Name

Like a blade in the soul;

The Valiant Knife is, literally, a weapon found in Final Fantasy VI. It is unique to Locke and gained automatically when he rejoins the party in the World of Ruin. The knife is one of the strongest weapons in the game, less for its raw power than its special properties. For one thing, it ignores defence, but it also gains more power as the wielder loses HP. Unlike Auron's Masamune, for example, the Valiant Knife adds each point of health lost directly onto its damage. The weapon has a base attack power of 134, and then adds Locke's max HP minus his current HP to the damage. This makes the Valiant Knife one of his most powerful weapons.

Chivalry. Locke!

Everyone knows it's cool to have a domain named after something Square, and weapon names are always fair game. I really like Final Fantasy VI, and my feelings for Locke can only be descrbed as squishy and fangirl. In creating a game domain, it made sense to choose something that sounded cool and had to do with these two things.

But there's a reason I didn't name my domain after the Wing Edge. The Valiant Knife appeals to me in ways that go beyond Final Fantasy, beyond whatever made me fall in love with Locke at the age of nine. Chivalry is self-destructive, and there are dark parts to heroism. The Valiant Knife has become some sort of emblem in my mind for the glorious and suicidal. The proverbial stain on the escutcheon of order. I quote Tennyson because I can.

The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.

Yeah it's grander than anything I could ever hope to be, but Ulysses is what leaps to mind. Originally this was going to be the domain's epigraph. Though it has nothing to do with my gaming collective, it's still something worth thinking about. After all, character shrines are a form of hero worship. I've followed many a nameless youth on his quest for revenge and glory. But what of the mother and the town he leaves weeping behind him? That's the valiant knife.

Character Shrines

Amends Kain Highwind FFIV
Black and White Nash Latkje Suikoden
Consequence Princess Zelda OoT
He Who Asks for Ruin Lezard Valeth VP

Libertine Reno FFVII
Lightbringer Cecil Harvey FFIV
Renaissance Locke Cole FFVI
Sterling Chris Lightfellow Suikoden
Veracity Laguna Loire FFVIII