The Realm of the Dark Blade

I recently came across an unusual blade design. Actually the design itself wasn’t so much unusual, as much as the way in which it was used.

SOG Fusion - Spirit Knife

The SOG spirit knife is essentially a small spear point blade, attached to a short handle. The handle is detachable, and the blade itself can then can be attached to a shaft, in order to make a spear. Or you can leave the handle on and use it as a small knife. They even suggest that it could be used as a throwing knife.

The short spear point design is unusual, but I can see the usefulness of the design. It would be work well as a small knife for fine detail work, such as carving whittling, and such. However as a survival tool, I think the design is too limiting. For instance, I can say, with a pretty high level of certainty, that I would not be throwing *any* of my valuable knives at anything, if I were in a self reliance scenario.

The same for using it as a spear. You can make 100 disposable spears and/or throwing implements with a single good knife. A good knife, on the other hand, is hard to make out in the field. The thing is, if you lose your knives, and you’re much more liable to  find yourself  in great big world o’ hurt. So that kind of rules out half of the proposed use cases for this design.

The other thing, as I’ve mentioned in past survival knife posts, is that I consider both detachable and folding blades a liability. Detachable/Folding = weak = easily broken or lost. I would much rather have a small, full tang knife for fine work, than something like this, that is liable to work loose, or break off even, and get lost somewhere.

So ultimately, at the end of the day this may be a good knife for casual outdoorsman stuff, but for a good self reliance/survival tool, I’d probably look elsewhere…

SOG Fusion Spirit knife – [True Swords]

I ran across a rather interesting weapon today, one that combines both old and new battlefield technologies into a contemporary defensive weapon for the modern gentleman. Or not. About it being a modern gentlemanly weapon, I mean. I guess it depends on your point of view. Most civilized folks these days just pack a firearm. Or pack nothing at all, and simply plan to get on their hands and knees, put their hands behind their heads and say “Take whatever you want. I don’t really need it.” But I digress.

Hammer Head Sword Cane

So this, is a hammer head sword cane. Quite the interesting design, a standard black sword cane, hidden in a smooth black tubular shaft, with a cast metal hammer head grip. On one side a standard hammer head, with cross grid patterned face, and on the other, a perforated spike. Quite a useful combination actually. And this sword cane, unlike most, uses a quick button release, which is an uncommon, but welcome feature in a sword cane. But for me, the most interesting feature of this cane is that hammer/point head.

In medieval times, a similar weapon evolved for the purpose of compromising the ever more heavily armored forces on the battlefield. Most swords weren’t really designed to battle armored opponents, and while most enterprising combatants simply learned how to use chinks in armor to thier advantage, it was sometimes easier and faster to simply compromise the armor.

This is where the war hammer design came from. Put a tough service point (or four) on the head of a small, but heavy impact weapon, and swing it, Louisville Slugger style, at your armored opponent, and you could punch a hole through that armor fairly easily. A small impact area (the point), combined with a relatively large mass (a hammer head) generally tends to do that to hardened metal plating. I’m pretty sure it would really just be a  bad day for the aforementioned armored opponent after that.

Medieval War Hammer

We don’t generally wear armor these days, however this design is still a good one for defensive impact use. You know, for smacking unruly peeps upside the head and whatnot. Especially for folks who’d rather not actually break out the sword bit if it could be avoided.

And assuming a solid connection between the shaft of the cane and the head (This is usually a very weak link in most sword cane designs) it would be all the more effective because of both the added weight of the hammer head, and the 100% USDA can of whoop a$$ that could be delivered by that pointy bit.

Now that I think about it, those medieval war hammer folks really knew a little too much about bringing the pain…

Hammer Head Sword Cane – [True Swords]

A while back I ran across some pics of a weapon I don’t see very often these days. A weapon that had it’s start in one of the most mundane of tasks. Spear fishing. A spear with three prongs, designed to improve a spear fishers chances of spearing a fish, with each prong barbed, in order to help prevent dinner from going free once impaled.

This weapon is almost certianly a greatly loved tool by spear fishermen, and a feared weapon by all fishdom . However it seems that even humans found it more than just useful. Given the company it has keept through history, It must have been quite awe inspiring. I speak of course, of the Trident:

Shadow Strike Trident

Clearly the photographer needed better lighting and a better backdrop to do this weapon justice, but I really like its design, so I thought I’d share the warm glow emitted by this beautiful facsimile of a great weapon. A weapon often depicted in the hands of mighty Roman Gladiators of old.

