Hammer of the Holy

They'll beat the fear of God into you.

"It's so... ecclesiastical! And smitey!"

— Mink, Darken, Chapter 11

There's a common belief that holy men were historically prohibited from "shedding blood" in battle, leading to Church Militants opting for blunt weapons in an effort to get around the taboo. The historical evidence for this is limited and appears to derive mostly from the depiction of a Norman bishop wielding a mace on The Bayeux Tapestry; meanwhile, monastic warriors such as the Templars happily used bladed weapons in battle. The use of scepters, staves, and gavels in Christian religious ceremonies may have entrenched the association of such instruments with priests, however. Alternatively, since blunt weapons are generally cheaper and require less training than fancy swords or spears, it may have caught on due to monks' vows of poverty and as a way of distinguishing poor priests from wealthy knights.

Whatever the origins, the association stuck around, and today, religious warriors such as paladins, war-priests, and clerics are typically depicted wielding blunt weapons. The use of appropriate metaphors such as being the "hammer of [the] God[s]," "crushing" the enemies of the faith, "smiting" the wicked, and "forging" righteousness usually follows. In some cases, the aforementioned "spilling blood" taboo may even be directly named as a justification. Don't ask about the spikes.

As mentioned, a common trait of a Church Militant, Religious Bruiser, or Warrior Monk. A subtrope of Carry a Big Stick and Weapon-Based Characterization. Compare Knightly Sword and Shield — as a rule, paladins are associated with either this trope or that, depending on whether they lean more towards a "noble knight" or "holy warrior" archetype. Also see Martial Arts Staff, the traditional weapon of choice for a different sort of monk.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Delicious in Dungeon: The White Magician Girl Falin Touden uses a solid metal mace as a Magic Staff, and she's strong enough to wield it quite effectively as a weapon if she needs to.

Arts

• The Bayeux Tapestry: As mentioned in the description, Queen Mathilde's depiction of bishop Odo Bayeux wielding a mace appears to be at least the Trope Codifier.

Comic Books

• In Marvel Comics, all the Kree Accusers wield a war-hammer called "Cosmic-Rod" as their main weapon.

Literature

• Disciple of the Holy Sword: Father Cesare is a kindly priest of the Holy Order and a retired member of the Army of the Holy Iron Chain, the most powerful fighting force on the continent. When he decides to return to the battlefield, he brings out his old morning star flail to smite his foes with blows powerful enough to shatter stone.
• Malleus Maleficarum: A medieval treatise on how to destroy witches, its Latin title translates to "The Hammer of the Evildoers" (Traditionally translated "Hammer of the Witches" in much the same sense as Edward I of England was called the "Hammer of the Scots"). While the hammer is metaphorical, the title alone is famous and influential. It remains so even in modern times through the book's inclusion in The Crucible.
• Princesses of the Pizza Parlor: Carl Pas de l'Ours Solaire's religious symbol and weapon is the Shield Bash.
• The Reynard Cycle: The smith priests of Fenix the Firebird appear to engage in this. Besides the faith maintaining a monopoly on the production of the tools of war (weapons, armor, etc.), there are apparently "battle priests" present during the Battle of the Samara in The Baron of Maleperduys. Naturally, they wield war hammers.
• A Song of Ice and Fire:
  • The Drowned Men, the priestly followers of Aeron Greyjoy, arm themselves with cudgels made of driftwood as a sign of devotion to their god.
  • The Poor Fellows are an order of warriors sworn to the Faith of the Seven. Most of them are peasants and use whatever arms they can find, primarily axes and cudgels.

Live-Action TV

• Game of Thrones: The Faith Militant's Sparrows primarily wield spiked maces and hammers for combat.

Myths & Religion

• Robin Hood's priest companion Friar Tuck is typically depicted fighting with a mace if he fights at all.

