Hello everyone, and welcome to LukeLore. A quick deep dive into a folklore topic, where I share
some of the stories from around the world that have piqued my interest.
Okay, so, it's the third and final part in the latest themed series of episodes. Today is Enchanted Blades. In order, then, we have had:
Magic Stones.
Cursed Scrolls.
Enchanted Blades.
Any final guesses on the theme?
It was Rock, Paper, Scissors.
I almost feel like I should apologise! It's a pretty silly one. However, this has been a really interesting jumping off point to uncover some brilliant stuff. So no regrets, only great folklore. As such? Let's give a quick special theme specific segment, then go investigate some Enchanted Blades.
SECTION BREAK – Show Me Rock
The start of all this, the germ of the idea for the theme, came from me being a big old nerd. I was watching the anime 'Hunter x Hunter', something I had read before but not seen the adaptation of, and the Mangaka Yoshihiro Togashi is a huge fan of tradition games. He frequently features them in novel ways in his work, and enjoys sharing weird facts about them. One such example being Rock, Paper, Scissors is the theme of the 'Hunter x Hunter' protagonist's special attacks. Togashi-sensei proposed in his story that Rock, Paper, Scissors was in fact The Three Deadly Forms, and a hidden way to practice martial arts when they were outlawed by corrupt rulers to disarm commoners who could otherwise practice defending themselves. This doesn't appear to be analogous to the real world as far as I can tell, and is instead a part of the fantasy setting for 'Hunter x Hunter', but the game itself remains fascinating.
It appears to be two thousand years old, going from accounts in its country of origin China. This is only a rough estimation due to written references however, and in common with folklore it probably existed informally for quite some time before it spread into scholarly notes. It was originally about making the form of three animals, each one beating another while losing to the remainder. This was at some point noted as being Frog, Slug, Snake with Slug somehow beating Snake, but this makes a lot more sense in that “Slug” may be a mistranslation for what should have been a species of venomous millipede. So frog swallows the millipede whole, the millipede envenoms and kills the snake, while the snake kills and eats the frog.
If you want to play the original, it uses slightly different gestures. Revealed from the shaken fist that prefaces each of these “three-way deadlock fist games” the frog is a thumb, the erstwhile “slug” is a little finger, and the snake is an index finger. This spread as a drinking game called “sansukumi-ken”, or “ken of the three who are afraid of another”, and it's a massively foundational concept for a lot of game theory. The simplest example of strengths versus weaknesses in an easily understood form. Something which is a weirdly deep insight into nature when looking back at it, beyond even this part of the food chain being circular in the original context. There are further examples of this trichotomy which just happened to emerge organically in life. The Common Side-Blotched Lizard has three throat colours the males can display in competition for mating partners, and they always seem to have the same outcome in their mating displays: Orange beats blue, blue beats yellow, and yellow beats orange. How the lizards managed to innately agree upon that is way beyond me, but this style of trichotomy is also a matter of life and death for all of humankind. It is observable in, and a vital process in the creation of, antibiotics. Demonstrated by the biologist Benjamin C Kirkup Jr. antibiotic-producers defeat antibiotic-sensitives, but in turn antibiotic-resisters will out-compete the producers, then when left to multiply out of control the antibiotic-sensitives will out-compete the resistors to the point antibiotic-producers are viable again. Scientists are out there playing Rock, Paper, Scissors on the microbial level to save lives; something equal parts fascinating and terrifying.
The game gradually spreads until it is enthusiastically embraced by Japan in the 1600s, no doubt helped by how it was best known as a drinking game at the time, where it continues to be massively popular to this day as Janken. Japanese Janken ranging from being an instantly recognised way to resolve disputes, through to prize moneyed championship contests. If you ever wondered how paper beats rock, that appears to be a mistranslation again, or at least something culturally recontextualised over time. Paper, now, is a slim and lightweight reconstituted bit of tree. Don't forget this is a 400 year old version of a 2,000+ year old game, “paper” is more accurately “cloth”. So cloth can be used to restrain rock, scissors (or potentially some form of more substantial shears) can tear apart the cloth, and the blades will shatter upon the rock.
