I’m Luke Summerhayes and I love Honedge.
The existence of war in the Pokemon world has always been a topic addressed awkwardly and danced around. In the first generation, Lt Surge was the “Lightning American” who fought in an undefined war. Remoraid and Octillery were initially designed as a revolver and tank, and Hydreigon also has elements of an earlier tank-based design. In the Lucario movie we saw a medieval war, and war was mentioned in the backstory of some ancient legendary Pokemon.
Finally, in the sixth generation, historical wars became a focal point of the legendary plot, and we also gained a Pokemon which is literally a haunted weapon, or indeed weapons.
Honedge is a ghost and steel type Pokemon, a much requested type combination which was only more valuable in the wake of the Fairy Type arriving. How does a Pokemon have elements of both ghosts, the most ephemeral, and metal, the most physically hard? It’s a possessed sword.
X
Apparently this Pokémon is born when a departed spirit inhabits a sword. It attaches itself to people and drinks their life force.
Y
If anyone dares to grab its hilt, it wraps a blue cloth around that person's arm and drains that person's life energy completely.

The name Honedge could refer to a honed edge, the sharp sword blade, though I’ve always seen the word honor in there, perhaps because I’m a samurai fanatic. The sword itself is more in a western, straight sword style, with its scabbard held by a long cloth.
Sword
Honedge's soul once belonged to a person who was killed a long time ago by the sword that makes up Honedge's body.
Shield
The blue eye on the sword's handguard is the true body of Honedge. With its old cloth, it drains people's lives away.

The Japanese name is Hitotsuki, a combination of hitori, meaning one of, and tsuki, either a stab or a curse. It stops being just one when, at level 35, it evolves into Doublade.
Doublade, as the name suggests, doubles the blades – the Pokemon’s ghostly essence now possesses two swords at once. The Japanese name, Nidangill, also incorporates the word Ni, meaning two. Nidan could mean secod rank, and at the end there we have either Kiru, the Japanese for cut, or even just the English word kill.
X
When Honedge evolves, it divides into two swords, which cooperate via telepathy to coordinate attacks and slash their enemies to ribbons.
Y
The complex attack patterns of its two swords are unstoppable, even for an opponent greatly accomplished at swordplay.

Shield
The two swords employ a strategy of rapidly alternating between offense and defense to bring down their prey.

This strategy will come to the fore when, after being exposed to a dawn stone, Doublade evolves into Aegislash.
Aegislash is still a possessed sword but now, rather than a second blade or an empty sheath, it is accompanied by a shield.
X
Generations of kings were attended by these Pokémon, which used their spectral power to manipulate and control people and Pokémon.
Y
Apparently, it can detect the innate qualities of leadership. According to legend, whoever it recognizes is destined to become king.

This quality is reminiscent of Excalibur, the sword wielded by King Arthur of the Britons. While this is a British myth originally, most of the fanciful elements we know today were added by French storytellers, centuries or even a millenium after the fact.
The Aegis was the shield of the Greek God Zeus, here combined with the slash of a sword. The Japanese name is Gillgard, combining the gill form the previous form with the guard of a shield.
Aegislash can switch between a defensive, shield-forward form and an aggressive sword-based attack mode.
In defensive form, which is how it naturally enters battle, it has a whopping 150 defence.
Shield Forme
Sword
In this defensive stance, Aegislash uses its steel body and a force field of spectral power to reduce the damage of any attack.

When Aegislash uses an attacking move, it switches to its attack form, dropping that massive defence stat but replacing it with an equally enormous attack.
Blade Forme
Sword
This stance is dedicated to offense. It can cleave any opponent with the strength and weight of its steel blade.

Aegislash has very slow speed, so by allowing opponents to attack first it can tank a hit in shield form, then transform and unleash massive damage in attack form. This switch up meant it had essentially no weak point, even swallowing super-effective moves, and allowed Aegislash to dominate competitive play for a generation or two.
Aegislash also showed up in Pokken Tournament, where for all its weirdness it basically moved like a humanoid figure, with the blade as a body and the ribbon and shield as two arms.
People love to complain about Pokemon based on inanimate objects, but they’re always quick to shut up when faced with a cool possessed sword.
Music for Luke Loves Pokemon is by Jonathan Cromie. Artwork for the show is by Katie Groves. Honedge and its evolved forms were designed by Hitoshi Ariga. If you enjoy the podcast, find out about my other shows at podcastiopodcastius.org, get in touch on bluesky @podcastpodcast, or support the show at patreon.com/podcastiopodcastius.
I love hearing from Listeners! Up next are Spritzee and Swirlix, so hit me up about those or any other Pokemon. Even if you don’t feel like doing any of that, thank you so much for listening.
I love Honedge. And remember, I love you too