Ultimate Blacksmith

  • Main
  • All Subpages
  • Create New
    This guy can smelt Phlebotinum into the Phlebotinate Weapon.

    For Gods and for mighty Kings.
     Uncrushable shields, Power-belts and magic Rings,
     Swords that never miss, Scepters and Crowns and other things.

    —Falconer, "Lord Of The Blacksmiths"

    The Ultimate Blacksmith is the only person in the world that can turn that ingot of Phlebotinum into the Infinity+1 Sword. Usually lives in a cave in a mountain on the edge of the world. The bottom edge. Guarded by a dragon with eight heads and twelve necks. Sometimes he is not guarded, hidden or the likes, but instead he has sworn never again to forge an instrument of bloodshed. In this case he must be persuaded to do so, which often turns out to be more complicated than the little dragon-problem. If persuaded, he will probably feature as the star of a Forging Scene.

    Compare Sword of Plot Advancement. See also The Blacksmith. The weapons he forges may be so absurdly sharp that Like Cannot Cut Like.

    Examples of Ultimate Blacksmith include:

    Anime and Manga

    • In Berserk, the expert Blacksmith who makes Guts' weapons lives in the middle of nowhere. Guts appears to be his only customer.
      • It should be noted that the blacksmith (Godot) had a small mine nearby, and his protege and adoptive daughter were forced to move away after the mine was collapsed during a fight between Guts and Zodd.
    • Likewise, the Rockbells of Fullmetal Alchemist are said to be the best auto-mail engineers around, but they live in rural isolation and only seem to make automail for the protagonist.
      • They're only said to be the best by that selfsame protagonist.
        • Well, and a lot of people who admire her work after seeing Ed use it.
      • They do have other customers. However, it's implied that there are precious few people in Resembool who are both in need of a prosthetic, and brave enough to undergo the long, painful operation and rehab needed for auto-mail. Most of their customers have "normal" prosthetics.
      • They have more customers than seems likely, because they're at relative proximity to all the people who got dismembered by the civil war in their quadrant of the country about a decade ago, and more than it seems, because we spend very little time 'at the farm' with them—Ed is family, so Winry goes out on a lot of limbs to help him.
      • Automail is also complex, specialty work, so a two-woman shop can't afford to serve more than a couple people at a time. What's important is that the business be steady, which it seems to be.
        • On the other hand, Pinako could cover for both of them when Winry went away to apprentice in Rush Valley.
    • Totosai from Inuyasha is the creator of the most powerful swords in the story: Inuyasha's Tessaiga, accurately reputed to be capable of killing a hundred Youkai with a single swing, and Sesshoumaru's Tenseiga, just as accurately reputed to be capable of saving a hundred lives with a single swing.
      • Also of note is Totosai's apprentice-turned-rival, the evil Kaijinbo. Though not as skilled as Totosai, he forges two of the series' other most powerful weapons: Hoshiyomi's Halberd of Heaven and Earth, and Sesshoumaru's other sword Tokijin, which he forged from the teeth of Goshinki. Tokijin turns out to have such an immense evil power that it takes control of Kaijinbo, leading to his death.
      • Don't forget Toshu, the swordsmith who forges the formidable Dakki. It's very noteworthy, since he's just a human, yet able to forge a demonic weapon strong enough to (temporarily) steal Tessaiga's power.
    • After Kenshin breaks his sword, he tries to seek out the original swordsmith for a repair job. Unfortunately, the guy has been dead for years and his son is a regular blacksmith who's more interested in making cookware, but the daughter-in-law lets slip that the swordsmith's last work, considered to be his masterpiece, has been dedicated to the local shrine. Luckily, it turns out to be a reverse blade sword.
    • Seiken no Blacksmith of course has the blacksmith himself, Luke Ainsworth. Thus the title, 'The Sacred Sword Blacksmith'. Apparently he's the only one who can do it, since blacksmiths also seem to be rare to find...
    • Presea in Magic Knight Rayearth. True, she seems to be using magic, rather than the hammer and anvil, but she is labeled as a blacksmith and she is the one who gives the knights their weapons, after their retrieval of the Phlebotinum.
    • Kiki Shikizaki of Katanagatari, whose twelve Deviant Blades are all unique in some way (unique like one's actually a robot, one's actually armor and one's actually a set of handguns and a revolver). Even his non-legendary swords are capable of deciding the scale of battle just by how many one possesses. The former are also the MacGuffins of the series for the main characters. It's later revealed that the secret to his success is the fact that as a soothsayer, he could see past his own timeline. Therefore, the Deviant Blades are actually futuristic technology.


