The Forge's Floor
The anvil shield is the work of the Dwarf, and the dwarf is the one who forges the face instead of cutting it. It is the shape of a tower shield with the face of a single forged plate — the Steel worked thin where it needs thin and left thick where it needs thick, and the thickness is the point: the anvil takes the blow the way the anvil takes the hammer, and the anvil is the one that is hit, every time. The dwarf does not make a shield. The dwarf makes the floor of the fight, and the floor is the one that is hit.
A journeyman anvil shield is a plate of forged steel on a frame of oak, and the making is the hammer-work: the plate is forged in one piece, so the plate has no seam, and the seam is where the fight wins. A master anvil shield has the head plate of Mithril, and the mithril is the part that takes the edge of the edge — the plate does not stop the blade, the plate meets the blade, and the meeting is the argument, and the argument is the one the dwarf keeps. A masterwork anvil shield is a story event, and the story has not written it yet, because the dwarf's work is not the kind of work the story finishes.
In the Hand
The anvil shield is the third stance, made forged: brace. The fighter behind it cannot run, cannot parry, and does not want to — the fighter stands where the floor is, and the floor is the one who is hit. Nothing behind the fighter takes anything at all, because the anvil is the argument, and the argument is the floor, and the floor is the one that holds.
"A cut shield can argue. A forged shield does not argue. The forged shield is the floor, and the floor is where the fight ends." — Tigole