I wish I could like this comment. Can't seem to be able to.

yes

It happens in the Netflix show Witcher and it was amazing ^^

Agreed. That's what makes me mad about movies. They could still make the fights cool, maybe even nore interesting by actually following how people fought.

he is a smiley fella. That has the skill to kill us with a sword. And without.

Likewise :D

+TheEyez187 I do wonder why they don't do this kind of thing in movies. Much more impressive and entertaining than dumb power swings and the such.

It's like real D&D disarm feat.

+Battam Because of the same reason Aikido (from demonstrations) looks "fake". "No way that could work in real life", would the viewers think. "Clearly the other guy just let him disarm him with no resistance", they would say. Reality is unrealistic, and viewers expect swashbuckling sword-fighting where there's more noise of swords hitting each other than any real substance. Bonus points if you do the "bind" thing with lightsabers.

+Shawn Long English manners !

No no no. You're suppose to say something like "you killed my father, prepare to die" and then comes the talk of tea

+Deedeedee137 You think yourself a worthy challenge, but what you don't realize is... I'm not actually left handed!

That is called "proper form". XD XD

and then spring apart and begin to frantically unscrew your pommel

What about that scene from The Princess Bride?

Golem215 You mean that beautifully choreographed dance section with the front-flips, spinning, gymnastics and pleasant conversation? Um, no. It was entertaining, but not remotely realistic. I mean something where it looks like the two actors really are trying to kill each other, full of mistakes, brutality and the feeling that both of them are barely hanging onto their lives with every strike and parry. And of course, nearly every swing needs to at least look like it was aimed at a vital part of the other's body. I used to do kung fu, and when the teacher came over to demonstrate a punch in the air, my friend mimicked the motion and and accidentally smacked me in the mouth. The teacher just said "you should have blocked that". He was right. Even in training, every shot should be aimed to hit, or you learn nothing. In films, it should look like it was aimed to hit, or there is no tension.

***** What about Rob Roy and the final fight ?

Jakub Hanak There are some good exchanges in that, but Neeson makes it looks like his sword weighs a ton, he puts his left forward whilst using the sword in his right, and they both leave themselves open and within easy reach so many times that there is no reason for that fight to have lasted so long. There's also a lot of 'attacking the air around the person'. It's good for a movie fight, but still not very convincing.

***** Agreed, yet from those I´ve seen this one is probably the most accurate no-starwars-style-like sword combat but there was some irational sword waving that was completly unreasonable.

Its to create drama. People who take movie fights seriously are really to blame.

Yeah...some of the things that sticklers to historical fighting hate about movie fight scenes just kind of come as part of the territory, because a real life fight is just not as exciting. Also very short.

LaughingOwlKiller I'm sure someone with a knack for making movies could come up with other sword fight scenes that would create drama, instead of copying everyone else. I wouldn't want to do that.

York Denim it's not a matter of copying..it's using what works. It's all to create drama and or tension. While stage fighting can borrow things from Historical Fighting..it is still it's own beast.

Well, in my opinion, If you do what someone else does, you copy them, and you copy them cause it works. Doesn't mean that I'm not allowed to be sick of it, which I am. You don't have to be, though. I'm as sick of it as much as with superheroes with dead parents, and the argument is always "because it works" I get it, I do, but I don't like it. I'd rather encourage people to try something different. I'm sure someone would take great notice to it as well, like wow, I never saw this before. "Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible." If people aren't gonna do something new with their sword fight, I might as well pop in old VHS tapes again.

One also has to factor in that, back in the day, anybody who could afford to buy a longsword could probably also afford a pair of leather gloves at the very least.

***** which only further supports my point

I didn't expect more to actually know it's possible to grab the blade. Still might be cheating though, if such rules were established beforehand

And knights wore gloves

@@blackthorn956 no , there were no such rules in medieval or any warfare

Yarp.

alex d Pretty sure they're way too short to be entertaining, especially for a built-up final fight or something like that. Besides, choreography directors probably are too lazy to study manual techniques and teach the actors proper stances and foot work.

With real sword fights, it's much harder for viewers to tell what's going on.

+Raymond Lillington Yeah....if you assume every wound inflicted with a sword is a decapitation...and assume that unarmoured fighters are going to sit their waving their weapons at each other relentlessly until someone dies...sure.

