Vorpal sword
Vorpal is a word coined by Lewis Carroll for the poem "Jabberwocky," used first in the line "He took his vorpal sword in hand" and "One, two! One, two! And through and through / The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! / He left it dead, and with its head / He went galumphing back." It is commonly assumed to mean "deadly" or "extremely sharp" (or "capable of beheading," since the hero brings the dead Jabberwock's head home in triumph), and has been used this way in a number of role-playing games and similar works.
Appearances in popular culture
In Dungeons & Dragons, a vorpal weapon is one which will behead foes on a critical hit. In the game's reference manual Deities and Demigods, King Arthur's sword Excalibur is described as being a "vorpal weapon." Many MUDs (multi-user dungeons) also incorporate this adjective into some of their weapon descriptions.
The vorpal weapon's ability to do massive damage caused the Rabbit of Caerbannog (that appeared in the motion picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail), to be referred to as a "vorpal rabbit" or "vorpal bunny" by fans of the film; the name does not appear in the film itself. The vorpal bunny appears in the games Quest for Glory IV, Shadow Warrior, Ultima Online, Asheron's Call, Final Fantasy XI, Dark-Legacy, Adventure Quest and Magna Carta in which it shares at least some of the abilities of the Monty Python killer rabbit. The vorpal bunny's first appearance in a computer game is perhaps in the 1980s computer RPG Wizardry.
The "vorpal bunny" is also featured in the GrailQuest series of interactive fiction books, notably in book 6 (Realm Of Chaos). A successful strike against the player character by the vorpal bunny in combat immediately severs the character's head and ends the story.
The word has also spawned a parody character called Vorpal king, and a parody of an alien race (Vorpals) which landed on Planet Earth with an asteroid.
There is a murder mystery novel by Colin Forbes titled The Vorpal Blade.
It is also referenced in Graham Masterton's novel Mirror as an acronym for Victory Over Ruin Pestilence And Lust.
In the comic series Fables, the fables in fabletown have in their possesion the Vorpal Blade, which they took with them after bien exiled from their homelands. Little Boy Blue returned to the Homelands to fight the Adversary, bringing with him many magical items including the Vorpal sword so as to succeed. Indeed, the blade itself makes the sound "snicker-snack!" when used, and is so sharp that it cleaves in twain anything it contacts.
In Roger Zelazny's book Sign of Chaos the protagonist, Merlin, uses the Vorpal blade (or at least a weapon identical to it) found in a shadow. It is there described as looking "as if it were made of moth wings and folded moonlight". The blade is apparently made of very thin material, as in its stored form it is the size of a deck of cards and "unfolds" into a full-length sword, which Merlin is able to use to effortlessly slice a fire demon into pieces.
An extinct bird species from the Hawaiian Islands, the Giant 'Amakihi, was described as Hemignathus vorpalis (literally "Vorpal 'Amakihi") because it was conspicuously larger than all its congeners.
In the Steve Jackson Games's Munchkin, there is a card named "Vorpal Blade". According to the text in the card it gives a +3 bonus to the user and "an extra +10 against anything that starts with the letter J. Don't ask why. Don't ask what Vorpal means, either."
In Neal Asher's 2005 novel Cowl, "vorpal" energy is used to enable time travel along different world lines. A character refers that the name was derived from a forgotten poem and was a type of joke.
In the manga Shaman King the characters Tao Ren and Bason have an attack called the "Vorpal Dance", an attack with a very sharp blade, capable of splitting a car in two.
Adiamante[1], the science fiction novel by L. E. Modesitt, Jr., discusses, inter alia, a future earth after an environmental Armageddon has induced wide-spread mutations in the disrupted ecology. In that future earth, the new and virulent creatures that have evolved are dangerous to all but protected humans or unprotected humans with powerful cognitive abilities. L.E. Modesitt’s vorpals live in the desert wastelands, instinctively hating and hunting humans.
A sword identified as a Vorpal Blade, able to cut space-time, is featured in Charles Stross' forthcoming Glasshouse.
Computer & video games
The Vorpal Blade appears in NetHack, where it has a one in twenty chance of beheading any enemy (that has a head) with each hit; it also kills jabberwocks instantly.
In Final Fantasy for the NES, PlayStation, and Game Boy Advance, there is a powerful sword that the Knight, Ninja, and Red Wizard classes can use called the Vorpal Sword. This use of the word can probably be traced to the use in role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons.
