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The work Weta did on the Lord of the Rings weapons is easily the gold standard of fantasy swords for me. They're all totally functional designs while still having that fantastical flair. Main thing I would change about them would be giving the elven two handed swords longer blades. The dwarf weapons in the Hobbit are terrible though.

Conan’s sword was a one-handed sword for a giant king/lord of ancient Atlantis, from whom his people descended. Note how much larger the skeleton is than Conan. It harkens back to the story his father told him. He just requires both hands to wield it effectively because the Cimmerians are greatly diminished in stature from their ancient ancestors.

Regarding the light sabre I think the entire concept we cannot rate in this world right now. I think that how it's supposed to work is that its heat is only present inside the "blade" area, that some kind of force field is containing most of the energy so you don't burn anything until you bring it inside this force field. The force field would also explain the impact part.

I have two swords to suggest. Both from the same source. First, the Star Saber. It's a mystical blade that first appeared in Transformers: Armada. The version I'm thinking of however, is from seasons 2 and 3 of another series called Transformers Prime. The other blade I'd like to suggest is literally its evil counterpart and called the Dark Star Saber, from the same two seasons of Transformers Prime.

The most powerful sword is a Zelda legends sword ... It is soooo powerful that even possession of a 6in plastic version is enough to get you locked up for 4 months in the UK. Imagine the power of a full sized metal one!

Shad was later found naked in a field muttering the lightsaber is a 10/10 😅

It's been a _long_ time since I read anything Conan, but if I recall his Atlantean sword was originally a greatsword, but the blade had broken so it was reshaped and rehilted to be an arming sword. But the Atlanteans were also in the range of 2 to 3 meters tall, so for modern Cimmerians like Conan who, although giants of men, are much smaller in stature than the ancient Atlanteans, it's still a big two-hander. The starmetal sword Conan used against the Serpent-men in the 1992-93 animated series "Conan the Adventurer" was quite similar in general design to Lion-O's Sword of Omens, though. Lightsabers canonically (or perhaps not anymore, thanks to Disney) do have a force field around the blade. In one of the novels (I'm fairly sure it was "Shadows of the Empire", which takes place between "Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi") when Luke was on Tatooine building his lightsaber, the first thing he did after igniting it was to make sure there wasn't any heat coming from the blade, because if there was then that meant there was a problem with the containment field, and fixing it would entail taking the entire saber apart and starting over.

Genuinely surprised Shad didn't include the sword from his own books. The replicas are hanging right there in the center of the entire video. I guess it'll have to wait for the next one

Inigo Montoya's sword from "The Princess Bride." As put by the Man in Black "I've never seen its equal." Sting from Lord of the Rings. Gandalf's Glamdring.

So funnily enough, even in Beserk itself the only magical property of dragonslayer is that it can harm demons and ethereal beings. Beyond that it's canonically just a hunk of Iron, the whole fact that the sword should be completely unwieldable is even went over in the series. It's just guts is so stupid angry and strong that he can swing it around with ease. No magic or anything, it is literally just a hunk of Iron the main character is stupidly strong enough to swing.

Sword ideas for another list: the McLeod family sword from Highlander, Star Sword from Bravestar, and here is a crazy one, scale down the Blazing Sword from Voltron

A sword that I have not seen reviewed would be Navarre's family sword from the movie Ladyhawke.

On the design of Anduril. There is a reason why the handle ends so soon. Elendil was nearly 8 feet tall (7’11”). Dude was massive, and this was actually meant to be a hand and a half sword for that giant. It’s like if someone had made a hand and a half for Grutte Pier. It’d be closer to a large longsword/war sword for a normal person of around 6’ (which is where Aragorn stands). Edit: the Grutte pier example is for some real-world, non-lore application.

There are literally thousands more fantasy swords so I can see the series going on for a long time

You forgot Long Claw! I always like it better than Anduril. In the GoT books it seems like Ice is considered too big for battle, but in HotD we see Cregan stark carrying it on his back at the wall and the Starks of that time used it in battle!

I appreciate the distinction between "lifting" and "wielding." It's pretty much what always comes to mind for me when I see the giant maces and war hammers in fantasy vs. how small they usually were in real life.

Day 2 of asking: I got a question. A modern soldier’s worst nightmare is clearing houses and CQB. How did medieval soldiers clear houses? (weapon manipulation, tactics of it) I saw Daemon try to clear Harrnehal in HoD. He was manipulating his sword similar a rifle when clearing the hallway which seemed silly. I’m a marine myself and like to study how room clearing has evolved over time.

