Famous Literary Swords: Narsil/Andúril

Narsil/Andúril
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Narsil was forged in the First Age by the Dwarf Telchar, and its name was Quenya for "red and white flame". Everyone who's seen the movies thinks they know the story of how The Blade that was Broken came to broken in the first place. But they don't.

In the Battle of the last Alliance, King Elendil fell in death and Narsil broke beneath him. In the films, however, it breaks by Isildur (Elendil's son) killing Sauron. Also Narsil, in the books, breaks into two pieces while in the films it breaks into six.
The re-forging of the sword differs as well. In The Fellowship of the Ring Aragorn has it re-forged before they set out for Mordor, meaning that he probably was close to acepting his role as king.

The Sword of Elendil was forged anew by Elvish smiths, and on its blade was traced a device of seven stars set between the crescent Moon, and the rayed Sun...and about them was written many runes...And Aragorn gave it a new name and called it Andúril, Flame of the West.

And, of course, you all know how it ends up in the films.

But I won't be a purist. Though the films and books differ, the sword of Narsil is fascinating. And they couldn't have done a better design (Thank you, John Howe.)