From Fantasy Novel
- Artifact left behind by the creator.
- Make it only able to be touched by the hero - it will serve as a mark for him. Don't make simply ACCESSING the sword the mark (ie drawing Callandor), make it his ability to touch and wield it - as a sign that the creator has bestowed the responsibility of marshaling the forces of order to this one person.
- DO NOT have it in a stone... I want to avoid the typical "sword in the stone" type thing of Arthur and Link. Make it in plain sight, displayed somehow (perhaps by the last person who was able to wield the sword) but shielded and unable to be touched. Taking the sword marks the hero.
- Okay okay okay - tie it in with what is in the Creation section - make the sword identify descendants of the original Avatar of Adon... have to be careful with this and qualify it somehow, because at some point there will likely be thousands of descendants of that man, but none the less, have it identify that person - perhaps with some additional caveats... maybe a demonstrated character (nothing stupid like "who's heart is truest" or whatever) trait, such as FINDING THE KEYS TO THE TEMPLE... because finding those keys was a test of attributes needed to become Adon's avatar... such as selflessness, willingness to die alone, with no honor, fame or glory - for what is right. Loyalty to ones comrades. Defiance of chaos. Whatever - I'm sure you can dream something up. But those keys coupled with the DNA of somebody in the original avatar's line allow one to touch the sword and use it.
- POSSIBILITY - make the current users organization (my version of the Aes Sedai) keepers of this knowledge. Perhaps they have a record of the lineage of that avatar, and understood at the end of "the last war" or whatever the hell else happened with the original avatars, that Addonex would attempt to do so again (or perhaps the "evil" avatar will emerge on his own once again, for some reason - possibly genetic" and they must make ready - and so they designed the tests to ensure they could identify who would be able to stand against Addonex's avatar because only Adon's avatar would have the supreme ability to use the current, and have the qualities they wished to find (honor, loyalty, selflessness, etc). THIS IS A MUDDY CONCEPT, CLEAN IT UP
- Once drawn out, the blade bonds with he who drew it, and will remain so until he dies. Before that, no other can touch the blade, or use it.
- EXTREMELY GOOD IDEA - the Sword itself, while a powerful weapon that has some important abilities - is in fact a key itself to the TIME GATEWAY/PLATFORM that will be used in the novel immediately following this one. How that translates is an open question - perhaps he has to slip the swords blade into a "keyhole" somewhere... perhaps there is a hollowed out place for a sword to sit that you put the sword into in order to travel to the platform... that's not that important - not as important as the sword being a key for time travel is.
[edit] IMPORTANT
- Make one of the books a sword quest. The shrine which houses the sword is sealed. The sword itself may in fact be untouchable to men other than the hero, but even gaining access to the building is impossible. Have the "keys" be items the hero obtains along the way in the first couple books... things that have use (which is why he keeps them) but unbeknownst to him at the time, are in fact keys to the temple in the "lost woods" that contain the sword. Make that novel be the search for the remaining 1-2 keys to the temple, with his accessing the temple coming very late in the novel itself. I'M THINKING THIS IS THE PLOT FOR NOVEL 4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_Sword
