Dual Wielding / Literature

Dual Wielding in Literature.

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• In Absolute Duo, Julie's Blaze manifests as twin blades.
• Yatorishino Igsem of Alderamin on the Sky, by far the most skilled swordfighter of the main cast, compliments her typical Katjvarnan saber with a shorter, straight main-gauche. Dual-wielding like this is the signature Igsem style, a privilege granted to the clan as a symbol of their invincibility.
• The Balanced Sword: Dual-wielding a matching pair of curved swords is one of the hallmarks of Tor, a rare and mystical martial art dating back to Atlantaea which is the basis of Tobimar's fighting style. When he meets an opponent who fights with two similar swords and in the same style, they immediately stop fighting to explore their respective training backgrounds.
• Battle Circle: Piers Anthony's post-apocalyptic collection of novellas features dual-wielding nomads with daggers and sticks. Interestingly, Piers rates each weapon (including staves, swords, and morningstars) on defensive and offensive utility.
• Beka Cooper: In a fight with some child-snatchers, Beka takes away an opponent’s sword (which she has no experience in using), notes that it’s about the same length and weight as a second baton (which she is trained to use, functionally as a shield), and wields it alongside her original baton. It proves pretty useful in feinting, since her opponent keeps his eye on the flashy sword and ignores the lead-weighted stick.
• Blood Meridian: Judge Holden dual-wields Colt Walkers, and has near-perfect aim with both. The fact that he has the borderline Super-Strength needed to pull this off is yet one more thing that makes him Ambiguously Human.
• Chronicles of the Kencyrath: Scythe-arms are blade pairs attached to the fore-arm, with the longer blade jutting forward and the other back. They are used in pairs, ie one main blade and one spur on each forearm. Training with them easily dissolves into chaos, with inexperienced users not being able to keep track of the spurs.
• Chrysalis (RinoZ): Morrelia's class is The Berserker, and while in her rage, she has greatly enhanced strength but doesn't care about self-defence nor about finesse — so she carries a second sword, for maximum carnage.
• Cloud of Sparrows: Shigeru's ability to fight with two swords is a sign of his unusual skill and strength.
• Codex Alera: This is Kitai's preferred fighting style, usually with a shortsword and a longer sword.
• Crimson Shadow: RA Salvatore's trilogy features the Highway Halfling Oliver DeBurrows wielding the more traditional rapier and main gauche.
• The Dark Tower: Roland Deschain carries two ancient sandalwood revolvers, is described as being just about as good a shot with either hand and, most impressively, can dual wield both weapons for an extended period of rapid shooting and reloading, despite them being single-action guns. He even manages to wipe-out an entire town of 58 residents in this manner when they're driven into a murderous frenzy against him. A lobstrosity attack at the beginning of the second book sees him lose two fingers on one hand, freeing up one of his guns for the other members of his eventual ka-tet.
• Deryni: Alaric Morgan habitually wields a sword in his right hand and a stiletto in his left. In Deryni Checkmate, Duncan is depicted using both a sword and a dagger when he rescues Morgan from Warin and his men at St. Torin's shrine.
• Discworld:
  • In Thud!, Andy "Two Swords" Jackson is an overly enthusiastic Ankh-Morpork Auxiliary Watchman and weapon enthusiast who dual wields two non-standard issue curved swords to great effect, though occasionally causing collateral damage. however, his presence is considered a saving, since he brings his own weapons.
  • Madame Deux-Epées, the Assassins' Guild's Mistress-At-Arms, did not get that name by accident. Her portrait, in the Assassins' Guild Yearbook, depicts a woman wearing one sword, conventionally scabbarded on the hip, and another at her back with the hilt above one shoulder, no doubt for an even quicker draw of a second weapon.
  • Given a pacifistic twist in Night Watch; Vimes meets an angry mob marching on his Watch-house with a mug of cocoa in one hand and a cigar in the other, to deprive the mob of the 'he was armed' excuse for starting violence.
• Dragaera: This is a common fighting style of Dragaerans, with a dagger in the off-hand. Eastern-style fencing, on the other hand, involves using a single light rapier and turning your body sideways.
• The Dresden Files:
  • Small Favor: Michael dual-wields a broadsword and a katana. And they're holy swords, too! It's a total cop-out that the villain beats him with a gun, but at least he ends up Not Quite Dead. He did it in Death Masks, too. Same cop-out gun victory, too, but that time it was just a handgun and there was Kevlar plating in his armour.
  • Skin Game: He's back and dual-wielding. No cop-out this time.
• Dune: Paul is shown training with a sword and knife, but most of his actual battles are with a single crysknife. While Feyd-Rautha kills gladiator-slaves with a long and short knife, one of which is poisoned.
• Empire of the East: Mewick, a fairly minor character, at least twice used a short sword in his right hand and a "basket-hilted hatchet" in his left. He managed to swing the hatchet around the guard of one highly skilled enemy swordsman to strike the man in the spine.
