In an effort to showcase all my interests on this blog, I’m going all nerdy today, and what could be nerdier than talking about fictional swords (because of course we know a lot of fictional sword names, right? lol). This is actually inspired by an episode of The Big Bang Theory where Leonard and Sheldon decides if they’re going to buy a Game Of Thrones sword (not sure which one it was, probably the one that chopped Ned Stark’s head off).
So here we go. Here are my favorite swords. Disclaimer, I don’t know a lot of them, but the ones that I do, boy, sure enough I’ve obsessed about them at one point.
- Excalibur (King Arthur, Arthurian Legends)
True enough, this is the most well-known sword in all of fiction (nobody can tell for sure that King Arthur was a true historical figure or one found in mere stories). Who doesn’t know the story of Excalibur? “He who is able to pull the Sword in the Stone shall be the rightful King of England!”
This snotty kid named Arthur Pendragon did just that, pulled Excalibur off a magical anvil/stone on which it was stuck in, and was named King of England, then proceeded to found the Knights of the Round Table and engaged in quests to locate the Holy Grail. Stuff like that excited me, and really, the story of how Arthur came to possess Excalibur is one of my favorites. Also, Excalibur is such a badass name.
- Frostmourne (King Arthas, Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos/The Frozen Throne)
In an effort to save his kingdom from the plague of the undead, then-Prince Arthas embarked on a journey to retrieve Frostmourne, the legendary blade by the leader of the Undead Scourge, the Lich King (because of course, to destroy your enemy, you claim and use their own weapon against them… what could possibly go wrong?).
Arthas succeeds in locating Frostmourne, at the price of his soul, betrays his Dwarf friend, Muradin Bronzebeard, murders his father King Terenas, then proceeds to slaughter his people in a kingdom-wide genocide. To top all that, he pledges allegiance to the Lich King. Wait. You sold your soul for nothing?!
Also, Frostmourne allows Arthas to shoot “Death Coils” at things that heals undead units and damages everything else. Yay videogames.
- Andúril (Aragorn, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King)
How cool is this blade. Andúril was reforged by the Elves of Rivendell from the shards of Narsil, the Dark Lord Sauron’s sword that was shattered when he was originally destroyed by an alliance of Elves and humans in the old ages.
Elven Lord Elrond delivered it to the Human Ranger Aragorn to aid him in his march to Mordor. Sooooo, the first thing Aragorn did with his new toy was go to a cave where the ghosts of past human kings bound to Middle Earth by a curse dwelled.
Of course, normal hooman weapons would be no match against the undead, but Andúril is no normal weapon as Aragon showed when he parried a ghost king’s sword strike. He convinced the undead to fight for him and as the one true King of Gondor, he will honor their services and set the spirits free. They agreed, and overwhelmed the orc and Uruk’Hay armies of Mordor. Aragorn released the spirits from their curse.
- Longclaw (Jon Snow, Game of Thrones)
Unlike the previous swords that have magical properties, Longclaw is a boring ass sword that does nothing but cut, slice and slash. Okay well, that’s not totally true because Longclaw is made of Valyrian steel, which is capable of killing the undead.
No, the King of the North acquired Longclaw during his time in the Night’s Watch where he proved himself to then-Lord Commander Jeor Mormont. Longclaw is the ancestral sword of House Mormont of Bear Island, but the Lord Commander decided that the Bastard of Winterfell Jon was more fitting to wield it than his own (banished) son, Ser Jorah. Jon replaced the insignia on the sword’s hilt from a bear (House Mormont’s ancestral animal symbol) to a wolf (House Stark’s symbol).
Personally I find this to be pretty hilarious for Ser Jorah of House Friendzone. Not only does the love of his life, Daenerys Targaryen constantly friendzones him, she also has a thing for Jon. To make things worse, his own father gave the sword that was rightfully his to a stranger.
Life is unfair, Ser Jorah. Deal with it.
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