Adventurer's Attire: Does THIS Armor from the Witcher work? (Part 2) 

Some trivia for you. The reason why vambraces became such a movie thing is because actors always had tanlines after their watches so they hid them with those.

My thought is that the leather on the outside of the legs is just to avoiding needing chaps to protect the outside of his legs from shrubs and trees while riding.

Regarding that small pouch..... you've got to factor in shoulder and stomach/abdomen width. Geralt has a wider shoulder base than you and a thinner waist width while your waist and start of the shoulder base are essentially the same width. So your arms hang straight down your sides while the the Witcher's arms hang down at an offset from his waist. Therefore, he wouldn't be brushing against the pouch as often as you do unless he really brings his arms in more to his sides in an exaggerated movement. So your argument is valid since most of us aren't built like Geralt and our arms hang straight down our sides. I keep all of my pouches on my waist belts and don't wear a crossbody harness. My dimensions just won't allow it. lol

A silver-studded targe or buckler is a stroke of genius...

A knight was complimenting a blacksmith on his armor crafting skills The blacksmith responded, "It is my strong suit"

As a fellow desert resident, I must remind you that everything posses teeth! Even with modern shoes and sturdy boots, a needle was able to pierce through the bottom and into my feet, so be careful when you go out on your adventures in something like your moccasin.

My guess on why Hollywood decided that any man in a medieval or earlier setting (or fantasy based on same) would have bracers, vambraces, or something else covering at least one wrist was to cover the tanline from the actor's wristwatch. From there, it just kept going, and thus is just how people expect the characters to look. As for Geralt not throwing away the bottles, good-quality glass was quite expensive historically, and I assume that the same is true in his world.

Always a good day when you upload a video, espesially about the witcher :) Im litterally playing the witcher 3 rn Edit: I think if a ghoul like creature were to bite your arm when you're wearing silver studded vambraces they would likely let go quite quickly or be harmed from the silver since its "poisonous?" to monsters. But your argument is also very logical.

The main feature of heeled boots is they are so much better for riding.

In medieval times (and indeed until the nineteenth century unless you were very rich) you almost certainly did not have tailored sleeves -- or a tailored shirt at all. So the upper arm straps may be controlling the fullness of the shirt material. I have the potion flask on my crossbelt a bit lower than yours, but my pouches are on my belt. I also don't think the back-scabbard works. You cannot practically draw a normal medieval arming sword from a back scabbard, still less a longsword such as Geralt typically uses. I carry a quiver on my back, but I think the non-dominant side hip is the place for the scabbard. I carry a knife inside the archery bracer on my left forearm, but Geralt doesn't use a longbow so doesn't strictly need a bracer; still, as you say, a protective sleeve on the non-dominant side forearm is commonly used by dog trainers and might be appropriate for someone fighting wild animals.The other obviously sensible place to carry a knife is inside a boot. Geralt probably spends a lot more time forcing his way through thorn thickets than most people, because monsters are likely to hide in thorn thickets; protection on hands, forearms and legs is definitely going to help with this.

I wear some vambraces when fencing and I've found them useful, personally. There's lot of handsniping in my experience, with tons of hits on forearm and hands; at least when using sabers.

The point on vambraces is interesting to me. At first I thought it'd be better to have full gauntlets (the gothic style that cover your forearm too), since then youd also protect your hands. But a monster's jaw might not lock around that as easily, since there's no give as with a studded or splinted vambrace. Conversely, it's solid and would stop your forearm from being sheared off like a chain to a pair of bolt cutters.

I made a Witcher jacket based on the superior wolf school armor , I love the modifications I made , really enjoyed this video !

If you had splint plates on the vambraces or something like a Japanese kote armour, it could protect your arms from being sniped by longer weapons. Also studded shields do seem to be historical to highland targes with various effect against bullets and arrows. (Though i think a boss is more effective)

A point on silver in the witcher is that its touch burns monsters, undead and spirits. This is why witchers have a silver sword as well as why it is present in the form of studs on Geralts armour. So a monster wouldn't bite his fore arm as it would be burning its mouth in doing so. Its also why he has studs on his knuckles and (at least in the books) has a silver chain.

