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Naming Your Weapons

Saigonnus

Auror
Generally in my experiences I only named sentient weapons, ones with their own lifeforce. That way they ARE characters instead of just a shiny bauble with cool powers. :p
 

Phin Scardaw

Troubadour
Personally, I love the idea of weapons that have names in fantasy stories, ever since I first read The Hobbit: Gandalf found Glamdring; Thorin found Ocrist; Bilbo found and named Sting. I remember thinking things like: Who named them? Who forged them? How were they lost? How old are they? How did the trolls find them? These are the kinds of questions that stir the imagination and get a reader interested.

I've used the device myself with brilliant success. In my novel The Sylvan Song I have twin elf-blades that are the legendary weapons of two famous Elf-Knights. This is created as part of the history, but one of the swords, Oromnos, comes into play near the end of the story.

The thing to remember is that every character and special item introduced in the story should have its place. There's no point in naming a weapon that is only written of a single time and has no special function. Your readers will take notice of a named weapon and will expect it to mean something special: don't disappoint! That is why not every weapon should be named, because not every weapon can fulfil this criterion. As for the name itself - if it can, let it reflect the history of its making, as this will add texture to the story; but as with any character name, it should come of its own mysterious accord and feel right.
 

Saigonnus

Auror
I have done it myself while role-playing and with some good success as well, but it isn't something I generally do. One of the characters; a Paladin came across a sword named Diasimus and the story goes that it once belonged to a powerful paladin that had become a fallen knight when he was influenced by a demon over the course of many years. In the depths of his sin, had he realized what happened and as a way of amending his ways beseeched unto his god for the power to vanquish the creature and ended up trapping it inside the sword (which was a holy avenger). He was buried with the sword and it laid dormant, the evil corrupting that holy blade and resurfaced a couple hundred years later when tomb raiders accidently stumbled into the ruined temple of the forgotten god. It affected them, pretending at first to be nice, but eventually it just leads to their corruption and death.

The demon still lives in the sword and when the paladin finds it, he is slowly corrupted and the rest of the party have to try and kill him before he can release the demon.
 

Rullenzar

Troubadour
There is nothing wrong with naming weapons just make sure the actual weapon has some kind of backstory to it (forged in the depths of the shadow realm) or something.

I'm creating a story based on the principle that the higher beings can only kill each other using a weapon forged from their own body(will not explain this lol). Each weapon having been named after their creator etc... in this case i believe naming is alright. However giving names to random swords picked up or stolen off the backs of enemies is just plain silly.
 

Muqtada

Scribe
In my initial forays into fantasy I thought naming weapons was great. As I read more fantasy I thought naming weapons was okay in the right circumstances, and now...

The last fantasy book series I read, only one weapon was named in the whole thing--not the staff given to one of the adventurer's which had belonged to the same all-powerful mage for three thousand years, not the rapier used by the Prince and Heir to the throne to beat back an invading army multiple times, but a dwarven hammer. They never spoke of the back story, the author never went into what magic it was imbued with, and it only made an appearance three times later in the book, and not even in critical battles. It's name was X's hammer, where X was the name of the first dwarven king. That's it.

That's the kind of named weapons I like in fantasy. It was named as a point of cultural reference to emphasize the dwarven love for their monarchs although they had overthrown monarchy long ago, and was neither critical to the story nor necessary to remember. It goes back to the whole think about how a character like Jayne can name a weapon like Vera even though it may not be that special--if you have the right character, it can work and describe culture. Otherwise it's "LOOK AT MY MAGICAL WEAPON IT'S AWESOOOOOOOME!!!" and I hate reading that
 

Telcontar

Staff
Moderator
It goes back to the whole think about how a character like Jayne can name a weapon like Vera even though it may not be that special--if you have the right character, it can work and describe culture.

Change 'culture' to 'the character' and I entirely agree. In fact, it's a good point. Naming a weapon says something about the person naming it. If a named weapon is otherwise mundane then it speaks more about the people who have carried it and how people continue to hold it in high regard.
 

