Axes and swords from the Fast and the Furious films. Firearms from some Hollywood films

In Hollywood films they love to shoot - while moving, in duels, while jumping, in spectacular slow-mo, etc. For this, of course, you need the appropriate weapon. In the case of ordinary action films, historical films, westerns, everything is quite simple - over the years of the existence of Hollywood, warehouses with props have literally been filled with models of weapons for every taste, which are enough to arm even the largest film army.

But when it comes to science fiction, things get a little more complicated. The easiest way, which is usually used in TV series and not too high-budget films, is to take a copy of some little-known to the general public and quite futuristic-looking weapon. To be sure, we can say hang on it optical sight or some kind of attachment, and in post-production make an unusual sound/effect of a shot.

For example," star Wars" If you look closely, Princess Leia's blaster is nothing more than a Margolin pistol with a funny attachment.

Han Solo's blaster is a cosmetically modified Mauser.

Or say the Cobra assault rifle from RoboCop- sniper rifle Barrett, which at that time had only recently entered the market.

But there are times when gunsmiths have to work hard on the design. Of course general principle(we take a really functioning weapon and attach more additional attachments to it) has not been canceled, but sometimes, with the efforts of designers, truly unusual things come out.

Blade Runner

Rick Deckard's pistol is an ingenious combination of parts from an Austrian Steyer rifle and a Bulldog revolver. To make it more stylish, the pistol was equipped with two triggers (in the film itself, by the way, this was not played up in any way), and several red lights were added to the sides. Despite the fact that this model never received any name (it is usually called the Deckard blaster), it became quite famous. Recently, a gun used in the film was sold for a hefty $270,000.

RoboCop

RoboCop's legendary Auto-9 pistol is, in practice, a heavily modified Beretta.

Equilibrium

Another modified Beretta, this time its owner was the cleric John Preston. The cross-shaped muzzle flash is made specifically to fit general style film.

Another interesting fact- the pistol taken as a basis (Beretta 92 FS) did not have an automatic fire function, and the gunsmiths had to try hard to ensure that the weapon could fire continuously.

Judge Dredd

And just like that, with a slight movement of the hand, an ordinary Glock turns into a weapon of the Law.

Existence

When someone is at the helm, like David Cronenberg, we can be treated to the strangest and craziest designs, like the famous bone pistol.

Aliens

Movie James Cameron gave us one of the most famous fictional rifles, the M41A. In practice, the weapon is a hybrid of a Thompson submachine gun and an obscenely cut-off Remington shotgun (after conversion, only three cartridges fit into it). Interestingly, of all the rifles used in the film, only three could fire.

By the way, some hardcore fans were able to do shooting copy this rifle - in reality, of course, it does not give such a bright flash and characteristic sound of a shot as in the film.

In addition to rifles, the film also featured smart guns made from components of a German MG-42 machine gun and a Steadicam.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Many people probably noticed the plasma rifles that the Terminators were armed with in the opening scene of the film. In reality, this is a modified Calico submachine gun.

Rising from the depths

Calicos were also used in the film Stephen Sommers, where a block of fake barrels was attached to them and they were called the latest Chinese assault rifles.

In the shooting scenes, only the central barrel actually fired. The rest, with the help of a hidden electric motor, spun around him, creating the illusion of a firing multi-barreled weapon.

Eraser

Unfortunately or fortunately, incredibly cool railguns that have become business card films were made from scratch.

Matrix

Another example of when weapons for a film are not modified, but created. For the sequence in which Mouse shoots the special forces, gunsmith John Bowring built a pair of unusual automatic shotguns with a rate of fire of 900 rounds per minute.

It’s kind of a pity that they were only used in one small scene.

Starship Troopers

The main weapon of the film was clearly inspired by Aliens and is a mixture of a Ruger Mini-14 semi-automatic carbine and an Ithaca-37 shotgun.

Fifth Element

I think everyone remembers one of the most famous scenes in the film. Luc Besson, in which Sorg proudly displays the latest development your company. But probably few people know that the Kalashnikov assault rifle (in the AKS74U modification) was taken as the basis for all weapons, on which all other devices were then installed.

If you look closely, in the lower part you can see a piece of a characteristic Kalashnikov magazine.

Predator

And to end the program, the legendary weapon from the classic film John McTiernan. By the way, there is popular legend, that during the filming of the film a prototype XM 214 Microgun, built in a single copy, was used, but this is not true - they fired from the M134 Minigun, which is usually installed on fire support helicopters.

