History Main / TheSwordThatSpeaks

Is that the perfect game mechanic or what? Gary, we are humbled by your boundless game mastering genius.

** It's implied that they can communicate with their wielders when they're in sword-form; there's a scene where the Shinigami stationed in Karakura Town are supposed to be meditating/communicating with their zanpakutous, and Yumichika's annoys him so much that he starts banging it on a rock.

* ''MabinogiFantasyLife'''s spirit weapons, although they only speak when spoken to.

-->-- '''In-game description of Lilarcor''', ''BaldursGate 2''

* Exor in ''SuperMarioRPG''.

* The Singing Sword (Sister Blade of {{Excalibur}} of ''PrinceValiant'') is this trope taken seriously; it sung (probably along the lines of a CherubicChoir) whenever someone with NimbusPrivileges wielded it. After this, the concept was never taken seriously, ever again.

* ''Bleach'''s Empathic Weapons generally don't talk in their 'weapon' states (filler and Mental Worlds being another matter). Lillinette and Starrk started arguing with one another ''after'' their Fusion Dance had turned the girl into a pistol, to the confusion of Kyoraku and Ukitake.

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]

-->-- '''In-game description of Lilarcor''', ''[=~Baldur's Gate~=] 2''

* When ''SoulEater'''s Ragnarok is in its sword form, it fits nicely into this trope. Not only can Ragnarok speak, it has a mean [[MakeMeWannaShout scream attack]]. Excalibur is also a talking sword, though more of the {{Cloudcuckoolander}} type, and he's usually only in sword form when being used or store in the stone.
** Excalibur talks. And talks. And talksandtalksandtalksand-argh SHUT UP DAMNIT!
*** Really, every weapon character in Soul Eater could count as this, seeign as they are humans who have taken a weapon form. However, the other weapons aren't nearly as... talkative... or annoying... as Excalibur is. Seriously.
* The Swordians in a couple episodes of ''SpaceAdventureCobra''.

* Sou'unga in the third ''{{Inuyasha}}'' movie, ''Swords of an Honorable Ruler'', is an evil youkai sword that talks - often in the form of {{Hannibal Lecture}}s.

* BuckGodotZapGunForHire has the Loquacious Lasers, Smith and Wesson, who are the minds behind the Pistol Packin' Polaris Packrat's exploits

* In ''Discworld/{{The Color of Magic}}'', Rincewind comes across a talking sword that tries to help him save Twoflower from Wyrmburg (this is portrayed in the two-part miniseries, too). It had very definite ideas about how its wielder should act, threatening to kill Rincewind if he didn't do the suitably heroic thing, by pointing itself at his neck.

* In ''TheSilmarillion'', Turin Turambar has a "to be or not to be" moment where he asks his cursed sword, Gurthang, if it would take his life swiftly. The sword answers yes, so Turin kills himself. This is overtly taken from Kullervo's death in ''TheKalevala'' (see the mythology folder below).

* Need, from the ''{{Heralds of Valdemar}}'' series. But it's not so much the sword as the soul of a woman from the ancient past who encased herself in the sword.

* [[RumoAndHisMiraculousAdventures Rumo]] gets a sword that talks to him, but he ist the only one who can hear it. The problem: The two-bladed 'sword' (more the size of a pig-sticker) contains actually two personalities. One is a very talkative and mostly ineffective coward (who talked Rumo in taking the sword), the other one a blood-thirsty, single-minded warrior (who can sulk when denied a fight). Rumo actually threatens to abandon the sword should it not stop talking.

[[folder:Mythology]]
* The sword of Kullervo from the Finnish epic ''[[TheKalevala Kalevala]]'' is possibly the UrExample, making the trope at least OlderThanPrint. The sword is not a chatterbox though; it speaks only once and then just before Kullervo is about to kill himself with it, making its point that it enjoys [[ArtifactOfDoom drinking blood regardless of whether it's innocent or guilty]]. Otherwise, the sword is unremarkable and unnamed.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* As described in the Blue Oyster Cult song "Black Blade" (based on the Elric stories, though the sword doesn't talk until after [[spoiler:it turns into a demon]] on the last page of the last Elric story.).

* ''[[DungeonsAndDragons Dungeons & Dragons]]'' has rules for intelligent weapons, including how well they can communicate (e.g. starting with simple "empathy" and going all the way to full-blown telepathic powers)... as well as rules for conflicts of wills between weapon and wielder.
** The stock intelligent weapons described in the manual range all over the power and alignment spectrums... including one sword that is recommended for a deaf swordsman.

* Some Daemon weapons in ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' fit this trope. ''You do not want to listen to them.''
** Unless you're evil, in which case listen away - many are full of sound advice.
** Some particularly powerful Daemon Weapons can exert limited Telekinesis. [[BigBad Abbadon]]'s sword, for instance, once got him wounded by pulling him towards Eldrad - while he was impaled on Eldrad's force weapon.

* A somewhat disturbing example is a soulforged weapon from {Wraith: the Oblivion}. Most believe the process of soulforging destroys the consciousness of the victim, but that's small comfort when that fancy new battle-axe starts weeping.

* Caliburn from ''{{Sonic and the Black Knight}}'', who also serves as an ExpositionFairy for [[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic]].
* The Swordians from ''{{Tales of Destiny}}'', who are revealed to have once been people from the past.
** Or rather, their memories and personality imprinted onto the swords.
* As the above quote illustrates, Lilarcor from ''[=~Baldur's Gate~=] 2''.
** Lilarcor has an AxCrazy personality. Many players find it to be a most suiting weapon for the mentally less-than-stable Ranger Minsc. So much in fact that a fan-made {{Game Mod}} adds extra banter if Minsc is wielding the sword.
--->'''Minsc:''' I have often asked him: "Larry, why are you Minsc's sword?" And he always says...\\

* Corrupted Ashbringer from ''{{World of Warcraft}}'' whispers to you when you're close enough to Darion while he's carrying it. It's [[NightmareFuel quite unnerving]] at times if you don't see it coming.

