Editing Talk:1114: Metallurgy

"extraterrestrial metal was often more refined and plentiful than man-made metal ingots." -I'd love to read about this. Citation needed! --[[User:Buggz|Buggz]] ([[User talk:Buggz|talk]]) 08:59, 28 September 2012 (UTC)
:Sure. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_meteorite. It was mostly cultures with little industry picking up meteorites and finding that the stuff lying on the ground was miles better than the awful fragile metal that they were making from rocks. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]] ([[User talk:Davidy22|talk]]) 09:06, 28 September 2012 (UTC)

In fantasy stories, the world is usually much more complicated place. Meteorite, which may have easily traveled billions kilometres going through places with environment greatly different from anything available on the planet, can easily develop interresting properties. Still, for every super-cool super-effective sword, there must be many other meteorites whose properties make them LESS usefull for weapons.
Even in our universe, meteorites may went through temperatures and magnetical fields much greater that available for preindustrial civilization. -- [[Special:Contributions/89.177.52.2|89.177.52.2]] 10:42, 28 September 2012 (UTC)

That salesman was likely to sell a flashlight as a lightsabre.--[[User:DelendaEst|DelendaEst]] ([[User talk:DelendaEst|talk]]) 11:20, 28 September 2012 (UTC)

It is possible that Randall drew inspiration from the piece of news that was making rounds yesterday, best exemplified by an article in The Register titled [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/27/tibetan_alien_statue_discovered_by_nazis/|Tibetan STATUE found by 1930s NAZI expedition is of ALIEN ORIGIN].  Many publications ran a similar headline, stating that the statue, and not the material it is made from, is of extraterrestrial origin. [[User:Mem|mem]] ([[User talk:Mem|talk]]) 13:46, 28 September 2012 (UTC)

The explanation should perhaps also address how in various computer/fantasy games one will often come across a weapons dealer, a non-player character who will happily sell you whatever he has in stock. [[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 20:06, 28 September 2012 (UTC)

: You know, the shopkeeper struck me as a particularly jaded individual, perhaps tired of the RPG fan-boys (and -girls, judging by Megan's presence) looking for a real-world souvie of their gaming exploits.  He gives some half-hearted patter, but is completely forthcoming in unsalesman-like fashion: ''I'm going to lay this out without misrepresentation, and if you're dumb enough to buy this....''  But that's just me. -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 14:15, 29 September 2012 (UTC) 

Hey!  The word "eldritch" is actually more pertinent than I thought it would be:
 "eldritch"
Origin:
1500–10;  earlier elrich,  equivalent to Old English el-  foreign, strange, uncanny ( see else) + rīce  kingdom ( see rich); hence “of a strange country, pertaining to the Otherworld”; compare Old English ellende  in a foreign land,  exiled (cognate with German Elend  penury, distress), Runic Norse alja-marki r  foreigner"  Woot.[[User:Noni Mausa|Noni Mausa]] ([[User talk:Noni Mausa|talk]]) 12:07, 29 September 2012 (UTC)

Anyone as annoyed as me to find a 45 year old paper costs $40? Living here in The Ferengi States of America is getting harder and harder.[[Special:Contributions/172.191.224.148|172.191.224.148]] 17:04, 29 September 2012 (UTC)ExternalMonologue
:Lol. 'Ferengi States of America' Genius.


Both of the swords can be taken as references to the Tolkien Legendarium. The first, made from a fallen star, could be a reference to Anglachel (Gurthang). Anglachel is a sword from First Age Middle Earth that was crafted from a fallen star. Turin Turambar reforged it as Gurthang. After the Fourth Age, it is the sword that Turin uses to ultimately kill Morgoth.  

The second sword, which glows blue, could be a reference to the infamous Sting, which belonged to Bilbo and Frodo in the Third Age but was crafted in Gondolin in the First Age.[[Special:Contributions/70.65.139.132|70.65.139.132]] 15:42, 22 July 2013 (UTC)
:And also Orcrist (Thorins sword) and Glamdring (Gandalfs sword) which are from Gondolin. [[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]])

Am I the only one here that thinks the swordsmith looks suspiciously like the Beret guy (with a beard (may be fake))? Or his ancestor perhaps? This kind of odd behaviour fits (albeit remotely) with the Beret Guy's persona. [[User:BK201|BK201]] ([[User talk:BK201|talk]]) 18:52, 18 December 2013 (UTC)BK201

Fallen-star swords made sense in a universe where fallen stars are magical things rather than meteorites, like first-age Arda, or where civilization hasn't developed iron smelting, like early Hyborea. The problem is that most epic fantasy is set in a quasi-medieval setting in a solar system just like ours, so normal swords are late medieval steel and falling stars are lumps of impure iron that can't possibly be nearly as good as steel, but the writer still uses them because, you know, Tolkien and Howard did it, so it's standard fantasy. Even A Song of Ice and Fire, which goes into enough detail that you know their swords are like 13th century European steel, and has an interesting story about the superior Valyrian steel (which, like real-world Damascus steel, requires now-lost techniques, and which also required horrific sacrificial magic) still throws in a fallen-star sword because fantasy. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.180|199.27.130.180]] 06:35, 18 September 2015 (UTC)

Couldn't the sword forged from a meteorite be a reference to "Avatar: The Last Airbender", where Sokka's sword is forged from a meteorite? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.133.132|162.158.133.132]] 09:20, 9 February 2016 (UTC)