To use the weapon as shown in the film, the creators resorted to a number of tricks. Since the machine gun was powered by a battery, cables were passed through the actor's trouser leg. Further, to protect against spent cartridges, the shooter was dressed in a bulletproof vest and, in scenes where this was possible, a special mask. To prevent the actor from being knocked over by the recoil, a special support was used. The rate of fire of the weapon also had to be reduced three times - from 4000 to 1250 rounds per minute. At the standard rate of fire, the rotation of the barrels was almost unnoticed.

They say that after filming is completed Jesse Ventura I really wanted to buy myself a minigun that was used during filming “as a souvenir.” Whether the actor (and the future governor of Minnesota) managed to do this, history is silent.

The text of the section - the sword in cinema, is almost entirely taken from the book Thomas Laible - "Sword". I just edited some parts and added swords from films that were released after the publication of Thomas Laible's book.

To many sword history fans, their affection has been nurtured feature films about the times of the Vikings, knights or musketeers, as well as films in the fantasy genre, none of which can do without these beautiful weapons. But most of the swords shown in movies are “fantasy swords”, i.e. swords that did not have any similarities historical prototypes. Their main difference from the real ones is their excessive decoration and incredible shapes of the blade and hilt. Thus, all swords found in movies can be divided into two groups:

1. - Swords that, due to their decoration, as well as the design of the hilt and blade, are so bizarre (although at first glance they look quite threatening) that they can never, under any circumstances, be used in battle. Among sword lovers, such a weapon is called - sword-like objects (Sword Like Object - SLO)

Fantastic sword

This impressive sword-like object actually has nothing in common with a real military weapon.

2. - Swords, the design of which, although fantastic, is theoretically thought out, and with appropriate processing such swords can be weapons suitable for combat.

Sword of Conan the Barbarian

The sword of the main character of the film "Conan the Barbarian" is one of the most remarkable swords in the history of cinema. The proportions of Conan's sword resemble the sword of justice.

Since our site is dedicated military weapons, then in this section we will touch on swords and other bladed weapons, which can be classified as the second group.

Swords from the movie "Highlander"

From the point of view of the sword, the film that really matters is Highlander, 1985. The story of an eternally fighting immortal quickly became a cult favorite thanks to its mixture of exciting plot, diluted with sword fights and music. English group"Queen".

In the film "Highlander" there are three swords highlighted in the plot, which fall under our theme, without going beyond the main concept of the site. This is the sword of the main character, which he uses before meeting Ramirez, the sword of the immortal Fazil and the sword of the main negative hero Kargana (Kurgana).

Connor MacLeod's sword

The sword has a rather unusual crosspiece, equipped with additional, vertically located shields, shaped like a semicircle. Apart from this oddity, then by the shape of the blade, which has the shape of a flattened rhombus in cross-section (there are no valleys on the blade), with a well-defined tip and almost parallel blades, it can be described as a long sword of type XIIIa-T3-6, belonging to XV century.

Kurgan Sword

The blade tapers only slightly, in this respect we are dealing with a mixed form of a Type XIIa sword and a Type XIIIa sword. The design of the cross guard and popping spikes gives the sword something special - a terrifying look.

Toledo Salamanca

This magnificent example of a late Renaissance sword appears only at the beginning of the film. And depending on the translation, it is defined either as a broadsword, or as an expensive and rare Toledo Salamanca sword. Although, to be honest, I have never come across such a name outside the context of this film. This sword can easily be attributed to early forms rapiers of the 16th century.

Sword from the movie "Kingdom of Heaven"

The swords from the film "Kingdom of Heaven" correspond in size and proportions to historical examples.

The sword of the main character, Balian II of Ibelin, is a mixture of various medieval swords. The blade, 91 centimeters long, corresponds to a type XII sword, although the total length of the sword, 114 centimeters, is too long for this type (and the proportions are not suitable for type XIIa - the handle is too short, which does not prevent the main character from fencing with it, taking it in both hands).

Sword of Balian II of Ibelin

The proportions of this sword do not at all correspond to the historical specimens described in Oakeshott’s typology; otherwise, Ibelin’s sword is a successful and quite beautiful reconstruction of a historical weapon.