And as if being the favored weapon of a professional warrior wasn’t enough, the trident was a weapon of the Gods! It was, in fact, The Greek God Poseidons weapon of choice, as well as that of Neptune, the Roman God, and Shiva, the Hindu God. Great was the power of the trident!

Sadly, the picture is not particularly clear, and the place I originally found it no longer seems to have it. But from what I can see from the pic, it’s not hard to see why it was such a great weapon. From long black shaft, with a silver banded accents both at the pommel as well as half way up the grip, to the head of the weapon, it just screams for respect.

With the head of the trident, of course, demanding the most respect. From the ornate transition from black shaft, to the three, beautiful, double edged, barbed, spear headed prongs, it says nothing less than “I am trident. HEAR ME…” Roar? No.. Ping?  Naw… Clang…? Bah!

Ok, so I don’t know what sounds this trident would make. Perhaps a cool resonant metallic ring or something. But that’s besides the point. Or in this case, besides the three points. The point is that those three points always make an oftentimes barbed point to point out that they are pointy and are always quite pointed in thier passive declaration about how three points are better than a single point. (U C Whut I did thar? I just slay me…   he he he…  <crickets chirping> Ok, whatever…

Anyway, if you still don’t get the point, this particular trident has yet another trick up it’s long black sleeve. It actually has *4* points, and… a blade!  *gasp*! in addition to the three beautiful points at the head of the trident, this trident also comes apart in the middle of the shaft to reveal a hidden blade! This brings our point count to 4!

Ok, so I’m pushing the points a bit, and that whole “sword in a trident shaft” bit has to seriously weaken the shaft’s strength, but still, you can’t deny the coolness of this design. It is, by any measure, Fish, Men and/or Gods, an awesome weapon…

That’s my opinion, and I’m sticking to it…

Shadow Strike Trident – [Anime Castle]

I recently ran across an interesting set of weapons, both from the movie “Hellboy II : The Golden Army”. Starring Ron Perlman, Selma Blair and Luke Goss. The original HellBoy movie had quite an array of interesting weapons and this latest incarnation is no exception. This time around, I’ll be talking about two weapons in particular, a spear and a sword, both the weapons of renegade elven Prince Nuada, played by Luke Goss:

Prince Nuadas Weapons from the movie HellBoy II

If memory serves, both of these weapons were worn by Prince Nuada at various points in the movie. In the final challenge battle he gives the sword to Hellboy to challenge him with. Quite the honorable, if misguided fellow. Up until he tried to stab HellBoy in the back. Quite the angsty type. Though I’d be lying if I said I didn’t understand where his angst came from. But I’m rambling.

I found both weapons interesting for a several reasons. When I compared the design of each of the two weapons, I found their designs to be both conflicting and complementary. They both appear to display completely opposing levels of sophistication, and yet are furnished identically, almost as if designed by different people, then finished to match. In addition, each appears almost specifically designed to fulfill a role that the other cannot. I’ll start with the Sword:

Prince Nuadas Sword from the movie HellBoy II

The sword is of an interesting, but rather limiting design. It is wide, heavy, of medium length, and has no point. Franky as Elven swords go, it is not of the characteristically edgy but beautiful design that elven swords are known for. It appears to be designed purely for cutting and cleaving, and possesses absolutely no thrusting capabilities whatsoever.

In fact, it almost appears to have none of the characteristics of traditional elven swords whatsoever, save for the hilt furniture. If I were to hazard a guess, I might speculate that the sword was not really of elven design, but may have been commissioned, only as an afterthought by the prince, to match the the spear, which was actually his favored weapon.

An interesting feature of the swords design, is that it carries a little notch at in the spine, just before the tip, (if you can even call it that). This notch could theoretically be used to capture and break other swords. It’s almost as though this sword was designed purely for very close quarters combat with other swords, and nothing else. As you will see, I think there is a purpose for that, which becomes a little more plausible once we’ve looked at Prince Nuada’s other weapon, (and probably his favorite) his elven spear:

Prince Nuadas Spear from the movie HellBoy II

Now this spear, that is an elven weapon. So much more elegant than the sword. From the pommel to at least midway through the deceptively short shaft, it is identical to the sword, but from there on out it is a completely different story. Prince Nuada was perfectly capable of using the spear in it’s short form for melee combat, however its use would be restricted mainly to thrusts, with limited slashing capabilities provided by the relatively large (by spear head standards), but comparatively short (against a sword), broad and beautifully crafted spear head.

In the movie, the spear is imbued with eleven witchery and was capable of extending about 4 extra feet, to achieve the full spear length of around 6 feet. And what a beautiful 6 feet of black and gold elven rune etched spear they were!! We also see in the movie that the spear also has an auto-magically repairing tip. A very handy feature, especially given how beautiful that spear head is. No worrying about broken spear heads and all that.

