SOULSWORD

 

SOULSWORD

First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #171, July 1983

Description: The Soulsword is a magical weapon created by Illyana Rasputin with her own life force while she was trapped in the dimension of Limbo. Though its appearance is that of an old-fashioned sword, the Soulsword is not really a weapon in the physical sense and the extent of its powers seem to depend on the user. When Illyana (and occasionally Shadowcat) wielded the sword, its chief ability was to disrupt magical spells and beings, quite often permanently. In the case of Illyana it was usually accompanied by an Eldritch armor of unknown origin covering Magik's left shoulder, chest, arm and eventually it would grow to cover more and more of her body with each use. The Soulsword can also release a non-supernatural being from a magical spell that it is under, though not necessarily every spell. Moreover, it is capable of physically injuring and even killing a supernatural being such as a demon or a magic-user.

Under normal circumstance the Soulsword doesn’t injure non-magical beings. Although shortly before and during Inferno Illyana – and in turn the sword – had grown so corrupted, that this changed. The one non-magical being the Soulsword could physically injure was Shadowcat, even when she was using her phasing power to become intangible. This is most likely connected to the fact that Kitty and Illyana shared an undefined bond that seemed to make Kitty the receptacle of her best friend’s magical powers whenever she was incapacitated or had renounced her magic. While Illyana feared accessing the sword’s full power, knowing that the use of even more magic would further corrupt her, the Soulsword remained so potent that to wield it seems to more or less guaranteed mastery over Limbo.

When Amanda Sefton took control of the blade as Magik II, she also used it to store souls, conjure teleportation discs - something Illyana never had to do, since teleportation was her mutant power - and conjure and channel spells. It is unknown, if the capabilities of the sword actually change with the user or whether Illyana also had access to these sides of the sword but didn’t want them or didn’t know how to access them. Since Illyana's resurrection, she's reclaimed the Soulsword and thus her title as Sorceress Supreme of Limbo. Since her possession by the Phoenix, Illyana's Soulsword took the appearance of the Blade of the Phoenix and additionally now has the ability to be used as a powerful weapon that can harm and kill as well as deflect attacks.