** The ruby-hilted dagger from Shadar Logoth **

This strongly curved dagger probably closely resembles a Middle Eastern jambiya; Jordan's description is simple and elegant.

"A curved dagger with a gold scabbard worked in strange symbols. Fine gold wrapped the hilt, which was capped by a ruby as big as Rand's thumbnail, and the quillons were golden-scaled serpents baring their fangs." <TGH: 24, 359, Flight Down the Arinelle>

Little information is given in terms of size. However, even if slid fully from its sheath, it is small enough that Mat can hide dagger and scabbard both with his body. <TGH: 24, 359, Flight Down the Arinelle> This suggests the dagger's length is at most, say, 12", though this is hardly certain. The Jordan-approved dagger created by Museum Replicas (see below) is 17" in length.

The curve of the weapon is pronounced: "The bare blade curved like a horn ..." <TGH: 19, 297, Beneath the Dagger>. The ruby is repeatedly referred to as "capping" the hilt, i.e. "... a ruby the size of a pigeon's egg capping the hilt ..." <TDR: 10, 137, Secrets> which likely places it atop the very end of the hilt, rather than being set into the side of the hilt, and is described further as "... dark as a drop of blood..." <TDR: 19, 220, Awakening>

So what did Fain's dagger truly look like? Except for the serpent cross-guard, the depiction in RJWoT (left) could be fairly accurate. <RJWoT: 24, 221, The White Tower> Alternately, the dagger may come closer to the stylized chapter icon shown above. Or, perhaps, it resembles the dagger below - commissioned and approved by Jordan himself, and crafted by Museum Replicas:

... but however much I would be tempted to proclaim this definitive Shadar Logoth dagger - it jars with Jordan's own description. Above, a single serpent forms the guard - not serpents - and not in the form of quillons, i.e. an extended cross-guard extending from their base or quillon block, though clearly and repeatedly mentioned in the WoT.