    Comics

    • In Preacher (Comic Book) the Angel of Death wants to give up his job. When he finds a worthy soul, he melts down his Angelic Sword of Death and allows Satan to forge it into a pair of Colt revolvers. The result is a pair of pistols which never run out of ammo, never miss, and never fail to kill. The new Angel of Death, now named the Saint of Killers, immediately shoots the Devil in the head and kills him. He later shoots and kills God.
    • In the Asbringer series, based on the lore of Warcraft, Magni Bronzebeard is this. He forges the Ashbringer, the ultimate holy sword that literally turns undead to ashes by just touching them.
    • The titular character of the Filipino comic Panday (Blacksmith), who forges a sword from a meteorite, capable of killing demons. His descendants also carry the mantle.


    Fan Works

    • Xander in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Peggy Sue fic I Am What I Am. In it, only a smith with no significant magic of their own can forge magical weapons; the less they "interfere" with the natural magic, the stronger the weapon will be -- and Xander has no magic at all.


    Film

    • The Key-maker from The Matrix Trilogy.
    • Hattori Hanzo from Kill Bill. He's not living in isolation, though; just in secret.
    • Iron Man
      • Tony Stak builds a power suit out of spare weapons parts as a prisoner in a weapons bunker. He later makes several improved versions of the suit, including one that converts into a suitcase. He also manages to create a new element using his own personal partical accelerator.
      • Ivan Vanko is Stark's foil, building power suits of his own that stand toe-to-toe with Stark's.
    • The serial movie Panday from the Philippines featured The Stoic protagonist Flavio played by actor Fernando Poe Jr. as the eponymous panday (blacksmith) who fashioned a mystical sword out of a meteor that crashed in his home village in order to combat the forces of darkness.
    • Conan's dad in the first movie was one of sorts (even opening the movie with one of the most epic Forging Scenes ever put on film). While there is nothing especially magical about the sword he crafts, it was in a time when ordinary steel was more rare and valuable than gold, and mentions to young Conan the "Riddle of Steel" as having been stolen from the gods. Who or whatever forged Conan's Atlantean sword, however, might fit this trope to a far greater degree.
    • The smith in Army of Darkness The guy helped Ash build a freakin' cyborg hand and turn a busted hunk of junk car into the Deathcoaster.


