1. Zulfiqar
Zulfiqar (‘bifurcated’) is a well-known sword of Islamic history owned by Hazrat Ali, by many accounts, Muḥammad (PBUH) presented Zulfiqar to a young Ali at the Battle of Uhud. During the battle, Ali struck one of the fiercest adversaries, breaking both his helmet and his shield. Muhammad (PBUH) remarked “There is no hero but Ali and no sword except Zulfiqar”. By most historical accounts, Ali used the sword at the Battle of the Trench to cut a fierce Meccan opponent and his shield in two halves. The opponent was Amr ibn Abdawud, whose strength was often compared to that of a thousand men. No one had dared to fight him except Ali, who killed him with one powerful blow. Though Amr wore strong armor and carried powerful weapons, he is said to have been no match to Ali and his sword. The scimitar is one of the oldest and best known symbol of Islam. The sword was also used in the Battle of Karbala by Imam Hussain, and as a result it is seen as a symbol of honor and martyrdom. And it is now believed by the Shias to be in the possession of Imam Mehdi.
2. Nasril (Andúril)
In J. R. R. Tolkien’s fictional prehistory of the world (Arda), Narsil was the sword of King Elendil of the Dúnedain who used it in the War of the Last Alliance against Sauron, the sword in a later age was reforged as Andúril. It appears in The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.
Elendil, however, was killed during the battle and Narsil was broken in shards. His son Isildur then used the hilt-shard of Narsil to cut the One Ring from the finger of Sauron, thus defeating and vanquishing him. The shards of Narsil were passed on as heirloom, until the sword was reforged during the War of the Ring and handed over to Aragorn, who renamed it as Anduril (Sindarin for “The Flame of the West”) Aragorn receiving the sword was an action recognizing him as an heir of Isildur and the rightful king of Gondor. It is also referred to as ‘the sword that was broken’.
3. Flaming Sword
A flaming sword is a sword glowing with flame by some supernatural power. Flaming swords have existed in legend and myth for thousands of years. According to the Bible, a Cherub with a flaming sword was placed by God at the gates of Paradise after Adam and Eve were banished from it (Genesis 3:24).
“He placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims,
and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the
way of the tree of life.” Genesis 3:24
and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the
way of the tree of life.” Genesis 3:24
Eastern Orthodox of Christianity tradition says that from the time Jesus was born, the flaming sword was removed from the Garden of Eden, making it possible for humanity to re-enter Paradise
4. Excalibur
Excalibur is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Great Britain. Sometimes Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone (the proof of Arthur’s lineage) are said to be the same weapon, but in most versions they are considered separate. The sword was associated with the Arthurian legend very early. In Welsh, the sword is called Caledfwlch.
There are two swords that appear in Arthurian legends: the Sword in the Stone, which only Arthur could wield, thereby proving his rightful kingship; and the sword given to him by the Lady of the Lake. In some versions there is only one sword, while in others, the Sword in Stone is broken and later Arthur receives Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake. Having a magical origin, the sword was unbreakable and its scabbard protected the king from physical harm. Morgan Le Fay, Arthur’s half-sister, stole the sword. It was recovered but the scabbard was lost, hence allowing King Arthur to be mortally wounded in the Battle of Camlann. Arthur orders one of his knights to throw back the sword in the enchanted lake, and when done so, a hand appeared from the waters to catch it, taking it beneath the water from where it had first emerged.
5. Kusangi-no-Tsurugi
Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi (is a legendary Japanese sword as important to Japan’s history as Excalibur is to Britain’s, and is one of three Imperial Regalia of Japan. It was originally called Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi (“Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven”) but its name was later changed to the more popular Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi (“Grass Cutting Sword”).
It was discovered from the body of a giant serpent. In the reign of the XII Emperor, the sword was gifted to Yamato Takeru, who was led into an open grassland as a trap by a warlord. The plan was to ignite the grass and burn Yamato to death. In desperation, Yamato started cutting the grass with his sword and discovered to his amazement that he could control the wind. Using this power, Yamato expanded the fire in the direction of his enemies, defeating them. It was after this incident that Yamato named the sword as “Grasscutter Sword”. Yamato was later killed in a battle by a monster when he ignored his wife’s advice to take the Grasscutter sword with him. The moral of the story: Always listen to your wife. However, In The Tale of the Heike, a collection of oral stories transcribed in 1371, the sword is lost at sea after the defeat of the Heike clan in the Battle of Dan-no-ura, a naval battle that ended in the defeat of the Heike clan forces and the child Emperor Antoku at the hands of Minamoto no Yoshitsune. In the tale, upon hearing of the Navy’s defeat, the Emperor’s grandmother led the Emperor and his entourage to commit suicide by drowning in the waters of the strait along with the three Imperial Regalia, including Kusanagi. Although the Minamoto troops managed to stop a handful of them and recovered two of the three regalia, Kusanagi was said to have been lost forever.
6. The Sword of Damocles
Damocles is a figure featured in a single moral anecdote concerning the Sword of Damocles which was a late addition to classical Greek culture. The figure belongs properly to legend rather than Greek myth. Damocles was a countier in the court of King Dionysius.
