Legolas' sword from Lord of the Rings. Movie weapons

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.

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 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 the popping spikes gives the sword something special and terrifying.

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 films. 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 handle with 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".

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".

Knife- the most ancient of man-made human tools, which played vital role actually in the formation of man as a species. It has gone through a long history, during which it has changed only aesthetically - many craftsmen have made and are making blades of amazing beauty... well, it has become sharper than stone and metal tools primitive people.

It is not surprising that various types of blades remain companions of many real and fictional heroes, whose “exploits” we learn from books, movies and other media sources. Italian multimedia designer Federico Mauro created several graphic series showing household items of cult characters (for example:,), including all kinds of knives and blades of many famous media heroes:

01. Ghost face(Ghostface) - character in the Scream film series

02. Chevalier Charles-Henri Sanson de Lonval (Charles-Henri Sanson) – hereditary executioner from the Sanson dynasty

03. Frank Dodd – Deputy Sheriff of Castle Rock, character in Stephen King’s book “The Dead Zone” and the film of the same name

04. “Vice for Export” (Eastern Promises) – feature film directed by David Cronenberg

05. Sweeney Todd is a character in a series of stories, musicals and films.

06. Joker is a character from comics and films about Batman.

07. John "Ace" Merrill (Ace Merrill) - a character in several works by Stephen King ("Stand By Me", "Necessary Things" and others)

08. Secret agent MacGyver - the main character of the American television series of the same name

09. Riddick – a character in a series of feature and animated films

10. Jack Burton – character from the movie “Big Trouble in Little China”

11. Knife of Knight Slasher - a character from the movie "Cobra" (Cobra)

12. Jason Voorhees – character from the Friday the 13th film series

13. Bilbo Baggins - a character in a series of works by J. R. R. Tolkien

14. Beatrix Kiddo - character in the Kill Bill film series

15. Goemon Ishikawa XIII – a character from the Lupine III manga comic series

16. Sword of characters from the film series " star Wars" (Star Wars)

17. Weapons main character film "Ultraviolet"

18. Weapons of characters from the Machete film series

19. Computer game and the movie "Prince of Persia"

20. Computer game and television series “Game of Thrones”

21. Uruk-Hai - a character in the series of novels and films “The Lord of the Rings”

22. He-Man – the main character of several animated series and the feature film “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe”

23. “The Legend of Zelda” – video game series and animated series

24. Excalibur – legendary sword King Arthur

25. “300 Spartans” (300) – a feature film based on the comic book of the same name

26. D'Artagnan - a character in the cycle of works by Alexandre Dumas

27. “Highlander” – cycle feature films

28. Zorro – a character from a series of comics, cartoons and feature films

29. “War of the Gods: Immortals” – a feature film based on ancient Greek myths

30. Jack Sparrow – the main character of the Pirates of the Caribbean feature film series

31. Blade - the main character of the film and comic book series of the same name

32. William Wallace – legendary Scottish knight and military leader, the main character of the feature film “Braveheart”

33. Final Fantasy VII – computer game

34. Conan - the main character of the series of comic books and feature films of the same name

35. Jack Torrance – the main character of Stephen King’s novel “The Shining” and the films of the same name

36. “Blood Red” (Profondo Rosso) – feature film directed by Dario Argento

37. “Old Boy” – a feature film directed by Park Chan-wook, the second part of the “revenge trilogy”

38. Captain Hook – a character in the book “Peter Pan”, as well as a series of feature and animated films

39. “Children of the Corn” – a story by Stephen King that became the basis for a series of feature films

40. Death Demon (The Grim Reaper)

41. “V for Vendetta” – a feature film based on the comic book of the same name

42. “Elektra” – a feature film based on the comic book of the same name

43. “The Expendables” – a series of feature films

44. “Crocodile Dundee” – the main character of a series of feature films of the same name

45. Norman Bates - character in Alfred Hitchcock's thriller Psycho and its sequels

46. Gordon Ramsay - British chef, known as the first Scot to be awarded three stars Michelin; cooking TV show host

47. Michael Myers – character in the Halloween feature film series

48. “Predator” – a series of feature films

49. John Rambo ( John Rambo) – a character in a series of feature films of the same name

50. Gustavo "Gus" Fring - character from the television series Breaking Bad

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 long sword type XIIIa-T3-6, dating back to the 15th century.

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

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 sword, 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 rapiers XVI 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 is 91 centimeters long and corresponds to sword type XII, 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).

The proportions of this sword are completely inconsistent with the historical examples 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 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 historical Wallace and represents two-handed sword 17th 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"

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. 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 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. Swords from The Lord of the Rings gained great respect among sword lovers around the world and gave impetus to the development of new designs. All this makes them so interesting that we will pay more attention to their description.