Flaming Sword

Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden. He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the Garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
—Genesis 3:24

This is what happens when you combine two of childhood's most reviled taboos...playing with sharp objects, and Playing with Fire. A Cool Sword that's actually very HOT.

Great-great-great Grandfather to the Laser Blade, this is a blade that is on fire (or possibly made of fire). These are usually wielded by divine and infernal guardians alike, because nothing says "Gonna smite your ass" like being able to cut someone and burn them at the same time. Also a favorite trick of the Magic Knight, who may also vary it with different elements.

Contrast Hot Blade, for when swords are warm enough to glow, but not to actually burn. A type of Impossibly Cool Weapon, for when your Cool Sword really needs that special touch. See also Incendiary Exponent, Fire-Breathing Weapon, and Oddly-Shaped Sword (if the sword is flame-shaped). Not to be confused with Excaliburn. Don't expect it to ever be touched upon just how much Nightmare Fuel and Body Horror this should inflict on anybody on the receiving end. (Fire or a blade is bad enough.)

Examples of Flaming Sword include:

Anime and Manga

  • In Kaze no Stigma Ayano has Enraiha a wooden sword always in flames.
  • In Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, through a unique mishap involving a virtual MMORPG and a Reality Warper feather; both Syaoran and Kurogane end up with flaming swords outside of the game as well.
  • Shishio in Rurouni Kenshin.
    • It's a particularly nasty Flaming Sword, too. Instead of using magic or a napalm-like substance, Shishio's sword burns because, after using it to kill countless people, the blade's serrations have become filled with human fat. One spark from a clash of swords, and all the fats and oils the sword's soaked up go into a blaze.
    • While he utterly fails biology and chemistry, he gets away with it due to liberal applications of Rule of Cool and Crazy Awesome.
  • Hiei in Yu Yu Hakusho occasionally uses the Sword of the Darkness Flame.
    • Also, in Yu Yu Hakusho: Kuwabara's Rei-ken is a combination between this and a Laser Blade, since it's made of his own ki.
  • Signum's Laevatein in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is both this and a Whip Sword. Bonus points for being named after the mythical Norse sword that will bring about the end of the world, and for Signum (a.k.a. "Blazing General") bearing resemblance to Archangel Michael (a.k.a. "Strategos of the Heavenly Host").
  • Captain Yamamoto in Bleach, besides being on fire himself when fighting, has a flaming sword. Bearing in mind that he can drive people to the ground with a glance, it's no surprise that his sword puts off enough heat to burn the clouds out of the sky.
    • The Filler villain Shusuke Amagai takes this up to eleven with his bankai. It's basically a BFS with an afterburner for a hilt!
  • Shana of Shakugan no Shana, contractor to the Flame of Heaven, can set her sword on fire. It makes a nice complement to her large flaming wings, fireballs, etc...
  • In One Piece, Zoro once had all three of his swords on fire during a firestorm, and used them to great effect during the Little Garden Arc.
    • One of Whitebeard's Commanders is able to set his sword on fire, by lighting it with his cigar.
    • and Zoro can apparently light his swords on fire with concentrated ki, which he used to defeat Ryuuma. May qualify as a Desperation Attack.
  • In Digimon Savers, Shinegreymon gets one when using his True Burst Mode.
    • Its not so much as a flaming sword per se, more like a flame in the shape of a sword. When push comes to shove, he can fire it like a wave cannon or even condense it into a shield.
  • In Digimon Xros Wars, Dorbickmon uses them for his Tyrant Collbrande attack. Bonus points because it is literally a flame shaped into a sword.
  • In Magic Knight Rayearth, Hikaru's sword does this in a variation: it only ignites if someone that isn't her touches it.
    • Later, in the anime version's second season, the Rune God Rayearth's sword is almost constantly alight.
  • Variation done in Code Geass. The Japanese Knightmare Frames wield superheated chainsaw katanas, with General Tohdoh having a customized version with rocket thrusters.
  • Flame of Recca has Saiha's En Jin, which focuses Recca's flame into a fire blade attached to his wrist.
  • Madoka Mawari has two in Tenjho Tenge. She also burns her skirt off to give herself higher mobility while using them.
    • Technically this example is a subversion, since what she's wielding aren't actually swords, but rather two really souped up blowtorches that make her weapons look more like lightsabers than anything else.
  • Dai, the eponymous hero from Dai no Dai Bouken has used fire magic on some occasions to turn any sword he wields into a Flaming Sword. But this isn't limited to fire spells, as he can also combine his sword with lightning magic for an even stronger power-up.
  • Susano'o, the spirit warrior projected by the wielder of the Mangekyo Sharingan, uses the Totsuka no Tsurugi; a spirit blade looking like nothing so much as a long flame, although it stabs through and sprays blood out of Orochimaru quite well.
    • Although in the manga it looked less like fire and more like a liquid which, going by the description in the databook, is actually sake of all thing.
      • Bit of Fridge Brilliance since Orochi from Shinto mythology was slain after drinking too much sake.
  • Isidro's Salamander Dagger can unleash a burning power, hot enough to melt steel.
  • In Yu-Gi-Oh, the Flame Swordsman's Flaming Sword of Battle.
  • A Certain Magical Index: Fiamma of the Right's flaming sword also doubles as a BFS that's forty kilometers long.
  • The sword Kurikara in Blue Exorcist.
  • Voltron, a Humungous Mecha with a BLAZING SWORD!
  • An Inversion appears in Sekirei with Tsukiumi's Water Blade.
  • A variation in Mahou Sensei Negima: Yue and Beatrice can enchant their swords to emit lightning and ice respectively.

