The swords in Lord of the Rings - Would they be practical in real life? 

The Orc swords being ugly but entirely functional fits right into LOTR lore. "The orcs made few beautiful things, but many clever ones."

You see those elves from Rivendell? They’ve got curved swords. CURVED. SWORDS.

“He (hobbit) should be carrying a buckler or shield.” Lol, frying pan.

Though this is sort of apologetics for the film design, I personally like the idea of the witch king's weapon being utterly impractical. It makes sense to me that he would choose a weapon which was so large and unwieldy that it any normal mortal simply couldn't use it, just for the intimidation factor of his enemies seeing him swing an anvil-sized chunk of steel around. The dude seemed to enjoy fear tactics, but that's just my take. Awesome video!

"You wouldn't expect orcs to take proper care of their weapons." Skallagrim is racist against orcs. Wow. Who am I even subscribed to?

A hobbit wielding a claymore. Holy fuck that would be cool.

Imagine a army of hobbits but armed as Spartans.

“Yes, that works” “Yes that works” “Yes that works” “No guard” “Half guard” “Weird guard” This video essentially

I think the only reason they gave the witchking that absurd mace was just to reinforce the point that he wasn't human, and that he was absurdly strong.

The spike on the Uruk-hai murder weapon was literally designed to pull riders off of horses, and be simple and quick to manufacture.

You missed your opportunity to call your video Swords of the Rings.

Other people: Dressing based on trends and living normally Skallagrim:

"This video is gonna be boring" 1.116 million views...

Hobbit with a big ass sword: YOUR THROAT WILL HANG! Hobbit with a short sword: YOUR ANKLES ARE MINE!!!!

I feel like the Orcish sword from Skyrim was inspired by the Uruk-hai blade, but some developer just thought "hurr durr, orc blades pointy, they stoopid" and forgot that orcs are supposed to be the best smiths in Tamriel.

I'm really surprised an axe guy like Skall didn't talk about Gimili's Battle Axe

One scene not shown in Return of the King, was Aragorn taking the pommel off his legendary sword, and threw it at the Eye of Sauron, ending him rightly!

From what I remember, wasn't Sting basically a long dagger? Because Bilbo is so small , a dagger looks like a short sword in his hands.

I have always thought that the Witch king's morning star to be a good design for him, seeing as he is an undead with inhuman strength. I don't think you should judge that weapon according to a human standard.

Always liked Theoden's sword, Herugrim. It's like a Gladius or Spatha, and the guard being two horses forming a heart is a nice detail.

old video, but the morgul dagger probably has its guard facing backwards because its made to deflect a blade that is trying to block it. ring wraiths wouldnt care if somebody hits them with a sword, what they would care about is having their blow blocked. if they went in for a stab that design would guide a blade away from the dagger and allow it to continue forwards.

Tolkien described the uruk-hai as wielding scimitars. They went for a different design in the movies.

Now let's ask if the armour of lord of the rings is practical

How excellent is that Uruk Hai makeup and costuming? I'm not even particularly a fan of the LOTR movies but what a great job by the makeup department. How well they look and hold up today, even in close ups and still images.

Skall you look like a Sith Lord .

I don't know, man. I know you're not huge on the "is this weapon practical" type questions but as someone who is a fan of swords, but doesn't know all too much about them, I am a big fan of hearing you talk about designs that are abnormal but still work practically.

All the sword designs in LOTR films would work in real life even the completely fictional designs like the elf swords.

The spike on the sword would also be great for unseating horsemen.

The sword in thumbnail is pratical. I mean you never know when you need to scratch your back in battle.

