Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Difference between revisions

* Tetsuya Tsurugi from ''[[Mazinger Z]]'' and ''[[Great Mazinger]]'' sometimes uses his robot's sword like a spear (the first time he used that move was in his first appearance!). However, he holds it overhead like if it was a real spear when he does that, so it may seem more verosimile.

* Allen from ''[[D.Gray-man]]'' does this twice. One at Road, another with a Level 4, but that was more like summoning the sword to fly to him.

** Clare first does the spinning sort in the second chapter to take down a flying demon trying to escape, and that certainly isn't the last time. And considering all the other wacky sword techniques the series employs, this can get downright plausible in comparison.

** In one incident where Miata did this to save Clarice, the ramifications (the former promptly getting dogpiled by Yoma) were comparativly realistic. Of course the fact that Miata promptly tore them apart with her bare hands...

* An old classic, Disney's ''[[Sleeping Beauty]]'', features a sword-throw at the climax which may have inspired some of the others. This is how Prince Phillip kills Maleficent after she has transformed into a dragon. However, in this case the effectiveness of the attack is [[Justified Trope|justified]] by the magic Flora, one of the Fairy Godmothers, uses to enchant his sword so it would "Fly swift and sure, that Evil die and Good endure."

* In the [[Chuck Jones]] animated version of ''[[The Phantom Tollbooth]]'', Milo defeats the assembled demons by {{spoiler|throwing the Mathemagician's pencil like a javelin}}. This is even odder because the weapon in question didn't work by physical contact in the first place.

* ''[[9|Nine]]'': 8 manages to pull this off during the fight against the Winged Beast. He never gets the sword (actually half of a pair of scissors) back, though.

* The extended re-release of the ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' movie ''[[Advent Children]]'' features Cloud arriving at the Midgar EDGE battle by hurling one of his swords several hundred feet, where it flies in a wide lateral circle and slices through three monsters along the way before he catches it. Of course, by this point in the movie, it's pretty clear you can bugger physics all you like [[Rule of Cool|as long as you're doing it awesomely]]. Not only does he throw it, it [[Bifurcated Weapon|splits in two]] in mid-flight. And he catches the second sword with the blade of the first one. Justified as this is a setting that has active magical abilities via materia.

* The scene in ''[[Freddy vs. Jason]]'' where Jason throws his machete (which is on fire) through the fat guy's chest is a great example. It also doesn't seem too hard for Jason, a super-strong guy who seems to know how to properly use any form of weaponry.

* ''[[Star Wars]]''

** In ''[[Return of the Jedi]]'', conversely, Darth Vader [[I Have the High Ground|cannot reach Luke]], so he cuts down the catwalk Luke's standing on and effortlessly retrieves his lightsaber offscreen. Of course, it helps a lot in retrieving your weapon if you're telekinetic.

*** This gets a [[Call Forward]] in ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]''. Luke had the high ground at the time, and Vader knows that the last time he was in that situation, jumping up and attacking [[An Arm and a Leg|didn't work out too well]].

* Azeem does this in ''[[Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves]]'', just to show how righteous he is. Interestingly, the scimitar he throws is actually better suited to throwing, given the way it is designed.

* In ''[[Shogun Assassin]]'', our hero kills one of the Brothers of Death by throwing his katana. His respone before dying: "I did not think you would throw your sword."

* Etienne Navarre (Rutger Hauer) throws his sword twice in ''[[Ladyhawke]]'': once to stop Philipe "the Mouse" Gaston, and once to kill the Bishop of Aquilla. Impressive since this is a full-length great sword. Navarre throws his sword like a javelin, as well.

* In ''[[Predator]]'', Dutch ([[Arnold Schwarzenegger]]) tosses his machete at a guerrilla sneaking up from behind -- killing him and pinning his body to a neighboring post. "[[Bond One-Liner|Stick around]]", Dutch quips.

* The captivating cult classic 1980s fantasy film ''The Sword and the Sorcerer'' featured a variation: the title sword had three blades, two of which the wielder could launch like rockets (complete with flaming exhaust!) at his enemy.

** Will Turner does this twice in the first movie. Since he seems able to do it so reliably, one wonders why he didn't just aim it a bit higher and cut the noose, instead of letting him use the blade like a [[Stepping Stone Sword|miniature platform]].