Comic Books

  • In The DCU, the Jean-Paul Valley incarnation as Azrael not only wields a flaming sword, he can shoot several of them. And come to think of it, most of the Azraels had flaming swords, not just Jean-Paul Valley.
    • That is to say, he can fire flaming blade things from a launcher on his wrists.
  • In the comic book Angel: After the Fall, Angel wields a fire sword against the champions of the lords of Hell-A.
  • The Roman God of War saw the efforts of the Germans in WWII, and was impressed. He decided to help them, but because he was an idiot he accidentally gave powers to Clay Carter, American. The powers include super strength, agility, invulnerability and The Flaming Sword Of Mars, which is... a flaming sword that can cut through anything. He becomes Man Of War, a Golden Age Public Domain superhero.
  • Zauriel, the first angel to join the Justice League of America, wields one of these.
  • Heimdall's Cool Sword can create blue "cosmic fire" and of course Surtur's black sword "Twilight", Marvel's version of Laevateinn.
  • Scott Pilgrim obtains a flaming Katanas Are Just Better (through gaining a level when he declares his love for Ramona.
  • Rustam, a recurring enemy of the Suicide Squad through his involvement with the terrorist group Jihad, wielded a "psi-scimitar", with a blade of fire erupting from its hilt. In their final confrontation, Rick Flagg manages to kill him with it.

Fan Works

Films

  • The Lord of the Rings:
    • The Balrog has one of these, along with a fiery whip.
    • The Witch-King has one during the siege of Minas Tirith, though only in the extended edition of the movie.
    • When Aragorn first draws Anduril (meaning Flame of the West), ghostly fire runs down it. In case you're wondering, it's that sword that Elrond and Arwen forge from the shards of Narsil.
  • Will Turner briefly sets his sword aflame in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest when he first runs into Davey Jones's crew by dipping it in oil then smashing a lantern.
  • The Scorpion King's Big Bad had flaming swords (due to being dipped in lamp oil) during the climactic Boss Battle.
  • Violet, the protagonist of Ultraviolet, and her arch-nemesis, have a flaming sword duel after she renders his flame-throwing pistol useless.
  • The Headless Horseman from Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow wielded a variant. While it didn't appear to be burning, it was so hot from the eternal flames of Hell that it still cauterized any wounds inflicted.
    • This is actually helpful at one point. When Ichabod is stabbed in the shoulder, he doesn't bleed out because the sword cauterised the wound.
  • The High Priest of the Mayan temple in The Fountain wields a flaming sword with which to defend the Tree of Life. It's actually a bit of Deconstruction, as the Mayan priest basically distracts Tomas with the sword and stabs him in the gut with a dagger.