Sword from the movie "Robin Hood"

The sword of Robin Hood, or rather the knight Robert Loxley, is, in my opinion, one of the best examples of swords shown in movies. Based on the shape of the blade and the components of the hilt - the crosspiece and the pommel, this sword can be described as XII-I1-2.

Robert Loxley's sword

The hilt of the sword is of particular interest, as part of the plot of the film is tied to it. As you may remember, under the wire braided handle main character found a motto that seemed familiar to him from his childhood - Rise And Rise Again Until Lambs Become Lions (Rise again and again until the lambs become lions, translated from English). Many medieval swords were decorated with mottos and prayer sayings, mostly inscribed on the blade's blade, since the handle could be changed several times during the entire service life of the sword.

Sword from the film "Arn the Knight Templar"

Although the film "Arn. Knight Templar" was not as advertised as "Kingdom of Heaven" or "Robin Hood", but in terms of historical reliability, in my opinion, it is head and shoulders above these two films, and better conveys general content era of the late 12th century.

In the hands of Arn Magnusen, the main character of the film, we see a magnificent knight's sword, given to Arn by his mentor, brother Gilbert, a former Templar knight.

Arn and his sword

Arn's sword can be described as Type XII-G-1. Despite the rather simple pommel and crossguard, this is a very beautiful weapon. Actually, this simplicity is where the elegance of the sword lies - nothing superfluous, an ideal tool for a Templar knight. On the crossguard of the sword, on one side, there is a motto - In Hoc Signo Vinces (In Latin you will conquer). Heraldic crosses are engraved on the pommel and blade.

William Wallace's sword

Speaking about swords in cinema, one cannot fail to mention the film " Brave heart", which tells about the life of the Scottish knight William Wallace (b. 1270 - 1305), and his struggle for the independence of Scotland. In the hands of the main character, we can often see a huge two-handed sword. This weapon is a reconstruction of a real sword.

William Wallace's sword from the movie "Braveheart"

The so-called Wallace Sword is currently kept in the British historical museum. It was forged approximately 300 years after the death of the real historical Wallace and is a two-handed sword XVII century, similar to those used by the Highlanders at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. At the end of the 13th - beginning of the 14th century, such swords were not yet known to the Scots, like the Lochaber axes, which are also visible in the film “Braveheart”.

Swords from "The Lord of the Rings"

The swords from the above films are a pleasant exception to the usual array of fanciful and unrealistic movie swords. Another exception is the swords from The Lord of the Rings. Some sword lovers claim that these are the best fancy swords ever made.

When developing the design of the swords for the film, scientific data from the history of weapons was used. In addition, the film shows what creative details were developed by the production designers from the often poor foundation of the novel. Unlike “ordinary” movie swords, the details here are displayed so modestly that they are almost not perceived in the film, but despite this, they create a great impression. The swords from The Lord of the Rings have gained great respect among sword lovers around the world and have given impetus to the development of new designs. All this makes them so interesting that we will pay more attention to their description.

Swords from The Lord of the Rings were developed by a group of designers from the manufacturing company Weta Workshop (Ben Wooton, David Falconer, Warren Mahy, etc.). Along with the Weta group (Ben Bouton, David Falconer, Warren Mahy and others), significant influences on the weapon were production designer John Howe, who along with colleague Alan Lee were responsible for the entire artistic concept of the film, and gunsmith Peter Lyon. Along with the Hildebrandt brothers, Howe is perhaps Tolkien's most famous illustrator. In addition to his artistic talent, another quality was important for the design of swords: Howe is a reenactor, a mercenary of the Swiss “Company of St. George”. In this regard, he is well acquainted with medieval warfare, weapons and swords. He is the co-author of various illustrated books on this topic (for example, "The Life of a Mercenary in the Middle Ages"). Blacksmith Peter Lyon had similar baggage - via fantasy role-playing games he came to the reconstruction and at the same time to the forging of medieval swords. It is not surprising that the work of this team was influenced by reality from the very beginning.

Lord of the Rings sword designs

The starting point for the design was, of course, Tolkien's ideas. However, Tolkien himself wrote too little about what the swords looked like. He paid more attention to magical qualities, symbolic or historical value weapons. When it comes to appearance, he presents them most often as magnificently decorated luxurious swords. Thus, the designers were given huge field for their imagination. However, they decided to abandon the abundant Tolkien decorations and relied on functionality.

