Why Fantasy is Obsessed with Swords

You know what’s weird? How much you see swords in fiction. Sure, a hero could use  any other weapon—and a lot of them do—but when you think of the archetypal storybook hero… they’re  wielding a sword.

The Master Sword[a]. Anduril. [b] Excalibur.

[c] Drgon Slayer. [d][e][f] The Buster  Sword. [g] The Sword of Omens.

[h] Any of the billion named swords in A Song of Ice and Fire. [i]  It’s pretty much the default fantasy weapon. Which is weird because… swords aren’t really  weapons anymore.

Plenty of people use swords every day—as art objects and collector’s items  and sporting equipment[j]. But in the age of guns, why would you ever, practically, use a sword? What is it about this weapon that is no longer a weapon… that has people so obsessed?

What has the sword… become? Okay, it’s one thing to talk about cool fantasy  swords. It’s another to write a whole world that they belong in.

If that’s what you’re trying  to do, I have something much better than this video for you: a class called Creating Unique and  Powerful Worlds, taught by many-time author and professor of fiction, Lincoln Michelle. Click the  link in the description to get started for free. A big thanks to Skillshare for sponsoring  this video.

More on that… later. The Master Sword from Legend of Zelda isn’t  exactly what I would call… realistic. [k] If you look at its dimensions, it doesn’t really  seem like it would be functional as a sword.

That chisel edge? The thick, thick blade? The  massive crossguard?

I[l]t can also… you know… shoot laser beams. [m]It houses a sentient  being. [n] It can open portals to the Sacred Realm[o].

It is undeniably a very cool sword.  It’s just… ridiculously fantastical, too. There is almost nothing real about this sword.

Which is… not strange at all. This is just kind of how swords are in fantasy. Most of the time  they have these over-the-top abilities and designs that make them dysfunctional, if not outright  impossible, in real life.

I’ve seen some “swords” in anime that are so oversized and so covered in  spikes or flames or flourishes that… you kind of have to squint to even recognize them as swords at  all. [p]The Keyblade in Kingdom Hearts is… I mean, it’s a key. It’s literally a giant key.

[q] These designs stretch the idea of the sword as a weapon almost to its absolute limit.  The very idea of a sword has, itself, become… ridiculously fantastical. So fantastical,  in fact, that when Link uses the master sword to slay enemies like Stalfos and Bokoblins,  it’s hard to even think of what he’s doing as… violence[r].

The Zelda games really don’t  ask us to consider the realistic implications of stabbing countless enemies to death with a  sword[s]—they just ask us to save the world. It’s pure fantasy. And I like that about Zelda. 

I wouldn’t want it to become some kind of think piece on the morality of violence. When I watch  Pirates of the Caribbean or Lord of the Rings, I’m not thinking about all of that;[t] I’m  thinking of swashbuckling adventures, fairy tales, witty one-liners, ridiculous amounts of roguish  Flynning. [u]It’s fun to watch Westley and Inigo Montoya chatter their way through a duel.

[v]I  love obliterating guardians with sword beams in Breath of the Wild. [w]Even in grittier, gorier  works like Game of Thrones or Dark Souls, we know we’re not seeing real blood or viscera; we’re  seeing practical effects and computer imagery[x]. No killing blow is that tidy; no sword moves that  quickly or cleanly through that much armor.

In fiction, swords are fun…  because they’re fantastical. The aesthetics of the sword are definitely part  of that fantasy. The image—the symbol—of the sword itself does matter.

[y] It just wouldn’t feel  the same if Link was wandering around Hyrule with like… the Master Glock or something.  But the larger part of the fantasy seems to be what the sword does, here. Its utility. 

From its origin as a lethal weapon that solves conflicts quickly… It's become a fantasy  icon for solving all problems quickly. Which really makes it… more like a magic wand?  This pretty thing that you swing around at whatever’s bothering you—and then poof, it’s  gone[z].

In fantasy, it doesn’t really need to be any deeper than that. The real world is  full of difficult problems. We all have issues in our lives that just seem too big or too  complicated to handle.

On a conceptual level, stabbing the evil overlord in the heart [aa]is  actually a lot easier than… doing homework, or paying off loans, or getting involved in local  politics. If only real life were so tidy. This is Regal Bones.

As you can see from her  Twitter page, she… really likes swords. Like… really really likes them. Geez.

