Aldrachi Warglaives(English Aldrachi Warblades) - a powerful weapon forged from the crystals of a mysterious mineral, which was mined from the bowels of the earth by the Aldrachi. Among these people, martial skills were especially valued, and combat blades, capable of draining the souls of fallen enemies, were considered the most prestigious weapons. One of the owners of the blades was the Aldrachi Toranaar, who killed his own brother for them. When the Burning Legion began a war against the Aldrachi, Toranaar destroyed thousands of demons and drew their souls into his blades. Sargeras personally went into battle to destroy Toranaar and took his soul-infused weapons.

By the beginning of the new invasion of the Burning Legion on Azeroth, the owner of the blades of Toranaar became Kariya Fel Soul, a demon hunter who transferred to the service of the Legion and received an artifact from Kil'jaeden. The new wielder of the warblades was an experienced demon hunter who had taken over as leader of the Illidari in the absence of Illidan Stormrage.

Creation

Warglaives were an incredibly prestigious weapon among the Aldrachi people, valued far more than treasure or titles. They were created from rare crystals that were found deep underground. The crystals were composed of an amazing mineral that had many unique properties, and the most valuable among them was the ability to absorb the souls of the dead. Blacksmiths used highly guarded technology to enchant crystals and forge blades from them. The weapon gained the ability to absorb the souls of all who were killed by it. Each absorbed soul filled the blades with new powers. Among the Aldrachi, ancient blades were known to contain thousands of souls, and such weapons were revered no less than their owner.

The history of the warblades that have survived to this day is associated with the Aldrachi Toranaar. Like other children of his people, he was forced to begin training in military craft immediately after he took the first step. Toranaar and his older brother came from an ancient family of respected warriors. The brother had already achieved significant success and fame, because of which much was expected from Toranaar. Years of hard training and trials turned the younger brother into a powerful fighter, and all this time he dreamed that one day he would take possession of the battle blades.

Aldrachi training culminated in a trial in which commanders randomly selected an experienced warrior to fight the candidate. The battle continued until one of them died. When Toranaar entered the arena for battle, he met with his older brother, who held shining battle blades in his hands. Even family ties did not make Toranaar give up his dream. The battle lasted almost a day, and both warriors were badly wounded when Toranaar was able to disarm his brother. He grabbed his warblades and plunged them into his opponent's chest to consume his soul.

Legion weapons

Toranaar had achieved incredible success by the time the demons began attacking the Aldrachi on the orders of Sargeras. The fallen titan wished to weaken them and turn them into his servants. But the Aldrachi successfully held off the invasion, each destroying a hundred demons before dying. Toranaar fought with the greatest ferocity, clutching his weapon in his hands. Above the cries of battle rose the song of his blades, and they crushed everything in their path. Whenever Toranaar killed demons, it seemed that he was filled with new strength and power. He was an army in his own right.

Sargeras realized that the Aldrachi were too proud to serve him and decided to destroy the people. The fallen titan personally entered the battle with Toranaar. It is said that the warblades were able to spill the blood of Sargeras before the brave Aldrachi was destroyed. The blades of Toranaar held the power of the thousands of demons they had slain, and Sargeras took them with him. It took a long time before the blades got a new owner. Kil'jaeden gave them to Kariya the Fel Soul, a demon hunter who betrayed the Illidari and began serving the Burning Legion. Kariya was supposed to turn the power of this incredible weapon against the inhabitants of Azeroth with the start of a new demonic invasion.

Receipt

The source of information in this section is an addendum Legion to World of Warcraft.

When the new leader of the Illidari ended up in Dalaran, transferred to the Broken Isles, Kor "vas Bloodthorn found him and asked him to arrive at Kras's Landing as soon as possible. Here the demon hunter met with his assistant, who explained that the order had relied on Lord Illidan for too long The Illidari were weaker without Illidan, but they would have a chance to solve this problem.The assistant suggested that the leader choose one of the known artifacts that the order would search for.

The leader of the Illidari became interested in the story of the Aldrachi Warglaives, which once belonged to the strongest warrior of the Aldrachi people who refused to join the Burning Legion. Sargeras personally destroyed this warrior and took possession of his battle blades. Now they belonged to the demon hunter Kariya, who had betrayed the Illidari to serve the Legion. The assistant feared that Kariya was getting stronger by taking souls with his artifact.

Intercom

Hearing that the leader wanted to take possession of the Aldrachi blades, the assistant revealed that an Illidari squad, led by Allari the Soul Eater, had already gone in search of Kariya, but so far there was no news from them. Jace Darkweaver was busy fixing the Legion's communication device, and the only thing left to do was find a power source for it. The assistant asked the leader to meet with Khadgar and ask him if the archmage could get a source of food for the Illidari.

