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Necronopticous
11-10-2004, 04:00 AM
Hey I'm interested in putting together a list of sword names from cool myths, legends, games, books, etc. Above all I'm interested in finding out what Satan's sword was called in Paradise Lost, The sword he fights Michael with. If anyone has any knowledge on this PLEASE enlighten me. I'm really looking forward to anyone's input, thanks!

Edit: If possible, it would be awesome if you could say what the sword or sword name comes from also.

Giga Guess
11-10-2004, 04:09 AM
Caliban-Excalibur's Dark Twin. Not nearly as well known as Excalibur, but...yeah.

Caladbolg, I believe is the Celtic equivalent to Excalibur, or something.

Can't think of any others.

Necronopticous
11-10-2004, 04:12 AM
Excalibur - King Arthur's sword
Ascalon - St. George's sword

Citizen Bleys
11-10-2004, 04:27 AM
<s>I think it could be Leviathan, but that could be Michael's sword instead.</s>

Never mind, I'm full of crap, and it was a stupid mistake for a FF player to make.

Big D
11-10-2004, 06:53 AM
Masamune and Murasame are two swords from the great Japanese myth. They're real weapons, too, created by the swordsmiths Masamune and Murasama. I've seen a photo of the Murasame in the museum that houses it; I guess the Masamune (created by Murasama's mentor) is around somewhere too.

Dr Unne
11-10-2004, 07:07 AM
You can get the whole text of Paradise Lost from the Project Gutenberg website.

http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/etext91/plboss10.txt

I don't remember the sword having a name.

EDIT: In LotR the swords mostly all had names. Glamdring, Narsil/Anduril, Sting, Orcrist, Herugrim.

Mo-Nercy
11-10-2004, 07:17 AM
Caliban-Excalibur's Dark Twin. Not nearly as well known as Excalibur, but...yeah.
I did not know that...*huggles Giga Guess*

My one isn't so..mythological.

Blue Dragon or Green Dragon. The translation from Chinese is pretty random and thus it's acceptable to call it either. There's probably a few other names for it too. It was a 41 kilogram beast that some historians have labelled as a sword although it could have been a halberd of some sort. It was wielded by Guan Yu (Lord Guan) who fought with his sworn brother Liu Bei to reunite China under the rightful ruling family of Liu and the Han Dynasty. He was long revered as the greatest warrior in China's history. He was eventually defeated by Lu Meng and taken in to be executed, but even after his head had been chopped off, it was still capable of movement and his eyes would open unexpectantly (this scared the hell out of a few people.) Even stranger, during Lu Meng's congratualatory ceremony, Guan Yu's soul appeared in him and killed him. For many dynastys afterwards and even now, Guan Yu is worshipped as the God of War. Both his sword and his horse are attributed to his fearsome image.

Kawaii Ryűkishi
11-10-2004, 08:32 AM
<B>Balmung</b> was a magical sword used by Odin, who, in all his incredible wisdom, plunged it into the sacred oak tree Branstock and declared that he who could pull it out would be destined to be victorious in all his future business endeavors (war). Incidentally, it was Sigmund, the youngest of the Volsung princes, who managed to pull it out, completing the whole King Arthur parallel.

<b>Blutgang</b>, meaning "blood fetcher," was the sword wielded by the Norse giant Heime.

<b>Dainslef</b> was a sword from Norse mythology that, once drawn, required bloodshed.

<b>Durandal</b> was Roland's very unbreakable, very forged-by-fairies weapon in the Medieval epic, Song of Roland. It could cleave men in two easily, which is really something you're going to want your sword to do when you're the central character of a Medieval epic. Its golden hilt reportedly hid four sacred relics--the tooth of Peter the Apostle, the blood of St. Basil, strands of hair from St. Denis, and a piece of garment worn by the Virgin Mary. Good stuff.

