Stormbringer, Oathbringer, Lightbringer—you know you’re a Pretty Important Character™ if you’ve got a weapon with a name attached. Lots of them are bladed weapons, but all sorts of scary implements have been given titles and endearments; like Jayne Cobb’s Callahan full-bore auto-lock named Vera, and John Crichton’s beloved pulse pistol Winona. And if the weapon has a name, it’s probably magical—not necessarily in the literal sense, but in terms of what it can pull off that an “ordinary” weapon simply could not.
So what would you have to check with the doorman on your way into the tavern, pub, or exclusive club? Would you tote Excalibur, or Sting? Mjolnir, or the Elder Wand? Or would you prefer to have a shortsword with a talking hilt, like Tommy the White Ranger’s Saba? (Saba can also fly and use sarcasm. Saba was pretty much the coolest.)
Remember, the answers below are likely to contain spoilers for various series—white them out if you remember to, and be careful!
Glamdring, wielded by Gandalf.
Glamdring – “Foe Hammer”
Caesura- because what better name could a sword have than the break in a poem?
Blackwand, Morrolan’s sword from Steven Brust’s Vlad Taltos series. 1) It’s a Morganti weapon and 2) Come on…it’s named Blackwand.
Dragnpuir
Wielded by Anomander Rake.
Why? Because it was wielded by Anomander Rake who could wield a mushroom and still make it badass.!
“This is my very favorite gun. I call it Vera.”
Dragnipur.. I do like a good GateSword..
Actually, also Morgaine’s Changeling.
Stormbringer, the sword wielded by Michael Moorcok’s r Elric of Melniboné.
More recently written, and snarkier, is Sumarbrander, the Sword of Summer who likes to be called Jack, wielded by Magnus Chase. I think that Rick Riordan is proving very deft at mixing mythologies and modern life without becoming too repetitive.
Toss up. Fantasy wise, Lady Teldra (aka Godslayer) from the Dragaera series seems pretty amazing.
Scifi wise, definitely Reason, the nuclear powered rotary gatling gun in a suitcase from Snow Crash.
My favorite magical weapon will always be Need from Mercedes Lackey’s books. (I would say “Heralds of Valdemar” series, but Need originated outside of them.) Crotchety, unwilling to put up with mediocrity, but also unwilling to let her bearers stay mediocre. And pretty badass in her own right!
Hm, weapons aren’t really the thing that sticks to mind for me in a lot of stories (although I do love lightsabers…those typically aren’t named though) but I suppose I would have to go with Sting :) Really most of the LotR weapons have some pretty cool names. Actually, my husband still crack up at the commentery in the Hobbit movies where the actor who plays Dwalin confesses he named his double blades ‘Grasper’ and ‘Keeper’.
Terminus Est, wielded by Severian in the Book of the New Sun.
Not technically magic, but c’mon, from the name, roughly “here is where it ends”, to the fact that it’s an executioner’s sword, a massive, square tipped weapon filled with a liquid which allows it to be light on the way up and extremely heavy on the way down, so that it can better behead people.
In the Elric story “Go Ask Elric” by Tad Williams, a cleverly disguised Jimi Hendrix has a sword named “Cloudhurler” (obviously named after his guitar, a Stratocaster). But, let’s be honest, every named weapon in Moorcock’s Multiverse has a pretty sweet name (Mournblade, Hackmeat, Briyonak, the Roogalator, etc.)
Jingizu, “Sorrow”: Sword of iron and witchwood – anathema to each other – smithied together with dark magic and sheer determination by Ineluki as a last mad effort to create a weapon with which he could save his people from the invading men of the iron ships.
Bloodsounder from Jeff Salyards’ Bloodsounder’s Arc trilogy. A magical flail that protects the wielded from memory magic, but retains the memories of those it strikes down and pretty much drives the wielder crazy
Nightblood from Brandon Sanderson’s Warbreaker.
callondor from wheel of time….will probably bond with a female aes sedai so that i dont go mad…and channel the f**k out of every one in 1000 miles..
It looks like a crystal sword but functionally its a sa’angreal- it amplifies the amount of one power that could be channeled into gazillion times your inherent capacity..
@@.-@ Lady Teldra’s Spellbreaker component seems like it would be more useful day-to-day, no?
Would the sonic screwdriver count? It seems to be able to do basically anything that involves moving matter around. I’d always wondered what an unscrupulous user could do with it against an attacker.
