Sharp Objects Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bedivere

Some legends say that King Arthur pulled Excalibur from a stone (as in the Disney movie 'The Sword in the Stone'), but the most common version of the myth is that Arthur was given the sword by Vivian, the Lady of the Lake. When Arthur was killed by Mordred at the Battle of Camlann, he asked Bedivere to return the sword to the lake (some myths say it was Griflet, another knight, who returned the sword instead). Excalibur was said to shine so brightly it blinded Arthur's enemies, and its scabbard prevented the wearer from bleeding.

In Welsh Arthurian myths, as well as Excalibur, Arthur also wielded a spear called Rhongomyniad.

Answer: The Song of Roland

In the French version of 'The Song of Roland', Murgleys is said to have a gold pommel containing a holy relic, while the German version describes it as a seax (a type of knife wielded by Germanic peoples) called Mulagir. Opinion is divided as to the meaning of the sword's name: 'death brand', 'Moorish sword' and 'valiant piercer' have all been suggested by various translators. In 'The Matter of France', Ganelon is a knight who betrayed Charlemagne, while in 'The Song of Roland', he is Roland's stepfather.

Other notable swords in 'The Song of Roland' include Durandal, Roland's own sword; Joyeuse, Charlemagne's sword; and Hauteclere, a sword belonging to Olivier, a paladin and Roland's best friend.

Answer: Fafnir

Odin turns up in disguise at Sigmund's sister Signy's wedding feast, shoves Gram into a tree and says that the man who pulled it out of the tree would receive the sword as a gift. Sigmund is the lucky winner, and King Siggeir is jealous and tries to steal it from him. Odin later breaks Gram during a battle, but Borghild, Sigmund's wife, keeps the pieces for Sigurd. Regin, a dwarf blacksmith and Sigurd's mentor, asks Sigurd to slay Fafnir, and Sigurd agrees on condition that he be made a sword powerful enough to slay the dragon. Regin's initial attempts break easily, but when Sigurd wields Gram, it breaks Regin's anvil. Sigurd kills Fafnir in one strike by stabbing the beast through his shoulder.

In the German version, the 'Nibelungenlied', where Sigurd is known as Siegfried, Gram is called Balmung.

Answer: Susano'o

Fans of the manga 'Naruto' might remember that one of the characters, Sasuke Uchiha, has a technique named after Susano'o, and wields a Totsuka no Tsurugi himself. The one wielded by the Shinto storm god Susano'o is also known as Ame no Habakiri, and is said to be housed at the Isonokami Shrine in Nara Prefecture. When Susano'o is expelled from Heaven, he meets an old couple who have been forced to sacrifice their daughters to the Yamata no Orochi; seven had already been eaten, and Kushinada-hime, the eighth, is next. Susano'o turns Kushinada-hime into a comb to keep her safe, and asks the old couple to lay out barrels of sake as a trap for the serpent. When the Yamata no Orochi gets drunk on the sake, Susano'o chops off its heads.

A hand-breadth, incidentally, is the width of a palm, a measurement used in ancient times.

Answer: Iran/Persia

A shamshir is a curved Persian sword. This particular shamshir appears in the epic poem 'Amir Arsalan-e Namdar', the tale of Arsalan, the son of the Lady of Roum (aka Constantinople) and an Egyptian merchant, and his quest to reclaim his throne. During his travels, he encounters the horned demon Fulad-zereh, who is the son of a witch and kidnaps random women.

His mother puts a charm on him which makes him immune to all weapons except for Shamir-e-Zomorrodnegar, which he keeps in his possession. Any wounds inflicted by Shamshir-e-Zomorrodnegar can only be cured by a potion which has bits of Fulad-zereh's brain in it. Arsalan steals the sword and kills both the demon and his mother with it.

Answer: Beowulf

Grendel is said to be descended from Cain, and attacks the fortress of Heorot, where King Hrothgar and his people live, as he resents their happiness. Hrothgar enlists the help of Beowulf, a warrior from Geatland, and when Grendel shows up, Beowulf rips off his arm. Grendel retreats to the marshes where he lives and dies of blood loss, and his mother attacks Heorot and kills Ęschere, Hrothgar's most trusted advisor, in revenge. Hrothgar, Beowulf and their party track Grendel's mother down to a lake, and Unferth, Hrothgar's retainer, gives Beowulf Hrunting, a sword said to be extremely powerful.

However, it is useless against Grendel's mother and Beowulf has to use another sword hanging on the wall to chop her head off. He also decapitates Grendel's dead body, and the monster's blood melts the blade of the sword.

Answer: Julius Caesar

'Crocea Mors' is Latin for 'Yellow Death', although according to Welsh legend, the legendary sword was known as 'Angau Coch/Glas' ('Red/Grey Death'). It was said to instantly kill anyone it struck. In Geoffrey of Monmouth's story, the mythical British prince Nennius stole the sword from Caesar after it got stuck in his shield, and killed several Romans with it. Fifteen days later, he died of a head wound that Caesar had given him, and Crocea Mors was buried with him. given that a lot of what Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote turned out to be fictional, it is unknown whether Caesar actually did possess a sword of that name.

Answer: Kris Mpu Gandring

In the Javan legend, Ken Arok, the founder of the Kingdom of Singhasari and allegedly the son of the god Brahma, falls in love with Ken Dedes, the wife of the chief Tunggul Ametung. He is so desperate to marry her and kill her husband that he orders Mpu Gandring, a blacksmith who makes krises, to make him a special kris.

He tells Ken Arok it will take a year, but Ken Arok gets impatient and eventually kills Mpu Gandring with the kris. As he lies dying, Mpu Gandring curses the kris, stating that it will kill seven generations of Ken Arok's descendants, and Ken Arok himself. Ken Arok gives the kris to Kebo Ijo, Tunggul Ametung's bodyguard, kills the chief and frames Kebo Ijo for the murder.

He marries Ken Dedes, who is pregnant with Tunggul Ametung's child.

The boy, Anusapati, eventually finds out that Ken Arok killed his real father and has him killed with the cursed kris, and a cycle of revenge involving the kris begins.

Answer: Russia

The Kladenets, the 'self-swinging sword', appears in Russian mythology. A bogatyr is a heroic character, similar to a knight-errant, who appears in Russian bylinas (epic poems); legendary bogatyrs include Alyosha Popovitch, Dobrynya Nikitich and Ilya Muromets. Ivan Tsarevich, a heroic stock character in Russian folklore, often wields the Kladenets, and it is often encountered while hidden in or under another object, such as a rock or a tree.

Another myth has St George using it to behead a Tatar tsar.

Answer: Fire

Dyrnwyn is one of the Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain, a group of magical items in Welsh mythology. Dyrnwyn ('white-hilt') was a mythical sword that was said to burst into flame from its hilt to its tip if wielded by a wealthy man or a man of noble blood, which put potential wielders off it.

It was owned by Rhydderch Hael, one of the Three Generous Men ('hael' means 'the generous'), who was always willing to lend it to anyone who asked. The sword also appears in the Disney movie 'The Black Cauldron', which is based on Welsh folklore.