Sword A sword was a handheld weapon usually made of metal , not unlike a large knife . Swords were far less effective than gun s , but many races used them as their initial weapon . Even when it was superseded , the sword was still carried ceremonially as a symbol of honour . ( TV : " Revelation of the Daleks " ) Irongron had his sword thrown from him by Linx . His men would later point their swords at the Sontaran . The Third Doctor himself successfully battled him with such a weapon . ( TV : " The Time Warrior " ) The Doctor claimed to have learned sword - fighting techniques from one of Cleopatra ' s guards . ( TV : " The Masque of Mandragora " ) and to have practised with Richard the Lionheart , Cyrano de Bergerac and Errol Flynn . ( TV : " Robot of Sherwood " ) Morgaine ' s forces , the S ' rax , used swords in battle . The legendary sword Excalibur was the sword of King Arthur . ( TV : " Battlefield " ) The Sycorax used swords to fight each other in their rituals . ( TV : " The Christmas Invasion " ) Captain John Hart carried a Japan ese sword with him , among other weapons . ( TV : " Kiss Kiss , Bang Bang " ) Sontarans sometimes used swords . ( COMIC : " The Betrothal of Sontar " ) The fact that " sword " and " words " were anagrams of each other helped the Second Doctor to turn a sword into a dictionary in the Land of Fiction . ( TV : " The Mind Robber " ) The Ice Warrior s made use of swords and battle axes when their sonic guns were jammed by the Eleventh Doctor ' s sonic screwdriver . ( PROSE : " The Silent Stars Go By " ) A green - skinned race armed with swords attempted to invade Corbo , but the swords were useless against the devil - bird s . ( PROSE : " The Devil - Birds of Corbo " ) During the Last Great Time War , swords were devolved from gunstick s on the Neverwhen planet front as a result of time phasing . ( AUDIO : " The Neverwhen " ) Swordfights . In 1190 , Ian Chesterton and the First Doctor had duels with Arabs . Ian won his fight and a knight killed the Doctor ' s assailant . ( TV : " The Crusade " ) In 1866 , Jamie McCrimmon and Arthur Terrall fought in the trophy room of Waterfield ' s house to challenge the location of the captive Victoria Waterfield . ( TV : " The Evil of the Daleks " ) In Auderly House , the Third Doctor and Ace fought each other with swords . He disarmed her , but she grabbed his sword ( actually a segment of the Key to Time ) and vanished . ( COMIC : " Time & Time Again " ) On Fortress Island , the Third Doctor and fought each other with swords . The Master lost . He threw a knife at the Doctor ' s back ; it missed . ( TV : " The Sea Devils " ) While posing as a robotic knight , the Third Doctor engaged in a sword fight first with Irongron , and later with both him and his second in command Bloodaxe . The Doctor came out on top , but his true identity was soon realised . ( TV : " The Time Warrior " ) The Fourth Doctor joined in a swordfight in San Martino in 1492 to defend Giuliano against Count Federico ' s guards . The guards retreated after the Brotherhood of Demnos helped fight them off . ( TV : " The Masque of Mandragora " ) The Fourth Doctor duelled with Count Grendel of Gracht on Tara . He emerged the victor , but the Count escaped by diving off the battlements of Castle Gracht into the castle ' s moat . ( TV : " The Androids of Tara " ) The Fifth Doctor and had a swordfight on 13th century Earth , albeit while the Master ' s identity was concealed . ( TV : " The King ' s Demons " ) The Sixth Doctor duelled Astrolabus , and bested him , tearing open his shirt to reveal the missing star charts . ( COMIC : " Once Upon A Time - Lord " ) The Eighth Doctor battled the Master inside the Omniversal Spectrum — with both using swords and shields as well as their souls . ( COMIC : " Church of the Glorious Dead " ) The Tenth Doctor and Fadros Pallujikaa had a sword duel which Fadros Pallujikaa lost . ( TV : " The Christmas Invasion " ) The Tenth Doctor and the Thane had a swordfight . ( COMIC : " Universal Monsters " ) Sacrificing himself to protect Queen Victoria , Sir Robert MacLeish attempted to hold off the Lupine Wavelength Haemovariform with a sword ; he was quickly overpowered , but successfully gave the Tenth Doctor the time he needed to avenge him and protect the Queen . ( TV : " Tooth and Claw " ) The Tenth Doctor tried to hold off a duo of Cybermen with a cutlass . ( TV : " The Next Doctor " ) Rory Williams , as an Auton , killed a Cyberman with a sword . ( TV : " The Pandorica Opens " ) During the Battle of Demons Run , when facing the headless monk s , Rory , Vastra and Jenny fought with swords . ( TV : " A Good Man Goes to War " ) Robin Hood challenged the Twelfth Doctor to a swordfight , but the latter elected to use a spoon instead . ( TV : " Robot of Sherwood " ) The Twelfth Doctor also duelled Kali , and , when Kali remarked at his strength , he admitted that he had " crossed swords " with some of the " best in the galaxy " . ( COMIC : " The Swords of Kali " )