* ''DungeonCrawl'' has a weapon attribute aptly described as "It makes noises." which may be applied to any random artifact weapon, meaning you might find talking specimens of pretty much any kind of weapon present in the game. Any such weapon will cause noises at irregular intervals while wielded; most of these noises are recognizable speech. Far from being a harmless annoyance for the player, the noise also tends to alert nearby hostiles to the wielder's presence.
* According to preview materials for the next Legend of Zelda game, the Master Sword not only talks, but turns into a girl too.

* The Axe from [[TheBardsTale The Bard's Tale]] (the new version) not only talks but also lets you perform sweet [[IncrediblyLamePun electric guitar riffs]] when summoning your followers.
* MabinogiFantasyLife spirit weapons, although the only speak when spoken to.

* Torg's magic sword, Chazz, in ''SluggyFreelance'' , activated in the arc That Which Redeems, and used frequently thereafter. Notable in that it must drink the blood of the innocent for it to speak.

* The Cursing Axe in ''{{Once Upon a Table}}''.

* Camlann from ''{{The Adventures of Wiglaf and Mordred}}'', once ranting for [[http://liliy.net/wam/2008/06/18/somewhere-mordred-is-laughing/ over 1000 words]] after being let out of a sheath where he hadn't been able to talk
* A variation in ''{{Tales of the Questor}}'': before it was named Wildcard, Quentynn's sword kept saying an advertising pitch for the merchant he got it from. At the most inappropriate times.
* There's a really fun ''{{Nodwick}}'' strip in which Yeagar is duelling some other adventurer, while both are armed with talking swords. Their weapons make small talk throughout the fight, completely ignoring what their wielders are doing with them...

--> Basically, the more powerful a sword is and the more useful it would be for a PC to be in control of all of the fantastic abilities it can grant, the more Ego the sword has, the less likely it is to acquiesce to demands to use those abilities, and the more likely it is to talk back and be generally annoying at the worst possible moment! \\
Is that the perfect game mechanic or what? Gary, we are humbled by your boundless game mastering genius.

* The axe from ''UnforgottenRealms'' speaks in a French accent, apparently.
** It turns out he was originally a lumberjack/wizard who was transmogrified into an axe, then brainwashed so he thought that he'd been an axe all along.

* [[{{JourneyQuest}} Journey Quest's]] Sword of Fighting speaks. Generally in a fashion insulting to it's wielder. The weapon itself may be AxCrazy, which seems odd for a sword.
* {{The RPG Fanatic}} features a talking sword who frequently harasses the game reviewer.
* ''TheIntercontinentalUnionOfDisgustingCharacters'', being a TakeThat at 1st Edition [[DungeonsAndDragons AD&D]], includes several weapons built using the "intelligent weapons" rules. Included are Prometheus, a paladin's Holy Sword that gets off on killing things; and the Sick Sword, which is so powerful it only speaks in ALL CAPS.
* [[http://johnsu.deviantart.com/art/Mountain-Bandit-109099016 Bartow Laughingbones and his "Pretty Betty"]]. [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] in that a wizard hoped it will discourage the guy. But the talking axe not only enjoyed "her" work, but turned out to be good company (at least for lonely mountain bandit), so this plan backfired.

* Lula from ''{{Dave the Barbarian}}''. Talking weapons show up often in that show.
** Owning one is treated as akin to dating or marriage-so Lula is understandably upset when one of her old owners turns up (after having carelessly abandoned her years ago), begs her to come back, then gets bored with her and runs off with another sword.

* An episode of ''Mad Jack The Pirate'' had the titular character going in search of a Singeing Sword. Turns out, it's actually a Singing Sword...
* In ''{{Wakfu}}'', Rubilax is a powerful elemental demon (called a "Shushu") [[SealedEvilInACan trapped inside a sword]]. He's very much of a {{Jerkass}} DeadpanSnarker, regularly belittling his guardian, [[IdiotHero Sadlygrove]], and even sometimes trying to possess him. But this is still a hundred times better than letting the CompleteMonster out of his prison.
* The ''MuppetBabies'' acted out a fantasy RagsToRiches story where Piggy had to go on a quest to find a "Singing Sword," which never shut up until she shoved a sock in its mouth... and then wouldn't sing until she told it ''what song'' to sing.

* In {{Durarara}}, the cursed blade Saika speaks only [[HearingVoices in its owner's mind]], but [[MadnessMantra ''continually'']]. About love. [[SexIsViolence Which it assimilates to slashing people]]. Have we mentioned it's said to be cursed because it makes its owners crazy?

* In "{{Disgaea 4}}", all of the magichange swords (And every other magichange weapon) are capable of speech, being [[LivingWeapon sentient monsters shapeshifted into the form of a weapon]]. They're usually the ones doing the talking instead of the wielder during attacks.

* ''[[http://www.rogermwilcox.name/ADnD/IUDC1.html The Intercontinental Union of Disgusting Characters]]'', being a TakeThat at 1st Edition [[DungeonsAndDragons AD&D]], includes several weapons built using the "intelligent weapons" rules. Included are Prometheus, a paladin's Holy Sword that gets off on killing things; and the Sick Sword, which is so powerful it only speaks in ALL CAPS.

* A somewhat disturbing example is a soulforged weapon from {Wraith: the Oblivion]. Most believe the process of soulforging destroys theconsciousness of the victim, but that's small comfort when that fancy new axe starts weeping.

* ''The Helm'' features a slight twist on this - as you can imagine, it's the hero's ''helmet'' that talks. And only he can hear it.