Howe stated: “Swords in movies are almost always huge, ugly and rude objects that would be impossible to lift even if they were actually made of metal. A sword should be harmonious, elegant and beautiful.”

Although the weapons were still decorated, they were much more modest than Tolkien wrote about it. And this is precisely what some “Tolkien purists” criticized. In their opinion, for the film instead of swords late Middle Ages it was necessary to make examples of ornate, luxurious Migration-era beds, since Tolkien drew much of his inspiration from heroic epic that time. Despite such criticism, most sword enthusiasts and Tolkien scholars were pleased with the relatively modest, combat-oriented design of Howe and his colleagues.

Most of the swords from the film were designed based on historical weapons, and there were no exact copies. Howe brought as visual material most your own collection of weapons. After the design was finally approved, Lyon began manufacturing. “My task was to make the weapon as good as possible - functional, despite the dull blade. All blades were made of heat-treated spring steel, if they were sharp, then you could trust this weapon with your life,”- Lyon said.

Sword Narsil

The Sword of Narsil or Anduril is apparently the most famous weapon in the entire Ring Trilogy.

Tolkien himself describes Anduril as follows: “[...] on his blade were engraved as a symbol seven stars between the crescent of the moon and the radiant sun, and in addition there were many runes.” Elsewhere Anduril (in comparison to Boromir's sword) is described as a long sword. But this, naturally, is not very expressive: the film version of Narsil (total length 134 centimeters) generally corresponds to a combat sword.

Sword Narsil

In profile, with long fullers, the Narsil resembles a Type XIIa sword, but the concave blades are more reminiscent of a Type XVIIIa or XVIIIb sword. The silver plated mount at the bottom is covered in leather and is meant to evoke stems and leaves. The openwork pommel of the sword has an inscription in the elven language invented by Tolkien - Quenya, as well as overlays made of 24-karat gold.

Sword Anduril

The newly forged Anduril, minus the engraving, exact copy Narzila. Here it was possible to realize Tolkien's plan somewhat more accurately: the sun is engraved on the base of the blade, and a runic inscription is engraved on the blade, interrupted by seven stars and ending with the symbol of the month.

Gandalf's sword Glamdring

For the film version of Glamdring, designer Ben Bouton clearly changed Tolkien's description: from the luxurious decoration of the hilt precious stones two small ones were left semi-precious stone, placed at the base of the cross. However, the mentioned runic inscription was applied.

Glamdring Sword

In the hilt of Gandalf's sword one can recognize a family closeness with Gothic bastard swords. At first glance, the strongly downward bows of the crossguard seem atypical for bastard swords, which were dominated by a more or less straight crossguard. However, there is a small group of Gothic bastard swords that have cross guards that are strongly curved downwards. They date back to the mid-16th century and, although absolutely suitable for combat, served for representational purposes. All swords have distinctive mounts that, with the exception of numerous engravings, are very reminiscent of Glamdring.

Glamdring Hilt

The Glamdring (total length 121 centimeters) is an interesting mixture of a Celtic sword and a medieval bastard sword. Swords with leaf-shaped blades appeared in history only during the Gallic period. From 650 to 500 BC we see steel Celtic swords, which in design were still guided by bronze examples. The blade length of one of these swords is 94.8 centimeters and almost matches the length of Glamdring's blade (91 centimeters). However, there are two differences: the tip of the Celtic sword is beveled, while Glamdring's has an even convergence. Celtic swords usually lack a fuller (it appears only in early Middle Ages).

The specific design, as Peter Lyon said, turned out to be very difficult: “Glamdring, because of the long leaf-shaped blade, was particularly difficult. It might turn out that it would be difficult for them to fence, so in the widest part of the blade I ground out a strong distal narrowing. The resulting sword was well balanced by the large head."

Sword Sting

Short swords with leaf-shaped blades are known in antiquity, in bronze age from 1500 to 500 BC they were widespread everywhere. But in the Middle Ages they did not appear at all. So here we see a lot of artistic freedom.

Sword Sting

As the film version of the Stinger, designer David Falkoper created an extremely elegant weapon with harmonious proportions(total length 56 centimeters). The crossguard arms and blades are decorated with an inscription in Quenya.

Boromir's Sword

In stark contrast to the elegant, ornate elven weapons is Boromir's humble, purely practical sword. Here we are talking about a sword that, in a museum display case, could be mistaken for a historical one. The 77-centimeter blade belongs to the sword of type XIV with elements of type XVI: a wide blade with a fuller turning into a thin point.