Quick thing about the light saber, I am a TIG welder and I'm constantly around hot and melting steel, the torches i use can melt steel in an instant so its easily above 2800F and the torch is water cooled so it never actually heats up, and its all made of plastics and rubber gasketes around the copper fittings. If my torch can be cold enough to handle barehanded i think that in the few thousands years of technological advances in the starwars universe that lightsabers would be able to contain the heat well enough to handle like how the jedi do in the movies.

The Movie Willow has 3 swords you could review

Sigh. Everyone wants to dissect light sabers. No one talks about the monofilament blades from Larry Niven's Known Space stories.

I think the point of the argument that “the reverse blade sword was designed that way to stop him from killing,” the argument is it was designed to be bad, and kenshin would agree it’s below average on purpose.

20:03 Figured it'd be important to note: the Sword of Gryffindor was made for people of the smol category. Neville was supposed to be shorter in the books, but his actor became an entire unit, so they had to upscale the prop

The sword of Gryfindor is a ceremonial sword. It doesn't have an edge. Yes, you can thrust with it but that's about it and that's assuming it stand up to combat structurally

Since you did the Highlander Kurgan sword, you definitely need to review the Clan MacLeod claymore!

Excalibur, Excalibur from John Boorman’s 1981 classic specifically. Elegant, regal, not ostentatious.

Blizzard actually had replicas of Frostmourne made, if you ever wanted to find it for a reference. The real reason swords in games are so thick comes down to one thing: pixels. In the 90s and 00s, resolution wasn't the greatest. They wanted a design the players would want to get in the game; so they were all designed as thick boys. That, and Warcraft was originally modeled to be Warhammer; but the deal fell through with Games Workshop, so they made Warcraft.

"It was too big to be called a sword... Massive, thick, heavy, and far too rough. Indeed, it was like a heap of raw iron."

My understanding of how lightsaber blades are supposed to work is that the field around them fully conserves the energy they emit except when they cut through something. In other words, the field also keeps heat from escaping. That means that when it cuts through something, the reason it doesn't explode is because it's only hot inside of and touching that field. So, if held in place, it can melt things, but quickly passing through doesn't distribute enough power outside of that field to do explosive damage because the field contains the energy. If they lost energy passively, then they would be useless because they'd run out of power nearly immediately. In legends, the oldest ones required a power pack until the technology to better preserve the energy was perfected.

Thunder. Thunder! THUNDER! THUNDERCATS; HOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

For Tyranth to have been allowed heat shielding capable of withstanding a "real world" lightsaber, the Dragonslayer should be allowed an exosuit.

As a kid, after seeing starwars 4 in theater, many years ago when I was but a wee lad, and there was no cannon, this was how I thought light sabers worked: 1 they have deflector shields on space ships. 2 "blade" extends when turned on. 3 it is a force shield beam, very thin, and vibrating at a gazillion Hz, so fast the air gets heated and plasmarized, it saws through stuff like a wire saw does nearly instantaneously. The "light" is just a side effect of the cutting at super speed heating the air, not what cuts.

Actually, I just had a thought on the topic of the lightsaber: I think everyone has been categorizing them the wrong way as a 'beam of raw heat and plasma'. In terms of Star Wars lore the precursor to the lightsaber was the vibroblade, i.e. a high-frequency blade. Logistically speaking the lightsaber should just be an evolution of that concept, that is to say a containment field which excites and vibrates atoms at such a rapid rate that they are able to tear things apart on contact the way a high-frequency blade would. This would generate heat, but not in the manner that everyone keeps expecting them to. They also aren't melting objects or igniting them, they are shredding them on the atomic level while also igniting their surroundings on a smaller scale. This would also explain why they are able to clash with other lightsabers, as it is effectively just vibration hitting vibration and being deflected.

You get a like just for the Thundercats reference.

If you're not interested in keeping friends then Stormbringer & Mournblade would be the perfect sword for you.

The thing I like most about the Berserk sword, Guts' Dragonslayer, is that the blacksmith who made it intentionally made to be an impossible sword because he was commissioned to forge a sword that could slay a dragon, so he made an impossible sword to slay an impossible creature. This means that Guts is just really freakishly strong to be able to use his sword the way he does

The video I want to see is what each of you guys would use to keep your heads if you were immortal (Highlander universe). With Henry Cavil coming out with a Highlander movie, that's what I want to see.

Bit of info on the Conan Atlantian sword. In the lore, Conan's sword was relic of long lost atlantis, and was once a greatsword. The blade had broken and been rehilted and reshaped by a previous owner.

I laughed at the lightsaber discussion. Let's strip away all the magic but allow for sufficiently advanced technology that is indistinguishable from magic.

