"The wand chooses the wizard."
— Ollivander, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
There are weapons that Only the Chosen May Wield. There are also Empathic Weapons. Sometimes, however, there are weapons that go a little bit further than this and have a degree of sentience over specifically who may wield them. It's not necessarily that only the worthy may wield them, although that may be taken into account. No, the weapon itself makes some form of conscious choice over who gets to use them. In a sense, the weapon is what decides who's worthy.
How the weapon decides who can wield it may not be well-defined, much less how it enforces its decision. It could be that the weapon is a Clingy MacGuffin and returns to its wielder's possession if it doesn't consent. It could kill its would-be wielder. Or it could behave completely normally, as its say in the matter ends when it is drawn from its pedestal or sheath. It may also at some point reject the wielder, either because they're no longer worthy, or because they've served their purpose and are no longer needed.
Note that the weapon itself doesn't necessarily have to have full sentience, but it does need to be a known fact in-universe that the weapon chose its wielder. The mythical Sword in the Stone, for instance, was a magically enchanted sword to only be pulled by the rightful King of England, and thus did not choose Arthur to wield it, and thus would not be an example of this trope.
In addition, while there are examples of other people enchanting weapons to have conditions for a weapons's wielding, such as Merlin/heaven enchanting the aforementioned Sword in the Stone, or Odin enchanting Mjolnir so that only the worthy may wield it, this trope only applies if, on some level, the weapon and the consciousness deeming them a chosen wielder are the same. The weapon itself must choose its wielder, not someone else on behalf of the weapon. The Sword in the Stone was enchanted with Arthur already in mind, and Mjolnir is only able to be wielded by the worthy in Odin's eyes, not the hammer's.
Also note that, although this trope refers to weapons in the title, it also applies to other inanimate objects. Armor, clothing, everything applies as long as it is inanimate. Added Alliterative Appeal applies aptly!
As its connection to the above tropes implies, this does mean that this is a subtrope to both. Also a subtrope of Loyal Phlebotinum, but specific to weapons, armor, and other instruments, just as Only the Chosen May Ride is specific to animals. May also overlap with The Chooser of the One if the chooser in question is the weapon itself. Not to be confused with Equippable Ally, unless said ally can turn into a weapon and control who uses them. May overlap with Smart Gun only if the gun's smartness involves an AI of some kind that gets to pick and choose whoever is able to shoot it.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- Akame ga Kill!: The Imperial Arms, the most powerful weapons in the setting, take this trope to its logical conclusion. If you try to wield one, and it judges you to be unworthy of wielding it, you die. After Bulat is killed, Tatsumi inherits his Imperial Arms, and there's genuine concern from the other Night Raid members that it might reject him and kill him; thankfully, it deems him worthy and becomes Tatsumi's weapon for the rest of the series.
- In Black Clover, four-leaf clover grimoires, which are said to bestow good luck, only choose mages with exceptional potential, with Yuno being blessed with one.
- Elemental Gelade: Edel Raids are women with a gem embedded in their bodies who can transform into a weapon with a human they chose as their Pledger. Once an Edel Raid chooses their Pledger they are stuck with them for life and only get a new one when their Pledger dies.
- Inuyasha:
- Tessaiga was meant for Inuyasha and only allows Inuyasha to wield it. If its power is stolen, that power will find its way back to Inuyasha as quickly as possible. Although it possesses a barrier that prevents full Yōkai from touching it, that barrier is a magical addition to determine who cannot wield the sword rather than who can.
- Tenseiga was given to Sesshoumaru and it only allows him to wield it. Even though he doesn't want the sword, the sword wants him. He even tried breaking the sword and throwing it away once. Tenseiga promptly reforged itself and returned to him — he can't get rid of this weapon even when he tries.
- Toukijin was an Evil Weapon so powerful it could even possess its own creator, and the Ultimate Blacksmith Toutousai couldn't even approach. Sesshoumaru was so powerful, it couldn't possess him, so it accepted Sesshoumaru as its wielder and true master. At least until Sesshoumaru's compassion finally became too powerful for the sword's hate and shattered the sword, that is.
- Kirby: Right Back at Ya!: Sirica finds this trope biting her ass when she tries to steal Meta Knight's sword Galaxia after trouncing him and is rejected with an electric shock from the weapon. Meta Knight responds by telling her that only those who have the power may wield his weapon and that he was one of those chosen by Galaxia.
- The Legendary Hero Is Dead!: When the legendary hero Shion is killed, the necromancer Anri inserts Touka's soul into his body so that he can play the role of Shion. Unfortunately, Touka quickly gets outed as an imposter because he cannot wield Shion's holy sword (he can lift it, but when he tries to attack with it, the blade turns limp and dull). After Touka develops into a true hero, the sword accepts him and allows him to use it.
- There are hints of One For All being this way in My Hero Academia in a couple of ways.
- Izuku passed it to Bakugo in the second movie and Bakugo did wield it along with Midoriya briefly. However, it returned to Midoriya immediately after. It was dismissed as an incomplete transfer but later revelations about the Vestiges seemed to hint that they rejected Bakugo as a permanent wielder. When he later attempted to pass the quirk to Shigaraki to try and save him, the Vestiges had to agree to it before it could be done.
- Izuku himself could wield the additional quirks only when the Vestiges who once held them believed him worthy of wielding them.
- One Piece: There exists a legendary giant squirrel Thunder Hammer known as Ragnir, which remained unwielded for hundreds of years because none of the people who tried to wield it proved worthy. When Loki does prove his strength (by breaking his old war hammer against Ragnir and giving it a huge lump), an overjoyed Ragnir gladly pledges loyalty to him.
