I always found it funny how Skyrim has all these giant unrealistic swords, but then they have realistic looking katanas(Blades sword, Dragonsbane, Harkon's Sword, Akaviri Sword, Akaviri Katana, Bolar's Oathblade).
People at large tent to have more media examples presented of what mostly realistic katana proportion should be. However when it comes to European and other swords, they are often presented much thicker and clunkier. Such as the meme of the two-handed sword being moved around like a sledgehammer and slow groaning thunking motions. "So it must be thick and heavy if that's how it's moved around" Add to that a period of time where big gaudi swords that were purely ceremonial and never used in combat or even training, someone may be given a chance to hold one of these and think it is a representation of a battlefield sword. I remember when the young English blacksmith Alex Steele got a chance to go visit , I believe it was, the Wallace collection , and how he was astonished at how light and thin the swords in it actually were, compared to the 'swords' he had been forging on his own over the years. (His background in smithing was from a farrier perspective with making tools specifically for managing horse hooves and the like - hammers, rasps, files, forge tongs and so on )
I absolutely despise the absolute lack of care for Western swords/weapons in games that (are supposed to) have them as a majority of the usable weapons. Looking at you Elden Ring.
@@Justin-pe9cl I was a bit unclear. My apologies. They are going for a functional design, not a beautiful one, at least by our standards of beauty. Perhaps to an orc that is both beautiful and functional. Or the beauty is in the functionality. That's just another perspective, tho.
Lorewise, the orcs in the Elder Scrolls series are considered some of the greatest smiths in Tamriel. They're not like Tolkien orcs or Warcraft orcs; they have a lot more culture and craft.
@@wilder11Dawnbringer is still one of the better quest rewards from Deadra other than Boethiah's rest are pretty dog doodoo like the mace of molar bal is trash, Dagons dagger is cool though
29:42 Funnily enough the daedric weapons and armour are actually supposed to be designed with poor functionality from an in lore stand point where it stated that due to their otherworldly and chaotic nature, they are disorderly by design with magics imbued innate to the material making them more functional than they should be with their otherwise unfunctional design I.e the armour appears extremely uncomfortable to wear however few mortals who have worn it have described it as being deceptively quite the opposite due to its innate magical properties. That being said I know for the purposes of this video the functionality of the weapon is assessed based on if it was in real life, just thought I would put that out there. Love the video though.
Nah, thats cope. The morrowind and even oblivion ones were way better. Plus the daedric equipment is forged by mortals using daedric hearts to corrupt ebony. Also, where on earth did you get that lore? ESO? Creation club?
Missed the artifact swords: Dawnbreaker Harkon's Sword Miraak's Sword Nightingale Blade Bloodskal Blade Also the Imperial Sword and Scimitar There's also the Creation Club swords which are mostly just stuff from previous games but those don't really need to be included.
@@Bitterman5868 Perhaps… but I was referring to the Silver Weapons in the base game because they erroneously claimed they were Imperial Weapons (which they strangely overlooked).
If it’s suppose to belong to an anti-werewolf group, why is it effective against the undead? Such an effect *would* make it seem better suited for the vigilants of Stendarr.
"Nord Hero Sword" Shad: *draugr noises* Would love to see a mini-series about all the different weapon types in Skyrim (e.g. Axes, hammers, bows, daggers, staves, shields, etc). Thanks for the great videos guys, keep it up!! 🤘⚔
Was VERY pleasantly surprised to see you add your channel to the list of channels that have given serious reviews of the swords in Skyrim, Shad! I hope you and your friends will also create a video dedicated to giving serious reviews of Skyrim’s shields, bows, and axes as well! In terms of future pop culture sword design review videos, Shad, one that I would really like to see from your channel is a video where you discuss the many different designs for Excalibur. And not just in films, but also times where it has appeared in video games as well! One particular video game design that I’d love to see you review and discuss is its design in the MOBA Smite: Battleground Of The Gods. King Arthur is a playable character in Smite, and that game actually has one of the largest (relative to the height of a man) designs for Excalibur that I’ve ever seen (Arthur explicitly refers to it as a Greatsword in the game).
Speaking of swords, there's a game about designing swords, Bladesong, it's not out yet but you can ask them for a game code. I know it's a random thing to say, but hey... SWORDS!
There is a mod called “Believable Weapons” that, as you said, modify the looks of weapons making them more realistic. Would be maybe a cool idea for a brief comparison video vanilla vs mod
@@marcopc220TBH it's not that believable... Some of those weapons on top of not looking as cool as the vanilla game look like they're just worse quality... If you were to forge weapons like that in the viking age you would be the laughing stock of the whole village and you would get next to no business. Some of them look less like weapons and more like tooth picks that would break in one or two hits... If the weapons from Breath of the Wild looked like how some of them do in the mod it would make perfect sense on why they break so easily.
Honestly yeah, I found this mod a few weeks ago and the weapons look so much better. Leanwolf’s is another good one, but I like believable weapons more
Good show! You need part 2: Nightingale, Chillrend, Soulrender, Bloodscythe, Miraak's, Harkon's, Dawnbreaker, Umbra (Living Bloodthirsty Sword!), and Bloodskal (Freaking Shooting Sword!!)... possibly a few other good ones missed. Cheers mates
there is also gold, amber, madness, silver, and dark all but silver added with saints and seducers wich is at the most part cannon as its related to the shivering isle
On the topic of the round handles, since it's a video game they're probably actually hexagons or octagons since round 3D models are not as efficient and this game came out on the XBox 360. So while they may look round in screen shots, this is an illusion anyway, and they're likely not so bad to hold and control edge alignment.
Oh Shad, also with these videogame swords you could grab the 3D files and actually manipulate them in 3D to really get a feel for them instead of relying exclusively on images if that would be better. It might make the videos longer, though, so obviously a trade off to consider.