Tabletop Games

• Dungeons & Dragons: In the original edition of the game, Clerics could only wield blunt weapons like maces and clubs. Even in later editions, they are typically depicted wielding maces in art, and maces are generally the starting weapon of new Cleric characters.
• Holy Lands:
  • Clerics are forbidden to use any weapon that "has the primary function of drawing blood" — wording that acknowledges the objection that people hit with blunt objects often do bleed.
  • Reflecting a similar rationale, Nazarites can defend themselves using a walking stick or utility knife, but are not allowed to wield anything designed as a weapon.
• Magic: The Gathering: The White colour, in the 5-colour chromatic arrangement, runs the gamut from knight templars and fundamentalists, but also to people dedicated to order:
  • The card "Hammers of Moradin" shows a trio of dwarves, one of them holding a hammer. The card is classified as a Dwarf Cleric creature.
  • "Banisher Cleric" is a woman clad in armour carrying a mace-like weapon with a luminous aura. Also a Human Cleric.
  • "War Oracle" is a woman clad in golden armour and carrying a mace with a shiny head. The card is a Human Cleric creature.
• Pathfinder:
  • Followers of the Dwarven God Torag use hammers as their choice of weapon. Seeing as how Torag is a smithing god, his choice of weapon is a warhammer, and his divine symbol is an iron hammer, it comes to no surprise that his followers would use hammers as well.
  • In gameplay, Clerics, Oracles, Inquisitors and Shamans (First Edition only) are only proficient with "simple weapons", of which maces are generally considered one of the better melee choices. However, Clerics and Inquisitors also receive proficiency with their Patron God's favored weapon, which may be superior to a mace.
• Warhammer 40,000:
  • The standard weapon of the Chaplains of the Adeptus Astartes is called the Crozius Arcanum, a staff or mace typically with winged(and/or skulled) iconography. Crozius' are usually not bladed, but seeing as they're sheathed in the same matter-disrupting field as the Power Swords, that hardly matters.
  • The main choice of weapon of Lorgar Aurelian, and his legion the Word Bearers, is that of a mace. The Word Bearers, both pre- and post-Chaos Corruption, are the most religiously fanatical members of either side. Pre Horus Heresy, Lorgar viewed his father, The Emperor, as a god and worshiped him as such, while spreading what would eventually become the modern-day Imperial Cult. Now Lorgar and his World Bearers worship Chaos Undivided.
  • A common weapon carried by the Imperium's Demon-hunting inquisitorial branch is the Demon Hammer, an energized hammer that is further sanctified and blessed for even more effectiveness against Warp entities. Indeed, the use of hammers is reflected in their name: the Ordo Mallaeus.
• Warhammer Fantasy Battle:
  • Sigmar, the patron god of the Empire of Man, is strongly associated with warhammers. When he was still a mortal, he wielded a Dwarf-made hammer called Ghal Maraz, "Skull-Splitter", which still serves as the traditional weapon and symbol of office for the Emperors that came after him, and his warrior-priests typically go into battle wielding heavy hammers.
  • Ulric, an old god of war, wolves, and winter who was Sigmar's own deity in his mortal days, is also associated with hammers. In particular, the Knights of the White Wolf, a templar cavalry order sworn to him, and the Teutogen Guard, the elite bodyguards of Ulric's high priest, are both traditionally equipped with two-handed warhammers.
• Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Clergy of the Healer God Shallya are forbidden to kill and use no arms or armour other than a simple staff. That said, they can still be combat-trained, and that simple staff gives bonuses both to blocking attacks and to dealing a non-lethal Tap on the Head.