+Raymond Lillington I reckon they'd last a while tbh. If both sides know what's at stake they'd be inclined to keep their distance and play conservatively.

Tom Calver Not only this but the difficulty of landing an actual damaging wound isn't taken into account, real combat is awkward and difficult most blows landed are going to be more deterring than damaging. Unless a skilled fighter was to come up against an amateur (then the amateur might have already been struck a mortal blow within 30 seconds and will be dead within the next 10 minutes.)

Robert Watson Perhaps but perhaps not. The real issue is that 'telling blows'...even fatal ones..usually take minutes, hours or days to kill...and can take minutes to incapacitate. This is even true with modern firearms, a man can take many shots to the heart and still continue to fight on for nearly a minute before they are incapacitated (as in they stop fighting...as in still alive and likely still conscious.) Another issue is that a blow landed isn't too likely to be 'telling'.....it's difficult to land clean blows on an opponent who is trying to keep themselves safe and alive....very difficult. This is probably how we have duels that are recorded to have lasted upwards towards an hour...in real life, things aren't quite as 'clean cut' (yes I know, terrible.) as they are in hollywood. The reason combat is violent is actually BECAUSE of this fact.

Robert Watson Double kills tend to happen more frequently against less skilled fighters...Also one of the reasons for these statements is probably that the 'insta-kill' is heavily ingrained in Japanese legend and the myth of the insta-kill persists even to this day. As for the strike to the sword hand, that most certainly could end his use of the hand...but...and this might surprise you...in battles to the death, people tend not to give up so easily. Someone with an injured hand might close the distance and instantly attempt to grapple...or find other objects they could throw at their opponent. This is why fighting is as I said earlier so violent....you often truly do need to beat your opponent into submission... Ahhh, ironically duels almost never resulted in death even when to the deal duels were legal...as I explained earlier blows landed were often just nicks or scratches, although deeper cuts could also be made (usually still to the arms and perhaps legs, maybe upper torso, especially the shoulders.) if someone were to die it was more likely to happen due to infection several days or weeks afterwards. As for battles...people wore armour...people also made an effort to keep themselves alive..some of them successful.

Bob Bob Yes, Aikido and Jujitsu have basically the same kind of source as medieval and renaissance close combat.

scholagladiatoria Although I'd take Jiu Jitsu over Aikido ANY day. (to work out why, see which Steven Segal is a 'master' of, make your own conclusions).

Riley B Same here, although bare in mind that the jūjutsu (btw. not trying to be pedantic, but it's more helpful to write jujutsu instead of jiu jitsu, which is basically a very clumsy early spelling) you often see in Europe and the States is a modern mishmash of judo, aikido and karate. In my experience it is much more difficult to find a school that teaches one of the many classical Japanese jūjutsu systems.

+Bob Bob yes, I think this is exactly why we see so many grab defenses in the Japanese jujutsu ryuha.

+Bob Bob The problem with Aikido is that in Aikijujitsu these techniques are accompanied with strikes to soften the target, and Aikido cuts these things out because they think it's "too violent". Good Aikido is just Aikijujitsu with Aikido in the title.

"I see that your Schwartz is as big as mine."

FutureUSMC12"Now you see that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb."

All I've ever heard on the subject indicates that bucklers were carried at peoples sides. If it was on their belt or on their sword handle is not clear. Though the sword handle would make more sense, since they are said to have make a lot of noise while the person was walking about. The buckler clanging against a sword guard or pommel would do that. Also having the buckler on the sword handle would, presumably, make it a quicker draw. And people carrying these around did mean business when it came to dueling.

5chr4pn3ll I just cannot imagine how to draw buckler and sword in that position speedily. The sword is fixed in position by several straps, but the grip is blocked by the shield and the shield could move by quite a degree. The handle could turn allmost 90° to both sides and the rim of the shield might block access to both grips.

edi I think sword on your shield / belt is more like a "non-dangerous" position if you are travelling. If you know it could get dangerous, you would just take the buckler in your hand.

edi Well since the buckler would not be strapped to the sword handle, just having the grip thread over the sword handle or guard, drawing your sword fast would just involve lifting up your buckler with your off hand and drawing your sword with your sword hand like normal. The combination was not meant for a lightning quick draw-cut or anything like that though.

The buckler strap would usually fit over your scabbard, before you sheath your blade. This way it still hangs there, but does not interfere with drawing the sword. You could then draw your sword and afterwards you would retrieve the buckler from your hip.