Literature

  • True to the series' roots, the hero of the Belgariad ends up wielding a Thunderbolt Iron BFS that was forged by a royal ancestor and burns with blue fire due to the attached MacGuffin.
  • The sword of Discworld's Chaos is made of blue fire, a flame so hot that it goes to the other side and becomes absolute cold. On his off days, he uses it to keep the milk he sells fresh.
    • Also, in Lords and Ladies magic is described as being like "a flaming sword that burns all the way down to the pommel" to emphasise how dangerous using it is, and why wizards and witches don't use it for mundane things.
  • The Midnight Angel from the Wild Cards series is able to summon a gigantic flaming sword as one of her powers.
  • In A Song of Ice and Fire, flaming swords are a religious aspect of the religion of R'Hllor. Their messianic figure wielded a flaming sword called Lightbringer. Several followers of R'Hllor also wield flaming swords of various authenticity.
    • Thoros of Myr wields a flaming sword in melees and battles, but it's just a trick. He buys a cheap sword beforehand and douses it in flammable wildfire to intimidate his opponents and spook their horses. Its said to also ruin the sword afterwards.
    • Stannis Baratheon acquires a flaming sword he calls Lightbringer. Upon closer inspection it's a magical trick. The flames shed light, but not heat. The flames of the "real" Lightbringer would burn.
    • Beric Dondarrion wields a flaming sword when he duels Sandor Clegane. After cutting his palm on the blade, fire burst from the blood. Unlike the other swords, the flames really burn, which is bad for the pyrophobic Sandor.
  • Though ironically the title character of Blade of the Flame doesn't use a flaming sword, his half-orc partner Ghaji gets a flaming axe during their infiltration of Dreadhold. They have to use it up to defeat the dire wereshark invasion in the climax of the series, however.
  • Rand of The Wheel of Time uses a sword made of fire from time to time, even though his powers could be put to far better use in other ways. He is a blademaster, though.
  • In Good Omens, Aziraphale, Angel of the Eastern Gate, has one. He ends up giving it to Adam and Eve to help them survive after they are cast out of the garden of Eden. God's reaction goes as thus:

"25. And the Lord spake unto the Angel that guarded the eastern gate, saying Where is the flaming sword which was given unto thee?
"26. And the Angel said, I had it here only a moment ago, I must have put it down some where, forget my own head next.
"27. And the Lord did not ask him again.

  • Subverted rather neatly in Harry Turtledove's Wisdom of the Fox. The protagonist, amateur wizard Gerin the Fox, discovers an ancient book with a section titled "A cantrip which produceth a flaming sword." Gerin proceeds to hang a lampshade on Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe. Then he tries the spell. It works; his sword bursts out in pure, smokeless elemental fire. Then he discovers the problem with the spell that explains why not everyone uses it. The spell covers your sword blade in fire... but gives you no insulation or protection from the heat created by the fire. Luckily for him, he manages to drop the sword in a barrel of water before his hand gets blistered too badly.
  • Late in Brisingr, Eragon gets the titular sword. Whenever he says its name (which means fire in the ancient language), it ignites. One character at least has the sense to point out this is incredibly cheesy.
  • The Balrogs in JRR Tolkien's Middle-earth mythos (The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion) wielded not only a flaming sword, but also a flaming cat-of-nine-tails whip. Also, while Anduril is not literally on fire, it does shine "as though on fire." Even more, Turin son of Hurin has his own blade, which after a very Kamina-esque speech, he thrusts in the air and a great fire leaps up all around him. One of Gurren Lagann's writers just has to have read that for Kamina.
    • At one point Anduril did burst into actual flame, courtesy of Gandalf the White.
  • Dyrnwyn in the Chronicles of Prydain. This is the same sword that is one of the 13 hallows, or treasures, or Britain.
  • Older Than Feudalism: In The Bible, God had Cherubim (it's plural, doncha know) with these to prevent Adam and Eve and their descendants from returning to the Garden of Eden.
  • In Codex Alera, any sufficiently skilled firecrafter can light their sword on fire; however, it takes quite a lot of power to be able to do so, and as such is a technique mainly used by the immensely powerful High Lords. Being struck with one of these is what killed High Lord Aquitaine; were it a normal wound, he could have simply watercrafted it shut, but a flaming sword's wounds cauterize themselves, making healing impossible. They're also favored for anchoring firecraftings.
  • Obould takes it a step further. It's not just a flaming sword, it's a flaming claymore.
  • In Farworld: Land Keep, there is a type of sword called a Flazite, made of dark metal with flames "leaping about on the surface" despite the rain. It gets worse- one scratch, and your blood turns to fire. And...it's pointed at our heroes. Crap.

Live-Action TV

  • Honorary mention should be given to Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer who went up against the vampire Angelus with a baseball bat that he set on fire. Ultimately futile, but dang did it look cool.
    • That was a vial of /holy/ oil that he lit and threw upon the table, dipping the bat in as he passed. That was a Flaming Holy Avenger baseball bat.
  • Power Rangers has the Shogun Megazord Fire Sabre and the Lightspeed Megazord Sabre. The elementally-powered Rangers will occasionally get to do this too, such as in Lost Galaxy, Mystic Force, and the Super Sentai season Samurai Sentai Shinkenger.
    • Of special note is the fact that some of these and Super Sentai examples involve really lighting the weapons on fire. The Centaurus Phoenix of Mystic Force had this back in Magiranger, but it was edited over with sparkly FX for the US.
      • Uncensored fire does seem to have returned in RPM, however.
  • Rohan's Weapon of Choice on The Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog.
  • Krod Mandoon and The Flaming Sword of Fire. Yes, that is the show's name, and yes that is the title character's weapon.
    • However, being a parody and all, Krod has no control over the flaming part. It tends to catch fire when he's "excited". Hell, the first time someone asks about it he thinks it means the sword is somehow defective and he needs to get it fixed.
  • In the Fallen mini-series, angels and Nephilim can wield swords made of pure divine fire, which they can summon from thin air. Being hit by one usually incinerates the target. Strangely enough, the protagonist, a regular kid until recently, can match his swordfighting skills with angels, who have been doing this since before humans were around, and even The Devil.

