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[Loxley]

You can use the guard as a hook to remove pieces of amor, or as a blunt weapon, like a hammer, to damage through the armor itself, which a blade isn't ideal for.
The idea is that you use a sword in many different ways, depending on the circumstances, rather than just the traditional fencing you see in hollywood.

There's a scene in Kingdom of Heaven that briefly shows this off, but I can't find it anywhere online.

*edit - Nevermind, found it

 

[MickeyKnox]

 

[Nikodemos]

But seriously why even use a sword at all if youre gonna use it like that. Seems like youre fucked if you forgot to bring your gauntlet.

Even with (thick) leather gloves, it's not very dangerous, as long as you don't let the blade slip.

The mordhau ("death strike") was one of the few effective strikes against an enemy wearing plate ('harness'), since arming swords are pretty useless in combat against armoured opponents (even somebody wearing an old-fashioned surcoat+maille hauberk+gambeson is relatively impervious to a regular sword).

 

[Angry Grimace]

You laugh now, but when the Zombie Apocalypse comes, he's going to be laughing from the top of his arrow-defended fort while you die once you run out of ammo because your bullets keep attracting more zombies.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

You laugh now, but when the Zombie Apocalypse comes, he's going to be laughing from the top of his arrow-defended fort while you die once you run out of ammo because your bullets keep attracting more zombies.

Fuck that's right.

 

[The Cool One]

Holy shit splitting a in coming arrow in two is seriously impressive.

yea my jaw dropped when that happened

 

[coleco]

lol I'd forgotten this existed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_2UV0Pw2dM

This video made me lose it.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

Modern Kyūdō practitioners use the same technique. Granted Kyūdō is a martial art and not a sport, so competition and hitting the target aren't the focus. Here's a neat video about it.

That looks pretty cool.

Maybe I should try it.

Yup. Sword play in Hollywood is also all wrong. Basically, most things the common person knows about the past is inaccurate. Doesn't matter if it's cowboys, knights, archers, ninjas, etc. All wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S_Q3CGqZmg

Basically Hollywood chose entertainment over accuracy. Can't blame them, problem is, people believe that what Hollywood shows is real.

Every time I see this picture pop up, I can't help but laugh, I dunno why.

 

[Clevinger]

War of the Arrows got it right

(fuckin badass flick, btw)

 

[Jedi2016]

It's the way they draw, too, you can see it in those two pics. They're holding the arrow, not the string.

 

[Shining Sunshine]

americans should get rid of guns and replace it with archery

 

[squall23]

Must be Zelda fans.

More like Nintendo was a Hojo clan fan.

 

[Vermillion]

americans should get rid of guns and replace it with archery

I would be so for this.

 

[RobertM]

I never knew people drew arrows on the left side, I used to use only the right as a kid. Great to know I did it the right way

 

[Kinyou]

You can use the guard as a hook to remove pieces of amor, or as a blunt weapon, like a hammer, to damage through the armor itself, which a blade isn't ideal for.
The idea is that you use a sword in many different ways, depending on the circumstances, rather than just the traditional fencing you see in hollywood.

There's a scene in Kingdom of Heaven that briefly shows this off, but I can't find it anywhere online.

*edit - Nevermind, found it

Ah, ok. In motion it looks more sensical. The picture made it seem really awkward.

 

[Shining Sunshine]

Man this shit changed the paradigm of archery gameplay.

Someone should make a pure archery game, maybe an FPS, and use this archery style.

 

[Loxley]

Ah, ok. In motion it looks more sensical. The picture made it seem really awkward.

Here's a scene from a documentary called "Reclaiming the Blade" where a father/son team re-enact period-accurate sword fights using old manuals as references. They show how that blade-grabbing style worked.

 

[Danneee]

Holy shit at splitting an incoming arrow with another arrow!

 

[Effect]

This is pretty amazing. Funny enough the first time I picked up a bow it always felt natural to have the arrow on the right side. Placing on the left even though I'm holding the bow in my left hand felt weird right from the start.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

Here's a scene from a documentary called "Reclaiming the Blade" where a father/son team re-enact period-accurate sword fights using old manuals as references. They show how that blade-grabbing style worked.

This is an awesome video. Really great explanation and well, they show it very well. It actually makes sense, that is, the turn from holding it one handed to holding the blade, ramming down with the cross-guard, and trying to pommel the face. Man, so fluid. I love it.