Anyway, while the spear provided Prince Nuada with much greater reach, it would still have been limiting in close quarters battle, and against a skilled sword wielding opponents, using weapons whose entire edge could be used to inflict lethal cuts, he may have found it necessary to resort to using a sword. My hypothesis would be that, at this point there would be very few of the elven race left, and so the sword would have been forged by a non-elven smith, which would describe it’s crude nature.

Of course in reality, whoever designed these weapons may not have had anything of the sort in mind, but I thought those particular design choices were an interesting coincidence. Perhaps the sword was designed that way purely because the designer knew HellBoy would eventually be using it. In which case I’d say the design was spot on.

Anyway, I think that’ll be enough of me forging speculative logic for the design and function of fictional weapons for a fictional prince of a fictional race from a fantasy movie.

Oh, wait…

Actually this works. I am actually not real myself.

Never mind. I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing.

Prince Nuadas Sword – [True Swords]
Prince Nuadas Spear – [True Swords]

So a while back I ran across a rather interesting polearm:

Midnight Dragon Blade

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Yes. The Midnight Dragon Blade. Dunno if it was intended for hunting dragons at midnight, or is the signature weapon of the secret sect called the Midnight Dragon Corps. Personally I’d much prefer the latter. anyway, I haven’t blogged about a polearm in a while, so when found this while looking through my archives, I thought it would make for an interesting post. Expecially since this is of a rather unusual design.

Like your average polearm, this one has a suitably lengthy shaft, in sweet blackness, tipped with a silver pommel cap sporting a design I had a hard time placing. On one hand it looks like a chain mail pattern covering some kind of flowerbud, and on the other, it could be scales on the outstretched talons of a dragon. Hm. My design-fu is weak today…

Either way, it thought it was cool. Three quarters of the way up the shaft we have a silver band, and just below the head, a dragon is depicted wrapped around the shaft, looking up towards the head. Now the head of this polearm is where it gets interesting.

The flat black head of this polearm is an eclectic collection of curves, arcs, and points, which I normally love to see, except in this case, there does not seem to be much purpose behind the arrangement. However, just for giggles, I’m going to try see if I can classify it based on it’s general features.

On one side we have what looks like the outstretched wing of a black dragon, which I thought looked very cool. It’s rearward orientation would suggest that this could be used in a bill hook fashion, however billhooks generally did not have an additional large blade on the opposite side as an accoutrement.

Opposite the wing hook we have a large beautiful crescent of black steel. Almost looks like an axe head, which would put it in Bardiche or pole cleaver category, except pole cleavers are usually single edged. Not to mention the little sub crescent in the top of the curve, besides being really annoying, really kills the axe head shape. Which is possibly why I find it annoying. But I digress.

There is also no real forward point to speak of, the top of the axe head curves too far in to make a good thrusting point, so this would probably be best used as a hacking, hooking or or cutting weapon. So we are left with the generic “random blade on a long stick” polearm, AKA – the Halberd.

Halberds perhaps come in the widest variety of blade shapes and sizes, but to be honest, they also generally all have a good useable thrusting point as well, which this doesn’t have. However, since there are versions of polearms with bill hooks on one side and large axe like blades on the other, I’m gonna stick with that, as two out of three isn’t bad.

Meh. Who am I kidding… This thing is unclassifiable. It’s a fantasy weapon. They threw me for a loop by omitting “fantasy” from the name, but the “Dragon” in the nomenclature should have given it away. You’d think i would have figured all this out by now. Live an learn I guess…

It’s still a cool looking polearm, though…

Midnight Dragon Blade – [King of Swords]

Many moons ago, I engaged in a little whine about a so called fantasy axe that looked more like a big knife with a (pointlessly, I might add) swivelling head. I remember thinking (and commenting) on how the design might make for a good spear head. Well guess what:

Sonjas Revenge

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OK, so the head on this spear isn’t exactly identical to the head on the Fantasy Axe. But it’s the same idea. It’s a double bladed, or more accurately a forked spear head, where each blade represents one side of the double pointed fork.

And a rather menacing fork it is. Notwithstanding the brownie points this weapon gets for having a black spear head, the overall contours of the spear are very… shall we say curvaceous? I mean seriously, just look at it. The spear head is all curves and points. In Phyreblade parlance that combination is commonly referred to as being “Dead sexeh”… *ahem*

But as I was saying, certainly an evil weapon. In the hands of a vengeful Amazon. Be afraid. Be very afraid…

Sonjas Revenge – [True Swords]

Besides the last scythe post with the futuristic fancy schmancy super skull scythe, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t see another scythe again. How wrong was I!