Tbf Orc swords are designed with Orcs in mind so what may look like a sword that’s difficult to wield to most people might not be as problematic to an Orc.
@@Madmax45247 I’d like to assume that Orcs will usually one-hand their swords and that the sword was also designed to also be capable of being wielded by female Orcs too.
@@Madmax45247 admittedly the only “proper sword” I’ve ever held was a wooden sword, literally the same one that Sora has in KH1. It was somewhat heavier than it looked, last time I held it was when I stab the ground next to the spot that we buried one of my family dogs (it was basically her makeshift tombstone).
Hi guys, great analyzis. I would really love to see a video about the Oblivion`s swords as well. The swords there are much thinner and more realistic in general. Also - the Daedric Claymore in Oblivion looks just nuts cool and is one of my favorite sword designs in terms of looks, and pretty practical as well.
First video I've seen here recommended by a friend and love the energy here. Would love to see a part 2 of this looking at the "unique" weapons like the daedric artifacts, unique quest rewards like the Nightingale Blade, and the katanas.
3:20 believable weapons is the one I use. It doesn't change the general design in most, and in the ones it does it does so without making them feel out of place. Another caveat is, IN MODERN SCREENS we can see a properly thin blade, I can in my modded skyrim on my PC, but back in 2011 when I was playing on my xbox360 on a CRT TV? hell nah. CRT TVs were just beginning to become outdated back then and many people still had them.
ive been playing with the "leanwolf's better-shaped weapons" mod for so many years that seeing the base models here has me thrown for so many loops lmaoooo
There's a reason why I add realistic weapons in the game through mods, specifically my main sword is Aragorn's Ranger sword. As far as canonical weapons go, Oblivion's Fine Steel Longsword is my favorite weapon and I was sad it didn't carry over into Skyrim.
I think I'm gonna just go with Lean Wolf 's Weapons since I saw it mentioned by name in another comment. I literally created a file on my desktop to remind me for when I play Skyrim.
My headcanon is that dwarven metal is MUCH lighter than it should be, which allows them to make much larger and thicker swords and most especially ARMOR which makes it so much more robust than other armors. Something about as strong as steel but that is as light as cloth means you could have metal armor as thick as gambeson that would make you almost unstoppable.
@@C_F_M It doesn't corrode, and it has odd electrical/thermal/vibrational conductivity properties depending on how it's shaped it can be a perfect insulator or a super conductor. Mostly useful for machines, also has uses when you need to protect yourself from environmental hazards.
Skyrim Dwarven Armor is actually 1 of the heaviest! It weighs 45 pounds while most other heavy armors weigh less than that. Similarly Dwarven Metal pieces have crazy weights, a Solid Dwarven Metal chunk weighs 25 pounds as 1 item yet when it gets smelted it turns into 5 ingots weighing 1 pound each.
4:15 A concept in design called "stylization." That is what you are noticing. A stylized design of a realistic item still has realism as the core of the design. So I would make a gradient of "stylized version of real" to "in-universe Bizarre." Daedric sword Iron sword. Iron I will give a 10 / 10 Elven I would give 5/10 Daedric sword 0/10 If we're going to ask if its true to life, nothing better get above a four. Example is as I send this: I'm on the silver arming and Greatsword as I send this. I would give those 10 out of 10 because the idea of what's trying to be conveyed is very sound. Very simple shape, effective.
I would love to see a second video talking about all the other swords that dont fall into the crafting section like, Blades sword, Dawnbreaker, Windshear, Nightingale blade, Darksword, Golden Sword, Foresword (Cause id be funny), Imperial Sword, and Falmer.
I mod Skyrim SE to be more realistic and lore accurate with some medieval historical stuff included so Skyrim can feel like what I see ES as, history brought into a fantasy world.
Leanwolf's better shaped/Believable weapons make the weapons just a bit boring imo. I'm personally in love with Reforging - to the masses weapons, which are additional weapons made using vanilla assets.
@@Verchiel_ Realism is always boring which is why people do rule of cool in fantasy to begin with. Realistic or no they are made to be worth hunting and grinding for.
Hi Shad, I really love these kinds of videos. You should definitely do one where you look at the swords from all across the series. Or maybe look at and compare the different versions of the Master Sword, that would be awesome to.
Oblivion was way more down to earth with both armor and weapon designs. I have a hard time believing any of the oblivion swords ranking lower than a 5 on this scale.
Maybe Dawnfang/Duskfang would be low on the scale since it's really chonky, but in general yeah. Oblivion (and Morrowind) swords are much better than Skyrim swords
I think daedric swords shape is an illusion they apparently scylpt themselves to fit the user it seems like it would get caught with all the spikes amd stuff but they're apparently incredibly well balanced if a bit heavy
best weapon type is actually Stalhrim. When it comes to straight damage the best is Daedric, however when enchanted Stalhrim has a hidden 25% boost to frost/chaos enchantments, and if you use the twin souls perk that 25% applies to the second enchantment as well, boosting its potential damage over that of Daedric.
@@Mare_Manmy brother in Christ it doesn’t matter with the power of fortify loop bullshit I mean you could make a fortify one handed ring and one shot everything with a fishing rod
Now we need the other weapon types. Shad and my favorite game is always a great combination. I still go back to rewatch you rip apart the “cities” of Skyrim.
Would be cool if you could get these swords made just to see if your predictions about their weights and effectiveness truely would be as you think now and if the rankings would stand. Also would be interesting to then rank afterwards what sword did the best damage and which is the most comfortable/least weight to use.
My gripe is with pommels. Why does every pommel have to have stuff sticking out? There's a reason why round, square and cylindrical pommels were a thing.
Orcs in Skyrim are interesting because they are supposed to also have some extremely good smiths. Which I think is sort of a "they can do all this with nothing, give them reasources and they make some real impressive stuff." I doubt the Orc Swords having a great design is intentional but its interesting.
