History Main / WhipSword

* This is Ivy's signature weapon in the ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soul Calibur]]'' series, dubbed the "Snake Sword" in game. The name of the one she uses most often is "Valentine" though others are useable in gameplay (Though if they actually exist in universe aside from the "Prototype Ivy Blade" mentioned below, or Soul Edge and Soul Calibur in the form of one, is debatable...)

** Create a Soul characters in 3 also have the option of a similar sickle, except that nearly all of its attacks use it as a whip. Its best use? Making Franchise/IndianaJones and [[Franchise/AceAttorney Franziska Von Karma]].

[[folder:Anime/Manga]]

[[folder:Film]]

A downplayed, more plausible (but still AwesomeButImpractical) version of this is a normal sword/knife tied to a rope or chain, like the Chinese rope dart (but sharper). It avoids the "cutting whip" problem, and it's easier to make, but then controlling it to actually hit enemies is another matter.

* ''Anime/MyOtome'''s Shizuru has a [[DoubleWeapon double-bladed sword]] that acts the same way, but has a ''much'' longer blade.

* ''Anime/MaiOtome'''s Shizuru has a [[DoubleWeapon double-bladed sword]] that acts the same way, but has a ''much'' longer blade.

* Renji's Zabimaru in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' turns into this in its ''shikai'' form, and the ''bankai'' is this to a factor of 100 with a snake's head.
** Zabimaru's SuperMode doesn't usually cut as much as it crushes with sheer bulk, unless Renji sharpens it during a FinishingMove. It usually rams enemies head-on like the snake it resembles.
** Also, Rose's Kinshara is a pretty a whip when released.

* Chief Guardian Gang-Lim in Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds(2017) wields a whip sword that can become red-hot on command.

* ''Film/SaviorOfTheSoul'' has not a whip sword, but a ''yo-yo'' sword.

* ''[[Film/SaviorOfTheSoul]]'' has not a whip sword, but a ''yo-yo'' sword.

* ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savior_of_the_Soul Savior Of The Soul]]'' has not a whip sword, but a ''yo-yo'' sword.

* Lots of it in Zu Warriors(2001): https://youtu.be/yoHyZnq1w38?t=3541

* In the 2015 Jackie Chan film ''Dragon Blade'', Jackie Chan's unit has special equipment that attaches a cord to the handle of their swords, preventing them from being disarmed and [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks allowing for surprise attacks]].

[[quoteright:315:[[VideoGame/SoulcaliburII https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ivyscii2p.png]]]]

** Note that these are a much more practical version of a WhipSword. They're just kukri knives tied to a piece of rope tethered to Shenhua.

* In ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', Silat wields two [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urumi Urumis]] called "Rope Knives" in the Manga.

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'' has a couple of mecha that wield heat rods, which are essentially giant whips made up of conjoined blades - sort of like a WhipSword that can't become a sword. Oh yeah, and it can be super-heated too.
** The version of Epyon from ''SD Gundam Force'' actually uses a WhipSword, which is in effect the original Epyon's two main weapons (heat rod and large beam sword) combined into one.

* Knight in the ''Anime/WeissKreuz'' RadioDrama ''Crashers: Knight and Ran'' uses a WhipSword referred to as a "cordon d'argent."

* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savior_of_the_Soul Savior Of The Soul]]'' has not a whip sword, but a ''yo-yo'' sword.

* Raya, of ''WesternAnimation/RayaAndTheLastDragon'' uses her father's WhipSword as her signature weapon, using it both for sword attacks and ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' inspired whip maneuvers.

* Shannon fights against someone with a WhipSword in the first ''LightNovel/ScrappedPrincess'' novel.

** In ''Series/KamenRiderKiva'', Taiga Nobori/Kamen Rider Saga has a rapier-like weapon that can convert into an energy whip; he continues to use it even after [[spoiler:he inherits the power of Dark Kiva]]. The Blue Sky Organization circa 1986 gives its warriors a SwissArmyWeapon that can go from long dagger to WhipSword.

* Takenaka Hanbe from ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' wields a whipsword to graceful yet devastating effect. Since he himself is rather fragile, he tends to use its long range to attack people InTheBack.

* If you don't need to ever pass your weapon off as a rigid sword, there's the Indian [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urumi urumi]], a multi-tail whip made of spring-steel blades. Its actual combat effectiveness remains hotly debated, as it was never widely used, and any combat forms which utilize it are, by definition, almost impossible to demonstrate in a sparring match without serious risk to one or both combatants.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastonia_(dinosaur) Gastonia]] was a dinosaur that more or less had one of these built into its ''tail''.

* Shannon fights against someone with a WhipSword in the first ''Literature/ScrappedPrincess'' novel.

* Kurama in ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' uses a rose whip that is capable of cutting through solid rock.

* In the 2015 Jackie Chan film ''Dragon Blade'', Jackie Chan's unit has special equipment that attaches a cord to the handle of their swords, preventing them from being disarmed and [[allowing for surprise attacks ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks]]
* Raya, of ''WesternAnimation/RayaAndTheLastDragon'' uses her father's WhipSword as her signature weapon using it both for sword attacks and ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' inspired whip maneuvers.