Another vote for Callandor, the Sword that is not a Sword.
I pick Abstract Weapon, from Ra. What can I say, it appeals to the perfectionist in me. Wabbajack from Morrowind makes a compelling runner up though.
Lirael’s sword “Nehima” from the Sabriel series by Garth Nix.
I’m going with Ringil Eskiath’s sword (abbreviated, for everyday purposes, to “the Ravensfriend”) from Richard Morgan’s A Land Fit for Heroes series:
“I am Welcomed in the Home of Ravens and Other Scavengers in the Wake of Warriors,” Ringil recited for him, hollowly. “I am friend to Carrion Crows and Wolves. I am Carry Me and Kill with Me, and Die with Me Where the Road Ends. I am not the Honeyed Promise of Length of Life in Years to Come. I am the Iron Promise of Never Being a Slave.”
Is there no love for Excalibur?
Having said that, I’ll go with the main character’s swords from Garth Nix’s short story “Endings“:
There are too many great choices for me to pick a favorite! If I absolutely had to, I would probably pick Callandor or Excalibur.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Andúril, the Flame of the West.
And then there is Cuthbert, the cowardly sword from Craig Shaw Gardner’s hilarious series.
Scáthmhaide (pronounced “SKAH wad jeh,” meaning “shadow staff” in Irish)
A magical quarterstaff created for Granuaile by Goibhniu and Luchta in the Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne. Wood, iron and silver make it effective against most magical opponents. Enhances speed and strength of the wielder. Can turn the wielder invisible.
Probably the Possible Sword from China Miéville’s “The Scar”. If that counts as magic and not some weird alien tech…
I think that my attempt to post Roger Zelazny’s Grayswandir (from Amber) got eaten earlier.
Dyrnwyn from Chronicles of Prydain
The Gae Bolga from The Tapestry and from Irish mythology.
Description: a spear with a bone shaft and tip which appears to be black metal, but is actually three hairs from the goddess of war forged together.
@24 The scabbard is more useful than the sword. Aside from the whole King of the Britons thing, does the sword do anything interesting?
Luggage.
Showing my age here:
From the SF world:
The Skylark of Valeron, a planet-sized spaceship prepared to blow the pogies out of any alien slime that threatens humanoid humanity. Dick Seaton had to take off the control helmet when he got in a fight with Marc Duquesne so he didn’t accidentaly blow up the universe in his rage.
The Negasphere. This planet-sized antimatter bomb from the Lensman books is tied with the Cosmic Nutcracker, because what’s better than speeding up a planet to near light-speed and aiming it at your enemy’s base?
Fantasy:
Anglachel. A sword that only speaks once, and that’s to tell its owner “Sure, I’d be happy to kill you.”
Riptide. Because a sword that stores in your pocket protector is the ultimate agent of nerd vengeance.
Scalpel and Cat’s Claw. Because GRAY MOUSER!!!!!
and numerous others that I’m blocking on right now…
@@@@@31. noblehunter
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. You can’t expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you.
twiff – I agree with you wholeheartedly. The Luggage is the ultimate weapon – powerful, lethal and very scary … and it even cleans and stores your undies as well.
Some of the ones not mentioned here that I always liked.
Dawnbreaker-skyrim
Sunder-morrowind
The three swords wielded by the Knights of the Cross – Dresden files
Dragnipur. Because it is wielded by Anomander Rake? Don’t be ridiculous; this is about the best weapon not the best wielder.
Dragnipur contains within it the Warren of Dark, held inside a great wagon pulled by those killed by the sword in a never ending flight from the forces of chaos.
@@.-@ and @9: I too came here to mention the all-around usefulness of the weapon variously known as Godslayer / Spellbreaker / Lady Teldra. Although Blackwand is a very cool name. So is Iceflame, but no one would dare to lay a hand on that weapon if they weren’t Sethra Lavode.
Purely for the sound of the names alone, I like the swords in The Song of Roland — Durendal, Hautclere, Almace, and Joyeuse.
@2
Glamdring – “Foe Hammer”
Shouldn’t it be Glamdring – “Foe Sword”? I mean, its not a hammer
Don’t forget The Book of Swords. Coinspinner was always one of my favorites, if a little fickle.
But yeah, I’d have to go with the infantry battalion disguised as a sword… otherwise known as Blackwand.
Durandal – yeah, I know The Song of Roland isn’t fictional, but it still rocks.
