I'd like to add a fact about horses for context involving anti-horse weapons, Shad you may not realize that while horses can move around on their own if they have an injured leg! However, if the horse is under a burden (such as a rider or knight), they will immediately lose balance and fall! As well it doesn't take much injury to a horse's leg to hobble them and make them all but useless, that's why sometimes you'll see plates on the front legs of a horse, since they were the most vulnerable during a charge!
I don't know if setting for a charge would be a good idea against a horse if all you have is a sword no matter how big the sword. That's a lot of tonnage bearing down on ya and even for something significantly smaller like say a Lion people tended to use SPEARS for this!
@@franohmsford7548 people also hunted bears and mammoths with sharpened sticks. Not exactly a realistic argument. I get your point tho. But they factually were used not just for cutting the legs but even impaling horses /slicing up the body as it passes by.
@@franohmsford7548 well I mean my legs are definitely longer than 3 ft lol but I understand your point, and yes it would generally be closer to 2ft like a large sword. However there are many which instead of a 5- 6ft blade may have a 4ft blade with roughly a 3ft handle. And yes it obviously has relation to and shares concepts with a polearm but is still a sword. For anti calvary use
Horse legs are very fragile. To the point that you usually have to put them down if they get injured. The nodachi was probably made long so you could cut at the legs while staying out of reach of the rider.
That's not exactly true, it's not that they are fragile as much as horses spend majority of their time, even most of their asleep standing up. So it's really hard to heal a horses leg. (tho especially with modern technology it can be done) they were used for that tho yes, and not necessarily just the legs, the larger handle is for a strong and powerful enough grip to even stab /slice through the horses body if needed
The "Montante" is more a "style" than just a sword. It's a swordstyle (Italian one, unsurprisingly) that was made specifically for use with Greatswords. The basic principle behing the style is to use the momentum of your sword to keep swinging continuously. The style was very popular amongst Italian mercenaries, since they were often employed as scouts, skirmishers or bodyguards and thus often had to fight outnumbered, and this "Montante" style is incredibly good when you're facing multiple opponents. At least that's what I've read about, but if someone is more versed on the subject than I am, I'm sure they'd come and correct me xD
I mostly thought it's iberian (Spanish-Portugiese). The italian Spadone comes very close in style, but both has Treatizes from Swordmasters who were born in spain or later imigrated to Italy. Well, except for the native italian ones of course 😂 But yes, I made a video about the Montante a few weeks ago where I talk about the fightingstyle too. You are right about using the Momentum and the need of moving it continuosly
And I enjoy your videos very much sir! I often use them to help me train with my zweihander (I made a couple of videos to track my progress and form) keep up the great work!!!! 👍
My friend, the Montante is a weapon and a fighting style originating from the Iberian peninsula and more precisely from the kingdom of Spain, you are confusing yourself with the Italian Spadone.
>Italian one, unsurprisingly Much like the adjacent southern france and spanish variants, its mostly translations of how the german(ic) mercs kept backstabbing the locals after clearing bandits or escorting a priest (typically from another priest or church) and sweeping their far less backstab happy local mercenaries rather than a actual "italian" style of use. The actual italian style bits are mostly the sports/fencing stances for duels and adding in the existing grappling styles when unable to swing the weapon freely (much like french use as a shitty spear and spanish addition of the batting motions and emphasis of maintaining fully horizontal guards most likely from the same translation issues other manuals had when converting compound words).
If you're not familiar with it, there is the "Grand Falchion" which was an anti-cavalry sword for attack horses. Also I believe the Nagamaki is the Japanese anti-cavalry sword. Anti-cavalry swords like that are are also one of my top picks for an adventurer who would be fighting various fantasy beasts.
I don't see grand falchions being used for horses; their blades would be too thin for such a task. Falchions aren't the mix up of a sword and axe, as many seem to think. They are anti armour, cloth armour.
@@LurkerDaBerzerker They are anti-flesh as much as they are anti-cloth and the bare flesh of a horse would be easy to cut even with a thinner blade. Also not sure how a thin blade makes them no good for the job or how you concluded they are thin, or even if you found a thin one, why you think that means they're all thin? The proportions also give away its use. If it was for fighting against people, the blade would either be longer, or the grip would be shorter. The design is optimised for attacking larger beasts, not people. Japanese Nagamaki: Has an unusually long grip for its comparatively short and choppy blade. Its an anti-cavalry weapon designed to attack the horse. Chinese Zhanmadao: Has an unusually long grip for its comparatively short and choppy blade. Its an anti-cavalry weapon designed to attack the horse. European Grand Falchion: Has an unusually long grip for its comparatively short and choppy blade. But you think its somehow... NOT an anti-cavalry weapon and wouldn't be any good for attacking a horse.
@@RainMakeR_Workshop First of all, I don't believe there are any surviving Grand Falchions? James Elmslie is the head honcho when it comes to European single edged blades, I suppose I could hit him up and ask if he knows for sure whether or not any Grand Falchions are anti cavalry, meant for attacking horses. And yes, falchions are anti flesh, if they cut cloth armours well then flesh is rather obvious, no?
@@LurkerDaBerzerkerAs you can literally see in the video you have commented under... A lot of Swords made for anti-horsie or anti-armor are not particularly thick. Steel>Bone in terms of durability, simple as. And thin blades can very, very much cut well (check the rapier tests)
Something like a swordstaff, with a long haft would be good. A nagamaki or nagintana is a good example. Really just a shortsword mounted on a 4-5 foot pole would be good.
Just a heads up on claymore confusion it just means greatsword/big sword. The really large claymore is actually from the lowlands and was more or less just the Scottish version of a warsword/greatsword. There is a lot of names for pretty much a polarm sized sword used during the 15th-17th centuries. The basket hilt broadsword was called claymore by the victorians, it also was common from the 15th-20th century. It's still the parad sword for Scottish regiments in the UK.