When it comes to Vambraces , I kind of feel that if you'd get pressed down or something and you can't exactly get free its better to start smacking with the part of your hand that has spikes on it rather than nothing, probably thats why some witcher gloves do have spikes on his knuckles too. Also if you get bitten on the spikey arm that wouldn't exactly go well for the monster or it would be less likely to keep itself lashed on since silver is supposed to burn.

Those side strips on the legs are a historical feature. If you made trousers out of expensive cloth and rode a lot, then the insides would wear out quickly. Therefore people started protecting them with cheaper cloth, but they left a part of the trousers on the outside uncovered, just to show that there is this expensive stuff underneath. The easiest way to cheat it was to add a more expensive strip and save on making the whole trousers out of it, and it became a part of a fashion to add a feature like that. Re: vambraces, again, it's a historical feature. People wore that stuff, even when they did not wear gauntlets or even gloves. Your hands are protected with the guard of the sword, but your forearms are not. From what I can see, the surviving historical examples were not pointed. They were clamped to the forearm, right behind the wrist. Oh, the "studs" you talk about most likely are just what fixes the underlying metal plates to the outside. Those plates are the real protection, not the studs. But yeah, every bit of silver helps, so ti makes sense to make them out of silver. I agree with your sentiments regarding gloves. Surprisingly often people even in heavy armor did not use any hand protection. One would suppose that a witcher would find the compromises unacceptable to them even more costly. They were wearing bandoliers like that. Not always, sometimes on the waist belt, but very often on a separate belt over the shoulder. I believe that was because most of the time you were not in a prolonged firefight, and those cartridges were heavy, so it was easier to just take them off the shoulder. Actually, probably more important to just grab the thing and sling it over the shoulder, in case of emergency. Because nobody's gonna wear it when setting up camp or finally cooking some food.

I doubt this is historically accurate but a great trick with gloves is to cut a slit on the palm side under the last knuckle (or is it the first knuckle? The one closest to the fingernail) for the index finger and thumb. This let's you slip the tip of your index finger and thumb out of the glove and gives nearly full dexterity for opening pouches etc. It's a bit like a full glove that can transform into a partial fingerless glove. Depending on the leather and how you cut it, you may need to sew a tiny stitch at each end of the slit to stop it ripping over time. It's much more subtle than fully removing the index finger & thumb but tbh I might only find it to be so super useful because I use it for paragliding in winter where I need dexterity for using radio etc but find the wind chill can freeze my fingers if I leave them exposed in a full fingerless style........but still I love the concept itself.

The tie-down for the knife works - and is somewhat essential - when you are riding. I used to have additional ties on my hanging pouch that I would use when mounted; when I dismounted, I would untie them and just let the ties dangle down (if I didn't then the pouch ties would drag on my thigh). Imagine yourself galloping on horseback: Without a tie down, the knife (/pouch) goes "flap, flap, flap" with each gallop...like a hound dogs ears flapping whilst they run. With the tiedowns, the knife stays in place. The shirt sticking out below the vanbraces can be an asset, not a liability. Cover your shirt cuffs with soft leather and let them stick below the vanbrace an inch or so. Then turn them up, over the lower edge of the vanbrace, to hold the latter in place.

Once again! A great video!!

I think you could use the cross bicep straps on your thigh to hold the dagger. The X style should keep it from sliding down your leg. I'd love to see you try that out. You could also cut off the tips of the gloves to give your fingers an easier time doing nimble things without sacrificing too much protection.

Your videos are always so enjoyable!

Like the Terran Morale Officers in the Starshatter series say: “There are no hard battles, only bad choice of arms.”

Very nice. Another good looking set of medieval clothing that works well!

Yes 😅, also prefer plate carrier 😉

Heck yeah, nice armor lad

You should get up with Santee of the AZ ghost riders. He does old west living history and acting. As well as making his own costume components. He has a video on leather cowboy cuffs. Maybe he could share a pattern with you that would be practical and wouldn't slip around without needing to be pointed. After all, the old west rangers are archetypal for a reason. And they had leather cuffs and gauntlet gloves for a reason. Which is almost certainly why we see them on actors from the Golden age of Hollywood when they were portraying Rome, the dark ages, the middle ages, and the Renaissance, even though they probably weren't common then. The actors were used to the protection, so the costume designers just worked them in.

