Item from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
A cursed blade of the Nazgûl — designed not to kill but to transform, its shard working toward the victim's heart to turn them into a wraith under Sauron's control.
The Morgul-knife is one of the most insidious weapons in Middle-earth because death is not its purpose. The blade is designed to leave a fragment inside the victim — a splinter of cursed metal that works its way slowly toward the heart. If it reaches the heart, the victim does not die. They become a lesser wraith, a shadow bound to Sauron's will, invisible to the living world and enslaved to the Nazgûl forever. The process is slow enough to allow hope but fast enough to ensure desperation. Frodo was stabbed with a Morgul-blade on Weathertop, and the shard began its journey toward his heart immediately. Elrond was able to remove it in Rivendell, but the wound never fully healed — every anniversary of the stabbing, Frodo experiences phantom pain and a cold that penetrates to the soul. The wound connects him permanently to the wraith-world: he can sense the Nazgûl more acutely than before, and they can sense him. The knife turns its victim into a radar beacon as much as a potential servant.
A long, thin knife with a blade that seems to drink light rather than reflect it. The edge is serrated with fine notches, and the metal is a dull, dark alloy that no smith of the free peoples would recognize. When it strikes flesh, the tip breaks off deliberately — a shard designed to remain inside the wound. The blade itself dissolves to nothing in sunlight, leaving no evidence. Cold radiates from it even before contact.
Also known as: Morgul-knife, Morgul-blade, the Witch-king's blade