    Literature

    • Discworld has Jason Ogg, the only man with enough skill to shoe Death's horse, Binky. He can and will shoe anything in the world-he once put horseshoes on an ant just because someone dared him to. Ant-sized horseshoes.
      • He's more an Ultimate Farrier though, as in Carpe Jugulum he's apparently unable to create a turtle pendant for Mightily Oats after he lost his original one. He's still a darn good blacksmith though.
      • In "Lords and Ladies," he actually shoes a unicorn with silver horseshoes.
      • In addition, he knows the "special horseman's word" which will allow him to shoe even the most ill-tempered of beasts: "Well, ma'am, what happens is, I gets old of 'un and smacks 'un between the eyes with the hammer before'un knows what's happening, and then I whispers in his ear, I sez, 'Cross me, you bugger, and I'll have thy goolies on t'anvil, thou knows I can'".
      • It's also described in Lords and Ladies, as being a familial skill, which appears to work as follows: So long as the Smith of Lancre shoes any animal brought to him, he will have the ability to shoe any animal brought to him.
    • In Dragonlance, there's Theros, who makes the weapons that the series is named after.
    • In the Inheritance Cycle, Rhunön, if she hadn't unfortunately sworn to never make another sword in the Ancient Language, making it impossible to break the oath. She later gets around this by using magic to control Eragon's body so technically he is making it, satisfying the condition that she didn't make it.
    • Domingo Montoya in The Princess Bride, the best swordsmith in the world, who craves a project worthy of his skill, and in the meantime fills orders for his famous friend Yeste.
    • The dwarf Telchar in The Silmarillion. It was he who forged Narsil "in the depths of time", which would later become Aragorn's sword, Andúril.
      • There was also Curufinwe/Feanor, who was "pretty good" with weapons and armor and also crafted some trinkets that got mentioned in that work once or a few hundred times.
      • And Eol the Dark Elf, who forged two swords (Anglachel and Anguirel) out of what, from the description, must have been meteoric iron.
      • And Sauron, who forged another trinket that didn't get mentioned in The Silmarillion so much but did come up maaaybe once or twice in The Lord of the Rings.
      • Not to mention Aule, who crafted the Dwarves.
    • Perrin Aybara in The Wheel of Time. While his blacksmithing skills are portrayed as being good, solid craftsman work throughout the series, in Towers at Midnight he has a scene where he effectively smiths a Mjolnir clone.
      • Outside the Pit of Doom are the forgers of the Mydraal's cursed weapons. Besides being this trope, they also have to bathe the blades in the tainted streams outside their forges, and then kill and innocent person with them. They're fun guys.
      • There used to be a lot of people who fit this trope; all Aes Sedai with skills in making power-wrought items. Most of the examples encountered are unbreakable blades, though any forged Angreal, Sa'angreal, or other Ter'angreal definitely counts.
    • The smith Volund (see Myth and Legend) shows up in David Drake's Northworld Trilogy. As with the myth, he's more a force of nature than a man, whose creative abilities border on godlike.
    • In The Saga of the Volsungs, the sword Gram was given to Sigurd's ancestor Sigmund by some one-eyed stranger (read Odin). Gram broke when Sigmund died in battle. Gram the Broken Sword was inherited by Sigurd, and his foster father Regin, who was the not entirely human brother of Fafnir, reforged the sword.
    • Iorek Byrison in His Dark Materials. His skill with metalworking is shown in the first book, but it's only latter on we learn just how good he is.
    • In Michael Scott Rohan's The Winter of the World trilogy, main character Elof Valantor is a "magesmith" -- blacksmith and mage both. He's taught by the duergar, shoes the horse of the god Raven, and becomes the basis for the myths of Völundr/Wayland/Wieland and Thor. And eventually realizes he was Ilmarinen, the mountain-forging god worshiped by the duergar who taught his present amnesiac incarnation.


    Oral Tradition, Myths and Legend

    • Older Than Feudalism: Hephaestus is the Greek god of, amongst other things, blacksmithing. He did live under a volcano in various myths (Often mount Etna). He was also often helped by Cyclops. When the Romans assimilated their volcano god Vulcan to Hephaestus, he became this as well.
    • Ilmarinen, from Finnish myth.
    • In Norse legends, there are the dwarfs (or dark elves) Sindri and Brokkr. To win a bet with Loki, they forge three magical treasures, a living, golden boar for Freyr, a gold ring that duplicates itself every nine nights for Odin, and for Thor, his hammer Mjolnir. And this is despite Loki sabotaging every attempt. Two of the treasures turned out fine, but Mjolnir's handle was too short thanks to Loki. Sindri crafted Thor's iron gloves so he could safely wield the hammer anyway.
    • Völundr, Wayland, or Wieland, the mythic master smith of Germanic mythology. Probably his most remarkable creation was a pair of artificial wings, with which he could fly.

    Tabletop Games

    • Autochthon of Exalted invented the titular Exalted, plus a whole mess of other artifacts which allowed them to take down his fellow Primordials.
      • Many Solar Exalted also fit this trope, since they can (in theory) make artifacts every bit a match for the Eye of Autochthon.
        • This is the other hat of the Twilight Caste, alongside being the sorcerers.
      • The forging process for some of the magical materials requires this as well. Oricalchum, for instance, can only be forged by reflecting pure sunlight onto gold while it's being forged in the caldera of a volcano. And moonsilver can only be made by exposing silver to the energies of the Wyld, a chaotic land where reality goes right out the window.
    • In Warhammer 40,000, two of the Primarchs (basically living gods that were the super-templates for the Space Marines) were definitive Ultimate Blacksmiths. Vulcan was raised in a community where blacksmithing was everything, and he made his mark by fighting off an entire horde of Dark Eldar raiders with nothing but a pair of smithing hammers; he was only ever equaled by Fulgrim, a fellow Primarch, whose quirk of choice was being absolutely perfect at everything. Ferrus Manus, yes there are a lot of Meaningful Names in this game, once fought a silver dragon and beat it by dunking it into a volcanic lava flow. When he lifted out, his hands were coated in living metal (hence, while never outright stated, the "dragon" is assumed to have actually been a cybernetic Cosmic Horror known as a C'tan) that let him forge objects by bending the materials with his sort-of-bare hands.