[ab] The fun thing  about her swords is that they sort of… embrace this idea of not really being swords. In fact,  the word I’d use to describe a lot of these is, counter-intuitively… cozy. There’s little to no  blood, almost no depictions of actual combat.

[ac] You don’t kill people with these swords. That’s  not what they’re for. Look, this one is also a teapot.

A teapot. [ad] It’s a sword… and also the  antithesis of a sword. A sword… that comforts.

I don’t know if she meant her cute tea sword to  be that conceptually deep, but there it is. The thing I love most about her art is how…  earnest it is. I think it reflects how people really think of swords these days.

Not the fantasy  of them, but the actual relationship their owners and admirers have with them. Swords are… art. [ae]  Collector’s items.

Sporting equipment. When fencers, kendōka, and HEMA enthusiasts train with  swords, they’re not doing it for love of violence; they’re doing it for love of the skill  involved. [af] In fact, they generally take strict precaution to avoid any injury.

It seems a little counter-intuitive when you think about it, doesn’t it? If you don’t  want to be violent… why pick a weapon for all these activities and art pieces? And of  all weapons, why choose what is perhaps the most violence-oriented in ancient history?

A  bow can be used for hunting. [ag] A knife can be used for cooking. [ah] Axes are usually meant  to cut down trees[ai].

Swords… they only do one thing well. A sword is, on the most utilitarian  level, a wedge of metal designed to cut human flesh[aj]. That’s what it does.

It is a tool  made for the express purpose violence. Warfare. Dueling.

Execution. Blood sport. Murder.

[ak] Even if you’re not using it for any of those things, that history has imbued the sword with a  sort of symbolic status. Laws were created, and swords upheld them. [al]Domains were established,  and swords defended them.

Enemies were proclaimed, and swords vanquished them[am]. Not… just swords,  obviously. But the sword, as a pure symbol of wieldable and willful violence, was pervasive for  centuries.

When kings and soldiers carried them, it was understood that their authority came,  ultimately, from their ability and willingness to wield that power. [an] Even now, naval  officers wear swords on their belt[ao]s; crests and flags are still designed with  swords emblazoned on them. [ap] There’s some room for debate about honor here and whether a  person who wields violent power well is better than someone who doesn’t wield it at all, but  that’s a topic for a different video.

For now, suffice it to say, the sword was originally a  symbol—perhaps the symbol—of domination. It was the tool that ended conflict swiftly and easily…  if you, personally, were willing to wield it. I think that history is pretty hard to disentangle  from the sword’s identity.

No matter how far removed from real world violence, how pretty the  design, how benign the application, a sword is… still a sword. I[aq]t still calls back to that  domineering history; that original use-case of exerting one’s will over the world around them. Which… I think… is exactly what makes the sword's new identity so appealing.

I think there’s a reason Regal Bones chooses swords. I mean, she could be applying this  treatment to anything[ar]. But what happens when you accept what the sword means… and then apply  it in a different way?

When your mechanism for exerting your will on the world around you isn’t  violence or domination but… expression? Art, that will change perspectives. [as] Sport,  that will change your body.

[at] If your enemy is stress or burnout, maybe the  sword you need is, indeed, a teapot. In the words of the artist herself, “A sword  is sometimes everything but a sword. ” I… like that sentiment.

I don’t think everyone who loves swords necessarily does. I don’t think everyone who loves swords will like what I’ve been saying  throughout this video, actually. As I’ve been researching this topic, and  generally navigating the world of fiction, I’ve noticed a… sort of… interesting  philosophy in some circles.

A sort of… romance, or aggrandization of the old sword. This  idea that it was better as a weapon. That, maybe, it should go back to being a weapon.

[au] “Has it ever occurred to you, Master Ninefingers, that a sword is different from other weapons?  Axes and maces and so forth are lethal enough, but they hang on the belt like dumb brutes.  But a sword… a sword has a voice.

Sheathed it has little to say, to be sure, but you  need only put your hand on the hilt and it begins to whisper in your enemy's ear. A gentle  word. A word of caution.

Do you hear it? Now, compare it to the sword half drawn. It speaks  louder, does it not?

It hisses a dire threat. It makes a deadly promise. Do you hear it?

Now  compare it to the sword full drawn. It shouts now, does it not? It screams defiance!

It  bellows a challenge! Do you hear it? ” This is a quote from Joe Abercrombie’s The Blade  Itself.

