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Book of Swords

 Book of Swords
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TVTItem
 Book of Swords
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Book of Swords
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BookOfSwords
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A series of fantasy novels written by Fred Saberhagen between 1984 and 1999. A distant sequel to his Empire of the East trilogy. The novels are as follows:
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Dropped link to PoisonedWeapons: Not a Feature - ITEM
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DBTropes
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type
Flaming Sword
 Book of Swords / int_10dafb12
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Flaming Sword: Vilkata's demonic eyesight presents the Mindsword as a spear of fire.
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Evil Versus Evil
 Book of Swords / int_1645005b
comment
Evil Versus Evil: Yambu, the Silver Queen, is the Big Bad of the first two books. Then Vilkata, the Dark King, shows up in the third book, and Yambu makes an alliance with her former enemies against him.
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Virgin Sacrifice
 Book of Swords / int_174b85df
comment
Virgin Sacrifice: Baron Doon attempts to do this out of desperation when cornered by a demon, but thankfully he's interrupted before he can go through with it. Kristin, meanwhile, uses her own virginity for a different sort of sacrifice in a situation that's almost as bad.
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Weapon of X-Slaying
 Book of Swords / int_17d5e071
comment
Weapon of X-Slaying: Dragonslicer exists to bring dragons down, and can slice through their scales, flesh and bones with ease.
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The Metric System Is Here to Stay
 Book of Swords / int_18867e79
comment
The Metric System Is Here to Stay : The Swords are described, in a setting fifty millennia and change in the future, as "a full meter of god-forged steel".
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Deal with the Devil
 Book of Swords / int_1fc8335e
comment
Deal with the Devil: Vilkata cuts out his own eyes as a sacrifice in order to curse an enemy. Thereafter, various demons provide vision for him. Vilkata throws his pet demons a bone every now and then in fresh human flesh to torture.
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Only Sane Man
 Book of Swords / int_24321e44
comment
Only Sane Man: Apollo seems to be this, at least part of the time, for the gods. He's the only one who seems be trying to make a real effort to convince the rest to abandon the game they've been playing and just get rid of the swords once it's clear that the swords can actually kill them.
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 Book of Swords / int_31d6fd00
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Legend Fades to Myth
 Book of Swords / int_31d6fd00
comment
Legend Fades to Myth: By the time the series takes place, the people only have very vague stories of what actually happened in Empire of the East.
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After the End
 Book of Swords / int_334e48a1
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After the End: The novels are set around 50,000 years after a nuclear apocalypse destroyed our civilization sometime in our Third Millennium. Among other things, demons were created by nuclear explosions.
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Heart Is an Awesome Power
 Book of Swords / int_3496b29a
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Heart Is an Awesome Power: The power of the human heart combined with Woundhealer destroys Shieldbreaker.
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Fourth-Date Marriage
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Fourth-Date Marriage: Mark and Kristin, courtesy of being simultaneously Impaled with Extreme Prejudice by Woundhealer. The actual marriage is delayed a bit, though, until Mark becomes a Suddenly Suitable Suitor.
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Rapid Aging
 Book of Swords / int_3687d605
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Rapid Aging: When Soulcutter is drawn it causes its wielder to age at a highly accelerated rate.
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Artifact of Doom
 Book of Swords / int_3b5fcbb7
comment
Artifact of Doom: The whole purpose of Soulcutter, and the other swords have traits of this. Mark in particular has a few choice things to say about Townsaver shortly after he gets it.
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 Book of Swords / int_3c3f28a5
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Blessed with Suck
 Book of Swords / int_3c3f28a5
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Blessed with Suck: Most people who get one of these swords. Sure, they are awesome, but they have cons and so many other people want to take it away from you.
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 Book of Swords / int_3fca462c
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Deus ex Machina
 Book of Swords / int_3fca462c
comment
Deus ex Machina: Swords just randomly appear in the weirdest places... which, since the whole thing is a game run by the gods anyway, makes a fair bit of sense. This is also explicitly Coinspinner's stated power — it does not like being tied to any one owner, and will take any chance it has to vanish from their possession and reappear randomly elsewhere in the world.
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Blatant Lies
 Book of Swords / int_40bb59d0
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Blatant Lies: The name of the country of Tasavalta literally means "republic" in Finnish. Tasavalta is a hereditary monarchy, the exact opposite of a republic.