- In Reborn to Master the Blade, Hieral Menaces are Equippable Allies that are extremely choosy about who gets to use them in their weapons forms. In-universe, you need a Rune to wield magical Artifact weapons, getting one is rare, and even rarer still to have the top-tier Special-class Rune that's needed to even start wielding them, let alone use them effectively. Hence, most of the time, they fight in their humanoid forms with weapons themselves.
- The Cloths of Saint Seiya have to be earned for the right to be worn. Sometimes, a specific cloth can be allowed to be worn by someone else other than their proper owner (such as Seiya wearing the Sagitarius Cloth and Odin's Robe at different points), and also, a cloth could deem its owner unworthy and abandon them voluntarily (happens to Cancer Deathmask).
- Excalibur in The Seven Deadly Sins can only be wielded by a worthy hero of its own choosing. Currently, only King Arthur himself can wield it. This is used against him when Cusack uses his Resonant magic to brainwash Arthur into impaling himself with Excalibur. Since only Arthur can lift Excalibur, no one else can save him by removing the sword from his chest, preventing Elizabeth from using her healing magic on him. Eventually, Merlin takes his body to a magic lake that brings him back to life, allowing him to pull the sword out.
- Soul Eater: In this setting, the Weapons that Meisters wield are all humans that have the ability to transform into weapons and tools, with a strong focus of the story being the need for Meisters and Weapons to work together. The straightest example of this trope is Excalibur, a legendary and extremely powerful Weapon that is willing to be wielded by anyone... so long as they follow his many, many rules. This, combined with his rather annoying personality, makes the whole thing so frustrating that most people give up with him almost immediately. With all this said, it is implied the real reason Excalibur does the bit with the rules and being annoying is to deter those with evil intentions from trying to wield him. When he is needed for a major conflict he freely allows himself to be wielded with no conditions at all.
- Yo-kai Watch: Shadowside: The Fudou Raimeiken and its fellow weaponry, the Youseiken, are inhabited by a spirit, who decides whether or not someone can wield them. The requirements vary, from claiming to use the power for a good cause to appealing to their own interests. They can also be bargained with, and in extreme circumstances, it can be bypassed altogether to wield a weaker version at the cost of the wielder's life.
- Yu-Gi-Oh!:
- The Millennium Items themselves are extensions of the Egyptian Gods, but they have a certain sentience of their own and can choose who is able to wield them. The unworthy can suffer such fates as simply being unable to assemble the item in question (the Millennium Puzzle) to outright death (the Millennium Ring and Eye).
- Certain cards also function this way.
- The Egyptian God Cards can't be wielded by just anyone. The god monsters they contain only allow themselves to be used by those with a connection to Ancient Egypt, which is why the only people who are actually capable of using them are Yugi Muto (whose alter ego was Pharaoh Atem), Seto Kaiba (whose ancient self was Atem's right-hand man Priest Seto), Marik Ishtar (whose ancient self Karim was one of the Pharaoh's loyal high priests, and who is the heir to the tombkeeper bloodline), and Jaden Yuki (the reincarnation of the Supreme King). Odion/Rishid and various Ghouls find out the hard way that they also don't take kindly to having counterfeits being used, those who do are struck dead by lightning. Only one non-Egyptian character was ever shown controlling the God Cards, namely Gurimo of Dartz's organization Doma, but he had the Seal of Orichalcos on his side, indicating that the Orichalcos potentially trumps the Egyptian Gods in terms of power.
- The Knights of Atlantis have chosen duelists (Yugi, Kaiba, and Joey), but seem to be a little less picky, so long as the duelist attempting to use them hasn't used the Seal of Orichalcos. They even rejected their own duelists for using them, such as Timaeus refusing Yugi after he uses the Seal against Rafael and Hermos refusing Mai despite Joey having loaned Hermos to her.
Comic Books
- Green Lantern: The rings of the multiple Lantern Corps possess an AI that compel them to seek out a person who possesses a great amount of a certain trait (willpower, hope, etc.) and induct that person into the Corps. Some rings are exceptions, such as the Orange Lantern Corps (representing Greed), where the ring bends its will to the single greediest person in the universe and it serves as more of a judge to who that is than a conscious selector.
- Marvel Comics #1000: The Eternity Mask — a mystical mask that blesses its wearer with equal power needed to battle whatever threat they face — has only one caveat; it will only allow itself to be used by people who truly believe in equality for all people, and will revoke its blessing if the wearer ever tries to oppress the innocent.
- Played for Laughs in PS238 — unlike Marvel's Mjolnir, the Hammer of Hephaestus is apparently a Talking Weapon and willing to negotiate
with a half-reformed supervillain.
- Runaways presents a particularly dark example of this trope; way back in the original series, the Staff of One chose to pass itself from Nico Minoru's parents to Nico herself, and for a long time, Nico assumed that it was because the Staff recognized her potential or perhaps because it wanted a wielder who wasn't corrupted like her parents. The revival series reveals the terrible truth - the Staff is actually a wizard who has been bound to the Minorus for centuries, and he wants out of his contract, and thus he chose Nico because he figured that she was more likely to either release him or get killed and thus end the Minoru line.
- Thor (2020): After Odin's death, Mjolnir's worthiness enchantment goes haywire so that just about anyone can wield it and obtain Thor's powers while Thor himself increasingly struggles to wield it. It's later revealed that the God-Tempest — the cosmic entity sealed in Mjolnir — is able to choose who she deems worthy of her power, and that — having been corrupted by amalgamating with the Mangog — she feels that post-coronation Thor has gone soft and is no longer worthy.