** On the more realistic side, Jack reacts to the first incident with appropriate surprise that it worked (and, probably, that the sword landed literally an inch from his face), and then points out that Will has left himself unarmed. But they're in a room full of swords at the time, so it's only a temporary setback.

* Subverted in [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[The Carpet People]]''. Before the climactic battle, one of the heroes throws a sword to kill a bad guy. It works. Seconds later, enemy forces attack and he asks whether anybody can lend him a spare one.

* This is the explicit magical property of Farslayer, one of the swords from the ''[[Tales Of Swords]]'' series. Sort of. Yes, you activate the magic by throwing Farslayer, but you don't have to throw it at the intended victim, or indeed be in the same country as said victim. It just performs a nigh-unblockable [[Tele Frag]]. No, it doesn't return. Yes, the victim's relatives now have Farslayer. Oops.

** In ''[[The Thrawn Trilogy]]'', Luke is cornered by a group of extremely deadly commandos. Since he has no blaster or other ranged weapons and they have [[Impossibly Cool Weapon|really cool ranged incapacitating weapons]], he has some trouble. Deciding there is no other way to resolve the situation, he throws his lightsaber, slicing open the wall and [[Thrown Out the Airlock|spacing them]].

** Throwing a lightsaber is more or less [[Justified Trope|justified]] in that the people who wield them also have the power to psychically manipulate objects. The TK theory is reinforced in ''The Last Command'': Luke tries saber-throwing while within range of ysalamiri (which [[Power Nullifier|block out the Force]] in the surrounding area), is a ''horrible'' shot, and misses both troopers entirely -- but distracts them long enough for Mara to shoot them.

* In ''[[The Rescuers]]'' (the novel upon which the Disney film was based), it is Bernard's desperate, last ditch throwing of his dagger that causes the villain to lose his grip on the ladder, leading to his ultimate defeat.

* In the final battle of ''[[Villains by Necessity]]'', Sir Fenwick throws his sword at Sam and misses - he hasn't trained in throwing blades and longswords aren't really suited for that kind of thing in the first place. Sam takes the sword and throws it at Mizzamir, and hits. ''He'' had trained in how to throw a sword and actually hit something, and had magically enhanced throwing skills on top of that.

* Subverted in ''[[Spellsinger|The Paths of the Perambulator]]'', when Colin throws his sword at a quartet of demonic spellsingers and they knock his blade out of the air with a burst of music.

== Tabletop Games ==

* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]''

** There is a feat called "Throw Anything" that allows a character to throw melee weapons (swords included) without the ridiculous penalties that it would normally entail. There's even a [[Prestige Class]] (the Bloodstorm Blade), dedicated to this... whose feats include not just throwing anything, but ''[[Precision-Guided Boomerang|having it return]]''.

** 4th Edition has the swordmage, with several abilities in this style; justified in that he has magical control over his sword, including the ability to summon it back to him. One is he throws his sword at the enemy. If it misses, the sword looks for a second enemy and throws itself at him. If it misses again, it will seek a third enemy, and then a fourth at which point it gives up. Either way the sword comes back. Another power coats the sword in fire and then causes it to explode. The pieces reform in the swordmages's hand.

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Fire Emblem]]'':

** [[Fire Emblem Tellius|Ike's]] [[Limit Break|mastery skill]], Aether, consists of him throwing his sword upwards, then jumping to pick it and coming down hitting the target [[For Massive Damage]]. Considering how [[Game Breaker|broken]] both Ike and the skill are separately, never mind together, in this case throwing your sword really ''does'' always work.

** The Hero and Mercenary classes as interpreted by the Game Boy Advance instalments also do this for their critical hit animation. The Hero even throws his massive shield along with his sword.

** Generally averted series-wide from a gameplay perspective, in that swords have never had a throwing variation like Lances and Axes do. The ranged swords are instead [[Sword Beam|imbued with magic and use that to attack at a distance]].

** The prime example of this is the [[Home Run Hitter|Home Run Bat]]; the bat has an [[Awesome but Impractical]] instant-KO "home run" smash swing... or you can just throw it to deal a heavy amount of damage and knockback.

