Twelve Swords of Power - Woundhealer

Woundhealer is also called the Sword of Mercy, and less frequently, the Sword of Love, and even more infrequently, the Sword of Healing. It bears an open human hand engraved in white on its hilt.

Woundhealer's verse in The Song of Swords describes its power as follows:

Whose flesh the Sword of Mercy hurts has drawn no breath,

Whose soul it heals has wandered in the night,

Has paid the summing of all debts in death

Has turned to see returning light.

Woundhealer is the only Sword incapable of killing, though it can cut and hack inanimate matter as well as any of the other Swords. Instead, when living flesh is pierced with the Blade, it has a powerful healing effect. The Sword can knit broken bones, heal disease, fix genetic disorders, regenerate lost limbs, and repair mental or psychological problems (including the effects of Soulcutter). Properly employed, it can enable its user to sustain extensive damage without dying. Its healing effect can prevent amputation of entire limbs if the Sword is in active use; the blade heals the wound before the attack can complete its path across the limb, and before the wound can start to bleed.

The sensation of Woundhealer cutting or piercing an individual is described as a sort of exquisite pain. When in action, Woundhealer emits a sound similar to a human sigh. Woundhealer works on any living thing, human or animal. It is not known to restore the dead to life.

Woundhealer is not explicitly stated to project a healing aura. In most cases, the blade must come into contact and break the skin of the person being healed. Woundhealer can be self administered. The time of effect depends on the severity of injury or sickness, and proximity of the Blade to the problem area. While Woundhealer can eventually repair a broken leg by being stuck into the patient's heart, the healing is instantaneous when it is sliced through the affected limb. At one point, a character plunged the Blade into his chest, rode his horse off a high cliff, survived the fall, used the sword to heal both himself and his horse, and rode away. In another incident, though it took several weeks, it completely regenerated the lost arm of Jord the Smith after a single application.

At least one short story in An Armory of Swords seems to suggest that Woundhealer does project an air of good health. That is, while it does no actual healing unless actively employed, long-term proximity to the blade will make a person healthier than otherwise. This is only implied, though, and not stated.

Woundhealer is the only Sword that has survived an encounter with Shieldbreaker, although the circumstances were unusual. The Sword was plunged into the heart of Prince Mark, the son of the god-like Emperor, at the time Mark's opponent attacked with Shieldbreaker. Instead of destroying Woundhealer, Shieldbreaker was obliterated. The result was explained as occurring because Woundhealer was combined with the strongest weapon of all, the human heart. Many readers were dissatisfied with this outcome and explanation, which served as the climax of the entire Book of Swords series. It is unclear whether the outcome would have been the same if the tactic was tried by a character of less distinctive lineage, or by an evil character. Another possibility is that since Woundhealer is incapable of harming anyone, it is hardly a weapon, despite its appearance. Under this definition Shieldbreaker's ability to cancel and destroy all other weapons would not apply. Finally, there is the possibility that Shieldbreaker, having been hurled at its victim and so not otherwise being wielded, considered Mark to be its owner after piercing his flesh. As a result, it became a weapon threatening its own wielder and, as a consequence of its powers, destroyed itself. Under this theory, Woundhealer's only role was in keeping its bearer alive during this process. This last possibility is unlikely, as Vulcan the Smith once wounded himself with Shieldbreaker while fighting unarmed opponents.

At the end of the Swords series, Woundhealer is the only one of the Twelve remaining in existence, the rest having been destroyed by Shieldbreaker.

It also is called the Sword of Love. At one point the Sword was thrust through the heart of two people. While the two remained in love for the rest of their lives, it is unknown whether the Sword was responsible.