But the large two-hander wouldn't have been called "claymore" in the Lowlands in period - because (for the most part) they spoke Scots there, not Gaelic. I have skimmed through several collections of 17th & 18th century Gaelic poetry and found no references to a two-hander at all, but that's not surprising because weapons are spoken of in more poetic terms like "na lannan liath" (the grey blades). I know of no contemporary documentation linking "an claidheamh mòr" or its anglicized form "claymore" to the two-hander. I would love to be proven wrong on this point. Furthermore, in the 18th century, "an claidheamh mòr" definitely refers to the basket-hilt broadsword in Gaelic usage, and in English/Scots as well (for example, see Adam Skirving's song "Johnny Cope": "In troth, quo Johnny, I got sic flegs / wi' their claymores and philabegs", referring to the Jacobites at Prestonpans). Victorians calling the basket-hilt "claymore" represents continuity from 18th century practice, not a break from it (and is a rare instance of Victorians getting history right!). It appears that "claymore" didn't start to refer to the two-hander until the 20th century. The "great" in "an cleadhamh mòr" appears to be in contrast to the small court sword, which was "an claidheamh beag", so the notion that it *must* be the two-hander is predicated on a misunderstanding of what it's "great" in comparison to.
From wiktionary: "Scottish Gaelic claidheamh (“sword”) + mòr (“great”)". Not to simplify too much, but that suggests highlands to me more than lowlands considering lowlands is more Scots, a brother (or child, I guess depending on how you look at it) tongue to English? As for later use, I would *guess* that the term may have been stuck on Scottish baskethilts as they stuck with baskehilt broadswords and backswords when the English did what the English do and drop their ways (the British baskethilt seemingly starting in England) so they can follow trends from abroad; with swords like the rapier, which morphs in the smallsword and spadroon, and then sabres. While the earlier baskethilts are hardly that much bigger or heavier than most of those, I suspect the smallsword and spadroon played a part in the baskethilt seeming "greater". So likely after 1700 if I had to guess
@@Jake-ALGSxNBPL That civilian probably doesn't know how to disengage the safety of that gun, let alone how to aim and shoot it without missing every shot, so while the weapon does matter, the wielder matters more.
In german we have two names that fit even better than "Zweihänder" as that can really just mean any two-handed sword. First, theres *"Bidenhänder"* , which is just a older word meaning two-handed sword ("Bi" -> two), and second *"Gassenhauer"* , which literally means "alley-chopper", as those swords are (said to be) used to, well, chop alleys into the enemy ranks. Technically, *"Schlachtschwert"* (battle sword) exists too, but i've never really heard that being used. Maybe that's more of a warsword equivalent, but i can't tell.
Huh I've only really heard Schlachtschwert used. But I may be biased as I think that's a word that at least has some use in it's meaning as it's not uselessly broad
The word "zweihänder" referred mostly to Longswords and the contemporary word was "Schlachtschwert" (Warsword or Battlesword) which could be read in some sources. Then again, it gets confusing avout the right word over the lenght of time and usage after the 17th century so please take it with a grain of salt.
Love the thought that our ancestors got just as hyped about the idea of "swords but bigger". There are some bearing swords / parade swords in Blade and Sorcery (a VR video game) - it seems pretty realistic in that they're absolutely unusable one hand, too clunky for precise thrusts, and too slow in general, but with massive reach and crowd control. Would be really fun to get the guys' thoughts on such physics-based medieval combat games.
It would be interesting to have bearing swords in a fantasy context, but then have a superhuman hero come along to use it for real. Alternatively, the sword of such a great hero might become a bearing sword after the hero passes away. Alternatively, some humanoid of great size, such as an ogre, might steal a bearing sword to use, giving an interesting story to how a brutish monster got his hands on a well-made sword.
The blades of the Koloss in Mistborn are massive slab like blades weilded by enormous blue skinned humanoids and in some cases by allomancers with assistance from their metal based powers.
The Sephiroth sword falls in a lesser known category of sword known as a chōken (literally "tall sword"). Mostly, they were made as ceremonial objects for shrines, but their is one ryūha, Kage-ryū (unrelated to the more famous Yagyū Shinkage-ryū and its forerunners) that practices with unusually long swords up to about 4 feet in length, and they refer to their swords as chōken. Also, zanbatō (Japanese) = zhǎnmǎdāo (Mandarin). They were also present in Korea (probably more often where the Japanese encountered them), but I don't know the Korean term. Oh, and the "chunky boy" at the beginning, it's not that far removed from executioner swords of Baden-Württemberg (southwest Germany) and northwestern Switzerland near Lake Constance ("der Bodensee"). The real ones were a little bit shorter than your example, but also had a greatsword-length hilt, and were sometimes also flamberged. Edit to add: the greatswords of the same area have both straight varieties and flameberged varieties, but both types are about the same length: around a 4-foot or so blade with about a 1.5 foot hilt.
Fun fact: there is actually a guy who can effectively wield a sword as long as Sephiroth's. His sword is in Atsuta Shrine, and the sword is given the relatively lame name of Tarōtachi which roughly meant "primary (or prime option) tachi".
When I saw the title I knew you'd mention Grutte Pier (Pier Gerlofs Donia) and his sword. He is a cool legend of the Frisians. You can read about him on Wikipedia
Yep, Shad, you're right about the Nodachi. It's basically a Bearing sword. The one for anti calvary was the Nagamaki. It was as long but had a handle that took up half of the total length. *Edit spelling*
The first kanji in "nodachi" (野) heavily implies actual battlefield use. Or more specifically, use in fields, as opposed to tighter areas like forests or castles. Whether that use consists of anti-cavalry work or something else is a different matter though.
"That is false. Not True" Don't let the Frisians hear that! Grutte Pier is a legendary folk hero, akin to Wilhelm Tell for the Swiss -- and a historical figure, who lived from about 1480 and died on 28 oktober 1520. He was reportedly 7 foot tall, Frisian feet to be sure, making him 2.08 meter tall, which is a definite possibility as the Dutch are the tallest people on earth. You will have no trouble finding a 2.08 tall Frisian today. 2022 Research of his sword showed that it was a). genuinely from that period, and b). used in battle.