Music

Oral Tradition, Folklore, Myth and Legends

  • In Norse Mythology; Surtr, the leader of the giants of Muspelheim had one (called "Lævateinn"); his having it plays a major role in Ragnarok. It will burn nearly all of the earth. Oddly enough, he gets stopped by a tree of all things (granted, it was Yggdrasil).
    • Lævateinn itself was forged by Volundr and owned by Loki. The Old Norse translation literally means "Damage Twig" and may in fact not be a named sword, but a kenning for a sword.
  • One of the 13 treasures of Britain, The Dyrnwyn of Rhydderch Hael, is a sword that would light up on fire that does not harm the wielder if drawn by a noble man.

New Media

Professional Wrestling

  • Commonplace in Garbage Wrestling (and sometimes makes its way to the professional world), it's entirely possible to see things set aflame to look more intense and painful, including but not limited to tables, two-by-fours wrapped in barbed wire, the wrestlers themselves...

Tabletop Games

  • Paladins, in keeping with their spiritual allegiance, often have these. Dungeons & Dragons and Quest for Glory are two examples.
  • The Magic the Gathering card Flaming Sword, as well as the Sword of Fire and Ice.
  • In Warhammer 40,000 The God-Emperor of Mankind seems to have used one. Though that may have been related to his Psychic Powers.
    • Rogue Trader has Loi-Pattern Burning Blade. Amusingly, the description says it was invented by an accident. One provincial manufactorium released a faulty party of power swords prone to intense overheating, and a concern specializing on power weapons investigated this. Naturally, they figured that given the Imperium's fondness of purging things with fire in general and depictions of the Emperor with burning sword in particular, it could have some prestige attached, much like with boltguns, so the market is right here - they only have to give the blade enough of heat insulation to not fry the user's hand or itself. In stats, it's not quite as good at chopping through armour, but can set the target on fire (which tend to distract the victim from fighting back).
    • Deathwatch has power sword The Everburning Brand as a relic of Fire Hawks chapter.
    • Black Crusade has a powerful Daemon Weapon called Firestorm Blade. It's on fire and howls.
  • The Flame Swordsman card in Yu-Gi-Oh.
  • This is the major schtick of the Bright Wizard in Warhammer, though other wizards have similar weapons and Daemons can crack out the flaming blades on occasion as well.
    • One of the spells available to the Bright Wizard is called Flaming Sword of Rhuin casting it on a friendly unit provides the entire unit with a buff that lights their weapons on fire.
  • One of the examples of common relics in the In Nomine core rules is a flame sword.
  • The Flaming Weapon spell from GURPS: Magic. A naturally flaming sword requires a valuable ruby to be placed on the hilt.
  • In Legend of the Five Rings, there is a fire spell that creates a sword out of fire.
    • as well as other weapons out of air, water and earth. But the katana of fire is admittedly the coolest.
  • The CCG Redemption features a giant flaming sword on the back side of the cards.

Gamebooks

  • The Sommerswerd in the Lone Wolf series can also release holy sunfire. And yes, this is the coolest thing ever.
    • If Lone Wolf has reached the rank of Sun Lord or higher and has Grand Weaponmastery, he can turn an ordinary sword into a Flaming Sword. Not nearly as powerful as the Sommerswerd, but useful in places where drawing the Sword of the Sun will get you killed.

Toys

  • Toa Tahu's original weapon of choice was a literal flaming sword, though his Magma Swords as a Nuva still channel his fire abilities.
    • Reused a few times down the line - Hordika Vakama's swords get special mention for having flamethrower nozzles worked into the design.
    • Jaller Inika's Enegerized Flame Swords and Ackar's Flame Sword.