- Thor: God of Thunder (2012): All-Black the Necrosword — revealed in Venom (Vol. 4) to be a primordial symbiote that primarily manifests as a sword — chooses Gorr as its new wielder/host after its creator Knull is incapacitated.
Fan Works
- The Apprentice, the Student, and the Charlatan: The Elements of Harmony are aspects of a Consciousness who is picky about who gets to use them. This Consciousness also does not appreciate being misused, as she tears into Celestia and Luna for using the elements as a cudgel to punish, rather than to guide. Luna's corruption into Nightmare Moon is enough of a Godzilla Threshold that the Consciousness of Magic is willing to allow two unworthy ponies, namely Comet Novus and Nova Shine, to wield some of the elements in Luna's stead. She, however, assures Nova and Celestia that there will be unforeseen consequences for taking up the Element of Magic, something that comes true in the sequel, where it accelerated Nova's magical growth as a gift, but due to Tirek stealing his magic, the gift has accelerated to the point where he will eventually be unable to contain it all and explode.
- The Life and Times of a Winning Pony: Shadow Kicker's armor comes with a spirit that gets to select who gets to wield it. In the midst of the Changeling Invasion, Cloud Kicker thinks the spirit will relent and let her use it because of the desperation of the moment, but the spirit still rejects her, sensing that deep down, she's only doing it because of her sense of inadequacy to her family. Her cousin Storm Kicker is able to wear it, however.
- In the Lone Wolf fic Nexus of Light, a villain tricks Lone Wolf into spilling innocent blood. This causes the Sommerswerd to deem him unworthy and shatter. Fortunately, it gets reforged and accepts him again.
- Pride, Envy, Wrath: Heavenly relics are to a degree sentient, especially if they've existed for a long time, and can choose to bond to wielders. After Adam's death, his guitar/axe picked Lute as its new wielder. Velvette cites this as the reason the Vees shouldn't bother to steal it since they wouldn't get it to work for them without killing Lute first (and even then it's a long shot) and even though it can be removed from her person, she can just summon it back to her hand, making it pointless.
- Strike a Match: The ancient firebird Zanpakuto known as the Sokyoku won't let anybody wield her unless their soul is strong enough. In order to prove himself, Naruto has to fight Yamamoto, Kyoraku and Ukitake simultaneously while having his very soul set ablaze for seven minutes. It's a very close thing, but Naruto manages to survive with encouragement from Hinoki, which makes the Sokyoku accept him as her new user.
Film — Live-Action
- The Fellowship of the Ring: Explicitly stated during the Council of Elrond:
Boromir: Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy. Let us use it against him!
Aragorn: You cannot wield it, none of us can. The One Ring answers to Sauron alone. It has no other master. - Star Wars: The films themselves do not say much about this, but the Star Wars Expanded Universe dabbles in this trope toward lightsabers, or more specifically, their crystals.
- The Force Awakens: The Skywalker Lightsaber called out to Rey to take it up, but she retreated from the blade due to a painful vision. Finn took up the blade until Rey could, but he was clumsy with it, and did not have Force sensitivity (yet), which meant he couldn't quite wield it effectively. When Kylo Ren/Ben Solo attempted to call the blade to him in the climax, Rey finally reached out and took it for herself, the blade rejecting Kylo and flying to her, and with the blade plus her burgeoning talent in the Force, she was able to defeat Kylo Ren, but was unable to deal a finishing blow due to their battlefield splitting open to separate them. Ben would later be accepted by the blade because of his and Rey's Force Dyad link during the climactic fight against Emperor Palpatine two films later, with Rey using Leia Organa's saber.
- It was said that lightsaber crystals would call out to a youngling meant to bond with them through the Force, which would then be harvested and encased in a lightsaber hilt, with the crystal serving as the focus of the power source to heat the plasma blade, also providing the color of the blade. This is seen in both Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Jedi: Fallen Order.
- Sith could not be accepted by a crystal, and so would instead "bleed" an acquired crystal, overwhelming it with pain and rage until it bent its will to its new master, which turned the blade red, as seen in The Acolyte, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and in several books and comics.
- Bled Crystals could also be cleansed, at which point, they would turn their loyalty to the one who healed them, their color changing to white in the process. Ahsoka Tano, following her departure from the Jedi Order, stopped to heal any bled crystals she came across, eventually taking up two to power her twin blades as we see in Star Wars Rebels, The Mandalorian, and Ahsoka.
- Thor: Love and Thunder: The Necrosword chooses Gorr as its next wielder to take advantage of his despair and rage towards the gods.
Literature
- The Beginning After the End: Before Aldir sacrifices himself to resurrect Sylvie, he bequeaths Arthur his weapon Silverlight for him to present as proof of his demise. When Arthur presents the weapon to his allies, it proceeds to choose his sister Eleanor as its next wielder, even changing from a rapier to a bow to match her fighting style.
- The Dresden Files: The thirty siver Denarii and their power. Each Denarius houses in it a Fallen Angel, one of Lucifer's top forces who joined with him against God or otherwise betrayed Godnote . If the Coin lacks a host, then when a person's skin touches the coin a shadow of the Fallen imprints itself into the mind of the person. It is at this moment what "worthy" means comes into play. If the Fallen sees the mortal as a weakling in spirit, mind, or body, they will break the mortal's spirit and subsume their will to the Fallen's. The mortal then becomes a puppet and the Fallen will control the body but not have as much power as in other situations. If the mortal has a strong spirit, the Fallen will work to make their goals similar to the mortal so they will work in concert, granting the mortal more power and the Fallen more freedoms. As each Fallen has different values and goals, what might make one a worthwhile partnership to Lasciel the Webweaver would not Ursiel the brute.
