Did the Heaven Sword have a lesser reputation than the Dragon Sabre?

[Ken Cheng]

As a weapon, the Heaven Sword was every bit the Dragon Sabre's equal, but in the HSDS story, the members of wulin only fought over the Dragon Sabre. They never fought over the Heaven Sword. Part of this might have been because the Heaven Sword had been in the custody of the Ngor Mei Sect (one of the three most powerful sects in wulin at the time) since the sect's founding decades earlier, while the Dragon Sabre frequently changed owners since leaving the possession of Gwok Jing and Wong Yung. But was there also a general perception that the Heaven Sword was inferior to the Dragon Sabre in some way, and thus, not worth fighting for?

[xuelian]

As a weapon, the Heaven Sword was every bit the Dragon Sabre's equal, but in the HSDS story, the members of wulin only fought over the Dragon Sabre. They never fought over the Heaven Sword. Part of this might have been because the Heaven Sabre had been in the custody of the Ngor Mei Sect (one of the three most powerful sects in wulin at the time) since the sect's founding decades earlier, while the Dragon Sword frequently changed owners since leaving the possession of Gwok Jing and Wong Yung. But was there also a general perception that the Heaven Sword was inferior to the Dragon Sabre in some way, and thus, not worth fighting for?

I don't think so. The legendary poem that spread throughout wulin said that the Dragon Sabre would dominate the world... until the Heaven Sword appeared. So I don't think anyone underestimated the Heaven Sword, but rather pit both weapons as equals. However, like you said, the Heaven Sword was in the custody of E'Mei Sect - in a way, it already had a legitimate owner.

[wkeej]

only zhao min is willing to get the wrath of that old virgin for heaven sword.
btw, what happened to both weapons in the end? given to the monks in shaolin to fix them back?

[Ken Cheng]

only zhao min is willing to get the wrath of that old virgin for heaven sword.
btw, what happened to both weapons in the end? given to the monks in shaolin to fix them back?

The Dragon Sabre, I believe, was repaired by a Ming Cult blacksmith (the same one who repaired the golden box that Chiu Mun gave to Cheung Mo Gei) on Cheung Mo Gei's orders. No discussion on what happened to the Heaven Sword, however.

[bloodstar]

The Dragon Sabre, I believe, was repaired by a Ming Cult blacksmith (the same one who repaired the golden box that Chiu Mun gave to Cheung Mo Gei) on Cheung Mo Gei's orders. No discussion on what happened to the Heaven Sword, however.

Yes in the 2nd edition the Dragon Sabre was restored by a Ming cult blacksmith using his own blood. However, because so many of his Ming cult "brothers" had been slain by Miejue using the Heaven Sword, he bore a hatred for the sword and refused to restore it. ZWJ then handed over the two broken pieces of Heaven Sword to the eldest Ermei disciple Jing Xuan telling her to return them to ZZR. Hence the Heaven Sword regained Ermei ownership but remained broken.

Since Athena has not brought up any changes regarding this in the 3rd edition, i assume the fates of the weapons remain the same.

[lostchild]

Also keep in mind that there many people who don't even know the Heaven Sword is a sword. 99.9% of the people know about the weapons from the poem. The poem only say that the Dragon "Sabre" would dominate world, but when it comes to the Heaven Sword, the "Sword" part is not in the poem. Until later on, very few people actually know that Heaven is a sword. Some even think "Heaven" could be a person.

The other part, already posted by others, is that the Heaven Sword is in Ermel Sect. I don't remember exactly what happened, but I think also at one point, the sword was owned by Chiu Mun's father, but Miejue took/stole it back. So the sword has only been at 2 places since Condor couples were killed.