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But in fiction, [[Throwing Your Sword Always Works]]! Whether it's used by a hero as a [[Desperation Attack|last-ditch display of valiance]] or by anyone else just for [[Rule of Cool]], the prospect of combining deadly blades and high speeds is just too good to pass up. Best of all, it allows for a tense, dramatic wind-up AND a dramatic payoff. The fact that logically there should be an at least fair chance of hitting your target with the wrong end is [[The Blade Always Lands Pointy End In|casually ignored]].
 
Some times the character will throw his sword [[EverythingsEverything's Better With Spinning|more like a boomerang]]: horizontally and with a spin on it. While this certainly does make it more likely to cut the opponent, it does raise other questions about the [[Awesome Yet Impractical|logistics of such an act]]...
 
Compare (or contrast) [[Throw Away Guns]]. See also [[Throwing Your Shield Always Works]] too. This almost always results in [[The Blade Always Lands Pointy End In]], although that can also result from accidental falls as well as deliberate throws. When the thrown sword is used as a ladder, stepping stone, or perch, it will also be [[Stepping Stone Sword]]. Contrast [[Give Me a Sword]], where the character may throw the sword but is ''not'' intending to commit any damage, just trying to get it to someone who can use it.
{{examples|Examples}}
 
== Anime & Manga ==
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* Near the end of ''[[Sword of the Stranger]]'', {{spoiler|Nanashi saves Kotaro from afar by throwing his sword at an enemy. Soon, though, he finds himself at a disadvantage because of this and has to retrieve it.}}
* Ryoma from ''[[Getter Robo]]'' does this with a mafia assassin's katana, and he [[Badass|throws it by the blade]] too.
* Alexander Anderson of ''[[Hellsing]]'' fame loves this. He carries around a [[Bottomless Magazines|nigh-infinite]] number of one-handed thrusting swords -- enough to throw ten or twenty at a time and still go [[Dual -Wielding]]. As it turns out, he's extremely accurate; at one point hitting a target to disable from around a corner at least a dozen times in about three seconds. Then again, they are ''holy'' swords, and Anderson is the best monster hunter in the Catholic Church.
* ''[[One Piece]]''
** Alvida throws her spiked club at some of her mooks in the first episode.
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** ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam (Anime)|Mobile Suit Gundam]]'': Justified in that the fight takes place in zero-g; and that there is a rack of swords available.
** ''[[Mobile Suit Victory Gundam (Anime)|Victory Gundam]]'' this was used once as a desperation move before the opponent (gira) could strike the titular gundam with his beam saber, and works.
** ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Wing (Anime)|Mobile Suit Gundam Wing]]'': Shenlong Gundam throws its [[Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me|shield]] at some enemies once. It also throws its melee weapon once, but that kind of makes sense, seeing as it's a beam ''javelin''.
** ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (Anime)|Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'': Setsuna's fighting style in the Gundam Exia typically involves him chucking swords at his targets. Luckily, he has seven of them.
** ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny (Anime)|Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny]]'': A Humongous sized [[Knife Nut|combat Knife isn't enough]], let's [[Incredibly Lame Pun|throw in]] [http://www.mahq.net/mecha/gundam/seed-destiny/lineart/gat-02l2-mk315.jpg Mk.315 Stilleto], anti-armor grenades shaped like knives, able to break the crap out of [[Super Prototype|Freedom's]] Shield, talk about minor awesomeness here.
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* 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.
* Occurs in ''[[The Secret of NIMH]]'' where a character (who admittedly had been uneasy about the morality of his situation from about halfway through the movie) pulls himself up with great effort and flicks a small dagger through the air -- where it lands squarely in the back of the villain -- before falling down dead himself. [[Redemption Equals Death]] again...
* ''[[Nine9 (Animation)|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.
** Although in this case, Cloud isn't using any magical assistance. He's just [[Implausible Fencing Powers|THAT good]] [[Master Swordsman|with his swords]].
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* [[Rule of Funny|Played for Laughs]] in ''[[Monty Python and The Holy Grail]]'': the Black Knight kills the Green Knight by throwing his sword ''[[Improbable Aiming Skills|into his helm's]] [[Eye Scream|eye slot]]''.