- The Empress Sword: The Empress Sword is not a convenient weapon for a heroic young prince — in fact, it has a will of its own and will not let any man or boy wield it, unless he agrees to a "great sacrifice" (a.k.a be subject to a Gender Bender, which he goes into unknowing what he agreed to).
- In the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, the sword of the king of the Enchanted Forest is instrumental in choosing the next king, and only the rightful king can access its quite formidable magic, while to anyone else it's just an unusually durable and sharp sword. And because the king also has some influence over the magic of the Enchanted Forest, in a sense the sword also chooses who has the right to wield the kingdom itself. Furthermore, if the sword is taken out of the Forest, it will burn anyone who isn't a member of the royal family or married into said family.
- Harry Potter: Wandlore is a complex subject within the universe, but as stated in the page quote, wands choose their wizard, not the other way around. A wand who hasn't chosen its wielder will be uncooperative in some way.
- We see this in action when Harry is getting his first wand at Ollivander's. Because no two wands are alike, Ollivander has Harry try several wands until he finds the one that fits him. In the books, he can sense that the wand isn't right purely from Harry raising it, but in the films, the wands Harry uses that aren't for him cause havoc in the shop, until he finds the holly and phoenix feather wand that chooses him and, in the books, creates a shower of sparks.
- Wands can be inherited. Ron begins the series using Charlie Weasley's old wand and it works well enough for him, suggesting wands recognize their wielders' friends and allies, and similarly, Draco Malfoy uses his mother's wand briefly at the end of the series. However, this is not always the case, as Neville Longbottom inherited his father's wand and it was uncooperative with him for five years, having a detrimental effect on his grades at Hogwarts. When the wand is broken and he receives a new one, his performance and his proficiency with magic immediately improves.
- Wands recognize when someone has rightfully won them from their real wielder, and will lend their allegiance to them as well. The few times we see characters using a wand not theirs that they have not won, the wands prove to be, at best, begrudgingly compliant if not outright contentious. This becomes a plot point in Deathly Hallows when Voldemort mistakenly believes that the rightful wielder of the Elder Wand needs to have been slain. not just beaten. The winning doesn't even need to come from a formal wizard's duel, as Harry stole Draco's wand (and thus the allegiance of the Elder Wand) by punching him in the face and taking it the old-fashioned way.
Ollivander: Hawthorn... unicorn hair... 10 inches... reasonably pliant. This was the wand of Draco Malfoy.
Harry: Was? Is it not still?
Ollivander: Perhaps not, if you won it from him. I sense its allegiance has changed. - Standard etiquette for dueling in practice or competition (as opposed to real combat) is that if you defeat your opponent by disarming them, you give their wand back to them afterward. Meaning that ownership can be transferred back by voluntarily relinquishing it. Which would also explain why Neville's inheritance of his father's wand didn't work out: his father was in no state to voluntarily pass on ownership of the wand. Or possibly the wand was technically now owned by one of the Death Eaters who "defeated" and tortured Neville's father.
- The Lord of the Rings: Zig-zagged by the One Ring. Forged by Sauron in the heart of Mount Doom, he poured his malice, cruelty, and desire to dominate all life into the Ring, and it was bound to him by virtue of being made with part of his essence. However, in some way, the Ring is its own being, with desires and malice of its own, and its desire is to be reunited with Sauron, its one true master. It may allow others to make use of its powers when convenient, but it will also abandon them if and when it decides it needs to move on to have a greater chance of being found.
- Princesses of the Pizza Parlor: Princesses in the Darkest Depths: Bianca's Flying Broomstick was bonded to her and her alone, and was "particularly troublesome" even for someone who's trying to rescue her to handle, until calmed by another being with a mental link to Bianca.
- The Rising of the Shield Hero: The Legendary Weapons and the Vassal Weapons can only be used by their chosen wielder. When Kazuki tries to claim the Vassal Katana, it repels him and teleports into Raphtalia's hands. However, some of the villains have devices that can fool the Vassal Weapons and allow anyone to use them.
- Reincarnated as a Sword: Weapons that are sufficiently powerful, sentient, or both, are very, very choosy about who wields them. The gods of the world agree with this philosophy and eventually the Goddess of Chaos puts a curse on "Shishou" that anyone who tries to wield him, without her consent, will receive a Cruel and Unusual Death if knowing about the curse but tries anyway. Those who try but don't know about the curse will just receive a nasty electric shock.
- The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong: In the Cang Qiong Mountain Sect, once a disciple's cultivation reaches a certain level, they go to Wan Jian Peak to choose a personal sword. The sword, however, can reject a wielder it deems unworthy.
Though it was said that the person picked the sword, in truth, the sword also picked the person. If a person with subpar talent insisted on taking a top-class sword capable of condensing spiritual energy collected from the heavens and earth, it would be the equivalent of a beautiful woman marrying an ugly man or arranging fresh flowers in cow dung. As you can imagine, the sword would be entirely unwilling.
- The Stormlight Archive: Zigzagged by Shardblades.
- Shardblades, in their prime form, are certain spren that have bonded with nascent Knights Radiant that have sworn their order's Second Ideal (if applicable, as some orders only have one). This empowers the spren with the ability to manifest from a simple intangible spirit into a living tangible weapon that only their bonded person may use, even changing the shape of that weapon to match their wielder's preference, such as how Sylphrena changed herself into a spear for Kaladin, rather than the classic sword. They can also form living Shardplate armor to protect their bonded once they have sworn the Fourth Ideal of their order. However, the spren may also manifest tangibly for those whom the bonded requests as well, such as how Syl protected several helpless Knights as well as Leshwi during a battle by forming Shardplate around them.
