The sword Mergil is made of steel, with a plain steel hilt and an ivory pommel carved to resemble a dragon's skull; the word "Mergil" is graven into the blade on both sides in the old Elven script. The sword was conceived and started by the master Elven swordsmith Elverandil, but he came to realize that Elven weapons and magic unaided were insufficient to defeat the Dragon Varkar Barduric. He therefore sent it to the pre-eminent Dwarvish weaponsmith of his day, Durgeddin the Black, so that the latter could complete it, adding his own best enhancements in the processThis Durgeddin did, but before he could return the completed weapon to Elverandil at Lantalaure, the forces of Varkar destroyed that city and wiped out most of the Elven race. Unsure of what to do with it, and unable to find a suitable Elven hero to wield it, Durgeddin held on to the blade until his own fortress was overthrown by orcs some 150 years later.
At that point the blade was captured by the lesser dragon Nightscale and added to her hoard, where it remained until retrieved by the Wyrmslayers. It then passed into the possession of Doronond, High King of the Elves, who bore it at the Slaying.
It was presumably captured by Milani the Scorpion Queen during the coup in 1921 but no evidence is available to confirm this.