Nine Named or Notable Swords from Fantasy Fiction

Legendary swords are a staple of fantasy fiction. Many of them are magical,  but not all: for some of these weapons, the “magic” is to be found in the skill and heroism of those who wield them. Let’s take a look now at nine such swords from fantasy fiction.

1. Longclaw (A Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin): George R.R. Martin’s iconic fantasy series features many named swords, all of them famous (or infamous!) in their own right. Longclaw is one of my favorites because of it heritage. It was the ancestral weapon of House Mormont, and was once the property of the fugitive Ser Jorah Mormont. When Jorah fled to the east, his father Jeor, Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, assumed possession of it. Disgraced by his own son, the Lord Commander gifted it to his steward, a bastard named Jon Snow. While Longclaw isn’t magical, it is forged of Valyrian steel, a semi-mythical alloy whose secrets are lost to the past.
2. Anduril (The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien): Anduril, the Flame of the West, was forged from the shattered remnants of Narsil: the blade that cut the Ring from Sauron’s hand. When its wielder Isildur fell in battle, the shards were preserved by the Rangers of the North. Later, the shards were forged anew as Anduril, the Flame of the West, and carried by Aragorn in the War of the Ring.
3. Stormbringer (The Chronicles of the Last Emperor of Melnibone, Michael Moorcock): This black sword is wielded by Elric, the doomed emperor of the decadent city-state, Melnibone. No common sword, Stormbringer was forged by the powers of Chaos. The vampiric blade consumes the souls of those it slays, passing some of their vitality on to the sickly albino Elric. He is addicted to the energy that the sword supplies, and like any addiction, Stormbringer ultimately destroys him.
4. The Sword of Shannara (Shannara Trilogy, Terry Brooks): Some would underestimate this sword’s magical power: this blade doesn’t eat souls, shoot death beams or slice through stone. Its “only” power is the ability to confront all who touch it with the absolute truth of their being. That doesn’t sound like much until you start really thinking about how devastating it might be to be deprived of all of the comforting lies we tell ourselves. It could be enough to destroy one’s life…or end it, in the case of one powerful villain.
5. The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman): Okay, I’m cheating here. The Subtle Knife isn’t a sword, technically speaking. Also known as Æsahættr, this dagger is so sharp that it can cut between worlds and kill gods. More than just an awesome weapon, the knife is Occam’s Razor made real: the perfect tool of logic for dispensing with false deities and imaginary worlds.
6. The Vorpal Sword (“The Jabberwocky”, Lewis Carroll): The Vorpal Sword is used to slay the Jabberwocky in Lewis Carroll’s nonsense poem of the same name. As you might guess, the word “vorpal” has no meaning outside of “The Jabberwocky”. However, as it is described as “going snicker-snack” and cutting off the creature’s head, it’s probably safe to assume that “vorpal” might mean sharp. The sword later appeared as a magic item in the Dungeons & Dragons game.
7. Brisingr (The Inheritance Cycle, Christopher Paolini): Brisingr is the third Rider’s Sword of Eragon, forged (indirectly – spoilers prohibit me from saying how) by the elf Rhunön. This beautiful hand-and-a-half sword ignites with blue flame when Eragon says its name, and slices through magical wards and the flesh of enemies with equal ease.
8. Icingdeath and Twinkle (Various, R.A. Salvatore): These two magical scimitars are feared throughout the Forgotten Realms as the primary weapons of renegade drow Drizzt Do’Urden. Icingdeath protects Drizzt against fire and heat attacks, and Twinkle is magically more accurate at striking and parrying the blows of enemies. In the hands of this dark elf warior, these two weapons create one whirlwind of death.
9. Terminus Est (The Books of the New Sun, Gene Wolf): Terminus Est is the symbol of office carried by the disgraced torturer Severian. The weapon is designed for execution by decapitation, and doesn’t have the traditional “point” of most swords. It is thought to be filled with mercury, ensuring a powerful and clean downstroke.

Honorable Mention: Graywand and Scalpel (The Swords Series, Fritz Leiber): This longsword and rapier are the weapons of Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, the roguish adventurers of Fritz Leiber’s Swords series. Amusingly enough, there have been many Graywand and Scalpels. The original Graywand and Scalpel were lost long ago, and now Fafhrd and Gray Mouser just call whatever swords they have by their names.