- By the time of the series proper, however, due to an event called the Recreance that marked the end of the Knights Radiant, there are a number of Shardblades and sets of Shardplate that were (quite literally) left lying around, which were seized by people who treated them as priceless status symbols due to their utility and use on the battlefield.
- Wind and Truth: By the time of the fifth book, permanent shardplate and shardblades being dead-eyed Spren is now a commonly-known fact among the main characters, and it becomes a major plot point. Adolin Kholin has spent years talking to his plate and blade and has successfully managed to restore Mayallaren, his blade, to a degree of sentience as seen in Rhythm of War, and she is happy to maintain their bond. Late in this book, he loses his shardplate to Abidi the Monarch. Abidi challenges Adolin to a one-on-one duel late in the book, and ewventually, has Adolin's back against the wall. At this point, Abidi's shardplate abandons him and returns to Adolin after their years of bonding, turning the tables completely and allowing Adolin to kill Abidi and rescue the day.
- That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Mythical/God-class weapons and equipment can only be used to their full potential by wielders they deem worthy. For example, while in theory anyone strong enough could use Rimuru's Hihi'irokane black katana, only Rimuru can unleash its full power by channeling his magical energy into it to reveal its rainbow form since it's attuned to his magical energy. The few times a God-class weapon/armor changed owners was when the user was on their death bed and passing it to the successor directly such as with Tatsuya Kondou giving Carrera his golden revolver or when the previous user had not yet "acclimated" to it as was the case when Caliguro Awakened into a Saint and unlocked his God-class gear's power, but was slain shortly afterwards due to his inexperience (and subsequently revived Brought Down to Normal) and the armaments instead went to Albert.
- Wings of Fire: The Eye of Onyx will kill anyone besides the SandWing queen who tries to use it. During the civil war for the throne, Blister tries to take it believing it will choose her as queen but after Sunny gives it to Thorn, it chooses her and kills Blister.
Live-Action TV
- Kamen Rider:
- Kamen Rider Kiva: Only the current vampire king can use the Zanvat Sword, which absorbs and amplifies vampiric power. In a nod to the Sword in the Stone, the sword embeds itself in a castle wall and refuses to let anyone pull it out until Kiva tries.
- Kamen Rider Saber: The Haouken Xross Saber is speculated for quite a while to exist within the Sword of Fire, but refuses to appear until someone can successfully unite the wielders of all eleven Sacred Swords under a common cause. Once the title character does, the other swords come to life and summon the Xross Saber in recognition of his worthiness. Oddly this is not his King Arthur-themed powerup, which came much earlier.
- Power Rangers has various examples of this with the Rangers themselves. In most cases, other parties choose the Rangers, most commonly when dealing with the Rangers who more explicitly get their powers from technology (Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue, Power Rangers S.P.D., Power Rangers Operation Overdrive, etc.). However, when dealing with those Rangers who are at least potentially powered by Magitek, their mentors often affirm that the power chooses the Rangers rather than it just being random, such as the animal crystals of Power Rangers Wild Force and the Dino Gems of Power Rangers: Dino Thunder only "activating" once they are brought into contact with the relevant future Ranger. Only a few cases have explicitly discussed the idea of the Rangers alone being able to wield their powers;
- Power Rangers Lost Galaxy: The Quasar Sabers can only be freed from the stone they are embedded in by their chosen wielders. When Kendrix perishes in a Heroic Sacrifice, her Saber chooses a new wielder in the form of Karone.
- The thirtieth-anniversary special Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always explicitly acknowledges that the Rangers' power sources choose them in some way. When original Yellow Ranger Trini Kwan is killed in battle, her daughter Minh attempts to use the Yellow Sabretooth Tiger coin for herself but is initially unable to use the coin as she only wants to fight out of a desire for revenge for her mother's death. After Minh risks her life to save Billy- the original Blue Ranger- from another attack, the Yellow Coin responds to Minh and allows her to morph. The other Rangers speculate that this is because Minh acted to save a life rather than to punish an enemy, with fellow Yellow Ranger Aisha Campbell assuring Minh that she is now a worthy Ranger.
- Star Wars Expanded Universe: Implied with the Darksaber, a unique lightsaber created by a Jedi Knight of Mandalorian origin named Tarre Viszla. Din Djarin recovers it from Moff Gideon at the end of season 2 of The Mandalorian; however, in The Book of Boba Fett, he's shown to have significant trouble wielding it, whereas Bo-Katan Kryze wields it without trouble after taking it in season 3. Word of God confirmed that the sentient kyber crystal at the Darksaber's core wishes it to be wielded by one whose greatest desire is to become the Mandalore, the ruler of the Mandalorian people: Din has no desire for this, whereas Bo-Katan has spent her entire life fighting for that role (first against her sister Duchess Satine and then Darth Maul in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, then against the Galactic Empire from Star Wars Rebels on).
- Ultraman Orb: The Origin Saga: The power of Ultraman Orb only will allow someone it believes is worthy to obtain its power. Jugglus Juggler was not worthy. Gai Kurenai was.
- Wynonna Earp Zig-zagged by Peacemaker, the demon-slaying magic gun passed on to the heirs of Wyatt Earp. The gun is in some ways semi-sentient, burning any demons that touch it and sometimes lightly burning good beings if it doesn't want to be held by them any longer. It can typically be held by anyone who isn't a demon, but it doesn't fire at all - it only works for the Chosen One Earp heir, the oldest Earp currently available. Since the Earp sisters are the first generation to contain more than one child, it's not clear whether the stipulation is actually 'oldest' or if any Earp can wield it because the only sister unable to is Waverly, who is not an Earp by blood.
