Swords of Justice

The Swords of Justice

The Swords of Justice (Japanese 聖剣士 sacred swordsmen) is a collective term to refer to the quartet of Cobalion, Terrakion, Virizion, and Keldeo. They are also commonly referred to by fans as the legendary musketeers.

The group is based on the French novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, père. Cobalion represents Athos, the oldest and de facto leader of the group. Terrakion represents Porthos, the strongest, heaviest, and largest member of the group. Virizion represents Aramis, the most feminine, vain, and romantic member of the group. Keldeo represents d'Artagnan, the youngest by far and the latest addition to the group. The group has challenged humans in legends in order to protect other Pokémon from losing their homes to human expansion.

All of the Pokémon share a secondary type, Fighting-type, and all share the Ability Justified. Many of their moves refer to swordplay, something the musketeers specialized in, such as Swords Dance and their signature move, Sacred Sword.

When gathered at the Moor of Icirrus or Pledge Grove, Cobalion, Terrakion and Virizion will teach Keldeo its own signature move, Secret Sword.

Similar movesets

Lv.	Cobalion  Steel  Fighting	Terrakion  Rock  Fighting	Virizion  Grass  Fighting	Keldeo  Water  Fighting
Start	Quick Attack			Aqua Jet
	Leer
7	Double Kick
13	Metal Claw	Smack Down	Magical Leaf	BubbleBeam
19	Take Down
25	Helping Hand
31	Retaliate
37	Iron Head	Rock Slide	Giga Drain	Aqua Tail
42*	Sacred Sword
49	Swords Dance
55	Quick Guard
61	Work Up
67	Metal Burst	Stone Edge	Leaf Blade	Hydro Pump
73	Close Combat
Moves in bold are STAB. Moves in italics do no damage.

Base stat comparison

Pokémon	Cobalion	Terrakion	Virizion	Keldeo
HP	91	91	91	91
Attack	90	129	90	72
Defense	129	90	72	90
Sp. Attack	90	72	90	129
Sp. Defense	72	90	129	90
Speed	108	108	108	108
Total	580	580	580	580

In the anime

The Swords of Justice in the anime

Main article: Swords of Justice (M15)

The Swords of Justice all made their anime debuts in Kyurem VS. The Sword of Justice. Cobalion, Terrakion, and Virizion train their youngest member, Keldeo, but before the Colt Pokémon finishes its training, it decides to test its strength against Kyurem. The Boundary Pokémon proves to be too much for Keldeo who flees from the battle, but is actively pursued by Kyurem who wants to finish their match. Keldeo is then found by Ash and his friends who help it to defeat Kyurem.

In the manga

Virizion, Cobalion, and Terrakion in Pokémon RéBURST

In the Pokémon Adventures manga

Virizion was the first to debut in Pokémon Adventures, appearing in A Direct Attack and a Daunting Defense, where it attacks Black and White as they cross the Skyarrow Bridge, cutting up their clothing. Black later decides to capture the Swords of Justice to battle against Team Plasma and seeks out Virizion, having seen it before. He manages to find both Virizion and Terrakion near Mistralton Cave with the help of Shōko and Trish, where he battles against both of them with Buoh. Trish decides to battle with her Heatmor but is interrupted by Cobalion showing up and knocking everyone down. Trish's torch causes an explosion inside the cave, and the three Pokémon work to get everyone out, then kidnap Trish and Shōko's Pokémon. Black tracks them using Musha's dream eating abilities, and he manages to free the girls' Pokémon after telling the three legends that Trish and Shōko truly love their Pokémon. Cobalion, Virizion, and Terrakion then disappear into the distance, much to Black's disappointment since he never captured them.

In the Pokémon RéBURST manga

The Swords of Justice, excluding Keldeo, are captured by the organization Great Gavel and turned into Burst Hearts. Their Burst Hearts are then given to the three generals: Amu, Ganku, and Rovy.

Trivia

• Apart from Arceus when holding the Fist Plate, they are the only quadrupedal Fighting-type Pokémon.
• All of the musketeer members have HP and Speed stats of 91 and 108, respectively.
  • They also have base stat values of 72-90-90-129, distributed differently.
  • Each member of the quartet specializes in a certain stat, with Cobalion in Defense, Terrakion in Attack, Virizion in Special Defense and Keldeo in Special Attack.
• Cobalion, Virizion and Keldeo all share a type combination with only one other Pokémon: Lucario, Breloom and Poliwrath, respectively. Terrakion has a unique type combination.
• The Swords of Justice have their own battle transition like the Tao trio and the Kami trio. The screen will pause, fade to black and then a sword will slash through the screen and then a glass will break into pieces and the battle starts.
• Three of the members share their heights with the legendary beasts:
  • Entei and Cobalion are both 6'11".
  • Suicune and Virizion are both 6'07".
  • Raikou and Terrakion are both 6'03".
• This is the only group of legendaries to have got an event-exclusive pokémon as part of it, in this case Keldeo.