Agreed abiut the Luggage. Homicidal bodyguard, laundromat, infinitely capacious and self-propelled suitcase, and emergency hiding place and escape vehicle.
I’m not sure the One Ring is a weapon, but it’s treated like one. And I love it because it gave me Gollum.
Obligatory Keys to the Kingdom reference — the Keys are collectively pretty badass. I’m partial to the trident, even though the fun stuff happened in spite of it, not because of it, and it wasn’t able to prevent its owner’s death. *sniffle*
Wyndle the Shardfork.
Curoch, The Sword of Power and Iures, The Staff of Law are a couple of favorites from Brent Weeks’s Night Angel Trilogy. Always interesting to see how some of their unique abilities and properties are used by the characters.
For purely awesome ridiculousness in both form and name I’ll submit the Flaming Poisoning Raging Sword of Doom from The Adventure Zone podcast. A sword with a gigantic blade, wreathed in flames with a crooked, oozing scorpion’s stinger affixed to its point.
Sword of Rivan King from David Eddings’ Belgariad and Mallereon series.
Thanks for reading my musings.
AndrewHB
Fidelacchius, from the Dresden Files series. A Sword of Faith made from one of the nails of the crucifixion, it is the legendary sword known as Kusanagi. It was broken, yet is still wielded by Waldo Butters as a lightsaber-like blade of pure faith. Pure awesomeness.
The Brass Orchid from Dhalgren, for its design, symbolism, unearthliness, mystery and g*dd*mned brutality. Also for the silly if obscure joke in its name
@28 “Any sufficiently advanced technology…”
Sure there may be bigger, more powerful swords out there, but when I was a kid, my sword was ALWAYS named Sting!
Another vote for Stormbringer and Mournblade.
Roland Deschain’s pistols. Though I don’t think they’re named, so they probably don’t qualify.
Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi 草薙の剣 (Grass-Cutting Sword), also known as Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi 天叢雲剣 (Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven) was found in the tail of an eight-headed dragon. It is one of the three Imperial Regalia of Japan.
Are you kidding me?! No one’s mentioned Lilarcor?
If only want happens when you ask Lilarcor for advice…
Lilarcor: The sword whistles incredulously. “Advice, eh? Well, besides working on your swordmanship. Besides that, I’d have to think.”
“Hmmm… find someone rich, and kill them. Find someone richer, and kill them, too! Hack and slash your way to fortune! Woo-hoo!!”
Callandor The crystal sword from The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan
It’s not the most powerful weapon out there, but my favorite is the sword Alithiel from the Janny Wurts series The Wars of Light and Shadow.
It’s worth noting that Fafhrd used a sword named Graywand and a dagger named Heartseeker, and the Gray Mouser used a rapier named Scalpel and a dagger named Cat’s Claw. But these are not unique, magical blades: they just use those names for whatever swords and daggers they happen to have on hand at the time!
@9 Without a doubt.
“See, I told you they’d listen to Reason,”
When It comes to Magic Weapons, Excalbur is the way to go. I’m especially fond of the Nasuverse version, used prominently in Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Zero. It’s the physical incarnation of [glory to be found on the battlefield], forged by the Fairies out of [the hopes and dreams of humanity for a world without war], meant to be the [weapon that protects the world against utter destruction], wielded the the Knightliest Knight Who Ever Knighted, the King of Knights… who happens to be a woman.
Also form the Same series, the collapsible Magic Wand Kaleido Ruby. It’s sentient, it’s a fangirl shipper, a pervert of high order and a cosplayer. Well, She turns people in cosplayers. She’s also an infinite power source able to tap the ALL alternate universes for power.But mostly a pervert.
Farslayer from The Books of Swords –For thy heart, for thy heart, who hast wronged me!
and, who can forget the twin magical ice axes called Sorrow, wielded by Janet from The Magicians.
“Well, look, I was angry. I don’t think I commit a lot of gratuitous violence, but this was war, and he was a jerk, and I made a mess of him. I threw him through a couple of doors, and he cried like a fucking baby. You know what they used to write on cannons? The last argument of kings. I guess you could say magic is the last argument of queens.”
Sarah Jane, Thirty/Thirty’s combination rifle/blunderbuss neutra-laser from the animated BRAVESTARR.
“Sarah Jane kin his anythin’ ah kin see!”
A Drood Torc, fully powered of course. It makes it’s own weapons, or barring that Molly Metcalf Wild Witch of the Woods.