Tabletop Games
- Dungeons & Dragons has its share of magical items (even without their own minds) that will help only "worthy" users and usually are dangerous for everyone else.
- Intelligent swords in general tend to act like this. They will only fully function for characters of the same alignment as the sword and working toward the weapon's special purpose (if any). Some weapons and magic items only work in the hands of certain races or certain sexes or some other criteria. And usually try to harm and/or dominate any would-be wielders they don't approve.
- Blade-rite of Forgotten Realms elves, includes one prominent group of artifacts bonded with their wielders. Elfblades are regalia of high offices and prevent anyone who isn't up to the task or whom they don't appreciate from wielding them and thus from holding an office: "unworthy" claimants suffer harm, curse, or instant death, depending on the blade and failed condition. Since claiming the Ruler’s Blade was the only legitimate way to the throne, in Myth Drannor it caused a morbidly hilarious scene when hundreds of elves waited in the queue for their chance to raise on top of the tower, grab the pommel and get blasted into ashes in full view of the crowd... and then started a fight to get there faster.
- The Sword of Zariel in Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus is a sentient longsword that belonged to Zariel before she fell from grace and became the archdevil that rules Avernus, the first layer of the Nine Hells. If the sword deems you worthy of its power, then you not only get a +3 weapon, but one that gives you several perks; you get resistance to radiant and necrotic damage, learn the Celestial language, your charisma is increased to 20 if it's not already that high, you can fly, and you get True Sight. The sword itself has two minor beneficial properties (chosen at random), gives advantage on insight checks, can give off light that gives fiends a disadvantage on attack rolls, and deals extra radiant damage that can potentially blind your target with every hit. However, you're transformed into an angel in all but name, which changes your alignment to lawful good and overwrites your personality to a degree, the transformation is irreversible, and you potentially have to give the sword back to Zariel to redeem her.
- In Fabula Ultima, any character with the Xiphosymbiosis quirk must designate another player character as their wielder. That character is the only person who can equip the Xiphosymbiosis character's weapon "core". The only way someone else can equip the core is if the current user dies and the character with the quirk chooses to designate another willing character as their new wielder.
Toys
- In BIONICLE, the Kanohi Ignika has a mind of its own and only chooses to grant its power over life to those with no hesitation or fear in their hearts. While the only previous Toa to use the mask was able to wield its power for its primary purpose of restoring Mata Nui's failing life with his own, the hesitation he had in his heart kept him from being able to tap into its true ability. Matoro was the first who ever wielded its power with no fear for his own death, which is what prompted the Ignika to give him full control of its power in order to save his friends before he sacrificed his own life to resurrect the dead Mata Nui.
- Transformers: The Matrix of Leadership grants immense power to whoever wields it, but it can (usually) only be wielded by a Prime. That being said, the Matrix itself is what chooses whom to give its power to, and it's not always a great selector of who gets its power, as it sometimes chooses not-so-great wielders like Sentinel Prime, Nova Prime, and Zeta Prime, as well as once being wielded by non-Primes Thunderwing or Starscream in other sources.
Video Games
- BlazBlue: Nox Nyctores are legendary weapons that choose their owners while having some sentience in being aware of their wielder's mentality. They require mental pressure to create their power and can even become more powerful but at the risk of the user being swallowed if their mind isn't strong enough.
- Control: The Service Weapon is an Object of Power with a mysterious connection to the entity known as "The Board". Upon picking it up, the would-be welder is transported to the Astral Plane and subjected to a test (represented in-game as a Justified Tutorial). Succeed, and you become the new Director of the Federal Bureau of Control. Fail, and it's very heavily implied to be the last thing you ever do.
Dr. Darling: (about trying to bind the Weapon) Come out of that Russian roulette a winner, and you... you're it.
- Kingdom Hearts: The Keyblade is said to choose its master in the first game, and this is a major plot point as Riku was originally intended to be the Keyblade's master, but because he willingly accepted the darkness, it passed to Sora instead. The Keyblade could only be wielded by its chosen wielder, and anyone attempting to take it from them would see it vanish from their hands and reappear in its wielder's. Later games implied Keyblades could just be given to would-be wielders, as Riku gave one to Kairi in the climax of Kingdom Hearts II, and it is shown that Keyblade wielders may allow other wielders to use their Keyblades at will. Then came Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, where it is shown that the mere act of touching a Keyblade (or the heart of someone who wields one) can lead to the Keyblade choosing that person to inherit its power, as happened to Sora, Riku, and Kairi after their bonds with Ventus, Terra, and Aqua respectively.
- The Legend of Zelda: Perhaps the most famous example in gaming, the legendary Master Sword, the Blade of Evil's Bane, selects who it will allow to pull it from its pedestal. In older games, there was an implied spirit within the Master Sword, which would eventually be explored in later games.
- In its first appearance in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Link needed to prove his valor by collecting three Pendants of Virtue before the sword would allow itself to be pulled.
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: The sword allowed itself to be pulled by Link, but it sealed him away for seven years because he wasn't old enough to wield it effectively at the time.
- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: Despite being depowered for who knows how long, the sword still only allows Link to pull it after he succeeds at scaling the Tower of the Gods and solving a block puzzle in a Hyrule Castle frozen in time.
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Made very explicit — the sword is so pure that it casts out a cursed shard from Link that kept him stuck in wolf form, and then allowed Link to pull it free. Midna even comments on it.
