Vorpal

Vorpal is a word coined by Lewis Carroll for the poem "Jabberwocky", used first in the line "He took his vorpal sword in hand" and "One, two! One, two! And through and through The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back." . It is commonly assumed to mean "deadly" or "sharp" (or "capable of beheading", since the hero brings the dead Jabberwock's head home in triumph), and has been used this way in a number of role-playing games and similar works.

Appearances in popular culture

In Dungeons & Dragons, a vorpal weapon is one which has a high tendency to inflict critical hits or behead foes. In the game's reference manual Deities and Demigods, King Arthur's sword Excalibur is described as being a "vorpal weapon". Many MUDs (multi-user dungeons) also incorporate this adjective into some of their weapon descriptions.

In Final Fantasy for the NES, PlayStation, and PlayStation 2, there is a powerful sword that the Knight class can use called the Vorpal Sword. This use of the word can probably be traced to the use in role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons.

The vorpal weapon's ability to do massive damage caused the killer rabbit that appeared in the motion picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail, to be referred to as a "vorpal rabbit" or "vorpal bunny" by fans of the film; the name does not appear in the film itself. The vorpal bunny appears in the games Ultima Online and Final Fantasy XI, in which it shares at least some of the abilities of the Monty Python killer rabbit.

The word has also spawned a parody character called Vorpal king, and a parody of an alien race (Vorpals) which landed on Planet Earth with an asteroid.

There is a murder mystery novel by Colin Forbes titled The Vorpal Blade .

A video game released in 2000 titled American McGee's Alice prominantly features a weapon called the Vorpal Blade.