I find it a bit weird that none of the power forged swords in WoT were given names.
I like the sword Nothung from Wagner’s Ring Cycle just for the way the name sounds, in terms of magical powers though my favourite is probably Nightblood from Warbreaker, with Aesahaettr from His Dark Materials trilogy a very close second, they’re both really cool spins on the whole trope of magical swords (even though Aesahaettr is a dagger). It’s probably becoming difficult now to come up with an original idea for a magical sword, it seems to be the go to weapon for magicafication (why yes, I did just invent that word).
The Sommersword from Lone Wolf!!! Bad ass. Made your character super powerful.
A lot of these swords and things aren’t magical in themselves; they’re just in stories with magic, like Excalibur. Having said that, my favorite is High King Peter’s sword Rhindon — “with it, I killed the Wolf.”
From Jack L. Chalker’s Dancing Gods series, the sword of trucker-turned-barbarian-hero Joe DeOro (aka “Joseph the Golden”):
“Sword, my sword, I name you–Irving!”
(Collective gasp): “Irving?”
“What? I like the name Irving. I named my son Irving.”
It gets even better in the later books, when Joe’s son inherits the blade, giving us the barbarian hero Irving, bearing the great sword Irving…
Cloud’s Apocalypse sword and Sid’s Scimitar. I mean triple growth for materia!?! How else am I going to max out Knights of the Round.
And of course, Negan’s Lucille, she can stop bullets!
The towel in “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy”. Granted it wasn’t really magical, but it seemed to evoke magical properties and it is far more easy to relate to it than a magic hammer. Almost everyone has at least one and they are useful in so many ways. A little bit of “common” magic.
Vindication, from era 2 MB. Not only a badass pistol used to kill magicians, you have to be magical to use it in the first place. Nightblood is a close second.
Not magical (except in Arthur C Clarke’s sense) and a description rather than a name, but the Lazy Gun from the sorely missed Iain M Banks’ Against a Dark Background is definitely a favourite, even if it’s mostly a McGuffin, plot-wise. There’s something about a weapon with creativity and a sense of humour about how it actually goes about obliterating its target that accentuates its aura of danger…
Dragnipuir (with a special shout out to Burn’s Hammer) from Malazan Book of the Fallen and Nightblood from Warbreaker.
First choice would go to Fidelacchius, from the Dresden Files series.
A Sword of Faith forged from one of the nails of the crucifixion, it also happens to be the legendary sword known as Kusanagi.
The blade is broken off while it’s being wielded by a badass ex police detective Marshall arts expert while she is fighting a 2000 year old bad guy who happens to be possessed by a fallen angel who could crush him liken a bug.
And a little nerdish Jewish medical examiner picks it up and fights of the demon. Turning the blade into a Faith powered lightsaber while quoting Star Wars.
Becoming a Jewish Knight of the Cross.
In a series with numerous ‘crowning moments of awesome’ including having your protagonist ride into battle on a zombie T-Rex. This one still stands out for me.
A few of the weapons from RA Salvatore’s icewind dale trilogy also stand out
Aegis-fang, the magical warhammer
Which is too big and heavy for anyone under 6’5 and built like a 70’s Arnold Schwarzenegger poster to wield. And you can still throw it At your enemies like a flying battering ram. Only to have it magically reappear in your hands.
Icingdeath and Twinkle: The twin scimitars wielded by Drizzt Do’Urden.
High school me thought that this was pure awesome.
Snaga magic ace wielded by Druss the legend.
Turns anyone evil but Druss keeps it At bay for decades
Galahad’s Sword of David. It never really got much detail nor had much written about it, but the mere concept always fascinated me. The idea that only the Perfect Knight would be able to find and wield the sword used by King David during the quest for the Grail is such a nifty one that I’m willing to suspend my disbelief about the nature of said sword (which would likely have possessed only the thinnest of resemblances to a medieval knight’s sword and would have been next to useless in combat between armored knights). I’ve always liked weapons imbued with divine power that only allow the truly faithful to wield them, and the Sword of David has long been my exemplar for that class.
Orcrist, The Goblin Cleaver, Thorin’s sword in The Hobbit.
Tecmessa, wielded by Aristide in Implied Spaces by Walter Jon Williams
Add +1 to Nightblood and Callandor, after them also to Sting and Vindication.