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Gold Fever
 Book of Swords / int_4a2059bf
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Gold Fever: One of the barriers to success in robbing the Blue Temple. It causes several soldiers turned thieves Mark was working with to stupidly murder an ally before he can show them the way out, even though there was plenty of treasure there for all of them.
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Gods Need Prayer Badly
 Book of Swords / int_4c782fb9
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Gods Need Prayer Badly: The gods are birthed and sustained from human reverence and belief. As a result of changing human opinions about them, the gods start to actually change.
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Clap Your Hands If You Believe
 Book of Swords / int_4dbd3706
comment
Clap Your Hands If You Believe: The source of the Gods' power, much to their surprise. Humanity's beliefs change so much that the third of the original books ends with Vulcan dying from exposure on the same mountain he had no trouble forging the swords on at the start of the series.
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Dual Wielding
 Book of Swords / int_50d71a78
comment
Dual Wielding: Difficult for most people to do with Swords. Causes intense nausea, but some people can handle it. However, the major drawback is that this significantly amplifies the stamina drain of wielding just one Sword, causing even people that can pull it off to tire very quickly. Dual-wielding Swords can have its advantages if the powers complement each other. For instance, dual wielding Shieldbreaker and Soulcutter prevents one from being affected by Soulcutter's life-draining power.
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 Book of Swords / int_50ed1af4
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Our Demons Are Different
 Book of Swords / int_50ed1af4
comment
Our Demons Are Different: These ones were somehow formed from nuclear explosions and for Shieldbreaker's purposes every demon counts as a weapon.
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Throwing Your Sword Always Works
 Book of Swords / int_519f108a
comment
Throwing Your Sword Always Works: This is Farslayer's power, and we mean it always works. Even if the target is halfway around the world, underground, defended by powerful magic, and one of the Gods. The difficulty being that it's not Mjölnir, it doesn't come back and it has no particular loyalty to the thrower. Once thrown, the magical sniper sword is now sitting in your enemy's camp and through your enemy's heart, yes, but also in easy reach of any of his allies or grief-stricken family members with a motive to avenge their fallen loved one.
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Bookends
 Book of Swords / int_5313c266
comment
Book Ends: The main story begins and ends with Vulcan crawling along the same mountainside looking for fire.
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Unbreakable Weapons
 Book of Swords / int_5678cbfc
comment
Unbreakable Weapons: The Swords are invulnerable to everything except each other. This means that even when their powers aren't useful to the current situation, they're still a good weapon to have in hand (among other things, being invulnerable means not only that they can't be broken, but they don't lose their edge - staying sharp forever).
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Treacherous Spirit Chase
 Book of Swords / int_578a2681
comment
Treacherous Spirit Chase: In Woundhealer's Story, one of the main characters keeps seeing tantalizing hints of a specific girl he vaguely recognizes. Every time he comes across evidence of her, it mysteriously turns into a mundane material that has reason to be there already. Hair caught in a rough bush turns to spiderweb in his hands, fabric turns to moss, etc, and each time he is drawn further into the forest. Only after he's magically paralyzed by an enemy does he realize the entire thing had been an evil enchantment designed to lure him there.
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No Honor Among Thieves
 Book of Swords / int_5937a87c
comment
No Honor Among Thieves: The Seventh Seal of Benambra's Gold — the greed of thieves. Once the party reaches the vault, they all turn on each other over the gold, despite there being more than all of them combined could possibly take. Mark and Ben (Who take all the Swords they find and what cash they can conveniently carry without bickering over individual pieces of treasure) are the only ones to make it out alive.
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 Book of Swords / int_5ac34441
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Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp"
 Book of Swords / int_5ac34441
comment
Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Ridingbeasts, woolbeasts, milkbeasts, etc. Are they horses/sheep/cows?
 Book of Swords / int_5ac34441
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 Book of Swords / int_5ba5a470
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Here There Were Dragons
 Book of Swords / int_5ba5a470
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Here There Were Dragons: By the end of the series, Dragonslicer has proven so effective at killing dragons that it has almost made itself obsolete.
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Crippling Overspecialization
 Book of Swords / int_5ef65aea
comment
Cons: Against anything not made of stone or earth, it's just a very well-crafted sword.