Skallgrim: I shouldn't make the video, it won't be- Skallgrim to skallgrim: Do it

I like how this man is honest with his content he basically did it for the viewers but never tricked us into believing it was worth the time

The Witchking dagger's guard makes perfect sense if you think about what the weapon is used for. It's a cursed, poisonous dagger that's used for stabbing an opponent through armor. It's not made for dueling, it's not meant to parry a sword. It's purpose is to stab, reach opponent's flesh and make a wound as deep as possible, leave some of the dagger's fragile blade inside the body of the enemy, and let then let them go - afterwards, they would transform into undead themselves because of the dagger's power. This is why the guard is backwards. Because a regular guard, by pointing upwards, limits your ability to stab your target. As you dip your blade in the body, points in your guard would stop the blade from going deeper. By bending the guard downwards, you allow the blade to go extra inch inside the body, down to the very handle. This guard allows for maximum penetration, that's why it's shaped that way. You could say - well, why make a guard at all then? Guard makes sure you also don't stab TOO deep. It stops penetration at the very moment the blade ends, and allows you to easily pull it back. So yeah, the guard is both practical, and useful that way. A dagger this fragile, and used specifically to create poisonous stabbing wounds, was obviously not Witchking's dueling weapon. He had his sword, and his mace for that.

They generally work in a practical sense because one of the conceptual artists, John Howe, is a hardcore ancient weaponry and armor enthusiast. He was very anal in having the weapons and armor seem efficient and practical. The guys at Weta Workshop have anecdotes on how he changed their views on armor and weapons completely. The first bits of concept art before John Howe's involvement were very Dungeons and Dragons-ish

Fun fact, Jackson actually wanted the witch King’s flail to be bigger than that.

Here is why this video you have made is useful: it shows that you can make beautiful, exotic swords for a fantasy movie and they don't have to be nonsense. Movie-makers, you don't have to choose between cool and practical. The LOTR movies show that you can have both. And that, Skallagrim, means that you have done a good thing. Thank you.

The Uruk-Hai sword is like an AK47: requires less formal training, rugged, works every time. The barb could be useful for unhorsing a rider. Great channel!

One more thing to love about The Lord of the Rings: most of the weapons are not only awesome but also practical.

What would be the best weapon to defend against dozens of dwarves suddenly invading your home unannounced, uninvited and ravenously consuming all your food?

The Uruk-hai cleavers seem quite reasonable weapons to me, with the cleaver side for chopping through flesh and the point on the reverse for piercing armour.

Its a Morgul Blade wielded by a Nazgul that wouldnt need such "protection"

Lotr is one of those fantasy’s that have realistic swords

The Witch King's morning star is pretty obviously absurdly effective *if* you are strong enough to swing the 100-150lb ball around. Obviously no actual person (other than Chuck Norris) would be capable of fighting with it; however assuming enough strength (Can we assume that the Witch King didn't have normal human constraints on strength?) you could easily mow people down with it and there is virtually no armor or fighting technique that could save you from a 150lb spiked ball of steel on a chain being whipped at you.

In the words of the man portraying the Witch King about his weapon: "Some people called it a mace, others a flail. I called it what it was, which was damn heavy." There's even a video of Peter Jackson trying to lift it and he almost falls ON the thing because he couldn't hold it properly. So yes, it's impractical for a human being, which is why the Witch King was so fearsome as his strength was enough to wield it without much problem in the movie.

I just found out in my Norwegian class that Skallagrim was a legendary chieftain in ancient times

I think the witch king's weapon was purely for his pleasure because no man could kill him thus defeating the need for a practical weapon. He probably also didn't expect to find any expert swordswomen either. It is a ridiculous weapon though

Orks respect their choppas. Wait wrong thing

I think my favourite sword is Aragorn's Ranger sword, it looks incredibly practical, well taken care of, and has a nice practical utility blade in the sheath too for eating, skinning animals and food prep.

Skallagrim: "No one would really find this interesting..." At least 85K other people: "Hmm... Interesting."

00:39: "Frankly, I think its not gonna be all that good." You're very right, just 2.5+ million views, man, nothing extraordinary.

If I'm not mistaken, the backspike of Uruk-Hai swords was to grab onto horsemen so they would fall off their horses.

Isn’t the witch king’s mace not a mace but a flail? Lol

The dagger one kind of makes sense a little. The backwards guard helps you push the dagger in deeper for more fatal stabbing. Which is nice for a usually stabbing weapon. But yes, a normal guard for parrying would be nicer for the layman.

Urukaï sword is often called "scimitar" because Orcs and Uruks actually use scimitars in the books, and not those machetes - probably created in the show just to get along with the Uruk style of armor

Arwen's sword is designed to be used on horseback. It's inspired by the Shaska, the sword of the Cossacks, among others.