Video Games

• Baldur's Gate III: As with Dungeons & Dragons above, Clerics start the game with a mace, and a mace is depicted on their class icon. Specific weapons enforcing the mace-religion connection are the Blood of Lathander (taken from a monastery devoted to the sun god of the same name) and the Sacred Star (purchased from the keeper of the Stormshore Tabernacle, the main temple in Act III).
• Battle for Wesnoth: Healer units tend to have impact weapons like staves (White Mages, Elvish Shamans and Druids, Mermaid Priestesses and Diviners, the Saurian Augur lines) and in one case flails (Mages of Light).
• Castle Crashers: The church that the wedding-battle takes place in has hammers instead of crosses in its iconography, overlapping with the Bowdlerize trope.
• Dark Deity: Hammers are the favored weapons of choice for the Cleric and two of its promoted classes, Inquisitor/Crusader and Guardian/Paladin. The only non-Cleric classes that wield hammers are the promoted classes of the Adept, Reverie, and Astral Seeker.
• Darkest Dungeon:
  • The Warrior Nun Vestal wields a spiked mace, which she can use as a conduit for a Holy Hand Grenade with Judgment or just whack her opponents with using Mace Bash. An entire subclass revolves around the implementation of the "Battle Vestal" strategy, AKA a frontline Vestal who primarily uses Mace Bash as opposed to her normal backline White Mage role.
  • The Fanatic from The Crimson Court wields a massive hammer which he will gleefully use to drive stakes into the flesh of your party members afflicted with the Crimson Curse, complimenting his overall dogmatic aesthetic.
• Dark Souls: The Cleric class in all three games have the Mace as their starting weapon, which is noted to be a common weapon for that line of work.
• Darkstone: Zigzagged with the Monk class's weapons. Their signature weapons are hammers and maces, but another one of their signature weapons is the halberd.
• Diablo:
  • Diablo III: The Crusader class, introduced in the Reaper of Souls expansion, wields a large, heavy flail as their starting weapon.
  • Diablo II: The Paladin isn't strictly forced to use maces and hammers, but one of his most powerful skills (and one of the game's most infamous Game Breakers) is Blessed Hammer, which summons a whirling maul of divine energy to spiral about striking every enemy surrounding you. It deals Magic damage (meaning almost nothing in the game resists it) with Undead taking extra harm from it, making it ideal for taking on the unholy hordes.
• DNF Duel: The Crusader is a muscular bear of a man whose weapon of choice is a giant hammer and uses holy abilities.
• Dota 2: Omniknight is a devout follower of a divine being known as the Omniscience and, being very much an archetypal paladin-type character, fights with a large hammer. His Hammer of Purity spell has him using it to smite an enemy for heavy Pure damage that scales with his basic attack damage.
• The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind: Both major religious factions, the Imperial Cult, and the Tribunal Temple have the "Blunt Weapon" skill (which includes maces, staves, and hammers) as their only weapon-based favored skills. This means that being good with a mace is a way to rise up in their ranks.
• Eternal Darkness: In the chapter "Heresy!", Paul Luther, a Franciscan monk, is dispatched to Oublié Cathedral to investigate rumors of a relic. He can also find a mace at the start of the chapter and wield it to defeat the eldritch monsters infesting the cathedral. To further hammer the point home, each of the playable characters has access to a melee weapon per chapter. In his chapter, Paul can still find a long-edged sword, but that is optional and missable. Thus, a mace is the melee weapon available to Paul Luther.
• EverQuest: Clerics are restricted to 1-hand and 2-hand blunt weaponry.
• Final Fantasy:
  • In Final Fantasy, white mages are able to equip hammers in the first game to use alongside their healing and holy-based powers, including righteous spells like Cure, Dia, and Holy.
  • Minwu from Final Fantasy II specializes in wielding maces in combat alongside a wide array of white magic.
• The Gold Box games from SSI were among the first AD&D-based video games. They implemented the first-edition game rules, which included the rule that Clerics could only use blunt weapons: hammers, maces, flails. The only ranged weapon a Cleric could use was a sling-staff.
• Hexen: The player can choose between three characters, one of them being Parias the Cleric. Parias starts the game with the Mace of Contrition, and is described in-game as being a former member of church.
• Infernax: Alcedor starts off wielding a mace coupled with a shield, and should he take the path of virtue, uses said mace to smite the demons terrorizing Upel for the good of its people.
• The King of Dragons: Aldo the Cleric, a monk, dislikes bladed weapons, and fights with a mace instead.
• Legend of Legaia: Gala, one of the party members, is a member of the Order of Biron, an order of Eastern-style Warrior Monks who combine spiritual teachings with martial arts training. He wields axes, clubs, and maces.
• Limbus Company: The N Corp Inquisition is a subdivision of N Corp who have taken the MegaCorp's disdain for prosthetics to cultish extremes, viewing their usage as a heresy that must be purged with their members even styling themselves after religious crusaders adorned with seals and scriptures. Hammers of varying sizes are wielded alongside giant nails and are often used as a follow-up attack to drive the nails further into their victims.
• Lunar: The Silver Star: Jessica de Alkirk is a priestess of Althena who uses a mace.
• MapleStory: Paladins are the only Warrior-class adventurer with the ability to wield blunt weapons like hammers and maces while smiting their foes with holy powers. In addition, their signature attack, "Heaven's Hammer", causes an enormous hammer to slam into a wide area in front of the paladin.
• Medieval: Total War: The Norse War Clerics are a heavy cavalry unit that can be recruited whilst playing as Denmark if you construct the correct buildings. They are comprised of radical Bishops who rally together in "righteous anger". They likewise are all armed with a heavy mace, being one of the few cavalry units in the game to carry blunt weapons.
• Ragnarok Online: Acolytes and their associated Prestige Classes can wield maces, though Monks combine this with All Monks Know Kung-Fu.
• Return to Krondor: Late in the game, the party that travels to Haldon's Head includes Solon, a Priest of Ishap. He can only use maces and warhammers for weapons.
• RuneScape: Maces are one of the few weapons that boost the wielder's Prayer skill, much like Priest Robes do, though the Player Character needn't have any religious affiliation.
• Symphony of War: Acolytes and Paladins are warrior women from the Church of Donar who wield one-handed hammers in battle.
• In the Trails Series, members of the Iscario branch of the Septian church all wield maces to denote their status as servants of the church.
• Thief: The Hammerites are a religious order that actually use the hammer as a holy symbol. They venerate industry and construction, and their deity is called "The Builder". Naturally in combat they wield large warhammers.
• Vermintide II: Victor Saltzpyre's Warrior Priest career replaces his normal weapon options with a flail and an array of Humongous Headed Hammers — regular, extra-large, Dual Wielded, or paired with a shield or blessed tome. The hammers are an emulation of his Patron God Sigmar.
• Warcraft III: Paladin heroes are depicted wielding Humongous Headed Hammers.
• World of Warcraft: Paladins have several abilities that include "hammer" in the name or otherwise depict hammers — Blessed Hammer, Hammer of the Righteous, and Judgement throwing a hammer, to name just a few. One of the artifacts they get access to during the Legion expansion is a two-handed hammer once wielded by the Titan watcher Tyr.

