The Realm of the Dark Blade

I think I may have mentioned before the insanity of naming a large piece of black steel anything with the words “secret” and “agent”. Notwithstanding my prior expose on the matter in a previous post, I ran across yet another “agent” sword. Now this one only uses the name agent but is still almost as bad, name wise, as “secret agent” since the secrecy (and hence stealth) is still implied. What is not explained to us as potential “Agents” is how any agent, double or otherwise, would be able to maintain their secrecy with this strapped to their back.

Double Agent Sword

Now I will readily admit that in spite of the constant marketing misnomers, there are some very interesting concepts out there, and this is one of them. A double bladed sword, with the blades on either end, as opposed to either side. This is in fact not a bad design, I can see how you could use this in one hand. You could choke up on the handle for reverse blade action or hold it further down to emphasize a hatchet grip style attack. Very cool.

Now I’d really like to see a double blade design where the blades are also facing opposite sides of the sword in addition to being on opposite ends, but I get the feeling it won’t happen unless I make one myself. In any case, this sword is a cool idea overall, and presents some interesting martial arts possibilities.

Double Agent Sword – [True Swords]

Today we will look at an axe whose fundamental design is all but diametrically opposed to traditional axe design. I have seen my fair share of axe designs, I’ve even sketched a few myself. But this one blows them all out of the water in terms of uniqueness and intimidation. From the twisted (in ways I have all kinds of respect for : ) ) mind of designer Kit Rae, I present:

Black Legion Battle Axe

Now this axe represents a major departure from traditional axe design. First off, it is designed more like two deep bellied bowie knives placed back to back with an elegant arch joining each blade to the shaft. In fact, the blades of this axe have a striking resemblance to the last Kit Rae blade I blogged about, albeit significantly wider and more ornate. The shaft itself could have passed for a very efficient spear, the long black handle having two decorative shaft guards, then terminating in a very convincing spear point, vaguely reminiscent of a broad headed arrow tip.

The axe blades themselves are a work of art, sweeping in then out from the bottom of the blade, finally curving quite menacingly into sharp points at the top. A pattern of large elliptical voids also occur in the blade, giving it a more futuristic feel.

Black Legion Battle Axe - Head

But enough with all of the “feel good” stuff. This design is particularly interesting to me because, unlike a traditional axe, it seems to have been designed more for thrusting, and slicing. In fact it probably would be better suited for slicing and thrusting than chopping, since the arch that joins each blade to the shaft do so at a rather steep angle relative to the handle, which would allow for a lot of stress flexing and rapid fatigue were it ever to be used for chopping duty.

What we actually have here, in essence, is two short swords on a big stick. And for the same reasons you wouldn’t use a sword to cut down a tree, you probably wouldn’t want to try and use this axe for chopping. It wouldn’t last very long. However in a battle scenario it would function excellently as a broad sword, scimitar or even a double bladed falchion.

Black Legion Battle Axe

I suppose I ought to stop nit picking, since this was never designed for any real battle. It was designed to be intimidating, but it is a beautiful axe regardless. It is also very typical of Kit Rae’s school of design, and this happens to be one of the few pieces that doesn’t go t0o far over the top, like some of his other work is wont to do. A great piece of bladed art to be sure. If I was limited to having only one battle axe in my blade collection, this would be it.

Black Legion Battle Axe – [Kult of Athena]