I guess feel free to challenge me to sansukumi-ken if you ever catch me out in the wild, where I will promptly become flustered and easily beaten. I kind of have it coming after springing this theme upon everyone. Now, let's get on with some Enchanted Blades.
SECTION BREAK – The Sword Not In The Stone
We kicked the linked theme off with the sword in the stone that is Clarent, King Arthur's ceremonial sword which is overshadowed by his flashier weapon of war – That being the famous blade Excalibur. In older Welsh traditions, before the Normans happened to British culture (sidenote: still a bit culturally miffed about that 1066 invasion), it was the legendary sword known as Caledfwlch. In the 12th century the Welsh author Geoffrey of Monmouth Latinised the original into Caliburnus, which would get turned into an absolute soup of a load of variations until it would eventually get locked into modern mythology as Excalibur.
While usually conflated with the sword drawn from the stone in a lot of stories to speed along the quite messy epic tale, Excalibur is a magic sword given to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake. Some stories tell of the gift being offered up initially for no charge, in exchange for a later boon of the head of Balin being demanded. Don't go feeling sorry for Balin now, also known as Balin the Savage, who is something of a controversial Arthurian figure as the Knight with Two Swords. Balin was a knight in Arthur's employ before the Round Table was formed, never actually getting to join it before being banished from court for being excessively murderous. Killing and general misdeeds weren't actually that much of a problem for anyone of noble birth, especially so long as it was the villainous commoners they were killing, but Balin had poor manners about it. Decapitating a lady during court, where he shouldn't have been drawing a weapon at all, so he got exiled to go kill a load of people elsewhere.
For context with the odd morality of some older tales, I pretty much just demonstrated how that works. To be noble was not of deeds, it was just to be born noble, and from there anything you did was noble by default. The term “villain” just originally applied to anyone of common birth. To be of poor standing was to be villainous, not anything you actually did, although having ideas above your station and daring to stand up to the nobles would certainly render you a true villain. Make of that detail about long standing class warfare what you will and in Arthurian legend's defence a version of equality and being fair were a revolutionary force driving its heroes at the time.
Balin's story is in itself an interesting example of an Enchanted Blade. In the early days of Arthur's rule, Balin was released from prison where he had served a six month sentence for the death of one of Arthur's cousins. This either wasn't that big a deal in the first place, and it was a lineage based slap on the wrist from the new King of the Britons, or else strong warriors were needed even if they were a bit kill-y since getting them to murder in the right direction would technically make them a valuable asset. At the same time a Lady of the Lake, “A” not “The” being an interesting distinction I will come back to, arrived at court with a cursed sword. The sword was spotted when her furs shifted down from her shoulders, revealing an ornate oddity to the surrounding courtgoers. She claimed that only a truly virtuous knight could unsheathe this blade, and indeed no one who tried could draw it. Not even King Arthur himself. Then it came to Balin, who not only managed to draw the sword he then went on to keep it for himself instead of give it back. One mishap led to another, and he would decapitate that Lady in in the middle of the royal court, under claims she was in some way responsible for Balin's mother dying. Now, that was to an extent fine, but it was impolite to do it during the royal court, so Balin got banished for being rude about how he did a murder and The Lady of the Lake came before Arthur to demand her boon for Excalibur as Balin's head after what he did to her damsel.
It really was quite the cursed blade all told. Quite possible based on Tyrfing from Norse mythology, maybe even directly supposed to be that cursed sword turning up in Arthur's court, its very appearance may have been a trap to trick Balin into eventually murdering his own brother Balan. Lots more death follows, no small amount at the hands of Balin's sweet new cursed sword, and it would eventually be prophetic comeuppance time. Balin would be a champion in a duel wearing a red armour disguise, his brother Balan would be chosen as the opposing champion who at the last moment would swap his family shield for what was supposed to be a better one. The brothers would unknowingly face each other, going on to mortally wound each other, Balin outliving his brother only by a matter of hours which were no blessing – just enough time to suffer with the knowledge of what had happened. Merlin, who was in and out of the story at intervals yelling about curses and prophecies, spirits away the damned sword and seals it into a stone, something of a signature move for Merlin. At the start of the Grail Quest years later, Galahad would draw this sword free. Does that sound like coming full circle, and finally a virtuous knight unsheathed the evil thing? Nope! This sword is cursed as all hell. After Galahad's death, the sword was returned to his father Lancelot, who would go on to give Gawain the wound that killed him when Arthur's rule fell apart towards the end.
