Users/Possessors: Kamuu (pre-Cataclysmic), Kamuu (Homo mermani), Alaric, Namor the Sub Mariner, Andromeda/Genevieve Cross

Enemies: Lemurians, all the enemies of Atlantis

Connected to: The Eye of Zartra

First Appearance: Sub Mariner I#62/2 (June, 1973)
{I Fantastici Quattro#124/3 Editoriale Corno}

Powers/Abilities: The Sword of Kamuu can increase physical and mystical powers of others. It can break or dispel normal enchantments, magic shields, and barriers. The Sword is made with Orichalcum and other unknown arcane elements that presumably grant a superior resistance and quality of the Sword, making it strong enough to resist to strikes from the Ebony Blade. The enchantment of the Sword is reduced if separated from the mystical gem the Eye of Zartra. Also, if the wielder of the Sword has wounded an Atlantean then he would be stricken by the Curse of Zartra and eventually killed by it. The Sword is also a very important symbol for the Atlanteans and should be wielded only by the rightful heir to the Throne.

History:
(Doctor Strange II#31 (fb)) - The sword used by the Antedeluvian Kamuu was forged using orichalcum and arcane elements, and became a desired weapon because it offered a great mystical power to who knew how to wield it.

(Sub Mariner I#62/2 - BTS) - It is unknown if the Sword was forged for Kamuu or if it was created before, however, the Sword came into the possession of Kamuu.

(Sub Mariner I#62/2) <18, 000 BC> - Kamuu used his Sword in a fight against Tsobor the Lemurian King, and other Lemurians who attacked the Royal Palace of Atlantis.

(Sub Mariner I#63/2) - Shortly after, Kamuu used the Sword to kill Nolem, Zartra's murderer. Zartra, before dying, put her Eye of Zartra in the hole on the Sword's guard, joining the two artifacts as Kamuu and she were joined. Kamuu chained himself and the Sword to the Throne of Atlantis. Moments later the Great Cataclysm sunk Atlantis, Kamuu and the Sword.

(Sub Mariner I#65/2) <6000 BC> - Millennia after the Great Cataclysm, Kamuu, of the Eastern Sea Tribe found the Sword of Kamuu while fleeing from the living skeleton of Shabarr, a Priest of Bishru.

(Sub Mariner I#66/2) - When Kamuu wielded the starring Sword he (or it) broke the sorcery that kept Shabarr animated (and probably triggered another spell that brought the Homo mermani Kamuu to meet Kamuu the Ancient Emperor and his Empress Zartra). Kamuu took the Sword, symbol of his leadership of the Atlanteans and became the new ruler of the Homo mermani nomad populations in the Atlantic Ocean, restoring the ancient glory of Atlantis.

(Doctor Strange II#31 (fb)) - The sword was lost in a undersea battle and reappeared years later in possession of men of the surface. It passed hand by hand, usually by violent and deadly ways, until Alaric killed the last possessor.

(Doctor Strange II#31) - Alaric was a minor mystic but, once in possession of the Sword of Kamuu, he attacked Doctor Strange to gain immortality. He used the Sword to break all the mystic barriers (including the Rings of Raggadorr) built by Strange, and easily deflected the Flames of the Faltines and defeated Clea. The Eye of Zartra neutralized all the spells that Dr. Strange cast, but when Alaric wounded Namor with the Sword, he incurred the Curse of Zartra on himself and after few second he started to lose the strength and the powers. Then Clea imprisoned the evil mystic in the Dyzakk's Cage and had the Sword fly into the hands of its rightful heir: Namor.

(Doctor Strange II#32) - The Doctor Strange gave the Sword of Kamuu to Namor. Namor donated the Eye of Zartra to Strange, halving the enchantment and the power on the Sword.

(Namor the Sub Mariner I#60 (fb) - BTS) - The Sword of Kamuu was lost.

(Namor the Sub Mariner I#60) - Namor found the Sword of Kamuu in the ruins of an ancient Atlantean town, not far from the Azores Islands. The sword helped Namor follow Triton's spoor, pulling Namor through the sea to Triton's location. Once at Sao Paulo of the Azores Chain, Namor used the Sword of Kamuu to defend himself and Andromeda from the attack of Bloodwraith. The Sword proved to be as strong and indestructible as the cursed Ebony blade.