Midna: "The sword has accepted you as its master..."
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword finally put the spirit of the Master Sword in the spotlight by introducing Fi, the spirit of the lesser Goddess Sword, who allowed Link to pull it free, as it was a weapon created for him. Link spends the rest of the game growing in strength until the goddess Hylia herself blesses Fi and the Goddess Sword, transforming it into the Master Sword and creating that link to future games by virtue of showing that it was Fi accepting the various Links as her wielder.
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds has the same test as A Link to the Past, making the Link of that game collect the three Pendants of Virtue before it will allow Link to pull it free.
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: Link had previously been allowed to pull the Master Sword in the past, but after possibly being outright killed by Calamity Ganon's corrupted Guardians, when Link rediscovers the sword a hundred years later, Fi only allows Link to pull the sword a second time once he is sufficiently strong to be able to wield it again. Later, in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the Master Sword is shattered and needs roughly 10,000 years of time to heal, but Fi still allows Link to pull her free from the Light Dragon's head without a test of strength. The Light Dragon, however, requires a test of endurance as it begins flailing around when Link tries to remove it.
- In the H-RPG Roundscape Adorevia, the "Aetherius" sword has its blade stuck in a large rock and no selfish/cruel heart can dislodge it. Only those that have proven themselves to be truly just with at least 50 Morality in his/her stats can pull the sword free, and offers incredibly vast power to those it deems worthy.
- Shining Resonance: The Armonics are sacred weapons that also function as musical instruments. Each was formed from the Shining Dragon's body and bestowed to his most devoted followers. An Armonic chooses its wielder by resonating when the one it deems worthy to possess it draws near, which is first seen when Barmonium begins to resonate within the vault of the Imperial treasury the moment Marion is brought to Astoria's Capitol. This causes Sonia some level of angst since the Armonic that belongs to her father still hasn't resonated with herself, though when King Albert is injured against Excella it finally does deem her a worthy bearer.
- Played With in many ways in Solatorobo: The amulet chooses who may use it in the next Rite of Forfeit to seal Lares. Naturally, Red blunders upon it and it picks him. Poor Red. Escaping the Human Sacrifice that the amulet tries to pull when sealing or super-powering Lares is only possible for Hybrids. Lucky for Red, he happens to be one even though he never knew it.
- Soul Series: Both Soul Edge and Soul Calibur are sentient shapeshifting weapons capable of selecting their wielders, and can be very particular about who wields them—preferring hosts they can manipulate to fulfil their personal goals.
- Soul Edge can take over just about anyone who grasps its hilt but prefers mentally unstable hosts that it can easily manipulate, Soulcalibur VI revealing that it requires a willing host to unleash its full power. The host it wants most is Siegfried Schtauffen, who escaped its control twice, and failing that it seeks to find a host it can use to unleash its full power without giving up its preferred greatsword form. In Soulcalibur V it chooses Pyrrha Alexandra as its new host, wanting to exploit her mother's swordfighting style—which once shattered it—against Soul Calibur, and gaslights her into swearing fealty to it.
- Once its consciousness is awakened in Soulcalibur IV, Soul Calibur chooses Siegfried Schtauffen as its wielder despite him having been its nemesis' host due to their shared goal of destroying Soul Edge, even going out of its way to save his life when he's mortally wounded. In Soulcalibur V it rejects Siegfried—who'd become suspicious that it and Soul Edge were more similar than different—and manipulates Patroklos Alexander into becoming its loyal puppet by manifesting its spirit, Elysium, in the form of his mother.
- Xenoblade Chronicles: Hoo boy! In general, a game's mascot sword picks who gets to use it, and then it gets even more complex from there.
- Xenoblade Chronicles 1: The Monado can't be wielded by just anyone, and may temporarily take over anyone who tries. It can be wielded by someone with sufficient willpower even if they aren't the chosen one, as seen with Dunban, but this comes at the cost of increasingly severe damage to his body to the point of permanently paralyzing his right arm and nearly killing him when he starts using it with his left. The only one who can properly wield it unharmed is Shulk. This is because it's a Living Weapon (and not a nice one), containing the soul of an Evil God, Zanza. Shulk can use it freely only because he's said God's chosen vessel, and he's unwittingly been doing exactly what Zanza wanted, to bring to Monado to him for him to wield. Subverted later when it turns out that the Monado has its own spirit (one Alvis) who really controls who uses it, who has been watching Shulk all along and deems him a worthier wielder than Zanza, purges his spirit from the sword, and lends his power fully to Shulk to bring a true end to Zanza and bring about Shulk's vision for the world.
- Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Thoroughly explored in detail with Blades. Blades themselves are actually living creatures stored in Core Crystals, but they only manifest when they have bonded to a Driver, and to that Driver, they bestow their weapon and powers. Such is the case with Pneuma, Malos, and their sibling Alvis. Blades may also act independently from their Driver, as is the case with Brighid and Morag, as well as Malos and Amalthus, and pretty much all of the Torna members. However, when their Driver dies, the Blade returns to the Core Crystal, losing all of their memories of their previous Driver while still retaining their personality and any character development, even when a new one comes along. Pyra and Mythra are the sole exceptions to this rule, as they remember their past Driver, and this has an effect on their interactions with Rex.
- The vault holding the Aegis in particular could only be opened by a Leftherian, and the Aegis could only bond with whomever it decided was a worthy Driver. In the ancient past, it bonded with the legendary hero Addam, but in the present day, it bonded to Rex after Rex was stabbed in the back by Jin, as the terrorist group Torna were on a mission to retrieve and abscond with the Aegis. Malos, the leader of Torna, knew that if Rex touched the gem, there was a chance he would bond with it and the Aegis would lend him its power, and wanted to prevent that from happening. Needless to say, he failed.