The moral of the story being maybe don't mess around with Tyrfing, which seems to have gone on quite the adventure after featuring in Norse mythology.
Anyway, back to Excalibur. A legendary sword for good reason! Giving off a blinding light when drawn that could immediately turn the tide of battle, it was also known for being so sharp and sturdy that it could chop through other metals like they were wood – something of an advantage in armed combat. It was described as being “with a design of two chimeras on the golden hilt; when the sword was unsheathed what was seen from the mouths of the two chimeras was like two flames of fire, so dreadful that it was not easy for anyone to look.” It was also supposed to have inscriptions upon opposite sides of the blade with one side saying “Take me up” and the other saying “Cast me away”. There are plenty of reasons this sword stands out across time as an outstandingly badass armament.
The scabbard itself had magical properties, less flashy but more powerful in a subtle way. Merlin even chides Arthur at one point for valuing the obvious strengths of the sword over the benefits of the scabbard: While the scabbard was worn no wounds received would go on to bleed, so the wearer could not bleed to death in battle and was able to fight on provided there was no serious damage done. Arthur would go on to pay for not listening to Merlin, the scabbard getting stolen by Morgan le Fey while he wasn't watching it closely enough at some point.
Excalibur would eventually be returned to The Lady of the Lake. In some stories, it is a final quest that must be undertaken before Arthur can finally rest, he is trapped helpless and suffering at the brink of death until his final surviving knight Griflet casts the weapon (or pieces of it if you follow that Clarent shattered both itself and Excalibur in battle) into a nearby lake where a woman's hand emerges to catch it. Arthur is then at last given peace, and is allowed to move on to Avalon.
This comes back around to how you can have both A Lady of the Lake, and The Lady of the Lake. The simplest interpretation is that the more significant Lady had her damsel followers, her agents going out among the world, which is a part of what sets Balin the Savage's story into motion. There's also an interesting interpretation to follow of what, exactly, the Lady in the Lake may be. The romantic version is some wispy waif in an alluringly clingy wet dress, and there is the character of Nimue in the wider mythology of Arthur, but there could be a step further into a true root for this iconography. Britain, circa the Roman times, didn't have easy access to the best of metals. But a great source of it would be bog iron. Bog iron forms in moorland and is technically a renewable resource, it's what the Anglo Saxons would have been using at the time, not to mention Viking raiders. The Lady of the Lake concept could well come from the idea of women blacksmiths making use of this type of ore. Not so much dainty magical creatures in the water who just happen to have these weapons hanging around for plot convenience, instead buff weapon forgers clad in leathers and furs roaming bogs for their trade who had the skills necessary to arm warriors. A pretty awesome interpretation if you ask me!
SECTION BREAK – More On That Norse Sword
So, Tyrfing, and why it was so awesome Balin kept it until it was his downfall. It's name has some contention on to what it actually means, but a common interpretation is that it means “finger of the god of war”. Svafrlami, the King of Gardariki, managed to capture the dwarfs Dvalinn and Durinn at which point he forced them to make him a magical sword. He demanded it had a golden hilt, it would never miss when it was swung, it could cut through stone or iron as easily as clothes, and also it must never rust – because he's a king and proper maintenance is boring stuff for The Poors to do. These being rather angry magical dwarfs, it was malicious compliance time. The king got everything he wanted and more! The “and more” being a bunch of curses. It was cursed to kill every time it was drawn, an imperative which led to any wound at all from it being fatal, and as such it was technically an even better sword than expected if handled properly. It was also cursed to specifically kill Svafrlami himself, which he probably should have expected for being a git, but royal entitlement doesn't tend to register potential consequences. Finally, for good measure, it was cursed to cause three great evils. It did also look cool, though, shining and gleaming like fire when drawn. Something which feels like it may have been a bonus trap to encourage it being drawn, so it will then go on to kill someone.