Guts's Dragon Slayer is tricky because at fist glance it appears to be a solid chunk of iron, but once you look closer you realize that it's actually partially hollowed out (in the center). The handle is technically a replaceable 243cm long Tang that fits inside the 205cm long blade. whitch acts as a sheath held together by a holder pin at the base of the blade.

I think that it's a one handed sword made for a human that is exceptionally tall and very muscular with to boot. Also the atlantian'a are said to be very tall and highly muscular.

I’m writing a fantasy novel about two knights who fall into the rogue and Paladin archetypes. I’m calling it. Silent Knight, Holy Knight

The lightsaber depends on how it works, what type of media is transferring the energy and such. You can hold your hand right next to a laser that can cut steel without feeling anything. Also an acetylene torch straight up in the air doesn't give much heat to the sides, it's when you start cutting steel or welding that the heat builds up and reflects back to you. A piece of red hot iron radiates(notice radiates) much more heat as it's much more massive than the flame on a torch.

If you read how it functions, it is technically a loop of energy extending out with a force field that can be extended and contains the heat but matter can pass through the shield.

"It was too big to be called a sword. Massive, thick, heavy, and far too rough. Indeed, it was a heap of raw iron." , just sat in the blacksmith shop until someone came along to kill the demons…one man being GUTS The Black Swordsman

Unnumerated short list of my favourites. The Soul Reaver, Moonlight Greatsword, Master Sword, Ivy's whip sword, and Clair's Claymore in... Claymore.

In defense of the Sword of Gryffindor, it is a sword of Goblin make, so it being short makes sense. Edit: Someone in my replies suggest it might also have resizing magic applied to it, which fits why it looks like a toothpick the first time we see it, then a respectable length for a sword the next.

Guts' dragonslayer. In universe quote regarding it "That thing was too big to be called a sword.Too big, too thick, too heavy, and too rough, it was more like a large hunk of iron"

The Conan Atlantian sword was (in fictional world) in a crypt buried with a dead king, it was likely a ceremonial/decorative sword not intended for battle.

Here's a couple more swords you could consider for future videos - Geralt's swords (steel and silver) from the Witcher - Shalamayne from World of Warcraft (single and dual-wield) - Ashbringer from World of Warcraft - Blades of chaos from God of War - Minecraft sword - Arya's Needle from game of thrones - Ichigo's shikai sword from bleach - Renji's shikai sword from Bleach - Shunsui's shikai swords from Bleach - ODM swords from Attack on Titan - Inosuke's swords from Demon Slayer - Kirito's swords from Sword art Online - Daedric, Falmer, Orcish, Ebony, and Glass swords from Skyrim - Sting, frodo/bilbo's sword from Lord of the Rings - Uruk-hai sword from Lord of the Rings - Thranduil's sword from the Hobbit - Nero's Red Queen sword, from Devil may Cry

One thing to remember about Anduril's size is that it's essentially the same size as Narsil, which was made for the either a Numenorean Lord or a High Elven Lord. And those dudes were *tall.*

Daemon Targaryen's Dark Sister is one of the best swords I've seen in both design and practicality. It's made of Valyrian steel which was forged in the Ancient freehold of Valyria using magic and dragon fire. It's one of the only materials in the world of ASOIAF that can kill the white walkers. Might not be the most popular but darn it's badass looking and my favorite fantasy sword so far.

gotta love a shadiversity upload

You forgot to rate Imperious. You can't just forget your own sword, Shad! =^x^=

My take on the lightsaber is an electrified monofilament blade with a magnetically or quantum-entanglement locked tip, that spools in and out of the handle, and the tip acts as a reflector for the laser focused by the kyber crystals. So it would be a laser, hence the burn and light, and the monofilament at the center that acts as a physical blade, and cuts through nearly anything. :)

My favorites are the Lady Hawks swords, The Beast Master sword, and the Thunder Cat sword.

There's a fan theory that The Sword of Griffondor sizes its self for the wielder, so Harry is like twelve when he wields it so the sword makes itself smaller so he can still use it effectively.

I think Tyranth is right about the Lightsaber being something they can't rate due to how many theoreticals they needed to just make it function realistically. Instead of a zero, it should be an NA.

I think that the lightsaber's blade doesn't begin to cut until contact is made because the shielding around is it tactile functioning. Meaning that heat is always contained until impact and only dispersed at the point or points of contact.