Video Games

  • You do not attack with a Flaming Sword in Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame . In ancient Persia, Flaming Sword attacks you!
  • Zero gets many techniques that use these in the Mega Man X and Zero series. Most of these Flaming Sword attacks are executed in a manner similar to the Shoryuken.
    • The weapon of Sword Man (which Mega Man can acquire) in Mega Man 8 is called the Flame Sword. Or "Flame Suword".
  • Phantasy Star Universe has the Crimson, an S-rank saber that glows red and is constantly on fire. There's also a Twin Saber version called the "Two-Headed Ragnus." Unfortunately, while they look badass, their damage output isn't that great compared to other S-ranks in the same category.
  • Final Fantasy games often have elemental weapons of this variety, or the means to apply the effect to your existing weapons, conveniently for sale at your local store. Or at least in some treasure chest somewhere. The Mystic Knight/Sorcerer job in V is just for doing this. Vivi and Steiner collaborate in IX. Final Fantasy XI has such effects as native abilities for Red Mages and Summoners, as well as some weapons possessing some lesser effects. The Flame Saber, Ice Brand, and Coral Swords (each representing part of the Fire, Ice, Lightning triumvirate, respectively, have been available since the earliest games.
  • In The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass, if you return 10 Power Gems to the spring at Spirit Island, and equip the Fairy of Power, Link's sword becomes coated in flames. Ten more and they burn hotter.
  • Combining the Cutter and Fire powers in Kirby 64 The Crystal Shards resulted in a flaming sword that is about twice his size.
    • In Squeak Squad, it's combining fire and sword, naturally. Not big, but appropriately fiery.
  • Kain can get one of these fairly early on in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. It's extremely powerful, but has the disadvantage of burning your opponents to ashes, thus leaving nothing to feed on - remember, Kain is a vampire. It's best used on the demons and monsters wandering around, since you can't feed on them anyway. It also looks tremendously badass.
    • There's also the Fire Reaver that Raziel can get in all three of the games he's in.
    • Later in the series, it's revealed that the Hylden champion is supposed to wield a flaming sword. Raziel takes this to mean that he is the Hylden champion, because the Wraith Blade quite resembles a flaming sword.
  • Diablo II featured the Archangel Tyrael, who used a sword that burned with holy flames, before Baal wrestles it away.
    • The sorceress can also enchant weapons with fire. Of course, this ability is almost completely useless in solo play, due to their Squishy Wizard status. But with the right gear and Minmaxing, they can dish out 100k+ damage per hit turning them somewhat into Glass Cannons dealing more damage than just about anything else in the game.
      • Not that a sorceress's weapon actually appears to flame; it just turns bright red. Incidentally, there's actually unused flaming sword animations for the Paladin in the game files. And it does look as cheesy as one would imagine.
  • Parasite Eve 2's Big Bad, No. 9, wields one of these in the first boss battle, before ditching it in favor of a gunblade in subsequent appearances.
  • In Neverwinter Nights, the player can apply alchemical fire to a sword to make it burn and deal fire damage.
    • You can also apply visual effects to swords with the toolset, which include (in addition to flaming) glowing yellow-white with holy power, dripping acid, crackling with electricity, giving off visible sound waves, generating a miniature blizzard, and glowing red with unholy power. The actual effects that the appearance would create require manipulating the weapon's properties too, though.
  • Enchanting weapons with elemental properties has been a staple of World of Mana. In Seiken Densetsu 3, Duran's dark-aligned classes all specialize in such magic, as does Carlie's light-aligned classes. Two of Kevin's classes possess similar spells, which don't enhance a weapon's damage with an element, but instead add HP or MP draining effects.
  • In the doujin fighting game Eternal Fighter Zero, Mishio Amano's fighting style involves enchanting her spear with fire or lightning to access different movesets.
  • Fire Emblem: The Sword of Seals. For his critical hit animation, Roy lights his sword on fire. This is why nearly all his moves Super Smash Bros. Melee result in fire.
    • Durandal, the S-ranked sword in Sword of Seals and Eliwood's preferred weapon at the end of Blazing Blade, is known as the Blazing Blade; however, it isn't a flaming sword.
    • It's also one of three long range swords in the fourth and fifth game. It's also the weapon the Crutch Character in the fifth game starts out with.
    • Roy is absent from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but Ike from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance takes his place with a normal special attack that creates a plume of fire, and a final smash where his sword is on fire.
  • In City of Heroes, Fire Melee and Fire Manipulation give the player access to swords literally made of fire.
  • Elemental effects are a large part of the Guilty Gear games. Sol Badguy actually wields a sword that has no sharp edge or point but is a great vessel for his fire magic, and French cop Ky Kiske has a regular sword charged with lightning magic.
  • In The Elder Scrolls: Tribunal, the player must reconstruct an ancient sword capable of killing gods, and appears to have succeeded. However, it seems that the original sword was a Flaming Sword. This has become Lost Technology since the original was forged, so the player descends into some ruins to find the ghost of the dwarf who originally made it. The ghost reveals the secret of flaming swords: pour tar on it and light it on fire.
