Laevatain

The Laevatain, also known as Marsil, is a sword in the Castlevania series. It is an intensely hot sword that scorches everything it touches. It has appeared as a fire sword in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow.
==Origins==
In Norse mythology, the elf Volund (Weyland) forged a sword so lethal that it imperiled the very gods themselves. The sword was taken from Volund and was brought to Asgard. They passed the sword into the hands of the god Freyr, who traded the sword for an unknown treasure. At Ragnarok, Surtr (lord of the realm of fire) wielded Freyr's sword and severed the roots of the world tree, Yggdrasil, instigating the destruction of the universe. Freyr would ultimately fall to his own blade. With it, he could have defeated Surtr and saved existence. The sword was called Laevatain, made its wielder invincible in battle, could fight without being held, but was, of course, forged for the hand of a god. The sword was also known as the "Wounding Wand" or the "Staff of Destruction".
The English translation of Symphony of the Night is "Marsil". This is likely a misspelled reference to the sword "Narsil" used by Isildur in Tolkien lore to cut off Sauron's hand.
==Game specific information==
===Castlevania: Symphony of the Night===
This sword is a serious upgrade to the Firebrand. In addition to a higher attack power and even a negligible defense boost, its normal attack is like the Firebrand's special attack, during which the foe can take up to 3-4 hits per use of the sword and leaves a small flame in the area as it swings. It has its own special attack that costs the same as the Firebrand's. A huge explosion from its tip radiates several respectable sized fireballs over a large area. The only way to get this sword is to be lucky or persistent enough for a Fire Demon in the Necromancy Laboratory to drop one, unless you're playing the Saturn version, in which case an Efreet could also drop one.
===Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow===
The Laevatain returns in Aria of Sorrow (and translated properly into English this time) as a fire based weapon. As in Symphony of the Night, each swing is accompanied by powerful flames. It lost its special fire burst attack, though. It can be found in the Arena. It can also be found as a drop item from the Flame Demon.
===Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow===
In Dawn of Sorrow, the Laevatain is the only fire based equipped weapon and deals both, Slashing and Fire damage. It swings with thick flames as it did in Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow. Its critical art ability from Symphony of the Night makes a return in this game. Instead of the standard "dash attack" of most swords, fire explodes from its tip during its special attack. Eight circular flames arranged in a circle move out from the end of the sword and in a radial pattern, dealing massive damage to anything they touch and covering a diameter about twice as large as Soma. It costs slightly more to use this special move than to use the standard dash attack of most swords, which use 50 MP. The Icebrand is the only other sword class weapon that has a non-standard special attack.
It is evolutionary similar to the other elemental swords, the Ice Brand and Milican's Sword. Each of these swords can be created by adding a different soul to the ornate Joyeuse. Since it takes a lot of souls to create a Joyeuse from a Short Sword from scratch (Armor Knight, Corpseweed, Great Armor, Mollusca or Treant and Killer Clown), you will probably need to decide which sword to evolve to. Using an Ukoback soul creates a Laevatain, a Catoblepas creates a Milican's Sword, and a Frozen Shade creates an Ice Brand. The drop rate of the souls needed to evolve these swords are identical. The Laevatain is about half as strong as an Ice Brand, but its powerful special move makes up for this, though. The sword is much more straight-forward than the Milican's Sword, which has only 1 ATK, but will sometimes petrify an enemy. Each of these swords is evolved to a Burtgang by adding a Iron Golem soul.
==Item Data==
==Gallery==
===Animations===
SOTN Marsil.gif|Marsil from Symphony of the Night.
SOTN Marsil 2.gif|Marsil Special Attack from Symphony of the Night.
AoS Laevatain.gif|Laevatain from Aria of Sorrow.
DOS Laevatain.gif|Laevatain from Dawn of Sorrow.
DOS Laevatain 2.gif|Laevatain special attack from Dawn of Sorrow.
Category:Fire Assets
Category:Norse Lore
Category:Swords
Category:Tolkien Lore
Category:Aria of Sorrow Items
Category:Dawn of Sorrow Items
Category:The Dracula X Chronicles Items
Category:Encore of the Night Items
Category:Harmony of Despair Items
Category:Symphony of the Night Items