* 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.
* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]''
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== Gamebooks ==
* In the ''[[Lone Wolf]]'' series, the opportunity to throw your sword is very rarely given, since the hero has usually plenty better opportunities, like using a [[Bow and Sword In Accord|bow and arrow]] or even [[Magic Knight|offensive magic]] in the later books. There is however one noteworthy occurrence in Book 12, ''The Masters of Darkness''. If you draw the [[Infinity Plus One+1 Sword|Sommerswerd]] before [[Mid Boss|Darklord Kraagenskûl]] to fight his Crypt Spawns, Lone Wolf is forced to throw the Sun Sword at his back before he'd alert [[Big Bad|Darklord Gnaag]]. It never miss and Kraagenskûl is badly wounded either way, but on a low roll he's still able to warn his master, making "[[The Many Deaths of You|your life and your mission end here]]."
 
 
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* The ''[[Inheritance Cycle]]'': Paolini seems to be very fond of this trope, as it is used extensively throughout the series.
* Justified in ''[[Tortall Universe|Lioness Rampant]]''; the sorcerer Roger is using Alanna's sword (with which he has a magical connection) to drag her into his reach. So she does something completely foreign to her personality and just... lets go. The sword goes straight through his chest.
* Lampshading subversion in ''The Court of a Thousand Suns'' (one of the [[Sten]] books) by Alan Cole and Chris Bunch: the hero, Sten, desperately throws a kukri, the Gurkha knife, at an adversary. The narrative spells out in no uncertain terms that a kukri can't be used effectively as a throwing blade, and Sten only threw it because he needed to distract the enemy '''somehow'''. "At best the blade should have clubbed {{spoiler|Ledoh}} down." {{spoiler|And then the kukri unexpectedly [[Million -to -One Chance|hits point-first]] '''and''' severs the guy's spine.}}
* Happens at least once in the ''[[Kushiels Legacy]]'' series. [[Celibate Hero]] Joscelin successfully nails a guy from throwing range having already thrown his daggers, using his broadsword. He follows up by saying "They don't even train us to do that!" or words to that effect.
* Happens in [[David Weber]]'s first ''[[Safehold (Literature)|Safehold]]'' book, ''Off Armageddon Reef''. Bonus points for taking the time to point out that the knife wasn't very fit for throwing, and the thrower was out of practice and just coming off a drinking binge, yet still nailing the shot.
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* The ''[[Firefly (TV)|Firefly]]'' episode "Shindig" has a variation of this in the duel between Mal and Atherton Wing. At the fight's climax, Wing breaks Mal's sword, and when he gets distracted, Mal punches Wing in the face, grabs the broken half of his blade, and throws it into Wing's shoulder. This wounds him long enough for Mal to hit Wing again with his handguard before snatching up his opponent's weapon and ending the duel.
* Arthur manages to kill a cockatrice this way in ''[[Merlin (TV)|Merlin]]''.
* The ''[[Community (TV)|Community]]'' episode "Advance Dungeons & Dragons" has Fat Neil's character Ducane throws his sword at Pierce Hawthorne as a desperate attack in their [[What Do You Mean ItsIt's Not Awesome?|epic battle]].
* ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]''
** In the season two episode "The Song of Guitardo", Kimberly borrows Tommy's Dragon Dagger and fires it from her bow to slay the titular monster. By the way, this was after Kimberly used her multi-stringed bow as a harp, because the monster could be harmed with music. And, as this episode pointed out, the Dragon Dagger can also be used as a flute.
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** The Throw command is reintroduced in later ''Final Fantasy'' games as a command for Thief and Monk characters.
** In ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'', the characters need a command materia to allow them to throw weapons and Gil in battle. The Materia contains the knowledge of the skill to ensure that throwing your sword ''always'' works. Presumably without it the characters would be prone to missing, or the sword hitting its target hilt-first.