    • You can also enchant your own flaming swords, and a couple come up in the games themselves. The Sword of the Crusader, in the Knights of the Nine expansion to Oblivion, may be the most prominent. Like the sword in Tribunal, you first need to recover it as an ordinary sword, and in this case reconsecrate it to the gods before it will light on fire for you.
  • You can snag one of these pretty early in Ultima IX. As with all good flaming swords, it doubles as a handy torch in the dark.
  • Nethack has a couple which seem to fit the bill; Fire Brand (which is actually pretty rubbish - it's cold counterpart, Frost Brand, is far more useful) and Sunsword (which is more for dealing with undead, but at least it doubles as a torch).
  • Romancing SaGa: Not only is there a Flaming Sword, but an Ice Sword, an Earth Sword, a Water Sword, and an Illusory Sword as well, there is even a Flaming Axe; each allowing the wielder to channel certain types of magic.
    • In addition to the previously mentioned Swords, A Cosmic Keystone in the game is also one and can shift into 3 different types and helps channel magic as well.
  • It's not a sword, but Richter Belmont could briefly light his whip on fire as a Limit Break. The Flame Whip has also been a recurring weapon since the days of Castlevania II Simons Quest.
    • However, some of the entries also have flaming swords, whether it's the Firebrand or the Flamberge, or something else entirely.
  • Throughout the Mega Man Battle Network series, Swordy Two enemies have flaming swords and Swordy Three enemies have ice swords. You, of course, also have fire and ice swords once you've beaten them.
    • In the third game, along with the fire and ice swords, there are also swords made of electricity and bamboo. There is even a Program Advance in that game that allows you to smack your enemies with all four swords in just one and a half seconds for massive elemental damage.
  • Fallout 3's Shishkebab is one of these. The ingredients? Lawn mower blade for the blade itself, motorcycle gas tank for the fuel storage, motorcycle handbreak for the handle/trigger, and pilot light to ignite it. Oh, and oven mitt to hold the weapon with. It is Awesome Yet Practical, I assure you.
    • Awesome, Pratical, and the most powerful melee weapon in the entire (pre-expansion) game.
  • No More Heroes has Bad Girl, who wields a flaming baseball bat, made possible by her spitting alcohol all over it and lighting it up.
  • Any melee weapon with a Flame Augmentation in Fable will do this from time to time. Heck, you can put a Flame Augmentation on a frying pan.
    • Same sort of deal in Fate, where you can even double up on enhancements, creating a Flaming Sword of Fire. Weapons with Fire as a property can also have Frost (huh?), Lightning and/or Holy enhancements.
  • Kratos uses one of these in Tales of Symphonia. Near the end of the game, he gives it to his son, Lloyd.
    • By any chance is it the Flamberge from Tales of Phantasia, one of the components of the Eternal Sword?
      • Quite possibly. Lloyd's father Dirk forges the companion to Flamberge, the Vorpal Sword, both of which Lloyd uses as the Material Blades. And since Symphonia is supposed to be a prequel to Phantasia...
      • They are one and the same. The Eternal Sword was originally a separate sword from the Material Blades, but when Lloyd becomes the new owner of the sword, it splits its essence between the Flamberge and the Vorpal Sword, because Lloyd is a dual-swords user.
  • Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep has the Firestorm Command Style which wraps the Keyblade in a shroud of flames.
  • The other Kratos from God of War has the Blades of Chaos, two short swords on the end of variable length chains that light on fire when he attacks with them but cool down when he hangs them from his back.
  • Kingdom of Loathing: To start off, there's the flaming cardboard sword, where even the narrator wonders why it doesn't crumble to a crisp. There's also the icy-hot katana, along the same lines as the Sword of Fire and Ice mentioned for Magic: the Gathering.
  • The cover of Chrono Trigger depicts Marle enchanting Crono's sword with fire magic. While that is a real move in the game (Fire Sword), Marle is An Ice Person, and casts the inverse of Fire Sword (Ice Sword). Lucca grants Fire Sword when teamed with Crono.
    • As a side note, the cover also has Marle drawn with six fingers on her left hand.
  • In Devil May Cry, Dante fights with flaming gauntlets. In DMC3, he uses a flaming sword called Agni, earlier wielded by a boss and also fights demons with flaming scythes.
    • Agni is the boss. It's a talking sword controlling a body. Dante just asked it to shut up, although it'll sometimes start yelling in longer combos.
    • Nero's Red Queen has Exceed system, which briefly sets is on fire during attacks.
  • World of Warcraft - You can have an enchanter put a spell on your melee weapons, which some of these give your weapon a certain glow, whether it be on fire, blue for an icy death, or even green.
    • Also, Shaman have a weapon buff which causes a small ball of fire to orbit their weapon and cause fire damage each time they strike.
      • Except they can't wield swords
  • Kazuki in Samurai Shodown wields a flaming sword. The series goes further in Samurai Shodown V when a demon who looks basically like Kazuki wields Chains of Fire instead.
    • Want lots of fire? Try Samurai Shodown 2. Although this may or may not be some modification, since few of the actual swords caught fire. No, for that we go to the Weapons Kitchen Sink: Neinhalt Sieger has a flame-enhanced huge gauntlet (which also helps him with his flaming leap), and Wan-Fu uses a flaming stone pillar. Imagine the joy of having a huge stone pillar that's on fire shoved up your landing zone.
  • The Lord of the Rings: Conquest has warriors that can set their swords on fire. Not many people were pleased with it.
