- This sword is sometimes referred to as "Dragon Slayer". Not to be confused with Dragon Killer.
Balmung is a great sword in the Castlevania series. It is a demonic dragon-slaying sword.
Origins[]
In the Nibelungenlied Siegfried's sword is called Balmung. In Richard Wagner's work, Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), it is referred to as Nothung. In Norse mythology, it is otherwise known as Gram and is the sword that Sigurd (Siegfried) used to kill the dragon Fafnir.
Game specific information[]
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow[]
Balmung can be considered a "supersized" version of Gram. It is the largest sword in the game by far (even larger than Soma Cruz). It isn't precisely swung but it rather appears directly in front of Soma. It has an attack of an even +100, so it is by no means the most powerful sword in the game, as there are several overhead-swinging swords that are more powerful than it (the next most powerful being the Final Sword). It also isn't quite as powerful as the other main dragon-slaying sword, the Ascalon, although it is much larger and easier to wield.
This sword is one of the rewards found in The Arena. It can be found at the end of the middle challenge room by the elevator shaft. This nasty hallway consists of spikes and moving conveyor belts, and is infested by gold Medusa Heads (which petrify on touch), Erinyes, and an Arc Demon that guards a small crawlspace near the end the player must go through. Once reaching the end of the room, the player has to avoid a slamming spiked trap to claim the Balmung sword, then re-enter the hallway, and attempt to survive the way back. Due to all the hard to avoid enemies and numerous obstacles found in this course, it is advisable to first defeat Balore on the lower floor and acquire the Giant Bat soul; flying as a bat makes it much easier and faster to traverse this challenge room.
Due to the way it attacks and its length, the Balmung is arguably the best weapon to use in the battle against Julius Belmont (way more than the Claimh Solais, as that sword is Holy-based and Julius is resistant to that damage type). The length of its blade is even longer than Julius's whip, which allows the player to hit him from a distance out of Julius's reach; also, if Julius is starting to strike with his whip, the player can just crouch below it and counterattack with the Balmung.
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow[]
The Balmung in Dawn of Sorrow is quite a bit different from the one in Aria of Sorrow. It is a standard Great Sword and can be created by synthesizing an Ascalon with a Gergoth soul. This may be a painful sacrifice, though, since the Gergoth soul can only be gained once per playthrough and its continuous energy beam can be very useful in some instances, but since the Gergoth soul only has one level, it only makes sense to create a Balmung once a second one has been acquired in Hard Mode. Doing this will allow several, even more powerful, great swords to be created in Hard Mode.
The evolution chain for creating a Balmung is:
 Claymore | |||||||||||||
 Warg | |||||||||||||
 Falchion | |||||||||||||
 Great Armor | |||||||||||||
 Great Sword | |||||||||||||
Valkyrie | |||||||||||||
 Durandal | |||||||||||||
 Lilith | |||||||||||||
 Dainslef | |||||||||||||
Draghignazzo | |||||||||||||
 Ascalon | |||||||||||||
Gergoth | |||||||||||||
 Balmung | |||||||||||||
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin[]
The Balmung reappears in Portrait of Ruin as a rare drop from Ruler Swords, retaining its appearance from Dawn of Sorrow. Its name in the English version was changed to "Dragon Slayer", presumably being a translation issue, as the sword is still called Balmung in the Japanese release.
The weapon provides 99 ATK power and +10 to MND. It is notably one of only a handful ways of inflicting Curse on an enemy in the game, and the only way to inflict that status effect with Jonathan Morris.
Item Data[]
| Item Data: Balmung | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image | Name - Game Type - Users Description |
Attributes / Consume | Statistics / Sell | Found | Notes | |||
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| Legendary sword of the dragon slayers. | Attrib: Sword |
ATK +100 Sell: $25,000 |
Find: The Arena |
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| A demonic dragon-slaying sword. | Attrib: Slashing Consume: 50 MP (Special Attack) |
ATK +94 Sell: $25,000 |
Find: Yoko's shop Create: Ascalon + Gergoth Soul |
Special: Lunge forward. Evolve: + Final Guard Soul >> Final Sword | ||||
|
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| A sword forged to slay dragons. | Attrib: Slash, Curse Consume: 50 MP (Critical Art) |
ATK +99 MND +10 Sell: $10,500 |
Drop: Ruler's Sword |
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| Demonic dragon-slaying sword. | Attrib: Slash #hands: 2 |
ATK +48 Sell: $12,500 |
Rarity: **** |
Special: ↓↘→ + [Attack] for quick hit (15 MP) | ||||
| Combination(s) | ||||||||
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| A sword taken from a Final Guard. | Attrib: Slashing Consume: 50 MP (Special Attack) |
ATK +110 Sell: $36,000 |
Find: Yoko's shop Create: Balmung + Final Guard Soul |
Special: Lunge forward. Evolve: + Alastor Soul >> Claimh Solais | ||||
Gallery[]
Animations[]
Trivia[]
- Both Balmung and Gram refer to the same mythological sword of Norse lore used by the hero Sigurd to kill the dragon Fáfnir. Oddly, "both" appear in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and Harmony of Despair as different swords, each having its own attributes.
See also[]
| This item article may have been created with information obtained from other sources. Please see the Inventory pages for each of the games that this item has appeared in for a list of potential sources. |