The Soulsword is one of the most powerful objects in Marvel comics. Even so, not a great deal is known about it. As the signature weapon of Magik, most guess it has something to do with, well, magic. And they would be right, but that's not the whole story by any stretch.

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The Soulsword is a powerful avatar of one of the most powerful X-Men, Illyana Rasputin, a woman so powerful she not only has mutant abilities, she's a sorceress as well. Plus, she sometimes grows horns and a tail. Here are ten things every Marvel fan needs to know about Magik's Soulsword.

10 Stuck In Limbo

Illyana had a rough go of it. She accompanied her brother, Pitor Rasputin to the United States as a young girl since she also had mutant abilities. These abilities allowed her to 'skip stones,' basically to hop through space and time. Illyana actually did this through the Limbo dimension, and a demon called Belasco kidnapped her at the age of six. None of what followed was pretty. Illyana became an unwilling but adept student of magic, and at the end of her ordeal, manifested the Soulsword from her own life force.

9 Manifestation Of Limbo

The Soulsword is not only a physical manifestation of Magik's enormous power, but it's also a manifestation of the Limbo dimension itself. In effect, it's a key. Whoever wields it controls the dimension, which since it's in effect a terminal through which people pass in and out of normal reality, is a lot of power. This has primarily been Magik - with some exceptions - and it's tied heavily both to her body and soul. When the sword manifested, it did so alongside armor that covered Magik's left shoulder, her chest, and eventually her leg.

8 Don't Get Hit With It

The Soulsword serves as a practical weapon, which sucks for bad guys, especially these days. In the beginning, the sword appeared more or less as a regular sword. Over the years, as Magik's power has grown, the sword has as well. Now, it's nearly as tall and broad as she is. The fact that she can even pick it up should be warning enough to anyone who would be fool enough to attack her. That being said, it seems to only be really harmful to magical beings or objects.

7 Sorry, Kitty

While the sword doesn't harm non-magical people in general, it does have an effect against non-corporeal people. A lot of sorcerers and mages do this neat astral projection thing, and the Soulsword accounts for that by cutting phantasms down. Unfortunately for Kitty Pryde, she's incorporeal.

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It says something that the sword doesn't distinguish Kitty as non-magical - only non-corporeal. Though the blow Kitty got from Illyana was accidental, it was pretty painful. Magik has been shown to cut through magical beings like they're paper when she wants to.

6 Kitty Pryde Could Wield It

When Magik first went to the Limbo dimension, she was six. She came back as a teenager. Because comic books, Illyana found herself six years old again and in the process, custody of the Soulsword passed to her best friend Kitty Pryde. The sword actually incorporated itself within her after Doctor Doom tried to take control of the sword and dimension for his own purposes. Kitty kept the sword safe from Doom but eventually surrendered it to a woman named Margali Szardos, a Sorceress Supreme.

5 Rasputin

Kitty Pryde isn't the only person who could wield the Soulsword in Illyana's absence. Magik is not shown in one of the nightmarish futures depicted in Dawn of X, but the sword is. A mysterious and powerful mutant called Rasputin (hmmm) keeps the sword a hundred years after the X-Men first appear. She is a Chimera, a third-generation genetically-engineered mutant combining the powers of Kitty Pryde, Colossus, and Magik. So far, it's unclear if fans will see her again but she proved very popular.

4 Breaks Spells

The Soulsword doesn't harm regular people but does affect magic, so it works wonders on people who happen to be possessed by spells. With a swing of the sword - scary enough - Magik can break a person from whatever spell or enchantment they happen to be under at the time. Though the X-Men don't generally face a lot of magicians in the course of their adventures, sorcery is a big enough deal in the Marvel universe that Illyana Rasputin will use any life-hack she can.

3 Comes Out Of Nowhere

Magik New Mutants

Most swordfighters sheath their weapon in a scabbard. Sometimes that hangs off their waist, or on their back. Not Magik. This is someone who goes in and out of dimensions. She stores the Soulsword in absolute nothingness, freeing her up from those costly accessories.

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The sword basically goes into a pocket universe and the best part is, she can summon it whenever and wherever she wants. If she's in the middle of a jam or she just needs something to cut through a really stubborn piece of meat, it's never too far away.

2 Teleporter

Kitty Pryde and Margali Szardos weren't the only holders of the Soulsword in the comics. While Magik was a child - and also dead, because of the Legacy Virus (she got better) - the sword passed out of Margali's hands to her daughter Jimaine. She ended up passing it to Nightcrawler. Now Nightcrawler could hop through two different dimensions at once!. Owning the Soulsword wasn't that much fun for Kurt. While in his possession, the sword constantly attracted different kinds of magical creatures and supernatural entities. Good thing he could teleport away if he had to.

1 X Of Swords

x-of-swords-header

In the upcoming X of Swords crossover event, Magik's Soulsword looks to play a prominent role. Especially since there seems to be two of them. Promo art features both Illyana Rasputin and Kurt Wagner carrying their respective versions of the Soulsword (which changes form depending on the wielder). This raises some serious questions. One, how can there be two if only the ruler of Limbo can wield the sword and only the wielder of the sword can rule Limbo? Two, do they fight?

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