“Only in Chapter Three do we learn how extraordinary their luck has actually been. When Elrond reads the runes on the swords, he is able to tell them that they are not only ‘very old swords’ and powerful, but they are ‘very famous’ blades. They have names, Orcrist and Glamdring, and the latter of these actually belonged to the kind of the ancient elven city of Gondolin. This would be rather like going on vacation to India and finding in a village marketplace a sword that belonged to Alexander the Great. The odds against it are pretty staggering.”