Boromir's Sword

The twisted cross guards can also be seen on the historical sword, although they are not curved there. The down-curved crossguard and flattened pear-shaped head are the only details of the 99-centimeter sword that are puzzling and cast doubt on historical authenticity.

Wanderer's Sword

Perhaps the most beautiful sword film trilogy is the wanderer's sword. In Tolkien's novel, Aragorn carries a fragment of Narzsil in a sheath on his belt. Tolkien is silent about how Aragorn withstands battles with a broken sword. It's about about a fairy-tale-romantic motif, which, naturally, makes no sense at all from a military-historical and tactical point of view. Therefore, it is quite reasonable at this point that Jackson's script departs from the original source: in the film, the wreckage of Narsil is kept in Elrond's house in the valley. Before Aragorn can go into battle against Sauron's hordes with the new Anduril, he uses his own sword.

Wanderer's Sword

The wanderer's sword (length 120 centimeters) is an unadorned bastard sword, this is the typical target weapon of a simple mercenary leader. A characteristic detail is, among other things, a simple additional knife in a sheath, familiar to us from the swords of the late Middle Ages. The 91cm blade is a narrower version of the Type XIIa, but the mount has typical late medieval details - an iron reinforcing ring on the handle and a pear-shaped head.

This unadorned yet beautiful weapon is more faithful to its historical prototypes than any of the swords from The Lord of the Rings. Clear proportions and lines accurately convey the timeless elegance of medieval swords.

Sword of the Sorcerer King

Every heroic saga, of course, must have villains. Their swords, naturally, are cut completely differently from those of the heroes, and here we will be interested in the sword of the sorcerer king from Angmar. Since he is the leader of the Nazgul, his sword is significantly different from those with which other spirits of the ring are armed.

Sword of the Sorcerer King

In proportions (total length - 139 centimeters, blade - 101 centimeters), the sword of the sorcerer king corresponds to the combat swords of the late Middle Ages. Both the very long hilt and the blade with a long, unsharpened base are typical for this type of sword. The shape of the blade is similar to the blade of Sture's sword.

In the film "The Lord of the Rings" there are other wonderful swords, such as those used by the elves or the horsemen of the Rohirrim. But unfortunately, they do not fit the main theme of the armory - European bladed weapons. If you are interested, then Full description You can find swords from "The Lord of the Rings" in the wonderful book by Thomas Laible - "The Sword".

Almost every interesting and exciting film contains colorful characters armed with something unusual and extremely effective. Exactly about this weapons from movies And interesting stories related to it will be this article.

Men in Black

Everyone remember the episode where Will Smith's character is given a little fart called the "Lady Cricket"? And the effect of the shot, which throws away the careless agent Jay? The episode is quite comical, symbolizing that there is banal hazing in the alien control organization. However this movie weapons is not as simple as it seems. The fact is that he has a power regulator that allows him to minimize the recoil to complete absence, which we clearly see in the second film, when the “Lady's Cricket” was given, as a small place, to the former partner of Agent Jay. Which, despite the amnesia, realized about the possible impact and adjusted it in advance. And don't accuse me of being racist, but this very typically shows the difference in thinking between whites and blacks. The former generally think first, and the latter act first.

Predator 2

Remember the ending of the film, when the main character, chasing a wounded predator, discovered either ancient ruins or spaceship, where he effectively finishes off an unlucky hunter. And then the stern “brothers” appear and instead of finishing off the presumptuous “prey” with shoulder cannons, they give him a trophy - an ancient personalized flintlock pistol? So this is movie weapons was supposed to become a link between the new films of the franchise, in which they wanted to show that predators have been regularly hunting people for centuries. A pirate-themed film was planned, something about knights, and who the hell knows what other ideas were in the minds of the screenwriters. Unfortunately, this idea did not find support and was not implemented. It's a pity.