The Hero traveled to the Violet Citadel and found Khadgar there, along with the rest of the Council of Six. Khadgar introduced the demon hunter to his colleagues and declared that he was ready to help him against the Legion. Hearing about the power source, Khadgar thought for a moment and replied that he seemed to have an item that would fit. Along with the demon hunter, Khadgar went up to his chests and rummaged through them, pulling out a crystallized soul. Such crystals did not work well on non-demonic creatures, and the archmage gave it to the Illidari without regret. From the depths of the crystal came faint echoes of screams.

Khadgar asked the demon hunter to promise that nothing in Dalaran would explode due to the use of the crystal. He also noted that the intercom was made by the Legion, which meant that there was a non-zero chance of intercepting messages exchanged between the Illidari. The leader of the order took the crystal and returned to Kras' Landing, where Jace Darkweaver was waiting for him. Looking at the soul, Jace stated that it would be perfect for powering the device. The leader charged the demon device with energy and tried to find Allari's squad.

When Allari's illusion appeared in the device, Jace asked if she had managed to find the blades. Through the static, Allari replied that Kariya was on the Broken Shore and that the demon hunters were facing strong resistance. It seemed that Allari was fighting against the demons right now. The link went down, and Jace said the news was bad. At least the Order has found out where Allari's squad is.

Broken Shore

The lieutenant called to the Chapter leader to say that they could not land on the Broken Shore, where the enemy had air superiority. The operation was to be taken over by the leader, who was the most experienced warrior. The aide recalled that the main target was the Aldrachi Warglaives. If necessary, Allari and her squad were ready to sacrifice their lives in order to kill Kariya and get the artifact. The leader jumped onto the felbat and flew towards the Broken Shore.

He descended to an island west of the Broken Shore, noticing numerous demon corpses that indicated the presence of the Illidari. Not far away, the hero discovered Allari the Soul Eater, chained with fel chains to one of the pillars. The leader freed Allari, but she was too hurt to join him. Allari said that Kariya had left her to die here, and promised to catch up with the hero at the first opportunity. The leader left Allari to recuperate and headed inland.

Kariya Fel Soul sensed his arrival and shouted that such a nonentity should not have come to Shattered Ridge. The hero saw two portals opened by the Legion and immediately destroyed them in order to stop the arrival of the demons. Doombringer Ak "vesh tried to protect the portals, but the Illidari leader dealt with him. Kariya promised that she would smash the entire gorge to dust if necessary, and turned to the two eredar who served her.

Allari managed to regain her strength and caught up with the hero. The two demon hunters were surrounded by the dead bodies of their brethren and the foot soldiers of the Argent Crusade. Allari noticed that the souls had been torn from the bodies while they were still alive. The Eredar who served Kariya were twins who combined life forces with the help of magic. They tried to summon a powerful demon and managed to do so before the Illidari destroyed them. The huge lord of the underworld Gorgonnash appeared at the call, who proclaimed that Kariya must complete the ritual and that no one would interfere with her. The hero, together with Allari, managed to deal with him. Although Allari was hurt again, she promised to clear the way off the island while the leader dealt with Kariya.

Battle with Kariya

The hero used ghostly vision and discovered the demons that were hiding in a cave behind a collapse. Guessing that this trail would lead to Kariya, the demon hunter broke the landslide and entered the underground temple. Fighting his way through the daemon squads, he reached the traitor and saw her summoning the aldrachi revenants using her warblades. Kariya screamed that she would consume all the souls of Azeroth when the ritual was completed.

The Illidari leader entered the battle and heard Kariya mention Varedis, who had shown her the true path. It was because of him that she decided to serve the Legion and gain new powers from the demons. Kariya tried to wrest the soul from the hero's body with the help of an artifact and even created several soul shards, but was still destroyed. Dying, she whispered that rebirth awaited. As soon as the hero raised the Aldrachi Warglaives, Allari arrived on a felbat through the rift above and announced that Legion reinforcements were on the way. The two demon hunters immediately headed back to Dalaran.

Asha Ravensong stated that the warblades looked even more impressive up close. The Illidari lamented their brethren's death on the Shattered Ridge, but they knew they had given their lives for a worthy cause. Kor "vas Bloodthorn said that during the absence of the leader, the Illidari set up a camp near Kras's Landing, so that it would be more convenient to follow the movements of the Legion. The hero planned to the camp and met with Jace Darkweaver. He said that thanks to the artifact, you can create a stable portal to Felhammer, which was still on Mardum, and put the ship on full alert.The Cursed Forge of the Nathrezim was found on the Felhammer, thanks to which the hero was able to imbue his blades with new powers.

