Xoanon here,

You may have heard that the swords for LOTR are fragile and light? Well it's total shash, my contact, who is actually on the inside tells me all.

He told me that they are heavy and realistic, but are dull. The training for the fighting is taking place as I write this and the trainers must use padding (doesn't sound to fragile to me do they?)

Now you know, trust the real source :)