Notable Swords of Hieron

There are numerous notable swords seen throughout Autumn in Hieron, Marielda, Winter in Hieron, and Spring in Hieron. This article provides clarity around which sword is which, and calls out notable appearances of each.

The Blade In The Dark

Main article: Blade in the Dark

The Blade in the Dark is “a tool crafted under shadow by the apocalyptic scholars of the Yellow House, and theorized by some members of the university, including the esoteric Charter Castielle, to be able to use the power of the Dark to hold off the coming of the Heat."

• Confirmed to be made in collaboration by Yellowhouse, the Disciples of Samot, and Primo

• Hella had it for most of the Hieron seasons
• Broken in half as of the forest party finale. Jerod Shiroz, Stornras Glasseye, and Sunder Havilton then brought the pieces to the Last University.
• Changes with each person it kills and seems to absorb their lifeforce in some way?? What’s up with this thing - was originally a knife until Maelgwyn killed some mages and also his dad and then it was a sword
• Contains the majority of original Samothes’ spirit after the Marielda finale
• The jewels on the hilt represent the 5 mages Maelgwyn killed in the Marielda finale (small rubies) and Samothes (big ruby)
• When Hella killed a star one of the gems turned white in the middle?
• It was the big samothes middle gem? Half of it’s white now??
• Samothes talks to hella from it and says “Hadrian’s in great danger”? Also, she sees weird hills sometimes?
• Hadrian attempted to break it with his Dark Obsidian sword and it screamed (the voices of the mages screamed) and started bleeding
• Contains a world inside - an island kingdom ruled over by the portion of original Samothes that was absorbed by the Blade in the Dark. The spirits of everyone killed by the Blade in the Dark reside there
  • Was given a name at the beginning of Spring in Hieron: Aubade
  • All previous images of a castle overlooking rolling green hills are Aubade
• After Hadrian, Hella, Adaire and Lem leave, Samothes seals off Aubade using Chapter’s star-stuff. Hella still wields the Blade in the Dark but presumably it just behaves like a normal sword now?
• Was once used by the Solarch to kill Red Jack, confirming that it was in the possession of the Solarch after Samothes died for at least some period of time

The Sword of Samothes

The Sword of Samothes was crafted by Samothes on High Sun Day for Maelgwyn

• “The blade that Samothes himself had forged, a shining thing, bright like the iron sun in its true form -- that fool loved me, loved Hieron so much, and had his confidence shattered so thoroughly that he figured how to make his own demise a panacea for what ailed the world - for the cancer that was killing me. If Maelgwyn had used that blade to slay his father, it would've become a weapon strong enough not only to hold off the Heat and the Dark but to defeat it utterly, to fill it with the force of will of Samothes' own life. It would've replaced the void of emptiness with the breath and love of Ingenuity Alive.”
• May contain a portion of Samothes’ spirit after the Marielda finale
• During S3E29, Ephrim reassembled the Crescent Blade and it was confirmed to be the Sword of Samothes. Ephrim then killed Maelthes with it, causing Maelthes to revert to Maelgwyn. The power of the blade combined with Maelgwyn’s blood have the power to “replace the void of emptiness with the breath and force of Ingenuity Alive”
  • Alyosha took up Maelgwyn’s place at the forge and began hammering, causing Maelgwyn’s blood to start blooming into plants
  • The plants born from Maelgwyn’s blood have a different “soul” than the things that are created from Samol, but are able to fill and destroy Nothingness

Hadrian’s Golden Sword

• Found in Samot’s tower on a scavenge roll. Replaced Hadrian’s halberd, which he lost in Auniq.
• “You find… a… it’s strange, it’s just sitting there, on the carpet, in the middle of one of the sections of this big room. A golden sword. With its hilt wrapped in a dark brown leather, but the whole thing shines… it’s not just reflecting the light of the sun, obviously this place is ruined, there are holes in the ceiling -- it’s still the afternoon, but it has a sort of a glow to it.”
• A one-handed longsword
• Not evil
• Broken by Maelthes in Winter ep 24, the blade replaced by a new blade made out of obsidian and Darkness
• Maelthes calls it “my blade” even before he breaks it
• It burned Maelthes’ hand when he touched it
• Confirmed NOT to be the Sword of Samothes as of S3E29
• According to Austin, there’s more to this sword but it might never come up again unless Hadrian asks Samothes about it
• As of S5E05, the original sword is confirmed to not have had any special properties. Samothes and Chapter repaired it with star-stuff as a gift to Hadrian.
• Samot made Hadrian a special sheath for the sword.

Hadrian’s DARK OBSIDIAN Sword (post S3E24)

• Still has the hilt of the golden sword
• Blade is made of a mixture of obsidian and the physical Heat and the Dark and also some of Maelthes’ blood
• Was given to Hadrian by Maelthes so that he could use it to destroy the Blade in the Dark
• Heals Hadrian when it does damage. He can feel the victim’s emotions when it happens??? It’s bad, is the thing
• Repaired by Samothes in Aubade to not be evil anymore

Crescent Blade

• Found by Ephrim in the New Old Museum (?). Heard Samothes’ voice when he received it. “For you, my prince.”
• Appears to be a piece of the iron sun
• Rosalind Marrow-Eater stole it from Samothes’ forge on the day Samothes died
• Lem might have the hilt? Stolen from the Cult of the Dark Son chapter in Rosemerrow… Maelthes might have asked Ephrim to steal the hilt back from Lem. The party got XP for telling Victoria that the hilt was made by “Samothes” at the end of the holiday special but which one?
  • If Lem had the hilt, he left it behind when he went through the mirror in S3E25
• Corsica is holding it for Ephrim
• Ephrim reassembles the blade and the hilt in S3E29 and it becomes a straight sword. Ephrim then has a vision of Maelthes and stabs him with the blade
• CONFIRMED to be the Sword of Samothes that Samothes originally forged for Maelgwyn

Samol’s Sword

• Samol offers it to Stornras Glasseye at the end of Months of Autumn pt. 2
• Asks Stornras to either kill him with it or to deliver it to Mountain Party
• Confirmed that this was the Blade in the Dark

Samot’s Blade of First Light

• Introduced in S5E35 — Hella sees Samot forging it in a series of visions
• Samot used Samothes’ forge to make it during the year after Samothes died, as a way to grieve for him as well as a way to defend Hieron against the Stars which he had created
• Can be used against the Stars to transform “perfect”, Hieron-incompatible star-stuff into something messier and more life-like

Maelgwyn’s Other Sword

• In the scene where Ali gets the Bad Roll and tells Maelgwyn to use the evil knife to kill his dad, Austin makes some pointed remark like ‘oh, that’s great, he was just gonna use this other sword he had’

Useless Nonmagical Rapiers

• Left at Samol’s house by Ethan and Edmund Hitchcock
• Very briefly waved around by Lem
• Weapons of mass destruction in Janine’s high-rolling hands
• Lem and Adaire now each have one as of Spring in Hieron