The Legend of the Masamune

 

The weapon’s name is defined in many languages as, roughly translated ‘death wind’. It has taken many shapes and forms, some famous, some infamous, heroes and evil have held this weapon, and fate has bent to it.  This is the story of the many Legends of the Masamune.

 

Originally, during a time of Warlords and Japan’s famous Samurai Warriors, blacksmiths were common, forging katanas, knives, glaives, spears, and other weapons. Often times, the Ronin, or masterless samurai, called upon the powers of the spirit of their swords in times of trouble, they drew out their essences, submitting their own honorable spirits in order to be victorious, if they were dishonorable, they committed Seppuku, ritual suicide. It was believed then that their spirits would enter the weapon, strengthening its forging.

 

It could be said that many a warrior has held this blade in particular, for good or for evil, and the legacy that it holds in itself is great. The name ‘Masamune’ was originally given to it by the very blacksmith who forged it. It was his signature, his style of weapon design, the very intricate markings that decorated the blade made it an elegant katana, at first.

 

Its counterparts, Murasame, Chijiraiden, Muramasa, Nodachi, Ashura, Bizen Boat, and several other Japanese weaponry are also named after the artisans who forged these weapons. Here is where the history ends and the legend begins. It was said that Masamune poured his very soul into creating this blade for his Lord. Using the finest materials of the land, and a form of alchemy with a particular material known in their tongue as ‘The stone of dreams.’

 

Sadly, war had ravaged the land at that time, and his finest blade was lost to time, an era of dragons and warriors had begun, so it was assumed that the blade had been obtained for use elsewhere.

 

It was discovered in the 2000 years past Temple of Fiends by four children known at that time to be ‘Light Warriors’. It was guarded by a great dragon named Tiamat, a fiend of wind. Defeated and dispatched, the sword was now in the hands of good, and aided in the demise of the great Chaos Knight Garland who absorbed all four elements of Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water.  Ironically, the blade was used 2000 years into the past before it was even forged, and with the death of Garland, the Light Warriors as well ceased to exist because time no longer had need for them. They had served their purpose, as had incidentally the Masamune. And so the Masamune obtained mythical strength by aging those 2000 years until it would have been forged again. But the course of events would not be so. The tyranny that had originally ordered Masamune to forge the legendary sword, never did such a thing due to the time change, oddly this did not in any wise effect the timeline of the blade. It still existed.

 

The explanation of its existence lies in the ‘stone of dreams.’ The material, unbeknownst to Masamune the weapon smith, contained two sentient creatures from another world. When realizing they had been forged within the blade, named themselves Masa and Mune. And titled themselves guardians of the blade, and no matter what shape it would take, they would test any warrior to see if he deemed worthy of the blade.

 

An additional theory for this is that the Dreamstone that was forged with it made it demonic in some way.  It was even rumored to have been found in the very pits of Pandaemonium Castle, the purported Center of Hell where the Dark Emperor once resided, but this couldn’t be possible since Pandaemonium ceased to exist the moment the Dark Emperor was killed by a boy named Firion and his friends Gus, Maria, and of course, Leon, the purported predecessor to the Leonheart family line, the legendary warrior line that is said to exist to this very day.

 

With two thousand years under it, the Masamune was by now considered a powerful weapon. It was at one point sealed away on the Moon by the creatures known as Lunarians, and a Serpent Dragon named Ogopogo was designated to guard it against thieves. One ninja in particular lay claim to this blade, ironically along with its brother Murasame, and helped Edge and his allies defeat the menace known as Zeromus in the moon’s core.

 

It was once again brought back to earth, but once again sealed away along with several other ‘Legendary Weapons’ the likes of which were, Excalibur, Spirit Lance, Save the Queen, and several other infamous weapons from other Legends. It was very shortly unsealed due to the upcoming menace of a creature known as the ‘Exceeding Death’ also known as X-Death, who attempted to merge the two worlds Gaia and Terra into one world, then simultaneously destroy both. Luckily the Warriors of the Dawn had turned the tide and defeated X-Death.