@@alexandercross9081 I base it mostly on weight to damage ratio, skyrim is completely unbalanced regarding heavy vs light arms and armor. Dwarven has the advantage of tons of cheaply obtainable metal, and it only takes one skill perk, while orc requires 2.
@TheDuckofDoom. kind of coming at it from a realism filter, using statistics as a guideline. The mechanics say. Dwarven metal is lighter & easier to work with, and orchalcum is better than it in every other conceivable way. Also, more often than not dwarf metal is acquired by dangerous archeological digs that often require you to fight automatons that likely out match the average person quite significantly. Where as orchalcum is just moderately rare, and most of the good deposites have orcs sitting on them. All I'm saying is it seems to be easier to persuade an orc to give you some shiny rocks than it is to convence a half-sentient-claymore-roomba to let you disassemble it and melt down its parts, the fact that the dragonborn treats it like a cake walk should not be an indication of how easy it is for average people to do.
I like where you put all of the swords, but I do wonder if the ebony arming sword does have a metal handle or if it's supposed to be ebony wood? (27:25) I do still agree with it's rating though.
I would love for you to continue this as a mini-series and review the rest the weapon types in the game like axes and hammers, shields, maybe even ranged weapons. Armor would be a juicy video :) There's also unique weapons and items, that didn't make the cut into this one.
I honestly like the basic design of the Nordic Greatsword, something about a single-edge Messer-Zweihander hybrid thing speaks to me on a personal level
You should review the Daggers but make sure to measure them against a dead body in game because they are all way longer than you would think. They are basically short sword to just arming sword length
hey Shad if you do any live streams or content that requires extensive effort a little tip, i don't know it all but i know on good authority that viewing numbers are compiled mainly in the first 30 sec, as in the number of people connected 30 sec in will dictate TH-cam decision on whether or not its seen by your subscribers and advertised on the whole so get your viewers to refresh together(F5) on countdown or they can do it independently. Basically will double the numbers, by counting each refresher as a new connected viewer. Seeing more adds for you now, or today at least. Good luck guys #Shadiversity
I agree mod free because some of the people that made an make mods. Don't know or fallow the actual lore of the Elder Scolls universe. I mean who puts a Jawwa from Star Wars in it an thinks it's Elder Scolls lore friendly just. For one example along with the land in the area of Skyrim is. Supposed to be hard to grow things in. But moders make it look like it's full of super soil an fertilizer. With all the plants growing everywhere it literally an figuratively goes against. The game it's supposed to be hard to grow things not super easy.
@@William1-s8nplaying without mods is like eating 2 slices of white bread instead of a sandwich. Get some cheese, Pastrami, Mayo, lettuce and tomato on that thing. Don't eat like a prisoner eat like you live in a 1st world country!
Because it's one of the few swords with a reasonable weight distribution. As they said it's for chopping not slicing. So it would fulfill it's purpose aptly
@@zacharymccants77 well they did say in the beginning of the video that they wouldn't criticize the handle too much since it's a game and otherwise they would all be a 2/10
Aw, I'm a little disappointed you didn't cover the Anniversary Edition swords. The current gen version of Skyrim added 4 more types: Madness, Amber, Saint and Seducer.
Speaking of mods for the game, there's actually a mod that adds a bunch of Skallagrim's sword collection into the game, at least swords he had in his collection several years ago.
Sci-fi swords next. Helicopter blade from Edge of Tomorrow, Assassins and reaver swords from Serenity, folding sword from 2009 Star Trek skinsuit, assaultron blade/Kremvhs tooth/bumper swords from Fallout, Worf's sword from Picard S3... there's more, just can't think of them now.
First, if I remember correctly, the Nordic hero swords are supposed to be more ceremonial since dead Drauger in tombs use them. Also one thing when it comes with determining how heavy the weapon is when you don't factor in some of these weapons were created with fictional material that might make it actually lighter than it looks. Like the glass weapon and Stalgrim ones for example.
Stahlrim according to lore is stronger than steel, u need a special axe to mine it... "The only known way to mine it is with an ancient Nordic pickaxe, made from superior craftsmanship." " It has been described as a rigid, blue-white crystalline metal, faceted yet smooth, and unnaturally cold to touch.[7] Working with stalhrim is much like ebony smithing, and can only be performed by a skilled blacksmith."- elder scrolls wiki Ebony ( in Tes) is God's Blood (blood of lorkhan) that has been crystalized in Red Mountain which is also stronger and lighter than steel
Heya guys! Always love your content! Idk if it's been said yet, but a good way to give charity for a set of blades that all have the same issue is maybe rate out of a lesser number, like 8 or 9 to excuse the handle and thickness of the blades. I always enjoy these videos!
17:25 the dwarven one handed sword does have a guard, but it's just kind of small in comparison to how wide the blade. It can be easy to miss if your not careful, and in practice it would have a limited amount of usefulness. Good video :-)
I always found it funny how Skyrim has all these giant unrealistic swords, but then they have realistic looking katanas(Blades sword, Dragonsbane, Harkon's Sword, Akaviri Sword, Akaviri Katana, Bolar's Oathblade).
People at large tent to have more media examples presented of what mostly realistic katana proportion should be.
However when it comes to European and other swords, they are often presented much thicker and clunkier.
Such as the meme of the two-handed sword being moved around like a sledgehammer and slow groaning thunking motions.
"So it must be thick and heavy if that's how it's moved around"
Add to that a period of time where big gaudi swords that were purely ceremonial and never used in combat or even training, someone may be given a chance to hold one of these and think it is a representation of a battlefield sword.
I remember when the young English blacksmith Alex Steele got a chance to go visit , I believe it was, the Wallace collection , and how he was astonished at how light and thin the swords in it actually were, compared to the 'swords' he had been forging on his own over the years.
