Twelve Swords of Power - Shieldbreaker

Shieldbreaker is also called the Sword of Force, and occasionally "the Widowmaker". It has a hammer engraved in white on its hilt. It is arguably the most powerful of all Swords.

When drawn, it offers absolute protection against all armed enemy attacks, including mêlée, ranged, and magical. It interprets demonic or assault with natural weapons such as the teeth, claws, and beaks of predators as an armed attack. When any weapon is brought to bear against Shieldbreaker, it emits a rhythmic throbbing or hammering sound, that steadily increases in volume and speed as it is used in combat. When Shieldbreaker comes into contact with a weapon, that weapon is destroyed, shattering into many fragments with explosive force. Usually, this severely hurts or even kills the opponent who was wielding that weapon. Hostile incoming magic is automatically negated, but this effect is harmless to the caster.

Once it is drawn in combat, Shieldbreaker will not allow the user to let go of it until combat is over, a property which is shared by Townsaver. The sword actually takes control over its wielder's sword arm, automatically blocking all incoming attacks and striking back in return, imparting superhuman speed and strength as required.

Its verse in The Song of Swords is as follows:

I shatter Swords and splinter spears;

None stands to Shieldbreaker.

My point's the fount of orphan's tears

My edge the widowmaker.

While Shieldbreaker is unbeatable in armed combat, it does have a weakness, as hinted at by the verse. Literally, none (read no weapon) stands to Shieldbreaker. The Sword of Force is useless against unarmed foes, passing harmlessly through them. Meanwhile, the wielder of Shieldbreaker has greatly diminished strength while the Sword is functioning, as the Sword draws power from the rest of the wielder's body into his sword-arm. Even a god could be out-wrestled by a determined and unarmed foe.

Since this weakness was discovered, many showdowns involving Shieldbreaker end up in elaborate games of chicken involving dropping, picking up and repeated feints with the Sword and conventional arms. The Tasavaltan military plan for retrieving Shieldbreaker, should it be lost, is to confront the wielder with four men, two armed, two not. While the two armed men stand at a safe distance to defend against armed defenders, the two unarmed men quickly subdue and kill the wielder.

Counters have been developed, including using a conventional sword to dispatch unarmed opponents while holding Shieldbreaker with one's off arm, though this requires some skill in swordplay and one must account for the personal strength the Sword saps. Shieldbreaker is also a popular choice for dual Sword wielding if the wielder can withstand the strain, since any other Sword will greatly offset Shieldbreaker's weakness, with the exception of Woundhealer, and Shieldbreaker will offset some of the weaknesses of other Swords. Perhaps the strongest value of dual-wielding with Shieldbreaker is that most of the other Swords' principal weakness is that they can be defeated by Shieldbreaker.

Shieldbreaker can destroy other Swords as easily as conventional ones, even Swords whose own power would seem to counteract the "Widowmaker". Indeed, by the end of the series, Shieldbreaker had been used to destroy all but one of the other Swords. When a Sword is destroyed in this fashion, it leaves behind only the vanquished Sword's black hilt. The lone exception is Woundhealer, which obliterated Shieldbreaker in the Last Book of Lost Swords: Shieldbreaker's Story.