Harry Potter

What is the main weapon of wizards, according to this children's and at the same time completely non-children's saga? Magic wand. But we will not talk about just any wand, but about an exceptional one, which was one of the three legendary artifacts of the “Deathly Hallows” - the Elder Beam. The essence of the magic of her magic was that it could only be obtained from the dead (or incapacitated) hands of the previous owner. Otherwise, she refused to work effectively. So, the noseless Dark Lord was in holy confidence that this wand would give him invulnerability in battle, so he destroyed the grave of its former owner - Professor Dumbledore, successfully stole it, tested it by releasing a couple of special effects and decided that now he was in chocolate. But here’s the kicker: Dumbledore was killed by the blond metrosexual Draco Malfoy, so technically the wand should have gone to him. And Malfoy, in turn, was kicked by Harry Potter, thereby assuming the right to control. So when the dark lover little boys and his main fetish came together in a duel, the Elder Wand began to obey Potter. This is the turn. Interestingly, initially, when the design of the Elder Wand was being developed, its role in the plot was not yet known, so the artists acted on a whim. And yet, they managed to make something that looked impressive and unique, fully consistent with its purpose.

Star Wars

Lightsabers are perhaps the most memorable movie weapons. Seriously, so cool, narrowly functional, powerful, archaic and at the same time ultra-modern that it is not surprising that every boy raved about it in childhood. Almost every sword in the saga had its own story, but of course we won’t talk about all of this. But about the most interesting cases Let's talk. The first thing I want to remember is the double-sided sword of Darth Maul from the first part of the saga. For those who don't remember the names, this is the red-horned dancer who first hacked to death the senior Jedi, and then was cut in half and thrown into the reactor well. And, as only fans who have mastered tons of handwritten text on the franchise know, he survived. True, he went crazy, he collected spider mechanical legs from garbage from a landfill, then he fought with Obi-Wan again, attacked Palpatine, captured planets, was revived in the form of a semi-intelligent hologram, in a word, he lived extremely rich life. But let's return to the sword. According to the plot, the Sith created a double-sided sword at the beginning of his career, when he was tasked with swatting away a tough Jedi, and with a standard sword they attacked him and began to teach him. And so - he started the battle with one beam turned on, and at the most inopportune moment he turned on the second and, due to the factor of surprise, killed the enemy. In reality, the performer of the role of Darth Maul, a master of combat arts ray Park, was extremely dissatisfied with the original design of the handle, so it had to be significantly lengthened so that the professional stuntman could demonstrate his impressive acrobatic skills.

By the way, if you remember, before the premiere last episode Star Wars, this comrade was handed the sword of the “eared Sith” Kylo Ren right on stage. But the man was not at a loss and demonstrated good fighting technique, even despite the disgusting design of the sword, which, by the way, was not chosen by chance. The fact is that the energy crystal, which in the story serves as a generator in lightsabers, in the case of an eared sword was unstable and produced too much excess energy, which had to be released through rays in the guard. So the absurd and bulky appearance of the sword is completely justified - it, like its owner, is defective.

Terminator 2

Say what you will, but the Terminator is best role the current governor of sunny California. This is stern brutality, this imperturbable face like a brick, this dexterous handling of a shotgun and the pathos of reloading it by spinning around its axis... Which, by the way, almost broke “Iron Arnie’s” fingers. Schwarzenegger spent several hours in the hospital when he tried to pull off such a trick with a standard model of the Winchester, so for further filming, the weapon from the film had to be slightly modified - made heavier and the shape of the handle changed.

RoboCop

The futurism of the eighties now evokes in most people a slight nostalgia for youth, and in later generations - slight bewilderment and cries of naivety and primitiveness. However, for its time, the robot policeman in shiny armor looked very impressive. But he needed a weapon to match. At first they wanted to use the Desert Eagle model, which in principle looked good, but alas, compared to RoboCop, this weapon from the films looked faded. Therefore, we decided to take the Beretta 93R and slightly improve it - add grip pads, enlarge the forend, and other small things. The result was a massive and weighty gun, to match the stern half-dead cop. But bad luck, the Beretta is formally not an ordinary pistol, but a submachine gun, the use of which is prohibited by civilians in the United States. This also applied to weapon models, so film crew I had to fill out a bunch of paperwork and get official permission from local authorities.

Developed by a group of designers from the manufacturing company Weta Workshop (Ben Wooton, David Falconer, Warren Mahy, etc.). Along with the Weta group (Ben Bouton, David Falconer, Warren Mahy and others), significant influences on the weapon were production designer John Howe, who along with colleague Alan Lee were responsible for the entire artistic concept of the film, and gunsmith Peter Lyon. Along with the Hildebrandt brothers, Howe is perhaps Tolkien's most famous illustrator. In addition to his artistic talent, another quality was important for the design of swords: Howe is a reenactor, a mercenary of the Swiss “Company of St. George”. In this regard, he is well acquainted with medieval warfare, weapons and swords. He is the co-author of various illustrated books on this topic (for example, "The Life of a Mercenary in the Middle Ages"). Blacksmith Peter Lyon had a similar background - through fantasy role-playing games he came to reconstruct and at the same time forge medieval swords. It is not surprising that the work of this team was influenced by reality from the very beginning.