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 Book of Swords / int_5f60b45a
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In Harm's Way
 Book of Swords / int_5f60b45a
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Cons: Wayfinder picks the swiftest path... but the swiftest is not the safest. In fact, it seems to deliberately choose the worst and riskiest way possible to get there.
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 Book of Swords / int_60f37373
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Attack Reflector
 Book of Swords / int_60f37373
comment
Attack Reflector: Doomgiver. It understands the attacker's intent and will reflect any threat. A dropped boulder? Doomgiver will send it flying right back up to hit the dropper, even if it has to turn corners. A demon threatens to turn your body inside out, eat you, and digest you for a million years? We'll just say that being turned inside out and forced into your own stomach is not comfortable. A succubus tries to make you fall in love with her? She falls in love with you. A few Gods are planning to deprive you of your Sword? They lose theirs.
 Book of Swords / int_60f37373
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Lost Technology
 Book of Swords / int_6114a875
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Lost Technology: Earth, 50,000 years in the future. Technology is replaced by magic. Nuclear explosions have become demons. ARDNEH = God = a computer program designed by the United States.
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Critical Existence Failure
 Book of Swords / int_64f0c18c
comment
Cons: Besides that last bit, Townsaver does nothing to protect its bearer. It will even place its bearer between an attack and the people he's protecting. As with Shieldbreaker, the user is also compelled to finish a battle once entered, and will ignore any wound other than a killing blow. With all of this, it's not uncommon for the wielder to draw it, fight off an army single-handedly, and then instantly die of exhaustion or their wounds once the battle is over.
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 Book of Swords / int_6add177d
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Puff of Logic
 Book of Swords / int_6add177d
comment
Puff of Logic: This is how Shieldbreaker is destroyed. The main character is stabbed by Shieldbreaker while Woundhealer is jammed through his heart. Shieldbreaker doesn't regard Woundhealer as a weapon since it's a Healing Shiv, but he grabs at Shieldbreaker as he's hit, so he is armed — with Shieldbreaker. And Shieldbreaker destroys any weapon its target is armed with.
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Ultimate Blacksmith
 Book of Swords / int_6dc10d3a
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Ultimate Blacksmith: Vulcan, who made the Swords. Played with, however, in that he could only do it once and came to forget how he did it.
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Naked First Impression
 Book of Swords / int_735b3587
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Naked First Impression: Mark's first encounter with Kristin. Given the circumstances—that they were in the middle of an enemy camp, that Mark needed all of his willpower even with Sightblinder not to give in to the Mindsword, and that Kristin was going to be tortured to death if he didn't get her out quickly — Mark paid hardly any attention to her nudity, save for grabbing an extra cloak on the way out.
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Jerkass Gods
 Book of Swords / int_73f7975f
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Jerkass Gods: At their nicest the gods are often meddlesome and serious effort has to be made to get their attention to do something nice. At their worst they can be incredibly petty and cruel, and they're always scheming against each other.
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Healing Shiv
 Book of Swords / int_7789df57
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Healing Shiv: Woundhealer's power is to heal any injury short of death, including inborn physical and mental disabilities, in anyone cut by its blade. At one point someone rams it through his own heart and jumps off a cliff to escape.
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Clingy MacGuffin
 Book of Swords / int_77e8d49d
comment
Clingy MacGuffin: Once the battle starts, the wielder of Shieldbreaker cannot let it go. And it can only harm armed opponents. So, one man can take on an army of soldiers armed to the teeth, demons, even the Gods themselves, but don't let the unarmed man get a stranglehold. Townsaver and Dragonslicer exhibit similar clinginess to a slightly lesser degree.
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Stout Strength
 Book of Swords / int_79503ae9
comment
Stout Strength: Ben, one of the main characters, is a tall, broad guy with a stupid-looking face. If he's wearing something that shows his general outline, he looks fat, and his arms and legs are so thick in proportion to their length they look stubby. Almost none of it is fat, though; Ben is much, much stronger than carnival strongmen, and gifted with above-average intelligence to boot.
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 Book of Swords / int_7a98f156
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Kill It Through Its Stomach
 Book of Swords / int_7a98f156
comment
Kill It Through Its Stomach: In Woundhealer's Story, an enormous dragon swallows Zoltan whole. Fortunately, Zoltan has Dragonslicer with him, and is able to cut his way out with it.
