Introduction – Why swords?
Is there anything in the armories of fantasy and science fiction more iconic than a sword?
While the bow and the spear are technically more dependable weapons of violence from man’s past, the sword is versatile in ways these are not: it is a tool which is uniquely personal as it must be used at close range to be effective, whereas the spear and the bow offer the wielder safety and distance from their enemy. The sword exists as a weapon of last resort; however, it is also a tool whose dimensions have grown to Archetype-level scope.
This series from The Comics Classroom will explore the iconic power of the sword, its mythological dimensions across comics, the unique ways it is utilized by warriors and smiths, and how this symbol continues to endure in the hands of so many heroes and villains.
I was fortunate enough to have presented a topic about this very same subject in 2011 at the SGMS Conference in Minneapolis. One of the things I faced then, as well as one of the things I face now, is this: everybody knows the sword is a tool which helps the character who wields it to achieve their ends.
The sword is an extension of the character’s will. Easy enough stuff to process. It was why Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber in Star Wars was blue (then, green in Jedi) while Vader’s was red. The colors helped personify the ‘tone’ of the characters in a way their physical bodies could not. Sure, Vader was jet black and armored, but his red saber highlighted the fearsome power he wielded in the Dark Side. It was a color choice for a weapon which really, really hit home why the sword is a great storytelling device, because it can embody non-physical elements in a clear way. A villain whose sword is fiery and red has a tool which is aggressive and dangerous, but a hero with a red sword might be passionate and (pardon the pun) heroic.
But what else can these weapons represent? Can they come to represent ideas and concepts beyond the physical? What else can swords showcase for artists and storytellers? That is what I hope to explore in this article series and I hope to do so across a series of comic materials both eastern and western. From the comics of Marvel to the manga of Japan, let us venture together into the sword-verse and look for the exciting things these bladed weapons can teach us about ourselves.
Part 1 – Claíomh Solais and ‘42’s Shining Knight: The Sword as Restoration
Perhaps no weapon bears the moniker of “most famous magical sword you will ever hear about” to the West like Excalibur, the sword upon whose blade a great amount of Arthurian lore is based. The exact nature of Excalibur changes depending on which version of Arthurian lore you decide to pick up (The Once And Future King, while extremely recent as far as Arthurian tales go, is great and I encourage anyone who has the time to read it. If you like you can then level up to Le Morte D’Arthur!), but certain elements remain the same:
—The sword exists as a mystic tool to help restore civilization which was corrupted/conquered—
—The sword comes into possession of the hero, typically, through a member of the opposite sex; often, the sword-giver is female—
There are many stories in mythology about mystical priestesses who bequeath sacred weapons to men and the stories behind Excalibur is one such tale. Among the variations on the legend, one explains how the character called Viviane comes to learn magic from the wizard Merlin and then imprisons him within a magical forest. Merlin so loved Viviane that he allowed her to learn the very spells she would later use upon him.
This knowledge will be important to understanding one aspect of the DC Comic character Shining Knight’s rich mythological history, and thus his magical sword. Shining Knight, i.e.: Sir Justin, was a character created in 1941 by Creig Flessel. Justin’s origin story revolves around avenging the death of a fellow knight, Sir Fallon, and his hunting down of the man’s killer – the ogre Blunderbore. The idea of a bestial creature preying on holy knights speaks to the nature of many early Romantic stories where a person must step into the domain of the enchanted world and experience its dangers.
Sir Justin’s quest to prevent other knights from being terrorized certainly speaks to the idea that he intended to extend the law and justice of the Round Table to the far north and execute Fallon’s monstrous killer. But, as Justin set out, his weapon was not yet magical.
Justin gaining his enchanted sword occurs when he frees Merlin from his imprisonment in a set of haunted woods after he had been imprisoned there by a witch. The idea of Merlin being imprisoned at the hands of a witch bears elements from the story of Viviane, even if Flessel did not copy this aspect of the story directly.
Still, the idea of the powerful Merlin being freed at the right time and place by Justin cannot happen without a magical woman being the catalyst for such events to occur in the first place, a bit of a stretch, but one which seems rooted in one of the original Merlin stories. While DC Comics may not have intrinsically been trying to incorporate Merlin’s history with Viviane into the story of Shining Knight, his relationship with her is one of the most fascinating, albeit it a less discussed, piece of Arthurian lore.
For having freed Merlin out of the witch/Viviane’s imprisonment, Sir Justin’s sword becomes enchanted by Merlin to be capable of cleaving through almost any known substance. With his weapon at his side Justin is able to defeat Blunderbore; however, this victory results in his being frozen in ice after an avalanche which results in his being awakened in our time. Justin puts his sword, an extension of his oath taken as a Knight of the Round Table, to work helping his new world.
Given that Shining Knight first appeared in 1941, he was a character with a similar background as Captain America albeit one with a more magical heritage. While Justin’s sword is not named, it does serve as an extension of Justin’s character and his role for having been created in the 40s: to show heroes who fought against criminals who sought to bring chaos and war to the world.
While Justin’s sword is not Excalibur (a sword we will examine more in Part 2), it is indicative of the sword Claíomh Solais, one of the weapons upon which Excalibur was based. What is most fascinating is how one tends to acquire such a weapon, a sword which means ‘Sword of Light’ in the Irish language. Justin’s quest to find the killer of Fallon shows his purity of heart was strong enough to take him to the ends of the world, a place removed from normal society.
His enemy was not human but a giant. Justin was aided by a magical being whom he feed from imprisonment. Justin completes a quest of tasks comparable to those who were supposedly able to wield Claíomh Solais. While the stories tend of often also involve as magical woman, as mentioned, Flessel’s use of the imprisoned Merlin tangentially references one of the most powerful female wizards in myth, just not as directly as Irish myths. While a stretch to be sure, Justin’s accomplishment of tasks and challenges makes him worthy of his mighty blade and the responsibility he accepts when he puts it to use against the Axis.
Justin and his adventures harkens to older, pre-King stories, the kind like those told about Nuada Airgetlam and Cú Chulainn. While out comic history might be a post-modern art, our love of heroes who battle monsters with magical weapons is one we have been telling since we could first write and certainly before even that. What does it mean to ‘restore’ through the sword? Often it means writing wrongs and avenging those who are downtrodden by tyrants.
Swords of Restoration, like Excalibur, the sword of Shining Knight, or Claíomh Solais are tools picked up by those who have the strength of heart and body to fight for something. Often ancient heroes, or even romantic ones, fight to keep their lands or kingdom safe, to restore law and order in the places where it has begun to shatter or be defiled.
This wraps up Part 1 of this article series, but we are not done with the examination of Shining Knight and Restoration Swords. There is still much to be said about blades which embody Restoration as we explore the second incarnation of Shining Knight!