 

[televator]

And then search for old photos of samurais, or archery competitions were they do it traditionally (Tibet, etc.), or old paintings, and it's on the right.

So the Triforce was real too?!

 

[whatever77]

That seem to be a good premise of a Lec Besson movie thats also completely useless in 21th century. Why did he shit on Hollywood in the video?

 

[MagicWithEarvin]

War of the Arrows got it right

(fuckin badass flick, btw)

Indeed it was!

 

[Forkball]

Remember that scene in Return of the King when Legolas killed everyone on the elephant and then surfed down its trunk?

Turns out that shit was legit.

 

[IceCold]

This is an awesome video. Really great explanation and well, they show it very well. It actually makes sense, that is, the turn from holding it one handed to holding the blade, ramming down with the cross-guard, and trying to pommel the face. Man, so fluid. I love it.

Yeah that video is great. Seeing the image makes the technique seem weird but you realize it makes sense when you see it in motion. It makes it more abvious how ridiculous a lot of the sword fighting we see in movies/tv are shit. Most of those guys would get destroyed with their fighting style irl.

 

[TheBryanJZX90]

Here's a scene from a documentary called "Reclaiming the Blade" where a father/son team re-enact period-accurate sword fights using old manuals as references. They show how that blade-grabbing style worked.

Why even start with a sword then? Why not just use a big warhammer or something?

 

[Nikodemos]

Why even start with a sword then? Why not just use a big warhammer or something?

Because a considerable number of fighters on a medieval battlefield were filler. They couldn't afford metal armour, or could only afford some pieces (rather than a complete set). A sword worked perfectly against leather or quilted armour.

And yes, a large number of fighters didn't bother with swords. They used mauls, axes, maces etc.

 

[akira28]

Every time I see this picture pop up, I can't help but laugh, I dunno why.

I imagine one of the guys saying, "how do swords? ah shit."

 

[zoukka]

lol at people calling this guy goofy when they are rocking anime avatars or video game or comic t shirts.

Nerds are above all other lifeforms.

 

[Khaz]

Here's a scene from a documentary called "Reclaiming the Blade" where a father/son team re-enact period-accurate sword fights using old manuals as references. They show how that blade-grabbing style worked.

Well that's awkward. Their fight is mainly choreographied, they go slow and actively try not to hit their opponent. They don't even bother wearing protection. I'm not saying their technique wouldn't work in a proper combat, but they just did a Hollywood fight that didn't show anything. Would it work in combat against someone unprepared for it? And against someone who knows it? We don't know and this video showed nothing. Especially they showed their move had a counter move that was apparently quite deadly and they didn't have a counter counter-move. I wouldn't be the one to try the move in combat against a prepared opponent.

[edit] Oh, they are fight choreographers. Well that explains it.

 

[Kite]

heh from now on I'm gonna have to check which side of the bow the arrow is whenever I see a bow and arrow scene.

edit: three out of the 4 anime I watched today had archery and all drew the arrow back on the correct side lol

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

This dude's rebuttal to Lars is hilarious:

http://geekdad.com/2015/01/danish-archer/

Apparently, Lars is hilariously wrong and inaccurate about everything?

“If he wanted to shoot like the master archers of old, he would have to unlearn what he had learned,” the narrator tells us. If Andersen had ever actually learned anything from real archers before going on his historical quest, he would have had a lot less to unlearn. What he had learned is the usual collection of bad habits that self-taught amateur archers always display, many of which continue unabated in his new, allegedly historic techniques. He is a terrible archer who can shoot fast. He shoots very fast. He shoots very badly very fast.

Continuing on with a complete lack of understanding of the physics of archery, the narrator asserts “these archers started placing the arrow on the left side of the bow. This is probably due to the fact that aiming at a stationary two-dimensional target makes you aim with one eye.” In point of fact, no, it’s not. The reason for moving the arrow to the left side of the bow (for a right-handed archer) is something known as “the Archer’s Paradox,” a complicated collection of physics phenomena that results in the arrow hitting to the right even though when it’s on the bow it’s pointing slightly to the left. You can see it in the slow-motion footage during the tournament scene in Brave; as the arrow begins its flight, it’s oscillating back and forth, swimming through the air like a fish and moving to the left, until the aerodynamic effect of the air passing over feathers causes it to begin spinning, at which point the arrow turns and begins traveling to the right. (You can also see how simple and fast it is to place an arrow on the bow, despite Andersen’s absurd play-acting.) This scene was painstakingly recreated from high-speed footage shot by professional archers for Russell Crowe’s Robin Hood, using historically accurate English longbows. Placing the arrow on the left side of the bow compensates for this effect; without it, archers would have to aim to the left in order to hit their target. In point of fact, most archers, especially those shooting traditional styles, shoot with both eyes open.

