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Towards the end of episode 17 (of the second season of SAO), after extricating Excaliber from the dais in the lowest level of Thrymheim, Kirito makes a comment about the sword "still being too heavy" for him. He then throws Excaliber away before jumping onto the flying tentacle-elephant.

Why did he do that? He doesn't seem averse to accepting the sword from Sinon a few minutes later (after she grabs the sword out of the air with one of her arrows), so it didn't seem like a "I am unworthy to wield this sword" type of thing.

senshin
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  • I'm guessing this.. His normal phrase is 'I used to heavier swords' So it could mean that he wants to get stronger in order to properly wield it. Thought just a guess in SAO 3 if they make it, He might go get it back if its set in the future or something –  Jul 23 '15 at 20:58

4 Answers4

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It's because the sword was overburdening Kirito and since he can't put it into his inventory, he had to make a choice of either letting it go so he can make the jump onto Tonkii or going down with it:

From the (previously translated) light novel (Sword Art Online Volume 8, Early and Late, Caliber, page 308):

At that point, I noticed one terrible fact.

I couldn't jump.

To be more exact, in my arms was a heavy load the «Holy Sword Excaliber», so jumping five meters wouldn't be possible. Just by standing, my boots already bit into the ice.

Community
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кяαzєя
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  • So was the sword automatically a heavy load no matter what, or are we to believe that Kirito was carrying a bunch of stuff he considered more valuable? – zibadawa timmy Nov 03 '14 at 12:04
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    He can't put it in his inventory until the quest was completed. The sword itself is heavy so he had to carry it on his person, but if he did he never would have made the jump. – кяαzєя Nov 03 '14 at 15:05
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    I had a feeling being overburden preventing his jump was the case, but then why did he throw Excaliber away from his party, instead of throwing it onto Tonkii? – Toland H Nov 28 '14 at 03:45
  • Probably, if they throw on Tonkii they can damage it, remember who Kirito have the throw "skill" on SAO (and, probably on ALO too). On SAO chapter 1, they took some damage to a mob with a stone throw. – Sakura Kinomoto Mar 02 '15 at 12:01
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    Everyone seemed to forget in this episode that they have the ability to fly... – BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft Mar 16 '15 at 06:01
  • @BlueRaja-DannyPflughoeft Only adding this since someone else made it active again....But they did not forget they could fly...if you remember they can only reach a certain height while flying on their own. It looked like that castle was out of their reach. – Dupree3 Oct 21 '15 at 16:44
  • @Dupree3: Huh? This discussion wasn't able reaching the castle, it was about jumping a few feet from a platform to a flying tentacle elephant after the castle was destroyed. He threw his fancy new sword away in order to make the jump, completely forgetting that he and everyone else could fly. – BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft Oct 21 '15 at 17:06
  • @BlueRaja-DannyPflughoeft Right but if they are in the no fly zone that could be why no one did it at all...just a thought – Dupree3 Oct 21 '15 at 17:22
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    @BlueRaja-DannyPflughoeft - Other stuff I've read suggests underground environments are _all_ no-fly zones, and potentially they can't materialize their wings at all. Besides which, if he has a flight weight limit.... – Clockwork-Muse Oct 23 '15 at 07:18
  • It was mentioned that you can't fly in that underground world. – 絢瀬絵里 Feb 01 '16 at 08:21
  • You try jumping while having weapons equipped and holding a giant golden blade....you wouldn't have much success either. What I found odd was that Sinon had no problem reeling it in after more or less bowfishing it. – NZKshatriya Feb 12 '17 at 05:39
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It could be that he was still bearing the fact that he first met the sword during his first days in ALO when to him it was still not just a game but a reality so when he had the sword in hand during the 17th episode he began to remember certain unpleasant memories and thought to himself the weight of it all is still to heavy for him to bear its quite possible Sinon saw this (from the sideline) and retrieved the sword for him as a form of gratitude for helping to deal with her traumatic past once again possible kirito saw this in her eyes and accepted the sword as a gift from Sinon.

Heaven
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It is a very simple answer. He has no ability to use the sword unless he carries it forever because he cannot claim it. He cannot claim until Jötunheimr is restored, hence the end of the quest. Also he cannot jump with it because he would fall like a rock. He blames the Cardinal system because it will not let him have it because he has not completed the quest at hand. He has no ability to claim the sword therefore he throws it away because he cannot jump with it. Once on Tonky, sinon retrieves the sword with an arrow, but since Kirito is on Tonky and his handed the sword he can find out what he has to do to claim it without having to jump and fall to his death.

Jeramiah Trout
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The reason why kirito through the holy sword was because if he were to take it he would have to throw away the other items in his iventory. Though it had seemed that he was able to get it in season 2 mother's rosario he was eventually able to get the holy sword because in the first episode of mother's rosario he had a chest if you were paying attention. He was rewareded with the sword as well as a hammer at the of the episode excalibur.

Leevon Soe
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