The Damocles of the anecdote was an obsequious courtier in the court of Dionysius II of Syracuse, a fourth century BC tyrant of Syracuse. Damocles exclaimed that, as a great man of power and authority, Dionysius was truly fortunate. Dionysius offered to switch places with him for a day, so he could taste first hand that fortune. In the evening a banquet was held where Damocles very much enjoyed being waited upon like a king. Only at the end of the meal did he look up and notice a sharpened sword hanging directly above his head by a single horse-hair. Immediately, he lost all taste for the amenities and asked leave of the tyrant, saying he no longer wanted to be so fortunate.
Dionysius had successfully conveyed a sense of the constant fear in which the great man lives. Cicero uses this story as the last in a series of contrasting examples for reaching the conclusion he had been moving towards in this fifth Disputation, in which the theme is that virtue is sufficient for living a happy life. Cicero asks
“Does not Dionysius seem to have made it sufficiently clear that there can be nothing happy for the person over whom some fear always looms?”
A slightly different moral to the story of the Sword of Damocles is that, “The value of the sword is not that it falls, but rather, that it hangs.”
7. Sword of Gryffindor
Godric Gryffindor’s Sword is a goblin-made sword adorned with large rubies on the pommel. It was once owned by Godric Gryffindor, one of the medieval founders of Hogwarts. In Chamber of Secrets, Harry draws the Sword out of the Sorting Hat to kill a basilisk. The sword also plays a role in Deathly Hallows, where it is revealed to have been imbued with basilisk venom (as the Sword absorbs anything that would make it stronger), and is used to destroy three of Voldemort’s Horcruxes. Because the Sword was goblin-forged, it is indestructible and according to Griphook the goblin, the Sword was originally forged by the goblin Ragnuk the First and “stolen” (purchased) by Gryffindor. The Sword was stolen (or retrieved, as goblins would say) by Griphook when the Sword fell from Harry’s grasp during the raid on Bellatrix Lestrange’s vault in book seven. However, it again returned to human hands later in the book, when Neville pulled it out of the Sorting Hat and used it to decapitate Nagini, Voldemort’s snake. This shows that apparently, no matter where the sword happened to be at the time, it would reappear in the hat when a true member of Gryffindor house is in need of it.
Rowling has confirmed in her webchat that Gryffindor did not steal the sword from Ragnuk and that this belief is merely part of Griphook’s goblin mistrust and prejudice against wizards.
8. Shamshir-e-Zomorrodnegar
Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegar “The emerald-studded sword” is a sword in the Persian legend Amir Arsalan. The witch mother of a hideous horned demon called Fulad-zereh used a charm to make Fulad-zereh’s body invulnerable to all weapons except the blows of a specific sword called Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegar.
This blade originally belonged to King Solomon, and was carefully guarded by Fulad-zereh, not only because it was a valuable weapon, and indeed the only weapon that could harm the demon, but also because wearing it was a charm against magic. A wound inflicted by this sword could only be treated by a special potion made from a number of ingredients, including Fulad-zereh’s brains.
9. Lightsaber
A lightsaber a popular weapon, was introduced in sci-fi series Star Wars and the franchise’s Expanded Universe. The lightsaber consists of a polished metal hilt which projects a blade of energy (plasma) about one meter long. The lightsaber is the signature weapon of the Jedi order and their Sith counterparts, both of whom can use them for offence, or to deflect blaster bolts. Its distinct appearance was created using rotoscoping for the original trilogy, and digitally for the prequel trilogy. The lightsaber first appeared in the original Star Wars film (1977) and every Star Wars movie to date features at least one lightsaber duel. In 2008, a survey of approximately two thousand film fans found it to be the most popular film weapon.
The lightsaber’s blade cuts through most substances without resistance. It leaves cauterized wounds in flesh, but can be deflected by another lightsaber’s blade, or an energy shield or wall. Some vibroswords and shields made with cortosis are also able to deflect them as seen first in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and later on in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, and The Force Unleashed. An active lightsaber gives off a distinctive hum, which rises in pitch and volume as the blade is moved rapidly through the air. Bringing the blade into contact with an object or another lightsaber’s blade produces a loud crackle. Here’s how a lightsaber works.
12. Gram Sword
In Norse Mythology, the god Odin plunged a sword into the tree Barnstokkr in the hall of the Völsungs during a wedding and declared that he who could take it out would receive it as a gift. Only Sigmund was able to do so. Later, during a battle, Sigmund fights an old man, who is actually Odin in disguise; Odin shatters the sword and Sigmund is killed by others. As he lies dying, he tells his wife that his son would one day make a great sword from the fragments. The prophecy was fulfilled as his son Sigurd reforged the sword. Handle, guard and pommel were plated in silver and highlighted with 24-karat gold details. The sword’s stainless steel blade was massive and jagged edged and Sigurd killed the dragon Fafnir with it. In the Nibelungenlied, Siegfried’s sword is calledBalmung; in Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle, it is called Nothung.
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