(His background in smithing was from a farrier perspective with making tools specifically for managing horse hooves and the like - hammers, rasps, files, forge tongs and so on )
I absolutely despise the absolute lack of care for Western swords/weapons in games that (are supposed to) have them as a majority of the usable weapons. Looking at you Elden Ring.
Weirdly shaped swords? Sure. But giant? You're playing the wrong version...
TES devs confirmed *weebs*
True Mall Ninja at Bethesda.
Fun fact: The Orcs in the Elder Scrolls lore are renown for their MASTER SMITHS, so having them at the top of the list make total sense! :)
"I had myself Orcish armor once. It was strong and ugly, like the ones who made it." -- Every Guard in Skyrim apparently.
They why are the weapons so ugly.
@@Justin-pe9cl Cuz they aren't going for beauty, just design.
@@Good_Hot_Chocolate Those are almost the same things
@@Justin-pe9cl I was a bit unclear. My apologies. They are going for a functional design, not a beautiful one, at least by our standards of beauty. Perhaps to an orc that is both beautiful and functional. Or the beauty is in the functionality. That's just another perspective, tho.
Lorewise, the orcs in the Elder Scrolls series are considered some of the greatest smiths in Tamriel. They're not like Tolkien orcs or Warcraft orcs; they have a lot more culture and craft.
Yeah, the Armor and Weapons in morrowind really reflected the fine craftsmanship of the orcs.
Thank you. I was about to say the same thing
I like that Orc Swords are ugly but really functional. It's super on brand
The lore with their god Malacath and their origins is super deep as well
ELDER SCROLLS LORE MENTIONED@@General_Kenobi_212
Heard they're reforming the Dawnguard. Vampire hunters or something, in the old fort near Riften. Might consider joining up myself.
*Quick saves.*
Hearing this triggers me. XD
@@wilder11 a new hand touches my beacon!
@@andreguia1731 MAKE IT STOOOOP
@@wilder11Dawnbringer is still one of the better quest rewards from Deadra other than Boethiah's rest are pretty dog doodoo like the mace of molar bal is trash, Dagons dagger is cool though
29:42 Funnily enough the daedric weapons and armour are actually supposed to be designed with poor functionality from an in lore stand point where it stated that due to their otherworldly and chaotic nature, they are disorderly by design with magics imbued innate to the material making them more functional than they should be with their otherwise unfunctional design I.e the armour appears extremely uncomfortable to wear however few mortals who have worn it have described it as being deceptively quite the opposite due to its innate magical properties. That being said I know for the purposes of this video the functionality of the weapon is assessed based on if it was in real life, just thought I would put that out there. Love the video though.
Nah, thats cope. The morrowind and even oblivion ones were way better. Plus the daedric equipment is forged by mortals using daedric hearts to corrupt ebony.
Also, where on earth did you get that lore? ESO? Creation club?
@@Cyberwar101putting ESO and creation club in the same row is like putting Silmarillion on the same level of canon as Rings of Power.
@@vampe777 it was an inquiry as to where the idea of that lore came from. Either seems plausible honestly.
@@ArtisChronicles If we call being an asshole an inquiry, sure.
Quit blabbing. They look retarded and they would be much more threatening if they looked functional.
Missed the artifact swords:
Dawnbreaker
Harkon's Sword
Miraak's Sword
Nightingale Blade
Bloodskal Blade
Also the Imperial Sword and Scimitar
There's also the Creation Club swords which are mostly just stuff from previous games but those don't really need to be included.
Bloodskal is my favorite to use, but I doubt it would score higher than a 6
Forsworn sword
Bloodskal Blade breton resistances tank build was my favorite
dont forget the Ebony Blade
Falmer sword too.
“Another hand touches the beacon.” Where is DAWNBREAKER???!
Fuck that beacon. Along with those Thief's Guild gems!
@@Disgruntled_Grunt so much early game gold tho
They should do another one with the unique weapons like dawnbreaker and mehrunes razor
@@rustyrodgers7566 they skipped daggers though but it would be cool to have dagger episode
what about Conan's sword?
The steel sword has so much air resistance that it has automatic edge alignment if you swing fast enough.
i didn't realize how much i wanted to see this from you guys!
This needs a part two because there are so many more swords!!
Actually, the Silver Sword is used by the Silver Hand, a minor anti-werewolf faction you fight as part of the Companion questline.
TES Blades adds proper Silver weapons, someone modded them into skyrim, but it was never updated
@@Bitterman5868
Perhaps… but I was referring to the Silver Weapons in the base game because they erroneously claimed they were Imperial Weapons (which they strangely overlooked).
@@stevenchoza6391 possibly claimed they are imperial weapons because in ES 4 all the guards in the cities use silver weapons
If it’s suppose to belong to an anti-werewolf group, why is it effective against the undead? Such an effect *would* make it seem better suited for the vigilants of Stendarr.
@@stevenchoza6391imperial sword is simply a gladius taken to arming sword length. And the game does not have an imperial greatsword.
"Nord Hero Sword"
Shad: *draugr noises*
Would love to see a mini-series about all the different weapon types in Skyrim (e.g. Axes, hammers, bows, daggers, staves, shields, etc). Thanks for the great videos guys, keep it up!! 🤘⚔
I'm a simple man. I see skyrim and shad in one video, I drop what I'm doing and watch
A man of class and decisiveness. A noble bearing, indeed.
I have missed my duo lesson for this
Aye, they both just keep on giving.
@@BeamswordgowooshJust watch out for that owl....👀 🦉😂
@@General_Kenobi_212 he took my family I’m ok with this as long as duo feeds them
cant wait for the 4 hour video going over every weapon
Was VERY pleasantly surprised to see you add your channel to the list of channels that have given serious reviews of the swords in Skyrim, Shad! I hope you and your friends will also create a video dedicated to giving serious reviews of Skyrim’s shields, bows, and axes as well!
