Gram (mythology)

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.

Appearances in popular culture

Gram is the name of a sword in ' and Balmung is also used as the name of a weapon in ' and , though oddly enough, a sword named Gram is also present in Aria of Sorrow, being redundant.
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 an artifact in Valkyrie Profile which is an equipable weapon for one or two-handed swordsmen.
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 Calibur II and Soul Calibur III, Gram is one of Nightmare's (aka Siegfried) extra weapons, misspelled as Glam due to Japanese-to-English translation errors.
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 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 , 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.

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