In all of fantasy, there is no weapon that is more an icon of the genre than the classic, dependable sword. Sure, a quarterstaff is hardy, a crossbows gets the job done, and you’ll never find a weapon more impressive than the chakram, but at the end of the day, when we think of fantasy heroes, they’re probably holding swords.
Swords can be found as far back in human history as the Bronze Age, roughly around the 17th century BC. It’s believed that they evolved from earlier cutting tools made from stone. Bronze, a far more durable material than stone, allowed early man to extend the length of these cutting tools into a very rough form of the sword we know today.
With the advent of the Iron Age in the 13th century BC, swords made of iron began appearing, which were not necessarily stronger or better than bronze swords, but the greater availability of iron made for quicker and larger production of swords, and when you need to equip an army, you don’t want to take your time.
Some clever smiths soon discovered, however, that by adding a bit of carbon to the iron during the smelting process, they ended up with a much stronger alloy which we now know as steel.
A common iron sword that can be considered an ancestor of the more well-known medieval swords is the spatha, first introduced by the Roman Empire. Roughly measuring about 3 feet long, the spatha was actually a longer version of the Roman gladius, a relatively short sword.
(Fun fact: the spatha gets its name from the Greek word spathe, which means any long, flat object, and is the basis of the word “spatula.” Flip the pancakes and make sure no one takes more than their fair share!)
Soon the sword spread far and wide, and some form of the weapon appeared on every continent. In fact, on Antarctica they even used icicles as swords.
Okay, that’s not true. But it would be awesome.
As stated before, the sword is a mainstay in fantasy fiction, to the point where some stories practically revolve around the weapon.
Arthurian legend, of course, prominently displays the mythic sword Excalibur. Excalibur is most often shown as an arming sword — sometimes called a knightly sword — which was a pretty standard one-handed cruciform sword, complete with cross-guard.
In The Princess Bride, Cary Elwes and Mandy Patinkin took part in an infamous, elaborate, gorgeously-choreographed sword fight relatively early on in the film. The swords they were using were slightly fantasized versions of rapiers, slender fencing swords with elaborate hand grips to offer superioor protection. (These swords started to appear around 1500 and became very popular with the civilian classes. Apparently civilians were into dueling.)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is perhaps the most well-known wuxia (Chinese martial arts fantasy) film to American audiences, and the plot centers around the stolen Green Destiny, the sword belonging to the protagonist Li Mu-bai. The Green Destiny is a jian, a double-edged, flexible sword still commonly used today in martial arts competitions.
The Highlander series also makes use of swords, notably those based on the katana, or samurai sword. The katana was in fact the main weapon of the samurai, the warrior class of feudal Japan. It is a single-edged, slightly curved blade, and its cutting ability is the stuff of legend.
And then, of course, there is the light saber. As technology evolves, everything old is new again, and, whether Star Wars took place “long, long ago” or not, I have a feeling the sword is going to be around for a long time to come.
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Any university student taking Feminist Studies 101 will point out that since fantasy is primarily aimed at adolescent males, the obviousness of the phallic nature of the sword for dealing with all ones problems can’t be overstated.
Me? I kinda think swords are cool. Go figure.
Ha!
Btw, I used think no. Now I think yes.
(Same for guns. Yeah, big-time.)
At the very least, one could use that feminist reasoning to argue why longer swords are considered “cooler”, and how the short sword is under appreciated for its versatility.
Best I agree. Swords are cool.
Cool article.
I imagine that in the real world, swords would actually get blood on them and become “dull” over time, as opposed to the world of “fantasy” where they rarely seem to be covered in blood after a “hit” (unless blood is added for extra emphasis on a major plot-point) and they seem to be able to slice through dozens and dozens of enemies before losing their sharpness.