Katana of the Warrior (Final Fantasy XV)

The Katana of the Warrior is a weapon in Final Fantasy XV. It is a royal arm wielded by Noctis Lucis Caelum, obtained as part of the main quest, and the signature weapon of the Warrior, a past king of Lucis. It is a longsword that attacks quickly and relentlessly after startup, and can spam warp-strikes lightning-fast.
==Design==
The Katana of the Warrior is themed like its counterparts with motifs signature to the royal arms of the Caelum family, though with a mix of katana-based esoteric decorum. Its tsuba handguard has a wing design, evocative of similarly shaped feather dusters used in Shinto and Buddhist shrines and rituals to signify harae or spiritual purification. The silver double-edged sword-like inlay on the katana's ridge is evocative of sankoken or kongouken carvings that are based on the sword of the Buddhist deity Fudo Myoo to signify the sword's ability to purify and slay evil. 
The blade itself is with a koshizori bent at the tang, which is found primarily on Heian Era and early Kamakura Era tachi, which have the imagery of being swords wielded by the Imperial Court and of mythical times before the Shogunate. The katana has a hole on the base of the kissaki, or tip of the blade. In real life, holes made by decorative carvings were often done at the base and at the body. While the hole lightens its heavy tip, it threatens to compromise the integrity of the weapon, as a kissaki is akin to the "head" of a katana, showcasing a reckless and death-defying nature. Large kissaki are also known to be dangerous for iaijutsu and battojutsu practitioners, as the lighter extended section makes it more difficult to judge when the blade had exited the sheath.
The koshirae or fittings such as the scabbard and the hilt are all apparently made purely of metal. The scabbard is with a shibuchi body with a silver or platinum kojiri or leech framed around it, which has been studied to be done to ensure the sheath can act as a secondary weapon. The hilt makes use of intricate silver wrapping around numerous gold cross diamond menuki to ensure the hand can grip the handle, while its fuchi-kashira or mouth and pommel caps take motifs after Imperial Japanese military interpretations of tachi-koshirae kabutogane for gunto mass produced katana, whose inspiration can be further traced to Heian Era kenukigata tachi wielded by the Imperial Household's elite guard. 
While black blades do not exist on traditionally made katana, a Muramasa coated in black lacquer exists as a museum article.
==History==
The Katana of the Warrior was the weapon of the Warrior king of Lucis, whose life changed upon the death of his wife and queen by assailants. This sword is believed to have been crafted in lands far from Lucis. As all royal arms, the katana appears to be an extension or connected to the Warrior King's soul in some manner.
The Katana of the Warrior came to be entombed in Fodina Caestino, an abandoned quarry in the Cartanica region of the empire of Niflheim, the only royal tomb known to lie in foreign land. Local legends say the Fodina Caestino tomb is for the oldest king in Eos, but many dismiss it as imperials trying to appropriate the legacy of Lucis for themselves. (The first king was Somnus Lucis Caelum, whose tomb is at the Disc of Cauthess.) Some suppose the tomb was erected as a sign of friendship between kingdom and empire in an age when the two nations enjoyed amiable relations, as the tombs used to have the power to deter daemons.
When Niflheim invaded Insomnia, the statues of the kings of yore activated at the behest of Nyx Ulric, a brave Kingsglaive soldier, who had put on the Ring of the Lucii. The Warrior King's statue animated and wielded a giant version of the Katana of the Warrior against the Diamond Weapon the empire had unleashed upon Insomnia. Come dawn, the kings' spirits retreated and Nyx died as the result having paid the blood price for wielding the ring's power.
During Prince Noctis's trial against Leviathan, Lunafreya Nox Fleuret called upon the past kings' spirits who lent their power to the prince to enable him to enter an extended Armiger, wielding all royal arms in concert, including the Katana of the Warrior which he hadn't obtained yet. Lunafreya died during the trial, but Noctis inherited the Ring of the Lucii she had been safeguarding for him.
Some time later, Noctis and his friends, Gladiolus Amicitia, Ignis Scientia, and Prompto Argentum, journeyed within the quarry's depths to recover the katana, with info gained from General Cor Leonis. Noctis had lost his fiancée, the Oracle Lunafreya, and the quest for the katana proved to be one of the low points of his and his group's epic to recover the Crystal that has been stolen from Lucis, plagued with monsters, dreary weather, grief, and high tension between him and his friends.
