Nægling

[3] However, the sword does not survive Beowulf's final encounter with the dragon, snapping in two—not because of the dragon's strength, but because of the hero's strength:[4] Næġling forbærst, ġesƿác æt sæcce sƿeord Bíoƿulfes, gomol ond grǽgmǽl.

[4] While Taylor Culbert argues the poet blames the weapon for it, effectively "aggrandiz[ing] Beowulf in the eyes of the reader",[3] Judy Anne White, in a Jungian reading of the poem, proposes that "Beowulf's inability to use a sword is a part of his destiny, a question of fate, and therefore beyond his control.

"[5] The idea of a sword failing for the hero at a crucial time has parallels in other Germanic works such as in the Volsunga saga and Gesta Danorum.

However this is especially true in the Gunnlaugs saga, where the author goes at pains to show that it was the hero and not the foe who broke the sword.

In Næġling's case, the sword has more of a literary characteristic than a specific ancestral lineage, as is evident from its name.