Black arrow

"Bard the Bowman" by Anke Eißmann
Arrow
Black arrow
Location	Erebor, Dale, Lake-town
Owner	Thrór, Lords of Dale, Girion, Girion's child, Bard
Appearance	presumably partially black
Creator	Dwarves of Erebor
Created at	Erebor
Notable for	killing Smaug
Gallery	Images of the black arrow

”

"Arrow!" said the bowman. "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!"

Bard, Fire and Water

The black arrow was an heirloom of the Lords of Dale that was passed down to Bard.

History

Sometime after the year T.A. 2589 of the Third Age during the reign of Thrór as King under the Mountain, the black arrow was said to have been made in the forges beneath the Lonely Mountain.

Sometime later, the black arrow, somehow ended up in the possession of a Lord of Dale. Thus, the black arrow then became an heirloom of the Lords of Dale.

During the Sack of Erebor by the Dragon Smaug in the year T.A. 2770, the family of Girion, the present Lord of Dale, "had escaped down the River Running", taking the black arrow with them. The heirloom continued to be passed down until it eventually fell into the hands of Bard. While it is unknown whether or not the black arrow bore any magical properties, Bard always recovered it because it never failed him, nor did it ever break.

In the year T.A. 2941 when Smaug attacked Lake-town after being disturbed by Thorin and Company in Erebor, a company of archers defended the town against him, but soon fled after their captain, Bard, had used up all of his arrows save only for the black arrow. Just as Bard bent his great yew bow to shoot the arrow, the thrush who had previously overheard a conversation between Bilbo Baggins and Smaug, directed him to shoot at the small chink in the scales upon Smaug's left chest.

After praising the black arrow, Bard shot it with remarkable speed into the dragon's only weak spot: a bare patch in the armour on Smaug's underbelly. The entirety of the black arrow vanished completely within the hollow, penetrating Smaug's heart. Smaug was felled by the shot, flying into the air before falling back down, crushing Lake-town.

Inspiration

J.R.R. Tolkien may have found inspiration for the weapon that achieves its goal and then perishes in Beowulf. In that story Beowulf's sword cannot kill Grendel's mother but another sword, an ancient blade found in her lair, can destroy her and slice off Grendel's head. However, the sword then melted down to the hilt.

In The History of The Hobbit, John D. Rateliff suggested that Dailir, the arrow of Beleg, may have had some influence on the development of Bard's black arrow. This is despite not being a direct predecessor since the Noldorin word for black arrow "would have been something like Morlin or Morhlin (mor- ‘black’, as in Moria and Mordor, + lhinn ‘arrow’; cf. Parma Eldalamberon XIII page 163)".

Portrayal in adaptations

1967: J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit:

In the short 1967 film, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, significant changes were made. For instance, the black arrow and the Arkenstone were merged and it was Bilbo Baggins, rather than Bard, who killed Smaug, here known as as Slag.

1977: The Hobbit (1977 film):

The black arrow plays a very similar role to that in the book. Bard uses the arrow to kill Smaug after the thrush informs him of Smaug's weak point.

The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest:

In the Wii and PS3 versions of The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest, the player can obtain tips of black arrows to allow Aragorn to lock on to multiple enemies and shoot them all at once with his bow. This Artifact does come with one downside: it will deplete his ammunition quite quickly.

2012-2014: The Hobbit (film series):

In Peter Jackson's The Hobbit film trilogy, the black arrow is not a single regular-sized arrow, but rather one in a series of large metal quarrels, designed to be fired by a "wind lance" ballista for attacking dragons. The arrows themselves are roughly two metres in length with heavy twisted steel heads, combining elements of both spears and harpoons. Black arrows were the only known weapons with enough power to pierce the armoured hide of dragons.

As seen in the extended edition of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and again in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, all but one of the black arrows are spent on Smaug as Girion, the Lord of Dale, attempted to shoot him down in defence of the city. One of his shots managed to break off an armoured scale protecting the left side of the dragon's chest. However, Girion was himself killed by Smaug before taking a final shot. It is later revealed that the last black arrow was kept as an heirloom by Girion's descendants.

After Thorin and Company accidentally release Smaug upon Lake-town, Bard, a direct descendent of Girion, retrieves the arrow from his home and attempts to reach Lake-town's wind lance ballista, intent on slaying Smaug. However he is arrested by the corrupt Master of Lake-town before reaching the weapon, prompting his son Bain to instead hide the arrow in a boat, narrowly avoiding it being seized by the Master's guards.

During The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Bain retrieves the arrow in the midst of Smaug's assault upon Lake-town, bringing it to Bard whilst he is attempting to shoot down the dragon with regular arrows fired from a longbow. During this exchange, Smaug attacks the bell tower they are standing on, shattering the limbs of Bard's bow. Improvising, Bard attaches his bowstring to the ruined tower's posts and, using his son as a stand, fires the black arrow into the weak spot on the dragon's chest, puncturing his exposed skin and piercing his heart. Enraged, Smaug soars into the sky before succumbing to the arrow's wound, his corpse falling onto the town's burning ruins, crushing the Master and sinking his boat.

2018: The Lord of the Rings Online:

In The Lord of the Rings Online, there is a quest focused on finding fifteen different "Soggy Pages". Upon finding all fifteen of them, the pages combine to form the tale of "The Black Arrows". The tale tells of an archer named Bródda, who became the first Lord of Dale after saving the Dwarf-king Thrór from a band of Orcs. As a reward for saving his life, Thrór gave him a Black Arrow and the name "Geirjarn Ironbolt". For seven generations afterwards, each subsequent Lord of Dale was given a new Black Arrow. Eventually, all seven of them were used up and wasted on Smaug by Girion. However, the hidden eighth one was saved by his son, "Brandjarn". After fleeing, this Black Arrow was passed down from father to son until it was used by Bard to slay Smaug. Many years later, in the Fourth Age, the tradition of Black Arrow forging began again for the King of Dale, Bard II, who eventually used his own Black Arrow to wound "Vethúg Wintermind", one of the great Cold-drakes of the Withered Heath.