• In Fate/Zero, Servant Lancer initially appears dual-wielding spears, although he generally fights with only one at a time (in one occasion, the shorter spear which he left on the ground was used in a surprise attack). Also, Servant Berserker (The Atoner Lancelot) manages to ward off Gilgamesh's "Gate of Babylon" using a spear in one hand and a sword in the other.
• Fengshen Yanyi: important characters almost never uses a shield in favor of bigger weapons such as spears or halberd or glaives, all requiring both hands. As such, it's not all that rare to see a character wielding two weapons at once. One of the first duels between users of Fabao (magic taoist treasures) has Chong Heihu (dual axes) fighting Zheng Lu (wields two cudgel styled after the vajra scepter). Other weapons commonly held in pairs are whips, cudgels, sabers and swords, especially if a character can assume a multi-armed form and thus can wield a pair of identical swords alongside other weapons and treasures.
• Takumi Touya from the light novel series Fire Girl dual wields two kendo blades on both hands as his primary specialty in combat, something he's trained in, and competed in competitions with, since at least middle school.
• Gentleman Bastard:
  • Jean Tannen dual-wields the Wicked Sisters, twin hatchets.
  • When Locke duels the Grey King, he pulls out a dagger to use on his off-hand alongside his rapier. The Grey King, a vastly superior fencer, makes a sardonic comment about finding the sword-and-dagger style very prosaic but pulls out a dagger to match Locke nonetheless.
• In Goblin Slayer, once Rookie Warrior gets his Rank Up and becomes known as Club Fighter, he starts dual wielding with his club and sword.
• Godspeaker Trilogy: This is the whole premise behind the hotas of the knife dancers, as well as acrobatics. Rhian modifies this and uses broadswords.
• The Grace of Kings: Mata Zyndu wields his ancestral sword as a One-Handed Zweihänder and a spiked cudgel from a predecessor's Worthy Opponent in his off-hand — a choice that would be wildly impractical for anyone not an eight-foot-tall Lightning Bruiser One-Man Army.
  Phin: You will not use a shield?
  Mata: What need is there for a shield when my enemies will die before three strokes?
• Grent's Fall: King Osbert Grent wields two swords, as he is one of the few people who mastered the Whaddon Bypass.
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Morfin Gaunt is shown wielding his wand in one hand and a short, bloody knife in the other when he attempts to frighten Bob Ogen away from his house.
• Heralds of Valdemar: Weaponmaster-Herald Alberich dual-wields two daggers in one of his undercover personas. Until people wised up and quit challenging that persona to fights, he routinely beat sword-wielders with his two daggers. He also dual-wields sword and dagger in the climax of Take a Thief to beat three swordsmen, though he had help from Skif in that fight. It's also pointed out in Exile's Honor that Alberich is a combat prodigy and has been taught how to fight with nearly every weapon created and some that haven't been. Another dual-wielder in Exile's Honor (one good enough to even impress Alberich) is MindHealer Crathach. When he demonstrates his skills for Alberich, he immediately finds himself part of Sendar's battle guard.
• John Carter of Mars: The Okar (Yellow Martians) dual wield a fairly ordinary sword and a hook-sword designed to disarm an opponent as their standard technique.
• Journey to Chaos:
  • Aegis dual-wields buckler shields and Raki dual-wields short swords. They regularly duel. Another mercenary, Retina Corison, also uses a pair of swords.
  • After Nolien mana mutates into a unicorn, he realizes that he can do the magical version of dual-wielding by casting spells from his horn in addition to his staff.
• Kushiel's Legacy: The Casseline Brotherhood dual-wield daggers as standard practice for defending their charges in close quarters or when they want to inflict non-lethal injuries. Their (two-handed) swords are only ever single-wielded and drawn only to kill.
• The Legend of Drizzt: Title character Drizzt Do'Urden, the drow ranger, uses twin scimitars. Using two long blades is more common for drow than other races, who don't necessarily consider it a plausible option at all.^note And in the game mechanics, it isn't: for instance in his Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition statblock, Drizzt incurs a -4 penalty to his attack rolls with either blade from wielding two large weapons. Several characters note that Drizzt risks getting his blades tangled up using his style, but he's just that good. Drizzt seems to have popularised the idea at least to some extent, to the point that when there was an open call for original Forgotten Realms novels by fans, the best of which could get published, the things forbidden in the rules included drow characters and anyone wielding two swords of any kind. Drizzt's arch-nemesis, Artemis Entreri, also dual-wields, but uses a dagger in his off-hand, lacking the agility and coordination to wield two long blades. Another character in the series, the dwarf, Arthogate, dual-wields magically enhanced flails. He also wears a belt of giant strength which makes it more feasible for him to do so.
• The Locked Tomb: The traditional cavalier style of fighting is a rapier and and offhand weapon, usually used for blocking. The popular option for offhand is a dagger.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Balrog of Moria has both a Flaming Sword and a fiery whip.
• Malazan Book of the Fallen:
  • Kalam Mekhar, an assassin, dual-wields long-knives.
  • Silchas Ruin, a dragon-blooded immortal, dual-wields two swords. That is when he doesn't just transform into a dragon...