The Monster Scythe

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Yes, this is indeed a scythe-like monstrosity. Simple lines. A loooong wood shaft. A mean looking sliver of razor sharp steel serving double duty as a blade. All in all a rather evil looking weapon, quite worthy of the Grim Reaper. Except for one thing. This isn’t what a scythe is supposed to look like.

This is what a scythe is supposed to look like:

A modern day scythe

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See the difference? Notice the two handles? The curved shaft? The blade canted at an angle to the shaft? That’s what a scythe is supposed to look like. In fact, in my oh so humble opinion, the original design looks a whole lot more sinister than the straight shaft design above. I suppose it’s cheaper to sell a straight shaft, but it just loses soo much character that way…

Ya know, just as a side note, I’ve always wondered how effective your average a scythe would be in a battle situation. I kinda think it would suck. Yes, yes, I know. No, I don’t hear the Grim Reaper complaining, but hear me out. The traditional scythe is designed to cut grass or crops at around ankle level. The curve in the shaft and the cant to the blade is designed to keep the blade parallel to the ground while the wielder holds the handles, and rotates their upper body from side to side,  standing upright.

Now while that may be fine for the farm, in battle, it would make a rather tough weapon to wield. Especially if you wanted to hit anything but your opponents ankles. if you tried aiming for an opponents head, let’s say, the grip would be wrong, the blade would be canted in the wrong direction, it would be a nightmare! So given the scythe’s design inadequacy for battlefield use, how come the Grim Reaper is always portrayed with a traditional scythe, reaping some poor saps head off like it was a head of wheat? Just a random thought…

And yes, I am already undergoing counseling, thank you very much…

The Monster Scythe – [True Swords]

Today we have yet another treat from the infamous movie “300″. I present to you the signature polearm of the Spartan army, the long spear:

“300″ Spartan Warrior Spear

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Now some people underestimate the power of the spear. People look at it and say, “Well yes, it’s cool for throwing, and for distance attacks, but beyond that it’s useless. Not so. It has it’s drawbacks, yes, but in the hands of a skilled warrior, a spear can be just as deadly as a sword. People don’t realize how functionally flexible a spear can really be.

Besides the obvious advantage of being a good projectile weapon, a spear at full length is a great distance thrusting tool. the fact that a spear was usually used with both hands meant a skilled warrior could be both fast and accurate with their strikes. And while a spear was more or less it useless for slashing, depending on it’s design it could also be used much like a staff weapon. Once you got it spinning, it could be used to deliver some serious blunt trauma. And if grasped at half length it could be used like a short thrusting spear/sword.

Interestingly, in the Movie “300″ we are treated to numerous sequences where the long spear is shown used to it’s maximum advantage. In large numbers, an army armed with spears could keep even mounted, well armored attackers at bay quite efficiently. And even in one on one combat, a spear can be quite the effective stand off tool, keeping an opponent at “spears length”, as it were, and making their supposedly “faster” close in weapon, like an axe or a sword, useless.

And lets not forget also, that unlike a sword, a spear is much easier to throw, and the ability to engage the enemy at long distances was a big advantage to a spear wielding combatant. Given also that the amount of steel that was needed for a spear was usually only a small fraction of that used for a sword, you could make many more spears with the same amount of steel.

300 Spartan Warrior Spear

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All of these factors combined are what made the spear such a flexible, formidable battlefield weapon. But besides all of that, I just happen to like this spear because its got that really mean looking, sharp point, it actually comes apart, and as we all know, flexibility is golden when it comes to weapons like these. And of course, being spartan, this one has that “Don’t mess with me, I’m Spartan…” look…

But ultimately, and most importantly, while most other spears are of light colored woods and chrome, this one is all black… You can’t beat that with… anything. No wonder the Spartans were so full of WIN!

“300″ Spartan Warrior Spear – [True Swords]

 qaleghqa’neS! Welcome to the next installment of “Weapons of the Klingon Empire!” Today, we take a look at Klingon axes! The axe is a rather uncommon weapon in Klingon battle, for two reasons. The first being that, in close quarters combat, such as narrow star ship corridors, or cluttered bridges, large axes would have been more of a liability than a benefit. Naturally, once Klingons became a fully space faring race, battle axes became obsolete.

The second reason is that the betleH, the universal Klingon melee weapon that replaced almost every other, was designed to allow both close-in and extended reach techniques in close quarters combat. It was so well engineered for Klingon melee battle techniques, that no other large weapon could really come close to the kind of versatility the betleH offered the Klingon warrior.

