These descriptions are from the weapon skin series you can get from Stygian Onslaught. They are all associated with one of the Four Shades (or the Primordial One) / one of the artifact types, and they all name an ancient, transcendent sinner.
Serpent Devourer
A glorious, illusory sword glimmering with the power of “Life” that emerged from the depths of the Ley Lines. It can change its appearance based on the Elemental Type of its wielder. Legend has it that this sword once held the name “Logseims” when it was wielded by a transcendent sinner in an ancient land.
Logseims is a hard name to pin down. Seims might come from Germanic and Old Norse words meaning “honey.” I would like to believe that Log basically means exactly what it sounds like: a log, or a dead tree.
Shattered Moon
A glorious, illusory polearm glimmering with the power of “Death” that emerged from the depths of the Ley Lines. It can change its appearance based on the Elemental Type of its wielder. Legend has it that this polearm once held the name “Barnstokkr” when it was wielded by a transcendent sinner in an ancient land.
Because one of the other weapon skins here is called “Starpiercer,” I immediately thought of Moonpiercer — which is also a polearm. Moonpiercer, Shattered Moon, the fact that Ronova already has a lot of connections to the Crimson Moon, and two of the most Crimson-Moon-related characters also being polearm users (Arlecchino and Raiden) sure is interesting!
Barnstokkr is easy: it’s the name of a tree in Norse mythology that Odin plunges a sword into in King Volsung’s palace. Sigmund, the king’s son, is the only one who can pull the sword out.
Hallowed Fetters
A glorious, illusory catalyst glimmering with the power of “Time” that emerged from the depths of the Ley Lines. It can change its appearance based on the Elemental Type of its user. Legend has it that this catalyst once held the name “Gleipnir” when it was used by a transcendent sinner in an ancient land.
Gleipnir is the “unbreakable binding” used to trap Fenrir in Norse mythology. The gods sent Freyr’s messenger Skirnir to commission the dwarves to make it, and it manages to hold Fenrir until Ragnarok.
Starpiercer
A glorious, illusory bow glimmering with the power of “Void” that emerged from the depths of the Ley Lines. It can change its appearance based on the Elemental Type of its wielder. Legend has it that this bow once held the name “Gusisnautar” when it was wielded by a transcendent sinner in an ancient land.
Gusisnautar is another tricky one. Nautar might come from Old Norse “nautr,” which can mean something like comrade, giver, or gift. And my best guess for gus is that it means “goose.” I would find this weirder if not for Tales of a Snow-Winged Goose.
Ardent Storm
A glorious, illusory claymore glimmering with the power of “Reason” that emerged from the depths of the Ley Lines. It can change its appearance based on the Elemental Type of its wielder. Legend has it that this claymore once held the name “Starkuthr” when it was wielded by a transcendent sinner in an ancient land.
Stark means something like “strong” in many languages, but given the Norse origin of a lot of these other names, it could also be a reference to Starkad — he was an eight-armed giant cursed by Odin to “live the lives of three men, and commit three evil deeds.”
As for uthr, that could just be a suffix they added to the name. Or it might be a nod to Uther Pendragon, who I have sort of written about before in relation to Nibelung.
tl;dr
| Name | Type | Shade | Sinner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Serpent Devourer | Sword | Life | Logseims |
| Shattered Moon | Polearm | Death | Barnstokkr |
| Hallowed Fetters | Catalyst | Time | Gleipnir |
| Starpiercer | Bow | Void | Gusisnautar |
| Ardent Storm | Reason | Claymore | Starkuthr |