“He uses forgotten historical methods…” No, they were not forgotten. They just weren’t European. Archery is one of the oldest human activities, found in virtually every culture on Earth, and dating back tens of thousands of years. There are wide variations in equipment and shooting techniques around the world, and Andersen’s “discoveries” are well-known to anyone who has ever studied Asian and Eastern European archery, such as Mongolian, Tibetan or Hungarian styles. The famous Native American archer Ishi was known for shooting in a style very similar to Andersen’s, putting the arrow on the outside of the bow in the style of the Yahi People of the Pacific Northwest.

Another fun exercise would be comparing Andersen’s clumsy attempts at running and jumping to actual practitioners of parkour, martial arts, or gymnastics. Frankly, I’m surprised people aren’t mocking his awkward attempts at action shots, since to me he looks about as impressive and coordinated as the Star Wars kid.

There's a lot more at the link. He pretty much does a complete, angry tear-down of everything in the video. I'm finding it hard to not laugh really hard.

 

[Silphonica]

Heres a more detailed rebuttal to lars anderson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDbqz_07dW4

 

[Wabba]

americans should get rid of guns and replace it with archery

Seeing as America lose every war they enter, they have noting to lose.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

Heres a more detailed rebuttal to lars anderson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDbqz_07dW4

Ha, this is great so far.

Spoiler

Girl is cute as fuck too, but that's neither here nor there.

 

[Leunam]

I remember reading that the bit about the quiver was completely wrong as well. There was usually some kind of padding at the bottom of the quiver that held the arrows in place.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

I feel a lot less impressed at Lars, not cause he's not entertaining but because he's just kind of a liar face at this point.

 

[freethought]

Yeah, I read that blog post a few weeks ago and the video is even more damning. His claims about historical accuracy seemed even more suspect when combined with his 'acrobatics'. He just needs to work on his parkour skills a little bit, then he can just do the stunt work for Arrow and stop shitting on English longbowmen. He wouldn't get near one, that was the whole fucking point.

 

[Loxley]

Heres a more detailed rebuttal to lars anderson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDbqz_07dW4

I should not have read the comments. Talk about a bunch of insecure dudes who don't like being told by a woman that their new favorite internet badass just kinda makes things up.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

I should not have read the comments. Talk about a bunch of insecure dudes who don't like being told by a woman that their new favorite internet badass just kinda makes things up.

Bunch of losers.

I actually really appreciate the video. I love the history of archery. Lars is just a talented trick shooting dude full of shit and himself.

Also loved the growing numbers of arrows she had to hold as she kept listing off new reasons why Lars was wrong. Also that eye patch, lolololol.

Only thing I didn't like about the video was the shitty background and weird... editing?

 

[NomarTyme]

Gave hers thumbs up! I've been bamboozled by Lars!

 

[Oveja Negra]

So... he went from being awesome to a total joke.

Nice.

Spoiler

j/k

Spoiler

No, I really mean it

Spoiler

No, j/k

Spoiler

Ahh, I don't know

 

[Hesemonni]

People are just salty about the 26M hits the original video has.

 

[Yaboosh]

Heres a more detailed rebuttal to lars anderson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDbqz_07dW4

She looks very much like Angelina Jolie.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

She looks very much like Angelina Jolie.

Right!?

I actually found her prettier than Jolie.

 

[dragonelite]

So it does not take skill to do those trick shots?

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

So it does not take skill to do those trick shots?

I don't think anyone said he wasn't skilled.

All his crap about history and technique and rediscovering lost arts is just horseshit is all.

He's a very skilled trick shooter.

 

[Tugatrix]

So it does not take skill to do those trick shots?

I consider patience a skill

Spoiler

He must have spent hours trying to successfully do those tricks

 

[Donos]

So it does not take skill to do those trick shots?

Video is rather going against the "claims" from Lars (picture the guy from the vid doing the " ") and not saying that he isn't good.

 

[Leunam]

So it does not take skill to do those trick shots?

It absolutely does. But that's all they are, trick shots, not insight into how people actually fought back then.