History Main / ThrowIngYourSwordAlwaysWorks

* In ''Film/TheLeagueOfGentlemen's [[BigDamnMovie Apocalypse]]'', Hilary Briss kills the giant homunculus with the heads of the three league members by throwing his halberd at it.

[[quoteright:338:[[Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/conan_sword_throwing_1826.jpg]]]]

* Travis Morgan uses this tactic multiple times in ''ComicBook/TheWarlord''. It is almost always successful.

* Tetsuya Tsurugi from ''Anime/MazingerZ'' and ''Anime/GreatMazinger'' sometimes uses his robot's sword like a spear (the first time he used that move was in his first appearance!). However, he holds it overhead like if it was a real spear when he does that, so it may seem more plausible than usual.

* Lampshaded in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', when Ling throws his sword at Envy to save Lan-Fan, but then frantically starts yelling for her to throw it back to him because doing so left him unarmed while getting chased down by Gluttony.

* ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'': Piedmon's trademark move, "Trump Sword", involves throwing a quartet of blades at his enemy, usually to devastating effect.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': Sayaka tries this in episode 5. Then the fight gets interrupted and we never see her try it again.
** This tactic ends up reentering her repertoire by the time of TheMovie, where she's become [[TookALevelInBadass significantly better]] at it. Given that she's a MagicalGirlWarrior who can conjure up swords at will, the "working" part is fairly justified.

* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: [[spoiler:When X opens the portal into his dimension, while in air a few floors above]], Dongtae throws his Time Cutter into it. It goes straight into [[spoiler:the Final Die as planned, stripping X of his invincibility. The next Time Cutter throw hits X directly.]]

* The guardians of the WorldTree do this in the Fairy Dance arc of ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'', leading to a dramatic scene in which [[spoiler:Kirito]] is impaled on multiple swords. Possibly justified in that they are magic using video game enemies.

* In ''[[Film/{{Onmyoji}} Onmyōji II]]'', Genkaku does this in order to [[spoiler:stop Seimei from reviving Amaterasu]]. Perhaps justified, as Genkaku is a skilled magic user and might have thrown it with magic.

* ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'': You can throw ''anything''. It might not be perfect, but there's a very good chance it will do some serious hurt if you do hit. This leads to some "interesting" fights. It is possible to gouge out eyes with thrown sand, and decapitate/dismember/destroy organs and bodies with thrown vomit. You can kill a dragon by throwing a sock ''through'' its head. Not only that, but with a high enough Throwing skill (which is much, MUCH less time and ammo consuming than training in using a ranged weapon) you can throw arrows and crossbow bolts ''by hand'', doing more damage and with a much higher speed than you would by firing them with their appropriate weapon.

* ''Film/TheBanditOfShherwoodForest'': During their final battle, William of Pembroke attempts to escape the wounded Robert by running up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, he turns and prepares to to hurl his sword at Robert like a javelin. However, Robert is quicker and throws his own sword first, spearing Pembroke through the chest.

* The ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' do this all the time, particularly Raphael's {{sai|Guy}} ([[TruthInTelevision which works]]) and Michelangelo's [[FightingWithChucks nunchucks]] (at times, particularly in the games, they [[PrecisionGuidedBoomerang return boomerang style]]). Donatello also throws his staff at times, making ironically only the swordsman Leonardo to not hurl his weapon!

** {{Downplayed|Trope}} in ''Film/TheLastJedi'' in that the throw itself is not fatal. [[spoiler:Kylo Ren loses his lightsaber while fighting alongside Rey, and gets pinned by his opponent. So, Rey throws her lightsaber to him, letting the blade retract in the air. Kylo Ren catches the hilt, and [[BoomHeadshot activates it through the guard's head.]]

* In ''Shogun Assassin'', our hero kills one of the Brothers of Death by throwing his katana. His response before dying: "I did not think you would throw your sword."

* Etienne Navarre (Rutger Hauer) throws his sword twice in ''Film/{{Ladyhawke}}'': once to stop Philipe "the Mouse" Gaston, and once to kill the Bishop of Aquilla. Impressive since this is a full-length great sword. Navarre throws his sword like a javelin, as well.
* In Howard Hawks' epic ''Land of the Pharaohs'', the pharaoh (played by Jack Hawkins in his best British-officer accent) wins a fight with his treacherous captain of the guard by throwing his sword.

* Subverted in ''Machinima/RedVsBlue Revelation''. Oh, sure, the knife lands pointy-end in, and it was a desperation attack, but all it did was break the invisibility unit. Subverted again in Season 10 when [[spoiler:the Unnamed Blue Soldier in episode 10 tries to throw a tomahawk back at the two Turret soldiers and it skids to the floor in front of them]].

** In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', conversely, Darth Vader [[IHaveTheHighGround cannot reach Luke]], so he cuts down the catwalk Luke's standing on and effortlessly retrieves his lightsaber off-screen. It helps a lot in retrieving your weapon if you're telekinetic.

*** Fractured Julius kills Fractured Nova and her boss by throwing [[DualWielding one of his swords]] at them, with enough force to run through both of them at once and [[TheBladeAlwaysLandsPointyEndIn land in the wall behind them]].

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny'': A technique allows Stahn to throw your sword forward. It has the obvious drawback of leaving him unarmed until you pick it back up.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'':
** [[BloodKnight Zagi]] throws his sword forward for one of his artes, which proceeds to return to him after reaching the end of its trajectory. It leaves him about as open to abuse as you might expect.
** Alexei throws his sword to trace a glyph for his Brilliant Cataclysm mystic arte, which [[ThatOneAttack definitely works]]. It also returns to him afterward.

* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces'', [[SquishyWizard Malik]] uses this as his primary means of physical offense. His swords are called bladerangs, but visually, they don't vary much (If at all) in shape from swords of the standard RPG fare. As the name implies, they return to him after being thrown, but he can also manipulate their trajectory to make them strike the enemy multiple times.

** ''VideoGame/TouhouKoumakyouTheEmbodimentOfScarletDevil'': Sakuya does like Yumeko above, though with {{kni|feNut}}ves instead.

** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeedDestiny'': A humongous-sized [[KnifeNut combat knife isn't enough]], let's [[{{Pun}} throw in]] [[http://www.mahq.net/mecha/gundam/seed-destiny/lineart/gat-02l2-mk315.jpg Mk.315 Stilleto]], anti-armor grenades shaped like knives, able to break the crap out of [[SuperPrototype Freedom's]] Shield, talk about minor awesomeness here.
** Earlier in the anime, there's a battle where Shinn takes out a [[EnergyWeapon powerful beam cannon emplacement]] by disabling an enemy mecha with his Gundam's combat knives and then uses it as a giant grenade. The video game ''Generation of C.E.'' {{exaggerate|dTrope}}s this, changing the scene so Shinn throws the knife into the mecha's face, flies up past it, and then performs a back kick that sends it flying into the cannon.

* ComicBook/{{Diabolik}} is a KnifeNut whose blades are actual throwing knives so he shouldn't be here, except in a pinch he would sometimes throw things that aren't supposed to be thrown, at least that way:

* ''Film/ThePrincess'': The princess kills an enemy archer by throwing her sword at him (albeit from pretty close range).