Excalibur

Excalibur is the strongest sword (and second strongest weapon of them all, only Death's Sickle being stronger) in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. It can only be obtained by completing the Boss Rush in less than 7 and more than 4 minutes. Despite that it is a sword, it is classified as a Hammer type weapon due to the fact that the sword is lodged within stone. It is swung from above the head and then downward in an arcing motion, although it's very slow to attack.
==Origins==
Excalibur is the legendary sword of King Arthur Pendragon, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. The weapon was associated very early on with the Arthurian legend of the "sword in the stone", which only Arthur was able to pull out from the stone it was embedded in, proving with this feat his lineage and thus being crowned King of Britain. Excalibur and the "sword in the stone" are in some versions said to be different (the latter being called "Caliburn" sometimes), although in most incarnations they are the same.
In Arthurian romance, a number of explanations are given for Arthur's possession of Excalibur. In Robert de Boron's Merlin (c. 1200), the first tale to mention the "sword in the stone" motif, Arthur obtained the British throne by pulling a sword from an anvil sitting atop a stone that appeared in a churchyard on Christmas Eve. In this account, as foretold by the wizard Merlin, the act could not be performed except by "the true king". After many of the gathered nobles tried and failed to complete Merlin's challenge, the teenage Arthur did this feat effortlessly by accident and then repeated it publicly.
The identity of this sword as Excalibur is made explicit in the Prose Merlin, part of the Lancelot-Grail cycle of French romances:
*In the Vulgate Mort Artu, when Arthur is at the brink of death, he orders Griflet, one of his loyal Round Table Knights, to throw the sword into an enchanted lake. After two failed attempts (as he felt such a great sword should not be thrown away), Griflet finally complied with the wounded king's request and a hand then emerged from the lake to catch it.
*However, in the Post-Vulgate Cycle, early in his reign, Arthur broke the "sword in the stone" while in combat against King Pellinore, and then was given Excalibur by the Lady of the Lake.
==Item Data==
==Gallery==
===Animations===
AoS Excalibur.gif|Excalibur from Aria of Sorrow.
==Trivia==
*One possible reason that the sword remains stuck in its stone is due to the circumstances in Arthurian legend where it can only be removed by the true king, meaning the divinely appointed king or true heir of Uther Pendragon (King Arthur's father). Since Soma Cruz is the reincarnation of the Dark Lord Dracula, he is incapable of removing the sword from its stone (however, he gets around this fact by wielding it while it remains stuck in the stone). 
**While it was commonly true, Excalibur is also similar to that of the Vampire Killer, hence being a holy weapon itself and cannot by chosen in the hands of the Dark Lords.
**Being a hammer instead of actual sword means that the weapon does not have any element, and will deal full damage to a Final Guard, which is resistant to all elements, as Aria of Sorrow does not feature a "blunt" element.
**Alternately, it is evocative of a joke gag from the Tiny Toon Adventures episode Day For Knight, where Buster Bunny improvises his inability to remove the Sword In The Stone by lifting it up whole by the handle and clubbing his foe, the Beige Knight, to his defeat. Considering Konami's history with creating the Tiny Toon Adventure games for the NES and the SNES, and the series being popular in Japan due to it being animated by Tokyo Movie Shinsha, this does not appear to be coincidence.
*The weapon was originally intended to appear in the original Castlevania, as seen in development materials found in the Castlevania Anniversary Collection. It would be brandished to illuminate the whole screen and destroy all enemies. Unlike the Small Cross, it would also be effective against bosses.
**A remnant of the Excalibur sub-weapon can be found in the final game through modifying the RAM address, appearing as a Small Cross and costing five hearts to use.
pt-br:Excalibur
Category:Arthurian Lore
Category:Cudgels
Category:Aria of Sorrow Items