    Theatre

    • Alberich, the dwarf from The Ring of the Nibelung, stole the magic Rhinegold and forged the ring that spawned the 20-hour Opera and eventually caused the whole world to burn down. Now THAT's an ultimate blacksmith.


    Toys

    • Artahka in Bionicle. Creator of the most advanced technology in the Matoran World, even wearing a mask that tells him how to create his cool stuff. Too bad he hides his island for everyone.


    Video Games

    • Final Fantasy IV had one for the Pink Tails / Adamantine equipment.
    • Final Fantasy IX had one, in the form of Hades, situated in the Final Dungeon, and he's actually a GOD, and you have to beat him up.
    • A dwarf makes a powerful sword in some of the Final Fantasy games.
    • Biggoron, who made the Biggoron Sword from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Oracle of Seasons. In The Minish Cap, you get the Mirror Shield from him, instead.
      • The Dark World dwarves that have to be reunited from A Link to The Past, though they improve an existing weapon rather than making a new one.
      • The Subrosan Smithies from The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons.
      • Zauz from Phantom Hourglass, who lives on a secret island. He makes the Phantom Sword, which is the only way you can defeat those Phantoms, as opposed to merely avoiding them.
    • Before the expansion pack nonsense, World of Warcraft had it so that one of the best Blacksmithing sets was made entirely of Dark Iron. Thing is, you had to get the recipes by sucking up to the Thorium Brotherhood Dwarves by collecting iron scraps and iron dust for them. And it took eight pieces of Dark Iron Ore to make one bar of Dark Iron. And you had to go into a fucking dungeon so that you could smelt the stuff in a furnace hooked up to the freaking lava flow.
      • Similarly, when there was only one expansion out, the point of becoming a specialised weaponsmith was that you could forge a special weapon of your chosen type at maximum level. It would start out as a maximum-level practically maximum-quality (ie. "epic") weapon, and then could be upgraded twice after that to make it an even better maximum-level epic, requiring very expensive components but making it pretty penultimate as far as weapons went. That they didn't automatically add level 80 counterparts in the second expansion must have represented a huge nerfing of the whole specialisation thing.
      • There's also a lonely blacksmith at the literal edge of the world in Terokkar forest, who will forge you a nifty demon-slaying sword after you've jumped through enough hoops and supplied copious amounts of Phlebotinum. While the sword itself isn't all that powerful, he definitely fits the trope.
      • The last content patch of Wrath of the Lich King introduces the Ashen Verdict, which, according to Blizzard, is an entire faction of Ultimate Blacksmiths. In addition to some of the best armor and ammo, you can complete a long-winded quest chain to obtain Shadowmourne, the best two-handed axe so far. It actually starts as a slightly weaker axe, which itself requires more time and money than the entire leveling experience it took to get that far.
      • The true Ultimate Blacksmith in the Warcraft story is Khaz'goroth, a member of the Pantheon, the ruling body of the Titans; while he hasn't been involved in the creations of any ultimate weapons(though his smithing hammer is more powerful than any known weapon on the planet), what he has crafted are the earthen(protodwarves), the mountain giants, and, oh yea, the mountains themselves.
    • Similarly Watts in several of the Mana games. He forges and upgrades the many types of weapons SD is known for.
    • Melchior from Chrono Trigger cannot not be mentioned, he's one of the earliest video game examples.
    • In the Suikoden series, there's always an Ultimate Blacksmith for you to recruit. He's always the only one capable of upgrading weapons to the max level. For the most part, he starts out somewhat worse, but gets better as you bring him better hammers... and of course, the Golden Hammer is the best one. Somehow.
      • The first, original, Suikoden, however, did things differently - you recruited a whole bunch of smiths, each better than the last, and finally had to go find the Ultimate Smith (who was, indeed, hidden in a hut at the end of forever) - and bring all of the other smiths with you, since they're all students of his. Together, they persuade him to join you!
        • ...he still wields a Gold Hammer, though.