(Namor the Sub Mariner I#61) - The Sword was used by Andromeda still fighting Bloodwraith.

(Namor the Sub Mariner I#62) - Again in Atlantis, the Sword probably triggered another enchantment and let a sleeping Namor to meet in dream the antedeluvian Kamuu and learned the fate of the Atlanteans who survived to the Great Cataclysm and a brief history about their descendants (SEE COMMENTS).
    Discovered by Llyron, then ruler of Atlantis, Namor claimed his heritage as the True Prince of Blood wielding the Sword before Llyron's eyes, but the green-skinned one didn't want to recognize the Sword. .
    Later, in the Azores Islands, during the night of full moon of the Eve of March 20th, while fighting against Morgan Le Fay, Sean Dolan picked the Sword up and flung it at Morgan's heart, but Triton interposed between the blade and the sorceress and was hit and seriously wounded. Triton's blood (and Morgan's spells caused a new, localized cataclysm that rose Atlantis to the surface; the Sword of Kamuu was lost again.
    Triton had become imbued with magnetic power during a recent adventure with Namor, and this energy facilitated the terraforming.

Comments: Created by Steve Gerber, Howard Chaykin and Joe Sinnot.

The sword was still in Triton's stomach when Atlantis arose, but I don't remember the Sword appearing in the subsequent Atlantis Rising issues.
    Me neither--Snood

    It is rather strange that Sub-Mariner found the Sword in Namor the Sub Mariner I#60, because he was the last man to wield it in Doctor Strange II#32. Probably the Sword was lost or stolen and another story about the Sword has still to be told.
    As for the Eye of Zartra, it could still be in Strange's possess, or not. When Zartra took it away from her orbit, the gem was blue. When the Eye was taken by Namor it was red.
    It's interesting to notice that when the Sword and the Eye were joined after the spilling of blood and the death of a sorceress (Zartra), moments after Atlantis sunk in the Great Cataclism. And when the Sword spilled blood and was in the presence of the Star Sapphire and another ancient Sorceress, Atlantis arose from the sea. Any connections between the two gems? The Star Sapphire should be Atlantean, the Eye could be Lemurian (as the two Sorceresses).
Kamuu links the end of Atlantis to the beginning of Avalon and of the British myths of Merlyn, Morgan LeFay, Arthur Pendragon and so on. It is interesting to find another coincidence: the Sword of the Emperor Kamuu and the Star Sapphire Pendant vs. the Sword in the Rock and the Pendant that Captains Britain had to choose for their mission of protectors of the British Island.
    What if Kukulcan/Quetzalcoatl had a sword? He had a Sacred pendant, yet...

(Namor I#62 (possibly a flashback, possibly a dream/delusion--see comments)) - On the island of Avalon, one of the surviving fragments of ancient, pre-Cataclysmic Atlantis, sacred flames prophesized a coming catastrophe. The ancient priest of the sun, too feeble to make the journey, sent his young apprentice Myraddin to take his secret scrolls, his sacred symbols, and his daughter--Igraine--and flee Avalon. They took with them the young Morgan, daughter of Igraine, and sailed from Tingail just as Avalon was consumed in the explosion of an immense volcano.
    Upon arriving on the isle of Britain, Myraddin changed his name to Merlin and established his druid worship at Stonehenge. Merlin arranged for Igraine to marry the brutish Gorlois, Duke of the Tin Islands, who adopted young Morgan. Shortly thereafter, however, Gorlois was slain by Uther Pendragon, who took Igraine as his wife, and through her sired a son, Arthur.
    Meanwhile, as Morgan grew into a young woman, she followed Merlin to Aran Island and became his apprentice.