@AeronaGreenjoy, yay for Wyndle the shardfork! (though, in that case, Sylphrena also goes into account and I like her name just as much)
I also like Kate Daniels’s sabre Slayer – good, strong name and fitting for the sword. Also, I’m (finally!) reading the series right now and today came across another sword there – the Scarlet Star. Sounds pretty and was totally a deadly, dangerous magical weapon.
And you can’t argue that Mjölnir is a cool name (rolls off your tongue unlike, for example, Gungnir (Odin’s spear) that just twists it, at least mine).
The Vorpal Blade from the Fables graphic novels.
The Platinum Flute from the Blue Adept books, it could become any weapon.
Too hard to pick just one, so I’ll go with three of my favourites, in no particular order. In some universes that’s a magic number after all.
Vlad Taltos’ Lady Teldra.
Mat Cauthon’s staff….er….Ashandarei.
Kvothe’s Caesura/Saicere (what a name!).
(I’d have included the Luggage, but I don’t think it thinks of itself as a weapon…and I don’t want to offend it)
~lakesidey
Mah’alleinir, “He who soars” hammer. Created and wielded by Perrin in WoT. Best weapon creation story I have read.
Nightblood from Warbreaker/Words of Radiance.
Torn between Fidelacchius and Nightblood. I mean, Fidelacchius is probably more awesome (for all the reasons mentioned above) but I just love the cheerful “Hello. Would you like to destroy some evil today?” that you get from Nightbood
Any off Jack Vance’s magic spells, of course, but I particularly like (or fear) the Forlorn Encystment, which constricts the subject in a pore some forty-five miles below the surface.
Dragnipur. Gotta go with a sword. Since I train with shinai frequently and as another comment stated it’s wielded by Anomander Rake.
Sacnoth, the sword from Dunsany’s “The Fortress Unvanquishable Save for Sacnoth”, made from the spine of the iron dragon-crocodile Tharagavverug.
Amoracchius
I’d go with either the One Ring or the Silmarils
This is an interesting thread, but I’m surprised that no-one’s brought up Wirikidor from Lawrence Watt-Evans’ The Misenchanted Sword. Both McGuffin and mighty weapon at the same time. I’ve read that book a dozen times.
I agree with the Sword of the Rivan King, too. So much character from an intelligent object that never actually speaks, IIRC.
Chaz, aka ‘Unholy Evil Death Bringer’, from the webcomic Sluggy Freelance.
From Niftypedia:
Mr. Carter, wielded by Vinnie Grigori, and use to splat Goliath in the face with a pie. Any weapon that could allow someone to actually beat Goliath, as that did, is magical enough for my book.
Second choice is probably the Master Sword. I mean, Gannon is often more powerful than the gods. You’d think that just once, he’d incarnate in such a way that he built his temple on top of the darn sword, or melted it down for scrap, but no – he always ignores it until it’s too late.
Third choice: Townsaver. Of all Fred Saberhagen’s swords, I loved that it was the one you desperately wanted one of your friends to be holding, rather than to hold it yourself.
Jezrien’s (windrunner) Honorblade so I can fly. Unnamed sword, unfortunately.
I’m going old school! I’d want the Elder Wand.
Fred Saberhagen had a series called the Book of Swords. The main premise was that twelve powerful magical swords were given to humans to amuse the gods, and then everything went wrong. Some of the swords were very practical – Dragonslayer was really good at cutting dragons up, Stonecutter could cut stone like butter. Some were terrible – the Mindsword dominated the minds of everyone around the wielder, compelling them to worship him or her, while Soulcutter inflicted crushing apathy (to the point where movement seemed pointless) on everyone around the wielder, and the wielder him or herself). Shieldbreaker was generally considered the most powerful of the swords, as it appeared to be the only thing capable of destroying other swords. It made its wielder virtually invincible in battle.
But of all of those, the one that I would want is Woundhealer. It was fairly useless as a sword, as it would heal people when you stabbed them. But that healing ability is incredibly powerful. It can heal virtually any wound or malady, and counters most of the negative effects of the other swords. And more to the point: it’s the sword that broke Shieldbreaker. In the end, only Woundhealer survived of the twelve swords of power, and the world was a better place for it.
Wulfgar’s war hammer Aegis Fang
Coinspinner from The Book of Swords Trilogy by Fred Saberhagen: Undpredicatble Weapon but so is life…and an adventure to be sure:
Who holds Coinspinner knows good odds
Whichever move he make.