I will agree with Nate that Great swords, like staves would need to be sized to the person. So shorter or longer versions of greatswords might have been a thing.
There where many varying sizes. The Japanese greatswords for example, odachi and nodachi, range from just a 3ft blade all the way up to some over 17ft long have been found.
@@willtherealrustyschacklefo3812 Though the 7-foot is almost straddling the limit of usability, yes. Though Magara Naotaka (a samurai known for wielding excessively long odachi in the Sengoku period, mainly because he's just a tad shorter than the average NBA center) had been recorded to be wielding swords as long as 9 feet on the blade, the only recovered sword from his belongings measured 7'3" on the blade.
Videogame swords are like cartoon kids. They exaggerate the size to create the visual clarity, because the real life size variation is too small to follow easily with the eye especially in a simplified style or really zoomed out.
A simpler answer, large swords are both compensation and people getting carried away in fantasy land. They figure in a non logical world why is everything else forced to follow logic. When it comes to real life though we get the bland unexciting version but learn over time to appreciate it's value.
Not necessarily anymore; maybe early on, or in a certain artstyle, but you can make a realistically proportioned videogame weapon that's easy to follow now if you wanna.
@@ezrafaulk3076 strong disagree, it's harder than ever. videogames are crammed with visual noise, it's harder than ever to see what's going on. and until we go back to a 'living cartoon/anime' gaming paradigm, that won't change.
Despite being an anti-cavalry sword, I suspect the nodachi was usually employed by someone on horseback. Imagine for a moment a unit of horsemen rushing against a cavalry flank and slicing at the riders and steeds from their offhand side.
I wound love to see Shad do a follow up video but based on Morgoth’s hammer. Which I would imagine would be massive and extremely heavy. But it would definitely be a fun topic of discussion. Especially if Shad was able to recreate his helmet with the Silmarills attached.
21:55 Well, that's true. Originally serving as ceremonial swords but can be like an emergency weapon; if neccessary as this applies to anything. A representative weapon to show off. 23:01 Indeed. ;-;7 Edit: Yeah; like an emergency weapon, my bad. Grammar moment lol. Honestly I always see swords as a versatile and balanced weapon class which I like, ofc Spear is the meta. *Maybe a swordspear should do --*. o_o
tbf, you can't really use greatswords as backup weapons bc they're designed to be the primary weapon in mind, unless you meant the ceremonial weapons could be employed as emergency weapons
Measuring Guts vs Sephiroth's swords....... and all im HEARING is, GIRTH vs LENGTH. The ultimate argument between men. "At 2 inches its not the longest, but that 4 inch girth makes up for it!!"
I'm just amazed how good the on-screen chemistry is. It's very difficult to make a youtube conversation feel natural and better than just one person talking.
When I was in Istanbul in 2009 in the armory of the Topkapi Palace They exhibited an unadorned almost 3 meter (about 8.5 foot) long anti-cavalry sword, which according to the exhibition was used in a battle, but not to get the riders off the horses but to break the legs of the charging horses or with good luck cutting them off. Unfortunately, photography was forbidden in the armory and I couldn't find any pictures online there are only pictures of the decorated swords of the Ottoman fighters But there is an official picture with "Hungarian swords" from the Topkapi Palace Museum that have similar sizes
Sephiroth's Masamune has been really exaggerated overtime. In official artwork for the original PS1 game his sword was only a bit longer than he was tall and iirc his official height was 6'1".
Kicking the greatsword into action allows you to deliver a strike quicker and with more momentum. It is also just easier especially if you have a heavier sword.
At 8:15 an interesting point, in Shinkage ryu, the Odachi/nodachi is used somewhat like a spear. Mainly because the founder was a spearman. Also, we wrap a bit of the blade to hold it a bit higher, to around a third of the overall length. Outside of this, there’s also plenty of horseback use of these blades.
8:54 "It's so bad at cutting, you're not going to get through a leg" As you said, you don't need to get through a leg to injure a horse, but you also don't need a big swing to injure it, it's already coming at you at 30-50 km/h during a charge. The most important thing is that you're out of reach of the cavalryman while able to cut the horse.
You guys read my mind, I was literally just daydreaming about the historical accuracy of giant swords (and wondering whether i could justify starting swordfighting lessons)!
Gentlemen. Standing in the middle of a field holding edged lighting rods while a lighting storm is blowing in...perhaps not the best idea you guys have had. Great video though as always. Stay safe.
In Czech folklore there is a legend, or rather a story that describes that one of the Czech medieval kings (I can't remember his name off the top of my head but I'm sure it existed) decided which soldiers would go into battle or not, based on whether they were taller than the crossguard of his sword was from the ground. I think it was said somewhere that he himself was of great stature for medieval times, and the cross guard was humped at the height of the king's shoulders.
I believe that Kojiro Sasaki was one of the few famous wielders of the nodachi. He was famed the lenght of his sword that when Musashi Miyamoto challenged him , Musashi carved out his boat's oar into a longer wooden sword and came late throwing Kojiro off. Musashi ended up killing Kojiro. By the way two characters of ff7 are based off Kojiro and Musashi: Cloud and Sephiroth.
15:00 Also known historically as "Bidenhänder" (from German "beide Hände", both hands) or colloquially named "Gassenhauer" (alley hewer) because vanguard troops quite literally chopped an alley, a breach, into enemy formations with these behemoths.
8:52 you don’t have to chop of the leg, you just have to damage it sufficiently enough to disrupt or incapacitate the horses ability to walk or run, which considering the horse is carrying a person who is most likely wearing heavy armor, wouldn’t be that difficult when they’re running straight into a sharpened metal weapon.
Hah, as a ChaseTheBro follower I really found it fun that you seemed to use footage from his videos for the Elden Ring example. And I really wish FromSoft would hire some HEMA people for the western style swords, the ineptitude with which some bigger swords are used really hurt my soul.