Visual Novels

• Gyakuten Kenji 2: Judge Justine Courtney is portrayed as a religious servant of the Goddess of Law. In keeping with this image, she wields a telescoping gavel which she frequently swings to assert her authority or emphasize her arguments.

Webcomics

• Darken: In the Dungeons & Dragons-based setting, Mink the cleric gleefully uses a large warhammer to back up her divine magic. She lampshades the "ecclesiastical! And smitey!" connotations but has the "holy" part backwards — her patron is the Lawful Evilinvoked god of tyranny.
• The Order of the Stick: Durkon, the Order's cleric, primarily uses a warhammer in imitation of his Patron God Thor. After he comes Back from the Dead for real, he upgrades this to a Hammer of Thunderbolts, a magic item bestowed upon him by Thor.

Web Videos

• Oxventure: One of the members of the Oxventurer's Guild is Egbert the Dragonborn Paladin who first joins the party in the episode "A Spot Of Bother". In battle, Egbert fights using both a morning star and the Mace of Transfiguration.

Western Animation

• Angel Wars: The veteran guardian angel Swift's weapon of choice is a hefty one-handed hammer, which also has the ability to cast Deflector Shields. It even comes back to him when he throws it for ranged attacks.
• Dragon Age: Absolution: Knight-Commander Tassia, the leader of the Imperial Templars, wields a large hammer.

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