History Main / ExcaliburInTheRust

A SubTrope of the CoolSword, the Excalibur in the Rust has an outward appearance which [[MoreThanMeetsTheEye belies its awesome nature]]. It looks like an entirely ordinary, non-Cool sword. In fact, it's extremely likely to be in an apparent state of extreme disrepair. Getting it back into working order may require a visit to the UltimateBlacksmith.

Compare to WhatAPieceOfJunk. If someone who doesn't recognize its true value throws it away, or sticks it in the basement with all the other worthless junk, it's the GrailInTheGarbage. See also WreckedWeapon. Compare and contrast the NerfArm, which doesn't even look like a weapon, poorly maintained or otherwise, but serves just as well as one.

* ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'': When Tenchi first sees the [[LaserBlade Master Key]], a physical blade had been affixed to the hilt. This blade is in a state of extreme disrepair, prompting Tenchi to exclaim, "What a rusty old piece of junk!" after breaking it on a rock... which then splits in two. Which is just as well since it was originally a LaserBlade.

** Yamamoto's bankai played this as straight as possible. On the outside, it looked like a burnt out, rusty sword. It was also the strongest bankai in existence, with ThePowerOfTheSun and capable of destroying the world if activated for too long. And its power is concentrated on the edge of the blade, to the extent that a single cut would be enough to obliterate the victim's ''soul''.
* In ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'', Gourry wields a normal-looking sword that suited him just fine. But if he were to take off the blade he can turn it into the [[LaserBlade Sword of Light]].

* Gundam Barbatos from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'' is a centuries old mobile suit reduced to being a jury-rigged reactor. After being hastily repaired so it can be piloted in a desperate situation, it quickly proves why the Gundams were able to end the Calamity War.

* An issue of Marvel's ''WesternAnimation/LaffALympics'' oomic book has participants from the three teams transposed to the moon to compete against a moon man (named Murray) for Earth but not before he gives them special belts that negate their lack of gravity. One event is to pull a feather from a rock, which thanks to the gravity belts Dread Baron can't do, even with help from Dynomutt and Quick Draw [=McGraw=]. The final event is to pull out a sword with the tip just barely implanted in another rock which nobody can do until Boo Boo Bear arrives sans belt and easily pulls the sword out.

* In ''Ghosts of the Past'', sequel to ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', Harry encounters Ván, the Sword of Hope, designed to [[spoiler: NoSell Phoenix Fire]] and defeat Surtur -- or to be more accurate, he encounters a depiction of it on the statue of its one and only wielder: Frey, the First King of Asgard. Despite this function, and the fact that it was forged from Uru and Vibranium, going by the replica in Frey's tomb, it doesn't look at all special, with the narration specifically noting that aside from a brief inscription of its name near the hilt, it could be mistaken for any random long-sword. This is implied by WordOfGod to be part of why no one's been able to find the damn thing for the past million years.

* In ''Roleplay/ADragonOfTheNorth'', Jon acquires a rusty sword for a pittance in the Vale, and Littlefinger (who owns the shop) even offers to make it a more fair deal. Then Jon manages to clean up the sword and it turns out to be Blackfyre, the sword of the Targaryen kings. Littlefinger proceeds to waste himself in one of his brothels for two days straight, and becomes the laughingstock of King's Landing for having such an important sword in his hands and selling it so cheap.

* ''Film/DarkestSword'': The titular sword is the fabled weapon of a legendary warrior who mysteriously dissappeared years ago. It was later discovered near the end of the film to be entombed in a mausoleum, collecting dust next to the warrior's skeleton who has gone through self-imposed exile.

* In the ''Conrad Stargard'' series by Creator/LeoFrankowski, Conrad finds a sword forged with watering techniques (a powerful blacksmith's art known in the Near East but not in Poland), and buys it from a sword dealer who has no idea that this watered sword is anything special. It turns out to be more special than even Conrad expects, as it's an AbsurdlySharpBlade planted there by his time-traveling cousin for Conrad to pick up.

* Abstract Weapon in ''Literature/{{Ra}}'' might be the physical embodiment of the concept of weaponry, capable of being any weapon ever conceived, and every weapon never conceived, but in its default state it takes the form of an unassuming, extremely crude-looking, albeit massive, dull rusted executioner's blade.

* Sort of played in ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' where a plain looking sword is transformed into Excalibur by the dragon's breath.

