origins of the sword -- myArmoury.com

Devin McCarthy · Posted: Sat 27 Mar, 2004 11:14 am Post subject: origins of the sword

Why do people like swords today. i know why i do but i think alot of people would call it crazy but if so why love the sword.

i think i might have posted this in the wrong section... opps Worried

Joe Fults · Posted: Sat 27 Mar, 2004 4:59 pm Post subject:

Reasons are going to vary wildly.

For my part I grew up reading the Hobbit, LOTR, The Three Muskateers, Robin Hood, and watching Erol Flynn(sp?) movies on Saturday afternoons. I've always had a fascination with the cavalier/swashbuckler/knightly hero stereotype but I don't really know why. Maybe its all connection with a time of inoocence long past for me (ie childhood).

I also watched quite a few of Godzilla movies as a kid too but they don't seem to have stuck with me.

Devin McCarthy · Posted: Sat 27 Mar, 2004 6:40 pm Post subject:

right on !!!! to overcome a hero who could never be bested, i think, makes for a better persion becuse they are alwayse striving for heroisum

Scott Bubar · Posted: Sat 27 Mar, 2004 7:11 pm Post subject:

Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood a while in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two!
And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And, hast though slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.

Stephen A. Fisher · Posted: Sat 27 Mar, 2004 7:25 pm Post subject:

Devin McCarthy · Posted: Sat 27 Mar, 2004 11:40 pm Post subject:

I beleave my love for swords my be a greate un easyness of todays world. So fake and vistigial. Swords seam to be the only key to whats real its. whats real to me is in the furthest conner of this worlds reality. So distint yet calling to me to overcome. Keys that are kept of sacred groves with pools of silver water and carpits of moss.

Kenneth Enroth · Posted: Sun 28 Mar, 2004 4:02 am Post subject:

Why do the sword people always ask themselves why?

Devin McCarthy · Posted: Sun 28 Mar, 2004 8:03 am Post subject:

why is very hard to know. If nobody asked why then we would all be zombies acting on impulse and without knowing why we loose free will.

W. Patrick McGuigan · Posted: Sun 28 Mar, 2004 9:26 am Post subject:

I think I first discovered an interest in swords when I was about eleven when my friend showed me his sword collection. It wasn't until I was fifteen that I got my first "sword," a wallhanger of course.

I'll be honest. I think what really got me into medieval swords was Dungeons and Dragons and the medieval fantasy video games. Went through about six or so wallhangers before I figured out they weren't real swords. Then after acquiring real, functional swords, I gained a new appreciation for them.

What really appeals to me about swords is the historical significance, the look of finely crafted steel, and the functionality.

Kenneth Enroth · Posted: Sun 28 Mar, 2004 10:35 am Post subject:

Kurgans greatsword probably made an indelible impression on my young mind.

Alexi Goranov · myArmoury Alumni

I "blame" the many bulgarian movies depicting our history during 7-11c AD. Since these were the times that we could be proud if, several movies were made and constantly played on national tv. I guess all the sword waiving and battling rubbed on me Laughing Out Loud

History has some strange, mystic appeal.

Alexi

Dan Tucker · Posted: Sun 28 Mar, 2004 9:15 pm Post subject: fascination with weapons

why are we so fascinated with weapons and armor? is it the admiration of beauty and functionality in a tool? is it the power of a killing device that attracts us?

Nathan Cole · Posted: Mon 29 Mar, 2004 10:16 am Post subject:

Early influences on me were Tolkien, LLoyd Alexander, Howard Pyle, Edgar Rice Borroughs, Princess bride, and even star wars. One appeal of swords is the power leveling aspect. Strategy, dexterity and elegance, beat out over brute strength.

But the reason I don't ever intend to "grow out of swords" is the spiritual quality of swords. I personally have a christian take but swords have supernatural beauty recognized by most cultures. In eastern martial arts the "way of the sword" is spiritual as well as martial skill. A sword is supple yet hard. It defends and it kills. The discipline and skill with a sword can teach and strengthen skill in personal growth. The sword is also a symbol of justice in the courts. Justice as a blindfolded woman with sword and scales apparently stems from classical and Egyptian myth. She represents fair, impartial, and powerful law protecting the good people with the truth.

"Let the saints exult in glory; let them sing upon their beds. Let the exaltations of God be in their throat, and a two-edged sword in their hand (Ps. 149:5, 6)."

"Jesus said, Think not that I am come to send peace on the earth; I am not come to send peace, but a sword. (Matt. 10:34)"

"When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will lead you into all truth. He shall not speak from Himself but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak (John 16:13)."

"A "sword" in the internal sense signifies the truth combating falsity." -Emanuel Swedenborg

Forgive my enthusiasm... Happy

...Anyway, I think this subconscious awareness of spiritual or idealized(in the platonic sense) qualities is at least part of the reason people are so powerfully affected by swords.

Pax vobiscum,
Nathan Cole

Douglas Peters · Posted: Mon 29 Mar, 2004 3:30 pm Post subject:

I really think the fascination with weapons in general(at least for males) could well be biological. I know when my friends and I were younger we were always fascinated by anything from a knife to gun, and even more mundane weapons like staves. Though not everyone loves weapons to the same degree, most people seem to share some small fascination, especially with something like swords that not everyone is used to nowadays. Maybe it's testosterone, or maybe it's genetics, or even maybe it's conditioning, or of course some combination. As for the reason why in this modern age we actually collect swords I think the reasons above sum it up pretty well.

As for me, when I was a little kiddy my father read about a chapter a night of the whole Hobbit, and half of the Lord of the Rings as bedtime stories, which I finished much later and went on to the Silmarillion. Of course as a child I loved Lego's, especially the medieval ones. Much later I started playing D&D, which most definately contributed since I practically only played a fighter with a sword, or the infamous dual wield with a "longsword" and short sword(shields don't seem to mean much in D&D). That's around the time I got my first wallhanger "sword". Not too much later I was playing Shogun: Total War, which probably got me looking for something about katanas, and I found SFI where I learned about real swords. Later I got my first real sword.

James Nordstrom · Posted: Mon 29 Mar, 2004 5:43 pm Post subject: Re: origins of the sword

I love swords because they are cheaper to buy and own than tanks. I would LOVE to own a nice Tiger 1 or Panther. Even a T-34/39 would make me swoon.
Big Grin