Mindfire

Istar
When I first started out, pretty much ALL my weapons were named. xD But now, generally I only name things like weapons if they are absolutely essential or important to the plot. Otherwise you're just cluttering the reader's mind with something they don't need to remember IMO. And when I do name them, I try to make it something that's easy to remember. IMO for things like swords, bows, etc. descriptive names can often work better than made-up proper names. Just make sure the result isn't to RPG-ish.

E.g. "The Mage's Icebound Sword of Quickness" is terrible. But "Wind Reaver" is interesting.
 

pmmg

Myth Weaver
Some yes, some no, depending on the character, and how likely they are to make up names for their weapons, and the history of the weapon, if its well known for famous for something.

My books series, the White Sword Saga, is actually the result of never quite coming to a name for the weapon. While I did eventually reveal its name, most people just call it the white sword, cause its a swords and its white. Following that, very few weapons or items have proper names. A few do though.
 

skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
In a scene late in my WIP, an older warrior gives a sword to my MC. He tells him it's a magic sword, enumerating its powers.

"A magic sword," Val said. "Does it have a name?"
Iskander gave Val a solemn look.
"Sword," he said.
 
I was thinking that there has to be other Excalibur equivalents out there, and Monohoshi Zao sounds great, but the translation does let it down a touch!
 

pmmg

Myth Weaver
Sword of Omens fought against Excalibur once, and it was pretty much on par. Course...it was strange that the two were in the same place together.
 
If there's a specific reason to name a weapon, then there's nothing wrong with doing so.

In my current WiP, there are 1.000 year old magical swords forged by a famous elven smith. There are only a few of them out there, and they have names because of it.

Other weapons are just weapons, and treated as such.

There is a bit of historic precedence in the viking Ulfberth swords, which is a group of about 170 swords with the name Ulfberth scribed in it. Though we're not sure if that's the name of the sword or its maker or something else...
 

Ban

Troglodytic Trouvère
Article Team
If there's a specific reason to name a weapon, then there's nothing wrong with doing so.

In my current WiP, there are 1.000 year old magical swords forged by a famous elven smith. There are only a few of them out there, and they have names because of it.

Other weapons are just weapons, and treated as such.

There is a bit of historic precedence in the viking Ulfberth swords, which is a group of about 170 swords with the name Ulfberth scribed in it. Though we're not sure if that's the name of the sword or its maker or something else...
Plenty of historical precedence. If the 13th century kings who used it are to be believed, then Charlemagne's sword "Joyeuse" still exists and can be viewed in the Louvre. Roland's sword Durendal alas is lost.
 

A. E. Lowan

Forum Mom
Leadership
If there's a specific reason to name a weapon, then there's nothing wrong with doing so.

In my current WiP, there are 1.000 year old magical swords forged by a famous elven smith. There are only a few of them out there, and they have names because of it.

Other weapons are just weapons, and treated as such.

There is a bit of historic precedence in the viking Ulfberth swords, which is a group of about 170 swords with the name Ulfberth scribed in it. Though we're not sure if that's the name of the sword or its maker or something else...
I love the Ulfberth swords, and our Viking vampire King has one. I saw a really cool video of someone forging one and exploring the possible advantages that would have made it a true weapon of mass destruction.

This is not the video I saw, but it's also very cool and still educational.

 

A. E. Lowan

Forum Mom
Leadership
We also use named weapons in our series. Each is unique and some even speak to their bearers. This, for example, is the model for a reverse falchion called, "Keeper." It doesn't talk, it cannot strike a mortal blow, but what it does do...

~~~

A small smirk pulled at the corner of her mouth. “I have the named blade Keeper. Even Midir can’t stand against it.”

That brought Etienne up short. He had heard of Keeper. It was an ancient sword, incapable of delivering a mortal wound but it rendered its victims completely helpless. “How did you get it? By which I’m asking, ‘Who did you anger?’ Because you didn’t come by it honestly.”

She could give great blank face, he had to give her some credit. “Ceallach is its caretaker. He won’t be sorry to see Midir spitted on its blade and brought before him on his knees.”

~~~

Keeper.jpg
 
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