trickstertime:cool-mint:dothraklingon:infuriatingly-adorable:whiskey-wolf:And this is what happens w

trickstertime:cool-mint:dothraklingon:infuriatingly-adorable:whiskey-wolf:And this is what happens when a masterfully crafted katana collides with a masterfully crafted longsword.Suck it, katanaAnd that is what happens when a masterfully crafted scalpel collides with a masterfully crafted guillotine.Does nobody understand that longswords and katanas are two different kinds of tool?Longswords are essentially sharpened fucksticks designed to destroy the shit out of anything resembling armor that comes their way. They shatter bone, jelly flesh, and essentially fuck people up by sheer inexorable force of being a goddamn sharp steel bar.Katanas don’t do that.They’re not meant to withstand collision with armor or a brick wall or a charging fully outfitted warhorsebecause the circumstances of its development didn’t call for that. It’s a precision instrument. It’s designed to be lightweight, outmaneuver, and find weak spots, not go barreling into people hack-n-slashing your way to victory. It’s a specialized tool.In a sense this reflects a core difference between cultures; katanas are a shitton of work and preparation to make the execution as efficient and streamlined as possible, while longswords are more durably and simply made in response to a climate that would require a soldier to be a one-man battering ram in battle.You slam any blade into any other blade and one of them is at least going to get chipped, because you’re NOT SUPPOSED TO FUCKING DO THAT.Medieval European / Japanese sword-fighting manuals didn’t have “Now Clang the Swords Together and Totally Ruin Them For No Good Reason Whatsoever” sections. That sword-clanging crap is from movies because you want to show a 2 minute dancey sword-fight and have to do something during that time, because in real sword fights it’s either over in 25 seconds with one guy on the ground, dead, or it goes on for 4 hours as two guys in armor wear themselves out, slamming the broad sides of the sword against the armor.Swords aren’t lightsabers.This is like proving a Volkswagen Beetle is a “crap car” by running it into a bridge pylon at 85 mph. It’s a pointless demonstration, because you’re not supposed to do that.Neither one of these weapons was invented to cut another sword in half, Both were invented to cut a GUY in half. In slightly different ways, but still.oh my god thank youOne thing I’d say about longswords is that they’re not for cleaving things in half whatsoever. You absolutely do not swing them like they do in movies. You use battle axes that way. If you do that with a longsword you’ll be slow as hell and either bend or break the sword.Believe it or not longswords are surprisingly fast and dancing-esque slicing weapon. Think of a time you’ve cut yourself on a knife because it slid across your skin and how easy it cut through the skin, now imagine that but the knife is five feet long and someone who wants you dead is doing the sliding. They’re not cleavers, they’re spun around their centre of gravity and leverage points (like your own sword) in arks with sliding motions, often times the wielder will have a special glove that they can hold the blade to better balance it. Gifs below showing examples of using a combatants sword as a fulcrum to swing the sword around. (it’s also a good demo of the batshit speed they’d move them at).I think they got the reputation as machete type attack weapons because of illustrations of them cutting off heads and limbs and even cutting people in half. The thing is, they did do that, but they did it in much the same way that sliding a bread knife back and forth through bread cuts more effectively that trying to push it straight down. Like, yes, they did do chopping motions but it wasn’t swung like a hatchet like in films/TV and they were more effective at cutting when sliding. Oh also, most times the soldier wouldn’t straight up kill you either. Like, tactically all they had to do is disable you in some way and then move on as you bled out. They’d specifically aim for the neck and your major tendons. If you were in anything less than full plate and we’re up against a skilled longsword user you were fairly fucked. Even if you were good with a rapier you may be technically faster but they’ve got the reach and their blade had more inertia than yours Have a look at the gif below, it’s a longsword vs rapier. The rapier user has a sword and one of those little parry knife things but in less than four seconds the longsword user has parried their attack and sliced along their kneck while backing away to safety. Not sure why I went on such a rant but I apparently feel very passionate about longswords being depicted incorrectly in media. -- source link

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