Here you "ll find a list of hotfixes that address various issues related to World of Warcraft: Legion. Some of the hotfixes below take effect the moment they were implemented, while others may require scheduled realm restarts to go into effect. Please keep in mind that some issues cannot be addressed without a client-side patch update.

Additional information about the expansion can be found below.

October 3

Hotfixes

• Mage
  • Splitting Ice should now cause Glacial Spike to damage the secondary target for 80% of the damage dealt to the primary target, as intended.
• Monk
  • Stagger now delays 40% of damage taken (was 35%), and now quickly fades after leaving combat.
• Shaman
  • (Restoration) The Artifact trait Tidal Pools will now correctly heal all areas when multiple Tidal Pools are active at once.
• Warlock
  • Shadowflame's damage over time can now critically strike.
• Warrior
  • Shield Slam now generates 20 Rage (was 10).
  • Ignore Pain's maximum absorption has been reduced by 33%.
  • Inspiring Presence no longer stacks on players who have multiple Warriors present.

Dungeons and Raids

(All dungeon and raid hotfixes will take effect with realm restarts in each region.)

• Black Rook Hold
  • Mythic Keystone target time increased to 38 minutes (was 35 minutes).
• Eye of Azshara
  • Mythic Keystone target time decreased to 35 minutes (was 36 minutes).
• Maw of Souls
  • Mythic Keystone target time decreased to 24 minutes (was 25 minutes).
• Neltharion's Lair
  • Mythic Keystone target time decreased to 33 minutes (was 35 minutes).
• Emerald Nightmare
  • Vantus Runes can now be used in Mythic Emerald Nightmare.
  • Il'gynoth
    • On Mythic difficulty, Il'gynoth's health has been increased by 200%, but loses one-third of that value each time the Eye of Il'gynoth is defeated.
    • On Mythic difficulty, each Nightmare Explosion now deals 20% more damage to the Eye of Il'gynoth.
      • Developers' Notes: A common strategy for Mythic Il'gynoth involved using raid compositions that focus on maximizing burst damage to complete the encounter in a single phase. This approach removes huges of the encounter and can overly favor a specific set of classes and specializations, causing negative social pressures in groups that have yet to reach this encounter. These changes ensure that raid groups must enter Il'gynoth's core twice in order to complete the encounter on Mythic difficulty, but offset that change by speeding up the process of destroying the Eye to shorten the overall length of the encounter.

Professions

• Enchanting
  • Crafted items that upgrade to epic quality should now disenchant into Leylight Shards or Chaos Crystals.

• Shaman Totems will no longer take unintended extra damage from players.

• Players are now able to turn in "Ritual Ruination" to Calydus in Dreadscar Rift if they don't take the portal out of the scenario.

September 30

Hotfixes

Legion Companion App

• Fixed a bug in iOS 10 that caused notification badge numbers to not clear.
• The Login button now goes to your character list when possible.
• The Account Selection button starts a new login with Battle.net.
• The World Quest icon now shows additional info when using a filter.
• Fixed a bug that sometimes made it appear that a 100%+ mission failed.

• Warlock
  • Unstable Affliction"s dispel kickback damage is now capped at 50% of the Warlock"s maximum health, but can still critically strike.
  • Destruction Warlocks that are stuck on the final Artifact acquisition quest "Ritual Ruination" should now find it easier to get through all obstacles. Any Warlock that has the Artifact, but is stuck on a quest objective, can return to Dalaran to get full credit for the quest.

class halls

• New work orders for Seals of Broken Fate will now have a shipment duration of 5 seconds.

Dungeons and Raids

• Assault on Violet Hold
  • The final encounters in Heroic and Mythic Violet Hold should now be properly reflected in your Statistics page upon completion.
• Darkheart Thicket
  • (Mythic difficulty) Oakheart should no longer reset once awoken.
• Emerald Nightmare
  • xavius
    • Dead players should no longer become stuck if they release their spirit during the teleport to The Emerald Dream after defeating Xavius.

• Augment Runes will now function in Mythic Keystone dungeons.

Professions

• fishing
  • Black Barracuda Angling (Rank 3) should now correctly grant a chance to provide an instant pool catch.
  • Fish that are instantly caught from the Black Barracuda Angling trait are now selected from fishing pools, rather than open water fishing.
• herbalism
  • The droprate for seeds has been reduced to 2.5% for all herbs, except Felwort, which remains at a 25% chance to loot a seed.

