Elbereth
Elbereth (also called the E-word) is the name of a goddess worshipped by elves. Engraving her name on a square prevents most monsters from attacking you while you are on that square. Engraving Elbereth is also a popular way to protect stashes. Note that there must be something, like you or a scroll, in the same square with Elbereth for it to work. No monster represented by an @ will respect the word, neither do any A, minotaurs or the Riders.
Elbereth stops working when it degrades into a different word. If you are writing in the dust ([E] [-]), you might want to write it several times. (Copy-paste: "E-y Elbereth") The immediate result of one test was "ElberLth ElbereGh ElVereth Ylbereth Elbeheth Elb;reth Elbereth Elbereth tlbere#h".
Contents
Engrave Elbereth quickly
A fast method (writing in the dust or using a wand) is almost always preferable over a slow one (actually engraving). Thus it is normally better to write with your fingers, which is fast, but in the dust, than with a hard gem or with a ring with a hard gem (such as a ruby ring), which is slow.
This is because the slow methods give monsters time to kill you. This is a problem both when you need "Elbereth" quickly or if a monster surprises you. Note that characters reading a spellbook or eating a food ration will stop when approached by hostile monsters, but characters busy engraving will insist on continuing the job. Thus any character engraving with a hard gem or other slow method is vulnerable to attacks from monsters.
For a permanent Elbereth, use a wand of fire or wand of lightning to burn it. The wand of lightning can blind you, but that is an acceptable risk during an emergency. Otherwise, unless you can easily cure blindness or protect your eyes, avoid any engraving with the wand of lightning. Permanent Elbereths are ideally suited for protecting stashes, since a stash needs to last a long time. Permanent Elbereths are also useful in combat situations, but because they always require a wand charge, it is best to save them for difficult situations instead of using them routinely.
You can engrave a fast semi-permanent Elbereth using a non-cursed athame, a wand of digging or a charged magic marker (consuming four charges). Athames are the best way to engrave Elbereth in routine combat as they engrave semi-permanently and are not reliant on charges. Unfortunately, athames are difficult to find. They are never randomly generated, so you need to pick one up from a Master lich's inventory, get gifted Magicbane from your god or wish for one. Wizards first sacrifice gift is Magicbane so they have the easiest time getting hold of an athame.
Elbereth and levitation
If you levitate over an Elbereth, the word will never degrade as long as you are levitating over the square, no matter what you do while levitating over it. Characters who can levitate may want to take advantage of this by engraving Elbereth and then levitating over it while fighting off large numbers of monsters. Note, however, that during an emergency, it is usually preferable to burn a permanent Elbereth using a wand, assuming that you have enough wand charges to spare.
Don't blind monsters!
Don't use a camera, for instance. Blind monsters can not read the word anymore and will attack you.
Encyclopedia entry
... Even as they stepped over the threshold a single clear
voice rose in song.
A Elbereth Gilthoniel,
silivren penna miriel
o menel aglar elenath!
Na-chaered palan-diriel
o galadhremmin ennorath,
Fanuilos, le linnathon
nef aear, si nef aearon!
Frodo halted for a moment, looking back. Elrond was in his
chair and the fire was on his face like summer-light upon the
trees. Near him sat the Lady Arwen. [...]
He stood still enchanted, while the sweet syllables of the
elvish song fell like clear jewels of blended word and melody.
"It is a song to Elbereth," said Bilbo. "They will sing that,
and other songs of the Blessed Realm, many times tonight.
Come on!"
[ The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien ]
NetHack brass
A warning to players of the NetHack brass variant: Avoid engraving Elbereth with wands. While vanilla uses 1 wand charge per engraving, NetHack brass can consume extra charges. An engraving with a wand of fire, for example, costs the usual 1 charge engraving with a wand, an extra 1 charge because the wand is a wand of fire, plus 1 charge for each letter engraved. To burn Elbereth successfully, you would need 10 charges in your wand of fire; you probably do not have them.