    • Ryu-kan from Skies of Arcadia. He even lives on a tiny remote island up until you recruit him.
    • Cromwell in Baldur's Gate 2, Cespenar in Throne of Bhaal. They're both quite accessible, though—it's only the "forge the infinity plus one items" part that fits.
      • Accessible to the player's party, that is. Anybody else that wants to make use of Cespenar's services had better learn how to travel to a demonic pocket dimension constructed and held together solely by the main character's will.
        • Furthermore, Cespenar answers to nobody but the protagonist of the story. But the actual Ultimate Blacksmith of the game is probably Kerrick the Smith.
    • Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga has the Hammerhead Bros., who can turn Hoohoo Blocks into hammers.
    • Thursagan in Battle for Wesnoth's Scepter of Fire campaign. Lives in a mountain.
    • Grischa in Divine Divinity, though he lives in a major dwarf city.
    • Fallout's Smitty in Adytum, Boneyard can convert your already-decent Plasma Rifle into the Turbo Plasma Rifle, fully loaded. Provided you fix the hydroponic parts first.
      • Algernon from Fallout 2 blows every other tinkerer in the game out of the water. He'll perform just about any upgrade in the game—Mega Power Fists, Turbo Plasma Rifles, improved flamer fuel, and more—for zero cost, and he's available in one of the biggest towns in the game, guarded by two dogs who won't attack. Even better, his scripting gives automatically fills the magazine of any gun you give him to upgrade.
        • Kind of subverted in Fallout 3; there are no blacksmiths, but some merchants will offer to repair your weapons and armor in exchange for bottle caps, Fallout's currency. But no merchant have a perfect 100 repair skill. Only you, the player, can have that through leveling, making you the best repairman in the state.
        • Fallout: New Vegas, specifically Honest Hearts, introduces the New Canaanites. Mormons who are known for their high quality .45 caliber weapons, especially their .45 Auto Pistols (M1911A1). This is actually a Truth in Television as Browning basically created most modern firearms for the Mormon community to defend themselves. They just take it to Planet of Hats levels in New Vegas.
    • Boutell in Avernum 1. He's one of the best blacksmiths around, and he knows it.
    • The Dwarven Blacksmith in Shining Force II was the only one who could turn pieces of mithril into the ultimate weapons for each character. Of course, the fact that he randomly decided which weapon to make also meant that he was also classified as a Scrappy Mechanic.
    • In Dragon Quest III, the Tool Shop owner in Kol serves this function.
    • Golden Sun has Sunshine/Sunpawa, who is depressed and refuses to forge anything unless you hand him interesting material. Sadly, the best he can forge is still worse than the game's real ultimate weapon (although you get only one of those, and can technically forge as many Excaliburs as you want for the other sword-wielding characters)
      • However, he does create the best shield (Cosmos Shield), best clothes (Mythril Clothes, rated higher than just about everything except the only-one-available Valkyrie Mail, which can only be worn by four of the eight characters anyway), etc...The Golden Boots is another only-one-available, and the second-best boots are yet another forgeable item. Also, if you have the Cleric's Ring, the Darksword is actually stronger than the Sol Blade, except for the unleash.
      • Obaba is said to be the only person in the world capable of working the ancient forge to repair the Trident of Ankohl. She can also use it to summon salamanders. Thirty years later, she still has enough in her to forge any equipment you need from whatever you bring her, and many of the options are very powerful, second only to cursed equipment, the Sol Blade, and Sveta's Umbra Gear.
    • Final Fantasy III got one in the DS remake - she's the one who makes the Ultima Sword. She also makes the ultimate gear for each job class once they reach job level 99.
    • The Moogles in Kingdom Hearts, capable of turning raw material into the Ultima Weapons in both games.
    • Dragon Age has Wade of Wade's Emporium. He considers himself to be more of an artist than a businessman (his partner is the one stuck worrying about money) and jumps at the chance to forge powerful armor with Drake and Dragon Scales. Although he will forge the armor sets free of charge, paying him enough extra gold nets you superior armor.