* The second [[Boss Battle]] in ''[[Crash Bandicoot]] 2'' sees you facing the Komodo Brothers, Joe and Moe. They are shown to have been training by throwing swords towards one another, before they see that Crash has arrived. Once the fight is started, Joe is [[EverythingsEverything's Better With Spinning|spun]] at Crash, while Moe tosses his magically respawning blades at him.
* The 2000s version of ''[[Sid Meyers Pirates]]!'' does this every time you win a duel with an enemy captain. The player character backs the enemy to the stern of the ship, throws his sword... and misses. The enemy captain starts to advance, [[Exactly What I Aimed At|only for the hero to smirk as the bundle of crates held by the rope he just cut knocks the captain off the ship]]. When you get to the last few Famous Pirates, they'll notice the crates and duck, only to get hit by them anyway on the return swing. The last famous pirate will jump on the crate, swing his sword over his head in triumph...[[What an Idiot!|and sever the rope himself]].
* ''[[Castlevania]]''
** In ''Symphony of the Night'' Alucard can find the "Heaven Sword", which exists only for the sake of this trope. Justified perhaps by magic, since the weapon flies straight out, striking enemies, and then hits them ''again'' as it flies back to the thrower.
** There's also the Runesword, which even larger, thrown in a vertical arc and has the word [[Gratuitous German|"verboten"]] written within its [[Sword Lines]].
** And then there's the [[Kukris Are Kool|Gurkha soldiers]] that are usually stated in the bestiary to be siblings with the Blade monsters described far below. They have some sort of strange giant kukri that flies back to them like a boomerang when they throw it.
** ''Order of Ecclesia'' has done us one better with the Weapon Master, who carries the Blade monster's swords, the Gurkha monster's kukri, and a hammer from their other bro. The hammer is used for close-range combat, the kukris work as described above, and the swords...are thrown in a hard-to-avoid spread pattern. [[EverythingsEverything's Better With Spinning|During a spinning jump.]]
* In pretty much every ''[[Star Wars]]'' game where you wield a lightsaber, you can throw it, and [[Precision Guided Boomerang|expect it to return]] because, as mentioned above, the Jedi can just yank it back with the Force. Occasionally, though, the return trip is interrupted, as in ''[[Dark Forces Saga|Jedi Outcast and Academy]]'': if you throw it at a Dark Jedi and he blocks it, the hilt just falls to the ground, and you have to either go over and grab it, or just force pull. If you switch weapons while it's in flight, it'll also drop to the ground. It also has three levels, level one just throws it in a direction before returning, level two allows you to change the direction of where its flying and can hover it around for a bit, level three just simply works faster.
** In ''Masters of Teras Kasi'', Luke does this as an unblockable and undodgeable super move that takes off half the opponents life bar.
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* The Orc careers in ''[[Warhammer Online]]: Age of Reckoning'' have a ''Throw Choppa'' ability, lobbing a large orcish sword at an enemy and usually getting the best results if it hits them in the back. Seeing the [http://img.war-europe.com/syndic_img/careers/choppa-concept-02.jpg slightly non-aerodynamic design] of said implement, this possibly makes them the best shots in the entire game.
* High-Level Warriors in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' can learn two different weapon-throwing attacks: Heroic Throw, which simply chucks your main-hand weapon at your foe; and Shattering Throw, which has a slight cast time, but can actually break through otherwise-impenetrable defensive techniques, such as a Mage's Ice Block.
* In ''[[Hellgate London]]'', a skill for the Blademaster class called Cross Cutter allows them to throw their sword (the right-hand one if [[Dual -Wielding]]). The effective range of this skill is the same as an assault rifle's. They also get a passive skill later on that increases their thrown sword damage.
* In the third ''[[Quest for Glory]]'' game, Paladin characters must defeat the Demon Wizard by throwing their sword at him.
* In ''[[Cave Story (Video Game)|Cave Story]]'', the Blade weapon (unless you have leveled it up to maximum, in which case you throw {{spoiler|King's spirit}} instead). Which is kinda odd, because the credits artwork show the protagonist swinging the Blade instead of throwing it.
