Coolest weapon from literature?

[Celebrim]

I was hoping someone else would have voted for Durendal, the closest of cool swords. First forged by Oberon the Fairy King, it passed on to be the sword of Theseus before becoming the the weapon of the greatest of the Paladins, Rolando. No weapon has heritage like that.

Number two has to be Excaliber, the Sword of Kings.

Number three is Mjolnir, the hammer of mighty Thor.

Number four is Stormbringer, Moorcock's archetypal weapon.

Number five is Anglachel, the black sword of Turin Turimbar in which dwelt the soul of the Dark Elf Eol. Gotta love that.

Number six is Grond, the hammer of the underworld.

Number seven is Narsil/Anduril.

After that, the rest are just wanna be's.

 

[Impeesa]

Whoa, whoa, whoa.... you're asking two different questions here. See, in your topic you ask for the coolest weapon from literature - and we all know that's the SDF-1's Reflex Cannon. Then you poll for 'favorite named sword'. Which would have to be.... uh.. the reflex cannon! Yeah!

--Impeesa--

 

[Neowolf]

What is the name of that series with Elric in it? I always want to pick up the first one at book store but never remember the name.

I don't know if the series has a name, but be aware that it's a fairly lengthy, obscure, and well-scattered one. I don't know if anyone could positively list them in chronological order, or even compile a complete list (other than Michael Moorcock, the author, himself, that is).

You could argue that anything Michael Moorcock has written is really about Elric, since most of his heroes are essentially reincarnations of each other (that's a slight spoiler, but it becomes apparent very quickly). It sounds a bit corny out of the context of the books, but Moorcock pulls it off masterfully. Here are some of the titles just off the top of my head:

• Elric of Melnibone' (there's an accent over that last e, but I don't know how to do that)
• Sailor on the Seas of Fate
• Weird of the White Wolf
• Bane of the Black Sword
• Stealer of Souls
• Revenge of the Rose
• about a million others whose titles I don't remember for the life of me.

They're all pretty good though. Extremely weird at times, but some of my favorite fantasy ever.

 

[Taloras]

Well, i voted for Stormbringer, but once you reminded me of Need......damn. Need could make a mage a fighter, a fighter immune to magic, and, well, for a fighter that had the inborn talent for magic (but didnt know it), she could bring it out. She could heal people just by being close to them. She had a very high EGO, though. My vote really goes for Need.

Number five is Anglachel, the black sword of Turin Turimbar in which dwelt the soul of the Dark Elf Eol. Gotta love that.

I was wonderin where Anglachel got his name (hes one of the guys in my group, met him on here)

 

[ForceUser]

I voted Glamdring, but it was tough. Stormbringer almost got my vote, but in the end, Elric is pulp and Lord of the Rings is literature, so there ya go.

 

[kenjib]

The ancient sword that beowulf uses to slay Grendel's mother, stolen from her own hoard during the battle.

 

[Aaron L]

Stormbringer.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Red Orm's sword Blue Tongue in The Longships by Frans G Bengtsson. He decapitates at least one guy with this sword so it might be vorpal.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Terminus Est, the executioner's sword from Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun series. It's the sword that mercurial greatswords were probably based upon.

 

[Sejs]

Irving!

from ..gah.. that series of books, about Joe the Barbarian and his Magic Sword, Irving.

grrg.. tip of my tongue...