I think the thing about the lightsaber is that the shielding that keeps it from just expanding forever as long as the power can sustain itself is that it also keeps the heat trapped in the blade area or at least in a VERY VERY close range, which is why it's just a flash cut through anything and doesn't burn the user just holding it. Decades and DECADES beyond out time, but the idea that it's possible to do a mock up of it with a controlled length and relatively similar "cutting" ability I think means it's not exclusively fiction for it to exist at some point in the future. Another part for this I think would be fun, including stuff from less highly known stuff like Eragon's sword and Percy's sword from Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

Green Destiny (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) Sting (LOTR) Six Fingered Sword (Princess Bride) Sword of Athena (Wonder Woman) Sword of Sparta (300) Uruk hai Sword (LOTR)

Moonlight greatsword from Fromsoftware is what pops into mind when I think pop culture swords

List of potential swords for review: - Beastmaster's sword (Vic Anselmo) - The Three Bladed Sword from Sword and the Sorceror - Inigo Montoya's sword from The Princess Bride - Blackbeard's Saber from Pirates of the Caribbean - Ardeth Bay's sword from the Mummy Returns

I think the idea behind a lightsaber is that, somehow, it creates an electromagnetic field that traps the plasma and heat inside. When you press it against something, it allows the plasma to then burn it. But this is such advanced science that you're back to magic, so fair enough.

Lightsabers have nothing on the Eye of Thundera. That bad boy even has arrows beat on range.

In terms of the lightsaber, they're supposed to be a closed circuit, as in they don't radiate any heat. In other words, they're only hot on contact and not on proximity. Taking that in mind I can see them at a 10/10.

I think a fair thing to consider with thick guards and pommels, specially the ones that look like brinze casting, is that they could be made hollow, making them way lighter than what their exterior profile would suggest

The Gryffindor Sword looks likes something that would only be used during a coronation for a King.

I want to see Shad react to the scissor blade from Kill La Kill.

As a Wheel of Time fan, I'd be disappointed if you didn't include Lan's Sword of the Thousand Lakes.

🗡Strongly disagree with Lightsaber analysis. You really need to look at it from within the Star Wars universe, not a "how could we build one in the real world?", originally the blade was explained as a laser that the hilt somehow folds the beam back on itself, not plasma. BYou should discuss its function based on how it works on film, not on some extreme blow torch a youtuber invented. At the end of the day, its difficult to really compare the lightsaber to a real sword - kinda like bringing a sword to a gun fight, one totally outclasses the other.

One of the original concepts of the Lightsaber, which was dropped when the Prequels came out, is that the handles are supposed to be abysmally heavy and difficult to hold, akin to holding a solid block of tungsten, with the "blade" creating thrust which the wielder has to actively fight against to keep it in their hand. Even just keeping a lightsaber activated was supposed to take an absurd amount of effort unless one is exceptionally gifted, although the original trilogy only showed 4 people wield lightsabers, Luke, Obi-Wan, Han, and Vader, with Han being to only one who struggles to use Luke's lightsaber. Unfortunately Star Wars has very few examples pre-Disney of non-force users wielding lightsabers, and post-Disney multiple characters hold them with little to no effort.

Admittedly I haven't really watched Thundercats. Despite that, Sword of Omens is still one of, if not, my favorite name for a sword. Weapon of the heroes, yet carries a sense of foreboding.

So from what I understand on my lore dives of Harry Potter the Sword of Gryffindor has a spell placed on it that allows it to change its size. Thus this magic causes the sword to become the size needed for the wielder to actually be able to wield it properly.

I don't disagree with the criticisms of the Master Sword given in the video, but rating the Master Sword and Frostmourne the same is kinda bullshit. Aside from being slightly chunky, the Master Sword isn't that bad. If Frostmourne is a 3/10, then the Master Sword would have to be at least a 5/10.

Aside from the other 2 swords from Highlander, here’s my list of pop culture swords you could take a look at that I’ve enjoyed over the years: Fierce Deity Link’s Double Helix Sword from The Legend Of Zelda: Majora’s Mask Peter Pan’s Golden Sword from Hook (1991) Rick O’Connell’s Sword from The Mummy (1999) The Scorpion King’s Scimitar Sword from The Mummy Returns Inuyasha’s Tessaiga from Inuyasha Kabal’s Hook Swords from Mortal Kombat 3 Draugur from The Northman Dracula’s Sword from Bram Stoker’s Dracula Elder Predator’s Sword from Predator 2

I'm expecting Buster Sword to be high up on the list after previous testing with Colossal Swords.

The Power Sword, Lightsaber, and Highlander Dragonhead Katanna are my top 3!