Anduril is a beautiful sword. Only think I'd change is it would be nice to have the leather wrap down further.

I own Hadhafang, and it so far has been the easiest sword to control for me personally and still looks beautiful

7:14 I think despite the very spot-on criticism, the design of this dagger seems to be exactly right for its intended use. It was a cursed dagger used by a wraith, which cannot be killed with conventional weapons (unless you are a bearer of the vagene). It's weapons are physical, can be blocked, so in order to inflict damage (it is a one-time use weapon, as the blade disappears after stabbing) anything that catches, interrupts its traversal towards intended target would hinder it's effectiveness. Backwards hilt allows defendants weapon to glance/slide off of it, maybe scraping the wraith (which is not a big deal when someone uses a non-magical sword or whatever on an undead half-ethereal being) but still allowing to strike the target. Besides this weapon was designed to turn mortals into wraiths, so it didn't need any potential countermeasures as a back weapon for defense (be it as a sword breaker, parrying dagger or sth). But if it wasn't a magical poison device for turning someone undead by a ghost-like phantom, it would certainly suck and be uncomfortable to wield as balls.

The Witch King's chain flail wouldn't work for a human, but a super-strong magical being could wield it just fine. :-)

I always loved the design of the Uruk-hai machete, always stood out to me

Arwen's sword reminds me of a rose twig with the two small spikes really looking like thorns. I think that's the aesthetic they wanted to go with along with it invoking perhaps the idea of a cavalry officer's sword with the smooth arc in it.

The Morgul Blade isn't meant for sword fighting, the Nazgul has a longsword for that. It is simply to inflict the wound that transforms the victim into one of them. Also, I think the little spikes on the 2 could actually catch another weapon...

The orcish sword is called a scimitar because Tolkien called it that: it’s the sword designers that chose an un-scimitar-ish pattern. The hobbit’s swords were not made for them: Sting was found in a troll-hoard and the other blades in a dead king’s barrow. They’re making do with what they can find that fits their hands, which means repurposing what to a Man would be a knife.

That orc sword is kind of genius, they don't take care of their weapons but it doesn't matter because if it blunts then they can just use the back spike until they get a chance to sharpen it.

The Uruk Hai machetes with the 90° spike at the end struck me as very useful. The spike could pull shields out of position or pierce plate armour. Shields needed with no hand guard tho, agreed.

The witch king's flail looked awesome as fuck though

Happy holidays? Fuck that, just say Merry Christmas.

For what it amounts to i am still appreciative that you took the time to make this video for your veiwers. Thanks!

Thank you for this video 🙏❤️ One of the lawyers I know is nicknamed Lawgolas for his hair and I wanted to make sure I got an elf or Orc 🗡 accurate for an edit ❤️😂 Subscribed because I am a Nerd Nerd not just a Law Nerd 😅.

but could you throw the pommel, thus ending the Nazgûl rightly?

The mace would actually make sense. It was made for the wraith dudes, who were probably pretty damn strong.

dang Skal you are awesome. You should do some tours for events or something. Would be cool to meet you!

Would’ve been interesting if we got a look into the Easterlings weapons. They were the ones to use scimitars for sure, along with halberds and axes. On top of that, gave both the Elves and Numenoreans a run for their money in battle.

The back spike on the Ork machete is designed to hook riders off their horses

You obviously didn't watch the documentary portion of the Extended Editions; they would have been the best resource for you on this. The swords in the Lord of the Rings are all functional swords made by Peter Lyon, a swordsmith and armorer, and each culture has a different real-world cultural basis for their designs. Sstaff would take some of the swords he made for the film out into the parking lot and do HEMA practice with them. Finely balanced, and beautifully crafted, they were really impressive weapons, not just as props.

I love your vids, they are interesting and entertaining, and they help me to sleep

While you said you cold make the video shorter, I'm glad you didn't! This was a fun talk about some awesome weapons!

Bloodborne weapons scrutinized? Would be hilarious.

Ok, someone has to say it: The Witcher weapons scrutinized?

