10 Most Iconic Swords In Gaming History

8. Monado

Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Nintendo

You’ll have noticed and will continue to notice that a decent handful of the swords in this list are so iconic that they have transcended single games, and even single franchises due to their real world legendary status, history importance, and/or general indisputable badassery.

The Monado is an energy weapon so it doesn’t have any basis in the real world and its usage is contained within the Xenoblade Chronicles series but fans would tell you that doesn’t make it any less deserving of its spot on this list.

Serving as one of the Swiss-army-knife grade swords on this list that seem to do just about everything a hero could ask for, Shulk’s Monado is a shapeshifting masterwork. Keeping to just the highlights here, the Monado’s abilities blend high fantasy and science fiction as it enables its wielder to see through to different points in time, grants seers with their supernatural abilities, and can even reshape the world around it because of ether and something to do with particles that I only half understand. It can also execute various arts that come in the form of powerful attacks and buffs. This is also another sword that at one point houses a soul, in this case that of a God. In the lore, there are in fact three core Monados which reunite to form the True Monado giving Shulk the power to shape the universe as he sees fit. I feel like I’ve said Monado a lot, but you get it, it’s a darn good sword.

Unsurprisingly, this is the sword Shulk brings to Super Smash Bros. because why wouldn’t you. It also has an Excalibur-level of cognition where it’s not happy to be equipped by just anybody. Speaking of which…

 
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Jess has been a journalist and content creator in the games industry for over 15 years and has been WhatCulture's resident Australian import and sorry cop since 2020, upping the quotient of swearing and apologising in WhatCulture Gaming's annual blooper videos considerably. She previously worked at GameSpot for 10 years, most notably hosting GameSpot News in addition to E3 live shows, and PAX panels. She regularly livestreams a variety of games on her 'jessmcdonell' YouTube and Twitch channels and hosts the 'Do It On The Day' podcast. She has won awards for her news and feature work in gaming as well as an accolade for her comedic writing (likely an admin error). She can be found on X at @jessmcdonell and Instagram at @jessicamcdonell sharing her current videogame fixations, industry insights, and videos of her cat, Karma.