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Too Awesome to Use
 Book of Swords / int_7d561d58
comment
Too Awesome to Use: Soulcutter in particular has an extreme life-draining effect on everyone nearby, including the wielder. As such it's often used only as a last resort. Likewise Doomgiver can repel any and all attacks (except from Shieldbreaker), yet is destroyed early on in the series so its full might is rarely used.
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Large Ham
 Book of Swords / int_823c6e3e
comment
Large Ham: A Large Ham? Hahaha! Ask the mighty Mars, the War God, and none other, why this trope appears here! And gods and demons, Baron Doon as well, who will defy all the gods to be named the true god of ham! Kneel down and acknowledge him now, demons blast you, or he'll spit you on the end of a meter of god-forged steel, which is doubly magic!
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 Book of Swords / int_8409a385
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Exactly What It Says on the Tin
 Book of Swords / int_8409a385
comment
Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The names of the swords are usually pretty clear about what the sword will do, though Soulcutter's power is a mystery for a while and given its ominous name and appearance Queen Yambu is understandably hesitant to draw it until she absolutely needs to.
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 Book of Swords / int_86b21114
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Badass Boast
 Book of Swords / int_86b21114
comment
Badass Boast: Shieldbreaker's verse in the Song of Swords, the only one from a Sword's own perspective, boasts of its ability to destroy any foe or weapon raised against it.
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Holding Back the Phlebotinum
 Book of Swords / int_87f943a7
comment
Holding Back the Phlebotinum: Doomgiver renders its user practically invulnerable to anyone or anything not called Shieldbreaker, but the characters who get it rarely seem to realize how useful it is.
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Big Bad
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comment
Big Bad: Several — Vilkata and Yambu in the first trilogy, the immortal wizard Wood for most of the Lost Swords iterations.
 Book of Swords / int_970c790a
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Sword of Plot Advancement
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comment
Sword of Plot Advancement: All of the Twelve Swords, even in-universe. They were made by the Gods to facilitate the Game.
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Crippling Overspecialization
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comment
Crippling Overspecialization: Several of the Swords fall under this: Stonecutter, which can slice through stone as though it were butter, but has no other powers. Dragonslicer, which can kill dragons. Since pretty much all dragons have been killed by the end of series, the Sword of Heroes is out of a job. Wayfinder is a lesser example as it can be used to find almost anything, but its use tends to be a matter of risk/reward consideration. Shieldbreaker, although it's not obvious at first because "beats any other weapon" seems at a glance to be unbelievably broad... but it forces the wielder to keep fighting, and is completely ineffective against anyone unarmed.
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Mermaid Problem
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comment
Mermaid Problem: Pops up, with sad results, in Farslayer's Story. A wizard is able to temporarily transform a mermaid(who are girls under a curse here) back into a human so he can sleep with her. Unfortunately the wizard is dead at the end of the book and the mermaid in question is now pregnant...
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One-Man Army
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comment
Pros: When defending unarmed people in a fixed position, Townsaver turns its bearer into a One-Man Army, striking with inhuman strength and speed, and keeps him from succumbing to his wounds until the end of battle.
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Forged by the Gods
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comment
Forged by the Gods: The titular Swords, crafted by the Smith God to sow discord among mortals for divine amusement.
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Infinity +1 Sword
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comment
Baron Doon, when he finds a cache of four swords. Given that it included both Doomgiver and Shieldbreaker, the Infinity Plus One Swords even among the twelve, he may have had a point.
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Cool Sword
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comment
Cool Sword: All twelve swords naturally qualify, with powers ranging from killing anyone anywhere in the world to cutting through stone like butter to instantly beating any other weapon, including the other swords.
 Book of Swords / int_a6275bef
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Book of Swords / int_a6275bef
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Rule of Seven
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comment
Rule of Seven: The seven sealings of Benambra's Gold. They are: The concealed location of the facility guarding it, the dragon guarding the gate, a maze, a garrison of guards, a magical barrier, a demon guarding the vault proper, and the greed of any thieves who make it that far causing them to turn upon themselves.
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Book of Swords / int_a6be3ad5
 Book of Swords / int_aa7dc8ce
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Luke Nounverber
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comment
Luke Nounverber: All of the Swords, with the exception of the Mindsword. Of course, its alternate name, "Skulltwister" does fit the pattern.