5:51 i could FEEL the pain in his voice. This man loves his guards

What made this video work is that you went over all the different named blades in the film and described each one with some detailed explanations and examples. Not boring at all to me. As of Aug 2019, there's 69k up, 2k down votes, and 2.8 million views. I'd say this video was both well recieved and popular. Your fans were right to ask you to do it.

2:57 I think it's because in the books, the orcs were described as carrying scimitars. Thoug the Uruk-hai were specifically described as fighting with "broad-bladed swords". I guess that's why their swords look like metal cricket bats.

Why is Sting included? It's barely a sword, more like a letter opener really. LOL, sorry, couldn't resist xD

Sting I heard was actually based on a long dagger that many British troops used in the trenches of WW1 that had a leaf like blade. Tolkien of course would’ve had first hand experience. The Uruk Hai sword gets called a scimitar because in the books the Uruk were said to have carried scimitars

This was the first Skall video I ever watched all those years ago. Just showed up in my feed again.

I for one like the positive critique you have, I don't think a review of fantasy weapons has to be negatively critical. It's all well and good having examples of what not to do, but having an example of what TO do is also important, enjoyable and refreshing imo. I know this video is over 4 years old at this point but it still stands, I love to hear when fantasy gets it right and why.

Just a note, The Sting is a shortsword for a hobbit, for humans and elves it was designed as sort of a long dagger

As far as the dagger is concerned, there's a good way to optimize the inverted hilt. Use the opposite hand of your opponent, and go in for a strike. If they try to deflect your sword, you let it go down the outer edge, past the guard, and the dagger at that point is in your target's gut.

Dude, I’m happy I found your channel

Never thought I'd be subscribing to a guy who talks about swords. Life is funny sometimes.

Note about the witch-kings mace. If you got rid of the chain and head (if that isn't the right term then I apologize) and flipped it, the handle would make a reasonable mace

I definitely enjoy your content keep it up.

As others have already pointed out, there is nothing wrong with the Morgul blade. “This is not from the world of the living”, wraiths (“ghosts”) have different priorities in combat than living beings, it's not that they could die of blood loss. So, no, the Morgul blade is just fine. Also, having the hilt indeed in the other direction emphasizes the fact that they are indeed not from this world, giving the blades something that just feels wrong and uncomfortable. Perfect!

4:28 Did you hear about those elves from Rivendell? They've got curved swords. Curved. Swords.

Given the Hobbit's proportions, wouldn't a shortsword be like a longsword to them?

Good, it is always good to hear more opinions on things it helps us with enriching our perspective on the world around us and on how different people think and reach their conclusions. Edit: grammar.

you look like king egbert from vikings in the ragnar death scene lmao

is souls level 120 with a strength build good enough to wield sarouns mace?

Well, I'm not going to read all 4,272 comments, so if someone's already covered this, please forgive me. When the Orc blade is called a "Scimitar" it's likely from someone remembering that normally, most orcs used a scimitar, and it was only Saruman's Uruk-Hai who used the short, straight blades. Hadhafang was a movie-only blade, in the books Arwen was not a warrior and she had no sword we know of. They did create some back-story for the blade we never got from the films, it was said to be the sword of Idril, daughter of Turgon, King of Gondolin and High King of the Elves after the death of Fingon, his brother. By the way, Gandalf's sword, Glamdring, used to be King Turgon's before the fall of Gondolin. In Tolkien's LOTR, the only woman we really hear about fighting is Eowyn, niece of King Théoden. As Théoden and his people were supposed to have wandered down from the far North, they show some Viking-like tendencies. Eowyn proudly proclaims her self to be a shieldmaiden longing for a glorious death in battle. The elves certainly would have had great skill in making weapons, if for no other reason than their age: By the time Frodo came into the story, Elrond was over 6,000 years old, and Gandalf, one of the beings who helped create the earth, came to Middle-Earth as a wizard with unknown thousands of years of knowledge and experience. Sorry, I ramble when it comes to the Tolkien Legendarium. I'm an elvish-speaking Middle-Earth expert.

Easily one of the best comprehensive videos on LOTR’s swords

It makes sense to call the uruk-hai weapon a "machete" because the back spike makes it tip-heavy, like a kukri, kora, or a bill hook.