Excalibur in the Rust: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

If it appears in a videogame, it may be a [[Lethal Joke Item]], especially if it's originally listed as "[[Elemental Crafting|Rusty Iron]] Sword" or similar.

 

 

== Anime & Manga ==

* In the hands of anyone except ''[[Inuyasha]]'', Tessaiga looks like a katana that has seen better days. It's also quite dull, though it's still almost indestructible. When InuYasha weilds it, the blade takes its [[BFS|true form]].

** This trope is also inverted near the beginning of the series when Guiche hands Saito a large, bejeweled sword. Saito can't activate his inner strength because the sword is purely ornamental and not actually meant to be used as a weapon.

* ''[[Bleach]]'': Most [[Empathic Weapon|zanpakutou]] look utterly ordinary when sealed only revealing a special look when they release their powers. The two zanpakutou that exist in permanent shikai form also fit this trope. Ichigo's zanpakutou looks half-finished, missing both a hilt and a cross-guard. It's generated comments from others who think completed swords look far better. {{spoiler|It gains a completed form much later in the manga.}} Kenpachi's sword looks chipped and damaged but it can cut anything.

* In ''[[Slayers]]'', Gourry wields a normal looking sword that suited him just fine. But if he were to take off the hilt he can turn it into The Sword of Light.

* In a [[Field of Blades]] in ''[[King of Bandit Jing]]'', each claiming to be [[Stock Weapon Names|Excalibur]], Jing finds that the ''real'' [[Excalibur]] is not a worn sword but a key to the resident [[Humongous Mecha]].

 

 

== Fan Fiction ==

 

 

* Fyodor in ''[[Forgotten Realms|Starlight And Shadows]]'' trilogy has a [[BFS|two-handed sword, clearly too heavy]]... and ''blunt''. Far too many people didn't thought it's serious until they learned a few little details: first, it's enchanted and is sharp enough for any purpose except "friendly fire". Second, while most people can lift it with a visible effort, and that's all, the owner is built like a smith and always carries the damn thing with him, so ''he'' can use the ugly piece of metal. Third, this lad is [[The Berserker]], so when in rage he swings it with enough strength to crash a minor golem and enough speed to hit a superhumanly fast drow fencer.

* In ''Oathbreakers'', of the ''[[Heralds of Valdemar]]'' series, the long-lost Singing Sword of Rethwellan that is used to identify the country's rightful king is discovered to be none other than a rusty, dirty old sword that Kethry picked up along the wayside.

 

 

== Live Action TV ==

* [[Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger|Commander Kruger]] carries around an old sword that looks chipped and battered - but when he [[Let's Get Dangerous|gets dangerous]] for the first time, it does too, transforming into a much more impressive blade.

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* The Templars' swords in ''[[Deadlands]]: Hell on Earth'' are their iconic weapons and often relic or magically empowered. Physically, they are whatever kind of sword you can scavenge in a [[After the End|post-apocalyptic]] world, most often stolen from ruined museums.

 

== Video Games ==

** A sidequest during the [[Easing Into the Adventure|prologue]] has you retrieving a broken heirloom sword for a villager named Jhonen (no, not '''that''' [[Jhonen Vasquez|Jhonen]]). In the last chapter, if you did this quest, you can talk to him again to find out that the sword magically reforged itself sometime while you were off doing the [[Buffy-Speak|adventury]] thing. Not being a fighter himself, he's only too happy to hand over the rather nice [[Infinity+1 Sword|Reforged Sword of Aihonen]] to help you out against the [[Big Bad]]. And it doesn't stop there, either - if you bring it with you into [[Expansion Pack|Heart of Winter]], about halfway through you meet an NPC who will upgrade it even further.

* ''[[Dragon Quest IX]]'' features the Rusty equipment, the first piece of which you're likely to find is the Rusty Sword towards the end of the game. It's not much use at first, but add a little glass powder and some [[Unobtainium]] (Orichalcum, in this case) and you get the third best sword in the game. And then the rest of the equipment is also the third best of its type in the game. It is very difficult [[Guide Dang It|to find anything other than the sword.]]

* ''[[Glory of Heracles]]'' often hands you Rusty items. These are useless until you visit a Polisher, who scours the rust off. Usually you get pretty decent gear out of it. Sometimes subverted in that the rust is so far gone all you get is Scrap Iron.

* In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' one of the most powerful knives in the game when it was introduced looked exactly like a [[Grievous Bottley Harm|small broken bottle]]. There are also a few magical maces that just look like unadorned bones.

* Dark Souls starts you out with a broken sword hilt. It deals pitiful damage and you get a better weapon nearly immediately, but if you hang on to it and forge it with a particular boss soul, it becomes one of the most powerful weapons in the game. Demon's Souls featured a similar weapon constructed from an equally useless sword hilt.

* In ''[[Golden Sun]]: The Lost Age'', you can find rusty weapons in certain patches of shallow water in the ocean as soon as you get the ship. If you take these to Sunshine the Blacksmith, he will agree to fix them up, resulting in weapons that are reasonably good for that part of the game.

{{reflist}}

[[Category:More Than Meets the Eye]]

[[Category:Excalibur in the Rust]]