Tyrfing is so stupidly dangerous that it may even be capable of killing a god. A wielder of it attempts to strike Odin while he's in disguise during one tale, forcing Odin to panic transform into a hawk to escape being cut by it. Technically it really is an incredible magical sword! You just need to be mindful of the drawbacks...
Svafrlami would go on to achieve many victories with the sword that could hack through armour with ease and kill with only a scratch, but the devil is in the details. That it would never miss is not the same thing as it always being useful, so the time came the king went up against Arngrim the berserker, and one of Tyrfing's collection of curses would kick in. The king technically didn't miss when he swung for Arngrim, he cut clean through his opponent's shield, missing the arm holding it and overextending into the ground beneath them where the sword easily buried itself. The unimpressed berserker ripostes by hacking off the king's hand, pulling the cursed sword free for himself, and killing the king with it to fulfil one of the major curses the dwarfs left for revenge.
Arngrim was king now, as who the heck was going to argue? He took Svafrlami's daughter for his wife and went on to have a dozen sons, the oldest of which was Angantyr who would go on to inherit the magic sword. Additional marriage based shenanigans ensued as the woman Angantyr wanted to marry, wanted instead to marry someone else, and it all turned into quite the impressive bloodbath. All twelve brothers were slain, although the would-be suitor didn't exactly win this one, because he had taken a wound from Tyrfing. The pyrrhic victor only had enough time to sing his death song before succumbing, and the woman this slaughter was over dropped dead at the sight of what had happened. This misadventure was the first of three evil deeds Tyrfing was cursed to enact.
Alongside the badly attempted courtship, Arngrim had married another woman, and they had a daughter named Hervor. Hervor, following on from the fallout of the curse's first evil deed, went on to be raised as a bond-servant, but she earned her freedom with some impressive inherited combat skills. Once she learned the story of her father, she armed herself as a shieldmaiden and quested to recover Tyrfing. Once she reached the burial mound of her father and uncles, the ghost of Angantyr greats her and tries to dissuade Hervor from taking up the cursed sword. She won't listen to his warnings, and even threatens the Curse of Annihilation upon the souls of her dead relatives since it was “not fitting that the dead should hold such a precious weapon.” Either the bold threat or brave appeal seals the deal, and the shade of Angantyr willingly surrenders the sword also passing on wishes of good luck and valour. Hervor would promptly go on to enjoy many a badass adventure with the sword until she settles down marrying a king, going on to have two sons. This is sadly where the curses kick back in. Well, the backfiring curses, everyone Hervor killed with Tyrfing was probably at least mildly alarmed by being on the receiving end of the sword in action. She gifts the sword to one son, who proudly shows it to his brother, and the curse forces his hand to slay his sibling – The second of the fated three evil deeds.
The surviving brother went on to have a son who got into a dispute with a disguised Odin, who seems to get around, that would result in him being murdered in his sleep so Odin could steal away the sword. This counted as the third and final evil deed, but before that occurred there was an impressive final outing for Tyrfing in Norse Legend. This final doomed bearer was Angantyr the third, and set to be the next king of the Goths. His illegitimate half brother demanded half the kingdom, got told where he could put that demand, and came back with an army of hundreds of thousands of mounted Huns. Angantyr went on to use Tyrfing to slay his half brother Hlod on the battlefield, ultimately winning The Battle of the Goths and Huns, only it was such a brutal conflict corpses piled up in such numbers they would dam the rivers of the battlefield, causing a flood that filled the valleys with dead warriors and their deceased mounts. A final “success” from use of the legendarily cursed sword that came with dire unintended consequences.
At some point after it's retrieval, Tyrfing then went on to cameo in Arthurian myth, remaining incredibly deadly. Which IS the point of a sword after all, but this one is a little too good at its job, and likely should have stayed lost for the good of everyone it would go on to tempt into misfortune.
