Close up of hilt

Legend of Zelda Master Sword

A while back I wrote about some rupees I made for a Legend of Zelda musical. The group doing the musical is called The League of Extraordinary Thespians, and I made a few more props for them, such as Link’s Master Sword.

Making the pattern
Making the pattern

The musical is based off of The Ocarina of Time video game, so first I had to find some accurate reference images from the game. From those, I drew out a paper pattern for the blades.

Layout for bevel
Layout for bevel

After cutting the pattern out of plywood, I made another pattern to find the bevel on the blade. I was working on three swords (one for Link, one for Dark Link, and one for a lobby display) so taking the time to make these patterns saved a lot of time in the long run.

Shaping the blade
Shaping the blade

I used a rasp and block sander to shape the blade.

Pommel and Shoulder
Pommel and Shoulder

I turned some of the handle and guard parts on a lathe. The quillon block (otherwise known as the écusson) is just a slice of PVC pipe.

Adding the quillons
Adding the quillons

For the rest of the detail on the guard, I used pieces of MDF which I shaped with my belt sander and fine tuned with a Dremel.

Carving the details
Carving the details

I used a Dremel to further define the shape of the quillon.

Painting the jewels
Painting the jewels

For the jewels, I cut out some more MDF pieces and shaped them on the belt sander.

Final swords
Final swords

Here are the final Master Sword and Dark Link swords. As you can see, they are the exact same sword, just with different paint schemes.

Close up of hilt
Close up of hilt

This is a close-up of the hilt. I used spray paint for the blue (the same paint I used for the rupees).

Swords side-by-side
Swords side-by-side

Here is one more shot. The show itself goes up May 10th and 11th in Burlington, NC. Check it out if you live in the area; there is more information on their Facebook page. Their performances are all for charity, and after the run, they will be auctioning off many of the costumes and props to raise more money.