Sword tattoo ideas

167 photos and flash · 20% Realism, 19% Traditional · Forearm most common

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Black and grey fine line and dotwork dagger tattoo with an ornate hilt and dotted trailing lines, on the forearm.
Dagger with dotted chain on a forearm
Neo-traditional style flash design of a red-haired archer with a Celtic knot tattoo on her shoulder, a bow, arrow, sword and white flowers, with a banner reading Fate Loves the Fearless.
Red-haired archer portrait with lettered banner
Black and grey realism tattoo of a winged caduceus with two snakes wrapped around a staff, placed on the back.
Winged caduceus with snakes on the back
Shaded pencil drawing of a Scottish heraldic lion on a shield, flanked by thistles, a sword and banners reading Scotland and Forever, a design suited to a tattoo.
Scottish lion crest with thistles and banners
Back tattoo of a seated samurai holding two swords within a black ink ensō circle and a red brushstroke, in a watercolour-style trash polka style across the upper back.
Seated samurai with enso circle on a back
Large colour and black-and-grey Batman tattoo on a man's upper back, with a Batman figure inside the bat logo and Joker, Riddler and Two-Face motifs around it.
Batman logo with villain motifs on back
Black and grey flash design of two skulls with wings above a shield, with a sword running down the centre, and a second design of crossed swords around an empty shield.
Winged skulls, sword and shield design
Illustrated flash design of a grey skull with red roses, barbed wire and a sword across a cross shape, on a black background.
Skull, roses and barbed wire design
Black and grey pencil drawing of a dagger piercing a shaded rose with leaves, a tattoo design with no body placement shown.
Dagger through a rose design
Black and grey Japanese style full back tattoo of a helmeted warrior, swirling clouds and a tiger, with a peony on the upper arm.
Full back warrior and tiger piece
Watercolour-style tattoo of a red rose pierced by a black dagger, with green splashes, on the outer calf.
Dagger and rose on a calf
Colour tattoo pair on two calves showing cartoon Peter Pan and Wendy against a blue night sky with stars, in an illustrative cartoon style.
Peter Pan and Wendy on both calves
Full colour tattoo of a woman in traditional dress holding a sword before mountains and flowers, across an upper arm and shoulder.
Warrior woman with sword on upper arm
Traditional style tattoo of a chibi figure in a grey cloak holding a sword, with the words KNOWS and NUTHIN above and below, on a lower leg.
Chibi figure in a grey cloak with Knows Nuthin lettering
Black and white photograph of a woman kneeling with her back to the camera, showing a Japanese-style dragon and cloud tattoo across her back and upper arm while she raises a katana overhead.
Japanese back tattoo with raised katana
Black and grey traditional flash sheet of Star Wars tattoo designs, including stormtroopers, Darth Vader, Yoda, Boba Fett and pin-up figures, with no body placement shown.
Star Wars traditional flash sheet
Black and grey forearm tattoo of a Link-like figure with a sword beneath a gold Triforce, with rays above, a black wolf creature below and rows of drops at the base.
Link, Triforce and wolf on a forearm
Pencil drawing of a traditional-style dagger with an ornate hilt and the word Rumplestiltskin on the blade, with banners reading All magic comes with a price, shown as a tattoo design.
Dagger with banner reading All magic comes with a price
Black and grey realism tattoo of a winged angel in armour holding a sword, covering the upper arm.
Winged armoured angel with sword on upper arm
Black and grey line drawing of a skull-faced queen in a crown on a playing card, with a broken heart balloon, a spider and swords, shown as a flash design rather than on skin.
Queen of hearts skull playing card design
Flash design of a teal handheld console character with a smiling face, impaled on a sword with two cream banners reading Who wants to play and Videogames.
Sword and handheld console banner design
Black line drawing of two daggers on paper, one with a crescent moon and star and the other with a sun and a falling drop, each inside a dotted circle.
Two daggers with moon and sun designs
Two flash designs on a white background: a black and grey sword with a skull and dragons, and a colour dragon coiled around a red-hilted sword with flames.
Skull, sword and dragon flash designs
Black and grey realism full sleeve on an upper arm and forearm, showing an armoured warrior, a skull, a spiked mace, a chain and a sword.
