It is high time that we turn a page or four in the Appendix N, with Tolkien, Anderson, Dunsany, and Moorcock, the Appendix’s last extant, living author.
“Naturally, the origin of each sword is either Law, Neutrality, or Chaos, but some of these weapons are forged by more powerful forces for an express purpose.”
In our contemporary age, in which magic items proliferate in fantasy realms like so many mass-produced mundanities, such a statement, presented in D&D, vol. II, Monsters & Treasure, should sound strange and foreign. And well it should. The statement depends upon a milieu in which a sword’s uniqueness, or at least its purpose, and its alignment are integral factors. And although it is tempting to go into a deeper exploration of Moorcock and Anderson’s influence on alignment in roleplaying gaming, we’ll save that for another day, and this adventure we will pursue instead the legend of the magic sword in the Appendix N.
“Magical Swords: Because these weapons are almost entities in themselves, they accrue real advantage to the figure so armed. In normal combat they merely add an extra die. It is in fantastic combat the Magical Swords are most potent.”
Chainmail 2nd edition
The magic sword is present already in Gygax’s earliest tabletop fantasy material. Magical swords and enchanted arrows comprise the two specific kinds of magical weapons detailed in the Chainmail fantasy rules.[i] Described as “almost entities,” magical swords shed light and dispel darkness. Arneson would later claim that the “nature and powers” of his own swords came from the pages of Chainmail.
“Prior to setting up Blackmoor, I spent a considerable effort in setting up an entire family of Magical Swords. The Swords, indeed comprise most of the early magical artifacts. … The Magic Swords of Mythology are varied creatures that can give great powers to their owners, who sometimes are helpless without them. Only Swords have these powerful variations and capabilities. Other weapons being relegated to lesser bonuses due to their shapes, that do not lend themselves to magical incantations.”
The First Fantasy Campaign
Thus, in the Blackmoor campaign, the magic sword also figured as the prominent magical weapon. Arneson described his family of magic swords and their special properties in The First Fantasy Campaign,[ii] and D.H. Boggs has conducted some research into the origins of the special characteristics which Arneson attributed to his swords.[iii] Interestingly, and expanding from Chainmail, a sword bearer’s alignment was a factor for Arneson, as Greg Svenson attested, “Dave’s perception of our alignment, as it is called now, affected whether we were able to hold the magic sword we found during that first adventure.”[iv]
“SWORDS: Among magic weaponry swords alone possess certain human (and superhuman) attributes; Swords have an alignment (Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic), an Intelligence factor, and an egoism rating (as well as an optional determination of their origin/purpose).”
D&D, vol. II, Monsters & Treasure
In 1974, Dungeons & Dragons formalized the myth of the magic sword, assigning not just alignment, but also individual personality and attribute scores to its magic swords exclusively.[v] Other miscellaneous, magic weapons gave a bonus to hit and damage (with some exceptions) and included mace, axe, bow, arrows, daggers, spears, and hammers. These miscellaneous magic weapons however did not demonstrate any personality, and with the exception of a hammer and couple of daggers, neither did they exhibit any special powers or abilities.
“Most players will be unwilling to play swords with personalities as the personalities dictate.”
AD&D, Dungeon Masters Guide[vi]
Players could find their characters at odds with their sentient swords at inopportune times, even when their alignments were otherwise compatible. Sentient swords, being intelligent and willful, might very well lead their bearers past better weapons or require a share of treasure. At other times, the influence of a sentient sword might prove more nefarious than simple jealousy or greed if its origin and purpose so dictated. And by the advent of AD&D, not every sword would necessarily exhibit sentience. Yet, except for certain artifacts, sentience was still the strict domain of swords, those few and unusual creations imbued with primary abilities, extraordinary powers, or a purpose.
“Swords: An Ego sword is a blade literally possessed by a type of Demonic force. The personality of the sword (IQ, Wisdom, Alignment) is determined as for a person. It will invariably seek glory in battle, and if its combined IQ and Wisdom are ever higher than its owner’s, it will lead him into danger to test his worthiness to own such a fine weapon and to gain the opportunity of slaying enemies. Ego swords are intensely jealous of any other swords the owner may possess, especially magical swords.”
Chivalry & Sorcery
The concept of the sentient sword was also present in other early roleplaying games, such as 1977’s Chivalry & Sorcery, where they existed side-by-side other types of enchanted arms and armor created by Artificers.[vii]
“Most swords (and all daggers) of magical nature shed light when drawn from their scabbard.”
