Crossword Dictionary

STING 

Sting was an Elven short-sword made in Gondolin during the First Age. Bilbo Baggins discovered Sting in the year TA 2941 in a Troll-hoard, and used it during the Quest of Erebor. He later passed it to his heir Frodo Baggins. Though just a dagger by standard of the Elves, Sting made a perfect short-sword for a Hobbit, although it was still rather small. Bilbo initially chose to wear it "inside his breeches" and was still able to travel and even run without any apparent inconvenience.

Sting was like Glamdring and Orcrist in that "being the work of Elvish smiths in the Elder Days these swords shone with a cold light, if any Orcs were near at hand." But only Sting was definitively described as glowing blue, or glittering with blue flame at its edges.

As fitting of a blade of Gondolin, Sting could easily cut the webs of Ungoliant's offspring such as Shelob and the spiders of Mirkwood. An ancient Elvish blade made by weapon-smiths in Gondolin, Sting may have been lost during the Fall of Gondolin, the same battle in which Turgon fell and Glamdring was taken.

Just before his nephew embarked on his quest to Mordor from Rivendell, Bilbo gave Sting to Frodo. Sam then took the weapon from his (seemingly dead) master and used it to good effect against Shelob on the borders of Mordor.

Gollum, who disliked anything made by the Elves, was afraid of Sting. This fear aided Bilbo when he confronted Gollum in the cave at the base of the Misty Mountains in The Hobbit. This also helped Frodo and Sam subdue Gollum decades later, when they encountered him in the Emyn Muil. Orcs also had an instinctive fear of these weapons and hated any who carried them.