 

A unexpected occurrence happened then, the Masamune happened upon the wandering Bandit King known as Gilgamesh, who was on a quest for immortality. He had wandered the X-Zone, as well as all of Gaia and Terra, and had never found such a blade, that neither rusted nor dulled. It was not until he showed the blade to his old friend Gogo the Master of Simulacrum (that is the art of Mimicking things) that he discovered the truth behind the Masamune. Gogo, seeing it had no use except for bloodshed and death stated that it served no purpose for Gilgamesh’s quest, that of eternal life. Therefore he asked Gogo, who was a master of craftsmanship, to separate the blade, and that perhaps the weapons would be much safer to use, so that evil would overlook such a powerful weapon. And thus the Masamune was separated into two thieves’ daggers: The Orichalcon, and the Gladius.

 

It was then decided to place half of the blade on Gaia and the other on Terra, so that the blade would never be assembled again. But this was not Masamune’s will, instead a thrifty thief named Zidane Tribal, on a quest with his friends incidently found both halves at different stores.  He took the two daggers to the Black Cat Synthesis Shop in the Black Mage Village, and somehow, Masa and Mune communicated to the Synthesist what the name of the sword originally was…and soon, the blade was restored…somewhat.

 

Originally a katana, it now bore the form of a dual bladed thieves’ sword. A deadly edge on both ends, this was used for a short time during Zidane’s quest to the city of memories, Memoria, to battle the Dark Fiend Necron. Sadly, this would be the last time for several hundred years before Masamune would be used again.

 

The year was 582 AD, and Queen Guardia and the royal family were attacked by the great armies of the dark prophet Magus. By this time, the Masamune had grown very old and rusted. It was found by an old weapon smith named Melchior, who managed to reforge the blade to suit the times, no longer a thin swift, katana, but a strong wide broadsword preferred by the knights of the time.

 

Along with the Masamune, Melchior discovered, was the brothers Masa and Mune, the entities forged within the blade, and considering the alchemy involved he forged a relic to enhance the Masamune: the Hero’s Medal. He, believing the Masamune itself capable of affecting the very course of history, hid the blade deep in a cave at the summit of Denadoro Mountain. There, he believed the guardians Masa and Mune would do the rest. Any warrior worthy enough to defeat the brothers would be worthy to obtain the Masamune, to ensure security though; he kept the Hero’s Medal on his person.

 

It would soon be that Melchior, during an attack by one of Magus’ crones, lost the medal to the beast Ozzie the Great, and he feared the worst. It was then that two brave warriors, Cyrus, Knight of the Square Table, and Glenn, not a full knight but able in swordsmanship, sought out the Masamune to end Magus’ reign of terror once and for all. It was Cyrus mission to obtain the blade, and Glenn’s to obtain the Medal.

 

Incidentally Cyrus’ courage found him worthy to obtain the sword, and so he was able to seek out Magus, but without the Hero Medal he still was not able to use it fully. Glenn struggled with Ozzie to obtain the Medal, and was successful, but too late…

 

As it turned out, Cyrus attacked Magus, but unsuccessfully, and Magus managed to blast the Masamune into two fragments, and then proceeded to destroy his would-be slayer. Glenn arrived only too late, as he saw his ally fallen in battle. Despite the broken Masamune, Glenn faced his enemy and death at the same time. Magus, arrogant as he was, decided to play with the weak warrior, and transformed him into a frog before his escape. Glenn was now forever cursed with the visage of an amphibian till Magus’ death, and broken memories of the Masamune and his fallen comrade.

 

That is, until the fates played a role that warped time itself. A young man by the name of Crono, on his small adventure to rescue his friend Marle’s decendant from Yakra’s clutches, encountered Glenn on his way to the cathedral, albeit Glenn was eager to rescue Queen Leene, not Marle, her decendant. The incident caused Crono, Glenn, and Crono’s friend Lucca, to become close allies, even beyond time.

 

After the discovery that Magus planned to summon Lavos in 600 AD, Crono traveled into the past and revisited Glenn, who told him his story of the broken Masamune. Crono, kind and thoughtful as he was managed to obtain both halves of the Masamune after defeating the combined efforts of Masa and Mune at Denadoro Mountain, and revisiting the old weapon smith Melchior.

 

Melchior proceeded to tell Crono and company about the conjunction between the Masamune and the Hero’s Medal, as well as the odd material known as the ‘Dreamstone,’ which could only be found in Prehistoric times.