- The Core Crystals that give Blades their form require a sort of aptitude or potential to manifest the entity and the weapon it carries. Those found inadequate are harmed, or even killed, on mere contact with the Core Crystal. A small, scrawny Gormotti (who is a viable Driver) is shoved aside by a larger, bulkier man who grabs the crystal, cries out in pain, and passes out with blue particle effects bursting from his body; the way the other characters talk about it, it's not a pretty sight. From there, only that Driver can fully bring out that Blade's power and effectively use its weapon; there are some cases of a Driver grabbing the weapon of another's Blade to use, but those are usually extremely desperate moments when their own Blade isn't fighting for some reason. There's also nothing stopping a Driver from resonating with multiple Blades. By the end of the game, both Rex and Amalthus can resonate with and use any Blade, even ones awakened by someone else, due to being designated as the "Master Drivers" due to their links to the Aegises, making them semi-aversions to this trope.
- Party member Tora ended up with a three-day-long nosebleed after failing to resonate with a crystal, but luckily for him, him and similarly lacking in aptitude father and grandfather are all brilliant engineers who decided to just make Artificial Blades that anyone can use even without Driver aptitude. Such results include Tora's Blade Poppi, Lila, Poppibuster and his "pilot" Poppi Mk. II (who sure enough can be equipped to any Driver in the party aside from Tora himself without needing to use an Overdrive Protocol to transfer ownership), and the fully mechanical ones Tora's father was forced to build under threat of death.
- Some Blades didn't like being bound to Drivers and consumed the cells of humans, branding themselves Flesh Eaters, but gaining the ability to live free from the bond. This also has the unintended side-effect of giving them the ability to be Drivers themselves, while also allowing themselves to be wielded by those they trust, like Nia allowing Rex to become her Driver despite being Dromarch's, and potentially other Blades', Driver.
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3:
- Noah's personal sword, Lucky Seven, aka The Sword of Origin, is a weapon given to him by Nopon weaponsmith Riku. It bears Pneuma's core crystal, meaning it likely was meant specifically for him and the core crystal chose him specifically to give its power to.
- The first story DLC introduces Ino, an Artificial Blade in the same vein as Xenoblade Chronicles 2. She declares that Noah is her destined Driver, and successfully forges an affinity link with him. This confuses everyone else to no end, because that's not how Blades work anymore.
Visual Novels
- What a Legend!: A non-weapon variant— the magic glasses which originally belonged to Celestina's husband Calisto apparently bind themselves to anyone who "saves" them, and won't work for anyone else. They're implied to be of demonic origin, and you hear whispering and laughter when you pick them up. Their sole function is to make Celestina look like an attractive and charming young woman — Abe says Calisto died of a broken heart soon after losing them, being unable to stand his real wife.
Web Animation
- No Evil: The Tezcatlipoca weapons have some sort of intelligence and specific requirements for wielders. Only the Red Scythe of Judgement has been seen speaking, when Murder demanded that it accept her as wielder to prevent it from burning her village, and when Kajortaq scolded it for trying to burn another city. While the Black Tezcatlipoca seems to have an animal intelligence at best as it spread across the land as a formless black ooze putting everyone it touched into a coma until it inexplicably chose Charles as its wielder.
Western Animation
- The Adventures of Puss in Boots features the Goodsword, only wieldable by the true hero of San Lorenzo. It turns out the sword is specifically looking for someone too soft to kill another, as it wants to fight its former master turned evil, but it still cares about him too much to be able to kill him.
- KPop Demon Hunters: As Jinu dies to protect Rumi, he merges his soul into the Laser Blade she conjures to fight.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: The Elements of Harmony appear to be this way. They come from the Tree of Harmony, which has a spirit that manifests itself to the Student Six later in the story, and the Elements can reject even their rightful wielders if they've been corrupted and do not exhibit their aspect (e.g. Applejack, who wields the Element of Honesty, lying).
- In the first My Little Pony: Equestria Girls 1 movie, Sunset Shimmer steals the Element of Magic, but has to take it to another universe in order to actually use it herself. Even then, while able to twist its power (which ultimately overwhelms and twists her), the Element of Magic explicitly does not belong to her and when she attempts to use it against Twilight (its true owner), it rejects her and gives Twilight and her friends the power to defeat her instead.
- In "The Mean 6", Queen Chrysalis creates evil clones of the Mane Six and tries to have them steal the Elements of Harmony, saying she's aware only the Mane Six can use them but believing her clones can get around that restriction. She's wrong. The Tree recognizes that they aren't the Elements' real bearers, and the clones get destroyed when they try to use them.
- The Owl House: Palismen are magic staves carved from the wood of Palistrom tree and given to a Witch or Biped Demon when they have come of age during their magical training. A Palisman is alive and sentient, but inanimate after first carving, but when the person states their most genuine and deepest wish, creating an emotional bond with the Palisman, the Palisman comes to life for them. Palismen who have lost or unbonded with their previous owner can make a new one once they state their wish and create their own bond.
- Xiaolin Showdown: In Season 3, the monks get the Wudai Weapons, four magical weapons that choose their wielder. Raimundo is chosen by the Blade of the Nebula, Kimiko is chosen by the Arrow Sparrow, Clay is chosen by the Big Bang Meteorang, and Omi is chosen by the Shimo Staff.
- Zak Storm: The Talking Weapon Calabrass can only be wielded by the person he recognizes as his captain.