• Ashran
  • All methods of turning in Artifact Fragments should now correctly reward honor at a rate of 1 honor for every 2 Artifact Fragments.
• The Rated PvP gear weekly bonus rewards are now based on the player's PvP Rating for 2v2, 3v3, and Rated Battlegrounds.
  • Developers' Notes: Currently, rated PvP is always rewarding item level 840 gear, regardless of rating. That is not our intent. We want to correct this as quickly as possible, but don’t want to inadvertently punish players who have already collected their weekly bonus chests. This fix will be implemented with the next weekly realm maintenance (A.M. PDT on Tuesday, October 4 for North American realms).

• These Suramar World Quests now correctly award Nightfallen reputation beyond Honored: “The Shattered Locus”, “Clear the Skies”, “Left for Dead”, and “Fiends of Tel"anor”.
• (Work in progress) Addressed multiple issues with the World Quest "Electrosnack" regarding tapping and some cosmetic elements.
• Players who would have otherwise died to falling damage in the Withered Army Training scenario should now be reduced to 1 hp. First Arcanist Thalyssra will now port you back to the front of the ruins.
• World Quests completed with a Combat Ally will once more correctly award experience to the Follower.

September 28

Hotfixes

• The ground mount speed bonus from Broken Isles Pathfinder now stacks with the passive class bonuses On a Pale Horse and Heart of Crusader.

death knight

• Multiple Unholy Death Knights with the Armies of the Damned artifact trait can now have their Death, Pestilence, and Famine debuffs applied at the time.

• Soothing Mist is no longer interrupted by Spirit Tether.
• (Brewmaster) Set bonuses for the Battlewrap of the Hurricane's Eye (Tier 18) have been adjusted:
  • 2 pieces: Increases the chance for your Gift of the Ox to summon a Healing Sphere by 2% (was 5%).
  • 4-pieces: Every time you gather a Healing Sphere, the remaining cooldowns of your Ironskin Brew and Purifying Brew are reduced by 1 second (was 5 seconds).

• Shadow Dance should now be useable and should not be canceled when the Rogue is affected by an enemy Hunter's Flare.

• Lava Beam damage increased by 23%.
• (Restoration) The artifact trait Tidal Pools will now correctly heal all areas when multiple Tidal Pools are active at once.

• Seed of Corruption will now properly detonate and spread if the target dies while still affected.
• Fixed a bug that sometimes caused Agony to not stack or generate Soul Shards.
• (Demonology) The Artifact ability Thal"kiel"s Consumption will no longer sometimes fail to do damage because the target moves out of range.
• (Destruction) The Artifact ability Dimensional Rift will no longer spawn portals that are out of range to do damage to your target.

class halls

• Pet Charm missions now provide Pet Charms for both the main reward and the bonus reward.

Dungeons and Raids

• Players should receive bonus roll opportunities more reliably if they are eligible for them.

The Emerald Nightmare

• Immunities can no longer remove Darkening Soul or Blackening Soul. Dispelling either effect with an Imp's Singe Magic will give the owning Warlock +25 Nightmare Corruption.

• Cloak of Fel Flames now correctly reduce magic damage taken by 15 % when immolation aura is active.
• Shard of the Exodar no longer causes Drums of Fury to unaffected by Exhaustion/Sated effects.
• Ancient Mana Gems and Ancient Mana Crystals now stack to 5.
• Loot-a-rang should no longer break hostile players" stealth.

• Players can now get credit and be able to bonus roll for world bosses if they are up to 200 yards away when it dies.
• A number of questgivers' pets are no longer critter-type creatures.

• During “Leyhollow Infestation”, players now only drop the rock when taking damage or attacking, not when entering combat, and player speed is only reduced by 50% when carrying a rock (was 75% reduced speed).
• Fixed a rare bug that could cause Guardian Druids to not obtain credit for killing Arch-Desecrator Malithar during "When Dreams Become Nightmares".
• Tomes of the Tranquil Mind obtained from "In the Blink of an Eye" are now Bind-on-pickup.

September 26

Hotfixes

Developer’s Notes: After carefully considering the constructive feedback we’ve received over the weekend, we’ve made some revisions to this week’s tuning. The class changes listed in this hotfix update, as well as those from the previous update will be applied during weekly maintenance in each region. Note that several changes from the previous update have been altered or removed, which is indicated by a strikethrough in the notes below.

Demon Hunter

• Havoc
  • Bloodlet (Talent) now deals 150% of initial Throw Glaive damage.

• Arcane
  • Quickening (Talent)’s maximum stacks are now 50, and it will not refresh its duration once at 50 stacks.

