I thought the great sword means it is a very long two-handed sword. - Edit 1
Before modification by redhand at 07/09/2009 01:36:10 AM
If you look at The Great Hunt, it was described as a 'great sword' and 'shone like a mirror'. Neither tells us much, but if you look at the prophecy at the end of the book, well it gets more interesting.
Like a Zweihander, which is so long you have to wear it behind your back. In that interpretion, it would be very difficult for Rand to use it at all.
And men cried unto the Creator, saying: O Light of the Heavens, Light of the World, let the Promised One be born of the mountain, according to the Prophecies, as he was in Ages past and will be in Ages to come,. Let the Prince of the Morning sing to the land that green things will grow and the valleys give forth lambs. Let the arm of the Lord of the Dawn shelter us from the Dark, and the great sword of Justice defend us. Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time.
He relaxed his hand on his sword, though he did not release it. He fingered the cloth-tied hilt. The weapon was long, slightly curved, and the lacquered scabbard was painted with a long, sinuous dragon of red and gold. It looked as if it had been designed specifically for Rand—and yet it was centuries old, unearthed only recently. How odd, that they should find this now, he thought, and make a gift of it to me, completely unaware of what they were holding. . . .
He had taken to wearing the sword immediately. It felt right beneath his fingers. He had told no one, not even Min, that he had recognized the weapon. And not, oddly, from Lews Therin’s memories—but Rand’s own.
He had taken to wearing the sword immediately. It felt right beneath his fingers. He had told no one, not even Min, that he had recognized the weapon. And not, oddly, from Lews Therin’s memories—but Rand’s own.
Like a Zweihander, which is so long you have to wear it behind your back. In that interpretion, it would be very difficult for Rand to use it at all.