History Main / SoulCuttingBlade

** Under other circumstances, Shardblades from ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' [[AbsurdlySharpBlade slice clean through just about anything]]. But when slicing through a living being, it instead tears through their spirit: if the blade passes through the target's spinal cord they are dead, instantly, the soul severed. If it passes through a limb, that limb "dies", becoming numb and useless. They function this way because they were created to fight the demonic Voidbringers and needed to affect the Spiritual and Cognitive realms to work; unfortunately, they work all too well on humans too.

->''"Soul Reaver, Kain's ancient blade. Older than any of us, and a thousand times more deadly. The legends claimed that the blade was possessed, and thrived by devouring the souls of its victims. For all our bravado, we knew what it meant when Kain drew the Soul Reaver in anger....it meant you were dead."''

->''"The Soul Reaver, Kain's ancient blade. Older than any of us, and a thousand times more deadly. The legends claimed that the blade was possessed, and thrived by devouring the souls of its victims. For all our bravado, we knew what it meant when Kain drew the Soul Reaver in anger....it meant you were dead."''

* ComicBook/{{Katana}} from ''[[ComicBook/BatmanAndTheOutsiders The Outsiders]]'' has a katana that not only removes the soul from the body of its victim, but traps the soul in the blade.
* ComicBook/{{Magik}} has her Soulsword which can affect supernatural entities and originally didn't harm mundane beings. But since her various [[TookALevelInBadass power upgrades]], Magik can harm body and soul of normal enemies.
* In the ComicBook/DisneyKingdoms' ''Franchise/TheHauntedMansion'' book, the ghost of pirate captain Bartholomew Gore and the ghost of black widow Constance Hatchaway both have special dark magic powers due to having died in the magic-soaked Mansion itself. This manifests in their respective weapons (Constance's axe, which she uses to behead, and the Captain's cutlass) becoming able to slice through ghosts. This does not kill them in any meaningful sense, but it is crippling, and only the more powerful ones (or those helped by more powerful ones) can reform after being sliced through. Ironically, the Captain is disposed of at the end by [[spoiler: [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Constance beheading]] ''[[HoistByHisOwnPetard him]]''.]]

* ''LetsPlay/EmpiresSMP Season 1'': The Rune Blade, which can sever a victim's soul from their body and send the victim to an [[PersonalizedAfterlife afterlife of the wielder's own choosing]]. For this reason, the Dwarves who created it believed it to be too dangerous, in the fear that souls severed with the sword would be [[AndIMustScream trapped in eternal hells]], and had plans to destroy it after it has been forged. However, it was stolen the night before it was set to be destroyed, and people had been searching for it since, either to send loved ones to a peaceful afterlife or enemies to eternal suffering.

** In ''Unfinished Business'', [[spoiler: [[TheDreaded Doctor]] [[TimeMaster Strange]]]] rips into an opponent with a barrage of savage comments in a duel. Just like in the example above, it's ambiguous whether the effect is purely psychological or deeper - certainly, he makes them [[NightmareFuel vomit up chunks of their soul]]. [[spoiler: This later comes back to bite him when said opponent uses some of the ready-made soul fragments for [[SoulJar their own]] magic.]]

* Apparently, [[CoolOldGuy Yunfei's]] sabre from ''VideoGame/SamuraiShodown''. His finisher move consist in him striking his target, pulling their soul out of their body and then slicing said soul in half.

* Apparently, [[CoolOldGuy Yunfei's]] sabre from ''VideoGame/SamuraiShodown''. His finisher move consist in him striking his target, pull his/her soul out of his/her body and then slice said soul in half.

* ''VideoGame/MadnessProjectNexus2'' has [[spoiler:the Prime Blade, a sword crafted from a fragment of The Machine. Lore states that it was originally made to seal away the S-3LF Eater when it started to go on a rampage and is capable of severing a [[OurSoulsAreDifferent S-3LF]]'s enmeshment from its body, essentially [[DeaderThanDead wiping them from existence]]. [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration This carries over into gameplay]], where attacking any enemy (barring particularly beefy foes such as [[GiantMook G03LMs]] and the S-3LF Eater itself, who requires a good few hits to fully put down) with the sword will instantly kill them, reducing them to a pile of voxels.]]