Well when it comes down to pouch placement I find that you need to go with what feels best for your self. Perhaps some iner-arm padding soo any rubbing becomes less distracting. There is also the matter of body size Vs scale of outfit parts.

I always just assumed the arm thingy was decorative.🙂

Love to see your take on Griffin Armor

You would love my witcher armour video. Yer those bracers are shaped wrong. Like with greaves, they should be shaped to fit the shape of the forearm so that they don't move around. Pointing is also an option. Jack chains would also be a light historical option and super easy to make. I could even make you some.

Vambraces were also often used historically by archers to protect their forearms from being smacked by the bow string while shooting, especially less experienced archers who haven't yet perfected their mechanics, but even an experienced archer in the heat of battle may not have the time or luxury of perfect mechanics on every shot on a battlefield or in when being ambushed by bandits, so having that extra layer of protection is just a good idea.

Kramer, this is the exact content I was hoping for when you returned! Is there a full witcher series in the future? Would love your input and design choices for the other armor sets in the game!

What's funny is that h mentioned a shield. Something that witchers of the manitcore actually use. Which makes sense to me. As they travel in a desert . So something light would make sense so they wouldn't heat stroke out. Yet wouldn't offer too much protection. While I believe the arm bands would work like cut cuffs. As in the lore the deserts have a high variety of poisoness monsters. So something that could be used as a tie off. So the Witcher could draw the poison out be nice to have.

4:20 1- not even medieval look, vembraces are also present in movies set in ancient times 2- I remember reading/hearing somewhere that vembraces became a thing because hollywood actor of the time would usually wear watches, which would leave a mark on their wrist (the rest of the arm/hand was exposed to sunlight, but not the skin under the watch, which would become noticeably less tanned than the rest), so vembraces came up as a way to cover such watch marks... and then it just became a trope repeated by people that didn't knew how it originated and no longer wore watches. But, yeah, vembraces came up as a way to hide the fact that the actors had watch marks in a setting were watches were not supposed to exist.

still waiting for your overnighter in adventurers Clothing in the forest ;)

10:50 I think he is supposed to carry the head after it gets hooked, but that he won't go walking around with a hook on his hand if he doesn't need to

I got nothin to add, but just wanted to comment that you do look cool in that get up, Kramer.

Queue 'Skelton song' music....The vambrace is connected to the rerebrace, the rerebrace is connected to the shoulder armour......... The old Hollywood movie 'Robin Hood' with Basil Rathbone (real life sword expert) and Errol Flynn popularised the vambrace/giant wrist guard because the archery teacher/stunt person was Howard Hill, who used a leather wrist brace as a wrist guard, and he was filmed doing the shooting which was cut into the main action - surviving archer's wrist guards (Mary Rose) are relatively small and are held on with a single buckled strap. Look at Italian Men's (and a bit later, Wonen's) Fashion c.1400-1500 with tight oversleeves (vambrace and rerebrace) laced over big puffy shirts and tied to the doublet/farsetto.

Witcher 2 armors arey favorite, especially ones with chainmail

Witcher armor is not made for fighting people and weapons, but rather protection when hunting animals.

Fun fact, the manticore school's style involves using a small shield.

Honestly, europran marching boots were usualy heeled and hard souled, ofc. they were used in ww1 mostly and a bit in ww2 so yeah a lot later than fantasy medieval setting but looking at how they were made is 100% plausible to recreate, as they are the same idea as cowboy boots etc.

The manticore set really is gorgeous, i always really liked the armor sets in the witcher 3.

Regarding vambraces, what are your thoughts on bazubands, as they are historically accurate and similar to vambraces.

A little question about your three bottle holder on your left shoulder, how well would the bottle holder work if it was placed were the pouch is now?