• Shadow
  • Mind Sear damage increased by 80% and Insanity generation increased by 50%.
  • Mind Flay damage increased by 20%.
  • Mind Spike damage increased by 28%.
  • Void Ray maximum stacks reduced to 4.
    • Developers' Notes: Given the damage increase to Mind Sear, Mind Flay, and Mind Spike, this still results in an overall increase to the value of the talent.
  • Voidform stacks no longer increase while Dispersion is active.
    • Developers' Notes: We would prefer that Surrender to Madness not be as dominant as it is, and that it can't be extended for quite so long. However, addressing this further would require significant changes to the spec beyond what we want to do in a tuning pass at this time. We will look for an opportunity to take a more comprehensive look at this issue in a future patch.

• Queen Ascendant (Artifact trait) is no longer consumed when a queued healing spell is immediately triggered.

• Fixed a bug that prevented Rain of Fire from always doing all 8 ticks of damage on PvE and PvP targets.

• Arms
  • Tactician proc rate increased by 15%.
  • Hamstring no longer procs Tactician.
  • Exploit the Weakness (Artifact Trait) bonus reduced to 4% per point.

• Suramar NPCs should no longer remove a player's stealth at the start of their Arcane Investigation casting.
• Interacting with Nomi should now take priority when his area is crowded.

Professions

• Engineering: The Reaves version of the Failure Detection Pylon should now work properly.

• Strike from the Shadows is now a snare, instead of a daze.

September 23

Hotfixes

Achievements

• Broken Isles Pathfinder Rank 1 now properly displays the amount of the mounted speed increase.

December 1st, 2015

Even more deadly Russian weapons

Today, 11:01,

Moscow is considering sending about 10-12 more Sukhoi Su-30SM and Su-27SM3 fighters to its air base in Latakia, which will be tasked with combat escort of bombers, as reported by the Russian newspaper Kommersant. In addition, last week Russia sent powerful S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems and the missile cruiser Moskva to the region. As a result of the incident with the plane, the Russians also imposed a number of economic sanctions against Turkey.

The dispatch of more military equipment is not a surprise, as the Russians have said that Russian bombers will operate under the cover of fighter planes only. “All strike aviation activities will be carried out only under the cover of fighters,” Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy, a senior representative of the Russian General Staff, said on November 25. Russia does not have enough fighter jets in the Syrian theater to carry out these tasks, and therefore it could have been assumed in advance that it would deploy additional fighter aircraft there.

Meanwhile, the Russians began equipping all their air combat aircraft with interceptors. "Russian Su-34 fighter-bombers today flew for the first time on a mission not only with OFAB-500 aerial bombs and KAB-500 guided aerial bombs, but also with short and medium-range air-to-air missiles. Aircraft are equipped with missiles for protection," Russian Air Force spokesman Colonel Igor Klimov told the Russian state Internet portal Sputnik that the missiles are "equipped with homing heads and capable of hitting air targets at a distance of up to 60 kilometers," he added.

Judging by Klimov's statement, the Su-34s will be armed with one of the variants of a very powerful short-range missile with an infrared deflectable homing head R-73, as well as R-27R1 and R-27ER1 missiles with a semi-active radar homing head. All of them were developed in Vympel Design Bureau.

The Russian fighters seen in Syria, including the modern Su-30SM, are, for reasons not entirely clear, armed with rather old R-27 missiles, and not with the much more effective R-77 with an active radar homing head. Perhaps the Russian Air Force decided to buy modern aircraft, but neglected to purchase the appropriate weapons systems to equip them - which often happens in the air forces around the world.

Fighters sent to Syria air defense help protect Russian attack aircraft, while at the same time, the military hopes to gain real combat experience with the new weapons. According to a Kommersant source from the Russian General Staff, Moscow initially planned to deploy older S-300PS or S-300PMU systems in Syria, but the incident with the Su-24 gave it the opportunity to send S-400 to Syria to test it in "real conditions."

Similarly, for the first time in a combat situation, the modernized Su-27SM3 is used. Unlike other variants of the Su-27, this machine is a modification of the initial version, which was already in service with the Soviet and Russian Air Forces. Some of the aircraft are new builds intended for export to China, but most of the Russian Su-27SM3s have old Soviet airframes that have been reinforced to modern standards.

The Su-27SM aircraft, which is similar in technology to the Su-35S, has a reinforced airframe, an upgraded glass cockpit, a new electronic warfare system and a whole range of new weapons. This heavily redesigned aircraft also boasts improved data transmission systems and a new radar, the exact type of which is unknown. Some sources suggest that this aircraft uses the Su-35 Irbis-E passive phased array radar, although it is not clear if the Su-27 is able to accommodate such a weight and provide sufficient power. Rather, this aircraft is equipped with an electronically scanned H001VEP radar. The Su-27SM3 is equipped with AL-31F-M1 engines, which make the structure somewhat heavier.

