Let's say it was up to you to determine the look and feel of the arms, mainly swords, used by the characters in the LotR movies, but one of the limitations was that, at least for the humans, they had to possess strong resemblances of pieces from our own history, but not necessarily in chronological order (ie- you could have a Wheeler Type VIII hilt with an Oakeshott Type XV blade if you really wanted to). Let's say that you had a say in things like hilt type and blade profile. What type of sword would you assign to each character, and why?

I'd have made Sting a bit more 'Celt-Anthro' looking......a little more 'barbarian-ish', but with graceful Elven lines. Then, I'd have given the Wraiths big ol' Claymores......all black, of course. Heck, I'd even give Gollum a little dagger with a blade of knapped obsidian. All in all, I like the swords they have now. They seem fitting. My 2 cents............mcm.

I am one of those ultimate Tolkien fans, who grew up reading his works including the Silmarillion which gives so much meaning to the events of LOTR as well as the wonderful attention of linguistics Tolkien gave in his masterpiece. I goes without saying that TLOTR is my favorite book and has been so years before the movies.
Well, I am a geek but. . .
I think any really \one who payss attention to the way Tolikien describes the swords in his works realizes that that they could not be produced adequately by swordsmiths. I could not imagine an adequate repro, except that they would be europeanesque and resembling broadswords in outline. Tolkien surrounds weapons in the Silmarillion and the LOTR with a mistique that may be inadequately described as "magic."
Thanks,
Jeremy

Well, I can definitely see giving Gollum a knapped flint knife, even if strangling was his thing.

I might perhaps lean away from leaf-blades 'cause I never imagined them as a boy when reading Tolkien's work, and doubt that he had them in mind. OTOH, they really fit in with the whole Jugenstil look that Tolkien's own artwork can be fairly classified as. And it's certainly fair for later artists to influence earlier stories--else our Arthurian stories would be very, very different! Plus, I just dig leaf-blades:-)

I forget now if Sting was originally described as a dagger or a shortsword (and am too lazy to get up and check), but I might make it more of a man's dagger that is almost enough to be a shortsword for a hobbit.