SECTION BREAK – Sword of the Wind
Let's hop out of Europe for a final tale of Enchanted Blades. This starts with the story of Susanoo-no-Mikoto, the Shinto Kami of the Storms, and... It doesn't start great. Susano-o had always envied his sister Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun, and one day this led to him acting out. He flayed the skin off a horse, threw the skin at a weaving loom that belonged to Amaterasu, then threw the rest of the horse after it, then took a dump on the floor of the palace. The intrusive thoughts had won big time with that outburst, and he was exiled out into the mortal world to think about what he had done.
He would wander for some time until he came across a grieving couple, in tears that their daughter was about to die. This was their eighth daughter set to suffer the same fate as the seven who came before her, as the eight-headed and eight-tailed great serpent Yamata-no-Orochi was taking annual sacrifices. Susano-o saw this as a chance to redeem himself for the mess he made of the divine palace, and volunteers to kill the monster. He comes up with a plan, first turning the last surviving daughter into a comb he hid in his hair for safekeeping, then giving the parents instructions to set a trap. A great fence is to be built with eight gates, each with a barrel of eightfold brewed sake behind them – one for each of the heads of Yamata-no-Orochi. The rice wine needed to be strong enough to send the serpent to sleep, giving Susano-o the chance to attack. Once the giant serpent fell asleep, Susano-o took up his ten-hands long sword that he carried, being a god who means business when the situation arises. He chops off each head, then begins hacking off each tail for good measure. Only his giant sword shatters upon something when he begins carving into one of the middle tails. Curious, he uses the remaining stub of his sword to poke about in the remains of Yamata-no-Orochi, and it turns out the serpent had swallowed something impressive at some point. An exceptionally tough and sharp sword that Susano-o would name the Ame-no-Murakumo, the Cloud Cluster Sword. Having avenged the eaten daughters, and saved everyone else from the hungry monster, he took Ame-no-Murakumo back to Amaterasu – offering the strange sword along with the tale of his rescue in conciliation for the spiteful mess he had made.
This sword became one of three divine gifts that were passed down to descendants of the gods, becoming the imperial regalia of Japan. The sword must have looked simple at the time, it wasn't one of the curved blades Japan would become known for. It was an older straight bladed weapon resembling a tsurugi or ken, and may not have stood out next to the sacred mirror and jewel of the other two gifts. It was left in the hands of a warrior called Yamato Takeru, who when he was out hunting got spotted by a rival warlord who took the chance to set a lethal trap.
The warlord set fire to the long grass, both trapping and in of itself risking to kill Takeru. What no one had realised is the significance of this sword, Ame-no-Murakumo was the weapon of the Kami of Storms through divine conquest, and it controlled the winds. In what seemed like an act of desperation, Takeru started to cut at the grass to control the fire, only with each cut came a gust of wind that pushed the flames back towards the ambushers with even greater intensity. There was no need for a fight, only to keep cutting, and let the burning grass deal with the ones who set it alight.
This led to the sword getting a new name to commemorate the victory, and it was renamed Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi:
“Grass Cutter”, or “Grass Cutting Sword”.
Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi is said to be kept at Atsuta Shrine to this day, although it is not available for display. No member of the public is allowed to see it due to its divine nature, and it was last used as a part of the ascension to the throne of the latest Emperor in 2019 where it was securely shrouded so as not to be seen.
SECTION BREAK
That's all for the latest linked themed episodes. Let me know what you all thought of that! Would you like more in general? Would you specifically like another guess-the-theme sequence? While I knew I was being a little daft with this one, certainly self indulgent, it gave me an interesting way to approach finding stories that really felt like it paid off in finding some great folklore. Even now, after some years at this point, there is an endless variety of stories to be found out there!
The next episode, possibly two, will be about Derby and wider Derbyshire. I enjoyed a staycation there over the summer with my partner, in large part because of how reputedly haunted the area is, and I came away with some interesting books to use as primary sources. From there? Who knows! Although Halloween IS looming ever closer, then after that Krampusnacht, so I need to see if I can find even more stories from my spookiest times of the year to share...
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Goodbye for now.
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