Making it to the tomb of the Warrior after a fierce battle with a malboro that nested at its doorstep, Noctis recovered the Katana of the Warrior from the tomb's flooded depths. Ignis mediated and mended the group's grievances between one another, and the retinue continued into the heart of Tenebrae.
Having recovered his final royal arm within Zegnautus Keep, Noctis approached the Crystal that the empire had stolen from Lucis, but was absorbed inside it for ten years. When he returned, he found a world engulfed in a never-ending night as the result of the Starscourge plaguing the planet. He made his way back to the abandoned city of Insomnia to perform a ritual to remove the plague from the world, but found his nemesis and immortal ancestor Ardyn Izunia upon the throne of the Citadel. Noctis and Ardyn battled both wielding the royal arms while the spirits of the kings of yore looked on. After triumphing, Noctis used the royal arms, the Ring of the Lucii, the Crystal, and his own soul, in the ceremony to save the world.
What happened to the Katana of the Warrior after the ceremony is unknown, but it may have disappeared from the physical world as Noctis took it to the beyond within his own body where the sword was used by the Warrior King's spirit to join in a final "Armiger" to purge the Starscourge from Ardyn.
==Gameplay==
The Katana of the Warrior is obtained at the end of Chapter 10, in the abandoned quarry of Fodina Caestino. The katana attacks quickly and relentlessly both on the ground and in the air, but using it saps Noctis's health and never triggers linked attacks with the permanent party members. Royal arms deal non-elemental physical damage and have a unique weapon type that is not shown in enemy weaknesses; while they don't deal typeless damage, it is very rare for enemies to be resistant or vulnerable to royal arms (i.e. Dread Behemoth and Omega). Royal arms are especially useful against daemons who tend to resist damage from normal weaponry. The Weapon Power of normal weapons is their attack value, but the Weapon Power of (most) royal arms is Attack + Strength (thus Str is counted twice). Every royal arm has a unique moveset, and due to their various specific properties, a royal arm's Attack stat does not accurately reflect its damage output, and thus the player is recommended in trying them all out to discover their specific uses.
The katana's phase-counter is to hit with the hilt. Warp-striking with it has Noctis perform a long wind-up that culminates in a strong slash all the while being immune to damage. By holding or mashing the warp button, the player can rapidly execute followup warp-strikes that are performed instantly, dealing massive burst damage. Since they are individual warp-strikes, the player remains immune throughout the combo, but this will drain Noctis's HP and MP in mere seconds. The player can use the katana's unique warp-strike for burst damage when overwhelmed to destroy the enemies while being immune. The katana also has a fast "free-warping" animation (warping without a "destination").
Though the katana proves useful against monsters and imperial forces, it is a double-edged sword against daemons due to its -50% Darkness Resistance penalty. This can be neutralized by wearing Ardyn's Ensemble. Noctis gains the katana's passive bonuses when he has the sword equipped in his load-out, even if he is currently wielding something else.
During Armiger, the player can wield all of the royal arms at once and Noctis enters a special stance where he cannot be KO'd and all his movements are warps. Ignis wields the katana for Armiger Chain's third hit.
==Etymology and symbolism==
In the Japanese version of Final Fantasy XV, the Warrior is simply known as the War King . There are many kanji and combinations that can be used to describe battle and war in Japanese, but 闘 has greater connotations with fighting with conviction and purpose, as well as dueling and facing struggle in life. Symbolically, the kanji represents someone rising to stand in front of a gate, akin to a destined battle or a trial by fighting that cannot be avoided. Properly, a warrior is termed bushi. 
The katana's innate penalty of increased darkness-elemental damage may refer to how in Japanese martial arts and samurai moral etiquette: before partaking in battle, harae or rites of spiritual purification were performed to eliminate the threat of kegare and hence demons that would threaten to invoke calamity to the warrior. In association with its original Japanese symbolism, this may also refer to how one's convictions must be morally righteous and executed true to one's beliefs, lest battle bring the warrior to evil and shurado, or the warpath of never-ending violence.
In the Spanish and French language versions of Final Fantasy XV, the weapon is named Beatrix.
==Notes==
Category:Weapons in Final Fantasy XV