Armoured warrior sleeve with skull and sword
Black outline tattoo of Snow White and Alice in Wonderland inside ornate frames on the backs of both thighs, shown beside the paper stencil drawings.
Snow White and Alice outline designs on thighs
Black and grey fine line tattoo of a small mouse in a flowing cape holding a sword, on the calf.
Mouse knight with sword on a calf
Black and red tattoo design of a sword over a red cross shield, flanked by wings, with a banner reading Accipite Armaturam Dei.
Winged sword and shield with banner
Black and grey realism tattoo of a samurai in armour holding a katana, across the upper arm and shoulder.
Samurai warrior with katana on upper arm
Pencil sketch sheet of 24 circular abstract symbol designs, each labelled with a word such as peace, win, shield, sword, army or lose, on a beige background under the heading WAR AND PEACE.
War and peace symbol sketch sheet
Flash design of a scowling blue daruma-style mask with crossed swords behind it and the script lettering Read Between The Lines above, with no placement on the body shown.
Angry blue daruma mask with crossed swords
Black ink flash sheet of a sword, a bare branch, a bubbling cauldron and a star in a circle with rays, drawn in hatched linework on paper.
Sword, branch, cauldron and star flash sheet
Colourful neo-traditional style tattoo on a forearm showing the cartoon characters Link with a shield and sword and Zelda, with a triforce and ivy in a stained-glass style circle.
Link and Zelda forearm piece with triforce
Black and grey blackwork tattoo of a sword with its blade broken into fragments, running down the inner forearm.
Broken sword across a forearm
Fine line black ink finger tattoos on a hand, showing a pentagram in a circle, a sword and a small mallet, with a gold ring on the middle finger.
Fine line finger tattoos of a pentagram and blades
Black line drawing of a tribal-style tattoo design across the shoulder blade and upper back of a sketched male figure seen from behind, with a katana hilt at the waist.
Tribal shoulder and back design sketch
Black and grey dagger tattoo on a thigh and shin, with the blade cut at the knee and dripping, shown in a Traditional style.
Dagger tattoo running over the knee
Black and grey tattoo flash drawing of a large stylised wing with a rose window motif and a small figure, shown as a design with no body placement.
Winged design with gothic rose window
Neo-traditional tattoo flash drawing in blue linework of a smiling mask, peony flowers, leaves and a crossed dagger on cream paper.
Mask, peony and dagger design
Black dotwork flash sheet showing a rose, a snake, a dagger, a praying hand, an angel, a cross and church buildings, shown as tattoo designs with no placement on the body.
Dotwork flash sheet of churches, snakes and hands
Black and grey tattoo of wings above two crossed blades across the upper back, with script lettering on each side of the spine.
Winged blades and script on a back
Coloured Japanese-style design of a samurai warrior in armour holding a drawn sword, surrounded by yellow lightning bolts, clouds and black waves.
Samurai warrior with lightning and waves
Colour tattoo of the video game character Kirby wearing a green cap and holding a large blue sword, with three grey fairies with glowing centres, on a leg, in a traditional style.
Kirby with a sword and fairies on a leg
Black and grey realism back piece of a blindfolded Lady Justice holding scales and a sword, with cherubs and a ship across the upper back.
Blindfolded Lady Justice back piece
Black and grey realism full sleeve tattoo of a winged warrior angel among clouds, with classical statue figures below, shown on the upper arm and forearm from five angles.
Winged warrior angel full sleeve
Black and grey fine line dagger tattoo with an ornate hilt and dotted detail on the upper arm, photographed in black and white.
Ornate dagger on the upper arm
Traditional colour tattoo of stacked toy pirate figure parts, including a skull hat, eyepatch head and sword torso, running down a forearm.
Stacked pirate minifigure parts on a forearm
Black and grey full sleeve tattoo on an upper arm and forearm, showing skulls, horned creatures, a dagger and wolf-like heads among smoky clouds.
Black and grey full sleeve with skulls and beasts
A six-panel grid of small black fine line tattoo designs on pale backgrounds, including mountains with a moon, a tree with stars, a leaf, a serpent, and a ring with inscribed lettering.
Six small fine line tattoo designs in a grid