Would mail be good in a desert context? I hear it's good at being breathable and dissapating heat outwards, so it might be an even better pick than leather or highly padded armors (your thicker 20-30 layer gambesons and the like), probably something Id incorporate into a manticore set. You could also double down on the big baggy clothing, but I'd imagine that's much easier to snag or be grabbed by.

What head gear do you think is best for adventuring in the desert?

Disclaimer - it would be a really ac0ustic type of respons, so firstly- Its a great bunch of work rigth here and I am glad for Your idea to analise the assumed pracricality....Althought 1 Issue with caring a shield is...yea well - carrying. And yea I know that witchers were traveling by horse but in books it was often for them to be generally speaking - really hecking poor so- the cost of having a buckler with silver studding might be ,,against the primal concept of what a Witcher might be" . From the perspective of games- perfectly logical considering Geralt has money to buy not some random piece of land or great armour - instead he should be able to buy a whole army but economy in games is a differnt topic. Soo... assuming from the mighty books Witchers were meant to travel ,,light" sth like Aragorn had described it in first LOTR movie tbh Geralt in books was wearning - ,, The stranger was not old but his hair was almost entirely white. Beneath his coat he wore a worn leather jerkin laced up at the neck and shoulders.” So we could assume that it definetelly wasnt a set of armour rather sth to protect from rains or bushes than blade or claws. Staying on that matter- the games changed it completety. So reallistically speaking he might wear maybe some aketon with leather on it, or thick caftan alike tribes of Steppe People or if he would be rich maybe a short mail or brigantine .Or have two sets and change them depending on situation . About the silver inside arm protection - if done correctly its a curious idea Another thought bout witcher suit xdd- yea sooo....maybe the ,,poor appeirance" could serve as an advantage If in alternative scenario Geralt was really wering some Manticora suit or even better- top tier class armor of Wolf - some random group of bandits might just hunt him for it. The book Geralt instead was persona non grata in the eyes of most of the people. Just a poor, weird witcher guy who;s perpouse is slaying beasts. Personally speaking- if I as a bandit spotted some weird guy in the middle of the forest who at first glance of eye doesnt look rick but have swords, terrible awfuul really scars and in addition - clearly used clothes....Yea I would even thought of robbing the guy. Like...yea, budddy - what for ? Idk thats it xddd Also - Could You Mister Kramer create another video about- exactly -How could have witchers dressed and why?

Unlikely that Geralt would toss away a potion bottle unless he was in a super super hurry. Preparation potions should be taken in advance enough to keep them. Reason? He has to pay for every single bottle he uses. He lives paycheck to paycheck. And glass, especially decent glass bottles, are going to be expensive. Especially if the merchant or craftsman is charging him extra because he’s not human. Like rope. So many movies games and tv shows set in a medieval type of setting and they cut through the rope. Do you know how *expensive* that is?! 😢

I think you are more careful in nature so adopt a better gait, but when you get back to urban areas you revert to the bad gait that years of less receptive footwear have trained you into. I've walked barefoot over some pretty rough tarmac in my time, and once you get used to it it's really not that bad. Glad to see my thoughts about the arm straps being practical weren't too far out. 😃

What my thinking is is that a shield with silver studs could be useful however on further thinking i think that a silver EDGED shield would be even better. And perhaps with a spike in the middle made out of silver?

It might be because of my army experience. but I think i go for braces to the belt or a west with pockets. insted of the crossed belt. if I wanted to be able to put pockets on my chest. If you look at pictures of militaries. who have a web gear where the soldier can place stuff themself. If a area is empty on most. their is a reason.

Say, I get this is a question is not about the video but what are some websites that you recommend for Larp swords and and to just collect swords in general. I’m currently looking at swords for larping and to just collect in general.

Would this armor resist a rocket to the chest?

so not sure if you are aware but having a prominantly heeled shoe with ideally hobnails is very much sought after for keeping your footing. like logging boots are still made this way

Looks bad ass too 😎

As a polish fan of the books and games, I'm gonna anwser the question from title. No its not. Witchers never wear amors. "Manticore armor" was suppose to be regular leather jacket. Witchers never wear armors as it would not protect them from damage anyway, and it would only slow them down. And only real advantage witchers had was their speed and reflex. So they would prefer wearing regular clothes, that would not protect their's body, true, but it would not slower their movments either. So regular clother were for them best solution. This is why all witcher armors from Witcher 2 and 3 (Expect few) I found stupid and unpractical, especially for witchers. Not even mention the netflix ones.