But the Sword of Chance, to please the gods
Slips from him like a snake.
:)
Gonna have to give another vote on Callandor from Wheel of Time. Currently reading the books for the first time and that thing is ridiculously powerful, and I’m all about stupid strong magical foci.
Honorable mention for The Master Sword of The Legend of Zelda, inspired by Excalibur if I remember correctly. Not sure if we’re talking strictly novels or not.
Oh, definitely Chaz, once described as “a sword of +3 Nagging.” Majestic levels of snark from that sword.
Stormbringer, I’ve had a soft spot for the Eternal Champion since reading Moorcock’s books as a teen
The weapon that came immediately to mind was Ravensfriend from the series A Land Unfit for Heroes by Richard K Morgan. I think it’s lovely that the name reminds one of the cost of wielding it.
Daubendiek – from Glen Cook’s Swordbearer
Elric’s Stormbringer
Nightblood hands down.
Mjolnir, for sure. Thor’s hammer always comes back, never gets lost, and is unstoppable. Wow!
Occam’s razor
The Frying Pan of Doom from “Utensile Strength” by Patricia Wrede. its in the ss collection _Book of Enchantments” A wizard, crafting a spell to make a magical sword that will be famous forever, trips over his pet pig and the spell goes into the frying pan full of breakfast. Now how do we find out its powers?
Stormbringer will always be the quintessential “named weapon” in my mind. I’m sure there were probably some before Moorcock wrote about it, but I daresay none outside of mythology/legend influenced fantasy and scifi the way that Stormbringer did.
Everything since is just a pale comparison, in my mind. Dragnipur and Blackwand, and countless others I’m probably not aware of, while completely awesome in their own right, probably wouldn’t exist without Stormbringer paving the way.
Aside from that, I’ve always been fond of Farslayer, just for the image of a semi-sentient sword streaking out of the sky to kill someone that has wronged you.
Need; Kethry’s sword from the world of Velgarth by Mercedes Lackey
Nightblood from Warbreaker. Mwahaha!
Tough choice between Anglachel, the black meteor sword wielded by Turin Trambar (Silmarillion, The Sons of Hurin) , or Callandor (Wheel of Time).
There are many good candidates. I thought I’d throw out one I didn’t see reading by.
Iain Banks invented the Lazy Gun. It would eliminate the target, but you never knew exactly how that would be accomplished.
“Increasing scale seemed to rob a Lazy Gun of its eccentric poesy; turn it on a city or a mountain and it tended simply to drop an appropriately sized nuclear or thermonuclear fireball onto it. The only known exception had been when what was believed to have been a comet nucleus had destroyed a city-sized berg-barge on the water world of Trontsephori.”
I don’t see how anyone can choose any weapon other than Stormbringer unless they just haven’t read the entire Elric series.
In addition to being such an archetypal magical weapon, it has one of my favorite lines of dialogue ever written.
I vote for the Zombie T-Rex Sue and the elf stones of Shannara and the Elder Wand.
+1 to #101 and the Frying Pan of Doom from Pat Wrede’s Enchanted Forest Chronicles. A totally bad-ass weapon in a most unexpected form.
Walking away from the wash of bladed weapons and taking the opening title of the thread more literally. There’s this—
More recently than not, an extremely good friend of mine acquired a number pf item during a mystery book auction, his wining lot included a weighty pistol box, beautifully made pocketed for the weapon within and covered all of the inside with either felt or sheared velvet, the photograph were clear enough to tell which.
The gun was auction as Mickey Spillane’s Gat, which turned out to be true. A colt 45 with the inscription: Mickey’s “Piece” beneath the barrel on the frame just beneath that, there also the capital letter “M” on the rear most section of the trigger guard.
This just HAS to be my FAVORITE weapon ever; although the last requirement in the thread title has yet to be achieved or magic has yet to be achieved, and this point of contest is worth spending a few words on.
Clearly the 45 has a past and a colored one and might probably be handled by a number of Hollywood folks. Hollywood being the epicenter for weird, wonderful, lethal, illegal, cursed and blessed people. There are darker people and dens where a pseudo “Witchcraft” is practiced. There are many diners, restaurants, and “shot in a beer” bars. Many fortune tellers, mind readers, predictors of the future, palm readers, and every other sort of wishful magic practiced within the city as well.