    I have NO idea. Some of it seems to be based on real world myth, but it doesn't jibe completely with the other origins of Merlin. The story was told by a vision that was supposed to be Kamuu, the last emperor of Atlantis at the time of the Great Cataclysm. Actually, Namor was just beaten into unconscious and was recovering while he had that vision. So it might just have been a dream, rather than a real flashback.
    However, assuming it were supposed to be true: How does it fit?
    -The dates given seem off, as the story starts 8000 years after the Great Cataclysm. The Cataclysm occurred 18000 BC, which would put their time as 10000 BC (during the Hyborian era), which is nearly 10500 years before Merlin was hanging around Camelot.
    Maybe they were referring to another Cataclysm, such as the post-Hyborian one which occurred @ 9500 - 8000 BC. That would put the start of the story closer to the AD side of the calendar, which makes more sense.
    Maybe the Avalon they were referring to was actually a chunk of Atlantis that got pulled into Otherworld, or close enough to it that time moved at a different pace?
    Maybe the whole deal took place in Otherworld.
    -As far as the differences between the history of Gorlois, Igraine, Uther, etc.? I have NO idea, period. I don't know enough about Arthurian Legend to even comment on that. I'd take the Marvel Universe version over the version from Namor's dream.

Another possibility. In the Chaos Engine trilogy, it was made clear that Roma is actually a composite being composed of all of her divergent selves throughout the multiverse. It would make sense that this is true of Merlyn as well, and that this story would be the history of an alternate dimensional counterpart. It makes senses to me that Merlin is the pre-Otherworld version, while Merlyn is the composite being of all Merlins, etc, throughout reality.
    That makes sense to me - which also means Merlyn might well be (or more accurately "include") the Doctor Merlin and the Maha Yogi - they could be "components" of him.
--Loki

Loki's suggestion as to how this vision stuff might have come about - On the Namor flashback, here's a possibility about it (it's a stretch, but it fits the known facts): Merlyn has dealt with Necrom (Excalibur, c.May 1992 real world time). Next up - Kang the Conqueror, whose tripping all over time creating alternate realities and versions of himself throughout history is causing havoc with the multiverse, and who has his eyes on the throne of Otherworld anyway.

Step One - recount your origin to Roma and Saturnyne (your own daughter doesn't know where you came from - mmm, not a very inquisitive child then). But perhaps this is for Saturnyne's benefit, and you don't expect it to be kept a secret - and you specifically tell her that most of your power comes from the energy matrix. How much of what you say is true is anyone's guess. Roma is quick enough on the uptake to play along - she is your daughter after all.

Step Two - make an unbelievable error in judgment and have Excalibur destroy "the source of most of your power". Oh dear, Brer Kang, right now I am really vulnerable to being thrown into that there Briar Patch!

Step Three - time for some more obfuscation. Kang isn't above going back and taking out his enemies as children, if the adult versions are too dangerous, so let's plant some new, conflicting tales for him to consider. Kang keeps tabs on a lot of 20th century heroes, so I plant a conflicting story that the Merlin of Camelot is stuck in a tomb somewhere (Iron Man) and arrange for Namor to hear a totally misleading story placing me as coming from Atlantis (c. 1995 in the real world, when my plan against Kang is well underway, and he is gunning for me) - that'll keep Kang guessing.

Step Four - I meet my daughter at the wedding of Meggan and CB and confirm "Oh no, I had nothing to do with the break-up of Excalibur, and of course Captain Britain has lost all his powers, so Otherworld is doubly vulnerable now (hint, hint)"

Step Five - sit back and see what Kang does next, while plotting my next move. Let him think that Otherworld is still weakened by having a new, inexperienced monarch, and having most of the Corps dead. I always have something more up my sleeve....

Interesting info by Kevin Garcia:
In Doctor Strange II#31 it says the sword was "lost in an obscure sub-sea battle" but Strange didn't know "how long it was lost to living eyes." But in the sword's fist appearance, Sub-Mariner I#62, it appears in both the modern day main story and the historical back-up story, both written by Steve Gerber. In the modern day story Tamara Rahn retrieves the sword from a plaque near the royal dais and uses it to rally disheartened Atlantean soldiers saying she will "none of you have the strength -- or the courage -- to raise this ancient sword -- but I have!" And she uses it to fight the Hydro-Men.

So, this leads to a couple of conclusions:

1. Tamara's sword was a replica and the Atlanteans are easily impressed.
2. Tamara's sword was the Sword of Kamuu, but Doctor Strange was unaware "living eyes" had seen it recently and it was somehow lost again after Tamara used it.