[av] Now, this is not a reckoning on the book or the author or the author’s intentions  or anything like that, but… when I read this, it strikes me differently from the other sword art  we’ve discussed. It doesn’t appear to be concerned with any personalized or subversive application;  this quote is, as the book’s title implies, concerned with the blade itself. The argument,  buried within all this poetic language, seems to be that the sword is somehow a good tool  for violence.

Not just effective in that role, but beautiful; more refined, more  elegant than other weapons. It seems to be saying that a sword’s violence can  be… desirable. That the sword makes it so.

It’s almost a… reclamation of the old sword  concept. A romance for the sword’s symbolic ancestry. [aw] On the one hand, I think this has  probably endured for pretty much as long as the sword.

On the other, it’s hard not to feel like  it’s a bit of a reflex to the sword’s trajectory. A rejection of the sword as anything but a sword. There are loads of videos and articles and Reddit threads critiquing fantasy sword design[ax],  often with the implicit caveat that fantasy is fantasy and should do what is appropriate  for the story.

But… while arguing for realism, discussing the appropriate thickness  and weight and balance of the blade, it’s hard to ignore the fact that you’re also  arguing for… utility[ay]. And we’ve already discussed what that means for swords. Remember:  there is only one thing a sword is truly good at.

If the new concept of the sword—the one  we see in the art of Regal Bones and in so much modern media—embraces the symbolic will  inherent to wielding a sword, but rejects the violence[az]… then what does it mean to dispute  that concept and reclaim the old one? Is that a… rejection of the rejection of violence?  When you long for swords to be weapons again, are you also longing for a return to violence?

[ba]  Is this a signal that you prefer violence as the swift solution to most problems? I don’t know that I can offer a definitive verdict on that. I just… worry sometimes about  this romantic sentiment.

That the beauty and romance of swords cuts the other way, too.  There seems to be this anguished longing for a world that never existed. One where might made  right, and that all one ever need do was devote themself fully to the blade… or something.

Of  course, despite the original use case of the sword and how easy it is to look at history through  rose-tinted lenses… violence has always been complicated. There was never a time in history  where violence didn’t create at least as many problems as it solved—whether practically, for the  people engaging in it, or hundreds of years later, for the people reckoning with its fallout. The idea that violence truly is a simpler and more efficient way to solve problems  is, itself, a wishful fantasy.

It really is the… dark mirror image of the fantasy I’ve  been describing throughout this video. Actually, when I started researching this, I  really thought that would be the prevailing sentiment. I thought the ultimate  conclusion I’d come to would be that, no matter how you dress it up, this… obsession  people have with swords would ultimately come down to an obsession with violence.

This time… I’m thrilled to be proven wrong. For the most part, from what I’ve seen, people  just… don’t seem to see swords that way anymore. When a sword is actually used as a real weapon,  it turns into a… comedic [bb]news story.

[bc] Media that features swords tends not to emphasize  the violence, and when it does it’s subversive and critical[bd]. Viewers will just roll with the  idea of a sword, no matter how un-sword-like[be] it really is. There is something so far beyond the  simple ability to spill blood that makes swords… irresistible.

And I think I get it, now. If the sword has always been the symbol of changing the world through sheer, personal  force of will… I mean, violence aside, that’s actually… kind of a great thing to have  a shorthand for. Who doesn’t want things to be that simple?

Who doesn’t want to wield their  willpower in their own two hands and just… fix things? [bf]The real fantasy here is a  world where, when you put in the effort and you show the bravery and you willingly wield the  tools to solve the problems which face you[bg]… you win. [bh]That those things are enough.

When Regal Bones says “a sword is sometimes everything but a sword,” she’s saying that  the weapon you need isn’t always obvious… but it’s nice to imagine that there is  one, and that you can wield it. You know, some of the most iconic swords in  fantasy aren’t just cool because of their designs or their abilities… but because of how  deeply they’re connected to their worldbuilding. It’s always a breathtaking moment when you get  your hands on the Master Sword in the Zelda games, because you’ve come to learn the role this  sword plays in the story—its connection to the land of Hyrule and its mythology make it more  than a weapon.

In the games, it’s a legend. A part of history that you are entrusted with. Worldbuilding can be a little intimidating, though.

I mean, there’s just so much  to consider when you’re crafting an entire fantasy world. Today’s sponsor,  Skillshare, can help you with that. You’ve probably heard about Skillshare before. 

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