![]() Instead of strong, beautiful women warriors wielding deadly weapons, we most often get clumsy, brainless blade babes. (But, hey, there’s nothing stopping you getting a little martial arts training now.)īut what of the true history of women using swords? Well, let’s close this by rolling the credits, featuring just a few of the countless female warriors, duelists, and military commanders throughout history:ġ69 CE – Empress Jingu was a member of the the onna-bugeisha, a type of female warrior belonging to the Japanese nobility. She was recognized as the onna-bugeisha who led an invasion of Korea in 200 CE after her husband Emperor Chūai, the fourteenth emperor of Japan, was slain in battle. Nowadays the 2013 longsword champion just happens to be a female (the magnificently named Samantha Swords), yet women in fantasy literature are still too often portrayed in chainmail bikinis. And it wasn’t the awkwardness of the swing as swords were designed to be well-balanced and agile. ![]() So what would have kept a woman from wielding a longsword throughout history? Honestly, the only thing that kept more women from using swords is that they rarely got the training. It wasn’t the weight, certainly. Well, we’ve now established that a sword weighed as much as a 64 ounce squeeze bottle of ketchup, and I’ve never seen a girl who had trouble slinging one of those around. ![]() I was reading a message thread on a popular website that rhymes with ‘said it’ and a deep-thinking gentleman was adamant that female characters in Skyrim were unrealistic because girls were much too girlie to use a sword. Orcs and elves aren’t real, so why are we getting a PhD in medieval sword history here? Realism in fantasy literature and media is selective at best. Why have a avatar with a nimble weapon that cuts so quick that the graphics barely render, when your character can wield a big, massive weapon that cuts epic swaths through the enemy? I want the big sword, bro.Īnd this finally brings me to my point. So why does nerd media portray swords as giant weapons that only a brute could lift? Well, the afore-mentioned legends played a role, but the reality is that massive swords are a power fantasy in genre fiction that have been made popular in video games. But if you want to cut ’em, cut ’em quick. And most swords meant to penetrate armor would do so by thrusting, since if your intention is to bash your opponent with a giant, heavy weapon then you are much better off with a mace or war hammer. Instead, the amount of damage a sword causes is mainly a product of the angle, sharpness, and speed when striking. In addition – and contrary to popular opinion – a heavier sword doesn’t hold a significant damage advantage. A heavy sword would make a wielder slow, ponderous, and add to fatigue, making them easy prey for someone with a faster weapon. This is because swords intended for combat needed to be nimble, balanced, and easy to handle. A heavy sword would have been a liability more than an advantage. In other words, medieval swords were lightweights. Even the ginormous “great swords” famous in RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons only weighed between 5-6 pounds, which is considerably less than a gallon of milk. ![]() īut the reality is that a typical medieval sword was the same weight as a carton of soy milk, a Macbook Pro, a young chihuahua, or a bunch of bananas. “Joan of Arc” or “Jeanne d’Arc”, unknown. Tales like those cemented the idea of heavy, massive swords in the public consciousness. After all, there are a variety of legends of weapons that only heroes could lift (Excalibur, Mjölnir), plus all sorts of fanciful tales about historical figures who swung blades no normal man could lift. It’s understandable that people have began to picture medieval swords as hefty, crude implements. Does any one know how much a typical medieval sword really weighed? Less than 4 pounds. Of course, you wouldn’t know this from popular media, where swords are portrayed as nothing more than big, lumbering clubs with edges.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |