Farslayer, from the Book of Lost Swords, could instantly kill any target anywhere, with almost no defense possible, just by unambiguously identifying the target. The catch is, once it’s done so the sword remains with the corpse, and the victim’s next of kin could then target the sword at “the one who sent it to kill this man”.
That sounds about as well thought out and useful as the Doomsday Machine the Soviets built but didn’t tell anyone about.
By my count (not having seen a couple of the movies), technological terrors have destroyed at least two star systems, while the (Dark) Force wielders have…Force choked a few extras and, on average, scored about 50% in light saber battles, generally losing some limbs in process. Also, they’ve proven completely inept at protecting said technological terrors.
A long time ago, in an epic war, a great civilization was seduced by the dark side of the force and used it to create Jar Jar Bink’s race to destroy the enemy. This was universallly condemned, even by the makers, and users of the dark side of the force have been holding back ever since. Never again would such a weapon of terror be released upon the universe.
In the HGttG book Life, the Universe and Everything, the simple people of Krikkit attempted to destroy the Universe (well, all the stars in the Universe), using The Ultimate Weapon. “It all has to go.”
There’s a bonus Universe destruction in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, but that’s the usual Gib Gnab, not the use of a weapon.
There was a sci-fi movie, I think with James Spader, where beings are tempted to seize this mysterious object in deep space and bring it back to their home planet. And then it makes their himw sun go supernova, destroying the sun, all the planets around it and presumably other “near bye” solar systems as well.
Can’t recall the name of the flick, though it isn’t all that old.
Going with a different definition of ‘powerful’ there’s the Crippled God’s cursed sword from the Malazan Book of the Fallen. The first person to touch it is essentially unkillable. The wielder can never let go of it and comes back to life when slain, becoming more insane and pained with each resurrection.
Pound per pound, I’m a fan of the Soft Weapon, from Niven’s short story of the same name. Basically, a nuclear pistol. Fire it at things very far away.
How about Dr. Device from Ender’s Game? It forces molecules to split into base atoms, so it can destroy anything. It draws power from the molecules that it’s destroying, so it works as a self-sustaining chain reaction as long as it’s in contact with matter. It’s powerful enough to destroy an entire planet, and it’s cheap and light enough that every ship in humanity’s fleet carries one.
The Excession. It makes the Culture feel like a bunch of folk banging some rocks together, and it turns out that it’s really just a bog-standard inter-Universe transport conduit that ends up quite pleased that it’s been given a name.
In one blog for actual weapons, Little Boy and Tsar Bomba ranked in the lower 5 of top 10 most powerful weapons. #2 most powerful was more psychological in nature: dead bodies. It must suck to be cooped up in a castle and have the mutilated, diseased corpses of former buddies catapulted at you.
What am I, chopped liver?
The Cosmic Cube can do anything the user wants. I’ve worked on systems where that was the spec.
Regards,
Shodan
Sorry, did a search and your post didn’t turn up. Can’t remember what term I used but obviously the wrong one. I’ll go spend some time in the Total Perspective Vortex.
In the Honorverse, there is an interstellar law called the “Eridani Edict” against using weapons from space to slaughter civilian populations on planetary surfaces. This is considered necessary because, for a long time past, all space-navies have had technology that would make that easy. If you can accelerate your missiles to a substantial fraction of the speed of light – and they can – then you can use them to wipe out life on a planetary surface without even detonating them – just slam some into the surface and you’ve got your dinosaur-killer event.
The Omega 13. It can destroy pretty much anything, or it, as some people think, can effect a thirteen second jump into the past. It gives you time to redeem a mistake.
Well, if we’re going to eschew all the sci-fi wankery then I’ll vote for a real weapon, the Argo’s wave motion gun.
On the scale of some of these examples, hell, Lens Larque doesn’t even begin to approach chopped liver. G’wan, put Larque in all his might against the Lensmen, or the Instrumentality of Man, or The Berserkers, or Dominic Flandry’s Terran Empire. Larque isn’t even as powerful as, say, the dictator of Liberia.
Darsh toast.
(Mind you, I’d never say that to your/his face… I know which end of Panak to avoid!)
Bel Ruk will be around shortly. It will go harder with you if you struggle.
I almost used “Silas Sparkhammer” as my SDMB login name. Bummer I didn’t! We could have raided Mount Pleasant and divided the spoils.