 Book of Swords / int_aa7dc8ce
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1.0
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Book of Swords / int_aa7dc8ce
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type
Catchphrase
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comment
Catchphrase: Whenever someone uses Farslayer, they recite the second line of its verse in the poem. Since the water sprite in Farslayer's Story simply threw it and it worked anyway to kill a demon, the catch phrase doesn't appear to be more than a tradition.
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Cycle of Revenge
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comment
Cycle of Revenge: Farslayer remains in the body of the last person it killed until somebody removes it, commonly a friend of the last victim, who then orders Farslayer to kill the person who threw it at their friend — and vague instructions to kill the party responsible without the wielder knowing their identity will suffice. One of his friends can then pick up Farslayer and send it back, and so on until one side runs out of vengeance-minded friends and family in the immediate vicinity.
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Emotion Bomb
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comment
Soulcutter is roughly as dangerous as a nuclear weapon that you have to detonate by hand, being an almost inescapably fatal Emotion Bomb.
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Treacherous Advisor
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comment
Treacherous Advisor: The Sword of Wisdom can guide its bearer to absolutely anything. But unless you remember to specify a safe path to your goal, it will always choose the most dangerous road that will lead to your ultimate destination. And even then, there's no guarantee you won't die immediately after getting there, and thus are no longer being guided to safety.
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type
Aerith and Bob
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comment
Aerith and Bob: The names of the main characters include ones like Mark, Ben on one hand and Vilkata and Yambu on the other.
 Book of Swords / int_b9d334b2
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type
Cool Mask
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comment
Cool Mask: The Emperor is said to wear masks from time to time.
 Book of Swords / int_bb067aba
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 Book of Swords / int_bec0417c
type
Happily Married
 Book of Swords / int_bec0417c
comment
Happily Married: Played straight and averted. Mark and Kristin are happily married, except when she is under the spell of the Mindsword. In the latter half of the series, Ben spends most of his time adventuring specifically to avoid his wife and child. Jord and Mala seem to get along well despite their marriage having been arranged without much input by them.
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Book of Swords / int_bec0417c
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Mutually Assured Destruction
 Book of Swords / int_c18d469b
comment
Mutually Assured Destruction: Soulcutter is roughly as dangerous as a nuclear weapon that you have to detonate by hand, being an almost inescapably fatal Emotion Bomb. Heavily implied to be the inevitable outcome when a conflict involves Farslayer: Going back and forth until there's no one left on either side to pick Farslayer up.
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Book of Swords / int_c18d469b
 Book of Swords / int_c335b9ec
type
Irony
 Book of Swords / int_c335b9ec
comment
Irony: The gods create the Swords and start the Game of Swords to amuse themselves at humanity's expense. However, the influence of the Swords on the world causes humanity to turn their focus away from the gods, bringing about their end.
 Book of Swords / int_c335b9ec
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Book of Swords / int_c335b9ec
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Thunderbolt Iron
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comment
Thunderbolt Iron: Vulcan used a highly magical form of this material as the first ingredient in all of the swords.
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Turned Against Their Masters
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comment
Turned Against Their Masters: The Swords work against the Gods, too. By the end of the third book, all the gods have either been killed, or faded away from lack of belief.
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Hoist by His Own Petard
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comment
Hoist by His Own Petard: Several times, most notably the gods getting brainwashed, cursed and/or killed by the swords they had Vulcan create.
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Refuge in Audacity
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comment
Cons: The bearer has no control over how he appears, and since he often appears to be something fearsome or wonderful, the Sword is not particularly stealthy; its wielder is better off trying to brazen it out.
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Our Dragons Are Different
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comment
Our Dragons Are Different: Their growth is actually a bit like tadpoles. They're almost completely impervious to regular weapons and incredibly dangerous, but someone armed with the Sword Dragonslicer can kill them with ease, something that has rendered them nearly extinct by the end of the series.
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Soul Jar
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comment
Soul Jar: Demon's hearts are tied to mundane objects. Farslayer can instinctively identify what they are and go for that rather than harmlessly impaling the demon's physical body, which could be a long way off.
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Intimate Healing
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comment
Intimate Healing: Kristin gives Mark her virginity in order to summon Aphrodite, in the hopes that the goddess can heal the poisoned wound Mark had received from the Mindsword. It works.
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Elaborate Underground Base
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comment
Elaborate Underground Base: The Blue Temple's underground vault complex.