Regarding lightsabers, according to the lore lightsabers are a closed loop energy arch that does not expel any energy in heat or otherwise until it impacts another object. That means but until it makes contact the beam is cold and the heat is only produced at the exact point where the beam contacts the other material. This means the lightsaber is not a plasma torch but something entirely different. Incidentally that is also the reason why lightsaber power cells last so long, they are not expelling energy when they're turned on and not being used.

cool thing about the kurgans sword is it breaks down into pieces

Here's two obscure ones nobody talks about: The Sword of Martin from Redwall (there are two versions, the book and show versions look entirely different from each other), and Dyrnwyn from The Chronicles of Pridain and/or The Black Cauldron!

I heard reviews of how heavy the Atlantian swords were. In one review, they mentioned that the sword smith hired to build those swords was notorious for making their swords extremely heavy. So well, the script writer's designs are a factor. The massive weight of those swords is more likely an artisanship issue, likely in the forging process that artisan liked to crush down massive amounts of steel into the form, creating massive steel density in the final product. The artisan could have been doing this as an experiment to see if greater metal density would make a better sword. Greater metal density makes for greater hardness, which can bring greater edge retention and sharper edges, which can greatly improve cutting. The heavier weight generates greater forward momentum in the swing, creating more force in the chop, which, together with a sharper edge, can make the sword more effective at cutting through armor and dismembering enemies. But ultimately, that greater weight makes the sword too difficult to lift and swing, making it too impractical for the general athletic demands of melee warfare. That said, if you make this sword in more standard metal density to bring more within the standard weight of roughly 2 lbs, maybe try making the Atlantian sword from lighter weight Titanium, the Atlantian sword looks a lot like a viking Ulfburt sword.

Berserk is kinda an interesting case because the smith that made dragonslayer maneuver really meant for it to be usable, he meant it as a joke or item of spite, the fact that guts can wield it is a testament to his stubbornness. Also with ice from game of thrones, it is made from Valerian steel, which is described as being noticeably lighter than westerns steel hence it's size.

A lightsaber could not exist with real physics, but the lore suggests the blade generates at the point of contact.

Yeah, but... Can these swords dodge bullets 😀 I'm sorry, I had to, I love you guys.

Well, I just learned that the sword tattoo I have is actually Excalibur. Not what I was expecting, but also not disappointed. Hope this series keeps going

A big part of the chunky/big blades in Conan, aside from the Frezetta influence, is that cinematographers in 1981 expected their films to be shown on smaller, lower resolution projectors, using grainy celluloid if not blurry TVs closer in size to modern toddlers first tablet screens than what Joe average has in his Man Cave, and Family room, and probably bedroom. They felt compelled to make it as easy to know who was who from as many cues as they could offer and to add that "hero item" gravitas to the main characters weapons. LoTR crushed it on that score, but isn't the only film to do so.

One book I've read had a sword named Simulacrum, which regularly looked like a wooden sword toy, but in every situation needed morphed into most appropriate (in a metanarrative sense) weapon or tool, often to a wielder's surprise.

The thing about the berserk sword and it being unusable as a human person: that's the point.

"It was too big to be called a sword. Massive, thick, heavy, and far too rough. Indeed, it was a heap of raw iron"

Something that drives me crazy about the Master Sword is that there was an early design for it seen in Ocarina of Time's concept art that was so much better it. Not only did it have a strait blade but also had a quite functional cross guard for fantasy standards.

Based on the rules of the discussion, I'd say you guys nailed it

some off the top of my head - Moonlight Greatsword - Dark Souls Malenia's Katana - Elden Ring Glamdring - LOTR Sting - LOTR Masamune - FF7 Buster Sword - FF7 Gunblade - FF8 Key blade (for fun) - KH Energy Sword - Halo Alucard's sword - Castlevania

Heman’s power sword really is just a magic device in sword shape and Heman can move planets and just do absurd feats.

Longclaw from GoT, Inigo Montoya rapier, Qualta blade from Farscape, Cervates' pistol sword from Soul Calibur, Black Knight's ebony blade, Talon's tri blade sword from The Sword and The Sorcerer

Look at where he got the antlean sword. It was a Kings burial piece that was made out of something that could resist rust that was on everything else.

Anduril may be my favourite sword design from modern media, closely followed by Altairs sword from assassins creed. I'd love to get the decent battle ready version of it but I can't justify dropping a grand on something that will just be for display.

I didn't know my sword was a display sword so i was practicing and i found out the tang was plastic and it snapped in half i repaired it with a shit ton of duct tape and it works now.

when Arnold was doing all the fast flourishes in Conan, he had a Katana.

For part 2: Glamdring, Sting, Elrond's sword and Theoden's sword (LotR) Longclaw and Needle (GoT) Power Sword (the movie version) Ulthred's sword (The Last Kingdom)