[Dave W.]

I've got a couple...

Durendal : sword of Roland

Hrunting : sword of Beowulf (ok so it didn't work on the gigantic monsters...but when am I ever gonna run into Grendel anyway?

Sword of the Giants : ok so if I do run into a gigantic norse monster, I'll have Beowulf's other sword (the one that works)

Sword of the High King Peter : it just has a really great name

There are definetly others that I'm forgetting...

[Josh Watson]

This is a difficult choice.

There's Conan's blade of Atlantean steel, always a favorite.

Can't forget Balmung, just for the sheer bad-assery imparted to the wielder.

But, in honesty I would have to go with Darth Maul's double-bladed lightsaber.

[Joel Minturn]

The fantasy blades I would like to have?

If anyone has read the Steve Brust books will know these. If you haven't they are worth looking into.

god Slayer aka Lady Teldra would be a nice blade
I wouldn't complain about having Black Wand or Pathfinder either.
Those weapons are some the 17 "Great" weapons with great power and properties. Having a sword that devours the targets soul might be a bit much but still their impressive blades.

[Bennison N]

Well...

3) Count Dooku's lightsaber, because I like the handle, which to me resembles a dao handle, and therefore seems ideal for dao forms.

2) He-man's Sword of Power, because I'd like to know what the transformation, the whole "Power of Greyskull", sword in the air thing, feels like. Although I'd probably wear quite a lot more clothes than He-man did.

1) The Zhan Lu sword, made by Ou Yezi, and which, the legends say, has the following abilities:
*The essence of all metal. (That's how it translates...)
*Glows in the dark. (Saves on the power bill, but makes it really hard to conceal your position at night...)
*Shines in the daylight, brighter than the Sun or Moon. (Note to self - Wear sunglasses...)
*Can roll into a coil or extend by itself. (That would be quite handy sometimes...)
*Gives the viewer a feeling of life when unsheathed. (An odd trait for a weapon, actually...)
*Gives the viewer a sense of awe when sheathed. (This is still the one I feel most inclined to believe... Sounds like an awesome... forgive the pun... psych-out tactic...)
*So sharp, it can be stabbed into a deep pool of water and emerge dry. (Because I plan to stab a lot of deep pools...)

[Darrin Hughes]

Another one for Stormbringer. Not too healthy for friend or foe, or Elric himself in the end, but even so it has to be the Black Sword.

[Peter Lyon]

Wow, lots of interesting replies to this one!

I had been thinking more along the lines of mythical/legendary swords from history, but there are some great ideas coming out even if I don't know all the sources. I particularly like the idea of Stormbringer, I had a poster on my wall for years while at university and after, called "The Dragon Lord", painted by Rodney Matthews, one of a series of Elric paintings he did.

So, as well as your favourites, how do you envisage them yourself, EG Excalibur as a 6th century sword, or Excalibur as a high medieval royal sword, or Excalibur as a modern high fantasy sword, etc?

[Jim Adelsen]

Skofnung the sword of Hrolf Kraki. Taken from his grave a couple hundred years after his death and was still like new. Definitely a migration era sword. Maybe like a Del Tin 2070.

[Taylor Ellis]

[Gabriele A. Pini]

For Excalibur the most convincing rappresentation is that of Jack White, a long spata with a short point, made of the metal of the sky (I. E. something in the order of a 4380 steel), but the one in my heart forever is that of the cartoon "King Arthur", a long knight's sword with cross and narrow fuller.

[Julien M]

It would have to be a talking blade for me, as this particular feature had a deep impact on my imagination as a kid:

Neither Gurthang (Anglachel, Turin's cursed blade), nor Stormbringer were too talkative, but they would address their wearer shortly before taking their lives. I have always wondered how much Moorcock borrowed from the children of hurin when creating Stormbringer since there are many similarities between the two stories.

I remember and loved Rodney Matthews paintings too, but I never actually found a representation of Stormbringer that i would find suitable. I like to think of it as large bastard sword made of black steel with runic inscriptions on the blade, but not something featuring a guard that a black metal lead singer would wear as a necklace

Now I don't know if that's going to ring a bell for some, but another sword comes to my mind: "Excalibur Junior", Pip sword featured in the "grailquest" fantasy gamebooks by J. H. Brennan. Now that sword would never stop babbling about, and in a quiet sarcastic fashion, always stressing pip's failures (beside from this very annoying ability, I don't recall the sword having any of the other usefull features usually found in magical artifacts

Other than these, Excalibur seems to me to be the obvious answer (and I'm not talking about any "historical" Excalibur, but the sword I would picture in my mind as a child, which would indeed be a type XII, such as the one wielded by Gabriel Byrne as Pendragon in Boorman's movie).

Cheers,

Julien

[Justin H. Núñez]

[Julien M]

Just realized I didn't noticed your post Nat!

You're definitely not the only one to remember it Justin

[Anders Backlund]

Well, if we get to include sword from fiction, one of my all time favourites is Sikánda, Bastian's sword from The Neverending Story.

The blade burned with white fire and could cut anything. However, the weapon had a mind of it's own and would allow its owner neither to draw it from the scabbard nor command it in battle. Instead it would jump into his hand on it's own accord when danger thretened and fight on it's own with superhuman skill. Yet it would refuse to ever kill an opponent. (Which wasn't a problem, since it was practically invincible anyway.)

I belive Michael Ende described it as relatively short, double edged and with a saber-like hilt. When resting in the scabbard it looked worn, small and unimpressive.

[Bjorn Hagstrom]

[David E. Farrell]

hmm... even though I am not much for japanese swords - I'd take pretty much any of the 'soul slayers' from the anime & manga Bleach... they come complete with an anthropomorphic form and in some cases a serious attitude!

For crazy swords that I could never wield, it's tough to beat Guts' (as the Black Swordsman from the anime & manga Berserk) massive chunk of formed and sharpened iron (based on proportions as they appear in some of the images, the thing is about 6.5 feet long, about a foot wide and maybe 3 inches thick at the center of the blade... it varies quite a bit in different artwork though for effect). And it has a possibly malevolent spirit as a bonus!

where it gets real fun is mythical/fantasy armour!

Unfortunately my knowledge of mythology is too limited to have a favorite sword from a more 'traditional' mythos

[Adam S.]

[Lou Weaver]

kaor ! ah yes, what sword would one own? here are my choices. myth; kusanagi the grass cutter from japanese legend. excalibur , a late roman period spath/viking hybrid . from fiction tolkien's gurthang and narsil/anduril , moorcock's stormbringer , bulmer's krozair longsword ( a katana variant with european influence) ,stirling's draka layer knife , and of course, a barsoomian long sword ( toi-lakh) of heliyan (helium) make with that superb steel the jeddak na- jeddak'in (emperor of emperors) john carter , virginian and rakaj-shakar (warlord) of barsoom allways praised for it's strength and sharpness. ( some barsoomian words are of my own invention ,a weakness of mine so please forgive )

[Lafayette C Curtis]

Glamdring! Hicks may brandish their shotguns and shout "Get orf my property!" but I'd get to wave my (glowing) sword and yell, "You cannot pass!"

[Joshua Connolly]

[Malcolm A]

Could I be really greedy and have Stormbringer and its sister blade Mournblade?

From what I recall of the books they could be wielded at the same time due to their magical / deominc properties.

Count Dooku's light sabre would be kinda nice too