AD&D, Dungeon Masters Guide
With few exceptions, in Chainmail fantasy rules, D&D, and AD&D, magic weapons were all depicted as shedding light when drawn. There is certainly precedence for such in fantasy literature, as in Tolkien, with those blades forged in Gondolin shedding light under certain circumstances, as might other magic weapons.
“Desperate, [Frodo] drew his own sword, and it seemed to him that it flickered red, as if it was a firebrand. Two of the figures halted. The third was taller than the others: his hair was long and gleaming and on his helm was a crown. In one hand he held a long sword, and in the other a knife; both the knife and the hand that held it glowed with a pale light.”
The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 1, Chapter 11, A Knife in the Dark[viii]
“[Frodo] drew out Sting: it flashed and glittered like a blue flame and then slowly faded again and grew dull.”
The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 2, Chapter 6, Lothlórien
And so, too, would Moorcock’s Stormbringer shed light under certain circumstances, though of a different aspect.
“Almost at its own volition the huge runesword sprang from its scabbard and black light poured from its blade as it began to hum its own strange battle-cry.”
The Vanishing Tower, To Snare the Pale Prince[ix]
Stormbringer’s power of stealing souls has been rendered in rules beginning with D&D’s “Life Energy Draining” ability, and later revised in AD&D as “Life Stealing,” although the runesword’s powers and character have appeared more explicitly elsewhere in fantasy gaming.
“Blackrazor is a negative-energy entity that exists by absorbing positive life energy levels from those it kills. […] Blackrazor exists solely to feel power and souls coursing through itself, and sometimes it may not be too picky about where the energy is coming from.”
S2 White Plume Mountain[x]
“‘Wormbrand Soulstriker’, who is actually a type IV demon in eternal service to the lord. Wormbrand’s sole purpose in ‘life’ is to provide the demon with life energy by stealing the souls from humans.”
The Book of Treasure Maps, Scenario Four: Willchildar’s Well[xi]
“SOUL CLEAVER: This sword is always CHAOTIC. The sword will eat the souls of those it hits in combat. Unless the victim makes his saving throw he is a soulless dead hulk.”
Adventures in Fantasy[xii]
Yet, for all its uniqueness and willfulness, Stormbringer, too, had its forebears in fantasy literature and legendary history.
“The sword called Tyrfing seemed almost to stir of itself at his hip.”
The Broken Sword[xiii]
“The sword seemed to stir at his side and he took firm hold of its grip …”
Elric of Melniboné[xiv]
There is more than passing similarity between Anderson’s description of Tyrfing in The Broken Sword and Moorcock’s description of Stormbringer.[xv]
“Still Stormbringer sang its sinister battle-song and still the runesword passed its power to its master so that with every death Elric found strength to slay more of the soldiers.”
Sailor on the Seas of Fate[xvi]
“Yet this is the curse on it: that every time it is drawn it must drink blood, and in the end, somehow, it will be the bane of him who wields it.”
The Broken Sword
“…and the runes in Alveric’s far-travelled sword exulted, and roared at the elf-knight…” […] “And no more shock came to him from any of those swords, but only a vibration in his own sword’s metal that passed through it like a song, and a kind of a glow that arose in it, reaching to Alveric’s heart and cheering it.”
The King of Elfland’s Daughter[xvii]
“And the savage, lusting sword that had thirsted for a hundred years went up with the hand of Rold and swept through a tribesman’s ribs…. And there arose the sounds of the exulting of victorious men, and the panting of those that fled, and the sword singing softly to itself as it whirled dripping through the air.”
The Sword of Welleran[xviii]
Such similarity runs through Dunsany, Anderson, and Moorcock’s description of their fated swords, familiar phrases and images often echoed or repeated like a refrain.
“Earth clung damp to the halves of the broad blade. It had been two-edged, and so huge and heavy that only the strongest of men could readily wield it. […] Runes that Skafloc could not read went down the dark blade. He had the feeling that the mightiest of these were hidden on the tang.”
The Broken Sword
“Can you not sense it? The power and hunger locked in that steel, held by those unknown runes. The sword may be from the gods, but it is not of them. There is a curse on it, Skafloc. It will bring the bane of all within its reach.”
The Broken Sword
Compare, too, these scenes from the Saga of Hervör and Heithrek and Anderson:
“She could now see the fires of the barrows and the ghosts standing outside; and she approached the barrows fearlessly and passed through the fires as if they had been merely smoke, until she reached the barrow of the berserks. Then she cried: Awaken, Angantyr, hearken to me! The only daughter of Tofa and thee Is here and bids thee awake! Give me from out the barrow’s shade The keen-edged sword which the dwarfs once made For Svafrlami’s sake.”
