Yeaokay, Sir Terry Pratchett.
Well, I found out something new today. It turns out that one of my favourite childhood authors, Terry Pratchett, was knighted about a year ago—and in celebration he decided to make himself a sword. Oh, but not just -any- sword. A magical sword forged from meteorites. In Mordor. Suck on that one, Sauron!
With help from his friend Jake Keen — an expert on ancient metal-making techniques — the author dug up 81kg of ore and smelted it in the grounds of his house, using a makeshift kiln built from clay and hay and fuelled with damp sheep manure.
Pratchett, who has Alzheimer’s disease, also said he had thrown in “several pieces of meteorites — thunderbolt iron, you see — highly magical, you’ve got to chuck that stuff in whether you believe in it or not”.After days of hammering the metal into bars, he took it to a blacksmith, whom he helped to shape it into a blade, which was finished with silverwork.
Pratchett has stored the sword, which he completed last year, in a secret location, apparently concerned about the authorities taking an interest in it.
Damn yeah the authorities have an interest in it, IT’S A MAGICAL SWORD. Just sayin’, the authorities had an interest in my weapon cache and it wasn’t even magical. But it was illegal, which is why my sphincter ain’t what it used to be.
Terry Pratchett’s Magical Sword [news.com.au]
