Gram (mythology)
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- Balmung redirects here. For the character in the .hack metaseries, see Balmung (.hack).
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In Norse mythology, Gram was the name of the sword that Sigurd (Siegfried) used to kill the dragon Fafnir. It was forged by Weyland the Smith and originally belonged to his father, Sigmund, who received it in the hall of the Volsung after pulling it out of a log into which Odin had stuck it—nobody else could pull it out. The sword was destroyed and reforged at least once. After it was reforged, it clove an anvil in half. See Sigurd for more details on the story of Siegfried and Fafnir.
In the Nibelungenlied, Siegfried's sword is called Balmung; in Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle, it is called Nothung.
[edit] Appearances in popular culture
- Gram is the name of a sword in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Balmung is also used as the name of a weapon in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, though oddly enough, a sword named Gram is also present in Aria of Sorrow, being redundant.
- Balmung is also the name of King Alric's sword in Myth (computer game) series' second game Soulblighter.
- In the Wild-west and vampire-themed Boktai 2, Gram is the name of the "complete sword."
- Gilgamesh from the Japanese visual novel Fate/Stay Night is able to wield Gram.
- Balmung is the name of a legendary character in the .hack series. In .hack//SIGN, Balmung's whole name is Balmung of the Azure Skies, it is stated in .hack//AI buster that he named himself after the legendary blade. He appears in all of the .hacks, even if he is only mentioned.
- Gram is sword created from an artifact in Valkyrie Profile which is an equipable weapon for one or two-handed swordsmen. It is the strongest sword in the game, discounting the swords from the Seraphic Gate. It also makes an appearance, also an incredibly strong sword in Valkyrie Profile 2.
- In Fire Emblem 4 Balmung is an obtainable legendary weapon. Interestingly, the main character of that game is named (by coincidence or design) Sigurd.
- In Soul Edge, Soul Calibur II and Soul Calibur III, Gram is one of Nightmare's or Siegfried's extra weapons, misspelled as Glam due to Japanese-to-English translation errors. It is also mistranslated into Grimblade in Soul Edge.
- In Ragnarok Online, the Balmung is only available to GMs (Game Masters).
- The sword Balmung also appears as King Alric's magical sword, which shoots forth lightning at all adjacent to it when swung, in the Bungie Studios game Myth II: Soulblighter.
- In Yu-Gi-Oh!, the character Zigfried von Schroeder uses a card called Enchanted Sword Nothung, which removes all Dragon-type monsters from play.
- In Final Fantasy XI, the Balmung is dropped by the monster Fafnir.
- In the game Marvel vs. Capcom, the character Strider Hiryu uses an attack known as "Gram", in which he takes an exceptionally long slash with his sword.
- In the anime Saint Seiya, The Odin armor has the Balmung sword, that can defeat any god and is the only weapon capable of breaking the Nibelung Ring. Seiya wears this armor once to remove the Nibelung Ring from Hilda, who was possessed by it.
- In Disgaea, Balmung is an axe.
- In Disgaea 2, Balmung is correctly a sword.
- In Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis, the Fafnir, the Balmung, and the Gram are the names of three rare weapons. Incidentally, rare items in this game frequently have names of gods from various mythologies; for example, Notos, Boreas, Euros, and Zephyrus are known as the four "Relics of the Wind".
- In Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok, Gram is next to a suit of armor in Mayura's high school. Later on, Gram possesses Mayura and attacks Loki.
- In Digimon Tamers, Gram is the name of Gallantmon's lance. Similarly, his 'steed' his named Grani (Sigurd's horse).
- In the CRPG "Baldur's Gate II", there is a powerful sword called "Gram the Sword of Grief."
- In "Radiata Stories", the Holy Sword Gram is given to your party after defeating Valkyrie in battle. The information window states the sword was reforged after being destroyed by the Gods. It is also one of the strongest swords in the game.
- In Digimon World DS, there is a sword called Gram that only level 50 or above holy digimon can wield.
- In the Traveller role-playing game Gram is a world in the Sword Worlds Confederation, named after the starship that carried the original colonists to that world (itself named after the sword Gram).
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