** ''Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger'': The Kyoryu Disk, when first found, is an inert disk containing only a cryptic message from the founding Shinken Red. Its power was drained to seal the Kusari Ayakashi general Manpuku, BigBad du jour of the movie who was unsealed by the overall Big Bad's summer power surge. Takeru restores it by slotting it onto his sword and stabbing said sword into the kanji on Manpuku's body left by the seal. Its power restored, the Kyoryu Disk can now be used to transform the Shinkenmaru into the very powerful Kyoryumaru, able to infinitely lengthen its blade to smash into enemies and act as a WhipSword. On top of that, it can transform [[HumongousMecha Shinken-Oh]]'s Daishinken into the Kyoryu Origami (A mecha version of itself), which combines with Shinken-Oh as a new helmet and a BFS to swing.
** Its ''Series/PowerRangersSamurai'' counterpart, the Shark Disk (Saban, like some fans, thought the Kyoryu Origami looked more like an ambulatory shark than a dinosaur), was apparently similarly inert though in this case it was offlined by battle damage and said to have been mended by the SixthRanger using the same powers and skills he used to repair certain Zords and complete the SuperMode-granting Black Box.

* The Templars' swords in ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}: Hell on Earth'' are their iconic weapons and often relic or magically empowered. Physically, they are whatever kind of sword you can scavenge in a [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] world, most often stolen from ruined museums.

** Older editions also made this a key feature of Artifacts, incredibly powerful and unique magical items. Notably in that despite their great power, they normally do not radiate magic, and thus can look like simple items. Some may go further, resembling old worn equipment instead of the powerful weapons and armour they are.

* All of the "base" versions of the Relic/Mythic/Empyrean/Aeonic (REMA) weapons in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' are poor choices for ordinary use, but the Relic line of weapons is the purest example of this trope. The base version of the Relics are dilapidated weapons recovered from Dynamis zones, and all have a DMG of 1 and delay of 999, making them completely useless and, bar none, the worst weapons in the game. The arduous quests to restore them to full glory, however, results in some of the best weapons in the game (indeed, the absolute best weapons in the game before the rest of the REMA weapons were gradually introduced). The relic sword is a literal example, with its fully upgraded version being Excalibur.

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'' features the Rusty equipment, the first piece of which you're likely to find is the Rusty Sword towards the end of the game. It's not much use at first, but add a little glass powder and some {{Unobtainium}} ({{Orichalcum}}, in this case) and you get the third best sword in the game. And then the rest of the equipment is also the third best of its type in the game. It is very difficult [[GuideDangIt to find anything other than the sword.]]

* Various rusted weapons can be found at a low chance in the ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' series by mining them or from quest drops. They usually tend to subvert this trope in being generic iron swords, hammers, et al. On the off chance you're lucky, you'll get a "Rusted" or "Worn" weapon which, with a lot of work in getting parts to break the rust, become some powerful weapons. In particular are the Eternal Hate and the Divine Exodus, two Sword and Shield weapons with the highest Dragon attributes in ''Tri'', bar none.

** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', you may stumble upon a unique "Rusty Dagger" in a tomb with pitiful stats which will break after a single hit. However, return it to a specific shrine to Mehrunes Dagon, and the [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedric Prince]] of [[DestroyerDeity Destruction]] will restore it to its true, ''powerful'' glory as [[LegendaryWeapon Mehrunes' Razor]].

* In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' the game simulates item condition and it is common to find some some great weapons in really poor shape. The straightest example though is the Infinity +1 sword Mercy. It's an incredibly rusted looking grenade machine gun you find in a death claw filled cave. However it shoots 40mm grenades rather than 25mm, making it nearly twice as powerful.

** Certain dungeons will drop ancient, broken equipment that has an effective level several below its actual level requirement. A player with a relevant crafting class can repair it, making it into ''the'' best equipment available for its level. Shame none of it is very useful once you hit the level cap...
** Also, the quests to acquire each class's [[InfinityPlusOneSword Relic Weapon]] first involves tracking down the old, broken thing and then jumping through some hoops with [[UltimateBlacksmith Gerolt]] to restore it to its former glory.

** Played straight with the vaious rusted weapons and shields that you can find strewn in the wilderness, having belonged to adventurers and soldiers who had long since perished during the Calamity a century prior. Link can use them as they are, though they're weak and not very durable. However, [[HelpfulMook Rock Octoroks]] on Death Mountain are capable of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip62hAQwKos cleaning them and spitting them out if they inhale them.]] These restored weapons and shields can be anywhere from as weak as the Traveller weapons to as powerful as Royal weaponry.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'' has the heroes fighting against the Forever Knights to obtain a five thousand year old superweapon of a sword. By the time both parties reach the hidden weapon, [[spoiler:[[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome it was so old that it crumbled to dust as soon as the Forever Knight drew the blade]]]].

* UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc's sword was found buried under the altar of the Church of Saint Catherine de Fierbois based on instructions from Joan's voices. It was covered in rust, but the rust wiped off easily, revealing a Fleur-de-lis pattern, and it turned out to have belonged to Charles Martel who left it as an offering after the Battle of Tours for the next hero of France to take up. Before the Siege of Paris, Joan broke ''a'' sword by using the flat side to beat a CampFollower (she had a habit to beating any prostitute she found in the camps), which was assumed to be same sword, which was viewed as a bad omen and had a demoralizing effect. Joan herself stated at her trial it was a different sword taken from a Burgundian soldier and refused to elaborate on what happened to the sword of Saint Catherine de Fierbois.

* The player character's weapon in ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'' starts off dull, cracked, and doing not very much damage at all, described as "blunt with age and wear". [[UltimateBlacksmith The Nailsmith]] can upgrade it into stronger and fancier-looking forms, culminating in the exquisite-looking and incredibly damaging Pure Nail. [[spoiler:The blacksmith will outright ask you to '''kill him''' after this upgrade, as he believes he has nothing left to live for after forging a weapon of such caliber.]]

* The player character's weapon in ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'' starts off dull, cracked, and doing not very much damage at all, described as "blunt with age and wear". The resident UltimateBlacksmith can upgrade it into stronger and fancier-looking forms, culminating in the exquisite-looking and incredibly damaging Pure Nail. [[spoiler:The blacksmith will outright ask you to '''kill him''' after this upgrade, as he believes he has nothing left to live for after forging a weapon of such caliber.]]

** When Link actually '''FINDS''' the Master Sword in the [[Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaAkiraHimekawa manga]] version, it's shown in a similar state to its comic counterpart above. The rust and growth fall away and the sword is drawn as if it were newly forged.

** In the [[http://zeldawiki.org/File:BotW_NA_Logo.png title logo]] and E3 2016 trailer for the game, the Master Sword is shown rusted and heavily chipped. This is somewhat consistent with the portrayal of the Master Sword from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' where the sword was stuck at the bottom of the ocean, its power to ward evil having been sealed by Ganondorf eliminating the guardians of the temples used to keep the sword empowered. Although in the game itself [[spoiler: it's an inversion; the sword is in such a damaged state because Link used up all of its power slaughtering a ''ridiculous'' number of monsters. Leaving the sword in its pedestal for 100 years allowed it to repair itself so that it would be usable when Link finds it again.]]

** Dyrnwyn, the CoolSword in the books, is stained black with the blood of innocents its previous wielder killed.

* ''VideoGame/GloryOfHeracles'' often hands you Rusty items. These are useless until you visit a Polisher, who scours the rust off. Usually you get pretty decent gear out of it. Sometimes subverted in that the rust is so far gone all you get is Scrap Iron. The first sword in the DS game gets buffed to an Infinity Minus One Sword before the final dungeon, and one more time by the Blacksmith God, Hapheastus, right before the Big Bad into an Infinity Plus One Sword.

* Saito's sword, Derflinger, in ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'' is a rusty piece of junk sold cheap by a store owner. Despite this it can talk, absorb magic attacks, and even control the body of its wielder if they're unconscious. It is eventually revealed that [[spoiler:Derflinger is a "spirit sword". The rusted sword wielded by Saito is simply a vessel for its powers; when the blade is broken, Derflinger can transfer its powers to another completely ordinary sword]].

* In ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'', Gourry wields a normal-looking sword that suited him just fine. But if he were to take off the blade he can turn it into the [[LaserBlade Sword of Light]].

* In the [[http://zeldawiki.org/File:BotW_NA_Logo.png title logo]] and E3 2016 trailer for ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', the Master Sword is shown rusted and heavily chipped. This is somewhat consistent with the portrayal of the Master Sword from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' where the sword was stuck at the bottom of the ocean, its power to ward evil having been sealed by Ganondorf eliminating the guardians of the temples used to keep the sword empowered. Although in the game itself [[spoiler: it's an inversion; the sword is in such a damaged state because Link used up all of its power slaughtering a ''ridiculous'' number of monsters. Leaving the sword in its pedestal for 100 years allowed it to repair itself so that it would be usable when Link finds it again.]]

[[quoteright:164:[[ComicBook/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mastersword_moss_1395.JPG]]]]

** Pictured above is the Master Sword, the iconic blade from the games, as pictured in the last panel of the ''Magazine/NintendoPower'' ''[[ComicBook/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast comic adaptation]]''. The comic hews to the idea of centuries passing between games: after Link triumphs over Ganon, he returns the sword to await the next hero. This is implied to be a ''long'' time coming.