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* ''[[Lost Odyssey]]'' (made fun of [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/unskippable/736-Lost-Odyssey here]) has armies that do this instead of using archers.
** "[[Unskippable|Because arrows are for pussies.]]"
* [[Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?|The Dude]] from ''[[Postal]] 2'' throws ''sledgehammers'', smashing the head of whatever they hit. He can also throw a scythe that cuts people in half, but starts to drop off after some distance. He later picks up a machete that not only can be thrown with accuracy, but ''ricochets off walls'' and ''always comes back to him''. The sledgehammer has to be retrieved each time however, and if you happen to through it at the back end of a cow, well, lets just say it's [[Squickslightly|less fun to retrieve.]]
* In the Chinese RPG ''[[Chinese Paladin]]''/''Legend of Sword and Fairy'', throwing weapons is a very good way to do damage to enemies, and everyone can do it. Many guides will suggest spending all one's money on the last weapon shop the player can visit and throw them all at the boss fight. The [[Game Breaker]] potential of this is mitigated by shops being the only source of expendable weapons, and those being somewhat expensive.
* In ''[[Chinese Paladin]] 4'', the main character special move is to shoot his sword at his enemy with a bow.
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* Blade Man from ''[[Mega Man (Video Game)|Mega Man]] 10'' throws swords at Mega Man (or Proto Man) in ''threes'' (two on Easy, '''''five''''' on Hard). He never runs out of them. To make things worse, he does this while jumping all over the damn place, making him a [[Goddamned Boss|very irritating boss]] to fight against.
* In ''[[Dead Rising]]'', you can get a sword which (like every other weapon except the guns) you can whip at an enemy.
* ''[[Oblivion]]'' had this in an in-game novel about the nordic legend of the snow king. The titular riekling has [[One -Man Army|proceeded to cut through hundreds of nords like a hot knife through snow]], but when he kills a little girl's father, she decides to take a potshot at him with her father's sword. Sure enough, [[Throwing Your Sword Always Works]].
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]''
** ''[[Twilight Princess]]'' has the Darknuts throwing their huge swords at you.
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** William also sometimes throws his sword, despite it being [[BFS|HUGE]]; he rarely stays disarmed, however, since he can call it back with telekinesis.
* The hero does this in the short Australian CGI spoof ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSPy_4HYqGs Samurice]''.
* In one episode of ''[[Batman: theThe Animated Series (Animation)|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]].
* Batman in the "Birds of Prey" episode of ''[[Batman the Brave And The Bold (Animation)|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'' with a pair of daggers. Not only does he [[Dual -Wielding|throw them both at once]], but one of them cuts through a rope to drop a [[Falling Chandelier of Doom]], while the other [[Pistol Whipping|deliberately hits Two-Face in the head with the blunt end]].
* 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.
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== Video Games ==
* In ''Bushido Blade 2'', any character that can wield two swords as their speciality can throw said sword. If the opponent is struck by said sword, they are immediately killed. However, it is very hard to pull this off as the sword has a pretty pathetic range and is easily avoided.
* The ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' games generally subvert this by having the sword being the only unthrowable member of the [[Tactical Rock -Paper -Scissors|weapon triangle]]; however, there is usually a sword capable of a non-physical ranged attack via magic.
* The Genesis ''[[Super Mario Bros|Super Mario World]]'' pirate game (which plays more like the NES ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (Video Game)|Rescue Rangers]]'' games than any ''Mario'' game) features enemy rats who not only throw swords, but throw them ''hilt-first'' thanks to the sword sprite being flipped.
* In ''[[Twilight Princess|The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess]]'', the miniboss Darknut throws his sword (or mace) at Link after losing his armor, then subverts it by drawing a rapier that is more fitting for the more agile fighting style he adapts afterwards. It's also subverted by the throw not being a particularly effective attack, as Link can easily jump out of the way or even just block it with his shield. Although if you allow it to make contact (or just fumble your evasion), it still ''fucking hurts''.
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[[Category:I Like Swords]]
[[Category:Throwing Your Sword Always Works]]
[[Category:Trope]][[Category:Pages with comment tags]]
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