Excalibur (Sword)

Excalibur (also known as The Great Sword) is a sword crafted by Tom, Guinevere's father, and forged in the breath of The Great Dragon.

Creation and Concealment
When Merlin seeks a weapon that can kill the wraith of Tristan De Bois, Geoffrey of Monmouth reads from the Chronicles, which tell of "the sword begotten in the dragon's breath, and found it passing good." Merlin asks Gwen for the best sword that her father has, and she gives him a weapon that her father has created in private. He then takes it to the Dragon and to have sword forged and imbued with power.

In doing so the Dragon makes Merlin promise that only Arthur Pendragon will wield the sword, as it was made for him and him alone. However, on the day of the duel it is Uther Pendragon, not Arthur, who wields the sword against Tristan. The King defeats the wraith, calling the weapon the finest he has ever used. The Dragon is furious when he learns that Uther handled the sword, and orders Merlin to take it far away to a place where no mortal may reach it, else Uther would use the sword for evil deeds. Merlin then throws the sword into a lake.



Morgana's Reign
After destroying the vial of water from the Lake of Avalon given to him by The Fisher King, Merlin got into contact with Freya who informed him that only Excalibur could destroy Morgause's immortal army and when Merlin travelled to the Lake of Avalon, Freya gave him the sword.

He used the sword to kill several soldiers and to finally slash the Cup of Life off its stand, causing the blood in it to spill and the immortal army to be destroyed. As the Dragon told Merlin that the sword must not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands and asked him to place it where no one would wield it, Merlin then heeded this and used his magic to fuse Excalibur into a large stone (The Coming of Arthur).

In the Legend
In some of the earliest versions of the legend (such as Geoffrey of Monmouth's), the sword is caled Caliburn; the name later morphs into Excalibur. Initially, Excalibur was the same sword that Arthur pulled from the Stone to assert his rightful place as heir to Uther Pendragon and King of Britain. In later legend, the Sword in the Stone and Excalibur became differentiated. The Sword in the Stone became identified with Arthur's peace-sword Clarent, while Excalibur, his war-sword, was given to him during his reign as king by the Lady of the Lake. In these legends, Arthur instructs a knight – either Griflet or Bedivere – to deliver the sword back to the Lake upon his death. The Dragon ordering Merlin to dispose of the sword in this episode, and Merlin choosing to throw the weapon into a Lake, mirrors the legends.

Trivia

 * Excalibur is never referred to by name though its identity is made clear by the inscriptions it bore: "take me up" on one side of the blade and "cast me away" on the other.