 

So Crono and company found themselves traveling back in time using a Gate Key device back to 65 billion B.C. and encountered the Ioka Chieftess Ayla who very promptly gave them a piece of the stone. As they slept through the night after a primeval celebration of new friendships, the dreamstone was stolen, initially by a jealous caveman, but then by reptilian creatures known as Reptites, it was then that Crono, Lucca, Marle, and Ayla, went on a full-scale assault of the Reptite lair, defeated their reptilian leader Azala, and successfully recaptured the dreamstone, which, after a brief respite, was then sent back to 600 A.D. for Melchior to reforge the Masamune. With Lucca’s techno- know-how, Melchior was able to reforge the Legendary Blade once again. All that was left to obtain was the Hero’s Medal in a little town south of Melchior’s Hut named Peorre, where a little boy named Tata had obtained the item.

 

After a few minutes of convincing the little boy of the urgency of the era, Tata willingly gave them the relic, and off they went to the Cursed Woods, where they found Glenn’s underground lair.

 

‘By the gods…’tis the Masamune!!” he exclaimed. And due to this new development, Glenn had his friends stay overnight to give what needed to be done some thought. The next day, Glenn explained to the fellow heroes the plight of his tragic story, and how he so wanted to avenge his fallen comrade Cyrus.

 

It only took a few moments of preparations and they were off to the Magic Cave, the entrance to Magus’ lair. A full display of the Masamune’s power occurred then. And the little frog-knight was able to cleave in two the immense rock that barred the way to Magus.

 

And thus began the quest through which the Masamune would effect time itself, Glenn and his comrades from another time had managed to stop Magus from summoning Lavos, but that was only the beginning. They then had to deal with Evil Queen Zeal, and the threat of Robots and Reptites to end the human species, but something spectacular happened along the way…

 

Glenn and his comrades had discovered the dishonored and lost soul of Cyrus, who had departed several years in the past…using the Epoch, they traveled to and from the Present into the Middle Ages, gathering tools and makeshift items to repair Cyrus old tomb.

 

Soon the tomb was complete, and Cyrus’ ghost was able to rest, but what he did for Glenn next, with all his love for his now fellow knight, was unexpected. He submitted his spirit unto the Masamune as had numerous Samurai eons past…and his knightly soul enhanced the strength of the blade twenty fold! Now with the Legendary Blade much stronger than it was the day it was forged, Glenn, Crono, and Magus, an unlikely ally ended up destroying Lavos and saving all of time.

 

No one knew exactly what happened to the Masamune after Glenn’s use of it, rumors and speculation during this period are the only possibilities. It is said, that a knight from another dimension was able to utilize the blade along with an item known as the Crono Cross, to travel between dimensions, but this is only theory.

 

What is known is that the blade had undergone yet another transformation; it now took the form once again, of a massive seven foot katana blade. The sword was reportedly in the possession of an elite member of Shinra Inc.’s S.O.L.D.I.E.R. fleet, named Sephiroth. He fought valiantly against the forces of the Eastern bank of Wutai during the One Year War, and was unstoppable. It is said that the Masamune in this form, was at its most deadly, according to scholars, and yet they claim that only Sephiroth was able to control the movements of the blade.

 

Over the course of several months, Sephiroth was reported dead, but rumors say it was a cover-up by Shinra himself, and when the president of Shinra Inc. was found assassinated by that very blade in his back, even more rumors flooded Midgar. There are also reports of a band of freedom fighters known as Avalanche in Sephiroth’s pursuit.

 

The only evidence of Sephiroth’s activities was the reports given by Shinra officials and the occurrence of the summoning of Meteor, a massive black mako spell. And another strange phenomenon that occurred, locals referred to it as the ‘lifestream.’ They also claim that a strange spikey haired fellow by the name of Cloud Strife was responsible for saving the planet from the Meteor incident, but this is merely speculation.

 

Fast forward a thousand years, reportedly, natives of the Calm Lands and Mushroom Rock have seen a Samurai in a red Kimono and Sake jug bearing an impressively large blade. Tradition says this blade is the Masamune incarnate, but not much is known for certain. The Ronin was last seen as Guardian among a group of warriors during Summoness Yuna’s pilgrimage to Zanarkand to defeat Sin. His name was Auron supposedly, the only record of his name was as guardian of the former summoner, Yuna’s father Braska , whose entire group had successfully brought about the ‘one year calm’, but reportedly never survived. This information is merely speculation as most probably Auron was an unsent, and therefore the Masamune a hoax.

 

What is fact, is that the Masamune did exist, and was a legend among legendary weapons, no one knows if it still exists in one form or another, or even if another blade has been named after its namesake. However, it is said, that whenever the Masamune is needed, it is found, and the bearer worthy to be a warrior.

 

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