I could easily imaging that Mickey Spillane, being a writer and purveyor of these dark and murderous mystery tales, would be known and rewarded for his fame with invitations to enter unfrequented door ways, assemblies, celebrations and the like.
With the vast array of odd and needy folks revolving around him, there’s a pretty good chance that Spillane might have been cursed or protected by some of the cadre, better chance that one of these fringe players might have come in contact with his 45. May or may not be the case, but it’s hard to believe that, given the atmosphere and number of important party people and film folk, in LA, the Colt wasn’t handled, held, played with, or fired by someone with a degree of genuine power. They are everywhere if only you were to pay closer attention.
I believe that Spillane’s Colt 45 sort of does meet the criteria stated at the first of the thread and I would easily say that it
is my favorite magical weapon . . .
Anaklusmos (“Riptide”), Percy Jackson’s sword from the Percy Jackson series.
Nightblood, the sentient sword from “Warbreaker” and the Stormlight Archive; sorry, Sword of Summer, I’ve gotta give it to Nightblood in the “sentient weapon” department for being an innocently murderous paladin.
Shieldbreaker from the book of swords.
I shatter Swords and splinter spears;
None stands to Shieldbreaker.
My point’s the fount of orphans’ tears
My edge the widowmaker.
or woundhealer.
Whose flesh the Sword of Mercy hurts has drawn no breath,
Whose soul it heals has wandered in the night,
Has paid the summing of all debts in death
Has turned to see returning light.
Icingdeath.
or a good pair of six shooters with sandlewood grips, made from melting down the sword excalibur.
or the speaking gun from the nightside series.
I’ve always liked the sword named Irving from the Dancing Gods series by Jack L. Chalker.
My personal favorite is Skadwhe from Diane Duane’s Tales of the Five series….Said to be a blade made from a splinter of the door into death, torn away when it’s maker clung to life so fiercely that she splintered off a piece of it’s threshold! Segnbora uses it to cut shadows.
First choice is probably Shieldbreaker, but there’s a lot to be said for Howard Tayler’s “long gun” technology (schlockmercenary.com) too :)
Alberich (the Valdemar armsmaster) had a good point, though — barring specifically magical items, most named weapons are just normal weapons and it’s a bad idea to get too attached to a specific one. Better to be prepared to work with whatever weapon is handy.
One-Eye’s Spear and the Lance of Passion, from the Book of Glittering Stone books of The Black Company Series. Anything that can take down crazy-powerful sorcerers always comes in handy.
I have you all beat. The one real world named devastating weapon:
B.B. King’s axe named Lucille.
It can put a spell on you and call forth memories. And it’s been effectively used already on millions of people.
But if I must pick something fictional, I’d chose The Sword of Aldones from Marian Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover series.
Syl. Kalladin’s spren in the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson
The one that actually scares me as a ‘weapon’, the Shrike from the Hyperion books. Not ‘magical’ I guess, but it could slow/control time and transport its victims to the Tree of Thorns.
The or a Hart bow, I know it is from a not so good movie. While I like a good sword I am an archer< and I like a bow that can turn its arrows into what are needed, with the powers that be always providing arrows so you never run out.
A Torivorian sword from Brandon Mull’s Beyonders series or a light saber. They’re not named but I could give them names…
From Patricia Wrede’s Enchanted Forest Chronicles, i vote for The Frying Pan Of Doom!!!!!!!
Truly a weapon for grand heroics!
Nightblood! It talks! It corrupts investurure! It’s on Roshar but it came from Nalthis! How did it get there? Nobody knows except awesome nightblood!
Lilacor, from Baldur’s Gate 2. It’s like having Ricky Gervais in a scabbard.
Belle and Anna.
Craven Edge. Bad News. Whisper.
Not magical but the first weapon I thought of was Vera, because I’ve been watching Firefly lately.
Going totally old school here, I suggest “Nothung”, the DIY sword wielded by Siegfried. But why no mention of Prince Valiant’s “Singing Sword”??
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Gonturan – The Blue Sword wielded by first by Aerin Dragonslayer and later by Harimad Sol (Harry) in Robin McKinley’s Damar novels.
Need from Lackey’s novels is also a favorite as are any of Tolkein’s swords.