Lord of the Rings sword designs

The starting point for the design was, of course, Tolkien's ideas. However, Tolkien himself wrote too little about what swords looked like. He paid more attention to the magical qualities, symbolic or historical value of weapons. When it comes to appearance, he often imagines them as ornate, luxurious swords. Thus, the designers were given a huge field for their imagination. However, they decided to abandon the abundant Tolkien decorations and relied on functionality. Howe stated: " Swords in movies are almost always huge, ugly and rude objects that would be impossible to lift even if they were actually made of metal. The sword should be harmonious, elegant and beautiful".

Although the weapons were still decorated, they were much more modest than Tolkien wrote about it. And this is precisely what some “Tolkien purists” criticized. In their opinion, instead of swords from the late Middle Ages, it was necessary to make examples of ornate, luxurious swords from the Migration Period for the film, since Tolkien drew much of his inspiration from the heroic epics of that time. Despite such criticism, most sword enthusiasts and Tolkien scholars were pleased with the relatively modest, combat-oriented design of Howe and his colleagues.

Most of the swords from the film were designed based on historical weapons, and there were no exact copies. Howe brought most of his own weapons collection as display material. After the design was finally approved, Lyon began manufacturing. " My task was to make the weapon as good as possible - functional, despite the dull blade. All blades were made from heat-treated spring steel; if they were sharp, then you could trust this weapon with your life"Lyon said.

Or Anduril, apparently the most famous weapon in the entire ring trilogy.

Tolkien himself describes Anduril as follows: “ [...] seven stars were engraved on his blade as a symbol between the crescent moon and the radiant sun, and in addition there were many runes" Elsewhere Anduril (in comparison to Boromir's sword) is described as a longsword. But this, naturally, is not very expressive: the film version of Narsil (total length 134 centimeters) generally corresponds to a combat sword.

The newly forged Anduril, except for the engraving, is an exact copy of Narzil. Here it was possible to realize Tolkien's plan somewhat more accurately: the sun is engraved on the base of the blade, and a runic inscription is engraved on the blade, interrupted by seven stars and ending with the symbol of the month.

Gandalf's sword Glamdring

For the film version of Glamdring, designer Ben Bouton clearly changed Tolkien's description: from the luxurious decoration of the hilt with precious stones, two small semi-precious stones were left, placed at the base of the crosspiece. However, the mentioned runic inscription was applied.

The specific design, as Peter Lyon said, turned out to be very difficult: “ Glamdring, due to its long leaf-shaped blade, was particularly difficult. It might turn out that it would be difficult for them to fence, so in the widest part of the blade I ground out a strong distal narrowing. The resulting sword was well balanced with a large head».

Short swords with leaf-shaped blades are known in antiquity; in the Bronze Age from 1500 to 500 BC they were widespread throughout the world. But in the Middle Ages they did not appear at all. So here we see a lot of artistic freedom.

As a film version of the Stinger, designer David Falkoper created an extremely elegant weapon with harmonious proportions (total length 56 centimeters). The crossguard arms and blades are decorated with an inscription in Quenya.

Perhaps the most beautiful sword in the film trilogy is wanderer's sword. In Tolkien's novel, Aragorn carries a fragment of Narzsil in a sheath on his belt. Tolkien is silent about how Aragorn withstands battles with a broken sword. We are talking about a fairy-tale-romantic motif, which, naturally, makes absolutely no sense from a military-historical and tactical point of view. Therefore, it is quite reasonable at this point that Jackson's script departs from the original source: in the film, the wreckage of Narsil is kept in Elrond's house in the valley. Before Aragorn can go into battle against Sauron's hordes with the new Anduril, he uses his own sword.

Sword of the Sorcerer King

Every heroic saga, of course, must have villains. Their swords, naturally, will look completely different from those of the heroes, and here we will be interested sword of the sorcerer king from Angmar. Since he is the leader of the Nazgul, his sword is significantly different from those with which other spirits of the ring are armed.