  • The Segulah. Their entire culture dual-wields longswords.
  • Leoman of the Flails wields two flails.
• Mother of Demons: The standard weapon of a battle-mother is a mace and shield. However, Guo fights with two maces.
• Murderworld: Mari Night uses two matched kodachi, traditional Japanese short swords, as her in-game avatar is small and wiry.
• Old Kingdom: After being released from Human Popsicle status, Touchstone acquires a pair of Charter-spelled swords that used to belong to a Royal Champion. He gets well enough known for that fighting style that in the second book, the two swords are partly how Lirael realizes who he is at a distance.
• One Rose Trilogy: The main characters of The Compass Rose all get Heldring Swords. Torhcay's are a matched set of short swords.
• Princesses of the Pizza Parlor: The Stalker in Silence, who dual-wields "concentrated bar[s] of kinetic force", against two fighters at once Curbstomp Battling the party.
• Princess Holy Aura:
  • Radiance Blaze fights with two fiery chains.
  • Tsunami Reflection uses twin swords.
• Redwall: IN The Bellmaker, the otter Finnbarr Galedeep had twin swords.
• The Ripple System:
  • When Ned gains a second pistol, he finds he can dual-wield them. This cuts his damage in half, but it's still a pretty good trade.
  • Darling gains the special ability to dual-wield two-handed weapons.
• The Silerian Trilogy: Tansen wields two swords, and the difficulties with this are explicitly stated. Those who do it need special training-he recounts seeing a Valdan noble cutting himself apart trying to once.
• A Song of Ice and Fire:
  • Catelyn recalls seeing Bronn fight with a sword in each hand while chopping through clansmen on the Mountains of the Moon. She's reminded of Jaime Lannister, reputedly the best swordsman in the kingdom.
  • Shagga fights with an axe in each hand and acquires three axes from the Lannister armory before a battle. Tyrion explains that Shagga believes that two axes are better than one, and three are better than two.
  • Daario Naharis apparently dual-wields his arakh and dagger. They have matching hilts carved into the shape of naked women, and his hands frequently caress each of them when he's getting ready for a fight.
• The Stormlight Archive: It is apparently possible to dual-wield Shardblades, assuming you could acquire two Shardblades in the first place. In the final battle of Oathbringer, Amaram does it.
• Sword Art Online:
  • In the eponymous death game, dual-wielding is mostly ignored by the playerbase due to having neither the mobility of an einhander style nor the defence of a good shield.^note In some versions of the story it also disables the ability to use Sword Skills, making it nigh-useless. However, Kirito possesses the Unique Skill "Dual Blades", which expands his list of Sword Skills to include a number of monstrously powerful multi-hit attacks which use two swords at once. In-story, the game's creator has a flair for the theatrical, and has begun handing out these Purposely Overpowered skills to interesting players in order to turn them into "heroes" against whom he can have a dramatic final battle. In Kirito's case, he was selected for Dual Blades due to having the fastest reaction time among the playerbase, and initially tried to keep it hidden to avoid attention. Even after escaping SAO, Kirito retains a strong affinity for dual-wielding, but he usually sticks to a less-effective einhander style in public out of a desire to let the "Hero of Aincrad" be forgotten.
  • In Alfheim Online, dual-wielding has fewer downsides and is more of a Difficult, but Awesome technique. It first comes in handy for Kirito as a desperation move in order to parry attacks from an opponent with a sword that can phase through a single obstacle. Later, after SAO-style Sword Skills are added to the game (but without Unique Skills like Dual Blades), he masters the technique of timing One-Handed Sword Skills with alternate hands to set up long Combos.
• Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms: In One Good Knight, Adam and Gina specifically teach the Sworn Sisterhood to fight sword-and-dagger, rather than sword and shield.
• Vorkosigan Saga: On Barrayar, the Vor traditionally carry two swords, and dueling with two swords is mentioned as being specifically illegal. The two swords aren't described in detail, but one is shorter than the other (it's noted at one point that Miles finds the longer sword of the pair a particular trial (he's very short).)
• The War Gods: Champion Kaeritha dual-wields custom-designed short-swords, a feat aided by the fact that she is fully ambidextrous. Just how good she is can be seen by the fact that when she practiced against a group of Hradani (the smallest of whom was twice her size and far stronger), she trounced all but one of them. Her style is notably different from the War Maids who use a sword-and-dagger combo.
• Warhammer 40,000:
  • Telemachon in Black Legion wields two chainswords, adding to his Master Swordsman reputation. Khayon muses that the man has probably decided on this style because of how cool it looks, but with his mastery over blades, he makes it work.
  • Grey Knights : In Hammer of Daemons Alaric briefly uses both an axe and a hammer. He isn't the only one running around with multiple melee weapons, though.
• The Wheel of Time: Has one of its major characters do this. In a more unique twist though Perrin eschews swords in favor of a battle axe and blacksmith's hammer. When one considers the weight of just one of these weapons it says a lot about how strong the character is. The choice nearly gets Perrin killed though since even he can't swing as fast as a good swordsman.

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