The Sword of Godric Gryffindor
In the Wizarding World, a sword seems a little out of place in a fight where the other person can do magic, it gives you a distinctive tactical disadvantage. With the right sword and some bravery, the powers of evil may be defeated. This is no more true then with The Sword of Gryffindor.
Forged around 1000 years ago, this sword was made by Ragnuk the First, the finest Goblin silversmith of the age, the sword was commissioned for Godrick Gryffindor one of the four founding members of the legendary school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. After completing the sword however, Ragnuk was so covetous of the blade and its exquisite beauty he sent some underlings to steal the sword back from Gryffindor. Gryffindor, being the powerful wizard that he was, was able to defeat the goblins without killing them and sent them back to Ragnuk bewitched to deliver a threat – that if he ever tried to steal the sword again, he would draw it against all goblins. Ragnuk retreated and never tried to steal the sword again however he remained resentful toward Gryffindor until the day he died, even spreading rumours that Gryffindor had stolen the sword from him. This is still believed by some goblins to this day.
The sword itself is made from Goblin-wrought silver with the hilt and guard being set with rubies. There are a few things of interest to note about this. Firstly, silver is often seen as a colour of the rival to Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, however I can only assume that the sword was made from silver due to the unwieldy weight and honestly terrible features of gold (Gryffindor’s preferred colour) for a sword. Secondly, the sword being made of Goblin-rought silver means that it will only take on that which makes it stronger, it will never rust or get dirty and after Harry Potter’s famous defeat of the Monster of Slytherin in the Chamber of Secrets the blade is imbued with Basilisk venom for which there is only one cure: Pheonix tears. And finally, the ownership of the sword, in goblin society it is believed that the true owner of an object is its creator, not the purchaser, the wizard idea of passing an object down though generations is seen as theft in the eyes of some goblins. Current ownership of the sword is debated. The Sword is an important historical artifact and therefore cannot rightfully be owned by a single person and should be the property of the School that Gryffindor founded. Some people believe that the sword is owned by the current Gryffindor that pulls it out of Godrick Gryffindor’s other remaining artifact, The Sorting Hat, however as this would give the sword 2 current owners, Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom, this is seen as more of a superstition.
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