  • In Touhou 6, The Bonus Boss Flandre Scarlet has a gigantic flaming rod, that's swung around as a sword.
    • This wand is actually Laevatein (see Myth And Legend above).
    • A more straightforward example would be Hinanawi Tenshi's sword.
  • Beyond Oasis brought us the Omega Sword. It's not clear if the sword itself is on fire, but it certainly lights up enemies as if they were. Going through the Bonus Dungeon gave the player access to one that would never break.
  • In Nexus War, the Divine Champion class can learn the Cloak of Vengeful Fire skill. It turns the character into living fire, giving them a flaming sword, the ability to throw fireballs, a "rain of fire" area attack, and a burning aura.
  • In Eternal Sonata, any BFS in Jazz's hands can be used in the special attack Heat Blade. "The fire on the blade burns all."
  • Battle Moon Wars Takumi has a Magitek broadsword that can burst into blue flame. He is justifiably proud of it, as it can match The Berserker from Fate Stay Night.
  • The Vulcans (not the space-elf kind!) from Odin Sphere have flaming swords and flaming hair to match, and getting hit by them results in catching aflame for a good deal of time.
  • Paladins in Sierra's Quest for Glory series have blue flaming swords. They're slightly more powerful than the Fighter's regular sword, but not by much (and since the Fighter gets an equally powerful ax in the fourth game...).
  • Guild Wars' Fiery Dragon Sword, Fiery Embersteel Blade and Fiery Gladius. A quasi-inversion is the Icy Dragon Sword and the Glacial Blade. The Icy Dragon Sword even has blue 'flames'.
  • One of the forgeable weapons in Overlord II is The Scorcher, a flaming sword made from a dragon's entrails. It even roars like a dragon when swung.
  • There is one of these in Battle for Wesnoth's original campaign, Heir to the Throne, in the Snow Plains scenario.
  • The Flameberge (not a typo) in Scribblenauts. Typing in "Flaming Sword" works just as well though.
  • The Crisis Core version of Odin has his Zantetsuken start as one of these, get the flame extinguished, then have it rekindle before landing the killing blow.
  • In Lost Odyssey, wearing a fire-elemental ring gives you one of these (or a flaming staff, or what have you.) There are also air, earth and water variants for their respective rings.
  • Warcraft 3's Doom Guards (think Balrog without whips and not on fire) have them. Orc Blademasters don't use them, but they do come from the Burning Blade clan... unless they have an Orb of Fire, which orbits the hero's weapon and allows him to throw fireballs.
  • ...And On FIRE!
  • In Persona 3, it's possible to obtain Surt's flaming sword as a weapon for the main character and Junpei.
  • Obscure NES strategy RPG Just Breed has a truly nasty one, overlapping with Fire-Breathing Weapon—it's just called a generic 'flame sword', but every time you attack with it, it hits nearly half the battlefield with an absurdly massive area-effect cone of fire.
  • One of the swords in Okami looks like it's on fire, as well as being red and orange.
  • This is a common weapon in the Ys series. In most games, it's either the Infinity+1 Sword or close to it.
  • The old arcade game Rastan had this as a weapon you could obtain. It would shoot fireballs when swung.
  • Pick any of Sagi's fire element weapon magnus in Baten Kaitos Origins. See how many you can find on fire.
    • When any fire-weapon is equipped, Sagi's held weapon leaves a red-orange trail behind it, and the blade appears to burn
  • The Dragon Age Origins Flaming Weapons spell isn't as useful as similar weapon enchants, but it can give you a flaming warhound.
    • The templars of the sequel have flaming sword symbols on their armor, also seen on the game's menu screen. Their actual weapons, however, aren't on fire.
  • One of the divine powers available in Age of Mythology is named "Flaming Weapons". It allows your soldiers to do extra damage for a considerable time, particularly against buildings.
  • In Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten, the Dragon's Flame Slash magichange attack has the dragon turned sword ignite itself before its wielder strikes the target, who proceeds to catch on fire, then explode.
  • In Psychonauts, Oleander's dad gets flaming meat cleavers the second time you fight him.
  • SaGa Frontier 2: The Firebrand, Finney Kingdom's sacred treasure. Any potential king of Finney undergoes a Rite of Passage where they hold it up in the air and, if it generates flames, proves their worth as a ruler. Unfortunately for Gustave XIII, nothing happens...
  • In Dark Souls one is used by Gwyn, Lord of Cinder. If you use his soul in a weapon ascension, you can make a non-flaming version.
  • In League of Legends Kayle can set her sword on fire. This also gives her Sword Beams.
  • In Drakan, one of the pickup weapons Rynn can use is this. Not only does it set its victims on fire when it hits, it even doubles as a torch for illuminating dark places. As a bonus, the first one Rynn gets to pick up has an alternate attack that creates an expanding ring of fire that burns everything around her. Unlike most swords of this type, the one in this game is not so durable.
  • In Athena, Athena's most powerful melee weapon is the Flame Sword, which has enormous range and power. Unfortunately, it hurts to swing it.
  • Master of Magic has 3 degrees of flaming weapons, though all give bonus to damage without fire damage type. Flame Blade enchantment gives +2 to Melee, Thrown and Ranged Missile (bows) attacks, makes melee attack magical if it isn't already, and shows as red aura. Metal Fires is similar, but +1 and for all units on the battlefield without a better version. 2 Chaos books allow to enchant weapons for heroes with Flaming power, which gives +3 to relevant attacks (Melee for melee weapons plus Thrown for axe, Ranged Missile for bow, Ranged Magical for wand/staff).