In Final Fantasy XI for the PC and PlayStation 2, there are weapon skills called Vorpal Blade, Vorpal Scythe and Vorpal Thrust, which are powerful special attacks that cause extreme damage.
In Dynasty Warriors 4 for the PlayStation 2, there was a Vorpal Orb which, when equipped, caused the character's weapon to do massive damage to named characters and will instantly kill normal soldiers.
In Tales of Phantasia for the SNES, PlayStation and GBA, the Vorpal Sword has no critical hit powers, but is enchanted with ice magic.
In Skies of Arcadia: Legends the Vorpal Blade makes its appearance as a fairly powerful weapon for the character Vyse.
In the prequel to Tales of Phantasia, Tales of Symphonia for the GCN, the Vorpal Sword is one half of the two swords needed to create Lloyd's Tales of Symphonia Material Blade, a pair of swords that can hold the two halves of the Eternal Sword and gives Lloyd an extraordinarily powerful attack (Falcon's Crest) when he has the sword equipped and his HP is low.
The Vorpal Blade makes an appearance in Konami's video game, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for PlayStation and Sega Saturn.
In the PC RTS Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, the Night Elf glaive thrower can receive an upgrade called "Vorpal Blades," allowing its three-bladed, spinning projectiles to pass through multiple units. Also, in the MMORPG World of Warcraft there are several varieties of "Vorpal Dagger."
In 1997, the sequel to HeXen, called HeXen II, has a sword called the Vorpal Sword that is used by the Paladin class. It can be swung at enemies to damage them, but when powered by the Tome of Power, it shoots waves of lightning.
In American McGee's Alice, a video game released in 2000, the Vorpal Blade appears but is the least powerful weapon in the game being essentially a rusty kitchen knife.
The 1985 computer game The Bard's Tale and its sequels, The Bard's Tale II and The Bard's Tale III, feature a spell called "Vorpal Plating." Casting this spell upon a party member slightly increases the damage done by their weapon.
The 2004 game Bard's Tale released for PlayStation 2 and Xbox features a summonable creature named the "Vorpal Rat," which will throw itself at enemies for copious amounts of damage.
In the Japanese RPG Grandia II (Dreamcast, PS2 and Windows) vorpal weapons allow the wielder to teleport directly to the target and a hit it without a possibility of being intercepted.
In the D&D-based computer game, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, the player may assemble a Githyanki Vorpal Blade from the "Silver blade" and the "Silver hilt" artifacts. The sword is a two-handed weapon that has a 10% chance of instantly killing whatever it hits. Some enemies, however, are immune to this effect.
In Linley's Dungeon Crawl, vorpal status on a weapon multiplies that weapon's base attack damage.
In Kingdom of Loathing, the Vorpal Blade has a 2x chance of a critical hit, and has a reference to it making the sound Snicker Snack in its description.
In Golden Sun the elven blade had a chance of unleashing 'Vorpal Sword.'
In Carnage Blender 2, the Vorpal Blade removes a part of all of the defenses of the opponent, the Vorpal Blade then lets out a notice of going snicker snack.
In TaskMaker, An incredibly powerful Vorpal Blade can be found in the keep behind the TaskMaker's throne room.
In Adventure Quest, any character can purchase a Vorpal Sword in Yulgar's Inn. However, Guardian players have the ability to take the sword to Nimrod in the Guardian Tower who can sharpen it, so it can deal more damage.
In Legend, a 1992 Amiga and DOS game by Mindscape, a Vorpal Blade is the definitive sword for the Bard class. Legend is known in the United States as The Four Crystals of Trazere. A sequel, Worlds of Legend: Son of the Empire, was released for the Amiga in 1993.
In the RPG Dungeon Master (computer game), the Vorpal Blade is a black "Flamberg" style sword, capable of damaging non-corporeal creatures such as wraiths or ghosts which cannot be harmed by normal physical attack.
In the strategy game Heroes of Might and Magic V the Pit Lord units sport Vorpal Swords.
In the RPG Progress Quest there is a prefix for weapons called Vorpal, e.g. a "+57 Vorpal Invisible Pole-adze".
In Pikmin_2 a treasure similar to a food can platter is called "Vorpal Platter".
Appearances in technology
VORPAL (a possible acronym or reference to "Vorpal Blade") is a visual plasma simulation system used in high energy physics. VORPAL computes and visualizes electron beams in a plasma over short distances. VORPAL results can be superior to those achieved using a huge and costly accelerator.[2]