Great Royal Sword

The Great Royal Sword.

This article contains lore taken from Warcraft novels, novellas, or short stories.

The Great Royal Sword (or the "blade of Stormwind")^[1] was a massive, two-handed runeblade pledged to defend the Kingdom of Stormwind, formerly wielded by Anduin Lothar. It was a massive, rune-etched glittering blade,^[2] with a huge and jeweled crosspiece.^[3] Despite the size and weight of the weapon, Lothar wielded it one-handed alongside a lion-head shield.^[1]

During his combat with the Warchief of the Horde Orgrim Doomhammer, the sword was broken by the Doomhammer, and Lothar was defeated.^[4] The blade fell from his dead grasp, though it was soon taken up by Lothar's lieutenant, the young paladin Turalyon, who used it in turn to defeat Orgrim and rally the remaining Alliance forces to victory.^[5] Turalyon would later go into battle wielding the broken sword in one hand and his warhammer in the other.^[6]

Notes

Much later, Turalyon, as a member of the Army of the Light, forged a new Light-infused sword with the Artificers of the Xenedar.^[7]
- This new sword resembles greatly Ashkandi, and the Great Royal Sword to a lesser extent.
The Warcraft III manual originally said that Turalyon picked up Lothar's bloodstained shield instead.
The blade's hilt bears resemblance to [Ashkandi, Greatsword of the Brotherhood]. According to Ashkandi's flavor text, the initials A.L. are etched on its hilt.
In Hearthstone, the Royal Greatsword appears as one of Turalyon's Signature Treasures in the game mode Duels.

Speculation

This article or section includes speculation, observations or opinions possibly supported by lore or by Blizzard officials. It should not be taken as representing official lore.

As the art from World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 2 depicted Turalyon wielding the Great Royal Sword on Draenor, and A Thousand Years of War stated that Turalyon forged a new sword, it may be speculated that he left or lost the former during Draenor's destruction.
However, the blade Turalyon wields is shown as having clearly been broken in half. While it is possible that he chose to have it forged with the appearance of having been broken and remade in the Light, it may be that it was at least originally intended to be the same sword or at least part of the sword was potentially used in its construction.