It's well known that when it comes to fictional fight scenes, what looks exciting and cool is far more important than what would be effective in real life. That's where Weapon Twirling comes in, because EverythingIsBetterWithSpinning. It's visually interesting and looks like it may be difficult to pull off, and is thus [[RuleOfCool cool]]. It's also used when a character would otherwise be standing idly, since someone just standing around with a weapon isn't as interesting as that person doing fancy tricks with that weapon.

In some instances, spinning weapons are used to block projectiles or create [[BlowYouAway wind attacks.]]

In fencing and sabre, spinning your sword is called a moulinet, and is used to move a parry to a circular cut, although you'll rarely see it used this way in fiction. It is also used to warm up before a match, which may be where creators got the idea.

Outside of special circumstances, however, spinning your weapon tends to leave you open to attacks, since your control of your weapon is compromised. Deconstructions and parodies will have the fancy twirling interrupted with an attack to demonstrate this.

If the weapon twirling is being used show off before an attack, probably with the intent to intimidate, it's also IntimidationDemonstration. Can also overlap with UnorthodoxSheathing.

Supertrope of GunTwirling. Subtrope of EverythingsBetterWithSpinning.

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!!Examples

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[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''SoulEater'': Every single Meister in this series seems to love doing this. It may or may not aid with Soul Resonance or not, but it sure looks cool and eats up a few seconds of screen time.
* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' the third seat of squad 8 tries to intimidate Chad with some quick swordplay, and just gets punched in the face.
** Just before Tousen unleashes bankai on Kenpachi, he walks forward, twirling his sword in his right hand.
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[[folder:Comic Books]]
* The Disney comic "La cappa e la spada" has Goofy write a novel where one of the characters used to be a knight who loved to show off by twirling his swords (even lampshading that it's much more impressive than doing it with revolvers.) He stopped using physical weapons altogether after one stabbed his foot while in mid-twirl.
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[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]
* Riddick does some knife-twirling in ''Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick''.
* In ''Film/TheFellowshipOfTheRing'', Boromir twirls his sword a few times while waiting for the goblin horde to break into Balin's Tomb in Moria.
* The infamous scene in ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' where a swordsman does this to show off and Indy [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim just shoots him]].
* The lightsaber fighting in much of the ''StarWars'' prequel trilogy involves lots and lots of spinning. There's at least one portion in Obi-Wan's climactic duel with Anakin that has both of them spinning for a solid 20 seconds.
* ''CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon'', as well as many other {{wuxia}} films, have a ton of sword spinning for this very effect.
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[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* Series/{{Buffy|the Vampire Slayer}} twirls a stake after dusting a particularly troublesome vampire in "The Freshman". Spoofed in the promo for the aborted ''Buffy: The Animated Series'' where Buffy hits herself in the head while twirling her stake.
* Whenever there are swords out on ''Series/{{Merlin}}'', somebody twirls one at least once.
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[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', there is a "Flourish Weapon" ability mapped to a key, and can be used to spin blasters, swords, and lightsabers(!) around dangerously. Including the [[DoubleWeapon double-bladed lightsabers]].
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', Link twirls the Master Sword after every major kill. In ''[[SuperSmashBros Super Smash Bros Brawl]]'' it returns as a taunt and victory animation.
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'': Cloud does this as his victory dance, often with a sword that's as long as he is tall.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'': Zidane does this when he's equipped with double-edged swords.
* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'': In the original, at the Coliseum, Sora will imitate the victory dances of Cloud and Squall, this is the result.
* ''VideoGame/ChaosRingsII'' is rather fond of this trope.
** Darwin twirls his sword [[UnorthodoxSheathing before he sheathes it]] and before performing his [[spoiler: first]] two [[LimitBreak Awakenings]].
** Orlando spins his machette-like [[DualWielding swords]] after attacking.
** Marie spins her staff after attacking and as part of her Awakenings.
* Units in ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' games will often do this before scoring a CriticalHit.
** Chrom from ''VideoGame/{{Fire Emblem Awakening}}'' does this after felling an enemy.
* Yosuke from ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' does this while in battle and in the opening animation. It backfires when he nearly drops his dagger in both.
* In ''VideoGame/KidNikiRadicalNinja'', Kid Niki attacks by spinning his sword in front of him.
* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'', Yuri weaponizes it with his Shining Fang arte, twirling his weapon to slash the enemy multiple times.
* [[BlackMagicianGirl Anise Tatlin]] in ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' twirls her staff like a baton during spellcasting.
* Mages in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' frequently do this, with their combat having evolved from the simple point-and-click casting of the first game, into a full-body form of Wushu that turns their BladeOnAStick into a veritable font of destruction.
** Mage Hawke's SignatureMove in cut-scenes is to repeatedly twirl their Staff, whilst [[PlayingWithFire summoning an inferno]] and roasting their enemies alive.
* In ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', The Spy and Scout do this a lot with their weapons. The Spy opens and closes his ButterflyKnife this way (or spins it around his finger if it isn't a butterfly knife), and the Scout flips his [[BatterUp bat]] before grabbing it. He also does this with the Crit-a-Cola and Bonk! Energy Drink (it looks like he's spilling it everywhere, but it works just fine).
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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Aang is fond of doing this with his glider staff. Since he can use it to create wind attacks, it's also {{Justified|Trope}}.
* Beck nearly gives away his secret identity as the Tron imposter in TronUprising to TheDragon by doing this with what appears to be the Grid's equivalent of a Swiss Army Knife.
* In the fifth season of ''[[TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' Mikey gets into a competition with a golem to see who can do this better. The golem wins.
-->[[HypocriticalHumor Show-off!]]
* Kevin of ''WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster'' frequently does this after firing his Zapper.
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