As a result, most of the axes we will see today are Klingon designs adapted from medieval, pre-starship weapon design. First up, the ‘aqleH.

The ‘aqleH

 The ‘aqleH (or half betleH) is perhaps the most modern combat axe of the Klingon empire, developed for planetary based forces to use against a blitz attacks by mounted aggressors. Developed is perhaps not the best word, more like adapted, since, as you can see, it is essentially a standard betleH, cut in half and mounted on a shaft.

Because of it’s considerable length, this weapon would never see the inside of a starship, however for the same reason, it also served double duty as the only Klingon polearm of note, though historically, polearm weapons were rarely used at all, since Klingons found much greater honor in close quarters quarters combat.

The ‘alngegh

 The Klingon ‘alngegh is a medieval Klingon design that reflects many of the similar design philosophies of human battle axe development, spawned in the face of heavily armored opponents. The heavy, wide curved blade, allowed it to be used for both slashing and chopping against lightly armored foes, while the spiked rear head made it a great weapon for piercing heavier plate or mail armor.

Indeed the function and use of this weapon was identical to that of it’s human human counterpart, but in this axe you also begin to see the spark of what eventually inspired the design of the magnificent betleH known as the Sword of Kahless…

The jey’naS

The third, and final axe weapon of Klingon origin that I am aware of is called the jey’naS. The jey’naS is a unique double bladed axe design, but unlike traditional medieval Human axe design, this weapon features a unique double hook blade design. It’s hard to tell what inspired this particular design.

Because of the voids behind each blade it would not be a particularly strong chopping weapon, and would have been fairly useless against armor, so my guess is that this  weapon probably predated the ‘alngegh. However it would have been quite adequate at slashing duty.

Also the head of this axe is not only pinned onto the shaft, but also has a long tang that extens all the way down through the shaft, and is secured to a metallic pommel, just below the widely flared base of the grip. The flared base would give the wielder a very secure purchase, and the extended tang and buttcap would make it very resistant to extension forces.

Combine those design elements with the large voids, and very sharp points at the bottom of each hook-like blade, and you can see this being designed to trap an opponents weapon, or possibly even hook, impale and unseat a fast moving mounted aggressor. A fairly stereotypical Klingon tactic, given that they tend to prefer close up face time with an opponent.

But all in all the jey’naS is also one of the more unusual, but aesthetically pleasing axe designs I have come across, though I am torn between it and the ‘alngegh for my favorite Klingon axe design. They are both great weapons with all the curves and points you could ever want out of an axe…

Sadly, that ends this episode of  “Weapons of the Glorious Klingon Empire”. Special thanks to Kri’stak Forge, and the Klingon Imperial Weapons Guild, for keeping the flame of honor alive. I hope you’ll join us for our next installment. Until then, I bid honor to your great house. Qapla’ batlh je!

Kri’stak Forge – [Klingon Imperial Weapons Guild]

In a few previous posts I’ve talked about all kinds of spears, dragon spears, tribal spears, long spears, short spears, etc. Today however I will be talking about a weapon whose design is very closely related to the spear, but isn’t really a spear:

The Ikkakuryu Marohoshi

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The Marohoshi is an interesting weapon. As you can see, it is essentially a spear head, complete with cross guards and tassel, that is used without a shaft. This weapon was probably a result of people using spear heads as impromptu weapons when the ranges became too close to effectively use a spear, or when they needed an additional close quarters combat blade.

The Ikkakuryu Marohoshi

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The marohoshi actually has one additional feature that would have made it a perfect concealed carry weapon in feudal Japanese times. It had a folding guard! I imagine that as people began carrying these spare spear tips around for backup, it would have been unwieldly to carry about a large spear head, with over sized cross guards, on ones person. So what do you do? Make em foldable!

If you look closely, you can see there is one large crossguard that is pinned to the blade, and basically swivels out parallel to the handle/blade. The second guard, acting as a locking pin, is inserted into a slot in the handle of the maroshoshi just beneath the swiveling crossguard pin, securing the first guard in place perpendicular to the first. Then the second guard is then tied into place by it’s tassels to ensure the whole thing stays together.

The long tassel of the second guard also allowed for a shaft to be secured to the handle  of the marohoshi, which could then be used as a spear. Now obviously, this design, consisting of multiple parts and 3 steps to make it secure, wasn’t particularly fast to deploy, however it was more likely designed for versatility than speed.

All and all, I thought this was a pretty interesting weapon.

Ikkakuryu Marohoshi – [Jin-1 Jutte Kobo]