<b>Gram</b> isn't remembered for being a great sword so much as it is remembered for being wielded by great men. Odin first gave it to Sigmund, who passed it on to Sigurd, who was the legendary hero of Norse mythology's Volsung Saga. Its name means "grief," if you were wondering.

<b>Hrunting</b> was the sword given to Beowulf by Unferth to slay Grendel's mom in that other epic poem, Beowulf. Unfortunately, it turned out to be completely useless, but Beowulf killed Ma Grendel anyway and then was nice enough not to tell Unferth about how badly his sword sucked.

<b>Joyeuse</b>, a.k.a. the Fusberta Joyosa, was Charlemagne's sword in the Song of Roland. Like Durandal, its golden hilt hid a sacred relic--this time, the tip of the Lance of Longinus, which pierced Jesus Christ's side after he had been crucified at Golgotha.

<b>Kusanagi</b> is to Japan what Excalibur is to Britain. The whole story can be found <a href="http://kusanagi.wikiverse.org/">here</a>, but the basic idea is that the god Susano found the sword inside the body of this nasty eight-headed serpent he was killing. It was never used until generations later, after it had passed through other people's hands, but when it was, it was discovered that the wind would adhere to the direction in which it was slashed, which, in addition to being awesome, was helpful in spreading fires against one's enemies. It remained as a treasure of the Imperial family until the twelfth century or so, where it was lost to the sea along with the two other Imperial Treasures of Japan as part of a mass seppuku.

<b>Laevateinn</b> was the sword that Surt the fire giant was supposed to use at Ragnarök, the Norse End of All Things.

<b>Nosada</b> is also known as Izumi no Kami Kanesada, which was also the name of the guy who forged it. Like Masamune, this sword this guy made is fairly legendary, and was apparently used by Hijikata Toshizou, who is kind of a badass in nineteenth century Japanese history.

An <b>Osafune</b> is any sword forged by Bizen Osafune, another revered swordsmith, this one from the early twelfth century--"the Kamakura Period" if you want to sound cultured.

<b>Tyrfing</b> is a cursed sword forged by dwarves in Norse mythology, the idea behind the curse being similar to that of Dainslef in that, once the sword is drawn, it can't be sheathed until a man has been killed by it.

The <b>Vorpal Blade</b> is the sword mentioned in the poem Jabberwocky, which itself is an aspect of Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, by Lewis Carroll. The Vorpal Blade is notable for being the only sword that goes "snicker-snack."

<b>Yasutsuna</b> was the product of the swordsmith (yes, just one more) Yasutsuna. His best model was known as the Dojigiri, or "Monster Cutter."

Necronopticous
11-10-2004, 08:37 AM
I love Kawaii Ryűkishi

Doomgaze
11-10-2004, 07:50 PM
Although the Masamune/Murasame legend refers to specific blades, in reality they are like the swordsmiths KishiInfoBot 5000 (TM Square Enix) mentioned - the term can refer to any of the blades made by the swordsmith, and there are a decent number of Masamune blades in existence today.

Maxico
11-10-2004, 08:28 PM
I love Kawaii Ryűkishi

Welcome to the club buddy.

Zante
11-10-2004, 08:47 PM
Tizona- El Cid's sword

Damocles sword- it's something from greek mithology, it's commonly used to symbolize a coming war.

Ryth
11-10-2004, 09:11 PM
I remeber two swords from the Hobbit Orcrist and Biter (Sting) sorry their the goblin names.

Lindy
11-10-2004, 09:20 PM
Damocles sword- it's something from greek mithology, it's commonly used to symbolize a coming war.
"Dionysius was a fourth century B.C. tyrant of Syracuse. To all appearances he was very rich and comfortable, with all the luxuries money could buy, tasteful clothing and jewelry, and delectable food. He even had court flatterers (adsentatores) to inflate his ego. One of these ingratiators was the court sycophant Damocles. Damocles used to make comments to the king about his wealth and luxurious life. One day when Damocles complimented the tyrant on his abundance and power, Dionysius turned to Damocles and said, "If you think I'm so lucky, how would you like to try out my life?"