Aren't arm hits also common when fighting against humans? At least in my experience I've been hit in the arma often. Having some armor there should reduce injuries overall.

Hmm. Your shoes seem interesting. Is there a video where you explain how you made them?

The idea of pointing the vambraces to your shirt makes me wonder if Geralt’s knife sheath isn’t pointed to the quilted leather on his trousers. It’s kind of a kludge but would let it work. My question is, would it really work better than just keeping it on your belt. Dropleg gun holsters exist because they work but I’ve never tried a dropleg knife sheath. BIG FAT DISCLAIMER: I am not a gamer and have only seen what you’ve shown us of Geralt’s harness. The pointing cords are not visible in what I see but that doesn’t prove they aren’t there.

Any plans to attend Drachenfest US in the future?

Yeah it works, it boosts my potions.

Ngl always just assumed vambraces were so you didn’t hurt your arm when you used a bow

I was thinking about what would happen if you got hit in the collarbone or shoulder then I saw glass vials on your collarbone. I would imagine that that wouldn’t be very nice for your face if you got hit there

Sleeve garters!

The witcher always gets a pass for studs, because it's not really trying to be armor. in the books Geralt punches monsters all the time, the silver spikes on his knuckles help make that a viable strategy. now I don't think the silver studs on his bracers are there to control a monster if it bites, but instead to stop it from biting altogether, and to hurt it in the process. silver spikes in the mouth of a creature weak to silver is a huge bonus to the witcher risking his arm to get the upper hand. I also have a headcanon for the 2 sections in the pants, bare with me. the wolven pants for example have hand sewn seams down the middle of each leg, all wolf school witchers have the same, so its done on purpose by witchers. this makes me think its done to make the pant fit closer to the skin, looking at a witchers fighting style, they're gonna be pirouetting, spinning, twirling, if their pants were more baggy then they're more likely to cut them with their swords, that wouldn't be good, so it makes sense that they would try to mitigate that. the arm ties could be there for the same reason but i think its more to fill space. And the quilted texture must just be to add durablilty, as I don't think it would matter much as "armor", seeing its nowhere else on the set and a witcher doesn't really benefit from armor. you could argue its because of geralts stupid leg injury that makes him leave his legs open when pirouetting, because that is a reason for its existence, but i think its a stretch as it isnt on any other witcher pant of this style, except maybe griffen, but thats a whole suit of armor so theorizing about the leg bits will get us nowhere. glad you pointed out how cumbersome the urseine can feel, that's big reason why I don't buy it set as witcher gear, it just doesn't make sense for how we know witchers to fight, w3 armors in general have the problem of not being lore friendly. thanks to whoever reads all my crazy, poorly typed headcanons

Cloth buttons? Check. Breeches (that aren't leather)? Check. That's an anachorrect outfit, dawg.

The witching bard fom rohan

In terms of "can i move in this" its fine. But it really just screams 'medieval librarian' and not 'im wearing armour'

When I first saw the leather pouch all I could think about was how annoying that was going to be where it was. It makes no sense for it to be there and I'm glad you pointed out everything wrong with it. Set looks good otherwise. Hope you are hanging in there during your first year in the desert and away from.any flooding.

Way i see it, if youre not pumped full of whatever magical drug that created the witchers and you arent a monster hunter this armour style isnt right for you hahah. I would also find having a pouch right mext to my arm movement to be an annoyance.

You would want at least vambraces if youre riding a horse. Look up cowboy cuffs

First!

check your email

Kind of odd to discuss the effect the archaic armor used in fighting mythical creatures on a fantasy television show that is mostly CGI

Idk about your qualifications as an adventurer. You haven't fought any outlaws or supernatural creatures

wasted waist space

Ya know.. besides the fact it's all fantasy... Seriously this is lame