Heroes Prefer Swords: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''I'm pretty sure I'll be the main character. The people with swords usually are.''|'''[[Luke Nounverber|Lance Swordfighter]]''', ''[http://www.goldcoincomics.com Gold Coin Comics]''}}
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=== [[MMORPGs]] ===
* ''[[Guild Wars]]''
** Of the ten professions in , only Warriors have any sword-based attributes or
** Devona, one of the four NPC heroes featured in the first campaign, is typically shown in official artwork with a sword... in the game however, her preferred weapon is a hammer. A ''large'' one. In fact, of all the major NPCs in all three campaigns, only Prince Rurik wields a sword.
** Two heroes, Koss from ''Nightfall'' and Jora from ''Eye of the North'', default to using swords, although you can change their weapons.
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=== Role Playing Game ===
* Mario, in the ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' [[RPG
* Senel of ''[[Tales of Legendia]]'' fights with his fists, making him the only main character in the ''Tales'' series to dodge this trope.
** Jude from '[[Tales of Xillia]]'' likewise, uses his fists.
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** If you're going for "but he can use this too" then about half of the protagonists in the Tales series fits in that category. Cless and Stahn can both use halberd or axe-like weapons. More than 80% of the time though, they are probably going to be using swords.
* Averted in ''[[Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne]]'', where the Demi-Fiend fights with no weapons other than his own fists. In the first two games, anyone could use the weapon they wanted: knives, hammers, a lotus wand, the Longinus Spear... as long as it didn't require a specific alignment or gender (Yes, only women can use whips).
* Every main character in the first four ''[[Wild Arms]]'' games uses guns. In fact, most characters tend to use some form of firearm as a result of the series' Wild West theme. While sword-users do
** However, note that while Ashley Winchester of ''[[Wild Arms 2]]'' technically carries a firearm, he only ''uses'' it as one during [[Limit Break
** Rudy Roughnight of the first game is also a bit of an odd case: presumably because every RPG protagonist did so at the time, he used a sword in the original, and only whipped out his gun for his skills. The remake changed it to using his gun for normal attacks as well, in the same manner as ''[[Wild Arms 3]]'', which makes much more sense for his character.
** And the main in ''[[Wild Arms 4]]'' is only a partial exception in a different manner; he uses a [[Morph Weapon|shapeshifting gun]] that takes whatever form is most appropriate for the task at
** ''[[Wild ARMs 5]]'' manages to avert this completely by giving its main character a pair of handguns with tonfas on the handles for melee combat. The only one who uses a sword is the [[White Magician Girl]].
** ''[[Wild Arms 3]]'' would be the king of subverter as it gives the ENTIRE character roster guns. And the main character is a female.
** Played straight with [[Manipulative Bastard]] Janus Cascade. Starts out by having a gun/sword hybrid as long as he is tall, and is able to draw it as quickly as Virginia can with her tiny revolvers. Later, his [[One-Winged Angel]] mode uses a very large spear instead.
* ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' has a lot of characters who [[Final Fantasy IV|are]] [[Final Fantasy VII|straight]] [[Final Fantasy X|examples]], but a lot of others who aren't:
** Zidane in ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]'' uses knives, although he also has the option of using [[Double Weapon|double-bladed lances]]
** ''[[Final Fantasy X-2]]''. Yuna starts out with guns (and wielded a staff in the previous game). She still has the option of wielding a sword but will go back to her guns during cutscenes and on the overland map.
** In ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'', your characters lack preset main weapons and can learn to use a wide variety of melee and ranged weapons. Standard swords are a versatile but otherwise fairly generic set of weapons, much like in the real world. Yet, even here, the main character's starting weapon is a sword. Also, the main antagonist only uses a sword in certain cutscenes. His main offense is his fists.
** The installments that use the [[Class and Level System|job system]] both avert this and play it straight occasionally. While it is possible for [[Final Fantasy V|Bartz]] or [[Final Fantasy Tactics|Ramza]] to use jobs that do not use swords, they have swords as an initial equip.
* ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'' is unusual in that it's a high fantasy game setting with only two swords in the entire ''game''
** Considering even that one sword cannot be used as a sword and has to be "converted" to another weapon before the protagonist can wield it, this would count as an aversion...except that the ''other'' big weapons in the game were truly massive and often rather phallic. Long hard pole with a massive head on the end? It's a sledgehammer, of course.
* Yuri Hyuga of ''[[Shadow Hearts]]'', as befits his street-brawler personality, fights with his fists. The game's sword-wielder, Keith, doesn't appear until past the halfway point, and he uses a rapier as opposed to the standard flat blade.
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** Worth noting is that right before Serge obtains [[Infinity+1 Sword|the Masamune]] it turns into the Mastermune, a swallow. This is the closest Serge ever comes to touching a sword.
* In ''[[Earthbound]]'', most weapons are items such as [[Improbable Weapon User|baseball bats, slingshots]], [[Killer Yoyo|yo-yos]], and lasers, for the [[Mad Scientist]] in the group. In fact, there's only one sword in the game, and it's the [[Infinity+1 Sword]] to boot. And its not used by the resident hero Ness.