13:03 I expect its simply for ease of use, and then made into a style because it does look cool. Wielding a sword that large & heavy for long periods in training is likely to drive some corner-cutting (pun intended) with regards to the handling. Fools-guard might be a good example of 'functional yet lazy' methods becoming formal technique. I've lifted lids for containers - about two square-metres of steel frame that should be a two-man-job - above my head alone for the sake of speed, and often found ways to make the task easier for myself. One such trick was to position the lid on one corner and jab it with my knee to start it pivoting at my grip in the middle, so as I lift it above my head momentum took a chunk out of the required muscle-work.
German RPG system TDE has a sword so big we always called it a Dreihänder (three-hander), yeah. And a soldier with a Zweihänder was literally called a Doppelsöldner (double mercenary) due to the extra pay (which is called *Sold*, where Söldner comes from)
24:00 Shad, your Bearing Sword wish is my command. Look no further than the weapons weilded by all classes of Giant-kin, up to and including the Titans. You will find their weapons referenced under the appropriate entries in the monster manual. You will also find references to "Giant-Kin" weapons in the Players Option and Arms and Equipment Guides for player characters with some percentage of True Giant ancestry looking for gear that is able to maximize their genetic advantages.
@11:43 the chinese name would be 斬馬刀，which literally mean blade for cutting horse and later it might be developed into 苗刀，as chinese people at the time recognized its elongated blade shape's likeness to a rice seedling
Giant swords will always hold a special place in my heart, driving my brother to insanity in Soul Calibur 2 as Nightmare with a sword that can hit half the screen. He deserved it for playing Link.
8:30 a downward thrust would only give you more power on a nonmoving target. If the target is moving then doing a horizontal cut is going to give you more force because the momentum of target is pushing it into the blade as you're pushing the blade into it. With the weight and power of the horse moving it into the blade I think it picks up far more force then you could ever achieve yourself in a downward thrust. It's like a car wreck. The impact from a car going 55 hitting a stationary car is going to end up generating less energy in an impact than two cars going 55 hitting each other head on. I also think that if you get a good hit on it while its running at a good clip you're for sure going to break a leg even if you don't cut all the way through, which is good enough. The wound only needs to be large enough to sideline the horse and it's not like you need to cut the leg off to get results.
One of the aspects of Castlevania Symphony of the Night I enjoyed was the wealth of weapons you could collect throughout the game. Many mentioned in this video are available to cut down the undead on your path to Dracula.
At 11:32 Shad starts speaking in tongues and the weather turns foul, striking at his companion.
I had my doubts about their real location, that weather was more like what we get in England.
Everyone is speaking in tongues
This is an interesting dynamic. It's like something that you might expect to see in an anime.
If you haven't seen that bit yet and click on your comment to jump to that point it is especially funny how accurate it is.
lol
I'd like to add a fact about horses for context involving anti-horse weapons, Shad you may not realize that while horses can move around on their own if they have an injured leg! However, if the horse is under a burden (such as a rider or knight), they will immediately lose balance and fall! As well it doesn't take much injury to a horse's leg to hobble them and make them all but useless, that's why sometimes you'll see plates on the front legs of a horse, since they were the most vulnerable during a charge!
I don't know if setting for a charge would be a good idea against a horse if all you have is a sword no matter how big the sword.
That's a lot of tonnage bearing down on ya and even for something significantly smaller like say a Lion people tended to use SPEARS for this!
@@franohmsford7548 people also hunted bears and mammoths with sharpened sticks. Not exactly a realistic argument. I get your point tho. But they factually were used not just for cutting the legs but even impaling horses /slicing up the body as it passes by.
@@franohmsford7548 that's also why the swords intended for this regardless of blade length have 2-3 foot long broader handles.
@@willtherealrustyschacklefo3812 That would be a Pole-Arm.
At 3 foot you're talking about a handle alone reaching from your foot to your groin!
@@franohmsford7548 well I mean my legs are definitely longer than 3 ft lol but I understand your point, and yes it would generally be closer to 2ft like a large sword. However there are many which instead of a 5- 6ft blade may have a 4ft blade with roughly a 3ft handle. And yes it obviously has relation to and shares concepts with a polearm but is still a sword. For anti calvary use
Horse legs are very fragile. To the point that you usually have to put them down if they get injured.
The nodachi was probably made long so you could cut at the legs while staying out of reach of the rider.
And honestly probably chop/hack/bludgeon more than cut.
That's not exactly true, it's not that they are fragile as much as horses spend majority of their time, even most of their asleep standing up. So it's really hard to heal a horses leg. (tho especially with modern technology it can be done) they were used for that tho yes, and not necessarily just the legs, the larger handle is for a strong and powerful enough grip to even stab /slice through the horses body if needed
The longer more curved blade also helped the horses run right into the blade when held up.
Wouldn't a Naginata do that job way better? You have more reach in addition to a good amount of blade.
@@4Curses not really but I'm sure they were used as well tho.
I'm a simple man. When I see the words "giant" and "swords", my attention has been got.
Overly large swords are rubbish
Wendigoon, is this your alt account?
@@filmguy8966 No, but I am a fan of his.
The "Montante" is more a "style" than just a sword.
It's a swordstyle (Italian one, unsurprisingly) that was made specifically for use with Greatswords.
The basic principle behing the style is to use the momentum of your sword to keep swinging continuously.
The style was very popular amongst Italian mercenaries, since they were often employed as scouts, skirmishers or bodyguards and thus often had to fight outnumbered, and this "Montante" style is incredibly good when you're facing multiple opponents.
At least that's what I've read about, but if someone is more versed on the subject than I am, I'm sure they'd come and correct me xD
I mostly thought it's iberian (Spanish-Portugiese). The italian Spadone comes very close in style, but both has Treatizes from Swordmasters who were born in spain or later imigrated to Italy. Well, except for the native italian ones of course 😂
But yes, I made a video about the Montante a few weeks ago where I talk about the fightingstyle too. You are right about using the Momentum and the need of moving it continuosly
And I enjoy your videos very much sir! I often use them to help me train with my zweihander (I made a couple of videos to track my progress and form) keep up the great work!!!! 👍
My friend, the Montante is a weapon and a fighting style originating from the Iberian peninsula and more precisely from the kingdom of Spain, you are confusing yourself with the Italian Spadone.
