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While every game in Nintendo’s long-running Zelda franchise stars an elfish boy named Link who goes on a quest to save the world, each installment puts its own signature wrinkle on the formula. Wind Waker is the one with cel-shaded, storybook-like visuals. Twilight Princess is the one where Link can turn into a wolf.

And Majora’s Mask is the weird, dark one that would give little kids nightmares.

That’s not the sole distinction for title, though. Majora’s Mask is also the only place where you can see the awesome Fierce Deity Sword. Well, more accurately, it was the only place, since the awesome blade now exists in real life, too.

The crew of Baltimore Knife and Sword are back again with another episode of Man at Arms Reforged, the talented craftsmen’s series where they but their ‘smithing skills to work recreating iconic weaponry from video games, movies, and comics. Perhaps due to the upcoming 3DS remake of Majora’s Mask, which was first released for the Nintendo 64 back in 2000, they’ve been inundated with requests to make the Fierce Deity Sword.

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The weapon is unique for several reasons. Throughout the series, Link is usually armed with a one-handed sword, like the Master Sword, which can be used in tandem with a shield (or to cut wedding cake). The Fierce Deity Sword, though, is a two-handed blade with a double-helix shaped edge.

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Craftsman Ilya Alekseyev hypothesizes that the design, with its two oblong voids, is inspired by Zen philosophical concepts of nothingness. Honestly, it’s more likely Nintendo’s artists just thought it looked cool, and didn’t give any though to the challenges that would be associated with physically making the sword. Those challenges are exactly what Baltimore Knife and Sword specializes in, though.

The team began by making two undulating blades, one out of Damascus steel and the other out of high-carbon W2 steel, which they would later fuse together. For the latter, they used a hydraulic press, while Alekseyev formed the Damascus blade using an iron kiss power hammer.

▼ “Iron kiss power hammer” sounds like an item Link needs to find to break boulders so he can open up more of the world map, but it’s actually another type of press.

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After initially welding the pieces together by hand, to further fuse the two 30 tons of pressure are applied with a screw press.

▼ Which, again, is a piece of metalworking machinery, and not a Nintendo reference (that would be Metroid’s screw attack).

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Having two openings gives the Fierce Deity Sword effectively six edges that need to be ground and sanded, and the whole process produces about as many sparks as a Fourth of July fireworks show.

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There’s even a healthy dose of ingenuity that goes into attaching the grip. After drilling a hole into a walnut block, the tang (the piece of metal that extends from the blade into the handle) is heated, and the wood pressed over it to ensure a snug fit.

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Sadly, the ethereal green hue of one of the in-game sword’s edges couldn’t be replicated due to the lack of magical minerals in our world, so instead Baltimore Knife and Sword added a coat of spray paint. Coupled with a similar coloring added to the wooden handle, the overall effect is doubly striking.

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Here’s hoping the Fierce Deity Sword looks half as nice in the remastered 3DS version when it comes out next spring.

Source: Inside Games
Screenshots: YouTube