In terms of future pop culture sword design review videos, Shad, one that I would really like to see from your channel is a video where you discuss the many different designs for Excalibur. And not just in films, but also times where it has appeared in video games as well! One particular video game design that I’d love to see you review and discuss is its design in the MOBA Smite: Battleground Of The Gods. King Arthur is a playable character in Smite, and that game actually has one of the largest (relative to the height of a man) designs for Excalibur that I’ve ever seen (Arthur explicitly refers to it as a Greatsword in the game).
Speaking of swords, there's a game about designing swords, Bladesong, it's not out yet but you can ask them for a game code.
I know it's a random thing to say, but hey... SWORDS!
Is it a mobile game or something?
@@reliantbelial2341 neat I don’t got steam though
Fr my sword addiction was fulfilled during the playtest, I made 15 swords in a few hours
shad shuold play it
Tell me more!!
There is a mod called “Believable Weapons” that, as you said, modify the looks of weapons making them more realistic.
Would be maybe a cool idea for a brief comparison video vanilla vs mod
lol homie trying to get free mod reviews
@@grilledleeks6514 why not 😂? Btw mod is not mine, idk how to mod. It’s just that the nod fixed a lot of their critique points
@@marcopc220TBH it's not that believable...
Some of those weapons on top of not looking as cool as the vanilla game look like they're just worse quality...
If you were to forge weapons like that in the viking age you would be the laughing stock of the whole village and you would get next to no business.
Some of them look less like weapons and more like tooth picks that would break in one or two hits...
If the weapons from Breath of the Wild looked like how some of them do in the mod it would make perfect sense on why they break so easily.
It's a good mod too
Honestly yeah, I found this mod a few weeks ago and the weapons look so much better. Leanwolf’s is another good one, but I like believable weapons more
Everytime I see a Skyrim weapon I am reminded why LeanWolf's Weapons is the first thing I add to any mod list
SO MUCH THIS
I always add a Lotr's weapons mods they always look so good.
Thanks, now I have the name of the mod that I saw mentioned in another comment. Thank you for the effort you have saved me!
I'm glad I'm not the only one this was on of the first things I looked for when I start modding
Same and then I see that I have TAWOBA on the list.
Love these videos, stuff like this is why i watched shad to begin with. Hope you guys keep these more consistent
Good show! You need part 2: Nightingale, Chillrend, Soulrender, Bloodscythe, Miraak's, Harkon's, Dawnbreaker, Umbra (Living Bloodthirsty Sword!), and Bloodskal (Freaking Shooting Sword!!)... possibly a few other good ones missed. Cheers mates
Sword Chapters
00:00 - Intro
01:00 - Iron Sword
02:10 - Iron Great Sword
05:53 - Steel Sword
07:48 - Steel Great Sword
09:52 - Elven Sword
11:23 - Elven Great Sword
12:38 - Silver Sword
14:04 - Silver Great Sword
15:00 - Orc Sword
16:55 - Orc Great Sword
17:24 - Dwarven Sword
18:08 - Dwarven Great Sword
19:39 - Nord Hero Sword
20:13 - Nord Hero Great Sword
21:37 - Nordic Sword
22:52 - Nordic Great Sword
23:29 - Glass Sword
24:47 - Glass Great Sword
25:53 - Stalhrim Sword
26:33 - Stalhrim Great Sword
27:01 - Ebony Sword
28:16 - Ebony Great Sword
29:19 - Daedric Sword
30:09 - Daedric Great Sword
31:25 - Dragon Bone Sword
32:15 - Dragon Bone Great Sword
33:51 - Overall
37:22 - Outro
Thanks! 👍🏻
You should look at the Warhammers for each material
there is also gold, amber, madness, silver, and dark all but silver added with saints and seducers wich is at the most part cannon as its related to the shivering isle
On the topic of the round handles, since it's a video game they're probably actually hexagons or octagons since round 3D models are not as efficient and this game came out on the XBox 360. So while they may look round in screen shots, this is an illusion anyway, and they're likely not so bad to hold and control edge alignment.
Oh Shad, also with these videogame swords you could grab the 3D files and actually manipulate them in 3D to really get a feel for them instead of relying exclusively on images if that would be better. It might make the videos longer, though, so obviously a trade off to consider.
In-universe they wouldn't be made out of polygons so that's a moot point.
I can't believe they never brought up how thin the Orc sword's handle is. That sword would be extremely hard to wield.
Tbf Orc swords are designed with Orcs in mind so what may look like a sword that’s difficult to wield to most people might not be as problematic to an Orc.
@@Tim7318-3 Unless Orcs have tiny hands for some reason. Yes, it would be extremely difficult to wield.
@@Madmax45247 I’d like to assume that Orcs will usually one-hand their swords and that the sword was also designed to also be capable of being wielded by female Orcs too.
@@Tim7318-3 You've never held a sword in your life, have you?
@@Madmax45247 admittedly the only “proper sword” I’ve ever held was a wooden sword, literally the same one that Sora has in KH1. It was somewhat heavier than it looked, last time I held it was when I stab the ground next to the spot that we buried one of my family dogs (it was basically her makeshift tombstone).
Hi guys, great analyzis. I would really love to see a video about the Oblivion`s swords as well. The swords there are much thinner and more realistic in general. Also - the Daedric Claymore in Oblivion looks just nuts cool and is one of my favorite sword designs in terms of looks, and pretty practical as well.
First video I've seen here recommended by a friend and love the energy here. Would love to see a part 2 of this looking at the "unique" weapons like the daedric artifacts, unique quest rewards like the Nightingale Blade, and the katanas.
3:20 believable weapons is the one I use. It doesn't change the general design in most, and in the ones it does it does so without making them feel out of place.
Another caveat is, IN MODERN SCREENS we can see a properly thin blade, I can in my modded skyrim on my PC, but back in 2011 when I was playing on my xbox360 on a CRT TV? hell nah. CRT TVs were just beginning to become outdated back then and many people still had them.
