swords used by Beowulf in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem of Beowulf. The name derives from "nægl", or "nail", and may correspond to Nagelring, a sword from the Vilkina saga. It is possibly the sword of Hrethel, which Hygelac gave to Beowulf (ll. 2190-94). Nægling is referenced many times as a fine weapon--it is "sharp", "gleaming", "bright", "mighty", "strong", and has a venerable history as an "excellent ancient sword", "old heirloom", and "old and grey-colored". However, the sword does not survive Beowulf's final encounter with the dragon, snapping in two--not because of the dragon's strength, but because of the hero's strength: Beowulf's hand is "too strong" for the weapon. Stopford Brooke claims this is "absurd, for Beowulf had fought with it all his life", and that "some later editor" inserted the passage, conflating Beowulf with a story told of Offa of Mercia. While Taylor Culbert argues the poet blames the weapon for it, effectively "aggrandiz[ing] Beowulf in the eyes of the reader", Judy Anne White, in a Jungian reading of the poem, proposes that "Beowulf's inability to use a sword is a part of his destiny, a question of fate, and therefore beyond his control." The idea of a sword failing for the hero at a crucial time has parallels in other Germanic works such as in the Volsunga saga and Gesta Danorum. However this is especially true in the Gunnlaugs saga, where the author goes at pains to show that it was the hero and not the foe who broke the sword. Furthermore, in Germanic tradition, exceptional swords may often use words such as old, ancient, or ancestral. However this may not always fit the story of the hero, such as when the sword is forged for him. In Naegling's case, the sword has more of a literary characteristic than a specific ancestral lineage, as is evident from its name. Nevertheless the sword is described as being gomol ond grægmæl (old and gray).