Out of Pod Experience

That was on Tosh.0

EDIT: He thinks putting a great sword outside your door will make you a force to be reckoned with.

Won't it make the person who picks up the sword while they're breaking in a force to be reckoned with?

Of course not. The person who is about to break in will see it, and realize that you are the kind of person who owns a TWO HANDED GREAT SWORD and you probably have another one inside. And since you have spent years training in the use of the TWO HANDED GREAT SWORD no mere criminal would ever dare risk their life in a sword fight to the death.

This is really where it is... they're toys at this point because no one is going to sword fight you. People work with guns and knives now, and for good reasons. I would love a Nodachi just to play with, but I'd rather spend the money on other things for now.

I will confirm I own a greatsword.

I will follow up that confirmation with the fact that I own a gun which is far better at repelling intruders.

Nothing demonstrates the true nature of warfare, the use of intimidation in warfare being more effective than the weaponry at hand, and the myths that spring out of this arrangement more than the Greatsword.


Back in the day, Greatswords were more for scaring governments out of getting too loose with their warhorses than for actual combat. Now it's said that the Scottish Claymore was designed to take out warhorses but you have to consider this: the cost, time, and resources of training a warhorse was huge. The sort that carried knights, the Shire, weighs roughly a ton. It takes years to train a horse and the resources to feed one during that time are enormous.

And then some unrepentant fenian bastard ( ) chops the horse's leg off?

No way.


When such weapons are in the field, commanders have to think twice about their tactics. The Scottish made those swords out of German steel, hence the cost of import was enough for the return of raising the cost of war to their enemy. Just the presence of these weapons in the field would keep the mounted soldiers from simply running down the opposition - and if you have ever been in front of a horse that bolted (and lived), you know that a 1 ton horse in a full charge, even without armor and a rider intent on killing you, is deadly enough.


Greatswords evolved, by the 15th century, into wall hangers. Probably the most accurate depiction of a claymore was that sort shown to be used by William Wallace in Braveheart (though that is NOT the real Wallace sword - the real thing looks like something your redneck cousin uses to clear nettles from around the back fence) . Once they achieved wall hangar status, they got bigger and bigger.

In 1500 years, there will be "GreatRifles". The 50 cal will probably be what evolves.