Web Comics

Web Original

  • Phoenixfire, a student at Whateley Academy in the Whateley Universe, can manifest fire all over herself and also manifest a sword that is made of fire. Her mom the superhero (Magma) can do the exact same thing.
  • Yahtzee commented that the shuriken-and-lightning gun in Painkiller "could only be more awesome if it had tits and was on fire."
  • Dr. Clef's proposal for SCP-001 from the SCP Foundation is apparently the guardian of Eden, complete with one of these that can strike in multiple directions at once, regardless of distance.
  • The swordsmiths on the Man at Arms web series (both original flavor and Reforged) on the AWE me channel at YouTube have recreated several famous flaming swords from fiction, including Voltron's Blazing Sword (fed with a hidden gas line). However, it's during the actual forging scenes we see what may have been the origin of the flaming sword image -- when a red-hot blade is quenched in oil and then pulled back out, the blade is on fire for at least a few seconds, and sometimes longer.

Western Animation

  • In Static Shock, pyrokinetic metahuman villain Hot Streak attempted to use such a weapon, but was defeated before it got to see any action.
  • The Dinobots in Transformers Animated all have flaming weapons. Grimlock has the traditional sword, but Snarl has a flaming club, and Swoop has a flaming flail.
  • Zuko and Azula of Avatar: The Last Airbender have used flame daggers and whips, among other things, to engage their opponents. Be aware however that they weren't daggers or whips set ablaze, but actual daggers and whips made of fire. That's like three different aspects of the Rule of Cool combined into one. Zuko also combined Firebending with his swords in his Day in The Limelight.
    • A one shot bad guy used a whip that he set on fire.
  • In Codename: Kids Next Door, the Delightful Children From Down the Lane take this trope to the next level by using a giant mech sporting a pair of giant flaming chainsaws.
  • The Sword of Plundarr from Thundercats, a magical double bladed flame scimitar. Apparently when Jaga threw the Sword into a volcano to get rid of it, this somehow led to a chain reaction that destroyed Thundera. Nice Job Blowing Up the Planet, Jaga the "Wise". Later in the series Mumm-ra gets a hold of it.
  • Drew, the mom on The Secret Saturdays, wields a sword with actual sculpted-metal flames molded near its tip. Subverted in that it isn't actually flaming, but rather draws power from sunlight.
    • It can, however, become superheated and shoot flame from the tip.
  • In The Simpsons episode, "Marge Gamer" used by Bart's MMORPG character.
  • The Sun Sword on Thundarr the Barbarian is arguably part-way between a Laser Blade and a sword made of fire.

Real Life

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