[[caption-width-right:164:[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast And the Master Sword sleeps again...FOREVER]]![[note]][[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames But not]] [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds really.]][[/note]]]]

** When Link actually '''FINDS''' the Master Sword in the [[Manga/TheLegendOfZelda Akira Himekawa manga]] version, it's shown in a similar state to its comic counterpart above. The rust and growth fall away and the sword is drawn as if it were newly forged.

* In ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia]]'' the player can obtain rusted weapons from beating monsters. Rarely, some rusted weapons that can be forged into Sol, Luna or Astra can be obtained this way, and Sol, Luna and Astra are InfinityPlusOneSword.
* Like ''Echoes'', ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' has rusted weapons that can be obtained from beating monsters or stepping on tiles left behind from the Online features. While these weapons are usually forged into silver weapons, it is possible to obtain InfinityPlusOneSword such as Mercurius, Gradivus, Hauteclere, and Parthia.

* ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'': In Kamen Rider Brave's debut episode, he finds a rusty sword in a stone[[note]][[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial That totally isn't just]] Series/KamenRiderKuuga's [[PropRecycling Titan Sword painted rust red]][[/note]] and pulls it out, at which point it transforms into his WeaponOfChoice, the Gashacon Sword. Since ''Ex-Aid'' is themed around VideoGames (and Brave specifically {{Homage}}s old-school {{Role Playing Game}}s like ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasy''), this is more than likely a nod to this trope's prominence in the RPG genre.

* Various rusted weapons can be found at a low chance in the ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' series by mining them or from quest drops. They usually tend to subvert this trope in being generic iron swords, hammers, et al. On the off chance you're lucky, you'll get a "Rusted" or "Worn" weapon which, with a lot of work in getting parts to break the rust, become some powerful weapons. In particular are the Eternal Hate and the Divine Exodus, two Sword and Shield weapons with the highest Dragon attributes in Tri, bar none.

* Inverted ''hilariously'' with [[LaughingMad Excalibur]] of ''Manga/SoulEater''; initially it seems to be a gloriously CoolSword, but once it's pulled from the stone, it's revealed to be an EquippableAlly[[note]]Theoretically the ''perfect'' EquippableAlly, since he's capable of synchronizing with any possible wielder and his power surpasses even that of a Death Scythe by a large margin.[[/note]]... who wears a tiny [[NiceHat top hat]] and stands at half the height of any other character. Not to mention he's ''[[PhraseCatcher so annoying.]]'' [[spoiler:It's implied that some of the annoying behavior is actually an act to keep people from abusing Excalibur's incredible power.]]

* In ''Ghosts of the Past'', sequel to ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', Harry encounters Ván, the Sword of Hope, designed to [[spoiler: NoSell Phoenix Fire]] and defeat Surtur -- or to be more accurate, he encounters a depiction of it on the statue of its one and only wielder: Frey, the First King of Asgard. Despite this function, and the fact that it was forged from Uru and Vibranium, going by the replica in Frey's tomb, it doesn't look at all special, with the narration specifically noting that aside from a brief inscription of its name near the hilt, it could be mistaken for any random long-sword.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', a possible enchantment is "Rusting". Only found on magical weapons, it makes the weapon look rusty and tarnished, but actually makes it ''immune'' to even magical rust and allows the wielder to casting Rusting Grasp on an enemy with a critical hit.

* In ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', Gilgamesh pulls out a somewhat goofy-looking drill-like sword. This sword quickly loses all jokes about it, as it is actually Ea, '''the single''' most powerful weapon in the entire Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}, and at full power it is capable of [[EarthShatteringKaboom ending the world in a single blow]].

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'' has the heroes fighting against the Forever Knights to obtain a five thousand year old superweapon of a sword. By the time both parties reach the hidden weapon, [[spoiler:[[RealityEnsues it was so old that it crumbled to dust as soon as the Forever Knight drew the blade]]]].

[[caption-width-right:164:[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast And the Master Sword sleeps again... FOREVER]]![[note]][[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleOfAges But]] [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleOfSeasons not]] [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds really.]][[/note]]]]

* In ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia]]'' the player can obtain rusted weapons from beating monsters. Rarely, some rusted weapons that can be forged into Sol, Luna or Astra can be obtained this way, and Sol, Luna and Astra are [[InfinityPlusOneSword Infinity+1 weapons]].