* ''VideoGame/MadnessProjectNexus2'' has [[spoiler:the Prime Blade, a sword crafted from a fragment of The Machine. Lore states that it was originally made to seal away the S-3LF Eater when it started to go on a rampage and is capable of severing a [[OurSoulsAreDifferent S-3LF]]'s enmeshment to its body, essentially wiping them from existence. [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration This carries over into gameplay]], where attacking any enemy (barring particularly beefy foes such as [[GiantMook G03LMs]] and the S-3LF Eater itself, who requires a good few hits to fully put down) with the sword will instantly kill them, reducing them to a pile of voxels.]]

* ''VideoGame/MadnessProjectNexus2'' has the Prime Blade, a sword crafted from a fragment of The Machine. Lore states that it was originally made to seal away the S-3LF Eater when it started to go on a rampage and is capable of severing a [[OurSoulsAreDifferent S-3LF]]'s enmeshment to its body, essentially wiping them from existence. [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration This carries over into gameplay]], where attacking any enemy (barring particularly beefy foes such as [[GiantMook GO3LMs]] and the S-3LF Eater itself, who requires a good few hits to fully put down) with the sword will instantly kill them, reducing them to a pile of voxels.

A bit of FridgeLogic says that in works where surgery on souls is possible, it'd also need something like this.

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'': Near the end of the game, [[spoiler:it's revealed that BigBad Urizen and new ally V were once the same being, TheRival Vergil. Desperate for more power, he stabbed himself with the AbsurdlySharpBlade, Yamato, and carved away his humanity, which he thought was holding him back. This didn't work out: the newly born, fully demonic Urizen was indeed phenomenally powerful, but also an in-universe GenericDoomsdayVillain with none of Vergil's identity or motives, while his cast-off human side, V, was immediately horrified and regretful of what he'd done and immediately set out to merge back together.]]

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'': Near the end of the game, [[spoiler:it's revealed that BigBad Urizen and new ally V were once the same being, TheRival Vergil. Desperate for more power, he stabbed himself with the AbsurdlySharpBlade, Yamato, and carved away his humanity, which he thought was holding him back. This didn't work out: the newly born, fully demonic Urizen was a phenomenally powerful GenericDoomsdayVillain who couldn't even remember ''why'' he wanted to grow stronger, while his cast-off human side, V, was immediately horrified and regretful of what he'd done and immediately set out to merge back together.]]

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'': Near the end of the game, [[spoiler:it's revealed that BigBad Urizen and new ally V were once the same being, TheRival Vergil. Desperate for more power, he stabbed himself with the AbsurdlySharpBlade, Yamato, and carved himself into two halves: Urizen, representing his demonic heritage, and V, representing his human heritage. Urizen got all his strength and his desire for more, while V got all his humanity, which he thought was holding him back.]]

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'': Near the end of the game, [[spoiler:it's revealed that BigBad Urizen and new ally V were once the same being, TheRival Vergil. Desperate for more power, he stabbed himself with the AbsurdlySharpBlade, Yamato, and carved himself into two halves: Urizen, representing his demonic heritage, and V, representing his human heritage. Urizen got all his strength and his desire for more, while V got all his humanity, which he thought was holding him back. This didn't go well, so V spends the whole game trying to get Urizen defeated so he can use Yamato to pin the two of them back together and return to being Vergil.]]

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCryV'': Near the end of the game, [[spoiler:it's revealed that BigBad Urizen and new ally V were once the same being, TheRival Vergil. Desperate for more power, he stabbed himself with the AbsurdlySharpBlade, Yamato, and carved himself into two halves: Urizen, representing his demonic heritage, and V, representing his human heritage. Urizen got all his strength and his desire for more, while V got all his humanity, which he thought was holding him back. This didn't go well, so V spends the whole game trying to get Urizen defeated so he can use Yamato to pin the two of them back together and return to being Vergil.]]