Cover detail from The Book of Swords edited by Gardner Dozois.
Named swords are about as standard as mysterious wizards in fantasy.
Like many readers, I first fell in love with named swords when I read J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Bilbo and Frodo carrying Sting on their adventures made me want a Sting of my own, a prerequisite for going off on an adventure too. As I read more ancient literature, I learned that naming all sorts of everyday implements — including weapons — was commonplace.
When Gardner Dozois announced his new anthology, The Book of Swords, I knew that many of the swords in the short stories would be named. I even asked contributing author Robin Hobb about her five favorite swords from books. “I don’t know if I have five!” Hobb answered. “The ones that pop into my brain are Elric’s sword, Stormbringer. Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser had names for their swords and daggers. Fafhrd had Graywand and Heartseeker. The Mouser had Scalpel and Catsclaw. The LOTR swords too. The Sword that was Broken, of course. Anduril. Glamdring, and Sting and Orcrist. Hmmm. Named swords are great. Looks like I have more than five!”
I felt the same way as Hobb. When I began writing my epic/urban fantasy The Dark Thorn, I incorporated several swords I loved from literature. I used the Arthurian Arondight. I added Beowulf‘s Hrunting. And of course I gave a special place to Roland’s Durendal. I found that using named swords gave a greater depth to history of the world that readers love.
Below are books featuring my favorite named swords. Other swords I love from the fantasy genre? Goodkind’s the Sword of Truth. Moorcock’s Stormbringer. Paolini’s Brisingr. Tolkien’s Glamdring. And of course Salvatore’s Icingdeath & Twinkle.
If you love swords, read these below books!
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