Well, I like that idea.

York Denim Just got back and reread my comment. I should have made one elaboration. The area where the swordsmen would grab each other's swords is around the handle area (bottom part of the handle where a 2nd hand can grip, the holder's gripping fingers, or his/her wrist), as opposed to the blade. That is the blade lock justification I came up with and was referring to. If you already pictured that before, my apologies. I just wanted to correct/ make my comment more clear.

York Denim BTW, thank you for showing appreciation of my general idea. Very grateful for that 😊

Cade Thumann Honestly, if you're trying to incorporate dialogue between two characters during a dueling sequence, it would be much more viable to have them jesting or taunting or whatever while OUTSIDE the engaging range of their weapons. For instance, you can have a bout between the two fighters resulting in them either retreating or ending up out of attacking distance. At this point you can have them circle or other slow footwork out of range whilst conversing with each other. I have never liked the up close and personal "blade lock" format that most movies incorporate, and while you MIGHT get away with both of them grasping the other's blade, it isnt terrible realistic as whoever gets the blade first has an enormous advantage and can stop the other person from doing the same. Either way, if both blades are locked, the logical next move would to descend into wrestling and then there really wouldnt be much dialogue. So to recap, if you really want dialogue during your combat sequences try to have it incorporated while the combatants are out of range or otherwise incapable of killing one another

Darkrender I understand. However, I did not wish to have the blade lock to incorporate dialogue. I just find it an interesting moment (possibly due to the fact it is a moment where it can act as a pause in battle while still being an attack) (and I understand your dislike of it. To each his/her own). I guess one justification (I am going by the more well-known blade lock where the fighters keep their hands on the handlrs of their swords) can be is that in a story, it can simply be a way for the fighters to try to knock their foe off balance (key words "A way" not "THE way") by pushing eachother and may somewhat disengage (not backing away from the enemy as shown in the video but rather immediately attacking as soon as the blades uncross) to follow up with an attack if they so choose. Even if it wouldn't be very wise in real life, at least in the realms of fiction, you can make up the rules, even ones that do not apply to this world (just my philosophy. Flawed they may be but so be it).

***** Absolutely grappling and throwing is allowed, but it doesn't happen very often because people who are good ar grappling often aren't good enough at swordsmanship to get close enough before they get hit by the opponent's sword. Usually when people deliberately try to grapple they get hit by the sword on the way into close distance.

scholagladiatoria I had a feeling that was probably it.

There are lots of good clubs in the US - have a look on the HEMA Alliance forum to see where your nearest HEMA school is.

Aqull There is an excellent club in Bratislava - fecht-kunst.eu/wp/

If you are in the minneapolis area, there is a fencing school called the "Minnesota Sword Club" that has a longsword fencing class. We also do sword/buckler, even some dagger work.

I'll look into that. Thanks.

It's a pretty common thing. Your thumb is protected by the blade and it makes things like ochs schielhau stronger.

That's how you're supposed to handle it,in HEMA that's what they taught us to do.

It's not necessary. Some sources favour that, others don't.

Julian Reid hillbilly swordsman deadly!

so he's.... entirely right

Templars would usuwally have their other hand occupied by using a shield

Though I don't know the answer to exactly this question, kendo has become very ritualized over the years. It is a sport now, much like sport fencing and as such bear little resemblance to how samurai actually fought.

Kendo used to incorporate close quarter grappling techniques in the past. As has been mentioned, it is more of a sport than a martial art at this point.

That's pretty much it. Crossing shinai (bamboo swords) at close range is called tsuba-zeriai, and usually comes about in situations that you would not really expect to encounter in real unarmoured combat. It is usually followed pretty quickly by either disengaging or by one or both of the opponents trying to get a strike in. However, I would be interested in hearing what Matt would have to say about this manoeuvre in the context of armoured fighting, where grappling your opponent is necessary to open up their weak spots.

***** Why is that disturbing to you?

***** You are missing the point that it is pure sport now. It is all about scoring the hit in one of those places that are designated. It would be pretty useless in a real fight because it is not meant for actual fighting. So it isn't disturbing that you attack armor because there is no way you would ever use kendo in a real fight.

Yeah, but in a driving scene you dont see the driver converse with the passenger with his hands off the steering wheel and eyes off the road. We, the audience, set the standards for realism, and actors get paid well enough to act around those standards