Swords do not rust-- It doesn't matter how much blood was spilled. It doesn't matter if the sword is 3,000,000,000,000,000,000 years old and a relic of an aformentioned ancient alien race. Swords are made of special metal that is incapable of rusting, pitting, snapping, succumbing to gravity, or simply up and falling off their hilts.
Speaking of which, do not refer to the hilt of the sword as a hilt. Who the hell knows what a hilt is, anyway? Stupid hilts. Call them "handles" or something equally understandable by inbred, mentally impaired third-graders from Iowa.
If-- heaven forbid- you run out of unique and excellent material, or have room in your party for JUST ONE MORE CHARACTER, it is perfectly acceptable to steal said idea or character from a comic. However, not all people are aware of this, and it might help to use obscure comics, such as Sandman. Or InuYasha. Because it's certain that none of your potential readers has EVER heard of Neil Gaiman or Rumiko Takahashi.