* One of Iori's opponents in ''[[Manga/{{Gamaran}} Gamaran Shura]]'' is a Shogunate warrior Yukio, also known as the "{{Shinigami}} and the [[PsychoForHire Strongest Assassin]], whose deadly weapon of choice is a three-bladed Urumi poking out of his sleeve he calls [[ICallItVera Brahma]]. While deadly and able to corner Iori, the latter points out the greatest weakness of such a weapon by deflecting the thin blades with [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower a swing of his sword]] before wounding his opponent to the chest. He later shows up with another Urumi with a single, more resistant and heavier blade named "Shiva", which he also dual wields.

->''"Swords cannot reach far enough. Chains cannot strike hard enough. [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs An eternal dilemma, but a simple one]]."''

What's better than a {{whip|ItGood}} or a [[HeroesPreferSwords sword]]? A [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs whip sword]], of course! They have the flexibility and [[VariableLengthChain long reach]] of a whip and the cutting power of a sword, meaning that all sorts of fancy tricks can be done with them while cutting people to pieces. Most fictional examples are made from separate sword segments threaded though with the whip, which [[VariableLengthChain can expand and contract]] on command, usually with the press of a button on the sword handle (trough this is rarely shown). Some can even separate the segments completely and attack with them, and then have them return and form the sword again. How they do this is almost never explained, not even with [[AWizardDidIt "magic"]].

* Shizuru Fujino in ''Anime/MaiHime'' can separate her naginata into sections and use it to whip an enemy and grab people, making her extremely deadly [[BewareTheNiceOnes whenever she gets mad]].

->''"Swords cannot reach far enough. Chains cannot strike hard enough. An eternal dilemma, but a simple one."''
-->-- '''[[http://magiccards.info/grc/en/32.html Kor Duelist,]]''' ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering''

* Snapdragon from ''Comicbook/{{Kabuki}}'' uses one.

* Ries Argent, a main playable character from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky The 3rd'' and Scarlet from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel'' have this as weapon of choice. It is implied that all [[ChurchMilitant Gralsritter]] squires in VideoGame/KisekiSeries are trained to use what in this universe is called "Templar Sword". [[spoiler:This is a hint that Scarlet used to be member of Gralsritter, although she quit midway in her training.]]

This type of weapon often falls squarely into AwesomeButImpractical, where you'd need a pretty impressive engineering setup to create a mechanism and spring capable of holding the sword in sword-form without violating basic structural integrity ''and'' capable of sending it out as a whip. As of yet, no one's managed to make a working model of such a weapon in RealLife (though some come close in principle), but fiction usually {{Hand wave}}s any structural issues through magic, or [[MagneticWeapon electromagnets]]. The closest practical RealLife equivalents, like the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_whip chain whip]] and Indian ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urumi Urumi,]]'' usually lack the cutting power of a sword or the reach of a whip.

->''"{{Sword|Tropes}}s cannot reach far enough. {{Chain|Pain}}s cannot strike hard enough. An eternal dilemma, [[TakeAThirdOption but a simple one]]."''

* One of Iori's opponents in ''[[Manga/{{Gamaran}} Gamaran Shura]]'' is a Shogunate warrior Yukio, also known as the "{{Shinigami}} and the [[PsychoForHire Strongest Assassin]], whose deadly weapon of choice is a three-bladed Urumi poking out of his sleeve. While deadly and able to corner Iori, the latter points out the greatest weakness of such a weapon by deflecting the thin blades with [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower a swing of his sword]] before wounding his opponent to the chest.

What's better than a {{whip|ItGood}} or a [[HeroesPreferSwords sword]]? A [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs whip sword]], of course! They have the flexibility and [[VariableLengthChain long reach]] of a whip and the cutting power of a sword, meaning that all sorts of fancy tricks can be done with them while cutting people to pieces. Most fictional examples are made from separate sword segments threaded though with the whip, wich [[VariableLengthChain can expand and contract]] on command, usually with the press of a button on the sword handle (trough this is rarely shown). Some can even separate the segments completely and attack with them, and then have them return and form the sword again. How they do this is almost never explained, not even with [[AWizardDidIt "magic"]].

What's better than a {{whip|ItGood}} or a [[HeroesPreferSwords sword]]? A [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs whip sword]], of course! They have the flexibility and [[VariableLengthChain long reach]] of a whip and the cutting power of a sword, meaning that all sorts of fancy tricks can be done with them while cutting people to pieces. Most fictional examples are made from separate sword segments threaded trough with the whip, wich [[VariableLengthChain can expand and contract]] on command, usually with the press of a button on the sword handle (trough this is rarely shown). Some can even separate the segments completely and attack with them, and then have them return and form the sword again. How they do this is almost never explained, not even with [[AWizardDidIt "magic"]].

What's better than a {{whip|ItGood}} or a [[HeroesPreferSwords sword]]? A [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs whip sword]], of course! They have the flexibility and [[VariableLengthChain long reach]] of a whip and the cutting power of a sword, meaning that all sorts of fancy tricks can be done with them while cutting people to pieces. Most fictional examples are made from separate sword segments threaded trough with the whip, wich [[VariableLengthChain can expand and contract]] on command, usually with the press of a button on the sword handle (trough this is rarely shown). Some can even separate the segments completly and attack with them, and then have them return and form the sword again. How they do this is almost never explained, not even with [[AWizardDidIt "magic"]].