Sword of the Sorcerer King

In the film "The Lord of the Rings" there are other wonderful swords, such as those used by the elves or the horsemen of the Rohirrim. But unfortunately, they do not fit the main theme of the armory - . If you are interested, you can find a complete description of the swords from The Lord of the Rings in the wonderful book by Thomas Laible - "The Sword".

For many fans of the history of the sword, their affection was nurtured by feature films about the times of the Vikings, knights or musketeers, as well as films in the fantasy genre, none of which are complete without these beautiful weapons. But most of the swords shown in movies are “fantasy swords”, i.e. swords that did not have any similar historical prototypes. Their main difference from the real ones is their excessive decoration and incredible shapes of the blade and hilt. Thus, all swords found in movies can be divided into two groups:

1. - Swords that, due to their decoration, as well as the design of the hilt and blade, are so bizarre (although at first glance they look quite threatening) that they can never, under any circumstances, be used in battle. Among sword lovers, such a weapon is called - sword-like objects (Sword Like Object - SLO)

2. - Swords whose design, although fantastic, is theoretically thought out, and with appropriate processing, such swords can be weapons suitable for combat.

The sword of the main character of the film "Conan the Barbarian" is one of the most remarkable swords in the history of cinema. The proportions of Conan's sword resemble the sword of justice.

Since our site is dedicated to military weapons, in this section we will touch on swords and other bladed weapons, which can be classified as the second group.

Swords from the movie "Highlander"

From the point of view of the sword, the film that really matters is Highlander, 1985. The story of the eternally fighting immortal quickly became a cult film thanks to its mixture of exciting plot, diluted with sword fights, and the music of the English group Queen.

The sword has a rather unusual crosspiece, equipped with additional, vertically arranged shields, shaped like a semicircle. Apart from this oddity, then by the shape of the blade, which has the shape of a flattened rhombus in cross-section (there are no valleys on the blade), with a well-defined tip and almost parallel blades, it can be described as a long sword of type XIIIa-T3-6, belonging to XV century.

This magnificent example of a late Renaissance sword appears only at the beginning of the film. And depending on the translation, it is defined either as a broadsword, or as an expensive and rare sword Toledo Salamanca. Although, to be honest, I have never come across such a name outside the context of this film. This sword can easily be attributed to the early forms of the 16th century rapier.

Sword from the movie "Kingdom of Heaven"

The swords from the film "Kingdom of Heaven" correspond in size and proportions to historical examples.

Sword from the movie "Robin Hood"

The hilt of the sword is of particular interest, as part of the plot of the film is tied to it. As you may remember, under the wire braided handle the main character found a motto that seemed familiar to him from childhood - Rise And Rise Again Until Lambs Become Lions (Rise again and again until lambs become lions, translated from English). Many medieval the swords were decorated with mottos and prayer sayings, mainly applied to the blade's fullers, since the handle could be changed several times during the entire service life of the sword.

Sword from the film "Arn the Knight Templar"

In the hands of Arn Magnusen, the main character of the film, we see a magnificent knight's sword, given to Arn by his mentor, brother Gilbert, a former Templar knight.

William Wallace's sword

Speaking about swords in cinema, one cannot fail to mention the film "Braveheart", which tells the story of the life of the Scottish knight William Wallace (b. 1270 - 1305), and his struggle for the independence of Scotland. In the hands of the main character, we can often see a huge two-handed sword. This weapon is a reconstruction of a real existing sword.

William Wallace's sword from the movie "Braveheart"

So-called Wallace's sword currently housed in the British History Museum. It was forged approximately 300 years after the death of the real-life Wallace and is a 17th-century two-handed sword similar to those used by the Highlanders at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. At the end of the 13th - beginning of the 14th century, such swords were not yet known to the Scots, like the Lochaber axes, which are also visible in the film “Braveheart”.

Swords from "The Lord of the Rings"

Swords from the movie "The Lord of the Rings"

When developing the design of the swords for the film, scientific data from the history of weapons was used. What's more, in the film, you can see what creative details were developed by the production designers from the often poor foundation of the novel. Unlike “ordinary” movie scenes, the details here are displayed so modestly that they are almost not perceived in the film, but despite this, they create a great impression. The swords from The Lord of the Rings have gained great respect among sword lovers around the world and have given impetus to the development of new designs. All this makes them so interesting that we will pay more attention to their description.