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Orlando

Orlando wielding Excalibur in battle.

IMG 0925

Orlando and Durendal in 2009.

Excalibur (Durendal) is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Great Britain.

History[]

Excalibur was bequeathed to Arthur during the year 449 CE, which the young soon-to-be king pulled the sword from the stone while witnessed by Merlin and Orlando (then known as Vita). In 468 CE, Excalibur was lost from its owner at the Battle of Camlann on Salisbury Plain when Arthur was mortally wounded, which the sword was then stolen by Arthur's sister Morgana who cast it into a lake. On his deathbed, Arthur bids Sir Bedivere to return Excalibur, his magic sword, to the Lady of the Lake from whence it came. However, Orlando (then known as Roland after turning male) fought the Lady of the Lake in order to steal the sword back for himself, renaming it "Durendal."[1]

Since then, the sword had remained with its new owner throughout the millennium. Whenever Orlando uses the sword, it shines with a bright, blue glow.[2]

In the mid-1970's, the sword was almost pawned by Allan Quatermain.[3]

In 2009, during Orlando's battle with the Antichrist, Durendal proved neccesary in which it shot a beam of blue light into the sky to warn Prospero that the Antichrist had been found, and Mary Poppins to defeat the Antichrist.[4]

Source material[]

Excalibur is the well known sword of the Arthurian legends, including The Sword in the Stone. Durendal is the sword of Charlamagne's paladin Roland in the literary cycle Matter of France. In the League, both swords are the same sword, and Roland is Orlando.

References[]

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