** This applies to all three of the games in the MOTHER
* In the original ''[[Breath of Fire]]'', Ryu could equip boomerangs, instead of swords. They were slightly weaker than his swords, but made up for that by hitting multiple enemies. In fact, his [[Infinity+1 Sword|Infinity + 1 weapon]] is the Tri-Rang, which hits every enemy onscreen, instead of just those in the weapon's arc.
* ''[[Seiken Densetsu 3]]'' has six different characters for you to select as your main character. While each could potentially be the hero of the story, many fans favor Duran simply because he's the only one who wields a sword as his weapon.
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* Yuuto Kannagi (known as York Neely in the U.S. version) of ''[[Cross Edge]]'' uses guns. Apparently his father taught him jujitsu but he deemed that obsolete and instead went with science and the forces of firepower, so he probably would end up avoiding swords anyways.
* ''[[Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana]]'' is interesting in that not only does the protagonist, Klein, not use a sword (he uses maces and staves), he's both a mage-type ''and'' your party's primary healer.
* Hilbert, the protagonist of ''[[Last Scenario]]'' uses a bow. In fact, for most of the game, the entire party consists of non-sword-users. The work consistently ignores a number of weapon
* ''[[Mega Man Battle Network]]'' - Mega Man's default weapon is still his arm cannon. And while sword chips do exist, shot chips are still quite good.
* ''[[Mega Man X Command Mission]]'' has the hero X wielding an [[Arm Cannon]]. [[The Lancer]], Zero, is the one who uses a [[Laser Blade]].
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== Non-video game exceptions
=== Anime and Manga ===
* In ''[[Black Cat (manga)|Black Cat]]'', most of the cast uses a variety of realistic to fanciful guns. The only major exception is the villain, Creed, who channels Sephiroth's appearance almost completely, including a very similar sword.
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* In [[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]], Kamina uses a sword. But he's not the main character, even though that's not readily obvious until the second story arc. His apparent sidekick Simon is really [[The Hero]], and his weapon of choice is a drill.
* ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'''s Spike wields a gun, in contrast to [[Knife Nut|Vicious's]] [[Up to Eleven|katana]]
* Though swords later became a staple weapon for many [[Super Robot
** It was it the next [[Humongous Mecha]] from the trilogy, ''[[Great Mazinger]]'', who introduced the staple in mecha shows. This trope was followed by shows such like [[Voltes V]], [[Mobile Suit Gundam]] (although it used energy weapons), [[GoLion]] or [[Panzer World Galiant]]. Some [[Humongous Mecha]] avert the trope are: ''[[UFO Robo Grendizer]]'' (double-headed scythe), ''[[Getter Robo]]'' (axes, drills or missiles), ''[[Kotetsu Jeeg]]'' (drills, chainsaws, missile launchers...) ''[[Combattler V]]'' (swords is maybe the only weapon it has NOT), ''[[Daimos]]'' (who preffers to use its fists. It also uses daggers and nunchakus), ''[[Daitarn 3]]'' (a trident), [[Gunbuster]] (it uses axes, even though they are not used in the show), [[GaoGaiGar]] (a hammer)...
* [[Ushio and Tora]] averts this with the protagonist being a spear-wielder.
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=== Literature ===
* Literary exception: In the ''[[The Dark Tower]]'' series by Stephen King, guns are the most respected weapons in the world, and
* Averted with ancient Indian mythology, where the standard heroic weapon is the bow. In ''[[Ramayana|The Ramayana]]'', both Rama ([[The Hero]]) and his brother Lakshmana ([[The Lancer]]) are archers. Ditto Arjuna of ''[[The Mahabharata]]'' (famous in the west for his role in ''[[Bhagavad Gita|The Bhagavad Gita]]'').
* Funnily [[Deconstructed]] ''and'' [[Reconstructed Trope|reconstructed]] in the ''[[Inheritance Cycle]]''. The dragon riders have swords made of [[Thunderbolt Iron]]. They are way superior to any other weapons, so it makes sense to always use them. But the smith make a long lecture lampshading how stupid it is, always using the same sword. Even if you may have a favorite weapon, using the same regardless of the kind of battle is far from optimal.
* Fitz, hero of parts of [[Robin Hobb]]'s ''[[Realm of the Elderlings]]'' sequence, uses swords when he must but is only decent with them. He much ''prefers'' battleaxes, with which he is devastating.
* In [[Harry Harrison]]'s Deathworld 3, Jason states he can kill a man with a single strike of a knife, with a hand tied behind his back, no matter how the man is armed, even with a sword. Subverted, since Jason is aware he has little chance against a spear or a club. Fortunately, the referees take the bait, and arm the opponent with a sword.
* The [[Night Lords|Night Lord]] Talos provides a potential subversion of an inversion the concept: although he and his legion are [[Villain Protagonist
* In the "Dunk and Egg" short stories of ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'', Dunk prefers axes and maces to his sword, apparently because his strength plays a bigger part in their use.
* ''[[The Iliad]]'' portrays the heroes prefering their spears and resorting to their swords only as backup. Several heroes are better known for their archery than hand-to-hand fighting.
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