Knights of the Cross

The Knights of the Cross, also known as the Knights of the Sword, are a group of people who wield one of three holy swords, each forged with one of the nails from the Crucifixion of Christ.

The Knights
The knights are a force for Light that help keep the balance with the forces for darkness. When something truly evil happened, one of the Knights tended to show up.

Primary Purpose
The Knights of the Cross were founded to save the Denarians, not to destroy them. Their purpose is to face and challenge the Fallen and give the human they hold the chance to reconsider their choice, to set it aside, to change their path.

Michael Carpenter states that their purpose, at least as it relates to the Denarians, is to rescue the poor souls trapped by the Fallen. They were not given their power to strike down their enemies no matter how much they might deserve it. When Harry attempts to presuade The Knights into taking an offensive operation against The Fallen, Michael states, "This isn't a democracy, Harry. We serve a King."

In Death Masks, Father Forthill tells Harry that Nicodemus Archleone is an ancient foe of the Knights. He says that Nicodemus has killed every knight who has gone up against him, all except two. Shiro Yoshimo is one of them. Harry thought it was the Knights job to deal out justice: "Fists of God".

Lineage Theory
The exact prerequisite qualifications for being chosen are unknown. Harry Dresden's working theory is that Knights are descendents of old royalty - which were the subjects of power in the old world. This would fit all the recent Knights known to him: Shiro is descended from the last king of Okinawa, Sanya from Saladin , Michael from Charlemagne. So far, the swords have been temporarily used by at least two people of unknown descent, Karrin Murphy and Susan Rodriguez, which neither lends further proof nor unproof to Dresden's theory.

About / Details:
There is thrum of energy around Michael Carpenter when says his usual prayer before enter a battle with darkness.

List of Knights
Amoracchius:
 * Michael Carpenter (retired)

Esperacchius:
 * Sanya (current wielder)
 * The Egyptian (deceased?)

Fidelacchius:
 * Shiro Yoshimo (slain)

As of Small Favor through Cold Days, Sanya is the only active Knight left.

The Swords
The Swords of the Cross are three Holy Swords made from the three nails of Christ's crucifixion. The swords are protected by a holy power, a protection that can be broken by trying to use the sword in opposition to the principles it upholds. For instance, the sword of faith will become vulnerable when its wielder breaks a promise. Once that protection is broken, killing an innocent with one of the swords will destroy its powers.


 * Amoracchius, The Sword of Love. It has the form of a heavy European broad sword. Also known as Excalibur.
 * Esperacchius, The Sword of Hope. It has the form of a cavalry sabre. Also known as Durendal.
 * Fidelacchius, The Sword of Faith. It has the form of a katana. Also known as Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi.

Fidelacchius

 * In Death Masks, Shiro Yoshimo was killed and in his last moments he gave the sword, Fidelacchius, to Harry Dresden for safekeeping, that he would know who to the next knight will be.
 * In Proven Guilty, Michael asks Harry if he found any candidates for wielder of Fidelacchius, at this time had not.
 * In Changes, the two swords in Dresden's care were temporarily used—Fidelacchius by Karrin Murphy.

Amoracchius

 * In Proven Guilty, Then Michael says that, according to Church records, this is not the first time that one of the White Council has been asked to be custodian of one of the Swords. Harry is one—the other is The original Merlin who had Amoracchius.
 * In Small Favor, Michael Carpenter was gravely injured on Demonreach. Afterwards he chose to retire from active Knight duty, also giving his Sword to Dresden.
 * In Changes, the two swords in Dresden's care were temporarily used—Amoracchius by Susan Rodriguez.

Esperacchius

 * In Small Favor, Esperacchius  was offered by the Archangel Michael to the former Denarian, Sanya, who accepted.

Related Items:

 * Amoracchius
 * Esperacchius
 * Fidelacchius
 * The Athame
 * Objects of faith

Foes:

 * Nicodemus Archleone
 * Anduriel
 * Order of the Blackened Denarius
 * Fallen
 * Ursiel
 * Rasmussen
 * Leanansidhe
 * Nightmare
 * Bianca St. Claire
 * Mavra
 * Agatha Hagglethorn

Related Locations:

 * Saint Mary of the Angels
 * Carpenter home
 * Harry Dresden's apartment
 * Murphy's Home
 * Bianca's Ball
 * Velvet Room
 * Demonreach
 * Chichen Itza
 * Temple of Kukulkan

Charlemagne

 * Charlemagne Video — History.com
 * Charlemagne - Wikipedia
 * Charlemagne -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia
 * The Sword of Charlemagne -- myArmoury.com

Saladin

 * Saladin — History.com Video
 * Saladin - Wikipedia
 * Saladin (Ayyubid sultan) -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia
 * Saladin - Timeline
 * Saladin (Salah al-Din Yusuf Ibn Ayyub)

Last King of Okinawa

 * Ryukyu Kingdom - Wikipedia
 * Shō Tai - Wikipedia
 * A Brief History of Okinawa
 * List of monarchs of Ryukyu Islands - Wikipedia