And I know it’s from a game, but I have always loved the picture of the Unnatural Axe from the Munchkin games. :)
Apart from all those already mentioned…
The granddaddy [mother?] of them all: Arjuna’s unstoppable weapon from Hindu mythology
Oathkeeper. Not magical as such, but for everything it means to Brienne of Tarth
“Silver smoke winds around my torso, peeling away from my ribs and back, stealing the dark mist covering my hands and lower extremities…tattoos dissolving into demon flesh, coalescing into small dark bodies. My boys. The only friends I have in this world. Demons.
I am a demon hunter. I am a demon. I am Hunter Kiss.” Hunter Kiss books, Marjorie M Liu. The demons both act as a living shield, but also as defensive weapons.
Grabthar’s hammer :-)
Jayne from Firefly had other named weapons; Binky and Boo [his knives] and a second gun called Lux [all names given by Adam Baldwin himself. Lux was a Browncoat who died far too young].
One more, Jaxi the Soulblade, who is both weapon and bonded companion to Sardelle in Lindsay Buroker’s Dragonsblood novels.
Frakir, carried by Merlin of Chaos. Gotta love a garrote that you can ask to go off garrote-ing without you.
It’s Callandor of course. The One Power, if it counts as a weapon (it should not for Aes Sedai: third oath). Also the Choedan Kal and Vora’s sa’angreal.
Excalibur & a sonic screwdriver hidden in my boot.
Carrot Ironfundersons decidedly unmagical sword.
I’m surprised Callandor is only mentioned a few times. Yes, that’s my vote.
Dyrnwyn. Who wields it in good cause will strike down even the Lord of Death.
Another vote for @63’s Irving.
Most of Brust’s Great Weapons have awesome names.
@139 – second the thought re Brust’s Great Weapons.
@138 – + 1.
Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack
Oathkeeper, currently wielded by Brienne of Tarth. Jaime wanted to cleanse the Valyrian steel of shame put on it by the Lannisters when they murdered Eddard Stark and melted down Ice and created two swords from it.
But my favorite has to be the Wicked Sisters, a pair of throwing hatchets designed for Jean in The Lies of Locke Lamora universe.
I’m torn between Bayonetta’s guns Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (collectively known as Scarborough Fair) and Carvin Marvin, the sentient sword from the Knight of the Dinner Table comics.
Tensaiga. It kills dead people.
The Arizona Sword – Leslie Fish. Not necessarily the best tale but an admirable and desirable thing to have around.
Sandor Clegane: Needle. Of course you named your sword.
Arya Stark: Lots of people name their swords.
Sandor Clegane: Lots of cunts.
I’m seeing a lot of love for Excalibur, and some negative responses. Perhaps it’s because Excalibur has never been properly realised on the screen (and seems to have been properly nerfed in many other retellings).
Going back to Mallory and earlier, Excalibur is described as blazing with the light of thirty torches when drawn, sufficiently bright to blind those that looked upon it. Then you have the etymology of the word – it could be translated into modern English as Metal/Iron Cleaver/Breaker. Combine that with how Arthur is described as being able to use the blade to slay experienced opponents, heavily armoured knights with excessive ease usingsingle blows. You have a glowing (presumably the “blazing light” damps down to a manageable level a few moments after being draw) weapon that ignores armour and slices through metal weapons used to parry it.
Given how Celtic Bards and Storytellers built in weaknesses to anything sufficiently over-powered (a narrative device to create tension we seem to need to periodically rediscover), presumably there’s a story of a peasant armed with a wooden weapon (like a quarterstaff) teaching Arthur some humility when he acted like an ass (which he frequently seemed to). I’m guessing that got expunged when the nobles didn’t want the peasantry getting too many ideas.
Still, I’d buy that for a dollar!
Firebrand, from the Nightlord books by Garon Whited. Shoots flames that can melt steel into puddles, cuts through things like a plasma cutter, is sentient and psychic, and is a tremendous smartass to boot. Very underrated books, by the way.
Crocea Mors (Yellow Death), the sword of Julius Caesar. In Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain, Caesar uses this during his British invasion. The sword killed all who were struck with it. Nennius, the brother of the British king Cassivelaunus, fights Caesar and gets the sword stuck in his shield; he wrenches it out and uses it to wreak havoc among the Roman forces. In the end the Britons win the day. This does Nennius no good at all, though, as before he gained Crocea Mors Caesar had given him a head wound with it. Nennius manages to survive for fifteen days after the battle before dying, and Cassivelaunus buries the sword with him.
Since no one has mentioned them…
Bubba, Lulu and Pip
Those of you who name your knives, however, are Psycos
(Dark Matter)