Stories and Ballads of the Far Past, Saga of Hervör and Heithrek[xix]
“The fire roared taller. The wind shrieked like a lynx and clouds swallowed the moon. Skafloc cried out: Waken, chieftains, fallen warriors! Skafloc calls you, sings you wakeful. I conjure you, come on hell-road. Rune-bound dead men, rise and answer! The barrow groaned. Higher and ever higher raged the icy flame above it.”
The Broken Sword
Tolkien as well provided his protagonists with magic blades from a barrow early in their career.
“For each of the hobbits he chose a dagger, long, leaf-shaped, and keen, of marvellous workmanship, damasked with serpent-forms in red and gold. They gleamed as he drew them from their black sheaths, wrought of some strange metal, light and strong, and set with many fiery stones. Whether by some virtue in these sheaths or because of the spell that lay on the mound, the blades seemed untouched by time, unrusted, sharp, glittering in the sun.”
The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 1, Chapter 8, Fog on the Barrow-Downs
While Tolkien, Anderson, and Dunsany had already left their marks on literature before Moorcock, Gygax, and Arneson, their common sources were in an older tradition of literature.
“Called Angervadil, or grief-wader, sometimes, too, brother of lightning. […] Faint were the runes when the land was in quiet throughout all its borders; But when the followers of Hild were summoned, then were they burning Red as the comb of a cock when he fighteth. Lost was the warrior Who met, on the field of encounter, the blade with its red letters glowing.”
Fridthjof’s Saga[xx]
“Tyrfing had this characteristic, that whenever it was unsheathed it shone like a sunbeam, even in the dark, and could only be sheathed with human blood still warm upon it. Never did he whose blood was shed by Tyrfing live to see another day. It is very famous in all stories of the olden days.”
Stories and Ballads of the Far Past, Saga of Hervör and Heithrek
Magic arms and armor lie strewn through myth and legend—these companions of heroes of old, dusty artifacts of another, timeless age. Stormbringer may have guided the form of sentience, ego, will, alignment, and purpose magical swords assumed at the origin of gaming; and players may have shied away from such unpredictable companions given the choice. But ever longing, have fated rune-blades as Angervadil and Tyrfing thirsted to shake off the dust and shed light and blood once more.
“Smite your foemen – gods, giants, mortals, it matters not. The sword is loose and the end of the world comes nigh!”
The Broken Sword
[i] Gygax, Gary and Jeff Perren. Chainmail, 2nd edition. Guidon Games, 1972.
[ii] Arneson, Dave. The First Fantasy Campaign. Judges Guild, 1977.
[iii] Boggs, D.H. “The First Magic Swords.” Hidden in Shadows. https://boggswood.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-first-magic-swords.html
[iv] Sham. “Q&A with Greg Svenson.” Sham’s Grog & Blog. https://shamsgrog.blogspot.com/2009/05/q-with-greg-svenson.html
[v] Gygax, Gary and Dave Arneson. Dungeons & Dragons: Monsters & Treasure. Tactical Studies Rules, 1974.
[vi] Gygax, Gary. Dungeon Masters Guide. TSR, 1979.
[vii] Simbalist, Edward and Wilfried Backhaus. Chivalry & Sorcery. Fantasy Games Unlimited, 1977.
[viii] Tolkien, J.R.R. The Fellowship of the Ring. Ballantine Books, 1965.
[ix] Moorcock, Michael. The Vanishing Tower. DAW, 1977.
[x] Schick, Lawrence. White Plume Mountain. TSR, 1979.
[xi] Jaquays, Paul. The Book of Treasure Maps. Judges Guild, 1979.
[xii] Arneson, Dave and Richard Snider. Adventures in Fantasy. Excalibre, 1979.
[xiii] Anderson, Poul. The Broken Sword. Ballantine Books, 1971.
[xiv] Moorcock, Michael. Elric of Melniboné. DAW, 1976.
[xv] Revised in 1971, the original text of Anderson’s The Broken Sword did not yet give the sword a proper name
[xvi] Moorcock, Michael. Sailor on the Seas of Fate. DAW, 1976.
[xvii] Lord Dunsany. The King of Elfland’s Daughter. Ballantine Books, 1969.
[xviii] Lord Dunsany. The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories. George Allen & Sons, 1908.
[xix] Chadwick, Nora. Stories and Ballads of the Far Past. Cambridge University Press, 1921.
[xx] Holcomb, Thomas & Martha, translation. Fridthjof’s Saga. S.C. Griggs and Company, 1892.
Appendix N Plus 