Famous Literary Swords: Glamdring

Glamdring
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

It is a sword of many names. In Sindarin its name literally translates to "Foe-hammer", and the Goblins in The Hobbit knew it only as "beater".

It was forged for the elf Turgon, a king of Gondolin during the First Age. He only used it twice in battle and the sword was ultimately lost to history for thousands of years.
Gandalf first came upon it in The Hobbit. After the incident with the trolls, they came upon the trolls' hoard, and it was there that Thorin Oakenshield gained the sword Orcrist (literally, "Goblin-cleaver", and nicknamed "biter" by said Goblins) and Gandalf gained Glamdring.
(It was there that Bilbo Baggins also took Sting, but we'll get to that in a later post.)

Throughout The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf wielded it, relying both on Glamdring and his skills as a wizard. After the War of the Ring and Gandalf's departure to the Undying Lands, the sword was kept in the treasure vault at Minas Tirith.

Ever since the films, Glamdring's look has been pretty much set in stone, although I rather like John Howe's representation:

The film version:

On the sword hilt it reads:
Turgon aran Gondolin tortha, Gar a matha I vegil Glamdring Gud Daedheloth, Dam an Glamhoth
which, translated is:
Turgon king of Gondolin wields, has and holds the sword Glamdring, Foe of Morgoth's realm, hammer to the Orcs.

And, of course, Glamdring will appear in the upcoming Hobbit film (which means that the clip with Gandalf in the ruins must happen after the troll incident. Speaking of which, what are those ruins to begin with?)