It is not clear when these 10-12 additional Russian fighter jets will arrive in Syria. Meanwhile, another Russian plane recently flew into Israeli airspace, but the incident was resolved amicably without causing a major diplomatic row. Allegedly, the Russian aircraft entered Israeli airspace for about a kilometer, but "was immediately corrected through communication channels."

“Russian planes are not going to attack us, and therefore there is no need to automatically shoot them down, even if some mistake is made,” Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said, as reported by the Guardian.

Ya'alon also said that the Russians notify Israel in advance when they plan to operate near its airspace. “We do not interfere in their actions and do not participate in them on principle; in the same way, they do not prevent us from flying and acting in accordance with our interests,” the minister said.

4 272

The sword has always been the weapon of the nobility. Knights treated their blades like comrades in battle, and having lost his sword in battle, a warrior covered himself with indelible shame. Among the glorious representatives of this type of melee weapons, there is also their own "know" - the famous blades, which, according to legend, have magical properties, for example, to put enemies to flight and protect their master. There is some truth in such tales - an artifact sword with its very appearance could inspire the associates of its owner. Here are 12 of the most famous deadly relics in history.

1. The sword in the stone

Many people remember the legend of King Arthur, which tells how he plunged his sword into a stone to prove his right to the throne. Although the story is completely fantastical, it may be based on real events that only occurred much later than the alleged reign of the legendary king of the Britons.

In the Italian chapel of Monte Siepi, a block with a blade firmly planted in it is kept, which, according to some sources, belonged to the Tuscan knight Galliano Guidotti, who lived in the 12th century.

According to legend, Guidotti had a bad temper and led a rather licentious lifestyle, so one day the Archangel Michael appeared to him and urged him to embark on the path of serving the Lord, that is, to become a monk. Laughing, the knight declared that it would be as difficult for him to go to the monastery as to cut a stone, and in support of his words, he struck a nearby boulder with his blade with force. The archangel showed the stubborn a miracle - the blade easily entered the stone, and the amazed Galliano left it there, after which he embarked on the path of correction and was later canonized, and the fame of his sword that pierced the stone spread throughout Europe.

Having subjected the block and the sword to radiocarbon analysis, an employee of the University of Pavia, Luigi Garlaskelli, found that some part of this story may well be true: the age of the stone and sword is about eight centuries, that is, it coincides with the life of Senor Guidotti.

1. Kusanagi no tsurugi

This mythical sword has been a symbol of the power of Japanese emperors for several centuries. Kusanagi no tsurugi (translated from Japanese as "a sword that cuts grass") is also known as Ame-nomurakumo no tsurugi - "a sword that gathers the clouds of paradise".

The Japanese epic says that the sword was found by the wind god Susanoo in the body of an eight-headed dragon he had killed. Susanoo gave the blade to his sister, the goddess of the sun Amaterasu, later he ended up with her grandson Ninigi, and after a while he got to the demigod Jimmu, who then became the first emperor of the Land of the Rising Sun.

Interestingly, the Japanese authorities never put the sword on public display, but, on the contrary, sought to hide it away from prying eyes - even during coronations, the sword was carried out wrapped in linen. Supposedly it is kept in the Atsuta Shinto shrine located in the city of Nagoya, but there is no evidence of its existence.

The only ruler of Japan who publicly mentioned the sword was Emperor Hirohito (Hirohito): abdicating the throne after the defeat of the country in World War II, he urged temple attendants to keep the sword, no matter what.

1. Durandal

For centuries, the parishioners of the Not Dame Chapel, located in the city of Rocamadour, could see a sword stuck in the wall, which, according to legend, belonged to Roland himself - the hero of medieval epics and legends, who actually existed.

According to legend, he threw his magic blade, protecting the chapel from the enemy, and the sword remained in the wall. Attracted by these tales of the monks, numerous pilgrims flocked to Rocamadour, who retold the story of Roland's sword to each other, and thus the legend spread throughout Europe.

However, according to scientists, the sword in the chapel is not the legendary Durendal, with which Roland terrified his enemies. The famous knight of Charlemagne died on August 15, 778, in a battle with the Basques in the Ronceval Gorge, located hundreds of kilometers from Rocamadour, and rumors about Durandal, which was planted in the wall, began to appear only in the middle of the XII century, almost simultaneously with writing the Song of Roland. The monks simply tied Roland's name to a sword to ensure a steady stream of worshipers. But rejecting the version about Roland as the owner of the blade, experts cannot offer anything in return - who it belonged to will probably remain a mystery.

