Laevatain

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 unkown treasure. At Raggnarok, Surtr (lord of the realm of fire) wielded Freyr's sword and severed the roots of the world tree Yggdrasil with it instigate 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 may be a reference to the sword "Narsil" used by King Isildor in Tolkien Lore that cut off Sauron's hand. It could also be a reference to King Marsil, the Saracen King of Sarragossa in the Song of Roland.

= Laevatain in Castlevania = Laevatain has appeared as a Fire Sword in Symphony of the Night (though called "Marsil" in the English translation), Aria of Sorrow, and Dawn of Sorrow.

Appearance in 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. It has its own special attack that costs the same as the Firebrands'. 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 persistant enough for a Fire Demon in the Necromancy Laboratory to drop one, unless you're playing the Sega version, in which case an Ifreet could also drop one.

Appearance in Aria of Sorrow
The Laevatain returns in Aria of Sorrow (and translated properly into English this time) as the only Fire based weapon in the game. As in Symphony of the Night, each swing is accompanied by powerfull flames. It lost its special fire burst attack though. It can be found in high up in The Arena. It can also be found as a drop item from the Flame Demon.

Appearance in Dawn of Sorrow
As in Aria 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 special 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 less 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 evolutionarily similar to the other elemental swords, the Ice Brand and Milican's Sword (stone 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 powerfull special move makes up for this though. The sword is much more straight-forward than 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.