** [[Fire Emblem Tellius|Ike]] also carries over his signature skill Aether, as above, and takes both the skill itself and the throwing [[Up to Eleven]] with [[Finishing Move|Great Aether]].

* ''[[Rune]]'' allows you to throw any item you hold. Most weapons don't work very well for this, but some (hand axes and lit torches, most notably) work quite well. Since you have a ton of weapons most of the time, this is an excellent first move. One of the runic powers even allows you unlimited ghost weapons to throw for a short time.

* ''[[Eternal Darkness]]''

** One [[Coup De Grace]] is to throw your sword into a downed enemy, then pull it back out. Justified in that, well, they're down and your foot's on their chest -- no worries about dodging.

* ''[[Kingdom Hearts (video game)|Kingdom Hearts]]''

** Elly in ''Lotus Land Story'' throws her [[Sinister Scythe]] like a boomerang, as if you weren't already having trouble dodging her bullet patterns.

* A technique in ''[[Tales of Destiny]]'' allows Stahn to throw your sword forward. It has the obvious drawback of leaving him unarmed until you pick it back up.

** Alexei also throws his sword to trace a glyph for his Brilliant Cataclysm mystic arte, which [[That One Attack|definitely works]]. It also returns to him afterward.

* In ''[[Tales of Graces]]'', [[Squishy Wizard|Malik]] uses this as his primary means of physical offense. His swords are called bladerangs, but visually, they don't vary much (If at all) in shape from swords of the standard RPG fare. As the name implies, they return to him after being thrown, but he can also manipulate their trajectory to make them strike the enemy multiple times.

* Alice Twilight of ''[[No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle]]'' is equipped with five regenerating beam swords which she throws at every opportunity. It's an effective attack. [[That One Attack|VERY effective.]]

* ''[[Assassin's Creed]]: Brotherhood'' has this for all two handed weapons. If the player holds down the attack button Ezio, the player character,throws the weapon. The recently thrown weapon will then decide to make friends with the skull of person it encounters, no matter the current trajectory of the pointy bits. Granted, no matter it doesn't matter if your weapon makes a new skull buddy, the weapon is lost and has to be manually retrieved, unless the player goes to the nearest fabbro (Blacksmith) and re-equip it.

* Done to ridiculous extents by Rubi from ''[[Wet]]''. At one point during a [[Car Chase]], she makes a [[Wall Jump]] off the side of a moving truck onto a car, from which a mook is about to shoot her point blank, and ''while still in the air'', throws her katana at him, lands, and ''pulls it out of his chest'' before he can fall out of the car window.

* In ''[[Dead Island]]'', throwing your sword, axe, knife, hammer, baseball bat, wrench, crowbar, pointed stick or whatever other weapon you have (except for guns and knuckle-dusters) always works. Logan has skills specifically to exploit this.

* The hero does this in the short Australian CGI spoof ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSPy_4HYqGs Samurice]''.

* In one episode of ''[[Batman: The Animated Series|Batman the Animated Series]]'', Batman is dueling with Ra's al Ghul, and decides that the best use for his sword would be to throw it at Ghul's [[Doomsday Device]] which was [[Destruction Equals Off Switch|seconds away from blowing up half the planet]].

* Hawkgirl and her mace in ''[[Justice League]]''.

* In ''The Secret of the Sword'', where [[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe|He-Man]] meets [[She-Ra]] for the first time, at one point He-Man disarms She-Ra by throwing his sword at her gun (which she's holding in front of her, pointing at him). How he was capable of knowing that it would not physically harm her is anyone's guess.

* Agent Six from ''[[Generator Rex]]'' uses this trope a lot. One of the best examples is in the very first episode during his fight with Breach, who can open portals through space. She surrounds him with portals and proceeds to punch and kick him from every direction, until he finally throws his fold-out katanas through two of them. A few seconds later, Breach and both swords fall through another portal several yards away.

== Web Original ==

* Item #197 of the ''[[Evil Overlord List]]'' is a vow to explain to his [[Mooks]] the difference between ranged and unranged weapons. The sentence for any Mook found mixing them up is death.

{{quote|'''{{spoiler|Darkness:}}''' Gee, that stung!}}