@@Insaneurpist thank you very much for these kind words😁
>Italian one, unsurprisingly
Much like the adjacent southern france and spanish variants, its mostly translations of how the german(ic) mercs kept backstabbing the locals after clearing bandits or escorting a priest (typically from another priest or church) and sweeping their far less backstab happy local mercenaries rather than a actual "italian" style of use.
The actual italian style bits are mostly the sports/fencing stances for duels and adding in the existing grappling styles when unable to swing the weapon freely (much like french use as a shitty spear and spanish addition of the batting motions and emphasis of maintaining fully horizontal guards most likely from the same translation issues other manuals had when converting compound words).
If you're not familiar with it, there is the "Grand Falchion" which was an anti-cavalry sword for attack horses. Also I believe the Nagamaki is the Japanese anti-cavalry sword.
Anti-cavalry swords like that are are also one of my top picks for an adventurer who would be fighting various fantasy beasts.
I don't see grand falchions being used for horses; their blades would be too thin for such a task.
Falchions aren't the mix up of a sword and axe, as many seem to think.
They are anti armour, cloth armour.
@@LurkerDaBerzerker They are anti-flesh as much as they are anti-cloth and the bare flesh of a horse would be easy to cut even with a thinner blade. Also not sure how a thin blade makes them no good for the job or how you concluded they are thin, or even if you found a thin one, why you think that means they're all thin?
The proportions also give away its use. If it was for fighting against people, the blade would either be longer, or the grip would be shorter. The design is optimised for attacking larger beasts, not people.
Japanese Nagamaki: Has an unusually long grip for its comparatively short and choppy blade. Its an anti-cavalry weapon designed to attack the horse.
Chinese Zhanmadao: Has an unusually long grip for its comparatively short and choppy blade. Its an anti-cavalry weapon designed to attack the horse.
European Grand Falchion: Has an unusually long grip for its comparatively short and choppy blade. But you think its somehow... NOT an anti-cavalry weapon and wouldn't be any good for attacking a horse.
@@RainMakeR_Workshop First of all, I don't believe there are any surviving Grand Falchions?
James Elmslie is the head honcho when it comes to European single edged blades, I suppose I could hit him up and ask if he knows for sure whether or not any Grand Falchions are anti cavalry, meant for attacking horses.
And yes, falchions are anti flesh, if they cut cloth armours well then flesh is rather obvious, no?
@@LurkerDaBerzerkerAs you can literally see in the video you have commented under...
A lot of Swords made for anti-horsie or anti-armor are not particularly thick.
Steel>Bone in terms of durability, simple as.
And thin blades can very, very much cut well (check the rapier tests)
Something like a swordstaff, with a long haft would be good. A nagamaki or nagintana is a good example. Really just a shortsword mounted on a 4-5 foot pole would be good.
Just a heads up on claymore confusion it just means greatsword/big sword. The really large claymore is actually from the lowlands and was more or less just the Scottish version of a warsword/greatsword. There is a lot of names for pretty much a polarm sized sword used during the 15th-17th centuries.
The basket hilt broadsword was called claymore by the victorians, it also was common from the 15th-20th century. It's still the parad sword for Scottish regiments in the UK.
But the large two-hander wouldn't have been called "claymore" in the Lowlands in period - because (for the most part) they spoke Scots there, not Gaelic. I have skimmed through several collections of 17th & 18th century Gaelic poetry and found no references to a two-hander at all, but that's not surprising because weapons are spoken of in more poetic terms like "na lannan liath" (the grey blades). I know of no contemporary documentation linking "an claidheamh mòr" or its anglicized form "claymore" to the two-hander. I would love to be proven wrong on this point.
Furthermore, in the 18th century, "an claidheamh mòr" definitely refers to the basket-hilt broadsword in Gaelic usage, and in English/Scots as well (for example, see Adam Skirving's song "Johnny Cope": "In troth, quo Johnny, I got sic flegs / wi' their claymores and philabegs", referring to the Jacobites at Prestonpans). Victorians calling the basket-hilt "claymore" represents continuity from 18th century practice, not a break from it (and is a rare instance of Victorians getting history right!). It appears that "claymore" didn't start to refer to the two-hander until the 20th century.
The "great" in "an cleadhamh mòr" appears to be in contrast to the small court sword, which was "an claidheamh beag", so the notion that it *must* be the two-hander is predicated on a misunderstanding of what it's "great" in comparison to.
Victorian classification lead to both stage combat classification and AD&D classification, and no end of confusion.
@@Robobagpiper Intresting haven't heard that side if it. Will then I might stand corrected.
@@Robobagpiper "You'll make an excellent Sword-Brother in The Grey Blades Guild"
From wiktionary: "Scottish Gaelic claidheamh (“sword”) + mòr (“great”)". Not to simplify too much, but that suggests highlands to me more than lowlands considering lowlands is more Scots, a brother (or child, I guess depending on how you look at it) tongue to English?
As for later use, I would *guess* that the term may have been stuck on Scottish baskethilts as they stuck with baskehilt broadswords and backswords when the English did what the English do and drop their ways (the British baskethilt seemingly starting in England) so they can follow trends from abroad; with swords like the rapier, which morphs in the smallsword and spadroon, and then sabres. While the earlier baskethilts are hardly that much bigger or heavier than most of those, I suspect the smallsword and spadroon played a part in the baskethilt seeming "greater". So likely after 1700 if I had to guess
So, you're wondering which is better, girth or length? Neither, it's not the size of the sword, it's the skill of the swordsman that counts.
Well done 👏
A spear takes far less training to kill a armed man then a knife would.
Trained swordsman vs civilian with a M4A1 assault rifle. Weapons do matter as well
@@Jake-ALGSxNBPL assault rifles are terrible swords
@@Jake-ALGSxNBPL That civilian probably doesn't know how to disengage the safety of that gun, let alone how to aim and shoot it without missing every shot, so while the weapon does matter, the wielder matters more.