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A God Am I
 Book of Swords / int_dc1761bd
comment
A God Am I: Anyone who uses the Mindsword. Its ability is to turn everyone within a couple hundred yards into mindlessly devoted slaves to the wielder. A few days with the hangers-on, and the wielder starts to believe the hype. Baron Doon, when he finds a cache of four swords. Given that it included both Doomgiver and Shieldbreaker, the Infinity Plus One Swords even among the twelve, he may have had a point.
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Reasonable Authority Figure
 Book of Swords / int_dca70c44
comment
Reasonable Authority Figure: Sir Andrew. He even has the word 'kind' usually added to his name. Unfortunately he's a relatively small fish surrounded by unpleasant and powerful nobles.
 Book of Swords / int_dca70c44
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Suddenly Suitable Suitor
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comment
Suddenly Suitable Suitor: Mark for Kristin, once the identity of his father is revealed.
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Absurdly Sharp Blade
 Book of Swords / int_e0c00a95
comment
Absurdly Sharp Blade: Several of the Swords inside their specialties and to a lesser degree outside of them, with the sole exception of Woundhealer, which is a Healing Shiv, and cannot harm a living creature. Bear in mind that Woundhealer is still very sharp, and will cut through non-living matter just fine.
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Last of His Kind
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comment
Last of His Kind: By the end of the last book, Woundhealer is the last Sword left.
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Determinator
 Book of Swords / int_e567510d
comment
Determinator: Baron Doon, who goes three rounds against Shieldbreaker by using sheer cussedness (and dropping his destroyed weapons before the Sword can finish the job). A man wielding Shieldbreaker or Townsaver in a battle literally cannot stop fighting so long as the conditions that activate the sword (an opponent to fight or an innocent to protect) hold true. Wielders of Townsaver have even ignored mortal wounds to keep fighting (and then drop dead moments after the battle ends).
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Exact Words
 Book of Swords / int_e9e35e8f
comment
Cons: "No weapon" can stand up to it, literally; Shieldbreaker can't harm unarmed opponents, or protect against unarmed attacks. Once drawn, Shieldbreaker can't be dropped when enemies are nearby, whom it will kill even if the user wants to show mercy. It also drains its wielder's stamina, eventually causing death by exhaustion, and making unarmed attacks even harder to stop. note On a number of occasions, this has resulted in clever wielders and opponents essentially playing a game of "Musical Swords" where the opponent of Shieldbreaker's wielder will drop their Sword, forcing Shieldbreaker's wielder to drop it to avoid this weakness, and both try to get the non-Shieldbreaker sword in hand when the other isn't close enough to Shieldbreaker to pick it up.
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The Almighty Dollar
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comment
The Almighty Dollar: The Blue Temple worships money and wealth.
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Anti-Climax
 Book of Swords / int_eeb4a5eb
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Anti-Climax: The main series (the first three books) spends the whole time building up and building up to a somewhat weak ending that ends more on a whimper.
 Book of Swords / int_eeb4a5eb
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 Book of Swords / int_ef2582c3
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Named Weapons
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comment
Named Weapons: The swords each have their own unique names.
 Book of Swords / int_ef2582c3
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 Book of Swords / int_f068cba
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Oddball in the Series
 Book of Swords / int_f068cba
comment
Oddball in the Series: Stonecutter's Story. Its a detective story with no connection to the larger plotlines of the Lost Swords series and with none of the regular characters.
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Dude, She's Like in a Coma
 Book of Swords / int_f604f64b
comment
Dude, She's Like in a Coma: Gender-flipped. Kristin has sex with Mark while he's unconscious with fever in order to summon Aphrodite and save him.
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Book of Swords

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

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I Call It "Vera" / int_88233763
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It Only Works Once / int_88233763
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 Book of Swords
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Throwing Your Sword Always Works / int_88233763
 Book of Swords
hasFeature
Torch the Franchise and Run / int_88233763
 Book of Swords
hasFeature
Treacherous Spirit Chase / int_88233763
 Book of Swords
hasFeature
Ultimate Blacksmith / int_88233763
 Book of Swords
hasFeature
Vibroweapon / int_88233763
 Book of Swords
hasFeature
Weapon of X-Slaying / int_88233763
 Book of Swords
hasFeature
Weapons Breaking Weapons / int_88233763
 Book of Swords
hasFeature
Wound That Will Not Heal / int_88233763