# The Broken Sword - Work: Novel - Date: 1954 (revised 1971) - Made by: Poul Anderson (Author) - Houses: Ballantine Books - Canonical: https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-broken-sword/ > A human child stolen by elves, a changeling left in his place, and a cursed sword that must kill whenever it is drawn — Poul Anderson's pitiless Norse tragedy of 1954. **Why it matters:** A dark, saga-hard counterweight to Tolkien published the same year as The Fellowship of the Ring, and the acknowledged ancestor of Michael Moorcock's Elric and his soul-drinking sword. ## Quick answers **When was The Broken Sword first published?** The Broken Sword was first published in 1954 (revised 1971). **Who created The Broken Sword?** The Broken Sword was made by Poul Anderson (author). **Who published or developed The Broken Sword?** Ballantine Books. **What kind of work is The Broken Sword?** The Broken Sword is a novel in the Dark Fantasy, Sword & Sorcery and Historical Fantasy tradition. **Why is The Broken Sword important?** A dark, saga-hard counterweight to Tolkien published the same year as The Fellowship of the Ring, and the acknowledged ancestor of Michael Moorcock's Elric and his soul-drinking sword. ## Overview *The Broken Sword* is [Poul Anderson](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/poul-anderson/)'s grim Norse fantasy, published in New York by Abelard-Schuman on 5 November 1954 — in the same year as *The Fellowship of the Ring*. The two books drew on the same Germanic and Norse sources and came to opposite conclusions. Where [Tolkien](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/j-r-r-tolkien/) moved toward consolation and grace, Anderson wrote a tragedy in the manner of the Icelandic sagas: fate cannot be escaped, heroes are brave but doomed, and the gods are indifferent players in a game of their own. Its [elves](https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/elf/) are not wise and sorrowful but beautiful, soulless and cruel, and the war that fills the book is between elves and [trolls](https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/troll/), with humankind and the new Christian faith pressing in from the edges. It is one of the foundational works of [dark fantasy](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/dark-fantasy/) and an important source for [sword and sorcery](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/sword-and-sorcery/). ## Origins Anderson, then in his late twenties and known chiefly as a science-fiction writer, grew up steeped in Scandinavian heritage and in [the Eddas](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-eddas/) and sagas. He built the novel from Norse myth, Danish ballads and British fairy lore, setting it in England during the Viking age, when heathen and Christian worlds collided. It reached its widest audience only in 1971, when [Lin Carter](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/lin-carter/) brought it into the [Ballantine Adult Fantasy](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/ballantine-adult-fantasy/) series as its twenty-fourth volume, in a version Anderson had revised. The original text returned to print decades later in Gollancz's Fantasy Masterworks line, and many readers now regard it as definitive. ## The story Imric, an elf-earl, wants a human child to raise, since humans can handle iron and elves cannot. With the help of a witch, he steals the newborn son of Orm the Strong, a Danish settler in England, and leaves in his place a changeling, Valgard, whom he has begotten on a troll-woman. The stolen boy, Skafloc, grows up in Elfheim as Imric's foster-son, a warrior and sorcerer; Valgard grows up among humans as a brooding berserker who eventually slaughters his own adoptive family. When war breaks out between the elves and the trolls, Skafloc receives a gift intended for him by the gods: a broken sword, which the giant Bolverk reforges. The blade is cursed. It must draw blood whenever it is unsheathed, and it brings ruin to whoever wields it. Skafloc falls in love with Freda, a human woman, without knowing she is his own sister; Valgard joins the trolls; and the war grows until it becomes clear that the gods themselves are using both sides for ends of their own. The ending spares almost no one. ## Reception & impact Admirers of the book have always been fiercely loyal. [Michael Moorcock](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/michael-moorcock/) has repeatedly described it as a formative influence and has called it better than *The Lord of the Rings* — a fast-paced, doom-drenched tragedy in which human heroism and ambition lead inevitably to disaster. The resemblance to his own work is plain: an elegant, doomed sorcerer-warrior bound to a sentient black blade that brings destruction to those he loves describes [Elric](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/elric-of-melnibone/) and Stormbringer as much as Skafloc and his sword. Moorcock also felt that Anderson's 1971 revision weakened the novel. [Gary Gygax](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/gary-gygax/) listed *The Broken Sword* in [Appendix N](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/appendix-n/) of the 1979 *Dungeon Master's Guide*, one of three Anderson books on the list. ## Legacy The book's legacy runs through the darker strand of fantasy: the cursed weapon that thirsts for blood, the elf who is dangerous rather than kind, the changeling who does not belong in either world, and a moral universe in which gods and cosmic powers treat mortals as pieces on a board. All became staples of roleplaying — the intelligent, malevolent magic sword was established in D&D's rules from the start, and the cursed blade is a fixture of fantasy computer games. Anderson's influence travels most visibly through Moorcock, and from Moorcock into Games Workshop's Chaos and the bleaker registers of later [Grimdark](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/grimdark/) fantasy. Read today, *The Broken Sword* feels like a message from a road not taken in 1954: fantasy as saga rather than as fairy tale. ## Facts - It was published on 5 November 1954, a few months after The Fellowship of the Ring. - Its elves are beautiful, soulless and cruel — closer to Norse and Scottish folklore than to Tolkien's. - [Michael Moorcock](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/michael-moorcock/) has said the novel strongly influenced his Elric stories and judged it superior to Tolkien. - Anderson revised the book for the Ballantine Adult Fantasy line in 1971; Moorcock felt the revision weakened it. - Gygax listed it in [Appendix N](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/appendix-n/) alongside Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions and The High Crusade. - The cursed, reforged sword echoes Tyrfing, the doom-laden blade of Old Norse saga. ## Sources and further reading - [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Broken_Sword) --- From The Lantern Hall (https://www.lanternhall.org/), a museum of fantasy literature and roleplaying games.