Damocles readily agreed, and so Dionysius ordered everything to be prepared for Damocles to experience what life as Dionysius was like. Damocles was enjoying himself immensely until he noticed a sharp sword hovering over his head, which was suspended from the ceiling by a horse hair. This, the tyrant explained to Damocles, was what life as ruler was really like.

Damocles, alarmed and quickly revising his idea of what made up a good life, asked to be excused. He then eagerly returned to his poorer, but safer life." ~ http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_damocles.htm

Maxico
11-11-2004, 05:54 PM
There is also the sword in the stone. Its nothing specail like excalibur, just another magic sword but its still mythological. And there is no direct link with it to Balmug.

theundeadhero
11-11-2004, 06:37 PM
The Master Sword- The Legend of Zelda! :upsidedow

Fate Fatale
11-11-2004, 08:59 PM
The Sword of Gryffindor- HP
Za' Rak- Eragon
Iscara Thailsasa- Heard it in a Japanese myth...or was it Greek?

Paulus Caesar
11-11-2004, 09:09 PM
My sword - Known for penetrating thousands of women.

Glendon
11-11-2004, 09:10 PM
games,

Mana Sword or Sword of Mana: (Secret of Mana)

Maxico
11-11-2004, 09:47 PM
My sword - Known for penetrating thousands of women.


Must... not... stereotype... german... culture.

Trumpet Thief
11-11-2004, 09:53 PM
chaos: Seiken - Means Holy Sword

Trowa: I guess that counts as one :p

Citizen Bleys
11-11-2004, 10:27 PM
Dunamis: From McKiernan's The Eye of the Hunter, the sword of the elfess Riatha, which had the property of drawing power from the lifeforce of ones' friends, prematurely aging/killing them. Great weapon.

Krystallopyr: Giant crystal sword stolen by Taro Ofuchi in The Gamer's Alliance, later used by Kagetsu to <s>defeat Arawn</s> destroy the world

The Krill: Used by Loric Vilesilencer to...um...silence Viles. And the Demondim, although now that I have a better idea about what the Demondim are, I don't see how the Krill would have been of any use.

Mithrandir: A big effing sword.

escobert
11-11-2004, 10:44 PM
Buster sword :D

chionos
11-11-2004, 11:53 PM
Welcome to the club buddy.

Club=Cult btw


This is kinda sorta off topic, but it's interesting to note that the Hebrew people never named their swords. Even though their history is probably the most war-torn of all histories(with heroes, villains, princesses, etc,) they never named a single weapon that was used. Even the Old Testament poets, like Isaiah, didn't. Hmmm, it's something to think about.
My only guess is that Israel attributed all glory in battle either to Jehovah, or to the man(like David or Samson) and not his weapon. For instance David killed Goliath with only a sling and some stones. Basicly the weaker the weapon, the more glorious the man. And accordingly, especially in the New Testament with Jesus's new teachings, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword..." Matthew 26:50 the sword became something of a metaphor for teaching peace through the words that one uses.
"For The Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." Hebrews 4:12

Not trying to preach :eek: just interesting to think about. :p

It's disconcerting to think that we have no heroes, no Arthur and Excalibur; to pass down to the generations that follow us. Unless in the year 2250 they'll be reading about Albert Einstein and his Atom Bomb. :confused:

DeadmanInc
11-11-2004, 11:59 PM
Zantetsuken-Odin's Sword in the FF series.
Zanmato-Yojimbo's Best katana in FFX
Illumina-The FFVI ultimate weapon

Itsunari 2000
11-13-2004, 10:58 PM
Yashin - Ambition . A bloodsword , imbued with dark magic, wielded by the Usurper Bayushi Shoju in the Imperial coup , beheaded the Emperor. Destroyed along with Bayushi by the hero Akodo Toturi.