One thing that wasn't mentioned about the elven swords is that they have weird spiky scales on the grip, which I imagine would just shred your hand.
or combined with proper gloves, enable you a better grip, probably(?)
I thinkk the elves that hold them wear gloves
@@vortiger7375 gauntlets, ussually
I don't see any spikes, just texture/decor.
@Aethuviel If you Google "Skyrim elven sword" click on the first image and zoom in on the bottom. You can see them poking down.
This was fun! Please make one for the unique swords like the ebony blade, dawnbreaker, nightingale etc
What Shad’s missing is Nord Hero swords incorporate bottle openers….Very useful.
ive been playing with the "leanwolf's better-shaped weapons" mod for so many years that seeing the base models here has me thrown for so many loops lmaoooo
You guys missed a couple, the blade katanas, scimitar, forsworn to name a few. part 2???
Wooden sword aswell, it would also be interesting to hear them talk about daggers, maybe even the axes and great axes
And the Imperial short sword
@@dameach23 just adding to this list, they missed dawnbreaker, the nightingale blade, falmer sword, and the ghost blades.
There's also the conjured weapons though I think they are supposed to be similar to daedric
what about dark sister?
I was missing this type of content from this channel... please, keep the good work!
There's a reason why I add realistic weapons in the game through mods, specifically my main sword is Aragorn's Ranger sword. As far as canonical weapons go, Oblivion's Fine Steel Longsword is my favorite weapon and I was sad it didn't carry over into Skyrim.
That’s the sword I stick with all through the game.
In the pirate creation content is a fine steel longsword
Oh yea! That was a cool addition in oblivion! The first thing I would do was join the fighter's guild and acquire some fine steel in the guild hall.
Skyrim x Shadiversity... 40min? Hell yeah, I'd love to see the armor sets too
I love Skyrim thanks for this video keep doing what you do.
There are many sword mods for Skyrim that swap better sword designs in to replace the OEM "shovels".
There are so many sword mods I've forgotten what the base models looked like.
there are so many sword mods that they take up half the “weapons” mod category.
I think I'm gonna just go with Lean Wolf 's Weapons since I saw it mentioned by name in another comment.
I literally created a file on my desktop to remind me for when I play Skyrim.
@@Grandwigg Check believable weapons as well, way better imo.
My headcanon is that dwarven metal is MUCH lighter than it should be, which allows them to make much larger and thicker swords and most especially ARMOR which makes it so much more robust than other armors. Something about as strong as steel but that is as light as cloth means you could have metal armor as thick as gambeson that would make you almost unstoppable.
It's the same with elven, the blades are elven metal is lighter, hence able to be bigger and thicker.
@@Spiritus-Gladius Talking Skyrim here. Deep elves.
@@C_F_M It doesn't corrode, and it has odd electrical/thermal/vibrational conductivity properties depending on how it's shaped it can be a perfect insulator or a super conductor. Mostly useful for machines, also has uses when you need to protect yourself from environmental hazards.
Skyrim Dwarven Armor is actually 1 of the heaviest! It weighs 45 pounds while most other heavy armors weigh less than that.
Similarly Dwarven Metal pieces have crazy weights, a Solid Dwarven Metal chunk weighs 25 pounds as 1 item yet when it gets smelted it turns into 5 ingots weighing 1 pound each.
@@morrigankasa570 Yeah but look how thick they are. If you had a steel chunk that big you couldn't even lift it
Tyranth's grin as he says 'yeah' to Shad's 'mall ninja trash' re :Daedric had me laughing. Because we both know it's it's true, but STILL AWESOME!
4:15 A concept in design called "stylization."
That is what you are noticing.
A stylized design of a realistic item still has realism as the core of the design.
So I would make a gradient of "stylized version of real" to "in-universe Bizarre."
Daedric sword Iron sword.
Iron I will give a 10 / 10
Elven I would give 5/10
Daedric sword 0/10
If we're going to ask if its true to life, nothing better get above a four.
Example is as I send this:
I'm on the silver arming and Greatsword as I send this.
I would give those 10 out of 10 because the idea of what's trying to be conveyed is very sound. Very simple shape, effective.
I would love to see a second video talking about all the other swords that dont fall into the crafting section like, Blades sword, Dawnbreaker, Windshear, Nightingale blade, Darksword, Golden Sword, Foresword (Cause id be funny), Imperial Sword, and Falmer.
Now we need another video comparing vanilla swords with the LeanWolf's Better-Shaped Weapons mod.
Believable weapons does it even better.
I mod Skyrim SE to be more realistic and lore accurate with some medieval historical stuff included so Skyrim can feel like what I see ES as, history brought into a fantasy world.
Leanwolf's better shaped/Believable weapons make the weapons just a bit boring imo.
I'm personally in love with Reforging - to the masses weapons, which are additional weapons made using vanilla assets.
@@Verchiel_ Realism is always boring which is why people do rule of cool in fantasy to begin with. Realistic or no they are made to be worth hunting and grinding for.
I liked the non symetrical aspect to the dragon bone single handed sword that they kept fixing to match on both sides. It looked better before.
Elder scrolls orcs are actually renowned for their smiths
I was looking for this comment.
I like my swords like I like my women
Well proportioned and practical!
With a sharp edge?
You wouldn’t like shads art then
Fantasy games like them thick and overweight... to not alienate "modern audiences".
Extra thicc!
Well forged and battle tested?
I love this channel and I love this game. Glad you guys covered this content!
Hi Shad, I really love these kinds of videos. You should definitely do one where you look at the swords from all across the series. Or maybe look at and compare the different versions of the Master Sword, that would be awesome to.
People like the two of you is why mods like "Believable Weapons" exist. Anyone with issues with Skyrim's designs should check it out, 10/10.