It is 斩马刀. Direct translation to 斩 (cut) 马 (horse) 刀 (blade/sword/knife). Zhan4 ma3 dao1. Basically a sword to cut horse.
In german we have two names that fit even better than "Zweihänder" as that can really just mean any two-handed sword. First, theres *"Bidenhänder"* , which is just a older word meaning two-handed sword ("Bi" -> two), and second *"Gassenhauer"* , which literally means "alley-chopper", as those swords are (said to be) used to, well, chop alleys into the enemy ranks. Technically, *"Schlachtschwert"* (battle sword) exists too, but i've never really heard that being used. Maybe that's more of a warsword equivalent, but i can't tell.
Huh I've only really heard Schlachtschwert used. But I may be biased as I think that's a word that at least has some use in it's meaning as it's not uselessly broad
haha germans have bi swords
The word "zweihänder" referred mostly to Longswords and the contemporary word was "Schlachtschwert" (Warsword or Battlesword) which could be read in some sources. Then again, it gets confusing avout the right word over the lenght of time and usage after the 17th century so please take it with a grain of salt.
Gassenhauer is a pretty cool name too, tells you exactly what it's there to do.
im disappointed theres no Dreihänder
Love the thought that our ancestors got just as hyped about the idea of "swords but bigger".
There are some bearing swords / parade swords in Blade and Sorcery (a VR video game) - it seems pretty realistic in that they're absolutely unusable one hand, too clunky for precise thrusts, and too slow in general, but with massive reach and crowd control. Would be really fun to get the guys' thoughts on such physics-based medieval combat games.
I was watching an Elden Ring Strength Only Challenge when this video popped up. Lol
GinoMachino I take it?
@@jerm2332 Got it in one. 👏
@@jerm2332 You guessed correctly in one go. Impressive. 👏
Nothing makes me click a video faster than Shad's giant sword. Heh.
It would be interesting to have bearing swords in a fantasy context, but then have a superhuman hero come along to use it for real. Alternatively, the sword of such a great hero might become a bearing sword after the hero passes away. Alternatively, some humanoid of great size, such as an ogre, might steal a bearing sword to use, giving an interesting story to how a brutish monster got his hands on a well-made sword.
The blades of the Koloss in Mistborn are massive slab like blades weilded by enormous blue skinned humanoids and in some cases by allomancers with assistance from their metal based powers.
Someone with troll/ogre/giant blood shouldn't have a problem with that size of sword
Man I love your videos that are what got me into swords
Could you make a video about flamberge-blades?
M'lord! Their taking the weapons to Isengard!
Tell me, where is Gandalf? For I much desire to speak with him.
Gard, gard, gard.
When you compare sizes, you must always touch tips and make them go "ting!"
That sounds so... happy but in old English.
A bunch of males in a steam bath: "Well .......the rules are the rules ..........*ting* !"
Pause
The Sephiroth sword falls in a lesser known category of sword known as a chōken (literally "tall sword"). Mostly, they were made as ceremonial objects for shrines, but their is one ryūha, Kage-ryū (unrelated to the more famous Yagyū Shinkage-ryū and its forerunners) that practices with unusually long swords up to about 4 feet in length, and they refer to their swords as chōken.
Also, zanbatō (Japanese) = zhǎnmǎdāo (Mandarin). They were also present in Korea (probably more often where the Japanese encountered them), but I don't know the Korean term.
Oh, and the "chunky boy" at the beginning, it's not that far removed from executioner swords of Baden-Württemberg (southwest Germany) and northwestern Switzerland near Lake Constance ("der Bodensee"). The real ones were a little bit shorter than your example, but also had a greatsword-length hilt, and were sometimes also flamberged. Edit to add: the greatswords of the same area have both straight varieties and flameberged varieties, but both types are about the same length: around a 4-foot or so blade with about a 1.5 foot hilt.
Fun fact: there is actually a guy who can effectively wield a sword as long as Sephiroth's. His sword is in Atsuta Shrine, and the sword is given the relatively lame name of Tarōtachi which roughly meant "primary (or prime option) tachi".
When I saw the title I knew you'd mention Grutte Pier (Pier Gerlofs Donia) and his sword. He is a cool legend of the Frisians. You can read about him on Wikipedia
Forged in Fire had contestants make his sword. You can find the video on YT.
I hope they won't use those swords on me...I need a vacation!
- Boromir of Shadiversity
Yep, Shad, you're right about the Nodachi. It's basically a Bearing sword. The one for anti calvary was the Nagamaki. It was as long but had a handle that took up half of the total length.
*Edit spelling*
The first kanji in "nodachi" (野) heavily implies actual battlefield use. Or more specifically, use in fields, as opposed to tighter areas like forests or castles. Whether that use consists of anti-cavalry work or something else is a different matter though.
i think both were used for multiple situations
"That is false. Not True"
Don't let the Frisians hear that! Grutte Pier is a legendary folk hero, akin to Wilhelm Tell for the Swiss -- and a historical figure, who lived from about 1480 and died on 28 oktober 1520. He was reportedly 7 foot tall, Frisian feet to be sure, making him 2.08 meter tall, which is a definite possibility as the Dutch are the tallest people on earth. You will have no trouble finding a 2.08 tall Frisian today.
2022 Research of his sword showed that it was a). genuinely from that period, and b). used in battle.
I will agree with Nate that Great swords, like staves would need to be sized to the person. So shorter or longer versions of greatswords might have been a thing.
There where many varying sizes. The Japanese greatswords for example, odachi and nodachi, range from just a 3ft blade all the way up to some over 17ft long have been found.
But the most commonly used nodachi had a 5 to 7foot blade and 2-3 foot handle .
@@willtherealrustyschacklefo3812 Though the 7-foot is almost straddling the limit of usability, yes. Though Magara Naotaka (a samurai known for wielding excessively long odachi in the Sengoku period, mainly because he's just a tad shorter than the average NBA center) had been recorded to be wielding swords as long as 9 feet on the blade, the only recovered sword from his belongings measured 7'3" on the blade.