By the way, now there is no sword in the chapel - in 2011 it was removed from the wall and sent to the Paris Museum of the Middle Ages. It is also interesting that in French the word "Durandal" is feminine, so Roland probably had not friendly affection for his sword, but real passion and could hardly throw his beloved against the wall.

1. Bloodthirsty Blades of Muramasa

Muramasa is a famous Japanese swordsman and blacksmith who lived in the 16th century. According to legend, Muramasa prayed to the gods to endow his blades with bloodlust and destructive power. The master made very good swords, and the gods respected his request by placing a demonic spirit of extermination of all living things in each blade.

It is believed that if Muramasa's sword is gathering dust for a long time without work, it can provoke the owner to kill or commit suicide, in order to “get drunk” on blood in this way. There are countless stories of Muramasa sword wielders going insane or slaughtering countless people. After a series of accidents and murders that occurred in the family of the famous shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, which popular rumor associated with the curse of Muramasa, the government outlawed the blades of the master, and most of them were destroyed.

In fairness, it must be said that the Muramasa school is a whole dynasty of gunsmiths that has existed for about a century, so the story with the “demonic spirit of bloodthirstiness” that has settled in swords is nothing more than a legend. The curse of the blades made by the masters of the school was, paradoxically, their exceptional quality. Many experienced warriors preferred them to other swords and, apparently, due to their skill and the sharpness of Muramasa's blades, they won victories more often than others.

1. Honjo Masamune

Unlike the bloodthirsty swords of Muramasa, the blades made by the master Masamune, according to legend, endowed warriors with calmness and wisdom. According to legend, in order to find out whose blades are better and sharper, Muramasa and Masamune lowered their swords into the river with lotuses. The flowers revealed the essence of each of the masters: the blade of Masamune's sword did not inflict a single scratch on them, because his blades cannot harm the innocent, and Muramasa's product, on the contrary, seemed to want to cut the flowers into small pieces, justifying its reputation.

Of course, this is pure fiction - Masamune lived almost two centuries earlier than the gunsmiths of the Muramasa school. Nevertheless, Masamune's swords are truly unique: the secret of their strength cannot be revealed until now, even using the latest technologies and research methods.

All the surviving blades of the master's work are the national treasure of the Land of the Rising Sun and are carefully guarded, but the best of them, Honjo Masamune, was transferred to the American soldier Colde Bimor after the surrender of Japan in World War II, and its current whereabouts are unknown. The country's government is trying to find a unique blade, but so far, alas, in vain.

1. Joyeuse

The blade Joyeuse (in translation from French “joyeuse” - “joyful”), according to legend, belonged to the founder of the Holy Roman Empire, Charlemagne, and for many years served him faithfully. According to legend, he could change the color of the blade up to 30 times a day and outshine the Sun with its brightness. Currently, there are two blades that the famous monarch could have wielded.

One of them, used for many years as the coronation sword of the French kings, is kept in the Louvre, and for hundreds of years disputes have not ceased as to whether the hand of Charlemagne really squeezed its hilt. Radiocarbon analysis proves that this cannot be true: the surviving old part of the sword exhibited in the Louvre (over the past hundreds of years it has been altered and restored more than once) was created between the 10th and 11th centuries, after the death of Charlemagne (the emperor died in 814). Some believe that the sword was made after the destruction of the real Joyeuse and is an exact copy of it, or there is a part of "Joyful" in it.

The second contender for belonging to the legendary king is the so-called saber of Charlemagne, which is now in one of the museums in Vienna. Regarding the time of its manufacture, the opinions of experts differ, but many admit that it could still belong to Karl: he probably captured the weapon as a trophy during one of his campaigns in Eastern Europe. Of course, this is not the famous Joyeuse, but, nevertheless, the saber has no price as a historical artifact.

1. Sword of Saint Peter

There is a legend that the blade which is part of the exposition of the museum of the Polish city of Poznan, is nothing more than the sword with which the apostle Peter cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest during the arrest of Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. This sword was brought to Poland in 968 by Bishop Jordan, who assured everyone that the blade belonged to Peter. Adherents of this myth believe that the sword was forged at the beginning of the 1st century somewhere in the eastern outskirts of the Roman Empire.

Most researchers, however, are sure that the weapon was made much later than the events described in the Bible, this is confirmed by the analysis of the metal from which the sword and the blade of the “falchion” type were smelted - they simply did not make such swords in the time of the apostles, they appeared only in the 11th century .