Is it in creation club as a mod
Oblivion was way more down to earth with both armor and weapon designs. I have a hard time believing any of the oblivion swords ranking lower than a 5 on this scale.
Maybe Dawnfang/Duskfang would be low on the scale since it's really chonky, but in general yeah. Oblivion (and Morrowind) swords are much better than Skyrim swords
It had leftover realism for weapons because it forgot to use any for the faces
I'd love to see a video of you redesigning these and others to be as functional as possible (while keeping the style of them, naturally)
I think daedric swords shape is an illusion they apparently scylpt themselves to fit the user it seems like it would get caught with all the spikes amd stuff but they're apparently incredibly well balanced if a bit heavy
I would like to hear your thoughts on the Ebony blade from Skyrim. It's by far the most realistic katana in the game in my opinion.
Fun fact about the pronunciation of Daedra/Daedric, the games use both. Some NPCs using "day"dric other "dee"dric.
No one has ever said deedric
@santi_super_stunts2573 sounds like you need to play more and pay more attention then and not just Skyrim. Definitely said both ways.
best weapon type is actually Stalhrim. When it comes to straight damage the best is Daedric, however when enchanted Stalhrim has a hidden 25% boost to frost/chaos enchantments, and if you use the twin souls perk that 25% applies to the second enchantment as well, boosting its potential damage over that of Daedric.
Counterpoint, 14000% fortify enchanting potion.
@@owenblount7334 Not really a counterpoint since that would also apply to stalhrim
@@Mare_Manmy brother in Christ it doesn’t matter with the power of fortify loop bullshit I mean you could make a fortify one handed ring and one shot everything with a fishing rod
@@owenblount7334counter-counter point: playing the game without using game-breaking glitches.
@@Matthew_BranaganIt's not even a glitch, it's just how the enchanting and potion mechanics are set up. It clearly wasn't play-tested.
Now we need the other weapon types. Shad and my favorite game is always a great combination. I still go back to rewatch you rip apart the “cities” of Skyrim.
Would be cool if you could get these swords made just to see if your predictions about their weights and effectiveness truely would be as you think now and if the rankings would stand.
Also would be interesting to then rank afterwards what sword did the best damage and which is the most comfortable/least weight to use.
My gripe is with pommels. Why does every pommel have to have stuff sticking out?
There's a reason why round, square and cylindrical pommels were a thing.
The Ebony one-handed axe and round shield was my jam
Canonically, Orcs are some of the best smiths in Tamriel. Famed throughout the Empire for their skill.
Do Armors next!
EXCUSE ME! I'M the best smith in Tamriel!
Agreed, they need to do that video
Orcs in Skyrim are interesting because they are supposed to also have some extremely good smiths. Which I think is sort of a "they can do all this with nothing, give them reasources and they make some real impressive stuff." I doubt the Orc Swords having a great design is intentional but its interesting.
Morrowind and oblivion had much more intricate designs for orc arms and armor.
Yet there weapons and armor are super low grade, heavy, and low damage.
@TheDuckofDoom. I mean, it's better than dwarven at base. It's not as good as Ebony, but I don't think it's supposed to be.
@@alexandercross9081 I base it mostly on weight to damage ratio, skyrim is completely unbalanced regarding heavy vs light arms and armor.
Dwarven has the advantage of tons of cheaply obtainable metal, and it only takes one skill perk, while orc requires 2.
@TheDuckofDoom. kind of coming at it from a realism filter, using statistics as a guideline. The mechanics say. Dwarven metal is lighter & easier to work with, and orchalcum is better than it in every other conceivable way. Also, more often than not dwarf metal is acquired by dangerous archeological digs that often require you to fight automatons that likely out match the average person quite significantly. Where as orchalcum is just moderately rare, and most of the good deposites have orcs sitting on them. All I'm saying is it seems to be easier to persuade an orc to give you some shiny rocks than it is to convence a half-sentient-claymore-roomba to let you disassemble it and melt down its parts, the fact that the dragonborn treats it like a cake walk should not be an indication of how easy it is for average people to do.
I like where you put all of the swords, but I do wonder if the ebony arming sword does have a metal handle or if it's supposed to be ebony wood? (27:25) I do still agree with it's rating though.
I would love for you to continue this as a mini-series and review the rest the weapon types in the game like axes and hammers, shields, maybe even ranged weapons. Armor would be a juicy video :)
There's also unique weapons and items, that didn't make the cut into this one.
Maces, Warhammers, War Axes, BattleAxes.
Maybe even shields and armors if you're up for it.
I honestly like the basic design of the Nordic Greatsword, something about a single-edge Messer-Zweihander hybrid thing speaks to me on a personal level
You should review the Daggers but make sure to measure them against a dead body in game because they are all way longer than you would think. They are basically short sword to just arming sword length
A shame they didn't review the Nighringale blade. My favourite in terms of visuals, for sure
hey Shad if you do any live streams or content that requires extensive effort a little tip, i don't know it all but i know on good authority that viewing numbers are compiled mainly in the first 30 sec, as in the number of people connected 30 sec in will dictate TH-cam decision on whether or not its seen by your subscribers and advertised on the whole so get your viewers to refresh together(F5) on countdown or they can do it independently. Basically will double the numbers, by counting each refresher as a new connected viewer. Seeing more adds for you now, or today at least. Good luck guys #Shadiversity
There is a mod that makes all swords thinner
"That's a paddle"
Yes, they indeed said that. 3:14
That mod is always one of the first I install, I hate how broad and bulky the default models are
Mod 2.... Add spears...
Good
Wait, Tyranth has put in thousands of hours and has never seen any of the weapons mods?
Some people don't like playing and messing with mods. I still prefer to play vanilla as possible
Mod-free Nation rise up.