If 'Grutte Pier' can do it, so can i. Right?! XD
Look at that wind blowing Nate's amazing hair around, standing next to those sword he could be on a cheesy medieval romance book cover.
Love your content man! Keep it up!
I liked the part where Shad and Nate pulled them out to compare the length, and made them touch tip-to-tip.
Videogame swords are like cartoon kids. They exaggerate the size to create the visual clarity, because the real life size variation is too small to follow easily with the eye especially in a simplified style or really zoomed out.
There's giant swords like zwiehander and Japanese nodachi
@@mohamed-fb9vt feel like you missed the point of my post there, friend.
A simpler answer, large swords are both compensation and people getting carried away in fantasy land. They figure in a non logical world why is everything else forced to follow logic. When it comes to real life though we get the bland unexciting version but learn over time to appreciate it's value.
Not necessarily anymore; maybe early on, or in a certain artstyle, but you can make a realistically proportioned videogame weapon that's easy to follow now if you wanna.
@@ezrafaulk3076 strong disagree, it's harder than ever. videogames are crammed with visual noise, it's harder than ever to see what's going on. and until we go back to a 'living cartoon/anime' gaming paradigm, that won't change.
Keep it going Shad, I learn something new every video.
I wasn't expecting to hear Shad mention ending someone rightly.
Had he mentioned ending someone leftly, though, that would have been gauche.
Despite being an anti-cavalry sword, I suspect the nodachi was usually employed by someone on horseback. Imagine for a moment a unit of horsemen rushing against a cavalry flank and slicing at the riders and steeds from their offhand side.
I wound love to see Shad do a follow up video but based on Morgoth’s hammer. Which I would imagine would be massive and extremely heavy. But it would definitely be a fun topic of discussion. Especially if Shad was able to recreate his helmet with the Silmarills attached.
Love the vid Shad seriously you and the boys keep it up.
21:55 Well, that's true. Originally serving as ceremonial swords but can be like an emergency weapon; if neccessary as this applies to anything. A representative weapon to show off.
23:01 Indeed. ;-;7
Edit: Yeah; like an emergency weapon, my bad. Grammar moment lol. Honestly I always see swords as a versatile and balanced weapon class which I like, ofc Spear is the meta. *Maybe a swordspear should do --*. o_o
tbf, you can't really use greatswords as backup weapons bc they're designed to be the primary weapon in mind, unless you meant the ceremonial weapons could be employed as emergency weapons
Woah, that’s a big sword
Measuring Guts vs Sephiroth's swords....... and all im HEARING is, GIRTH vs LENGTH. The ultimate argument between men.
"At 2 inches its not the longest, but that 4 inch girth makes up for it!!"
The Bearing sword really fits for those uber-siced weapons in games
The montante techniques described in the video for guarding another person are from de Figueyredo's 1651 treatise.
I dont know what changed but i am getting your videos reccomended again. Its great!
i absolutely love when shad gets in petty arguments with nathan and tyranth
I'm just amazed how good the on-screen chemistry is. It's very difficult to make a youtube conversation feel natural and better than just one person talking.
Man the algorithm really boosting you up this is the 8 times i got recommended on your videos
Loved this one nice job
When I was in Istanbul in 2009 in the armory of the Topkapi Palace
They exhibited an unadorned almost 3 meter (about 8.5 foot) long anti-cavalry sword, which according to the exhibition was used in a battle, but not to get the riders off the horses but to break the legs of the charging horses or with good luck cutting them off.
Unfortunately, photography was forbidden in the armory and I couldn't find any pictures online
there are only pictures of the decorated swords of the Ottoman fighters
But there is an official picture with "Hungarian swords" from the Topkapi Palace Museum that have similar sizes
Whoever is playing chicken with a fully charging horse is going to become a pancake, whether the horse dies or not.
Sephiroth's Masamune has been really exaggerated overtime. In official artwork for the original PS1 game his sword was only a bit longer than he was tall and iirc his official height was 6'1".
@@Alcogod yeah no hes never been that tall, but his sword has varied in length wildly between games.
@@Alcogod yes. cloud is just not very tall.
Kicking the greatsword into action allows you to deliver a strike quicker and with more momentum. It is also just easier especially if you have a heavier sword.
Just like Beidou does
At 8:15 an interesting point, in Shinkage ryu, the Odachi/nodachi is used somewhat like a spear. Mainly because the founder was a spearman.
Also, we wrap a bit of the blade to hold it a bit higher, to around a third of the overall length.
Outside of this, there’s also plenty of horseback use of these blades.
8:54 "It's so bad at cutting, you're not going to get through a leg"
As you said, you don't need to get through a leg to injure a horse, but you also don't need a big swing to injure it, it's already coming at you at 30-50 km/h during a charge.
The most important thing is that you're out of reach of the cavalryman while able to cut the horse.
You guys read my mind, I was literally just daydreaming about the historical accuracy of giant swords (and wondering whether i could justify starting swordfighting lessons)!
Gentlemen. Standing in the middle of a field holding edged lighting rods while a lighting storm is blowing in...perhaps not the best idea you guys have had. Great video though as always. Stay safe.
Love your channel Shad, that’s all 👍🏻🇦🇺
4:45 "Mmwaah, good night everybody!"
In Czech folklore there is a legend, or rather a story that describes that one of the Czech medieval kings (I can't remember his name off the top of my head but I'm sure it existed) decided which soldiers would go into battle or not, based on whether they were taller than the crossguard of his sword was from the ground. I think it was said somewhere that he himself was of great stature for medieval times, and the cross guard was humped at the height of the king's shoulders.
TH-cam gets called out and suddenly Shad is back on my feed. Pure coincidence I'm sure.
I got three recommendations today, odd that.
I need more giant swords in my life. Im training my body back up to using my heavy ass hammers again
D&D Barbarian, folk hero background, defended the beloved mayor from attack by wielding the bearing sword he held during a parade.
Make it happen.
Currently playing pathfinder and l’m barbarian class. Really enjoying it
Hey Shad, love the Show, keep it up and f the algorithm. ^^
the kick off - is common is some staff technique - european and oriental. its genuinely effective.