      • The Warden's Keep DLC has Mikhael Dryden, who will appear at the Soldier's Peak after you beat the associated quest. Given a lump of Meteor Metal, he'll forge Starfang, a Longsword or a Greatsword that is superior to pretty much every other weapon in its class in the unmodded original game.
      • Wade and Herren return in Awakening and have apparently expanded into forging weapons, too. Give Wade the materials he needs and he will forge Vigilance, a sword so powerful it even merits a mention in the epilogue.
    • Coaxmetal from Planescape: Torment - somewhat hard to get to, but turns out some of the best weapons in the game(including some of the very few swords and the only weapon in the planes capable of killing you).
    • Cave Story had the Hermit Gunsmith, from whom you steal the first weapon, and if you hang on to it through some of the toughest fights in the game, he'll turn it into an Infinity Plus One Pistol for you.
    • The player character in Castlevania: Curse of Darkness. You get to buy some majorly weaksauce weapons, and get one or two handed out to you early on. Then you make the rest, of your ENTIRE ARSENAL, by using a crafting system involving some rather rare materials.
    • While exaggerated, Carl from Mechwarrior 4 is affectionately described as one of these. Give Carl a hundred tons of steel wool and he'll knit you an Atlas.
    • As long as you have the items, Gordon in Agarest Senki 2 can forge you the ultimate weapon whatsoever.
    • In Dragon Quest VI after acquiring the legendary sword, you need to find the blacksmith in Turnscote only capable of repairing the sword.
    • Muramasa: The Demon Blade has, well, Muramasa. In a departure from the norm, you meet him in chapter two and can call upon him to craft you new weapons whenever you have the necessary souls, life-force and level (as well as the prerequisite swords) for them: He lives in an alternate dimension any wielder of a Muramasa blade can access. His best weapons are only accessible after you've cleared both stories, however, and the Infinity+1 Sword, one so powerful it cuts fate, only at level 90 and above.
    • Your blacksmith character in The Sims Medieval can undertake a quest to become one.
    • Touhou: Strongly implied with Suwako: she is a goddess of the earth and can/could create new soil as she please. She used to own an impressive arsenal of metal weaponry, which she used to pacify the curse-gods of her kingdom. Unfortunately it meaned little when she fought Kanako, who, being the goddess of rain, rusted all of Suwako's weapons.
    • Nikolai, the amnesiac blacksmith in Exit Fate. If you introduce him to every other blacksmith in the game, he can, unlike any NPC blacksmith, upgrade any weapon to its highest level (each character has a signature weapon you improve, rather than replace with better versions). Since your 75-man army carry some really mixed weaponry, this means Nikolai is immensely versatile, at least - any regular blacksmith can improve a sword or an axe, but a harp? A pen? A Handbag? A set of teeth, still attached to the dog wielding them?
    • Eorlund Gray-mane the Companions' smith in Skyrim and the man in charge of running the legendary Sky-forge. During the Companions' quests, he will eventually forge you a brand new Skyforge Steel weapon. Later, he will reforge Wuuthrad once the fragments of the ancient axe are gathered. He is also a Master Smithing trainer, meaning he can help you become an Ultimate Blacksmith in your own right. In-universe, he is quite rightly regarded as the best smith in all of Skyrim.
    • The Giant Blacksmith in Dark Souls fits this pretty well. He's relatively difficult to reach compared to the other three blacksmiths and he is the only smith able to forge unique weapons with boss souls. He can also infuse normal weapons with lightning, the element associated with the God-Emperor Gwyn himself.


    Webcomics


    Web Original


    Western Animation

    • A later addition to the cast of Thundercats was super-blacksmith Ben-Gali. Of course, the moment he turned up was also the moment the Sword of Omens got snapped in two.
      • To be fair, that wasn't the first time the sword broke. The first time that happened, it was reforged by a fire elemental who lived in a volcano - and promptly challenged the Thundercats to take it back. Late in the series, the sword was broken again and was taken by someone claiming to be the best smith in the universe. He wasn't bluffing either. He reforged the Sword of Omens into the Infinity Plus Two Sword.
      This article is issued from Allthetropes. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.