@@William1-s8n same. putting mods in can get messy and mess with your game. so i understand if some people don't. i haven't
I agree mod free because some of the people that made an make mods. Don't know or fallow the actual lore of the Elder Scolls universe. I mean who puts a Jawwa from Star Wars in it an thinks it's Elder Scolls lore friendly just. For one example along with the land in the area of Skyrim is. Supposed to be hard to grow things in. But moders make it look like it's full of super soil an fertilizer. With all the plants growing everywhere it literally an figuratively goes against. The game it's supposed to be hard to grow things not super easy.
@@William1-s8nplaying without mods is like eating 2 slices of white bread instead of a sandwich. Get some cheese, Pastrami, Mayo, lettuce and tomato on that thing. Don't eat like a prisoner eat like you live in a 1st world country!
How does the Orc Sword get such a high ranking? Look at that extremely thin handle.
Not to mention the weirdly angular blade shape? I mean, how does something so crude go higher than the silver sword? Wtf?
Because it's one of the few swords with a reasonable weight distribution. As they said it's for chopping not slicing. So it would fulfill it's purpose aptly
@@doormatcat that still doesn’t excuse the ridiculously thin handle.
@@zacharymccants77 well they did say in the beginning of the video that they wouldn't criticize the handle too much since it's a game and otherwise they would all be a 2/10
@@doormatcat weren’t they specifically talking about round handles?
I love ALL Shadiversity videos!!!! ❤
Some day, some mad lad smith might make replicas of each and every sword in Skyrim for testing purposes.
A herculean task for sure, but still.
Aw, I'm a little disappointed you didn't cover the Anniversary Edition swords. The current gen version of Skyrim added 4 more types: Madness, Amber, Saint and Seducer.
Love me dat amber stuff
I forgot about these. I totally agree.
Golden and Dark, not Saint and Seducer
This video better include my favorite Swords, THE STALHRIM SWORDS! 0:58
How about you watch the video before commenting, just a suggestion.
4:15 I think this is fair.
1 to 1 isn't unfair
You gotta do another with the none base swords as there's a lot worth reviewing
19:28 Orcs are actually known for their blacksmithing. Also Dwarven sword design is likely more pragmatic just like the Dwemer who made them.
I'm curious about what you'd make of the swords of Oblivion.
Blades Sword:
Chad: …. 😑😑😑
Hehe, hehe. Shad, not Chad, but hehe
@@scottishwarrior3547 chad is now his alt universe Shad…
Speaking of mods for the game, there's actually a mod that adds a bunch of Skallagrim's sword collection into the game, at least swords he had in his collection several years ago.
Ran into that looking for a messer for my build but the mod is fairly old by now and the quality is pretty bad.
I desparetely need more videos like this. Swords from Witcher series next maybe?
Sci-fi swords next. Helicopter blade from Edge of Tomorrow, Assassins and reaver swords from Serenity, folding sword from 2009 Star Trek skinsuit, assaultron blade/Kremvhs tooth/bumper swords from Fallout, Worf's sword from Picard S3... there's more, just can't think of them now.
First, if I remember correctly, the Nordic hero swords are supposed to be more ceremonial since dead Drauger in tombs use them. Also one thing when it comes with determining how heavy the weapon is when you don't factor in some of these weapons were created with fictional material that might make it actually lighter than it looks. Like the glass weapon and Stalgrim ones for example.
How could you forget about the sword "Dawnbreaker"? This is the canonical sword for the game. 10/10
Ikr! My favorite sword design in vanilla Skyrim!
A NEW HAND TOUCHES THE BEACON!
I know that Dawnbreaker would get a very low score based on IRL materials sadly, but I’d still love to see a review!
They forgot the literal katana
Great video as always guys
i love how even 13 years later, there is new Skyrim content.
The finest weapons and armor.
idk about y’all but personally I don’t think a sword made primarily out of ice would be very effective
Normal ice nah
Ice enchanted with the souls of the dead nords entombed in it definitely
That's magical ice strong enough to be on the same level as the blood of a dead god.
Stahlrim according to lore is stronger than steel, u need a special axe to mine it... "The only known way to mine it is with an ancient Nordic pickaxe, made from superior craftsmanship." " It has been described as a rigid, blue-white crystalline metal, faceted yet smooth, and unnaturally cold to touch.[7] Working with stalhrim is much like ebony smithing, and can only be performed by a skilled blacksmith."- elder scrolls wiki
Ebony ( in Tes) is God's Blood (blood of lorkhan) that has been crystalized in Red Mountain which is also stronger and lighter than steel
Normal ice is too brittle to make a good blade. But with magic, anything is possible.
MAd respect; you got The Princess Bride on the desk
Heya guys! Always love your content! Idk if it's been said yet, but a good way to give charity for a set of blades that all have the same issue is maybe rate out of a lesser number, like 8 or 9 to excuse the handle and thickness of the blades. I always enjoy these videos!
This was great, I'd really love to see you do the predecessors Oblivion and Morrowind too.
17:25 the dwarven one handed sword does have a guard, but it's just kind of small in comparison to how wide the blade. It can be easy to miss if your not careful, and in practice it would have a limited amount of usefulness. Good video :-)
finally ive been waiting for this day for a long time
You guys NEED to do this for The Witcher III's swords/weapons, there's so much variety in the designs!
You guys should do TES IV: Oblivion weapons next, along with the artifact/unique weapons. Loved this video, keep it up guys
Yes!
Oh boy, time to recommend the "Believable weapons" mod again. That one is a blessing for every sword enthusiast out there.
I genuinely hope they do videos for the Maces and Axes, i'd LOVE to see their insight on the rest of they wacky Skyrim designs
I just started replaying Skyrim this week. Fantastic timing!
Absolutely love this video. You guys could do diablo, world of warcraft, grim dawn. The possibilities are many!
Skryim is my absolute favorite game. I've been waiting for this.
In the official content game, I prefer the glass stuff.
Were are the blade (faction) sword ?
And also were are the unique sword ?