Durandal

Durandal (left), as seen in the anime

Durandal (デュランダル, Deyurandaru^?) is a sword wielded by the Maiden of Versailles, referred to as the sword of France and a magical artifact said to be connected to the French and English royal families.

Etymology

Durandal (or Durendal) is a sword which is wielded by the Paladin Roland in the Carolingian Cycle‎, given to him by Charlemagne. In La Chanson de Roland (The Song of Roland), the sword is described as having holy relics in its golden hilt; St. Peter's tooth, St. Basil's blood, St. Denis's hair and a piece of the Virgin Mary's clothes.

Appearance

Described as a showy and over-ornamented Western sword, Durandal's blade is red with a gilded edge and a round guard.

Principles

Similar to the Curtana, which uses a spell woven into the United Kingdom to grant its royal wielder the power of Archangel Michael within the nation's borders, Durandal is a special sword which uses spells unique to France to channel the destructive power of France itself into its blade.

As the histories and bloodlines of the royal families of England and France are intertwined, Durandal is capable of breaking through the Knight Leader's 'Thororm's Defense Formula', which has a deliberate flaw that means it doesn't work on weapons related to the royal family, as a sign he is loyal to the British Royal Family and not making a weapon against them.

Chronology

World War III Arc

Main article: World War III Arc

Durandal clashes with the sword formed from the Curtana Second shard

The Maiden of Versailles wielded Durandal when she entered the Battle of the Dover Strait, bypassing the Knight Leader's defensive spell and clashing with Carissa's Curtana fragment-produced sword.

The Maiden and Carissa face Misha Kreutzev

The Maiden continued to wield Durandal when she teamed up with Carissa and the Knight Leader against Misha Kreutzev, channelling all of France's power into the blade to face the archangel. Although it was initially able to cut through some of Misha's ice wings, the artifact's strike on the archangel's main body was stopped completely by Misha itself.

She later used it sever some of the Golden Arms of Telesma emerging from the ground as Fiamma enacted the last stages of his plan with the Star of Bethlehem.

Gallery

As Haimura's initial design for the sword in the Maiden of Versailles' character design didn't come across too well, he redesigned the sword. Its redesign is based on the image or idea of "holy relics (hair, bones, blood and other parts of past saints) becoming a sword as there are", and Haimura notes that although it is called a holy sword, it has a bit of a grotesque feeling to it.

The Maiden of Versailles' character design by Haimura, with Durandal's initial design

Durandal's final design by Haimura Kiyotaka

External Links

• Durandal (Wikipedia article)