1. Wallace sword

According to legend, Sir William Wallace, a Scots commander and leader in the struggle for independence from England, after the victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, wrapped the hilt of his sword with the skin of treasurer Hugh de Cressingham, who collected taxes for the British. One must think that the unfortunate treasurer had to go through many terrible moments before his death, because, in addition to the hilt, Wallace made the scabbard and belt from the same material.

According to another version of the legend, Wallace made only a belt from leather, but it is incredibly difficult to say anything for sure now, because at the request of King James IV of Scotland the sword was reworked - the old worn finish of the sword was replaced with a more appropriate one for this great artifact.

Probably, Sir William really could decorate his weapon with the skin of the treasurer: as a patriot of his country, he hated traitors collaborating with the invaders. However, there is another opinion - many believe that the story was invented by the British in order to create the image of a bloodthirsty monster for the fighter for the independence of Scotland. We will most likely never know the truth.

1. Sword of Goujian

In 1965, archaeologists found a sword in one of the ancient Chinese tombs, on which, despite the dampness that surrounded it for many years, there was not a single speck of rust - the weapon was in excellent condition, one of the scientists even cut his finger when he checked the sharpness blades. Having carefully studied the find, experts were surprised to state that it is at least 2.5 thousand years old.

According to the most common version, the sword belonged to Goujian, one of the wangs (rulers) of the Yue kingdom during the Spring and Autumn period. Researchers believe that this particular blade was mentioned in the lost work on the history of the kingdom. According to one legend, Goujian considered this sword the only worthwhile weapon in his collection, and another legend says that the sword is so beautiful that it could only be created by the combined efforts of Earth and Heaven.

The sword was perfectly preserved solely thanks to the art of ancient Chinese gunsmiths: the blade is made using a stainless alloy invented by them, and the scabbard of this weapon fit so tightly to the blade that air access to it was practically blocked.

1. seven pronged sword

This unusually beautiful blade was discovered in 1945 in the Shinto shrine of Isonokami-jingu (Japanese city of Tenri). The sword is strikingly different from the cold weapons familiar to us from the Land of the Rising Sun, first of all, the complex shape of the blade - it has six bizarre branches, and the tip of the blade was obviously considered the seventh - therefore, the weapon found was named Nanatsusaya-no-tachi (in the translation from Japanese - "Seven-toothed sword").

The sword was kept in terrible conditions (which is very uncharacteristic for the Japanese), so its condition leaves much to be desired. There is an inscription on the blade, according to which the ruler of Korea presented this weapon to one of the Chinese emperors.

A description of exactly the same blade is found in the Nihon Shoki, the oldest work on the history of Japan: according to legend, the seven-pronged sword was presented as a gift to the semi-mythical Empress Jingu.

After carefully examining the sword, the experts came to the conclusion that, most likely, this is the same legendary artifact, since the estimated time of its creation coincides with the events described in the Nihon shoki, in addition, the Isonokami-jingu shrine is mentioned there, so the relic simply lay there more than 1.5 thousand years until it was found.

1. Tison

The weapon that belonged to the legendary Spanish hero Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, better known as El Cid Campeador, is now located in the cathedral of the city of Burgos and is considered a national treasure of Spain.

After the death of Sid, the weapon fell to the ancestors of the Spanish king Ferdinand II of Aragon, and the king who inherited it presented the relic to the Marquis de Falses. The descendants of the Marquis carefully kept the artifact for hundreds of years, and in 1944, with their permission, the sword became part of the exposition of the Royal Military Museum in Madrid. In 2007, the owner of the sword sold it to the authorities of the region of Castile and León for $ 2 million, and they transferred it to the cathedral where El Cid is buried.

The employees of the Ministry of Culture were offended by the sale of the sword, and they began to spread the word that it was a later fake that had nothing to do with de Vivar. However, careful analysis confirmed that although the worn “native” hilt of the weapon was replaced in the 16th century with another, its blade was made in the 11th century, that is, the sword must have belonged to the hero.

1. Ulfbert

In our time, such swords are almost forgotten, but in the Middle Ages, the enemies of the Vikings experienced genuine horror at the word "Ulfbert". The honor of having such a weapon belonged exclusively to the elite of the Scandinavian armed forces, because the Ulfberts were much stronger than other swords of that time. Most of the medieval edged weapons were cast from brittle low-carbon steel with an admixture of slag, and the Vikings bought crucible steel from Iran and Afghanistan for their swords, which is much stronger.

Now it is not known who this Ulfbert was, and whether he was the first to guess to create such swords, but it was his brand that stood on all swords made in Europe from Iranian and Afghan metal. Ulfberts are perhaps the most advanced edged weapons of the early Middle Ages, far ahead of their time. Blades comparable in strength began to be mass-produced in Europe only