This channel is the best I could watch every day
I believe that Kojiro Sasaki was one of the few famous wielders of the nodachi. He was famed the lenght of his sword that when Musashi Miyamoto challenged him , Musashi carved out his boat's oar into a longer wooden sword and came late throwing Kojiro off. Musashi ended up killing Kojiro. By the way two characters of ff7 are based off Kojiro and Musashi: Cloud and Sephiroth.
Indeed. (Also his personal "oar" was really more of a gigantic axe handle than a boat oar or wooden sword)
I forgot the full list of tbings Musashi did, he came waaaaassy late, at sunset, from the water with the sun on his back.
magara naoitoka takes that title he used a nodachi that was 7feet long in the blade and fought against oda nobunaga
A sword that long looks like it was primarily ment to use on horseback.
15:00 Also known historically as "Bidenhänder" (from German "beide Hände", both hands) or colloquially named "Gassenhauer" (alley hewer) because vanguard troops quite literally chopped an alley, a breach, into enemy formations with these behemoths.
You only need to cut the tendons in the back of the horses' leg.
Who’s gonna volunteer to swing a giant sword while riding a motorcycle for the real final fantasy experience?
8:52 you don’t have to chop of the leg, you just have to damage it sufficiently enough to disrupt or incapacitate the horses ability to walk or run, which considering the horse is carrying a person who is most likely wearing heavy armor, wouldn’t be that difficult when they’re running straight into a sharpened metal weapon.
Hah, as a ChaseTheBro follower I really found it fun that you seemed to use footage from his videos for the Elden Ring example. And I really wish FromSoft would hire some HEMA people for the western style swords, the ineptitude with which some bigger swords are used really hurt my soul.
A video of real greatswords would be awesome
13:03 I expect its simply for ease of use, and then made into a style because it does look cool. Wielding a sword that large & heavy for long periods in training is likely to drive some corner-cutting (pun intended) with regards to the handling. Fools-guard might be a good example of 'functional yet lazy' methods becoming formal technique.
I've lifted lids for containers - about two square-metres of steel frame that should be a two-man-job - above my head alone for the sake of speed, and often found ways to make the task easier for myself. One such trick was to position the lid on one corner and jab it with my knee to start it pivoting at my grip in the middle, so as I lift it above my head momentum took a chunk out of the required muscle-work.
8:50 "I don't think you could chop off legs with that sword. We've tried it..."
Wait, what do you mean by that... *where is Tyrant!*
Tachi mainly was using from Horseback guys
I am a simple Man. I see Greatswords, I press Like.
Claymore is also a good anime (other than the ending) and an even better manga :D
"horse bones are THICK!" Out of context just sounds psychotic to know that off the top of your head
super cool, i have a weapons review request if you do those?
The Bearing sword category should be a thing in fantasy...great idea Shad.
Buy Silver ,platinum & Crystalized Osmium
Zanbatou translates roughly to horse slicing sword.
German RPG system TDE has a sword so big we always called it a Dreihänder (three-hander), yeah.
And a soldier with a Zweihänder was literally called a Doppelsöldner (double mercenary) due to the extra pay (which is called *Sold*, where Söldner comes from)
24:00 Shad, your Bearing Sword wish is my command.
Look no further than the weapons weilded by all classes of Giant-kin, up to and including the Titans.
You will find their weapons referenced under the appropriate entries in the monster manual. You will also find references to "Giant-Kin" weapons in the Players Option and Arms and Equipment Guides for player characters with some percentage of True Giant ancestry looking for gear that is able to maximize their genetic advantages.
Hey, Shad, do you have a video (or could you make one) explaining all the different types of sword (bastard, great, etc.)?
Great job honestly comparing these giant blades.
Im with Shad. I grew up with horses, and the "side-step, chop legs" would be my go-to.
Someone should put +AlecSteele on it: (darmascus) bearing sword out of ball bearings
the flamberge is my personal favorite sword of all time. so dang cool.
Remember, the bigger the sword, the smaller the "swordsman".
@11:43 the chinese name would be 斬馬刀，which literally mean blade for cutting horse
and later it might be developed into 苗刀，as chinese people at the time recognized its elongated blade shape's likeness to a rice seedling
17:40 was that Lighting in the background? Wicked
The bearing sword of King Jan Sobieski III presented after the battle of Vienna and housed in Krakow is stunning.
Giant swords will always hold a special place in my heart, driving my brother to insanity in Soul Calibur 2 as Nightmare with a sword that can hit half the screen. He deserved it for playing Link.
I once again ask you to review a Nagamaki.
When are writing another book, Shad. I need more tomes to read.
11:30 the common term I run across is called the zhanmadao (zhan ma dao)
Going for the horse's legs makes the most sense to me, if you're striking the horse, since they're possibly the thinnest parts of the horse.
Did we just get confirmation that Shad is packin'? 😂
See the Chinese film The Final Master for use of a giant sword at the 1:25 and the 1:37 mark.
3:05 I heard “Sword of War” and for no logical reason immediately thought about some grumpy old Spartan sword living in a cabin in Midgard.
8:30 a downward thrust would only give you more power on a nonmoving target. If the target is moving then doing a horizontal cut is going to give you more force because the momentum of target is pushing it into the blade as you're pushing the blade into it. With the weight and power of the horse moving it into the blade I think it picks up far more force then you could ever achieve yourself in a downward thrust. It's like a car wreck. The impact from a car going 55 hitting a stationary car is going to end up generating less energy in an impact than two cars going 55 hitting each other head on. I also think that if you get a good hit on it while its running at a good clip you're for sure going to break a leg even if you don't cut all the way through, which is good enough. The wound only needs to be large enough to sideline the horse and it's not like you need to cut the leg off to get results.
One of the aspects of Castlevania Symphony of the Night I enjoyed was the wealth of weapons you could collect throughout the game. Many mentioned in this video are available to cut down the undead on your path to Dracula.
When you need a Derrick to get a sword off the floor, you know it's a little too big 🤣