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I was thinking about Prince Caspian the other day when a question came up: Does the name "Rhindon" mean anything? I believe that it is the only named sword in the Chronicles, which seems important. Peter also mentions it in conjunction with the words "with which I killed the Wolf." Was this only to remind the reader of the circumstances around the sword? If that was the case, Lewis could have just reminded us of the events without having to name it.

I at first thought that it might have something to do with wolves, as Peter was knighted Sir Peter Wolfsbane after killing Maugrim/Fenris Ulf. However, I've looked around the internet and can't find anything. Paul F. Ford's Companion to Narnia, which usually provides information about character or place name influences, has nothing. The closest I could find to an origin word might be "ryne," derived from Old English meaning "running water/stream" or "circuit or revolution [of the year]," although I'm not sure of the reliability of the sources.

Maybe the name Rhindon calls for speculation? Perhaps the name was linked to an adventure in the Golden Age of Narnia that we do not have knowledge of, or perhaps Peter named his sword shortly after the battle with the Wolf. What do you think?

--Wanderer

Well there are two roots I found for "rhin": the Welsh root means "secret" ( which is kinda cool) and the Greek word means... "nose." Hope that helps!

According to Wikipedia, don is also a suffix that can mean tooth, which sounds a little more battle-ready than nose.

I was looking at the Wikipedia page for Wagner's Ring cycle yesterday because I know that Lewis was a huge fan of it, and saw something that might be related to this topic: the first drama in that cycle is called Das Rheingold, translated as The Rhinegold, which refers to the gold stolen from water-sprites in the river Rhine and used to fashion the eponymous ring. It seems like there might be a bit of a link there.

As an aside, Lewis seemed to like names starting with Rh: we also see the characters Rhince and Rhoop in VDT.

Wanderer wrote: Perhaps the name was linked to an adventure in the Golden Age of Narnia that we do not have knowledge of, or perhaps Peter named his sword shortly after the battle with the Wolf. What do you think?

I would lean towards the former, but the way Peter tells us the name and then says "with it I killed the Wolf" — as though killing the wolf is connected to the name — makes me think it must be the latter. If the name Rhindon had originated from some other adventure, you'd think he would have referenced that, too. I think my general vibe is that it was a name he gave the sword himself, not with a particular meaning, but because he liked the name.

If the name Rhindon had originated from some other adventure, you'd think he would have referenced that, too.

To be fair, I think Lewis wanted to reference something readers would recognize from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.