Distant Finale: Takes place 160 years after rest of the novel.Deal with the Devil: The northerners made several.

Clingy MacGuffin: Wirikidor refuses to be separated from Valder in both the literal sense (when unsheathed it sticks to his body until he kills someone) and the metaphorical sense, manipulating people and events to be brought back to Valder if taken away.

Brick Joke: The entire novel could be seen as the setup for one.

The army had been carrying on the fight against the northerners for generations, with only the generals aware of what had happened.

Awful Truth: It turns out that Ethshar disintegrated into tiny squabbling feudal kingdoms long ago.

Age Without Youth: Part of Wirikidor's enchantment.

Action Survivor: Valder, not being particularly skilled as a soldier.

The Misenchanted Sword, first of the The Legends of Ethshar fantasy novels by Lawrence Watt-Evans, details Valder's misadventures as he struggles to adapt his life around the power of his sword Wirikidor's enchantment.and the desires of those who want to take advantage of those powers. The sword is capable of killing anyone it's used against, and in fact Valder cannot be killed while he uses it.

The sword is enchanted.and what an enchantment it is. The wizard, wanting nothing more to do with Valder, makes him a deal: he'll enchant Valder's sword, enabling Valder to return to his unit, and Valder promises to leave the wizard alone. He then inadvertently stumbles upon an elderly hermit wizard, and the result is that the wizard's hut is destroyed by the enemy patrol. When the enemy attacks in force, Valder is trapped behind enemy lines with a patrol chasing him.

Valder is just a simple soldier in the army of Ethshar, on a simple scouting mission.

The misenchanted sword